CN120283170A

CN120283170A - Signaling details for primary and additional measurement reports for aggregated Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) measurements

Info

Publication number: CN120283170A
Application number: CN202380084446.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: A·马诺拉科斯; M·库马尔; S·耶拉马利
Original assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Current assignee: Qualcomm Inc
Priority date: 2022-12-14
Filing date: 2023-10-24
Publication date: 2025-07-08
Also published as: WO2024129245A1

Abstract

Techniques for communication are disclosed. In one aspect, a location server: receives a report from a network node indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more previous PRS instances were phase-coherently transmitted by the network node; and receives a measurement report from a user equipment (UE), the measurement report including at least one aggregated positioning measurement of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Description

Signaling details for primary and additional measurement reports for aggregated Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) measurements

Background

1. Technical field

Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications.

2. Description of related Art

Wireless communication systems have evolved over many generations including first generation analog radiotelephone services (1G), second generation (2G) digital radiotelephone services (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high speed data, internet-capable wireless services, and fourth generation (4G) services (e.g., long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Many different types of wireless communication systems are currently in use, including cellular systems and Personal Communication Services (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), as well as digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), global system for mobile communications (GSM), and the like.

The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the next generation mobile network alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide higher data rates, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on reference signals (RS-P) for positioning, such as downlink, uplink or sidelink Positioning Reference Signals (PRS)), and other technical enhancements than the previous standard. These enhancements and the use of higher frequency bands, advances in PRS procedures and techniques, and high density deployment of 5G enable high precision positioning based on 5G.

Disclosure of Invention

The following presents a simplified summary in relation to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Accordingly, the following summary is not to be considered an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all contemplated aspects nor delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Accordingly, the sole purpose of the summary below is to present some concepts related to one or more aspects related to the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description that is presented below.

In an aspect, a method of communication performed by a location server includes receiving a report from a network node indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more previous PRS instances are transmitted phase coherently by the network node, and receiving a measurement report from a User Equipment (UE), the measurement report including at least one aggregated positioning measurement of one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

In an aspect, a location server includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to receive a report from a network node via the at least one transceiver indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more previous PRS instances were transmitted phase coherently by the network node, and receive a measurement report from a User Equipment (UE) via the at least one transceiver, the measurement report including at least one aggregated positioning measurement of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

In an aspect, a location server includes means for receiving a report from a network node indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more previous PRS instances are transmitted phase coherently by the network node, and means for receiving a measurement report from a User Equipment (UE), the measurement report including at least one aggregated positioning measurement of one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a location server, cause the location server to receive a report from a network node indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more previous PRS instances are transmitted phase coherently by the network node, and receive a measurement report from a User Equipment (UE), the measurement report including at least one aggregated positioning measurement of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the drawings and the detailed description.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the description of various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided solely for illustration and not limitation of the various aspects.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 2A, 2B, and 2C illustrate example wireless network structures in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3A, 3B, and 3C are simplified block diagrams of several example aspects of components that may be employed in a User Equipment (UE), a base station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured to support communications as taught herein.

Fig. 4 illustrates an example of various positioning methods supported in a New Radio (NR) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 6 is an illustration of an example of frequency domain Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) stitching in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 7 is a diagram illustrating aspects of mathematically modeling PRS bandwidth aggregation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating transient periods and transition considerations in view of PRS bandwidth aggregation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating transient periods and transition considerations in view of SRS bandwidth aggregation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 10 is a diagram illustrating a visual example of PRS assistance data in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 11 illustrates an example "NR-DL-TDOA-MEASELEMENT" Information Element (IE) 1100 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 12 illustrates an example "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement" Information Element (IE) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 13 illustrates an example "nr-DL-TDOA-AggregatedMeasurements-r18" Information Element (IE) according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of an aggregated report for primary PRS measurements in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 15 illustrates an example "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" Information Element (IE) according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 16 is a diagram illustrating an example of an aggregate report for additional PRS measurements in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 17 illustrates an example "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" Information Element (IE) according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of an aggregate report for additional PRS measurements in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 19 illustrates an example "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" Information Element (IE) according to aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 20 is a diagram illustrating an example of an aggregated report for additional PRS measurements in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 21 illustrates an example Long Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) capability transfer procedure, an assistance data transfer procedure, and a location information transfer procedure between a target device and a location server, in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Fig. 22 illustrates an example method of communication in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Aspects of the disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings for various examples provided for purposes of illustration. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the disclosure.

The words "exemplary" and/or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and/or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the following description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the particular application, on the desired design, on the corresponding technology, and so forth.

Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be recognized that various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequence of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that upon execution would cause or instruct an associated processor of a device to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the disclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, for each of the aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic configured to" perform the described action.

As used herein, unless otherwise indicated, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular Radio Access Technology (RAT). Generally, a UE may be any wireless communication device used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset location device, wearable device (e.g., smart watch, glasses, augmented Reality (AR)/Virtual Reality (VR) head-mounted device, etc.), vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), internet of things (IoT) device, etc. The UE may be mobile or may be stationary (e.g., at some time) and may be in communication with a Radio Access Network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be interchangeably referred to as "access terminal" or "AT," "client device," "wireless device," "subscriber terminal," "subscriber station," "user terminal" or "UT," "mobile device," "mobile terminal," "mobile station," or variations thereof. Generally, a UE may communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE may connect with external networks such as the internet as well as with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network and/or the internet are possible for the UE, such as through a wired access network, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.), and so forth.

A base station may operate in accordance with one of several RATs to communicate with a UE depending on the network in which the base station is deployed, and may alternatively be referred to as an Access Point (AP), a network node, a node B, an evolved node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a New Radio (NR) node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), and so on. The base station may be primarily used to support wireless access for UEs, including supporting data, voice, and/or signaling connections for the supported UEs. In some systems, the base station may provide only edge node signaling functions, while in other systems it may provide additional control and/or network management functions. The communication link through which a UE can communicate signals to a base station is called an Uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). The communication link through which a base station can transmit signals to a UE is called a Downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term "Traffic Channel (TCH)" may refer to either an uplink/reverse traffic channel or a downlink/forward traffic channel.

The term "base station" may refer to a single physical Transmission Reception Point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, in the case where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to the cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. In the case where the term "base station" refers to a plurality of co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). In the case where the term "base station" refers to a plurality of non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a Remote Radio Head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRP may be a serving base station receiving measurement reports from the UE and a neighboring base station whose reference Radio Frequency (RF) signal is being measured by the UE. Because as used herein, a TRP is a point by which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, references to transmitting from or receiving at a base station should be understood to refer to a particular TRP of a base station.

In some implementations supporting UE positioning, the base station may not support wireless access for the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and/or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead send reference signals to the UE to be measured by the UE and/or may receive and measure signals sent by the UE. Such base stations may be referred to as positioning beacons (e.g., in the case of transmitting signals to the UE) and/or as location measurement units (e.g., in the case of receiving and measuring signals from the UE).

An "RF signal" comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information through a space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of the RF signals through the multipath channel, the receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between the transmitter and the receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, where the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal, it is clear from the context that an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply as a "signal".

Fig. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system 100 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communication system 100, which may also be referred to as a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), may include various base stations 102 (labeled "BSs") and various UEs 104. Base station 102 may include a macrocell base station (high power cellular base station) and/or a small cell base station (low power cellular base station). In an aspect, the macrocell base station may include an eNB and/or a ng-eNB (where wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network), or a gNB (where wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of both, and the small cell base station may include a femtocell, a picocell, a microcell, and the like.

The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or a 5G core (5 GC)) over a backhaul link 122 and with one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) over the core network 170. The location server 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. The location server 172 may be integrated with the base station 102. The UE 104 may communicate directly or indirectly with the location server 172. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location server 172 through another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), and so forth. For purposes of signaling, communication between the UE 104 and the location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through the core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via the direct connection 128), with intermediate nodes (if any) omitted from the signaling diagram for clarity.

The base station 102 can perform functions related to one or more of delivering user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN Information Management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of alert messages, among others. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC/5 GC) over a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

The base station 102 may be in wireless communication with the UE 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. In an aspect, one or more cells may be supported by base stations 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity for communicating with a base station (e.g., on some frequency resource, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, frequency band, etc.), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., physical Cell Identifier (PCI), enhanced Cell Identifier (ECI), virtual Cell Identifier (VCI), cell Global Identifier (CGI), etc.) for distinguishing between cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine Type Communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types) that may provide access to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a particular base station, the term "cell" may refer to either or both of a logical communication entity and the base station supporting it, depending on the context. Furthermore, since TRP is typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" are used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to a geographic coverage area (e.g., sector) of a base station as long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within some portion of geographic coverage area 110.

Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with a larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102 '(labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network comprising both small cell base stations and macro cell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. The heterogeneous network may also include home enbs (henbs) that may provide services to a restricted group called a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG).

The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also referred to as a reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and/or Downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. Communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna techniques including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. Communication link 120 may pass through one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric for the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than for the uplink).

The wireless communication system 100 may also include a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) 150 in unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz) that communicates with a WLAN Station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, WLAN STA 152 and/or WLAN AP 150 may perform a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) or Listen Before Talk (LBT) procedure prior to communication in order to determine whether a channel is available.

The small cell base station 102' may operate in licensed and/or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum as used by the WLAN AP 150. The use of LTE/5G small cell base stations 102' in the unlicensed spectrum may improve access network coverage and/or increase access network capacity. NR in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 operable at mmW frequencies and/or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UEs 182. Extremely High Frequency (EHF) is a part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30GHz to 300GHz, with wavelengths between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. The radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. The near mmW can be extended down to a frequency of 3GHz with a wavelength of 100mm. The ultra-high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3GHz and 30GHz, which is also known as a centimeter wave. Communications using mmW/near mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short distances. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and/or receive) over the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for extremely high path loss and short range. Further, it should be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it is to be understood that the foregoing illustration is merely an example and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a particular direction. Conventionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that particular direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device. In order to change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitted, the network node may control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, a network node may use an array of antennas (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") that creates RF beams that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. In particular, RF currents from transmitters are fed to the respective antennas in the correct phase relationship such that radio waves from the individual antennas add together to increase radiation in the desired direction while canceling to suppress radiation in the undesired direction.

The transmit beams may be quasi co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the transmit antennas of the network node itself are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi co-located (QCL) relationships. In particular, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters for the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived from information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type a, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate the doppler shift, doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate the doppler shift and doppler spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate the doppler shift and average delay of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify an RF signal detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver may increase the gain setting of the antenna array in a particular direction and/or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase the gain level of) an RF signal received from that direction. Thus, when the receiver is said to be beamformed in a certain direction, this means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain in other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

The transmit beam and the receive beam may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that parameters of a second beam (e.g., a transmit beam or a receive beam) for a second reference signal may be derived from information about the first beam (e.g., the receive beam or the transmit beam) of the first reference signal. For example, the UE may use a particular receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a Synchronization Signal Block (SSB)) from the base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)) to the base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

Note that depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, this beam may be either the transmit beam or the receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming a downlink beam to transmit reference signals to the UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE is forming a downlink beam, the downlink beam is a reception beam that receives a downlink reference signal. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam may be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink reception beam, and if the UE is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink transmission beam.

Electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc., based on frequency/wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designated FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). It should be appreciated that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6GHz, FR1 is commonly (interchangeably) referred to as the "below 6 GHz" band in various documents and articles. With respect to FR2, a similar naming problem sometimes occurs, which is commonly (interchangeably) referred to in documents and articles as the "millimeter wave" band, although it differs from the Extremely High Frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz-300 GHz) identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as the "millimeter wave" band.

The frequency between FR1 and FR2 is commonly referred to as the mid-band frequency. Recent 5G NR studies have identified the operating band for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz-24.25 GHz). The frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics and/or FR2 characteristics, and thus may effectively extend the characteristics of FR1 and/or FR 2to mid-band frequencies. Furthermore, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designation FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz to 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz to 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz to 300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF frequency band.

In view of the above aspects, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term "below 6 GHz" and the like, if used herein, may broadly mean frequencies that may be less than 6GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Furthermore, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" or the like is used herein, it may be broadly meant to include mid-band frequencies, frequencies that may be within FR2, FR4-a or FR4-1 and/or FR5, or frequencies that may be within the EHF band.

In a multi-carrier system (such as 5G), one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as the "secondary carrier" or "secondary serving cell" or "SCell". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on a primary frequency (e.g., FR 1) utilized by the UE 104/182 and the cell in which the UE 104/182 performs an initial Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection reestablishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and may be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR 2) that may be configured and available to provide additional radio resources once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only the necessary signaling information and signals, e.g., since the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are typically UE-specific, those signaling information and signals that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104/182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carrier. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE 104/182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on the different carriers. Because the "serving cell" (whether the PCell or SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency/component carrier on which a certain base station communicates, the terms "cell," "serving cell," "component carrier," "carrier frequency," and the like may be used interchangeably.

For example, still referring to fig. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell") and the other frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 and/or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("scells"). The simultaneous transmission and/or reception of multiple carriers enables the UE 104/182 to significantly increase its data transmission and/or reception rate. For example, two 20MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate obtained for a single 20MHz carrier.

The wireless communication system 100 may also include a UE 164 that may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via a communication link 120 and/or with the mmW base station 180 via a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more scells for the UE 164 and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more scells for the UE 164.

In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 are capable of side-link communication. A UE with side link capability (SL-UE) may communicate with base station 102 over communication link 120 using a Uu interface (i.e., an air interface between the UE and the base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other over wireless side link 160 using a PC5 interface (i.e., an air interface between side link capable UEs). The wireless side link (or simply "side link") is an adaptation of the core cellular network (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without requiring communication through a base station. The side link communication may be unicast or multicast and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, internet of vehicles (V2X) communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV 2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV 2X) communication, etc.), emergency rescue applications, and the like. One or more SL-UEs in the SL-UE group using sidelink communication may be located within geographic coverage area 110 of base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside of the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102 or otherwise unable to receive transmissions from the base station 102. In some cases, groups of individual SL-UEs communicating via side link communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each SL-UE transmits to each other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, the base station 102 facilitates scheduling of resources for side link communications. In other cases, side-link communications are performed between SL-UEs without involving base station 102.

In an aspect, the side link 160 may operate over a wireless communication medium of interest that may be shared with other vehicles and/or other infrastructure access points and other wireless communications between other RATs. A "medium" may include one or more time, frequency, and/or spatial communication resources (e.g., covering one or more channels across one or more carriers) associated with wireless communication between one or more transmitter/receiver pairs. In an aspect, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed frequency band shared between the various RATs. While different licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)), these systems, particularly those employing small cell access points, have recently expanded operation into unlicensed frequency bands such as unlicensed national information infrastructure (U-NII) bands used by Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology, most notably IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi. Example systems of this type include different variations of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

Note that while fig. 1 illustrates only two of these UEs as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs. Further, although only UE 182 is described as being capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) are capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they may beamform towards each other (i.e., towards other SL-UEs), towards other UEs (e.g., UE 104), towards base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cell 102', access point 150), etc. Thus, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may utilize beamforming over side link 160.

In the example of fig. 1, any of the illustrated UEs (shown as a single UE 104 in fig. 1 for simplicity) may receive signals 124 from one or more geospatial vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In an aspect, SV 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that UE 104 may use as a standalone source of location information. Satellite positioning systems typically include a transmitter system (e.g., SV 112) positioned to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine its position on or above the earth based at least in part on positioning signals (e.g., signal 124) received from the transmitters. Such transmitters typically transmit a signal labeled with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code for a set number of chips. While typically located in SV 112, the transmitter may sometimes be located on a ground-based control station, base station 102, and/or other UEs 104. UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive signals 124 in order to derive geographic location information from SV 112.

In a satellite positioning system, the use of signals 124 may be enhanced by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that may be associated with or otherwise enable use with one or more global and/or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as Wide Area Augmentation Systems (WAAS), european Geostationary Navigation Overlay Services (EGNOS), multi-function satellite augmentation systems (MSAS), global Positioning System (GPS) assisted geographic augmentation navigation, or GPS and geographic augmentation navigation systems (GAGAN), etc. Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and/or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

In an aspect, SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In NTN, SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as modified base station 102 (without a ground antenna) or a network node in a 5 GC. This element will then provide access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities outside the 5G network such as internet web servers and other user devices. In this manner, UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from SV 112 instead of or in addition to communication signals from ground base station 102.

The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that are indirectly connected to the one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as "side links"). In the example of fig. 1, the UE 190 has a D2D P P link 192 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (e.g., the UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity over the D2D P P link) and a D2D P P link 194 with the WLAN STA 152 connected to the WLAN AP 150 (the UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based internet connectivity over the D2D P P link). In an example, the D2D P P links 192 and 194 may be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE direct (LTE-D), wiFi direct (WiFi-D), bluetooth ^®, and so on.

Fig. 2A illustrates an example wireless network structure 200. For example, the 5gc 210 (also referred to as a Next Generation Core (NGC)) may be functionally viewed as a control plane (C-plane) function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane (U-plane) function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to a data network, IP routing, etc.), which cooperate to form a core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5gc 210 and specifically to the user plane function 212 and the control plane function 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the NG-eNB 224 can also connect to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U213 to the user plane function 212. Further, the ng-eNB 224 may communicate directly with the gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gnbs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both NG-enbs 224 and gnbs 222. Either (or both) of the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 can communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that may communicate with the 5gc 210 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The location server 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that may connect to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5gc 210, and/or via the internet (not illustrated). Further, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network (e.g., a third party server, such as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

Fig. 2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 240. The 5gc 260 (which may correspond to the 5gc 210 in fig. 2A) may be functionally viewed as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and a user plane function provided by a User Plane Function (UPF) 262, which cooperate to form a core network (i.e., the 5gc 260). The functions of AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of Session Management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and Session Management Function (SMF) 266, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transmission of Short Message Service (SMs) messages between UE 204 and Short Message Service Function (SMSF) (not shown), and secure anchor functionality (SEAF). AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and UE 204 and receives an intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204 authentication procedure. In the case of UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM) based authentication, AMF 264 retrieves the security material from AUSF. The functions of AMF 264 also include Security Context Management (SCM). The SCM receives a key from SEAF, which uses the key to derive an access network specific key. The functionality of AMF 264 also includes location service management for policing services, transmission of location service messages between UE 204 and Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as location server 230), transmission of location service messages between NG-RAN 220 and LMF 270, EPS bearer identifier assignment for interoperation with Evolved Packet System (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, AMF 264 also supports functionality for non-3 GPP (third generation partnership project) access networks.

The functions of UPF 262 include serving as an anchor point (when applicable) for intra-RAT/inter-RAT mobility, serving as an external Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) handling of the user plane (e.g., uplink/downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and transmitting and forwarding one or more "end marks" to the source RAN node. UPF 262 may also support the transfer of location service messages between UE 204 and a location server (such as SLP 272) on the user plane.

The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, traffic steering configuration at the UPF 262 for routing traffic to the correct destination, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is referred to as the N11 interface.

Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that may communicate with the 5gc 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. LMF 270 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which may be connected to the LMF 270 via a core network, the 5gc 260, and/or via the internet (not illustrated). SLP 272 may support similar functionality as LMF 270, but LMF 270 may communicate with AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data), and SLP 272 may communicate with UE 204 and external clients (e.g., third party server 274) on the user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and/or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and/or IP).

Yet another optional aspect may include a third party server 274 that may communicate with the LMF 270, SLP 272, 5gc 260 (e.g., via AMF 264 and/or UPF 262), NG-RAN 220, and/or UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., a location estimate) of the UE 204. Thus, in some cases, the third party server 274 may be referred to as a location services (LCS) client or an external client. Third party server 274 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server.

The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5gc 260, and in particular the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, to one or more of the gnbs 222 and/or NG-enbs 224, respectively, in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB 222 and/or the ng-eNB 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, while the interface between the gNB 222 and/or the ng-eNB 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the "N3" interface. The gNB 222 and/or the NG-eNB 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via a backhaul connection 223 referred to as an "Xn-C" interface. One or more of the gNB 222 and/or the ng-eNB 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 over a wireless interface referred to as a "Uu" interface.

The functionality of the gNB 222 may be divided between a gNB central unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB distributed units (gNB-DUs) 228, and one or more gNB radio units (gNB-RU) 229. gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions in addition to those specifically assigned to gNB-DU 228, including delivering user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and so forth. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 generally hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that generally hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 may support one or more cells, and one cell may be supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and the one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The Physical (PHY) layer functionality of the gNB 222 is typically hosted by one or more independent gNB-RUs 229 that perform functions such as power amplification and signaling/reception. The interface between gNB-DU 228 and gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC layer, SDAP layer and PDCP layer, with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC layer and MAC layer, and with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

Deployment of a communication system, such as a 5G NR system, may be arranged with various components or constituent parts in a variety of ways. In a 5G NR system or network, a network node, network entity, mobility element of a network, RAN node, core network node, network element, or network equipment (such as a base station or one or more units (or one or more components) that perform base station functionality) may be implemented in an aggregated or decomposed architecture.

The aggregated base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. An decomposed base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed between two or more units, such as one or more central or Centralized Units (CUs), one or more Distributed Units (DUs), or one or more Radio Units (RUs). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed among one or more other RAN nodes. A DU may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CUs, DUs, and RUs may also be implemented as virtual units, i.e., virtual Central Units (VCUs), virtual Distributed Units (VDUs), or Virtual Radio Units (VRUs).

Base station type operation or network design may take into account the aggregate nature of the base station functionality. For example, the split base station may be used in an Integrated Access Backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN, such as a network configuration advocated by the O-RAN alliance), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also referred to as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). The decomposition may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing functionality of at least one unit, which may enable flexibility in network design. Various elements of the split base station or split RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other element.

Fig. 2C illustrates an example split base station architecture 250 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The split base station architecture 250 may include one or more Central Units (CUs) 280 (e.g., the gNB-CUs 226) that may communicate directly with the core network 267 (e.g., the 5gc 210, 5gc 260) via backhaul links, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more split base station units (such as near real-time (near RT) RAN Intelligent Controllers (RIC) 259 via E2 links or non-real-time (non RT) RIC 257 associated with the Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) framework 255, or both). CU 280 may communicate with one or more Distributed Units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via respective intermediate links, such as an F1 interface. DU 285 may be communicated with one or more Radio Units (RU) 287 (e.g., gNB-RU 229) via respective forward links. RU 287 may communicate with corresponding UEs 204 via one or more Radio Frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, the UE 204 may be served by multiple RUs 287 simultaneously.

