CN118251935A

CN118251935A - Transmit power determination in radio resource control inactive state

Info

Publication number: CN118251935A
Application number: CN202180104204.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陶涛; 车泫受; R·基廷
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2021-11-15
Filing date: 2021-11-15
Publication date: 2024-06-25
Also published as: WO2023082274A1

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to an apparatus, method, device, and computer-readable storage medium for Tx power determination in RRC inactive state. The method includes receiving, at a first device, configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an RRC inactive state; and determining a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device based on the configuration information in accordance with at least one of determining that a path loss reference signal configured by the second device is unavailable or that a further reference signal transmitted from the second device is unavailable. In this way, a backoff behavior of reference signal transmission associated with positioning of the UE in the RRC inactive state may be achieved.

Description

Transmit power determination in radio resource control inactive state

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of telecommunications and, in particular, relate to an apparatus, method, device, and computer-readable storage medium for transmit (Tx) power determination in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) inactive state.

Background

New Radios (NR) have introduced a new RRC state called "RRC INACTIVE" to meet the requirements of 5G services. The inactive state is intended to limit battery consumption of a User Equipment (UE) similar to the idle state.

In release 17, some specific methods, measurements, signaling and procedures have been discussed that may support positioning for UEs in RRC inactive state for the subject of positioning enhancement.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for Tx power determination in RRC inactive state.

In a first aspect, there is a method. The method comprises the following steps: acquiring, at a first device, configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an RRC inactive state; and determining a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device based on the configuration information in accordance with at least one of determining that a path loss reference signal configured by the second device is unavailable or that a further reference signal transmitted from the second device is unavailable.

In a second aspect, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: determining, at the second device, configuration information associated with a transmit power of the reference signal in an inactive state of the first device; and transmitting the configuration information to the first device.

In a third aspect, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: determining, at the third device, configuration information associated with a transmit power of the reference signal in an inactive state of the first device; and transmitting the configuration information to the first device.

In a fourth aspect, a method is provided. The method comprises the following steps: at the fourth device, determining a received power of a reference signal associated with the reference signal transmitted from the first device at the transmission power in the inactive state of the first device, determining the transmission power based on configuration information associated with the transmission power of the reference signal in the inactive state of the first device; and transmitting an indication of the received power to the third device.

In a fifth aspect, a first device is provided. The first device includes at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to at least: acquiring, at a first device, configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an RRC inactive state; and determining a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device based on the configuration information in accordance with a determination that the path loss reference signal configured by the second device is not available to determine the path loss or that a further reference signal transmitted from the second device is not available to determine the path loss.

In a sixth aspect, a second device is provided. The second device includes at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to at least: determining, at the second device, configuration information associated with a transmit power of the reference signal in an inactive state of the first device; and transmitting the configuration information to the first device.

In a seventh aspect, a third device is provided. The third device includes at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the third device to at least: determining, at the third device, configuration information associated with a transmit power of the reference signal in an inactive state of the first device; and transmitting the configuration information to the first device.

In an eighth aspect, a fourth apparatus is provided. The fourth device includes at least one processor; at least one memory including computer program code; the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the fourth device to at least: at the fourth device, determining a received power of a reference signal associated with the reference signal transmitted from the first device at the transmission power in the inactive state of the first device, determining the transmission power based on configuration information associated with the transmission power of the reference signal in the inactive state of the first device; and transmitting an indication of the received power to the third device.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for acquiring configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an RRC inactive state; and means for determining a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device based on the configuration information in accordance with a determination that a path loss reference signal configured by the second device is unavailable to determine a path loss or that a further reference signal transmitted from the second device is unavailable to determine at least one of a path loss.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for determining configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an inactive state of a first device and means for transmitting the configuration information to the first device.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for determining configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an inactive state of a first device and means for transmitting the configuration information to the first device.

