Multi-user equipment positioning signaling

Abstract

A method for coordinating positioning signaling includes: identifying a first user equipment (UE) served by a base station and a second UE served by the base station, the base station being configured to wirelessly transmit a base station positioning signal at a plurality of base station transmission times; allocating a first time for transmitting the first UE positioning signal to the first UE and a second time for transmitting the second UE positioning signal to the second UE, at least one of the first times being different from at least one of the second times; transmitting a first communication to cause the first UE to transmit at least a corresponding one of the first UE positioning signals at each of the first times; and transmitting a second communication to cause the second UE to transmit at least a corresponding one of the second UE positioning signals at each of the second times.

Description

Background Art

[0001] 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) high speed data, Internet-enabled wireless services, and fourth generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax), fifth generation (5G) services, and the like. 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), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), a Global System for Mobile Access (GSM) variant of TDMA, and the like.

[0002] The fifth generation (5G) mobile standard calls for higher data transmission speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users and 1 gigabit per second to dozens of employees on an office floor. To support large sensor deployments, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. As a result, the spectrum efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly improved compared to the current 4G standard. In addition, signaling efficiency should be improved and latency should be significantly reduced compared to the current standard.

[0003] Obtaining the location of a mobile device accessing a wireless network may be useful for many applications, including, for example, emergency calling, personal navigation, asset tracking, determining the location of a friend or family member, etc. Existing positioning methods include methods based on measuring radio signals transmitted from various devices or entities, including satellites (SVs) and ground-based radio sources in wireless networks, such as base stations and access points. It is expected that the standardization of 5G wireless networks will include support for various positioning methods that can utilize reference signals transmitted by base stations in a manner similar to how LTE wireless networks currently utilize positioning reference signals (PRS) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRS) for position determination. Summary of the invention

[0004] An example method for coordinating positioning signaling includes: identifying a first user equipment (UE) served by a base station and a second UE served by the base station, the base station being configured to wirelessly transmit a base station positioning signal at a plurality of base station transmission times; allocating a first time for transmitting the first UE positioning signal to the first UE and a second time for transmitting the second UE positioning signal to the second UE, at least one of the first times being different from at least one of the second times; transmitting a first communication to cause the first UE to transmit at least a corresponding one of the first UE positioning signals at each of the first times; and transmitting a second communication to cause the second UE to transmit at least a corresponding one of the second UE positioning signals at each of the second times.

[0005] Implementations of this method may include one or more of the following features. The first time occurs less frequently than a plurality of base station transmission times. The first time and the second time are allocated to be close in time to respective base station transmission times among the plurality of base station transmission times. The method includes controlling the base station to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during the first signal measurement time. The first signal measurement time includes a first time offset for a travel time between the first UE and the base station.

[0006] In addition or alternatively, embodiments of the method may include one or more of the following features. Each corresponding one of the first times precedes the corresponding one of the multiple base station transmission times that is closest in time to the corresponding one of the first time. The first time and the second time include multiple time pairs, and each of the multiple time pairs includes: a corresponding one of the first time that is closest in time to the corresponding one of the multiple base station transmission times in the first time; and a corresponding one of the second time that is closest in time to the corresponding one of the multiple base station transmission times in the second time, and the corresponding one of the first time is different from the corresponding one of the second time. The method includes sending a third communication to change the first time to a third time, at least one of the third times being different from the first time. The method includes causing the base station to change the multiple base station transmission times in response to a trigger condition. The trigger condition is exceeding a threshold number of UEs. The threshold number of UEs is a threshold number of UEs per epoch.

[0007] Additionally or alternatively, embodiments of the method may include one or more of the following features: All first times are different from all second times. The first time and the second time alternate in time. The first time and the second time are corresponding time portions of a sequence frame set, and the sequence frame set repeats.

[0008] An example system for coordinating positioning signaling includes: a transceiver; and a processor, which is communicatively coupled to the transceiver and is configured to: identify a first user equipment (UE) served by a base station and a second UE served by the base station, the base station being configured to wirelessly transmit a base station positioning signal at a plurality of base station transmission times; allocate a first time for transmitting the first UE positioning signal to the first UE and a second time for transmitting the second UE positioning signal to the second UE, at least one of the first times being different from at least one of the second times; transmit a first communication via the transceiver so that the first UE transmits at least a corresponding one of the first UE positioning signals at each of the first times; and transmit a second communication via the transceiver so that the second UE transmits at least a corresponding one of the second UE positioning signals at each of the second times.

[0009] Implementations of such a system may include one or more of the following features. The processor is configured to allocate a first time so that the frequency of occurrence of the first time is lower than that of a plurality of base station transmission times. The processor is configured to allocate the first time and the second time to be close in time to a corresponding base station transmission time among the plurality of base station transmission times. The processor is configured to control the base station to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during the first signal measurement time. The first signal measurement time includes a first time offset for a travel time between the first UE and the base station.

[0010] In addition or alternatively, embodiments of such a system may include one or more of the following features. The processor is configured to allocate the first time and the second time so that: the first time and the second time include multiple time pairs; each of the multiple time pairs includes: a corresponding one of the first times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the multiple base station transmission times in the first time; and a corresponding one of the second times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the multiple base station transmission times in the second time; and the corresponding one of the first time is different from the corresponding one of the second time. The processor is configured to send a third communication to change the first time to a third time, at least one of the third times being different from the first time. The processor is configured to cause the base station to change the multiple base station transmission times in response to a trigger condition. The trigger condition is exceeding a threshold number of UEs. The threshold number of UEs is a threshold number of UEs per epoch.

[0011] Another example system for coordinating positioning signaling includes: a component for identifying a first user equipment (UE) served by a base station and a second UE served by the base station, the base station being configured to wirelessly transmit a base station positioning signal at a plurality of base station transmission times; a component for allocating a first time for transmitting the first UE positioning signal to the first UE and a second time for transmitting the second UE positioning signal to the second UE, at least one of the first times being different from at least one of the second times; a component for transmitting a first communication so that each of the first UEs transmits at least a corresponding one of the first UE positioning signals at the first times; and a component for transmitting a second communication so that each of the second UEs transmits at least a corresponding one of the second UE positioning signals at the second times.

[0012] Specific embodiments of such a system may include one or more of the following features. A component for allocating is used to allocate a first time so that the frequency of occurrence of the first time is lower than that of a plurality of base station transmission times. A component for allocating is used to allocate the first time and the second time to be close in time to a corresponding base station transmission time among a plurality of base station transmission times. The system includes a component for controlling the base station to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during a first signal measurement time. The first signal measurement time includes a first time offset for a travel time between the first UE and the base station.

[0013] In addition or alternatively, embodiments of such a system may include one or more of the following features. A component for allocating is used to allocate a first time and a second time so that: the first time and the second time include multiple time pairs; each of the multiple time pairs includes: a corresponding one of the first times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of a plurality of base station transmission times in the first time; and a corresponding one of the second times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of a plurality of base station transmission times in the second time; and the corresponding one of the first time is different from the corresponding one of the second time. The system includes a component for sending a third communication to change the first time to a third time, at least one of the third times being different from the first time. The system includes a component for causing a base station to change the transmission times of multiple base stations in response to a trigger condition. The trigger condition is exceeding a threshold number of UEs. The threshold number of UEs is a threshold number of UEs per epoch.

[0014] An example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor to: identify a first user equipment (UE) served by a base station and a second UE served by a base station, the base station being configured to wirelessly transmit a base station positioning signal at a plurality of base station transmission times; allocate a first time to the first UE for transmitting the first UE positioning signal and a second time to the second UE for transmitting the second UE positioning signal, at least one of the first times being different from at least one of the second times; transmit a first communication to cause the first UE to transmit at least a corresponding one of the first UE positioning signals at each of the first times; and transmit a second communication to cause the second UE to transmit at least a corresponding one of the second UE positioning signals at each of the second times.

[0015] Implementations of such a storage medium may include one or more of the following features. The instructions configured to allocate the first time are configured to allocate the first time so that the frequency of occurrence of the first time is lower than that of multiple base station transmission times. The instructions configured to allocate the first time and the second time are configured to allocate the first time and the second time to be close in time to the corresponding base station transmission time in the multiple base station transmission times. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the base station to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during the first signal measurement time. The first signal measurement time includes a first time offset for the travel time between the first UE and the base station.

[0016] In addition or alternatively, an embodiment of such a storage medium may include one or more of the following features. The first time and the second time include multiple time pairs, each of the multiple time pairs including: a corresponding one of the first time that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the multiple base station transmission times in the first time; and a corresponding one of the second time that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the multiple base station transmission times in the second time, and the corresponding one of the first time is different from the corresponding one of the second time. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to send a third communication to change the first time to a third time, at least one of the third times being different from the first time. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to cause the base station to change the transmission times of multiple base stations in response to a trigger condition. The trigger condition is exceeding a threshold number of UEs. The threshold number of UEs is a threshold number of UEs per epoch.

[0017] Another example method of coordinating positioning signaling includes wirelessly sending a request for positioning services from a user equipment (UE); receiving at the UE an indication of a UE positioning signal time for sending a UE positioning signal; and sending a UE positioning signal from the UE at the UE positioning signal time.

[0018] Implementations of this method may include one or more of the following features: The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes a time schedule within a set of sequential frames. The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes a schedule of base station positioning signals and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to a subset of base station positioning signals.

[0019] An example user equipment (UE) includes: a transceiver; and a processor, communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to: send a wireless request for a positioning service via the transceiver; receive an indication of a UE positioning signal time for sending a UE positioning signal via the transceiver; and wirelessly send a UE positioning signal at the UE positioning signal time via the transceiver.

[0020] Implementations of such a UE may include one or more of the following features: The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes a time schedule within a set of sequential frames. The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to a subset of base station positioning signals.

[0021] Another example UE includes means for wirelessly sending a request for positioning services; means for receiving an indication of a UE positioning signal time for sending a UE positioning signal; and means for sending the UE positioning signal at the UE positioning signal time.

