TW202207721A - Identification of an invalid reference device in device positioning - Google Patents

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to identification of an invalid reference device in device positioning. A method comprises receiving, at a first device and from a second device, at least one first positioning-related measurement result for positioning of at least one of a set of reference devices. The set of reference devices transmit respective reference signals for positioning a target device. The method also comprises determining at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device based on the at least one first positioning-related measurement result and a location of the second device. The method further comprises in response to a mismatch between the at least one estimated location and a set of locations of valid reference devices for the target device, identifying an invalid reference device from the at least one reference device.

Description

Invalid reference device identification technology in device positioning

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly, to a method, apparatus, apparatus, and computer-readable storage medium for identifying invalid reference devices in device location.

Many services that use communications involve accurate device location determination. For some device positioning use cases, including autonomous or semi-autonomous steering of mobile objects, integrity is a key issue. Exemplary use cases include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X) scenarios with outdoor coverage, where conventional Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) approaches rely on terrestrial positioning solutions, or indoor scenarios involving self-guided vehicles (AGVs), which The mobility process depends partly or entirely on positioning through a network.

To facilitate locating a target device, reference devices may be configured to transmit reference signals for positioning related measurements. One or more invalid devices may transmit reference signals as an intruder impersonating a legitimate reference device, which may distort the location estimate of the target device. An invalid reference device is typically a communication device or device operated by a malicious actor pretending to be a legitimate device in a communication network. Protection against invalid reference devices is an important integrity management issue in device positioning.

In general, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for identifying an invalid reference device in device location. Embodiments, if any, that do not fall within the scope of the claims are intended to be interpreted as useful examples for understanding the various embodiments of the present disclosure.

In a first aspect, a first device is provided. The first device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to cause the first device receiving at least one first positioning-related measurement from a second device for locating at least one reference device in a set of reference devices that transmit corresponding reference signals for locating a target device; based on the at least one first a location-related measurement and a location of the second device, determining at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device; and in response to a relationship between the at least one estimated location and a set of locations of valid reference devices for the target device of a mismatch, an invalid reference device is identified from the at least one reference device.

In a second aspect, a second device is provided. The second device includes at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to cause the second device to utilize At least one first positioning-related measurement for locating at least one reference device in a set of reference devices that transmits corresponding measurements for locating a target device is determined by measuring at least one reference signal from the at least one reference device a reference signal; and transmitting the at least one first positioning-related measurement to a first device for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device.

In a third aspect, a method is provided. The method includes receiving, at a first device and from a second device, at least one first location-related measurement for locating at least one reference device in a set of reference devices transmitted for locating a target device based on the at least one first positioning-related measurement and a position of the second device, determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device; and responsive to the at least one estimated position with the target device A mismatch between a set of positions of the valid reference devices identifies an invalid reference device from the at least one reference device.

In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method includes, at a second device, determining at least one first location-related measurement for locating at least one reference device in a set of reference devices by measuring at least one reference signal from the at least one reference device, the set of reference devices The reference device transmits corresponding reference signals for locating a target device; and the at least one first location-related measurement result is transmitted to a first device for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device.

In a fifth aspect, a first apparatus is provided. The first apparatus includes means for receiving at least one first location-related measurement from a second apparatus for locating at least one reference device of a set of reference devices that transmit corresponding values for locating a target device a reference signal; means for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device based on the at least one first position-related measurement and a position of the second device; and responsive to the at least one estimated position and for the target A mismatch between a set of positions of valid reference devices of the device identifies a component for an invalid reference device from the at least one reference device.

In a sixth aspect, a second apparatus is provided. The second apparatus includes means for determining at least one first location-related measurement for locating at least one reference device of a set of reference devices by measuring at least one reference signal from the at least one reference device, the set of reference devices means for transmitting corresponding reference signals for locating a target device; and transmitting the at least one first location-related measurement to a first apparatus for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device.

In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium includes program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable medium is provided. The computer-readable medium includes program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

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

The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some illustrative embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only, and are helpful for those of ordinary skill in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, and do not suggest any limitation to the scope of the present disclosure. The embodiments described herein may be implemented in various ways other than those described below.

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

References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "an exemplary embodiment," and the like indicate that the embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not necessarily every An embodiment includes the specified feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, such terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a specific feature, structure, or characteristic is described in conjunction with an embodiment, it can be known that it is within the knowledge of those with ordinary knowledge in the art to affect the feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with other embodiments. , whether or not explicitly stated.

It will be understood that, although the terms "first" and "second" 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 terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to limit the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a" and "the" are intended to include both the plural forms unless the content clearly dictates otherwise. It will be further understood that the words "comprising", "having" and/or "including" and/or their conjugations when used herein designate the presence of the stated features, elements, and/or components, etc., but not The presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof is excluded.

"Circuitry," as used in this application, may mean one or more or all of the following: (a) Hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in analog- and/or digital-only circuits) ), and (b) a combination of hardware and software such as, if applicable: (i) (the) combinations of analog and/or digital hardware and software/firmware, and (ii) a combination of ( any portion of) hardware processors (including digital signal processor(s)), software and memory(s) that operate together to enable a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions, and (c ) hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s) that require software (eg, firmware) to operate, such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), but the software does not It may not be present when it is required to operate as well.

The definition of "circuitry" applies to all uses of that term in this application, including all uses of that term in any claims within the scope of the application. As a further example, the term "circuitry" as used in this application also encompasses only a hardware circuit or processor (or processors), or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor, and It comes with an implementation of the software and/or firmware. The term "circuitry" also covers a baseband IC or processor IC for a mobile device, or a server, a cellular network device, or one of other computing or networking devices like an integrated circuit.

The term "communication network" as used herein means a network that conforms to any appropriate communication standard, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Broadband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. Furthermore, the communication between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including but not limited to first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5 G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied in various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communications, of course, there will be future communication technologies and systems that can implement the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should not be considered limited only to the aforementioned systems.

As used herein, the term "network device" means a node in a communication network through which an end device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. A network device may mean a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), eg, a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also known as a gNB), a remote control radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a repeater, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a low A power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-terrestrial network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a pair of geostationary earth orbits (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, etc., depending on the terminology and technology applied.

The term "end device" means any end device that may be capable of communicating. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, a user equipment (UE), a secure user plane location (SUPL) supporting terminal (SET), a subscriber station (SS), a Portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS), or an access terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a Voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a tablet computer, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) ), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, game terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile radios, laptop embedded devices (LEE), Laptop Mounting Equipment (LME), hard lock, smart device, wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable device, a head-worn device Display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and application (eg telesurgery), an industrial device and application (eg a robot operating in an industrial and/or an automated process chain environment) and/or other wireless devices), a consumer electronic device, a device operating on a commercial and/or industrial wireless network, and the like. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" are used interchangeably.

When the terms "resource", "transmission resource", "resource block", "physical resource block" (PRB), "uplink resource", or "downlink resource" are used herein, they may mean Any resource for a communication, eg, for a 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 A resource, or any other resource capable of a communication, and the like. Hereinafter, either the frequency domain or the one resource in the domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource to illustrate some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. It should be appreciated that the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains. exemplary environment

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary communication environment 100 in which exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The communication environment 100 includes a first device 110 , a group of reference devices including reference devices 120 - 1 , 120 - 2 , 120 - 3 , 120 - 4 and 120 - 5 , and a target device 130 . For discussion purposes, the set of reference devices 120-1, 120-2, 120-3, 120-4, and 120-5 are collectively or individually referred to as reference device 120.

In the exemplary environment 100, the target device 130 is one of the devices being located. In some exemplary embodiments, the target device 130 may include a terminal device. In the example shown, target device 130 is depicted as a robot in an IoT context. However, it will be appreciated that target device 130 may include any other type of end device.

