Patent Description:
Determining the location or position of a mobile device that is accessing a wireless communication network may be useful for many applications including, for example, emergency calls, personal navigation, asset tracking, locating a friend or family member, etc. A work item was conducted in the third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) for native positioning support in New Radio (NR) during Release <NUM> (Rel-<NUM>). As a result of that work, the following positioning solutions are specified for Rel-<NUM> NR positioning, for example, Downlink Time Difference of Arrival (DL-TDOA), Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (UL-TDOA), Downlink Angle of Departure (DL-AoD), Uplink Angle of Arrival (UL-AoA), Enhanced Cell ID (E-CID), and Multi-cell Round Trip Time (Multi-RTT).

In particular, the work is to specify solutions to enable radio access technology (RAT) dependent (for both of the frequency range <NUM>, FR1, and the FR2) and RAT independent NR positioning techniques. New positioning reference signals (PRSs) are introduced in downlink (DL) and uplink (UL). In the UL, a terminal device may transmit one or more PRSs to one or more network devices in neighbor cells which are not connected with the terminal device. <NPL> describese Uplink Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) enhancements to be used in support of positioning. "<NPL> describes SRS power control methods. <NPL> describes use of local NR positioning in NG-RAN.

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for controlling a transmit power of a PRS. Embodiments that do not fall under the scope of the claims, if any, are to be interpreted as examples useful for understanding various embodiments of the disclosure.

Some examples will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:.

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some examples. It is to be understood that these examples are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Examples described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (<NUM>), the second generation (<NUM>), <NUM>, <NUM>, the third generation (<NUM>), the fourth generation (<NUM>), <NUM>, the future fifth generation (<NUM>) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated and Access Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology.

The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like.

As used herein, the term "resource," "transmission resource," "resource block," "physical resource block" (PRB), "uplink resource," or "downlink resource" may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

<FIG> shows an example communication environment <NUM> in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment <NUM>, one or more first devices <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM> can communicate with one or more second devices <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM>. For purpose of discussion, the first devices <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM> are collectively or individually referred to as first device <NUM> and the second devices <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM> are collectively or individually referred to as second devices <NUM>. In the example of <FIG>, the first devices <NUM> are illustrated as terminal devices, and the second devices <NUM> are illustrated as network devices serving the terminal devices. Thus, the serving areas of the second devices <NUM>-<NUM> to <NUM>-<NUM> are called as cells <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM>, and <NUM>-<NUM> (collectively or individually referred to as cells <NUM>).

In the example of <FIG>, the coverage of the cells <NUM>-<NUM> and <NUM>-<NUM> are of different cell sizes, while the coverage of the cells <NUM>-<NUM> and <NUM>-<NUM> are of a substantially same cell size. The cells <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM> with different cell coverage are shown to be overlapped in this example, although non-overlapping is also a possible case.

In general, a second device <NUM> serving a first device <NUM> is called as a serving device of the first device <NUM> and the cell <NUM> of the second device <NUM> is called as a serving cell of the first device <NUM>. Other second devices <NUM> and their cells <NUM> in neighbor areas of the serving cell <NUM> may be called as neighbor second devices <NUM> (such as neighbor network devices) and neighbor cells <NUM> of that first device <NUM>. As a specific example, the first device <NUM>-<NUM> is served by the second device <NUM>-<NUM>. Then the second devices <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM> are neighbor second devices for the first device <NUM>-<NUM>, and the cells <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM> are neighbor cells for the first device <NUM>-<NUM>. Similarly, the first device <NUM>-<NUM> is served by the second device <NUM>-<NUM> and the first device <NUM>-<NUM> is served by the second device <NUM>-<NUM>, and the neighbor second devices and neighbor cells for the first device <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM> can be determined accordingly.

It is to be understood that the number of devices and their connections shown in <FIG> are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The environment <NUM> may include any suitable number of devices adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional first devices may be located in the respective cells <NUM>, and for each first device <NUM>, more or less neighbor cells may be deployed in the environment <NUM>. It would also be appreciated that in some examples, only the homogeneous network deployment or only the heterogeneous network deployment may be included in the environment <NUM>.

Communications in the communication environment <NUM> may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (<NUM>), the second generation (<NUM>), the third generation (<NUM>), the fourth generation (<NUM>) and the fifth generation (<NUM>) and on the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) <NUM> and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

In the environment <NUM>, if the first device <NUM> is a terminal device and the second device <NUM> is a network device, a link from the second device <NUM> to the first device <NUM> is referred to as a downlink (DL), while a link from the first device <NUM> to the second device <NUM> is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the second device <NUM> is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first device <NUM> is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In UL, the first device <NUM> is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the second device <NUM> is a RX device (or a receiver).

In some cases, for purpose of localization of a first device <NUM>, the first device <NUM> may be configured to transmit a PRS to one or more neighbor second devices <NUM> and potentially also its serving second device <NUM> using corresponding resources. In such cases, a third device <NUM> is included in the environment <NUM> which is configured to determine and manage a location of the first devices <NUM>. The third device <NUM> can communicate with one or more second network devices <NUM> in order to control the localization of the first devices <NUM>. In some example embodiments, the third device <NUM> may be a location server for determining or managing locations of devices. For example, the third device <NUM> may be a location management function (LMF) in a core network (CN). As another example, the third device <NUM> may be a local location management component (LMC) in the radio access network (RAN).

