WO2024065773A1

WO2024065773A1 - Location identification and verification

Info

Publication number: WO2024065773A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/123509
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jing Yuan Sun; Jing He; Ping Yuan; Mao Cai
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd.; Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2022-09-30
Filing date: 2022-09-30
Publication date: 2024-04-04

Abstract

Example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to location identification and verification. A first device determines at least one time resource configured by a second device or a third device, determines at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource, and transmits the at least one respective first TA to the second device or the third device. In this way, with the at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource, the network may identity/verify the location of the first device.

Description

LOCATION IDENTIFICATION AND VERIFICATION

FIELD

Various example embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for location identification and verification.

BACKGROUND

Location-awareness is a fundamental aspect of wireless communication networks and will enable a myriad of location-enabled services in different applications. The integration and utilization of location information in day-to-day applications will grow significantly as the technology's accuracy evolves.

In new radio (New Radio) non terrestrial network (NTN) , it is assumed that user equipment (UE) always has capability of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) measurement and will achieve its location according to the measured GNSS information. However, as for the wireless network, the GNSS location is provided from the third party and the GNSS signal may be not available sometimes (for example, the UE is indoor or be shadowed by some blocks) . Thus, the GNSS location may be a cheated or incorrect location. In view of this, there is a need that the wireless network may identity and/or verify the GNSS location of the UE.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first device. The first device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to perform: determining at least one time resource configured by a second device or a third device; determining at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource; and transmitting, the at least one respective first TA to the second device or the third device.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second device. The second device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second device at least to perform: determining at least one time resource to be used by a first device; receiving, from the first device, at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; and determining location information of the first device based at least in part on one or more the at least one respective first TA.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a third device. The third device comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the third device at least to perform: obtaining, a location information of a first device, generating a second configuration to be used by the first device and a third configuration to be used by a second device, each of the second and the third configuration indicating at least one of the following: at least one time resource, the first device determining at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource; and transmitting, the second and third configurations to the first and second devices, respectively.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: at a first device, determining at least one time resource configured by a second device or a third device; determining at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; and transmitting, the at least one respective first TA to the second device or the third device.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: at a second device, determining at least one time resource to be used by a first device; receiving, from the first device, at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; and determining location information of the first device based at least in part on one or more the at least one respective first TA.

In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: at a third device, obtaining, a location information of a first device, generating a second configuration to be used by the first device and a third configuration to be used by a second device, each of the second and the third configuration indicating at least one of the following: at least one time resource, the first device determining at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource; and transmitting, the second and third configurations to the first and second devices, respectively.

In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for determining at least one time resource configured by a second apparatus or a third apparatus; means for determining at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; and means for transmitting, the at least one respective first TA to the second apparatus or the third apparatus.

In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for determining at least one time resource to be used by a first apparatus; means for receiving, from the first apparatus, at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; and means for determining location information of the first apparatus based at least in part on one or more the at least one respective first TA.

In a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a third apparatus. The third apparatus comprises means for obtaining, a location information of a first apparatus, means for generating a second configuration to be used by the first apparatus and a third configuration to be used by a second apparatus, each of the second and the third configuration indicating at least one of the following: at least one time resource, the first apparatus determining at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource; and means for transmitting, the second and third configurations to the first and second apparatuses, respectively.

In a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fifth aspect.

In a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the sixth aspect.

It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

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

FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling chart for communication according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B illustrate examples for determining location information;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a process for transmitting assistant information;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a first device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a second device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a third device according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments 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. Embodiments described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones 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 skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first, ” “second” and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

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” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

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 application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

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 (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) 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) , an 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 Access and 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. In some example embodiments, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . 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 (loT) 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. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

The term “core network device” refers to any device or entity that provides access and mobility management function (AMF) , session management function (SMF) , user plane function (UPF) , etc. By way of example rather than limitation, the core network device may be a home subscriber server (HSS) , a mobility management entity (MME) , an AMF, a SMF, a UPF, etc. In other embodiments, the core network device may be any other suitable device or entity.

The term “location management device” refers to any device or entity that provides location-related function. By way of example rather than limitation, the location management device may be a location management function (LMF) , etc. In other embodiments, the location management device may be any other suitable device or entity.

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, unless explicitly stated, 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.

As used herein, the terms “first granularity” , “high (er) granularity” , “small (er) granularity” and “fine (r) granularity” may be used interchangeably. Terms “second granularity” and “normal granularity” may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the terms “first transmission density” , “high (er) transmission density” and “high (er) density” may be used interchangeably. Terms “second transmission density” , “normal transmission density” and “normal density” may be used interchangeably.

As discussed above, location-awareness is a fundamental aspect of wireless communication networks and will enable a myriad of location-enabled services in different applications.

In some example embodiments, the UE may obtain its location by measuring position reference signal (PRS) / However, the PRS is not a preference alternative for a public wireless network in some cases, because the PRS transmission may interrupt downlink transmission and occupy too much resource elements (REs) in the PRB. Moreover, measuring the PRS for location requires a complicated implementation at the UE side.

In some other embodiments, the UE may obtain its location via the GNSS information. However, the GNSS information is provided from the third party. Thus, the location information provided by UE’s GNSS cannot be always trusted as wrong location information may be provided.

Further, the GNSS signal may be not available under some cases with coverage issue, for example, the UE is indoor, moves into indoor, or is shadowed by some blocks. Under such scenarios, the UE may not achieve accurate GNSS information or even not achieve positioning by using GNSS. In addition, the GNSS information may be incorrect due to a bad GNSS channel status.

In some example embodiments, in the GNSS system, the access network device (such as, the gNB) may be deployed at a satellite or separately from the satellite, and signalling may be exchanged among the UE and the satellite. As for NTN, there is long propagation delay and long round trip time (RTT) between the UE and the satellite, e.g. maximum 541.46 ms for geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) scenario, and 25.77 ms (for 600km) and 41.77 ms (for 1200km) for LEO scenario.

Further, as for NTN LEO scenario, the satellite moves with a fast movement speed, for example, 7.56km/s. Thus, under NTN LEO scenario, the distance between the UE and satellite/network is always changing. In some example embodiments, along with the satellite movement, the UE may adjust the TA according to the GNSS measurement and the received satellite ephemeris, such that the uplink signal may be arrived at the signal reference point with a correct signal synchronization. Generally speaking, the TA under NTN LEO scenario may be much larger than that in transport network (TN) network.

