Patent Description:
Positioning has always been an important requirement from various industries, and satellite positioning can provide a positioning result with certain accuracy in an outdoor scene, but cannot meet positioning requirements in a blocked scene or an indoor scene.

Reference signals play an important role in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, and the LTE supports a Cell Reference Signal (CRS), a Multicast-Broadcast Single-Frequency Network (MBSFN) Reference Signal, a Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), a Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS) and a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) used for downlink positioning.

No relevant standards for specific use of the reference signals in positioning have been proposed in the study stage of <NUM>.

<NPL>, electronically published on <NUM>. <NUM>, discloses a configuration of PRS signal transmitted from a radio node to a location server.

A summary is given below for the subject matter to be described in detail herein, but the summary is not intended to limit the protection scope of the claims. The present invention is only defined by the appended claims.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an information transmission method and device, a node, a server and a computer-readable storage medium, so as to reasonably use a reference signal for positioning.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides an information transmission method, including: determining, by a transmitting node, a reference signal for positioning and transmitting configuration information of the reference signal for positioning to a positioning server, with the reference signal for positioning at least including a PRS; and transmitting, by the transmitting node, the reference signal according to the configuration information.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an information transmission method, including: receiving, by a positioning server, configuration information of a reference signal for positioning transmitted by a transmitting node; and transmitting, by the positioning server, the configuration information to a receiving node, so as to allow the receiving node to receive the reference signal for positioning according to the configuration information. The reference signal for positioning at least includes a PRS.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an information transmission method, including: receiving, by a receiving node, configuration information of a reference signal for positioning transmitted by a positioning server; receiving, by the receiving node, the reference signal for positioning transmitted by a transmitting node according to the configuration information; and performing, by the receiving node, positioning measurement according to the reference signal. The reference signal for positioning at least includes a PRS.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an information transmission device, including: a first transmitting module configured to determine a reference signal for positioning and transmit configuration information of the reference signal for positioning to a positioning server, with the reference signal for positioning at least including a PRS; and a second transmitting module configured to transmit the reference signal according to the configuration information.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an information transmission device, including: a first receiving module configured to receive configuration information of a reference signal for positioning transmitted by a transmitting node; and a third transmitting module configured to transmit the configuration information to a receiving node, so as to allow the receiving node to receive the reference signal for positioning according to the configuration information. The reference signal for positioning at least includes a PRS.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an information transmission device, including: a second receiving module configured to receive configuration information of a reference signal for positioning transmitted by a positioning server; a third receiving module configured to receive the reference signal for positioning transmitted by a transmitting node according to the configuration information; and a positioning module configured to perform positioning measurement according to the reference signal. The reference signal for positioning at least includes a PRS.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a transmitting node, including: a memory, a processor and a computer program which is stored in the memory and is executable by the processor. The processor performs the information transmission method of the present disclosure when executing the program.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a positioning server, including: a memory, a processor and a computer program which is stored in the memory and is executable by the processor. The processor performs the information transmission method of the present disclosure when executing the program.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a receiving node, including: a memory, a processor and a computer program which is stored in the memory and is executable by the processor. The processor performs the information transmission method of the present disclosure when executing the program.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer-executable instruction stored therein. When the computer-executable instruction is executed by a processor, the processor performs the information transmission methods of the present disclosure.

Other aspects may be understood upon reading and understanding the accompanying drawings and detailed description.

The steps illustrated in the flowcharts of the drawings may be performed in a computer system such as a set of computer-executable instructions. Although a logical order is illustrated in the flowchart, the steps illustrated or described may be performed in an order different from that described herein in some cases.

Many reference signals are added in the stage of Release15 of <NUM> (<NUM> Rel-<NUM>) compared to before, some of the added reference signals are similar to the PRS in the LTE, but no PRS has been defined in the stage of Release15 of <NUM>. In a current standard progress, to define a New Radio (NR) new PRS and to reuse some other NR reference signals have their own advantages and disadvantages. However, it is difficult to ensure a positioning effect without incurring unnecessary resource overhead and affecting original functions of those reference signals. Thus, a proper solution is urgently needed.

In the LTE, muting is a mechanism for the PRS to reduce interference among cells, but the muting inevitably affects positioning performance and delays of some positioning nodes. To compensate for the effect by using other existing reference signals may be a reasonable solution.

As shown in <FIG>, an information transmission method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes the following steps <NUM> to <NUM>.

At the step <NUM>, a transmitting node determines a reference signal for positioning, and transmits configuration information of the reference signal for positioning to a positioning server.