As used herein, a reference signal (RS) is a signal sequence (also referred to as "RS sequence") that is known by both the transmitter and receiver. Among these various RSs, one or more of them may be used as PRSs for positioning the first device <NUM>. An example of PRSs transmitted by the first device <NUM> to the second device <NUM> includes a sounding reference signal (SRS). It should be understood that example embodiments of the present disclosure cover the cases of using all possible reference signals that can be used to position the first device <NUM>, such as Demodulation Reference Signal (DM-RS), Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PT-RS), a preamble for random access (transmitted in physical random access channel (PRACH) for example), or the like. The SRS transmitted may also be either specifically an SRS for positioning or a regular sounding SRS (e.g., Rel-<NUM> SRS used for beam management).

A transmit power of the PRS is one of the aspects that need to be well controlled in order to satisfy high requirements related to device efficiency (such as power consumption, complexity, and the like) and network efficiency (such as signaling overhead, latency, scalability, and the like).

A transmit power for transmission of a signal by a terminal device (such as UE) may be controlled by its serving network device (such as a gNB). For example, if the terminal device is to transmit SRS to its serving network device, the serving network device may configure the terminal device with power control parameters and a reference signal for path loss measurement via radio resource control (RRC) signalling. The terminal device may determine a transmit power for transmission of the SRS to the network device based on the power control parameters and a path loss estimate by measuring the configured reference signal sent from the serving network device.

However, in the case where the terminal device transmits a PRS to one or more neighbor network devices with which the terminal device has no data connection established, it is difficult for the serving network device to properly control the transmit powers used by the terminal device for transmission of the PRS to the respective neighbor network devices. In particular, to control the transmit powers to the neighbor network devices, the serving network device may have to predict proper power control parameters for the neighbor network device(s) or proper reception beam(s) to be used by the neighbor network devices (so as to determine suitable reference signals sent by the neighbor network devices for path loss measurement). In addition, the determination of the power control parameters and reception beams for the neighbor network devices may result in a complicated process of negotiations among the serving network device, the terminal device, the neighbor network device, and the LMF, resulting in a large amount of signalling overhead among the devices and additional measurements and processing operations performed by the devices.

According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution for transmit power control for transmission of a PRS. In this solution, a first device is able to determine one or more power control parameters for transmission of a PRS autonomously. Specifically, the second device transmits positioning configuration information to the first device to indicate one or more target devices and a resource allocated for transmission of a PRS to the target device(s). The target device can be selected or requested by a third device (such as the LMF) and indicated to the second device.

With the configuration of the target device(s) for PRS transmission and the allocated resource, the first device autonomously determines a power control parameter indicating a received power of the PRS expected by the target device(s). In some example embodiments, this power control parameter is determined based on a received power of data transmission expected by the target device(s), which can be detected by the first device even if the first device has no connection established with the target device(s). At least based on this determined power control parameter, the first device determines a transmit power for transmission of the PRS to the target device(s) using the allocated resource.

Through this solution, the first device can achieve autonomous transmit power control. As such, the transmit power control for PRS transmission towards the target device(s) can be simplified, without introducing high signal overhead among the relevant devices and additional measurements and processing operations.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Reference is now made to <FIG>, which shows a signaling flow <NUM> for transmit power control according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the signaling flow <NUM> will be described with reference to <FIG>. The signaling flow <NUM> may involve a first device <NUM>, a second device <NUM>, a third device <NUM> in <FIG> and one or more target devices <NUM>.

In the signaling flow <NUM>, the second device <NUM> is a serving device of the first device <NUM>. A target device <NUM> is a device to which a PRS is transmitted by the first device <NUM>. In the environment <NUM> of <FIG>, the target device(s) <NUM> may include one or more neighbor second devices <NUM> in neighbor cells of the first device <NUM>. In some example embodiments, the target device(s) <NUM> may additionally or alternatively include the serving device of the first device <NUM>.

In operation, the third device <NUM> may be configured to determine whether localization of the first device <NUM> is needed and determines which target device(s) <NUM> are expected to receive a PRS from the first device. In some example, the third device <NUM> may be a LMF or any device or functional component that is configured to manage and control localization of one or more first devices <NUM>.

In the signaling flow <NUM>, the third device <NUM> determines positioning assistance information associated with a first device <NUM> and transmits <NUM> the determined positioning assistance information to a second device <NUM> that serves the first device <NUM>. The positioning assistance information at least indicates one or more target devices <NUM> to which a PRS is to be transmitted by the first device <NUM>.

As an example, identities of one or more target devices <NUM> or their serving cells may be included in the positioning assistance information. In some examples, the indication of one or more of the target device(s) <NUM> may be provided to the second device <NUM> in an implicit way. For example, the third device <NUM> may decide to request the second device <NUM> to configure the first device <NUM> with spatial relation information (represented as "spatialRelationInfo") associated with one or more specific target devices <NUM>. The spatial relation information may indicate a reference signal to be transmitted from the target device(s) <NUM> to the first device <NUM>. In this case, the first device <NUM> configured with the spatial relation information may transmit a PRS to that target device(s) <NUM>. Thus, the configuration of the spatial relation information may be considered as implicit positioning assistance information to indicate one or more target devices <NUM>.

