NR-Light based UE positioning using round trip time protocol

Abstract

A technique for positioning a NR bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE) is provided. An example positioning method performed by a bandwidth-constrained UE includes: transmitting a first timing measurement signal to at least one neighboring high-end UE, wherein the at least one neighboring high-end UE is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth-constrained UE; receiving a second timing measurement signal from the at least one neighboring high-end UE; and determining location information of the bandwidth-constrained UE based on at least the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal.

Description

[0001] background

[0002] 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 networks), third generation (3G) high-speed data wireless service with Internet capabilities, and fourth generation (4G) services (e.g., LTE (Long Term Evolution) or WiMax). There are many different types of wireless communication systems in use today, including cellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), global system for mobile access (GSM) TDMA variants, and the like.

[0003] The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), enables 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. Hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported to support large wireless sensor deployments. Therefore, the spectral 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.

[0004] Overview

[0005] An example positioning method performed by a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure includes: transmitting a first timing measurement signal to at least one neighboring high-end UE, wherein the at least one neighboring high-end UE is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth-constrained UE; receiving a second timing measurement signal from the at least one neighboring high-end UE; and determining location information of the bandwidth-constrained UE based at least on the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal.

[0006] Implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features. Determining location information of a bandwidth-limited UE may include: using at least one processor in the bandwidth-limited UE to calculate a distance to the at least one neighboring high-end UE and an estimated location. The method may include: establishing a sidelink connection to the at least one neighboring high-end UE, wherein a first timing measurement signal and a second timing measurement signal are transmitted and received via the sidelink connection; and receiving a current location of the at least one neighboring high-end UE via the sidelink connection. The method may further include: obtaining an identifier of the at least one neighboring high-end UE from a base station; and establishing a sidelink connection to the at least one neighboring high-end UE, wherein the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal are transmitted and received via the sidelink connection. Prior to transmitting the first timing measurement signal, a measurement request message may be received from the at least one neighboring high-end UE. The method may include: transmitting location information to the at least one neighboring high-end UE and transmitting location information to the base station. The first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal may utilize a channel state information reference signal. The channel state information reference signal may be within a physical sidelink control channel.

[0007] An example of a method of using a high-end user equipment (UE) to provide a timing measurement signal to a bandwidth-limited UE according to the present disclosure includes: receiving a first timing measurement signal from the bandwidth-limited UE, wherein the high-end UE is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth-limited UE; and transmitting a second timing measurement signal to the bandwidth-limited UE.

[0008] Implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features. The method may include: establishing a sidelink connection with a bandwidth-constrained UE, wherein the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal are received and transmitted via the sidelink connection. The first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal may utilize a channel state information reference signal. The channel state information reference signal may be within a physical sidelink control channel. The method may also include: receiving location information from the bandwidth-constrained UE; and sending a request measurement message to the bandwidth-constrained UE.

[0009] An example of a method for positioning a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE) performed by a network entity according to the present disclosure includes: receiving an indication of one or more neighboring high-end UEs from the bandwidth-constrained UE; determining one or more participating UEs based on the indication of the one or more neighboring high-end UEs; providing an indication of the one or more participating UEs to the bandwidth-constrained UE; receiving measurement information from the bandwidth-constrained UE; and calculating the position of the bandwidth-constrained UE based at least on the measurement information.

[0010] Implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features. The method may include providing a location of the bandwidth limited UE to a bandwidth limited UE; and providing the location of the bandwidth limited UE to at least one of the one or more participant UEs. Determining the one or more participant UEs may include determining the quality of positioning for the one or more neighboring high-end UEs. Providing an indication to the one or more participant UEs may include providing a downlink reference signal identification value. The method may include providing frame information associated with the downlink reference signal identification value. Receiving the measurement information may include averaging multiple measurements obtained by the bandwidth limited UE from the participant UEs.

[0011] An example of a method for determining the location of a mobile bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure may include: using the bandwidth-constrained UE to determine the location of a first high-end UE and the range to the first high-end UE at a first time; using the bandwidth-constrained UE to determine the location of a second high-end UE and the range to the second high-end UE at a second time; determining a deployment vector of the bandwidth-constrained UE from the first time to the second time; calculating a projected positioning of the first high-end UE based on the deployment vector; and calculating an estimated positioning of the bandwidth-constrained UE at the second time based at least in part on the range to the first high-end UE as applied to the projected positioning of the first high-end UE, and the location of the second high-end UE and the range to the second high-end UE.

[0012] Implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features. Calculating the estimated position of the bandwidth constrained UE may be performed by at least one processor in the bandwidth constrained UE. The estimated position of the bandwidth constrained UE may be provided to a network server. Determining the location of the first high-end UE and the range to the first high-end UE may include establishing a sidelink connection to the first high-end UE and exchanging timing measurements with the first high-end UE. The sidelink connection may utilize a channel state data reference signal. The channel state information reference signal may be within a physical sidelink control channel.

[0013] An example of a high-end user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure includes: a memory, a transceiver, and at least one processor, which is operably coupled to the memory and the transceiver and is configured to: receive a first timing measurement signal from a bandwidth-limited UE, wherein the high-end UE is able to use more bandwidth than the bandwidth-limited UE; and transmit a second timing measurement signal to the bandwidth-limited UE.

[0014] An example of a network server according to the present disclosure includes: a memory, a transceiver, and at least one processor, which is operably coupled to the memory and the transceiver and is configured to: receive an indication of one or more neighboring high-end UEs from a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE); determine one or more participating UEs based on the indication of the one or more neighboring high-end UEs; provide an indication of the one or more participating UEs to the bandwidth-constrained UE; receive measurement information from the bandwidth-constrained UE; and calculate the location of the bandwidth-constrained UE based at least on the measurement information.

[0015] An example of a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure includes: a memory, a transceiver, and at least one processor, which is operably coupled to the memory and the transceiver and is configured to: transmit a first timing measurement signal to at least one neighboring high-end UE, wherein the at least one neighboring high-end UE is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth-constrained UE; receive a second timing measurement signal from the at least one neighboring high-end UE; and determine location information of the bandwidth-constrained UE based at least on the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal.

[0016] An example of a user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure includes: a memory, a transceiver, and at least one processor, which is operably coupled to the memory and the transceiver and is configured to: receive a first timing measurement signal from a bandwidth-limited UE, wherein a high-end UE is able to use more bandwidth than the bandwidth-limited UE; and transmit a second timing measurement signal to the bandwidth-limited UE.

