WO2018184789A1

WO2018184789A1 - Data transmission in geran multilateration positioning procedure

Info

Publication number: WO2018184789A1
Application number: PCT/EP2018/056041
Authority: WO
Inventors: Srinivasan Selvaganapathy; Juergen Hofmann
Original assignee: Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy
Priority date: 2017-04-05
Filing date: 2018-03-12
Publication date: 2018-10-11

Abstract

A method comprising: receiving, at a mobile station, a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure; and determining, at the mobile station, whether the mobile station has data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure, and in response to determining that the mobile station does have data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure; sending an indication to a network apparatus.

Description

DATA TRANSMISSION IN GERAN MULTILATERATION POSITIONING PROCEDURE

Field

The present application relates to a method, apparatus, and computer program and in particular but not exclusively to methods, apparatus, and computer programs related to communication handling during a location procedure.

Background

A communication system can be seen as a facility that enables communication sessions between two or more entities such as user terminals, base stations and/or other nodes by providing carriers between the various entities involved in the communications path. A communication system can be provided for example by means of a communication network and one or more compatible communication devices. The communication sessions may comprise, for example, communication of data for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text message, multimedia and/or content data and so on. Non-limiting examples of services provided comprise two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services and access to a data network system, such as the Internet.

In a wireless communication system at least a part of a communication session between at least two stations occurs over a wireless link. Examples of wireless systems comprise public land mobile networks (PLMN), satellite based communication systems and different wireless local networks, for example wireless local area networks (WLAN). The wireless systems can typically be divided into cells, and are therefore often referred to as cellular systems.

A user can access the communication system by means of an appropriate communication device or terminal. A communication device of a user is often referred to as user equipment (UE) or mobile station (MS). A communication device is provided with an appropriate signal receiving and transmitting apparatus for enabling communications, for example enabling access to a communication network or communications directly with other users. The communication device may access a carrier provided by a station, for example a base station of a cell, and transmit and/or receive communications on the carrier.

The communication system and associated devices typically operate in accordance with a given standard or specification which sets out what the various entities associated with the system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved. Communication protocols and/or parameters which shall be used for the connection are also typically defined. An example of attempts to solve the problems associated with the increased demands for capacity is an architecture that is known as the long-term evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio-access technology. The LTE is being standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The various development stages of the 3GPP LTE specifications are referred to as releases. Certain releases of 3GPP LTE (e.g., LTE Rel-1 1 , LTE Rel-12, LTE Rel-13) are targeted towards LTE-Advanced (LTE- A). LTE-A is directed towards extending and optimising the 3GPP LTE radio access technologies. Another proposed communication system is a 5G network or a communication network which comprises enhancements for machine type communications or to support services for the Internet of Things. The deployed communication technologies of e.g., 3GPP GSM (Global Mobile System) and EGPRS (Edge Global Packet Radio System) or 3GPP LTE, may be enhanced to satisfy the specific requirements of the loT services and their related user equipments or mobile stations, known as loT devices. Those loT devices may communicate via the radio link of the communication network to the service provider/server

Summary

In a first aspect there is provided a method comprising: receiving, at a mobile station, a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure; and determining, at the mobile station, whether the mobile station has data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure, and in response to determining that the mobile station does have data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure; sending an indication to a network apparatus.

According to some embodiments the multilateration positioning procedure comprises a Multilateration Timing Advance method, or a Multilateration Observed Time Difference method, or a combination of both.

According to some embodiments the determining comprises determining whether the mobile station has high priority data to send.

According to some embodiments the high priority data comprises an exception report.

According to some embodiments the method comprises selecting a serving cell and wherein the indication comprises a request for uplink resources on which to send the data.According to some embodiments the multilateration positioning procedure is stopped or paused before sending the request for uplink resources. According to some embodiments, the method comprises sending a request for uplink temporary block flow establishment, which causes the multilateration positioning procedure to be delayed or terminated.

According to some embodiments the data to communicate comprises application data.

According to some embodiments the indication comprises an indicator in a last multilateration positioning attempt to the network indicating that no further multilateration positioning attempt to base stations will be performed.

According to some embodiments the mobile station sets the final multilateration access indication based on a number of already executed multilateration positioning attempts and a minimum number of required multilateration positioning attempts as signaled by an SMLC.

According to some embodiments the indication is at least one of a data availability indication and an amount of data to send, and at least a part of the data to send is sent in an RLC block as part of a multilateration positioning attempt.

According to some embodiments the packet data units comprise logical link layer packet data units.

According to some embodiments, the indication sent to the network apparatus includes information of a number of octets.

According to some embodiments, on completion of the multilateration positioning procedure, and in response to determining that there are radio link control blocks pending transmission from the mobile station, the mobile station establishes a new transport block flow in a serving cell and sends any pending radio link control blocks with an indication that they belong to a sequence of data sent during the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments the mobile station comprises an Internet of Things device.

In a second aspect there is provided a computer program comprising program code adapted to perform the steps of the first aspect when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

In a third aspect there is provided a method comprising: receiving, at a mobile station, a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure; and determining, at the mobile station, whether the mobile station has data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure, and in response to determining that the mobile station does not have data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure; sending an indication, wherein the indication comprises an indicator in a last multilateration positioning attempt to the network indicating that no further multilateration positioning attempt to base stations will be performed. In a fourth aspect there is provided a computer program comprising program code adapted to perform the steps of the third aspect when the program is run on a data processing apparatus

In a fifth aspect there is provided a method comprising: during a multilateration positioning procedure, receiving information of downlink data intended for a mobile station from a network node; in response to receiving the information, sending information to the mobile station during a multilateration attempt for enabling the mobile station to receive downlink data during the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments the information sent to the mobile station comprises information that the mobile station is to receive information of downlink resources for receiving the downlink data from a downlink common control channel in a serving cell of the mobile station.

According to some embodiments the information of downlink data intended for a mobile station comprises an indication that the data is high priority.

According to some embodiments the information comprises an instruction for the mobile station to send a packet channel request in a serving cell of the mobile station in order to receive the downlink data.

According to some embodiments, the instruction instructs the mobile station to send the packet channel request in direct response to receiving the instruction.

According to some embodiments, the instruction instructs the mobile station to send the packet channel request after completion of the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments the method comprises detecting completion of the multilateration positioning procedure based on receiving a packet channel request from the mobile station.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises informing a serving mobile location centre of the completion of the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises informing a serving GPRS support node of the completion of the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments the method comprises determining when the mobile station can switch from the multilateration positioning procedure to a data transmission state, based upon a determined minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts, each attempt being associated with an individual base station.

In a sixth aspect there is provided a computer program comprising program code adapted to perform the steps of the fifth aspect when the program is run on a data processing apparatus. In a seventh aspect there is provided a method comprising receiving a multilateration positioning request from a mobile station for a multilateration positioning procedure, the request comprising information of a last multilateration positioning attempt, and informing a serving mobile location centre or another network entity of the completion of the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises informing a serving GPRS support node of the completion of the multilateration procedure.

In an eighth aspect there is provided a computer program comprising program code adapted to perform the steps of the seventh aspect when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

In a ninth aspect there is provided a method comprising: sending or causing to be sent a multilateration positioning procedure request to a mobile station; and during a multilateration positioning procedure associated with the request, sending information of downlink data intended for the mobile station, the information comprising an indication of a priority of the downlink data.

According to some embodiments, the information of downlink data is sent to a base station subsystem node.

According to some embodiments, the method comprises receiving from the serving mobile location centre information of a minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts, and forwarding this minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts required before the mobile station can resume uplink and/or downlink communications, to the mobile station.

According to some embodiments the method comprises informing the mobile station and/or causing the mobile station to be informed of the minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts.

In a tenth aspect there is provided a computer program comprising program code adapted to perform the steps of the ninth aspect when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

In an eleventh aspect there is provided a method comprising: determining, at a location entity, information comprising a minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts required to meet a positioning quality threshold as part of a multilateration positioning procedure for a mobile station; sending the determined information to a second entity; and receiving an indication of completion of the multilateration positioning procedure; and in response to receiving the indication, starting a position estimate for the mobile station.

According to some embodiments the location entity comprises a serving mobile location centre. According to some embodiments, the information comprising the minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts is sent to a base station subsystem.

According to some embodiments, the indication of completion of the multilateration positioning procedure is received from a base station subsystem.

In a twelfth aspect there is provided a computer program comprising program code to perform the steps of the eleventh aspect when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

In a thirteenth aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to:receive a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure; and determine whether the apparatus has data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure, and in response to determining that the apparatus does have data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure; send an indication to a network apparatus.

According to some embodiments the determining comprises determining by the apparatus whether the mobile station has high priority data to send.

According to some embodiments the apparatus is configured to select a serving cell and wherein the indication comprises a request for uplink resources on which to send the data.According to some embodiments the apparatus is configured to stop or pause the multilateration positioning procedure before sending the request for uplink resources.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to send a request for uplink temporary block flow establishment, which causes the multilateration positioning procedure to be delayed or terminated.

According to some embodiments the apparatus sets the final multilateration access indication based on a number of already executed multilateration positioning attempts and a minimum number of required multilateration positioning attempts as signaled by an SMLC. According to some embodiments the indication is at least one of a data availability indication and an amount of data to send, and at least a part of the data to send is sent in an RLC block as part of a multilateration positioning attempt.

According to some embodiments, on completion of the multilateration positioning procedure, and in response to determining that there are radio link control blocks pending transmission from the apparatus, the apparatus is configured to establish a new transport block flow in a serving cell and send any pending radio link control blocks with an indication that they belong to a sequence of data sent during the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments the apparatus comprises an Internet of Things device.

In a fourteenth aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to: receive a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure; and determine whether the apparatus has data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure, and in response to determining that the apparatus does not have data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure; send an indication in a last multilateration positioning attempt to a network apparatus when it knows that no further multilateration positioning attempts to base stations will be performed.

In a fifteenth aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to: during a multilateration positioning procedure, receive information of downlink data intended for a mobile station from a network node; in response to receiving the information, send information to the mobile station during a multilateration attempt for enabling the mobile station to receive downlink data during the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments the information sent to the mobile station comprises information that the mobile station is to receive information of downlink resources for receiving the downlink data from a downlink common control channel in a serving cell of the mobile station. According to some embodiments the information comprises an instruction for the mobile station to send a packet channel request in a serving cell of the mobile station in order to receive the downlink data.

According to some embodiments the apparatus is configured to detect completion of the multilateration positioning procedure based on receiving a packet channel request from the mobile station.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to inform a serving mobile location centre of the completion of the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to inform a serving GPRS support node of the completion of the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments the apparatus is configured to determine when the mobile station can switch from the multilateration positioning procedure to a data transmission state, based upon a determined minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts, each attempt being associated with an individual base station.

In a sixteenth aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to: receive a multilateration positioning request from a mobile station for a multilateration positioning procedure, the request comprising an indication of a last multilateration positioning attempt, and inform a serving mobile location centre of completion of the multilateration positioning procedure.

According to some embodiments the apparatus is configured to inform a serving GPRS support node of the completion of the multilateration procedure.

In a seventeenth aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to: send or cause to be sent a multilateration positioning procedure request to a mobile station; and during a multilateration procedure associated with the request, send information of downlink data intended for the mobile station, the information comprising an indication of a priority of the downlink data.

According to some embodiments, the information of downlink data is sent to a base station subsystem node. According to some embodiments, the apparatus is configured to receive from the serving mobile location centre information of a minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts, and forward this minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts required before the mobile station can resume uplink and/or downlink communications, to the mobile station.

In an eighteenth aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to: determine information comprising a minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts required to meet a positioning quality threshold as part of a multilateration positioning procedure for a mobile station; send the determined information to a second apparatus; and receive an indication of completion of the multilateration positioning procedure; and in response to receiving the indication, start a position estimate for the mobile station.

According to some embodiments the apparatus comprises a serving mobile location centre.

According to some embodiments, the information comprising the minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts is sent to a base station subsystem.

In a nineteenth aspect there is provided a method comprising: receiving, at a mobile station, a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure; receiving, at the mobile station, a message from a base station subsystem in response to a multilateration positioning request sent to a base station subsystem to stop the multilateration positioning procedure for resuming downlink data reception, stopping at the mobile station the multilateration positioning procedure, and, sending, at the mobile station, an indication to a network via a serving cell to resume downlink data reception.

According to some embodiments the method comprises sending a channel request indicating a response for resuming reception of downlink data.

In a twentieth aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to: receive a message from a base station subsystem in response to a multilateration positioning request sent to a base station subsystem to stop the multilateration positioning procedure for resuming downlink data reception; stop the multilateration positioning procedure; and send an indication to a network via a serving cell to resume downlink data reception.

According to some embodiments the apparatus is configured to send a channel request indicating a response for resuming reception of downlink data.

In the above, many different embodiments have been described. It should be appreciated that further embodiments may be provided by the combination of any two or more of the embodiments described above.

Description of Figures

Embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying Figures in which:

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of an example communication system comprising a base station and a plurality of communication devices;

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of an example mobile communication device;

Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of an example control apparatus;

Figure 4 is a signalling diagram according to an example;

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating some communication entities;

Figure 6 is a flow chart according to an example;

Figure 7 A is a flow chart according to an example;

Figure 7B is a flow chart according to an example;

Figure 8 is a flow chart according to an example;

Figure 9 is a signalling diagram according to an example;

Figure 10 is a signalling diagram according to an example;

Figure 1 1 is a signalling diagram according to an example;

Figure 12 is a flow chart according to an example;

Figure 13 is a flow chart according to an example;

Figure 14 is a flow chart according to an example;

Figure 15 is a flow chart according to an example;

Figure 16 is a flow chart according to an example;

Figure 17 is a flow chart according to an example;

Detailed description

Before explaining in detail the examples, certain general principles of a wireless communication system and mobile communication devices are briefly explained with reference to Figures 1 to 3 to assist in understanding the technology underlying the described examples. In a wireless communication system 100, such as that shown in Figure 1 , mobile communication devices or user equipment (UE) 102, 104, 105 are provided wireless access via at least one base station or similar wireless transmitting and/or receiving node or point. Base stations (BTS, NodeB (NB), enhanced NodeB (eNB) are typically controlled by at least one appropriate controller apparatus, so as to enable operation thereof and management of mobile communication devices in communication with the base stations. The controller apparatus may be located in a radio access network (e.g. wireless communication system 100) or in a core network (CN) (not shown) and may be implemented as one central apparatus or its functionality may be distributed over several apparatus. The controller apparatus may be part of the base station and/or provided by a separate entity such as a Radio Network Controller (RNC). In Figure 1 control apparatus 108 and 109 are shown to control the respective macro level base stations 106 and 107. The control apparatus of a base station can be interconnected with other control entities. The control apparatus is typically provided with memory capacity and at least one data processor. The control apparatus and functions may be distributed between a plurality of control units. In some systems, the control apparatus may additionally or alternatively be provided in a radio network controller controller or a base station controller (BSC).

LTE systems may however be considered to have a so-called "flat" architecture, without the provision of RNCs; rather the (e)NB is in communication with a system architecture evolution gateway (SAE-GW) and a mobility management entity (MME), which entities may also be pooled meaning that a plurality of these nodes may serve a plurality (set) of (e)NBs. Each UE is served by only one MME and/or S-GW at a time and the (e)NB keeps track of current association. SAE-GW is a "high-level" user plane core network element in LTE, which may consist of the S-GW and the P-GW (serving gateway and packet data network gateway, respectively). The functionalities of the S-GW and P-GW are separated and they are not required to be co-located.

In Figure 1 base stations 106 and 107 are shown as connected to a wider communications network 1 13 via gateway 1 12. A further gateway function may be provided to connect to another network.

The smaller base stations 1 16, 1 18 and 120 may also be connected to the network 1 13, for example by a separate gateway function and/or via the controllers of the macro level stations. The base stations 1 16, 1 18 and 120 may be pico or femto level base stations or the like. In the example, stations 1 16 and 1 18 are connected via a gateway 1 1 1 whilst station 120 connects via the controller apparatus 108. In some embodiments, the smaller stations may not be provided. Smaller base stations 1 16, 1 18 and 120 may be part of a second network, for example WLAN and may be WLAN APs. A possible mobile communication device will now be described in more detail with reference to Figure 2 showing a schematic, partially sectioned view of a communication device 200. Such a communication device is often referred to as user equipment (UE), mobile station (MS) or terminal. An appropriate mobile communication device may be provided by any device capable of sending and receiving radio signals. Non-limiting examples comprise a mobile station (MS) or mobile device such as a mobile phone or what is known as a 'smart phone', a computer provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility (e.g., USB dongle), personal data assistant (PDA) or a tablet provided with wireless communication capabilities, an loT device or any combinations of these or the like. The term "mobile station", may also cover any such device configured for movement, e.g. a mobile loT device. A mobile communication device may provide, for example, communication of data for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text message, multimedia and so on. Users may thus be offered and provided numerous services via their communication devices. Non-limiting examples of these services comprise two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services or simply an access to a data communications network system, such as the Internet. Users may also be provided broadcast or multicast data. Non- limiting examples of the content comprise downloads, television and radio programs, videos, advertisements, various alerts and other information.

The mobile device 200 may receive signals over an air or radio interface 207 via appropriate apparatus for receiving (e.g., a receiver) and may transmit signals via appropriate apparatus for transmitting radio signals (e.g., a transmitter). In Figure 2 transceiver apparatus is designated schematically by block 206. The transceiver apparatus 206 may be provided for example by means of a radio part and associated antenna arrangement. The antenna arrangement may be arranged internally or externally to the mobile device.

A mobile device is typically provided with at least one data processing entity 201 , at least one memory 202 and other possible components 203 for use in software and hardware aided execution of tasks it is designed to perform, including control of access to and communications with access systems and other communication devices. The data processing, storage and other relevant control apparatus can be provided on an appropriate circuit board and/or in chipsets. This feature is denoted by reference 204. The user may control the operation of the mobile device by means of a suitable user interface such as key pad 205, voice commands, touch sensitive screen or pad, combinations thereof or the like. A display 208, a speaker and a microphone can be also provided. Furthermore, a mobile communication device may comprise appropriate connectors (either wired or wireless) to other devices and/or for connecting external accessories, for example hands-free equipment, thereto.

Figure 3 shows an example of a control apparatus for a communication system, for example to be coupled to and/or for controlling a station of an access system, such as a RAN node, e.g. a base station, (e) node B or 5G AP, a central unit of a cloud architecture or a node of a core network such as an MME or S-GW, a scheduling entity, or a server or host. The method may be implanted in a single control apparatus or across more than one control apparatus. The control apparatus may be integrated with or external to a node or module of a core network or RAN. In some embodiments, base stations comprise a separate control apparatus unit or module. In other embodiments, the control apparatus can be another network element such as a radio network controller or a spectrum controller. In some embodiments, each base station may have such a control apparatus as well as a control apparatus being provided in a radio network controller. The control apparatus 300 can be arranged to provide control on communications in the service area of the system. The control apparatus 300 comprises at least one memory 301 , at least one data processing unit 302, 303 and an input/output interface 304. Via the interface the control apparatus can be coupled to a receiver and a transmitter of the base station. The receiver and/or the transmitter may be implemented as a radio front end or a remote radio head. For example the control apparatus 300 or processor 201 can be configured to execute an appropriate software code to provide the control functions.

The communication devices 102, 104, 105 may access the communication system based on various access techniques, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), or wideband CDMA (WCDMA). Other non-limiting examples comprise time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA) and various schemes thereof such as the interleaved frequency division multiple access (IFDMA), single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), space division multiple access (SDMA) and so on. Signalling mechanisms and procedures, which may enable a device to address in-device coexistence (IDC) issues caused by multiple transceivers, may be provided with help from the LTE network. The multiple transceivers may be configured for providing radio access to different radio technologies.

An example of wireless communication systems are architectures standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). A latest 3GPP based development is often referred to as the long term evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio-access technology. The various development stages of the 3GPP specifications are referred to as releases. More recent developments of the LTE are often referred to as LTE Advanced (LTE-A). The LTE employs a mobile network architecture known as the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN). Base stations of such systems are known as evolved or enhanced Node Bs (eNBs) and provide E-UTRAN features such as user plane Packet Data Convergence/Radio Link Control/Medium Access Control/Physical layer protocol (PDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol terminations towards the communication devices. Other examples of a radio access system comprise those provided by base stations of systems that are based on technologies such as wireless local area network (WLAN) and/or WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). A base station can provide coverage for an entire cell or similar radio service area.

Machine type communication is expected to provide significant growth opportunities in the 3GPP ecosystem. Of various applications of Machine type communication (MTC) or loT (Internet of things), and/or cellular IOT (CIOT), one application may be the deployment of low cost low throughput devices in extended coverage conditions. This application may be suitable for sensors or smart meters deployed in basement or indoor coverage conditions.

Support of ultra low complexity Internet of Things in cellular networks is introduced in 3GPP Rel-13. The key objectives of the Cellular loT for low complexity devices are increased battery life time, extended coverage and support of massive number of devices per cell. Two technologies are introduced in 3GPP which work in narrow spectrum of 200 kHz, namely NB- loT and EC-GSM-loT. The Power Efficient Operation (PEO) required for long battery life time is introduced by means of the PSM (Power Saving Mode) and eDRX (Extended Discontinuous Reception) features.

Many loT use cases require localisation or position tracking of the device as a key feature. In order to achieve an accurate position estimate at the device end without any additional hardware for GPS, new positioning methods where the network estimates the device position with the help of base station receivers and air interface signaling are required in 3GPP. For CloT devices based on GPRS technology (PEO and EC-GSM-loT) two new positioning methods based on multilateration positioning are introduced in the specifications based on the 3GPP Rel-14 work item Positioning Enhancements for GERAN. Both positioning methods do not require neither GPS HW at the device side nor do they require any additional hardware such as LMU at the network side. Moreover, both methods do not require any specific synchronisation requirements across base stations.

Multilateration positioning itself is known, being a positioning or location technique based on a measurement of the distance to a base station of a serving cell and of a distance to base stations of neighbouring cells by assessing the timing advance in these cells (Multilateration Timing Advance) or based on a measurement of a difference in distance of a MS / UE to two base stations at known locations by broadcast signals at known times (Multilateration Observed Time Difference).

The multilateration positioning methods introduced as part of the 3GPP Rel-14 work item on positioning enhancements for GERAN, i.e. Multilateration Timing Advance (MTA) and Multilateration Observed Time Difference (MOTD), require the MS to tune away from the serving cell for multilateration access in neighbouring cells (MTA) or measurement of neighbour-cell timing (MOTD). When this procedure is ongoing at the MS (the procedure may take as long as 30 seconds), the user data transmission towards the MS is suspended.

As per agreements in 3GPP TSG RAN WG6 Meeting #3, for this purpose the new Multilateration Positioning Method timer (MPM timer) is started at SGSN when the multilateration positioning procedure is triggered by the SMLC in the serving BSS. When this timer is running, the SGSN will buffer the incoming user data towards the MS and resume the user data transmission to the MS / UE on MPM timer expiry only.

The Multilateration Timing Advance (MTA) procedure and the CN behaviour for user data arrival during the MTA procedure as per latest agreed functional description (3GPP TS 43.059, Version 14.0.0) is illustrated in Figure 4.

The signalling mechanism shown in Figure 4 is not efficient for data transmission interworking as depicted below.

If the serving GPRS support node (SGSN) receives data corresponding to high priority data which has associated restricted delay requirements towards an MS, the data is not delivered from SGSN until the expiry of the MPM timer. See 402 which shows that the DL data is buffered until expiry of the MPM timer. As shown at 404, the MS returns to the serving cell after completion of Multilateration Timing Advance in all cells. The DL assignment for the user data transmission towards the MS/UE is then received by the MS/UE at 406.

Depending on the radio conditions, the MS may complete the multilateration positioning procedure prior to the timer expiry. In this case the MS will return to idle mode in the serving cell after the GPRS Ready timer expires. Assuming the GPRS Ready timer is still running, when the MS returns to the serving cell, the MS checks the downlink common control channel , i.e. the (EC-)CCCH channel, using the lowest eDRX cycle and listening to its (EC-)CCCH group, for immediate assignment messages. As the completion status of the multilateration positioning procedure is not known to the BSS/SGSN, the SGSN will have to buffer the downlink user data until the MPM timer expiry which is not efficient in this case, causing unnecessary delay (again, see 402).

As per the current signaling procedure for multilateration positioning, the SGSN needs to buffer any incoming user data until expiry of the MPM timer even if it receives data for high priority session which have associated tighter delay requirement than delivery on MPM timer expiry. As MS does not inform the serving BSS about its return to the serving cell after carrying out the Multilateration Timing Advance method and being ready for receiving downlink (EC-)CCCH, the SGSN will continue to buffer the downlink user data until the MPM timer expiry. As identified by the present inventors this may lead to unnecessary delay at the SGSN for buffering this user data.

As part of the multilateration positioning procedure, the MS establishes a radio link and sends one RLC block to each of the selected non-serving cells. The minimum size of the RLC block is 22 octets (corresponding to MCS-1 RLC block size). This is used for signalling MS related and source cell related identifiers as well as MS synchronization information, i.e. related to downlink synchronization accuracy and time offset for uplink transmission, to the selected non-serving cells only.

The present inventors have also identified that the multilateration timing advance procedure which uses the RLC block method to convey MS sync accuracy information as well as MS and source cell related identifiers does not send other types of information.

The examples described in more detail below provide some enhancements to the multilateration positioning signaling procedure which allow efficient interworking between the multilateration positioning procedure and concurrent user data transmission.

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram showing some entities involved in the techniques described below. Of course, further entities may be provided.

An SMLC (Serving Mobile Location Centre) is shown at 500. The SMLC communicates with an SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) 502. The SGSN communicates with a BSS (Base Station Subsystem) 504. The BSS comprises at least one base station for controlling respective cells. The BSS communicates with an MS (Mobile Station) 506. As described above the MS may be any type of cellular device, including a cellular loT device. The SGSN is considered part of the core network (CN) and the SMLC is considered part of the RAN (Radio Access Network). The SMLC is used for position estimation.

Figure 6 is a flow chart of a use-case according to an example of handling downlink data arriving at SGSN whilst the Multilateration Timing Advance procedure is carried out.

At S1 , the SGSN receives downlink data when the Multilateration TA procedure has already started.

At S2, the SGSN indicates the arrival of DL user data to the serving BSS.

At S3 a determination is made at the SGSN of whether the downlink user data is identified as high priority data, in which case the SGSN indicates whether immediate resumption of user data transmission is required or not as described with respect to S4 and S5. If it is not high priority data, then the method proceeds to S4 where the multilateration positioning procedure is continued and completed before the DL data is sent to the MS.

If it is determined to be high priority data, then at S5 the serving BSS stores the received parameters against the MS context for handling the next multilateration TA attempt from the MS.

At S6 the MS sends an access request for Multilateration TA to the BSS as part of the ongoing multilateration TA attempt.

At S7 the BSS receives from the MS an RLC (radio link control) Block containing, among other information, the TLLI (temporary logical link identifier) of the MS.

At S8 the BSS sends an Acknowledgement for the RLC block in the downlink associated control channel. The acknowledgement message may contain the following additional parameters: o DL-TBF-lnd indication: This flag indicates whether a DL TBF (temporary block flow) assignment message is expected in the next downlink control messages. o Resume-lnd indication: If this field is set to "immediate", on reception of the PUAN (packet uplink ack / nack) MS should access the serving cell and send packet channel request for DL TBF. If this field is set to "normal", MS should send the packet channel request for DL TBF in the serving cell after completing the multilateration positioning procedure.

Therefore as shown at S9, the BSS decides to establish a downlink TBF, or informs MS to switch to packet access and stop MTA, or indicates to MS that after completion of multilateration positioning, the MS is to send a packet channel request in the serving cell to establish a downlink TBF.

The number of multilateration positioning "attempts" (or iterations) may be considered to mean a number of base stations (i.e. a minimum of X base stations should be accessed before data transmission). That is each attempt may be to a different base station or cell involved in a multilateration positioning procedure.

Setting of the above parameters by the BSS depends on the current coverage condition of the MS. If the radio condition is sufficiently good to continue with the data transfer in the cell where multilateration positioning was attempted (i.e. if in coverage condition above a certain downlink signal level threshold or downlink signal to noise plus interference ratio, or in case of EC-GSM-loT above the CC1 threshold), then DL-TBF-lnd can be set to carry out the data transfer in the present non-serving cell, otherwise Resume Indication needs to be set to return to the serving cell for starting reception of DL user data.

In case of the Extended Access burst or Access burst method used on the uplink common control channel (i.e. (EC-)RACH) in a non-serving cell, it is also possible to provide the above information as part of downlink common control channel messages, i.e. downlink (EC-)CCCH messages, sent as acknowledgement to these access bursts, so that MS is aware of the subsequent downlink user data transmission scheduled after completion of the multilateration positioning procedure.

Another use case, related to pre-emption of the multilateration positioning procedure due to presence of uplink data, is described with respect to Figure 7. In this use case the MS wants to send UL data in the form of an exception report, after a multilateration positioning procedure is started. When MS application wants to send an exception report when the Multilateration TA or the Multilateration OTD procedure is ongoing, and if it decides to establish an uplink TBF for data transmission, conventionally it needs to first complete the Multilateration TA / OTD procedure and then will proceed with the uplink TBF establishment in the serving cell. An exception report may be related to an incident where an MS (e.g. loT device) wants or needs to report some abnormal condition/exception condition in or to the network. This could be for example a fire alarm or theft alarm from a sensor, water leakage detection from a water meter, tampering detection at energy meter etc.

In this example, when the MS has to send high priority data (e.g. an exception report) it sends a channel request for uplink TBF establishment in the serving cell to the serving BSS rather than a Multilateration Timing Advance request in a non-serving cell in case of the MTA method or rather than a Multilateration OTD response for the MOTD method in the serving cell. This is shown at S1 .

The serving BSS detects the request for uplink TBF, as shown at S2.

At S3, the BSS determines that the Multilateration TA / OTD procedure is stopped/paused.

At S4, the BSS indicates to the SMLC the termination of the multilateration positioning (i.e. either MTA or MOTD) procedure .

At S5 the SMLC starts the position estimation based on available Multilateration TA / OTD reports.

Another use case is where the MS knows that a multilateration TA attempt is the final multilateration TA attempt of the procedure. In this case, MS includes the 'final multilateration' access" indication in the last multilateration TA attempt. When BSS receives this 'final multilateration access' indication, BSS informs SMLC and SGSN that the multilateration positioning procedure is completed. SGSN then stops the MPM timer and may resume the downlink data transmission based on this indication.

Another use case is shown in Figure 7B, where a UE indicates "final multilateration access" i.e. that it is the last or final multilateration positioning attempt of a multilateration positioning procedure.

At S1 , the MS sends a multilateration access request, i.e. a multilateration positioning request to the BSS, and includes MS Synchronization accuracy related information together with the final multilateration access indication either in the RLC block, when using the RLC block method, or in the Extended Access burst, when using the Extended Access Burst method.

At S2; a determination is made at the BSS as to whether it is the final multilateration access request.

If the answer is "no", then the method proceeds to S3, where the next TA multilateration attempt is carried out.

If the answer is "yes", then the method proceeds to S4 where BSS informs SMLC and SGSN about completion of the MTA procedure.

At S5, SGSN resumes DL transmission.

Another use case is described with respect to Figure 8, according to an example. In this example the MS fills the RLC block sent in each multilateration positioning attempt using available RLC blocks in different cells. This use case is related to multiplexing of application data along with a multilateration positioning procedure. In this case an MS wants/needs to send some application data when it responds with information for positioning. That is positional information may be sent as part of the Multilateration Timing Advance procedure, and additionally further information (e.g. additional application information) can be sent from the MS. For example, the additional application information may comprise status information from one or more sensors at the MS.

At S1 the MS receives a Multilateration request message from SMLC. This may be a Radio Resource LCS protocol (RRLP) request.

The MS may send a request to its application layer for any data to be sent along with the multilateration positioning procedure. At S2, the MS forms the application data to be sent. To this end the MS may form one or more logical link layer packet data units (LLC PDU) from the received application data.

At S3 the MS divides the application data (e.g. LLC PDU) into multiple octets.

At S4 the MS fills the application data into a spare part of one RLC block sent during one TA multilateration attempt.

According to an example, as part of each TA multilateration attempt in a non-serving cell for the Multilateration TA method, the MS includes information (i.e. application data) belonging to the defined number of octets formed in the earlier step S4 as well as provides an indication about the number of remaining octets related to the application data after reception of the present RLC block.

On completion of the multilateration positioning procedure, if there are further RLC blocks pending for transmission, the MS may establish a new TBF in the serving cell, and send the remaining RLC blocks with an indication that they belong to or are associated with the sequence of data sent during the multilateration procedure.

Then, the serving BSS constructs the LLC PDU and sends it to the SGSN.

This procedure may be required for use-cases where the CloT device wants to send additional user data when the positioning measurement is being triggered and shall not or cannot be aborted. The above described procedure utilises the free space in terms of octets available in an RLC block sent by the MS during the Multilateration TA procedure to the network (to cells in serving BSS and non-serving BSS). This may avoid many additional RLC block transmissions in separate TBFs.

With respect to any of the examples described above, the SMLC may provide information about a minimum number of required TA multilateration attempts/iterations. This ensures that at least a reasonable approximation of a device's position can be determined, prior to pre-emption of the procedure at BSS and MS. This signalling mechanism may enable interworking with data transmission with a lesser impact on the position estimation quality.

Some of the examples described above are now further described with respect to the signalling diagram of Figure 9.

At S1 SMLC 900 sends a RRLP Multilateration Request message to MS 906. This request optionally indicates a minimum required number of multilateration TA attempts/iterations. At S2 the MS starts the multilateration timing advance procedure. This is initiated by sending an access request to BSS 904. The MS completes multilateration timing advance procedure with selected non-serving Cell 1 belonging to the serving BSS 904. The serving BSS 904 reports the timing advance information estimated for the MS in Cell 1 to SMLC 900.

At S3 downlink data is received at SGSN 902. This data may be received from a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN).

At S4 the SGSN 902 sends an indicator about the arrival of DL user data to the serving BSS 904. In this example a downlink data arrival indication (DL-Data-Arrival-lnd) message is sent to the serving BSS 904 for this purpose. An additional parameter is sent to the BSS 904, named Resume indication (Resume-lnd) to indicate the priority of downlink data resumption. This parameter is set to "Pre-empt MTA", if the received DL data is for high priority data transfer and the multilateration timing advance procedure needs to be stopped/paused. That is it comprises an indicator of a priority of the DL data. Otherwise this parameter is set to "Complete MTA", indicating that the multilateration positioning may resume uninterrupted and the DL data transfer is carried out subsequently. The serving BSS 904 stores the received information as part of the MS context.

At S5 the serving BSS 904 receives a next or subsequent multilateration access request from Cell 2.

TBF establishment is shown at S6.

At S7, on reception of the RLC block containing the TLLI and timing advance related information, the serving BSS 904 identifies the MS context. If MS context indicates in the Resume indication "Pre-empt MTA" for initiating the downlink transmission and the radio conditions of the current cell are suitable to establish a Downlink TBF, the BSS indicates the establishment of a Downlink TBF in the flag DL-TBF Ind in the PUAN (Packet Uplink Ack/Nack message). Otherwise, if the radio conditions are not suitable, the serving BSS indicates to the MS in the PUAN to switch to packet access by setting the switch-to-packet-access parameter and the MS performs the packet access request in the serving cell. This is shown at step S8. This parameter also indicates whether immediate switch to packet access is needed (S9) or only after MTA completion. The serving BSS sets this field based on the corresponding DL- Data-Arrival-lnd message received from SGSN.

If the MS receives the DL-TBF-lnd indication in the non-serving cell, it waits for further DL control messages to receive the downlink TBF assignment. Otherwise it releases the TBF. MS decides to continue with multilateration positioning or packet access request (S10) based on the switch-to-packet-access parameter and the optional parameter of minimum required number of multilaterations as signaled by the SMLC. TBF establishment is shown at S 1 1 .

When the serving BSS knows or determines that the MS has switched to packet transfer mode by stopping the multilateration positioning procedure, the BSS 904 informs the SMLC 900 of the end of the multilateration positioning as shown at S12. This enables the SMLC 900 to start the position estimation based on available timing advance reports.

The above described procedure can also be realized in cells of a non-serving BSS. In this case when the non-serving BSS forwards the timing advance related information to the serving BSS, the serving BSS may send a message to the non-serving BSS about pending downlink data. The non-serving BSS then sends an indication of pending downlink data in the acknowledgement of the multilateration positioning request to the MS and redirects the MS to the serving cell to resume the downlink data receive operation.

The above described procedure can also be realized in cells of a non-serving BSS. In such a case the information on the MS context is forwarded from the serving BSS to each non- serving BSS participating in the Multilateration Timing Advance procedure. For example this is carried out by applying a PS Transport mechanism such as the RAN Information Management (RIM) procedure. The corresponding indications for continued data transfer in the non-serving cell and data resumption in the serving cell are sent by the non-serving BSS to the MS as part of acknowledgment of the RLC block conveying the MTA data as part of the Multilateration TA access attempt.

An MS may also require sending of high priority UL data when a multilateration positioning procedure is carried out. The sending, or requirement of sending, of high priority UL data may occur when a multilateration positioning procedure is already taking place. When it is determined that a multilateration positioning procedure is in process, and there is high priority UL data, the multilateration positioning procedure may be stopped immediately. Else, if the minimum number of TA multilaterations has been performed as signalled by the SMLC, the MS may evaluate after performing multilateration timing advance to Cell 1 , Cell 2, etc, if it is allowed to stop multilateration positioning in order to send the high priority data. By default or in case the radio conditions in the cell are not suitable, e.g. by detecting an insufficient signal power or signal to noise plus interference ratio on the downlink, the MS moves to the serving cell before sending a packet channel request to establish an UL TBF. Otherwise if the radio conditions are suitable, the MS indicates in the RLC block carrying the multilateration positioning data the size of the additional data in terms of required RLC blocks. The multilateration positioning data may be considered or referred to as location data of the mobile station. The MS then waits for an UL TBF assignment command from the BSS. The BSS only sends the UL TBF assignment if it has a context for the MS, i.e. if it is the serving BSS for the MS. If no assignment is received within a certain time, the MS redirects to the serving cell.

In a case of applying the Extended Access Burst method (i.e. carrying a larger amount of information than an access burst, by using a combination of an access burst and a subsequent longer access burst), to convey the multilateration positioning data on the uplink common control channel (i.e. (EC)-RACH) without subsequent establishment of an UL TBF for sending the RLC block, such an indication of high priority data availability may be sent as part of the Extended Access Burst using 1 or 2 from 4 available spare bits in the data part. The BSS, having a context for the MS, allocates the requested number of UL RLC blocks. This may comprise separating RLC blocks for multilateration positioning from subsequent blocks for UL data.

Figure 10 illustrates a message sequence where an MS indicates a block count as part of the RLC block carrying the MS sync accuracy info for multilateration TA. The MS continues with uplink TBF establishment in the same non-serving cell for sending the high priority uplink data. This is described in more detail below.

At S1 , a request to start a multilateration procedure is received at MS 1004. This request is received from an SMLC.

At S2 MS 1004 begins an access procedure for Multilateration TA with BSS 1002.

As shown at S3, MS 1004 selects Cell 2 for sending the multilateration access request.

At S4, MS 1004 sends a multilateration request to BSS 1002 of Cell 2.

Following on from this, at S5 TBF establishment takes place between MS 1004 and BSS 1002.

The RLC blocks are sent at S6 from MS 1004 to BSS 1002. As discussed above these blocks may contain high priority data, in addition to multilateration data. The high priority data may be contained in spare space in the RLC block(s).

At S7 the BSS 1002 sends information to the SMLC 1000. This may comprise the multilateration data, for example an estimated position of the MS 1004. It may also comprise an indication to the SMLC that the multilateration procedure is complete. The high priority data is sent to SGSN from BSS. Thus it may be considered that the MTA complete indication is sent by the serving BSS to the SMLC, and the uplink data is forwarded to the SGSN.

At S8 an acknowledgement is sent from BSS 1002 to MS 1004. The acknowledgement may comprise a PUAN. This acknowledgement may comprise a resource assignment. In Figure 10, cell 2 may be considered the serving cell, defined before the multilateration positioning procedure is started. The MS sends a packet access request for UL data in the serving cell and aborts the sending of MTA related information.

Figure 1 1 is a signalling diagram related to the multiplexing of additional information from the MS. The network informs the MS in the RRLP Multilateration Timing Advance Request message whether multiplexing of additional information, such as UL user data, along with multilateration positioning related information in the same RLC block is possible for a specific cell as part of the network assistance information. As discussed above, if the MS decides to include one or more LLC PDUs in the multilateration procedure, it includes the LLC PDU content in each of the RLC blocks sent as part of the multilateration timing advance procedure. The serving BSS combines the content, forms a single (or more) LLC PDUs, and sends the PDU(s) to the SGSN at the end of the multilateration timing advance procedure. For this purpose the RLC block may contain an additional length indicator to indicate presence of fragmented single or more LLC PDUs. Figure 1 1 shows an example messaging sequence for multiplexing a single or more LLC PDU(s) transmission in conjunction with a multilateration positioning procedure.

At S1 , a Multilateration Timing Advance request message is sent from SMLC 1 100 to MS 1 104.

In response to this, the MS 1 104 begins the multilateration procedure. This involves sending an access request for TA multilateration (S2), in this case to BSS 1 102 in cell 1 , and TBF establishment as shown at S3. At S4 the MS 1 104 begins sending data to BSS 1 102, for example multilateration data as well as additional, application data. At S5 multilateration data is sent from BSS 1 102 to SMLC1 100.

As shown generally at S6, this is repeated in each cell where multilateration is attempted and which belongs to the same BSS as the serving cell.

At S7, if the LLC PDU transmission is not completed, then the MS establishes a TBF in its serving cell, and sends any remaining parts in this TBF. This may also require that the MS gets an acknowledgement in each non-serving cell that the data is successfully received (this may occur for example at S5).

At S8, the BSS 1 102 constructs the LLC PDU, which it delivers to the SGSN 1 101 , as shown at S9.

Figure 12 is a flow chart of an example method as viewed from a mobile station. At S1 the MS receives a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure. At S2 the mobile station determines whether the mobile station has data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure.

In response to determining that the mobile station does have data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure; the mobile station sends an indication to a network apparatus, as shown at S3.

Figure 13 is a flow chart of an example method also viewed from a mobile station.

At S1 the MS receives a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure.

At S2 the mobile station determines whether the mobile station has data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure.

In response to determining that the mobile station does not have data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure; the mobile station sends an indication in a last multilateration access, as part of the last multilateration positioning attempt, to a network apparatus when it knows that no further multilateration positioning attempts to base stations will be performed, as shown at S3.

Figure 14 is a flow chart of an example method viewed from a BSS apparatus.

At S1 , the apparatus receives a multilateration positioning request from a mobile station.

At S2, in response to receiving the request, the apparatus sends information to the mobile station for enabling the mobile station to receive downlink data during a multilateration positioning procedure associated with the multilateration request.

Figure 15 is a flow chart of an example method, also viewed from a BSS apparatus.

At S1 , the apparatus receives a multilateration positioning request from a mobile station for a multilateration procedure, the request comprising information of a last multilateration positioning attempt.

In response to this, at S2 the apparatus informs a serving mobile location centre of completion of the multilateration positioning procedure.

Figure 16 is a flow chart of an example method viewed from an SGSN apparatus.

At S1 , the apparatus sends or causes to be sent a multilateration positioning procedure request to a mobile station. At S2, during a multilateration positioning procedure associated with the request, the apparatus sends information of downlink data intended for the mobile station, the information comprising an indication of a priority of the downlink data.

Figure 17 is a flow chart of an example method viewed from an SMLC apparatus.

At S1 the apparatus determines information comprising a minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts required to meet a positioning quality threshold as part of a multilateration positioning procedure for a mobile station.

At S2, the apparatus sends the determined information to a second entity.

At S3, the apparatus receives an indication of completion of the multilateration positioning procedure.

At S4, in response to receiving the indication, the apparatus starts a position estimate for the mobile station.

It is also noted herein that while the above describes example embodiments, there are several variations and modifications which may be made to the disclosed solution without departing from the scope of the present invention.

In general, the various embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects of the invention may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the invention is not limited thereto. While various aspects of the invention may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The embodiments of this invention may be implemented by computer software executable by a data processor of the mobile device, such as in the processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Computer software or program, also called program product, including software routines, applets and/or macros, may be stored in any apparatus-readable data storage medium and they comprise program instructions to perform particular tasks. A computer program product may comprise one or more computer- executable components which, when the program is run, are configured to carry out embodiments. The one or more computer-executable components may be at least one software code or portions of it.

Further in this regard it should be noted that any blocks of the logic flow as in the Figures may represent program steps, or interconnected logic circuits, blocks and functions, or a combination of program steps and logic circuits, blocks and functions. The software may be stored on such physical media as memory chips, or memory blocks implemented within the processor, magnetic media such as hard disk or floppy disks, and optical media such as for example DVD and the data variants thereof, CD. The physical media is a non-transitory media.

The memory may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The data processors may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may comprise one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), FPGA, gate level circuits and processors based on multi core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples.

Embodiments of the inventions may be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit modules. The design of integrated circuits is by and large a highly automated process. Complex and powerful software tools are available for converting a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

The foregoing description has provided by way of non-limiting examples a full and informative description of the exemplary embodiment of this invention. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. However, all such and similar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fall within the scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims. Indeed there is a further embodiment comprising a combination of one or more embodiments with any of the other embodiments previously discussed.

Claims

1 . A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile station, a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure; and

determining, at the mobile station, whether the mobile station has data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure, and

in response to determining that the mobile station does have data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure;

sending an indication to a network apparatus.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the determining comprises determining whether the mobile station has high priority data to send.

3. A method according to claim 1 or 2, comprising selecting a serving cell and wherein the indication comprises a request for uplink resources on which to send the data.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the multilateration positioning procedure is stopped or paused before sending the request for uplink resources.

5. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the data to communicate comprises application data.

6. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the indication comprises an indicator in a last multilateration positioning attempt to the network indicating that no further multilateration positioning attempt to base stations will be performed.

7. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the indication is at least one of a data availability indication and an amount of data to send, and at least a part of the data to send is sent in an RLC block as part of a multilateration positioning attempt.

8. A computer program comprising program code adapted to perform the steps of any of claims 1 to 7 when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

9. A method comprising:

during a multilateration positioning procedure, receiving information of downlink data intended for a mobile station from a network node; in response to receiving the information, sending information to the mobile station during a multilateration attempt for enabling the mobile station to receive downlink data during the multilateration positioning procedure.

10. A method according to claim 9, wherein the information sent to the mobile station comprises information that the mobile station is to receive information of downlink resources for receiving the downlink data from a downlink common control channel in a serving cell of the mobile station.

1 1 . A method according to claim 9, wherein the information comprises an instruction for the mobile station to send a packet channel request in a serving cell of the mobile station in order to receive the downlink data.

12. A method according to any of claims 9 to 1 1 , comprising detecting completion of the multilateration positioning procedure based on receiving a packet channel request from the mobile station.

13. A method according to any of claims 9 to 12, comprising determining when the mobile station can switch from the multilateration positioning procedure to a data transmission state, based upon a determined minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts, each attempt being associated with an individual base station.

14. A computer program comprising program code adapted to perform the steps of any of claims 9 to 13 when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

15. A method comprising:

sending or causing to be sent a multilateration positioning procedure request to a mobile station; and

during a multilateration positioning procedure associated with the request, sending information of downlink data intended for the mobile station, the information comprising an indication of a priority of the downlink data.

16. A method according to claim 15, wherein the information of downlink data is sent to a base station subsystem node.

17. A method according to claim 15 or claim 16, comprising receiving from the serving mobile location centre information of a minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts, and forwarding this minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts required before the mobile station can resume uplink and/or downlink communications, to the mobile station.

18. A method according to claim 17, comprising informing the mobile station and/or causing the mobile station to be informed of the minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts.

19. A computer program comprising program code adapted to perform the steps of any of claims 15 to 18 when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

20. A method comprising:

determining, at a location entity, information comprising a minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts required to meet a positioning quality threshold as part of a multilateration positioning procedure for a mobile station;

sending the determined information to a second entity; and

receiving an indication of completion of the multilateration positioning procedure; and in response to receiving the indication, starting a position estimate for the mobile station.

21 . A method as set forth in claim 20, wherein the location entity comprises a serving mobile location centre.

22. A computer program comprising program code to perform the steps of any of claims 20 to 21 when the program is run on a data processing apparatus.

23. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to:

receive a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure; and determine whether the apparatus has data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure, and

in response to determining that the apparatus does have data to communicate during the multilateration positioning procedure in addition to information required for the multilateration positioning procedure;

send an indication to a network apparatus.

24. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to:

during a multilateration positioning procedure, receive information of downlink data intended for a mobile station from a network node; in response to receiving the information, send information to the mobile station during a multilateration attempt for enabling the mobile station to receive downlink data during the multilateration positioning procedure.

25. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to:

send or cause to be sent a multilateration positioning procedure request to a mobile station; and

during a multilateration procedure associated with the request, send information of downlink data intended for the mobile station, the information comprising an indication of a priority of the downlink data.

26. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to:

determine information comprising a minimum number of multilateration positioning attempts required to meet a positioning quality threshold as part of a multilateration positioning procedure for a mobile station;

send the determined information to a second apparatus; and

receiving an indication of completion of the multilateration positioning procedure; and in response to receiving the indication, start a position estimate for the mobile station.

27. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile station, a request for initiating a multilateration positioning procedure;

receiving, at the mobile station, a message from a base station subsystem in response to a multilateration positioning request sent to a base station subsystem to stop the multilateration positioning procedure for resuming downlink data reception,

stopping at the mobile station the multilateration positioning procedure, and, sending, at the mobile station, an indication to a network via a serving cell to resume downlink data reception.

28. A method according to claim 28, comprising sending a channel request indicating a response for resuming reception of downlink data.

29. An apparatus comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to:

receive a message from a base station subsystem in response to a multilateration positioning request sent to a base station subsystem to stop the multilateration positioning procedure for resuming downlink data reception;

stop the multilateration positioning procedure; and

send an indication to a network via a serving cell to resume downlink data reception.