In a twelfth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for determining a received power of a reference signal associated with a reference signal transmitted from a first device at a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device, the transmit power being determined based on configuration information associated with the transmit power of the reference signal in the inactive state of the first device; and means for transmitting an indication of the received power to the third device.

In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by at least one processor of a device, causes the device to perform the method according to the first, second, third or fourth aspects.

Other features and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent from the following description of the particular embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the embodiments of the disclosure.

Drawings

The embodiments of the present disclosure are presented in an exemplary sense, and advantages thereof are explained in more detail below with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

fig. 2 shows a signaling diagram illustrating a process of Tx power determination in an RRC inactive state according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of Tx power determination in an RRC inactive state according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of Tx power determination in an RRC inactive state according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of Tx power determination in an RRC inactive state according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of Tx power determination in an RRC inactive state according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device suitable for implementing exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, according to some embodiments of the disclosure.

The same or similar reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

Detailed Description

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described merely for purposes of illustration and to aid those skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure, and do not suggest any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in various other ways besides those described below.

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

In this disclosure, references to "one embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It will be understood that, although the terms "first" and "second," etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish between functions of the various elements. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises," "comprising," "has," "including," "includes" and/or "including" when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) A pure hardware circuit implementation (such as an implementation using only analog and/or digital circuitry), and

(B) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (as applicable):

(i) Combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware, and

(Ii) Any portion of the hardware processor(s) with software, including the digital signal processor(s), software, and memory(s), which work together to cause a device, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions, and

(C) Hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or a portion of microprocessor(s), that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but software may not be present when operation is not required.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this disclosure, the term circuitry also encompasses hardware-only circuits or processors (or multiple processors) or an implementation of a hardware circuit or processor portion and its accompanying software and/or firmware. For example, if applicable to the particular claim elements, the term circuitry also encompasses a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as a fifth generation (5G) system, long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), high Speed Packet Access (HSPA), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), and so forth. Furthermore, the communication between the terminal device and the network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including, but not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR) communication protocols, and/or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communications, there are, of course, future types of communication techniques and systems that can embody the present disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to only the above-described systems.

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 from the network. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, a network device may refer to a Base Station (BS) or an Access Point (AP), e.g., a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), a NR next generation NodeB (gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Header (RH), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), a relay, a low power node (such as femto, pico), etc. The RAN split architecture includes a gNB-CU (centralized unit that hosts RRC, SDAP, and PDCP) that controls multiple gNB-DUs (distributed units that host RLC, MAC, and PHY). The relay node may correspond to the DU portion of the IAB node.

The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user Equipment (UE), subscriber Station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile Station (MS), or Access Terminal (AT). The terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablets, wearable terminal devices, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices (such as digital cameras), gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), internet of things (IoT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head Mounted Displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or automated processing chain environment), consumer electronics devices, devices operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Terminal (MT) part of an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node (also known as a relay node). In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

Although in various example embodiments, the functions described herein may be performed in fixed and/or wireless network nodes, in other example embodiments, the functions may be implemented in a user equipment device (such as a cell phone or tablet or laptop or desktop or mobile IoT device or fixed IoT device). For example, the user equipment device may be suitably equipped with corresponding capabilities as described in connection with the fixed and/or wireless network node(s). The user equipment device may be a user equipment and/or a control device, such as a chipset or a processor, configured to control the user equipment when installed in the user equipment. Examples of such functions include bootstrapping server functions and/or home subscriber servers, which may be implemented in user equipment devices by providing the user equipment devices with software configured to cause the user equipment devices to perform from the perspective of these functions/nodes.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown in fig. 1, the communication network 100 may include a terminal device 110 (hereinafter may also be referred to as UE 110 or first device 110). The communication network 100 may also include a network device 120-1 (hereinafter may also be referred to as a gNB 120-1 or a second device 120-1). Network device 120-1 may manage cell 102, which may also be considered the last serving cell 102 of terminal device 110.

