WO2024082849A1

WO2024082849A1 - Communication method and apparatus

Info

Publication number: WO2024082849A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/117030
Authority: WO
Inventors: 张梦晨; 姚楚婷; 徐海博
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2022-10-21
Filing date: 2023-09-05
Publication date: 2024-04-25
Also published as: CN117917910A

Abstract

The present application relates to a communication method and apparatus. A first network device receives a first message from a first terminal device, the first message comprising an identifier of a second terminal device, and the second terminal device being used for providing a relay service for the first terminal device. The first network device sends a first location service request message to a second network device, the first location service request message being for requesting to position the second terminal device and to position the first terminal device, the first location service request message further comprising the identifier of the second terminal device and an identifier of the first terminal device. The first network device receives first information from the second network device, the first information being used for indicating the location of the first terminal device. According to the embodiments of the present application, a network can know the presence of a relay terminal device, so that positioning of a remote terminal device in a relay scenario can be realized.

Description

A communication method and device

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on October 21, 2022, with application number 202211294745.4 and application name “A method for positioning emergency calls”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application; this application claims the priority of the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of China on November 21, 2022, with application number 202211456149.1 and application name “A communication method and device”, all contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application.

Technical Field

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

Background technique

Now, the target user equipment (UE) can be located by positioning technology, so that the network element/UE/entity requesting the positioning service can obtain the location of the target UE. For example, the target UE can receive a positioning reference signal (PRS) and/or send a sounding reference signal (SRS), and use a positioning method supported by a new radio (NR) system or a long term evolution (LTE) system to locate the target UE.

Currently, 3GPP has introduced the sidelink relay to support the user equipment access network relay UE-to-Network relay (U2N relay) function. Sidelink relay can provide remote UE with connection to the network. UE can connect to the network device through sidelink relay. For example, remote UE can establish a connection with relay UE to connect to the network device through relay UE. For example, in some application scenarios, relay UE can be a smart terminal such as a mobile phone, and remote UE can be a smart wearable device such as an electronic bracelet. Smart wearable devices can access base stations through smart terminals as relays.

The current positioning process for the target UE does not consider the case where the target UE is connected to the network device through the relay UE, that is, the positioning process when the target UE is the remote UE in the relay scenario is not considered. If the target UE is the remote UE in the relay scenario, it is currently impossible to locate the target UE.

Summary of the invention

The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method and apparatus for positioning a remote terminal device in a relay scenario.

In a first aspect, a first communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device, or by other devices including network device functions, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, which can realize the functions of the network device, and the chip system or functional module is, for example, arranged in the network device. The network device is, for example, a first network device, and optionally, the first network device is a core network device, such as an AMF. The method includes: receiving a first message from a first terminal device, the first message including an identifier of a second terminal device, the second terminal device being used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device; sending a first positioning service request message to a second network device, the first positioning service request message being used to request positioning of the second terminal device, and positioning of the first terminal device, the first positioning service request message also including an identifier of the second terminal device and an identifier of the first terminal device; receiving first information from the second network device, the first information being used to indicate the location of the first terminal device.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first network device obtains the identification of the second terminal device, and the first network device learns the existence of the second terminal device, so the first network device can request the second network device to perform positioning on the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and can receive the positioning result from the second network device. The second terminal device provides a relay service for the first terminal device, for example, the second terminal device is a relay terminal device of the first terminal device, and the first terminal device is a remote terminal device of the second terminal device. That is to say, in the embodiment of the present application, the network can learn the existence of the relay terminal device, so as to realize the positioning of the remote terminal device in the relay scenario.

In an optional implementation, the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the second terminal device and positioning of the first terminal device, including: the first positioning service request message is used to request air interface positioning of the second terminal device and sideline positioning of the first terminal device. The first network device can request positioning from the second network device, and the specific positioning method can be decided by the second network device; or, the first network device can indicate the positioning method when requesting positioning from the second network device, so that the second network device does not have to perform too many decision-making processes.

In an optional implementation, the first message further includes the quality information of the received signal of the first terminal device for the signal from the second terminal device, and/or the transmission power information of the second terminal device to the first terminal device. The first message may be Includes more information so that it can be referenced during the positioning process to improve positioning accuracy.

In an optional implementation, the first message is a non-access layer NAS message, and the NAS message includes one or more of the following: a registration request message, a service request message, an uplink NAS transmission message, or a second positioning service request message, and the second positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device. Optionally, the first message is a registration request message or the service request message, and the method further includes: determining to position the first terminal device according to the first message, wherein the positioning process includes the positioning process of the second terminal device and the positioning process of the first terminal device; or, determining to position the first terminal device and the second terminal device according to the first message. For example, if the registration request message or the service request message is used for emergency services, then after receiving the first message, the first network device can determine that there is a need to position the first terminal device, so that the first network device can initiate positioning of the first terminal device, or initiate positioning of the first terminal device and the second terminal device. Alternatively, the first message is not used for emergency services, but the first network device can also initiate positioning. Alternatively, the first terminal device can send the first message when there is a positioning demand, and it can be considered that the first terminal device has initiated the process of positioning the first terminal device. That is, the positioning process can be initiated by different network elements, which is more flexible.

In an optional implementation, before sending the first positioning service request message to the second network device, the method further includes: receiving a third positioning service request message from a third network device, wherein the third positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device. The third network device is, for example, a core network device, such as an LCS, etc. That is, the positioning process can also be initiated by other network devices besides the first terminal device and the first network device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending first indication information to the first terminal device, the first indication information being used to instruct the first terminal device to send information of the second terminal device (or instruct the first terminal device to send an identifier of the second terminal device), or instruct the first terminal device to send relay service information of the first terminal device. The first terminal device may actively send information of the second terminal device or relay service information to the first network device, or the first terminal device may not actively send information of the second terminal device or relay service information to the first network device, but may send information of the second terminal device or relay service information to the first network device under the instruction of the first network device, thereby reducing the transmission process of redundant information and improving information utilization. The information of the second terminal device may include, for example, an identifier of the second terminal device; the relay service information may include, for example, an identifier of a relay device (such as a second terminal device) of the first terminal device, and/or may include indication information that the first terminal device accepts relay service (or indication information that the first terminal device accesses the network through a relay device).

In an optional implementation, the first positioning service request message also includes the quality information of the received signal of the first terminal device for the signal from the second terminal device, and/or the transmission power information of the second terminal device to the first terminal device. Optionally, if the first message includes the quality information of the received signal of the first terminal device for the signal from the second terminal device, and/or the transmission power information of the second terminal device to the first terminal device, the first network device may carry this information in the first positioning service request message, so that the second network device can refer to this information when performing positioning.

In an optional implementation, the first information includes the location information of the first terminal device. After performing positioning, the second network device can obtain the location information of the first terminal device, and can send the location information of the first terminal device to the first network device, so that the first network device obtains the location information of the first terminal device.

In an optional embodiment, the location information of the first terminal device is the absolute location information of the first terminal device; or, the location information of the first terminal device is the relative location information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the first information also includes the absolute location information of the second terminal device, and the method further includes: determining the absolute location information of the first terminal device according to the relative location information and the absolute location information of the second terminal device. The second network device can send the absolute location information of the first terminal device to the first network device, so that the first network device does not need to perform additional calculation processes to determine the absolute location information of the first terminal device. Alternatively, the second network device can also send the relative location information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device and the absolute location information of the second terminal device to the first network device, and the first network device can determine the absolute location information of the first terminal device accordingly. This method can reduce the workload of the second network device.

In an optional implementation, the location information of the first terminal device is the absolute location information of the first terminal device, and the first information also includes the absolute location information of the second terminal device. For example, the first network device can request the second network device to perform positioning on the second terminal device, and perform positioning on the first terminal device, then the second network device can send the location information of both terminal devices to the first network device as the positioning result.

In an optional implementation, the identification of the second terminal device includes one or more of the following: 5G-S-TMSI of the second terminal device, C-RNTI of the second terminal device, SUPI of the second terminal device, SUCI of the second terminal device, or I-RNTI of the second terminal device. In addition, the identification of the second terminal device may also be implemented in other ways, which will not be described in detail. limit.

In a second aspect, a second communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal device, or by other devices including terminal device functions, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, the chip system or functional module can realize the functions of the terminal device, the chip system or functional module is, for example, set in the terminal device. The terminal device is, for example, a first terminal device. The method includes: receiving a second message from a second terminal device, the second message includes an identifier of the second terminal device, the second terminal device is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device; sending a first message to a first network device, the first message includes an identifier of the second terminal device. In an embodiment of the present application, the first terminal device can obtain the identifier of the second terminal device, so that the identifier of the second terminal device can be sent to the first network device. If the first network device obtains the identifier of the second terminal device, the first network device learns of the existence of the second terminal device, so the first network device can request to perform positioning on the first terminal device and the second terminal device. Wherein the second terminal device provides a relay service for the first terminal device, for example, the second terminal device is a relay terminal device of the first terminal device, and the first terminal device is a remote terminal device of the second terminal device. That is to say, in the embodiment of the present application, the network can be aware of the existence of the relay terminal device, thereby being able to locate the remote terminal device in the relay scenario.

In an optional embodiment, the identifier of the second terminal device includes one or more of the following: the 5G-S-TMSI of the second terminal device, the C-RNTI of the second terminal device, the SUPI of the second terminal device, the SUCI of the second terminal device, or the I-RNTI of the second terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the first message further includes received signal quality information of the first terminal device for a signal from the second terminal device, and/or transmission power information of the second terminal device to the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the second message is a message during a discovery process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, or a message during a connection establishment process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, or a message after a connection between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is successfully established.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending a third message to the second terminal device, the third message being used to request an identification of the second terminal device. The second terminal device may actively send the identification of the second terminal device to the first terminal device, or the first terminal device may send the third message to the second terminal device when it is necessary to obtain the identification of the second terminal device, and the second terminal device sends the identification of the second terminal device to the first terminal device according to the third message, thereby reducing redundant information.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: determining to initiate an emergency service or determining a positioning requirement. When the first terminal device determines to initiate an emergency service or has a positioning requirement, the first terminal device may obtain an identifier of the second terminal device, thereby locating the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: determining to actively send information of the second terminal device to the first network device when an emergency service is initiated or when there is a positioning requirement. The first terminal device can actively send information of the second terminal device (for example, including an identifier of the second terminal device) to the first network device. For example, the first terminal device can actively send information of the second terminal device to the first network device when there is an emergency service or a positioning requirement, thereby reducing the process of the first network device requesting information of the second terminal device from the first terminal device and reducing the positioning delay.

In an optional implementation, the third message is a message in the discovery process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, or a message in the connection establishment process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, or a message after the connection between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is successfully established. The second message and the third message may correspond to the same process, for example, the second message and the third message are both messages in the discovery process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, or are both messages in the connection establishment process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device. Alternatively, the second message and the third message may also correspond to different processes, for example, the second message is a message in the discovery process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the third message is a message in the connection establishment process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, etc.

In an optional implementation, the first message is a NAS message, and the NAS message includes one or more of the following: a registration request message, a service request message, an uplink NAS transmission message, or a second positioning service request message, and the second positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: receiving first indication information from the first network device, the first indication information being used to instruct the first terminal device to send information of the second terminal device, or to instruct the first terminal device to send relay service information of the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: measuring the side signal from the second terminal device to obtain a first measurement result, the first measurement result being used to obtain relative position information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device; and sending the first measurement result or the relative position information to the second network device. The first terminal device may perform communication with the second terminal device. SL positioning between the devices is performed to obtain the first measurement result or the relative position information.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: receiving a fourth message from a second network device, the fourth message being used to request the first terminal device to perform positioning with the second terminal device; or actively initiating side positioning with the second terminal device. The first terminal device may initiate SL positioning with the second terminal device under the instruction of the second network device, thereby reducing the decision-making process of the first terminal device and simplifying the implementation of the first terminal device; or the first terminal device may also actively initiate SL positioning with the second terminal device, thereby reducing the participation of network devices and reducing positioning delay.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by some optional implementations of the second aspect, reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the corresponding implementations of the first aspect.

In a third aspect, a third communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device, or by other devices including network device functions, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, the chip system or functional module can realize the function of the network device, the chip system or functional module is, for example, set in the network device. The network device is, for example, a second network device, and optionally, the second network device is a core network device, such as LMF. The method includes: receiving a first positioning service request message from a first network device, the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of a second terminal device, and positioning of a first terminal device, the second terminal device is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device, the first positioning service request message also includes an identifier of the second terminal device and an identifier of the first terminal device; positioning the second terminal device and positioning the first terminal device to obtain first information, the first information is used to indicate the location of the first terminal device; sending the first information to the first network device. Optionally, air interface positioning is performed on the second terminal device, and side positioning is performed on the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the second terminal device and positioning of the first terminal device, including: the first positioning service request message is used to request air interface positioning of the second terminal device and sideline positioning of the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the first positioning service request message further includes the reception signal quality information of the first terminal device for the signal from the second terminal device, and/or the transmission power information of the second terminal device to the first terminal device.

In an optional embodiment, performing positioning on the first terminal device includes: sending a fourth message to the first terminal device, the fourth message being used to request the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform side-by-side positioning; receiving a first measurement result from the first terminal device, or receiving relative position information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device, wherein the first measurement result is used to obtain the relative position information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

In an optional embodiment, performing positioning on the first terminal device includes: sending a fourth message to the second terminal device, the fourth message being used to request the second terminal device to perform side-by-side positioning with the first terminal device; receiving a second measurement result from the second terminal device, or receiving relative position information of the second terminal device and the first terminal device, wherein the second measurement result is used to obtain the relative position information of the second terminal device and the first terminal device.

The second network device can request the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform SL positioning, or can request the second terminal device and the first terminal device to perform SL positioning, which is a more flexible method.

In an optional implementation, the first information includes location information of the first terminal device.

In an optional embodiment, the location information of the first terminal device is the absolute location information of the first terminal device; or, the location information of the first terminal device is the relative location information of the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the first information also includes the absolute location information of the second terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the location information of the first terminal device is absolute location information of the first terminal device, and the first information also includes absolute location information of the second terminal device.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the third aspect or various optional implementations of the third aspect, reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the first aspect or the corresponding implementations, and/or reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the second aspect or the corresponding implementations.

In a fourth aspect, a fourth communication method is provided, which may be executed by a network device, or by other devices including the functions of a network device, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, which can implement the functions of the network device, and which are, for example, arranged in the network device. The network device is, for example, a first network device, and optionally, the first network device is a core network device, such as an AMF. The method comprises: receiving a first message from a first terminal device, the first message comprising an identifier of a second terminal device, the second terminal device being used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device; sending a first identification message to the second network device. A positioning service request message is sent to the first terminal device, wherein the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the second terminal device, and the first positioning service request message also includes an identifier of the second terminal device; the location information of the second terminal device is received from the second network device, and the second information is received from the first terminal device, wherein the second information is used to indicate the location of the first terminal device; the location information of the first terminal device is determined according to the location information of the second terminal device and the second information. In the embodiment of the present application, the first network device obtains the identifier of the second terminal device, and the first network device learns the existence of the second terminal device, so the first network device can request the second network device to perform positioning on the second terminal device, and can receive the positioning result from the second network device. In addition, the first terminal device can perform SL positioning with the second terminal device without the instruction of the network device, thereby reducing the participation of the network device and reducing the positioning delay. The second terminal device provides a relay service for the first terminal device, for example, the second terminal device is a relay terminal device of the first terminal device, and the first terminal device is a remote terminal device of the second terminal device. That is to say, in the embodiment of the present application, the network can learn the existence of the relay terminal device, so as to realize the positioning of the remote terminal device in the relay scenario.