[0017] An example of a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure includes: a memory, a transceiver, and at least one processor, which is operably coupled to the memory and the transceiver and is configured to: use the bandwidth-constrained UE to determine the position of a first high-end UE and the range to the first high-end UE at a first time; use the bandwidth-constrained UE to determine the position of a second high-end UE and the range to the second high-end UE at a second time; determine a deployment vector of the bandwidth-constrained UE from the first time to the second time; calculate a projected positioning of the first high-end UE based on the deployment vector; and calculate an estimated positioning of the bandwidth-constrained UE at the second time based at least in part on the range to the first high-end UE as applied to the projected positioning of the first high-end UE, and the position of the second high-end UE and the range to the second high-end UE.

[0018] An example of a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure includes: a device for transmitting a first timing measurement signal to at least one neighboring high-end UE so that the at least one neighboring high-end UE can use more bandwidth than the bandwidth-constrained UE; a device for receiving a second timing measurement signal from the at least one neighboring high-end UE; and a device for determining location information of the bandwidth-constrained UE based at least on the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal.

[0019] An example high-end user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure includes means for receiving a first timing measurement signal from a bandwidth-limited UE to enable the high-end UE to use more bandwidth than the bandwidth-limited UE, and transmitting a second timing measurement signal to the bandwidth-limited UE.

[0020] An example network entity according to the present disclosure includes: a device for receiving an indication of one or more neighboring high-end UEs from a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE); a device for determining one or more participating UEs based on the indication of the one or more neighboring high-end UEs; a device for providing an indication of the one or more participating UEs to the bandwidth-constrained UE; a device for receiving measurement information from the bandwidth-constrained UE; and a device for calculating the location of the bandwidth-constrained UE based at least on the measurement information.

[0021] An example of a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure includes: a device for determining a position of a first high-end UE and a range to the first high-end UE at a first time using the bandwidth-constrained UE; a device for determining a position of a second high-end UE and a range to the second high-end UE at a second time using the bandwidth-constrained UE; a device for determining a deployment vector of the bandwidth-constrained UE from the first time to the second time; a device for calculating a projected positioning of the first high-end UE based on the deployment vector; and a device for calculating an estimated positioning of the bandwidth-constrained UE at the second time based at least in part on the range to the first high-end UE as applied to the projected positioning of the first high-end UE, and the position of the second high-end UE and the range to the second high-end UE.

[0022] According to the present disclosure, an example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions that cause one or more processors to locate bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE), the processor-readable instructions including: code for transmitting a first timing measurement signal to at least one neighboring high-end UE, wherein the at least one neighboring high-end UE is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth-constrained UE; code for receiving a second timing measurement signal from the at least one neighboring high-end UE; and code for determining location information of the bandwidth-constrained UE based at least on the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal.

[0023] According to the present disclosure, an example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions that cause one or more processors to use high-end user equipment (UE) to provide a timing measurement signal to a bandwidth-constrained UE, the processor-readable instructions including: code for receiving a first timing measurement signal from the bandwidth-constrained UE, wherein the high-end UE is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth-constrained UE; and code for transmitting a second timing measurement signal to the bandwidth-constrained UE.

[0024] According to the present disclosure, an example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions that cause one or more processors to determine the location of a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE), the processor-readable instructions including: code for receiving an indication of one or more neighboring high-end UEs from a bandwidth-constrained UE; code for determining one or more participant UEs based on the indication of the one or more neighboring high-end UEs; code for providing an indication of the one or more participant UEs to the bandwidth-constrained UE; code for receiving measurement information from the bandwidth-constrained UE; and code for calculating the location of the bandwidth-constrained UE based at least on the measurement information.

[0025] According to the present disclosure, an example non-volatile processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions that cause one or more processors to determine the location of a mobile bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE), the processor-readable instructions including: code for determining the location of a first high-end UE and a range to the first high-end UE at a first time using a bandwidth-constrained UE; code for determining the location of a second high-end UE and a range to the second high-end UE at a second time using the bandwidth-constrained UE; code for determining a deployment vector of the bandwidth-constrained UE from the first time to the second time; code for calculating a projected positioning of the first high-end UE based on the deployment vector; and code for calculating an estimated positioning of the bandwidth-constrained UE at the second time based at least in part on the range to the first high-end UE as applied to the projected positioning of the first high-end UE, and the location of the second high-end UE and the range to the second high-end UE.

[0026] The items and / or technologies described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities and other capabilities not mentioned. Compared to high-end UEs (such as smartphones, laptops, or similar devices), new radio light user equipment (NR-light UEs) including mid-end and low-end user equipment (UEs) (such as watches, fitness bands, or Internet of Things (IoT) devices) may have reduced bandwidth. The NR-light UE may be adjacent to one or more high-end UEs. The NR-light UE may exchange timing messages with the high-end UE via a side link. The distance between the NR-light UE and the high-end UE may be determined using round-trip time estimation. The location of the NR-light UE may be determined using multi-lateration positioning based on the location of the high-end UE and the measured distance. The positioning of the NR-light UE may be reported to the network. Other capabilities may be provided, and not every implementation according to the present disclosure must provide any of the capabilities discussed, let alone all capabilities. In addition, it is also possible to achieve the above-mentioned effects in an unspecified manner, and the noted items / techniques may not necessarily produce the noted effects. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing various aspects of the disclosure and are provided solely for the purpose of illustrating these aspects and not limiting thereof.

[0029] Figure 1

[0013] An exemplary wireless communication system in accordance with various aspects is illustrated.

[0030] Figure 2A and Figure 2B

[0013] Example wireless network structures in accordance with various aspects are illustrated.

[0031] Figure 3 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary apparatus in accordance with various aspects.

[0032] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a frame structure for use in a wireless telecommunication system according to an aspect of the present disclosure.

[0033] Figure 5 and 6 is a diagram illustrating an exemplary technique for determining a location of a mobile device using information obtained from multiple base stations.

[0034] Figure 7 is a diagram of exemplary base stations, high-end UEs, and NR-light UEs according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0035] Figure 8 is a message flow diagram of an example round trip time (RTT) procedure between an NR-Light UE and a high-end UE.

[0036] Fig. 9Ais a diagram of an example procedure for positioning an NR-Light UE using multiple high-end UEs.