In addition, the communication network 100 may also include a network device 120-2 (hereinafter may also be referred to as a gNB 120-2 or a fourth device 120-2). Network device 120-2 may manage cell 104.

UE 110 may be served by last serving cell 102 before transitioning to RRC inactive mode. As UE 110 moves, UE 110 may leave the coverage of last serving cell 102 and enter the coverage of other cells, such as the coverage of cell 104.

It is also possible that cell 102 and cell 104 are managed by the same gNB. In this case, network device 120-1 and network device 120-2 may be considered the same network device. In some scenarios, network device 120-1 and network device 120-2 may also be collectively referred to as network device 120.

The communication network 100 may also include a Location Management Function (LMF) 130 (hereinafter also referred to as a third device 130) that may communicate with the terminal device 110 and the network devices 120-1 and 120-2. LMF 130 may be referred to as a location management function.

It should be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in fig. 1 is given for illustration purposes and is not meant to be limiting in any way. Communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

Depending on the communication technology, network 100 may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) network, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) network, or any other network. The communications discussed in network 100 may conform to any suitable standard including, but not limited to, new radio access (NR), long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE evolution, LTE-advanced (LTE-a), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), CDMA2000, global system for mobile communications (GSM), and the like. Furthermore, the communication may be performed according to any generation communication protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of communication protocols include, but are not limited to, first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) communication protocols. The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies described above as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, certain aspects of these techniques are described below for LTE, and LTE terminology is used in much of the description below.

As described above, NR positioning enhancements for supporting positioning of a UE in an rrc_inactive state have been discussed. In case that the configured path loss source cannot be used to accurately measure the path loss, there is still a need to discuss UE backoff behavior for determining the transmission power of a positioning reference signal, such as a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) for positioning in an RRC inactive state.

It has been agreed to determine the backoff behavior of the pathloss reference signal for the SRS resource set of RRC-connected UEs by using the reference signal resources acquired from the synchronization signal and physical broadcast channel block (SSB) of the serving cell, which the UE uses to acquire a Master Information Block (MIB). For example, if the UE determines that the UE cannot accurately measure PL _b,f,c(q_d), the UE calculates PL _b,f,c(q_d using RS resources acquired from a synchronization signal/physical broadcast channel SS/PBCH block of the serving cell (which the UE uses to acquire MIB). Note that SSB may refer to SS/PBCH blocks because the synchronization signal and PBCH channels are packaged as a single block that moves together.

However, for RRC inactive UEs, the UE may not maintain a connection with the last serving cell. As the UE moves within the RAN announcement area (RNA), it may select the best Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) for synchronization, which may be sent from the last serving cell or other cell. Thus, when the UE moves away from the last serving cell, it will not continuously update the "SSB" to acquire MIB from the last serving cell.

Thus, conventional backoff behavior may not be suitable for RRC inactive UEs because of the outdated SSB that the UE uses to acquire the MIB and/or poor accuracy of the SSB that the UE uses to acquire the MIB.

The present disclosure proposes a solution for Tx power determination in RRC inactive state. In this solution, the UE may acquire configuration information associated with a transmission power of a reference signal in an RRC inactive state, and determine Tx power based on the configuration information if a path loss reference signal configured by the second device is not available to determine path loss and/or an additional reference signal transmitted from the second device is not available to determine path loss. In this way, a backoff behavior of reference signal transmission associated with positioning of the UE in the RRC inactive state may be achieved.

The principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 2, which shows a signaling diagram illustrating a process 200 of Tx power determination in an RRC inactive state, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the process 200 will be described with reference to fig. 1. Process 200 may involve UE 110, gNB 102-1, gNB 102-2, and LMF 130 as shown in fig. 1.

When UE 110 is in an RRC inactive state, UE 110 may acquire configuration information associated with the transmit power of the reference signal. Hereinafter, the term "reference signal" may be referred to as a reference signal associated with the location of UE 110. For example, the reference signals may include SRS for positioning, or other UL reference signals to be transmitted in RRC inactive state.

