WO2022110946A1

WO2022110946A1 - Communication method and related device

Info

Publication number: WO2022110946A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/115306
Authority: WO
Inventors: 刘慧锋; 郝金平
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2020-11-30
Filing date: 2021-08-30
Publication date: 2022-06-02
Also published as: CN114584916A

Abstract

Disclosed in embodiments of the present application is a communication method. The method comprises: a core network device obtains a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource occupied by a positioning terminal device, the core network device receives a first measurement report sent by a first access network device, and if the first measurement report comprises first signal quality and second signal quality, the core network device determines a second neighbor cell according to the second signal quality; the core network device sends a first measurement request to the first access network device, and sends a second measurement request to a second access network device, the first measurement request and the second measurement request being used for instructing the first access network device and the second access network device to perform time of arrival (TOA) measurement on the terminal device. Before sending a positioning measurement request, the core network device can determine, according to the first measurement report, the second neighbor cell that assists in positioning measurement, which can reduce the resource consumption of the access network device compared with the case in the prior art where all neighbor cells perform measurement on the terminal device.

Description

A communication method and related equipment

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application with the application number 202011375714.2 and the invention titled "a communication method and related equipment" filed with the China Patent Office on November 30, 2020, the entire contents of which are incorporated into this application by reference .

technical field

The present application relates to the field of communication, and in particular, to a communication method and related equipment.

Background technique

Wireless positioning refers to that in a wireless mobile communication network, by measuring the characteristic parameters of the received radio waves, using the measured wireless signal data, a specific algorithm is used to estimate the geographic location of the mobile terminal.

Uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA) is a method in wireless positioning. This method requires at least three base stations to participate in the measurement. According to the time difference between two base stations, it is converted into distance difference, and it can be known from geometric principles that, The trajectory with a constant distance to the fixed point is a hyperbola, and the position of the mobile terminal is calculated by intersecting a plurality of hyperbolas. At present, the overall process of UTDOA positioning has been given in the R16 protocol, but the selection of neighboring cells when the neighboring cells are assisted in the measurement is not given. From the perspective of the R16 protocol, all neighboring cells of the serving cell accessed by the mobile terminal need to measure the terminal equipment to realize positioning.

However, all the neighboring cells measure the mobile terminal, resulting in too much resource consumption of the equipment on the network side.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The embodiment of the present application provides a communication method, in which a core network device can determine a neighboring cell needed to locate a terminal device according to a measurement report. Compared with all neighboring cells in the prior art, all neighboring cells measure the terminal device, which can reduce the number of access network devices. resource consumption.

A first aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a communication method, and the method may be executed by a core network device, or may be executed by a component of the core network device (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.). The method includes: a core network device acquires channel sounding reference signal SRS resources occupied by a positioning terminal device; the core network device receives a first measurement report sent by a first access network device, where the first measurement report includes the corresponding data of the serving cell where the terminal device is located. The first signal quality or the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, the second signal quality is the signal quality corresponding to the first neighboring cell, the first neighboring cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell is the first signal quality. A cell served by the access network equipment; if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, the core network equipment determines the second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality, and the second neighboring cell is used to determine the terminal equipment's location; the core network device sends the first measurement request to the first access network device, and sends the second measurement request to the second access network device, the second access network device is the access network that provides services for the second adjacent cell equipment, the first measurement request is used to instruct the first access network device to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device, and the second measurement request is used to instruct the second access network device to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the core network device acquires the channel sounding reference signal SRS resources occupied by the positioning terminal device, and the core network device receives the first measurement report sent by the first access network device. If the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, the core network device determines the second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality, and the second neighboring cell is used to determine the location of the terminal device; the core network device sends the first measurement request to the first access network device, and A second measurement request is sent to the second access network device, where the first measurement request and the second measurement request are used to instruct the first access network device and the second access network device to measure the time of arrival TOA on the terminal device. Before sending the positioning measurement request, the core network device can determine, according to the first measurement report, the second neighboring cell in the first neighboring cell that assists in the positioning measurement. Compared with all neighboring cells in the prior art, all neighboring cells measure the terminal equipment, which can reduce the number of connections. Resource consumption of networked devices.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the above steps, the core network device determines the second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality, including: the core network device determines that the second signal quality in the first neighboring cell corresponds to the quality of the second signal. A neighboring cell whose value is greater than or equal to the first threshold is a second neighboring cell.

In this possible implementation manner, before sending the positioning measurement request, the core network device may determine the second neighboring cell according to the value of the second signal quality in the first measurement report and the first threshold, which is compared with all neighboring cells in the prior art. Both measure the terminal equipment, which can reduce the resource consumption of the access network equipment.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in the above steps, if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, the core network device determines the second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality. , including: if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the numerical difference between the first signal quality and the second signal quality is less than or equal to the second threshold, the core network device determines the first signal quality according to the second signal quality. Second Neighborhood.

In this possible implementation manner, compared with the prior art, the neighboring cells are blindly selected based on the serving cell where the terminal equipment is located, and after the neighboring cells are determined, the neighboring cells that cooperate to measure the user's location are unchanged. Therefore, in the case of user movement, the positioning will be inaccurate. The communication method provided by the present application can enable the core network equipment to select a suitable second neighboring cell to perform positioning measurement on the terminal equipment when the terminal equipment is located at the edge of the serving cell, thereby improving the accuracy of positioning the terminal equipment.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the above steps further include: if the first measurement report does not include the second signal quality, and the serving cell includes multiple transmission and reception points TRP, sending the core network device to the The first access network device sends a third measurement request, where the third measurement request is used to instruct multiple TRPs to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device.

In this possible implementation manner, compared with the prior art, when the terminal device is located in the center of the serving cell, the neighbor cell measurement is also triggered, and the neighbor cell measurement is not actually required, which will cause waste of user specifications and SRS resources. The communication method provided by the present application can only measure the serving cell when the terminal device is located in the center of the serving cell, thereby reducing the waste of SRS resources.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the above steps further include: if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the values of the first signal quality and the second signal quality are If the difference is greater than the third threshold and the serving cell includes multiple transmission and reception points TRP, the core network device sends a third measurement request to the first access network device, where the third measurement request is used to instruct multiple TRPs to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device.

A second aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a communication method, and the method may be executed by a first access network device, or may be executed by a component (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.) of the first access network device. . The method includes: the first access network device receives a first measurement report sent by the terminal device, where the first measurement report includes the first signal quality corresponding to the serving cell where the terminal device is located, or the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality Signal quality, the second signal quality is the signal quality corresponding to the first adjacent cell, the first adjacent cell is the adjacent cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell is the cell served by the first access network device; the first access network device reports to the core network The device sends a first measurement report, where the first measurement report is used by the core network device to determine the second neighboring cell required by the terminal device to locate.