Reference device 120 may include a physical entity that provides signals to be detected and measured by target device 130 in order to obtain the location of target device 130 . The signals transmitted by reference signal 120 for positioning target device 130 may include reference signals, such as positioning reference signals (PRS) or beacon signals. Reference device 120 may also be referred to as a reference source or transmit reception point (TRP). In some demonstrative embodiments, reference device 120 may comprise a network device located in a radio access network (RAN). For example, the reference device 120 may include a network device serving the target device 130 , such as a network device connected to the target device 130 . In some examples, reference device 120 may include one or more neighboring network devices of the serving network device. Alternatively, or in addition to network devices in the RAN, reference device 120 may include an access point (AP) located in a wireless access local area network (WLAN), devices compliant with other communication protocols, such as Bluetooth R devices , and/or the like.

The first device 110 may include a server and/or any other computing device configured to manage positioning for the target device 130 and/or provide data (eg, "auxiliary data") to the target device 130 to facilitate location determination. In such a situation, the first device 110 may be referred to as a location server. In some demonstrative embodiments, the first device 110 may include a core network (CN) entity configured to support end device location management. For example, the first device 110 may include a location management function (LMF) that supports the location of the target device 130 by a target device 130 using a control plane (CP) location solution for 5G or NR wireless access. In other examples, the first device 110 may include a discovered SLP (D-SLP) or an emergency SLP (E-SLP). The first device 110 may also include an Enhanced Servo Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) that supports the location of the UE 105 using a control plane (CP) location solution for LTE access by the target device 130 .

The positioning procedure for the target device 130 may include a target device (eg, UE) based procedure or a target device (eg, UE) assist procedure. In the target device-based procedure, the target device 130 measures the reference signals transmitted from the plurality of reference devices 120 and estimates its position based on the results of the measurements. Measurement can also mean measurements that are positioning related measurements or measurements made for positioning purposes. The results of the measurements may therefore be referred to as location-related measurements. In the target device assistance procedure, the target device 130 reports the positioning-related measurement results to the first device 110 via, for example, a non-access stratum (NAS). The first device 110 then estimates the location of the target device 130 based on the positioning-related measurements. The first device 110 may provide the estimated location to the target device 130 and/or to any other entity requesting the location of the target device 130 .

It is understood that the number of devices is for illustrative purposes only and does not suggest any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any number of first devices, reference devices, and target devices suitable for implementing the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

Communication in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any suitable communication protocol, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), and third generation (4G) The fifth generation (5G) and similar cellular communication protocols, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and similar wireless local network communication protocols, and/or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. In addition, communication may utilize any suitable wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) ), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or currently known or to be developed in the future any other technology.

To support critical service requirements in many applications, the accuracy requirements for device positioning continue to increase. For example, a detailed list of 5G positioning requirements is provided in Table 7.3.2.2-1 of 3GPP Specification TS 22.261, the contents of which are reproduced below. Table 7.3.2.2-1 Performance Requirements for Horizontal and Vertical Positioning Service Levels Location service level Absolute (A) or relative (R) positioning Accuracy (95% confidence level) Location Services Availability Location Services Dive Coverage, usage environment and UE speed Horizontal accuracy Vertical Accuracy (Note 1) 5G location service area 5G Enhanced Location Services Area (Note 2) Outdoors and Tunnels indoor 1 A 10 m 3 m 95% 1 s Indoor - up to 30 km/h Outdoor (suburban and urban) up to 250 km/h NA Indoor - up to 30 km/h 2 A 3 m 3 m 99% 1 s Outdoor (suburban and urban) trains up to 500 km/h and other vehicles up to 250 km/h Outdoors (dense urban areas) up to 60 km/h up to 250 km/h along roads and up to 500 km/h along railways Indoor - up to 30 km/h 3 A 1 m 2 m 99% 1 s Outdoor (suburban and urban) trains up to 500 km/h and other vehicles up to 250 km/h Outdoors (dense urban areas) up to 60 km/h up to 250 km/h along roads and up to 500 km/h along railways Indoor - up to 30 km/h 4 A 1 m 2 m 99.9% 15 ms NA NA Indoor - up to 30 km/h 5 A 0.3 m 2 m 99% 1 s Outdoor (urban) up to 250 km/h Outdoor (dense urban areas) up to 60 km/h along roads and railways, up to 250 km/h Indoor - up to 30 km/h 6 A 0.3 m 2 m 99.9% 10 ms NA Outdoors (dense urban areas) up to 60 km/h Indoor - up to 30 km/h 7 R 0.2 m 0.2 m 99% 1 s Indoor and outdoor (suburban, urban, dense urban) up to 30 km/h Relative positioning between two UEs within 10 m of each other, or between one UE and 5G positioning node within 10 m of each other Room (Note 3) Note 1: The purpose of the vertical positioning requirement is to identify floors for indoor use cases and also to distinguish superimposed tracks for road and rail use cases (eg, bridges). Note 2: Indoor includes locations inside buildings such as offices, hospitals, industrial buildings, etc. Note 3: 5G positioning nodes are infrastructure equipment deployed in service areas to enhance positioning capabilities (eg, beacons deployed on the perimeter of a meeting area or on the side of a warehouse).

As can be seen, for some positioning service levels, the level of positioning accuracy, and the level of service availability reach challenging figures (eg, 0.3 m accuracy with 99.9% availability), implying that as an end-to-end The completeness of the service should cover multiple areas such that the intended use cases are covered.

One of the major issues associated with device location is security as part of the overall integrity requirements in a communication network. In particular, in some critical applications the estimated location needs to correspond very closely to the ground truth location; otherwise the integrity level cannot be achieved and therefore the location service will not be able to meet its requirements.

The term "invalid reference device" is loosely used to denote one of the devices impersonating a true reference device. An "invalid reference device" may also be referred to as an "illegal reference device," a "pseudo reference device," or "an invalid reference device," and those terms are used interchangeably herein. In contrast to an invalid reference device, a true reference device is also referred to as a "valid reference device," a "legal reference device," or "a true reference device," and these terms are used interchangeably herein.

An invalid reference device is maliciously used by an attacker to tamper with location data (among other things) and cause a malfunction. More specifically, some positioning procedures require measurement of reference signals transmitted by known reference devices at the target device so that the location of the target device can be estimated based on the positioning-related measurements. If one or more reference devices are invalid reference devices that are not registered with the network and transmit reference signals measured by the target device, the estimated location of the target device will be distorted. For example, in the communication environment 100 of FIG. 1, illustrated with an invalid reference device (such as reference device 120-5), the first device 110 may not have the ability to distinguish between legitimate and invalid location-related measurements, and may All received results are used to estimate the location of the target device 130 . Depending on the associated use case, the distorted location of the target device 130 can pose a critical issue.

In general, reference signals transmitted for positioning purposes are unencrypted beacons, since the target device does not need to establish a secure connection with the reference device to receive the reference signal. Therefore, the reference signal can be easily imitated, replayed or tampered with by malicious attackers. As a result, an invalid reference device can forge reference signals from an unknown location that has never been registered in the network. In another scenario, an invalid reference device may be capable of replaying reference signals from a valid reference device, however, which are not among the valid reference devices for the target device. The replayed reference signal may potentially have the same pattern as the reference signal used by a neighboring reference device. In such attack scenarios, the target device can derive a positioning-related measurement by measuring reference signals that do not originate from locations where legitimate neighboring reference devices are registered with the network. Therefore, based on this "illegal" location-related measurement, the location of the target device may be distorted, eg, it does not correspond to the ground truth location.