In an optional implementation, the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the second terminal device, including: the first positioning service request message is used to request air interface positioning of the second terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the first message further includes reception signal quality information of the first terminal device for a signal from the second terminal device, and/or transmission power information of the second terminal device to the first terminal device.

In an optional embodiment, the first message is a non-access layer NAS message, and the NAS message includes one or more of the following: a registration request message, a service request message, an uplink NAS transmission message, or a second positioning service request message, and the second positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the first message is the registration request message or the service request message, and the method further includes: determining to locate the second terminal device according to the first message.

In an optional implementation, before sending the first positioning service request message to the second network device, the method further includes: receiving a third positioning service request message from a third network device, wherein the third positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending first indication information to the first terminal device, the first indication information being used to instruct the first terminal device to send information of the second terminal device, or to instruct the first terminal device to send relay service information of the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the second information is a first measurement result, where the first measurement result is a measurement result of the first terminal device for a signal from the second terminal device; or, the second information is relative position information between the first terminal device and the second terminal device.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by various optional implementations of the fourth aspect, reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the corresponding implementations of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, a fifth communication method is provided, which can be executed by a terminal device, or by other devices including terminal device functions, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, which can realize the functions of the terminal device, and the chip system or functional module is, for example, set in the terminal device. The terminal device is, for example, a first terminal device. The method includes: sending a fifth message to a second terminal device, and performing side positioning with the second terminal device, the fifth message is used to request the location information of the second terminal device; receiving third information from the second terminal device, the third information is used to determine the location information of the first terminal device. The first terminal device can request the location information of the second terminal device, and can initiate SL positioning with the second terminal device, then the second terminal device can initiate the positioning process for the second terminal device, so that the first terminal device can determine the location information of the first terminal device. In this way, the network device is less involved, the decision-making power of the terminal device is enhanced, and it also helps to reduce the positioning delay.

In an optional implementation, the third information includes absolute position information of the second terminal device, and the method further includes: determining the relative position information between the first terminal device and the second terminal device according to the side positioning process, or determining a second measurement result, where the second measurement result is a measurement result of the second terminal device for the signal from the first terminal device; determining the relative position information between the first terminal device and the second terminal device according to the absolute position information of the second terminal device, and the relative position information or the second measurement result. The second terminal device may send the absolute position information of the second terminal device to the first terminal device, so that the first terminal device can determine the absolute position information of the first terminal device accordingly.

In an optional implementation, the third information includes the absolute position information of the first terminal device, and the method further includes: sending the relative position information between the first terminal device and the second terminal device to the second terminal device, or sending a first measurement result, where the first measurement result is a measurement result of the first terminal device for a signal from the second terminal device. The absolute position information of the first terminal device can also be determined by the second terminal device, which then sends it to the first terminal device, thereby reducing the determination process of the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending the absolute location information of the first terminal device to the first network device.

In a sixth aspect, a sixth communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device, or by other devices including network device functions, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, the chip system or functional module can realize the function of the network device, the chip system or functional module is, for example, set in the network device. The network device is, for example, a first network device, and optionally, the first network device is a core network device, such as an AMF. The method includes: receiving a first message from a first terminal device, the first message including relay information and/or network device information, wherein the network device information is used to indicate a network device that the first terminal device can receive a positioning reference signal, the relay information including one or more of the following: the first terminal device for the signal from the relay device receiving signal quality information, the relay device to the first terminal device transmission power information, or, the first terminal device through the relay connection network information; sending a first positioning service request message to a second network device, the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device, the first positioning service request message also includes the relay information and/or the network device information; receiving the location information of the first terminal device from the second network device. In an embodiment of the present application, the second terminal device provides a relay service for the first terminal device, for example, the second terminal device is a relay UE and the first terminal device is a remote UE. The first terminal device can send information about the second terminal device to the first network device, so that the first network device can be aware of the existence of the second terminal device, thereby enabling the first network device to initiate Uu positioning of the first terminal device. In other words, the embodiment of the present application enables the core network to perceive the existence of the relay UE in the relay scenario, so that the positioning process in the relay scenario can be realized. Moreover, the embodiment of the present application does not need to perform the SL positioning process, and the positioning of the first terminal device can be achieved through the Uu positioning process, making the positioning process relatively simple.

In an optional implementation, the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device, including: the first positioning service request message is used to request air interface positioning of the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the first message is the registration request message or the service request message, and the method further includes: determining to locate the first terminal device according to the first message.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: sending first indication information to the first terminal device, wherein the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to send the relay information and/or the network device information.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by various optional implementations of the sixth aspect, reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the first aspect or corresponding implementations.

In a seventh aspect, a seventh communication method is provided, which can be executed by a network device, or by other devices including network device functions, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, the chip system or functional module can realize the function of the network device, the chip system or functional module is, for example, set in the network device. The network device is, for example, a first network device, and optionally, the first network device is a core network device, such as LMF. The method includes: receiving a first positioning service request message from a first network device, the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of a first terminal device, the first positioning service request message also includes relay information and/or network device information, wherein the network device information is used to indicate a network device that can receive a positioning reference signal for the first terminal device, and the relay information includes one or more of the following: the first terminal device receives the signal quality information of the signal from the relay device, the relay device sends the first terminal device The transmission power information, or the first terminal device connects to the network through the relay; performs positioning on the first terminal device to determine the location information of the first terminal device; sends the location information of the first terminal device to the first network device. Optionally, air interface positioning is performed on the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: determining a network device for performing air interface positioning on the first terminal device according to the relay information and/or the network device information. For example, the second network device can estimate the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device according to the received signal quality information and/or the SL transmission power information of the second terminal device included in the first positioning service request, and the second network device can roughly determine the location of the second terminal device according to the service cell of the second terminal device. Then, the second network device can determine the location of the first terminal device according to the distance between the first terminal device and the second terminal device and the location of the second terminal device (the location at this time is a roughly estimated location), so the second network device can determine which network devices the first terminal device can receive PRS from, so that some or all of these network devices can be determined as network devices participating in the positioning of the first terminal device. It can be seen that the relay information and/or network device information enable the second network device to determine the network device for performing air interface positioning on the first terminal device, thereby improving the positioning accuracy of the first terminal device.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the seventh aspect or some optional implementation methods, reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the sixth aspect or corresponding implementation methods.

In an eighth aspect, an eighth communication method is provided, which may be executed by a terminal device, or by other devices including terminal device functions, or by a chip system (or, chip) or other functional modules, which can realize the functions of the terminal device, and the chip system or functional module is, for example, arranged in the terminal device. The terminal device is, for example, a first terminal device. The method comprises: sending a first message to a first network device, the first message comprising relay information and/or network device information, wherein the network device information is used to indicate a network device that the first terminal device can receive a positioning reference signal, and the relay information comprises one or more of the following: received signal quality information of the first terminal device for a signal from a relay device, transmission power information of the relay device to the first terminal device, or information that the first terminal device is connected to the network via a relay.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: discovering the second terminal device and establishing a connection with the second terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: receiving location information of the first terminal device from the first network device.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: determining a positioning requirement.

In an optional implementation, the method further includes: receiving first indication information from the first network device, wherein the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to send the relay information and/or the network device information.

Regarding the technical effects brought about by the eighth aspect or various optional implementations, reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the sixth aspect or the corresponding implementations, and/or reference may be made to the introduction to the technical effects of the seventh aspect or the corresponding implementations.

In a ninth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the first network device described in any one of the first to eighth aspects. The communication device has the function of the first network device. The communication device is, for example, a first network device, or a larger device including the first network device, or a functional module in the first network device, such as a baseband device or a chip system. In an optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). The transceiver unit can implement a sending function and a receiving function. When the transceiver unit implements the sending function, it can be called a sending unit (sometimes also referred to as a sending module), and when the transceiver unit implements the receiving function, it can be called a receiving unit (sometimes also referred to as a receiving module). The sending unit and the receiving unit can be the same functional module, which is called a transceiver unit, and the functional module can implement a sending function and a receiving function; or, the sending unit and the receiving unit can be different functional modules, and the transceiver unit is a general term for these functional modules.

In an optional embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive a first message from a first terminal device, the first message including an identifier of a second terminal device, and the second terminal device is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device; the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send a first positioning service request message to a second network device, the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the second terminal device and positioning of the first terminal device, the first positioning service request message also includes an identifier of the second terminal device and an identifier of the first terminal device; the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is also used to receive first information from the second network device, the first information is used to indicate the location of the first terminal device.

In an optional implementation, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive a first message from a first terminal device, the first message includes an identifier of a second terminal device, and the second terminal device is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device; the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send a first positioning service request message to a second network device, the first positioning service request message includes an identifier of a second terminal device, and the second terminal device is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device; The service request message is used to request positioning of the second terminal device, and the first positioning service request message also includes an identifier of the second terminal device; the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is also used to receive the location information of the second terminal device from the second network device, and to receive second information from the first terminal device, wherein the second information is used to indicate the location of the first terminal device; the processing unit is used to determine the location information of the first terminal device based on the location information of the second terminal device and the second information.

In an optional embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive a first message from a first terminal device, the first message including relay information and/or network device information, wherein the network device information is used to indicate a network device that the first terminal device can receive a positioning reference signal, and the relay information includes one or more of the following: reception signal quality information of the first terminal device for a signal from a relay device, transmission power information of the relay device to the first terminal device, or information on the first terminal device connecting to the network via a relay; the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send a first positioning service request message to a second network device, the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device, and the first positioning service request message also includes the relay information and/or the network device information; the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive the location information of the first terminal device from the second network device.

In an optional embodiment, the communication device also includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is used to couple with the storage unit and execute the program or instructions in the storage unit, so that the communication device can perform the function of the first network device described in any one of the first to eighth aspects above.

In the tenth aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the first terminal device described in any one of the first to eighth aspects. The communication device has the functions of the first terminal device. The communication device is, for example, a terminal device, or a larger device including a terminal device, or a functional module in a terminal device, such as a baseband device or a chip system. In an optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). For the implementation of the transceiver unit, reference may be made to the introduction of the ninth aspect.

In an optional embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive a second message from a second terminal device, the second message includes an identifier of the second terminal device, and the second terminal device is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device; the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send a first message to the first network device, the first message includes the identifier of the second terminal device.

In an optional embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send a fifth message to the second terminal device, and to perform side positioning with the second terminal device, wherein the fifth message is used to request the location information of the second terminal device; the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive third information from the second terminal device, and the third information is used to determine the location information of the first terminal device.

In an optional embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send a first message to a first network device, the first message including relay information and/or network device information, wherein the network device information is used to indicate a network device that the first terminal device can receive a positioning reference signal, and the relay information includes one or more of the following: received signal quality information of the first terminal device for a signal from a relay device, transmission power information of the relay device to the first terminal device, or information on the first terminal device connecting to the network via a relay.

In an optional embodiment, the communication device also includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is used to couple with the storage unit and execute the program or instructions in the storage unit, so that the communication device can perform the function of the first terminal device described in any one of the first to eighth aspects above.

In the eleventh aspect, a communication device is provided. The communication device may be the second network device described in any one of the first aspect to the eighth aspect. The communication device has the functions of the second network device. The communication device is, for example, a second network device, or a larger device including a second network device, or a functional module in the second network device, such as a baseband device or a chip system. In an optional implementation, the communication device includes a baseband device and a radio frequency device. In another optional implementation, the communication device includes a processing unit (sometimes also referred to as a processing module) and a transceiver unit (sometimes also referred to as a transceiver module). For the implementation of the transceiver unit, reference may be made to the introduction of the ninth aspect.

In an optional implementation, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive a first positioning service request message from the first network device, the first positioning service request message is used to request to perform positioning on the second terminal device, and to perform positioning on the first terminal device, the second terminal device is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device, and the first positioning service request message also includes an identifier of the second terminal device and an identifier of the first terminal device; the processing unit is used to perform positioning on the second terminal device Positioning and performing positioning on the first terminal device to obtain first information, wherein the first information is used to indicate the location of the first terminal device; the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send the first information to the first network device.

In an optional embodiment, the transceiver unit (or, the receiving unit) is used to receive a first positioning service request message from a first network device, the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of a first terminal device, the first positioning service request message also includes relay information and/or network device information, wherein the network device information is used to indicate a network device that can receive a positioning reference signal for the first terminal device, and the relay information includes one or more of the following: received signal quality information of the first terminal device for a signal from a relay device, transmission power information of the relay device to the first terminal device, or information on the first terminal device connecting to the network via a relay; the processing unit is used to perform positioning on the first terminal device to determine the location information of the first terminal device; the transceiver unit (or, the sending unit) is used to send the location information of the first terminal device to the first network device.

In an optional embodiment, the communication device also includes a storage unit (sometimes also referred to as a storage module), and the processing unit is used to couple with the storage unit and execute the program or instructions in the storage unit, so that the communication device can perform the function of the second network device described in any one of the first to eighth aspects above.

In a twelfth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a first network device, or a chip or chip system used in the first network device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally, a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instruction, the communication device executes the method executed by the first network device in the above aspects.

In a thirteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a first terminal device, or a chip or chip system used in the first terminal device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally, a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instruction, the communication device executes the method executed by the first terminal device in the above aspects.

In a fourteenth aspect, a communication device is provided, which may be a second network device, or a chip or chip system used in the second network device. The communication device includes a communication interface and a processor, and optionally, a memory. The memory is used to store a computer program, and the processor is coupled to the memory and the communication interface. When the processor reads the computer program or instruction, the communication device executes the method executed by the second network device in the above aspects.

In a fifteenth aspect, a communication system is provided, comprising a first terminal device and a first network device, wherein the first terminal device is used to execute the method executed by the first terminal device as described in any one of the first to eighth aspects, and the first network device is used to execute the method executed by the first network device as described in any one of the first to eighth aspects. For example, the first terminal device can be implemented by the communication device described in the tenth or thirteenth aspect; the first network device can be implemented by the communication device described in the ninth or twelfth aspect.

Optionally, the communication system further includes a second network device, configured to execute the method performed by the second network device as described in any one of aspects 1 to 8. The second network device may be implemented by the communication apparatus described in aspect 11 or aspect 14.

In the sixteenth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium is used to store computer programs or instructions, and when the computer-readable storage medium is executed, the method executed by the first terminal device or the first network device or the second network device in the above aspects is implemented.

In a seventeenth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a computer, enables the methods described in the above aspects to be implemented.

In the eighteenth aspect, a chip system is provided, including a processor and an interface, wherein the processor is used to call and execute instructions from the interface so that the chip system implements the above-mentioned methods.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an embodiment of the present application;

2 to 4 and 6 are flow charts of several communication methods provided in embodiments of the present application;

FIG5 is a schematic diagram showing that a remote UE cannot receive signals from certain access network devices;

FIG7 is a schematic diagram of a device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

FIG8 is a schematic diagram of another device provided in an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed ways

In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the embodiments of the present application will be further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Describe in detail.

In the embodiments of the present application, the number of nouns, unless otherwise specified, means "singular noun or plural noun", that is, "one or more". "At least one" means one or more, and "plural" means two or more. "And/or" describes the association relationship of associated objects, indicating that three relationships may exist. For example, A and/or B can mean: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. The character "/" generally indicates that the previous and next associated objects are in an "or" relationship. For example, A/B means: A or B. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c means: a, b, c, a and b, a and c, b and c, or a and b and c, where a, b, c can be single or multiple.