In this embodiment of the present application, the first access network device sends a first measurement report to the core network device, where the first measurement report is used by the core network device to determine the second neighboring cell required by the terminal device to locate. Further, before sending the positioning measurement request, the core network device can determine the second neighboring cell in the first neighboring cell that assists the positioning measurement according to the first measurement report. Reduce resource consumption of access network equipment.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in the above steps, the first access network device sends the first measurement report to the core network device, including: if a neighbor cell of the serving cell in the first measurement report occurs changes, the first access network device sends the first measurement report to the core network device.

In this possible implementation manner, after the first access network device receives the measurement result, it makes a judgment, and when it is judged that there is a change, it will be reported to the core network device, otherwise it will not be reported, which can reduce message forwarding and processing by the core network device. the complexity.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, after the first access network device sends the first measurement report to the core network device in the above steps, the method further includes: the first access network device receives the core network device A first measurement request sent by the device, where the first measurement request is used to instruct the first access network device to perform TOA measurement of the time of arrival on the terminal device.

In this possible implementation manner, the first access network device may perform TOA measurement according to the first measurement request, that is, measure the SRS time-frequency position where the terminal device is located, obtain the TOA measurement result, and send the TOA to the core network device measurement results. Further, the core network device is made to determine the position of the terminal device according to the TOA measurement result (for example, the position of the terminal device is determined by the distance difference and the hyperbola).

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, before the first access network device receives the first measurement report sent by the terminal device in the above steps, the method further includes: the first access network device receives the core network device The positioning information request sent by the device is used to request to locate the channel sounding reference signal SRS resource occupied by the terminal device; the first access network device sends the SRS resource to the core network device.

A third aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be core network equipment, or may be a component of the core network equipment (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system), and the communication apparatus includes:

a transceiver unit, configured to acquire the channel sounding reference signal SRS resources occupied by the positioning terminal equipment;

The transceiver unit is further configured to receive a first measurement report sent by the first access network device, where the first measurement report includes the first signal quality corresponding to the serving cell where the terminal device is located, or the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality Signal quality, the second signal quality is the signal quality corresponding to the first adjacent cell, the first adjacent cell is the adjacent cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell is the cell served by the first access network device;

a processing unit, configured to determine a second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the second neighboring cell is used to determine the location of the terminal device;

The transceiver unit is further configured to send the first measurement request to the first access network device and send the second measurement request to the second access network device, where the second access network device is an access device that provides services for the second adjacent cell network device, the first measurement request is used to instruct the first access network device to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device, and the second measurement request is used to instruct the second access network device to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the processing unit in the above communication device is specifically configured to determine a neighboring cell whose value corresponding to the second signal quality in the first neighboring cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold. is the second neighbor cell.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the processing unit in the above communication device is specifically configured to, if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the first signal quality and The numerical difference of the second signal quality is less than or equal to the second threshold, and the second neighboring cell is determined according to the second signal quality.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver unit in the above communication device is further configured to, if the first measurement report does not include the second signal quality, and the serving cell includes multiple transmission and reception points TRP , then send a third measurement request to the first access network device, where the third measurement request is used to instruct multiple TRPs to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver unit in the above communication device is further configured to, if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the first signal quality is the same as the The numerical difference of the second signal quality is greater than the third threshold and the serving cell includes multiple transmission and reception points TRP, a third measurement request is sent to the first access network device, and the third measurement request is used to instruct the multiple TRPs to perform TOA measurement.

A fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a communication apparatus. The communication apparatus may be a first access network device, or may be a component of the first access network device (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system). The communication apparatus include:

A transceiver unit, configured to receive a first measurement report sent by the terminal device, where the first measurement report includes the first signal quality corresponding to the serving cell where the terminal device is located, or the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, the second The signal quality is the signal quality corresponding to the first neighboring cell, the first neighboring cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell is a cell served by the communication device;

The transceiver unit is further configured to send a first measurement report to the core network device, where the first measurement report is used by the core network device to determine the second neighboring cell required for positioning the terminal device.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit in the above communication device is specifically configured to send the first measurement report to the core network device if the neighboring cell of the serving cell changes in the first measurement report. measurement report.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit in the above communication device is further configured to receive a first measurement request sent by the core network device, where the first measurement request is used to instruct the communication device to The device makes time-of-arrival TOA measurements.

Optionally, in a possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the transceiver unit in the above-mentioned communication device is further configured to receive a positioning information request sent by the core network device, where the positioning information request is used to request to locate the space occupied by the terminal device. channel sounding reference signal SRS resources;

The transceiver unit is also used for sending SRS resources to the core network equipment.

A fifth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a core network device or a component of the core network device (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system), and the communication apparatus performs the foregoing first aspect or the method in any possible implementation manner of the first aspect.

A sixth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication apparatus, where the communication apparatus may be a first access network device, or may be a component (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system) of the first access network device. The apparatus performs the method of the aforementioned second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect.

A seventh aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where an instruction is stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the instruction is executed on a computer, causes the computer to execute the foregoing first aspect or any possibility of the first aspect An implementation of the second aspect, or a method in any possible implementation of the second aspect.

An eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present application provides a computer program product, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second aspect or the second aspect method in any possible implementation of .

A ninth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including: a processor, where the processor is coupled to a memory, and the memory is used to store programs or instructions, and when the programs or instructions are executed by the processor, the device implements the above-mentioned first Aspect or a method in any possible implementation of the first aspect.

A tenth aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, including: a processor, where the processor is coupled to a memory, and the memory is used to store a program or an instruction, and when the program or instruction is executed by the processor, the device implements the above-mentioned second A method in any possible implementation of the aspect or the second aspect.

An eleventh aspect of an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, including the communication device provided in the third, fifth, or ninth aspect, and the communication device in the fourth, sixth, or tenth aspect.

For the technical effects brought by the third, fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth aspects or any of the possible implementations, please refer to the first aspect or the technical effects brought by different possible implementations of the first aspect , and will not be repeated here.

Wherein, for the technical effects brought by the fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, tenth aspects or any of the possible implementations, please refer to the second aspect or the technical effects brought by different possible implementations of the second aspect , and will not be repeated here.

It can be seen from the above technical solutions that the embodiments of the present application have the following advantages: the core network device acquires the channel sounding reference signal SRS resources occupied by the positioning terminal device, the core network device receives the first measurement report sent by the first access network device, If the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, the core network device determines the second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality, and the second neighboring cell is used to determine the location of the terminal device; The network access device sends a first measurement request, and sends a second measurement request to the second access network device, where the first measurement request and the second measurement request are used to instruct the first access network device and the second access network device to The device makes time-of-arrival TOA measurements. Before sending the positioning measurement request, the core network device can determine, according to the first measurement report, the second neighboring cell in the first neighboring cell that assists in the positioning measurement. Compared with all neighboring cells in the prior art, all neighboring cells measure the terminal equipment, which can reduce the number of connections. Resource consumption of networked devices.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system in an embodiment of the application;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a communication system in an embodiment of the present application applied to a positioning scenario;

3 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is another schematic flowchart of the communication method in the embodiment of the application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device in an embodiment of the present application;

6 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 8 is another schematic structural diagram of a communication device in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

The following will describe in detail the implementation principles, specific implementations and corresponding beneficial effects of the technical solutions of the present application in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The present application can be applied to the protocol frameworks of various wireless communication systems. The wireless communication systems may include, but are not limited to, general packet radio service (GPRS), LTE system, new radio (NR) system, Future evolved communication systems, etc., future evolved communication systems such as future networks or sixth-generation communication systems.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system to which the embodiments of the present application are applied. The communication system may include terminal equipment 101 , access network equipment 102 and core network equipment 103 .