In some examples, the positioning assistance information may be determined by the third device <NUM> to further include grouping information indicating one or more groups of target devices <NUM> as targets of transmission of the PRS from the first device <NUM>. As configured in the grouping information or as predefined at the first device <NUM>, a group of target devices <NUM> may have some commonality with respect to the transmission of the PRS by the first device <NUM>. For example, a group of target devices <NUM> may be associated with same transmit power control for the first device <NUM>, same resource allocation for transmission of the PRS, and/or a same beam (for example a same spatial transmission filter) of the first device <NUM>. In other words, target device <NUM> in the same group may be expected to receive the PRS from the first device <NUM> with same or similar transmit powers, using the same allocated resource, and/or using the same beam for transmission.

Grouping the target devices <NUM> may facilitate the transmission of the PRS at the first device <NUM>, as will be discussed in detail below. In some examples, one target device <NUM> may be configured as an anchor device in a group of target devices <NUM>. In some examples, the configuration of the anchor device may not be needed in some cases. The use of the anchor device will be further discussed in the following.

The third device <NUM> may determine which devices in the environment <NUM> can be grouped together as target devices in a same group according to various criteria. In some example embodiments, for a certain first device <NUM>, the third device <NUM> may group two or more second devices <NUM> in the environment <NUM> based on distances between the first device <NUM> and the respective second devices <NUM>, beams of the first device <NUM> for reception of signals from the respective second devices <NUM>, reference signal received powers (RSRPs) measured by the first device <NUM> from the respective devices <NUM>, and/or the like. The second devices <NUM> with same or similar distances to the first device <NUM>, same or similar beams at the first device <NUM>, same or similar RSRPs measured by the first device <NUM> may be grouped together as target devices <NUM>. For example, to determine location of the first device <NUM>-<NUM> served by the second device <NUM>-<NUM>, the third device <NUM> may determine that the second devices <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM> can be grouped together as target devices for transmission of the PRS.

The second device <NUM> receives <NUM> the positioning assistance information from the third device <NUM>. According to the positioning assistance information, the second device <NUM> may at least determine which first device <NUM> is to transmit a PRS and to which one or more target device(s) <NUM> the PRS is transmitted. The second device <NUM> allocates <NUM> one or more resources to the first device <NUM> for transmission of the PRS. The resource(s) may be allocated from a resource set that is configured for transmission of the PRS. In some example embodiments, the second device <NUM> may allocated the whole resource set for transmission of the PRS.

The resource may be allocated per target device <NUM>. For example, for each of the one or more target devices <NUM> indicated in the positioning assistance information, the second device <NUM> may allocate one or more resources or the whole resource set for that target device <NUM>. In some examples where the positioning assistance information includes grouping information indicating one or more groups of target devices <NUM>, the resource allocation may be performed per group when one or more of the groups of target devices <NUM> are associated with same resource allocation. For example, the second device <NUM> may allocate one or more resources or the whole resource set for a group of target devices <NUM>. Thus, a resource may be allocated for transmission of the PRS to a specific target device <NUM> or a group of target devices <NUM>.

In some examples, the second device <NUM> may allocate the resource(s) or resource set for transmission of the PRS to an anchor device in the group of target devices <NUM>. The first device <NUM> can determine from such resource allocation that the same allocated resource(s) or resource set is used for transmission of the PRS to one or more other anchor device in the same group.

With the resource(s) allocated, the second device <NUM> transmits <NUM> positioning configuration information to the first device <NUM>. The positioning configuration information at least indicates one or more target devices <NUM> to which a PRS is to be transmitted by the first device <NUM> and one or more resource(s) or resource set allocated for transmission of the PRS to the one or more target devices <NUM>.

Similar to the positioning assistance information, the positioning configuration information may include identities of the one or more target devices <NUM> or their serving cells to explicitly indicate the target device(s) <NUM> and an indication of the resource(s) or resource set allocated to the specific target devices <NUM>. In some example embodiments, one or more target devices <NUM> may be implicitly indicated to the first device <NUM> by configuring the first device <NUM> with the spatial relation information associated with the target device(s) <NUM>. In some examples, the positioning configuration information may further include the grouping information related to one or more groups of target devices <NUM> as provided by the third device <NUM>.

In some examples, the positioning configuration information may be transmitted to the first device <NUM> according to a NR Positioning Protocol A (NRPPA) as defined in the 3GPP specifications. However, it is appreciated that in other examples, the positioning configuration information may be transmitted using any other protocols that are currently available or to be developed in the future.

Different from solutions where the first device <NUM> is only informed of the resources (time and/or frequency locations) on which a PRS is to be transmitted, in exampleswith the positioning configuration information, the first device <NUM> can be informed of specific target device(s) <NUM> to which a PRS is to be transmitted as well as which resource(s) or resource set can be used to perform the transmission.

In some examples, in addition to transmitting the positioning configuration information to the first device <NUM>, the second device <NUM> may also provide the positioning configuration information to the target device(s) <NUM>, so that the target device(s) <NUM> can determine on which resource(s) a PRS is to be expected. In someexamples, the second device <NUM> may transmit the positioning configuration information to the third device <NUM> which may then forward the positioning configuration information to the target device(s) <NUM>. Alternatively, the second device <NUM> may also transmit the positioning configuration information directly to the target device(s) <NUM> via the communication link therebetween.

