Estimation and reporting of side information for positioning based on enhanced reciprocal signaling

Abstract

Techniques for position estimation using UL and DL signals via a fully or partially reciprocal wireless channel between a user equipment (UE) and a terrestrial transceiver can be enhanced by utilizing information obtained from an uplink (UL) or downlink (DL) signal with a stronger signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This information may include the number of paths and / or complex sinusoids and may be shared with a base station or positioning server to parameterize a model of the wireless channel. In some embodiments, the UE may further determine a quality metric for the model and send it to the positioning server or terrestrial transceiver.

Description

[0001] Related Applications

[0002] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. 119 to Greek Provisional Application No. 20190100429, filed on October 2, 2019, entitled “ESTIMATING AND REPORTING OF SIDE-INFORMATION FOR ENHANCED RECIPROCAL SIGNALING-BASED POSITIONING,” U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 910,269, filed on October 3, 2019, entitled “ESTIMATING AND REPORTING OF SIDE-INFORMATION FOR ENHANCED RECIPROCALSIGNALING-BASED POSITIONING,” and U.S. Application No. 17 / 009,157, filed on September 1, 2020, entitled “ESTIMATING AND REPORTING OF SIDE-INFORMATION FOR ENHANCED RECIPROCALSIGNALING-BASED POSITIONING,” which are assigned to the assignee hereof, and the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Background Art

[0003] Determining the location of a mobile electronic device, referred to herein as a user equipment (UE), using a terrestrial transceiver can use signaling between the UE and the terrestrial transceiver. The time of arrival (TOA) calculation used in round trip time (RTT) or uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA) measurements can be enhanced using super-resolution algorithms that use various parameters to simulate the channel between the UE and the terrestrial transceiver. However, it is difficult to accurately determine these parameters based on the UE's uplink (UL) transmissions. Summary of the invention

[0004] The technique of using UL and DL signals for position estimation via a fully or partially reciprocal wireless channel can be enhanced by utilizing information obtained from UL or downlink (DL) signals with a stronger signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This information may include the number of paths and / or complex sinusoids and may be shared with a base station or positioning server to parameterize a model of the wireless channel. In some embodiments, the UE may further determine a quality metric for the model and send it to the positioning server or ground transceiver.

[0005] According to the present specification, an example method for implementing enhanced positioning of a UE using a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity at a UE includes: wirelessly receiving a first reference signal at the UE via the wireless channel; wirelessly sending a second reference signal from the UE via the wireless channel; and determining one or more values ​​of the wireless channel based on the first reference signal. The one or more values ​​indicate the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or the degree to which the estimation model represents the quality metric of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof. The example method also includes providing the determined one or more values ​​using the UE.

[0006] According to the present specification, an example method for achieving enhanced positioning of a UE using a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity at a transmit and receive point (TRP) includes: wirelessly transmitting a first reference signal via the wireless channel; wirelessly receiving a second reference signal from the UE via the wireless channel; and receiving one or more values ​​indicating the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or a quality metric of how well an estimated model represents data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof. The example method also includes determining a time of arrival (TOA) measurement of the second reference signal based on the one or more values.

[0007] According to the present specification, a first example device includes a memory and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the memory. The one or more processing units are configured to wirelessly receive a first reference signal via a wireless channel having full or partial reciprocity through a wireless communication interface of a UE, and wirelessly send a second reference signal from the UE via the wireless channel through the wireless communication interface. The one or more processing units are also configured to determine one or more values ​​of the wireless channel based on the first reference signal, wherein the one or more values ​​indicate the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or the extent to which the estimation model represents a quality metric of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof. The one or more processing units are also configured to provide the determined one or more values.

[0008] According to the present specification, the second example device includes a memory and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the memory. The one or more processing units are configured to wirelessly send a first reference signal via a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity through a wireless communication interface of a transmit and receive point (TRP), and wirelessly receive a second reference signal from a user equipment (UE) via a wireless channel through the wireless communication interface of the TRP. The one or more processing units are also configured to receive one or more values, which indicate the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or the extent to which the estimation model represents the quality metric of the data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof. The one or more processing units are also configured to determine a time of arrival (TOA) measurement of the second reference signal based on the one or more values. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0009] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a ground positioning system according to one embodiment.

[0010] Figure 2 is a timing diagram illustrating measurements used in position determination according to one embodiment.

[0011] Figure 3 is a graph showing how reduced SNR leads to reduced resolution of the super-resolution algorithm, and how parameter selection improves performance.

[0012] Figure 4 is a flowchart of a method for enhanced reciprocal RTT-based or UTDOA-based positioning at a UE according to one embodiment.

[0013] Figure 5 is a flow chart of a method for enhanced reciprocal RTT-based or UTDOA-based positioning of a UE at a terrestrial transceiver according to one embodiment.

[0014] Figure 6 is a block diagram of a UE according to one embodiment.

[0015] Figure 7 is a block diagram of a base station according to one embodiment.

[0016] Figure 8 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a computer system.

[0017] According to some example implementations, the same reference symbols in the various drawings represent the same elements. In addition, multiple instances of an element can be indicated by following a letter or hyphen and a second digit after the first digit of the element. For example, multiple instances of element 110 can be indicated as 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, etc., or 110a, 110b, 110c, etc. When only the first digit is used to refer to the element, it should be understood to be any instance of the element (for example, the element 110 in the previous example will refer to elements 110-1, 110-2 and 110-3 or elements 110a, 110b and 110c). DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] Several illustrative embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which are also a part of the embodiments. Although specific embodiments are described below in which one or more aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented, other embodiments may be used and various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure or the spirit of the appended claims.

[0019] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a terrestrial positioning system 100 according to one embodiment. Here, the terrestrial positioning system includes a plurality of terrestrial transceivers, referred to as transmit and receive points (TRPs) 110-1, 110-2, and 110-3 (collectively referred to herein as TRPs 110), which are used to determine the location (e.g., in terms of geographic coordinates) of a user equipment (UE) 120. TRPs 110 and / or UE 120 may both be communicatively coupled to a positioning server 130 via a wide area network (WAN) 140. (Solid arrows between components represent communication links. Furthermore, although UE 120 may be communicatively coupled to WAN 140 via wireless communications with one or more TRPs 110, UE 120 may have additional or alternative communication links to WAN 140, as shown.)

[0020] It should be noted that Figure 1 A summary of various components is provided, any or all of which may be used appropriately, and each of which may be duplicated or omitted as desired. Specifically, although one UE 120 is shown, it should be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the ground positioning system 100. Similarly, the ground positioning system 100 may include a greater or lesser number of TRPs 110, positioning servers 130, and / or other components. The communication links shown that communicatively connect the various components in the ground positioning system 100 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical (wired) and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. In addition, depending on the desired functionality, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted.