In some example embodiments, the UE reports the TA if the change of TA compared with the last reported TA is larger than a threshold (such as, 1ms) , i.e., event-triggered TA reporting.

According to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution of location identification and verification, where the network device may use the reported TA as assistant information to identity/verify the location of the UE. In particular, in order to ensure that the network device may identity/verify the location of the UE, different from the event-triggered TA reporting, the TA reporting procedure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure is configurable. Further, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, the granularity of the reported TA (s) may be smaller, and the reported TA (s) may be verified or adjusted by the network.

Further, in one example embodiment, the first device may select at least one time resource from time resource (s) determined based on a network configuration and perform related operation (s) , such as, reporting first TA on the selected at least one time resource and transmitting uplink transmission base on the first TA on the respective selected at least one time resource.

In this solution, a first device (such as, a terminal device) determines at least one time resource, and determines at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource. Then the first device transmits the at least one respective first TA to a second device (such as, a network device) or a third device (such as, a location management device) . In particular, the at least one time resource is known to both the first device and the second/third device. In this way, with the at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource, the second/third device may identity/verify the location of the first device.

Principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the figures.

It is noted that any section/subsection headings provided herein are not intended to be limiting. Embodiments are described throughout this document, and any type of embodiment may be included under any section/subsection. Furthermore, embodiments disclosed in any section/subsection may be combined with any other embodiments described in the same section/subsection and/or a different section/subsection in any manner.

Example Environment

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. In the communication environment 100, a plurality of communication devices, including a first device 110 and a second device 120, can communicate with each other.

In the example of FIG. 1, the first device 110 may include a terminal device and the second device 120 may include a network device serving the terminal device. The serving area of the second device 120 may be called a cell 102.

In some embodiments, the communication environment 100 is an NTN network including one or more satellites. In some example embodiments, an access network device (such as, a gNB) may be deployed at a satellite. In this event, signallings may be exchanged among the first device 110 and the satellite. Alternatively, in some example embodiments, an access network device (such as, a gNB) may be deployed separately from the satellite, such as, deployed on the ground. In this event, the first device 110 may communicate with the access network device via the satellite. In the present disclosure, according to the specific application scenario or requirements, either or both of the satellite or the access network device may be considered as the second device 120. In present discourse is not limited in this regard.

Optionally, the communication environment 100 also comprises a third device 130 and a fourth device 140. In some example embodiments, the fourth device 140 may be a core network device (such as, AMF) , and the third device 130 may be a location management device (such as, LMF) .

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 may transmits its location to the second device 120/third device 130/fourth device 140, and the second device 120/third device 130/fourth device 140 may verify the location of the first device 110.

In one specific example embodiment, the second device 120 may configure/instruct the first device 110 to determine and report location-related information (such as, TAs to be used at specific time resource (s) ) , such that the second device 120 may identify/verify the location of the first device 110 accordingly.

In another specific example embodiment, the third device 130/fourth device 140 also may configure/instruct the second device 120 and/or the first device 110 to determine and report location-related information, such that the third device 130/fourth device 140 may verify the location of the first device 110 accordingly.

It is to be understood that the number of devices and their connections shown in FIG. 1 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitation. The communication environment 100 may include any suitable number of devices configured to implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more additional devices may be located in the cell 102, and one or more additional cells may be deployed in the communication environment 100. It is noted that although illustrated as a network device, the second device 120 may be other device than a network device. Although illustrated as a terminal device, the first device 110 may be other device than a terminal device. Although illustrated as a core network device, the fourth device 140 may be other device than a core network device. Although illustrated as a location management device, the third device 130 may be other device than a location management device.

In the following, for the purpose of illustration, some example embodiments are described with the first device 110 operating as a terminal device and the second device 120 operating as a network device. However, in some example embodiments, operations described in connection with a terminal device may be implemented at a network device or other device, and operations described in connection with a network device may be implemented at a terminal device or other device.

In some example embodiments, if the first device 110 is a terminal device and the second device 120 is a network device, a link from the second device 120 to the first device 110 is referred to as a downlink (DL) , while a link from the first device 110 to the second device 120 is referred to as an uplink (UL) . In DL, the second device 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the first device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver) . In UL, the first device 110 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the second device 120 is a RX device (or a receiver) .

Communications in the communication environment 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , the fifth generation (5G) , the sixth generation (6G) , and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 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.

Work Principle and Example Signaling for Communication

According to some example embodiments of the present discourse, in view of the high-speed movement of the second device 120 (such as, a satellite) and the accuracy requirement for location identification/verification, the movement speed of the first device 110 and the RTT between the first device 110 and the second device 120 may be ignored. Further, it is assumed that the wireless processing at the first device 110 is believable and further the location information is based on the GNSS.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which shows a signaling chart 200 for communication according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the signaling chart 200 involves a first device 110, a second device 120, and an optional third device 130 and an optional fourth device 140. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the signaling chart 200.

According to some example embodiments of the present discourse, the first device 110 provide at least one TA to be used at specific time resource (s) (referred to as at least one first TA hereafter) to the second device 120/third device 130 as assistance information of the first device 110. As the specific time resource (s) is known to both the first device 110 and second device 120/third device 130, the second device 120/third device 130 may identity/verify the location of the first device 110.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the first device 110 determines 225 at least one time resource, i.e., the specific time resource (s) being known to both the first device 110 and second device 120/third device 130. As for the second device 120, similar with the first device 110, the second device 120 also determines 245 at least one time resource.

In some example embodiments, the at least one time resource may be represented as at least one system subframe or slot . In some example embodiments, the number of the at least one time resource may be a fix value (such as, 1, 2 or 3) . In some example embodiments, the at least one time resource may be periodical (such as, every 1 s, or less than 1 s) , or the at least one time resource may be of a specific pattern.

Then, the first device 110 determines 230 at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource.

In one example embodiment, the first device 110 may select at least one time resource from time resource (s) determined based on a network configuration and perform related operation (s) , such as, reporting first TA on the selected at least one time resource and transmitting uplink transmission base on the first TA on the respective selected at least one time resource, as will be discussed as below.