[0022] Implementations of such a UE may include one or more of the following features: The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes a time schedule within a set of sequential frames. The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes a schedule of base station positioning signals and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to a subset of base station positioning signals.

[0023] Another example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor to: wirelessly send a request for positioning services from a user equipment (UE) via a transceiver of the UE; receive at the UE an indication of a UE positioning signal time for sending a UE positioning signal; and send a UE positioning signal from the UE at the UE positioning signal time via the transceiver.

[0024] Implementations of such a storage medium may include one or more of the following features: The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes a time schedule within a set of sequential frames. The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes a schedule of base station positioning signals and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to a subset of base station positioning signals. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Figure 1 is a simplified diagram of an example wireless communication system.

[0026] Figure 2 yes Figure 1A block diagram of components of an example user device is shown.

[0027] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 A block diagram of the components of an example send / receive point is shown.

[0028] Figure 4 yes Figure 1 A block diagram of components of an example server is shown.

[0029] Figure 5 In such Figure 1 A signal flow diagram of signals transmitted between components of a wireless communication system is shown.

[0030] Figure 6 It is a flowchart of a method for coordinating positioning signaling.

[0031] Figure 7 is another flowchart of a method for coordinating positioning signaling. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] This article discusses techniques for coordinating positioning signaling. For example, a server (or other device such as a transmit / receive point (TRP)) can allocate time for a UE to send an uplink positioning signal. The server can coordinate the allocated time to distribute the time for transmitting and / or measuring and processing the uplink positioning signal by the UE and / or by the TRP. The server can allocate uplink signaling time so that different UEs transmit uplink positioning signals at different times. The server can instruct the TRP to measure the signal corresponding to the UE (e.g., including the uplink signaling time offset by the travel time from the UE to the TRP) only during the time window corresponding to the uplink signaling time of the corresponding UE. The server can determine the time allocation in response to one or more trigger conditions, such as the number of UEs expected to send uplink positioning signals (e.g., use and request location services). The server can dynamically change the time allocation as the conditions change (e.g., as the number of UEs expected to send uplink positioning signals changes). However, other configurations can be used.

[0033] The items and / or techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned. Radio frequency signal congestion in a wireless communication system may be reduced. Signal processing congestion in a wireless communication system may be reduced. User equipment capacity of a wireless communication system may be increased, for example, for user equipment to receive and / or request location services. Other capabilities may be provided, and not every embodiment according to the present disclosure necessarily provides any, let alone all, of the capabilities discussed.

[0034] refer to Figure 1, an example wireless communication system 110 includes user equipment (UE) 112, UE 113, UE 114, base transceiver stations (BTS) 120, 121, 122, 123, a network 130, a core network 140, and an external client 150. The core network 140 (e.g., a 5G core network (5GC)) may include backend devices including, among others, an access and mobility management function (AMF) 141, a session management function (SMF) 142, a server 143, and a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 144. The AMF 141, the SMF 142, the server 143, and the GMLC 144 are communicatively coupled to each other. Server 143 may be, for example, a location management function (LMF) that supports positioning of UEs 112-114 (e.g., using techniques such as Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS), OTDOA (Observed Time Difference of Arrival, e.g., downlink (DL) OTDOA and / or uplink (UL) OTDOA), Round Trip Time (RTT), multi-cell RTT, RTK (Real Time Kinematic), PPP (Precise Point Positioning), DGNSS (Differential GNSS), E-CID (Enhanced Cell ID), AoA (Angle of Arrival), AoD (Angle of Departure), etc.).

[0035] The LMF may also be referred to as a location manager (LM), a location function (LF), a commercial LMF (CLMF), or a value-added LMF (VLMF). The server 143 (e.g., LMF) and / or one or more other devices of the system 110 (e.g., one or more of the UEs 112-114) may be configured to determine the location of the UEs 112-114. The server 143 may communicate directly with the BTS 121 (e.g., gNB) and / or one or more other BTSs, and may be integrated with the BTS 121 and / or one or more other BTSs. The SMF 142 may serve as an initial contact point for a service control function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and delete media sessions. The server 143 (e.g., LMF) may be co-located or integrated with a gNB or TRP (transmit / receive point), or may be located away from the gNB and / or TRP and configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNB and / or TRP.

[0036] AMF 141 may serve as a control node for processing signaling between UE 112-114 and core network 140, and provide QoS (Quality of Service) flow and session management. AMF 141 may support mobility of UE 112-114, including cell change and handover, and may participate in supporting signaling connections to UE 112-114.

[0037] The system 110 is capable of wireless communications, wherein the components of the system 110 can communicate with each other (at least sometimes using wireless connections), for example, directly or indirectly, via BTSs 120-123 and / or network 130 (and / or one or more other devices not shown, such as one or more other base station transceivers). For indirect communications, the communication can be changed during transmission from one entity to another, for example, by changing header information of a data packet, changing the format, etc. The UEs 112-114 shown are smart phones, tablet computers, and vehicle-based devices, but these are just examples, as the UEs 112-114 do not need to be any of these configurations, and other configurations of UEs can be used. The UEs 112, 113 shown are mobile wireless communication devices (although they can communicate wirelessly and via wired connections), including mobile phones (including smart phones) and tablet computers. The UE 114 shown is a vehicle-based mobile wireless communication device (although the UE 114 can communicate wirelessly and via wired connections). Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart jewelry, smart glasses or headphones, etc.). Other UEs, whether currently existing or developed in the future, may also be used. In addition, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) may be implemented within the system 110 and may communicate with each other and / or with the UEs 112-114, the BTSs 120-123, the network 130, the core network 140, and / or external clients 150. For example, such other devices may include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and / or automation devices, etc. The core network 140 may communicate with the external client 150 (e.g., a computer system), for example, to allow the external client 150 (e.g., via the GMLC 144) to request and / or receive location information about the UEs 112-114.

[0038] The UEs 112-114 or other devices may be configured to communicate in various networks and / or for various purposes and / or using various technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communications, multiple frequencies of Wi-Fi communications, satellite positioning, one or more types of communications (e.g., GSM (Global System for Mobile), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), V2X (e.g., V2P (Vehicle to Pedestrian), V2I (Vehicle to Infrastructure), V2V (Vehicle to Vehicle), etc.), IEEE 802.11p, etc.). V2X communications can be cellular (Cellular-V2X (C-V2X)) and / or WiFi (e.g., DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Connection)). System 110 can support operation on multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter can send modulated signals on multiple carriers simultaneously. Each modulated signal can be a code division multiple access (CDMA) signal, a time division multiple access (TDMA) signal, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) signal, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal can be sent on a different carrier and can carry pilots, overhead information, data, etc.

[0039] The BTSs 120-123 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 112-114 in the system 110 via one or more antennas. The BTSs may also be referred to as base stations, access points, gNodeBs (gNBs), access nodes (ANs), Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), etc. For example, each BTS 120, 121 may be a gNB or a transmission point gNB, the BTS 122 may be a macro cell (e.g., a high-power cellular base station) and / or a small cell (e.g., a low-power cellular base station), and the BTS 123 may be an access point (e.g., configured to utilize short-range technologies such as WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), One or more BTSs 120-123 may be configured to communicate with UEs 112-114 via multiple carriers. Each of BTSs 120, 121 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic area (e.g., a cell). Each cell may be divided into multiple sectors according to the function of a base station antenna.

[0040] Each of the BTSs 120-123 includes one or more transmit / receive points (TRPs). For example, each sector within a cell of a BTS may include a TRP, although multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., a shared processor but with separate antennas). The system 110 may include only macro TRPs, or the system 110 may have different types of TRPs, such as macro TRPs, pico TRPs, and / or femto TRPs, etc. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access to terminals with service subscriptions. A pico TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a pico cell) and may allow unrestricted access to terminals with service subscriptions. A femto or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a femto cell) and may allow restricted access to terminals associated with a femto cell (e.g., terminals of users in a home).

[0041] UE 112-114 may be referred to as a terminal, an access terminal (AT), a mobile station, a mobile device, a subscriber unit, etc. UE 112-114 may include various devices listed above and / or other devices. UE 112-114 may be configured to be indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. The D2D P2P links may be supported by any suitable D2D radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE direct (LTE-D), WiFi direct (WiFi-D), Etc. One or more of the groups of UEs 112-114 utilizing D2D communications may be within a geographic coverage area of ​​a TRP such as one or more of the BTSs 120-123. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage area or otherwise unable to receive transmissions from the base station. The group of UEs 112-114 communicating via D2D communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. The TRPs of the BTSs 120-123 may facilitate scheduling of resources for the D2D communications. In other cases, D2D communications may be performed between UEs without the involvement of a TRP.

[0042] Also refer to Figure 2UE 200 is an example of one of UEs 112-114 and includes a computing platform including a processor 210, a memory 211 including software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for a transceiver 215, a user interface 216, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 217, a camera 218, and a location device 219. The processor 210, the memory 211, (one or more) sensors 213, the transceiver interface 214, the user interface 216, the SPS receiver 217, the camera 218, and the PD 219 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 220 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., camera 218, PD 219, and / or one or more of (one or more) sensors 213, etc.) may be omitted from UE 200. The processor 210 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 210 may include multiple processors, including a general / application processor 230, a digital signal processor (DSP) 231, a modem processor 232, a video processor 233, and / or a sensor processor 234. One or more of the processors 230-234 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, the sensor processor 234 may include, for example, a processor for radar, ultrasonic wave, and / or laser radar, etc. The modem processor 232 may support dual SIM / dual connection (or even more SIMs). For example, a SIM (subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module) may be used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and another SIM may be used by an end user of the UE 200 for connection. The memory 211 is a non-transitory storage medium, which may include a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a disk memory, and / or a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 211 stores software 212, which may be a processor-readable, processor-executable software code, and the software code contains instructions configured to cause the processor 210 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 212 may not be directly executable by the processor 210, but may be configured to cause the processor 210 to perform functions, for example, when compiled and executed. The description may only refer to the processor 210 performing functions, but this includes other embodiments, such as where the processor 210 executes software and / or firmware. The description may refer to one or more of the processors 230-234 performing functions as simply referring to the processor 210 performing the functions. The description may refer to one or more appropriate components of the UE 200 performing functions as simply referring to the UE 200 performing the functions. In addition to and / or as an alternative to the memory 211, the processor 210 may include a memory having instructions stored therein.The functionality of processor 210 is discussed more fully below.