The transmitting node may be a base station.

The reference signal for positioning at least includes a PRS.

The configuration information of the reference signal for positioning includes configuration information of the PRS.

The configuration information of the PRS may include a PRS resource selection sequence and a muting sequence of PRS resource collections.

A bit sequence used to indicate actually transmitted PRS resources in a resource collection may be referred to as a PRS resource selection sequence, which is configured to indicate whether a resource block in the resource collection is used to transmit a PRS.

"<NUM>" and "<NUM>" may be used to indicate whether a PRS resource corresponding to the bit is transmitted. For example, "<NUM>" indicates being transmitted while "<NUM>" indicates not being transmitted.

The transmitting node does not transmit any other signal in a position of a PRS resource which is selected to be transmitted.

As shown in <FIG>, the muting sequence of PRS resource collections is configured to indicate whether a PRS is transmitted in a corresponding PRS period. "<NUM>" and "<NUM>" may be used to indicate whether a PRS resource collection corresponding to the bit is muted. For example, "<NUM>" indicates being muted while "<NUM>" indicates not being muted.

"Being muted" refers to that the transmitting node transmits the PRS with zero power.

The transmitting node does not transmit any other signal in a position of a muted time/frequency resource.

The configuration information of the PRS may further include at least one of: a sequence generation identification (ID) of a PRS resource, a time-domain starting point, frequency domain density, and muting configuration information of PRS resource collections.

In an embodiment, an initialized pseudorandom sequence of the PRS is generated by the following formula: <MAT> where nID is a scrambling code ID, <MAT> refers to a slot number in a wireless frame, and <MAT> refers to the number of symbols in one slot.

The embodiments of the present disclosure provide two ways of supplementing the PRS by using an existing reference signal which is referred to as a supplementary reference signal. The supplementary reference signal may include an CSI-RS.

The transmitting node may use a reference signal satisfying a positioning requirement in range of a PRS resource collection except for the PRS as a supplementary reference signal, determine a supplementary reference signal resource occupied by the supplementary reference signal, and transmit configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource to the positioning server. The configuration information includes the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource.

That is to say, if the transmitting node determines that another reference signal in range of a PRS resource collection may be used for downlink positioning measurement, the transmitting node takes the resource of the reference signal as the supplementary reference signal resource and transmits the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource to the positioning server.

In the embodiment, the supplementary reference signal resource is periodically present in a muting configuration period and is present in each PRS resource period.

In the embodiment, the supplementary reference signal includes a reference signal having a quasi-colocation relationship with the PRS.

In the embodiment, the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource includes the quasi-colocation relationship.

In the embodiment, the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource includes the following parameters of the supplementary reference signal: a bandwidth, frequency domain density, a time-domain starting point, time domain density, a period and a resource ID.

In the embodiment, the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource may further include a scrambling code ID.

In a muting configuration period, the transmitting node may use a reference signal set, which satisfies a positioning requirement and a time difference between which and a muted PRS period is smaller than a preset threshold, as a supplementary reference signal, and transmit configuration information of a supplementary reference signal resource collection to the positioning server. The configuration information includes the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource collection.

That is to say, in the muting configuration period, if the transmitting node is configured with another reference signal set which may satisfy the positioning requirement and is close to a muted PRS period, the transmitting node transmits information about the reference signal set to the positioning server as a supplementary reference signal resource collection.

In the embodiment, the supplementary reference signal includes reference signals having a quasi-colocation relationship with the PRS.

In the embodiment, the supplementary reference signal is a periodical signal set and has a period in an integer multiple relation to that of the PRS.

In the embodiment, the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource collection includes a supplementary resource indication sequence configured to indicate whether the supplementary reference signal is transmitted in a corresponding period, and a time offset relative to a PRS resource collection.

The combination of the supplementary resource indication sequence and the time offset relative to the PRS resource collection is configured to indicate positions of the supplementary reference signal in one muting configuration period.

In the embodiment, the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource collection includes the following parameters of the supplementary reference signal: a bandwidth, a period, frequency domain density, a time-domain starting point, a resource collection ID and a muting sequence of supplementary reference signal.

In the embodiment, the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource collection may further include a scrambling code ID.

It should be noted that the supplementary reference signal is used to supplement the PRS in the above two ways, and an initialized pseudorandom sequence of the PRS may also be generated by the following formula: <MAT> where nID is a scrambling code ID, <MAT> refers to a slot number in a wireless frame, and <MAT> refers to the number of symbols in one slot.

