CN113366900B

CN113366900B - Sounding reference signal transmission method and device

Info

Publication number: CN113366900B
Application number: CN202080010553.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 郭力
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2019-07-22
Filing date: 2020-07-13
Publication date: 2023-03-24
Anticipated expiration: 2040-07-13
Also published as: CN113366900A; WO2021012981A1

Abstract

Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission methods and apparatus are provided. An SRS transmission method of a User Equipment (UE) includes: receiving configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of an SRS resource for positioning from a Base Station (BS), and transmitting the SRS resource in an SRS resource set to the BS by the determined transmission comb offset according to the configuration information of the transmission comb offset pattern of the SRS resource for positioning. The SRS transmission method can improve the performance of uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA) measurement for UE positioning.

Description

Sounding reference signal transmission method and device

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communication systems, and more particularly, to a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission method and apparatus for positioning.

Background

In current designs, the Resource Element (RE) mapping method in the Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) design specified in the third generation partnership project (3 gpp) release 15 does not support the relative time of arrival (RTOA) measurements for User Equipment (UE) positioning well. In one SRS resource configured to R >1, each antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to the same subcarrier set with the same transmission comb offset (transmission comb offset). This will result in less explicit timing estimates (timing estimation). Another possible implementation to support interleaved RE mapping is to configure multiple SRS resources on consecutive symbols with different transmission comb offsets based on the specifications in 3GPP release 15. However, this implementation also does not work well because the next generation node B (gNB) cannot assume that the same antenna port is transmitted in those different SRS resources transmitted on adjacent Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols.

Therefore, a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission method and apparatus for positioning are needed.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present disclosure is to propose a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission method and apparatus for positioning, which can improve performance of uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA) measurement for User Equipment (UE) positioning.

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a method of Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission for a User Equipment (UE) comprises: receiving configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning from a Base Station (BS); and according to the configuration information of the transmission comb offset mode of the SRS resource for positioning, transmitting the SRS resource in the SRS resource set to the BS by the determined transmission comb offset.

In a second aspect of the disclosure, a User Equipment (UE) for Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission comprises: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The transceiver is configured to receive configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern for positioned SRS resources from a Base Station (BS), and the transceiver is configured to transmit SRS resources in a set of SRS resources to the BS with a determined transmission comb offset according to the configuration information of the transmission comb offset pattern for positioned SRS resources.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission method of a Base Station (BS) includes: transmitting configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning to a User Equipment (UE); and receiving the SRS resource with the determined transmission comb offset in the SRS resource set from the UE according to the transmission comb offset mode configuration information of the SRS resource for positioning.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a Base Station (BS) for Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission comprises: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The transceiver is configured to transmit configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning to a User Equipment (UE), and the transceiver is configured to receive from the UE the SRS resources in an SRS resource set having the determined transmission comb offset in accordance with the configuration information of the transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning.

In a fifth aspect of the disclosure, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium has instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform the above-described method.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal device includes: a processor and a memory configured to store a computer program. The processor is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the above-described method.

In a seventh aspect of the disclosure, a network node comprises: a processor and a memory configured to store a computer program. The processor is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the above-described method.

Drawings

In order to more clearly explain the embodiments of the present disclosure or the related art, drawings described in the embodiments are briefly introduced below. It is apparent that the drawings are only some embodiments of the disclosure and that other drawings can be derived from those drawings by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue effort.

Fig. 1A illustrates Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) mapping.

Fig. 1B illustrates frequency hopping within SRS resource slots.

Fig. 1C illustrates SRS resource inter-slot frequency hopping.

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a User Equipment (UE) and a Base Station (BS) for SRS transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an SRS transmission method of a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an SRS transmission method of a BS according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 illustrates a process for localized SRS transmission according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 6 illustrates a process for SRS transmission for positioning according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 7A illustrates SRS resources with transmission comb values and repetition factors for positioning according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 7B illustrates an SRS resource with a transmission comb value and a repetition factor for positioning according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 8 illustrates SRS resources with transmission comb values and repetition factors for positioning according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 9 illustrates SRS resources with transmission comb values and repetition factors for positioning according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communication in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Technical problems, structural features, objects, and effects of the embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In particular, the terminology used in the embodiments of the present disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the present disclosure.

Fifth-generation (5G) wireless systems are typically multi-beam based systems within a frequency range 2 (FR 2) ranging from 24.25GHz to 52.6GHz, wherein a Base Station (BS) and/or User Equipment (UE) employ multiple transmit (Tx) receive (Rx) analog beams to combat large path loss in the high frequency band. In high frequency band systems, for example, in millimeter wave (mmWave) systems, the BS and the UE are deployed with a large number of antennas so that large gain beamforming can be used to overcome large path loss and signal blocking. Due to hardware limitations and cost, the BS and the UE may be equipped with only a limited number of transmit and receive units (TXRUs). Therefore, a hybrid beamforming mechanism may be used in both the BS and the UE. In order to obtain the best link quality between the BS and the UE, the BS and the UE need to align the analog beam direction of a particular downlink or uplink transmission. For downlink transmission, the BS and the UE need to find the best BS Tx beam and UE Rx beam pair, and for uplink transmission, the BS and the UE need to find the best UE Tx beam and BS Rx beam pair.

For communication between one UE and the BS, the BS and the UE need to determine which Tx and Rx beams will be used. When one UE moves, beams used by the BS and the UE for communication may change. In the third generation partnership project (3 GPP) 5G specification, the following functionality is defined to support such multi-beam based operation.

In operation related to beam measurement and reporting, in this function, the UE may measure one or more Tx beams of the BS, and then the UE may select and report the best Tx beam selection to the BS. By measuring the Tx beams of the BS, the UE may also measure one or more different Rx beams and then select the best Rx beam for one particular Tx beam of the BS. In this function, the gNB may also measure one or more Tx beams of the UE and then select the best Tx beam of the UE for uplink transmission. To support measurement of Tx beams of the BS, the BS may transmit a plurality of Reference Signal (RS) resources and then configure the UE to measure the RS resources. The UE may then report an index of one or more selected RS resources, which are selected based on some measurement metric, e.g., based on layer 1reference signal received power (l 1-RSRP). To support measurement of Tx beams of the UE for uplink transmission, the BS may configure the UE to transmit one or more uplink RS resources, e.g., sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resources, and then the BS may measure the RS resources. The BS may determine which Tx beam of the UE is best for uplink transmission based on measuring, for example, L1-RSRP of the RS resource.