[0043] Figure 2 The configuration of UE 200 shown in is an example and does not limit the present invention, including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, an example configuration of the UE includes one or more of the processors 230-234 of the processor 210, the memory 211, and the wireless transceiver 240. Other example configurations include one or more of the processors 230-234 of the processor 210, the memory 211, the wireless transceiver 240, and one or more of (one or more) sensors 213, a user interface 216, an SPS receiver 217, a camera 218, a PD 219, and / or a wired transceiver 250.

[0044] UE 200 may include a modem processor 232 that may be capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and down-converted by transceiver 215 and / or SPS receiver 217. Modem processor 232 may perform baseband processing of signals to be up-converted for transmission by transceiver 215. Additionally or alternatively, baseband processing may be performed by processor 230 and / or DSP 231. However, other configurations may be used to perform baseband processing.

[0045] UE 200 may include sensor(s) 213, which may include, for example, one or more of various types of sensors, such as one or more inertial sensors, one or more magnetometers, one or more environmental sensors, one or more optical sensors, one or more weight sensors, and / or one or more radio frequency (RF) sensors, etc. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responding to acceleration of UE 200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes. Sensor(s) 213 may include one or more magnetometers to determine orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), which may be used for any of a variety of purposes, such as to support one or more compass applications. Environmental sensor(s) may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors, one or more atmospheric pressure sensors, one or more ambient light sensors, one or more camera imagers, and / or one or more microphones, etc. Sensor(s) 213 may generate analog and / or digital signal indications, which may be stored in memory 211 and processed by DSP 231 and / or processor 230 to support one or more applications, such as, for example, applications involving positioning and / or navigation operations.

[0046] The sensor(s) 100 may be used for relative position measurement, relative position determination, motion determination, etc. The information detected by the sensor(s) 100 may be used for motion detection, relative displacement, dead reckoning, sensor-based position determination, and / or sensor-assisted position determination. The sensor(s) 100 may be used to determine whether the UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or moving and / or whether to report certain useful information about the mobility of the UE 200 to the server 143. For example, based on the information obtained / measured by the sensor(s), the UE 200 may notify / report to the server 143 that the UE 200 has detected movement or that the UE 200 has moved, and report the relative displacement / distance (e.g., via dead reckoning, or sensor-based position determination, or sensor-assisted position determination enabled by the sensor(s) 100). In another example, for relative positioning information, the sensor / IMU may be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of another device relative to the UE 200, etc.

[0047] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements of the direction of motion and / or speed of motion of the UE 200, which may be used for relative position determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may detect the linear acceleration and rotational speed of the UE 200, respectively. The linear acceleration and rotational speed measurements of the UE 200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction of motion and displacement of the UE 200. The instantaneous direction of motion and displacement may be integrated to track the position of the UE 200. For example, a reference position of the UE 200 may be determined, for example, at a certain moment using the SPS receiver 217 (and / or by some other means), and measurements from (one or more) accelerometers and (one or more) gyroscopes obtained after that moment may be used for dead reckoning to determine the current position of the UE 200 based on the movement (direction and distance) of the UE 200 relative to the reference position.

[0048] The magnetometer(s) may determine the magnetic field strength in different directions, which may be used to determine the orientation of the UE 200. For example, the orientation may be used to provide a digital compass for the UE 200. The magnetometer may be a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. Alternatively, the magnetometer may be a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer may provide a component for sensing a magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field to, for example, the processor 210.

[0049] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250, which are configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a transmitter 242 and a receiver 244 coupled to one or more antennas 246 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) wireless signals 248 and converting signals from the wireless signals 248 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 248. Thus, the transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 244 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 240 may be configured to communicate with a variety of radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global Mobile System), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Zigbee, etc.) to transmit signals (e.g., with TRP and / or one or more other devices). The new radio can use millimeter wave frequencies and / or frequencies below 6 GHz. The wired transceiver 250 may include a transmitter 252 and a receiver 254 configured for, for example, wired communication with the network 130 to send communications to, for example, the UE 200 and receive communications therefrom. The transmitter 252 may include a plurality of transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 254 may include a plurality of receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214, for example, via an optical connection and / or an electrical connection. The transceiver interface 214 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 215.

[0050] The user interface 216 may include one or more of several devices, such as, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a display device, a vibration device, a keyboard, a touch screen, etc. The user interface 216 may include any one of more than one of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to enable a user to interact with one or more applications hosted by the UE 200. For example, the user interface 216 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 to be processed by the DSP 231 and / or the general processor 230 in response to actions from the user. Similarly, the application hosted on the UE 200 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 to present output signals to the user. The user interface 216 may include an audio input / output (I / O) device, including, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a digital-to-analog circuit, an analog-to-digital circuit, an amplifier, and / or a gain control circuit (including any one of more than one of these devices). Other configurations of audio I / O devices may be used. In addition or alternatively, the user interface 216 may include one or more touch sensors that respond to touch and / or pressure on, for example, a keyboard and / or a touch screen of the user interface 216.

[0051] The SPS receiver 217 (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring the SPS signal 260 via the SPS antenna 262. The antenna 262 is configured to convert the wireless signal 260 into a wired signal, such as an electrical signal or an optical signal, and may be integrated with the antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signal 260 in whole or in part for estimating the position of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to determine the position of the UE 200 by trilateration using the SPS signal 260. The general processor 230, the memory 211, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors (not shown) may be used to process the acquired SPS signal in whole or in part, and / or in conjunction with the SPS receiver 217 to calculate the estimated position of the UE 200. The memory 211 may store indications (e.g., measurements) of the SPS signal 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals acquired from the wireless transceiver 240) for performing positioning operations. The general purpose processor 230 , the DSP 231 , and / or one or more dedicated processors and / or the memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for processing measurements to estimate the location of the UE 200 .

[0052] UE 200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still or moving images. Camera 218 may include, for example, an imaging sensor (e.g., a charge coupled device or CMOS imager), a lens, analog-to-digital circuits, a frame buffer, etc. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of signals representing captured images may be performed by general purpose processor 230 and / or DSP 231. In addition or alternatively, video processor 233 may perform conditioning, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of signals representing captured images. Video processor 233 may decode / decompress stored image data for presentation on a display device (not shown) such as user interface 216.

[0053] PD 219 may be configured to determine the location of UE 200, the motion of UE 200, and / or the relative location and / or time of UE 200. For example, PD 219 may communicate with SPS receiver 217 and / or include some or all of SPS receiver 217. PD 219 may be combined with processor 210 and memory 211 as appropriate to perform at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, although the description herein may only relate to PD 219 being configured to perform or being performed according to (one or more) positioning methods. PD 219 may additionally or alternatively be configured to use ground-based signals (e.g., at least some of signals 248) to determine the location of UE 200 for trilateration, for assisting in obtaining and using SPS signals 260, or both. PD 219 may be configured to use one or more other techniques (e.g., depending on the self-reported location of the UE (e.g., a portion of the UE's location beacon)) to determine the location of UE 200, and may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and ground positioning signals) to determine the location of UE 200. The PD 219 may include one or more sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscope(s), accelerometer(s), magnetometer(s), etc.) that may sense the orientation and / or motion of the UE 200 and provide an indication thereof, which the processor 210 (e.g., processor 230 and / or DSP 231) may be configured to use to determine the motion (e.g., velocity vector and / or acceleration vector) of the UE 200. The PD 219 may be configured to provide an indication of uncertainty and / or error in the determined position and / or motion.

[0054] Also refer to Figure 3, an example of a TRP 300 for BTSs 120-123 includes a computing platform including a processor 310, a memory 311 including software (SW) 312, and a transceiver 315. The processor 310, the memory 311, and the transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 320 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless interface) may be omitted from the TRP 300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 310 may include a plurality of processors (e.g., including, for example, Figure 4 310 ). The memory 311 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk storage, and / or read-only memory (ROM), among others. The memory 311 stores software 312, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code that contains instructions configured to cause the processor 310 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured to cause the processor 310 to perform functions, for example, when compiled and executed. The description may only involve the processor 310 performing functions, but this includes other embodiments, such as the case where the processor 310 executes software and / or firmware. The description may refer to one or more processors included in the processor 310 performing functions as simply referring to the processor 310 performing the functions. The description may refer to one or more appropriate components of the TRP 300 (and thereby one of the BTSs 120-123) performing functions as simply referring to the TRP 300 performing the functions. Processor 310 may include a memory having instructions stored therein in addition to and / or in lieu of memory 311. The functionality of processor 310 is discussed more fully below.

[0055] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and a wired transceiver 350, which are configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a transmitter 342 and a receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) wireless signals 348 and converting signals from the wireless signals 348 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 348. Thus, the transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 344 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to communicate with a variety of radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Zigbee, etc.) to transmit signals (e.g., with UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices). The wired transceiver 350 may include a transmitter 352 and a receiver 354 configured for, for example, wired communication with the network 130 to send and receive communications to, for example, the server 143. The transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 354 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0056] Figure 3 The configuration of TRP 300 shown in is an example and not a limitation of the present invention, including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein discusses that TRP 300 is configured to perform or execute several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by server 143 and / or UE 200 (i.e., server 143 and / or UE 200 may be configured to execute one or more of these functions).