[0037] Fig. 9B is a diagram of an example procedure for positioning a mobile NR-light UE using multiple high-end UEs.

[0038] Fig.10 is a process flow diagram of an example method for determining location information for a bandwidth-constrained UE.

[0039] Fig.11 is a process flow diagram of an example method for providing a timing measurement signal to a bandwidth-limited UE using a high-end UE.

[0040] Fig.12 is a process flow diagram of an example method for determining a location of a bandwidth-constrained UE.

[0041] Fig.13 is a process flow diagram of an example method of determining a location of a mobile, bandwidth-constrained UE.

[0042] Detailed Description

[0043] Techniques for positioning NR bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE) are discussed herein. For example, bandwidth-constrained UEs may include, but are not limited to, mid-end and low-end user equipment (e.g., NR-light UEs), and / or may be wearable devices (e.g., fitness trackers, watches) or other Internet of Things (IoT) devices with limited processing capabilities. NR-light UEs may be configured to operate at a reduced bandwidth (e.g., 5-20 MHz) compared to high-end NR UEs, which may operate at a typical bandwidth of 100 MHz (FR1) or up to 400 MHz (FR2). NR-light UEs may have a reduced data transmission rate compared to high-end NR UEs, and / or may not provide full-duplex data capability in some embodiments. Reduced bandwidth may result in reduced positioning accuracy. In addition, the transmit power of the NR-light UE may be reduced, which may limit the coverage area of ​​the wireless network accessible to the NR-light UE. The techniques provided herein enable an NR-light UE to leverage the capabilities of a neighboring high-end UE (such as a smartphone, tablet, laptop, and other more capable devices) to improve the positioning accuracy of the NR-light UE. A high-end UE and an NR-light UE (e.g., a bandwidth-limited UE) are neighboring when they are able to communicate with each other over a wireless link. These techniques are examples only and are not exhaustive.

[0044] The information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and technologies. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the following description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

[0045] Many features are described in the form of a sequence of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. Each action described herein can be performed by a dedicated circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. Additionally, the sequence of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transient processor-readable storage medium, which stores a corresponding set of computer-readable instructions that, upon execution, will cause or instruct an associated processor of a device to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various features of the present disclosure may be implemented in a number of different forms, all of which fall within the scope of the claimed subject matter.

[0046] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be dedicated to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise specified. In general, a UE can be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a tracking device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) head-mounted device, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate on a wireless communication network. The UE can be mobile or can be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber equipment", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or UT, "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variations thereof. In general, a UE can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE can connect to external networks (such as the Internet) and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for the UE, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (eg, based on IEEE 802.11, etc.), and the like.

[0047] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs when in communication with a UE, depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may be referred to alternatively as an access point (AP), a network node, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a new radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. In addition, in some systems, a base station may provide pure edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, a base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link by which a UE may send a signal to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link by which a base station may send a signal to a UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) may refer to a UL / reverse or DL / forward traffic channel.

[0048] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit receive point (TRP) or may refer to multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be a base station antenna corresponding to a cell of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of a base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRPs may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighbor base station for which the UE is measuring a reference RF signal. Since the TRP is the point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references to transmissions from or receptions at a base station should be understood as references to the specific TRP of that base station.

[0049] An "RF signal" includes an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same RF signal transmitted on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal.

[0050] Reference Figure 1, the example wireless communication system 100 includes components as shown. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). The macro cell base stations may include eNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network), or gNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femto cells, pico cells, micro cells, etc.

[0051] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a next generation core (NGC)) through a backhaul link 122, and interface to one or more location servers 172 through the core network 170. The base stations 102 may also perform functions related to one or more of delivering user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of alert messages, among other functions. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through an EPC / NGC) over a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0052] Base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each base station 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. One or more cells may be supported by base station 102 in each coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., on a certain frequency resource, which is referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access to different types of UEs. Since a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" may refer to either or both of a logical communication entity and a base station supporting the logical communication entity, depending on the context. In some cases, the term “cell” may also refer to a geographic coverage area (eg, a sector) of a base station, in the sense that a carrier frequency may be detected and used for communications within some portion of geographic coverage area 110 .

[0053] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of adjacent macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handoff region), some geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by a larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' may have a coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB), which may provide service to a restricted group referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0054] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include UL (also known as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also known as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to DL than to UL).

[0055] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication with a WLAN station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) to determine whether the channel is available before communicating.

[0056] The small cell base station 102' may operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum as that used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum may boost coverage and / or increase capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0057] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180, which can operate in mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm. The radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW can be extended downward to a 3 GHz frequency with a wavelength of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, which is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 can utilize beamforming (transmitting and / or receiving) on ​​the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. In addition, it will be appreciated that in an alternative configuration, one or more base stations 102 may also use mmW or near mmW and beamforming for transmission. The foregoing explanation is by way of example and does not limit the description or the claims.

[0058] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Conventionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, the network node broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device. In order to change the directivity of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that are broadcasting the RF signal. For example, a network node can use an antenna array (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") that generates a beam of RF waves, and the beam of the RF wave can be "guided" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to the individual antennas in the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas are added together in the desired direction to increase the radiation, and canceled in the undesired direction to suppress the radiation.

[0059] The transmit beams can be quasi-colocated, which means that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the transmit antennas of the network nodes themselves are physically colocated. In NR, there are four types of quasi-colocation (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived from information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Therefore, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0060] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify an RF signal detected on a given channel. For example, a receiver may increase the gain setting of an antenna array and / or adjust the phase setting of an antenna array in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase its gain level) the RF signal received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is referred to as beamforming in a certain direction, this means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction for all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.) for the RF signal received from that direction.

[0061] The receive beams may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that the parameters of the transmit beam for the second reference signal may be derived from information about the receive beam for the first reference signal. For example, the UE may use a particular receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam based on the parameters of the receive beam for sending an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station.

[0062] Note that depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to the UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE is forming a downlink beam, the downlink beam is a receive beam for receiving downlink reference signals. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink receive beam, and if the UE is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink transmit beam.