In the embodiments of this application, only one terminal device 101, one access network device 102, and one core network device 103 are used as examples for description. In practical applications, there may be more terminal devices, access network devices, and core network devices. equipment, which is not limited here.

Communication between the terminal device 101 and the access network device 102 is generally performed through the Uu air interface. The access network device 102 and the core network device 103 generally communicate through the NG, N2 or S1 interface.

The access network device 102 in this embodiment of the present application may include CUs and DUs in some scenarios (eg, NR scenarios). Among them, the CU and DU generally communicate through the F1 interface, and the control plane (CP) and the user plane (UP) in the CU communicate through the E1 interface, that is, gNB-CU-CP and gNB -Communication between CU-UP through E1 interface.

The terminal device in this embodiment of the present application may be a user equipment (user equipment, UE), an access terminal, a UE unit, a UE station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a UE terminal, a terminal, a wireless Communication equipment, multimedia equipment, streaming media equipment, UE proxy or UE device, etc. The access terminal may be a cellular telephone, a cordless telephone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) telephone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless communication Functional handheld devices, computing devices or other processing devices connected to wireless modems, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, terminals in future 5G networks or terminals in future evolved public land mobile network (PLMN) networks Wait. The terminal device 101 may also be stationary or mobile.

The access network device in this embodiment of the present application is a device that communicates with a terminal device, and may be a base station, a relay station, or an access point. A base station can be a base transceiver station (BTS) in a global system for mobile communication (GSM) or a code division multiple access (CDMA) network, or a broadband code division A node base station (NB) in wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA), an evolutional NB (eNB or eNodeB) in LTE, or a cloud radio access network (cloud radio access network) The wireless controller in the radio access network, CRAN) scenario can also be the base station equipment in the 5G network, such as: next generation node B (gNB), and the access network equipment can also be the future evolved PLMN network The access network device in the device can also be a wearable device or a vehicle-mounted device.

The core network devices in the embodiments of the present application correspond to different devices in different systems. For example, in 3G, it can correspond to a GPRS service support node (serving GPRS support node, SGSN) and/or a GPRS gateway support node (gateway GPRS support Node, GGSN); in 4G, it can correspond to a mobility management entity (mobility management entity, MME). ) and/or serving gateway (S-GW); in 5G, it can correspond to access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF) or user plane management Function (user plane function, UPF).

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a communication system for locating a UE in an NR system. The communication system may include core network equipment (eg, AMF and LMF), first access network equipment, second access network equipment, and terminal equipment (eg, UE). Wherein, a schematic description is given below by taking an example that the access network devices (the first access network device and the second access network device) are gNBs.

The AMF is mainly responsible for managing all processes and message interactions of the UE in the positioning process.

The LMF is mainly responsible for managing the overall coordination of resources required by the UE to initiate positioning in the network, delivering neighboring cells to assist in measurement, and calculating the location of the UE.

The UE is mainly responsible for transmitting the sounding reference signal (SRS) signal of the positioning measurement channel.

The gNB is mainly responsible for measuring the SRS signal sent by the UE and reporting the measurement result to the AMF.

It can be understood that FIG. 2 is only an example of locating a UE in an NR system. In practical applications, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to scenarios such as LTE for locating a UE.

At present, the uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA) is a method in wireless positioning. This method requires at least three base stations to participate in the measurement. According to the time difference between the two base stations, it is converted into a distance difference. It can be seen that the trajectory with a constant distance to the fixed point is a hyperbola, and the position of the mobile terminal is calculated by intersecting multiple hyperbolas. At present, the overall process of UTDOA positioning has been given in the R16 protocol, but the selection of neighboring cells when the neighboring cells are assisted in the measurement is not given.

From the perspective of the R16 protocol, all neighboring cells of the serving cell accessed by the mobile terminal need to measure the terminal equipment. However, all neighboring cells measure the terminal equipment, which consumes too much resources on the network side.

In order to solve the above problem, the present application provides a communication method. Before sending a positioning measurement request, a core network device can determine a neighbor cell that assists the positioning measurement according to the measurement report. Compared with the prior art in which all neighboring cells measure the terminal equipment, the resource consumption of the access network equipment can be reduced.

Below in conjunction with the network framework of Fig. 1, the communication method in the embodiment of the present application is described:

Referring to FIG. 3, an embodiment of the communication method in the embodiment of the present application includes:

301. The core network device acquires the SRS resources occupied by the positioning terminal device.

In this embodiment of the present application, the core network device may obtain the SRS resources occupied by the requesting positioning terminal device through the first access network device, and may also obtain the SRS resources occupied by the positioning terminal device through other devices, which is not specifically limited here.

The SRS in this embodiment of the present application may be the SRS in R15, the SRS used for positioning in the R16 protocol, or the SRS under other protocol versions, which is not specifically limited here.

Optionally, the core network device obtains the SRS resources occupied by the positioning terminal device through the first access network device. Specifically, the core network device may send the positioning request information (positioning information request) to the first access network device, using For requesting to locate the SRS resources occupied by the terminal equipment. The first access network device sends positioning response information (positioning information response) to the core network device, where the positioning response information carries the SRS resources occupied by the positioning terminal device.

302. The first access network device sends a first measurement report to the core network device. Correspondingly, the core network device receives the first measurement report sent by the first access network device.

Since the terminal device is performing mobility management, the terminal device will measure the signal quality of the serving cell and the neighboring cell (also referred to as the first neighboring cell), and send the measurement result (also referred to as the measurement result) to the access network device corresponding to the cell. Report). The access network device can forward the measurement result to the core network device, and the core network device can adjust the measurement request according to the measurement result.

The first access network device receives the first measurement report sent by the terminal device, and the first access network device may forward the first measurement report to the core network device, where the first measurement report includes the first measurement report corresponding to the serving cell where the terminal device is located. A signal quality, or the first measurement report includes a first signal quality and a second signal quality, the second signal quality is the signal quality corresponding to the first neighboring cell, the first neighboring cell is the neighboring cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell is the first neighboring cell. A cell served by an access network device.