[0057] Also refer to Figure 4The server 400, which is an example of the server 143, includes a computing platform including a processor 410, a memory 411 including software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. The processor 410, the memory 411, and the transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 420 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless interface) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 410 may include a plurality of processors (e.g., including, for example, Figure 4 410). The memory 411 is a non-temporary storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk storage, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 stores software 412, which may be a processor-readable, processor-executable software code, the software code containing instructions configured to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions, for example, when compiled and executed. The description may only involve the processor 410 performing functions, but this includes other embodiments, such as the case where the processor 410 executes software and / or firmware. The description may refer to one or more processors included in the processor 410 performing functions as simply referring to the processor 410 performing the function. The description may refer to one or more appropriate components of the server 400 performing functions as simply referring to the server 400 performing the function. Processor 410 may include a memory having instructions stored therein in addition to and / or in lieu of memory 411. The functionality of processor 410 is discussed more fully below.

[0058] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and a wired transceiver 450, which are configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a transmitter 442 and a receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) wireless signals 448 and converting signals from the wireless signals 448 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 448. Thus, the transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 444 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate with a variety of radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global Mobile System), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Zigbee, etc.) to transmit signals (e.g., with UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices). Wired transceiver 450 may include a transmitter 452 and a receiver 454 configured for, for example, wired communication with network 130 to send and receive communications to, for example, TRP 300. Transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or receiver 454 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. Wired transceiver 450 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0059] Figure 4 The configuration of server 400 shown in is an example and not a limitation of the present invention, including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. In addition or alternatively, the description herein discusses that server 400 is configured to perform or execute several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by TRP 300 and / or UE 200 (i.e., TRP 300 and / or UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0060] Positioning Technology

[0061] One or more of many different positioning techniques (also referred to as positioning methods) may be used to determine the location of an entity such as one of the UEs 112 - 114 . For example, known location determination techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also referred to as TDOA, and including UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), enhanced cell identification (E-CID), DL-AoD, UL-AoA, and the like. RTT uses the time it takes for a signal to travel from one entity to another and back to determine the distance between two entities. This distance plus the known position of the first entity and the angle (e.g., azimuth) between the two entities may be used to determine the location of the second entity. In multi-RTT (also referred to as multi-cell RTT), multiple distances from one entity (e.g., UE) to other entities (e.g., TRP) and the known positions of the other entities may be used to determine the location of one entity. In TDOA techniques, the difference in travel time between one entity and other entities may be used to determine the relative distance to the other entities, and these distances combined with the known positions of the other entities may be used to determine the location of one entity. Angle of arrival and / or angle of departure may be used to help determine the location of an entity. For example, the angle of arrival or departure of a signal combined with the distance between devices (determined using the signal (e.g., the time of travel of the signal, the received power of the signal, etc.) and the known position of one of the devices can be used to determine the position of the other device. The angle of arrival or departure angle can be an azimuth relative to a reference direction such as true north. The angle of arrival or departure angle can be a zenith angle relative to directly upward from an entity (i.e., relative to radially outward from the center of the earth). E-CID uses the identity of the serving cell, the timing advance (i.e., the difference between the UE's receive and transmit times), the estimated timing and power of the detected neighboring cell signals, and possible angles of arrival (e.g., the angle of arrival of the signal from the base station at the UE, or vice versa) to determine the position of the UE. In TDOA, the difference in arrival times of signals from different sources at the receiving device is used together with the known positions of the sources and the known offsets from the transmit times of the sources to determine the position of the receiving device.

[0062] For positioning techniques (e.g., TDOA and RTT) that use PRS (positioning reference signal) signals, PRS signals transmitted by multiple TRPs are measured and the distance from the UE to the TRP is determined using the arrival time of the signal, the known transmission time, and the known location of the TRP. For example, RSTD (reference signal time difference) can be determined for PRS signals received from multiple TRPs and RSTD can be used in TDOA techniques to determine the location of the UE. PRS signals are typically transmitted using the same power, and PRS signals with the same signal characteristics (e.g., the same frequency shift) may interfere with each other, so that PRS signals from farther TRPs may be drowned out by PRS signals from closer TRPs, so that signals from farther TRPs may not be detected. PRS muting can be used to help reduce interference by muting some PRS signals (reducing the power of the PRS signals, such as reducing them to zero and thereby not transmitting the PRS signals). In this way, weaker PRS signals (at the UE) can be more easily detected by the UE without stronger PRS signals interfering with weaker PRS signals.

[0063] The positioning reference signal (PRS) includes a downlink PRS (DL PRS) and an uplink PRS (UL PRS) (which may be referred to as an SRS (sounding reference signal) for positioning). The PRS may include a PRS resource or a PRS resource set of a frequency layer. The DL PRS positioning frequency layer (or simply referred to as a frequency layer) is a set of DL PRS resource sets from one or more TRPs, which have common parameters configured by higher layer parameters DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer, DL-PRS-ResourceSet, and DL-PRS-Resource. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS subcarrier spacing (SCS) for a DL PRS resource set and a DL PRS resource in the frequency layer. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS cyclic prefix (CP) for a DL PRS resource set and a DL PRS resource in the frequency layer. In addition, the DL PRS Point A parameter defines the frequency of the reference resource block (and the lowest subcarrier of the resource block), where DL PRS resources belonging to the same DL PRS resource set have the same Point A and all DL PRS resource sets belonging to the same frequency layer have the same Point A. The frequency layers also have the same DL PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size value.

[0064] The TRP may be configured to send DL PRS according to a schedule, for example, by instructions received from a server and / or by software in the TRP. According to the schedule, the TRP may send DL PRS intermittently, for example, periodically at consistent intervals from the initial transmission. The TRP may be configured to send one or more PRS resource sets. A resource set is a collection of PRS resources across a TRP that have the same period, a common muting mode configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across time slots. Each PRS resource set includes a plurality of PRS resources, each of which includes a plurality of resource elements (REs) that may span a plurality of physical resource blocks (PRBs) within N (one or more) consecutive symbols within a time slot. In an OFDM symbol, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs. Each PRS resource is configured with an RE offset, a time slot offset, a symbol offset within a time slot, and a number of consecutive symbols that a PRS resource may occupy within a time slot. The RE offset defines the starting RE offset of the first symbol within the DL PRS resource in the frequency. The relative RE offsets of the remaining symbols within the DL PRS resource are defined based on the initial offset. The slot offset is the starting slot of the DL PRS resource relative to the corresponding resource set slot offset. The symbol offset determines the starting symbol of the DL PRS resource within the starting slot. The transmitted REs can be repeated across slots, where each transmission is called a repetition, so that there may be multiple repetitions in the PRS resource. The DL PRS resources in a DL PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP, and each DL PRS resource has a DL PRS resource ID. The DL PRS resource ID in a DL PRS resource set is associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (although a TRP can transmit one or more beams).

[0065] PRS resources can also be defined by quasi-co-location and starting PRB parameters. The quasi-co-location (QCL) parameter can define any quasi-co-location information of DL PRS resources and other reference signals. DL PRS can be configured as QCL type D with DL PRS or SS / PBCH (synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel) blocks from a serving cell or a non-serving cell. DL PRS can be configured as QCL type C with SS / PBCH blocks from a serving cell or a non-serving cell. The starting PRB parameter defines the starting PRB index of the DL PRS resource relative to reference point A. The granularity of the starting PRB index is one PRB, and the minimum value is 0 PRB and the maximum value is 2176 PRBs.

[0066] A PRS resource set is a collection of PRS resources that have the same periodicity, the same muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across time slots. Each time all repetitions of all PRS resources of a PRS resource set are configured to be transmitted is referred to as an "instance". Thus, an "instance" of a PRS resource set is a specified number of repetitions of each PRS resource and a specified number of PRS resources in a PRS resource set, such that once a specified number of repetitions are transmitted for each of the specified number of PRS resources, the instance is complete. An instance may also be referred to as an "opportunity". A DL PRS configuration including a DL PRS transmission schedule may be provided to a UE to facilitate (or even enable) the UE to measure the DL PRS.

[0067] RTT positioning is an active positioning technique in which RTT uses positioning signals sent by a TRP to a UE and by a UE (participating in RTT positioning) to the TRP. The TRP may send a DL-PRS signal received by the UE, and the UE may send an SRS (sounding reference signal) signal received by multiple TRPs. In 5G multi-RTT, coordinated positioning may be used with the UE sending a single UL-SRS that is received by multiple TRPs, instead of sending a separate UL-SRS for each TRP. A TRP participating in multi-RTT will typically search for UEs currently residing on that TRP (served UEs, where the TRP is the serving TRP) and UEs residing on adjacent TRPs (neighbor UEs). A neighbor TRP may be a TRP of a single BTS (e.g., a gNB), or may be a TRP of one BTS and a TRP of a separate BTS. For RTT positioning, including multi-RTT positioning, the DL-PRS signal and the UL-SRS signal in a PRS / SRS signal pair used to determine the RTT (and thereby the distance between the UE and the TRP) may occur close in time to each other so that errors due to UE motion and / or UE clock drift and / or TRP clock drift are within acceptable limits. For example, the signals in the PRS / SRS signal pair may be sent from the TRP and the UE, respectively, within approximately 10 ms of each other. In the case where the SRS signal is sent by the UE, and the PRS and SRS signals are transmitted close in time to each other, it has been found that radio frequency (RF) signal congestion may result (which may result in excessive noise, etc.), particularly if many UEs are attempting to locate simultaneously and / or computational congestion may result at the TRPs where many UEs are attempting to measure simultaneously.

[0068] RTT positioning can be UE-based or UE-assisted. In UE-based RTT, the UE 200 determines the RTT and the corresponding distance to each TRP 300 and the location of the UE 200 based on the distance to the TRP 300 and the known location of the TRP 300. In UE-assisted RTT, the UE 200 measures the positioning signal and provides the measurement information to the TRP 300, and the TRP 300 determines the RTT and the distance. The TRP 300 provides the distance to the location server (e.g., server 400), and the server determines the location of the UE 200, for example, based on the distance to different TRPs 300. The RTT and / or distance can be determined by the TRP 300 that receives (one or more) signals from the UE 200, by the TRP 300 combined with one or more other devices (e.g., one or more other TRPs 300 and / or server 400), or by one or more devices other than the TRP 300 that receive (one or more) signals from the UE 200.