Some positioning procedures, such as a network-assisted positioning procedure and a procedure to obtain network-assisted data associated with a non-target device, may not require the target device to participate in location measurement and reporting. It is the network device that obtains and reports positioning measurements for the target device being positioned. Since the network device has established a secure connection with core network entities (such as the Access and Mobility Management Function - AMF) before obtaining and reporting location measurements, an invalid reference device has no chance of intrusion to launch any attack.

However, in a target device (eg, UE)-based positioning procedure or a target device (eg, UE) assisted positioning procedure as described above, the target device needs to perform positioning-related measurements and/or based on reference signals received from a set of reference devices. or location estimation. In order to ensure positioning integrity for a target device, it is desirable to identify an invalid reference device(s) from a set of reference devices that transmit reference signals for positioning the target device. basic operating principle

According to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for identifying an invalid reference device(s) in device location. In this solution, a first device receives at least one first positioning-related measurement from a second device for at least one reference device in a set of reference devices. The second device may include, for example, a target device that is positioned or any trusted device whose location is known by the first device. The first device determines at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device based on the at least one first positioning-related measurement and a location of the second device. The first device then compares the at least one estimated location to a set of locations of valid reference devices for the target device. If a mismatch is found between the at least one estimated location and the set of locations of valid reference devices, the first device determines that the at least one reference device includes one or more invalid reference devices. The first device may identify invalid reference devices from at least one reference device from which its estimated location was obtained.

With this solution, by directing a second device to report a position-related measurement(s) used to determine the estimated position(s) of one of the reference device(s), the first device can verify the existence of the one(s) Invalid reference device. This solution supports accurate detection of the invalid reference device(s) without causing significant additional load between devices or changes to existing positioning procedures. In addition, the disclosed solution does not require a heavyweight ciphering solution to hide location-related information.

Accurate detection of the invalid reference device(s) can ensure accurate position determination of the target device, for example by transferring a positioning-related measurement result(s) obtained by measuring a reference signal(s) from the invalid reference(s) Device excluded.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. As mentioned above, the second device that assists the first device in identifying the invalid reference device(s) may be the target device or any other trusted device whose location is known to the first device. In the following, depending on the selection of the second device, the identification of the invalid reference device(s) may relate to different devices, exemplary embodiments of which will be explained with reference to Figures 2 and 5, respectively. Target Device Aided Identification of Invalid Reference Device ( s)

Referring first to FIG. 2, a signaling process 200 for identifying an invalid reference device is shown, according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the signaling flow 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1 . The signaling flow 200 involves the first device 110, a set of reference devices 120, and the target device 130 in FIG. 1 . In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 2 , the target device 130 is used as a second device for providing auxiliary information for the first device 110 to check whether the set of reference devices 120 includes an invalid reference device(s).

As shown, the set of reference devices 120 transmits 205 corresponding reference signals for the purpose of locating the target device 130 . As mentioned above, the set of reference devices 120 may include network devices located in the RAN, APs located in the WLAN, and/or other devices capable of transmitting reference signals for positioning purposes.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, target device 130 determines 210 at least one first positioning-related measurement by measuring at least one reference signal from at least one reference device 120 for positioning at least one of the set of reference devices 120 By.

In some exemplary embodiments, the target device 130 may be configured by the first device 110 to report the first positioning-related measurement result(s) for at least one reference device 120 . The first device 110 may transmit 212 the measurement configuration information to the target device 130 . The measurement configuration information is used to configure the target device 130 to report a corresponding first positioning-related measurement result for at least one reference device 120 . At least one reference device 120 may be one of the reference device(s) considered to be a potentially invalid reference device. In an exemplary embodiment, the first device 110 may configure the target device 130 by measuring configuration information to report a first for each reference device 120 that transmits a reference signal measured by the target device 130 Location-related measurements.

The measurement configuration information may be provided to the target device 130 as a physical security configuration. After receiving 214 the measurement configuration information, the target device 130 can thereby determine the first positioning-related measurement result for the assembled reference device. In some demonstrative embodiments, target devices 130 may be designated or preconfigured to report first positioning-related measurements associated with each reference device 120 from which the reference signal was detected.

A first location-related measurement associated with a corresponding reference device 120 includes measurement information that can be used to determine a position of the reference device 120 . The first positioning-related measurement result may include various measurement information to enable the positioning of the reference device 120 . Specifically, the first positioning-related measurement result may include a timing measurement, an angle-related measurement, and/or a received power-related measurement on the reference signal transmitted from the corresponding reference device 120 . Timing measurements may allow distance estimation between the target device 130 and the corresponding reference device 120 . In some demonstrative embodiments, the timing measurement may include a measurement of timing advance (TA) corresponding to reference device 120 .

The angle-dependent measurements may allow angle estimation between the target device 130 and the corresponding reference device 120 . In some exemplary embodiments, the angle-related measurements may include measurement information indicating an angle of departure (AoD) at the corresponding reference device 120 . The AoD may be measured as the AoD of the reference signal transmitted from the corresponding reference device 120 .

As shown in FIG. 3 , it is assumed that the target device 130 is configured to report the first positioning-related measurement result for the positioning of the reference devices 120-1 to 120-5. Target device 130 may detect reference signals from reference devices 120-1 through 120-5 using beams 311 through 315, and measure the received signal power of the reference signals. Target device 130 may then determine corresponding angle-related measures of AoD (denoted θ1, θ2, θ3, θ4, and θ5) at reference devices 120-1 through 120-5.

Alternatively, or in addition, the angle-related measurements may include measurement information indicating a relative angle between a direction from the corresponding reference device 120 to the target device 130 and a direction from a given reference device 120 to the target device 130 . The direction from the reference device 120 to the target device 130 can be determined by measuring the direction of arrival of the reference signal transmitted from the reference device 120 . That is, since the orientation of the target device 130 is unknown, the target device 130 can measure the angle at which it sees the corresponding reference device 120 relative to a reference angle at which it sees a certain reference device. The relative angle can be regarded as a relative angle. A reference device 120 may be a servo device in the set of reference devices 120 for the target device 130, or any other device used as a measurement reference for determining relative angles.

In order to better illustrate the relative angle measurement, as shown in FIG. 3 , it is assumed that the reference device 120 - 3 is used as a measurement reference for measuring relative angles with respect to other reference devices. A relative angle 321 between a direction of arrival from reference device 120-1 and a direction of arrival from reference device 120-3 is measured at target device 130. Similarly, target device 130 may measure a relative angle 322 from the direction of arrival of reference device 120-2 and reference device 120-3, from the direction of arrival of reference device 120-4 and reference device 120-3. A relative angle 323 between and a relative angle 324 from the direction of arrival of reference device 120-5 and reference device 120-3.

For a reference device 120 , the received power-related measurements may include the received power from one of the reference signals measured from the reference device 120 . In some demonstrative embodiments, the received power related measurements indicate a reference signal received power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), and/or any other indicator for the received energy of the reference signal. In some demonstrative embodiments, target device 130 may make a beam-specific measurement of the received power for each of the receive beams.

Some exemplary measurements have been provided for estimating the location of reference device 120 . It will be appreciated that various other aspects of measurements made on the reference signal transmitted from the reference device 120 may also be determined and included in the first positioning-related measurement, so long as such measurements can facilitate the positioning of the reference device 120 .

In addition to the first positioning-related measurements, the target device 130 further determines a second set of positioning-related measurements for positioning of the target device 130 by measuring the corresponding reference signals transmitted from the set of reference devices 120 . Each second positioning-related measurement is associated with one of the set of reference devices 120 and is obtained by measuring the reference signal transmitted by the corresponding reference device 120 .

The second set of location-related measurements includes measurement information that can be used to determine a location of the target device 130 . For example, the target device 130 may measure the downlink (DL) time of arrival reference (DL-TDoA) of the reference signal originating from the corresponding reference device 120 and another reference device 120 (which serves as a measurement reference). Thus, a second positioning-related measurement associated with a corresponding reference device 120 may include measurement information indicating Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD). RSTD corresponds to a relative timing difference between the reference device 120 and another reference device 120 used as a measurement reference.

It will be appreciated that each second location-related measurement may alternatively or additionally include other measurement information that may be used to locate the target device 130, depending on the location estimation method applied by the first device 110.

Still referring to FIG. 2 , the target device 130 transmits 215 to the first device 110 at least one first positioning-related measurement result for positioning the at least one reference device 120 . In addition, the target device 130 transmits the second set of positioning-related measurement results to the first device 110 for positioning of the target device 130 . The first position-related measurements may be communicated together with or separately from the set of second position-related measurements.

The first device 110 receives 220 at least one first positioning-related measurement and the set of second positioning-related measurements. To check whether any invalid reference devices intrude into the location-related measurements of the target device 130 , the first device 110 determines 225 at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device 120 based on the at least one first location-related measurement and a location of the target device 130 .

Since the ground truth location of the target device 130 is unknown, the first device 110 may determine an estimated location of the target device 130 based on the second set of positioning-related measurements, and use the estimated location of the target device 130 to determine the location of the at least one reference device 120 Estimated location. Position estimation of target device 130 is known to have various positioning methods available. The first device 110 may apply any suitable positioning method of these positioning methods, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

Given the estimated location of the target device 130 , for each reference device 120 reporting a first positioning-related measurement, the first device 110 may determine the reference device based on the corresponding first positioning-related measurement and the estimated location of the target device 130 One of 120 estimated locations.

In some demonstrative embodiments, first device 110 may be based on the associated first positioning-related measurements and timing measurements (such as measurements of TA) and/or received power-related measurements included in the estimated position of target device 130 , to determine an estimated distance between the reference device 120 and the target device 130 . The first device 110 may further determine based on at least one angle-related measurement taken from the target device 130 , such as measurement information indicating the AoD at the reference device 120 , or the relative angle of arrival between the two reference devices 120 at the target device 130 The angle is estimated from one of the directions from the target device 130 to the reference device 120 . The first device 110 may then determine the estimated location of the corresponding reference device 120 based on the estimated distance, estimated angle, and estimated location of the target device 130 .

It will be appreciated that the first device 110 may apply other methods to the location estimation of the reference device 120 depending on the first position-related measurements. The scope of the present disclosure is not limited herein.

As the at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device 120 is determined, the first device 110 compares the at least one estimated location of the reference device 120 to a set of locations of valid reference devices 120 for the target device 130 . Valid reference devices 120 may be those reference devices registered in a tracking area of target device 130 . In some exemplary embodiments, the set of locations of the valid reference device 120 may be provided to the first device 110 by AMF. In some exemplary embodiments, the set of locations of valid reference device 120 may be represented as a range of the tracking area of target device 130 .

Depending on the result of the comparison, if the first device 110 detects a mismatch between at least one estimated location of the reference device 120 and the set of locations of the valid reference devices, the first device 110 may determine that there is at least one invalid reference device transmitting a loan The reference signal measured by the target device 130 . Accordingly, the first device 110 identifies 230 an invalid reference device from the at least one reference device 120 . In some illustrative embodiments, a mismatch may be detected if one or more estimated locations are found to be far from the set of locations of a valid reference device, eg, far from the tracking area of target device 130 .

In some exemplary embodiments, the first device 110 may not have the ability to distinguish among the set of second positioning-related measurements for the reference device since an invalid reference device may have the ability to replicate or replay the reference signal from a valid reference device Legal and illegal measurements made. Therefore, the first device 110 may treat all reference devices 120 as unprocessable reference devices, and each reference device 120 may need to be authenticated. Therefore, the target device 130 may be requested to report the first positioning-related measurement result for each of the set of reference devices 120 from which the reference signal used for positioning is measured. In some demonstrative embodiments, the first location from target device 130 may not be required if first device 110 can determine in some way that one or more of the set of reference devices 120 has not been impersonated by an invalid reference device related measurement results. In such a situation, the first device 110 may bypass the verification of the valid reference device 120, eg, by not requiring the target device 130 to report the first positioning-related measurement result.

In some illustrative embodiments, if only one reference device 120 needs to be verified, a mismatch between the estimated location of this reference device 120 and the set of locations of valid reference devices may indicate that the reference device 120 is an invalid reference device. In some cases, if the first device 110 needs to authenticate two or more reference devices 120, the first device 110 may not specifically infer which reference device 120 is an invalid reference device and it is not based solely on estimated locations and valid reference devices The mismatch between the positions of the group. In order to specifically locate the pseudo reference device among the two or more reference devices 120, the first device 110 may apply an exclusion method for checking the estimated positions of the remaining reference devices 120 if one or more reference devices 120 are excluded Whether all match the positions of valid reference devices.

Specifically, each time one or more reference devices 120 are excluded, the first device 110 discards the second positioning-related measurement results associated with the excluded reference devices 120, and uses the remaining second positioning-related measurement results to update the target The estimated location of the device 130 . The first device 110 may determine the updated estimated location of the remaining reference devices 120 based on the updated estimated location of the target device 130 and the first positioning-related measurements for the remaining reference devices 120 .

The updated estimated positions of the remaining reference devices 120 are then compared to the set of positions of the active reference devices. If all updated estimated positions match the set of positions of a valid reference device, for example, if all updated estimated positions are within the tracking area of target device 130, it means that target device 130 is legitimate, and therefore the remaining reference devices 120 are all legal. Accordingly, one or more excluded reference devices 120 may be determined to be invalid reference devices.

The first device 110 may perform an iterative process to verify all possible combinations of reference devices 120, wherein several reference devices are excluded from the combinations in each round of iterations. 4 illustrates such an iterative process 400 for identifying an invalid reference device, according to some illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure.

At block 405, the first device 110 sets a number (denoted as N) of reference devices to be excluded to one ("1"). At block 410, the first device 110 excludes N reference devices from the plurality of reference devices 120 to be verified. By excluding the different N reference devices, the first device 110 obtains M sets of remaining reference devices 120 , each set including a different combination of reference devices 120 .

For example, assume that the first device 110 needs to check whether each of the five reference devices 120-1 to 120-5 in the example of FIG. 1 is an invalid reference device. If one reference device is to be excluded from the five reference devices (N=1), the first device 110 may obtain five sets of the remaining reference devices and exclude a different reference device from one set. These five groups of remaining reference devices can be represented as {120-1, 120-2, 120-3, 120-4}, {120-1, 120-2, 120-3, 120-5}, {120-1, 120-2, 120-4, 120-5}, {120-1, 120-3, 120-4, 120-5}, and {120-2, 120-3, 120-4, 120-5}.

The first device 110 performs M iterations to determine whether the estimated positions of the remaining reference devices 120 in the M groups match the positions of the group of valid reference devices. Specifically, the M sets of remaining reference devices can be indexed from 1 to M. At block 415, the first device 110 sets an index i for a set of remaining reference devices 120 to one ("1"). At block 420 , the first device 110 updates the estimated location of the target device 130 based on the second positioning-related measurements associated with the i-th remaining reference devices 120 . The second location-related measurements associated with reference devices excluded from the i-th group may be discarded from the location estimate of target device 130 .

At block 425, the first device 110 updates the estimated position of the i-th remaining reference device 120 based on the updated estimated position of the target device 130 and the first positioning-related measurement results reported by the target device 130 for the i-th remaining reference device. The first device 110 may recalculate the estimated position of each reference device 120 in the i-th group. The location estimation of the reference device 120 can be done in the same manner as described above.