[0021] As used herein, UE 120 may be an electronic device and may be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a wireless terminal, a mobile station (MS), a terminal (SET) supporting secure user plane location (SUPL), or other names. In addition, UE 120 may correspond to a mobile phone, a smart phone, a laptop, a tablet, a personal data assistant (PDA), a tracking device, or some other portable or removable device. In some cases, UE 120 may be part of some other entity, for example, it may be a chipset supporting a modem that is integrated into some larger mobile entity, such as a vehicle, a drone, a package, a transported cargo, a robotic device, etc. Typically, but not necessarily, UE 120 may support wireless communications using one or more radio access technologies (RATs), such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 Wi-Fi, (BT), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), fifth generation (5G) New Radio (NR), etc. The UE 120 may also support wireless communications using a wireless local area network (WLAN), which may be connected to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using, for example, a digital subscriber line (DSL) or a packet cable.

[0022] UE 120 may include a single entity or may include multiple entities, such as in a personal area network, where a user may use audio, video and / or data I / O devices and / or body sensors and a separate wired or wireless modem. The estimate of the location of UE 120 may be referred to as a location, a location estimate, a location fix, a fix, a position, a location estimate, or a location fix, and may be geographic, providing location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) of UE 120, which may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., height above sea level, height above or below ground level, floor level, or basement level). Alternatively, the location of UE 120 may be expressed as an urban location (e.g., as a postal address or a landmark of a point or small area in a building, such as a specific room or floor). The location of UE 105 may also be expressed as an area or volume (defined in geographic or urban form) in which UE 120 is expected to be located with a certain probability or confidence (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The positioning of the UE 120 may also be a relative positioning, which includes, for example, a distance and direction or relative X, Y (and, optionally, Z) coordinates defined relative to some origin at a known location, which may be defined geographically, in municipal terms, or by reference to a point, area, or volume indicated on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, unless otherwise stated, the use of the term "positioning" may include any of these variations. When calculating the position of the UE, it is typically solved for local X, Y, and possibly Z coordinates, and then, if necessary, the local coordinates are converted to absolute coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level).

[0023] Depending on the desired functionality, WAN 140 may include any of a variety of wireless and / or wired communication networks. WAN 140 may, for example, include any combination of public and / or private networks, local area networks and / or wide area networks, etc. In addition, WAN 140 may utilize one or more wired and / or wireless communication technologies. In some embodiments, WAN 140 may include, for example, cellular or other mobile networks, WLAN, wireless wide area networks (WWAN) and / or the Internet. Specific examples of WAN 140 include long-term evolution (LTE) wireless networks, 5G wireless networks (also known as NR wireless networks), Wi-Fi WLANs, etc. LTE, 5G, and NR are wireless technologies defined or being defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). WAN 140 may also include more than one network and / or network type.

[0024] The transceiver 110 may include a node in a wireless communication network that may allow the UE 120 to communicate wirelessly with other devices linked to the WAN 140. The TRP 110 may, for example, include a base station in a cellular network, an access point (AP) in a Wi-Fi network, and / or other wireless devices with a known location. As described in further detail below, the technology is not necessarily limited to fixed TRPs (i.e., TRPs with a fixed location), but may also include mobile TRPs and even other UEs 120. Depending on the technology of the WAN 140, the TRP 110 may include a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station (RBS), an NR Node B (gNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a Wi-Fi AP, and / or Thus, UE 120 may send and receive information with network-connected devices, such as positioning server 130, by accessing WAN 140. And, as mentioned, UE 120 may access WAN 140 via TRP 110.

[0025] The positioning server 130 may include a server and / or other computing device configured to determine an estimated position of the UE 120 and / or provide data (e.g., “assistance data”) to the UE 120 to facilitate the position determination. According to some embodiments, the positioning server 130 may include a secure user plane positioning (SUPL) positioning platform (SLP), which may support the SUPL user plane (UP) positioning solution defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), and may support positioning services for the UE 120 based on the subscription information of the UE 120 stored in the positioning server 130. The positioning server 130 may also include an enhanced serving mobile positioning center (E-SMLC), which supports positioning the UE 120 using a control plane (CP) positioning solution for LTE radio access of the UE 120. The positioning server 130 may also include a positioning management function (LMF), which supports positioning the UE 120 using a control plane (CP) positioning solution for 5G or NR radio access of the UE 120. In the CP positioning solution, signaling for controlling and managing the positioning of the UE 120 may be exchanged between elements of the WAN 140 and with the UE 120 as signaling from the perspective of the WAN 140 using existing network interfaces and protocols. In the UP positioning solution, signaling for controlling and managing the positioning of the UE 120 may be exchanged between the positioning server 130 and the UE 120 as data from the perspective of the WAN 140 (e.g., data transmitted using the Internet Protocol (IP) and / or the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)).

[0026] It may also be noted that in some embodiments of the terrestrial positioning system 100, the positioning server 130 may be performed by and / or incorporated into the UE 120 itself. That is, in the embodiments described herein, the functionality of the positioning server 130 may be performed by the UE 120. In this case, the communication between the UE and the positioning server as described in the following embodiments may therefore occur between hardware and / or software components of the UE 120 itself. Similarly, the functionality of the positioning server 130 described herein may be performed by the TRP 110 or other devices communicatively coupled to the terrestrial positioning system 100.

[0027] The terrestrial positioning system 100 may determine the location of the UE 120 by utilizing the DL information sent by the TRP 110 and the UL information sent by the UE 120. As explained in more detail below, the positioning method may include round trip time measurements (RTT) from multiple TRPs (referred to as multi-RTT), uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA), and / or other techniques for determining respective distances 150-1, 150-2, and 150-3 (collectively referred to herein as distances 150) from the TRP 110 to determine the location of the UE 120 using multilateration or similar algorithms. For example, in multilateration, the distances 150-1, 150-2, and 150-3 are along respective circles 160-1, 160-2, and 160-3, respectively, and the location of the UE 120 may be determined as the intersection of these circles 160. As discussed in more detail below, embodiments provided herein are generally directed to positioning techniques where a reciprocal situation exists (eg, utilizing DL and UL information), where the SNR in one direction is greater than the SNR in another direction.

[0028] Figure 2 1 is a timing diagram illustrating the basic steps of RTT measurement, which can be used to determine multi-RTT position determination and can be used in the embodiments provided herein, as described in more detail below. Here, TRP 110 transmits a DL reference signal (RS) that is propagated to UE 120 at a first time T1. At a second time T2, the DL RS arrives at UE 120. Then, UE 120 transmits a UL RS at a third time T3. Finally, TRP 110 receives and measures the UL RS at a fourth time T4. In some embodiments, the DL RS ( Figure 2 TRP TX) and / or UL RS( Figure 2 In the embodiment of the present invention, the UE RX in the RTT measurement module is used to measure the RTT of the UE RX in the RTT measurement module, so that multiple receivers (UE or TRP, respectively) receive RS, thereby enabling multiple RTT measurements to be performed simultaneously. Additionally or alternatively, the RTT measurement can be dedicated to a single TRP-UE pair.

[0029] The distance 150, d, between the TRP 110 and the UE 120 may then be determined using the following equation:

[0030]

[0031] Although the techniques described herein may be used to enhance multi-RTT position determination, embodiments are not limited thereto.Embodiments may additionally or alternatively enhance uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA) based positioning.

[0032] In UTDOA, the UL signal from the UE is used to measure the arrival time difference of the UL signal at multiple TRPs at different locations within the UL signal range. These TRPs may include, for example, base stations and / or positioning measurement units (LMUs) of a cellular network (the latter may be located inside or outside the cellular base station). (The position calculation in the configuration or implementation remains unchanged.) In some implementations of UTDOA, the UL signal may be a sounding reference signal (SRS), which includes a frequency domain reference signal sequence derived from a Zadoff-Chu sequence, which occupies at least one orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol in a subframe.

[0033] In some implementations of UTDOA, DL signals from the TRP may also be used. For example, a UL signal (e.g., SRS) sent by a UE may have a downlink signal as a quasi-co-location (QCL) source signal. (A QCL source may be used to extract long-term statistics of a channel associated with UL transmissions.) A DL signal of QCL type A or C (e.g., which may be used to derive a delay spread, average delay, Doppler spread, average Doppler, and / or spatial Tx beam of a reciprocal channel), in particular, may be used as a reference DL signal for estimating the number of different paths of a wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids, and / or quality metrics, as used in the techniques described below. (The QCL source signal may include, for example, a position reference signal (PRS). Other types of QCL source signals, such as synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), and the like may be used in addition or alternatively. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, a QCL type is a type of association between a DL signal and a corresponding UL signal. According to some embodiments, the QCL source signal may be received by the UE during a positioning session with a positioning server.

[0034] Super-resolution TOA algorithms can use spectrum estimation to accurately achieve higher resolution (i.e., more accurate positioning of UE 120) than traditional algorithms. In general, spectrum estimation can enable the algorithm to predict the shape of the received waveform to more accurately determine TOA. These types of spectrum estimation can include known algorithms such as MUSIC, ESPRIT, and matrix beaming, which take advantage of an underlying structure including a finite set of time domain paths and / or a finite set of angles.

[0035] Because the determination of the parameters of the super-resolution model can be affected by noise, the accuracy of these super-resolution algorithms may be mainly limited by the available SNR and the accuracy of the model. Figure 4 Helps illustrate how SNR affects the accuracy of these super-resolution algorithms.

[0036] Figure 3 is a graph showing how reduced SNR leads to reduced resolution of the super-resolution algorithm, and how parameter selection improves performance. Here, the matrix bundle and ESPRIT algorithm reconstruct the channel frequency response (CFR) from a selected finite number (M) of multipath components (complex sinusoids). M is a known case (genie M, Figure 3 The line 310 in FIG. 3 is better than the case where the maximum likelihood detector (MLD) (the estimate of M) is used ( Figure 3 For example, at the bottom of the figure (SNR is 0 dB), the resolution when M is known is 6.5 ns, while the resolution when M is estimated is close to 11 ns.

[0037] This relationship between M and SNR can be further used to accurately estimate M in channels with high SNR. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, hypothesis testing can be used, for example, to determine the mean square error (MSE) of received data corresponding to each of a plurality of hypothetical values ​​of M. The value of M can then be selected based on the value that results in the minimum MSE. However, when the SNR is low, this technique for selecting an M value may not be very effective. Therefore, it may be preferred to select an M value using a signal with a relatively high SNR. As described in further detail below, an embodiment uses this relationship between M and SNR to improve the determination of M, resulting in more accurate multi-RTT and UTDOA position determination. As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art, parameters similar to M (such as the number of different paths, which may be different from M) have a similar relationship with SNR and can be obtained in a similar manner.

[0038] In short, because the multi-RTT and UTDOA super-resolution algorithms rely on estimating the quality of TOA in both UL and DL links (directions in the wireless channel), if the quality (SNR) of one link is lower than the other, an error floor will result (even if the other link has better quality). However, according to an embodiment, the technique of using UL and DL signals for position estimation can be enhanced by utilizing information obtained from the signal with the stronger SNR (e.g., the estimated number of complex sinusoids and / or different paths). That is, because the position estimation using UL and DL signals has full or partial reciprocity, it is expected that the number of paths and / or complex sinusoids that appear in one link will be the same as the number of paths and / or complex sinusoids in the other link. Additional details are provided below.

[0039] In addition to or as an alternative to determining one or more values ​​indicating the number of paths and / or complex sinusoids based on the link with the stronger SNR, an embodiment may determine a quality metric (indicating how well the estimated model represents the data) for the stronger SNR link. That is, in the case where the UE is able to determine a relatively good parameterization of the wireless channel model for the DL signal, this information can be shared with a base station or a positioning server to parameterize the wireless channel model for the UL signal. In order to determine whether the parameterization of the model used by the UE can also be used in the UL signal, the UE can determine a quality metric of the model and send it to the positioning server or TRP. The quality metric can be compared with a threshold and / or a quality metric received from a TRP, which receives the UL signal from the UE. The quality metric may include, for example, a normalized MSE value, etc.

[0040] According to some embodiments, depending on the desired functionality, one or more values ​​indicating the number of different paths, the number of complex sinusoids, and / or the quality metric determined by the UE may be propagated throughout the terrestrial positioning system in any of a variety of ways. For example, the UE may provide one or more values ​​to a positioning server, which may forward the information to the TRP so that the TRP may make an appropriate estimate of the wireless channel through which the UL reference signal for RTT or UTDOA measurement is sent. In other embodiments, the UE may send the information directly to the TRP. For a TRP including a cellular base station (e.g., an LTE and / or 5G NR base station), the UE may have a direct communication link with the serving base station and may therefore send one or more values ​​to the serving base station. The serving base station may then propagate these values ​​to neighboring base stations using separate signaling. Additionally or alternatively, the UE may send one or more values ​​to a positioning server, which may forward the one or more values ​​to the serving base station, which may then forward the one or more values ​​to the neighboring base stations. Alternative embodiments may use additional or alternative propagation techniques along these lines. The RTT or UTDOA measurements made by the base station may then be sent to the positioning server to determine the location of the UE.

[0041] Depending on the desired functionality, the determination of obtaining one or more values ​​indicating the number of different paths, the number of complex sinusoids, and / or a quality metric may vary. For example, a TRP that determines that the SNR from a signal sent via a UE is below a certain threshold may, for example, request the UE to provide one or more values. If the TRP has a direct communication link to the UE, the TRP may request the one or more values ​​directly. If not, the TRP may send a request to a positioning server, which may then configure the UE to provide one or more values ​​(which may then be provided to the positioning server and forwarded to the requesting TRP). Additionally or alternatively, SNR values ​​of UL signals and / or DL ​​signals sent via a wireless channel between the TRP and the UE may be sent to the positioning server, and if the SNR value of the UL signal from the UE is below a certain threshold and / or the difference between the UL SNR value and the DLSNR value exceeds a certain threshold, the positioning server may configure the UE to provide one or more values.

[0042] According to some embodiments, the techniques described herein may be used for sidelink positioning. That is, instead of using only RTT measurements from a non-mobile TRP to perform multiple RTTs on a UE, one or more RTT measurements may be performed between the UE and one or more other UEs. (In such RTT measurements, Figure 2The "TRP" in the illustrated RTT exchange and described above may include UEs. ) Here, the SNR of a reference signal sent from one UE may be better than the SNR of a reference signal sent by another UE. (Similar to the case of a mobile TRP, the SNR of one reference signal may be better if the UE sending the reference signal sends a stronger reference signal transmission than the other UE.) In such an embodiment, for an RTT measurement between two UEs, if it is determined that a reference signal received by a first UE from a second UE has a higher SNR than a reference signal sent by the first UE and received by the second UE, the first UE will determine the number of different paths, the number of complex sinusoids, or a quality metric of the reference signal received from the second UE. The first UE may then send one or more values ​​indicating the number of different paths, the number of complex sinusoids, and / or the quality metric to the second UE so that the second UE can use a super-resolution algorithm to perform TOA estimation of the reference signal. For example, which reference signal has a higher SNR may be determined based on an SNR determined from a previous communication between the two UEs (e.g., a previous RTT measurement attempt). According to some embodiments, a UE that determines that it has a lower SNR (or an SNR below a certain threshold) may request one or more values ​​indicating the number of different paths, the number of complex sinusoids and / or a quality metric from another UE.

[0043] It can be noted that embodiments can use the techniques disclosed herein not only for time division duplex (TDD) communications, but can also additionally or alternatively use these techniques for frequency division duplex (FDD) communications. That is, even when DL and UL signals (or reference signals sent from two different UEs) are sent using different frequencies, the techniques described herein can still be utilized in some cases due to the partial reciprocity rule. This is because the physical channels between the UE and the TRP (or two UEs) are largely the same (assuming that the movement between the DL and UL signals is small), and because FDD communications may involve two similar frequencies or frequency blocks (e.g., component carriers), which are similarly affected by the partial reciprocity of the physical channels. This means that if the frequency difference between the first component carrier CC1 and the second component carrier CC2 is below a certain threshold difference, the number of different paths, the number of complex sinusoids and / or the quality metric of the DL signal (or the first UE reference signal) with CC1 can be used for the UL signal (or the second UE reference signal) with CC2.

[0044] According to some embodiments, one or more values ​​indicating the number of different paths, the number of complex sinusoids, or a quality metric (as described in the above embodiments) may be sent for each DL PRS resource, each resource set, and / or each TRP received by the UE. Additionally or alternatively, one or more values ​​may be sent for each receiver antenna of the receiving UE. The reporting frequency and / or number of these values ​​may be set by the positioning server.

[0045] Due to partial reciprocity in FDD, the one or more values ​​provided by the UE may be different from the values ​​provided in the TDD case. For example, instead of providing a value indicating the number of paths, the UE may provide one or more values ​​to convey the maximum and / or minimum number of paths (e.g., up to X paths, no less than Y paths, X to Y paths, etc.).

[0046] Figure 4 4 is a flowchart of a method 400 for positioning based on enhanced reciprocal RTT or UTDOA at a UE according to an embodiment. That is, according to an embodiment, Figure 4 The functions of the blocks shown in describe UE-side functions to enhance multi-RTT or UTDOA positioning using a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity.

[0047] It can be noted that, as Figure 1 Sample, Figure 4 The method 400 is provided as a non-limiting example. Other embodiments may vary depending on the desired functionality. For example, the functional blocks shown in the method 400 may be combined, separated, or rearranged to accommodate different embodiments. The method 400 may be performed by a UE, such as Figure 1 UE 120 shown in FIG. 4 and described above. The components for performing the functions of method 400 may include hardware and / or software components of the UE, such as Figure 6 The hardware and / or software components of UE 600 are shown in FIG. 1 and described in detail below.

[0048] At block 410, the functionality includes wirelessly receiving, at the UE, a first reference signal. In some embodiments, the first reference signal may include a DL reference signal from a TRP or an RTT reference signal (e.g., a signal associated with an RTT positioning process). As indicated in the above embodiments, the RTT reference signal may include an initial RTT measurement signal from a TRP (e.g., a base station or a second UE) that is used to measure TOA from the TRP and is received at a first time (e.g., Figure 2As described above, in some embodiments, the first reference signal may include a QCL source (e.g., Type C or Type A) of a corresponding UTDOA reference signal or RTT response signal. For example, a QCL Type C or Type A source may include a PRS, SSB, or CSI-RS. The means for performing the functions at block 410 may include software and / or hardware components of the UE, such as bus 605, processing unit 610, DSP 620, wireless communication interface 630, memory 660, and / or Figure 6 Other components of UE 600 are shown in FIG. 1 and described in more detail below.

[0049] The functionality at block 420 includes wirelessly transmitting a second reference signal from the UE via a wireless channel. As described above, the second reference signal may include a reference signal associated with a UTDOA positioning procedure or an RTT positioning procedure. Additionally, this may be in response to wirelessly receiving a first reference signal including a corresponding DL reference signal or an RTT reference signal. As previously described, the RTT response signal (e.g., in Figure 2 The UTDOA reference signal, if sent, may be received not only by the base station that sent the DL reference signal, but also by other base stations to allow positioning through multi-point positioning. (It may be noted that in some embodiments, the UTDOA reference signal may also be sent in response to DL reference signals sent by other base stations.) The means for performing the functions at box 420 may include software and / or hardware components of the UE, such as a bus 605, a processing unit 610, a DSP 620, a wireless communication interface 630, a memory 660 and / or Figure 6 Other components of UE 600 are shown in FIG. 1 and described in more detail below.

[0050] At box 430, the function includes determining one or more values ​​of the wireless channel based on the first reference signal, wherein the one or more values ​​indicate the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or the extent to which the estimation model represents a quality metric of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof. As described above, at the receiving entity, the SNR of the first reference signal may be higher than the SNR of the second reference signal. Therefore, the one or more values ​​determined in box 430 can be determined more accurately than the corresponding values ​​from the second reference signal. In some embodiments, the positioning server can preconfigure the UE to determine the one or more values. Thus, in some embodiments, determining the one or more values ​​is also based on a request received by the UE from the positioning server. However, it should be clarified that the positioning server can be executed by the UE itself or another device, such as a server, a base station, or other device connected to a ground positioning system.

[0051] As previously mentioned, in some embodiments, one or more values ​​may indicate a range, in addition to or in lieu of a specific number. That is, in some embodiments, one or more values ​​indicate a maximum number of different paths of a wireless channel, a maximum number of complex sinusoids of a wireless channel, a minimum number of different paths of a wireless channel, or a minimum number of complex sinusoids of a wireless channel, or any combination thereof.

[0052] The means for performing the functions at block 430 may include software and / or hardware components of the UE, such as bus 605, processing unit 610, memory 660, and / or Figure 6 Other components of UE 600 are shown in FIG. 1 and described in more detail below.

[0053] In box 440, the function includes providing the determined one or more values ​​using the UE. As previously described, depending on the desired functionality, the propagation of the one or more values ​​can be performed in any of a variety of ways. For example, although the UE includes the positioning server itself, the values ​​can still be sent directly or via a WAN or other network to the TRP (e.g., a base station or a second UE) that sends the first reference signal. In the case where the positioning server is executed on another device, the UE can send one or more values ​​to the positioning server, which can then forward the values ​​to the TRP that sends the first reference signal. In some embodiments, the UE can provide these values ​​directly to the TRP that sends the first reference signal, for example, in a companion file / file set sent to the TRP in association with the RTT measurement. For the case where the positioning server is executed by the UE, the values ​​can be provided to the positioning server via a separate process performed by the UE.

[0054] The means for performing the functions at block 440 may include software and / or hardware components of the UE, such as bus 605, processing unit 610, DSP 620, wireless communication interface 630, memory 660, and / or Figure 6 Other components of UE 600 are shown in FIG. 1 and described in more detail below.

[0055] Figure 5 5 is a flow chart of a method 500 for positioning based on enhanced reciprocal RTT or UTDOA for a UE at a TRP according to one embodiment. That is, according to an embodiment, Figure 5 The functionality of the boxes shown in describe TRP side functionality to enhance multi-RTT or UTDOA based positioning using a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity. As described above, the TRP may include a base station or a second UE.

[0056] It can be noted that, as Figure 1 Sample, Figure 5The method 500 is provided as a non-limiting example. Other embodiments may vary depending on the desired functionality. For example, the functional blocks shown in the method 500 may be combined, separated, or rearranged to accommodate different embodiments. The method 500 may be performed by a TRP, such as Figure 1 The TRP 110 shown in FIG. 5 and described above. The components for performing the functions of method 500 may include hardware and / or software components of a UE or a base station, such as Figure 6 UE600 or Figure 7 The hardware and / or software components of base station 700 are shown in FIG. 1 , both of which will be described in detail below.

[0057] At block 510, the function includes wirelessly transmitting a first reference signal via a wireless channel. Again, the first reference signal may include an RTT reference signal (for measuring TOA from a TRP) or a DL reference signal. In the case where the first reference signal includes a DL reference signal, the DL reference signal may include a QCL Type C or Type A source. In addition, the QCL Type C or Type A source may include, for example, a PRS, an SSB signal, or a CSI-RS. The means for performing the function at block 510 may include software and / or hardware components of the UE, such as a bus 605, a processing unit 610, a DSP 620, a wireless communication interface 630, a memory 660, and / or Figure 6 705, processing unit 710, DSP 720, wireless communication interface 730, memory 760, and / or other components of UE 600 shown in FIG. 706 and described in more detail below. Alternatively, the components for performing the functions at block 510 may include software and / or hardware components of a base station, such as bus 705, processing unit 710, DSP 720, wireless communication interface 730, memory 760, and / or Figure 7 Other components of base station 700 are shown in FIG. 1 and described in more detail below.

[0058] The functions at block 520 include wirelessly receiving a second reference signal from the UE via a wireless channel. As described above, this may be in response to sending a first reference signal including an RTT reference signal or a DL reference signal. In this case, the second reference signal may include a reference signal associated with an RTT positioning process or a UTDOA positioning process, respectively. The means for performing the functions at block 520 may include software and / or hardware components of the UE, such as bus 605, processing unit 610, DSP 620, wireless communication interface 630, memory 660, and / or Figure 6 705, processing unit 710, DSP 720, wireless communication interface 730, memory 760, and / or other components of UE 600 shown in FIG. 706 and described in more detail below. Alternatively, the components for performing the functions at block 520 may include software and / or hardware components of a base station, such as bus 705, processing unit 710, DSP 720, wireless communication interface 730, memory 760, and / or Figure 7 Other components of base station 700 are shown in FIG. 1 and described in more detail below.

[0059] At block 530, the function includes receiving one or more values ​​indicating the number of different paths of a wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of a wireless channel, or a quality metric of how well an estimation model represents data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof. As described above, from the perspective of the UE, the one or more values ​​may be determined by the UE. In some embodiments, the one or more values ​​may be received via a positioning server. Thus, in some embodiments, the method 500 may further include sending a request for the one or more values ​​to the positioning server. In addition, in some embodiments, the one or more values ​​may be received from the UE via a companion file / file set of RTT measurements from the first / second reference signal.

[0060] As previously mentioned, in some embodiments, one or more values ​​may indicate a range, in addition to or in lieu of a specific number. That is, in some embodiments, one or more values ​​indicate a maximum number of different paths of a wireless channel, a maximum number of complex sinusoids of a wireless channel, a minimum number of different paths of a wireless channel, or a minimum number of complex sinusoids of a wireless channel, or any combination thereof.

[0061] The means for performing the functions at block 530 may include software and / or hardware components of the UE, such as bus 605, processing unit 610, DSP 620, wireless communication interface 630, memory 660, and / or Figure 6 705, processing unit 710, DSP 720, wireless communication interface 730, memory 760, and / or other components of UE 600 shown in FIG. 706 and described in more detail below. Alternatively, the components for performing the functions at block 510 may include software and / or hardware components of a base station, such as bus 705, processing unit 710, DSP 720, wireless communication interface 730, memory 760, and / or Figure 7 Other components of base station 700 are shown in FIG. 1 and described in more detail below.

[0062] At block 540, the function includes determining a TOA measurement of a second reference signal based on the one or more values. As previously described, the one or more values ​​may allow a super-resolution algorithm to be used for RTT or UTDOA measurements by determining a more accurate TOA than conventional techniques. Thus, such an algorithm may utilize the one or more values ​​provided at block 532 to provide a more accurate TOA. Means for performing the function at block 540 may include software and / or hardware components of the UE, such as bus 605, processing unit 610, DSP 620, memory 660, and / or Figure 6 705, processing unit 710, DSP 720, memory 760, and / or other components of UE 600 shown in FIG. 706 and described in more detail below. Alternatively, the means for performing the functions at block 510 may include software and / or hardware components of a base station, such as bus 705, processing unit 710, DSP 720, memory 760, and / or Figure 7 Other components of base station 700 are shown in FIG. 1 and described in more detail below.

[0063] Figure 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a UE 600, which may be described in the embodiments described herein and in combination with Figure 1-5 It should be noted that Figure 6 It is intended only to provide a general description of the various components of UE 600, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. In other words, because UEs may vary greatly in functionality, they may only include Figure 6 A portion of the components shown. It can be noted that in some cases, Figure 6 The components shown may reside in a single physical device and / or be distributed among various networked devices, which may be located in different physical locations.

[0064] UE 600 is shown as including hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via bus 605 (or may communicate in other ways, as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processing unit 610, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (such as digital signal processing (DSP) chips, graphics acceleration processors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.), and / or other processing structures or components, which may be configured to perform one or more methods described herein. Figure 6 As shown, depending on the desired functionality, some embodiments may have a separate DSP 620. The UE 600 may also include one or more input devices 670, which may include but are not limited to one or more touch screens, touch pads, microphones, buttons, dials, switches, etc.; and one or more output devices 615, which may include but are not limited to one or more displays, light emitting diodes (LEDs), speakers, etc.

[0065] UE 600 may also include a wireless communication interface 630, which may include but is not limited to a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device and / or a chipset (such as equipment, IEEE 802.11 equipment, IEEE802.15.4 equipment, Wi-Fi equipment, WiMAX TM equipment, cellular communication facilities, etc.), etc., which can enable UE 600 to be able to access the Figure 1The wireless communication interface 630 may allow data to be communicated with a network, a base station (e.g., an eNB, ng-eNB, and / or gNB), and / or other network components, a computer system, a TRP, and / or any other electronic device described herein. The communication may be performed via one or more wireless communication antennas 632 that send and / or receive wireless signals 634.

[0066] Depending on the desired functionality, the wireless communication interface 630 may include a separate TRP to communicate with base stations (e.g., eNBs, ng-eNBs, and / or gNBs) and other terrestrial TRPs (such as wireless devices and access points). The UE 600 may communicate with different data networks that may include various network types. For example, a wireless wide area network (WWAN) may be a code division multiple access (CDMA) network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) network, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) network, WiMax (IEEE 802.16), etc. A CDMA network may implement one or more radio access technologies (RATs), such as cdma2000, wideband CDMA (WCDMA), etc. Cdma2000 includes IS-95, IS-2000, and / or IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement a global system for mobile communications (GSM), a digital advanced mobile phone system (D-AMPS), or some other RAT. OFDMA networks can use LTE, Advanced LTE, New Radio (NR), etc. 5G, LTE, Advanced LTE, NR, GSM, and WCDMA are described in documents from 3GPP. Cdma2000 is described in documents from a consortium called "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). 3GPP and 3GPP2 documents are publicly available. A wireless local area network (WLAN) can also be an IEEE 802.11x network, and a wireless personal area network (WPAN) can be a Bluetooth network, IEEE 802.15x, or some other type of network. The techniques described herein can also be used for any combination of WWAN, WLAN, and / or WPAN.

[0067] The UE 600 may also include sensors 640. Such sensors may include, but are not limited to, one or more inertial sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, and / or other inertial measurement units (IMUs)), cameras, magnetometers, compasses, altimeters, microphones, proximity sensors, light sensors, barometers, etc., some of which may be used to supplement and / or facilitate the functionality described herein.

[0068] Embodiments of the UE 600 may also include a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver 680 that can receive signals 684 from one or more GNSS satellites using a GNSS antenna 682 (which can be combined with the antenna 632 in some implementations). Such positioning can be used to supplement and / or combine the techniques described herein. The GNSS receiver 680 can extract the location of the UE 600 from GNSS satellites of a GNSS system using conventional techniques, such as a global positioning system (GPS), Galileo, a global navigation satellite system (GLONASS), a compass, a Japanese quasi-zenith satellite system (QZSS), an Indian regional navigation satellite system (IRNSS), a Chinese BeiDou, and the like. In addition, the GNSS receiver 680 can use various augmentation systems (e.g., satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS)) that can be associated with or can be used with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. By way of example and not limitation, SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), Multipurpose Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), GPS-Assisted Geographic Augmentation Navigation, or GPS and Geographic Augmentation Navigation System (GAGAN), etc. Thus, as used herein, GNSS may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems and / or augmentation systems, and GNSS signals may include GNSS, GNSS-like, and / or other signals associated with the one or more GNSS.

[0069] The UE 600 may further include and / or be in communication with a memory 660. The memory 1260 may include, but is not limited to, local and / or network accessible memory, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices, such as random access memory (RAM) and / or read-only memory (ROM), which may be programmable, flash-updatable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, etc.

[0070] The memory 660 of the UE 600 may also include software elements (not shown), including an operating system, a device driver, an executable library, and / or other code, such as one or more applications, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments, and / or may be designed to implement methods and / or configuration systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more processes described for the above functionality may be implemented as codes and / or instructions that may be executed by the UE 600 (e.g., using the processing unit 610). In one aspect, such codes and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0071] Figure 7 An embodiment of a base station 700 is shown, which may be described above (eg, in conjunction with Figure 1-5 ) is used. For example, the base station 700 may execute Figure 5 One or more functions of method 500. It should be noted that Figure 7 It is intended only to provide a general description of the various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. In some embodiments, base station 700 may correspond to a gNB, ng-eNB, and / or eNB.

[0072] Base station 700 is shown as including hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via bus 705 (or may communicate in other ways, as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processing unit 710, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (such as DSP chips, graphics acceleration processors, ASICs, etc.), and / or other processing structures or components. Figure 7 As shown, some embodiments may have a separate DSP 720, depending on the desired functionality. According to some embodiments, positioning determination and / or other determinations based on wireless communication may be provided in the processing unit 710 and / or the wireless communication interface 730 (discussed below). The base station 700 may also include one or more input devices, which may include but are not limited to a keyboard, a display, a mouse, a microphone, buttons, a dial, a switch, etc.; and one or more output devices, which may include but are not limited to a display, a light emitting diode (LED), a speaker, etc.

[0073] The base station 700 may also include a wireless communication interface 730, which may include but is not limited to a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device and / or a chipset (such as Devices, IEEE 802.11 devices, IEEE 802.15.4 devices, WiFi devices, WiMAX devices, cellular communication facilities, etc.), etc., which can enable the base station 700 to communicate as described herein. The wireless communication interface 730 can allow communication (e.g., sending and receiving) of data and signaling to UEs, other base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs, and ng-eNBs), and / or other network components, computer systems, and / or any other electronic devices described herein. Communication can be performed via one or more wireless communication antennas 732 that send and / or receive wireless signals 734.

[0074] The base station 700 may also include a network interface 780, which may include support for wired communication technologies. The network interface 780 may include a modem, a network card, a chipset, etc. The network interface 780 may include one or more input and / or output communication interfaces to allow data to be exchanged with a network, a communication network server, a computer system, and / or any other electronic device described herein.

[0075] In many embodiments, the base station 700 may further include a memory 760. The memory 760 may include, but is not limited to, local and / or network accessible memory, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices such as RAM and / or ROM, which may be programmable, flash-updatable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including but not limited to various file systems, database structures, etc.

[0076] The memory 760 of the base station 700 may also include software components ( Figure 7 ), including an operating system, a device driver, an executable library, and / or other code, such as one or more application programs, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments, and / or may be designed to implement methods and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more processes described with respect to the above methods may be implemented as code and / or instructions in the memory 760, which may be executed by the base station 700 (and / or the processing unit 710 or DSP 720 within the base station 700). In one aspect, such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0077] Figure 8 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a computer system 800 that may be used in whole or in part to provide the functionality of one or more network components described in the embodiments herein (e.g., Figure 1 It should be noted that Figure 8It is intended only to provide a general description of the various components, any or all of which may be used as appropriate. Figure 8 It is broadly shown how the various system elements can be implemented in a relatively separate or relatively more integrated manner. In addition, it can be noted that Figure 8 The components shown may be localized in a single device and / or distributed among various networked devices, which may be located in different geographic locations.

[0078] The computer system 800 is shown to include hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via a bus 805 (or may otherwise communicate appropriately). The hardware elements may include a processing unit 810, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (e.g., digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration processors, etc.), and / or other processing structures, which may be configured to perform one or more methods described herein. The computer system 800 may also include one or more input devices 815, which may include, but is not limited to, a mouse, a keyboard, a camera, a microphone, etc.; and one or more output devices 820, which may include, but is not limited to, a display device, a printer, etc.

[0079] The computer system 800 may further include (and / or communicate with) one or more non-transitory storage devices 825, which may include, but are not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage devices, and / or may include, but are not limited to, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices, such as RAM and / or ROM, which may be programmable, flash memory updateable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, etc. As described herein, such data storage may include databases and / or other data structures for storing and managing messages and / or other information to be sent to one or more devices via the hub.

[0080] The computer system 800 may also include a communication subsystem 830, which may include wireless communication technologies managed and controlled by a wireless communication interface 833, as well as wired technologies (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial communication, universal serial bus (USB), etc.). The wireless communication interface 833 may send and receive wireless signals 855 (e.g., signals according to 5GNR or LTE) via a wireless antenna 850. Therefore, the communication subsystem 830 may include a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a chipset, etc., which may enable the computer system 800 to communicate with any device on any or all communication networks described herein, including user equipment (UE), base stations, and / or other TRPs, and / or any other electronic devices described herein. Therefore, the communication subsystem 1330 may be used to receive and send data, as described in the embodiments of this document.

[0081] In many embodiments, the computer system 800 will further include a working memory 835, which, as described above, may include RAM or ROM. The software elements shown as being located within the working memory 1335 may include an operating system 840, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code, such as one or more applications 845, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments, and / or may be designed to implement methods and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more of the processes described with respect to the above methods may be implemented as code and / or instructions executable by a computer (and / or a processing unit within a computer); in one aspect, such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0082] A set of these instructions and / or codes may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as the storage device 825 described above. In some cases, the storage medium may be incorporated into a computer system, such as the computer system 800. In other embodiments, the storage medium may be separate from the computer system (e.g., a removable medium such as an optical disk), and / or provided in an installation package so that the storage medium can be used to program, configure, and / or adapt a general-purpose computer having the instructions / code stored thereon. The instructions may take the form of executable code that can be executed by the computer system 800, and / or may take the form of source code and / or installable code that, when compiled and / or installed on the computer system 800 (e.g., using any of a variety of commonly available compilers, installers, compression / decompression utilities, etc.), takes the form of executable code.

[0083] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantial changes may be made depending on specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may also be used, and / or specific elements may be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. In addition, connections to other computing devices such as network input / output devices may be used.

[0084] With reference to the accompanying drawings, a component that may include a memory may include a non-temporary machine-readable medium. The terms "machine-readable medium" and "computer-readable medium" used herein refer to any storage medium that participates in providing data that enables a machine to operate in a particular manner. In the embodiments provided above, various machine-readable media may participate in providing instructions / codes to a processing unit and / or other devices for execution. Additionally or alternatively, a machine-readable medium may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / codes. In many implementations, a computer-readable medium is a physical and / or tangible storage medium. This medium may take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, magnetic and / or optical media, any other physical media with a hole pattern, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other storage chip or box, a carrier wave as described below, or any other medium from which a computer can read instructions and / or codes.

[0085] The methods, systems and devices discussed herein are examples. Various embodiments may appropriately omit, replace or add various processes or components. For example, features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. The various components of the accompanying drawings provided herein may be implemented with hardware and / or software. In addition, technology is developing, and therefore, many elements are examples that do not limit the scope of this disclosure to those specific examples.

[0086] It proves convenient at times, for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals as bits, information, values, elements, symbols, characters, variables, terms, numbers, digital symbols, and the like. It will be understood, however, that all of these or similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless otherwise indicated, it will be apparent from the foregoing discussion that throughout this specification, discussions using terms such as "processing," "computer processing," "computing," "determining," "ascertaining," "identifying," "correlating," "measuring," "performing," and the like refer to the actions or processes of a specific apparatus, such as a special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic computing device. Thus, in the context of this specification, a special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic computing device is capable of manipulating or transforming signals, typically represented as physical electronic, electrical, or magnetic quantities in a memory, register, or other information storage device, transmission device, or display device of the special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic computing device.

[0087] The terms "and" and "or" as used herein may include multiple meanings that depend, at least in part, on the context in which the terms are used. Generally, "or", if used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, i.e., has an inclusive meaning, as well as A, B, or C, i.e., has an exclusive meaning. In addition, the terms "one or more" as used herein may be used in the singular to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic, or may be used to describe a certain combination of features, structures, or characteristics. However, it should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example, and the subject matter claimed is not limited to this example. In addition, the term "at least one", if used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, may be interpreted to mean any combination of A, B, and / or C, such as A, AB, AA, AAB, AABBCCC, etc.

[0088] Several embodiments have been described, and various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, where other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the various embodiments. In addition, many steps may be taken before, during, or after considering the above elements. Therefore, the above description does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A method for implementing enhanced positioning of a user equipment (UE) using a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity at the UE, the method comprising: wirelessly receiving, at the UE via the wireless channel, a first reference signal, wherein the first reference signal comprises a quasi-co-located QCL source of a second reference signal; wirelessly transmitting the second reference signal from the UE via the wireless channel; In response to the first reference signal having a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than the second reference signal, determining one or more values ​​of the wireless channel based on the first reference signal, wherein the one or more values ​​indicate: the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or estimating how well a model represents a quality measure of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof; as well as The determined one or more values ​​are provided by the UE.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first reference signal comprises: Downlink DL reference signals from the transmission and reception point TRP, or The Round Trip Time (RTT) positioning process is used to measure the time of arrival (TOA) of the reference signal from the TRP.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second reference signal comprises a reference signal associated with an uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA) positioning procedure or an RTT positioning procedure.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein providing the determined one or more values ​​comprises providing the one or more values ​​to the TRP or a positioning server. The method according to claim 4 , wherein the positioning server is executed by the UE. The method of claim 4 , wherein the positioning server is executed on a device different from the UE.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the QCL source comprises: Position reference signal PRS, Synchronous signal block SSB signal, or Channel State Information Reference Signal CSI-RS.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more values ​​indicate: the maximum number of different paths of the wireless channel, the maximum number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, the minimum number of different paths of the wireless channel, or the minimum number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or Any combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the one or more values ​​is further based on a request received by the UE from a positioning server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein: The first reference signal is associated with an RTT positioning process; and The first reference signal is received from a second UE.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein wirelessly transmitting the second reference signal is in response to wirelessly receiving the first reference signal.