[0069] Various positioning technologies are supported in 5G NR. The NR native positioning methods supported in 5G NR include DL-only positioning method, UL-only positioning method, and DL+UL positioning method. Downlink-based positioning methods include DL-TDOA and DL-AoD. Uplink-based positioning methods include UL-TDOA and UL-AoA. Combined DL+UL-based positioning methods include RTT with one base station and RTT with multiple base stations (multi-RTT).

[0070] UE positioning signaling scheduling

[0071] The server 400 may be configured to determine the number of UEs seeking positioning services to ensure the scheduling of UE positioning signals. For example, the server 400 may determine that the number of UEs in a geographic area or served by one or more TRPs 300 exceeds a threshold number of UEs, for example, the threshold number of UEs is associated with undesirable RF congestion and / or undesirable processing congestion caused by one or more TRPs 300. The server 400 may compare the number of UEs currently receiving location services (i.e., positioning services) plus the number of UEs requesting location services with the threshold number. The server 400 may be configured to respond to the sum exceeding the threshold number by determining and implementing the scheduling of UE positioning signal transmission. Alternatively, the server 400 may be configured to implement the scheduling of UE positioning signal transmission without determining whether the number of UEs requesting and receiving location services exceeds the threshold. The server 400 may be configured to implement the scheduling of UE positioning signal transmission for any UE requesting location services, or to actively implement the scheduling of UE positioning signal transmission by indicating to the UE the positioning signal scheduling to be used if the UE requests location services in the future, even if the UE has not yet requested location services. Server 400 may be configured to implement (e.g., by providing instructions to TRP 300 and / or to UE 200 via TRP 300) scheduling based on, for example, the number of UEs within the geographic area or served by TRP 300. Alternatively, scheduling may be determined and implemented by TRP 300 alone or in conjunction with server 400.

[0072] Still reference Figure 5 , the server 400 may be configured to determine a schedule for UE positioning signal transmission, for example, to reduce concurrent UE positioning signal transmissions (to reduce RF signaling congestion) and / or to reduce concurrent signal measurements performed by the TRP 300 (to reduce computational congestion). The server 400 may be configured to dynamically determine scheduling information (e.g., to allocate uplink signal transmission time). The server 400 may be configured to determine and implement a time division multiplexing (TDM) schedule for the UE 200, where different UEs 200 have different schedules for UE positioning signal transmission. Figure 5 As shown, three UEs 200-1, 200-2, and 200-3 are served by TRP 300, and server 400 implements UE positioning signal transmission scheduling for UE 200-1, 220-2, and 200-3. The discussion herein describes server 400 as determining and implementing (e.g., indicating) scheduling of uplink and downlink positioning signals. One or more of these functions or portions thereof may be performed by one or more other devices, such as TRP 300, one or more other TRPs, one or more other servers, and the like.

[0073] The TRP 300 may be configured, for example, by instructions received from the server 400 and / or by the software 312, to transmit a downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) according to a schedule. According to the schedule, the TRP 300 may transmit the DL-PRS signal intermittently, for example, periodically at consistent intervals starting from an initial transmission. The TRP 300 may be configured to transmit the DL-PRS signal at a known time in a set of repeated sequence frames. The set of sequence frames includes sequence frames each divided into one or more subframes, each subframe including one or more time slots, each time slot being divided into symbols. For example, a frame may be 10 ms and divided into 10 time slots of 1 ms each, and each time slot is divided into 14 symbols of 1 / 14 ms each. The TRP 300 may be configured to initiate transmission of the DL-PRS signal at the beginning of the first sequence frame designated as SFN 0 (sequence frame number 0). To help simplify Figure 5 , only SFN 0 at the beginning of each of two consecutive sequence frame sets is shown (ie, Figure 5Other sequence frames are not shown in the figure). The TRP 300 can be configured to send a first DL-PRS signal after a DL-PRS resource set slot offset (DL-PRSResourceSetSlotOffset) time 502, which is a time amount typically specified by the radio network. The TRP 300 sends the DL-PRS signal in an epoch, which is a time window of one or more symbols (possibly multiple time slots). The time window of an epoch can be referred to as a time, for example, a time scheduled to send a DL-PRS signal. The TRP 300 can send additional DL-PRS signals at regular intervals after an initial epoch (epoch 0), for example, at intervals of a DL-PRS period 504, which can be a different time amount from the resource set slot offset (ResourceSetSlotOffset) time 502. The DL-PRS period 504 may be greater than (i.e., longer in time) the positioning rate of one or more of the UEs 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, i.e., the period between position determinations or position reports of the UEs (e.g., required or requested by the UEs). The DL-PRS schedule (e.g., one or more parameters such as the period) may be set by the server 400 sending one or more instructions to the TRP 300. The DL-PRS schedule (e.g., the period) may be set dynamically by the TRP 300 and / or the server 400, for example, in response to the number of UEs 200 served by the TRP 300 exceeding a threshold, and / or in response to the number of UEs 200 served by the TRP 300 that are requesting or receiving location services exceeding a threshold and / or one or more other criteria. For example, in response to an increase in the number of UEs 200, the DL-PRS period may be decreased (i.e., the frequency of DL-PRS transmissions may be increased) (e.g., proportional to the number of UEs, or with different period steps corresponding to different threshold numbers of UEs). TRP 300 may be configured, for example, by software 312 and / or by instructions from server 400, to send DL-PRS signals intermittently, but not periodically (i.e., repeatedly but not at evenly spaced times), or at a combination of some periodic intervals and some non-periodic intervals.

[0074] The server 400 may be configured to determine and provide scheduling information to the UE. In this example, the server 400 may send a scheduling instruction to the TRP 300 in an instruction communication 510, and the TRP 300 may be configured to send at least corresponding scheduling instructions to the UEs 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 in instruction communications 511, 512, 513. The server 400 may be configured to allocate transmission time to the UEs 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 for transmitting their corresponding uplink positioning signals, such as an uplink sounding reference signal (UL-SRS) for positioning. In the discussion herein, the uplink signal is assumed to be the UL-SRS for positioning, but other forms of uplink positioning signals may be used. Figure 5 In the example shown, the server 400 allocates odd epochs to UE 200-1, 200-3 and allocates even epochs to UE 200-2. Therefore, the transmission time of UE 200-1, 200-3 is staggered (alternated in time) with the transmission time of UE 200-2. This allocation is only an example, and other allocations can be used. For example, the three UEs 200-1, 200-2, and 200-3 can each have a different time allocation (for example, UE 200-1 is allocated epochs 1, 4, 7, ..., UE 200-2 is allocated epochs 2, 5, 8, ..., and UE 200-3 is allocated 3, 6, 9, ...). As another example, time (e.g., a time window of epochs) may be allocated in batches of consecutive epochs, e.g., UE 200-1 is allocated epochs 1, 2, 3, 4, UE 200-2 is allocated epochs 5, 6, 7, 8, and UE 200-3 is allocated epochs 9, 10, 11, 12. Other allocations may also be used, and the allocation may depend on various factors, such as the number of time slots in a frame, the number of UEs present (or at least the number of UEs served by TRP 300 and requesting and / or receiving location services), etc.

[0075] The server 400 may be configured to determine and allocate transmission times in a variety of ways for UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 to implement transmission scheduling. For example, the server 400 may be programmed with different allocation sets, and may dispatch allocations to UEs in turn when a new UE requests location services, iterate through each allocation in the set until all allocations have been dispatched, and then restart the set. As another example, the server 400 may dispatch an allocation used by the last UE to stop receiving location services to the next UE requesting location services. Other techniques for allocating transmission times to UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may also be used.

[0076] The instructions for uplink positioning signal transmission time provided to UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 can assign one or more symbols to each UE for transmitting the corresponding UL-SRS signal. The transmission time of the UL-SRS signal is close to but not necessarily overlapped with the epoch (one or more symbols) of the DL-PRS signal transmission of TRP 300. The uplink transmission time can be close enough in time to the epoch of DL-PRS transmission so that the potential error caused by UE movement and / or clock drift is kept within an acceptable range. An acceptable error source can be an error source that does not contribute significantly to the end-to-end error. For example, as long as the error source is uncorrelated with other error sources, a motion / clock-related measurement error source with a target accuracy of 1 / 5 can be considered acceptable. For an end-to-end position target accuracy of 10m, the acceptable motion / clock error size can therefore be 1 / 5 of 10m, i.e. 2m. The UE may move different distances during the time interval based on the speed of the UE, and the worst-case error impact will be if the UE moves in a straight line. At a speed of 10 m / s, it is acceptable to space the UL and DL signals by 2 m / 10 m / s = 0.2 seconds because a UE at this speed can move an acceptable size of 2 m in 0.2 seconds. A DL-PRS signal that is close in time to a UL-SRS signal can be identified as an RTT pair for determining the RTT between TRP 300 and the corresponding UE, here UE 200-1 for RTT pair 530. Two UL-SRS signals that are close in time to the same DL-PRS signal can be identified as an uplink signal pair, for example, UL pair 532. As with UL pair 532, the UL-SRS signals in the UL pair can have different epoch times (e.g., different time windows, even if the time windows overlap). This can be used to reduce RF congestion and / or to help reduce processing congestion by facilitating listening to UL-SRS signals at different measurement times (on different measurement time windows).

[0077] The instructions for uplink positioning signal transmission time provided to UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 can specify the uplink transmission time in a variety of ways. For example, the instructions can specify the transmission time, for example, by specifying a frame, subframe, time slot and symbol combination for each uplink transmission. As another example, the instructions can indicate the frame, subframe, time slot and symbol combination used for the initial transmission, as well as the cycle of subsequent transmissions. As another example, the instructions can indicate the downlink positioning signal epoch (e.g., the frame, subframe, time slot and (one or more) symbol of the DL positioning signal epoch) and the UL positioning signal transmission relative to the DL positioning signal epoch (or a subset of the DL positioning signal epoch). Other techniques for specifying the UL transmission time are also possible.