In some cases, a part of the positioning configuration information related to a specific target device <NUM> is transmitted to that target device <NUM> by either the second device <NUM> or the third device <NUM>. In some other cases, the part(s) of the positioning configuration information related to one or more other target devices <NUM> may also be provided to a target device <NUM> so that this target device <NUM> can perform overhearing of the PRS targeted to the one or more other target devices <NUM> based on the positioning configuration information. The overhearing at the target device <NUM> will be described in detail below.

After receiving <NUM> the positioning configuration information from the second device <NUM>, the first device <NUM> determines <NUM> one or more power control parameters and determines <NUM>, based on the determined one or more power control parameters, a transmit power for transmission of the PRS to one or more target device(s) <NUM> indicated in the positioning configuration information.

In examples, the first device <NUM> autonomously determines one or more power control parameters used in determining the transmit power. The power control parameter(s) and the transmit power may be determined per target device <NUM> or per group of target devices <NUM> (if a group of target devices <NUM> are associated with same transmit power control). In the latter case, the first device <NUM> may determine the power control parameter(s) and then the transmit power with respect to a target device <NUM> acting as an anchor device in a group. The transmit powers for transmission of the PRS to one or more other devices in the group may be determined to be equal to the transmit power determined for the target device <NUM>.

The determination of the power control parameter(s) and then the transmit power will be described in detail below.

In examples of the present disclosure, to determine a transmit power for transmission of the PRS to a specific target device <NUM>, the first device <NUM> determines a first power control parameter indicating a received power of the PRS that is expected by that target device <NUM>. To facilitate following description, the first power control parameter may be represented as "P0_PRS. " The first power control parameter is determined based on a received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM>, which can be determined or detected by the first device <NUM>.

The received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> indicates the expected received power in transmitting data to the target device <NUM>, such as transmitting data in a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) to the target device <NUM>. The received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> may be represented as "P0_PUSCH_nominal" in some examples.

In some examples, the received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> "P0_PUSCH_nominal" may be included in system broadcast information broadcasted by the target device <NUM>. For example, the received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> may be broadcasted in a physical broadcast channel (PBCH). The first device <NUM> may decode the system broadcast information (such as the PBCH) from the target device <NUM> in order to obtain the received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> "P0_PUSCH_nominal. " In some example embodiments, the first device <NUM> may detect a reference signal (which may be configured for decoding a synchronization signal block (SSB)) transmitted by the target device <NUM> and use the reference signal to decode the system broadcast information.

In some cases, the decoding of the system broadcast information of the target device <NUM> may be omitted so as to improve efficiency and processing resource saving at the first device <NUM>. Specifically, the first device <NUM> may determine the received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> "P0_PUSCH_nominal" to be equal to a received power of data transmission expected by the second device <NUM>. Since the second device <NUM> is a serving device for the first device <NUM>, the received power of data transmission expected by the second device <NUM> may generally have been determined by the first device <NUM>. Thus, the additional decoding of the system broadcast information from the target device <NUM> may be avoided. The reusing the received power of data transmission expected by the second device <NUM> is appropriate since the expected received powers of the network devices (for example, the second device <NUM> serving the first device <NUM> and the target device <NUM>) may generally set as same or similar values.

With the received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> "P0_PUSCH_nominal" determined, the first device <NUM> may determine the first power control parameter "P0_PRS" by directly determining the received power of the PRS expected by the target device <NUM> to be equal to the received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> "P0_PUSCH_nominal.

Alternatively, the first device <NUM> may determine to add a power offset to the the received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> "P0_PUSCH_nominal" to obtain the received power of the PRS expected by the target device <NUM>, which may be represented as P0_PRS = P0_PUSCH_nominal + P0_PRS_offset, where P0_PRS_offset represents the power offset. The power offset may be dedicated to one or more target devices <NUM> or may be common for all the target devices <NUM>. The power offset may be predefined or may be configured by the second device <NUM> through transmission of an indication of the power offset. For example, the indication of the power offset may be received from the second device <NUM> via RRS configuration signalling.

In some examples, if the first device <NUM> determines that its serving device <NUM> and the target device <NUM> provides cells with same uplink coverage across cells (for example, the second devices <NUM>-<NUM>, <NUM>-<NUM> with the same cell coverage in <FIG>), the first device <NUM> may decide to determine the received power of the PRS expected by the target device <NUM> by adding the power offset to the received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> "P0_PUSCH_nominal. " In some examples, the first device <NUM> may be configured optionally with the behavior of adding the power offset.

In order to determine the transmit power, the first device <NUM> may autonomously determine a further power control parameter (referred to as a second power control parameter) to indicate a path loss between the first device <NUM> and a target device <NUM>. In a possible transmit power control mechanism where the transmit power is controlled by the second device, a specific reference signal for measuring the path loss may be configured by the second device. In examples, in order to achieve autonomous transmit power control, the first device <NUM> may determine the path loss between the first device <NUM> and the target device <NUM> by reusing one or more other reference signals that are configured for other purposes and can be detected by the first device <NUM>.