[0063] In 5G, the spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base stations 102 / 180, UEs 104 / 182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (from 450 to 7,125 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 to 52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In a multi-carrier system (such as 5G), one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by the UE 104 / 182 and on the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common control channels and UE-specific control channels, and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2), which can be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier, and which can be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, signaling information and signals that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier, because both the primary uplink and downlink carriers are typically UE-specific. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. This is also true for the uplink primary carrier. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. For example, this is done to balance the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier that a base station is using for communication, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0064] For example, still referring to Figure 1 , one of the frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate achieved by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0065] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs (such as UE 190) that are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) or peer-to-peer (P2P) links. Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with a UE 104 connected to a base station 102 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity therefrom), and a D2D P2P link 194 with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150 (UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity therefrom). In an example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may use any well-known D2D RAT (such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), In one aspect, UE 190 may be an NR-light UE, and UE 104 connected thereto via D2D P2P link 192 may be a high-end UE. In an example, D2D P2P link 192 may be a sidelink channel configured to support channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) and channel quality information and rank indicator (CQI / RI) measurements.

[0066] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a UE 164, which may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via a communication link 120 and / or communicate with the mmW base station 180 via a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0067] Reference Figure 2A, an example wireless network architecture 200 is shown. For example, NGC 210 (also referred to as "5GC") can be functionally viewed as control plane functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate in coordination to form a core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213 and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect gNB 222 to NGC 210, in particular to control plane functions 214 and user plane functions 212. In an additional configuration, eNB 224 can also be connected to NGC 210 via NG-C 215 to control plane functions 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. In addition, eNB 224 can communicate directly with gNB 222 via backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the new RAN 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include both one or more eNBs 224 and one or more gNBs 222. A gNB 222 or an eNB 224 may communicate with a UE 204 (e.g., Figure 1 204). A location server 230 may be included that may be in communication with the NGC 210 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The location server 230 may be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which may be connected to the location server 230 via the core network, the NGC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). In addition, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network.

[0068] Reference Figure 2B, another example wireless network architecture 250 is shown. For example, the NGC 260 (also referred to as "5GC") can be functionally viewed as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) / user plane function (UPF) 264, and a user plane function provided by a session management function (SMF) 262, which operate in coordination to form a core network (i.e., NGC 260). The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the eNB 224 to the NGC 260, and in particular to the SMF 262 and the AMF / UPF 264, respectively. In an additional configuration, the gNB 222 can also be connected to the NGC 260 via a control plane interface 265 to the AMF / UPF 264 and a user plane interface 263 to the SMF 262. In addition, the eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223, whether or not there is gNB direct connectivity with the NGC 260. In some configurations, the new RAN 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include both one or more eNBs 224 and one or more gNBs 222. A gNB 222 or an eNB 224 may communicate with a UE 204 (e.g., Figure 1 The base station of the new RAN 220 communicates with the AMF side of the AMF / UPF 264 through the N2 interface, and communicates with the UPF side of the AMF / UPF 264 through the N3 interface.

[0069] The functions of AMF include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, session management (SM) messaging between UE204 and SMF 262, transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, short message service (SMS) messaging between UE 204 and short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). AMF also interacts with authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and UE 204, and receives intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), AMF retrieves security materials from AUSF. The functions of AMF also include security context management (SCM). SCM receives keys from SEAF, which are used by SCM to derive keys that vary from access network to access network. The functionality of the AMF also includes location service management for regulatory services, transmission of location service messages between the UE 204 and the location management function (LMF) 270 and between the new RAN 220 and the LMF 270, allocation of EPS bearer identifiers for interworking with the Evolved Packet System (EPS), and notification of mobility events for the UE 204. In addition, the AMF also supports the functionality of non-3GPP access networks.

[0070] The functions of the UPF include: acting as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) handling (e.g., UL / DL rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in DL), UL traffic verification (mapping of service data flows (SDFs) to QoS flows), transport level packet marking in UL and DL, DL packet buffering and DL data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node.

[0071] The functions of SMF 262 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering for routing traffic to the correct destination at UPF, control of part of policy implementation and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which SMF 262 communicates with the AMF side of AMF / UPF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0072] An LMF 270 may be included that may be in communication with the NGC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The LMF 270 may be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or may alternatively each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which may be connected to the LMF 270 via the core network, the NGC 260, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated).

[0073] Reference Figure 3 , shows several example components (represented by corresponding boxes) that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any base station described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any network function described herein, including a location server 230 and an LMF 270) to support file transfer operations as taught herein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different types of devices (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.) in different implementations. The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. In addition, a given device may include one or more of these components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0074] UE 302 and base station 304 each include at least one wireless communication device (represented by communication devices 308 and 314 (and also represented by communication device 320 if base station 304 is a relay) for communicating with other nodes via at least one designated RAT. For example, communication devices 308 and 314 may be connected via wireless communication link 360 (which may correspond to Figure 1Each communication device 308 includes at least one transmitter (represented by transmitter 310) for transmitting and encoding signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) and at least one receiver (represented by receiver 312) for receiving and decoding signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Similarly, each communication device 314 includes at least one transmitter (represented by transmitter 316) for transmitting signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.) and at least one receiver (represented by receiver 318) for receiving signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.). If the base station 304 is a relay station, each communication device 320 may include at least one transmitter (represented by transmitter 322) for transmitting signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.) and at least one receiver (represented by receiver 324) for receiving signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.).

[0075] The transmitter and receiver may include integrated devices in some implementations (e.g., transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry implemented as a single communication device, often referred to as a "transceiver"), may include separate transmitter devices and separate receiver devices in some implementations, or may be implemented in other ways in other implementations. The wireless communication device (e.g., one of the multiple wireless communication devices) of the base station 304 may also include a network listening module (NLM) for performing various measurements, etc.

[0076] The network entity 306 (and the base station 304, if the base station 304 is not a relay station) includes at least one communication device (represented by the communication device 326 and optionally by the communication device 320) for communicating with other nodes. For example, the communication device 326 may include a device configured to communicate via a wired or wireless backhaul 370 (which may correspond to Figure 1 The communication device 326 may be implemented as a transceiver configured to support wired or wireless signal communication, and the transmitter 328 and the receiver 330 may be an integrated unit. The communication may involve, for example, sending and receiving: messages, parameters, or other types of information. Accordingly, in Figure 3 In the example of , the communication device 326 is shown to include a transmitter 328 and a receiver 330. Alternatively, the transmitter 328 and the receiver 330 may be separate devices within the communication device 326. Similarly, if the base station 304 is not a relay station, the communication device 320 may include a network interface configured to communicate with one or more network entities 306 via a wire-based or wireless backhaul 370. Like the communication device 326, the communication device 320 is shown to include a transmitter 322 and a receiver 324.