12. A method for implementing enhanced positioning of a user equipment UE using a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity at a transmission and reception point TRP, the method comprising: wirelessly transmitting a first reference signal via the wireless channel, wherein the first reference signal comprises a quasi-co-located QCL source of a second reference signal; wirelessly receiving the second reference signal from the UE via the wireless channel; In response to the first reference signal having a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than the second reference signal, requesting one or more values ​​from the UE, the one or more values ​​indicating: the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or estimating how well a model represents a quality measure of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof; receiving the one or more values; as well as A time of arrival (TOA) measurement of the second reference signal is determined based on the one or more values.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the first reference signal comprises: Downlink DL reference signal, or The Round Trip Time (RTT) positioning process is used to measure the reference signal of the TOA from the TRP.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the second reference signal comprises a reference signal associated with an uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA) positioning procedure or an RTT positioning procedure.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the TRP comprises a base station or a second UE.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the QCL source comprises: Position reference signal PRS, Synchronous signal block SSB signal, or Channel State Information Reference Signal CSI-RS.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more values ​​indicate: the maximum number of different paths of the wireless channel, the maximum number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, the minimum number of different paths of the wireless channel, or the minimum number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or Any combination thereof.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising sending a request for the one or more values ​​to a positioning server.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving the one or more values ​​from a positioning server.

20. A device comprising: Memory; and One or more processing units communicatively coupled to the memory, configured to: wirelessly receiving, via a wireless communication interface of a user equipment UE, a first reference signal via a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity, wherein the first reference signal comprises a quasi-co-located QCL source of a second reference signal; wirelessly transmitting the second reference signal from the UE via the wireless channel via the wireless communication interface; In response to the first reference signal having a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than the second reference signal, determining one or more values ​​of the wireless channel based on the first reference signal, wherein the one or more values ​​indicate: the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or estimating how well a model represents a quality measure of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof; and The determined value or values ​​are provided.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein to receive the first reference signal, the one or more processing units are configured to receive: Downlink DL reference signals from the transmission and reception point TRP, or The Round Trip Time (RTT) positioning process is used to measure the time of arrival (TOA) of the reference signal from the TRP.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein to send the second reference signal, the one or more processing units are configured to send a reference signal associated with an uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA) positioning procedure or an RTT positioning procedure.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein in order to provide the determined one or more values, the one or more processing units are configured to provide the one or more values ​​to the TRP or positioning server.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to provide the one or more values ​​to the positioning server, wherein the positioning server is executed by the UE.

25. The device of claim 23, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to provide the one or more values ​​to the positioning server, wherein the positioning server is executed by a device different from the UE.

26. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein to receive the QCL source of the second reference signal, the one or more processing units are configured to receive: Position reference signal PRS, Synchronous signal block SSB signal, or Channel State Information Reference Signal CSI-RS.

27. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein to determine the one or more values ​​of the wireless channel, the one or more processing units are configured to determine one or more values, the one or more values ​​indicating: the maximum number of different paths of the wireless channel, the maximum number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, the minimum number of different paths of the wireless channel, or the minimum number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or Any combination thereof.

28. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to determine one or more values ​​of the wireless channel based on a request received by the UE from a positioning server.

29. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to receive the first reference signal from a second UE, and wherein the first reference signal is associated with an RTT positioning procedure.

30. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to wirelessly transmit the second reference signal via the wireless communication interface in response to wirelessly receiving the first reference signal via the wireless communication interface.

31. An apparatus comprising: Memory; and One or more processing units communicatively coupled to the memory, configured to: wirelessly transmitting via a wireless communication interface of a transmission and reception point TRP a first reference signal via a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity, wherein the first reference signal comprises a quasi-co-located QCL source of a second reference signal; wirelessly receiving the second reference signal from a user equipment UE via the wireless channel via the wireless communication interface of the TRP; In response to the first reference signal having a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than the second reference signal, requesting one or more values ​​from the UE, the one or more values ​​indicating: the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or estimating how well a model represents a quality measure of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof; receiving the one or more values; as well as A time of arrival (TOA) measurement of the second reference signal is determined based on the one or more values.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 , wherein to transmit the first reference signal, the one or more processing units are configured to transmit: Downlink DL reference signal, or The Round Trip Time (RTT) positioning process is used to measure the time of arrival (TOA) of the reference signal from the TRP.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein to receive the second reference signal, the one or more processing units are configured to receive a reference signal associated with an uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA) positioning procedure or an RTT positioning procedure.

34. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the apparatus comprises a base station or a second UE.

35. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein to transmit the QCL source, the one or more processing units are configured to transmit: Position reference signal PRS, Synchronous signal block SSB signal, or Channel State Information Reference Signal CSI-RS.

36. The apparatus of claim 31 , wherein to receive the one or more values, the one or more processing units are configured to receive a value, the value indicating: the maximum number of different paths of the wireless channel, the maximum number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, the minimum number of different paths of the wireless channel, or the minimum number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or Any combination thereof.

37. The device of claim 36, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to send a request for the one or more values ​​to a positioning server.

38. The device of claim 36, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to receive the one or more values ​​from a positioning server.

39. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: wirelessly receiving, via a wireless communication interface of a user equipment UE, a first reference signal via a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity, wherein the first reference signal comprises a quasi-co-located QCL source of a second reference signal; wirelessly transmitting the second reference signal from the UE via the wireless channel via the wireless communication interface; In response to the first reference signal having a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than the second reference signal, determining one or more values ​​of the wireless channel based on the first reference signal, wherein the one or more values ​​indicate: the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or estimating how well a model represents a quality measure of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof; and The determined value or values ​​are provided.

40. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: wirelessly transmitting via a wireless communication interface of a transmission and reception point TRP a first reference signal via a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity, wherein the first reference signal comprises a quasi-co-located QCL source of a second reference signal; wirelessly receiving the second reference signal from a user equipment UE via the wireless channel via the wireless communication interface of the TRP; In response to the first reference signal having a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than the second reference signal, requesting one or more values ​​from the UE, the one or more values ​​indicating: the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or estimating how well a model represents a quality measure of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof; receiving the one or more values; as well as A time of arrival (TOA) measurement of the second reference signal is determined based on the one or more values.

41. An apparatus comprising: means for wirelessly receiving, via a wireless communication interface of a user equipment UE, a first reference signal via a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity, wherein the first reference signal comprises a quasi-co-located QCL source of a second reference signal; means for wirelessly transmitting the second reference signal from the UE via the wireless channel via the wireless communication interface; In response to the first reference signal having a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than the second reference signal, means for determining one or more values ​​of the wireless channel based on the first reference signal, wherein the one or more values ​​indicate: the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or estimating how well a model represents a quality measure of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof; and A component that provides the determined value or values.

42. An apparatus comprising: means for wirelessly transmitting, via a wireless communication interface of a transmission and reception point TRP, a first reference signal via a wireless channel with full or partial reciprocity, wherein said first reference signal comprises a quasi-co-located QCL source of a second reference signal; means for wirelessly receiving the second reference signal from a user equipment UE via the wireless channel via the wireless communication interface of the TRP; In response to the first reference signal having a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than the second reference signal, means for requesting one or more values ​​from the UE, the one or more values ​​indicating: the number of different paths of the wireless channel, the number of complex sinusoids of the wireless channel, or estimating how well a model represents a quality measure of data received via the wireless channel, or any combination thereof; means for receiving the one or more values; as well as Means for determining a time of arrival (TOA) measurement of the second reference signal based on the one or more values.

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