Each of these units (i.e., CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near RT RIC 259, non-RT RIC 257, and SMO framework 255) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) via wired or wireless transmission media. Each of the units or an associated processor or controller providing instructions to a communication interface of the units may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via a transmission medium. For example, the units may include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals to one or more of the other units over a wired transmission medium. Additionally, the units may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, transmitter, or transceiver (such as a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver) configured to receive signals over a wireless transmission medium or to transmit signals to one or more of the other units, or both.

In some aspects, CU 280 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include Radio Resource Control (RRC), packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 280. CU 280 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some implementations, CU 280 can be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP unit may communicate bi-directionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface, such as an E1 interface. CU 280 may be implemented to communicate with DU 285 for network control and signaling, as desired.

DU 285 may correspond to a logic unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 287. In some aspects, the DU 285 may host one or more of a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and one or more high Physical (PHY) layers, such as modules for Forward Error Correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc., depending at least in part on a functional split, such as a functional split defined by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP). In some aspects, the DU 285 may further host one or more lower PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by DU 285 or with control functions hosted by CU 280.

Lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 287. In some deployments, RU 287 controlled by DU 285 may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions or low PHY layer functions (such as performing Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs), inverse FFTs (ifts), digital beamforming, physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.) or both based at least in part on a functional split (such as a lower layer functional split). In such an architecture, RU 287 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 204. In some implementations, the real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane communication and user plane communication with RU 287 may be controlled by corresponding DUs 285. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable implementation of DU 285 and CU 280 in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as vRAN architecture).

SMO framework 255 may be configured to support RAN deployment and deployment of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, SMO framework 255 may be configured to support deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which may be managed via operation and maintenance interfaces (such as O1 interfaces). For virtualized network elements, SMO framework 255 may be configured to interact with a Cloud computing platform, such as an open Cloud (O-Cloud) 269, to perform network element lifecycle management (such as to instantiate the virtualized network elements) via a Cloud computing platform interface, such as an O2 interface. Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near RT RIC 259. In some implementations, SMO framework 255 may communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN, such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 261, via an O1 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, SMO framework 255 may communicate directly with one or more RUs 287 via an O1 interface. SMO framework 255 may also include a non-RT RIC 257 configured to support the functionality of SMO framework 255.

The non-RT RIC 257 may be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications/features in the near-RT RIC 259. The non-RT RIC 257 may be coupled to or in communication with a near-RT RIC 259 (such as via an A1 interface). Near RT RIC 259 may be configured to include logic functions that enable near real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions through an interface (such as via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 280, one or more DUs 285, or both, and an O-eNB with near RT RIC 259.

In some implementations, to generate the AI/ML model to be deployed in the near RT RIC 259, the non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information may be utilized by near RT RIC 259 and may be received at SMO framework 255 or non-RT RIC 257 from a non-network data source or from a network function. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 257 or near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 257 may monitor long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ AI/ML models to perform corrective actions through SMO framework 255 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

Fig. 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including a location server 230 and an LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent of NG-RAN 220 and/or 5gc 210/260 infrastructure, such as a private network, depicted in fig. 2A and 2B) to support operations as described herein. It should be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different implementations in different types of devices (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described as providing similar functionality. Moreover, a given device may include one or more of these components. For example, an apparatus may include multiple transceiver components that enable the apparatus to operate on multiple carriers and/or communicate via different technologies.

The UE 302 and the base station 304 each include one or more Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, that provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for blocking transmission, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, etc. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., enbs, gnbs), etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a set of time/frequency resources in a particular spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) and conversely to receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.), respectively, according to a specified RAT. Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358.

In at least some cases, UE 302 and base station 304 each also include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. Short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for blocking transmissions, etc.) for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., wiFi, LTE-D, bluetooth ^®、Zigbee^®、Z-Wave^®, PC5, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), wireless Access for Vehicular Environments (WAVE), near Field Communications (NFC), ultra-wideband (UWB), etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest. Short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) and conversely receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.), respectively, according to a specified RAT. Specifically, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, bluetooth ^® transceivers, zigbee ^® and/or Z-Wave ^® transceivers, NFC transceivers, UWB transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and/or internet of vehicles (V2X) transceivers.

In at least some cases, UE 302 and base station 304 also include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be coupled to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and/or measuring satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. In the case where satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378 may be Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, galileo signals, beidou signals, indian regional navigation satellite system (NAVIC), quasi-zenith satellite system (QZSS), or the like. In the case of satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 being non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and/or user data) originating from a 5G network. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may include any suitable hardware and/or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning/communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request the appropriate information and operations from other systems and, at least in some cases, perform calculations using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm to determine the location of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively.

The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, that provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) for communicating with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 can employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or with other network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

The transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. The transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). In some implementations, the transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., implementing the transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit in a single device), may include separate transmitter circuits and separate receiver circuits in some implementations, or may be implemented in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry of the wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that allows the respective devices (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming," as described herein. Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that allows respective devices (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In an aspect, the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry may share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) such that respective devices may only receive or only transmit at a given time, rather than both receive and transmit at the same time. The wireless transceivers (e.g., WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include a network interception module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360 in some implementations, and network transceivers 380 and 390) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be generally characterized as "transceivers," at least one transceiver, "or" one or more transceivers. Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver may be inferred from the type of communication performed. For example, backhaul communication between network devices or servers typically involves signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) typically will involve signaling via a wireless transceiver.

The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in connection with the operations disclosed herein. The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 comprise one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, for providing functionality related to, e.g., wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. Accordingly, processors 332, 384, and 394 may provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, and the like. In an aspect, the processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, central Processing Units (CPUs), ASICs, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuits, or various combinations thereof.

UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 comprise memory circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each comprising a memory device), respectively, for maintaining information (e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Accordingly, memories 340, 386, and 396 may provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, and the like. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may include positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, that when executed cause the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, that when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.) cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. Fig. 3A illustrates possible locations of a positioning component 342, which may be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component. Fig. 3B illustrates possible locations for a positioning component 388, which may be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component. Fig. 3C illustrates a possible location of a positioning component 398, which may be part of, for example, one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.

The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the one or more processors 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting movement and/or orientation information independent of movement data derived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and/or the satellite signal receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), a altimeter (e.g., barometer), and/or any other type of movement detection sensor. Further, sensor 344 may include a plurality of different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide movement information. For example, the sensor 344 may use a combination of multi-axis accelerometers and orientation sensors to provide the ability to calculate position in a two-dimensional (2D) and/or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

Further, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides means for providing an indication (e.g., an audible and/or visual indication) to a user and/or for receiving user input (e.g., upon actuation of a sensing device (such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.) by the user). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.

Referring in more detail to the one or more processors 384, in the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The one or more processors 384 may provide RRC layer functionality associated with broadcast of system information (e.g., master Information Block (MIB), system Information Block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection setup, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting, PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions, RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction by automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC Service Data Units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and re-ordering of RLC data PDUs, and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement layer 1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes the Physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward Error Correction (FEC) decoding/decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes, e.g., binary Phase Shift Keying (BPSK), quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM). The decoded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers, multiplexed with reference signals (e.g., pilots) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying the time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol streams are spatially pre-coded to produce a plurality of spatial streams. Channel estimates from the channel estimator may be used to determine coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and/or channel state feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. Transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives signals through its corresponding antenna 316. The receiver 312 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If the destination of the multiple spatial streams is UE 302, they may be combined by receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, as well as the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332 that implement layer 3 (L3) and layer 2 (L2) functionality.

In the downlink, one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with downlink transmissions by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 provide RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection and measurement reporting, PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression/decompression and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), RLC layer functionality associated with upper layer PDU delivery, RLC layer functionality associated with RLC SDU concatenation, segmentation and reassembly, RLC data PDU re-segmentation and RLC data PDU re-ordering by ARQ, and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto Transport Blocks (TBs), de-multiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction by hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from reference signals or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antennas 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

Uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver functionality at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives signals via its corresponding antenna 356. Receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 384.

In the uplink, one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 302. IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may be provided to a core network. The one or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

For convenience, UE 302, base station 304, and/or network entity 306 are illustrated in fig. 3A, 3B, and 3C as including various components that may be configured according to various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. In particular, the various components in fig. 3A-3C are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choices, cost, use of equipment, or other considerations. For example, in the case of fig. 3A, a particular implementation of the UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop computer may have Wi-Fi and/or bluetooth capabilities without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 320 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 330, or may omit the sensor 344, etc. In another example, in the case of fig. 3B, a particular implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi "hot spot" access point that is not cellular capable), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 360 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 370, and so forth. For brevity, illustrations of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

The various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to each other by data buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may form or be part of the communication interfaces of the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306, respectively. For example, where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may provide communications between the different logical entities.

The components of fig. 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of fig. 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and/or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and/or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310-346 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of UE 302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 through 388 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Moreover, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 through 398 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of network entity 306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and/or functions are described herein as being performed by a UE, by a base station, by a network entity, etc. However, it should be understood that such operations, acts, and/or functions may in fact be performed by specific components or combinations of components (such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memories 340, 386, and 396, positioning components 342, 388, and 398, etc.) of UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc.

In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may operate differently than a network operator or cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and/or 5gc 210/260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a private network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., over a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).

NR supports a variety of cellular network-based positioning techniques including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and downlink-and uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink departure angle (DL-AoD) in NR. Fig. 4 illustrates examples of various positioning methods in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In the OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning process illustrated by scenario 410, the UE measures differences between the times of arrival (toas) of reference signals (e.g., positioning Reference Signals (PRSs)) received from paired base stations, referred to as Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports these differences to the positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives Identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and a plurality of non-reference base stations in the assistance data. The UE then measures RSTD between the reference base station and each non-reference base station. Based on the known locations of the involved base stations and RSTD measurements, a positioning entity (e.g., a UE for UE-based positioning or a location server for UE-assisted positioning) may estimate the location of the UE.

For DL-AoD positioning illustrated by scenario 420, the positioning entity uses measurement reports from the UE regarding received signal strength measurements for multiple downlink transmit beams to determine the angle between the UE and the sender base station. The positioning entity may then estimate the location of the UE based on the determined angle and the known location of the transmitting base station.

Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding Reference Signals (SRS)) transmitted by the UE to multiple base stations. Specifically, the UE transmits one or more uplink reference signals, which are measured by a reference base station and a plurality of non-reference base stations. Each base station then reports the time of receipt of the reference signal (known as the relative time of arrival (RTOA)) to a positioning entity (e.g., a location server) that knows the location and relative timing of the base station involved. Based on the received-to-receive (Rx-Rx) time difference between the reported RTOAs of the reference base station and the reported RTOAs of each non-reference base station, the known locations of the base stations, and their known timing offsets, the positioning entity may use the TDOA to estimate the location of the UE.

For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from a UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angle of the receive beam to determine the angle between the UE and the base station. Based on the determined angle and the known location of the base station, the positioning entity may then estimate the location of the UE.