[0077] The apparatuses 302, 304 and 306 also include other components that can be used in conjunction with the file transfer operations disclosed herein. The UE 302 includes a processing system 332 for providing, for example, functionality related to the UE operations disclosed herein, and for providing other processing functionality. The base station 304 includes a processing system 334 for providing, for example, functionality related to the base station operations as described herein, and for providing other processing functionality. The network entity 306 includes a processing system 336 for providing, for example, functionality related to the network function operations as described herein, and for providing other processing functionality. The apparatuses 302, 304 and 306 include memory components 338, 340 and 342 (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 350 for providing indications (e.g., audible and / or visual indications) to the user and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when the user actuates a sensing device (such as a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, etc.) Although not shown, devices 304 and 306 may also include a user interface.

[0078] UE 302 may also include a sensor 351 coupled to bus 352, which may include, for example, an inertial sensor and an environmental sensor. The inertial sensor of sensor 351 may include, for example, an accelerometer (e.g., responsive to the acceleration of UE 302 in three dimensions), one or more gyroscopes, or one or more magnetometers (e.g., to support one or more compass applications). In one example, the accelerometer may be configured as a pedometer to detect the footsteps of a user wearing UE 302. The environmental sensors of UE 302 may include, for example, a temperature sensor, an air pressure sensor, an ambient light sensor, a camera imager, a microphone, to name just a few examples. Sensor 351 may generate analog and / or digital signals that may be stored in memory component 338 and processed by processing system 332 to support one or more applications (such as, for example, applications involving positioning or navigation operations).

[0079] Referring to the processing system 334 in more detail, in the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processing system 334. The processing system 334 may implement functionality for the RRC layer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The processing system 334 may provide RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (ciphering, cipher decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with transmission of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0080] The transmitter 316 and the receiver 318 may implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 316 handles the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. The channel estimates may be derived from reference signals and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas of the communication device 314. The transmitter 316 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0081] At UE 302, receiver 312 receives the signal through its corresponding antenna of communication device 308. Receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to processing system 332. Transmitter 310 and receiver 312 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Receiver 312 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial stream destined for UE 302. If there are multiple spatial streams destined for UE 302, they can be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by receiver 312. Receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, as well as the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the signal constellation point most likely transmitted by base station 304. These soft decisions can be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. These soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted on the physical channel by the base station 304. These data and control signals are then provided to the processing system 332 that implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

[0082] In the UL, the processing system 332 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, cipher decoding, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The processing system 332 is also responsible for error detection.

[0083] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with DL transmissions performed by the base station 304, the processing system 332 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) capture, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with transmission of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0084] Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by base station 304 may be used by transmitter 310 to select appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by transmitter 310 may be provided to different antenna(s). Transmitter 310 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0085] UL transmissions are processed at base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at UE 302. Receiver 318 receives the signal through its corresponding antenna(s). Receiver 318 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to processing system 334.

[0086] In the UL, the processing system 334 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, cipher decoding, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 302. The IP packets from the processing system 334 may be provided to the core network. The processing system 334 is also responsible for error detection.

[0087] Devices 302, 304, and 306 may include location managers 344, 348, and 358, respectively. Location managers 344, 348, and 358, respectively, may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to processing systems 332, 334, and 336, respectively, which, when executed, cause devices 302, 304, and 306 to perform the functionality described herein. Alternatively, location managers 344, 348, and 358, respectively, may be memory modules stored in memory components 338, 340, and 342, respectively, which, when executed by processing systems 332, 334, and 336, cause devices 302, 304, and 306 to perform the functionality described herein.

[0088] For convenience, devices 302, 304 and / or 306 are Figure 3 308, the communication device 308, the bandwidth handling capability of the communication device 308, the processing capability of the processing system 332, etc.), the UE 302 may be a NR-light UE or a high-end UE.

[0089] The various components of devices 302, 304, and 306 may communicate with each other via data buses 352, 354, and 356, respectively. Figure 3 The components of can be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, Figure 3The components of may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 308, 332, 338, 344, and 350 may be implemented by the processor(s) and memory components of the UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriately configuring the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 314, 320, 334, 340, and 348 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of the base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriately configuring the processor components). In addition, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 326, 336, 342, and 358 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of the network entity 306 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriately configuring the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by a UE," "by a base station," "by a positioning entity," etc. However, as will be appreciated, such operations, actions, and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components (such as processing systems 332, 334, 336, communication devices 308, 314, 326, positioning managers 344, 348, and 358, etc.) or a combination of components of the UE, base station, positioning entity, etc.

[0090] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (eg, base stations and UEs). Figure 4 , shows an example of a downlink frame structure 400 according to aspects of the present disclosure. However, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, the frame structure used for any particular application may vary depending on any number of factors. Figure 4 , time is represented horizontally (e.g., on the X-axis), where time increases from left to right, and frequency is represented vertically (e.g., on the Y-axis), where frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top. In the time domain, a frame 401 (10 ms) is divided into 10 equally sized subframes 403 (1 ms). Each subframe 403 includes two consecutive time slots 405 (0.5 ms).

[0091] A resource grid may be used to represent two time slots 405, each of which includes one or more resource blocks (RBs) 407 (also referred to as "physical resource blocks" or "PRBs" in the frequency domain). In NR, for example, a resource block 407 contains 12 consecutive subcarriers 409 in the frequency domain, and for a normal cyclic prefix (CP) in each OFDM symbol 411, contains 14 consecutive OFDM symbols 411 in the time domain. A resource (represented as a block of a resource grid) of one OFDM symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain is called a resource element (RE). Thus, in NR, a resource block 407 contains 12 consecutive subcarriers 409 in the frequency domain, and for a normal cyclic prefix (CP) in each OFDM symbol 411, contains 14 consecutive OFDM symbols 411 in the time domain. A resource (represented as a block of a resource grid) of one OFDM symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain is called a resource element (RE). Figure 4 In the example of , there are 168 resource elements in resource block 407 .