The signal quality (the first signal quality and/or the second signal quality) in this embodiment of the present application may be reference signal receiving power (reference signal receiving power, RSRP), and the signal quality may also be reference signal receiving quality (reference signal receiving quality) , RSRQ), in practical applications, the signal quality may also be other parameters, for example: the signal quality may be the signal to interference plus noise ratio (signal to interference plus noise ratio, SINR), which is not specifically limited here.

Optionally, after the first access network device receives the positioning information request sent by the core network device, the first access network device receives the first measurement report sent by the terminal device, and forwards the first measurement report to the core network device. The network device may adjust the measurement request to be sent according to the measurement result, where the measurement request is used to instruct the access network device to perform time of arrival (time of arrival, TOA) measurement.

In the embodiment of this application, only the measurement request is used to instruct the access network device to perform TOA measurement as an example for illustration. It can be understood that the measurement request can also be used to instruct the access network device to perform angle of arrival measurement or RSRP measurement, etc. , which is not specifically limited here.

Optionally, the first access network device may also have a condition for forwarding the first measurement report to the core network device, and the condition may be at least one of the following:

1. The neighboring cells in the first measurement report are changed compared to the neighboring cells in the last measurement report.

Optionally, after receiving the first measurement report sent by the terminal device, the first access network device can determine whether the neighboring cell in the first measurement report has changed compared with the neighboring cell in the last measurement report, and if it has changed, Then the first access network device forwards the first measurement report to the core network device. If there is no change, the first access network device may not send the first measurement report to the core network device.

Exemplarily, the neighboring cells in the previous measurement report include A, B, and C, but the neighboring cells in the latest measurement report (ie, the first measurement report) include B, C, and D, that is, the neighboring cells change from ABC to BCD, if the neighboring cell changes, the first access network device forwards the latest measurement report to the core network device.

Exemplarily, the neighboring cells in the previous measurement report include A, B, and C, and the neighboring cells in the latest measurement report (ie, the first measurement report) include A, B, and C, that is, the neighboring cells have not changed, then The first access network device may not forward the latest measurement report to the core network device.

2. The numerical difference between the signal quality of the neighboring cell in the first measurement report and the signal quality of the neighboring cell in the last measurement report is greater than or equal to a certain threshold (ie, the signal quality of the neighboring cell changes or changes greatly).

Optionally, after receiving the first measurement report sent by the terminal device, the first access network device may determine that the signal quality corresponding to the neighboring cell in the latest measurement report (ie, the first measurement report) is compared with that in the last measurement report. The numerical difference between the signal quality of neighboring cells and a certain threshold value (that is, it is judged whether there is a change in the signal quality or whether there is a large change). If there is a change or a relatively large change, the first access network device forwards the first measurement report to the core network device. If there is no change or a small change occurs, the first access network device may not send the first measurement report to the core network device. The size of the threshold is set according to actual needs, and is not specifically limited here.

Exemplarily, the numerical difference between the signal quality of the adjacent cell in the latest measurement report and the signal quality of the adjacent cell in the last measurement report is 20, and the threshold is 10, that is, the signal corresponding to the adjacent cell in the latest measurement report. Compared with the signal quality of the neighboring cell in the last measurement report, the quality has changed greatly, and the first access network device forwards the first measurement report to the core network device.

Exemplarily, the numerical difference between the signal quality of the adjacent cell in the latest measurement report and the signal quality of the adjacent cell in the last measurement report is 5, and the threshold is 10, that is, the signal corresponding to the adjacent cell in the latest measurement report. Compared with the signal quality of the neighboring cell in the last measurement report, the quality does not change greatly, the first access network device may not forward the first measurement report to the core network device.

In this way, the access network device makes a judgment after receiving the measurement result, and reports the change to the core network device when it is judged, otherwise it does not report, which can reduce message forwarding and reduce the processing complexity of the core network device.

In the embodiment of the present application, after the core network device receives the first measurement report, the subsequent actions of the core network device are slightly different according to the difference of the first measurement report, which are described below:

1. The terminal equipment is located at the edge of the serving cell.

303. If the terminal device is located at the edge of the serving cell, the core network device determines a new neighbor cell.

The condition for the core network device to determine that the terminal device is located at the edge of the serving cell can be any one of the following:

1. The first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality.

That is, the terminal device measures the first signal quality of the serving cell and the second signal quality of the first neighboring cell, and the core network device can determine that the terminal device is located at the edge of the serving cell.

2. The first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the numerical difference between the first signal quality and the second signal quality is less than or equal to the second threshold.

That is, the terminal device measures the first signal quality of the serving cell and the second signal quality of the first neighboring cell, and the first signal quality is not much different from the second signal quality, then the core network device can determine that the terminal device is located at the edge of the serving cell .

The second threshold in this embodiment of the present application is set according to actual needs, which is not specifically limited here.

After the core network device determines that the terminal device is located at the edge of the serving cell, the core network device may determine a second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality, where the second neighboring cell is used to determine the location of the terminal device. That is, the core network device can determine a new neighbor cell (that is, the second neighbor cell) required for locating the terminal device according to the first measurement report, and the access network device corresponding to the second neighbor cell is the second access network device, that is, The second access network device is an access network device that provides services for the second neighboring cell. Wherein, the number of the first neighboring cells is greater than or equal to the number of the second neighboring cells.

Optionally, the core network device may determine the new neighbor cell according to the value corresponding to the second signal quality in the first measurement report and the magnitude of the first threshold. In other words, the core network device may determine that a neighboring cell whose value corresponding to the second signal quality in the first neighboring cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold is a new neighboring cell.

In this way, the core network device can determine a new neighbor cell for determining the location of the terminal device according to the first measurement report. On the one hand, the accuracy of locating the terminal device can be improved. On the other hand, compared with the prior art in which all neighboring cells measure the terminal equipment, the resource consumption of the access network equipment can be reduced.

304. The core network device sends a first measurement request to the first access network device.

The core network device sends a first measurement request to the first access network device corresponding to the serving cell, where the first measurement request is used to instruct the first access network device to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device. If the first access network device corresponds to multiple cells or multiple TRPs (that is, the first access network device serves multiple cells or multiple TRPs), the first measurement request may include the first access network device Corresponding cell ID (cell ID) and/or TRP ID.

305. The core network device sends a second measurement request to the second access network device.

After the core network device determines the second adjacent cell, the core network device sends a second measurement request to the second access network device corresponding to the second adjacent cell, where the second measurement request is used to instruct the second access network device to perform TOA on the terminal device. Measurement. If the second access network device corresponds to multiple cells or multiple TRPs (that is, the second access network device serves multiple cells or multiple TRPs), the second measurement request may include the second access network device Corresponding cell ID (cell ID) and/or TRP ID.