Downlink and uplink based positioning methods include enhanced cell ID (E-CID) positioning and multiple Round Trip Time (RTT) positioning (also referred to as "multi-cell RTT" and "multi-RTT"). During RTT, a first entity (e.g., a base station or UE) sends a first RTT-related signal (e.g., PRS or SRS) to a second entity (e.g., a UE or base station), which sends the second RTT-related signal (e.g., SRS or PRS) back to the first entity. Each entity measures the time difference between the arrival time (ToA) or the reception time of the received RTT-related signal and the transmission time of the transmitted RTT-related signal. This time difference is referred to as the received transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement may be made or adjusted to include only the time difference between the received signal and the nearest slot boundary of the transmitted signal. The two entities may then communicate their Rx-Tx time difference measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 270) that calculates the round trip propagation time (i.e., RTT) between the two entities from the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., as the sum of the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements). Alternatively, one entity may transmit its Rx-Tx time difference measurement to another entity, which then calculates the RTT. The distance between these two entities may be determined from RTT and a known signal speed (e.g., speed of light). For multi-RTT positioning illustrated by scenario 430, a first entity (e.g., a UE or base station) performs RTT positioning procedures with multiple second entities (e.g., multiple base stations or UEs) to enable a location of the first entity to be determined (e.g., using multilateration) based on a distance to the second entity and a known location of the second entity. RTT and multi-RTT methods may be combined with other positioning techniques (such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD) to improve position accuracy, as illustrated by scenario 440.

The E-CID positioning method is based on Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements. In the E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, timing Advance (TA), and identifiers of detected neighbor base stations, estimated timing, and signal strength. The location of the UE is then estimated based on the information and the known location of the base station.

To assist in positioning operations, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include an identifier of a base station (or cell/TRP of the base station) from which the reference signal is measured, a reference signal configuration parameter (e.g., a number of consecutive slots including PRS, periodicity of consecutive slots including PRS, muting sequence, hopping sequence, reference signal identifier, reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and/or other parameters applicable to a particular positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base station itself (e.g., in periodically broadcast overhead messages, etc.). In some cases, the UE itself may be able to detect the neighboring network node without using assistance data.

In the case of an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, the assistance data may also include expected RSTD values and associated uncertainties or search windows surrounding the expected RSTD. In some cases, the expected range of values for RSTD may be +/-500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, the range of values of uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be +/-32 μs when any of the resources used for the positioning measurements are in FR 1. In other cases, the range of values of uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be +/-8 μs when all resources for positioning measurements are in FR 2.

The position estimate may be referred to by other names such as position estimate, position, location, position fix, etc. The location estimate may be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or may be municipal and include a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. The position estimate may be further defined relative to some other known position or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). The location estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with some specified or default confidence).

Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). Fig. 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating an example frame structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The frame structure may be a downlink or uplink frame structure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and/or different channels.

LTE (and in some cases NR) utilizes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option of using OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into a plurality of (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Generally, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDM. The interval between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers may be 15 kilohertz (kHz) and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Thus, for a system bandwidth of 1.25 megahertz (MHz), 2.5MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, or 20MHz, the nominal Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth may also be divided into a plurality of sub-bands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1,2,4, 8, or 16 subbands for a system bandwidth of 1.25MHz, 2.5MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, or 20MHz, respectively.

LTE supports a single parameter set (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple parameter sets (μ), e.g., subcarrier spacing of 15kHz (μ=0), 30kHz (μ=1), 60kHz (μ=2), 120kHz (μ=3), and 240kHz (μ=4) or greater may be available. In each subcarrier spacing there are 14 symbols per slot. For 15kHz SCS (μ=0), there is one slot per subframe, 10 slots per frame, slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms), symbol duration is 66.7 microseconds (μs), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 50. For 30kHz SCS (μ=1), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, slot duration is 0.5ms, symbol duration is 33.3 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 100. For 60kHz SCS (μ=2), there are four slots per subframe, 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25ms, the symbol duration is 16.7 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120kHz SCS (μ=3), there are eight slots per subframe, 80 slots per frame, slot duration is 0.125ms, symbol duration is 8.33 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240kHz SCS (μ=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, 160 slots per frame, slot duration is 0.0625ms, symbol duration is 4.17 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 800.

In the example of fig. 5, a parameter set of 15kHz is used. Thus, in the time domain, a 10ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes, each of which is 1ms, and each of which includes one slot. In fig. 5, time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis) with time increasing from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis) with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

The resource grid may be used to represent time slots, each of which includes one or more time-concurrent Resource Blocks (RBs) (also referred to as Physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into a plurality of Resource Elements (REs). The RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. In the parameter set of fig. 5, for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For the extended cyclic prefix, the RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain, six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

Some REs may carry a reference (pilot) signal (RS). The reference signals may include Positioning Reference Signals (PRS), tracking Reference Signals (TRS), phase Tracking Reference Signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary Synchronization Signals (PSS), secondary Synchronization Signals (SSS), synchronization Signal Blocks (SSB), sounding Reference Signals (SRS), etc., depending on whether the illustrated frame structure is used for uplink or downlink communications. Fig. 5 illustrates an example location (labeled "R") of an RE carrying a reference signal.

The set of Resource Elements (REs) used for transmission of PRSs is referred to as a "PRS resource". The set of resource elements may span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and 'N' (such as 1 or more) consecutive symbols within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, PRS resources occupy consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

The transmission of PRS resources within a given PRB has a particular comb size (also referred to as "comb density"). The comb size 'N' represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency/tone spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource allocation. Specifically, for the comb size 'N', PRS are transmitted in every nth subcarrier of one symbol of the PRB. For example, for comb-4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, 8) are used to transmit PRS of the PRS resources. Currently, for DL-PRS, comb sizes of comb-2, comb-4, comb-6, and comb-12 are supported. FIG. 5 illustrates an example PRS resource configuration for comb-4 (which spans four symbols). That is, the location of the shaded RE (labeled "R") indicates the comb-4 PRS resource configuration.

Currently, DL-PRS resources may span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot using a full frequency domain interleaving pattern. DL-PRS resources may be configured in any downlink or Flexible (FL) symbol of a slot that is configured by a higher layer. There may be a constant Energy Per Resource Element (EPRE) for all REs for a given DL-PRS resource. The symbol-by-symbol frequency offsets for comb tooth sizes 2, 4, 6 and 12 over 2, 4, 6 and 12 symbols are as follows. 2 symbol comb-2 {0, 1}, 4 symbol comb-2 {0, 1, 0, 1}, 6 symbol comb-2 {0, 1, 0,1, 0, 1}, 12 symbol comb-2 {0, 1, 0,1, 0,1, 0, 1}, 4 symbol comb-4 {0, 2, 1, 3} (as in the example of fig. 5), 12 symbol comb-4 {0, 2, 1,3, 0, 2, 1,3, 0, 2, 1, 3}, 6 symbol comb-6 {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}, 12 symbol comb-6 {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 0,3, 1, 4, 2, 5}, and 12 symbol comb-12 {0, 6, 3, 9, 1, 7, 4, 10, 8, 11.

The "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources for transmitting PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. Furthermore, PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. The PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a particular TRP (identified by the TRP ID). Furthermore, the PRS resources in the PRS resource set have the same periodicity, common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as "PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor") across the slots. Periodicity is the time from a first repetition of a first PRS resource of a first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource of a next PRS instance. The periodicity may have a length selected from 2 Σ {4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240} slots, where μ=0, 1,2, 3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1,2,4,6,8,16,32} slots.

The PRS resource IDs in the PRS resource set are associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where one TRP may transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in the PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam and, as such, "PRS resources" (or simply "resources") may also be referred to as "beams. Note that this does not have any implication as to whether the UE knows the TRP and beam on which to send PRS.

A "PRS instance" or "PRS occasion" is one instance of a periodically repeated time window (such as a set of one or more consecutive slots) in which PRSs are expected to be transmitted. PRS occasions may also be referred to as "PRS positioning occasions", "PRS positioning instances", "positioning occasions", "positioning repetitions", or simply "occasions", "instances", or "repetitions".

A "positioning frequency layer" (also simply referred to as a "frequency layer") is a set of one or more PRS resource sets with the same value for certain parameters across one or more TRPs. In particular, the set of PRS resource sets have the same subcarrier spacing and Cyclic Prefix (CP) type (meaning that all parameter sets supported for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) are also supported by PRS), the same point a, the same value of downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The point a parameter takes the value of the parameter "ARFCN-ValueNR" (where "ARFCN" stands for "absolute radio frequency channel number") and is an identifier/code that specifies a pair of physical radio channels for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of four PRBs with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers have been defined, and up to two PRS resource sets per TRP may be configured per frequency layer.

The concept of the frequency layer is somewhat similar to that of component carriers and bandwidth parts (BWP), but differs in that component carriers and BWP are used by one base station (or macrocell base station and small cell base station) to transmit data channels, while the frequency layer is used by several (typically three or more) base stations to transmit PRS. The UE may indicate the number of frequency layers that the UE can support when the UE transmits its positioning capabilities to the network, such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session. For example, the UE may indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

Note that the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as, but not limited to PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc., as defined in LTE and NR. Further, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may refer to a downlink positioning reference signal, an uplink positioning reference signal, or a side chain positioning reference signal unless otherwise indicated by the context. If further differentiation of the type of PRS is required, the downlink positioning reference signal may be referred to as "DL-PRS", the uplink positioning reference signal (e.g., SRS for positioning, or PTRS) may be referred to as "UL-PRS", and the sidelink positioning reference signal may be referred to as "SL-PRS". Further, for signals (e.g., DMRS) that may be transmitted in the downlink, uplink, and/or side links, these signals may be preceded by "DL", "UL", or "SL" to distinguish directions. For example, "UL-DMRS" may be different from "DL-DMRS".

NR positioning techniques are expected to provide high accuracy (horizontal and vertical), low latency, network efficiency (scalability, reference signal overhead, etc.), and device efficiency (power consumption, complexity, etc.), especially for commercial positioning use cases (including commercial use cases in general and IoT use cases (I) in particular). The accuracy of the position estimate is expected to depend on the accuracy of the positioning measurements (e.g., toA, RSTD, rx-Tx, etc.) of the received PRS, and the greater the bandwidth of the measured PRS, the more accurate the positioning measurements.

PRSs are typically transmitted over the entire bandwidth supported by the transmitter. However, the receiver may not be able to measure PRSs transmitted over the entire bandwidth within a single time interval (e.g., one or more symbols or slots). One technique for increasing the bandwidth of the measured PRS is to aggregate PRS across the frequency domain (referred to as "bandwidth aggregation" or "frequency domain stitching") and/or aggregate PRS across the time domain (referred to as "time domain stitching"). In frequency domain PRS concatenation, PRSs are measured (by a base station or UE) over multiple (preferably contiguous) bandwidth intervals (e.g., positioning frequency layers, bandwidth portions (BWP), or contiguous PRB groups, etc.) within one or more component carriers, bands, or other bandwidth portions. By spanning multiple bandwidth intervals, the effective bandwidth of the PRS is increased, resulting in improved positioning measurement accuracy.

In time domain PRS stitching, multiple bandwidth intervals also span multiple (preferably contiguous) time intervals (e.g., contiguous symbols, slots, groups of subframes, etc.). When implementing time-domain and/or frequency-domain PRS stitching, PRS should preferably be measured over multiple bandwidth intervals and/or time intervals so that the receiver can make certain assumptions about PRS measured within multiple time slots and/or positioning frequency layers (e.g., QCL type, same antenna ports, etc.).

Fig. 6 is a diagram 600 of an example of frequency domain PRS stitching in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, PRSs 610-1, 610-2, and 610-3 (labeled "PRS1", "PRS2", and "PRS3", respectively) make measurements over corresponding bandwidth intervals (labeled "BW1", "BW2", and "BW3", respectively) within a given frequency band (labeled "B1"). The bandwidth interval may be, for example, a positioning frequency layer. The band "B1" may be a band in FR1 or FR 2. The PRS 610 may be a DL-PRS transmitted by a base station to one or more UEs, a UL-PRS (e.g., SRS) transmitted by a UE to one or more base stations, or a sidelink PRS transmitted by a UE to one or more other UEs.