The ordinal numbers such as "first" and "second" mentioned in the embodiments of the present application are used to distinguish multiple objects, and are not used to limit the size, content, order, timing, priority or importance of multiple objects. In addition, the numbering of the steps in each embodiment introduced in the embodiments of the present application is only to distinguish different steps, and is not used to limit the order between the steps. For example, S201 may occur before S202, or may occur after S202, or may occur at the same time as S202.

Below, some terms or concepts in the embodiments of the present application are explained to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art.

(1) In the embodiments of the present application, the terminal device is a device with wireless transceiver function, which can be a fixed device, a mobile device, a handheld device (such as a mobile phone), a wearable device, a vehicle-mounted device, or a wireless device built into the above device (such as a communication module, a modem, or a chip system, etc.). The terminal device is used to connect people, objects, machines, etc., and can be widely used in various scenarios, such as but not limited to the following scenarios: cellular communication, device-to-device communication (device-to-device, D2D), V2X, machine-to-machine/machine-type communication (machine-to-machine/machine-type communications, M2M/MTC), Internet of Things (Internet of Things, IoT), virtual reality (virtual reality, VR), augmented reality (augmented reality, AR), industrial control (industrial control), self-driving, remote medical, smart grid (smart grid), smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable (such as smart watch, smart bracelet, smart helmet or smart glasses, etc.), smart transportation, smart city (smart city), drone, robot and other scenarios of terminal devices. The terminal device may sometimes be referred to as UE, terminal, access station, UE station, customer premises equipment (CPE), remote station, wireless communication device, or user device, etc. For the convenience of description, the terminal device is described by taking UE as an example in the embodiments of the present application.

(2) The network devices in the embodiments of the present application include, for example, access network devices and/or core network devices. The access network devices are devices with wireless transceiver functions, which are used to communicate with the terminal devices. The access network devices include, but are not limited to, base stations (base transceiver stations (BTS), Node B, eNodeB/eNB, or gNodeB/gNB), transmission reception points (TRP), base stations subsequently evolved from the third generation partnership project (3GPP), access nodes in wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) systems, wireless relay nodes, wireless backhaul nodes, etc. The base stations may be: macro base stations, micro base stations, micro-micro base stations, small stations, relay stations, etc. Multiple base stations may support networks with the same access technology, or networks with different access technologies. A base station may include one or more co-located or non-co-located transmission reception points. The access network device may also be a wireless controller, a centralized unit (CU), and/or a distributed unit (DU) in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario. The access network device may also be a server, etc. For example, the network device in the vehicle to everything (V2X) technology may be a road side unit (RSU). The following describes the access network device using a base station as an example. The base station can communicate with a terminal device, or it can communicate with the terminal device through a relay station. The terminal device can communicate with multiple base stations in different access technologies. The core network device is used to implement functions such as mobility management, data processing, session management, policy and billing. The names of the devices that implement core network functions in systems with different access technologies may be different, and the embodiments of the present application do not limit this. Taking the 5th generation (5G) mobile communication system as an example, the core network equipment includes: access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), policy control function (PCF), user plane function (UPF), location management function (LMF) or positioning server (LCS), etc.

In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device for realizing the function of the network device may be a network device, or may be a device capable of supporting the network device to realize the function, such as a chip system, which may be installed in the network device. In the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application, the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application is described by taking the device for realizing the function of the network device as an example that the network device is used as the device.

(3) Transmission point (TP): A set of geographically co-located transmit antennas (e.g., an antenna array with one or more antenna elements) for a cell, a portion of a cell, or a TP that only supports downlink (DL)-PRS. Transmission points may include base station (ng-eNB or gNB) antennas, remote radio heads, remote antennas of base stations, antennas of TPs that only support DL-PRS, etc. A cell may include one or more transmission points. For homogeneous deployment, each transmission point may correspond to a cell.

(4) Transmission reception point (TRP): A group of geographically co-located antennas (e.g., an antenna array with one or more antenna elements) that supports TP and/or RP functionality.

(5) Reception point (RP), a set of geographically co-located receiving antennas (e.g., an antenna array with one or more antenna elements) for a cell, a portion of a cell, or an uplink (UL)-SRS-only RP. Reception points may include base station (ng-eNB or gNB) antennas, remote radio heads, remote antennas of base stations, antennas supporting UL-SRS-only RPs, etc. A cell may include one or more reception points. For homogeneous deployments, each reception point may correspond to one cell.

In the embodiments of the present application, concepts such as base station, TP, TRP, RP, cell, etc. can be replaced with each other.

The following introduces the technical features involved in the embodiments of the present application.

Currently, 3GPP introduces sidelink relay to support U2N relay function. Sidelink relay can provide remote UE with connection to the network. UE can connect to network equipment through sidelink relay. For example, remote UE can establish connection with relay UE to connect to network equipment through relay UE. For example, in some application scenarios, relay UE can be a smart terminal such as a mobile phone, and remote UE can be a smart wearable device such as an electronic bracelet. Smart wearable devices can access base stations through smart terminals as relays.

One possible relay situation is that the remote UE is out of the coverage of the base station, but after the remote UE establishes a connection with the relay UE, the remote UE can communicate with the base station through the relay UE. Another possible relay situation is that the remote UE is within the coverage of the base station. In addition to directly connecting to the base station, the remote UE can also establish a connection with the relay UE and communicate with the base station through the relay UE.

Scenarios involving relay include but are not limited to the following.

Scenario 1: The remote UE requests emergency services. For example, the remote UE has an emergency call request. At this time, the remote UE cannot directly establish a connection with the network device. The remote UE finds the surrounding relay UE and initiates an emergency call through the relay UE.

Scenario 2: The remote UE wants to communicate with the network device. At this time, the remote UE finds a relay UE and communicates with the network device through the relay UE. For example, the remote UE sends uplink data to the relay UE, which then forwards it to the base station; the base station sends downlink data to the relay UE, which then forwards it to the remote UE.

The target UE can now be located by positioning technology, so that the network element/UE/entity requesting the positioning service obtains the location of the target UE. For example, the target UE can receive PRS and/or send SRS, and use the positioning method supported by the NR system or the LTE system to realize the positioning of the target UE. The network element/UE/entity that initiates the positioning service may include: a positioning server (location services, LCS), a UE, or an AMF, etc. For example: the LCS may request the serving AMF of the target UE to locate the target UE, and the positioning process may be called a mobile terminated location request (mobile terminated location request, MT-LR); or, the serving AMF of the target UE decides to locate the target UE, and the process may be called a network induced location request (NI-LR); or, the target UE requests the serving AMF of the target UE for positioning services, and the process may be called a mobile originated location request (mobile originated location request, MO-LR).

There are many positioning methods, such as multi-round trip time (Multi-RTT) positioning, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) positioning, uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) positioning, downlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) positioning, uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA) positioning, NR enhanced cell ID (NR E-CID) positioning, and Motion sensor (motion sensor) positioning, terrestrial beacon system (TBS) positioning, Bluetooth positioning, wireless local area network (WLAN) positioning, barometer sensor (barometric pressure sensor) positioning, enhanced Cell ID positioning, observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) positioning, network-assisted global navigation satellite system (GNSS) positioning, etc.

The embodiment of the present application proposes that if the target UE accessing the network through the relay UE in the relay scenario is positioned, any of the following two methods can be used: Method 1, positioning the target UE through Uu positioning and sidelink (SL) positioning; Method 2, positioning the target UE only through Uu positioning. Among them, the Uu interface is an air interface, so Uu positioning can also be called air interface positioning.

In method 1, the core network device can first locate the relay UE through the Uu positioning process, and then perform SL positioning between the relay UE and the target UE. The location information of the target UE can be obtained based on the location information of the relay UE and the SL positioning result. In the scenario, the target UE accesses the network device through the relay UE. Since the core network device is not aware of the existence of the relay UE, the core network device cannot know that the relay UE needs to be located. In addition, the relay UE and the target UE cannot know whether SL positioning needs to be performed.

Method 2 also has some problems, which will be introduced later.

In view of the problem of method 1, a technical solution of an embodiment of the present application is provided. In the embodiment of the present application, the second UE provides a relay service for the first UE, for example, the second UE is a relay UE and the first UE is a remote UE. The first UE device can send an identifier of the second UE to the first network device, so that the first network device can be aware of the existence of the second UE, thereby the first network device can initiate Uu positioning of the relay UE. In addition, the first network device can also request SL positioning of the first UE, so that SL positioning can be performed between the first UE and the second UE. In other words, the embodiment of the present application enables the core network to perceive the existence of the relay UE in the relay scenario, so that the positioning process in the relay scenario can be realized.

The technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application can be applied to the fourth generation mobile communication technology (the 4th generation, 4G) system, such as the long term evolution (long term evolution, LTE) system, or can be applied to the 5G system, such as the NR system, or can also be applied to the next generation mobile communication system or other similar communication systems, such as the sixth generation mobile communication technology (the 6th generation, 6G) system, etc., without specific limitation. The technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present application can also be applied to the relay scenario where the remote UE is connected to the network through the relay UE, the remote UE is, for example, a wearable device such as a smart watch, a smart bracelet or smart glasses, and the relay UE is, for example, a smart phone or a CPE device.

Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of an application scenario of an embodiment of the present application. A remote UE (represented as a remote UE in Figure 1) is connected to a network device through a relay UE (represented as a relay UE in Figure 1), and the network device is, for example, an access network device. The network device can also be connected to a core network, for example, the network device can communicate with an AMF. In addition, the AMF can also communicate with a location server, and the location server can be used to implement positioning. In different communication systems (such as a 4G system or a 5G system), the location server may be different, for example, the location server includes a location management function (LMF), an enhanced mobile service location center (enhanced serving mobile location centre, E-SMLC) or a secure user plane location platform (SUPL location platform, SLP). In Figure 1, the location server includes an LMF as an example. The embodiment of the present application can perform positioning on the remote UE, or perform positioning on the remote UE and the relay UE. When performing positioning, there may be one or more network devices (such as access network devices) involved in positioning the remote UE, and these one or more network devices may include or exclude the network devices in Figure 1; there may also be one or more network devices (such as access network devices) involved in positioning the relay UE, and these one or more network devices may include or exclude the network devices in Figure 1. The network devices involved in positioning the remote UE and the network devices involved in positioning the relay UE may or may not have an intersection.

In order to better describe the embodiments of the present application, the method provided by the embodiments of the present application is described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Unless otherwise specified herein, the steps indicated by dotted lines in the accompanying drawings corresponding to the various embodiments of the present application are all optional steps. In the various embodiments of the present application, the emergency service is, for example, an emergency call service, or may be other types of emergency services.

A communication method provided by an embodiment of the present application is introduced below. Please refer to Figure 2, which is a flow chart of the method. Among them, the methods provided by various embodiments of the present application can be applied to the network architecture shown in Figure 1. For example, the first UE involved in the methods provided by various embodiments of the present application can be the remote UE in Figure 1; the second UE involved in the methods provided by various embodiments of the present application can be the relay UE in Figure 1; the first network device involved in the methods provided by various embodiments of the present application can be the AMF in Figure 1, and AMF is used as an example in the following description; the second network device involved in the methods provided by various embodiments of the present application can be the LMF in Figure 1, and LMF is used as an example in the following description.

S201. The first UE sends a first message to the AMF. Accordingly, the AMF receives the first message from the first UE. The first message may be sent to the AMF through an access network device. The first message may be, for example, a non-access stratum (NAS) message, or may also be an access stratum (AS) message, for example, an AS message is a radio resource control (RRC) message. For example, if the first message is a NAS message, the first message may be a registration request message, a service request message, an uplink NAS transport (UL NAS transport) message, or a positioning service request message, etc. If the first message is a NAS message, the first message may be transparently transmitted to the AMF through the access network device. For example, after the access network device receives the first message, the access network device will not read the first message, but forward the first message to the AMF.

For example, the first message includes the information of the relay UE of the first UE. For example, the relay UE of the first UE is the second UE, so the first UE may include the information of the second UE, which is equivalent to enabling the AMF to learn the information of the relay UE of the first UE through the first message. Optionally, in addition to the information of the second UE, the first message may also include other information, for example, it may also include the relay information and/or network device information to be introduced in the embodiment shown in FIG. 6 later, or it may also include other information.

The information of the second UE includes, for example, an identifier of the second UE, such as an identity number (ID) of the second UE. Optionally, the identifier of the second UE may include one or more of the following: a 5G-service (system, S)-temporary mobile subscriber identity (TMSI) of the second UE, a cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) of the second UE, an inactive RNTI (I-RNTI) of the second UE, a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI), or a subscription concealed identifier (SUCI).

As an optional implementation, the information of the second UE may include, in addition to the identifier of the second UE, received signal quality information and/or SL transmission power information of the second UE (or, the transmission power information of the second UE to the first UE). The received quality information may indicate the received signal quality of the first UE for the signal from the second UE, which is, for example, an SL signal. For example, the parameter corresponding to the received signal quality information is one or more of reference signal receiving power (RSRP), reference signal receiving quality (RSRQ) or signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR). The first UE may obtain the received signal quality information by measuring the signal from the second UE. The signal may be, for example, the second message in S203 to be introduced later, or may be other signals sent by the second UE to the first UE. For example, the signal may be a signal in the discovery process between the first UE and the second UE, or a signal in the connection establishment process between the first UE and the second UE, or a signal after the connection between the first UE and the second UE is successfully established. The signal may be a signal dedicated to measurement, such as a reference signal for measurement, or may be a signal with other functions. The transmission power information of the second UE to the first UE may be understood as information about the transmission power used when the second UE sends a signal to the first UE, and the information may be notified to the first UE by the second UE. The signal corresponding to the transmission power may be a second message, or may be other signals sent by the second UE to the first UE. For example, the signal may be a signal in the discovery process between the first UE and the second UE, or a signal in the connection establishment process between the first UE and the second UE, or a signal after the connection between the first UE and the second UE is successfully established.

Optionally, the first UE may actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF, or the first UE may not actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF. For example, the first UE may set the first enabling information. If the first UE sets the value of the first enabling information to the first value, it indicates that the first UE may actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF (or actively obtain and send the information of the second UE to the AMF), for example, the first UE may actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF when initiating an emergency service, or the first UE may actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF when there is a positioning requirement; if the first UE sets the value of the first enabling information to the second value, or does not set the value of the first enabling information to the first value, it indicates that the first UE will not actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF (or will not actively obtain the information of the second UE, and/or will not actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF), for example, the first UE will not actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF when initiating an emergency service, or will not actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF when there is a positioning requirement. For example, the first UE may send the value of the first enabling information to the AMF in advance, or the first UE may not inform the AMF of the value of the first enabling information.

In the embodiment of the present application, the positioning process may be initiated by the AMF, or by the first UE, or by the LCS. When initiated by different network elements, the execution process may be correspondingly different, which are introduced below.

1. AMF initiates the positioning process.

In the manner in which the AMF initiates the positioning process, the method may further include S202, where the AMF determines to locate the first UE. The positioning process may include a positioning process for the second UE, and a positioning process for the first UE; or, the positioning process may include a Uu positioning process for the second UE, and a SL positioning process for the first UE. Or, S202 may also be replaced by the AMF determining to locate the first UE, and determining to locate the second UE (or, the AMF determines to perform Uu positioning on the first UE, and performs SL positioning on the second UE). It can be understood that the AMF can decide on the positioning, and can decide on the positioning method (for example, perform Uu positioning on the second UE, and perform SL positioning on the first UE); or, the AMF can decide on the positioning, but not on the positioning method, and the specific positioning method may be decided by the LMF (for example, the AMF decides to locate the first UE, and to locate the second UE; the LMF decides to perform Uu positioning on the second UE, and perform SL positioning on the first UE).

Optionally, S202 can be understood as including two processes, one of which is that the AMF determines the positioning requirement for the first UE; and the other process is that the AMF determines to locate the second UE, or the AMF determines to locate the first UE and the second UE. For example, after the AMF receives the first message, the AMF can determine that the second UE needs to be located based on the first message. For example, the AMF determines that the first UE is connected to the network device via a relay based on the first message, and then in order to locate the first UE, the AMF determines that the second UE needs to be located. Alternatively, S202 can also be understood as including a process, and the process is as described above, the AMF determines to locate the first UE and the second UE, then optionally, S202 can also include that the AMF determines that the first UE is connected to the network device via a relay based on the first message, and then in order to locate the first UE, the AMF determines to initiate a positioning process, for example, the positioning process is for the first UE and the second UE.

AMF can determine to perform positioning based on a variety of factors. For example, if the first UE requests an emergency service, the AMF can determine to perform positioning. If the first UE wants to request an emergency service, it can initiate a process related to the emergency service. For example, if the first message is a NAS message, the AMF can determine that the UE wants to request an emergency service based on the first message, and the AMF can determine to perform positioning. For example, if the first message is a registration request message, the registration type information carried by the registration request message is emergency registration (emergency registration), and the AMF can determine to perform positioning based on the registration type information. For another example, if the first message is a service request message, the service type information carried by the service request message is emergency service (emergency service), and the AMF can determine to perform positioning based on the service type information. The AMF can also determine that the UE wants to request emergency services based on other messages other than the first message. For example, the first message is a UL NAS transport message. The AMF determines that the UE wants to request emergency services based on a registration request message carrying registration type information of emergency registration or a service request message carrying service type information of emergency service, and then obtains the information of the second UE included in the first message through the first message.

Alternatively, even if the first UE does not request an emergency service, the AMF may determine to locate the first UE based on other factors. For example, if the AMF needs to obtain the location of the first UE in certain scenarios, it may determine to locate the first UE; or the AMF needs to periodically locate the first UE, etc.

Optionally, before S201, the first UE may first obtain the information of the second UE. For example, one way for the first UE to obtain the information of the second UE can refer to S203, where the second UE sends a second message to the first UE, the second message includes the information of the second UE, and the first UE can receive the second message from the second UE, so that the first UE obtains the information of the second UE. Optionally, the second UE can actively send the information of the second UE to the first UE; or, before S203, the first UE can send a third message to the second UE through S204, the third message can request to obtain the information of the second UE or request to obtain the identification of the second UE, and the second UE can send the second message to the first UE after receiving the third message. Among them, the information of the second UE may include the identification of the second UE.

The second message may be a PC5-RRC message, or a PC5-signaling (S) message, or a PC5-discovery (D) message, etc. For example, the second message may be a message in the discovery process between the first UE and the second UE, or a message in the connection establishment process between the first UE and the second UE, or a message after the connection between the first UE and the second UE is successfully established. The third message may be a PC5-RRC message, or a PC5-S message, or a PC5-D message, etc. For example, the third message may be a message in the discovery process between the first UE and the second UE, or a message in the connection establishment process between the first UE and the second UE, or a message after the connection between the first UE and the second UE is successfully established.

Among them, the messages in the discovery process between the first UE and the second UE include, for example, a U2N relay discovery announcement message, a relay discovery additional information message, a U2N relay discovery solicitation message, or a U2N relay discovery response message, etc. The messages in the connection establishment process between the first UE and the second UE include, for example, a direct communication request (DCR) message, a security establishment message, or a direct communication access (DCA) message, etc. For example, the third message is a U2N relay discovery solicitation message, and the second message is a U2N relay discovery response message; for another example, the third message is a DCR message, and the second message is a DCA message; for another example, the second message is a discovery announcement message, and the first UE does not send the third message, etc. Messages after the connection between the first UE and the second UE is successfully established, for example, including sidelink notification (notification message sidelink) message, sidelink remote UE information (remote UE information sidelink) message, sidelink RRC reconfiguration (RRC reconfiguration sidelink) message, sidelink RRC reconfiguration completion (RRC reconfiguration complete sidelink) message, sidelink RRC reconfiguration failure (RRC reconfiguration failure sidelink) message, sidelink UE assistance information (UE assistance information sidelink) message, sidelink UE capability request (UE capability enquiry sidelink) message, sidelink UE capability information (UE capability information sidelink) message. For example, the third message is an RRC reconfiguration sidelink message, and the second message is an RRC reconfiguration complete sidelink message or an RRC reconfiguration failure sidelink message; for another example, the second message is a notification message sidelink message or a UE assistance information sidelink message, and the first UE does not send the third message, and so on.

For example, the first UE detects an emergency session establishment request, or in other words, the first UE detects a need to initiate an emergency service, then the first UE may execute S204 and S203, or execute S203 without executing S204. Prior to this, if the first UE and the second UE have not yet discovered each other, the first UE may discover a UE that can provide relay services for the first UE, for example, the second message and the third message may be messages in the discovery process between the first UE and the second UE; or, prior to this, if the first UE and the second UE have completed the discovery process but have not established a PC5 connection, the first UE may request to establish a PC5 connection with the second UE, and the second message and the third message may be messages in the connection establishment process between the first UE and the second UE; or, prior to this, if the first UE and the second UE have established a PC5 connection, the second message and the third message may be messages after the connection between the first UE and the second UE is successfully established, For example, PC5-RRC message or PC5-S message, etc.

Alternatively, if the first UE performs a discovery process, it may perform S204 and S203, or perform S203 without performing S204. Alternatively, if the first UE wants to perform a connection establishment process with the second UE, it may perform S204 and S203, or perform S203 without performing S204.

According to the introduction in the above two paragraphs, the first UE can obtain the information of the second UE when initiating an emergency service, or the behavior of the first UE obtaining the information of the opposite UE has nothing to do with whether the first UE initiates an emergency service. For example, the protocol predefines that if the first UE performs a discovery process, the first UE obtains the identifier of the discovered UE, and the behavior of the first UE obtaining the identifier of the opposite UE has nothing to do with whether the first UE initiates an emergency service.

Optionally, in the manner in which the AMF initiates the positioning process, the AMF may also send a first indication message to the first UE (this step is not shown in FIG. 2 ), and the first indication message may instruct the first UE to send information about the second UE, or instruct the first UE to send relay service information of the first UE. The relay service information of the first UE, for example, includes information about the relay UE of the first UE (the second UE in the embodiment of the present application), and/or includes indication information that the first UE accesses the network through the relay UE, etc. After the first UE receives the first indication message, S201 may be executed. Therefore, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur before S201. In addition, optionally, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur after S202, that is, if the AMF determines that positioning is to be performed, the first UE may be requested to send information about the second UE or relay service information. If the first UE has a corresponding relay UE (for example, the second UE), the information of the second UE or the relay service information may be sent to the AMF, so that accurate positioning of the first UE can be achieved.

For example, the first UE can set the first enabling information, and the AMF has received the value of the first enabling information from the first UE in advance. The value of the first enabling information is the second value or not the first value, indicating that the first UE will not actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF. Then the AMF can send the first indication information to the first UE. For another example, the first UE can set the first enabling information, but the AMF has not received the value of the first enabling information from the first UE. Therefore, the AMF does not know whether the first UE will actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF. Then, if the AMF determines to perform positioning and has not obtained the information of the second UE from the first UE, it can send the first indication information to the first UE. For another example, whether the AMF sends the first indication information to the first UE has nothing to do with the first enabling information of the first UE.

2. The first UE initiates a positioning process.

When the first UE initiates the positioning process, the method may further include S203 and S204. For the relevant contents of these two steps, reference may be made to the above description. Optionally, when the first UE initiates the positioning process, the method may not include S202.

For example, if the first UE detects a positioning requirement, the first UE may execute S204 and S203, or execute S203 without executing S204. The first UE may determine that there is a positioning requirement when detecting a need to initiate an emergency service, or the first UE may determine that there is a positioning requirement based on other factors. Prior to this, if the first UE and the second UE have not yet discovered each other, the first UE may discover a UE that can provide a relay service for the first UE, for example, the second message and the third message may be messages in the discovery between the first UE and the second UE; or, prior to this, if the first UE and the second UE have completed the discovery process but have not established a PC5 connection, the first UE may request to establish a PC5 connection with the second UE, and the second message and the third message may be messages in the connection establishment process between the first UE and the second UE; or, prior to this, if the first UE and the second UE have established a PC5 connection, the second message and the third message may be messages after the connection between the first UE and the second UE is successfully established, such as a PC5-RRC message or a PC5-S message.

Since the first UE detects the positioning requirement, the first UE can send a location service request message to the AMF, and the AMF can request positioning from the LMF based on the location service request message. Optionally, the first message is, for example, the location service request message, and the location service request message as the first message can be called a second location service request message, for example, the second location service request message can be a MO-LR request (MO-LR Request) message. Alternatively, the first message can also be other messages sent by the first UE to the AMF. For example, the first message is a NAS message, and the AMF can determine that the UE wants to request a service based on the first message, but the service is not an emergency service. For example, the first message is a registration request message, but the registration type information carried by the registration request message is not an emergency registration, or the first message is a service request message, but the service type information carried by the service request message is not an emergency service. The first message can also be a UL NAS transport message, and so on.

Optionally, when the first UE initiates the positioning process, the AMF may also send first indication information to the first UE (this step is not shown in FIG. 2 ). After the first UE receives the first indication information from the AMF, S201 may be executed. Therefore, the step of the AMF sending the first indication information may occur before S201. In addition, optionally, the step of the AMF sending the first indication information may occur after the AMF receives the positioning service request message from the first UE, that is, the AMF determines that the first UE wants to perform positioning, and then requests the first UE to perform positioning. The UE sends information about the second UE, or requests the first UE to send relay service information of the first UE. If the first UE has a corresponding relay UE (such as the second UE), the information of the second UE or the relay service information can be sent to the AMF, so that accurate positioning of the first UE can be achieved. Among them, if the AMF sends the first indication information to the first UE, the first message may not be the positioning service request message sent by the first UE, and the first message may be located after the positioning service request message.

For example, the first UE can set the first enabling information, and the AMF has received the value of the first enabling information from the first UE in advance. The value of the first enabling information is the second value or not the first value, indicating that the first UE will not actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF, then the AMF can send the first indication information to the first UE. For another example, the first UE can set the first enabling information, but the AMF has not received the value of the first enabling information from the first UE, so the AMF does not know whether the first UE will actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF. Then, if the AMF receives the positioning service request message from the first UE and does not obtain the information of the second UE from the first UE, it can send the first indication information to the first UE. For another example, whether the AMF sends the first indication information to the first UE has nothing to do with the first enabling information of the first UE.

Optionally, after receiving the first message, before sending the first positioning service request message (S206) to the LMF, the AMF may also determine to locate the second UE. It can be understood that in the scenario where the first UE initiates positioning, the first UE requests positioning service from the AMF, and after the AMF receives the first message, the AMF determines based on the first message that the first UE is connected to the network device through a relay, then the AMF may decide to locate the second UE to achieve the positioning of the first UE.

3. LCS initiates the positioning process.

In the manner in which the LCS initiates the positioning process, the method may further include S205, where the LCS sends a positioning service request message to the AMF, and accordingly, the AMF may receive the positioning service request message. For example, the positioning service request message is referred to as a third positioning service request message, and the third positioning service request message may request positioning of the first UE. For example, if the LCS detects a positioning requirement for the first UE, the LCS may execute S205.

Optionally, in the manner in which the LCS initiates the positioning process, the AMF may also send a first indication message to the first UE (this step is not shown in FIG. 2 ), and after the first UE receives the first indication message, S201 may be executed. In this manner, the implementation method of the first message may refer to the foregoing description of the embodiment of the present application, and will not be described in detail. Therefore, the step in which the AMF sends the first indication message may occur before S201. In addition, the step in which the AMF sends the first indication message may occur after S205, that is, if the AMF determines that the first UE is to be positioned, the first UE may be requested to send information about the second UE or relay service information. If the first UE has a corresponding relay UE (such as a second UE), the information about the second UE or relay service information may be sent to the AMF, thereby achieving accurate positioning of the first UE. Optionally, the method may also include S203 and S204, and the relevant contents of these two steps may refer to the foregoing description. For example, before executing S201, the first UE may first execute S203 and S204.

For example, in the manner in which the LCS initiates the positioning process, the method may also include S203 and S204, and the AMF may send a first indication message. After receiving the first indication message, the first UE may execute S203 and S204, and then execute S201. For example, the first UE may set the first enabling information, and the AMF may receive the value of the first enabling information from the first UE in advance, and the value of the first enabling information is the second value or is not the first value, indicating that the first UE will not actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF, then the AMF may send the first indication message to the first UE, and after receiving the first indication message, the first UE may execute S203 and S204, and then execute S201. For another example, the first UE can set the first enabling information, but the AMF does not receive the value of the first enabling information from the first UE, so the AMF does not know whether the first UE will actively send the second UE information to the AMF. Then, if the AMF receives the third positioning service request message and does not obtain the second UE information from the first UE, it can send the first indication information to the first UE. After receiving the first indication information, the first UE can execute S203 and S204, and then execute S201. For another example, whether the AMF sends the first indication information to the first UE has nothing to do with the first enabling information of the first UE.

Alternatively, in the manner in which the LCS initiates the positioning process, the method may include S203 and S204, and the AMF may not send the first indication information to the first UE. For example, according to the foregoing, the protocol may predefine that if the first UE performs a discovery process, the first UE obtains the identifier of the discovered UE; or, if the first UE performs a connection establishment process, the first UE obtains the identifier of the opposite UE. Then, if the first UE obtains the identifier of the opposite UE (for example, the second UE), the first UE may send the information of the second UE (for example, including the identifier of the second UE) to the AMF, and the AMF does not have to send the first indication information to the first UE. Alternatively, if the first UE sets the first enabling information, and the value of the first enabling information is the first value, the first UE may actively send the information of the second UE to the AMF, and the AMF does not have to send the first indication information to the first UE. If this method is adopted, S201 may occur after S205, or before S205, or simultaneously with S205.

Optionally, when the LCS initiates the positioning process, the method may not include S202.

Optionally, after receiving the third location service request message, before sending the first location service request message (S206) to the LMF, It can also determine to locate the second UE. It can be understood that in the scenario where LCS initiates positioning, LCS requests AMF to locate the first UE, and after AMF receives the first message, AMF determines based on the first message that the first UE is connected to the network device through the relay, then AMF can decide to locate the second UE to achieve the positioning of the first UE.

In addition to the above three scenarios, the positioning process may also be initiated by other network elements, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In addition, in some optional implementations, the first UE may also send the first message directly to the LMF, and in this case, the first UE does not need to send the first message to the AMF through S201. For example, the first UE may send the first message to the LMF through the capability transfer of the LTE positioning protocol (LPP), the auxiliary data transfer or the positioning information transfer process. For example, the first message may be an LPP provide capabilities message, an LPP request assistance data message or an LPP provide location information message.