In some example embodiments, as shown in fig. 2, UE 110 may receive 202 configuration information from gNB 120-1. It is also possible that configuration information may also be received 204 from the LMF 130.

For example, the configuration information may indicate: when UE 110 transmits a reference signal associated with a location, UE 110 may use a previous transmit power for a previous transmission from UE 110. For example, the previous transmission may refer to a previous transmission of a reference signal associated with a location. Here, the previous may refer to a transmission sent immediately before the current reference signal transmission and/or the last transmission of the reference signal associated with the positioning. However, in some examples, the previous transmission may refer to a transmission that occurred prior to the previous transmission.

As another option, the configuration information may indicate that a predefined transmit power may be used for UE 110 to transmit reference signals associated with positioning. For example, the predefined transmit power may be a maximum transmit power or a minimum transmit power allowed for transmission by UE 110.

Alternatively, the configuration information may indicate a set of candidate transmit power values that are allowed for UE 110 to transmit reference signals associated with the positioning.

It is also possible that the configuration information may also indicate that additional reference signals sent from another cell associated with UE 110 may be allowed for UE 110 to determine path loss. For example, hereinafter, another cell may be referred to as a neighbor cell of the last serving cell of UE 110.

For the positioning of UE 110, UE 110 may send a reference signal associated with the positioning, such as an SRS, to the network. As described above, the pathloss reference signal may be configured for UE determination of pathloss, which may help UE 110 determine the transmit power for transmitting the reference signal.

If UE 110 determines that the configured pathloss reference signal is not available for determining pathloss, as an option, UE 110 may determine 206 whether additional reference signals, such as SSBs (or in other words SS/PBCH blocks), sent from the serving cell of UE 110 (e.g., the last serving cell of the UE), are available for determining pathloss.

For example, if UE 110 determines that additional reference signals transmitted from the last serving cell are also not available for determining pathloss, UE 110 may determine 208 Tx power for transmitting reference signals associated with positioning in the RRC inactive state based on the acquired configuration information.

In some example embodiments, it is also possible that when UE 110 determines that the configured path loss reference signal is not available for determining path loss, UE 110 determines 208 Tx power for transmitting the reference signal associated with positioning in the RRC inactive state based on the acquired configuration information. For example, if UE 110 has been moved to other areas away from the last serving cell coverage.

With the configuration information, for example, UE 110 may determine a transmit power for transmitting a reference signal associated with a location based on a previous transmit power for a previous transmission from UE 110.

In some example embodiments, the UE 110 may use at least one offset when the UE 110 transmits the reference signal by using a previous transmission power. That is, the transmit power may be equal to the previous transmit power plus the offset.

In some example embodiments, the at least one offset may be determined by UE 110 based on a difference between a received power level associated with a further reference signal received from a last serving cell and a corresponding previous received power level associated with at least one previous reference signal, for example.

In some example embodiments, at least one offset may be configured by the gNB 120-1 or the LMF 130.

In some example embodiments, with the configuration information, UE 110 may determine a transmit power for transmitting reference signals associated with a location based on a predefined transmit power. As described above, the predefined transmit power may be a maximum transmit power or a minimum transmit power allowed for transmission by UE 110.

In this scenario, for example, after UE 110 transmits the reference signal at a predefined transmit power, UE 110 may also monitor whether an indication of a decrease in transmit power or an increase in transmit power is received. If an indication of a decrease in transmission power or an increase in transmission power is detected, UE 110 may determine a transmission power based on the indication.

Otherwise, UE 110 may stop transmitting reference signals associated with the location after a predefined number of reference signal transmissions (such as N) or acknowledgements from the network. In this case, UE 110 may send an indication or report that transmission of the reference signal is stopped. In some example embodiments, the indication or report may be sent by UE 110 via Small Data Transfer (SDT).

In some example embodiments, UE 110 may obtain one or more pre-configured Tx power values from the configuration information. UE 110 may determine the Tx power for transmitting the reference signal based on the one or more preconfigured Tx power values, for example, by selecting one of the one or more preconfigured Tx power values.

In some example embodiments, based on the configuration information, UE 110 may determine whether additional reference signals transmitted from another cell (such as a neighbor cell) are detected. If an additional reference signal transmitted from another cell is detected, UE 110 may use the additional reference signal to determine path loss and, thus, tx power for transmitting the reference signal.

In some example embodiments, the strongest reference signal most recently received may be used by UE 110 to determine the path loss. For example, the received reference signal may be used by UE 110 to determine the path loss if the received power level of the received reference signal exceeds a threshold level and/or if a time interval from a point in time at which the reference signal was received to a reference point in time (such as a current time) is less than a threshold time interval. The threshold level and threshold time interval may be configured or preconfigured by the network.

In some example embodiments, when the UE determines that the configured path loss reference signal is not available for determining path loss and/or the additional reference signal transmitted from the last serving cell is not available for determining path loss, i.e., a back-off event occurs and the UE 110 must determine Tx power based on the back-off solution indicated in the configuration information, the UE 110 may send 210 an indication of the back-off event to the LMF 130. For example, the indication may indicate that the transmit power of the reference signal is determined based on the configuration information.

For example, the indication of the fallback event may be sent via a long term evolution positioning protocol (LPP).

After determining the Tx power, UE 110 may transmit 212 a reference signal associated with the positioning based on the determined Tx power. As shown in fig. 2, UE 110 may send a reference signal to gNB 120-2 (which may be considered a transceiver point). As described above, for example, gNB 120-2 may be the same gNB as gNB 120-1 when UE 110 is still served by a cell of gNB 120-1.

After receiving the reference signal, the gNB 120-2 may determine the received power of the reference signal and send 214 an indication of the received power to the LMF 130. For example, the indication of the received power may be sent via a new radio positioning protocol signaling a (NRPPa) protocol.

Based on the back-off event indication sent from UE 110 and/or the indication of the received power sent from gNB 120-2, the LMF may determine 216whether the current Tx power of UE 110 is appropriate. If not, reconfiguration of the reference signal transmission of UE 110 may be triggered by LMF 130. The LMF 130 may provide 218 information to the UE 110 for reconfiguration, which may include updating the pathloss reference and/or the newly configured back-off Tx power.

With the solution of the present disclosure, a backoff behavior of reference signal transmission associated with positioning of a UE in RRC inactive state may be achieved, which may increase the flexibility of transmission and thus improve system performance.

Fig. 3 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 300 of Tx power determination in an RRC inactive state according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 300 may be implemented at a first device 110 as shown in fig. 1. For discussion purposes, the method 300 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 310, the first device obtains configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an RRC inactive state.

In some example embodiments, the configuration information may indicate: the previous transmit power for the previous transmission from the first device may be used to transmit the reference signal, the predefined transmit power allowed to be used to transmit the reference signal may be used to transmit the reference signal, the set of candidate transmit power values, and/or the path loss may be allowed to be determined based on a further reference signal transmitted from another cell associated with the first device.

At 320, the first device determines a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device based on the configuration information if the first device determines that a path loss reference signal configured by the second device is not available to determine a path loss or an additional reference signal transmitted from the second device is not available to determine at least one of path loss.

In some example embodiments, the first device may determine the transmit power based at least on a previous transmit power.

In some example embodiments, the first device may determine at least one offset associated with a previous transmit power; and determining a transmit power based on the previous transmit power and the at least one offset.

In some example embodiments, the first device may determine the at least one offset based on a received power level associated with the further reference signal and a respective previous received power level associated with the at least one previous reference signal; or at least one offset from the third device.

In some example embodiments, the first device may determine the transmit power based at least on a predefined transmit power.

In some example embodiments, the first device may obtain an indication of a decrease in transmission power or an increase in transmission power from the second device; and determining the transmit power based on the predefined transmit power and the transmit power decrease or the transmit power increase.

In some example embodiments, the first device may stop transmitting the reference signal if the first device determines that an indication of a decrease in transmission power has not been received from the second device.

In some example embodiments, the first device may send an indication to the second device to stop sending reference signals from the first device.

In some example embodiments, the first device may determine the transmit power based on a candidate transmit power value from a set of candidate transmit power values.

In some example embodiments, if the first device determines that a further reference signal transmitted from another cell associated with the first device is detected, the first device may determine the transmit power based on the further reference signal.

In some example embodiments, the first device may determine that the further reference signal transmitted from the neighbor cell is available for determining the path loss if the received power level of the further reference signal exceeds a threshold level and/or if a time interval from a point in time at which the further reference signal is received to a reference point in time is less than a threshold time interval.

In some example embodiments, the first device may transmit a reference signal to the fourth device based on the determined transmit power.

In some example embodiments, the first device may send an indication to the third device to determine a transmit power of the reference signal based on the configuration information.

In some example embodiments, the first device may send the indication via LPP.

In some example embodiments, the reference signal comprises a reference signal associated with a location of the first device.

In some example embodiments, the additional reference signal comprises an SSB.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 400 of Tx power determination in an RRC inactive state according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 may be implemented at the second device 120-1 as shown in fig. 1. For discussion purposes, the method 400 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 410, the second device determines configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an inactive state of the first device.

In some example embodiments, the configuration information may indicate that a previous transmit power for a previous transmission from the first device is available for transmitting the reference signal, that a predefined transmit power allowed for transmitting the reference signal is available for transmitting the reference signal, a set of candidate transmit power values, and/or that path loss is allowed to be determined based on a further reference signal transmitted from another cell associated with the first device.

At 420, the second device sends configuration information to the first device.

In some example embodiments, the second device may send an indication of a decrease in transmission power or an increase in transmission power to the first device.

In some example embodiments, the second device may receive an indication from the first device to stop sending the reference signal from the first device.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 500 of Tx power determination in an RRC inactive state according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 500 may be implemented at the third device 130 as shown in fig. 1. For discussion purposes, the method 500 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 510, the third device determines configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an inactive state of the first device.

At 520, the third device sends configuration information to the first device.

In some example embodiments, the third device may configure at least one offset associated with the reference transmit power for a previous transmission from the first device.

In some example embodiments, the third device may receive an indication from the first device to determine a transmit power of the reference signal based on the configuration information.

In some example embodiments, the third device may receive the indication via LPP.

In some example embodiments, the third device may receive, from the fourth device, an indication of a received power associated with the reference signal transmitted from the first device.

In some example embodiments, the third device may receive the indication via a NRPPa protocol.

In some example embodiments, the third device may determine to trigger a reconfiguration for the first device to transmit the reference signal if an indication is received from the first device to determine the transmit power of the reference signal based on the configuration information and/or an indication is received from the fourth device to receive the receive power associated with the reference signal transmitted from the first device.

In some example embodiments, the reconfiguring includes: the updated path loss reference, and/or a reference transmit power if additional reference signals transmitted from the second device are not available to determine the path loss.

Fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 600 of Tx power determination in an RRC inactive state according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 600 may be implemented at the fourth device 120-2 as shown in fig. 1. For discussion purposes, the method 600 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 610, the fourth device determines a received power of a reference signal associated with a reference signal transmitted from the first device at a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device, the transmit power being determined based on configuration information associated with the transmit power of the reference signal in the inactive state of the first device.

At 620, the fourth device sends an indication of the received power to the third device.

In some example embodiments, the fourth device may send the indication via a NRPPa protocol.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., implemented at UE 110) capable of performing method 300 may include means for performing the respective steps of method 300. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for obtaining configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an RRC inactive state; and means for determining a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device based on the configuration information in accordance with a determination that a path loss reference signal configured by the second device is unavailable to determine a path loss or that a further reference signal transmitted from the second device is unavailable to determine at least one of a path loss.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., implemented at gNB 120-1) capable of performing method 400 may include means for performing the corresponding steps of method 400. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for determining configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an inactive state of a first device, and means for transmitting the configuration information to the first device.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., implemented at LMF 130) capable of performing method 500 may include means for performing the respective steps of method 500. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus (e.g., implemented at the gNB 120-2) capable of performing the method 600 may include means for performing the corresponding steps of the method 600. The component may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in circuitry or software modules.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus includes means for determining a received power of a reference signal associated with a reference signal transmitted from a first device at a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device, the transmit power being determined based on configuration information associated with the transmit power of the reference signal in the inactive state of the first device; and means for transmitting an indication of the received power to the third device.

Fig. 7 is a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 700 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 700 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as UE 110, gNB 120, and LMF 130 as shown in fig. 1. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 740 coupled to the processors 710, and one or more communication modules 740 coupled to the processors 710.

The communication module 740 is used for two-way communication. The communication module 740 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communications with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 740 may include at least one antenna.

Processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technology network and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock that is synchronized to the master processor.

Memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 724, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disks, compact Disks (CD), digital Video Disks (DVD), and other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memory that does not persist during power outages.

The computer program 730 includes computer-executable instructions that are executed by an associated processor 710. Program 730 may be stored in ROM 724. Processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 730 into RAM 722.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by the program 730 such that the device 700 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure discussed with reference to fig. 2-6. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some embodiments, program 730 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium that may be included in device 700 (such as in memory 720) or other storage device that device 700 may access. The device 700 may load the program 730 from a computer readable medium into the RAM 722 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Fig. 8 shows an example of a computer readable medium 800 in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer readable medium has stored thereon the program 730.

In general, the various embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented using hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of the embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods 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 comprises computer executable instructions, such as instructions included in program modules, that are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the methods 300-600 described above with reference to fig. 3-6. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions of program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

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

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

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of a computer-readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a Random Access Memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Moreover, although operations are described in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, while several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

At a first device, obtaining configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an inactive state of the first device; and

In accordance with a determination that a pathloss reference signal configured by a second device is not available for determining a pathloss, or that a further reference signal transmitted from the second device is not available for determining the pathloss, the transmit power in the inactive state of the first device is determined based on the configuration information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information indicates at least one of:

the previous transmit power for the previous transmission from the first device may be used to transmit the reference signal,

A predefined transmit power allowed for transmitting the reference signal may be used for transmitting the reference signal,

A set of candidate transmit power values, or

The path loss is allowed to be determined based on a further reference signal transmitted from another cell associated with the first device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the transmit power comprises:

The transmit power is determined based at least on the previous transmit power.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the transmit power based at least on the reference transmit power comprises:

Determining at least one offset associated with the previous transmit power; and

The transmit power is determined based on the previous transmit power and the at least one offset.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein determining the at least one offset comprises at least one of:

Determining the at least one offset based on a received power level associated with the further reference signal and a respective previous received power level associated with at least one previous reference signal; or alternatively

The at least one offset is obtained from the third device or the second device.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the transmit power comprises:

The transmit power is determined based at least on the predefined transmit power.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining the transmit power based at least on the reference transmit power comprises:

Obtaining an indication of a decrease in transmission power or an increase in transmission power from the second device; and

The transmit power is determined based on the predefined transmit power, the transmit power decrease, or the transmit power increase.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in accordance with a determination that an indication of a reduction in transmission power has not been received from the second device, transmission of the reference signal is stopped.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

An indication is sent to the second device to stop sending the reference signal from the first device.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the transmit power comprises:

The transmit power is determined based on a candidate transmit power value from the set of candidate transmit power values.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the transmit power comprises:

In accordance with a determination that a further reference signal transmitted from another cell associated with the first device is detected, the transmit power is determined based on the further reference signal.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining that the further reference signal transmitted from the neighbor cell is usable for determining the path loss is determined in accordance with at least one of:

the received power level of the further reference signal exceeds a threshold level;

the time interval from the point in time of receiving the further reference signal to the reference point in time is less than a threshold time interval.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

The reference signal is transmitted to a fourth device based on the determined transmit power.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

An indication is sent to a third device to determine the transmit power of the reference signal based on the configuration information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein sending the indication comprises:

the indication is sent via the long term evolution positioning protocol LPP.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the reference signal comprises: a reference signal associated with a location of the first device.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional reference signal comprises: synchronization signal, and physical broadcast channel SS/PBCH block.

18. A method, comprising:

Determining, at the second device, configuration information associated with a transmit power of the reference signal in an inactive state of the first device; and

And sending the configuration information to the first equipment.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

An indication of a decrease in transmission power or an increase in transmission power is sent to the first device.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

an indication is received from the first device to cease transmitting the reference signal from the first device.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the configuration information indicates at least one of:

A set of candidate transmit power values, or

22. A method, comprising:

determining, at the third device, configuration information associated with a transmit power of the reference signal in an inactive state of the first device; and

And sending the configuration information to the first equipment.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the configuration information indicates at least one of:

A set of candidate transmit power values, or

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

At least one offset associated with the reference transmit power for a previous transmission from the first device is configured.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

An indication is received from the first device to determine the transmit power of the reference signal based on the configuration information.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein receiving the indication comprises:

the indication is received via a long term evolution positioning, LPP, protocol.

27. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

an indication of a received power associated with the reference signal transmitted from the first device is received from a fourth device.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein receiving the indication comprises:

The indication is received via a new radio positioning protocol signaling a (NRPPa) protocol.

29. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

Determining to trigger a reconfiguration for the first device to transmit the reference signal in accordance with a determination that at least one of:

Receiving an indication from the first device to determine the transmit power of the reference signal based on the configuration information, or

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the reconfiguring comprises at least one of:

Updated pathloss reference, or

The reference transmit power in the event that the further reference signal transmitted from the second device is unavailable for determining the path loss.

31. A method, comprising:

At a fourth device, determining a received power of a reference signal associated with the reference signal transmitted from a first device at a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device, the transmit power determined based on configuration information associated with the transmit power of the reference signal in the inactive state of the first device; and

And sending an indication of the received power to a third device.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein sending the indication comprises:

the indication is sent via a new radio positioning protocol signaling a (NRPPa) protocol.

33. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor; and

At least one memory including computer program code;

The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 17, the method of any one of claims 18 to 21, the method of any one of claims 22 to 30, or the method of any one of claims 31 to 32.

34. An apparatus, comprising:

Means for acquiring configuration information associated with a transmission power of a reference signal in an RRC inactive state; and

Means for determining the transmit power in the inactive state of the first device based on the configuration information in accordance with a determination that a path loss reference signal configured by a second device is not available for determining a path loss or that a further reference signal transmitted from the second device is not available for determining at least one of the path losses.

35. An apparatus, comprising:

Means for determining configuration information associated with a transmit power of a reference signal in an inactive state of a first device, an

And means for transmitting the configuration information to the first device.

36. An apparatus, comprising:

And means for transmitting the configuration information to the first device.

37. An apparatus, comprising:

Means for determining a received power of a reference signal associated with a reference signal transmitted from a first device at a transmit power in an inactive state of the first device, the transmit power being determined based on configuration information associated with the transmit power of the reference signal in the inactive state of the first device, and

And means for transmitting an indication of the received power to a third device.

38. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any one of claims 1 to 17.

39. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any one of claims 18 to 21.

40. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any one of claims 22 to 30.

41. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any one of claims 31 to 32.