In fig. 6, time is represented in a horizontal manner, and frequency is represented in a vertical manner. Thus, in the example of fig. 6, three bandwidth intervals are contiguous in the frequency domain. Although fig. 6 illustrates a single frequency band "B1", the bandwidth interval may instead span multiple frequency bands (possibly in both FR1 and FR 2), with or without guard bands between different frequency bands. Further, the bandwidth interval may span one or more component carriers within one or more frequency bands. In addition, while fig. 6 illustrates PRS 610 measuring over three bandwidth intervals, it should be understood that PRS 610 may measure over only two bandwidth intervals or over more than three bandwidth intervals.

In the time domain, PRS 610 may be PRS occasion, PRS resource, time slot containing PRS, and so on. PRS 610 should generally be identical to each other except that measurements are made over different bandwidth intervals. However, while PRSs 610 in fig. 6 are illustrated as starting and ending simultaneously, this is not always the case, and some PRSs 610 may start or end or have different lengths than other PRSs 610.

While PRS bandwidth aggregation provides improved accuracy, integrity, and power efficiency, transmitting and receiving PRS 610 using different bandwidth intervals (especially bandwidth intervals across different component carriers or bands) may introduce problems such as timing errors, phase shifts, frequency errors, power imbalance, and the like.

Fig. 7 is a diagram 700 illustrating aspects of mathematically modeling PRS bandwidth aggregation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 7, two PRSs (e.g., DL-PRS, SL-PRS, UL-PRS) are measured over two different bandwidth segments during two different time intervals. Mathematically, the channel over which the first PRS (e.g., PRS 610-1) is measured may be denoted as h1 (f 1, t 1), where f1 represents frequency, t1 represents time, and h1 represents the channel as a function of frequency f1 and time t 1. The channel on which the relevant PRS is measured (e.g., PRS to be stitched together with the first PRS, such as PRS 610-2) may be denoted as h2 (f 2, t 2). The following equation shows how the second PRS correlates with the first PRS.

In the above equation, a is the amplitude offset, R is the phase slope (which is related to the time drift between the two PRSs),Is a transmission time difference (e.g., when two PRSs are transmitted, where "TOD" stands for "departure time"), anIs the phase shift (or phase difference or phase offset of phase discontinuity) between the channel on which the first PRS is measured and the channel on which the relevant PRS is measured.And (3) withThe relationship between is only valid when |t ₂ – t₁ | is less than or equal to some maximum timing coherence.

The phase shift is the phase difference between the two waveforms or the phase difference. The phase shift may occur in both intra-band PRS and inter-band PRS (i.e., PRS over a bandwidth interval within the same component carrier or frequency band or PRS over bandwidth intervals within multiple component carriers or frequency bands). The phase shift is particularly apparent when the two signals (waveforms) are combined together by a physical process, such as by the analog front end of the receiver. However, the phase shift may be caused by the architecture of both the transmitter and the receiver. For example, any change in the transmit/receive RF chain may cause a phase discontinuity in the PRS 610. The phase shift between the waveforms of PRSs measured over multiple bandwidth intervals may result in additional measurement errors in the measurement estimation process (e.g., toA estimation process), which may reduce positioning accuracy.

Despite these problems, it is still desirable to support PRS and SRS bandwidth aggregation. For example, wi-Fi and UWB provide competitive positioning performance by utilizing their large system bandwidth. In particular, wi-Fi 6 may utilize up to 160MHz bandwidth, and Wi-Fi 7 is expected to increase the supported bandwidth to 320MHz. Commercially available UWB-based positioning utilizes at least 500MHz bandwidth and in some scenarios even higher.

The spectrum of interest includes licensed bands such as 200MHz in the 3400MHz to 3600MHz band, 160MHz in the 2496MHz to 2690MHz band, and 150MHz in the 3550MHz to 3700MHz national broadband radio service (CBRS) band (in the united states). In FR2, the licensed bands of interest include the 28GHz band and the 39GHz band. With respect to unlicensed bands, the 3GPP standards do not prevent/block PRS from transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum even though further enhancements in PRS operation in the unlicensed spectrum are not explicitly specified.

Thus, PRS and SRS bandwidth aggregation should be supported in order to be competitive in a scenario where NR-based positioning and UWB/Wi-Fi-based positioning may have to compete.

Fig. 8 is a diagram 800 illustrating transient periods and transition considerations in view of PRS bandwidth aggregation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 8, a first DL-PRS (labeled "PRS 1") is transmitted/measured on a first component carrier (labeled "CC 1"), a PBCH, SSB, or DMRS is transmitted/measured on a second component carrier (labeled "CC 2"), and a second DL-PRS (labeled "PRS 2") is transmitted/measured on a third component carrier (labeled "CC 3").

The vertical blocks represent the time periods when transition behavior is present. That is, they are transient periods. During these times, some requirements are not expected to be met because the device is performing the transition.

In the example of fig. 8, PBCH, SSB, or DMRS between two DL-PRSs may result in splitting the coherence between PRS1 and PRS2 into three "time domain coherence blocks. That is, PRS1 and PRS2 may be transmitted/measured coherently during a first time period t1 (with phase θ1), incoherently during a second time period t2 (with phase θ2), and again coherently during a third time period t3 (with phase θ3).

Fig. 9 is a diagram 900 illustrating transient periods and transition considerations in view of SRS bandwidth aggregation in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 9, a first SRS (labeled "SRS 1") is transmitted/measured on a first component carrier (labeled "CC 1"), a PUSCH is transmitted/measured on a second component carrier (labeled "CC 2"), and a second SRS (labeled "SRS 2") is transmitted/measured on a third component carrier (labeled "CC 3").

As in fig. 8, the vertical block represents the period of time when there is transition behavior. That is, they are transient periods. During these times, some requirements are not expected to be met because the device is performing the transition.

In the example of fig. 9, PUSCH between two SRS may result in splitting the coherence between SRS1 and SRS2 into three "time domain coherence blocks. That is, SRS1 and SRS2 may be transmitted/measured coherently during the first period t1 (with phase θ1), incoherently during the second period t2 (with phase θ2), and again coherently during the third period t3 (with phase θ3).

In order to perform DL-PRS aggregation, the UE needs to know whether DL-PRS resources are transmitted phase coherently. This is because the UE typically needs to know whether to perform coherent integration (where PRSs are sent phase coherently) or non-coherent integration (where PRSs are not sent phase coherently) on DL-PRSs measured over different bandwidth intervals. However, due to dynamic scheduling decisions, the base station may not coherently transmit PRS resources. For example, as shown in fig. 8, the base station may transmit PBCH, SSB, or DMRS on a frequency interval between bandwidth intervals in which PRS are transmitted.

As a first technique described herein, a base station (e.g., a gNB) can signal (with a timestamp) whether PRS resources that have been transmitted are coherently transmitted after transmitting a particular PRS instance. In other words, after transmitting the PRS, the base station may provide information to a location server (e.g., LMF) indicating whether PRS resources were indeed coherently transmitted. The UE that measures PRS shall report both the legacy PRS measurements (i.e., no aggregated PRS) and the aggregated PRS measurements and time stamps to the location server. If the measurements are not coherently transmitted PRS measurements, the location server may ignore the aggregated PRS measurements or use the aggregated PRS measurements if the PRS is indeed coherently transmitted.

The signaling details for the additional measurements of the aggregated PRS measurements should include which of the PRS resources are used to perform PRS aggregation, legacy reporting, and additional path reporting for PRS aggregation.

Fig. 10 is a diagram 1000 illustrating a visual example of PRS assistance data in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. For a positioning session, the location server may provide PRS assistance data (e.g., in one or more LPP provisioning assistance data messages) for the illustrated PRS configuration to the UE. The assistance data illustrated in fig. 10 includes assistance data for two TRPs (labeled "TRP1" and "TRP 2") operating in the same positioning frequency layer (labeled "positioning frequency layer 1"). The first TRP is associated with two PRS resource sets labeled "PRS resource set 1" and "PRS resource set 2" (e.g., transmitting these resource sets), and the second TRP is associated with one PRS resource set labeled "PRS resource set 3". Each PRS resource set includes at least two PRS resources. Specifically, a first set of PRS resources ("PRS resource set 1") includes PRS resources labeled "PRS resource 1" and "PRS resource 2", a second set of PRS resources ("PRS resource set 2") includes PRS resources labeled "PRS resource 3" and "PRS resource 4", and a third set of PRS resources ("PRS resource set 3") includes PRS resources labeled "PRS resource 5" and "PRS resource 6".

When the UE is configured with multiple PRS resources beyond its capability in the assistance data of the positioning method, the UE assumes that the DL-PRS resources in the assistance data are ordered in descending order of measurement priority. Thus, the four frequency layers may or may not be ordered by priority, the 64 TRPs of each frequency layer may or may not be ordered by priority, the two PRS resource sets of each TRP of the frequency layers may or may not be ordered by priority, and the 64 PRS resources of the PRS resource sets of each TRP of each frequency layer may or may not be ordered by priority. The reference indicated by the parameter "nr-DL-PRS-ReferenceInfo-r16" for each frequency layer has at least the highest priority for DL-TDOA positioning.

Fig. 11 illustrates an example "NR-DL-TDOA-MEASELEMENT" Information Element (IE) 1100 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The "NR-DL-TDOA-MEASELEMENT" IE 1100 is used by the target UE (i.e., the located UE) to provide NR-DL-TDOA measurements to the location server. The "NR-DL-TDOA-MEASELEMENT" IE 1100 may be provided in an LPP provide location information message.

Fig. 12 illustrates an example "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement" Information Element (IE) 1200 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement" IE 1200 is indicated by the "NR-DL-TDOA-MEASELEMENT" IE 1100. The UE may be configured to report up to four DL-RSTD measurements per pair of "DL-PRS-IDs" subject to UE capabilities, with each measurement being made between a different pair of DL-PRS resources or set of DL-PRS resources within the DL-PRS configured for those "DL-PRS-IDs". Up to four measurements performed on the same pair of "DL-PRS-IDs" and all DL-RSTD measurements in the same report use a single reference timing.

Both the "NR-DL-TDOA-MEASELEMENT" IE 1100 and the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement" IE 1200 are described in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 37.355, which is publicly available and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The present disclosure discusses NR-DL-TDOA positioning methods, but it should be understood that the techniques described herein are applicable to all positioning methods.

Referring back to signaling details for reporting additional measurements for aggregated PRS measurements, in an aspect, the UE may perform independent reporting for PRS aggregation. For example, the UE may report an aggregated measurement information element, which is referred to herein as "nr-DL-TDOA-AggregatedMeasurements-r18". This information element should be backward compatible with earlier versions of the 3GPP standard.

If PRS measurements are obtained by PRS aggregation, the UE should report the following information. For example, the "nr-DL-TDOA-AggregatedMeasurements-r18" IE may include a maximum PRS aggregation field (referred to herein as "MaxPRSaggregation-r 18") indicating the maximum number of PRS resources aggregated to generate a result, and a PRS aggregation set field (referred to herein as "nr-PRS-Aggregator-set-r 18") indicating the PRS ID, PRS resource set ID, and tuple of PRS resource IDs for PRS aggregation. The reported primary PRS measurements (e.g., in the "NR-DL-TDOA-MEASELEMENT" IE 1100) may be aggregated by different PRS IDs, PRS resource set IDs, and/or PRS resource IDs.