As one specific embodiments, the first device 110 determines the at least one respective first TA by based on measured GNSS information and received satellite ephemeris information.

After that, the first device 110 transmits 260-1 the at least one respective first TA to the second device 120. In one specific example embodiment, the first device 110 collects the respective first TAs at the last time resource of the at least time resource. Then, the first device 110 reports all the collected/determined first TAs in one message. In some example embodiments, the reporting time may be configured by the second device 120.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may determines 265 location information of the first device 110 based at least in part on one or more the at least one respective first TA.

How does the second device 120 determine location information of the first device 110 will be discussed with reference to FIGs. 3A and 3B.

Reference is made to FIG. 3A, which illustrates an example 300 for determining location information. Generally speaking, each TA may correspond to a distance between the second device 120 and the first device 110. Thus, as for a specific TA, the second device 120 may determine a circle on the ground (such as, circles 310-1, 310-2 and 310-3) . The circle refers to a set of the possible locations of the first device 110. Thus, the cross-point of the multiple circles (such as, three circles) may be considered as the location of the first device 110.

As discussed above, each first TA corresponds to one time resource. In one specific example embodiment, the second device 120 may use one TA to determine a circle, and this circle may be used to verify the location of the first device 110. Alternatively, in another specific example embodiment, two or more first TAs (such as, 3) to be used at different time resources may be used for identifying the location of the first device 110. Specifically, use the circles corresponding to the first TAs to identify a cross-point, which may be considered as the location of the first device 110, as shown in FIG. 3A.

In summary, each reported first TA to be used at one specific time resource (such as, at least one system subframe or slot) will indicate one circle where the first device 110 may locate at the specific time resource. Further, two or more (such as, 3) first TAs to be used at different time resources may make the estimated location of the first device 110 more accurate.

Reference is made to FIG. 3B, which illustrates another example 350 for determining location information. As illustrated in FIG. 3B, an arrival (AoA) of the first device 110 and a circle corresponding to a first TA also may identify a crosse-point, which may be considered as the location of the first device 110. Thus, in some example embodiments, the second device 120 obtains an AoA of the first device 110 and determines location information of the first device 110 based on the AoA and a reported first TA.

In summary, a first TA and an estimated uplink AoA at a same time resource may identify an exact point of the circle (i.e., the location of the first device 110) .

In some example embodiments, in order to make the estimated location of the first device 110 more accurate, the granularity of the first TA may be finer. Specifically, in some example embodiments, a first granularity of the first TA is finer than a second granularity of a second TA to be used at other time resource rather than the at least one time resource. That is, in order to assist the verification of location, the first TA may have a finer/smaller granularity compared with a normal uplink TA reporting.

In some example embodiments, the first granularity of the first TA may be smaller than a threshold (such as, 1ms) . Alternatively, the first granularity of the first TA may be of a Tc/Ts level.

Additionally, considering the reported first TA is determined by the first device 110, which may be not accurate enough, the first device 110 may further transmit uplink transmission based on the measured first TA, such that the second device 120 may adjust the reported first TA.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the first device 110 transmits 250 at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource based on the at least one first TA. In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may determine 255 at least one respective time error based on the at least one respective uplink transmission and an uplink transmission timing. As the uplink transmission is transmitted based on the first TA, thus the respective time error may be used to evaluating and adjusting the respective first TA. In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may determine at least one respective third TA by adjusting the at least one respective first TA according to the at least one respective time error. Compared with the first TA, the accuracy of the third TA is higher.

Then, the second device 120 may determine the location information of the first device 110 based on the at least one respective third TA. In this way, the estimated location of the first device 110 is more accurate.

For better understanding, reference is now made to FIGs. 3A and 3B again. In the specific example embodiments of FIGs. 3A and 3B, the second device 120 may determine the circles (such as, circles 310-1, 310-2 and 310-3) by using the first TA and the respective time error at the same time resource (or the third TA) .

In some example embodiments, in order to enable the second device 120 obtaining more accurate time error (s) , in some example embodiments, a first transmission density of the uplink transmission is higher than a second transmission density of a second uplink transmission on other time resource rather than the at least one time resource. That is, at each time resource, more uplink signals are transmitted. That is, in order to assist verification of location, the uplink signals on the at least one time resource may be transmitted more frequently.

Additionally, in some example embodiments, an uplink transmission of the at least one respective uplink transmission is at least one of the following: a transmission of uplink reference signal (RS) (such as, sounding reference signal, SRS) , a transmission of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) , or a transmission of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) . In one specific example embodiment, the RS can be a higher density RS transmitted in the time resource. In one specific example embodiment, the uplink transmissions transmitted on the at least time resource are of a same uplink transmission type. Alternatively, in another specific example embodiment, a first type of uplink transmission (such as, PUCCH) is transmitted on a first time resource, and a different second type of uplink transmission (such as, SRS) is transmitted in a second time resource. Alternatively, in a further specific example embodiment, more than one type of uplink transmission is transmitted on a time resource. In this way, the uplink transmissions on the at least one time resource may be performed more flexibly.

In some example embodiments, at least one of the following parameters may be predefined: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, the first granularity of the at least one TA, or the first transmission density. As one example, at least one of the above parameters may be pre-defined by the communication organization (such as 3GPP) , or pre-defined by the network operator or service provider. In this way, at least one of the above parameters may be determined to be a default configuration and no additional signaling exchanging is needed.

Alternatively, in some example embodiments, at least one of the above parameters may be dynamically or semi-statically configured. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the second device 120 transmits 222 a first configuration indicating at least one of the above parameters to the first device 110. In this way, the second device 120 may trigger the first device to transmit the assisting information (i.e., the first TA (s) and optional uplink transmission on demand.

In one example embodiment, the first device 110 may select at least one time resource from time resource (s) determined based on a network configuration and perform related operation (s) , such as, reporting first TA on the selected at least one time resource and transmitting uplink transmission base on the first TA on the respective selected at least one time resource.

Further, in some embodiments, the selected at least one time resource may be a subset of the time resource (s) configured by the network configuration.

In addition to configuring the above parameters, the second device 120 also may enable or disable the reporting procedure. In some example embodiments, the second device 120 may transmit an indication indicating the first device 110 to enable or disable at least one of the following:

transmitting the at least one respective first TA;

transmitting the at least one respective first TA with the first granularity;

transmitting at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource;

transmitting at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource with the first transmission density; or

reporting the assistant information for location verification/identification.