S206. AMF sends a first positioning service request message to LMF. Correspondingly, LMF receives the first positioning service request message from AMF. S206 is applicable to the above-mentioned method of initiating the positioning process by AMF, the method of initiating the positioning process by the first UE, or the method of initiating the positioning process by LCS. The first positioning service request message can be used to request positioning of the second UE, and positioning of the first UE (or initiating positioning between the first UE and the second UE); or, the first positioning service request message can be used to request Uu positioning of the second UE, and SL positioning of the first UE (or initiating SL positioning between the first UE and the second UE). The first positioning service request message is, for example, location service request, or a service-based interface location determination (Service-based interface exhibited by LMF Location_DetermineLocation, Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation) message displayed by LMF.

The first positioning service request message may include information about the second UE and information about the first UE. For example, the information about the second UE included in the first positioning service request message may be the information about the second UE included in the first message, such as including one or more of the following: an identifier of the second UE, quality information of a received signal of the first UE for a signal from the second UE, or information about the transmission power of the second UE to the first UE.

Optionally, the information of the second UE included in the first positioning service request message may also include one or more of the following: LCS association identifier, service cell identifier, client type, whether the second UE supports the LTE positioning protocol (LTE positioning protocol, LPP), quality of service (quality of service, QoS) information required by the second UE, or positioning capability information of the second UE. Optionally, the AMF may obtain the above information based on the registration information of the second UE. Among them, the LCS association identifier may indicate the LCS associated with the second UE. The service cell identifier is the identifier of the service cell of the second UE. The client type may indicate the type of the second UE.

The information of the first UE included in the first positioning service request message may include an identifier of the first UE.

For example, the first positioning service request message itself can be used to request Uu positioning of the second UE. Optionally, the first positioning service request message may also include a SL positioning indication for requesting SL positioning of the first UE, or for requesting to initiate SL positioning between the first UE and the second UE. Alternatively, the first positioning service request message may request positioning of the first UE and the second UE without requesting a specific positioning method. As for which positioning method (such as Uu positioning or SL positioning) should be used for the two UEs, it can be decided by the LMF.

S207. The LMF exchanges information related to the positioning of the second UE with a network device (e.g., an access network device) involved in positioning the second UE. The RAN in FIG2 represents a network device involved in positioning the second UE. Among them, the network devices involved in positioning the second UE may include one or more. The LMF and the RAN may exchange information related to the positioning of the second UE through the NR Positioning Protocol A (NR Positioning Protocol A, NRPPa). For example, the RAN may provide assistance data to the LMF through an assistance data delivery process, and the assistance data may include PRS-related configuration information of the network device, etc. The LMF may request positioning measurement from the RAN through a location information forwarding or assistance data transfer process, and provide necessary assistance data to the gNB, and the assistance data may include SRS configuration information of the UE, etc. The LMF may also request activation or deactivation of the SRS transmission of the UE from the RAN through a positioning activation or deactivation process.

S208. LMF exchanges information related to the positioning of the second UE with the second UE. LMF and the second UE may exchange information related to the positioning of the second UE through the LTE positioning protocol (LPP). For example, LMF may obtain the capability information of the UE through a capability transfer process. LMF may provide assistance data to the UE through an assistance data transfer process, and the UE may request assistance data from LMF. The assistance data may include PRS-related configuration information of the network device, etc., so that the UE may know how to receive the PRS. LMF may also request a positioning result from the UE through a location information transfer process, or request a positioning measurement from the UE for position calculation.

Through S207 and S208, the Uu positioning of the second UE is completed, and the LMF can obtain the location information of the second UE. For example, the location information of the second UE obtained by the LMF is the absolute location information of the second UE. The absolute location information of the second UE can be obtained through global satellite The location information of the second UE may be expressed in terms of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, for example, by longitude and latitude. Optionally, after S208, or after S207 and S208, or after S207, the LMF may send the location information of the second UE to the AMF. Alternatively, the LMF may not send the location information of the second UE to the AMF.

S209, LMF requests to initiate SL positioning of the first UE and the second UE. Alternatively, LMF requests to initiate positioning of the first UE and the second UE, and the specific positioning method (eg, SL positioning) may be determined by the first UE or the second UE.

S210, the first UE and the second UE perform SL positioning. There are many ways to perform SL positioning, which will be introduced later.

S211. The first UE sends the SL positioning result to the LMF, or the second UE sends the SL positioning result to the LMF.

Since S209~S211 are relatively relevant, they are introduced together below.

For example, LMF may request the first UE to perform SL positioning with the second UE, and S211 may be the first UE sending the SL positioning result to LMF. For example, in S209, LMF sends a fourth message to the first UE, and the fourth message is, for example, an LPP message. The fourth message may request the first UE to perform SL positioning with the second UE, or request the first UE to perform positioning with the second UE. The fourth message may be sent by LMF to the second UE, and then forwarded by the second UE to the first UE. Optionally, the fourth message may include an identifier of the second UE. After receiving the fourth message, the first UE may execute S210 to perform SL positioning with the second UE. For example, the first UE measures the positioning reference signal from the second UE, and/or the second UE measures the positioning reference signal from the first UE, and the first UE may obtain the first measurement result. Among them, if the second UE measures the positioning reference signal from the first UE, the second UE may send the corresponding measurement result to the first UE so that the first UE can obtain the first measurement result. In S211, the SL positioning result is the first measurement result. The first UE can send the first measurement result to the LMF. The LMF can obtain the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE according to the first measurement result, or obtain the absolute position information of the first UE. For example, the LMF obtains the absolute position information of the first UE according to the first measurement result and the absolute position information of the second UE. Among them, the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE can be understood as the information of the position of the first UE relative to the second UE. For example, the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE is the distance and angle of the first UE relative to the second UE. Alternatively, after the first UE obtains the first measurement result, it can obtain the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE according to the first measurement result, or obtain the absolute position information of the first UE. In S211, the SL positioning result is the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE or the absolute position information of the first UE. According to the previous introduction, the SL positioning result sent by the first UE in S211 may include the first measurement result, or include the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE, or include the absolute position information of the first UE. Optionally, if the first UE knows the absolute position information of the second UE, the first UE can obtain the absolute position information of the first UE based on the first measurement result and the absolute position information of the second UE; if the first UE does not know the absolute position information of the second UE, the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE can be obtained based on the first measurement result.

For another example, LMF may request the second UE to perform SL positioning with the first UE, and S211 may be the second UE sending the SL positioning result to LMF. For example, in S209, LMF sends a fourth message to the second UE, and the fourth message is, for example, an LPP message, and the fourth message may request the second UE to perform SL positioning with the first UE, or request the second UE to perform positioning with the first UE. Optionally, the fourth message may include an identifier of the first UE. After receiving the fourth message, the second UE may execute S210 to perform SL positioning with the first UE. For example, the first UE measures the positioning reference signal from the second UE, and/or the second UE measures the positioning reference signal from the first UE, and the second UE may obtain the second measurement result. Among them, if the first UE measures the positioning reference signal from the second UE, the first UE may send the corresponding measurement result to the second UE so that the second UE can obtain the second measurement result. Optionally, in S211, the SL positioning result sent by the second UE may be the second measurement result, and the LMF may obtain the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE according to the second measurement result, or obtain the absolute position information of the first UE, for example, the LMF obtains the absolute position information of the first UE according to the second measurement result and the absolute position information of the second UE. Alternatively, after the second UE obtains the second measurement result, it may obtain the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE according to the second measurement result, or obtain the absolute position information of the first UE. Then, in S211, the SL positioning result sent by the second UE may be the relative position information of the second UE and the first UE or the absolute position information of the first UE. As can be seen from the foregoing description, the SL positioning result obtained by the second UE may include the second measurement result, or include the relative position information of the second UE and the first UE, or include the absolute position information of the first UE. Optionally, if the second UE knows its own absolute position information, the second UE may obtain the absolute position information of the first UE according to the second measurement result and the absolute position information of the second UE; and if the second UE does not know its own absolute position information, the relative position information of the second UE and the first UE may be obtained according to the second measurement result.

S212: The LMF obtains first information. The first information may indicate the location of the first UE, for example, the first information includes location information of the first UE.

The LMF obtains the absolute position information of the second UE through S207 and S208, and also obtains the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE, or the relative position information of the second UE and the first UE, or the absolute position information of the first UE through S209 to S211. Among them, if LMF obtains the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE, or the relative position information of the second UE and the first UE through S209~S211, then LMF can determine the absolute position information of the first UE based on the absolute position information of the second UE and the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE (or the relative position information of the second UE and the first UE).

S213, LMF sends the first information to AMF. Correspondingly, AMF receives the first information from LMF.

Since the AMF sends the first positioning request message to the LMF to request positioning, the LMF may send the first information to the AMF as a response to the first positioning request message. The first information may include the location information of the first UE.

For example, if the location information of the first UE included in the first information is the absolute location information of the first UE, the AMF does not need to perform too many determination processes. Optionally, if the LMF does not send the absolute location information of the second UE to the AMF after S208, the first information may also include the absolute location information of the second UE. Alternatively, the LMF may not send the absolute location information of the second UE to the AMF.

For another example, the location information of the first UE included in the first information is the relative location information of the first UE, and the relative location information of the first UE includes, for example, the relative location information of the first UE and the second UE, or the relative location information of the second UE and the first UE. That is, the LMF does not determine the absolute location information of the first UE based on the relative location information of the first UE, but sends the relative location information of the first UE to the AMF, thereby reducing the burden on the LMF for determining the absolute location information of the first UE. Optionally, in this case, the first information may also include the absolute location information of the second UE, and the AMF may determine the absolute location information of the first UE based on the relative location information of the first UE and the absolute location information of the second UE.

If the positioning process is initiated by the first UE, then optionally, after S213, the AMF may also send the absolute location information of the first UE to the first UE. Alternatively, if the positioning process is initiated by the LCS, then optionally, after S213, the AMF may also send the absolute location information of the first UE to the LCS.

S210 involves the SL positioning process of the first UE and the second UE, and an SL positioning process is introduced as an example below. The SL positioning process can also be applied to various embodiments to be introduced later in this application.

The distance between the first UE and the second UE can be determined by a multi-round-trip time (RTT) positioning method, and the angle between the first UE and the second UE can also be determined by an angle-based positioning method, such as AOA or AOD. Based on the distance between the first UE and the second UE and the angle between the first UE and the second UE, the relative position between the first UE and the second UE can be obtained.

If the LMF sends the fourth message to the first UE in S209, the first UE may determine that it is necessary to initiate SL positioning between the first UE and the second UE, and the first UE may also determine the positioning method, for example, determine to obtain the relative position of the first UE and the second UE through Multi-RTT and angle-based positioning methods. In order to receive the SL positioning reference signal, the first UE may send the SL positioning reference signal configuration information of the first UE to the second UE, so that the second UE can receive the SL positioning reference signal from the first UE accordingly. In addition, the first UE may also receive the SL positioning reference signal configuration information of the second UE from the second UE, so that the first UE can receive the SL positioning reference signal from the second UE accordingly. The second UE measures the SL positioning reference signal from the first UE and obtains measurement result 1, and the second UE may send measurement result 1 to the first UE; the first UE measures the SL positioning reference signal from the second UE and obtains measurement result 2, and the first UE may obtain the first measurement result based on measurement result 1 and/or measurement result 2. The first UE may send the first measurement result to the LMF, or send the location information obtained based on the first measurement result to the LMF.

If LMF sends the fourth message to the second UE in S209, the second UE may determine that it is necessary to initiate SL positioning between the first UE and the second UE, and the second UE may also determine the positioning method, for example, determine to obtain the relative position of the first UE and the second UE through Multi-RTT and angle-based positioning methods. In order to receive the SL positioning reference signal, the second UE may send the SL positioning reference signal configuration information of the second UE to the first UE, so that the first UE can receive the SL positioning reference signal from the second UE accordingly. In addition, the first UE may also send the SL positioning reference signal configuration information of the first UE to the second UE, so that the second UE can receive the SL positioning reference signal from the first UE accordingly. The first UE measures the SL positioning reference signal from the second UE and obtains measurement result 1. The first UE may send measurement result 1 to the second UE. The second UE measures the SL positioning reference signal from the first UE and obtains measurement result 2. The second UE may obtain a second measurement result based on measurement result 1 and/or measurement result 2. The second UE may send the second measurement result to the LMF, or send the location information obtained based on the second measurement result to the LMF.

In an embodiment of the present application, the second UE provides a relay service for the first UE, for example, the second UE is a relay UE and the first UE is a remote UE. The first UE can send information about the second UE to the first network device, so that the first network device can be aware of the existence of the second UE, thereby the first network device can initiate Uu positioning of the relay UE. In addition, the first network device can also request SL positioning of the first UE, so that SL positioning can be performed between the first UE and the second UE. In other words, the embodiment of the present application enables the core network to perceive the existence of the relay UE in the relay scenario, so that the positioning process in the relay scenario can be realized.

In the embodiment shown in FIG2 , the AMF requests the LMF to perform SL positioning on the first UE. A second communication method is provided, in which the LMF may not request the SL positioning process between the first UE and the second UE. Please refer to FIG3 , which is a flow chart of the method.

S301. The first UE sends a first message to the AMF. Accordingly, the AMF receives the first message from the first UE. The second UE can provide a relay service for the first UE. The first message can be sent to the AMF through the access network device. The first message is, for example, a NAS message, or it can also be an AS message, for example, an AS message is an RRC message. For example, if the first message is a NAS message, the first message can be a registration request message, a service request message, an uplink NAS transmission message, or a positioning service request message, etc. If the first message is a NAS message, the first message can be transparently transmitted to the AMF through the access network device. For example, after the access network device receives the first message, the access network device will not read the first message, but forward the first message to the AMF.

In the embodiments of the present application, the implementation method of the first message and other contents may refer to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 .

For example, the first message includes information about the second UE, and the second UE provides relay service for the first UE, which is equivalent to enabling the AMF to learn information about the relay UE of the first UE through the first message. The information about the second UE includes, for example, an identifier of the second UE, such as an ID of the second UE. For information about the identifier of the second UE, reference may be made to S201 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 .

As an optional implementation, the information of the second UE may include, in addition to the identifier of the second UE, received signal quality information and/or SL transmission power information of the second UE (or, transmission power information of the second UE to the first UE). The received quality information may indicate the received signal quality of the first UE for the signal from the second UE. For more information on this, please refer to S201 of the embodiment shown in FIG2 .

Optionally, the first UE may actively send information of the second UE to the AMF, or the first UE may not actively send information of the second UE to the AMF. For example, the first UE may set the first enabling information, and for more information on this, refer to S201 of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2.

In the embodiment of the present application, the positioning process may be initiated by the AMF, or by the first UE, or by the LCS. When initiated by different network elements, the execution process may be correspondingly different, which is described below by example.

1. AMF initiates the positioning process.

In the manner in which the AMF initiates the positioning process, the method may further include S302, where the AMF determines to locate the second UE, or the AMF determines to perform Uu positioning on the second UE. It can be understood that the AMF can decide on the positioning, and can decide on the positioning method (for example, performing Uu positioning on the second UE); or, the AMF can decide on the positioning, but not on the positioning method, and the specific positioning method can be decided by the LMF (for example, the AMF decides to locate the second UE; the LMF decides to perform Uu positioning on the second UE).

Optionally, S302 can be understood as including two processes, one of which is that the AMF determines the positioning requirement for the first UE; and the other process is that the AMF determines to locate the second UE. For example, after the AMF receives the first message, the AMF can determine that the second UE needs to be located based on the first message. For example, the AMF determines that the first UE is connected to the network device via a relay based on the first message. In order to locate the first UE, the AMF determines that the second UE needs to be located. Alternatively, S202 can also be understood as including a process, and the process is as described above, the AMF determines to locate the second UE. Then, optionally, S202 can also include that the AMF determines that the first UE is connected to the network device via a relay based on the first message. In order to locate the first UE, the AMF determines to initiate a positioning process, for example, the positioning process is for the second UE.

The AMF may determine the execution positioning according to various factors, and for more details, please refer to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 .

Optionally, before S301, the first UE may first obtain the information of the second UE. For example, one way for the first UE to obtain the information of the second UE may refer to S303, where the second UE sends a second message to the first UE, and the second message includes the information of the second UE. Then the first UE may receive the second message from the second UE, and the first UE obtains the information of the second UE. Optionally, the second UE may actively send the information of the second UE to the first UE; or, before S303, the first UE may send a third message to the second UE, and the third message may request to obtain the information of the second UE. The second UE may send the second message to the first UE after receiving the third message. For the introduction of the second message and the third message, as well as more related content, please refer to the embodiment shown in Figure 2. Among them, the information of the second UE may include the identifier of the second UE.

Optionally, when the AMF initiates the positioning process, the AMF may also send a first indication message to the first UE. The first indication message may instruct the first UE to send information about the second UE, or instruct the first UE to send relay service information of the first UE. The relay service information of the first UE, for example, includes information about the relay UE of the first UE (the second UE in the embodiment of the present application), and/or includes indication information that the first UE accesses the network through the relay UE, etc. After the first UE receives the first indication message, S301 may be executed. Therefore, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur before S301. In addition, optionally, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur after S302, that is, if the AMF determines that positioning is to be performed, it may request the first UE to send information about the second UE or relay service information. If the first UE has a corresponding relay UE (for example, the second UE), the information of the second UE or relay service information may be sent to the AMF. Thereby, accurate positioning of the first UE can be achieved.

2. The first UE initiates a positioning process.

When the first UE initiates the positioning process, the method may further include S303 and S304. For the relevant contents of these two steps, reference may be made to the above description. Optionally, when the first UE initiates the positioning process, the method may not include S302.

For example, if the first UE detects a positioning requirement, the first UE may execute S304 and S303, or execute S303 but not S304. For more information (such as the second message and the third message, etc.), please refer to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2.

Since the first UE detects the positioning requirement, the first UE can send a positioning service request message to the AMF, and the AMF can request positioning from the LMF according to the positioning service request message. Optionally, the first message is, for example, the positioning service request message, and the positioning service request message as the first message can be called the second positioning service request message; or, the first message can also be other messages sent by the first UE to the AMF.

Optionally, when the first UE initiates the positioning process, the AMF may also send a first indication message to the first UE (this step is not shown in FIG. 3 ). After the first UE receives the first indication message from the AMF, S301 may be executed. Therefore, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur before S301. In addition, optionally, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur after the AMF receives the positioning service request message from the first UE, that is, if the AMF determines that the second UE is to perform positioning, it may request the first UE to send the information of the second UE, or request the first UE to send the relay service information of the first UE. If the first UE has a corresponding relay UE (for example, the second UE), the information of the second UE or the relay service information may be sent to the AMF, so that accurate positioning of the first UE can be achieved. Among them, if the AMF sends the first indication message to the first UE, the first message may not be the positioning service request message sent by the first UE, and the first message may be located after the positioning service request message.

3. LCS initiates the positioning process.

In the manner in which the LCS initiates the positioning process, the method may further include S305, where the LCS sends a positioning service request message to the AMF, and accordingly, the AMF may receive the positioning service request message. For example, the positioning service request message is referred to as a third positioning service request message, and the third positioning service request message may request positioning of the first UE. For example, if the LCS detects a positioning requirement for the first UE, the LCS may execute S305.

Optionally, when the LCS initiates the positioning process, the AMF may also send a first indication message to the first UE (this step is not shown in FIG. 3 ), and after the first UE receives the first indication message, S301 may be executed. Therefore, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur before S301. In addition, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur after S305, that is, if the AMF determines that the second UE is to be located, it may request the first UE to send the information of the second UE or the relay service information. If the first UE has a corresponding relay UE (such as the second UE), the information of the second UE or the relay service information may be sent to the AMF, thereby achieving accurate positioning of the first UE. Optionally, the method may also include S303 and S304, and the relevant contents of these two steps may refer to the previous introduction. For example, before executing S301, the first UE may first execute S303 and S304.

For example, in the manner where the LCS initiates the positioning process, the method may include S303 and S304, and the AMF may send a The first indication information is sent. For more information about this, please refer to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 .

Alternatively, when the LCS initiates the positioning process, the method may include S303 and S304, and the AMF may not send the first indication information to the first UE. For more information on this, please refer to the embodiment shown in Figure 2.

Optionally, when the LCS initiates the positioning process, the method may not include S302.

Optionally, after receiving the third positioning service request message, AMF can also determine to locate the second UE before sending the first positioning service request message (S206) to LMF. It can be understood that in the scenario where LCS initiates positioning, LCS requests AMF to locate the first UE, and after AMF receives the first message, AMF determines based on the first message that the first UE is connected to the network device through a relay, then AMF can decide to locate the second UE to achieve the positioning of the first UE.

In addition, in some optional implementations, the first UE may also send the first message directly to the LMF, and the first UE does not need to send the first message to the AMF through S301. For example, the first UE may send the first message to the LMF through the capability transfer, auxiliary data transfer or positioning information transfer process of the LPP protocol, for example, the first message may be an LPP provide capabilities message, an LPP request assistance data message or an LPP provide location information message.

S306. AMF sends a first positioning service request message to LMF. Correspondingly, LMF receives the first positioning service request message from AMF. Among them, whether it is the way in which AMF initiates the positioning process, the way in which the first UE initiates the positioning process, or the way in which LCS initiates the positioning process as mentioned above, S306 can be applied. The first positioning service request message can be used to request Uu positioning for the second UE, or to request positioning for the second UE. The first positioning service request message is, for example, location service request or Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation message.

The first positioning service request message may include information about the second UE. For example, the information about the second UE included in the first positioning service request message may be information about the second UE included in the first message, such as one or more of the following: an identifier of the second UE, quality information of a received signal of the first UE for a signal from the second UE, or information about the transmission power of the second UE to the first UE.

Optionally, the information of the second UE included in the first positioning service request message may also include one or more of the following: LCS association identifier, service cell identifier, client type, whether the second UE supports LPP, QoS information required by the second UE, or positioning capability information of the second UE. Optionally, the AMF may obtain the above information based on the registration information of the second UE. Among them, the LCS association identifier may indicate the LCS associated with the second UE. The service cell identifier is the identifier of the service cell of the second UE. The client type may indicate the type of the second UE.

For example, the first positioning service request message itself can be used to request Uu positioning of the second UE. Alternatively, the first positioning service request message can request positioning of the second UE without requesting a specific positioning method. As for which positioning method (such as Uu positioning or SL positioning) should be used for the second UE, it can be decided by the LMF.

S307. The LMF interacts with a network device (eg, an access network device) involved in positioning the second UE to obtain information related to the positioning of the second UE.

S308. The LMF interacts with the second UE to obtain information related to the positioning of the second UE.

Through S307 and S308, the positioning of the second UE is completed, and the LMF can obtain the location information of the second UE. For example, the location information of the second UE obtained by the LMF is the absolute location information of the second UE. For more information about S307 and S308, refer to S207 and S208 in the embodiment shown in Figure 2, respectively.

S309, LMF sends the location information of the second UE to AMF. Correspondingly, AMF receives the location information of the second UE from LMF. For example, if the location information of the second UE obtained by LMF is the absolute location information of the second UE, then what LMF sends to AMF may also be the absolute location information of the second UE.

S310. The first UE initiates SL positioning with the second UE.

For example, if the first UE has a positioning requirement, it can initiate SL positioning with the second UE. For example, the first UE considers that there is a positioning requirement when it detects that there is a need to initiate an emergency service, or the first UE may also have a positioning requirement in other situations, such as when a map application (APP) installed in the first UE is called.

The first UE may actively initiate positioning with the second UE, or the first UE may not actively initiate positioning with the second UE. For example, the first UE may set the second enabling information. If the first UE sets the value of the second enabling information to the third value, it indicates that the first UE may actively initiate positioning with the second UE, for example, the first UE may actively initiate positioning with the second UE when there is a positioning requirement; if the first UE sets the value of the second enabling information to the fourth value, or does not set the value of the second enabling information to the third value, it indicates that the first UE will not actively initiate positioning with the second UE, for example, the first UE will not actively initiate positioning with the second UE when there is a positioning requirement. For example, the first UE may send the value of the second enabling information to the AMF in advance, or the first UE may not set the value of the second enabling information to the AMF in advance. The value of the information is communicated to the AMF.

Optionally, if the first UE sets the value of the second enabling information to a third value, the first UE may actively execute S310, and S310 may occur before S301-S302 and S306-S309, or after S301-S302 and S305-S309, or simultaneously with any one or more of S301-S302 and S305-S309, or may also occur before or after any one of S301-S302 and S305-S309. Alternatively, if the first UE sets the value of the second enabling information to a fourth value, and the first UE sends the value of the second enabling information to the AMF in advance, then before S310, the AMF may send a second indication message to the first UE to instruct the first UE to initiate SL positioning with the second UE, or to instruct the first UE to initiate positioning with the second UE. For example, the AMF may send the second indication information to the first UE after S302, or the AMF may send the second indication information to the first UE after receiving the positioning service request message from the first UE, or the AMF may send the second indication information to the first UE after receiving the third positioning service request message (S305) from the LCS.

For example, in S310, the first UE can obtain a first measurement result by measuring the signal from the second UE. Optionally, if the first UE does not know the absolute position information of the second UE, the first UE can determine the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE based on the first measurement result; or, if the first UE knows the absolute position information of the second UE, the first UE can determine the absolute position information of the first UE based on the first measurement result and the absolute position information of the second UE. The relative position information between the first UE and the second UE can be understood as information about the position of the first UE relative to the second UE.

S311. The first UE sends second information to the AMF. Correspondingly, the AMF receives the second information from the first UE.

The second information may include the first measurement result, and the AMF may determine the absolute location information of the first UE after receiving the first measurement result. For example, the AMF may determine the absolute location information of the first UE based on the first measurement result; or the AMF may determine the relative location information of the first UE and the second UE based on the first measurement result, and then determine the location information of the first UE in combination with the location information of the second UE obtained from the LMF in S309.

Alternatively, the second information may include relative position information between the first UE and the second UE. After receiving the relative position information, the AMF can determine the position information of the first UE based on the relative position information and the position information of the second UE obtained from the LMF in S309.

Alternatively, the second information may include absolute location information of the first UE.

If the positioning process is initiated by the first UE, then optionally, after S311, the AMF may also send the absolute location information of the first UE to the first UE. Alternatively, if the positioning process is initiated by the LCS, then optionally, after S311, the AMF may also send the absolute location information of the first UE to the LCS.

In an embodiment of the present application, the second UE provides a relay service for the first UE, for example, the second UE is a relay UE and the first UE is a remote UE. The first UE device can send information about the second UE to the first network device, so that the first network device can be aware of the existence of the second UE, thereby the first network device can initiate Uu positioning of the relay UE. In addition, the first UE can initiate SL positioning with the second UE, so that SL positioning can be performed between the first UE and the second UE. In other words, the embodiment of the present application enables the core network to perceive the existence of the relay UE in the relay scenario, so that the positioning process in the relay scenario can be realized. Moreover, the SL positioning process in the embodiment of the present application can be initiated by the UE, and the network device does not need to be too involved, which can reduce the positioning delay.

According to the introduction of the aforementioned embodiment, the positioning process can be initiated by the UE to be positioned (e.g., the first UE). Next, the embodiment of the present application provides a third communication method, which involves scenarios such as a scenario in which the positioning process is initiated by the first UE, or may also include other scenarios, such as a scenario in which the positioning process is initiated by the AMF or a scenario in which the positioning process is initiated by the LCS. In this method, the first UE can take a more active position and reduce the participation of network devices. Please refer to Figure 4, which is a flow chart of the method.

S401. The first UE sends the fifth message to the second UE. Correspondingly, the second UE can receive the fifth message from the first UE. In addition, the first UE also performs SL positioning with the second UE. Optionally, the first UE performs SL positioning with the second UE, and the process may include one or more steps. Then, the step of the first UE sending the fifth message may occur before or after any one of the one or more steps, or may also occur simultaneously with any one or more of the one or more steps. The fifth message can be used to request the location information of the second UE. The fifth message may be a message in the discovery process between the first UE and the second UE, or a message in the connection establishment process between the first UE and the second UE, or a message after the connection establishment between the first UE and the second UE is completed. For the introduction of these messages, please refer to the embodiment shown in Figure 2.

For example, the first UE is connected to the network through a relay UE (such as a second UE). When there is a positioning requirement, the first UE can execute S401. For example, if the first UE detects that there is a need to initiate an emergency service, it is considered that the first UE has a positioning requirement, or the first UE may also have a positioning requirement in other scenarios. For another example, before the first UE sends the fifth message to the second UE, the first UE receives the sixth message from the LMF, and the LMF requests the location information of the first UE through the sixth message. The LMF can send the sixth message to the first UE after receiving the positioning request message from the AMF, and the AMF can determine the location of the first UE or receive the positioning request message from the LCS. After the request, a positioning request message is sent to LMF.

One way for the first UE to perform the SL positioning process with the second UE is that the first UE measures the positioning reference signal from the second UE, and/or the second UE measures the positioning reference signal from the first UE, and the first UE can obtain a first measurement result. Among them, if the second UE measures the positioning reference signal from the first UE, the second UE can send the obtained measurement result to the first UE so that the first UE can obtain the first measurement result. Optionally, if the first UE does not know the absolute position information of the second UE, the first UE can determine the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE based on the first measurement result; or, if the first UE knows the absolute position information of the second UE, the first UE can determine the absolute position information of the first UE based on the first measurement result and the absolute position information of the second UE. Among them, the relative position information between the first UE and the second UE can be understood as information about the position of the first UE relative to the second UE.

Alternatively, one way for the first UE to perform the SL positioning process with the second UE is that the first UE measures the positioning reference signal from the second UE, and/or the second UE measures the positioning reference signal from the first UE, and the second UE can obtain the second measurement result. Among them, if the first UE measures the positioning reference signal from the second UE, the first UE can send the obtained measurement result to the second UE so that the second UE can obtain the second measurement result. Optionally, if the second UE does not know its own absolute position information, the second UE can determine the relative position information of the second UE and the first UE based on the second measurement result; or, if the second UE knows its own absolute position information, the second UE can determine the absolute position information of the first UE based on the second measurement result. Among them, the relative position information between the second UE and the first UE can be understood as information about the position of the second UE relative to the first UE.

S402: The second UE initiates a positioning process for the second UE. Optionally, if the absolute position information of the second UE is known, S402 may not be performed.

For example, the second UE may send a location service request message to the AMF. After receiving the message, the AMF may request the LMF to perform Uu positioning on the second UE. For the process of LMF performing Uu positioning on the second UE, reference may be made to the introduction of the embodiment shown in FIG2. Through the positioning process, the LMF obtains the absolute location information of the second UE. The LMF may send the absolute location information of the second UE to the AMF, and the AMF may send the absolute location information of the second UE to the second UE, so that the second UE obtains the absolute location information of the second UE.

S403: The second UE sends third information to the first UE. Correspondingly, the first UE receives the third information from the second UE. The third information can be used to determine the location information of the first UE.

For example, the third information includes the absolute position information of the second UE, and the first UE obtains the first measurement result or the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE in S401, wherein the first measurement result can be used to determine the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE. Then the first UE can determine the absolute position information of the first UE based on the first measurement result or the relative position information of the first UE and the second UE obtained in S401, and the absolute position information of the second UE.