Fig. 13 illustrates an example "nr-DL-TDOA-AggregatedMeasurements-r18" Information Element (IE) 1300 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In the example of fig. 13, the "NR-DL-TDOA-AggregatedMeasurements-r18" IE 1300 may be used to report aggregated PRS measurements for primary PRS measurements (e.g., PRS measurements reported in the "NR-DL-TDOa-MEASELEMENT" IE 1100). The combination of PRS ID ("DL-PRS-ID-r 16"), PRS resource set ID ("NR-DL-PRS-ResourceSetID-r 16"), and PRS resource ID ("NR-DL-PRS-ResourceID-r 16") reported in the legacy reporting element (e.g., "NR-DL-TDOA-MEASELEMENT" IE 1100) identifies the first PRS resource (e.g., PRS 610-1) that is aggregated.

The "nr-DL-TDOA-AggregatedMeasurements-r18" IE 1300 includes an "nr-PRS-Aggregator-set-r18" IE 1350. The "nr-PRS-Aggregator-set-r18" IE 1350 includes one or more combinations of PRS IDs ("DL-PRS-ID-r 16"), PRS resource set IDs ("nr-DL-PRS-ResourceSetID-r 16"), and PRS resource IDs ("nr-DL-PRS-ResourceID-r 16"). These values correspond to additional PRS resources (e.g., PRS 610-2 and 610-3) aggregated with the PRS resources (e.g., PRS 610-1) reported in the legacy reporting structure (e.g., "NR-DL-TDOA-MEASELEMENT" IE 1100).

Fig. 14 is a diagram 1400 illustrating an example of an aggregated report for primary PRS measurements in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In the example of fig. 14, the UE aggregates positioning measurements (PRS measurements) of a first PRS resource ID (labeled "PRS resource ID 0") in a first PRS ID and a second PRS ID (labeled "PRS ID 1" and "PRS ID 2"). Note that PRS ID is a proxy for TRP ID and effectively indicates Positioning Frequency Layer (PFL).

Fig. 15 illustrates an example "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" Information Element (IE) 1500 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In the example of FIG. 15, an "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1500 can be used to report aggregated PRS measurements for additional PRS measurements reported in an "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r16" IE 1200. That is, the UE may report both the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r16" IE 1200 and the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1500.

The "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1500 includes an "NR-PRS-Aggregator-set-r18" IE 1550. In the example of FIG. 15, PRS resources identified by a combination of PRS ID ("DL-PRS-ID-r 16"), PRS resource set ID ("NR-DL-PRS-ResourceSetID-r 16"), and PRS resource ID ("NR-DL-PRS-ResourceID-r 16") in an additional measurement report element (e.g., "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1500) are aggregated with the PRS resources identified in "NR-PRS-Aggregator-set-r18" IE 1550. In this way, the additional measurement report is only forced to follow the TRP location association defined in the additional measurement report element (e.g., "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1500).

Fig. 16 is a diagram 1600 illustrating an example of an aggregate report for additional PRS measurements in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Diagram 1600 illustrates how additional PRS measurements may be reported using the "nr-DL-TDOA-AggregatedMeasurements-r18" IE 1500 illustrated in fig. 15. In the example of fig. 16, the UE aggregates PRS measurements of a first PRS resource ID (labeled "PRS resource ID 0") of the first PRS ID and the second PRS ID (labeled "PRS ID 1" and "PRS ID 2") to obtain aggregated primary PRS measurements (reported in "nr-DL-TDOA-AggregatedMeasurements-r18" IE 1300). The UE also aggregates positioning measurements of a second PRS resource ID (labeled "PRS resource ID 1") of the first PRS ID and the third PRS ID to obtain additional aggregated PRS measurements (reported in "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1500).

Still referring to fig. 16, the reporting of the primary path (i.e., primary PRS measurements) and the additional path (e.g., additional PRS measurements in "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1500) are independent in that both contain the same sequence of three element tuples { prsid, PRS resource set ID, resource ID } for PRS resource reporting. In other words, the additional measurements may result from aggregating PRS resources according to a different PRS-ID tuple than that used in the primary measurement. For example, as shown in fig. 16, the primary measurement uses PRS ID1 and PRS ID, while the additional measurement uses PRS ID1 and PRS ID3.

Fig. 17 illustrates an example "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" Information Element (IE) 1700 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In the example of FIG. 17, the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1700 may be used to report aggregated PRS measurements for additional PRS measurements reported in the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r16" IE 1200. That is, the UE may report both the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r16" IE 1200 and the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1700.

The "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1700 includes an "NR-PRS-Aggregator-set-r18" IE 1750. In the example of FIG. 17, PRS resources identified by a PRS resource set ID ("NR-DL-PRS-ResourceSetID-r 16") and a PRS resource ID ("NR-DL-PRS-ResourceID-r 16") in an additional measurement report element (e.g., an "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1700) are aggregated with PRS resources identified in an "NR-PRS-Aggregator-set-r18" IE 1750. In this way, the additional measurement report is forced to follow the PRS ID association defined in the additional measurement report element (e.g., "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1700).

Fig. 18 is a diagram 1800 illustrating an example of an aggregate report for additional PRS measurements in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The diagram 1800 illustrates how additional PRS measurements may be reported using the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1700 illustrated in FIG. 17. In the example of fig. 18, the UE aggregates PRS measurements of a first PRS resource ID (labeled "PRS resource ID 0") of the first PRS ID and the second PRS ID (labeled "PRS ID 1" and "PRS ID 2") to obtain aggregated primary PRS measurements (reported in "nr-DL-TDOA-AggregatedMeasurements-r18" IE 1300).

In the example of fig. 18, the additional measurement report is forced to follow PRS ID associations defined for the primary measurement report. That is, additional measurements may be performed across only PRS resource sets and/or PRS resources (i.e., on different PRS resource sets and/or PRS resources) rather than PRS IDs. Thus, in the example of fig. 18, the UE aggregates positioning measurements of a second PRS resource ID (labeled "PRS resource ID 1") in a first PRS resource set of first PRS IDs (labeled "PRS resource set 0") and a first PRS resource ID ("PRS resource ID 0") in a second PRS resource set of second PRS IDs (labeled "PRS resource set 1") to obtain aggregated additional PRS measurements (reported in "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1700).

Note that the "measurement" in the example of fig. 18 is an RSTD measurement. Therefore, the same reference (here, PRS ID 1) always exists. Then, the first measurement has the TRP with PRS ID2 as the target TRP, as is the case for the additional measurement.

Fig. 19 illustrates an example "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" Information Element (IE) 1900 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In the example of FIG. 19, the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1900 may be used to report aggregated PRS measurements for additional PRS measurements reported in the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r16" IE 1200. That is, the UE may report both the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r16" IE 1200 and the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1900.

The "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1900 includes an "NR-PRS-Aggregator-set-r18" IE 1950. In the example of FIG. 19, PRS resources identified by a PRS resource ID ("NR-DL-PRS-ResourceID-r 16") in an additional measurement report element (e.g., an "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1900) are aggregated with PRS resources identified in an "NR-PRS-Aggregator-set-r18" IE 1950. In this way, the additional measurement report is forced to follow the PRS ID and PRS resource set ID associations defined in the additional measurement report element (e.g., "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1900).

Fig. 20 is a diagram 2000 illustrating an example of an aggregate report for additional PRS measurements in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Diagram 2000 illustrates how additional PRS measurements may be reported using the "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1900 illustrated in fig. 19. In the example of fig. 20, the UE aggregates PRS measurements of a first PRS resource ID (labeled "PRS resource ID 0") in a first PRS resource set (labeled "PRS resource set 0") of a first PRS ID and a second PRS ID (labeled "PRS ID 1" and "PRS ID 2") to obtain aggregated primary PRS measurements (reported in "nr-DL-TDOA-AggregatedMeasurements-r18" IE 1300).

In the example of fig. 20, the additional measurement report is forced to follow PRS ID and PRS resource set ID associations defined for the primary measurement report. That is, additional measurements are performed only across PRS resources. Thus, the UE aggregates positioning measurements of the first PRS ID and a second PRS resource ID (labeled "PRS resource ID 1") in a first PRS resource set of the second PRS ID (labeled "PRS resource set 0") to obtain aggregated additional PRS measurements (reported in "NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement-r18" IE 1900).

The information elements illustrated in fig. 11 to 13, 15, 17 and 19 may be LPP messages transmitted by the UE to the location server. LPP is used point-to-point between a location server (e.g., LMF 270) and a target device (e.g., UE) to locate the target device using location-related measurements obtained by one or more reference sources (physical entities or portions of physical entities that provide signals measurable by the target device to obtain a location of the target device). An LPP session is used between the location server and the target device in order to obtain location related measurements or location estimates, or to communicate assistance data. Currently, a single LPP session is used to support a single location request, and multiple LPP sessions may be used to support multiple different location requests between the same endpoints. Each LPP session includes one or more LPP transactions (or procedures), where each LPP transaction performs a single operation (capability exchange, assistance data transfer, or location information transfer). Each LPP transaction involves the exchange of one or more LPP messages between the location server and the target device. The general format of an LPP message consists of a common set of fields followed by a body. The body (which may be empty) contains information specific to a particular message type. Each message type contains information specific to one or more positioning methods and/or information common to all positioning methods.

The LPP session typically includes at least a capability transfer or indication procedure, an assistance data transfer or delivery procedure, and a location information transfer or delivery procedure. Fig. 21 illustrates an example LPP capability transfer process 2110, an LPP assistance data transfer process 2130, and an LPP location information transfer process 2150 between a target device (labeled "target") and a location server (labeled "server") in accordance with aspects of the disclosure.

The purpose of the LPP capability transfer procedure 2110 is to enable transfer of capabilities from a target device (e.g., UE 204) to a location server (e.g., LMF 270). In this context, capability refers to positioning and protocol capabilities related to LPP and positioning methods supported by LPP. In the LPP capability transfer procedure 2110, the location server (e.g., LMF 270) indicates the type of capability required by the target device (e.g., UE 204) in an LPP request capability message. The target device responds with an LPP offer capability message. The capabilities included in the LPP offer capability message should correspond to any of the capability types specified in the LPP request capability message. Specifically, for each positioning method including a request for capability in the LPP request capability message, if the target device supports the positioning method, the target device includes the capability of the target device for the supported positioning method in the LPP provide capability message. For the LPP capability indication procedure, the target device provides unsolicited (i.e., does not receive the LPP request capability message) capability to the location server in the LPP provide capability message.

The purpose of the LPP assistance data transfer process 2130 is to enable a target device to request assistance data from a location server to assist in positioning, and to enable the location server to transfer assistance data to the target device without a request. In the LPP assistance data transfer process 2130, the target device transmits an LPP request assistance data message to the location server. The location server responds to the target device with an LPP provided assistance data message containing assistance data. The transferred assistance data should match or be a subset of the assistance data requested in the LPP request assistance data. The location server may also provide any unsolicited information that it deems useful to the target device. The location server may also send one or more additional LPP provisioning assistance data messages containing further assistance data to the target device. For the LPP assistance data delivery procedure, the location server provides unsolicited assistance data necessary for positioning. The assistance data may be provided periodically or aperiodically.