In an example, the first device <NUM> may measure the reference signal received by the first device <NUM> to obtain the system broadcast information from the target device <NUM> as mentioned above, which may be a configured SSB. For purpose of discussion, such reference signal may sometimes be referred to as a first reference signal. The first device <NUM> may measure the received power of the first reference signal. The transmit power of the first reference signal may be determined as to be equal to the transmit power of a same type of reference signal received from the second device <NUM> (i.e., the one used to obtain system broadcast information from the second device <NUM>), which transmit power may be signaled to the first device. In some other examples, the transmit power of the first reference signal from the target device <NUM> may be a predetermined value or may be otherwise signaled to the first device <NUM>. The path loss between the first device <NUM> and the target device <NUM> may be determined based on a difference between the transmit power and the received power of the first reference signal.

In an example, in order to determine the path loss between the first device <NUM> and the target device <NUM>, the first device <NUM> may additionally or alternatively measure a further reference signal (referred to as a second reference signal) from the target device <NUM>. The second reference signal may be indicated in spatial relation information associated with the target device <NUM> that is configured to the first device <NUM>. The second reference signal may be designed for the first device <NUM> to determine a beam for transmission to the target device <NUM> as the detection of the second reference signal can indicate a spatial relation from the first device <NUM> to the target device <NUM>.

The first device <NUM> may measure the received power of the second reference signal. The transmit power of the second reference signal may be a predetermined value or set to be a same value as the transmit power of the first reference signal which may be known by the first device <NUM>. The path loss between the first device <NUM> and the target device <NUM> may be determined based on a difference between the transmit power and the received power of the second reference signal. In some examples, the first device <NUM> may determine the path loss based on both the differences between the transmit powers and the received powers of the first and second reference signals, for example, by averaging the two differences.

The first device <NUM> may determine the transmit power for transmission of the PRS to the target device <NUM> using the allocated resource based on the first and second power control parameters above. The path loss indicated by the second power control parameter may be added to the received power of the PRS expected by the target device so as to compensate the loss in the communication path from the first device <NUM> to the target device <NUM>. The transmit power may be determined in various methods based on the first and second power control parameters. For example, the transmit power may be determined based on a sum of the path loss indicated by the second power control parameter and the received power of the PRS expected by the target device. In another example, the path loss and/or the received power may be weighted and then summed up. The weight(s) for the path loss and/or the received power may be determined as a predetermined value(s).

In some examples, one or more other power control parameters that can be autonomously determined by the first device <NUM> may also be used in order to determine a more proper transmit power. For example, the determination of the transmit power may be based on a PRS bandwidth expressed in number of resource blocks for a transmission occasion.

In some examples, in order to balance the possible interference caused to other first devices in the cell of the second device <NUM> and the hearability of the PRS by the target device(s) <NUM>, the second device <NUM> may indicate a maximum transmit power as a constraint to the transmit power determined for transmission of the RPS.

The maximum transmit power may be configured per target device or per group of target device, and/or per allocated resource so as to put a cap on the transmit power determined by the first device <NUM> towards or intended for a particular target device <NUM> (or a group of target devices <NUM>) using one or more particular allocated resources. Though a single value of the maximum transmit power may be given within the transmission of the reference signal, for the purpose of positioning, it may not be appropriate to set the same constraint to the transmission of the PRS towards all target devices on all the allocated resources. In some examples, the second device <NUM> can control the interference and the hearability of the PRS by setting different maximum transmit powers for different target devices and/or for different allocated resources. When determining a transmit power for transmission of the PRS to a target device <NUM> using the allocated resource, the first device <NUM> may not determine the transmit power to exceed the maximum transmit power. Thus, the determined transmit power may always be either less than or equal to the maximum transmit power.

As a specific example, if the first device <NUM> transmits a PRS on active UL bandwidth part (BWP) b of carrier f of a certain target device <NUM> with a cell c, the first device <NUM> determines the PRS transmission power PPRS,b,f,c(i, qs) in PRS transmission occasion i as <MAT> where,.

It would be appreciated that the above equation for determining the transmit power of the PRS is provided for purpose of illustration. In other examples, the transmit power of the PRS may be determined in any other manners based on one or more of the power control parameters and related factors provided in the example embodiments of the present disclosure.

With the transmit power determined for a target device <NUM>, the first device <NUM> may transmit <NUM> the PRS to the target device <NUM> with the corresponding determined transmit power using the allocated resource. In the case where the grouping information is provided from the second device <NUM> in the positioning configuration information, if a group of target devices <NUM> are associated with same transmit power control, the first device <NUM> may transmit the PRS to each of the group of target devices <NUM> using the same transmit power determined for the anchor device in the group. In some examples, if the group of target device <NUM> are alternatively or additionally associated with same resource allocation, the first device <NUM> may transmit the PRS to each of the group of target devices <NUM> using the same resource allocated by the second device <NUM> with respect to the anchor device in the group. In some further examples, if the group of target device <NUM> are alternatively or additionally associated with a same beam, the first device <NUM> may transmit the PRS to each of the group of target devices <NUM> using a same beam.

Before transmitting the PRS to a target device <NUM>, the first device <NUM> may determine a beam for transmission so as to improve the probability of successful reception and decoding of the PRS (i.e., the hearability of the PRS) at the target device <NUM> and thus improve the positioning accuracy. In some examples, the first device <NUM> may determine a beam (referred to as a "first beam") for reception of system broadcast information (such as the PBCH) from the target device <NUM>. The first beam may be the one that can be used to successfully detect the reference signal used to obtain the system broadcast information (which is referred to as the first reference signal in some of the example embodiments discussed above).

Such a first beam has been determined when the first device <NUM> performs detection and measurement on at least the first reference signal, although in some cases related to FR1, the transmit beamforming can be skipped to save resources). The first device <NUM> then can use the determined first beam to determine a beam (referred to as a "second beam") for transmission of the PRS to the target device <NUM>. For example, the direction of the second beam may be determined to be the same as the determined first beam, as the target device <NUM> may probably perform signal reception in the same direction. As such, the determining of the second beam for the PRS may be simplified, which can further reduce latency and resource consumption in transmitting the PRS.

In some examples, the first device <NUM> may provide an indication of the first beam or an indication of the determined second beam to the target device <NUM>, which can help the target device <NUM> to determine an appropriate beam for receiving the PRS from the first device <NUM>.

It is noted that according to some transmit power control mechanism where the power control parameters are configured by the serving device, the power control parameters may be common for a resource set for transmission of the PRS. This is contrasted with the fact that within one resource set for transmission of PRS, the first device is allowed to use different beams for transmission towards different target devices as the first device may be configured with spatial relation information per resource in the resource set. According to the autonomous transmit power control in the example embodiments of the present disclosure, the first device has more flexibility in determining how the PRS is transmitted in addition to the transmit power of the PRS.

At the receiving side of the PRS, the target device <NUM> may receive <NUM> the PRS transmitted from the first device <NUM>. The target device <NUM> may perform positioning measurement on the first device <NUM> based on the received PRS. For example, the target device <NUM> may measure the distance between the first device <NUM> and the target device <NUM>, or any other suitable positioning parameters that can be used to position the first device <NUM>. Afterwards, the target device <NUM> may transmit the result of the positioning measurement to the third device <NUM>. The third device <NUM> can determine the location of the first device <NUM> based on the measurement results from a plurality of target devices <NUM>.

As mentioned above, the positioning configuration information related to one or more other target device(s) <NUM> may be provided to a certain target device <NUM> to enable overhearing of the PRS targeted to the other target device(s) <NUM>. Specifically, with the positioning configuration information related to one or more other target device(s) <NUM>, the target device <NUM> may determine on which resource(s) the PRS may be communicated although the PRS on that resource(s) is intended for the other target device(s) <NUM>. The target device <NUM> may try to receive the PRS on that resource(s). If the PRS can be received, the target device <NUM> may also perform positioning measurement on the first device <NUM> based on the PRS overhead from the resource(s) allocated with respect to the other target device(s) <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a flowchart of an example method <NUM> implemented at a first device in accordance with some examples. For the purpose of discussion, the method <NUM> will be described from the perspective of the first device <NUM> with respect to <FIG> and <FIG>.

At block <NUM>, a first device <NUM> receives positioning configuration information from a second device <NUM> serving the first device <NUM>. The positioning configuration information at least indicates a target device <NUM> to which a PRS is to be transmitted by the first device <NUM> and a resource allocated for transmission of the PRS to the target device <NUM>. In some embodiments, among the positioning configuration information, the one or more target devices <NUM> may be determined by a third device <NUM> (for example, a LMF) which control and manage localization of the first device <NUM>, and the resource are allocated by the second device <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the first device <NUM> determines a first power control parameter based on a received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM>. The first power control parameter is determined to indicate a received power of the PRS expected by the target device <NUM>.

In some examples, the received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> may be determined by decoding system broadcast information from the target device <NUM>.

In some examples, the first device <NUM> may determine the received power of data transmission expected by the target device <NUM> to be equal to a received power of data transmission expected by the second device <NUM>. The received power of data transmission expected by the second device <NUM> may have been obtained by the first device <NUM> from, e.g., system broadcast information transmitted from the second device <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the first device <NUM> determines, at least based on the first power control parameter, a transmit power for transmission of the PRS to the target device <NUM> using the allocated resource.

In some examples, in addition to the first power control parameter, the first device <NUM> may further determine a second power control parameter to indicate a path loss between the first device <NUM> and the target device <NUM>. In some examples, the first device <NUM> may determine the path loss between the first device <NUM> and the target device <NUM> by measuring a reference signal for other purposes, for example when the first device <NUM> is not configured with the specific reference signal for path loss measurement.

In some examples, the first device <NUM> may measure a first reference signal received by the first device <NUM> for obtaining system broadcast information from the target device <NUM>, for example, to determine a received power of the first reference signal. The first reference signal may be received in a synchronization signal block. Alternatively, or in addition, the first device <NUM> may measure a second reference signal indicated in spatial relation information associated with the target device <NUM>, for example, to determine a received power of the second reference signal that is transmitted from the target device <NUM>. The path loss may be determined, e.g., based on a difference between the transmit power and the received power of the first reference signal and/or a difference between the transmit power and the received power of the second reference signal.