[0078] The instructions for uplink positioning signal transmission time provided by the server 400 to the UEs 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may instruct the UEs 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 to transmit the corresponding UL-SRS signals at regular intervals with corresponding UL-SRS periods (the time from the start of one uplink transmission epoch to the start of the next uplink transmission epoch). The period of each of the UEs 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may be the same or different, depending on the allocation determined by the server 400. Alternatively, the server 400 may be configured to send instructions to cause the UEs 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 to transmit UL-SRS signals intermittently, but not periodically (i.e., not at evenly spaced times), or at a combination of some periodic interval times and some non-periodic interval times.

[0079] like Figure 5 As shown, the transmission time of the uplink signal from UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may occur before or after (or may overlap with) the transmission time of the downlink signal (e.g., DL-PRS signal) from TRP 300. In the discussion herein, it is assumed that the downlink signal is a DL-PRS signal, but other forms of downlink positioning signals may be used. The epochs allocated to UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may be offset from the downlink epoch of TRP 300 by the corresponding DL to UL offsets 521, 522, 523. The offsets 521-523 are indications of the amount of time that the downlink epoch differs from the uplink epoch. Here, the offsets 521-523 are shown as the time from the center of the downlink epoch to the corresponding uplink epoch, but the offsets may be represented by separate epochs (e.g., the time from the end of the DL epoch to the beginning of the UL epoch, and vice versa).

[0080] UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may be configured to respond to instructions from server 400 via TRP 300 by sending corresponding UL-SRS signals at the indicated times. UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 and TRP 300 are reasonably synchronized (in Figure 5 3, UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 and TRP 300 are shown as being fully synchronized, where SFN 0 is used for both TRP 300 and UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, but there may be some deviations from full synchronization). UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may use instructions to schedule transmission times, such as setting a transmission period and / or scheduling a specific transmission time.

[0081] UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may be configured to report information about the arrival of DL-PRS signals and the transmission of UL-SRS signals to facilitate determining RTT information for determining the distance from UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 to TRP 300 and thereby for determining the location of UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3. UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may report arrival and / or transmission information in an SRS signal and / or in a signal separate from the SRS signal. Regarding downlink signal arrival information, UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may send time of arrival (ToA) information about one or more DL-PRS signals in one or more SRS signals to TRP 300. The ToA information may identify the TRP 300 at which the DL-PRS signal is transmitted and the ToA of the DL-PRS signal at the UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3. The ToA information may provide an identifier of the DL-PRS message, such as a message number. Regarding uplink signal transmission information, the UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 may provide an indication of the time difference labeled UE RxTx (also referred to as T Rx→Tx , or UE T Rx-Tx ), the time difference is the time difference between the ToA of the DL-PRS signal and the transmission time of the UL-SRS signal that is close in time to the DL-PRS signal. The UE RxTx value has an opposite sign for the UL-SRS signal transmitted after receiving the DL-PRS signal compared to the UL-SRS signal transmitted before receiving the DL-PRS signal. For example, the UE RxTx value may be positive for the UL-SRS signal transmitted after receiving the DL-PRS signal, and may be negative for the UL-SRS signal transmitted after receiving the DL-PRS signal. Using the UE RxTx value, the ToA value of the DL-PRS signal at the UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3, the known departure time (ToD) of the DL-PRS signal from the TRP 300, and the known ToA value of the corresponding UL-SRS signal at the TRP 300, the TRP 300 can determine the RTT between the UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 and the TRP 300, and by assuming the speed of light during this propagation time, the TRP 300 can determine the distance between the UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 and the TRP 300 from the RTT. The TRP 300 can report the RTT for the UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 and / or the distance corresponding to the RTT to the server 400, and the server 400 can determine the location of the UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 from them.

[0082] The TRP 300 may report the RTTs between and / or distances to the UEs 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 individually and / or in batches. For example, the TRP 300 may send a report communication 540 to the server 400 that includes a batch of determined RTTs and / or a batch of determined distances. The TRP 300 may send report communications at regular intervals (e.g., according to a reporting period) and / or in an ad hoc manner, for example, in response to triggers such as a threshold number of RTTs being determined and / or a threshold number of distances being determined. The TRP 300 may dynamically change the reporting period in response to changes in the number of UEs present and / or in response to changes in the rate at which the RTTs and / or distances are being determined.

[0083] The server 400 (and / or the TRP 300) may be configured to control the timing of signal measurements for different UEs 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 by the TRP 300. For example, the server 400 may be configured to send instructions to the TRP 300 to search for signals having a code corresponding to the UE 200-1 only during measurement time windows 541, 542, 543, which include epochs during which the UE 200-1 is scheduled to send a UL-SRS signal, and to search for signals having a code corresponding to the UE 200-3 only during measurement time windows 551, 552, which include epochs during which the UE 200-3 is scheduled to send a UL-SRS signal. As another example, in response to TRP 300 analyzing an instruction from server 400 to UE 200-1 to schedule the transmission of UL-SRS from UE 200-1, TRP 300 may be configured to search for a signal having a code corresponding to UE 200-1 only during measurement time windows 541, 542, 543. TRP 300 may thus be configured to measure a specific UE uplink signal during a corresponding measurement time window, and the measurement time window may be before or after the transmission of a DL-PRS signal that is transmitted at a time very close to the UL-SRS signal. The measurement time at TRP 300 may be offset from the transmission time from UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 to account for the travel time of the UL-SRS signal between UE 200-1, 200-2, 200-3 and TRP 300.

[0084] TRP 300 may process UL-SRS signals based on the UL-SRS signals measured (listened) by TRP 300 in corresponding measurement time windows. Using measurement time windows at different times for different UEs (e.g., across different (non-identical) time windows, even if the windows overlap) may help spread measurement timeouts, thereby helping spread processing timeouts, reducing processing congestion at TRP 300.

[0085] operate

[0086] refer to Figure 6 , and further reference Figure 1-Figure 5 , a method 610 for coordinating positioning signaling includes the stages shown. However, the method 610 is only an example and not a limitation. The method 610 can be changed, for example, by adding, removing, rearranging, combining, performing simultaneously, and / or dividing a single stage into multiple stages. For example, one or more stages can occur in Figure 6 Prior to the stage shown, and / or one or more stages may occur Figure 6 After the stage shown. For example, one or more measurements may be made and their values ​​may be provided for determining the location of the UE. As another example, the measurement values ​​may be provided to a location server for collecting measurement information of multiple UEs and determining the location of the UE.

[0087] At stage 611, method 610 includes identifying a first UE served by a base station and a second UE served by the base station, the base station being configured to wirelessly transmit base station positioning signals at a plurality of base station transmission times. For example, server 400 may communicate with TRP 300 via transceiver 415 (e.g., wired transceiver 450) to receive a list of UEs being served by TRP 300. Thus, processor 410 and wired transceiver 450 and possibly software 412 may include components for identifying the first UE and the second UE. As another example, processor 310 may access memory 311 to obtain a list of UEs currently served by TRP 300. Thus, processor 310 and memory 311 and possibly software 312 may include components for identifying the first UE and the second UE. TRP 300 may be configured to transmit positioning signals at a plurality of base station transmission times according to instructions of software 312 in memory 311. Base station transmission times may be times corresponding to epochs (e.g., Figure 5 Epoch 0 -DL-PRS, Epoch 1 -DL-PRS, etc.) as shown, during which TRP 300 can send a DL-PRS signal.

[0088] At stage 612, method 610 includes allocating a first time for sending a first UE positioning signal to a first UE and a second time for sending a second UE positioning signal to a second UE, at least one of the first times being different from at least one of the second times. The first time and / or the second time may be a time window corresponding to an epoch during which the UE sends a UL-SRS signal. For example, the server 400 may determine to allocate different times to different UEs (e.g., UE 200-1 and UE 200-2) for uplink positioning signal transmission. The server 400 may determine the allocation time in response to a trigger condition such as the number of UEs exceeding a threshold. The threshold number may be the number of UEs, for example, a UE served by a TRP 300 or a UE served by a TRP and receiving a location service, or a UE served by a TRP 300 and receiving a location service or having requested a location service, etc. One or more other trigger conditions may be used. The server 400 may allocate the first time and the second time in various ways, for example, as described above. The processor 410, which may be combined with the software 412 of the memory 411, may include a component for allocating the first time and the second time. Alternatively, alone or in combination with server 400 and / or one or more other devices (e.g., one or more other TRPs and / or one or more other servers), TRP 300 may allocate the first time and the second time. Thus, for example, processor 310, possibly in combination with software 312 of memory 311, may include components for allocating the first time and the second time.

[0089] At stage 613, method 610 includes sending a first communication to cause the first UE to send at least a corresponding one of the first UE positioning signals at each of the first times. For example, server 400 (e.g., processor 410) may send communication 510 to TRP 300 via transceiver 415 (e.g., via wired transmitter 452) to cause TRP 300 to send communication 511 with an indication of the first time to UE 200-1. Communication 511 may cause UE 200-1 to send a UL positioning signal at each of the first times and only at the first time. Therefore, processor 410, which may be combined with memory 411 (e.g., software 412) and wired transmitter 452, may include a component for sending the first communication. UE 200-1 may respond to receiving the instruction by scheduling to send a UL-SRS signal at one or more indicated times and only at one or more indicated times.

[0090] At stage 614, method 610 includes sending a second communication to cause the second UE to send at least a corresponding one of the second UE positioning signals at each of the second times. For example, server 400 (e.g., processor 410) may send communication 510 to TRP 300 via transceiver 415 (e.g., via wired transmitter 452) to cause TRP 300 to send communication 512 with an indication of the second time to UE 200-2. Communication 512 may cause UE 200-2 to send a UL positioning signal at each of the second times and only at the second times. Therefore, processor 410, which may be combined with memory 411 (e.g., software 412) and wired transmitter 452, may include a component for sending the second communication. UE 200-2 may respond to receiving the instruction by scheduling to send a UL-SRS signal at one or more indicated times and only at one or more indicated times.

[0091] Method 610 may include one or more of the following features. For example, the frequency of occurrence of the first time may be lower than the base station transmission time. Server 400 (or TRP 300) (a component for allocation) may allocate the first time so that the first time is less frequent (the first time per unit time is less than the base station transmission time). As another example, the first time and the second time are allocated to be close in time to the corresponding base station transmission time in the base station transmission time. Server 400 (or TRP 300) (a component for allocation) may allocate the first time so that the first UE positioning is close in time to the base station positioning signal being transmitted. For example, the first time and the base station transmission time may be close enough to ensure that the error in determining the RTT range due to UE motion and clock drift is within an acceptable range. For example, the first time and the base station transmission time may be scheduled so that the start of the first UE positioning signal and the start of the corresponding base station positioning signal (e.g., the base station transmission time is closest to the transmission time of the corresponding first UE positioning signal) are separated by no more than 10ms. As another example feature of method 610, the base station may be controlled to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during the first signal measurement time. The first signal measurement time may include a first time offset for the travel time between the first UE and the base station. For example, the server 400 may instruct the TRP 300 (or the processor 310 may execute instructions of the software 312) to listen to the UE positioning signal from the UE 200-1 only during the time when the UE 200-1 has been scheduled to send a corresponding positioning signal (e.g., a corresponding UL-SRS signal) that is offset (later in time) by the travel time from the UE 200-1 to the TRP 300. Therefore, the wired transmitter 452 and the processor 410, which may be combined with the software 412, may include a component for controlling the base station to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during the first signal measurement time. The processor 310, which may be combined with the software 312, may include a component for controlling the base station to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during the first signal measurement time. The first signal measurement time may be a time window corresponding to the epoch time window in which the UE is scheduled to send the UL-SRS signal.

[0092] Alternatively, in addition or alternatively, method 610 may include one or more of the following features. For example, each corresponding one of the first times is before the corresponding one of the base station transmission times that is closest in time. As another example, the first time and the second time may include a time pair, each of the time pairs including: a corresponding one of the first time that is closest in time to the corresponding one of the base station transmission times in the first time; and a corresponding one of the second time that is closest in time to the corresponding one of the base station transmission times in the second time, wherein the corresponding one of the first time is different from the corresponding one of the second time. Thus, for example, UE 200-1 and UE 200-3 are instructed to send corresponding UL-SRS signals that are close to the same DL-PRS signal but in different (non-identical) epoch time windows, which can help reduce RF congestion and / or signal processing congestion. As another example feature of method 610, a third communication may be sent to change the first time to a third time, at least one of the third times being different from the first time. For example, the server 400 may dynamically determine and allocate UL positioning signal transmission times and send instructions to implement these times, including instructing a UE that has previously been instructed to transmit at a specific time to change the time at which the UE will transmit the UL positioning signal. For example, the server 400 may instruct the UE 200-1 to change from transmitting the UL-SRS signal in an odd epoch to transmitting in an even epoch, or from an odd epoch to the first four epochs of a sequence frame set, or according to another schedule. The processor 410, which may be combined with the software 412 and the wired transmitter 452, may include a component for transmitting a third communication. The processor 310, which may be combined with the software 312, may include a component for transmitting a third communication.

[0093] Alternatively, in addition or alternatively, the method 610 may include one or more of the following features. For example, the method 610 may include causing the base station to change multiple base station transmission times in response to a trigger condition. For example, the processor 410 (possibly in combination with the software 412) may instruct the TRP 300 via the wired transmitter 452 to change when the TRP 300 will send a DL-PRS signal, such as by increasing or decreasing the frequency of the DL-PRS signal transmission (reducing or increasing the period of the DL-PRS signal transmission). Therefore, the processor 410 (and possible software 412) and the transmitter 452 may include a component for causing the base station to change the base station transmission time. The processor 310, which may be combined with the software 312, may cause the TRP 300 to change when the TRP 300 will send a DL-PRS signal. Therefore, the processor 310 (and possible software 312) may include a component for causing the base station to change the base station transmission time. The trigger condition may be a threshold number of UEs exceeded. The threshold number may be, for example, the number of UEs served by TRP 300, the number of UEs served by TRP 300 and receiving location services, the number of UEs served by TRP 300 and receiving location services or having requested location services, etc. As another example, the threshold number may be a threshold number of UEs per epoch. The threshold number may be an absolute number, such as 50, or a relative number, such as 50 more UEs than another epoch. For example, if the number of UEs assigned to a particular epoch exceeds a threshold number (e.g., exceeds an absolute number or exceeds a threshold number more than another epoch), the server 400 may assign some of these UEs to different epochs, for example, so that the (relative) number is lower than the threshold number. For example, if 30 UEs are assigned to one epoch and 10 UEs are assigned to another epoch, the server 400 may send an instruction to reallocate UL positioning signal transmission time so that 20 UEs are assigned to each of these epochs.

[0094] Alternatively, in addition or alternatively, method 610 may include one or more of the following features. For example, all first times may be different from all second times. Thus, the first time may span a time window different from the time window spanned by the second time. As another example, the first time may alternate in time with the second time.

[0095] refer to Figure 7 , and further reference Figure 1-Figure 5 , a method 710 for coordinating positioning signaling includes the stages shown. However, the method 710 is only an example and not a limitation. The method 710 can be changed, for example, by adding, removing, rearranging, combining, performing simultaneously, and / or dividing a single stage into multiple stages. For example, one or more stages can occur in Figure 7 Prior to the stage shown, and / or one or more stages may occur Figure 7 After the stage shown.

[0096] At stage 711, method 710 includes wirelessly sending a request for location services from a user equipment (UE). For example, processor 210 (e.g., processor 230), possibly in combination with software 212 of memory 211, may generate a request for location services and wirelessly send it to TRP 300 via wireless transmitter 242. Processor 210, possibly in combination with software 212 of memory 211 and transmitter 242, may include a component for sending the request. The request may be a request for server 400 to provide location services (e.g., determine the location of UE 200 and provide it to UE 200 and / or another device).

[0097] At stage 712, method 710 includes receiving, at the UE, an indication of a UE positioning signal time for transmitting a UE positioning signal. For example, the processor 210 of UE 200-1 may receive communication 511 from TRP 300 via wireless receiver 244, indicating a time schedule for UE 200-1 to transmit a UL positioning signal (e.g., a UL-SRS signal). The processor 210 and the wireless receiver 244 may include components for receiving an indication of a UE positioning signal time. The indication may be, for example, a schedule of positioning signal times in a set of sequence frames (e.g., a combination of a frame, a subframe, a time slot, a symbol of the time itself (relative to a reference time, e.g., the start of sequence frame number 0)), or a time from which the transmission time may be derived (e.g., a base station transmission time (and possible offsets relative to these times), an indication of a subset of the base station transmission time, etc.).

[0098] At stage 713, method 710 includes sending a UE positioning signal from the UE at a UE positioning signal time. For example, processor 210 (e.g., processor 230) may cause the UE positioning signal (e.g., UL-SRS signal) to be sent, for example, to TRP 300 via wireless transmitter 242 only during the UE positioning signal time (e.g., only during the epoch for the UL-SRS signal). Processor 210 and wireless transmitter 242 may include components for receiving an indication of the UE positioning signal time.

[0099] Other considerations

[0100] Other examples and embodiments are within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software and computers, the functions described herein can be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, hard wiring, or any combination of these executed by a processor. The features that implement the functions can also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed so that the various parts of the functions are implemented at different physical locations. For example, one or more functions or one or more parts thereof (e.g., for determining and allocating uplink transmission time) occurring in the server 400 discussed above can be performed outside the server 400, such as by the TRP 300.

[0101] As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" also include the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, the terms "comprises", "comprising", "includes" and / or "including" specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and / or groups thereof.

[0102] Additionally, as used herein, “or” used in a list of items beginning with “at least one” or beginning with “one or more” means a disjunctive list, so that, for example, a list “at least one of A, B, or C” or “one or more of A, B, or C” means A or B or C, or AB or AC or BC, or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or a combination having more than one feature (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.).

[0103] Substantial variations 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 executed by a processor (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. In addition, connections to other computing devices such as network input / output devices may be employed.

[0104] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, a statement that a function or operation is "based on" a certain item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the item or condition and may be based on one or more items and / or conditions other than the item or condition.

[0105] The systems and devices discussed above are examples. Various configurations may omit, replace, or add various processes or components as appropriate. For example, features described with respect to certain configurations may be combined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of the configurations may be combined in a similar manner. In addition, technology is evolving, and therefore, many of the elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure or claims.

[0106] A wireless communication system is a system that transmits communications wirelessly, i.e., by electromagnetic waves and / or sound waves propagating through air space, rather than through wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not cause all communications to be sent wirelessly, but is configured to cause at least some communications to be sent wirelessly. In addition, the term "wireless communication device" or similar terms does not require that the functionality of the device is exclusively or even primarily for communication, or that the device is a mobile device, but rather indicates that the device includes wireless communication capabilities (one-way or two-way), for example, including at least one radio for wireless communication (each radio is part of a transmitter, receiver or transceiver).

[0107] Specific details are given in the description to provide a thorough understanding of example configurations (including implementations). However, the configuration can be implemented without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques can be displayed without unnecessary details to avoid obscuring the configuration. This description only provides example configurations and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims. Instead, the foregoing description of the configuration provides a description for implementing the technology. Various changes can be made to the functions and arrangements of the elements without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure.

[0108] As used herein, the terms "processor-readable medium," "machine-readable medium," and "computer-readable medium" refer to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a particular manner. Using a computing platform, various processor-readable media can participate in providing instructions / codes to (one or more) processors for execution and / or can be used to store and / or carry such instructions / codes (e.g., as signals). In many embodiments, processor-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media can take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical disks and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, but are not limited to dynamic memory.