[0092] LTE and in some cases NR utilize OFDM on the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option of using OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers 409, which are also often referred to as frequency modulation, frequency slots, etc. Each subcarrier 409 can be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain for OFDM and in the time domain for SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers 409 can be fixed, and the total number (K) of subcarriers 409 can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of subcarriers 409 can be 15kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers 409 (or 180kHz). As a result, for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), the nominal FFT size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0093] Continue to refer to Figure 4 , some resource elements (Res) indicated as R0, R1, R2, R3, R4, R5, R6, R7 include downlink reference signals (DL-RS). DL-RS may include RS (CRS) (sometimes also referred to as common RS) that varies from cell to cell and RS (UE-RS) that varies from UE to UE. UE-RS is transmitted only on resource blocks 407 to which the corresponding physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) is mapped. The number of bits carried by each resource element depends on the modulation scheme. Thus, the more resource blocks 407 a UE receives and the higher the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate of the UE.

[0094] In one aspect, the DL-RS may be a positioning reference signal (PRS). The base station may Figure 4 , or other physical layer signaling sequences that can be measured and used for positioning estimation by a UE (e.g., any UE described herein). Other types of wireless nodes in a wireless communication network (e.g., a distributed antenna system (DAS), a remote radio head (RRH), a UE, an AP, etc.) may also be configured to transmit signals that support a PRS signal (e.g., a radio frame 401) or other physical layer signaling sequences that can be measured and used for positioning estimation by a UE (e.g., any UE described herein). Figure 4 The PRS signal may be configured in a manner similar to (or identical to) that described in .

[0095] The set of resource elements used to transmit PRS is called a "PRS resource". The set of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and can span N (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbols 411 within a time slot 405 in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol 411, the PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs. The PRS resource is described by at least the following parameters: a PRS resource identifier (ID), a sequence ID, a comb size N, a resource element offset in the frequency domain, a starting time slot and a starting codeword, the number of codes per PRS resource (i.e., the duration of the PRS resource), and QCL information (e.g., with other DL reference signals QCL). Currently, one antenna port is supported. The comb size indicates the number of subcarriers carrying PRS in each codeword. For example, a comb size of comb-4 means that every fourth subcarrier of a given codeword carries PRS.

[0096] A "PRS resource set" is a group of PRS resources used for transmission of a PRS signal, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. In addition, the PRS resources in the PRS resource set are associated with the same transmit receive point (TRP). The PRS resource set is identified by the PRS resource set ID and can be associated with a specific TRP (identified by the cell ID) transmitted by the antenna panel of the base station. The PRS resource ID in the PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (and / or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (wherein a TRP can transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in the PRS resource set can be transmitted on a different beam, and as such, a "PRS resource" (or simply "resource") may also be referred to as a "beam". Note that this does not have any implication on whether the UE knows the TRP and the beam on which the PRS is transmitted.

[0097] A "PRS opportunity" is one example of a periodically repeating time window (eg, a group of one or more consecutive time slots) in which a PRS is expected to be transmitted. A PRS opportunity may also be referred to as a "PRS positioning opportunity," "positioning opportunity," or simply an "opportunity."

[0098] Note that the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may sometimes refer to a specific reference signal used for positioning in an LTE system. However, as used herein, unless otherwise indicated, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" refer to any type of reference signal that may be used for positioning, such as, but not limited to: PRS signals in LTE, navigation reference signals (NRS) in 5G, downlink positioning reference signals (DL-PRS), uplink positioning reference signals (UL-PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), sounding reference signals (SRS), etc.

[0099] Reference Figure 5 , shows an exemplary wireless communication system 500 according to various aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 5 In the example of , UE 504 (which may correspond to any UE described herein) is attempting to calculate an estimate of its location, or assist another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third-party application, etc.) in calculating an estimate of its location. UE 604 may communicate wirelessly with multiple base stations 502-1, 502-2, and 502-3 (which may correspond to any combination of base stations described herein) using RF signals and standardized protocols for modulating RF signals and exchanging information packets. By extracting different types of information from the exchanged RF signals and utilizing the layout of the wireless communication system 500 (e.g., base station locations, geometry, etc.), UE 504 may determine its location, or assist in determining its location in a predefined reference coordinate system. In one aspect, UE 504 may specify its location using a two-dimensional (2D) coordinate system; however, the aspects disclosed herein are not limited thereto and may also be applicable to determining location using a three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system where additional dimensions are desired. Additionally, although Figure 5 One UE 504 and four base stations 502 - 1 , 502 - 2 , 502 - 3 are illustrated, but as will be appreciated, there may be more UEs 504 and more or fewer base stations.

[0100] To support positioning estimation, base stations 502-1, 502-2, 502-3 may be configured to broadcast positioning reference signals (e.g., PRS, NRS, etc.) to UEs 504 in their coverage areas, so that UEs 504 can measure the characteristics of such reference signals. For example, the Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) positioning method is a multi-lateration positioning method, in which UEs 504 measure the time differences (referred to as Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD)) between specific reference signals (e.g., PRS, CRS, CSI-RS, etc.) transmitted by different pairs of network nodes (e.g., pairs of base stations, pairs of antennas of base stations, etc.), and either report these time differences to a location server (such as location server 230 or LMF 270), or calculate position estimates themselves based on these time differences.

[0101] Generally, at a reference network node (e.g. Figure 5 502-1 in the example) and one or more neighbor network nodes (e.g., Figure 5 RSTD is measured between base stations 502-2 and 502-3 in the example of UE 504). For any single positioning use of OTDOA, the reference network node remains the same for all RSTDs measured by UE 504, and will typically correspond to the serving cell of UE 504 or another nearby cell with good signal strength at UE 504. In an aspect, where the measured network node is a cell supported by a base station, the neighbor network node will typically be a cell supported by a different base station than the base station used for the reference cell, and may have good or poor signal strength at UE 504. The position calculation may be based on the measured time difference (e.g., RSTD) and knowledge of the location and relative transmission timing of the network nodes (e.g., whether the network nodes are accurately synchronized or whether each network node transmits with a known time difference relative to the other network nodes).

[0102] To assist the positioning operation, for reference network nodes (e.g. Figure 5 502-1 in the example in FIG. 502-2 ) and neighbor network nodes (eg, base station 502-1 in the example in FIG. 502-2 ) relative to the reference network node. Figure 5 2 and 502-3 in the example of FIG), a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270) may provide OTDOA assistance data to UE 504. For example, the assistance data may provide a center channel frequency of each network node, various reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., number of consecutive positioning subframes, periodicity of positioning subframes, quiet sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier (ID), reference signal bandwidth), network node global ID, and / or other cell-related parameters applicable to OTDOA. The OTDOA assistance data may indicate the serving cell of UE 504 as a reference network node.

[0103] In some cases, the OTDOA assistance data may also include an "expected RSTD" parameter, along with an uncertainty for the expected RSTD parameter, that provides information to the UE 504 regarding the RSTD value that the UE 504 is expected to measure at its current location between the reference network node and each neighbor network node. The expected RSTD, along with the associated uncertainty, may define a search window for the UE 504 within which the UE 504 is expected to measure RSTD values. The OTDOA assistance information may also include a reference signal configuration information parameter that allows the UE 504 to determine when reference signal positioning opportunities occur on signals received from various neighbor network nodes relative to reference signal positioning opportunities for the reference network node, and to determine reference signal sequences transmitted from various network nodes to measure signal arrival time (ToA) or RSTD.

[0104] In an aspect, while a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270) may send data to UE 504, alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the network nodes (e.g., base station 502) themselves (e.g., in periodically broadcast overhead messages, etc.). Alternatively, UE 504 may detect neighbor network nodes on its own without using assistance data.

[0105] UE 504 (e.g., based in part on assistance data (if provided)) may measure and (optionally) report RSTD between reference signals received from pairs of network nodes. Using RSTD measurements, known absolute or relative transmission timing of each network node, and known positioning of transmit antennas for reference network nodes and neighboring network nodes, a network (e.g., location server 230 / LMF 270, base station 502) or UE 504 may estimate the positioning of UE 504. More specifically, the RSTD of neighbor network node “k” relative to reference network node “Ref” may be given as (ToA k –ToA Ref ), where the ToA value can be measured modulo a subframe duration (1ms) to remove the effect of measuring different subframes at different times. Figure 5In the example of , the time differences measured between the reference cell of base station 502-1 and the cells of neighboring base stations 502-2 and 502-3 are represented as τ2-τ1 and τ3-τ1, where τ1, τ2, and τ3 represent the ToA of the reference signals from the transmit antennas of base stations 502-1, 502-2, and 502-3, respectively. UE 504 can then convert the ToA measurements for different network nodes into RSTD measurements and (optionally) send them to location server 230 / LMF 270. Using (i) RSTD measurements, (ii) known absolute or relative transmission timing of each network node, (iii) known locations of physical transmit antennas for reference network nodes and neighboring network nodes, and / or (iv) directional reference signal characteristics (such as the direction of transmission), the location of UE 504 can be determined (determined by UE 504 or location server 230 / LMF 270).

[0106] Still refer to Figure 5 When UE 504 uses the time difference measured by OTDOA to obtain a position estimate, the necessary additional data (e.g., the location and relative transmission timing of network nodes) may be provided to UE 504 by a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270). In some implementations, the position estimate for UE 504 may be obtained (e.g., by UE 504 itself or by location server 230 / LMF 270) from the time difference measured by OTDOA and from other measurements made by UE 504 (e.g., measurements of signal timing from global positioning system GPS or other global navigation satellite system (GNSS) satellites). In these implementations (referred to as hybrid positioning), OTDOA measurements may contribute to obtaining a position estimate for UE 504, but may not fully determine the position estimate.

[0107] Uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA) is a positioning method similar to OTDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS), uplink positioning reference signal (ULPRS)) transmitted by a UE (e.g., UE 504). In addition, transmit and / or receive beamforming at the base stations 502-1, 502-2, 502-3 and / or UE 504 can achieve wideband bandwidth at the cell edge to improve accuracy. Beam refinement can also utilize channel reciprocity procedures in 5G NR.

[0108] In NR, precise timing synchronization across gNBs is not required. Instead, it is sufficient to have coarse timing synchronization across gNBs (e.g., within the cyclic prefix (CP) duration of an OFDM symbol). In general, round-trip time (RTT)-based methods do not require timing synchronization across gNBs, but coarse timing synchronization across gNBs can be used to reduce interference to achieve higher quality measurements.

[0109] Reference Figure 6 , shows an exemplary wireless communication system 600 according to various aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 6 In the example of , UE 604 (which may correspond to any UE described herein) is attempting to calculate an estimate of its location, or assist another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third-party application, etc.) in calculating an estimate of its location. UE 604 may communicate wirelessly with multiple base stations 604-1, 602-2, and 602-3 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein) using RF signals and standardized protocols for modulating RF signals and exchanging information packets. By extracting different types of information from the exchanged RF signals and utilizing the layout of the wireless communication system 600 (i.e., base station locations, geometry, etc.), UE 604 may determine its location, or assist in determining its location in a predefined reference coordinate system. In one aspect, UE 604 may use a two-dimensional coordinate system to specify its location; however, the aspects disclosed herein are not limited thereto and may also be applicable to determining location using a three-dimensional coordinate system where additional dimensions are desired. Additionally, although Figure 6 One UE 604 and three base stations 602 - 1 , 602 - 2 , 602 - 3 are illustrated, but as will be appreciated, there may be more UEs 604 and more base stations 602 .

[0110] To support positioning estimation, base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3 may be configured to broadcast reference RF signals (e.g., PRS, NRS, CRS, PSS, SSS, etc.) to UEs 604 in their coverage areas to enable UEs 604 to measure characteristics of such reference RF signals. For example, UE 604 may measure the ToA of specific reference RF signals (e.g., PRS, NRS, CRS, CSI-RS, etc.) transmitted by at least three different base stations, and may report these ToAs (and additional information) back to a serving base station (e.g., base station 602-2) or another positioning entity (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270) using an RTT positioning method.

[0111] In one aspect, although described as UE 604 measuring reference RF signals from base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3, UE 604 may measure reference RF signals from one cell among a plurality of cells supported by base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3. In the case where UE 604 measures reference RF signals transmitted by a cell supported by base station 602-2, at least two other reference RF signals measured by UE 604 to perform the RTT procedure will be from cells supported by base stations 602-1 and 602-3 different from the first base station 602-2, and may have good or poor signal strength at UE 604.

[0112] In order to determine the location (x, y) of UE 604, the entity determining the location of UE 604 needs to know the locations of base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3, which can be represented in the reference coordinate system as (x k ,y k ), among which Figure 6 In the example of k=1, 2, 3. In the case where one of the base station 602-2 (e.g., the serving base station) or the UE 604 determines the positioning of the UE 604, the positions of the base stations 602-1, 602-3 involved may be provided by a location server (e.g., the location server 230, the LMF 270) having the network geometry to the serving base station 602-2 or the UE 604. Alternatively, the location server may determine the positioning of the UE 604 using a known network geometry.