The purpose of the LPP location information transfer process 2150 is to enable the location server to request location measurement data and/or location estimates from the target device and to enable the target device to transfer the location measurement data and/or location estimates to the location server without a request. In the LPP location information delivery process 2150, the location server transmits an LPP request location information message to the target device to request location information, indicating the type of location information required and potentially the associated QoS. The target device responds to the location server with a LPP providing location information message to communicate the location information. Unless the location server explicitly allows additional location information, the delivered location information should match or be a subset of the location information requested by the LPP requesting the location information. More specifically, if the requested information is compatible with the capabilities and configuration of the target device, the target device includes the requested information in the LPP provisioning location information message. Otherwise, if the target device does not support one or more of the requested positioning methods, the target device continues to process the message as if the message contained only information of the supported positioning methods, and handles the signaling content of the unsupported positioning methods by LPP error detection. The target device transmits an additional LPP provided location information message to the location server to deliver the additional location information if requested by the LPP request location information message. The LPP location information delivery procedure supports delivery of location estimates based on unsolicited services.

The information elements illustrated in fig. 11 to 13, 15, 17 and 19 may be included in one or more LPP provisioning location information messages.

LPP also defines a process related to error indication when a receiving endpoint (target device or location server) receives erroneous or unexpected data or detects that some data is lost. In particular, when a receiving endpoint determines that a received LPP message contains an error, the receiving endpoint may return an error message to the sending endpoint indicating one or more errors and discard the received/erroneous message. If the receiving endpoint is able to determine that the erroneous LPP message is an LPP error or an abort message, the receiving endpoint discards the received message without returning an error message to the sending endpoint.

The LPP also defines procedures related to the suspension indication to allow the target device or the location server to suspend an ongoing procedure due to some unexpected event (e.g. LCS client cancel location request). The abort process may also be used to stop an ongoing process (e.g., periodic location reporting from the target device). During the abort process, the first endpoint determines that process P must be aborted and transmits an abort message to the second endpoint carrying the transaction ID of process P. The second endpoint then terminates process P.

Fig. 22 illustrates an example communication method 2200 in accordance with aspects of the disclosure. In an aspect, method X00 may be performed by a location server (e.g., LMF 270).

At 2210, the location server receives a report from the network node indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more PRS resources transmitted by the network node in one or more previous PRS instances were transmitted phase coherently by the network node. In an aspect, operation 2210 may be performed by one or more network transceivers 390, one or more processors 394, memory 396, and/or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered components for performing the operation.

At 2220, the location server receives a measurement report from the UE, the measurement report including at least one aggregated positioning measurement of one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources. In an aspect, operations 2220 may be performed by one or more network transceivers 390, one or more processors 394, memory 396, and/or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered components for performing the operations.

It should be appreciated that a technical advantage of the method 2200 is that positioning performance is improved by enabling aggregated positioning measurements of PRS resources to be used even in scenarios where there are dynamic decisions from network nodes that result in dynamic changes in phase coherence states of PRS resources.

In the detailed description above, it can be seen that the different features are grouped together in various examples. This manner of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than are explicitly mentioned in each clause. Rather, various aspects of the disclosure may include less than all of the features of the individual example clauses disclosed. Accordingly, the following clauses are hereby considered to be incorporated into the description, wherein each clause itself may be regarded as a separate example. Although each subordinate clause may refer to a particular combination with one of the other clauses in the clauses, aspects of the subordinate clause are not limited to the particular combination. It should be appreciated that other example clauses may also include combinations of subordinate clause aspects with the subject matter of any other subordinate clause or independent clause or combinations of any feature with other subordinate clause and independent clause. The various aspects disclosed herein expressly include such combinations unless expressly stated or readily inferred that no particular combination (e.g., conflicting aspects such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor) is intended to be used. Furthermore, it is also contemplated that aspects of the clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

Specific examples of implementations are described in the following numbered clauses:

Clause 1. A communication method performed by a location server, the method comprising receiving a report from a network node, the report indicating one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more previous PRS instances are transmitted phase coherently by the network node, and receiving a measurement report from a User Equipment (UE), the measurement report comprising at least one aggregated positioning measurement of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

The method of clause 2, wherein the report further comprises one or more transmit timestamps indicating when the one or more transmissions of the one or more PRS resources were repeatedly transmitted, and the measurement report further comprises one or more receive timestamps indicating when the one or more measurements of the one or more PRS resources were repeatedly measured.

Clause 3 the method of clause 2, further comprising estimating the location of the UE using the at least one aggregated positioning measure based on the one or more reception timestamps indicating that the at least one aggregated positioning measure was obtained from the one or more transmission repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 4 the method of any of clauses 2-3, further comprising estimating the location of the UE using the at least one aggregated positioning measurement based on each of the one or more receive timestamps corresponding to at least one of the one or more transmit timestamps.

Clause 5 the method of any of clauses 2 to 4, further comprising discarding the at least one aggregated positioning measurement based on the one or more receive timestamps indicating that the at least one aggregated positioning measurement was not obtained from the one or more transmission repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 6 the method of any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises a primary aggregated positioning measurement of a first PRS resource of the one or more PRS resources and one or more additional aggregated positioning measurements of at least one second PRS resource of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 7 the method of clause 6, wherein the first PRS resource is identified by a first PRS identifier, a first PRS resource set identifier, and a first PRS resource identifier, and the at least one second PRS resource is identified by at least one second PRS identifier, at least one second PRS resource set identifier, and at least one second PRS resource identifier.

The method of any of clauses 1-7, wherein the measurement report further comprises a maximum number of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources aggregated to obtain the at least one aggregated positioning measurement, an identifier of the one or more PRS resources aggregated to obtain the at least one aggregated positioning measurement, or a combination thereof.

Clause 9. The method of clause 8, wherein the identifier of the one or more PRS resources comprises a PRS identifier, a PRS resource set identifier, a PRS resource identifier, or a combination thereof.

Clause 10 the method of any of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the measurement report further comprises at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement of one or more second PRS resources transmitted by the network node.

Clause 11 the method of clause 10, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a PRS identifier different from the one or more PRS resources, a different PRS resource set identifier, a different PRS resource identifier, or any combination thereof.

Clause 12 the method of any of clauses 10 to 11, wherein the PRS identifiers, PRS resource set identifiers, and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS identifiers, PRS resource set identifiers, and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 13 the method of clause 10, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a same PRS identifier as the one or more PRS resources and a different PRS resource set identifier, a different PRS resource identifier, or both than the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 14 the method of any of clauses 10 and 13, wherein the PRS resource set identifiers and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS resource set identifiers and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 15 the method of clause 10, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a same PRS identifier and a same PRS resource set identifier as the one or more PRS resources and a PRS resource identifier different from the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 16 the method of any of clauses 10 and 15, wherein the PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 17 the method of any of clauses 10 to 16, wherein the at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement is repeated by one or more second measurements of the one or more second PRS resources transmitted by the network node in the one or more previous PRS instances.

Clause 18 the method of any of clauses 10 to 17, wherein the measurement report comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) provided location information message.

Clause 19 the method according to any of clauses 1 to 18, wherein the network node comprises a base station, a Transmitting Receiving Point (TRP) or a second UE.

Clause 20 the method of any of clauses 1 to 19, wherein the at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises a Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurement, a UE received transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurement, an enhanced cell identifier (E-CID) measurement, a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurement, or any combination thereof.

Clause 21, a location server comprising a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to receive a report from a network node via the at least one transceiver, the report indicating one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signals (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more previous PRS instances were transmitted phase coherently by the network node, and to receive a measurement report from a User Equipment (UE) via the at least one transceiver, the measurement report comprising at least one aggregated positioning measurement of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 22 the location server of clause 21, wherein the report further comprises one or more transmit timestamps indicating when the one or more transmissions of the one or more PRS resources were repeatedly transmitted, and the measurement report further comprises one or more receive timestamps indicating when the one or more measurements of the one or more PRS resources were repeatedly measured.

Clause 23, the location server of clause 22, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to estimate the location of the UE using the at least one aggregated positioning measure based on the one or more receive timestamps indicating that the at least one aggregated positioning measure was obtained from the one or more transmission repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 24, the location server of any of clauses 22-23, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to estimate the location of the UE using the at least one aggregated positioning measurement based on each of the one or more receive timestamps corresponding to at least one of the one or more transmit timestamps.

Clause 25, the location server of any of clauses 22 to 24, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to discard the at least one aggregated positioning measurement based on the one or more receive timestamps indicating that the at least one aggregated positioning measurement was not obtained from the one or more transmission repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 26 the location server of any of clauses 21 to 25, wherein the at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises a primary aggregated positioning measurement of a first PRS resource of the one or more PRS resources and one or more additional aggregated positioning measurements of at least one second PRS resource of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 27. The location server of clause 26, wherein the first PRS resource is identified by a first PRS identifier, a first PRS resource set identifier, and a first PRS resource identifier, and the at least one second PRS resource is identified by at least one second PRS identifier, at least one second PRS resource set identifier, and at least one second PRS resource identifier.

Clause 28 the location server of any of clauses 21 to 27, wherein the measurement report further comprises a maximum number of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources aggregated to obtain the at least one aggregated positioning measurement, an identifier of the one or more PRS resources aggregated to obtain the at least one aggregated positioning measurement, or a combination thereof.

Clause 29. The location server of clause 28, wherein the identifier of the one or more PRS resources comprises a PRS identifier, a PRS resource set identifier, a PRS resource identifier, or a combination thereof.

Clause 30 the location server of any of clauses 21 to 29, wherein the measurement report further comprises at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement of one or more second PRS resources transmitted by the network node.

Clause 31 the location server of clause 30, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a PRS identifier different from the one or more PRS resources, a different PRS resource set identifier, a different PRS resource identifier, or any combination thereof.

Clause 32 the location server of any of clauses 30 to 31, wherein the PRS identifiers, PRS resource set identifiers, and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS identifiers, PRS resource set identifiers, and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 33, the location server of clause 30, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a same PRS identifier as the one or more PRS resources and a different PRS resource set identifier, a different PRS resource identifier, or both than the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 34 the location server of any of clauses 30 and 33, wherein the PRS resource set identifiers and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS resource set identifiers and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 35 the location server of clause 30, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a same PRS identifier and a same PRS resource set identifier as the one or more PRS resources and a PRS resource identifier different from the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 36 the location server of any of clauses 30 and 35, wherein the PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 37 the location server of any of clauses 30 to 36, wherein the at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement is repeated by one or more second measurements of the one or more second PRS resources sent by the network node in the one or more previous PRS instances.

Clause 38 the location server of any of clauses 30 to 37, wherein the measurement report comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) provided location information message.

Clause 39 the location server of any of clauses 21 to 38, wherein the network node comprises a base station, a Transmitting Receiving Point (TRP) or a second UE.

Clause 40, the location server of any of clauses 21-39, wherein the at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises a Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurement, a UE received transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurement, an enhanced cell identifier (E-CID) measurement, a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurement, or any combination thereof.

Clause 41. A location server comprising means for receiving a report from a network node, the report indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more previous PRS instances were transmitted phase-coherently by the network node, and means for receiving a measurement report from a User Equipment (UE), the measurement report comprising at least one aggregated positioning measurement of one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 42 the location server of clause 41, wherein the report further comprises one or more transmit timestamps indicating when the one or more transmissions of the one or more PRS resources were repeatedly transmitted, and the measurement report further comprises one or more receive timestamps indicating when the one or more measurements of the one or more PRS resources were repeatedly measured.