In operation associated with beam indication, for downlink transmission, the BS may indicate to the UE which Tx beam of the base station is used for transmission so that the UE may receive downlink transmission using the appropriate Rx beam. For Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) transmission, the BS may indicate an Identification (ID) of one Tx beam of the BS to the UE. For Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH) transmission, the BS may indicate an ID of one Tx beam for transmitting a corresponding PDSCH using Downlink Control Information (DCI) in the PDCCH. For uplink transmission from the UE, the BS may also indicate to the UE which Tx beam of the UE to use. For example, for Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) transmission, the UE uses a Tx beam indicated by the BS through configuration of spatial relationship information. For SRS transmission, the UE uses the Tx beam indicated by the BS through the configuration of the spatial relationship information. For Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission, the UE uses a Tx beam indicated by an information element contained in the scheduling DCI.

This function is used by the BS to switch Tx beams for downlink or uplink transmission in operations associated with beam switching. This functionality is useful when the Tx beam currently used for transmission fails due to, for example, movement of the UE. When the BS finds that the Tx beam currently used for downlink transmission is not good or the BS finds another Tx beam better than the current Tx beam, the BS may send signaling to the UE to inform the change of the Tx beam. Likewise, the BS may switch the uplink Tx beam of the UE for transmitting a certain uplink transmission.

In a communication system such as a New Radio (NR) system, DL signals may include control signaling conveying DCI through a PDCCH, data signals conveying information packets through a PDSCH, and some types of reference signals. The DCI may indicate information on how to transmit the PDSCH, including: e.g., resource allocation and transmission parameters for PDSCH. The BS may transmit one or more types of reference signals for different purposes, including: a demodulation reference symbol (DM-RS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a phase tracking reference signal (PT-RS), wherein the DM-RS is transmitted with the PDSCH and can be used by the UE to demodulate the PDSCH; the CSI-RS may be used by the UE to measure CSI of a Tx beam of the BS or a downlink channel between the BS and the UE; the PT-RS is also transmitted with the PDSCH and may be used by the UE to estimate phase noise caused by imperfections in the Radio Frequency (RF) portion of the transmitter and receiver and then compensate for it when decoding the PDSCH. In NR, DL resource allocation of a PDCCH, a PDSCH, and a reference signal is performed in units of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols and a set of Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs). Each PRB contains several Resource Elements (REs), e.g., 12 REs, in the frequency domain. A transmission Bandwidth (BW) for a downlink transmission consists of frequency resource elements called Resource Blocks (RBs), each RB consisting of several subcarriers or REs, e.g., 12 subcarriers or 12 REs.

The UL signal transmitted by the UE to the BS may include a data signal conveying a data packet through a PUSCH, an uplink control signal conveying UL Control Information (UCI) that may be transmitted in a PUSCH or a PUCCH, and a UL reference signal. The UCI may carry a Scheduling Request (SR) used by the UE to request uplink transmission resources, hybrid automatic repeat request acknowledgement (HARQ-ACK) feedback for PDSCH transmission, or a Channel State Information (CSI) report. The UE may transmit one or more types of uplink reference signals for different purposes, including: DM-RS, PT-RS and SRS signals, wherein the DM-RS is transmitted with PUSCH transmission and can be used by the BS to demodulate the PUSCH; PT-RS is also transmitted with PUSCH and can be used by the BS to estimate phase noise caused by imperfections of the RF part, which the BS then compensates when decoding PUSCH; the SRS signal is used by the BS to measure CSI for one or more UE Tx beams or uplink channels between the UE and the BS. Similarly, UL resource allocation with PUSCH, PUCCH, and UL reference signals is also performed in units of symbols and a set of PRBs.

The transmission interval of a DL or UL channel/signal is called a slot, and each slot contains several symbols, for example, 14 symbols, in the time domain. In an NR system, the duration of one slot may be 1 millisecond, 0.5 millisecond, 0.25 millisecond, or 0.123 millisecond, respectively, for subcarrier spacings of 15KHz, 30KHz, 60KHz, and 120 KHz. NR systems support flexible parameter sets (numerology), embodiments may select a suitable OFDM subcarrier spacing based on deployment scenarios and service requirements. In NR systems, DL and UL transmissions may use different sets of parameters.

In New Radio (NR) 3GPP specification release 15, beam indication is done per PUCCH resource. For a given uplink bandwidth part (BWP) in the serving cell, the UE may be configured with 4 PUCCH resource sets, in each of which the UE is configured with one or more PUCCH resources. For transmission on each PUCCH resource, the UE is configured with a parameter PUCCH-spatial relationinfo, which may contain one or more reference signal resource IDs. Each of these reference signal resources is used to provide information about which transmit beam the UE may use for transmission on that PUCCH resource. For example, if the reference signal resource is a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) resource, the UE may use the same Tx beam used to transmit the SRS resource for transmission on the PUCCH resource. If the reference signal resource is a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) resource or a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel (SS/PBCH) block, the UE may use an uplink Tx beam corresponding to a receive beam used to receive CSI-RS resource transmissions or SS/PBCH block transmissions for transmission on the PUCCH resource. The gNB may configure only one PUCCH-SpatialRelationInfo to the PUCCH resource, and may reconfigure Radio Resource Control (RRC) parameters when the gNB wants to switch the Tx beam of the PUCCH resource. The gNB may also configure multiple PUCCH-spatial relationship info to PUCCH resources in the RRC and then use medium access control element (MAC CE) signaling to activate one of those configured PUCCH-spatial relationship info as the current Tx beam for that PUCCH resource. If the gNB wants to switch Tx beams of one PUCCH resource, the gNB may indicate another PUCCH-spatial relationship info of the PUCCH resource using one MAC CE message. The gNB may indicate PUCCH-spatial relationship info of each PUCCH resource using the MAC CE message. The advantage of this approach is flexibility and allows the gNB to apply different Tx beams on different PUCCH resources.

For PUSCH scheduled on a cell via DCI format 0_0, the UE may be requested to transmit the PUSCH according to the spatial relationship corresponding to the dedicated PUCCH resource with the smallest ID within the UL BWP of the cell. In other words, if the UE is scheduled with PUSCH transmission in one UL BWP through DCI format 0_0, the UE may transmit the PUSCH using a Tx beam configured to the PUCCH having the smallest PUCCH resource ID in the same UL BWP.

In 3GPP release 16, the Tx beam indication/update of PUCCH resources is changed to be per PUCCH group. In one UL BWP, all PUCCH resources may be divided into one or two groups. One set of use cases is single TRP transmission and two sets of use cases are multiple TRP transmission. Each TRP may schedule PUSCH transmissions for a User Equipment (UE) and the UE may apply a different Tx beam accordingly.

NR release 15 supports SRS transmission for uplink CSI acquisition, uplink beam management, and antenna switching. A UE may be configured with one or more SRS resource sets, and for each SRS resource set, the UE may be configured with K ≧ 1 SRS resource. Each SRS resource set is configured with a use case by a high level parameter SRS-ResourceSet. Uses of SRS resource sets include: for codebook-based PUSCH transmission, for non-codebook-based PUSCH transmission, for beam management and for antenna switching.

Each SRS resource includes 1,2, or 4 antenna ports and 1,2, or 4 consecutive symbols within one slot. In the frequency domain, the SRS resource supports two RE mappings: comb-2 and Comb-4. For Comb-2, srs signals are mapped to one RE every two REs, and candidate Comb offset values are 0 or 1. For Comb-4, srs signals are mapped to one RE every four REs, and candidate Comb offset values are 0,1, 2, and 3. An example of SRS signal mapping is shown in fig. 1A. Fig. 1A illustrates Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) mapping. As shown in fig. 1A, SRS resource #1 is configured with transmission comb 2 and comboffset =1.SRS resource #2 is configured with transmission comb 2 and comboffset =0.SRS resources #1 and #2 are each configured with one symbol. SRS resource #3 is configured with two symbols and transmission comb 4.

The NR system supports intra-slot and inter-slot frequency hopping for transmission of one SRS resource. For the frequency hopping procedure, one SRS resource is configured with the following high layer parameters: repetition factor R is formed by {1,2,4}, and the number of symbols N in one SRS resource _s E {1,2,4} and SRS hopping parameter B _SRS 、C _SRS And b _hop . Frequency hopping through R and N _s Is implicitly configured.

For R =1 and N _s =2 or 4: and hopping within the time slot. In each time slotEach antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to a different set of subcarriers in each symbol and the same transmission comb value is assumed for the different sets of subcarriers. For R =2 and N _s =4: frequency hopping within the time slot. For N _s = R, inter-slot frequency hopping is supported, where each antenna port of the SRS resource maps to the same set of subcarriers in R adjacent symbols within a slot.

Fig. 1B illustrates frequency hopping within SRS resource slots. Fig. 1C illustrates SRS resource inter-slot frequency hopping. Examples of intra-slot and inter-slot frequency hopping of SRS resources are shown in fig. 1B and 1C. In the example of fig. 1B, the SRS resource is configured as R =2 and N _s And =4. Each antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to the same set of subcarriers within every 2 adjacent symbols in each slot. In the example of fig. 1C, the SRS is configured as R =2 and N _s And (2). Where inter-slot frequency hopping is supported. Each antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to the same set of subcarriers in 2 adjacent symbols of each slot. Each SRS resource may be configured with a spatialrelalationinfo to indicate transmit (Tx) beam information for transmission on the SRS resource. The spatialRelationInfo parameter may be the IDs of CSI-RS, SS/PBCH, and SRS resources configured by the serving gNB. If the spatialionInfo is CSI-RS or SS/PBCH, the UE may transmit the SRS resource using a Tx beam corresponding to an Rx beam for receiving the CSI-RS or SS/PBCH. If the spatialionInfo is another SRS resource, the UE may transmit the SRS resource using the same Tx beam as the Tx beam applied to the other SRS resource.

Fig. 2 illustrates a User Equipment (UE) 10 and a base station 20 that in some embodiments provide Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The UE 10 may include a processor 11, a memory 12, and a transceiver 13. A base station 20, such as a next generation node B (gNB), may include a processor 21, a memory 22, and a transceiver 23. The

processor

11 or 21 may be configured to implement the proposed functions, procedures and/or methods described in this specification. The layers of the radio interface protocol may be implemented in the

processor

11 or 21. The

memory

12 or 22 is operatively coupled with the

processor

11 or 21 and stores various information to operate the

processor

11 or 21. The

transceiver

13 or 23 is operatively coupled with the

processor

11 or 21, and the

transceiver

13 or 23 transmits and/or receives wireless signals.

The

processor

11 or 21 may comprise an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), other chipset, logic circuit and/or data processing device.

Memory

12 or 22 may include read-only memory (ROM), random Access Memory (RAM), flash memory, memory cards, storage media, and/or other storage devices. The

transceiver

13 or 23 may include a baseband circuit that processes radio frequency signals. When an embodiment is implemented in software, the techniques described herein may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The modules may be stored in the

memory

12 or 22 and executed by the

processor

11 or 21. The

memory

12 or 22 may be implemented within the

processor

11 or 21 or external to the

processor

11 or 21, wherein the memory may be communicatively coupled to the

processor

11 or 21 in various ways as is known in the art.

In some embodiments, the transceiver 13 is configured to receive configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern for a positioned SRS resource from the Base Station (BS) 20, and the transceiver 13 is configured to transmit the SRS resource of the set of SRS resources to the BS 20 with the determined transmission comb offset according to the configuration information of the transmission comb offset pattern for the positioned SRS resource. The SRS transmission method can improve the performance of uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA) measurement for UE positioning.

In some embodiments, the processor 11 is configured to indicate, by the BS 20, SRS resources in a set of SRS resources for positioning before transmitting the SRS resources to the BS 20 with the determined transmission comb offset. In some embodiments, the processor 11 is configured to determine a transmission comb offset mapped by a Resource Element (RE) of each symbol within one SRS repetition of the SRS resource for positioning according to configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of the SRS resource for positioning before transmitting the SRS resource in the SRS resource set to the BS 20 with the determined transmission comb offset. In some embodiments, processor 11 is configured by BS 20 to configure the set of SRS resources, wherein for each SRS resource, processor 11 is configured with a number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, a repetition factor, and a starting symbol index. In some embodiments, the number of OFDM symbols is greater than or equal to the repetition factor. In some embodiments, processor 11 is configured to map each antenna port of the SRS resource to each symbol with a respective transmission comb offset indicating in a configured transmission comb offset pattern in each symbol within each repetition of consecutive symbols.

In some embodiments, each antenna port of the SRS resource maps to the same set of subcarriers but with a different comb offset on different symbols. In some embodiments, the SRS resources in the set of transmitted SRS resources to the BS 20 with the determined transmission comb offset are configured to measure at least one of an uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA), an angle of arrival (AoA), an uplink RSRP (reference signal received power), and a receive-to-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. In some embodiments, the transmission comb offset pattern includes a UE Identification (ID), an SRS sequence ID, a cell ID, or a scrambling ID. In some embodiments, the transmission comb offset pattern includes a transmission comb value and an SRS repetition factor. In some embodiments, the transmission comb value is 2,4, 6, 8, or 12. In some embodiments, if the SRS resources are aperiodic, BS 20 requests processor 11 to trigger SRS transmission for positioning. In some embodiments, if the SRS resource is semi-persistent, the BS 20 requests the processor 11 to activate SRS transmission for positioning.

In some embodiments, the transceiver 23 is configured to transmit configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning to a User Equipment (UE) 10, and the transceiver 23 is configured to receive from the UE 10 an SRS resource in the set of SRS resources having a determined transmission comb offset according to the configuration information of the transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning. The SRS transmission method can improve the performance of uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA) measurement for UE positioning.

In some embodiments, the processor 21 is configured to indicate to the UE 10 the SRS resources in the set of SRS resources for positioning before receiving from the UE 10 the SRS resources in the set of SRS resources with the determined transmission comb offset. In some embodiments, the processor 21 is configured to configure the UE 10 with the set of SRS resources, wherein for each SRS resource, the processor 21 is configured to configure the UE 10 with a number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, a repetition factor, and a starting symbol index. In some embodiments, the number of OFDM symbols is greater than or equal to the repetition factor. In some embodiments, each antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to each symbol with a corresponding transmission comb offset indicating in a configured transmission comb offset pattern in each symbol within each repetition of consecutive symbols. In some embodiments, each antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to the same set of subcarriers but with a different comb offset on different symbols.

In some embodiments, the SRS resources from the UE 10 received in the set of SRS resources with the determined transmission comb offset are configured to measure at least one of an uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA), an angle of arrival (AoA), an uplink RSRP (reference signal received power), and a receive-to-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. In some embodiments, the transmission comb offset pattern includes a UE Identification (ID), SRS sequence ID, cell ID, or scrambling ID. In some embodiments, the transmission comb offset pattern includes a transmission comb value and an SRS repetition factor. In some embodiments, the transmission comb value is 2,4, 6, 8, or 12. In some embodiments, if the SRS resources are aperiodic, the processor 21 is configured to request the UE 10 to trigger an SRS transmission for positioning. In some embodiments, if the SRS resource is semi-persistent, the processor 21 is configured to request the UE 10 to activate SRS transmission for positioning.

Fig. 3 illustrates an SRS transmission method 300 for a UE according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The method 300 includes: a block 310 of receiving configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning from a Base Station (BS); and a block 320 for transmitting the SRS resource in the SRS resource set to the BS with the determined transmission comb offset according to the configuration information of the transmission comb offset pattern of the SRS resource for positioning. The SRS transmission method can improve the performance of uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA) measurement for UE positioning.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: the BS indicates the SRS resource for positioning in the set of SRS resources before transmitting the SRS resource in the set of SRS resources to the BS with the determined transmission comb offset. In some embodiments, the method further comprises: before transmitting the SRS resource in the SRS resource set to the BS with the determined transmission comb offset, determining a transmission comb offset mapped by a Resource Element (RE) of each symbol in one SRS repetition of the SRS resource for positioning according to configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of the SRS resource for positioning. In some embodiments, the method further includes configuring, by the BS, the set of SRS resources, wherein, for each SRS resource, the UE is configured with a number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, a repetition factor, and a starting symbol index. In some embodiments, the number of OFDM symbols is greater than or equal to the repetition factor. In some embodiments, the method further includes mapping each antenna port of the SRS resource to each symbol with a corresponding transmission comb offset indicating in a configured transmission comb offset pattern in each symbol within each repetition of consecutive symbols.

In some embodiments, each antenna port of the SRS resource maps to the same set of subcarriers but with a different comb offset on different symbols. In some embodiments, transmitting the SRS resources of the set of SRS resources to the BS with the determined transmission comb offset is configured to measure at least one of an uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA), an angle of arrival (AoA), an uplink RSRP (reference signal received power), and a receive-to-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. In some embodiments, the transmission comb offset pattern includes a UE Identification (ID), SRS sequence ID, cell ID, or scrambling ID. In some embodiments, the transmission comb offset pattern includes a transmission comb value and an SRS repetition factor. In some embodiments, the transmission comb value is 2,4, 6, 8, or 12. In some embodiments, if the SRS resource is aperiodic, the BS requests the UE to trigger SRS transmission for positioning. In some embodiments, if the SRS resource is semi-persistent, the BS requests the UE to activate SRS transmission for positioning.

Fig. 4 illustrates an SRS transmission method 400 of a BS according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The method 400 includes: a block 410 of transmitting configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning to a User Equipment (UE); and a block 420 of receiving from the UE, in accordance with the configuration information of the transmission comb offset pattern of the SRS resources for positioning, the SRS resources in the SRS resource set having the determined transmission comb offset. The SRS transmission method can improve the performance of uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA) measurement for UE positioning.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: prior to receiving from the UE an SRS resource in the set of SRS resources with the determined transmission comb offset, the SRS resource for positioning in the set of SRS resources is indicated to the UE. In some embodiments, the method further comprises: the UE is configured with the set of SRS resources, wherein for each SRS resource, the BS is configured to configure the UE with a number of Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, a repetition factor, and a starting symbol index. In some embodiments, the number of OFDM symbols is greater than or equal to the repetition factor. In some embodiments, each antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to each symbol with a corresponding transmission comb offset indicating in a configured transmission comb offset pattern in each symbol within each repetition of consecutive symbols.

In some embodiments, each antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to the same set of subcarriers but with a different comb offset on different symbols. In some embodiments, receiving from the UE SRS resources of the set of SRS resources having the determined transmission comb offset is configured to measure at least one of an uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA), an angle of arrival (AoA), an uplink RSRP (reference signal received power), and a receive-to-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. In some embodiments, the transmission comb offset pattern includes a UE Identification (ID), SRS sequence ID, cell ID, or scrambling ID. In some embodiments, the transmission comb offset pattern includes a transmission comb value and an SRS repetition factor. In some embodiments, the transmission comb value is 2,4, 6, 8, or 12. In some embodiments, if the SRS resources are aperiodic, the BS is configured to request the UE to trigger SRS transmission for positioning. In some embodiments, if the SRS resource is semi-persistent, the BS is configured to request the UE to activate SRS transmission for positioning.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, SRS transmission methods for positioning are proposed. In one embodimentThe UE may be configured with a set of SRS resources and for each SRS resource the UE is configured with a number of symbols N _s A repetition factor R and a starting symbol index. The gNB may send configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning to the UE. The gNB may indicate to the UE the SRS resources in the set of SRS resources for positioning, and the UE may then transmit the SRS resources in the set with the configured transmission comb offset. For transmission in one SRS resource for positioning, the UE may map each antenna port of the SRS resource to each symbol with a corresponding transmission comb offset indicating in a configured transmission comb offset pattern in each symbol within each repetition of R consecutive symbols.

Fig. 5 illustrates one procedure for localized SRS transmission in accordance with a method of an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 5, at operation 110, the serving gNB 101 may transmit configuration information of SRS resources to the UE 102 through higher layer parameters. The configuration information may include a transmission comb value and a transmission comb offset pattern for each SRS resource used for positioning. After receiving the configuration information, UE 102 may determine a transmission comb offset value for each symbol within each SRS repetition in one SRS resource at operation 120. If the SRS resources are aperiodic, the serving gbb 101 sends DCI to trigger transmission at operation 130. If the SRS resources for positioning are semi-persistent, the serving gNB 101 may send an activation command to activate transmission at operation 130. At operation 140, UE 102 transmits SRS resources in RE mapping on each symbol based on the determined transmission comb offset value for each given symbol.

In one method of an embodiment, the gNB may indicate, using the purpose of the set of SRS resources, that the SRS resources included in the set of SRS resources are to be used for uplink positioning. The UE may be configured with a set of SRS resources by a higher layer parameter SRS-ResourceSet. For the SRS Resource set, the UE can be configured with K ≧ 1 SRS Resource by a high-level parameter SRS-Resource. The set of SRS resources configures a higher layer parameter usage in SRS-resources set to indicate usage applicability of SRS resources included in the set. One usage value, e.g., "position fix," may indicate that the set of SRS resources is suitable for position fix. For each SRS resource, allocateThe following SRS parameters are set: number of SRS antenna ports, number of OFDM symbols N in SRS resource _s The repetition factor R is less than or equal to N _s A transmission comb value (example values may be 2,4, 6, 8, and 12), a transmission comb offset of the first symbol within a repetition, and/or a transmission comb offset pattern of symbols within a repetition.

In some embodiments, for a given SRS resource of the configuration set to "position" for a centralized use of SRS resources, the UE determines a transmission comb offset value for each of the R OFDM symbols within each repetition in the SRS resource. The transmission comb offset values will be different on different OFDM symbols within each repetition. The UE transmits each SRS antenna port on each OFDM symbol on the same set of subcarriers on those R consecutive OFDM symbols within one repetition at the determined transmission comb offset.

Fig. 6 illustrates a process for localized SRS transmission in accordance with methods of some embodiments of the present disclosure. In a first example, for SRS resources for positioning configured with a transmission comb value = α (examples of α are 2,4, 6, 8, and 12), a transmission comb offset μ (which may take on values of 0,1, \8230;, α -1), and a repetition factor R ≧ 1 at

operations

210 and 220, the UE may determine a transmission comb offset value for each OFDM symbol within one repetition of R consecutive OFDM symbols at operation 230 as shown below. For the first OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmit comb offset value is μ. For the R-th (R =1,2, \ 8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in one repetition, the transmission comb offset value is mod (μ + R-1, α). In another example, for the R (R =1,2, \ 8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmission comb offset value is mod (μ -R +1, α).

Fig. 7A and 7B are examples of SRS resources for positioning with transmission comb values =4 and 8 and repetition factor R =4. In a second example, for SRS resources for positioning configured with a transmission comb value = α (examples of α are 2,4, 6, 8, and 12), a transmission comb offset μ (which may take on values of 0,1, \ 8230;, α -1), and a repetition factor R ≧ 1, the UE may determine a transmission comb offset value for each OFDM symbol within one repetition of R consecutive OFDM symbols as shown below.For the first OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmit comb offset value is μ. For the R (R =2,4, \8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, a transmission comb offset value is

For the R (R =3, \ 8230;, R) th OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in one repetition, a transmission comb offset value is

In another example, the UE may determine the transmission comb offset for the OFDM symbol after the first OFDM symbol as shown below. For the R-th (R =2,4, \8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, a comb offset value is transmitted as ^ 5>

For the R (R =3, \8230;, R) th OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, a transmit comb offset value is @>

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of SRS resources for positioning with transmission comb values =4 and 8 and repetition factor R =4. In a third example, for SRS resources used for positioning, the UE may determine a transmission comb offset value for each OFDM symbol based on the configured transmission comb value, the transmission comb offset configured for the first symbol within a repetition, and the position of each symbol within a repetition. For an SRS resource for positioning configured with a transmission comb value = α (2, 4,6, 8, and 12 for an example of α), a transmission comb offset μ (which may take on values of 0,1, \8230;, α -1), and a repetition factor R ≧ 1, the UE may determine a transmission comb offset value for each OFDM symbol within one repetition of R consecutive OFDM symbols as shown below. For the first OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmit comb offset value is μ. For the second OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the UE determines its transmit comb offset value to be

For the third OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the UE determines that its transmit comb offset value is ≧ greater>

For the fourth OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the UE determines its transmission comb offset value as

As such, and so on.

Specifically, the UE determines the transmission comb offset value as follows. For α =2: for the first OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmit comb offset value is μ. For the R-th (R =2, \8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in one repetition, the transmission comb offset value is mod (μ + R-1, α).

For α =4: for the first OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmit comb offset value is μ. For the R (R =2, \ 8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in one repetition, the transmission comb offset values are mod (μ +2, α), mod (μ +1, α), mod (μ +3, α), μ, mod (μ +2, α) \8230, respectively

For α =6: for the first OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmit comb offset value is μ. For the R (R =2, \8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmission comb offset values are mod (μ +3, α), mod (μ +1, α), mod (μ +4, α), mod (μ +2, α), mod (μ +5, α), μ.

For α =8: for the first OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmit comb offset value is μ. For the R (R =2, \ 8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in one repetition, the transmission comb offset values are mod (μ +4, α), mod (μ +2, α), mod (μ +6, α), mod (μ +1, α), mod (μ +5, α), mod (μ +3, α), mod (μ +7, α), μ.

For α =12: for the first OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmit comb offset value is μ. For the R-th (R =2, \ 8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in one repetition, the transmission comb offset values are mod (μ +6, α), mod (μ +3, α), mod (μ +9, α), mod (μ +1, α), mod (μ +7, α), mod (μ +4, α), mod (μ +10, α), mod (μ +2, α), mod (μ +8, α), mod (μ +5, α), mod (μ +11, α), μ.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example of an SRS resource for positioning with transmission comb values =4 and 8 and a repetition factor R =4 according to the third example. In a method of an embodiment, for SRS resources used for positioning, the UE may determine a transmission comb offset value for each OFDM symbol based on the configured transmission comb value and the value of the repetition factor R. For an SRS resource for positioning configured with a transmission comb value = α (2, 4,6, 8, and 12 for an example of α), a transmission comb offset μ (which may take on values of 0,1, \8230;, α -1), and a repetition factor R ≧ 1, the UE may determine a transmission comb offset value for each OFDM symbol within one repetition of R consecutive OFDM symbols as shown below. For the first OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmission comb offset value is μ. For the R (R =2,4, \8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmission comb offset value is mod (μ + Δ, α), where Δ is calculated based on the configured transmission comb α and the configured repetition factor R. An example of Δ is:

specifically, the UE determines the transmission comb offset value as follows. For α =2: Δ =1 for any value of R > 1. For α =4: when R =2, Δ =2, and when R ≧ 4, Δ =1. For α =6: and when R =2, delta =3, and when R ≧ 1, delta =1. For R =4: an alternative is Δ =2. An alternative is to use the variable Δ for different symbol positions, e.g. the transmission comb offsets for four consecutive symbols in one repetition are: mod (μ + (0, 2,4, 5), α = 6). For α =8: Δ =4 when R =2, Δ =2 when R =4, and Δ =1 when R ≧ 8. For α =12: Δ =6 when R =2, Δ =3 when R =4, and Δ =1 when R ≧ 12. For R =8: an alternative is Δ =2. An alternative is to use the variable Δ for different symbol positions, e.g. the transmission comb offsets for four consecutive symbols in one repetition are: mod (μ + (0, 2,3,4,6,7,8, 10), α = 12).

In a method of an embodiment, for SRS resources used for positioning, the UE may determine a transmission comb offset value for each OFDM symbol based on one or more of the following parameters: a configured transmission comb value, a position of each symbol within one repetition, a cell ID of a serving cell, a UE ID, and/or a scrambling ID configured by higher layer parameters.

In an example, for SRS resources for positioning configured with a transmission comb value = α (examples of α are 2,4, 6, 8, and 12), a transmission comb offset μ (which may take on values of 0,1, \ 8230;, α -1), and a repetition factor R ≧ 1, the UE may determine a transmission comb offset value for each OFDM symbol within one repetition of R consecutive OFDM symbols based on a cell ID of the serving cell as shown below. For the first OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in a repetition, the transmit comb offset value is μ. If mod (cell ID of the serving cell, 2) =0: for the R-th (R =1,2, \ 8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in one repetition, the transmission comb offset value is mod (μ + R-1, α). If mod (cell ID of the serving cell, 2) =1: for the R-th (R =1,2, \ 8230;, R) OFDM symbol of the R consecutive OFDM symbols in one repetition, the transmission comb offset value is mod (μ -R +1, α).

In one method of an embodiment, for SRS resources used for positioning purposes, the transmission comb offset for each OFDM symbol within a repetition is explicitly configured by higher layer parameters. The UE may be requested to apply a corresponding configured transmission comb offset to the RE mapping in each OFDM symbol. In an example, for SRS resources configured with repetition factor R, a list of transmission comb offset values is configured in the higher layer parameter SRS-Resource: { mu. } ₁ ,μ ₂ ,μ ₃ ,…,μ _R }. If the SRS resource is configured for positioning purposes, for transmission in the SRS resource, the UE may apply a transmission comb offset { μ } for each OFDM symbol within one repetition of R consecutive OFDM symbols ₁ ,μ ₂ ,μ ₃ ,…,μ _R }. If SRThe S resource is not configured for positioning purposes, and for transmission in this SRS resource, the UE may apply a transmission comb offset { μ } for each OFDM symbol within one repetition of R consecutive OFDM symbols ₁ }. In another example, for SRS resources configured with repetition factor R and transmission comb α, transmission comb offset μ and inter-symbol offset list { Δ ] of transmission comb offsets ₂ ,Δ ₃ ,…,Δ _R Is configured in the higher layer parameter SRS-Resource. If the SRS resource is configured for positioning purposes, for transmission in the SRS resource, the UE may apply a transmission comb offset { μ, mod (μ + Δ) for each OFDM symbol within one repetition of R consecutive OFDM symbols ₂ ,α),…,mod(μ+Δ _R α) }. If the SRS resource is not configured for positioning purposes, for transmission in the SRS resource, the UE can apply a transmission comb offset μ for each OFDM symbol within one repetition of R consecutive OFDM symbols.

In summary, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, SRS transmission methods for uplink positioning are proposed. SRS transmissions may be used to measure uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA), angle of arrival (AoA), uplink Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), and Rx-Tx time difference. In the SRS resource for positioning, each SRS antenna port maps to the same set of subcarriers within each SRS symbol repetition, but with different comb offsets on different symbols. In one method of the embodiment, the UE determines an RE mapping method based on SRS set usage, and for SRS resources configured in the SRS resource set for positioning, the UE maps SRS signals in each symbol repetition based on various pre-configured or configured transmission comb offset patterns. To reduce interference, the transmission comb offset pattern may be a function of UE ID, SRS sequence ID, cell ID, or scrambling ID. The transmission comb offset pattern may be a function of the transmission comb value and the SRS repetition factor. A method of an embodiment configures a transmission comb offset pattern of RE mapping within one symbol repetition for each SRS resource.

In the disclosed embodiments, a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission method and apparatus for positioning are provided, which can improve performance of uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA) measurement for User Equipment (UE) positioning. The disclosed embodiments are a combination of techniques/procedures that may be employed in 3GPP specifications to create an end product.

Fig. 10 is a block diagram of an example system 700 for wireless communication in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. Fig. 10 illustrates that system 700 includes Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 710, baseband circuitry 720, application circuitry 730, memory/storage 740, display 750, camera 760, sensor 770, and input/output (I/O) interface 780, coupled to each other at least as shown.

The application circuitry 730 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor may include any combination of general purpose processors and special purpose processors, such as a graphics processor and an application processor. The processor may be coupled with the memory/storage and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems running on the system.

Baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry may handle various wireless control functions that enable communication with one or more wireless networks through the RF circuitry. The wireless control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation, encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may provide communications compatible with one or more wireless technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may support communication with an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) and/or other Wireless Metropolitan Area Networks (WMANs), wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry is configured to support wireless communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. In various embodiments, baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered to be within baseband frequencies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may include circuitry that operates with an intermediate frequency signal between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency.

RF circuitry 710 may enable communication with a wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry may include switches, filters, amplifiers, and the like to facilitate communication with the wireless network. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 710 may include circuitry that operates with signals that are not strictly considered to be at radio frequencies. For example, in some embodiments, the RF circuitry may include circuitry that operates with intermediate frequency signals between baseband frequencies and radio frequencies.

In various embodiments, the transmitter circuitry, control circuitry, or receiver circuitry discussed above with respect to the user equipment, eNB, or gNB may be embodied in whole or in part in one or more of RF circuitry, baseband circuitry, and/or application circuitry. As used herein, "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that executes one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, some or all of the components of the baseband circuitry, application circuitry, and/or memory/storage devices may be implemented together on a System On Chip (SOC).

Memory/storage 740 may be used to load and store, for example, data and/or instructions for the system. The memory/storage of an embodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory (e.g., dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM)) and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory). In various embodiments, I/O interface 780 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system and/or one or more peripheral component interfaces designed to enable interaction with peripheral components of the system. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker, a microphone, and the like. The peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power interface.

In various embodiments, the sensors 770 may include one or more sensing devices for determining environmental conditions and/or location information related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyroscope sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor (proximity sensor), an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be part of or interact with baseband circuitry and/or RF circuitry for communicating with components of a positioning network, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites. In various embodiments, display 750 may include a display, such as a liquid crystal display and a touch screen display. In various embodiments, system 700 may be a mobile computing device, such as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, and the like. In various embodiments, the system may have more or fewer components and/or different architectures. Where appropriate, the methods described herein may be implemented as a computer program. The computer program may be stored on a storage medium, such as a non-transitory storage medium.

Those of ordinary skill in the art would appreciate that the various elements, algorithms and steps described and disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented using electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the application conditions and design requirements of the solution. Those of ordinary skill in the art may implement the functionality of each particular application in different ways, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that reference may be made to the operation of the systems, devices and units described in the above embodiments because the operation of the systems, devices and units described above is substantially the same. For ease of description and simplicity, these operations will not be described in detail.

It should be understood that the systems, devices, and methods disclosed in embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in other ways. The above embodiments are merely exemplary. The division of the unit is only based on logic function, and other division modes exist in the implementation. Multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system. Certain features may also be omitted or skipped. In another aspect, the shown or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling or communicative coupling operate indirectly or communicatively through some port, device or element, electrically, mechanically or otherwise.

Elements described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The elements shown are or are not physical elements, i.e. located in one place or distributed over a plurality of network elements. Some or all of the units are used according to the purpose of the embodiment. In addition, the functional units in the embodiments may be physically and independently integrated into one processing unit, or may be integrated into one processing unit having two or more units.

If the software functional unit is implemented, used, or sold as a product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium in a computer. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions proposed by the present disclosure can be implemented substantially or partially in the form of software products. Alternatively, a part of the technical solution advantageous to the prior art may be implemented in the form of a software product. The software product in the computer is stored in a storage medium and comprises a plurality of commands for causing a computing device (such as a personal computer, a server or a network device) to execute all or part of the steps disclosed by the embodiment of the disclosure. The storage medium includes a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a floppy disk, or other medium capable of storing program code.

While the present disclosure has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the disclosed embodiment, but is intended to cover various arrangements made without departing from the scope of the broadest interpretation of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission method of User Equipment (UE) comprises the following steps:

receiving configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning from a Base Station (BS); and

according to the configuration information of the transmission comb offset mode of the SRS resource used for positioning, the SRS resource in the SRS resource set is sent to the BS by the determined transmission comb offset;

the method further comprises the following steps: mapping each antenna port of the SRS resource to each symbol within each repetition of consecutive symbols with a respective transmission comb offset indicated in a transmission comb offset pattern configured in the each symbol;

wherein each antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to the same set of subcarriers but with a different comb offset on different symbols.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: prior to transmitting the SRS resources in the SRS resource set to the BS with the determined transmission comb offset, the BS indicates the SRS resources for positioning in the SRS resource set.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising: before the determined transmission comb offset is used for transmitting the SRS resource in the SRS resource set to the BS, determining a transmission comb offset mapped by a Resource Element (RE) of each symbol in one SRS repetition of the SRS resource for positioning according to configuration information of a transmission comb offset mode of the SRS resource for positioning.

4. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising: the BS configures the set of SRS resources, wherein, for each SRS resource, the UE is configured with a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbols, a repetition factor, and a starting symbol index.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the number of OFDM symbols is greater than or equal to the repetition factor.

6. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein transmitting the SRS resources in the set of SRS resources to the BS with the determined transmission comb offset is configured for measuring at least one of an uplink relative time of arrival (RTOA), an angle of arrival (AoA), an uplink Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), and a receive transmit Rx-Tx time difference.

7. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the transmission comb offset pattern comprises a UE identity ID, SRS sequence ID, cell ID, or scrambling ID.

8. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the transmission comb offset pattern comprises transmission comb values and SRS repetition factors.

9. A user equipment, UE, of sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission, comprising:

a memory;

a transceiver; and

a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver,

wherein the transceiver is configured to:

according to the configuration information of the transmission comb offset mode of the SRS resource for positioning, sending the SRS resource in the SRS resource set to the BS by the determined transmission comb offset;

wherein the processor is configured to map each antenna port of the SRS resource to each symbol within each repetition of consecutive symbols with a respective transmission comb offset indicated in a transmission comb offset pattern configured in the each symbol;

wherein each antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to the same subcarrier set but with a different comb offset on different symbols.

10. The UE of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to: indicating, by the BS, the SRS resources for positioning in the SRS resource set before the determined transmission comb offset to the BS transmits the SRS resources in the SRS resource set.

11. The UE of claim 9 or 10, wherein the processor is configured to: determining a transmission comb offset mapped by Resource Elements (REs) of each symbol in a primary SRS repetition of the SRS resource for positioning according to configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of the SRS resource for positioning before transmitting the SRS resource in the SRS resource set to the BS with the determined transmission comb offset.

12. The UE of claim 9 or 10, wherein the processor is configured to: configuring, by the BS, the set of SRS resources, wherein, for each SRS resource, the processor is configured with a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbols, a repetition factor, and a starting symbol index.

13. The UE of claim 12, wherein the number of OFDM symbols is greater than or equal to the repetition factor.

14. The UE of claim 9 or 10, wherein transmitting the SRS resources of the set of SRS resources to the BS with the determined transmission comb offset is configured for measuring at least one of an uplink relative time of arrival, RTOA, an angle of arrival, aoA, an uplink RSRP reference signal received power, and a receive transmit, rx-Tx, time difference.

15. The UE of claim 9 or 10, wherein the transmission comb offset pattern comprises a UE identity ID, SRS sequence ID, cell ID, or scrambling ID.

16. The UE of claim 9 or 10, wherein the transmission comb offset pattern comprises transmission comb values and SRS repetition factors.

17. A Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) transmission method of a Base Station (BS) comprises the following steps:

transmitting configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of SRS resources for positioning to User Equipment (UE); and

receiving, from the UE, the SRS resources in an SRS resource set having the determined transmission comb offset according to configuration information of a transmission comb offset pattern of the SRS resources for positioning;

wherein each antenna port of the SRS resource is mapped to each symbol within each repetition of consecutive symbols with a respective transmission comb offset indicated in a transmission comb offset pattern configured in said each symbol;

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising: indicating the SRS resources for positioning in the SRS resource set to the UE prior to receiving the SRS resources in the SRS resource set with the determined transmission comb offset from the UE.

19. The method of claim 17 or 18, further comprising: configuring the set of SRS resources to the UE, wherein, for each SRS resource, the BS is configured to configure a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbols, a repetition factor, and a starting symbol index to the UE.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the number of OFDM symbols is greater than or equal to the repetition factor.

21. The method of claim 17 or 18, wherein receiving from the UE the SRS resources in the set of SRS resources with the determined transmission comb offset is configured for measuring at least one of uplink relative time of arrival, RTOA, angle of arrival, aoA, uplink reference signal received power, RSRP, and receive transmit Rx-Tx time difference.

22. The method of claim 17 or 18, wherein the transmission comb offset pattern comprises a UE identity ID, SRS sequence ID, cell ID, or scrambling ID.

23. The method of claim 17 or 18, wherein the transmission comb offset pattern comprises transmission comb values and SRS repetition factors.

24. A base station, BS, of sounding reference signal, SRS, transmission, comprising:

a memory;

a transceiver; and

a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver,

wherein the transceiver is configured to:

25. The BS of claim 24, wherein the processor is configured to: indicating the SRS resources for positioning in the set of SRS resources to the UE prior to receiving the SRS resources with the determined transmission comb offset in the set of SRS resources from the UE.

26. The BS of claim 24 or 25, wherein the processor is configured to configure the UE with the set of SRS resources, wherein for each SRS resource the processor is configured to configure the UE with a number of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing, OFDM, symbols, a repetition factor, and a starting symbol index.

27. The BS of claim 26, wherein the number of OFDM symbols is greater than or equal to the repetition factor.

28. The BS of claim 24 or 25, wherein the SRS resources from the set of SRS resources with the determined transmission comb offset received from the UE are configured for measuring at least one of an uplink relative time of arrival, RTOA, an angle of arrival, aoA, an uplink reference signal received power, RSRP, and a receive transmit, rx-Tx, time difference.

29. The BS of claim 24 or 25, wherein the transmission comb offset pattern comprises a UE identity ID, SRS sequence ID, cell ID, or scrambling ID.

30. The BS of claim 24 or 25, wherein the transmission comb offset pattern comprises transmission comb values and SRS repetition factors.

31. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1-8 and 17-23.

32. A terminal device, comprising: a processor and a memory, the memory configured to store a computer program, the processor configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the method of any of claims 1-8.

33. A network node, comprising: a processor and a memory, the memory configured to store a computer program, the processor configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the method of any of claims 17 to 23.