In some examples, the first device <NUM> may further obtain an indication of a maximum transmit power for transmission of the PRS to the target device <NUM> using the allocated resource. The transmit power may not be determined to exceed the maximum transmit power. The maximum transmit power may be configured per target device or per group of target device, and/or per allocated resource. By setting the maximum transmit power, the second device <NUM> may be able to or attempt to balance the possible interference caused to other first devices in the cell of the second device <NUM> and the hearability of the PRS by the target device <NUM>.

In some examples, the positioning configuration information may further indicate a group of devices comprising the target device <NUM>. If the target device <NUM> is configured as an anchor device in the group of devices, and the group of devices are associated with same transmit power control, then after determining the transmit power for the target anchor device <NUM>, the first device <NUM> may determine a transmit power(s) for transmission of the PRS to one or more other devices in the group to be equal to the transmit power determined for the target device <NUM>.

The first device <NUM> may transmit the PRS to the target device <NUM> with the corresponding determined transmit power using the allocated resource.

In some examples, if the group of devices including the target device <NUM> are associated with same resource allocation, in transmitting the PRS, the first device <NUM> may transmit the PRS to each of the group of devices using the resource allocated for the target device <NUM>.

Alternatively, or in addition, if the group of devices including the target device <NUM> are associated with the same beam, the first device <NUM> may transmit the PRS to each of the group of devices with the same beam. An anchor device may not be configured if the group of devices are only associated with the same beam.

In some examples, to transmit the PRS to the target device <NUM>, the first device <NUM> may determine a corresponding beam for transmission (referred to as a second beam herein). The second beam may be determined based on the beam (referred to as a first beam herein) for reception of system broadcast information from the target device <NUM>. For example, the direction of the second beam may be determined to be the same as the determined first beam, as the target device <NUM> may probably perform signal reception in the same direction, which can improve the hearability of the PRS by the target device <NUM>. Further, additional measurement may be avoided in determining the second beam for the PRS, which can further reduce latency and resource consumption in transmitting the PRS.

In some examples, the first device <NUM> may be a terminal device, the second device <NUM> and the target device <NUM> may be network devices, and the third device <NUM> may be a LMF in CN or an LMC. In some examples, the target device <NUM> may be same as the second device <NUM>. In another example, the second device <NUM> may be one of the group of devices indicated to the first device <NUM>. In some examples, the target device <NUM> may be different from the second device <NUM>, for example, may be a network device serving a neighbor cell,.

<FIG> shows a flowchart of an example method <NUM> implemented at a second device in accordance with some examples. For the purpose of discussion, the method <NUM> will be described from the perspective of the second device <NUM> with respect to <FIG> and <FIG>.

At block <NUM>, a second device <NUM> receives, from a third device <NUM> such as a LMF, positioning assistance information indicating a target device <NUM> to which a PRS is to be transmitted by a first device <NUM>. The second device <NUM> is a serving device for the first device <NUM>. As a device for controlling and managing localization of the first device <NUM>, the third device <NUM> can decide which target device(s) <NUM> is expected to receive a PRS from the first device <NUM>.

At block <NUM>, the second device <NUM> allocates a resource to the first device <NUM> for transmission of the PRS to the target device <NUM>. As the serving network, the second device <NUM> is configured for resource allocation for the transmission of the PRS. After determining the target device <NUM> and the allocated resource, at block <NUM>, the second device <NUM> transmits positioning configuration information to the first device <NUM>. The positioning configuration information is determined to indicate the target device <NUM> and the resource allocated for transmission of the PRS to the target device <NUM>.

In some examples, the positioning configuration information may be further provided by the second device <NUM> to the target device <NUM> directly or via the third device <NUM> as a relay. In some examples, positioning configuration information related to a certain target device <NUM> of the first device <NUM> may be provided to one or more other target devices <NUM>. The one or more other target devices <NUM> can then perform overhearing of the PRS transmitted to the certain target device <NUM> on the corresponding allocated resources as indicated in the positioning configuration information.

To facilitate the determination of the transmit power at the first device <NUM>, in some example embodiments, the second device <NUM> may further transmit an indication of a power offset associated with the target device <NUM> for determining the first power control parameter. Alternatively or in addition, in some examples, the second device <NUM> may further transmit an indication of a maximum transmit power for transmission of the PRS, so as to put a cap on the transmit power determined by the first device <NUM> towards a particular target device <NUM> or a group of target devices <NUM> using one or more particular allocated resources.

In some examples, the first device <NUM> may be a terminal device, the second device <NUM> and the target device <NUM> may be network devices, and the third device <NUM> may be a LMF in CN or an LMC.

In some examples, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method <NUM> (for example, the first device <NUM>) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method <NUM>. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The first apparatus may be implemented as or included in the first device <NUM>.

In some examples, the first apparatus comprises means for: receiving positioning configuration information from a second apparatus (e.g., implemented as or included in the second device <NUM>) serving the first apparatus, the positioning configuration information at least indicating a target apparatus to which a positioning reference signal is to be transmitted by the first apparatus and a resource allocated for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the target apparatus; determining a first power control parameter based on a received power of data transmission expected by the target apparatus, the first power control parameter indicating a received power of the positioning reference signal expected by the target apparatus; and determining, at least based on the first power control parameter, a transmit power for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the target apparatus using the allocated resource.