Clause 43 the location server of clause 42, further comprising means for indicating that the at least one aggregated positioning measure was obtained from the one or more transmission repetitions of the one or more PRS resources based on the one or more receive timestamps, the at least one aggregated positioning measure being used to estimate the location of the UE.

Clause 44 the location server of any of clauses 42 to 43, further comprising means for estimating the location of the UE using the at least one aggregated positioning measure based on each of the one or more receive timestamps corresponding to at least one of the one or more transmit timestamps.

Clause 45 the location server of any of clauses 42 to 44, further comprising means for discarding the at least one aggregated positioning measurement based on the one or more receive timestamps indicating that the at least one aggregated positioning measurement was not obtained from the one or more transmission repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 46 the location server of any of clauses 41 to 45, wherein the at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises a primary aggregated positioning measurement of a first PRS resource of the one or more PRS resources and one or more additional aggregated positioning measurements of at least one second PRS resource of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 47 the location server of clause 46, wherein the first PRS resource is identified by a first PRS identifier, a first PRS resource set identifier, and a first PRS resource identifier, and the at least one second PRS resource is identified by at least one second PRS identifier, at least one second PRS resource set identifier, and at least one second PRS resource identifier.

Clause 48 the location server of any of clauses 41 to 47, wherein the measurement report further comprises a maximum number of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources aggregated to obtain the at least one aggregated positioning measurement, an identifier of the one or more PRS resources aggregated to obtain the at least one aggregated positioning measurement, or a combination thereof.

Clause 49 the location server of clause 48, wherein the identifier of the one or more PRS resources comprises a PRS identifier, a PRS resource set identifier, a PRS resource identifier, or a combination thereof.

Clause 50 the location server of any of clauses 41 to 49, wherein the measurement report further comprises at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement of one or more second PRS resources transmitted by the network node.

Clause 51 the location server of clause 50, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a PRS identifier different from the one or more PRS resources, a different PRS resource set identifier, a different PRS resource identifier, or any combination thereof.

The location server of any of clauses 50-51, wherein the PRS identifiers, PRS resource set identifiers, and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS identifiers, PRS resource set identifiers, and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 53 the location server of clause 50, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a same PRS identifier as the one or more PRS resources and a different PRS resource set identifier, a different PRS resource identifier, or both than the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 54 the location server of any of clauses 50 and 53, wherein the PRS resource set identifiers and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS resource set identifiers and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 55, the location server of clause 50, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a same PRS identifier and a same PRS resource set identifier as the one or more PRS resources and a PRS resource identifier different from the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 56 the location server of any of clauses 50 and 55, wherein the PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 57, the location server of any of clauses 50 to 56, wherein the at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement is repeated by one or more second measurements of the one or more second PRS resources sent by the network node in the one or more previous PRS instances.

Clause 58 the location server of any of clauses 50 to 57, wherein the measurement report comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) provided location information message.

Clause 59 the location server of any of clauses 41-58, wherein the network node comprises a base station, a Transmitting Receiving Point (TRP), or a second UE.

Clause 60. The location server of any of clauses 41-59, wherein the at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises a Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurement, a UE received transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurement, an enhanced cell identifier (E-CID) measurement, a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurement, or any combination thereof.

Clause 61 is a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a location server, cause the location server to receive a report from a network node indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more previous PRS instances were transmitted phase coherently by the network node, and receive a measurement report from a User Equipment (UE) that includes at least one aggregated positioning measurement of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 62. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 61, wherein the report further comprises one or more transmit timestamps indicating a time at which the one or more transmissions of the one or more PRS resources were repeatedly transmitted, and the measurement report further comprises one or more receive timestamps indicating a time at which the one or more measurements of the one or more PRS resources were repeatedly measured.

Clause 63, the non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 62, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the location server, cause the location server to estimate the location of the UE using the at least one aggregated positioning measure based on the one or more receive timestamps indicating that the at least one aggregated positioning measure was obtained from the one or more transmission repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 64 the non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 62 to 63, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the location server, cause the location server to estimate the location of the UE using the at least one aggregated positioning measurement based on each of the one or more receive timestamps corresponding to at least one of the one or more transmit timestamps.

Clause 65 the non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 62 to 64, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the location server, cause the location server to discard the at least one aggregated positioning measurement based on the one or more receive timestamps indicating that the at least one aggregated positioning measurement was not obtained from the one or more transmission repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 66, the non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 61 to 65, wherein the at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises a primary aggregated positioning measurement of a first PRS resource of the one or more PRS resources and one or more additional aggregated positioning measurements of at least one second PRS resource of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 67. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 66, wherein the first PRS resource is identified by a first PRS identifier, a first PRS resource set identifier, and a first PRS resource identifier, and the at least one second PRS resource is identified by at least one second PRS identifier, at least one second PRS resource set identifier, and at least one second PRS resource identifier.

Clause 68 the non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 61 to 67, wherein the measurement report further comprises a maximum number of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources aggregated to obtain the at least one aggregated positioning measurement, an identifier of the one or more PRS resources aggregated to obtain the at least one aggregated positioning measurement, or a combination thereof.

Clause 69 the non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 68, wherein the identifier of the one or more PRS resources comprises a PRS identifier, a PRS resource set identifier, a PRS resource identifier, or a combination thereof.

Clause 70. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 61 to 69, wherein the measurement report further comprises at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement of one or more second PRS resources transmitted by the network node.

Clause 71 the non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 70, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a PRS identifier different from the one or more PRS resources, a different PRS resource set identifier, a different PRS resource identifier, or any combination thereof.

Clause 72 the non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 70 to 71, wherein the PRS identifiers, PRS resource set identifiers, and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS identifiers, PRS resource set identifiers, and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 73, the non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 70, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a same PRS identifier as the one or more PRS resources and a PRS resource set identifier different from the one or more PRS resources, a different PRS resource identifier, or both.

Clause 74 the non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 70 and 73, wherein the PRS resource set identifiers and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS resource set identifiers and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 75. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 70, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a same PRS identifier and a same PRS resource set identifier as the one or more PRS resources and a PRS resource identifier different from the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 76 the non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 70 and 75, wherein the PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of the PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

Clause 77 the non-transitory computer readable medium of any of clauses 70 to 76, wherein the at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement is repeated by one or more second measurements of the one or more second PRS resources sent by the network node in the one or more previous PRS instances.

Clause 78 the non-transitory computer readable medium of any of clauses 70 to 77, wherein the measurement report comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) provided location information message.

Clause 79 the non-transitory computer readable medium of any of clauses 61 to 78, wherein the network node comprises a base station, a Transmitting Receiving Point (TRP), or a second UE.

Clause 80. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 61 to 79, wherein the at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises a Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurement, a UE received transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurement, an enhanced cell identifier (E-CID) measurement, a Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurement, or any combination thereof.

Those of skill in the art would understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Furthermore, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an ASIC, a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The methods, sequences, and/or algorithms described in connection with the various aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in Random Access Memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable Programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

In one or more example aspects, the functions may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes Compact Disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital Versatile Disc (DVD), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of the disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications could be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Furthermore, the functions, steps, and/or actions of the method claims in accordance with the aspects of the disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.

Claims

1. A method of communication performed by a location server, the method comprising:

Receiving a report from a network node, the report indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more PRS instances were transmitted phase-coherently by the network node, and

A measurement report is received from a User Equipment (UE), the measurement report including at least one aggregated positioning measurement of one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

the report also includes one or more transmit timestamps indicating a time at which the one or more transmissions of the one or more PRS resources were repeatedly transmitted, and

The measurement report also includes one or more receive timestamps indicating when the one or more measurements of the one or more PRS resources were repeatedly measured.

3. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

The method further includes estimating a location of the UE using the at least one aggregated positioning measurement based on the one or more receive timestamps indicating that the at least one aggregated positioning measurement was obtained from the one or more transmission repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

4. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

The location of the UE is estimated using the at least one aggregated positioning measurement based on each of the one or more receive timestamps corresponding to at least one of the one or more transmit timestamps.

5. The method of claim 2, the method further comprising:

The at least one aggregated positioning measurement is discarded based on the one or more receive timestamps indicating that the at least one aggregated positioning measurement was not obtained from the one or more transmission repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises:

a primary aggregated positioning measurement of a first PRS resource of the one or more PRS resources, and

One or more additional aggregated positioning measurements of at least one second PRS resource of the one or more PRS resources.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein:

the first PRS resource is identified by a first PRS identifier, a first PRS resource set identifier, and a first PRS resource identifier, an

The at least one second PRS resource is identified by at least one second PRS identifier, at least one second PRS resource set identifier, and at least one second PRS resource identifier.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement report further comprises:

The maximum number of the one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources aggregated to obtain the at least one aggregated positioning measurement,

Identifiers of the one or more PRS resources aggregated to obtain the at least one aggregated positioning measurement, or

A combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the identifier of the one or more PRS resources comprises:

The PRS identifier is used to determine the identity of the PRS,

The PRS resource set identifier is used to determine,

PRS resource identifier, or

A combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the measurement report further comprises at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement of one or more second PRS resources transmitted by the network node.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a different PRS identifier than the one or more PRS resources, a different PRS resource set identifier, a different PRS resource identifier, or any combination thereof.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein PRS identifiers, PRS resource set identifiers, and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS identifiers, PRS resource set identifiers, and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a same PRS identifier as the one or more PRS resources and a different PRS resource set identifier, a different PRS resource identifier, or both than the one or more PRS resources.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein PRS resource set identifiers and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS resource set identifiers and PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more second PRS resources have a same PRS identifier and a same PRS resource set identifier as the one or more PRS resources and a PRS resource identifier different from the one or more PRS resources.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein PRS resource identifiers of the one or more second PRS resources are independent of PRS resource identifiers of the one or more PRS resources.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement is repeated by one or more second measurements of the one or more second PRS resources sent by the network node in the one or more previous PRS instances.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the measurement report comprises a Long Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) provide location information message.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the network node comprises:

The base station has a function of,

Transmitting a receiving point (TRP), or

And a second UE.

20. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises:

Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurements,

The UE receives a transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurement,

Enhanced cell identifier (E-CID) measurements,

Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) measurement, or

Any combination thereof.

21. A location server, the location server comprising:

a memory;

At least one transceiver, and

At least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to:

Receiving a report from a network node via the at least one transceiver, the report indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more prior PRS instances were transmitted phase coherently by the network node, and

A measurement report is received from a User Equipment (UE) via the at least one transceiver, the measurement report including at least one aggregated positioning measurement of one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

22. The location server of claim 21, wherein:

23. The location server of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

24. The location server of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

25. The location server of claim 22, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

26. The location server of claim 21, wherein the at least one aggregated positioning measurement comprises:

27. The location server of claim 21, wherein the measurement report further comprises:

A combination thereof.

28. The location server of claim 21, wherein the measurement report further comprises at least one additional aggregated positioning measurement of one or more second PRS resources transmitted by the network node.

29. A location server, the location server comprising:

Means for receiving a report from a network node, the report indicating that one or more transmission repetitions of one or more Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources transmitted by the network node in one or more prior PRS instances were transmitted phase-coherently by the network node, and

Means for receiving a measurement report from a User Equipment (UE), the measurement report including at least one aggregated positioning measurement of one or more measurement repetitions of the one or more PRS resources.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a location server, cause the location server to: