Group reporting of user equipment measurements in multiple round trip time positioning

Abstract

A technology for group reporting of UE receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurements for multi-RTT positioning is disclosed. Multiple downlink reference signals (DL RS) are received from multiple transmit receive points (TRPs). Corresponding multiple uplink reference signals (UL RS) are sent to the multiple TRPs. One or more parameter set factors for the multiple TRPs are determined. Measurement reports are generated for the multiple TRPs based on the parameter set factors. The measurement reports are sent to a network entity. The measurement reports include UE receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference measurements for at least two TRPs.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Greek Patent Application No. 20190100025, filed on January 11, 2019, entitled “GROUP REPORTING OF UE RX-TX MEASUREMENTS IN MULTI-RTT POSITIONING,” and U.S. Non-Provisional Patent Application No. 16 / 738,988, filed on January 9, 2020, entitled “GROUP REPORTING OF USER EQUIPMENT MEASUREMENTS IN MULTI-ROUND TRIP TIME POSITIONING,” both of which are assigned to the assignee of this patent application and are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0003] Various aspects described herein relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to group reporting of user equipment (UE) Rx-Tx measurements in multiple round trip time (RTT) positioning in wireless networks. Background Art

[0004] Wireless communication systems have evolved over several generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) wireless service supporting high-speed data Internet, and fourth generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are many different types of wireless communication systems in use today, including cellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), global system for mobile access (GSM) variants of TDMA, and the like.

[0005] The fifth generation (5G) mobile standard, also known as New Radio (NR), requires higher data transfer speeds, more connections, better coverage, and other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, with a data rate of 1 gigabit per second provided to dozens of employees on an office floor. In order to support large sensor deployments, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. Therefore, the spectrum efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to the current 4G standard. In addition, signaling efficiency should be enhanced and latency should be significantly reduced compared to the current standard.

[0006] Some wireless communication networks, such as 5G, support operation at UHF or even extremely high frequency (EHF) bands, such as the millimeter wave (mmW) band (typically, wavelengths of 1 mm to 10 mm, or 30 to 300 GHz). These extremely high frequencies can support very high throughputs, such as up to 6 gigabits per second (Gbps).

[0007] To support positioning estimation in terrestrial wireless networks, a mobile device may be configured to measure and report an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) or reference signal timing difference (RSTD) between reference RF signals received from two or more network nodes (e.g., different base stations or different transmission points (e.g., antennas) belonging to the same base station). The mobile device may also be configured to report the time of arrival (ToA) of the RF signal.

[0008] In the case of OTDOA, when a mobile device reports the time difference of arrival (TDOA) between the RF signals from two network nodes, then the location of the mobile device is known to lie on a hyperbola with the locations of the two network nodes as foci. Measuring TDOA between multiple pairs of network nodes allows the location of the mobile device to be solved as the intersection of the hyperbolas.

[0009] Round Trip Time (RTT) is another technique for determining the location of a mobile device. RTT is a two-way messaging technique (network node to mobile device and mobile device to network node) that calculates the location of a mobile device, where both the mobile device and the network node report their received-to-sent (Rx-Tx) time difference to a positioning entity (such as a location server or location management function (LMF)). This allows the calculation of the back-and-forth flight time between the mobile device and the network node. It is then known that the location of the mobile device is located on a circle centered on the location of the network node. Reporting RTT with multiple network nodes allows the positioning entity to solve the location of the mobile device as the intersection of the circles. Summary of the invention

[0010] This Summary identifies features of some example aspects and is not an exclusive or exhaustive description of the disclosed subject matter. The inclusion or omission of features or aspects in this Summary is not intended to indicate the relative importance of such features. Additional features and aspects are described and will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following Detailed Description and reviewing the accompanying drawings, which form a part thereof.

[0011] According to various aspects disclosed herein, at least one aspect includes a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving multiple downlink reference signals (DL RS) from multiple TRPs; sending corresponding multiple uplink reference signals (UL RS) to multiple TRPs; determining one or more parameter set factors for the multiple TRPs; generating measurement reports for the multiple TRPs based on the parameter set factors; and sending the measurement report to a network entity, wherein the measurement report includes a receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference of at least two TRPs.

[0012] According to various aspects disclosed herein, at least one aspect includes a user equipment (UE), comprising: a transceiver; and a processor coupled to a memory and the transceiver, wherein the transceiver, the memory and the processor are configured to: receive multiple downlink reference signals (DL RS) from multiple TRPs; send corresponding multiple uplink reference signals (UL RS) to multiple TRPs; determine one or more parameter set factors for multiple TRPs; generate measurement reports for multiple TRPs based on the parameter set factors; and send the measurement report to a network entity, wherein the measurement report includes a receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference of at least two TRPs.

[0013] According to various aspects disclosed herein, at least one aspect includes a method performed by a network entity, the method comprising: receiving measurement reports of multiple TRPs from a user equipment (UE); and determining the positioning of the UE based on the measurement reports, and / or forwarding the measurement reports to a location server, wherein the measurement report includes a receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference of at least two TRPs, and wherein the Rx-Tx time difference of each TRP is determined based on a parameter set factor of communication between the multiple TRPs and the UE.

[0014] According to various aspects disclosed herein, at least one aspect includes a network entity, comprising: a communication device; and a processor coupled to a memory and the communication device, wherein the communication device, the memory and the processor are configured to: receive measurement reports of multiple TRPs from a user equipment (UE); and determine the positioning of the UE based on the measurement report, and / or forward the measurement report to a location server, wherein the measurement report includes a receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference of at least two TRPs, and wherein the Rx-Tx time difference of each TRP is determined based on a parameter set factor of communication between the multiple TRPs and the UE.

[0015] Other objects and advantages associated with the various aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the drawings and detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing examples of one or more aspects of the disclosed subject matter and are provided solely for purposes of illustration and not limitation of the examples:

[0017] Figure 1 An exemplary wireless communication system according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0018] Figure 2A and Figure 2B An example wireless network structure according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0019] FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C is a simplified block diagram of several example aspects of components that may be used in a wireless communication node and configured to support communications in accordance with one or more aspects of the present disclosure;

[0020] Figure 4 A scenario of determining the location of a UE through a multi-RTT process according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure is shown;

[0021] Figure 5 A diagram illustrating exemplary timing for determining an RTT between a serving transmission reception point (TRP) and a UE according to one or more aspects of the present disclosure;

[0022] Figure 6 A scenario is shown where a UE reports measurement reports for multiple TRPs;

[0023] Figure 7 An exemplary method for measurement reporting performed by a UE according to an aspect of the present disclosure is shown;

[0024] Figure 8 An example process performed by a UE to group TRPs in a measurement report is shown;

[0025] Fig. 9 An exemplary method for measurement reporting performed by a serving TRP according to an aspect of the present disclosure is shown;

[0026] Fig.10 and Fig.11 is another simplified block diagram of several example aspects of an apparatus configured to support positioning and communication as taught herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Various aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings, which are directed to various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be designed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted to avoid blurring the relevant details of the present disclosure.

[0028] 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.

[0029] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips referenced in 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 specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

[0030] In addition, many aspects are described in terms of a sequence of actions to be performed by, for example, an element of a computing device. It should be appreciated that the various actions described herein may be performed by a specific circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions run by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. In addition, the (multiple) action sequences described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, in which a corresponding set of computer instructions is stored, which, when run, causes or instructs the associated processor of the device to perform the functionality described herein. Therefore, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which are considered to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each aspect described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic configured to perform the described actions."

[0031] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms "user equipment (UE)" and "base station" are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any specific radio access technology (RAT). In general, a UE can be any device used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a tracking device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headsets, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.). A UE can be mobile or can be stationary (e.g., at a particular time) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber equipment", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variants thereof. In general, a UE can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE can connect to external networks (such as the Internet) and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms are also possible for the UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) (eg, based on IEEE 802.11, etc.), and the like.

[0032] Depending on the network in which it is deployed, a base station may operate according to one of several RATs for communicating with a UE, and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a new radio (NR) NodeB (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. In addition, in some systems, a base station may provide pure edge node signaling functionality, while in other systems it may provide additional control and / or network management functionality. The communication link through which a UE may transmit a signal to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link through which a base station may transmit a signal to a UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). The term traffic channel (TCH) used herein may refer to a UL / reverse or DL / forward traffic channel.

[0033] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or to multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be collocated. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be a base station antenna corresponding to a base station cell. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of a base station (e.g., in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where a base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Optionally, the non-collocated physical TRPs may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and an adjacent base station whose reference RF signal the UE is measuring. Because, as used herein, a TRP is a point at which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, transmission from a base station or reception at a base station should be understood to refer to a specific TRP of a base station.

[0034] An "RF signal" includes an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transports information through the 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 RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal.

[0035] According to various aspects, Figure 1An exemplary wireless communication system 100 is shown. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macro cell base station may include an eNB in ​​the case where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or a gNB in ​​the case where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base station may include a femto cell, a pico cell, a micro cell, etc.

[0036] 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 next generation core (NGC)) via a backhaul link 122, and through the core network 170 to one or more location servers 172. The base stations 102 may perform, among other functions, functions related to one or more of delivering user data, wireless channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), user and device tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via EPC / NGC) via a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0037] Base station 102 can communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each base station 102 can provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, the base station 102 in each coverage area 110 can support one or more cells. A "cell" is a logical communication entity for communicating with a base station (e.g., through some frequency resources, called carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., physical cell identifier (PCI), virtual cell identifier (VCI)) to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells can be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other) that can provide access to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" can refer to one or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. In some cases, the term "cell" can 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 a certain portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0038] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' may have a coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group called a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0039] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include UL (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. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​than for UL).

[0040] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a WLAN station (STA) 152 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz) via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or a listen before talk (LBT) procedure prior to communication to determine whether a channel is available.

[0041] The small cell base station 102' can operate in a licensed spectrum and / or an unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can adopt LTE or NR technology and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' adopting LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can improve the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE-U, License Assisted Access (LAA) or MulteFire.

[0042] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180, which can operate at mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. The range of EHF is 30GHz to 300GHz, and the wavelength is between 1 mm and 10 mm. The radio waves in this band can be called millimeter waves. Near mmW can be extended down to a frequency of 3GHz, and its wavelength is 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3GHz and 30GHz, also known as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short distances. The mmW base station 180 and UE 182 can compensate for extremely high path loss and short distances by using beamforming (sending and / or receiving) through the mmW communication link 184. In addition, it will be understood that in an alternative configuration, one or more base stations 102 may also use mmW or near mmW and beamforming for transmission. Accordingly, it should be understood that the foregoing description is merely exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0043] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectional). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the (multiple) receiving devices. In order to change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that broadcast the RF signal. For example, the network node can use an array of antennas (called a "phased array" or "antenna array") that produces RF beams that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to each antenna in the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from each antenna are added together to increase the radiation in the desired direction while canceling to suppress the radiation in the undesired direction.

[0044] The transmit beams can be quasi-collocated, which means that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the transmit antennas of the network nodes themselves are physically collocated. In NR, there are four types of quasi-collocated (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived from information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Therefore, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial reception parameters of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel.

[0045] In receive beamforming, the receiver uses receive beams to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver may increase the gain setting and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a particular direction to amplify the RF signals received from that direction (e.g., increase its gain level). Therefore, when the receiver is said to perform beamforming in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in the RF signal received from that direction having 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.).

[0046] The receive beams may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that the parameters of the transmit beam of the second reference signal may be derived from information about the receive beam of the first reference signal. For example, the UE may receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station using a specific receive beam. 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.

[0047] Note that a "downlink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity that forms it. For example, if the base station is forming a downlink beam to send a reference signal to the UE, then the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE is forming a downlink beam, then the downlink beam is a receive beam that receives a downlink reference signal. Similarly, an "uplink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity that forms it. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, then the downlink beam is an uplink receive beam, and if the UE is forming an uplink beam, then the downlink beam is an uplink transmit beam.

[0048] In 5G, the spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base stations 102 / 180, UEs 104 / 182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (from 450 to 6000 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 to 52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one carrier frequency is called a "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are called "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used 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 can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (but not always). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2), which can be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier, and can be used to provide additional wireless resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier of an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, those UE-specific signaling information and signals may not be present in the secondary carrier, because the primary uplink and downlink carriers are typically UE-specific. 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 is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. By doing this, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Because a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier with which a base station is communicating, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. can be used interchangeably.

[0049] For example, still referring to Figure 1 , one of the frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), while the other frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). 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 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate obtained by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0050] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, which are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) or peer-to-peer (P2P) links. Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 in which one of UEs 104 is connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 can indirectly obtain a cellular connection) and a D2D P2P link 194 in which WLAN STA 152 is connected to WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 can indirectly obtain a WLAN-based Internet connection). In an example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can be supported by any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), wait.

[0051] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a UE 164, which may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via a communication link 120, and / or communicate with the mmW base station 180 via a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support one 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.

[0052] According to various aspects, Figure 2A An example wireless network architecture 200 is shown. For example, the NGC 210 (also referred to as a "5GC") can be functionally viewed as a control plane function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate in conjunction 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 NGC 210, specifically to the control plane function 214 and the user plane function 212. In additional configurations, the eNB 224 can also be connected to the NGC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. In addition, the eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the new RAN 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. The gNB 222 or the eNB 224 may communicate with the UE 204 (e.g., Figure 1204). Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that can communicate with the NGC 210 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The location server 230 can be implemented as multiple independent servers (e.g., physically independent servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed on multiple physical servers, etc.), or can each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can be connected to the location server 230 via the core network, the NGC 210 and / or via the Internet (not shown). In addition, the location server 230 can be integrated into a component of the core network, or optionally can be external to the core network.

[0053] According to various aspects, Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 250 is shown. For example, the NGC 260 (also referred to as "5GC") can be functionally viewed as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) / user plane function (UPF) 264, and a user plane function provided by a session management function (SMF) 262, which operate in conjunction to form a core network (i.e., NGC 260). The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the eNB 224 to the NGC 260, specifically to the SMF 262 and the AMF / UPF 264, respectively. In an additional configuration, the gNB 222 can also be connected to the NGC 260 via a control plane interface 265 to the AMF / UPF 264 and a user plane interface 263 to the SMF 262. In addition, the eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223, whether or not there is gNB direct connectivity to the NGC 260. In some configurations, the new RAN 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. The gNB 222 or the eNB 224 may communicate with the UE 204 (e.g., Figure 1 The base station of the new RAN 220 communicates with the AMF side of the AMF / UPF 264 through the N2 interface, and communicates with the UPF side of the AMF / UPF 264 through the N3 interface.

[0054] The functions of AMF include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport of session management (SM) messages between UE 204 and SMF 262, transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transport of short message service (SMS) messages between UE 204 and short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). AMF also interacts with authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and UE 204, and receives intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), AMF retrieves security materials from AUSF. The functions of AMF also include security context management (SCM). SCM receives keys from SEAF and uses it to derive access network specific keys. The functionality of the AMF also includes location service management for regulatory services, transport of location service messages between the UE 204 and the location management function (LMF) 270 and between the new RAN 220 and the LMF 270, allocation of EPS bearer identifiers for interworking with the Evolved Packet System (EPS), and notification of mobility events for the UE 204. In addition, the AMF also supports the functionality of non-3GPP access networks.

[0055] The functions of the UPF include acting as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection with a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, service steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), service usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) processing (e.g., UL / DL rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in DL), UL traffic verification (mapping of service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow), transport level packet marking in UL and DL, DL packet buffering and DL data notification triggering, and transmission and forwarding of one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node.

[0056] The functions of SMF 262 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuring traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to the correct destination, control of part of policy implementation and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which SMF 262 communicates with the AMF side of AMF / UPF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0057] Another optional aspect may include LMF 270, which may communicate with NGC 260 to provide location assistance to UE 204. LMF 270 may be implemented as multiple independent servers (e.g., physically independent servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed on multiple physical servers, etc.), or may each correspond to a single server. LMF 270 may be configured to support one or more location services for UE 204, which may be connected to LMF 270 via a core network, NGC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown).

[0058] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C Several sample components (represented by corresponding blocks) are shown that may be included in a UE 302 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), a TRP 304 (which may correspond to any base station, gNB, eNB, cell, etc. described herein), and a network node 306 (which may correspond to or embody any network function herein, including a location server 230 and an LMF 270) for supporting file transfer operations as taught herein. It should be understood that these components may be implemented in different types of devices in different embodiments (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.). The components shown may also be included in other devices in the communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to the described components to provide similar functionality. In addition, a given device may include one or more components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0059] UE 302 and TRP 304 each include a wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceiver 310 and 350, respectively, which is configured to communicate via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can 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 certain set of time / frequency resources in a specific spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be configured differently according to the designated RAT for respectively sending and encoding signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), and conversely, for respectively receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, 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, respectively.

[0060] At least in some cases, UE 302 and TRP 304 also include wireless local area network (WLAN) transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. WLAN transceivers 320 and 360 can be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, for communication via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, The WLAN transceivers 320 and 360 may be configured differently according to the specified RAT to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), respectively, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.), respectively. Specifically, the 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.

[0061] The transceiver circuitry including the transmitter and the receiver may include an integrated device in some embodiments (e.g., a transmitter circuit and a receiver circuit implemented as a single communication device), may include a separate transmitter device and a separate receiver device in some embodiments, or may be embodied in other ways in other embodiments. In one aspect, the transmitter may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas such as an antenna array (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) that allow the corresponding device to perform transmit "beamforming" as described herein. Similarly, the receiver may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas such as an antenna array (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) that allow the corresponding device to perform receive beamforming as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter and the receiver may share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) so that the corresponding device may only receive or transmit at a given time, but not simultaneously. The wireless communication device of apparatus 302 and / or 304 (eg, one or both of transceivers 310 and 320 and / or 350 and 360) may also include a network listening module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

[0062] At least in some cases, the devices 302 and 304 also include satellite positioning system (SPS) receivers 330 and 370. The SPS receivers 330 and 370 can be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, for receiving SPS signals 338 and 378, respectively, such as 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), etc. The SPS receivers 330 and 370 can include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing SPS signals 338 and 378, respectively. The SPS receivers 330 and 370 request information and operations from other systems as appropriate, and use measurements obtained by any suitable SPS algorithm to perform calculations necessary to determine the location of the devices 302 and 304.

[0063] Each of the TRP 304 and the network node 306 includes at least one network interface 380 and 390 for communicating with other network entities. For example, the network interfaces 380 and 390 (e.g., one or more network access ports) may be configured to communicate with one or more network entities via a wired or wireless backhaul connection. In some aspects, the network interfaces 380 and 390 may be implemented as transceivers configured to support wired or wireless signal communication. The communication may include, for example, transmitting and receiving messages, parameters, and / or other types of information.

[0064] Apparatuses 302, 304, and 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302 includes a processor circuit implementing a processing system 332 for providing functionality associated with, for example, sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission disclosed herein and for providing other processing functionality. TRP 304 includes a processing system 384 for providing functionality associated with, for example, SRS configuration and reception disclosed herein and for providing other processing functionality. Network node 306 includes a processing system 394 for providing functionality associated with, for example, SRS configuration disclosed herein and for providing other processing functionality. In one aspect, processing systems 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices or processing circuits.

[0065] The devices 302, 304, and 306 include memory circuits that implement memory components 340, 386, and 396, respectively (e.g., each including a memory device), for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). In some cases, the devices 302, 304, and 306 may include RTT measurement reporting components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The RTT measurement reporting components 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processing systems 332, 384, and 394, respectively, and when executed, the RTT measurement reporting components cause the devices 302, 304, and 306 to perform the functionality described herein. Alternatively, the RTT measurement reporting components 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules (e.g., memory modules) stored in the memory components 340, 386, and 396, respectively. Figure 3A-3C As shown), when executed by processing systems 332, 384, and 394, the RTT measurement reporting component enables devices 302, 304, and 306 to perform the functionality described herein.

[0066] UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to processing system 332 to provide motion and / or orientation information independent of motion data derived from signals received by WWAN transceiver 310, WLAN transceiver 320, and / or GPS receiver 330. For example, sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. In addition, sensor(s) 344 may include a variety of different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate positioning in a 2D and / or 3D coordinate system.

[0067] In addition, UE 302 includes a user interface 346 for providing indications to the user (e.g., auditory and / or visual indications) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when the user activates a sensing device such as a keyboard, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, apparatuses 304 and 306 may also include a user interface.

[0068] Referring to the processing system 384 in more detail, in the downlink, IP packets from the network node 306 may be provided to the processing system 384. The processing system 384 may implement the functionality of the RRC layer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The processing system 384 may provide: RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, 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 (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering 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.

[0069] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 can implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, can include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 processes the mapping to the signal constellation 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 coded and modulated symbols can then be divided into parallel streams. Each stream can then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, which is multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time domain and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. The channel estimates from the channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. The channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback sent by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with the respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0070] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives the signal through its respective (multiple) antennas 316. The receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to the processing system 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial stream destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they can be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by the receiver 312. 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 includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. By determining the most likely signal constellation point sent by the TRP 304, the symbols and reference signals on each subcarrier are recovered and demodulated. These soft decisions can be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted on the physical channel by TRP 304. The data and control signals are then provided to processing system 332, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

[0071] In the UL, the processing system 332 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The processing system 332 is also responsible for error detection.

[0072] Similar to the functionality described for DL ​​transmission in conjunction with TRP 304, the processing system 332 provides: 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 (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs into transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0073] The transmitter 314 may select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and facilitate spatial processing using channel estimates derived by a channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback sent by the TRP 304. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different (multiple) antennas 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0074] UL transmissions are processed at TRP 304 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at UE 302. Receiver 352 receives signals through its respective antenna(s) 356. Receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to processing system 384.

[0075] In the UL, the processing system 384 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 302. The IP packets from the processing system 384 may be provided to the core network. The processing system 384 is also responsible for error detection.

[0076] For convenience, devices 302, 304 and / or 306 are Figure 3A-3C 1 and 2. The block diagram of FIG. 1 is shown as including various components that may be configured according to various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the blocks shown may have different functionality in different designs.

[0077] The various components of devices 302, 304, and 306 may communicate with one another via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. Figure 3A-3C The components of can be implemented in various ways. In some embodiments, Figure 3A-3C The components 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 include 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 to 346 may be implemented by the processor and (multiple) memory components of UE 302 (e.g., by running appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by the processor and (multiple) memory components of TRP 304 (e.g., by running appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). In addition, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by the processor and (multiple) memory components of network node 306 (e.g., by running appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions and / or functions are described herein as being performed by "UE", "base station", "positioning entity", etc. However, it will be appreciated that such operations, actions and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE, base station, positioning entity, etc., such as processing systems 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350 and 360, memory components 340, 386 and 396, RTT measurement reporting modules 342, 388 and 398, etc.

[0078] Figure 4 An exemplary wireless communication system 400 is shown in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 4In the example of , UE 404 (which may correspond to any UE described herein) is attempting to compute an estimate of its location, or assist another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third-party application, etc.) in computing an estimate of its location. UE 404 may wirelessly communicate with a plurality of base stations 402-1, 402-2, and 402-3 (collectively referred to as base stations 402, and which may correspond to any base station described herein) using RF signals and standardized protocols for modulating RF signals and exchanging information packets. By extracting different types of information from the exchanged RF signals and utilizing the layout of the wireless communication system 400 (i.e., the location, geometry, etc. of the base stations), UE 404 may determine its location or help determine its location in a predefined reference coordinate system. In one aspect, UE 404 may use a two-dimensional coordinate system to specify its location; however, the aspects disclosed herein are not limited thereto and may also be applicable to determining the location using a three-dimensional coordinate system if additional dimensions are required. Additionally, although Figure 4 One UE 404 and three base stations 402 are shown, but it is understood that there may be more UEs 404 and more base stations 402.

[0079] To support positioning estimation, the base station 402 may be configured to broadcast reference RF signals (e.g., PRS, NRS, CRS, TRS, CSI-RS, PSS, or SSS, etc.) to the UE 404 in its coverage area to enable the UE 404 to measure the characteristics of such reference RF signals. For example, the UE 404 may measure the time of arrival (ToA) of specific reference RF signals (e.g., PRS, NRS, CRS, CSI-RS, etc.) transmitted by at least three different base stations 402-1, 402-2, and 402-3, and may report these ToAs (and additional information) to the serving base station 402 or another positioning entity (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270) using an RTT positioning method.

[0080] In one aspect, although described as UE 404 measuring a reference RF signal from base station 402, UE 404 may measure a reference RF signal from one of a plurality of TRPs supported by base station 402. In the case where UE 404 measures a reference RF signal sent by a TRP supported by base station 402, at least two other reference RF signals measured by UE 404 to perform the RTT process will be from TRPs supported by base stations 402 other than the first base station 402 and may have good or poor signal strength at UE 404.

[0081] In order to determine the location (x, y) of UE 404, the entity determining the position of UE 404 needs to know the location of base station 402, which can be expressed in a reference coordinate system as (x k,y k ), among which Figure 4 In the example of k=1, 2, 3. In the case where one of the base stations 402 (e.g., the serving base station) or the UE 404 determines the location of the UE 404, the location of the base station 402 in question may be provided by a location server (e.g., the location server 230, the LMF 270) that understands the network geometry to the serving base station 402 or the UE 404. Alternatively, the location server may determine the location of the UE 404 using the known network geometry.

[0082] The UE 404 or the corresponding base station 402 may determine a distance 410 (d k , where k=1, 2, 3). Specifically, the distance 410-1 between the UE 404 and the base station 402-1 is d1, the distance 410-2 between the UE 404 and the base station 402-2 is d2, and the distance 410-3 between the UE 404 and the base station 402-3 is d3. In one aspect, the RTT of the signal exchanged between the UE 404 and any base station 402 can be determined and converted into the distance 410 (d k ). As discussed further below, RTT techniques can measure the time between transmitting a signaling message (e.g., a reference RF signal) and receiving a response. These methods can utilize calibration to eliminate any processing delays. In some environments, it can be assumed that the processing delays are the same for UE 404 and base station 402. However, this assumption may not hold true in practice.

[0083] Once each distance 410 is determined, the UE 404, base station 402, or location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270) can solve for the position (x, y) of the UE 404 by using various known geometric techniques such as trilateration. Figure 4 It can be seen that the location of UE 404 is ideally located at the common intersection of three semicircles, each of which has a radius d k and center (x k ,y k ) where k = 1, 2, 3.

[0084] In some cases, additional information may be obtained in the form of an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of departure (AoD), which defines a straight line direction (e.g., which may be in the horizontal plane or in three dimensions) or a range of possible directions (e.g., from the location of base station 402 for UE 404). The intersection of the two directions at or near a point (x, y) may provide another estimate of the location for UE 404.

[0085] A location estimate (e.g., a location estimate for UE 404) may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, a location, a fix, a location fix, a fix, etc. A location estimate may be at a survey level and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or may be at a municipal level and include a street address, a postal address, or some other verbal description of a location. A location estimate may also be defined relative to some other known location, or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A location estimate may include expected errors or uncertainties (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with some specified or default confidence level).

[0086] Figure 5 5 is an exemplary diagram 500 illustrating exemplary timing of RTT measurement signals exchanged between a TRP 502 (e.g., any base station, gNB, cell, etc. described herein) and a UE 504 (e.g., any UE described herein) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 5 In the example of FIG. 5 , TRP 502 transmits an RTT measurement signal 510 (eg, PRS, NRS, CRS, CSI-RS, etc.) to UE 504 at time T1. When RTT measurement signal 510 travels from TRP 502 to UE 504, it has some propagation delay T Prop At time T2 (ToA of RTT measurement signal 510 at UE 504), UE 504 receives / measures RTT measurement signal 510. After some UE processing time, UE 504 sends RTT response signal 520 (e.g., SRS, UL-PRS) at time T3. Prop Thereafter, the TRP 502 receives / measures the RTT response signal 520 from the UE 504 at time T4 (ToA of the RTT response signal 520 at the TRP 502).

[0087] In order to identify the ToA (e.g., T2) of an RF signal (e.g., RTT measurement signal 510) transmitted by a given network node, the receiver (e.g., UE 504) first jointly processes all resource elements (REs) on the channel where the transmitter (e.g., TRP 502) is transmitting the RF signal, and performs an inverse Fourier transform to convert the received RF signal to the time domain. The conversion of the received RF signal to the time domain is called an estimate of the channel energy response (CER). The CER shows the peaks on the channel that change over time, so the earliest "significant" peak should correspond to the ToA of the RF signal. In general, the receiver will use a quality threshold related to the noise to filter out spurious local peaks, thereby roughly correctly identifying the significant peaks on the channel. For example, the UE 504 can select a ToA estimate that is the earliest local maximum of the CER, which is at least X decibels (dB) higher than the median of the CER and a maximum of Y dB lower than the main peak on the channel. The receiver determines the CER of each RF signal from each transmitter in order to determine the ToA of each RF signal from different transmitters.

[0088] The RTT response signal 520 may explicitly include the difference between time T3 and time T2 (ie, T Rx→Tx ). Alternatively, it can be derived from the timing advance (TA), i.e., the relative UL / DL frame timing and canonical position of the UL reference signal (note that TA is typically the RTT between the TRP 502 and the UE 504, or twice the propagation time in one direction). Using this measurement and the difference between time T4 and time T1 (i.e., T Tx→Rx ), TRP 502 can calculate the distance to UE 504 as follows:

[0089]

[0090] where c is the speed of light.

[0091] Note that the UE 504 can perform the RTT process with multiple TRPs 502. However, the RTT process does not require synchronization between these base stations 502. In the multi-RTT positioning process, the basic process is repeatedly performed between the UE and multiple TRPs (e.g., base stations gNB, eNB, cells, etc.). The basic process is as follows:

[0092] 1. gNB at time T1 (also called T gNB,Tx ) sending a downlink (DL) reference signal (RS);

[0093] 2. DL RS at time T2 (also called T UE,Rx ) arrives at the UE;

[0094] 3. UE at time T3 (also called TUE,Tx ) sending an uplink (UL) RS;

[0095] 4. UL RS at time T4 (also called T gNB,Rx ) arrives at the gNB.

[0096] A positioning reference signal (PRS) is an example of a DL RS, and a sounding reference signal (SRS) is an example of a UL RS. Given (T4-T1) and (T3-T2), the following equation can be generated:

[0097]

[0098] In traditional wireless networks (e.g., LTE), an Enhanced Cell-ID (E-CID) procedure is defined to determine UE positioning. In this procedure, the UE measures its surroundings and provides a measurement report to the network. Each measurement report may include measurement results for up to 32 TRPs. For a measured TRP, the measurement results include:

[0099] UE Rx-Tx ;

[0100] Cell ID

[0101] RSRP / RSRQ (reference signal received power / reference signal received quality) of DL measurements (RRM measurements, if available);

[0102] • The SFN (System Frame Number) of the frame of the cell for which the UE considers the DL measurement to be valid.

[0103] ParametersUE Rx-Tx (called “ue-RxTxTimeDiff” in LTE) is defined as T UE，Rx -T UE，Tx , where T UE，Rx is the timing of the UE receiving downlink (DL) radio frames from the serving TRP, T UE，Tx It is the timing at which the UE sends the corresponding uplink (UL) radio frame to the serving TRP. Figure 6 As can be seen, "ue-RxTxTimeDiff" is the difference between the transmit timing of uplink frame #i at the UE and the receive timing of downlink frame #i at the UE. Although up to 32 TRPs can be measured, in legacy systems, ue-RxTxTimeDiff is only provided for the primary TRP of the UE.

[0104] In LTE (Ts = 32.5 nsec), UE Rx-Tx The measurement is performed using 12 bits, where the resolution varies depending on the UE Rx-TxAccording to LTE, UE Rx-Tx The reporting range is defined as from 0 to 20472T s , where UE Rx-Tx 2T s Resolution less than 4096T s , and UE Rx-Tx 8T s Resolution equal to or greater than 4096T s The following table defines the mapping of measurement quantities (extracted from 3GPP, TS36.355, Table 9.1.9.2-1).

[0105] Table 9.1.9.2-1: UE Rx-Tx time difference measurement report mapping

[0106]

[0107]

[0108] For example, if the UE reports RX_TX_TIME_DIFFERENCE_0002, this means that the UE and the primary TRP of the UE Rx-Tx Between 130nsec and 195nsec, that's an uncertainty of 65nsec.

[0109] In NR, it is expected that there is one measurement report and for a given TRP k (not just for the primary TRP), the UE shall include:

[0110] UE Rx-Tx,k =T UE,Rx,k –T UE,Tx,k ;

[0111] TRP ID (or PRS ID) and SRS ID;

[0112] SFN of the frames serving the TRP during the period for which the reported measurement is valid;

[0113] RSRP / RSRQ measured in DL.

[0114] For example, in Figure 6 In the scenario of , the measurement report will include the Rx-Tx time difference measurements of multiple TRPs (e.g., serving gNB1 and neighboring gNB2). The Rx-Tx time difference (UE Rx-Tx,k (time_diff)) is defined as T UE,Rx,k –T UE,Tx,k , where T UE,Rx,k is the timing at which the UE receives a downlink (DL) radio subframe from TRP k, and T UE,Tx,kIt is the timing at which the UE sends the corresponding uplink (UL) radio subframe to TRP k.

[0115] The following issues are identified. First, there may be many TRPs that can be included in a measurement report. In NR, there can be up to 96 TRPs for RRM purposes. Therefore, measurement reports for positioning may need to be extended to at least this number. However, this may significantly increase the reporting overhead. Secondly, in NR, different numerologies can be used for UL and DL. This means that the step size Ts can vary and is not necessarily fixed as in LTE.

[0116] Regarding parameter sets, LTE supports a single parameter set (subcarrier spacing (15kHz) and symbol length). In contrast, 5GNR can support multiple parameter sets, for example, 15kHz, 30kHz, 60kHz, 120kHz and 240kHz or larger subcarrier spacing are available. Table 1 provided below lists some different parameters of different 5G NR parameter sets.

[0117]

[0118]

[0119] Table 1

[0120] Throughout the specification, unless otherwise specified, the sizes of various fields in the time domain may be expressed in time units T. c =1 / (Δf max *N f ) is used to represent the max =480*10 3 Hz, and N f =4096. Constant k = T s / T c =64, where T s =1 / (Δf ref ·*N f，ref ), where Δf ref =15*10 3 Hz, and N f，ref =2048.

[0121] As shown, conventional measurement reporting has the following problems: (1) UEs reporting up to 96 TRPs (and this number may increase in the future) Rx-Tx(or time_diff) measurements may require a lot of overhead; and (2) existing LTE resolution may not be sufficient to provide positioning accuracy. To address these and other issues, techniques / processes are proposed to achieve one or both of increasing resolution (and thus positioning accuracy) without increasing reporting overhead and reducing reporting overhead without sacrificing accuracy.

[0122] Regarding resolution, LTE's 2Ts (65nsec) or 8Ts (260nsec) resolution may not provide sufficient accuracy in positioning determination. In order to enhance resolution and thus improve accuracy, in one or more aspects, it is proposed to make the step size depend on T c = 0.509 nsec (based on the highest sampling rate) and parameter set factor "u". For example, the step size T s It can be T c 2 u , where "u" is one of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. For example, if u is zero, then the step size T s =0.5nsec. This is significantly smaller than the 32.5nsec step size of LTE, which means that finer timing resolution can be obtained, which in turn improves positioning accuracy. In general, the resolution can be based on KT c 2 u The parameter set of K and u generally decreases with increasing subcarrier spacing. Table 2 below provides KT for various values ​​of K and parameter set factor u in nsec. c 2 u .

[0123]

[0124] Table 2

[0125] For a numerology with a subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz, it may be necessary to keep consistent with LTE. Accordingly, for 15 kHz, K = 3 and u = 6, which results in the same as 3·T s Same value 97.656nsec. However, for other 5G NR numerologies, the value of u may be different.

[0126] As mentioned above, in NR, the parameter sets may be different for DL ​​RS (e.g., PRS) and UL RS (e.g., SRS). Rx-Tx , the following options can be implemented:

[0127] Option 1: Each UE Rx-Tx The measurement has a parameter set factor configured that is independent of the subcarrier spacing used for DL ​​RS or UL RS.

[0128] Option 2: Use the same protocol as each UE Rx-Tx The corresponding maximum subcarrier spacing between the DL RS and the UL RS is measured.

[0129] Option 3: Use the same protocol as each UE Rx-Tx The corresponding minimum subcarrier spacing between the DL RS and the UL RS is measured.

[0130] • Option 4: The parameter set factor is a function of the bandwidth (BW) of the DL RS and UL RS.

[0131] Option 5: All UEs Rx-Tx The measurements have the same parameter set factors.

[0132] Option 6: Grouped UEs Rx-Tx The measurements have the same parameter set factors.

[0133] For example, in option 1, for each UE Rx-Tx,k (ie, time_diff) measurement configuration parameter set factor, which is independent of the parameter set factor used to measure the UE Rx-Tx,k Measured T UE,Rx,k , T UE,Tx,k The subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the DL RS and UL RS of the component. In some ways, it can be said that this reflects the measurement capability of the UE. For example, if there is high confidence in the UE's measurement for a particular TRP k, then the parameter set factor can be configured as u=2 (for 120kHz SCS). In this case, the step size T s =2.035 nsec. Generally speaking, a smaller parameter set factor will infer better accuracy. In the aforementioned example of 120 kHz SCS, the sampling rate is 1 / 4096*120, which corresponds to 2.035 nsec, and the parameter set factor u is u=2.

[0134] If the same 12 bits and the same discretization as in LTE (2Ts resolution) are used, the uncertainty of each discretized entry is reduced from 65nsec (for LTE) to 4.069nsec. For example, if RX_TX_TIME_DIFFERENCE_0002 is reported, then for LTE the actual UE Rx-Tx On the other hand, if the same RX_TX_TIME_DIFFERENCE_0002 is reported for the configured parameter set, then the actual UE Rx-Tx Between 8.138nsec and 12.210nsec. In short, increased accuracy without increasing reporting overhead.

[0135] In option 2, the UE used to report TRP k Rx-Tx,k The parameter set factor of is implicit. In general, a larger SCS implies a larger bandwidth (higher sampling rate), which in turn implies higher resolution and accuracy. In option 2, the step size is determined based on the larger of the SCS used for the DL RS and UL RS signals. For example, if the SCS of the DL RS is 120 kHz (corresponding to u=2) and the SCS of the UL RS is 60 kHz (corresponding to u=3), then the step size T is 120 kHz (corresponding to u=2) and the SCS of the UL RS is 60 kHz (corresponding to u=3). s = 4.069nsec. This means that the uncertainty of each discretized TIME_DIFFERENCE value is 8.138nsec.

[0136] Option 3 is similar to Option 2 in that the parameter set factor is implicit. The difference is that in Option 3, a smaller SCS is used instead of a larger SCS. Therefore, Option 2 can be considered an "optimistic approach" while Option 3 can be considered a "conservative approach". Thus, for the same scenario as above, the step size T s =8.138nsec, which means that the uncertainty of each discretized TIME_DIFFERENCE value increases to 16.276nsec compared to option 2.

[0137] Option 4 is another example of implicitly deriving a parameter set factor. As mentioned, a larger bandwidth (BW) generally indicates higher accuracy. In some aspects, the parameter set factor may be based on the DL RS bandwidth or the UL RS bandwidth. In other aspects, if PRS and SRS are used as DL RS and UL RS, respectively, the parameter set factor may be a function based on min(PRS BW, SRS BW). Alternatively, the parameter set factor may be a function based on max(PRS BW, SRS BW). In one aspect, there may be a mapping between bandwidth and parameter set factor.

[0138] Option 5 is simple, which consists in assuming that for a given measurement report, all UE Rx-Tx The measurements have the same parameter set factor u. The network entity may configure the UE with the parameter set factor u in the PRS measurement report.

[0139] In option 6, UE Rx-Tx The measurements are grouped, for example, so that the parameter set factors of all members of each group are the same (same intra-group parameter set factor). Of course, different groups may have different parameter set factors (independent inter-group parameter set factors). The parameter set factors in option 6 may be derived from any of options 1-4.

[0140] About UE Rx-TxOne benefit of grouping measurements is that it reduces reporting overhead. As will be clear from the following description, Option 6 is also known as "differential reporting". In general, differential reporting is as follows:

[0141] For each group, determine / select a reference TRP for that group (e.g., gNB). UEs with reference TRP Rx-Tx Reference UE Rx-Tx .

[0142] For each other member in the group, the UE Rx-Tx Reported relative to a reference UE Rx-Tx The difference.

[0143] Differential UE Rx-Tx The bit width can be smaller than the full UE Rx-Tx However, preferably, the differential UE Rx-Tx The bit width is wide enough to cover the maximum cyclic prefix (CP) length on UL or DL, with the same resolution as the UE Rx-Tx As an illustration, assume that the conventional UE Rx-Tx The width is 12 bits, and its resolution is 2Ts. It is also assumed that all TRPs in a group are received within a CP of 30kHz SCS (2.4usec), where Ts = 16.3nsec. Then bits are sufficient to report each differential UE Rx-Tx The resolution and maximum size of the differential bit width can be configured per group to obtain greater compression gain.

[0144] Differential reporting is useful in situations where capacity may be an issue, such as in the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH). However, even when capacity is not a significant issue, such as in the Physical Uplink Shared Control Channel (PUSCH), differential reporting is still useful. As an option, the differential step size (i.e., differential UE Rx-Tx The step size does not need to be the same as the reference UE Rx-Tx This may be useful in some cases, such as when multiple distant TRPs are in a group but the relative differences between the member TRPs are small.

[0145] In one aspect, these groups can be explicitly configured along with a reference TRP for each group. For example, the network entity can explicitly configure these groups in the DL RS measurement configuration or configure the UE in the measurement report. In another aspect, these groups can be implicitly derived from the DL RS configuration. For example, when using PRS, the following guidelines can be used:

[0146] TRPs that send PRS on the same timeslot belong to one group;

[0147] TRPs that send PRS in the same frame belong to a group;

[0148] TRPs that transmit PRS on the same symbol belong to one group;

[0149] The SRS configured for the UE should be received by the TRP:

[0150] An SRS configuration is associated with a specific TRP set. The TRP set defines a group.

[0151] For different timing advance (TA) commands or different timing advance groups (TAGs), TRP groups are defined accordingly (eg, by the UE).

[0152] Figure 7 An exemplary method for providing a measurement report performed by a UE is shown. At 710, the UE receives multiple downlink reference signals (DL RS) from multiple TRPs (e.g., multiple gNBs). At 720, the UE sends corresponding multiple uplink reference signals (UL RS) to the multiple TRPs. PRS is an example of a DL RS, and / or SRS is an example of a UL RS.

[0153] At 730, the UE determines the parameter set factors for all TRPs. As described above, the time_diffUE Rx-Tx,k Defined as T UE,Rx,k –T UE,Tx,k , where T UE,Rx,k is the timing at which the UE receives a downlink (DL) radio subframe from TRP k, and T UE,Tx,k is the timing at which the UE sends the corresponding uplink (UL) radio subframe to TRP k. Rx-Tx,k The accuracy of depends on the parameter set factor that determines the step size Ts,k of each TRP.

[0154] In the simplest case, the same parameter set factor can be determined for all, and therefore the same step size. This corresponds to option 5 discussed above. However, the parameter set factor can be customized for each TRP k to improve accuracy and / or reduce overhead. As previously described, Ts,k for each TRP k represents the resolution of the timing of the UE receiving the DL RS from TRP k and / or the resolution of the timing of the UE sending the UL RS to TRP k. In one aspect, the parameter set factor of TRP k is configured independently of the SCS of the DL RS received from TRP k and independently of the SCS of the UL RS sent to TRP k. This corresponds to option 1 discussed above.

[0155] Alternatively, the parameter set factor of TRP k may be determined based on some characteristics / parameters of the DL RS received from TRP k and / or the UL RS sent to TRP k. For example, the step size parameter set factor of TRP k may be determined based on the larger subcarrier spacing (SCS) in the DL RS and the UL RS. This corresponds to option 2 discussed above. As another example, the parameter set factor of TRP k may be determined based on the smaller SCS in the DL RS and the UL RS.

[0156] Alternatively or additionally, the bandwidth of the DL RS and / or UL RS may be used to determine the parameter set factor. For example, the parameter set factor may be based on the DL RS bandwidth, the UL RS bandwidth, the function min(DL RS bandwidth, UL RS bandwidth) or max(DL RS bandwidth, UL RS bandwidth). These correspond to Option 4 discussed above.

[0157] At 740, the UE generates a measurement report for all TRP k based on the parameter set factor. The measurement report includes the time_diff UE Rx-Tx,k To report time_diffs UE Rx-Tx For each TRP k, the measurement report may include the UE configured to store TRP k. Rx-Tx In one aspect, if the UE of the TRP Rx-Tx are generated and reported separately, the full width of the time_diff field will be used for the UE of each TRP Rx-Tx At 750, the UE sends a measurement report to its serving TRP. The measurement report includes the receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference (eg, UE Rx-Tx,k ).

[0158] Figure 8 An example process of implementing block 740 performed by the UE is shown. As discussed above (corresponding to option 6), by the UE of the TRP Rx-Tx At 810, the UE determines a TRP group. At 820, the UE determines a reference TRP (e.g., a reference gNB) for each TRP group. This will automatically determine the reference time_diff UE for the group. Rx-Tx In one aspect, a TRP group may be defined such that within a TRP group, the parameter set factor is the same for all members of the TRP group.

[0159] The TRP groups may be explicitly configured (e.g., by the network and / or UE) along with a reference TRP within each TRP group. Alternatively, the TRP groups may be implicitly determined. For example, the TRP groups may be determined such that for at least one TRP group, all member TRPs transmit a positioning reference signal (PRS) on the same time slot. As another example, the TRP groups may be determined such that for at least one TRP group, all member TRPs transmit PRS on the same frame. As yet another example, the TRP groups may be determined such that for at least one TRP group, all member TRPs transmit PRS on the same symbol.

[0160] The TRP group can also be determined based on a sounding reference signal (SRS). For example, an SRS configuration is associated with a specific TRP. In this case, the TRP set can be a TRP group. In addition, the TRP group can be determined based on different PUCCH commands or different timing advance groups (TAGs).

[0161] Fig. 9 An exemplary method performed by a network entity is shown. At 910, a network entity (e.g., a location server, a serving TRP, other TRP, etc.) receives a measurement report from a UE. At 920, the network entity may determine the location of the UE based on the measurement. Alternatively or additionally, the network entity (e.g., a serving TRP) may forward the measurement to a location server (e.g., an LMU, an E-SMLC, a LMF, a GMLC, etc.) for the UE location to be determined.

[0162] Fig.10 An example network entity 1000 is shown, which may be a serving TRP, a location server, etc., represented as a series of interrelated functional modules connected by a common bus. Each module may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software. For example, a module may be implemented as any combination of means 304 or 306. A module for receiving a measurement report 1010 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a communication device such as Figure 3B The communication device 350 or Figure 3C communication device 390) and / or a processing system (such as Figure 3B Processing system 384 or Figure 3C 394), as discussed herein. A module for determining UE location 1020 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a processing system, such as Figure 3B Processing system 384 or Figure 3C 394, as discussed herein. The optional module for forwarding measurement reports 1030 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a communication device (such as Figure 3B The communication device 350 or Figure 3C communication device 390) and / or a processing system (such as Figure 3B Processing system 384 or Figure 3C 394), as discussed herein.

[0163] Fig.11 An example user equipment 1100 is shown represented as a series of related functional modules connected by a common bus. Each module may be implemented in hardware or a combination of hardware and software. For example, the module may be implemented as any combination of the apparatus 302. The module for receiving multiple reference signals 1110 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a communication device such as Figure 3A communication device 310) and / or a processing system (such as Figure 3A A module for transmitting a plurality of uplink reference signals 1120 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a communication device such as a processor 332 of ... Figure 3A communication device 310) and / or a processing system (such as Figure 3A A module for determining parameter set factors 1130 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a processing system such as Figure 3A A module for generating a measurement report 1140 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a processing system such as Figure 3A A module for transmitting a measurement report 1150 may correspond at least in some aspects to, for example, a communication device such as a Figure 3A communication device 310) and / or a processing system (such as Figure 3A , or a processing system 332 therein, as discussed herein.

[0164] Figure 10-11 The functionality of the modules can be implemented in various ways consistent with the teachings of this article. In some designs, the functionality of these modules can be implemented as one or more electronic components. In some designs, the functionality of these blocks can be implemented as a processing system including one or more processor components. In some designs, the functionality of these modules can be implemented using at least a portion of, for example, one or more integrated circuits (e.g., ASICs). As discussed herein, an integrated circuit may include a processor, software, other related components, or some combination thereof. Therefore, the functionality of different modules can be implemented as, for example, different subsets of integrated circuits, different subsets of software module sets, or a combination thereof. In addition, it should be understood that a given subset (e.g., a given subset of an integrated circuit and / or a given subset of a software module set) can provide at least a portion of functionality for more than one module.

[0165] In addition, by Figure 10-11The components and functions shown in the embodiment and other components and functions described herein may be implemented using any suitable components. Such components may also be implemented at least in part using corresponding structures taught herein. For example, the above combined Figure 10-11 Components described as "modules" may also correspond to similarly designated "components" for functionality. Thus, in some aspects, one or more of such components may be implemented using one or more of processor components, integrated circuits, or other suitable structures taught herein.

[0166] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals can be represented using a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips cited in the above description can be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0167] In addition, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various illustrative logic blocks, modules, circuits and algorithmic steps described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software or a combination of the two. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits and steps have been generally described above according to their functionality. Whether this functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on specific applications and the design constraints imposed on the entire system. The technician can implement the described functionality in different ways for each specific application, but this implementation decision should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0168] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the disclosed aspects of this document may be implemented or executed with a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an 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 alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0169] The methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be directly embodied in hardware, software modules executed by a processor, or a combination of the two. The software module may reside in a random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integrated into a processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). Alternatively, the processor and the storage medium may reside in a user terminal as discrete components.

[0170] In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, these functions can be stored or transmitted to a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, and communication media include any media that helps to transfer a computer program from one place to another. Storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. As an example and not a limitation, such computer-readable media can include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media that can be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer. In addition, any connection is properly referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio and microwave) is used to transmit software from a website, server or other remote source, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio and microwave) are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc as used herein include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc, wherein 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.

[0171] Although the foregoing disclosure shows the illustrative aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and / or actions of the method claims according to the disclosed aspects described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. In addition, although the elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural form is also contemplated unless explicitly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method performed by a user equipment UE, the method comprising: Receiving a plurality of downlink reference signals DL RS from a plurality of transmission reception points TRP; Sending corresponding multiple uplink reference signals UL RS to the multiple TRPs; determining one or more parameter set factors for the plurality of TRPs; generating measurement reports of the plurality of TRPs based on the parameter set factors; as well as sending the measurement report to a network entity, The measurement report includes the receive-send Rx-Tx time difference of at least two of the TRPs, The step size of the Rx-Tx time difference used to report each TRP depends on the time unit T corresponding to the highest sampling rate. C and parameter set factors for communication between each TRP and the UE.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The Rx-Tx time difference of TRP k among the multiple TRPs is represented as UE Rx-Tx,k (time_diff), which is defined as T UE,Rx,k –T UE,Tx,k , where T UE,Rx,k is the timing at which the UE receives a downlink DL radio subframe from the TRP k, and T UE,Tx,k It is the timing at which the UE sends the corresponding uplink UL radio subframe to the TRP k.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The DL RS is a Positioning Reference Signal PRS, and / or the UL RS is a Sounding Reference Signal SRS for positioning.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The parameter set factor of TRP k among the multiple TRPs is configured separately from the configuration of the subcarrier spacing SCS of the DL RS received from the TRP k, and is independent of the SCS of the ULRS sent to the TRP k.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The parameter set factor of the TRP k is determined based on one or more characteristics of a DL RS received from the TRP k among the multiple TRPs and / or a UL RS sent to the TRP k.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein: Determine a parameter set factor of the TRP k based on a larger SCS of a subcarrier spacing SCS of the DL RS and an SCS of the UL RS, determining a parameter set factor of the TRP k based on a smaller SCS of a subcarrier spacing SCS of the DL RS and an SCS of the UL RS, Determine the parameter set factor of the TRP k based on the DL RS bandwidth or the UL RS bandwidth, Determine the parameter set factor of the TRP k as a function of min(DL RS bandwidth, UL RS bandwidth), or The parameter set factor of the TRP k is determined as a function of max(DL RS bandwidth, UL RS bandwidth).

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: All TRPs are assigned the same parameter set factor.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein: For a TRP k among the plurality of TRPs, the measurement report includes an Rx-Tx time difference field configured to store the Rx-Tx time difference of the TRP k, and Among them, for at least one TRP n among the multiple TRPs, the entire width of the Rx-Tx time difference field of TRP n is used to save the Rx-Tx time difference of the TRP n.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: Generating the measurement report includes: identifying one or more TRP groups; A reference TRP is determined for each TRP group, wherein the Rx-Tx time difference UE of the reference TRP Rx-Tx Is the reference UE of this TRP group Rx-Tx ;as well as For each non-reference TRP in each TRP group, the reference UE Rx-Tx Determine the differential UE of the non-reference TRP Rx-Tx .

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein: The TRP groups are determined such that within each TRP group, the parameter set factor is the same for all member TRPs of the TRP group.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein: The TRP groups are explicitly configured along with their reference TRPs.

12. The method according to claim 9, wherein: The TRP groups are determined such that for at least one TRP group: All member TRPs send positioning reference signals PRS in the same time slot. All member TRPs send positioning reference signals PRS in the same frame, or All member TRPs send the Positioning Reference Signal PRS on the same symbol.

13. The method according to claim 9, wherein: The TRP groups are determined such that for at least one TRP group, a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration is associated with a member TRP.

14. The method according to claim 9, wherein: The TRP group is determined based on a timing advance TA command and / or based on different timing advance groups TAG.

15. The method according to claim 9, wherein: Used to represent the differential UE for each non-reference TRP Rx-Tx The number of bits is less than the reference UE Rx-Tx The number of bits of the time_diff field.

16. A user equipment UE, comprising: Transceiver; and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to: Receiving a plurality of downlink reference signals DL RS from a plurality of transmission reception points TRP; Sending corresponding multiple uplink reference signals UL RS to the multiple TRPs; determining one or more parameter set factors for the plurality of TRPs; generating measurement reports for the plurality of TRPs based on the parameter set factors; and sending the measurement report to a network entity, The measurement report includes the receive-send Rx-Tx time difference of at least two of the TRPs, The step size of the Rx-Tx time difference used to report each TRP depends on the time unit T corresponding to the highest sampling rate. C and parameter set factors for communication between each TRP and the UE.

17. The UE according to claim 16, wherein: The Rx-Tx time difference of TRP k among the multiple TRPs is represented as UE Rx-Tx,k (time_diff), which is defined as T UE,Rx,k –T UE,Tx,k , where T UE,Rx,k is the timing at which the UE receives a downlink DL radio subframe from the TRP k, and T UE,Tx,k It is the timing at which the UE sends the corresponding uplink UL radio subframe to the TRP k.

18. The UE according to claim 16, wherein: The DL RS is a Positioning Reference Signal PRS, and / or the UL RS is a Sounding Reference Signal SRS for positioning.

19. The UE according to claim 16, wherein: The parameter set factor of TRP k among the multiple TRPs is configured separately from the configuration of the subcarrier spacing (SCS) of the DL RS received from the TRP k, and is independent of the SCS of the ULRS sent to the TRP k.

20. The UE according to claim 16, wherein: The parameter set factor of the TRP k is determined based on one or more characteristics of a DL RS received from the TRP k among the multiple TRPs and / or a UL RS sent to the TRP k.

21. The UE according to claim 20, wherein: Determine a parameter set factor of the TRP k based on a larger SCS of a subcarrier spacing SCS of the DL RS and an SCS of the UL RS, determining a parameter set factor of the TRP k based on a smaller SCS of a subcarrier spacing SCS of the DL RS and an SCS of the UL RS, Determine the parameter set factor of the TRP k based on the DL RS bandwidth or the UL RS bandwidth, Determine the parameter set factor of the TRP k as a function of min(DL RS bandwidth, UL RS bandwidth), or The parameter set factor of the TRP k is determined as a function of max(DL RS bandwidth, UL RS bandwidth).

22. The UE according to claim 16, wherein: All TRPs are assigned the same parameter set factor.

23. The UE according to claim 16, wherein: For a TRP k among the plurality of TRPs, the measurement report includes an Rx-Tx time difference field configured to store the Rx-Tx time difference of the TRP k, and Among them, for at least one TRP n among the multiple TRPs, the entire width of the Rx-Tx time difference field of TRP n is used to save the Rx-Tx time difference of the TRP n.

24. The UE according to claim 16, wherein: The processor being configured to generate the measurement report further includes the processor being configured to: identifying one or more TRP groups; A reference TRP is determined for each TRP group, wherein the Rx-Tx time difference UE of the reference TRP Rx-Tx Is the reference UE of this TRP group Rx-Tx ;as well as For each non-reference TRP in each TRP group, the reference UE Rx-Tx Determine the differential UE of the non-reference TRP Rx-Tx .

25. The UE according to claim 24, wherein: The TRP groups are determined such that within each TRP group, the parameter set factor is the same for all member TRPs of the TRP group.

26. The UE according to claim 24, wherein: The TRP groups are explicitly configured along with their reference TRPs.

27. The UE according to claim 24, wherein: The TRP groups are determined such that for at least one TRP group: All member TRPs send positioning reference signals PRS in the same time slot. All member TRPs send positioning reference signals PRS in the same frame, or All member TRPs send the Positioning Reference Signal PRS on the same symbol.

28. The UE according to claim 24, wherein: The TRP groups are determined such that for at least one TRP group, a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration is associated with a member TRP.

29. The UE according to claim 24, wherein: The TRP group is determined based on a timing advance TA command and / or based on different timing advance groups TAG.

30. The UE according to claim 24, wherein: Used to represent the differential UE for each non-reference TRP Rx-Tx The number of bits is less than the reference UE Rx-Tx The number of bits of the time_diff field.

31. A method performed by a network entity, the method comprising: Receiving measurement reports of a plurality of transmission reception points TRP from a user equipment UE; as well as determining the location of the UE based on the measurement report, and / or forwarding the measurement report to a location server, The measurement report includes the receive-send Rx-Tx time difference of at least two of the TRPs, and The step size of the Rx-Tx time difference used to report each TRP depends on the time unit T corresponding to the highest sampling rate. C and parameter set factors for communication between each TRP and the UE.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein: The Rx-Tx time difference of TRP k among the multiple TRPs is represented as UE Rx-Tx,k (time_diff), which is defined as T UE,Rx,k –T UE,Tx,k , where T UE,Rx,k is the timing at which the UE receives a downlink DL radio subframe from the TRP k, and T UE,Tx,k It is the timing at which the UE sends the corresponding uplink UL radio subframe to the TRP k.

33. The method according to claim 31, wherein: The parameter set factor of TRP k among the multiple TRPs is configured independently of the subcarrier spacing SCS of the downlink reference signal DL RS sent from the TRP k to the UE and independently of the SCS of the uplink reference signal UL RS sent from the UE to the TRP k.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein: The parameter set factor of the TRP k is determined based on one or more characteristics of a downlink reference signal DL RS received at the UE from the TRP k among the multiple TRPs and / or an uplink reference signal UL RS sent from the UE to the TRP k.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein: The parameter set factor of the TRP k is determined based on the larger SCS of the subcarrier spacing SCS of the DL RS received from the TRP k at the UE and the SCS of the UL RS sent from the UE to the TRP k.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein: The parameter set factor of the TRP k is determined based on the smaller SCS of the subcarrier spacing SCS of the DL RS received from the TRP k at the UE and the SCS of the UL RS sent from the UE to the TRP k.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein: The parameter set factor of the TRP k is determined based on a bandwidth of a DL RS received from the TRP k at the UE and / or a bandwidth of a UL RS sent from the UE to the TRP k.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein: All TRPs are assigned the same parameter set factor.

39. The method of claim 31, wherein: For each TRP k in the plurality of TRPs, the measurement report includes a time_diff field configured to store an Rx-Tx time difference of the TRP k, and Among them, for at least one TRP n among the multiple TRPs, the entire width of the time_diff field is used to save the Rx-Tx time difference of the TRP n.

40. The method of claim 31 , wherein the measurement report comprises: TRP group, For each TRP group's reference TRP, the Rx-Tx time difference UE Rx-Tx Is the reference UE of this TRP group Rx-Tx ,as well as Differential UE for each non-reference TRP of each TRP group Rx-Tx , where the reference UE from the TRP group Rx-Tx Determine the differential UE of the non-reference TRP Rx-Tx .

41. The method of claim 40, wherein: For at least one TRP group: The parameter set factor is the same for all member TRPs of the TRP group. The TRP group and its reference TRP are explicitly configured, All member TRPs send positioning reference signals PRS in the same time slot. All member TRPs send positioning reference signals PRS in the same subframe. All member TRPs send positioning reference signals PRS in the same frame. All member TRPs send the Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) on the same symbol, or The sounding reference signal SRS configuration is associated with a member TRP.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein: The TRP groups are based on a timing advance TA command and / or based on different timing advance groups TAG.

43. The method of claim 40, wherein: Used to represent the differential UE for each non-reference TRP Rx-Tx The number of bits is less than the reference UE Rx-Tx The number of bits of the time_diff field.

44. A network entity comprising: Communications equipment; and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the communication device, wherein the processor is configured to: Receiving measurement reports of a plurality of transmission reception points TRP from a user equipment UE; as well as determining the location of the UE based on the measurement report, and / or forwarding the measurement report to a location server, The measurement report includes the receive-send Rx-Tx time difference of at least two of the TRPs, and The step size of the Rx-Tx time difference used to report each TRP depends on the time unit T corresponding to the highest sampling rate. C and parameter set factors for communication between each TRP and the UE.

45. The network entity according to claim 44, wherein: The Rx-Tx time difference of TRP k among the multiple TRPs is represented as UE Rx-Tx,k (time_diff), which is defined as T UE,Rx,k –T UE,Tx,k , where T UE,Rx,k is the timing at which the UE receives a downlink DL radio subframe from the TRPk, and T UE,Tx,k It is the timing at which the UE sends the corresponding uplink UL radio subframe to the TRP k.

46. ​​The network entity of claim 44, wherein: The parameter set factor of TRP k among the multiple TRPs is configured independently of the subcarrier spacing SCS of the downlink reference signal DL RS sent from the TRP k to the UE and independently of the SCS of the uplink reference signal UL RS sent from the UE to the TRP k.

47. The network entity according to claim 44, wherein: The parameter set factor of the TRP k is determined based on one or more characteristics of a downlink reference signal DL RS received at the UE from a TRP k among the multiple TRPs and / or an uplink reference signal ULRS sent from the UE to the TRP k.

48. The network entity according to claim 47, wherein: The parameter set factor of the TRPk is determined based on the larger SCS of the subcarrier spacing SCS of the DL RS received from the TRPk at the UE and the SCS of the UL RS sent from the UE to the TRPk.

49. The network entity according to claim 47, wherein: The parameter set factor of the TRPk is determined based on the smaller SCS of the subcarrier spacing SCS of the DL RS received from the TRPk at the UE and the SCS of the UL RS sent from the UE to the TRPk.

50. The network entity of claim 47, wherein: The parameter set factor of the TRP k is determined based on a bandwidth of a DL RS received from the TRP k at the UE and / or a bandwidth of a UL RS sent from the UE to the TRP k.

51. The network entity of claim 47, wherein: All TRPs are assigned the same parameter set factor.

52. The network entity of claim 44, wherein: For each TRP k in the plurality of TRPs, the measurement report includes a time_diff field configured to store an Rx-Tx time difference of the TRP k, and Among them, for at least one TRP n among the multiple TRPs, the entire width of the time_diff field is used to save the Rx-Tx time difference of the TRP n.

53. The network entity of claim 44, wherein the measurement report comprises: TRP group, For each TRP group's reference TRP, the Rx-Tx time difference UE Rx-Tx Is the reference UE of this TRP group Rx-Tx ,as well as Differential UE for each non-reference TRP of each TRP group Rx-Tx , where the reference UE from the TRP group Rx-Tx Determine the differential UE of the non-reference TRP Rx-Tx .

54. The network entity according to claim 53, wherein: For at least one TRP group: The parameter set factor is the same for all member TRPs of the TRP group. The TRP group and its reference TRP are explicitly configured, All member TRPs send positioning reference signals PRS in the same time slot. All member TRPs send positioning reference signals PRS in the same subframe. All member TRPs send positioning reference signals PRS in the same frame. All member TRPs send the Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) on the same symbol, or The sounding reference signal SRS configuration is associated with a member TRP.

55. The network entity of claim 53, wherein: The TRP groups are based on a timing advance TA command and / or based on different timing advance groups TAG.

56. The network entity of claim 53, wherein: Used to represent the differential UE for each non-reference TRP Rx-Tx The number of bits is less than the reference UE Rx-Tx The number of bits of the time_diff field.

57. A user equipment UE, comprising: A component for receiving a plurality of downlink reference signals DL RS from a plurality of transmission reception points TRP; A component for sending a corresponding plurality of uplink reference signals UL RS to the plurality of TRPs; means for determining one or more parameter set factors for said plurality of TRPs; means for generating measurement reports of the plurality of TRPs based on the parameter set factors; as well as means for sending said measurement report to a network entity, The measurement report includes the receive-send Rx-Tx time difference of at least two of the TRPs, The step size of the Rx-Tx time difference used to report each TRP depends on the time unit T corresponding to the highest sampling rate. C and parameter set factors for communication between each TRP and the UE.

58. The UE according to claim 57, wherein: The Rx-Tx time difference of TRP k among the multiple TRPs is represented as UE Rx-Tx,k (time_diff), which is defined as T UE,Rx,k –T UE,Tx,k , where T UE,Rx,k is the timing at which the UE receives a downlink DL radio subframe from the TRP k, and T UE,Tx,k It is the timing at which the UE sends the corresponding uplink UL radio subframe to the TRP k.

59. A network entity comprising: A component for receiving measurement reports of multiple transmission reception points TRP from a user equipment UE; as well as means for determining the location of the UE based on the measurement report and / or forwarding the measurement report to a location server, The measurement report includes the receive-send Rx-Tx time difference of at least two of the TRPs, and The step size of the Rx-Tx time difference used to report each TRP depends on the time unit T corresponding to the highest sampling rate. C and parameter set factors for communication between each TRP and the UE.

60. The network entity according to claim 59, wherein: The Rx-Tx time difference of TRP k among the multiple TRPs is represented as UE Rx-Tx,k (time_diff), which is defined as T UE,Rx,k –T UE,Tx,k , where T UE,Rx,k is the timing at which the UE receives a downlink DL radio subframe from the TRPk, and T UE,Tx,k It is the timing at which the UE sends the corresponding uplink UL radio subframe to the TRP k.

61. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon one or more instructions executable by a processor to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 15.

62. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon one or more instructions executable by a processor to implement the method of any one of claims 31 to 43.

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