In some examples e, the means for determining the transmit power further comprises means for: determining a path loss between the first apparatus and the target apparatus based on one of the following: measurement of a first reference signal in a synchronization signal block used to obtain system broadcast information from the target apparatus, and measurement of a second reference signal from the target apparatus, the second reference signal being indicated in spatial relation information associated with the target apparatus; determining a second power control parameter based on the measured path loss; and determining the transmit power further based on the second power control parameter.

In some examples, the means for determining the transmit power further comprises means for: receiving, from the second apparatus, an indication of a maximum transmit power for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the target apparatus using the allocated resource; and determining the transmit power such that the determined transmit power is less than or equal to the maximum transmit power.

In some examples, the means for determining the first power control parameter comprises means for: receiving, from the second apparatus, an indication of a power offset associated with the target apparatus; and determining the first power control parameter by adding the power offset to the received power of data transmission expected by the target apparatus.

In some examples, the first apparatus further comprises means for decoding system broadcast information from the target apparatus; and obtaining the received power of data transmission expected by the target apparatus from the decoded system broadcast information.

In some examples, the first apparatus further comprises means for: determining the received power of data transmission expected by the target apparatus to be equal to a received power of data transmission expected by the second apparatus, wherein the received power of data transmission expected by the second apparatus is obtained from decoded system broadcast information from the second apparatus.

According to the invention, the positioning configuration information further indicates a group of apparatuses comprising the target apparatus. According to the invention, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing least one of the following: in accordance with a determination that the target apparatus is an anchor apparatus for the group of apparatuses, determining transmit powers for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the group of apparatuses to be equal to the transmit power determined for the target apparatus; in accordance with a determination that the target apparatus is the anchor apparatus, transmitting the positioning reference signal to the group of apparatuses using the resource allocated for the target apparatus; and transmitting the positioning reference signal to the group of apparatuses with a same beam.

In some examples, the first apparatus further comprises means for: determining a first beam for reception of system broadcast information from the target apparatus; and determining a second beam for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the target apparatus based on the determined first beam.

In some examples, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method <NUM>. In some examples, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the first apparatus.

In some examples, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method <NUM> (for example, the second device <NUM>) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method <NUM>. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The second apparatus may be implemented as or included in the second device <NUM>.

In some examples, the second apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a third apparatus (e.g. implemented as or included in the third device <NUM>), positioning assistance information indicating a target apparatus to which a positioning reference signal is to be transmitted by a first apparatus (e.g., implemented as or included in the first device <NUM>) served by the second apparatus; allocating a resource to the first apparatus for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the target apparatus; and transmitting positioning configuration information to the first apparatus, the positioning configuration information indicating the target apparatus and the resource allocated for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the target apparatus.

In some examples, the second apparatus further comprises means for: providing the positioning configuration information to the target apparatus.

In some examples, the second apparatus further comprises means for: transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication of a power offset associated with the target apparatus for determining a first power control parameter, the first power control parameter indicating a received power of the positioning reference signal expected by the target apparatus.

In some examples, the second apparatus further comprises means for: transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication of a maximum transmit power for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the target apparatus using the allocated resource.

In some examples, the second apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method <NUM>. In some examples, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the second apparatus.

<FIG> is a simplified block diagram of a device <NUM> that is suitable for implementing examples. The device <NUM> may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first device <NUM>, second device <NUM>, or third device <NUM> as shown in <FIG>. As shown, the device <NUM> includes one or more processors <NUM>, one or more memories <NUM> coupled to the processor <NUM>, and one or more communication modules <NUM> coupled to the processor <NUM>.

The communication module <NUM> has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some examples, the communication module <NUM> may include at least one antenna.

Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) <NUM>, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage.

The program <NUM> may be stored in the memory, e.g., ROM <NUM>.

The examplesmay be implemented by means of the program <NUM> so that the device <NUM> may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to <FIG>. The examples of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some examples, the program <NUM> may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device <NUM> (such as in the memory <NUM>) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device <NUM>. <FIG> shows an example of the computer readable medium <NUM> which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk.

Generally, various examples of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. While various aspects of examples of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above with reference to Figs. <NUM> to <NUM>. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above.

Claim 1:
A first device (<NUM>) comprising means for:
receiving (<NUM>) positioning configuration information from a second device (<NUM>) serving the first device, the positioning configuration information at least indicating a target device (<NUM>) to which a positioning reference signal is to be transmitted by the first device (<NUM>) and a resource allocated for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the target device (<NUM>);
determining (<NUM>) a first power control parameter based on a received power of data transmission expected by the target device (<NUM>), the first power control parameter indicating a received power of the positioning reference signal expected by the target device (<NUM>); and
determining (<NUM>), at least based on the first power control parameter, a transmit power for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the target device (<NUM>) using the allocated resource;
wherein the positioning configuration information further indicates a group of devices comprising the target device; and the first device (<NUM>) further comprising means for performing at least one of the following:
in accordance with a determination that the target device (<NUM>) is an anchor device in the group of devices, determining transmit powers for transmission of the positioning reference signal to the group of devices to be equal to the transmit power determined for the target device (<NUM>);
in accordance with a determination that the target device is the anchor device, transmitting the positioning reference signal to the group of devices using the resource allocated for the target device (<NUM>); and
transmitting the positioning reference signal to the group of devices with a same beam.