Alternatively, the third information includes the absolute position information of the first UE. For example, the second UE may determine the absolute position information of the first UE based on the second measurement result obtained in S401 or the relative position information between the second UE and the first UE, and the absolute position information of the second UE; or, the second UE may determine the absolute position information of the first UE based on the second measurement result obtained in S401. The second UE may send the absolute position information of the first UE to the first UE. The second measurement result may be used to determine the relative position information between the second UE and the first UE.

Alternatively, the third information includes the absolute position information of the first UE. For example, the first UE may send the first measurement result obtained in S401 or the relative position information between the first UE and the second UE to the second UE, wherein the first measurement result may be used to determine the relative position information between the first UE and the second UE. The second UE may determine the absolute position information of the first UE based on the first measurement result or the relative position information between the first UE and the second UE, and the absolute position information of the second UE, and the second UE may send the absolute position information of the first UE to the first UE.

In the positioning process provided in the embodiment of the present application, there is no need for too many network devices to participate, which can simplify the positioning process.

As described above, if the target UE accessing the network through the relay UE in the relay scenario is positioned, either of the following two methods can be used: Method 1, positioning the target UE through Uu positioning + SL positioning; Method 2, positioning the target UE only through Uu positioning. The positioning methods involved in the embodiments shown in Figures 2 to 4 are all Method 1, and Method 2 is discussed below.

In method 2, AMF can request positioning from LMF, and the request can carry the cell identity number (ID). If in a non-relay positioning scenario, the cell is the cell where the target UE to be located is located. However, in a relay scenario, since the core network equipment is not aware of the relay UE, that is, the AMF believes that the cell ID of the relay UE is the cell ID of the target UE, the cell ID carried in the request is the ID of the cell where the relay UE is located. LMF will refer to the cell ID to determine which base stations' PRSs are used to locate the target UE, but the cell ID is not the ID of the cell where the target UE is located. This causes the base station determined by the LMF to be inaccurate. For example, the LMF determines The PRS sent by the determined base station cannot be received by the target UE, resulting in the inability to locate the target UE. For example, referring to Figure 5, the PRS sent by access network devices 1 to 3 can all be received by the relay UE, and these three access network devices may be determined as access network devices for locating the target UE, but the PRS sent by these three access network devices cannot be received by the target UE.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present application provides a fourth communication method, through which the accuracy of the determined network devices (such as access network devices) involved in positioning the target UE can be improved, thereby improving the accuracy of positioning the target UE. Please refer to Figure 6, which is a flow chart of the method.

S601. The first UE sends a first message to the AMF. Accordingly, the AMF receives the first message from the first UE. The first message may be sent to the AMF through the access network device. The first message may be, for example, a NAS message, or may also be an AS message, for example, an AS message is an RRC message. For example, if the first message is a NAS message, the first message may be a registration request message, a service request message, an uplink NAS transmission message, or a positioning service request message, etc. If the first message is a NAS message, the first message may be transparently transmitted to the AMF through the access network device. For example, after the access network device receives the first message, the access network device will not read the first message, but forward the information included in the first message to the AMF.

In the embodiment of the present application, regarding the implementation method of the first message and other contents, please refer to the embodiment shown in Figure 2.

Optionally, the first message may include relay information and/or network device information. The second UE may provide relay service for the first UE, for example, the first UE is a remote UE and the second UE is a relay UE. The relay information may include one or more of the following: received signal quality information, transmission power information of the second UE to the first UE, an identifier of the second UE, or indication information. The received quality information may indicate the received signal quality of the first UE for the signal from the second UE, for example, the parameter corresponding to the received signal quality information is one or more of RSRP, RSRQ or SINR. The first UE may obtain the received signal quality information by measuring the signal from the second UE. For example, the signal may be a signal in the discovery process between the first UE and the second UE, or a signal in the connection establishment process between the first UE and the second UE, or a signal after the connection between the first UE and the second UE is successfully established. The signal may be a signal dedicated to measurement, such as a reference signal for measurement, or may be a signal with other functions. The second UE may inform the first UE of the transmission power information of the second UE to the first UE. For example, the second UE may send the transmission power information of the second UE to the first UE to the first UE during the discovery process with the first UE, during the connection establishment process, or after the connection establishment is completed. The signal corresponding to the transmission power may be a second message, or may be other signals sent by the second UE to the first UE. For example, the signal may be a signal during the discovery process between the first UE and the second UE, or a signal during the connection establishment process between the first UE and the second UE, or a signal after the connection between the first UE and the second UE is successfully established. The indication information included in the relay information may indicate that the first UE connects to the network through a relay, or indicates that the first UE accepts relay services, or indicates that the first UE is a remote UE, etc.

The network device information included in the first message may indicate a network device on which the first UE can receive signals. For example, the network device information may include an identifier of a network device on which the first UE can receive signals. The network devices on which the first UE can receive signals may be understood as signals sent by these network devices that can be received by the first UE. The signal is, for example, a PRS. The network device is, for example, an access network device, and the number of the access network devices may be one or more. Alternatively, the network device information included in the first message may indicate an identifier of a cell on which the first UE can receive signals. The signal is, for example, a PRS.

Optionally, the first UE may actively send relay information and/or network device information to the AMF, or the first UE may not actively send relay information and/or network device information to the AMF. For example, the first UE may set the first enabling information. If the first UE sets the value of the first enabling information to the first value, it indicates that the first UE can actively send relay information and/or network device information to the AMF (or actively obtain and send relay information and/or network device information to the AMF), for example, the first UE can actively send relay information and/or network device information to the AMF when initiating an emergency service or when the first UE has a positioning requirement; if the first UE sets the value of the first enabling information to the second value, or does not set the value of the first enabling information to the first value, it indicates that the first UE will not actively send relay information and/or network device information to the AMF (or, will not actively obtain relay information and/or network device information, and/or will not actively send relay information and/or network device information to the AMF), for example, the first UE will not actively send relay information and/or network device information to the AMF when initiating an emergency service or when the first UE has a positioning requirement. For example, the first UE may send the value of the first enabling information to the AMF in advance, or the first UE may not inform the AMF of the value of the first enabling information.

1. AMF initiates the positioning process.

In the manner in which the AMF initiates the positioning process, the method may further include S602, the AMF determines to locate the first UE, or the AMF determines to perform Uu positioning on the first UE.

The AMF may determine the execution positioning according to various factors, and for more information, please refer to the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 .

Optionally, when the AMF initiates the positioning process, the AMF may also send a first indication message to the first UE (this step is not shown in Figure 6), and the first indication message may instruct the first UE to send relay information and/or network equipment information. After the first UE receives the first indication message, S601 may be executed. Therefore, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur before S601. In addition, optionally, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur after S602, that is, if the AMF determines that positioning is to be performed, it may request the first UE to send relay information and/or network equipment information. The first UE may send relay information and/or network equipment information to the AMF based on the first indication message, so that accurate positioning of the first UE can be achieved.

For example, the first UE can set the first enabling information, and the AMF has received the value of the first enabling information from the first UE in advance, and the value of the first enabling information is the second value or not the first value, indicating that the first UE will not actively send relay information and/or network equipment information to the AMF, then the AMF can send the first indication information to the first UE. For another example, the first UE can set the first enabling information, but the AMF has not received the value of the first enabling information from the first UE, so the AMF does not know whether the first UE will actively send relay information and/or network equipment information to the AMF, then, if the AMF determines to perform positioning and has not obtained the relay information and/or network equipment information from the first UE, it can send the first indication information to the first UE. For another example, whether the AMF sends the first indication information to the first UE has nothing to do with the first enabling information of the first UE.

2. The first UE initiates a positioning process.

For example, if the first UE detects a positioning requirement, the first UE may execute S601. The first UE may determine that there is a positioning requirement when detecting a requirement to initiate an emergency service, or the first UE may determine that there is a positioning requirement based on other factors. Optionally, when the first UE initiates a positioning process, the method may not include S602.

Since the first UE detects the positioning requirement, the first UE can send a location service request message to the AMF, and the AMF can request positioning from the LMF according to the message. Optionally, the first message is, for example, the location service request message, and the location service request message as the first message can be called the second positioning service request message; or, the first message can also be other messages sent by the first UE to the AMF.

Optionally, when the first UE initiates the positioning process, the AMF may also send a first indication message to the first UE, which step is not shown in Figure 6. After the first UE receives the first indication message from the AMF, S601 may be executed. Therefore, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur before S601. In addition, optionally, the step of the AMF sending the first indication message may occur after the AMF receives the location service request message from the first UE, that is, the AMF determines that the first UE is to perform positioning, and then requests the first UE to send relay information and/or network equipment information. The first UE may send relay information and/or network equipment information to the AMF according to the first indication information, so as to achieve accurate positioning of the first UE. Among them, if the AMF also sends the first indication message to the first UE, the first message may not be the location service request message sent by the first UE, and the first message may be located after the location service request message.

For example, when the first UE initiates the positioning process, the first UE can set the first enabling information, and the AMF receives the value of the first enabling information from the first UE in advance. The value of the first enabling information is the second value or not the first value, indicating that the first UE will not actively send relay information and/or network device information to the AMF, then the AMF can send the first indication information to the first UE. For another example, the first UE can set the first enabling information, but the AMF does not receive the value of the first enabling information from the first UE, so the AMF does not know whether the first UE will actively send relay information and/or network device information to the AMF. Then, if the AMF receives the positioning service request message from the first UE and does not obtain the relay information and/or network device information from the first UE, the first indication information can be sent to the first UE. For another example, whether the AMF sends the first indication information to the first UE has nothing to do with the first enabling information of the first UE.

3. LCS initiates the positioning process.

In the manner in which the LCS initiates the positioning process, the method may further include S603, where the LCS sends a positioning service request message to the AMF, and accordingly, the AMF may receive the positioning service request message. For example, the positioning service request message is referred to as a third positioning service request message, and the third positioning service request message may request positioning of the first UE. For example, if the LCS detects a positioning requirement for the first UE, the LCS may execute S603. Optionally, in the manner in which the LCS initiates the positioning process, the method may not include S602.

Optionally, when LCS initiates the positioning process, AMF may also send a first indication message to the first UE (this step is not shown in FIG. 6 ). After the first UE receives the first indication message, S601 may be executed. Therefore, the step of AMF sending the first indication message may occur before S601. In addition, the step of AMF sending the first indication message may occur after S603, that is, if AMF determines that the first UE needs to be located, it may request the first UE to send relay information and/or network device information. The first UE may send relay information and/or network device information to AMF according to the first indication message, so as to achieve accurate positioning of the first UE.

Wherein, regardless of the manner in which the AMF initiates the positioning process, the manner in which the first UE initiates the positioning process, or the manner in which the LCS initiates the positioning process, S601 is an optional step. For example, regardless of the manner in which the first UE initiates the positioning process, S606 to be described later may be performed. Alternatively, in S606, the first UE sends the first message to the LMF again.

Optionally, regardless of the above method, if the relay information included in the first message includes information of the second UE such as the identifier of the second UE and/or the transmission power information of the second UE to the first UE, the first UE can also obtain the information of the second UE from the second UE. For this, please refer to S203 and S204 in the embodiment shown in Figure 2.

In addition, in some optional implementations, the first UE may also send the first message directly to the LMF, and the first UE does not need to send the first message to the AMF through S601. For example, the first UE may send the first message to the LMF through the capability transfer, auxiliary data transfer or positioning information transfer process of the LPP protocol, for example, the first message may be an LPP provide capabilities message, an LPP request assistance data message or an LPP provide location information message.

S604. AMF sends a first positioning service request message to LMF. Correspondingly, LMF receives the first positioning service request message from AMF. Among them, whether it is the way in which AMF initiates the positioning process, the way in which the first UE initiates the positioning process, or the way in which LCS initiates the positioning process as mentioned above, S604 can be applied. The first positioning service request message can be used to request Uu positioning for the first UE, or to request positioning for the first UE. The first positioning service request message is, for example, location service request or Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation message.

The first positioning service request message may include relay information and/or network device information. For example, the relay information included in the first positioning service request message may be the relay information included in the first message; the network device information included in the first positioning service request message may be the network device information included in the first message.

Optionally, the first positioning service request message may also include information of the first UE, for example, one or more of the following: LCS association identifier, service cell identifier, client type, whether the first UE supports LPP, QoS information required by the first UE, or positioning capability information of the first UE. Optionally, the AMF may obtain the information of the first UE based on the registration information of the first UE, or the information of the first UE may also be included in the first message. Among them, the LCS association identifier may indicate the LCS associated with the first UE. The service cell identifier is the identifier of the service cell of the first UE. The client type may indicate the type of the first UE.

S605. The LMF interacts with a network device (eg, an access network device) involved in positioning the first UE to obtain information related to the positioning of the first UE.

Optionally, LMF may determine the network devices involved in positioning the first UE with reference to the information included in the first positioning service request message, and then interact with the determined network devices for information related to the positioning of the first UE. For example, LMF determines the network devices involved in positioning the first UE based on the relay information and/or network device information included in the first positioning service request. For example, LMF can estimate the distance between the first UE and the second UE based on the received signal quality information and/or the SL transmission power information of the second UE included in the first positioning service request, and LMF can roughly determine the location of the second UE based on the service cell of the second UE. Then, LMF can determine the range of the location of the first UE based on the distance between the first UE and the second UE and the location of the second UE (the location at this time is a roughly estimated location), so LMF can determine which network devices the first UE can receive PRS from, so that some or all of these network devices can be determined as network devices participating in the positioning of the first UE.

Alternatively, after determining the range of the first UE's position based on the received signal quality information and/or the SL transmission power information of the second UE included in the first positioning service request, the LMF may further determine the network devices participating in the positioning of the first UE based on the range of the first UE's position and the information of the network devices that the first UE can receive signals from included in the first positioning service request. For example, if the LMF determines network devices 1 to 3 based on the range of the first UE's position, and the information of the network devices that the first UE can receive signals from does not include the information of network device 1, then the LMF may determine that the network devices participating in the positioning of the first UE include network devices 2 and 3, but not network device 1.

Alternatively, the LMF may not consider the information included in the first positioning service request, but determine the network devices participating in the positioning of the first UE based on the information of the network devices from which the first UE can receive signals included in the first positioning service request. For example, the LMF may determine all or part of the network devices indicated by the information of the network devices from which the first UE can receive signals as network devices participating in the positioning of the first UE. Optionally, the network devices participating in the positioning of the first UE determined by the LMF are, for example, access network devices, such as base stations, TPs, TRPs, RPs or cells.

S606. The LMF interacts with the first UE to obtain information related to the positioning of the first UE.

Through S605 and S606, the first UE is positioned, and the LMF can obtain the location information of the first UE. For example, the location information of the first UE obtained by the LMF is the absolute location information of the first UE. For more information about S605 and S606, refer to S207 and S208 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, respectively.

Optionally, the first UE may send a first message to the LMF in S606. The first UE may send the first message to the LMF through the capability transmission of the LPP protocol, the auxiliary data transmission or the positioning information transmission process. For example, the first message may provide the capability of the LPP (LPP provide capabilities) message, LPP request assistance data (LPP request assistance data) message or LPP provide location information (LPP provide location information) message.

S607, LMF sends the location information of the first UE to AMF. Correspondingly, AMF receives the location information of the first UE from LMF. If LMF obtains the absolute location information of the first UE in S606, then what LMF sends to AMF in S607 may also be the absolute location information of the first UE.

If the positioning process is initiated by the first UE, then optionally, after S607, the AMF may also send the location information of the first UE to the first UE. Alternatively, if the positioning process is initiated by the LCS, then optionally, after S607, the AMF may also send the location information of the first UE to the LCS.

In an embodiment of the present application, the second UE provides a relay service for the first UE, for example, the second UE is a relay UE and the first UE is a remote UE. The first UE can send relay information and/or network device information to the first network device, so that the first network device can be aware of the existence of the second UE, thereby the first network device can initiate Uu positioning of the first UE. In other words, the embodiment of the present application enables the core network to perceive the existence of the relay UE in the relay scenario, so that the positioning process in the relay scenario can be realized. Moreover, the embodiment of the present application does not need to perform the SL positioning process, and the positioning of the first UE can be achieved through the Uu positioning process, making the positioning process relatively simple. In addition, the LMF can determine the network device involved in the positioning of the first UE with reference to the information included in the first positioning service request message, instead of determining the network device used to locate the second UE as the network device involved in the positioning of the first UE, thereby improving the positioning accuracy of the first UE.

Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The communication device 700 may be the first UE or the circuit system of the first UE described in any one of the embodiments shown in Figures 2 to 4 or Figure 6, and is used to implement the method corresponding to the first UE in the above method embodiment. Alternatively, the communication device 700 may be the circuit system of the AMF described in any one of the embodiments shown in Figures 2 to 4 or Figure 6, and is used to implement the method corresponding to the AMF in the above method embodiment. Alternatively, the communication device 700 may be the circuit system of the LMF described in any one of the embodiments shown in Figures 2 to 4 or Figure 6, and is used to implement the method corresponding to the LMF in the above method embodiment. For specific functions, please refer to the description in the above method embodiment. Among them, for example, a circuit system is a chip system.

The communication device 700 includes at least one processor 701. The processor 701 can be used for internal processing of the device to implement certain control processing functions. Optionally, the processor 701 includes instructions. Optionally, the processor 701 can store data. Optionally, different processors can be independent devices, can be located in different physical locations, and can be located on different integrated circuits. Optionally, different processors can be integrated into one or more processors, for example, integrated on one or more integrated circuits.

Optionally, the communication device 700 includes one or more memories 703 for storing instructions. Optionally, data may also be stored in the memory 703. The processor and the memory may be provided separately or integrated together.

Optionally, the communication device 700 includes a communication line 702 and at least one communication interface 704. Since the memory 703, the communication line 702 and the communication interface 704 are all optional, they are all indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 7 .

Optionally, the communication device 700 may further include a transceiver and/or an antenna. The transceiver may be used to send information to other devices or receive information from other devices. The transceiver may be referred to as a transceiver, a transceiver circuit, an input/output interface, etc., and is used to implement the transceiver function of the communication device 700 through an antenna. Optionally, the transceiver includes a transmitter and a receiver. Exemplarily, the transmitter may be used to generate a radio frequency signal from a baseband signal, and the receiver may be used to convert the radio frequency signal into a baseband signal.

Processor 701 may include a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application.

The communication link 702 may include a pathway to transmit information between the above-mentioned components.

The communication interface 704 uses any transceiver-like device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, radio access network (RAN), wireless local area networks (WLAN), wired access networks, etc.

The memory 703 may be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory 703 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 701 via the communication line 702. Alternatively, the memory 703 It can also be integrated with the processor 701.

The memory 703 is used to store computer-executable instructions for executing the solution of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 701. The processor 701 is used to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 703, thereby realizing the communication method provided in the above embodiment of the present application.

Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as application code, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 701 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG. 7 .

In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 700 may include multiple processors, such as the processor 701 and the processor 705 in FIG. 7. Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. The processor here may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

When the device shown in FIG. 7 is a chip, such as a chip of an AMF, a chip of a first UE, or a chip of an LMF, the chip includes a processor 701 (may also include a processor 705), a communication line 702, a memory 703, and a communication interface 704. Specifically, the communication interface 704 may be an input interface, a pin, or a circuit, etc. The memory 703 may be a register, a cache, etc. The processor 701 and the processor 705 may be a general-purpose CPU, a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of a program of the communication method of any of the above embodiments.

The embodiment of the present application may divide the functional modules of the device according to the above method example. For example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated module may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional modules. It should be noted that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic, which is only a logical function division, and there may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, in the case of dividing each functional module corresponding to each function, Figure 8 shows a schematic diagram of a device, and the device 800 may be the AMF or the first UE or the LMF involved in the above method embodiments, or a chip in the AMF or a chip in the first UE or a chip in the LMF. The device 800 includes a sending unit 801, a processing unit 802 and a receiving unit 803.

It should be understood that the device 800 can be used to implement the steps performed by the AMF or the first UE or the LMF in the method of the embodiment of the present application. The relevant features can refer to the various embodiments above and will not be repeated here.

Optionally, the functions/implementation processes of the sending unit 801, the receiving unit 803, and the processing unit 802 in FIG8 may be implemented by the processor 701 in FIG7 calling the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 703. Alternatively, the functions/implementation processes of the processing unit 802 in FIG8 may be implemented by the processor 701 in FIG7 calling the computer execution instructions stored in the memory 703, and the functions/implementation processes of the sending unit 801 and the receiving unit 803 in FIG8 may be implemented by the communication interface 704 in FIG7.

Optionally, when the device 800 is a chip or a circuit, the functions/implementation processes of the sending unit 801 and the receiving unit 803 can also be implemented through pins or circuits.

The present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the method performed by the AMF or the first UE or the LMF in the aforementioned method embodiment is implemented. In this way, the functions described in the above embodiments can be implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as independent products. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application can be essentially or in other words, the part that contributes or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. Storage media include: various media that can store program codes, such as USB flash drives, mobile hard drives, ROM, RAM, magnetic disks, or optical disks.

The present application also provides a computer program product, which includes: a computer program code, when the computer program code is executed on a computer, the computer executes the method performed by the AMF or the first UE or the LMF in any of the aforementioned method embodiments.

An embodiment of the present application also provides a processing device, including a processor and an interface; the processor is used to execute the method executed by the AMF or the first UE or the LMF involved in any of the above method embodiments.

In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, all or part of the embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) means. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid state disk (SSD)), etc.

The various illustrative logic units and circuits described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or operated by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination of the above. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor, and optionally, the general-purpose processor can also be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. The processor can also be implemented by a combination of computing devices, such as a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors combined with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration.

The steps of the method or algorithm described in the embodiments of the present application can be directly embedded in hardware, a software unit executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. The software unit can be stored in RAM, flash memory, ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), EEPROM, register, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM or any other form of storage medium in the art. Exemplarily, the storage medium can be connected to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and can write information to the storage medium. Optionally, the storage medium can also be integrated into the processor. The processor and the storage medium can be arranged in an ASIC, and the ASIC can be arranged in a terminal device. Optionally, the processor and the storage medium can also be arranged in different components in the terminal device.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operational steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, whereby the instructions executed on the computer or other programmable device provide steps for implementing the functions specified in one or more processes in the flowchart and/or one or more boxes in the block diagram.

Although the embodiments of the present application have been described in conjunction with specific features and embodiments thereof, it is obvious that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present application and the accompanying drawings are merely exemplary illustrations of the embodiments of the present application as defined by the attached claims, and are deemed to have covered any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various changes and modifications to the embodiments of the present application without departing from the scope of the embodiments of the present application. Thus, if these modifications and variations of the embodiments of the present application fall within the scope of the claims of the embodiments of the present application and their equivalent technologies, the embodiments of the present application are also intended to include these changes and variations.

Claims

A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to a first network device, the method comprising:

receiving a first message from a first terminal device, where the first message includes an identifier of a second terminal device, and the second terminal device is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device;

Sending a first positioning service request message to the second network device, where the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the second terminal device and positioning of the first terminal device, and the first positioning service request message also includes an identifier of the second terminal device and an identifier of the first terminal device;

First information is received from the second network device, where the first information is used to indicate a location of the first terminal device.
The method according to claim 1, wherein the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the second terminal device and positioning of the first terminal device, comprising:

The first positioning service request message is used to request air interface positioning for the second terminal device and sideline positioning for the first terminal device.
The method according to claim 1 or 2 is characterized in that the first message also includes the reception signal quality information of the first terminal device for the signal from the second terminal device, and/or the transmission power information of the second terminal device to the first terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that

The first message is a non-access layer NAS message, and the NAS message includes one or more of the following:

Registration request message;

Business request message;

Uplink NAS transport message; or,

A second positioning service request message, where the second positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device.
The method according to claim 4, characterized in that the first message is the registration request message or the service request message, and the method further comprises:

determining to locate the first terminal device according to the first message, wherein the positioning process includes a positioning process of the second terminal device and a positioning process of the first terminal device; or,

Determine to locate the first terminal device and to locate the second terminal device according to the first message.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that before sending the first positioning service request message to the second network device, the method further comprises:

A third positioning service request message is received from a third network device, where the third positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Send first indication information to the first terminal device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to send information of the second terminal device, or to instruct the first terminal device to send relay service information of the first terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 is characterized in that the first positioning service request message also includes the reception signal quality information of the first terminal device for the signal from the second terminal device, and/or the transmission power information of the second terminal device to the first terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8 is characterized in that the first information includes location information of the first terminal device.
The method according to claim 9, characterized in that

The location information of the first terminal device is the absolute location information of the first terminal device; or,

The location information of the first terminal device is the relative location information between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, and the first information also includes the absolute location information of the second terminal device. The method also includes: determining the absolute location information of the first terminal device based on the relative location information and the absolute location information of the second terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that the identification of the second terminal device includes one or more of the following:

5G-system-temporary mobile subscriber identity 5G-S-TMSI of the second terminal device;

The cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI of the second terminal device;

An inactive radio network temporary identifier I-RNTI of the second terminal device;

The user permanent identity SUPI of the second terminal device; or

The second terminal device has a hidden user identity SUCI.
A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to a first terminal device, and the method comprises:

receiving a second message from a second terminal device, where the second message includes an identifier of the second terminal device, and the second terminal device is used to provide a relay service for the first terminal device;

A first message is sent to a first network device, where the first message includes an identifier of a second terminal device.
The method according to claim 12, wherein the identification of the second terminal device includes one or more of the following:

The 5G-S-TMSI of the second terminal device;

The C-RNTI of the second terminal device;

The I-RNTI of the second terminal device;

the SUPI of the second terminal device; or,

the SUCI of the second terminal device.
The method according to claim 12 or 13 is characterized in that the first message also includes the reception signal quality information of the first terminal device for the signal from the second terminal device, and/or the transmission power information of the second terminal device to the first terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14 is characterized in that the second message is a message in a discovery process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, or a message in a connection establishment process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, or a message after the connection between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is successfully established.
The method according to any one of claims 12 to 15, characterized in that the method further comprises:

A third message is sent to the second terminal device, where the third message is used to request an identification of the second terminal device.
The method according to claim 16, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Determine to initiate emergency business, or determine positioning requirements.
The method according to claim 17, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Determine to actively send information of the second terminal device to the first network device when an emergency service is initiated or when there is a positioning requirement.
The method according to any one of claims 16 to 18 is characterized in that the third message is a message in the discovery process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, or a message in the connection establishment process between the first terminal device and the second terminal device, or a message after the connection between the first terminal device and the second terminal device is successfully established.
The method according to any one of claims 12 to 19, characterized in that

The first message is a NAS message, and the NAS message includes one or more of the following:

Registration request message;

Business request message;

Uplink NAS transport message; or,

A second positioning service request message, where the second positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 12 to 20, characterized in that the method further comprises:

First indication information is received from the first network device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to send information of the second terminal device, or to instruct the first terminal device to send relay service information of the first terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 12 to 21, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Measuring a side signal from the second terminal device to obtain a first measurement result, where the first measurement result is used to obtain relative position information between the first terminal device and the second terminal device;

Send the first measurement result or the relative position information to the second network device.
The method according to claim 22, characterized in that the method further comprises:

receiving a fourth message from a second network device, where the fourth message is used to request the first terminal device and the second terminal device to perform positioning; or,

Actively initiate side positioning with the second terminal device.
A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to a first network device, the method comprising:

A first message is received from a first terminal device, wherein the first message includes relay information and/or network device information, wherein the network device information is used to indicate a network device that the first terminal device can receive a positioning reference signal, and the relay information includes one of the following: Multiple items: information about the quality of a signal received by the first terminal device for a signal from a relay device, information about the transmission power of the relay device to the first terminal device, or information about the first terminal device connecting to a network via a relay;

Sending a first positioning service request message to a second network device, where the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device, and the first positioning service request message further includes the relay information and/or the network device information;

The location information of the first terminal device is received from the second network device.
The method according to claim 24, wherein the first positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device, and comprises:

The first positioning service request message is used to request air interface positioning for the first terminal device.
The method according to claim 24 or 25, characterized in that

The first message is a non-access layer NAS message, and the NAS message includes one or more of the following:

Registration request message;

Business request message;

Uplink NAS transport message; or,

A second positioning service request message, where the second positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device.
The method according to claim 26, characterized in that the first message is the registration request message or the service request message, and the method further comprises:

The first terminal device is positioned according to the first message.
The method according to claim 24 or 25, characterized in that before sending the first positioning service request message to the second network device, the method further comprises:

A third positioning service request message is received from a third network device, where the third positioning service request message is used to request positioning of the first terminal device.
The method according to any one of claims 24 to 28, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Send first indication information to the first terminal device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to send the relay information and/or the network device information.
A communication method, characterized in that it is applied to a first terminal device, and the method comprises:

A first message is sent to a first network device, wherein the first message includes relay information and/or network device information, wherein the network device information is used to indicate a network device that the first terminal device can receive a positioning reference signal, and the relay information includes one or more of the following: received signal quality information of the first terminal device for a signal from the relay device, transmission power information of the relay device to the first terminal device, or information on the first terminal device connecting to a network via a relay.
The method according to claim 30, characterized in that the method further comprises:

The second terminal device is discovered and a connection is established with the second terminal device.
The method according to claim 30 or 31, characterized in that the method further comprises:

The location information of the first terminal device is received from the first network device.
The method according to any one of claims 30 to 32, characterized in that the method further comprises:

Determine positioning needs.
The method according to any one of claims 30 to 33, characterized in that the method further comprises:

First indication information is received from the first network device, where the first indication information is used to instruct the first terminal device to send the relay information and/or the network device information.
A communication device, characterized in that it includes a processor and a memory, the memory and the processor are coupled, and the processor is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or to execute the method according to any one of claims 24 to 29.
A communication device, characterized in that it includes a processor and a memory, the memory and the processor are coupled, and the processor is used to execute the method according to any one of claims 12 to 23, or to execute the method according to any one of claims 30 to 34.
A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that the computer-readable storage medium is used to store a computer program, and when the computer program is run on a computer, the computer executes the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or the computer executes the method according to any one of claims 12 to 23, or the computer executes the method according to any one of claims 24 to 29, or the computer executes the method according to any one of claims 30 to 34.
A chip system, characterized in that the chip system comprises:

A processor and an interface, wherein the processor is used to call and run instructions from the interface, and when the processor executes the instructions, The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or the method according to any one of claims 12 to 23, or the method according to any one of claims 24 to 29, or the method according to any one of claims 30 to 34.
A computer program product, characterized in that the computer program product includes a computer program, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 1 to 11, or enables the computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 12 to 23, or enables the computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 24 to 29, or enables the computer to execute the method described in any one of claims 30 to 34.