In this way, compared with the prior art, the neighboring cells are blindly selected based on the serving cell where the terminal equipment is located, and after the neighboring cells are determined, the neighboring cells that cooperate to measure the user's location remain unchanged. Therefore, in the case of user movement, the positioning will be inaccurate. The communication method provided by the present application can enable the core network equipment to select a suitable second neighboring cell to perform positioning measurement on the terminal equipment when the terminal equipment is located at the edge of the serving cell, thereby improving the accuracy of positioning the terminal equipment.

2. The terminal equipment is located in the center of the serving cell.

306. If the terminal device is located in the center of the serving cell, the core network device sends a third measurement request to the first access network device.

The condition for the core network device to determine that the terminal device is located in the center of the serving cell can be any one of the following:

1. The first measurement report includes the first signal quality, but does not include the second signal quality.

That is, the terminal device only measures the first signal quality of the serving cell and does not measure the second signal quality of the first neighboring cell, and the core network device can determine that the terminal device is located in the center of the serving cell.

2. The first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the numerical difference between the first signal quality and the second signal quality is greater than a third threshold.

That is, the terminal device measures the first signal quality of the serving cell and the second signal quality of the first neighboring cell, and the first signal quality is much greater than the second signal quality, and the core network device can determine that the terminal device is located in the center of the serving cell.

The third threshold in this embodiment of the present application is set according to actual needs, which is not specifically limited here. The third threshold and the second threshold may or may not be equal. If the third threshold and the second threshold are not equal, and the numerical difference between the first signal quality and the second signal quality is greater than the third threshold, it may also be replaced by: the first The numerical difference between the signal quality and the second signal quality is greater than or equal to the third threshold.

After the core network device determines that the terminal device is located in the center of the serving cell, the core network device may only send a third measurement request to the first access network device corresponding to the serving cell. If the serving cell includes multiple transmission reception points (TRPs) ), the third measurement request is used to instruct multiple TRPs to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device. If the first access network device corresponds to multiple cells or multiple TRPs (that is, the first access network device serves multiple cells or multiple TRPs), the third measurement request may include the first access network device Corresponding cell ID (cell ID) and/or TRP ID. That is, after receiving the third measurement request, the first access network device may send the third measurement request to multiple TRPs.

Optionally, the first access network device and/or the second access network device may, according to the above-mentioned measurement request (the first measurement request, the second measurement request and/or the third measurement request), determine the time of the SRS where the terminal device is located. measure the frequency location, obtain the TOA measurement result, and send the TOA measurement result to the core network equipment. Further, the core network device is made to determine the position of the terminal device according to the TOA measurement result (for example, the position of the terminal device is determined by the distance difference and the hyperbola).

In this way, compared with the prior art, when the terminal device is located in the center of the serving cell, the neighbor cell measurement is also triggered, and the neighbor cell measurement is not actually required, which will cause waste of user specifications and SRS resources. The communication method provided by the present application can only measure the serving cell when the terminal device is located in the center of the serving cell, thereby reducing the waste of SRS resources.

Optionally, if the terminal device moves (similar to the aforementioned access network device judging whether there is a change, for example: the neighboring cell in the latest measurement report has changed compared with the neighboring cell in the previous measurement report, or the neighboring cell has not changed. , but the signal quality has changed), the neighboring cell used for positioning measurement has changed, the core network device can send measurement update information (measurement update) to the access network device, and the measurement update information carries the new measurement neighboring cell (also may be called the third neighbor cell). That is, the serving cell of the terminal device does not change, but the terminal device moves to a different orientation of the cell, resulting in the change of the preferred cell, and the neighbor cell can be replaced by measuring and updating information.

In this embodiment of the present application, step 304 to step 305 may be before step 306 or after step 306, and the timing relationship in the above steps is not specifically limited here.

In this embodiment of the present application, in a possible implementation manner, the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 may include steps 301 to 305 . In another possible implementation manner, the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 may include steps 301 to 306 . In another possible implementation manner, the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 may include step 301 , step 302 and step 306 .

In the embodiments of the present application, on the one hand, the core network device can determine the neighboring cells needed to locate the terminal device according to the measurement report. Compared with all neighboring cells in the prior art, all neighboring cells measure the terminal device, which can reduce the resources of the access network device. consume. On the other hand, when the terminal device is at the edge of the serving cell, the neighbor cell measurement is triggered, and when the terminal device is in the center of the serving cell, the neighbor cell measurement is not triggered. Not only can the accuracy of positioning terminal equipment be improved, but also resource consumption of access network equipment can be reduced.

One embodiment of the communication method provided by the present application has been described in detail above in conjunction with the network framework of FIG. 1 , and the following network architectures (that is, the positioning scenarios in the NR system) of FIG. 2 are another implementation of the communication method provided by the present application. The general steps are described in the example. For the specific content of the process shown in FIG. 4 , reference may be made to the description in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3 .

Referring to FIG. 4 , one embodiment of the communication method in this embodiment of the present application includes 401 to 423 , and another embodiment of the communication method can also be understood as the overall process of UTDOA positioning.

Hereinafter, a schematic description will be given by taking an example that the access network device is a gNodeB and the terminal device is a UE.

401. The external positioning service client sends a positioning request to the gateway mobile location center (GMLC), and the positioning request uses a generic public subscription identifier (GPSI) or a user permanent identifier (subscription permanent identifier, SUPI) identifies the target UE.

402. The GMLC invokes the Nudm_UECM_Get service operation, carries the GPSI or SUPI information of the target UE, and initiates a positioning request to the unified data management function (unified data management, UDM) to which the target UE belongs.

403. The UDM returns the network address that serves the AMF for the UE.

404. The GMLC initiates a positioning request to the AMF.

Optionally, if the UE is in a connection management idle (connection management-IDLE, CM-IDLE) state, the AMF initiates a network-triggered service request process to establish a signaling connection with the UE.

405. The AMF selects an LMF serving the target positioning UE.

406. The AMF initiates a positioning request to the LMF.

407. The LMF sends a Positioning Information Request to the AMF, requesting to locate the SRS resources occupied by the user.

408. The AMF transparently transmits the Positioning Information Request to the gNodeB.

409. The gNodeB replies to the AMF a response message Positioning Information Response, which carries the SRS resource information occupied by the positioning user.

410. The AMF transparently transmits the Positioning Information Response to the LMF.

411. The gNodeB receives a measurement report sent by the UE, where the measurement report includes the first signal quality of the serving cell where the UE is located, or includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality of the first neighboring cell of the serving cell.

412. Optionally, the gNodeB may determine whether the neighboring cell changes according to the measurement report received last time and the measurement report received this time.

Optionally, the gNodeB judges whether the adjacent cell in the measurement report received this time has changed compared to the adjacent cell in the measurement report received last time, or the gNodeB judges the signal of the adjacent cell in the measurement report received this time. The difference between the quality and the signal quality of the neighboring cell in the previously received measurement report is the magnitude of a certain threshold (that is, it is judged whether the signal quality has changed or whether there has been a large change).