At block 430, the first device 110 determines whether the updated estimated positions of the remaining reference devices 120 of the i-th group all match the positions of the set of valid reference devices. If the updated estimated location matches the set of locations for a valid reference device, process 400 proceeds to block 435 . At block 435, the first device 110 identifies the N excluded reference devices from the ith group of remaining reference devices 120 as invalid reference devices. In the example above with reference to FIG. 1, if the updated estimated positions determined for the set of reference devices {120-1, 120-2, 120-3, 120-4} match the set of positions of valid reference devices, then the first Device 110 identifies that the missing reference device 120-5 from the set is an invalid reference device.

If a mismatch between the updated estimated position and the set of positions of the active reference device is detected, process 400 proceeds to block 440, where the first device 110 sets the index i to increment by one (ie, i=i +1 ) for validating the next set of remaining reference devices 120 . At block 445, the first device 110 determines whether the M sets of remaining reference devices 120 are all authenticated by checking whether i>M. If i≦M, process 400 returns to block 420 to verify the next set of remaining reference devices 120 . If i>M, the first device 110 cannot specifically infer invalid reference devices by excluding only N reference devices, because the number of invalid reference devices may be greater than N. Accordingly, process 400 proceeds to block 450, where the first device 110 sets N to be incremented by one (ie, N=N+1) in order to exclude a larger number of reference devices from the plurality of reference devices to be verified. Process 400 repeats from block 410 .

By performing one or more rounds of iterations in process 400, first device 110 may identify N (where N may be equal to or greater than one) invalid reference devices. It will be appreciated that the iterative process 400 shown in FIG. 4 is provided for illustration purposes only. Based on the iterative process 400, many variations are possible. For example, more than one reference device may be excluded in one or more iterations. In this regard, the scope of this disclosure is not limited.

In some illustrative embodiments, during verification of reference device 120, if the updated estimated location of a set of remaining reference devices 120 matches the set of locations of a valid reference device, the target device 130 obtained in the current round of iterations may be The updated estimated location is determined to be a valid or legal location of the target device 130 . The first device 110 may transmit the determined valid location of the target device 130 to the target device 130 or to any entity requesting the location of the target device 130 . The accuracy of the location of the target device 130 can be ensured because it is determined based on location-related measurements associated with the legitimate reference device 120 .

After the first device 110 identifies one or more invalid reference devices 120, in some demonstrative embodiments, the first device 110 may notify the target device 130 of the invalid reference devices. Referring back to FIG. 2 , in some cases, the first device 110 transmits 235 an indication to the target device 130 to indicate an invalid reference device 120 from which the target device 130 detected a reference signal. By receiving 240 the indication from the first device 110, the target device 130 can determine which reference device(s) are illegal, or which reference signal(s) originate from an invalid reference device.

In some exemplary embodiments, the first device 110 may update the auxiliary data by means of an auxiliary data update message to indicate the invalid reference device. This auxiliary data update message may contain updated information on the reference signal to be measured and reported, where the reference signal may be marked as valid or invalid based on the identification of invalid reference devices. For example, the auxiliary data update message may include updated information about the OTDOANeighbourCellInfoList information element (IE) in which the invalid reference device is indicated.

In some exemplary embodiments, if the location estimation of the target device 130 is performed locally, the target device 130 may discard the current second positioning-related measurement and not use it to determine its location. In future location estimation, the target device 130 can also ignore the reference signal transmitted from the invalid reference device to ensure accurate location estimation. In some exemplary embodiments, if the location estimation of target device 130 is performed remotely, eg, by first device 110, target device 130 may not perform and report location-related measurements from invalid reference devices.

Since the invalid reference device has been identified, in some exemplary embodiments, the first device 110 may further determine to cause a mitigation action to be performed for the invalid reference device in order to remove potential security issues in the communication network. Specifically, the first device 110 may notify a network operator of the existence of the invalid reference device. The network operator can thus notify a law enforcement entity in an area where an invalid reference device may be located. Reliable Device Aided Identification of Invalid Reference Device ( s)

In some exemplary embodiments, as described above, instead of relying on the first positioning-related measurement reported from the target device 130, the first device 110 may instead direct a trusted device to measure and report the first positioning-related measurement to For locating the reference device 120 to be verified. In some exemplary embodiments, if the location of the target device 130 is not available at the first device 110, for example, if the target device 130 does not report the first positioning-related measurement to the first device 120, a Rely on the help of the device. In some other situations, the target device 130 itself may be a malicious device that may not provide real information. Therefore, the first device 110 may decide not to use the report from the target device 130 for identifying invalid reference devices.

5 illustrates a signaling process 500 for identifying an invalid reference device, including a trusted device, according to some illustrative embodiments. The signaling flow 500 involves the first device 110, a set of reference devices 120, and the target device 130 in FIG. 1 . The signaling process 500 additionally involves a trusted device 502, which acts as a second device to assist the first device 110 in estimating the location of the reference device 120 to be verified.

The trusted device 502 may be any device registered in the communication network trusted by the first device 110 . The valid location of the trusted device 502 is known at the first device 110 . In some exemplary embodiments, such as during the network deployment phase, the first device 110 may be configured with one or more trusted devices and their valid locations. In some exemplary embodiments, one or more trusted devices and their valid locations may be provided to the first device 110 by a CN entity during operation. The trusted device 502 may be one of the reference devices 120 that transmits the reference device for locating the target device 130 . In some other exemplary embodiments, trusted device 502 may include any other network device or registered device in the communication network capable of measuring reference signals from reference device 120 .

The signaling process 500 is similar to the signaling process 200 of FIG. 2 , but the role of the target device 130 in the signaling process 200 is replaced by the trusted device 502 . Specifically, as shown, the set of reference devices 120 transmits 505 corresponding reference signals for the purpose of locating the target device 130 . The trusted device 502 determines 510 at least one first positioning-related measurement by measuring at least one reference signal from the at least one reference device 120 for locating at least one of the set of reference devices 120 . The first positioning-related measurement for each reference device 120 may be similar to the first positioning-related measurement as described above.

The trusted device 502 can be configured by the first device 110 to report the first position-related measurement(s) for at least one reference device 120 . The first device 110 may transmit 512 the measurement configuration information to the trusted device 502 for instructing the trusted device 502 to report the first positioning-related measurement result. After receiving 514 the measurement configuration information, the trusted device 502 can be configured to measure and report the first positioning-related measurement result for the at least one reference device 120 .

The trusted device 502 transmits 515 to the first device 110 a first location-related measurement for locating the at least one reference device 120 . In some exemplary embodiments, the first device 110 may be configured with more than one trusted device 502 to transmit first position-related measurements associated with one or more identical or different reference devices 120 .

After receiving 520 the first location-related measurement from the trusted device 502, the first device 110 determines 525 at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device 120, and if the at least one estimated location matches a valid reference device for the target device 130 If a mismatch is found between the set of locations, an invalid reference device is identified 530 from at least one reference device. The first device 110 may apply a manner similar to that discussed above with respect to the target device 130 for determining at least one estimated location and identifying invalid reference devices.

In some illustrative embodiments, first device 110 may verify which reference device(s) 120 are an invalid reference device by applying an iterative process similar to process 400 of FIG. 4 . The difference is that the location of the trusted device 502 may not be updated to the location of the target device 130 at block 420 in each round of iterations because the first device 110 knows the valid location of the trusted device 502 . If a different (one) plurality of reference devices 120 is excluded, the estimated location of the reference device 120 may be changed.

In some exemplary embodiments, after the first device 110 has identified one or more invalid reference devices 120 , in some exemplary embodiments, the first device 110 may also send 535 an indication to the target device 130 by to notify the target device 130 of the invalid reference device to the target device 130 , as in the signaling process 200 . By receiving 540 the indication from the first device 110, the target device 130 can exclude invalid reference devices from positioning-related measurements, measurement reports, and/or position estimates. Example Method Embodiments

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 600 implemented at a first device, according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the first device 110 with reference to FIGS. 1 , 2 and 5 .

At block 610, a first device 110 receives at least one first location-related measurement from a second device for locating at least one reference device in a set of reference devices transmitted for locating a target device the corresponding reference signal. The second device may be the target device 130 in FIGS. 1 and 2 , or the trusted device 502 in FIG. 5 .

At block 620, the first device 110 determines at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device based on the at least one first positioning-related measurement and a location of the second device. At block 630, the first device 110 determines whether the at least one estimated location does not match a set of locations of valid reference devices for the target device. If a mismatch is detected between the at least one estimated location and a set of locations of valid reference devices for the target device, then at block 640, the first device 110 identifies an invalid reference device from the at least one reference device .

In an exemplary embodiment, the first device 110 may transmit measurement configuration information to the second device for configuring the second device to transmit the at least one first positioning-related measurement for at least one reference device 120 .

In some demonstrative embodiments, the at least one first positioning-related measurement may include at least one timing measurement associated with the at least one reference device 120 , at least one angle-related measurement associated with the at least one reference device 120 , and At least one received power-related measurement associated with at least one reference device 120. In some exemplary embodiments, at least one angle-related measurement may include measurement information indicating a direction from at least one reference device 120 to the second device and from a further reference device of the set of reference devices to the second device A relative angle between one direction of two devices. Alternatively or additionally, the at least one angle-related measurement may include measurement information indicating at least one AoD of at least one reference signal at at least one reference device 120 .

In some exemplary embodiments, in order to perform position estimation of at least one reference device 120, first device 110 may determine at least one distance between at least one reference device 120 and the second device based on the at least one first positioning-related measurement. an estimated distance, and at least one estimated angle of a direction from the second device to at least one reference device 120 . The at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device 120 may be determined based on the at least one estimated distance, the at least one estimated angle, and the location of the second device.

In some exemplary embodiments, the second device may be trusted by the first device 110 , such as the trusted device 502 in FIG. 5 . The location of the second device may be known at the first device 110 .

In some exemplary embodiments, the second device is the target device 130 under positioning. In such situations, the first device 110 may receive a set of second positioning-related measurements from the second device for positioning of the second device, each second positioning-related measurement being associated with one of the set of reference devices . The first device 110 may determine an estimated location of the second device as the location of the second device based on the set of second location-related measurements.

In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one reference device 120 to be verified may include a plurality of reference devices in the set of reference devices. In order to identify an invalid reference device from the plurality of reference devices, the first device 110 may first exclude a predetermined number of reference devices from the plurality of reference devices to obtain the remaining reference devices 120 . The predetermined number may be increased from the beginning in an iterative process until an invalid reference device is identified. The first device 110 may update the estimated positions of the remaining reference devices 120 based on the position of the second device, and the at least one first positioning-related measurement associated with the remaining reference devices 120 . If the updated estimated locations of the remaining reference devices 120 match the set of locations of valid reference devices, the first device 110 may identify a predetermined number of reference devices excluded in the current round of iterations as invalid reference devices.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the second device is the target device 130 and a second set of positioning-related measurements associated with the set of reference devices is available to the first device 110 . In such situations, the position of the second device may be updated based on the second position-related measurements associated with the remaining reference devices 120 in each round of iterations. The estimated positions of the remaining reference devices 120 may be determined based on the updated position of the second device, and the at least one first position-related measurement associated with the remaining reference devices 120 . In some demonstrative embodiments, if the updated estimated locations of the remaining reference devices 120 match the set of locations of valid reference devices, and an invalid reference device is identified, the first device 110 may update the current updated estimated location of the second device A valid location of the target device 130 is determined.

In some demonstrative embodiments, if one or more of certain reference devices 120 are identified as invalid reference devices, first device 110 may transmit to target device 130 an indication that one or more of certain reference devices are invalid reference devices .

In some exemplary embodiments, if one or more reference devices 120 are identified as invalid reference devices, the first device 110 may cause a mitigation action to be performed against the invalid reference devices in order to remove potential security issues in the communication network .

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an exemplary method 700 implemented at a second device in accordance with some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, method 700 is illustrated from the perspective of a second device, which may be target device 130 in FIGS. 1 and 2 , and trusted device 502 in FIG. 5 .

At block 710, the second device determines at least one first positioning-related measurement by measuring at least one reference signal from at least one reference device 120s for locating at least one of a set of reference devices. The set of reference devices transmits corresponding reference signals for locating a target device 130 . At block 720 , the second device transmits the at least one first position-related measurement to a first device 110 for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device 120 .

In some exemplary embodiments, the second device receives measurement configuration information from the first device 110 that configures the second device to report the at least one first device associated with at least one reference device 120 Location-related measurements.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the at least one first positioning-related measurement may include at least one of: at least one timing measurement associated with at least one reference device 120, at least one angle associated with at least one reference device 120 Correlation measurements, and at least one received power related measurement associated with at least one reference device 120 . In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one angle-related measurement may include information indicating at least one of: a direction of the reference signal from the at least one reference device to the second device and the reference signal from the set of reference devices a relative angle between a direction in which the further reference device arrives at the second device, and at least one departure angle of the at least one reference signal at the at least one reference device.

In some exemplary embodiments, the first device 110 can rely on the second device, and the location of the second device is known at the first device 110 .

In some exemplary embodiments, the second device is the target device 130 . In such situations, the second device may determine a second set of positioning-related measurements for the second device by measuring respective reference signals from the set of reference devices. The set of second positioning-related measurement results may be reported to the first device 110 .

In some demonstrative embodiments, the second device may receive an indication from the first device 110 that one of the reference devices of the at least one reference device 120 is an invalid reference device. Exemplary Device Embodiments

In some illustrative embodiments, a first apparatus (eg, first device 110 ) capable of performing any of the methods 600 may include means for performing the corresponding operations of the method 600 . The member may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component may be implemented in a circuit system or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first apparatus 110 .

In some exemplary embodiments, the first apparatus includes means for receiving at least one first position-related measurement from a second apparatus for use in locating at least one reference apparatus of a set of reference apparatuses, the set of reference apparatuses transmitting corresponding reference signals for locating a target device; means for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device based on the at least one first position-related measurement and a position of the second device; and responding to the at least one A mismatch between an estimated location and a set of locations for valid reference devices for the target device identifies a component for an invalid reference device from the at least one reference device.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the at least one first positioning-related measurement comprises at least one of: at least one timing measurement associated with at least one reference device, at least one angle-related measurement associated with at least one reference device, and at least one received power related measurement associated with at least one reference device. In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one angle-related measurement includes measurement information indicating at least one of: a direction from the at least one reference device to the second apparatus and from yet another reference device of the set of reference devices A relative angle between a direction of the second device, and at least one departure angle of the at least one reference signal at the at least one reference device.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the means for determining the at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device includes determining a distance between the at least one reference device and the at least one reference device based on the at least one first position-related measurement at least one estimated distance and means for at least one estimated angle in a direction from the second device to the at least one reference device; and the at least one estimated angle based on the at least one estimated distance, the at least one estimated angle, and the second device means for determining the at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device.

In some exemplary embodiments, the first device can trust the second device, and the location of the second device is known at the first device.

In some exemplary embodiments, the first apparatus further includes means for receiving a second set of positioning-related measurements from the second apparatus for use in locating the second apparatus; and based on the set of second positioning-related measurements An estimated location of the second device is determined as a means for the location of the second device.

In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one reference device includes a plurality of reference devices in the set of reference devices. In some exemplary embodiments, identifying a means for an invalid reference device from the at least one reference device comprises: excluding a predetermined number of reference devices from the plurality of reference devices to obtain means for remaining reference devices; two means for updating the estimated positions of the remaining reference devices with the position of the equipment and the at least one first position-related measurement associated with the remaining reference devices; and in response to the Waiting for the updated estimated positions to match the set of positions of valid reference devices, identifying the predetermined number of excluded reference devices as means for invalid reference devices.

In some exemplary embodiments, the second apparatus includes the target device, and a second set of positioning-related measurements for locating the second device is available to the first device. In some exemplary embodiments, the means for updating the estimated positions of the remaining reference devices includes updating the means for updating the position of the second device based on second position-related measurements associated with the remaining reference devices means; and means for updating the estimated positions of the remaining reference devices based on the updated position of the second apparatus, and the at least one first position-related measurement associated with the remaining reference devices.

In some exemplary embodiments, the second apparatus further includes determining the updated estimated position of the second apparatus as the set of positions of the valid reference apparatus in response to the updated estimated positions of the remaining reference apparatuses matching the set of positions of valid reference apparatuses A widget for a valid location on one of the target devices.

In some exemplary embodiments, the second apparatus further includes determining that transmitting the certain reference device to the target device is an invalid according to identifying one of the at least one reference device as an invalid reference device. Refer to one of the device's indicated components.

In some exemplary embodiments, the second apparatus further includes means for causing a mitigating action to be performed on the invalid reference device based on identifying one of the at least one reference device as one of the invalid reference devices.

In some exemplary embodiments, the second device further includes means for transmitting measurement configuration information to the second device, the measurement configuration information configuring the second device to transmit the at least one first device for at least one reference device A location-related measurement result.

In some exemplary embodiments, the first apparatus further includes means for performing other operations in some exemplary embodiments of method 600 . In some embodiments, the component includes at least one processor; and at least one memory including a computer code, the at least one memory and the computer code being assembled to cooperate with the at least one processor such that the first equipment.

In some illustrative embodiments, a second apparatus (eg, a second device) capable of performing any of the methods 700 may include means for performing the corresponding operations of the method 700 . The member may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the component may be implemented in a circuit system or software module. The second apparatus may be embodied as or included in the second apparatus.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the second apparatus includes determining at least one first positioning-related measurement for positioning at least one reference device of a set of reference devices by measuring at least one reference signal from the at least one reference device Means for use, the set of reference devices transmit corresponding reference signals for locating a target device; and transmit the at least one first location-related measurement to a first apparatus for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device components used.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the at least one first positioning-related measurement comprises at least one of: at least one timing measurement associated with at least one reference device, at least one angle-related measurement associated with at least one reference device, and at least one received power related measurement associated with at least one reference device.

In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one angle-dependent measurement includes information indicating at least one of a direction in which the reference signal arrives at the second device from the at least one reference device and a direction in which the reference signal travels from the set of reference devices. Yet another reference to a relative angle between a direction in which the device arrives at the second device, and at least one departure angle of the at least one reference signal at the at least one reference device.

In some exemplary embodiments, the first device can trust the second device, and the location of the second device is known at the first device.

In some demonstrative embodiments, the second device is a target device. The second apparatus further includes means for determining a second set of positioning-related measurements for the second apparatus by measuring respective reference signals from the set of reference devices, the second set of positioning-related measurements being respectively associated with the set of reference devices , and means for transmitting the second set of position-related measurements to the first device.

In some exemplary embodiments, the second apparatus further includes means for receiving an indication from the first apparatus that one of the at least one reference apparatus is one of the invalid reference apparatuses.

In some exemplary embodiments, the second device further includes means for receiving measurement configuration information from the first device, the measurement configuration information configuring the second device to report at least one first device associated with at least one reference device Location-related measurements.

In some exemplary embodiments, the second apparatus further includes means for performing other operations in some exemplary embodiments of method 700 . In some embodiments, the component includes at least one processor; and at least one memory including a computer code, the at least one memory and the computer code being assembled to cooperate with the at least one processor such that the second device. Exemplary Device and Media Embodiments

FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 800 suitable for implementing an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. Device 800 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as first device 110, target device 130, or trusted device 510 as shown in Figures 1 and 5. As shown, the device 800 includes one or more processors 810 , one or more memories 820 coupled to the processors 810 , and one or more communication modules 840 coupled to the processors 810 .

The communication module 840 is used for two-way communication. Communication module 840 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. A communication interface can represent any interface necessary to communicate with other network components. In some exemplary embodiments, the communication module 840 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 810 may be of any type suitable for a local technical network and, by way of non-limiting example, may include one or more of the following: a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a The processor of the core processor architecture. Device 800 may have multiple processors, such as an application-specific integrated circuit chip temporally slaved to a clock synchronized with the main processor.

Memory 820 may include one or more non-dependent memories and one or more dependent memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM) 824, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disk (CD) , a digital video disc (DVD), an optical disc, a laser disc, and other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of electrically dependent memory include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 822 and other electrically dependent memory that do not persist for the duration of a power cut.

The computer program 830 includes computer-executable instructions for execution by the associated processor 810 . Program 830 may be stored in memory such as ROM 824 . Processor 810 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading program 830 into RAM 822.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented with routine 830 such that device 800 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure as discussed with reference to FIGS. 2-7. Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some illustrative embodiments, program 830 may be tangibly contained in a computer-readable medium that may be included in device 800 , such as in memory 820 , or other storage device that may be accessed by device 800 . Device 800 may load program 830 from a computer-readable medium into RAM 822 for execution. Computer-readable media may include any type of tangible non-electrical storage, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. Figure 9 shows one example of a computer readable medium 900, which may be in the form of a CD, DVD, or other optical storage disc. The computer-readable medium has the program 830 stored thereon.

In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented as hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented using hardware, while other aspects may be implemented using firmware or software executable by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are shown and described as block diagrams, flow diagrams, or using some other graphical representation, it should be understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques described herein Or methods may, by way of non-limiting example, be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controllers or other computing devices, or a combination of some of the above.

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 includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in a program module, which are executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor to perform as described above with reference to FIGS. 2-7 any of the methods. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform specific tasks, or implement specific types of abstract data. As desired in various embodiments, the functionality of program modules may be combined or split among program modules. Machine-executable instructions for program modules can be executed on a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may reside in both local and remote storage media.

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

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

The computer-readable medium can be a computer-readable signal medium or a computer-readable storage medium. A computer-readable medium can be, 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 computer readable storage media would include an electrical connector having one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a only read memory memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a compact disc-read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Furthermore, although operations are shown in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in a sequential manner, or that all operations shown be performed to achieve desired results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing can be helpful. Likewise, although the above discussion contains details of several implementation-specific aspects, these details should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as illustrations of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in terms specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure, as defined in the scope of 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 illustrative forms of implementing the claimed scope.

100: 110,800 Communication environment: means 120,120-1 ~ 120-5: Reference 130: 200, 500, target device: a signaling flow 205,212,215,235,505,512,515,535: transmitting 210,225,510,525: determining 214,220,240,514,520,540: receiving 230,530: identifying 311 to 315: 321 to 324 Beam: relative angle 400 : iterative process 405, 410, 415, 420, 425, 430, 435, 440, 445, 450, 610, 620, 630, 640, 710, 720: block 502: trusted device 600, 700: method 810: processor 820: memory 822: random access memory 824: ROM 830: program 840: communication module 900

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

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

2 illustrates a signaling process for identifying an invalid reference device according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of positioning-related measurements for a reference device, according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

4 is a flowchart illustrating a process of identifying an invalid reference device according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

5 illustrates a signaling process for identifying an invalid reference device according to some other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

6 illustrates a flow chart of a method implemented at a first device, according to some other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

7 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second device, according to some other exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure;

8 depicts a simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for implementing exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure; and

9 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer-readable medium, according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

In the various figures, the same or similar reference numbers refer to the same or similar elements.

600: Method

610, 620, 630, 640: Blocks

Claims (27)

A first device comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to cause the device to perform the following actions: receiving at least one first location-related measurement from a second device for locating at least one reference device in a set of reference devices that transmit corresponding reference signals for locating a target device; determining at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device based on the at least one first location-related measurement and a location of the second device; and An invalid reference device is identified from the at least one reference device in response to a mismatch between the at least one estimated location and a set of locations of valid reference devices for the target device. The first device of claim 1, wherein the at least one first positioning-related measurement result comprises at least one of the following: at least one timing measurement associated with the at least one reference device, at least one associated with the at least one reference device An angle-related measurement, and at least one received power-related measurement associated with the at least one reference device. The first device of claim 2, wherein the at least one angle-related measurement includes measurement information indicating at least one of the following: a relative angle between a direction from the at least one reference device to the second device and a direction from a further reference device of the set of reference devices to the second device, and The at least one reference signal has at least one departure angle at the at least one reference device. The first device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor such that the first device determines the at least one reference device's At least one estimated location: At least one estimated distance between the at least one reference device and the second device and at least one estimated angle from a direction from the second device to the at least one reference device are determined based on the at least one first position-related measurement ;as well as The at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device is determined based on the at least one estimated distance, the at least one estimated angle, and the location of the second device. The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device can trust the second device, and the location of the second device is known at the first device. The first device of claim 1, wherein the at least one reference device comprises a plurality of reference devices in the set of reference devices, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to cause the first device to identify an invalid reference device from the at least one reference device by: excluding a predetermined number of reference devices from the plurality of reference devices to obtain remaining reference devices; updating the estimated positions of the remaining reference devices based on the position of the second device, and the at least one first position-related measurement associated with the remaining reference devices; and The predetermined number of excluded reference devices are identified as invalid reference devices in response to the updated estimated positions of the remaining reference devices matching the set of positions of valid reference devices. The first device of claim 6, wherein the second device is the target device and a second set of positioning-related measurements for locating the second device is available to the first device, and wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to cause the first device to update the estimated positions of the remaining reference devices by updating the position of the second device based on the second position-related measurements associated with the remaining reference devices; and The estimated positions of the remaining reference devices are updated based on the updated position of the second device, and the at least one first positioning-related measurement associated with the remaining reference devices. The first device of claim 6, wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to further cause the first device to perform the following actions: In response to the updated estimated locations of the remaining reference devices matching the set of locations of valid reference devices, the updated location of the second device is determined as a valid location of the target device. The first device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to further cause the first device to perform the following actions: Based on a determination that a certain reference device of the at least one reference device is identified as an invalid reference device, an indication that the certain reference device is an invalid reference device is transmitted to the target device. The first device of claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to further cause the first device to perform the following actions: Measurement configuration information is transmitted to the second device, the measurement configuration information configuring the second device to transmit the at least one first position-related measurement result associated with the at least one reference device. A second device comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer code; wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to cause the second device to perform the following actions: At least one first positioning-related measurement for locating at least one reference device in a set of reference devices that transmits data for locating a target device is determined by measuring at least one reference signal from the at least one reference device. the corresponding reference signal; and The at least one first position-related measurement is communicated to a first device for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device. The second device of claim 11, wherein the at least one first positioning-related measurement result comprises at least one of: at least one timing measurement associated with the at least one reference device, and at least one timing measurement associated with the at least one reference device An angle-related measurement, and at least one received power-related measurement associated with the at least one reference device. The second apparatus of claim 12, wherein the at least one angle-related measurement includes information indicating at least one of the following: a relative angle between a direction in which the reference signal arrives at the second device from the at least one reference device and a direction in which the reference signal arrives at the second device from a further reference device of the set of reference devices, and The at least one reference signal has at least one departure angle at the at least one reference device. The second device of claim 11, wherein the first device can trust the second device, and the location of the second device is known at the first device. The second device of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to further cause the second device to perform the following actions: An indication is received from the first device that a reference device of the at least one reference device is an invalid reference device. The second device of claim 11, wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are configured to cooperate with the at least one processor to further cause the second device to perform the following actions: Measurement configuration information is received from the first device, the measurement configuration information configures the second device to report the at least one first positioning-related measurement result associated with the at least one reference device. A method that includes: receiving at least one first location-related measurement at a first device and from a second device for locating at least one reference device in a set of reference devices that transmit corresponding references for locating a target device Signal; determining at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device based on the at least one first location-related measurement and a location of the second device; and An invalid reference device is identified from the at least one reference device in response to a mismatch between the at least one estimated location and a set of locations of valid reference devices for the target device. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one first positioning-related measurement comprises at least one of: at least one timing measurement associated with the at least one reference device, at least one angular correlation associated with the at least one reference device measurements, and at least one received power-related measurement associated with the at least one reference device; and wherein the at least one angle-related measurement includes measurement information indicating at least one of the following: a relative angle between a direction from the at least one reference device to the second device and a direction from a further reference device of the set of reference devices to the second device, and The at least one reference signal has at least one departure angle at the at least one reference device. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device comprises: At least one estimated distance between the at least one reference device and the second device and at least one estimated angle from a direction from the second device to the at least one reference device are determined based on the at least one first position-related measurement ;as well as The at least one estimated location of the at least one reference device is determined based on the at least one estimated distance, the at least one estimated angle, and the location of the second device. The method of claim 17, wherein the first device can trust the second device and the location of the second device is known at the first device. The method of claim 17, wherein the at least one reference device includes a plurality of reference devices in the set of reference devices, and wherein identifying an invalid reference device from the at least one reference device includes: excluding a predetermined number of reference devices from the plurality of reference devices to obtain remaining reference devices; updating the estimated positions of the remaining reference devices based on the position of the second device, and the at least one first position-related measurement associated with the remaining reference devices; and The predetermined number of excluded reference devices are identified as invalid reference devices in response to the updated estimated positions of the remaining reference devices matching the set of positions of valid reference devices. The method of claim 21, wherein the second device is the target device and a second set of positioning-related measurements for locating the second device is available to the first device, and wherein updating the estimated locations of the remaining reference devices includes: updating the position of the second device based on the second position-related measurements associated with the remaining reference devices; and The estimated positions of the remaining reference devices are updated based on the updated position of the second device, and the at least one first positioning-related measurement associated with the remaining reference devices. As in the method of claim 17, it further includes: Based on a determination that a certain reference device of the at least one reference device is identified as an invalid reference device, an indication that the certain reference device is an invalid reference device is transmitted to the target device. A method that includes: At a second device, at least one first positioning-related measurement for locating at least one reference device in a set of reference devices is determined by measuring at least one reference signal from the at least one reference device, the set of reference devices transmitting corresponding reference signals for locating a target device; and The at least one first position-related measurement is communicated to a first device for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device. A first device comprising: means for locating at least one first location-related measurement from a second apparatus for locating at least one reference device of a set of reference devices that transmit corresponding reference signals for locating a target device; means for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device based on the at least one first position-related measurement and a position of the second device; and In response to a mismatch between the at least one estimated location and a set of locations of valid reference devices for the target device, a component for an invalid reference device is identified from the at least one reference device. A second device comprising: Means for locating at least one first position-related measurement of at least one reference device of a set of reference devices that transmit for locating a reference device are determined by measuring at least one reference signal from the at least one reference device. the corresponding reference signal of the target device; and Means for transmitting the at least one first position-related measurement to a first apparatus for determining at least one estimated position of the at least one reference device. A computer-readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any one of claims 17-23, or the method of claim 24.

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