At the step <NUM>, the positioning server receives the configuration information, and transmits the configuration information to a receiving node.

The receiving node may be a User Equipment (UE).

In an initial stage of the positioning process, the positioning server may transmit the PRS resource selection sequence, the muting sequence of PRS resource collections and the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal to the receiving node as auxiliary information.

At the step <NUM>, the positioning server may determine a reference cell and a neighboring cell of the receiving node, and transmit both configuration information of a reference signal for positioning in the reference cell and configuration information of a reference signal for positioning in the neighboring cell to the receiving node.

At the step <NUM>, the receiving node receives the configuration information.

The receiving node may determine a time domain position and a frequency domain position of the reference signal for positioning according to the configuration information, so as to receive the corresponding reference signal.

At the step <NUM>, the transmitting node transmits the reference signal according to the configuration information.

The transmitting node transmits the reference signal in the corresponding time domain and frequency domain positions according to the configuration information of the reference signal.

At the step <NUM>, the receiving node receives the reference signal transmitted by the transmitting node according to the configuration information.

The receiving node sets a corresponding detection time window and a corresponding detection period according to the configuration information, to detect the reference signal.

The receiving node determines positions of the PRS resources according to the PRS resource selection sequence, determines positions of muted time/frequency resources according to the muting sequence of PRS resource collections, and detects and receives the PRS in a position of a PRS resource which is not muted.

The receiving node determines the position of the supplementary reference signal according to the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource, so as to detect and acquire the supplementary reference signal.

At the step <NUM>, the receiving node performs positioning measurement according to the reference signal.

The receiving node may perform positioning measurement according to the received PRS, or according to the PRS and the supplementary reference signal which are received. In the positioning measurement, Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) may be used for positioning.

By using the existing reference signal reasonably, the embodiments of the present disclosure can achieve a balance between the resource overhead and the positioning effect, and enhance the positioning effect.

The nodes are separately described below.

As shown in <FIG>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an information transmission method applied to a transmitting node includes steps <NUM> and <NUM>.

At the step <NUM>, a transmitting node determines a reference signal for positioning, and transmits configuration information of the reference signal for positioning to a positioning server. The reference signal for positioning at least includes a PRS.

The muting sequence of PRS resource collections is configured to indicate whether a PRS is transmitted in a corresponding PRS period. "<NUM>" and "<NUM>" may be used to indicate whether a PRS resource collection corresponding to the bit is muted. For example, "<NUM>" indicates being muted while "<NUM>" indicates not being muted.

The configuration information of the PRS may further include at least one of: a sequence generation ID of a PRS resource, a time-domain starting point, frequency domain density, and muting configuration information of PRS resource collections.

As shown in <FIG>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an information transmission method applied to a positioning server includes steps <NUM> and <NUM>.

At the step <NUM>, a positioning server receives configuration information of a reference signal for positioning transmitted by a transmitting node.

In the embodiment, the configuration information of the reference signal for positioning includes configuration information of the PRS.

In the embodiment, the configuration information of the PRS includes a PRS resource selection sequence configured to indicate whether a resource block in a resource collection is used to transmit a PRS.

In the embodiment, the configuration information of the PRS includes a muting sequence of PRS resource collections configured to indicate whether a PRS is transmitted in a corresponding PRS period.

In the embodiment, an initialized pseudorandom sequence of the PRS is generated by the following formula: <MAT> where nID is a scrambling code ID, <MAT> refers to a slot number in a wireless frame, and <MAT> refers to the number of symbols in one slot.

The reference signal for positioning further includes a supplementary reference signal.

In the embodiment, the supplementary reference signal includes a reference signal satisfying a positioning requirement in range of a PRS resource collection except for the PRS, and the configuration information includes configuration information of a supplementary reference signal resource.

In the embodiment, the supplementary reference signal includes a reference signal set, which satisfies a positioning requirement and a time difference between which and a muted PRS period is smaller than a preset threshold, in a muting configuration period, and the configuration information includes configuration information of a supplementary reference signal resource collection.

At the step <NUM>, the positioning server transmits the configuration information to a receiving node, so as to allow the receiving node to receive the reference signal for positioning according to the configuration information.

The positioning server may determine a reference cell and a neighboring cell of the receiving node, and transmit both configuration information of a reference signal for positioning in the reference cell and configuration information of a reference signal for positioning in the neighboring cell to the receiving node.

As shown in <FIG>, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an information transmission method applied to a receiving node includes steps <NUM> to <NUM>.

At the step <NUM>, a receiving node receives configuration information of a reference signal for positioning transmitted by a positioning server.

At the step <NUM>, the receiving node receives the reference signal for positioning transmitted by a transmitting node according to the configuration information.

For example, a quasi-colocation relationship of the PRS is determined according to the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource, and a position of the supplementary reference signal is determined according to the quasi-colocation relationship and the position of the PRS resource, so that the supplementary reference signal may be detected and acquired.

As another example, detection is performed according to the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource collection in a position closest to a muted PRS period (i.e., a position with a time difference smaller than the preset threshold), so as to acquire the supplementary reference signal.

The receiving node may perform positioning measurement according to the received PRS, or according to the PRS and the supplementary reference signal which are received. In the positioning measurement, the OTDOA may be used for positioning.

Some application examples are given below for illustration.

As shown in <FIG>, there are <MAT> PRS resources in one PRS resource collection, <MAT> is <NUM> in this application example, index numbers of the <NUM> PRS resources are from <NUM> to <NUM>, and only the <NUM>th, the <NUM>nd, the <NUM>th and the <NUM>th PRS resources are selected to transmit by a transmitting node, thus a PRS resource selection sequence is <NUM>.

The transmitting node reports the PRS resource selection sequence as configuration information of the PRS to a positioning server, and the configuration information of the PRS further includes sequence generation IDs of the <NUM> PRS resources, time-domain starting points, frequency domain density and muting configuration of PRS resource collections.

The positioning server transmits the configuration information of the PRS of the transmitting node which may be measured to a receiving node, and the receiving node configures corresponding detection time windows and detection periods to detect PRSs in a reference cell and a neighboring cell.

The OTDOA is adopted for performing positioning.

The scenes in this application example are the same as those in the Application Example One, except that the coverage and signal strength provided by the <NUM> PRS resource collections are not capable of meeting a higher positioning accuracy requirement, the transmitting node also transmits other reference signal in potential resource positions which are not selected for PRS transmission, and the configuration of the other reference signal may be used for positioning measurement. Thus, the other reference signal is taken as the supplementary reference signal, as shown in <FIG>.

The transmitting node reports configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource together with the configuration information of the PRS to the positioning server. The positioning server transmits the configuration information to the receiving node, and the receiving node determines a detection time window, a detection period and a local sequence for detection according to the configuration information, and detects the PRS and the supplementary reference signal for positioning. <FIG> shows a flowchart of transmission of the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource.

The scenes in this application example are the same as those in the Application Example Two, except that the transmitting node transmits other reference signal in other positions in addition to transmitting the PRS resources, and the resources of the other reference signal do not completely overlap with the available PRS resources, as shown in <FIG>. The configuration of the resources of the other reference signal may be used for positioning measurement, so that the other reference signal is taken as the supplementary reference signal.

Tprs is a transmission period of a PRS resource collection, and a PRS muting configuration period is six PRS transmission periods. Assuming that three PRS resource collections are muted, a PRS resource collection muting configuration sequence of the transmitting node is <NUM>. Since the PRS transmitted by the transmitting node in the <NUM>rd, the <NUM>th and the <NUM>th PRS transmission periods are muted, the positioning based on the signal transmitted by the transmitting node in those three periods may be affected. Meanwhile, the transmitting node is configured with other reference signal resource collections, which may meet the positioning requirement, and have the same period as the PRS resource collections with a difference toffset relative to the PRS resource collections in terms of time domain, thus an indication sequence of supplementary reference signal resource collections is <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>.

The transmitting node transmits the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource collections and the configuration information of the PRS to the positioning server, and the positioning server transmits the information to the receiving node. The receiving node configures a detection time window and a detection period according to the information for detecting the supplementary reference signal in the periods in which the PRS is muted to achieve positioning. The detection time window configured by the receiving node is capable of covering the supplementary reference signal resource collections and the PRS resource collections, and performs positioning according to differences between arrival time of the supplementary reference signal and the PRS signal from the transmitting nodes. <FIG> shows a flowchart of transmission of the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource collections.

The conditions in this application example are the same as those in the Application Example Four, except that the supplementary reference signal resource collections are not periodic as shown in <FIG>, and the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource collections does not include the indication sequence of the supplementary reference signal resource collections.

The transmitting node transmits the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource collections and the configuration information of the PRS to the positioning server, and the positioning server transmits the information to the receiving node. The receiving node configures a detection time window and a detection period according to the information for detecting the supplementary reference signal in the periods in which the PRS is muted to achieve positioning. The detection time window configured by the receiving node is capable of covering the supplementary reference signal resource collections and the PRS resource collections, and performs positioning according to differences between arrival time of the supplementary reference signal and the PRS signal from the transmitting nodes.

As shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an information transmission device applied to a transmitting node, including a first transmitting module <NUM> and a second transmitting module <NUM>.

The first transmitting module <NUM> is configured to determine a reference signal for positioning and transmit configuration information of the reference signal for positioning to a positioning server. The reference signal for positioning at least includes a PRS.

The second transmitting module <NUM> is configured to transmit the reference signal according to the configuration information.

In the embodiment, the reference signal for positioning further includes a supplementary reference signal.

In the embodiment, the configuration information includes configuration information of a supplementary reference signal resource, and the first transmitting module <NUM> is configured to use a reference signal satisfying a positioning requirement in range of a PRS resource collection except for the PRS as the supplementary reference signal, determine a supplementary reference signal resource occupied by the supplementary reference signal, and transmit the configuration information of the supplementary reference signal resource to the positioning server.

In the embodiment, the configuration information includes configuration information of a supplementary reference signal resource collection, and the first transmitting module <NUM> is configured to use a reference signal set, which satisfies a positioning requirement and a time difference between which and a muted PRS period is smaller than a preset threshold, in a muting configuration period as the supplementary reference signal, and transmit configuration information of a supplementary reference signal resource collection to the positioning server.

As shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an information transmission device applied to a positioning server, including a first receiving module <NUM> and a third transmitting module <NUM>.

The first receiving module <NUM> is configured to receive configuration information of a reference signal for positioning transmitted by a transmitting node.

The third transmitting module <NUM> is configured to transmit the configuration information to a receiving node, so as to allow the receiving node to receive the reference signal for positioning according to the configuration information.

As shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides an information transmission device applied to a receiving node, including a second receiving module <NUM>, a third receiving module <NUM> and a positioning module <NUM>.

The second receiving module <NUM> is configured to receive configuration information of a reference signal for positioning transmitted by a positioning server.

The third receiving module <NUM> is configured to receive the reference signal for positioning transmitted by a transmitting node according to the configuration information.

The positioning module <NUM> is configured to perform positioning measurement according to the reference signal.

As shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a transmitting node, including: a memory <NUM>, a processor <NUM> and a computer program <NUM> which is stored in the memory <NUM> and is executable by the processor <NUM>. The processor <NUM> performs the information transmission method illustrated by <FIG> when executing the computer program <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a positioning server, including: a memory <NUM>, a processor <NUM> and a computer program <NUM> which is stored in the memory <NUM> and is executable by the processor <NUM>. The processor <NUM> performs the information transmission method illustrated by <FIG> when executing the computer program <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, an embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a receiving node, including: a memory <NUM>, a processor <NUM> and a computer program <NUM> which is stored in the memory <NUM> and is executable by the processor <NUM>. The processor <NUM> performs the information transmission method illustrated by <FIG> when executing the computer program <NUM>.

An embodiment of the present disclosure further provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer-executable instruction stored therein. When the computer-executable instruction is executed by a processor, the processor performs the information transmission method according to each embodiment of the present disclosure.

In the embodiment, the storage medium may include, but is not limited to, a Universal Serial Bus flash disk (USB flash disk), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a mobile hard disk, a magnetic disk, an optical disc, and any other medium capable of storing program code.

Claim 1:
An information transmission method, comprising:
determining (<NUM>), by a transmitting node, a reference signal for positioning and transmitting configuration information of the reference signal for positioning to a positioning server, wherein the reference signal for positioning at least comprises a Positioning Reference Signal, called PRS; and
transmitting (<NUM>), by the transmitting node, the reference signal according to the configuration information,
wherein the reference signal for positioning further comprises a supplementary reference signal, and
wherein the configuration information comprises configuration information of a supplementary reference signal resource collection, and the step of determining (<NUM>), by the transmitting node, the reference signal for positioning and transmitting the configuration information of the reference signal for positioning to the positioning server comprises:
using, by the transmitting node, in a muting configuration period, a reference signal set, which satisfies a positioning requirement and a time difference between the reference signal set and a muted PRS period is smaller than a preset threshold, as the supplementary reference signal; and
transmitting, by the transmitting node, in the corresponding time-domain, configuration information of a supplementary reference signal resource collection to the positioning server.