413. The gNodeB sends a measurement report to the AMF.

Optionally, if the adjacent cell changes, the signal quality corresponding to the adjacent cell changes, or the signal quality corresponding to the adjacent cell changes greatly, the gNodeB sends a measurement report to the AMF.

414. The AMF transparently transmits the measurement report to the LMF.

415. If the UE is in the center of the cell, the LMF sends third measurement request information (only for the serving base station) to the AMF.

If the UE is at the cell edge, the LMF can determine the new neighbor cell (ie the second neighbor cell) according to the measurement report, and the LMF sends the first measurement request information (for the serving base station) and the second measurement request information (for the new neighbor cell) to the AMF ).

Optionally, the measurement request may include information such as a positioning SRS configuration, a measurement reporting method, and a positioning measurement amount.

416. The AMF transparently transmits the measurement request information to the gNodeB. The TRP that needs to participate in the measurement may involve one or more gNodeBs, and the AMF will route the message to the corresponding gNodeBs respectively.

Optionally, the AMF transparently transmits the third measurement request information to the serving base station.

Optionally, the AMF transparently transmits the first measurement request information to the serving base station, and the AMF transparently transmits the second measurement request information to the adjacent base station (the base station corresponding to the second adjacent cell).

417. After receiving the Measurement Request message, the serving base station and/or the neighboring base station will measure the time-frequency position of the SRS where the UE is located according to the parameter indication therein, and obtain a TOA measurement result.

418. The gNodeB reports the TOA measurement result, and returns a Measurement Response message to the AMF, which will carry the TOA obtained by measurement.

419. The AMF transparently transmits the Measurement Response message to the LMF.

420. The LMF parses the Measurement Response message to obtain the measurement result TOA, and then performs position calculation to obtain the position information.

421. The LMF sends the obtained location information to the AMF.

422. The AMF transparently transmits the obtained location information to the GMLC.

423. The GMLC then sends the obtained location information to the external location service client that initiates the location request.

The process of step 411 to step 417 in this embodiment is similar to the process of step 302 to step 306 in the foregoing embodiment corresponding to FIG. 3 , and the specific detailed description refers to the foregoing embodiment corresponding to FIG. 3 .

Steps 411 to 416 in this embodiment of the present application may be repeatedly performed. Optionally, during the movement of the terminal device, after step 416, a measurement report sent by the base station may be received again, that is, after step 416, step 411 is performed, The timing relationship in the above steps is not specifically limited here.

In this embodiment, in the UTDOA positioning process, an interaction message between the base station and the core network device is added. After receiving the neighbor signal measurement report reported by the UE, the gNB side forwards the measurement report to the core network device, and the LMF can use the measurement report according to the measurement report. The report selects neighbor cells for which assisted measurements are required. On the one hand, the LMF can determine the neighboring cells needed to locate the UE according to the measurement report. Compared with all neighboring cells in the prior art, the terminal equipment is measured, which can reduce the resource consumption of the access network equipment. On the other hand, when the UE is at the edge of the serving cell, the neighbor cell measurement is triggered, and when the UE is at the center of the serving cell, the neighbor cell measurement is not triggered. Not only can the accuracy of positioning the UE be improved, but also the resource consumption of the access network equipment can be reduced.

Corresponding to the methods given in the foregoing method embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide corresponding apparatuses, including corresponding modules for executing the foregoing embodiments. Modules can be software, hardware, or a combination of software and hardware.

Referring to FIG. 5 , an embodiment of the communication apparatus 500 in the embodiment of the present application, the communication apparatus 500 may be core network equipment, or may be a component of the core network equipment (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system). 500 includes:

A transceiver unit 501, configured to acquire channel sounding reference signal SRS resources occupied by a positioning terminal device;

The transceiver unit 501 is further configured to receive a first measurement report sent by the first access network device, where the first measurement report includes the first signal quality corresponding to the serving cell where the terminal device is located, or the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the first signal quality. The second signal quality, the second signal quality is the signal quality corresponding to the first adjacent cell, the first adjacent cell is the adjacent cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell is the cell served by the first access network device;

a processing unit 502, configured to determine a second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the second neighboring cell is used to determine the location of the terminal device;

The transceiver unit 501 is further configured to send a first measurement request to a first access network device, and send a second measurement request to a second access network device, where the second access network device is an access point that provides services for the second adjacent cell. For the network access device, the first measurement request is used to instruct the first access network device to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device, and the second measurement request is used to instruct the second access network device to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device.

Optionally, the processing unit 502 is specifically configured to determine a neighboring cell whose value corresponding to the second signal quality in the first neighboring cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold as the second neighboring cell.

Optionally, the processing unit 502 is specifically configured to, if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the numerical difference between the first signal quality and the second signal quality is less than or equal to the second threshold, according to the first Second, the signal quality determines the second neighbor cell.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 501 is further configured to send a third measurement request to the first access network device if the first measurement report does not include the second signal quality and the serving cell includes multiple transmission and reception points TRP, and the third The measurement request is used to instruct multiple TRPs to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 501 is further configured to, if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the numerical difference between the first signal quality and the second signal quality is greater than a third threshold and the serving cell includes multiple The transmission and reception point TRP sends a third measurement request to the first access network device, where the third measurement request is used to instruct multiple TRPs to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device.

In this embodiment, the operations performed by each unit in the communication apparatus are similar to the operations performed by the core network equipment in the embodiments shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , and details are not described herein again.

In this embodiment, before the transceiver unit 501 sends the positioning measurement request, the processing unit 502 may determine, according to the first measurement report, the second neighboring cell in the first neighboring cell that assists the positioning measurement. Compared with all neighboring cells in the prior art, the The measurement by the terminal equipment can reduce the resource consumption of the access network equipment.

Referring to FIG. 6 , an embodiment of a communication apparatus 600 in the embodiment of the present application, the communication apparatus 600 may be a first access network device, or may be a component of the first access network device (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip). system), the communication device 600 includes:

The transceiver unit 601 is configured to receive a first measurement report sent by a terminal device, where the first measurement report includes the first signal quality corresponding to the serving cell where the terminal device is located, or the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality. The second signal quality is the signal quality corresponding to the first adjacent cell, the first adjacent cell is the adjacent cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell is the cell served by the communication device;

The transceiver unit 601 is further configured to send a first measurement report to the core network device, where the first measurement report is used by the core network device to determine the second neighboring cell required for positioning the terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 601 is specifically configured to send the first measurement report to the core network device if the neighboring cells of the serving cell in the first measurement report change.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 601 is further configured to receive a first measurement request sent by the core network device, where the first measurement request is used to instruct the communication apparatus to measure the time of arrival TOA on the terminal device.

Optionally, the transceiver unit 601 is further configured to receive a positioning information request sent by the core network device, where the positioning information request is used to request to locate the channel sounding reference signal SRS resources occupied by the terminal device;

The transceiver unit 601 is further configured to send the SRS resource to the core network device.