In this way, it is avoided to introducing too much resource consumption for location verification/identification.

As discussed above, the signaling chart 200 also may involve a third device 130 and/or a fourth device 140. In this event, the fourth device 140 and/or the third device 130 being a location management device also may trigger the location verification/identification, which will be discussed in detail as below.

In some example embodiments, the fourth device 140 and/or the third device 130 triggers the first device 110 to report the first TAs (with the first granularity) to be used at least one time resource and optionally to transmit uplink transmissions (s) (with the first transmission density) on at least one time resource. At the same time, the fourth device 140 and/or the third device 130 also triggers the second device 120 to receive the uplink transmissions (s) (with the first transmission density) on at least one time resource, and further determine and report the corresponding time error (s) .

In some example embodiments, the third device 130 obtains location information of a first device 110. As one specific example embodiment, the first device 110 performs registration in super national NTN cell coverage area. In the specific example of FIG. 2, the first device 110 performs 205 a registration procedure to the fourth device 140 (such as, an AMF) . Specifically, the first device 110 transmits a registration message to the second device 120, where the registration message comprises the location information of the first device 110 (such as, GNSS location) . The second device 120 derives the tracking area identity (TAI) information based on the location information of the first device 110, where the TAI information comprises a mobile network code (MNC) and a mobile country code (MCC) . Then the second device 120 may transmit the location information of the first device 110, the TCI, the MNC and/or the MCC to the fourth device 140.

In the specific example of FIG. 2, the fourth device 140 may transmit 210 the location information of the first device 110 to the third device 130, such that the location information may be verified by the third device 130. Additionally, in some example embodiments, the TCI, the MNC and/or the MCC also may be transmitted to the third device 130 together with the location information. As one specific example embodiment, the fourth device 140 transmits the location information and the TAI to the third device 130 in a field of Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation.

In some example embodiments, the third device 130 determines whether to verify the location of the first device 110, such as, whether to verify the MNC and/or MCC. If so, the third device 130 generates a second configuration to be used by the first device 110 and a third configuration to be used by a second device 130. Similar with the first configuration, each of the second and the third configurations may indicate at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, the first granularity of the at least one TA, or the first transmission density.

In one specific example embodiment, the third device 130 initiates an LTE positioning protocol (LPP) session with the first device 110. Specifically, the third device 130 transmits 220 RequestLocationInformation to the first device 110, where the RequestLocationInformation triggers the first device 110 to perform a first measurement (such as, GNSS measurement) and/or a second measurement (such as, determining the first TA(s) and transmitting the uplink transmissions (s) on the at least one time resource) . Additionally, the RequestLocationInformation also may indicate an association between the first measurement and the second measurement. Additionally, the RequestLocationInformation also indicates at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, the first granularity of the at least one TA, or the first transmission density.

In some example embodiments, the second configuration is transmitted as a non-access stratum (NAS) message. In view of this, after receiving the second configuration, there may be some internal interactions among the different layers of the first device 110 as discussed below.

In some example embodiments, a NAS layer of the first device 110 receives the second configuration from the third device 130. Then, the NAS layer triggers the first device 110 to determine the at least one respective first TA based on the second configuration. In the specific example of FIG. 2, the NAS layer requests 225-1 the first measurement (such as, GNSS measurement) and/or the second measurement (such as, determining the first TA (s) and transmitting the uplink transmissions (s) on the at least one time resource) , and then triggers 225-2 an access stratum (AS) layer of the first device 110 to perform the first and/or second measurements.

Accordingly, the AS layer may determine 230-1 the at least one respective first TA and optionally initiates 235 the uplink transmission on the at least one time resource.

How to determine the at least one respective first TA and how to transmits the uplink transmission on the at least one time resource have been fully discussed previously. Merely for brevity, the same or similar contents are omitted here.

In some example embodiments, the AS layer transmits 260-2 the at least one respective first TA to the NAS layer of the first device 110, and the NAS layer may transmit 275 the at least one respective first TA to the third device 130 via a NAS message (such as, comprising the least one respective first TA in a field of ProvideLocationInformation of NAS message) .

Further, coordinated operations are also performed at the second device 120 as discussed below. Specifically, the third device 130 transmits 220 a third configuration to the second device 220. Similar with the first configuration, the third configuration indicates at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, the first granularity of the at least one TA, or the first transmission density.

How to obtain the at least one respective time error and the at least one respective third TA have been fully discussed previously. Merely for brevity, the same or similar contents are omitted here.

Additionally, in some embodiments, the second device 120 transmits 270 at least one of the following to the third device 130: the at least one respective time error, the at least one respective third TA, or the at least one respective first TA received from the first device 110.

According to the above procedure, the third device 130 may collect related information for verifying the location of the first device 110 (with or without comparing with location reported by the first device 110) . In some example embodiments, the third device 130 verifies 280 the at least one respective first TA (reported by the first device 110) based on the at least one respective third TA (reported by the second device 120) . Alternatively, or in addition, the third device 130 verifies 290 the location information of the first device 110 (such as, reported GNSS location of the first device 110) , based on at least one of the following: the at least one respective time error, the at least one respective first TA, or the at least one respective third TA.

In some embodiments, the verification result may be provided 290 to the fourth device 140. Based on the verification result, the fourth device 140 may determine 295 whether to continue or reject the registration message of the first device 110.

According to the above procedure, the location of the first device 110 may be verified/identified. Further, according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure, the second device 120/third device 130/fourth device 140 may verify/identify the location of the first device 110 more accurately, based on the reported assistance information from the first device 110 (such as, the first TA (s) ) and estimated information on the same/similar time resource estimated by the second device (such as, the time error, the third TA and the AoA) .

Merely for better understanding, some specific example embodiments will be described with reference to FIG. 4, which illustrates a flowchart of a process 400 for transmitting assistant information for identifying/verifying the location of the first device 110. It is to be understanding that the specific example embodiments described with reference to FIG. 4 are only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations.

At block 410, the first device 110 transmits an uplink transmission with a second transmission density, i.e., a normal uplink transmission.