[0109] Several example configurations 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, in which other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the present invention. In addition, multiple operations may be taken before, during, or after considering the above elements. Therefore, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0110] A statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or is above) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value reaches or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is a value that is greater than the first threshold at the resolution of the computing system. A statement that a value is less than (or is within or below) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly less than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is a value that is less than the first threshold at the resolution of the computing system.

Claims

1. A method for coordinating positioning signaling, the method comprising: identifying a first user equipment UE served by a base station and a second UE served by the base station, the base station being configured to wirelessly transmit a base station positioning signal at a plurality of base station transmission times; Allocate a first time for sending a first UE positioning signal to the first UE and a second time for sending a second UE positioning signal to the second UE, at least one of the first times being different from at least one of the second times; sending a first communication to cause the first UE to send at least a corresponding one of the first UE positioning signals at each of the first times; as well as sending a second communication to cause the second UE to send at least a corresponding one of the second UE positioning signals at each of the second times, Each of the first communication and the second communication includes a schedule of the base station positioning signals and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to the subset of the base station positioning signals.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the frequency of occurrence of the first time is lower than the transmission time of the multiple base stations. 3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first time and the second time are assigned to be close in time to corresponding base station transmission times among the plurality of base station transmission times. 4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising controlling the base station to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during a first signal measurement time. 5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the first signal measurement time comprises a first time offset for a travel time between the first UE and the base station.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each corresponding one of the first times precedes a corresponding one of the plurality of base station transmission times, the corresponding one of the first times being closest in time to the corresponding one of the plurality of base station transmission times.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first time and the second time include a plurality of time pairs; Each of the plurality of time pairs comprises: A corresponding one of the first times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the plurality of base station transmission times; and a corresponding one of the second times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the plurality of base station transmission times; and The corresponding one of the first times is different from the corresponding one of the second times.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a third communication to change the first time to a third time, at least one of the third times being different than the first time.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the base station to change the plurality of base station transmission times in response to a trigger condition.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the trigger condition is exceeding a threshold number of UEs. The method of claim 10 , wherein the threshold number of UEs is a threshold number of UEs per epoch.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein all of the first times are different from all of the second times.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time and the second time alternate in time.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the first time and the second time are respective time portions of a sequence of frame sets, and wherein the sequence of frame sets repeats.

15. A system for coordinating positioning signaling, the system comprising: Transceiver; as well as a processor, communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to: identifying a first user equipment UE served by a base station and a second UE served by the base station, the base station being configured to wirelessly transmit a base station positioning signal at a plurality of base station transmission times; Allocate a first time for sending a first UE positioning signal to the first UE and a second time for sending a second UE positioning signal to the second UE, at least one of the first times being different from at least one of the second times; transmitting, via the transceiver, a first communication to cause the first UE to transmit at least a corresponding one of the first UE positioning signals at each of the first times; and sending, via the transceiver, a second communication to cause the second UE to send at least a corresponding one of the second UE positioning signals at each of the second times, Each of the first communication and the second communication includes a schedule of the base station positioning signals and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to the subset of the base station positioning signals.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to allocate the first time so that the first time occurs less frequently than the plurality of base station transmission times.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to assign the first time and the second time to be close in time to corresponding base station transmission times among the plurality of base station transmission times. 18 . The system according to claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to control the base station to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during a first signal measurement time.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the first signal measurement time comprises a first time offset for a travel time between the first UE and the base station.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to allocate the first time and the second time such that: The first time and the second time include a plurality of time pairs; Each of the plurality of time pairs comprises: A corresponding one of the first times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the plurality of base station transmission times; and a corresponding one of the second times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the plurality of base station transmission times; and The corresponding one of the first times is different from the corresponding one of the second times.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to send a third communication to change the first time to a third time, at least one of the third times being different than the first time.

22. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is configured to cause the base station to change the plurality of base station transmission times in response to a trigger condition.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the trigger condition is exceeding a threshold number of UEs.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the threshold number of UEs is a threshold number of UEs per epoch.

25. A system for coordinating positioning signaling, the system comprising: means for identifying a first user equipment UE served by a base station and a second UE served by the base station, the base station being configured to wirelessly transmit a base station positioning signal at a plurality of base station transmission times; a component for allocating a first time for sending a first UE positioning signal to the first UE and a second time for sending a second UE positioning signal to the second UE, at least one of the first times being different from at least one of the second times; means for sending a first communication to cause the first UE to send at least a corresponding one of the first UE positioning signals at each of the first times; as well as means for sending a second communication to cause the second UE to send at least a corresponding one of the second UE positioning signals at each of the second times, Each of the first communication and the second communication includes a schedule of the base station positioning signals and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to the subset of the base station positioning signals.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the means for allocating is for allocating the first time such that the first time occurs less frequently than the plurality of base station transmission times.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the means for allocating is for allocating the first time and the second time to be close in time to respective ones of the plurality of base station transmission times.

28. The system according to claim 25, further comprising a component for controlling the base station to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during a first signal measurement time.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the first signal measurement time comprises a first time offset for a travel time between the first UE and the base station.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the means for allocating is for allocating the first time and the second time such that: The first time and the second time include a plurality of time pairs; Each of the plurality of time pairs comprises: A corresponding one of the first times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the plurality of base station transmission times; and a corresponding one of the second times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the plurality of base station transmission times; and The corresponding one of the first times is different from the corresponding one of the second times.

31. The system of claim 25, further comprising means for sending a third communication to change the first time to a third time, at least one of the third times being different than the first time.

32. The system of claim 25, further comprising means for causing the base station to change the plurality of base station transmission times in response to a trigger condition.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the trigger condition is exceeding a threshold number of UEs.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the threshold number of UEs is a threshold number of UEs per epoch.

35. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor to: identifying a first user equipment UE served by a base station and a second UE served by the base station, the base station being configured to wirelessly transmit a base station positioning signal at a plurality of base station transmission times; Allocate a first time for sending a first UE positioning signal to the first UE and a second time for sending a second UE positioning signal to the second UE, at least one of the first times being different from at least one of the second times; sending a first communication to cause the first UE to send at least a corresponding one of the first UE positioning signals at each of the first times; and sending a second communication to cause the second UE to send at least a corresponding one of the second UE positioning signals at each of the second times, in, Each of the first and second communications includes a schedule of the base station positioning signals and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to the subset of the base station positioning signals.

36. The storage medium of claim 35, wherein the instructions configured to assign the first time are configured to assign the first time such that the first time occurs less frequently than the plurality of base station transmission times.

37. The storage medium of claim 35, wherein the instructions configured to assign the first time and the second time are configured to assign the first time and the second time to be close in time to corresponding base station transmission times among the plurality of base station transmission times.

38. The storage medium of claim 35, further comprising instructions configured to cause the base station to listen to the first UE positioning signal only during a first signal measurement time.

39. The storage medium of claim 38, wherein the first signal measurement time comprises a first time offset for a travel time between the first UE and the base station.

40. The storage medium of claim 35, wherein: The first time and the second time include a plurality of time pairs; Each of the plurality of time pairs comprises: A corresponding one of the first times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the plurality of base station transmission times; and a corresponding one of the second times that is closest in time to a corresponding one of the plurality of base station transmission times; and The corresponding one of the first times is different from the corresponding one of the second times.

41. The storage medium of claim 35, further comprising instructions configured to cause the processor to send a third communication to change the first time to a third time, at least one of the third times being different than the first time.

42. The storage medium of claim 35, further comprising instructions configured to cause the processor to cause the base station to change the transmission times of the plurality of base stations in response to a trigger condition.

43. The storage medium of claim 42, wherein the trigger condition is exceeding a threshold number of UEs.

44. The storage medium of claim 43, wherein the threshold number of UEs is a threshold number of UEs per epoch.

45. A method for coordinating positioning signaling, the method comprising: wirelessly sending a request for a location service from a user equipment UE; receiving, at the UE, an indication of a UE positioning signal time for sending a UE positioning signal; as well as sending the UE positioning signal from the UE only at the UE positioning signal time indicated by the UE positioning signal time, The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes scheduling of the base station positioning signal and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to the subset of the base station positioning signal.

46. ​​The method of claim 45, wherein the indication of the UE positioning signal time comprises a time schedule within a set of sequential frames.

47. A user equipment UE, comprising: Transceiver; as well as a processor, communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to: sending, via the transceiver, a wireless request for location services; receiving, via the transceiver, an indication of a UE positioning signal time for sending a UE positioning signal; and wirelessly transmitting, via the transceiver, the UE positioning signal only at the UE positioning signal time according to the indication of the UE positioning signal time, The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes scheduling of the base station positioning signal and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to the subset of the base station positioning signal.

48. The UE of claim 47, wherein the indication of the UE positioning signal time comprises a time schedule within a set of sequential frames.

49. A user equipment UE, comprising: means for wirelessly transmitting a request for location services; means for receiving an indication of a UE positioning signal time for sending a UE positioning signal; as well as a component for sending the UE positioning signal only at the UE positioning signal time indicated by the UE positioning signal time, The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes scheduling of the base station positioning signal and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to the subset of the base station positioning signal.

50. The UE of claim 49, wherein the indication of the UE positioning signal time comprises a time schedule within a set of sequential frames.

51. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor to: wirelessly sending a request for positioning services from a user equipment UE via a transceiver of the UE; receiving, at the UE, an indication of a UE positioning signal time for sending a UE positioning signal; and sending, via the transceiver, the UE positioning signal from the UE only at the UE positioning signal time indicated by the UE positioning signal time, in, The indication of the UE positioning signal time includes scheduling of the base station positioning signal and an indication of a subset of base station transmission times corresponding to the subset of the base station positioning signal.

52. The storage medium of claim 51, wherein the indication of the UE positioning signal time comprises a time schedule within a set of sequential frames.

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