In this embodiment, the operations performed by each unit in the communication apparatus are similar to the operations performed by the first access network device in the foregoing embodiments shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , and details are not described herein again.

In this embodiment, the transceiver unit 601 sends a first measurement report to the core network device, where the first measurement report is used by the core network device to determine the second neighboring cell required for positioning the terminal device. Further, before sending the positioning measurement request, the core network device can determine the second neighboring cell in the first neighboring cell that assists the positioning measurement according to the first measurement report. Reduce resource consumption of access network equipment.

Referring to FIG. 7 , an embodiment of the present application provides another communication apparatus 700. The communication apparatus 700 may be a core network device or a component of a core network device (for example, a processor, a chip, or a chip system). The communication device 700 may be suitable for dual-homing and active-active scenarios of ring networking or port-type networking, and the communication device 700 may include but is not limited to a processor 701, a communication port 702, a memory 703, and a bus 704. In the embodiments of the present application , the processor 701 is used to control the operation of the communication device 700 .

Furthermore, the processor 701 may be a central processing unit, a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, transistor logic device, hardware component, or any combination thereof. It may implement or execute the various exemplary logical blocks, modules and circuits described in connection with this disclosure. The processor may also be a combination that implements computing functions, such as a combination comprising one or more microprocessors, a combination of a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, and the like. Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the system, device and unit described above may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

It should be noted that the communication device shown in FIG. 7 can be specifically used to implement the functions of the steps performed by the core network equipment in the method embodiments corresponding to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , and realize the technical effect corresponding to the core network equipment, as shown in FIG. 7 For the specific implementation of the communication device, reference may be made to the descriptions in the respective method embodiments corresponding to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , and details are not repeated here.

Please refer to FIG. 8 , which is a schematic structural diagram of the access network device involved in the above-mentioned embodiment provided by the embodiment of the present application, wherein the communication device may be the first access network device in the foregoing embodiment, and the communication device may be the first access network device in the above-mentioned embodiment. The structure of the device may refer to the structure shown in FIG. 8 .

The communication device includes at least one processor 811 , at least one memory 812 , at least one transceiver 813 , at least one network interface 814 and one or more antennas 815 . The processor 811, the memory 812, the transceiver 813 and the network interface 814 are connected, for example, through a bus. In this embodiment of the application, the connection may include various interfaces, transmission lines, or buses, which are not limited in this embodiment. . Antenna 815 is connected to transceiver 813 . The network interface 814 is used to connect the communication device with other communication devices through a communication link. For example, the network interface 814 may include a network interface between the communication device and the core network device, such as an S1 interface, and the network interface may include the communication device and other networks. A network interface between devices (such as other access network devices or core network devices), such as an X2 or Xn interface.

The processor 811 is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data, control the entire communication device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs, for example, to support the communication device to perform the actions described in the embodiments. The communication device may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit. The baseband processor is mainly used to process communication protocols and communication data. The central processing unit is mainly used to control the entire terminal equipment, execute software programs, and process data of software programs. . The processor 811 in FIG. 8 may integrate the functions of the baseband processor and the central processing unit. Those skilled in the art can understand that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may also be independent processors, interconnected by technologies such as a bus. Those skilled in the art can understand that a terminal device may include multiple baseband processors to adapt to different network standards, a terminal device may include multiple central processors to enhance its processing capability, and various components of the terminal device may be connected through various buses. The baseband processor may also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit can also be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing the communication protocol and communication data may be built in the processor, or may be stored in the memory in the form of a software program, and the processor executes the software program to realize the baseband processing function.

The memory is mainly used to store software programs and data. The memory 812 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 811 . Optionally, the memory 812 may be integrated with the processor 811, for example, in one chip. The memory 812 can store program codes for implementing the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and is controlled and executed by the processor 811 .

Figure 8 shows only one memory and one processor. In an actual terminal device, there may be multiple processors and multiple memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device or the like. The memory may be a storage element on the same chip as the processor, that is, an on-chip storage element, or an independent storage element, which is not limited in this embodiment of the present application.

The transceiver 813 may be used to support the reception or transmission of radio frequency signals between the communication device and the terminal, and the transceiver 813 may be connected to the antenna 815 . The transceiver 813 includes a transmitter Tx and a receiver Rx. Specifically, one or more antennas 815 may receive radio frequency signals, and the receiver Rx of the transceiver 813 is configured to receive the radio frequency signals from the antennas, convert the radio frequency signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and convert the digital The baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal is provided to the processor 811, so that the processor 811 performs further processing on the digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal, such as demodulation processing and decoding processing. In addition, the transmitter Tx in the transceiver 813 is also used to receive the modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal from the processor 811, convert the modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal into a radio frequency signal, and pass a The radio frequency signals are transmitted by the antenna or antennas 815 . Specifically, the receiver Rx can selectively perform one or more stages of down-mixing processing and analog-to-digital conversion processing on the radio frequency signal to obtain a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal. The order of precedence is adjustable. The transmitter Tx can selectively perform one or more stages of up-mixing processing and digital-to-analog conversion processing on the modulated digital baseband signal or digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain a radio frequency signal, and the up-mixing processing and digital-to-analog conversion processing The sequence of s is adjustable. Digital baseband signals and digital intermediate frequency signals can be collectively referred to as digital signals.

A transceiver may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or the like. Optionally, the device used to implement the receiving function in the transceiver unit may be regarded as a receiving unit, and the device used to implement the transmitting function in the transceiver unit may be regarded as a transmitting unit, that is, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit, and the receiving unit also It can be called a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, etc., and the sending unit can be called a transmitter, a transmitter, or a transmitting circuit, etc.

It should be noted that the communication apparatus shown in FIG. 8 can be specifically used to implement the steps implemented by the first access network device in the method embodiments corresponding to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , and realize the technical effect corresponding to the first access network device, For the specific implementation of the communication device shown in FIG. 8 , reference may be made to the descriptions in the method embodiments corresponding to FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , which will not be repeated here.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working process of the system, device and unit described above may refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiments, which will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the apparatus embodiments described above are only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or Can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not implemented. On the other hand, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, and may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and components displayed as units may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution in this embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically alone, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware, or may be implemented in the form of software functional units.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solutions of the present application can be embodied in the form of software products in essence, or the parts that contribute to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions, and the computer software products are stored in a storage medium , including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the various embodiments of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes .

Claims

A communication method, characterized in that the method comprises:

The core network equipment obtains the channel sounding reference signal SRS resources occupied by the positioning terminal equipment;

The core network device receives a first measurement report sent by the first access network device, where the first measurement report includes the first signal quality corresponding to the serving cell where the terminal device is located, or the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, the second signal quality is the signal quality corresponding to the first neighboring cell, the first neighboring cell is the neighboring cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell is the a cell served by the first access network device;

If the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, the core network device determines a second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality, and the second neighboring cell is used to determine the location of the terminal device;

The core network device sends a first measurement request to the first access network device, and sends a second measurement request to a second access network device, where the second access network device is the second neighbor cell The access network device that provides the service, the first measurement request is used to instruct the first access network device to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device, and the second measurement request is used to instruct the second access network device. The network access device performs the TOA measurement on the terminal device.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the core network device determines the second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality, comprising:

The core network device determines that a neighboring cell whose value corresponding to the second signal quality in the first neighboring cell is greater than or equal to the first threshold is the second neighboring cell.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, the core network device is based on the second signal quality. Determine the second neighbor cell, including:

If the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the numerical difference between the first signal quality and the second signal quality is less than or equal to a second threshold, the core The network device determines the second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the method further comprises:

If the first measurement report does not include the second signal quality, and the serving cell includes multiple transmission and reception points TRP, the core network device sends a third measurement request to the first access network device, and the The third measurement request is used to instruct the multiple TRPs to perform the TOA measurement on the terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the method further comprises:

If the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the numerical difference between the first signal quality and the second signal quality is greater than a third threshold, and the serving cell includes multiple transmission reception point TRPs, the core network device sends a third measurement request to the first access network device, where the third measurement request is used to instruct the multiple TRPs to perform the TOA on the terminal device Measurement.
A communication method, characterized in that the method comprises:

The first access network device receives a first measurement report sent by a terminal device, where the first measurement report includes the first signal quality corresponding to the serving cell where the terminal device is located, or the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and a second signal quality, where the second signal quality is the signal quality corresponding to the first neighboring cell, the first neighboring cell is the neighboring cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell is the first access network The cell served by the device;

The first access network device sends the first measurement report to the core network device, where the first measurement report is used by the core network device to determine the second neighboring cell required to locate the terminal device.
The method according to claim 6, wherein the sending, by the first access network device, the first measurement report to the core network device comprises:

If the neighboring cell of the serving cell in the first measurement report changes, the first access network device sends the first measurement report to the core network device.
The method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein after the first access network device sends the first measurement report to the core network device, the method further comprises:

The first access network device receives a first measurement request sent by the core network device, where the first measurement request is used to instruct the first access network device to perform time-of-arrival TOA measurement on the terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein before the first access network device receives the first measurement report sent by the terminal device, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the first access network device, a positioning information request sent by the core network device, where the positioning information request is used to request to locate the channel sounding reference signal SRS resources occupied by the terminal device;

The first access network device sends the SRS resource to the core network device.
A communication device, characterized in that the communication device comprises:

a transceiver unit, configured to acquire the channel sounding reference signal SRS resources occupied by the positioning terminal equipment;

The transceiver unit is further configured to receive a first measurement report sent by the first access network device, where the first measurement report includes the first signal quality corresponding to the serving cell where the terminal device is located, or the first measurement report The measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, the second signal quality is the signal quality corresponding to the first neighboring cell, the first neighboring cell is the neighboring cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell a cell serving the first access network device;

a processing unit, configured to determine a second neighboring cell according to the second signal quality if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the second neighboring cell is used to determine the location of the terminal device;

The transceiver unit is further configured to send a first measurement request to the first access network device, and send a second measurement request to a second access network device, where the second access network device is for the first access network device. An access network device serving a second-neighbor cell, the first measurement request is used to instruct the first access network device to perform TOA measurement on the terminal device, and the second measurement request is used to instruct the The second access network device performs the TOA measurement on the terminal device.
The communication device according to claim 10, wherein:

The processing unit is specifically configured to determine, in the first neighboring cell, a neighboring cell whose value corresponding to the second signal quality is greater than or equal to the first threshold as the second neighboring cell.
The communication device according to claim 10 or 11, wherein:

The processing unit is specifically configured to, if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the numerical difference between the first signal quality and the second signal quality is less than or equal to For the second threshold, the second neighboring cell is determined according to the second signal quality.
The communication device according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that:

The transceiver unit is further configured to send a third measurement request to the first access network device if the first measurement report does not include the second signal quality and the serving cell includes multiple transmission and reception points TRP , the third measurement request is used to instruct the multiple TRPs to perform the TOA measurement on the terminal device.
The communication device according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the method further comprises:

The transceiver unit is further configured to, if the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and the second signal quality, and the numerical difference between the first signal quality and the second signal quality is greater than a third If the threshold value and the serving cell includes multiple transmission and reception points (TRPs), a third measurement request is sent to the first access network device, where the third measurement request is used to instruct the multiple TRPs to perform a measurement on the terminal device. The TOA measurement.
A communication device, characterized in that the communication device comprises:

a transceiver unit, configured to receive a first measurement report sent by a terminal device, where the first measurement report includes the first signal quality corresponding to the serving cell where the terminal device is located, or the first measurement report includes the first signal quality and a second signal quality, where the second signal quality is a signal quality corresponding to a first neighboring cell, the first neighboring cell is a neighboring cell of the serving cell, and the serving cell is a cell served by the communication device;

The transceiver unit is further configured to send the first measurement report to the core network device, where the first measurement report is used by the core network device to determine the second neighboring cell required to locate the terminal device.
The communication device according to claim 15, wherein:

The transceiver unit is specifically configured to send the first measurement report to the core network device if the neighboring cells of the serving cell in the first measurement report change.
The communication device according to claim 15 or 16, characterized in that,

The transceiver unit is further configured to receive a first measurement request sent by the core network device, where the first measurement request is used to instruct the communication apparatus to perform time-of-arrival TOA measurement on the terminal device.
The communication device according to any one of claims 15 to 17, characterized in that:

The transceiver unit is further configured to receive a positioning information request sent by the core network device, where the positioning information request is used to request to locate the channel sounding reference signal SRS resources occupied by the terminal device;

The transceiver unit is further configured to send the SRS resource to the core network device.
A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processor, wherein the processor is coupled with a memory, the memory is used for storing computer programs or instructions, and the processor is used for executing the computer programs or instructions in the memory, so that the rights The method of any one of claims 1 to 5 is performed.
A communication device, characterized in that it comprises a processor, wherein the processor is coupled with a memory, the memory is used for storing computer programs or instructions, and the processor is used for executing the computer programs or instructions in the memory, so that the rights The method of any one of claims 6 to 9 is performed.
A communication system, characterized by comprising: the communication device as claimed in claim 19 , and/or the communication device as claimed in claim 20 .
A chip, characterized in that the chip includes a processor and a communication interface, the communication interface is coupled to the processor, and the processor is used for running a computer program or instruction, such that any one of claims 1 to 5 The described method is performed, or the method described in any one of claims 6 to 9 is performed.
A computer storage medium, wherein instructions are stored in the computer storage medium, and when the instructions are executed on a computer, the instructions cause the computer to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, or The computer is caused to perform the method of any one of claims 6 to 9.