At block 420, the first device 110 receives a second/third configuration from either the second device 120 or the third device 130, where the second/third configuration indicates the at least one time resource. In some example embodiments, the second device 120/third device 130 configures the first device 110 with the at least one time resource (such as, at least one SFN time) .

In some example embodiments, the second device 120/third device 130 configures the at least one time resource (such as, one or more system frame numbers, SFNs) to the first device 110, and further commands the first device 110 to collect temporary fine-granularity TA information (i.e., the first TA (s) ) to be used at the at least one time resource.

At block 430, the first device 110 determines whether the at least one time resource arrives.

If so, the first device 110 transmits an uplink transmission with a first transmission density at block 440 and transmits the first TA with a first granularity at block 450. Specifically, the fist device 110 determine the first TA to be used at each time resource and transmits uplink transmission on each time resource based on the determined first TA.

In some example embodiments, the first granularity may be of a Tc or Ts level (different from/smaller than a granularity used for NTN reporting as normal NTN processing, such as smaller than 1 ms) . Additionally, the first granularity may be only used during the location verification/identification procedure. That is, the granularity will change back to the second granularity (i.e., a normal granularity) after the location verification/identification procedure.

In some example embodiments, the uplink transmission on each time resource is transmitted with a first transmission density (different from/higher than a normal transmission density) . In some example embodiments, the first transmission density refers to a high density in time and/or frequency domain. Additionally, the first transmission density may be only used during the location verification/identification procedure. That is, the transmission density will change back to the normal granularity after the location verification/identification procedure.

Further, after receiving uplink transmission transmitted by the first device 110 based on the determined first TA, the second device 120 may obtain the respective time error corresponding to each first TA, where the time error and the first TA are corresponding to the same time resource.

In some example embodiments, based on the reported first TA and the time error on the same/similar time resource, the second device 120 can identify a circle on the ground (as shown in FIG. 3A) , i.e., the set of the possible locations of the first device 110. Further, the cross-point of the circles (such as, three circles) may be identified as the location of the first device 110.

Alternatively, in some example embodiments, the second device 120 obtains the AoA of the first device 110 for a specific time resource (such as, ab uplink SFN time) , then the second device 120 may identify the location of the first device 110 on the circle determined based on the specific first/third TA (as shown in FIG. 3B) .

In some example embodiments, if the first device 110 has reported its location, the second device 120 may further verify the location of the first device 110.

It is to be understood that the above discussions with regards to the second device 120 are also suitable for the third device 130 and the fourth device 140. Merely for brevity, the same or similar contents are omitted here.

In some embodiments, the first device 110 transmits an uplink transmission with a second transmission density at block 460, and transmits the TA with a second granularity at block 470.

Example Methods

FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a first device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the first device 110 in FIG. 1.

At block 510, the first device 110 determines at least one time resource configured by a second device 120 or a third device 130.

At block 520, the first device 110 determines at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource.

At block 530, the first device 110 transmits, the at least one respective first TA to the second device 120 or the third device 130.

In some example embodiments, a first granularity of the at least one first TA is finer than a second granularity of a second TA to be used at other time resource rather than the at least one time resource.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 transmits, to the second device 120, at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource based on the at least one first TA.

In some example embodiments, an uplink transmission of the at least one respective uplink transmission is at least one of the following: a transmission of uplink RS, a transmission of PUSCH, or a transmission of PUCCH.

In some example embodiments, a first transmission density of the uplink transmission is higher than a second transmission density of a second uplink transmission on other time resource rather than the at least one time resource.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 receives, from the second device 120, an indication indicating the first device to enable or disable transmitting the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 receives, from the second device, a first configuration indicating at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one respective first TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource. In some example embodiments, the first device 110 determines the at least one time resource based on the first configuration.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 receives, at a NAS layer of the first device 110, a second configuration from a third device 130 being a location management device, the second configuration indicating at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource. In some example embodiments, the first device 110 determines the at least one time resource based on the second configuration.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 triggers, at the NAS layer, the first device to determine the at least one respective first TA based on the second configuration.

In some example embodiments, determining the at least one respective first TA comprises: determining, at the AS layer, the at least one respective first TA corresponding to the at least one time resource.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 transmits, at the AS layer, the at least one respective first TA to the NAS layer of the first device 110.

In some example embodiments, transmitting the at least one respective first TA to the third device 130comprises: transmitting, at the NAS layer, the at least one respective first TA to the third device 130.

In some example embodiments, the first device 110 is a terminal device, and the second device 120 is a network device.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at a second device 120 in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the second device 120 in FIG. 1.

At block 610, the second device 120 determines at least one time resource to be sued by a first device.

At block 620, the second device 120 receives, from the first device 110, at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource.

At block 630, the second device 120 determines location information of the first device 110 based at least in part on one or more the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 receives, from the first device 110, at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource, the at least one respective uplink transmission being transmitted by the first device based on the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, further comprising: determining at least one respective time error based on the at least one respective uplink transmission and an uplink transmission timing.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 transmits the at least one respective time error to a third device being a location management device.

In some example embodiments, determining location information of the first device 110 comprises: determining the location information of the first device 110 based on the at least one respective time error and the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, determining location information of the first device 110 comprises: determining at least one respective third TA by adjusting the at least one respective first TA according to the at least one respective time error; and determining the location information of the first device 110 based on the at least one respective third TA.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 transmits the at least one respective third TA to a third device 130 being a location management device.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 obtains an AoA of the first device 110; and wherein determining the location information of the first device 110 comprises: determining the location information of the first device 110 based on the AoA and a first TA of the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 transmits, to the first device 110, an indication indicating the first device 110 to enable or disable transmitting the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 transmits, to the first device 110, a first configuration indicating at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource.

In some example embodiments, the second device 120 receives, from a third device 130 being a location management device, a third configuration indicating at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource. In some example embodiments, the second device 120 determines the at least one time resource based on the third configuration.

FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a third device in accordance with some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of the third device 130 in FIG. 1.

At block 710, obtaining, a location information of a first device.

At block 720, generating a second configuration to be used by the first device 110 and a third configuration to be used by a second device 120, each of the second and the third configuration indicating at least one of the following: at least one time resource, the first device determining at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource.

At block 730, transmitting, the second and third configurations to the first device 110 and the second device120, respectively.

In some example embodiments, the third device 130 receives, from the first device 110, the at least one respective first TA; and receives, from the second device 120, at least one of the following: at least one respective time error between the at least one respective uplink transmission and an uplink transmission timing, at least one respective third TA determined by the second device, the at least one respective third TA is determined by the second device 120 based on the at least one respective first TA and the at least one respective time error.

In some example embodiments, the third device 130 verifies the at least one respective first TA based on the at least one respective third TA; or verifies the location information of the first device 110, based on at least one of the following: the at least one respective time error, the at least one respective first TA, or the at least one respective third TA.

Example Apparatus, Device and Medium

In some example embodiments, a first apparatus capable of performing any of the method 500 (for example, the first device 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 500. 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 110 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus comprises means for determining at least one time resource configured by a second apparatus or a third apparatus; determining at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; and means for transmitting, the at least one respective first TA to the second apparatus or the third apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the second apparatus, at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource based on the at least one first TA.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, an indication indicating the first apparatus to enable or disable transmitting the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the second apparatus, a first configuration indicating at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one respective first TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus determines the at least one time resource based on the first configuration.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, at a non-access stratum (NAS) layer of the first apparatus, a second configuration from a third apparatus being a location management apparatus, the second configuration indicating at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource. In some example embodiments, the first apparatus determines the at least one time resource based on the second configuration.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for triggering, at the NAS layer, the first apparatus to determine the at least one respective first TA based on the second configuration.

In some example embodiments, means for determining the at least one respective first TA comprises: means for determining, at the AS layer, the at least one respective first TA corresponding to the at least one time resource.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, at the AS layer, the at least one respective first TA to the NAS layer of the first apparatus.

In some example embodiments, means for transmitting the at least one respective first TA to the third apparatus comprises: means for transmitting, at the NAS layer, the at least one respective first TA to the third apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus is a terminal apparatus, and the second apparatus is a network apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the first apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 500 or the first device 110. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the first apparatus.

In some example embodiments, a second apparatus capable of performing any of the method 600 (for example, the second device 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 600. 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 120 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus comprises means for determining at least one time resource to be used by a first apparatus; means for receiving, from the first apparatus, at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; and means for determining location information of the first apparatus based at least in part on one or more the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the first apparatus, at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource, the at least one respective uplink transmission being transmitted by the first apparatus based on the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, an uplink transmission of the at least one respective uplink transmission is at least one of the following: a transmission of uplink RS, a transmission of PUSCH, or a PUCCH.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for determining at least one respective time error based on the at least one respective uplink transmission and an uplink transmission timing.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting the at least one respective time error to a third apparatus being a location management apparatus.

In some example embodiments, means for determining location information of the first apparatus comprises: means for determining the location information of the first apparatus based on the at least one respective time error and the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, means for determining location information of the first apparatus comprises: means for determining at least one respective third TA by adjusting the at least one respective first TA according to the at least one respective time error; and means for determining the location information of the first apparatus based on the at least one respective third TA.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting the at least one respective third TA to a third apparatus being a location management apparatus.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for obtaining an AoA of the first apparatus; and wherein means for determining the location information of the first apparatus comprises: means for determining the location information of the first apparatus based on the AoA and a first TA of the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, an indication indicating the first apparatus to enable or disable transmitting the at least one respective first TA.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for transmitting, to the first apparatus, a first configuration indicating at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from a third apparatus being a location management apparatus, a third configuration indicating at least one of the following: the at least one time resource, the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource. In some example embodiments, the second apparatus determines the at least one time resource based on the third configuration.

In some example embodiments, the second apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 600 or the second device 120. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the second apparatus.

In some example embodiments, a third apparatus capable of performing any of the method 700 (for example, the third device 130 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for performing the respective operations of the method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module. The third apparatus may be implemented as or included in the third device 130 in FIG. 1.

In some example embodiments, the third apparatus comprises means for obtaining, a location information of a first apparatus; means for generating a second configuration to be used by the first apparatus and a third configuration to be used by a second apparatus, each of the second and the third configuration indicating at least one of the following: at least one time resource, the first apparatus determining at least one respective first TA to be used at the at least one time resource; the number of the at least one time resource, a periodicity of the at least one time resource, a pattern of the at least one time resource, a first granularity of the at least one TA, or a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource; and means for transmitting, the second and third configurations to the first and second apparatuses, respectively.

In some example embodiments, the third apparatus further comprises: means for receiving, from the first apparatus, the at least one respective first TA; and means for receiving, from the second apparatus, at least one of the following: at least one respective time error between the at least one respective uplink transmission and an uplink transmission timing, at least one respective third TA determined by the second apparatus, the at least one respective third TA is determined by the second apparatus based on the at least one respective first TA and the at least one respective time error.

In some example embodiments, the third apparatus further comprises: means for verifying the at least one respective first TA based on the at least one respective third TA; or means for verifying the location information of the first apparatus, based on at least one of the following: the at least one respective time error, the at least one respective first TA, or the at least one respective third TA.

In some example embodiments, the third apparatus further comprises means for performing other operations in some example embodiments of the method 700 or the third device 130. In some example embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the third apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a simplified block diagram of a device 800 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 800 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the first device 110, the second device 120 or a third device 130 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 800 includes one or more processors 810, one or more memories 820 coupled to the processor 810, and one or more communication modules 840 coupled to the processor 810.

The communication module 840 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 840 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 example embodiments, the communication module 840 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 810 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 800 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 820 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 824, 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. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 822 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 830 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 810. The instructions of the program 830 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 830 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 824. The processor 810 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 830 into the RAM 822.

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 830 so that the device 800 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 6. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 830 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 800 (such as in the memory 820) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 800. The device 800 may load the program 830 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 822 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

FIG. 9 shows an example of the computer readable medium 900 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 900 has the program 830 stored thereon.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in 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 embodiments 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.

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable 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. 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.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The 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, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a 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 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. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but 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 the 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.

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood 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 certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present 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

A first device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to perform:

determining at least one time resource configured by a second device or a third device;

determining at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource; and

transmitting, the at least one respective first TA to the second device or the third device.
The first device of claim 1, wherein a first granularity of the at least one first TA is finer than a second granularity of a second TA to be used at other time resource rather than the at least one time resource.
The first device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first device is further caused to perform:

transmitting, to the second device, at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource based on the at least one first TA.
The first device of claim 3, wherein an uplink transmission of the at least one respective uplink transmission is at least one of the following:

a transmission of uplink reference signal (RS) ,

a transmission of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) , or

a transmission of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) .
The first device of claim 3 or 4, wherein a first transmission density of the uplink transmission is higher than a second transmission density of a second uplink transmission on other time resource rather than the at least one time resource.
The first device of claim 1, wherein the first device is further caused to perform:

receiving, from the second device, an indication indicating the first device to enable or disable transmitting the at least one respective first TA.
The first device of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first device is further caused to perform:

receiving, from the second device, a first configuration indicating at least one of the following:

the at least one time resource,

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource,

a first granularity of the at least one respective first TA, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource, and

wherein determining the at least one time resource comprises:

determining the at least one time resource based on the first configuration.
The first device of claim any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the first device is further caused to perform:

receiving, at a non-access stratum (NAS) layer of the first device, a second configuration from a third device being a location management device, the second configuration indicating at least one of the following:

the at least one time resource,

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource,

a first granularity of the at least one TA, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource, and

wherein determining the at least one time resource comprises:

determining the at least one time resource based on the second configuration.
The first device of claim 8, wherein the first device is further caused to perform:

triggering, at the NAS layer, the first device to determine the at least one respective first TA based on the second configuration.
The first device of claim 9, wherein determining the at least one respective first TA comprises:

determining, at the AS layer, the at least one respective first TA corresponding to the at least one time resource.
The first device of claims 9 or 10, wherein the first device is further caused to perform:

transmitting, at the AS layer, the at least one respective first TA to the NAS layer of the first device.
The first device of any of claims 8 to 11, wherein transmitting the at least one respective first TA to the third device comprises:

transmitting, at the NAS layer, the at least one respective first TA to the third device.
The first device of any of claims 1-12, wherein the first device is a terminal device, and the second device is a network device.
A second device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the second device at least to perform:

determining at least one time resource to be used by a first device;

receiving, from the first device, at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource; and

determining location information of the first device based at least in part on one or more the at least one respective first TA.
The second device of claim 14, wherein a first granularity of the at least one first TA is finer than a second granularity of a second TA to be used at other time resource rather than the at least one time resource.
The second device of claim 14 or 15, wherein the second device is further caused to perform:

receiving, from the first device, at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource, the at least one respective uplink transmission being transmitted by the first device based on the at least one respective first TA.
The second device of any of claims 14 to 16, wherein an uplink transmission of the at least one respective uplink transmission is at least one of the following:

a transmission of uplink reference signal (RS) ,

a transmission of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) , or

a transmission of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) .
The second device of claim 17, wherein a first transmission density of the uplink transmission is higher than a second transmission density of a second uplink transmission on other time resource rather than the at least one time resource.
The second device of any of claims 16 to 18, wherein the second device is further caused to perform:

determining at least one respective time error based on the at least one respective uplink transmission and an uplink transmission timing.
The second device of claim 19, wherein the second device is further caused to perform:

transmitting the at least one respective time error to a third device being a location management device.
The second device of claim 19 or 20, wherein determining the location information of the first device comprises:

determining the location information of the first device based on the at least one respective time error and the at least one respective first TA.
The second device of claim 21, wherein determining the location information of the first device comprises:

determining at least one respective third TA by adjusting the at least one respective first TA according to the at least one respective time error; and

determining the location information of the first device based on the at least one respective third TA.
The second device of claim 22, wherein the second device is further caused to perform:

transmitting the at least one respective third TA to a third device being a location management device.
The second device of claim 14, wherein the second device is further caused to perform:

obtaining an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first device; and

wherein determining location information of the first device comprises:

determining the location information of the first device based on the AoA and a first TA of the at least one respective first TA.
The second device of an of claims 14 to 24, wherein the second device is further caused to perform:

transmitting, to the first device, an indication indicating the first device to enable or disable transmitting the at least one respective first TA.
The second device of claim 14, wherein the second device is further caused to perform:

transmitting, to the first device, a first configuration indicating at least one of the following:

the at least one time resource,

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource,

a first granularity of the at least one TA, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource.
The second device of claim 14, wherein the second device is further caused to perform:

receiving, from a third device being a location management device, a third configuration indicating at least one of the following:

the at least one time resource,

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource, and

wherein determining the at least one time resource comprises:

determining the at least one time resource based on the third configuration.
The second device of any of claims 14 to 27, wherein the first device is a terminal device, and the second device is a network device.
A third device, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the third device at least to perform:

obtaining, a location information of a first device;

generating a second configuration to be used by the first device and a third configuration to be used by a second device, each of the second and the third configuration indicating at least one of the following:

at least one time resource, the first device determining at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource;

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource,

a first granularity of the at least one TA, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource; and

transmitting, the second and third configurations to the first and second devices, respectively.
The third device of claim 29, wherein the third device is further caused to perform:

receiving, from the first device, the at least one respective first TA; and

receiving, from the second device, at least one of the following:

at least one respective time error between the at least one respective uplink transmission and an uplink transmission timing,

at least one respective third TA determined by the second device, the at least one respective third TA is determined by the second device based on the at least one respective first TA and the at least one respective time error.
The third device of claim 30, wherein the third device is further caused to perform at least one of the following:

verifying the at least one respective first TA based on the at least one respective third TA; or

verifying the location information of the first device, based on at least one of the following:

the at least one respective time error,

the at least one respective first TA, or

the at least one respective third TA.
The third device of any of claims 29 to 31, wherein the first device is a terminal device, and the second device is a network device.
A method, comprising:

determining, at a first device, at least one time resource configured by a second device or a third device;

determining at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource; and

transmitting, the at least one respective first TA to the second device or the third device.
The method of claim 33, wherein a first granularity of the at least one first TA is finer than a second granularity of a second TA to be used at other time resource rather than the at least one time resource.
The method of claim 33 or 34, further comprising:

transmitting, to the second device, at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource based on the at least one first TA.
The method of claim 35, wherein an uplink transmission of the at least one respective uplink transmission is at least one of the following:

a transmission of uplink reference signal (RS) ,

a transmission of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) , or

a transmission of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) .
The method of claim 35 or 36, wherein a first transmission density of the uplink transmission is higher than a second transmission density of a second uplink transmission on other time resource rather than the at least one time resource.
The method of claim 33, further comprising:

receiving, from the second device, an indication indicating the first device to enable or disable transmitting the at least one respective first TA.
The method of any of claims 33 to 38, further comprising:

receiving, from the second device, a first configuration indicating at least one of the following:

the at least one time resource,

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource,

a first granularity of the at least one respective first TA, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource, and

wherein determining the at least one time resource comprises:

determining the at least one time resource based on the first configuration.
The method of claim any of claims 33 to 38, further comprising:

receiving, at a non-access stratum (NAS) layer of the first device, a second configuration from a third device being a location management device, the second configuration indicating at least one of the following:

the at least one time resource,

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource,

a first granularity of the at least one TA, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource, and

wherein determining the at least one time resource comprises:

determining the at least one time resource based on the second configuration.
The method of claim 40, further comprising:

triggering, at the NAS layer, the first device to determine the at least one respective first TA based on the second configuration.
The method of claim 41, wherein determining the at least one respective first TA comprises:

determining, at the AS layer, the at least one respective first TA corresponding to the at least one time resource.
The method of claims 41 or 42, further comprising:

transmitting, at the AS layer, the at least one respective first TA to the NAS layer of the first device.
The method of any of claims 40 to 43, wherein transmitting the at least one respective first TA to the third device comprises:

transmitting, at the NAS layer, the at least one respective first TA to the third device.
The method of any of claims 33-44, wherein the first device is a terminal device, and the second device is a network device.
A method, comprising:

determining, at a second device, at least one time resource to be used by a first device;

receiving, from the first device, at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource; and

determining location information of the first device based at least in part on one or more the at least one respective first TA.
The method of claim 46, wherein a first granularity of the at least one first TA is finer than a second granularity of a second TA to be used at other time resource rather than the at least one time resource.
The method of claim 46 or 47, further comprising:

receiving, from the first device, at least one respective uplink transmission on the at least one time resource, the at least one respective uplink transmission being transmitted by the first device based on the at least one respective first TA.
The method of any of claims 46 to 48, wherein an uplink transmission of the at least one respective uplink transmission is at least one of the following:

a transmission of uplink reference signal (RS) ,

a transmission of physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) , or

a transmission of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) .
The method of claim 49, wherein a first transmission density of the uplink transmission is higher than a second transmission density of a second uplink transmission on other time resource rather than the at least one time resource.
The method of any of claims 48 to 50, further comprising:

determining at least one respective time error based on the at least one respective uplink transmission and an uplink transmission timing.
The method of claim 51, further comprising:

transmitting the at least one respective time error to a third device being a location management device.
The method of claim 51 or 52, wherein determining the location information of the first device comprises:

determining the location information of the first device based on the at least one respective time error and the at least one respective first TA.
The method of claim 53, wherein determining the location information of the first device comprises:

determining at least one respective third TA by adjusting the at least one respective first TA according to the at least one respective time error; and

determining the location information of the first device based on the at least one respective third TA.
The method of claim 54, further comprising:

transmitting the at least one respective third TA to a third device being a location management device.
The method of claim 46, further comprising:

obtaining an angle of arrival (AoA) of the first device; and

wherein determining location information of the first device comprises:

determining the location information of the first device based on the AoA and a first TA of the at least one respective first TA.
The method of an of claims 46 to 56, further comprising:

transmitting, to the first device, an indication indicating the first device to enable or disable transmitting the at least one respective first TA.
The method of claim 46, further comprising:

transmitting, to the first device, a first configuration indicating at least one of the following:

the at least one time resource,

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource,

a first granularity of the at least one TA, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource.
The method of claim 46, further comprising:

receiving, from a third device being a location management device, a third configuration indicating at least one of the following:

the at least one time resource,

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource, and

wherein determining the at least one time resource comprises:

determining the at least one time resource based on the third configuration.
The method of any of claims 46 to 59, wherein the first device is a terminal device, and the second device is a network device.
A method, comprising:

obtaining, at a third device, a location information of a first device;

generating a second configuration to be used by the first device and a third configuration to be used by a second device, each of the second and the third configuration indicating at least one of the following:

at least one time resource, the first device determining at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource;

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource,

a first granularity of the at least one TA, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource; and

transmitting, the second and third configurations to the first and second devices, respectively.
The method of claim 61, further comprising:

receiving, from the first device, the at least one respective first TA; and

receiving, from the second device, at least one of the following:

at least one respective time error between the at least one respective uplink transmission and an uplink transmission timing,

at least one respective third TA determined by the second device, the at least one respective third TA is determined by the second device based on the at least one respective first TA and the at least one respective time error.
The method of claim 62, further comprising:

verifying the at least one respective first TA based on the at least one respective third TA; or

verifying the location information of the first device, based on at least one of the following:

the at least one respective time error,

the at least one respective first TA, or

the at least one respective third TA.
The method of any of claims 61 to 63, wherein the first device is a terminal device, and the second device is a network device.
A first apparatus, comprising:

means for determining at least one time resource configured by a second apparatus or a third apparatus;

means for determining at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource; and

means for transmitting, the at least one respective first TA to the second apparatus or the third apparatus.
A second apparatus, comprising:

means for determining at least one time resource to be used by an first apparatus;

means for receiving, from the first apparatus, at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource; and

means for determining location information of the first apparatus based at least in part on one or more the at least one respective first TA.
A third apparatus, comprising:

means for obtaining, a location information of a first apparatus;

means for generating a second configuration to be used by the first apparatus and a third configuration to be used by a second apparatus, each of the second and the third configuration indicating at least one of the following:

at least one time resource, the first device determining at least one respective first time advance (TA) to be used at the at least one time resource;

the number of the at least one time resource,

a periodicity of the at least one time resource,

a pattern of the at least one time resource,

a first granularity of the at least one TA, or

a first transmission density of an uplink transmission on a time resource of the at least one time resource; and

means for transmitting, the second and third configurations to the first and second apparatuses, respectively.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of any of claims 33-45 or the method of any of claims 46-60 or the method of any of claims 61-64.