[0113] Each of the UE 604 or the corresponding base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3 may determine the distance (d k , where k=1, 2, 3). In one aspect, determining the RTT 610-1, 610-2, 610-3 of signals exchanged between the UE 604 and any base station 602-1, 602-2, 602-3 and converting it into a distance (d k ). RTT techniques can measure the time between sending a signaling message (e.g., a reference RF signal) and receiving a response. These methods can utilize calibration to remove any processing and hardware delays. In some environments, it can be assumed that the processing delays of UE 604 and base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3 are the same. However, such assumptions may not hold true in practice.

[0114] Once each distance d is determined kUE 604, base station 602-1, 602-2, 602-3 or location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270) can solve the location (x, y) of UE 604 by using various known geometric design techniques (such as, for example, trilateration). Figure 6 It can be seen that the location of UE 604 is ideally located at the common intersection of three semicircles, each of which has a radius d k and center (x k ,y k ), where k = 1, 2, 3.

[0115] In some examples, additional information in the form of an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of departure (AoD) may be obtained, which defines a linear direction (e.g., which may be in a horizontal plane, or in three dimensions) or a range of possible directions (e.g., of UE 604 from the locations of base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3). The intersection of the two directions at or near a point (x, y) may provide another estimate of the location of UE 604.

[0116] A position estimate (e.g., for UE 604) may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, a position, a fix, a position fix, a fix, etc. A position estimate may be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or may be municipal and include a street address, a postal address, or some other verbal description of a location. A position estimate may be further defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A position estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the position is expected to be contained with some specified or default confidence level).

[0117] UEs are classified into NR-light UEs (e.g., bandwidth-constrained wearable devices such as smart watches, glasses, bracelets, IoT devices, etc.) and high-end UEs (e.g., smart phones, tablet computers, laptops, etc.). Compared with high-end UEs, NR-light UEs generally have lower baseband processing capabilities, fewer antennas, lower operating bandwidth capabilities, and lower uplink transmission power. Different UE classes can normally be distinguished by UE category or UE capabilities. Certain classes of UE may also report their type (NR-light or high-end) to the network. Alternatively, certain resources / channels may be dedicated to certain types of UEs.

[0118] As will be appreciated, the accuracy of NR-lightweight UE positioning may be limited. For example, NR-lightweight UEs may operate on reduced bandwidths, such as 5 to 20 MHz for wearable devices and relaxed IoT (i.e., IoT devices with relaxed parameters such as lower throughput, relaxed latency requirements, lower energy consumption, etc.), which results in lower positioning accuracy. As another example, the receiver processing power of NR-lightweight UEs may be limited due to their lower RF / baseband costs. In this way, the reliability of measurement and positioning calculations will be reduced. In addition, such NR-lightweight UEs may not be able to receive multiple PRSs from multiple TRPs, further reducing positioning accuracy. As yet another example, the transmit power of the NR-lightweight UE may be reduced, which means lower quality of uplink measurements for NR-lightweight UE positioning.

[0119] However, NR-light UEs (such as wearable devices) often operate around high-end UEs. As such, the present disclosure provides techniques for NR-light UEs to leverage the presence of one or more high-end UEs to enhance their positioning accuracy.

[0120] Reference Figure 7 , a diagram 700 of an exemplary base station 702 (e.g., any of the base stations described herein), a high-end UE 704, and an NR-light UE 706 according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The base station 702 has multiple antennas 712, and a panel of such antennas 712 (e.g., all antennas 712 on a particular side of the base station 702) can correspond to cellular cells and / or TRPs supported by the base station 702. Figure 7 In the example of FIG. 7 , the high-end UE 704 is illustrated as a smartphone, and the NR-light UE 706 is illustrated as a smart watch. However, these are examples and do not limit the present disclosure.

[0121] As in Figure 7 As further explained in , the high-end UE 704 is in communication with the base station 702 via a wireless communication link 720 (e.g., communication link 120), and the NR-light UE 706 is in communication with the high-end UE 704 via a wireless communication link 720 (e.g., communication link 120), and the NR-light UE 706 is in communication with the high-end UE 704 via a wireless side link 730 (e.g., D2D P2P link 192, 194). The wireless side link 730 can be an NR side link and can support a physical side link control channel (PSCCH) and / or a physical side link shared channel (PSSCH) between the high-end UE 704 and the NR-light UE 706. The side link CSI-RS can be restricted to the PSSCH transmission. The high-end UE 704 and the NR-light UE 706 are adjacent to each other. In an example, like the high-end UE 704, the NR-light UE 706 can also be able to communicate with the base station 702 via a wireless communication link 722 (e.g., communication link 120).

[0122] NR-lightweight UE 706 can enhance its positioning accuracy by utilizing the presence of one or more high-end UEs 704. NR-lightweight UE 706 can use the positioning of high-end UE 704 to derive its own positioning. When attempting to perform a positioning procedure, NR-lightweight UE 706 may first search for high-end UE 704 around it (i.e., within the wireless communication range). In some cases, NR-lightweight UE 706 may have been connected to high-end UE 704 via a side link (e.g., wireless side link 730). In other cases, NR-lightweight UE 706 may need to perform scanning to discover high-end UE 704 around it. In yet other cases, the network (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, base station 702) may notify NR-lightweight UE 706 whether there are any high-end UEs 704 around it, and if so, provide it with a way to connect to any high-end UE 704.

[0123] In an example, once connected to one or more high-end UEs 704, the NR-light UE 706 may select which high-end UE 704's positioning to use to derive its own position. In an aspect, the quality of the positioning estimate of the high-end UE 704 may be provided by the high-end UE 704 (e.g., via the wireless side link 730) and / or by the network to the NR-light UE 706. The quality of the positioning estimate can help select the high-end UE 704 for association between the NR-light UE 706 and the high-end UE 704.

[0124] Once a high-end UE 704 has been selected, the NR-light UE 706 may use the positioning estimate of the associated high-end UE 704 to derive its own positioning estimate. In one example, the NR-light UE 706 may simply adopt the positioning of the connected high-end UE 704 as its own positioning. In this case, the selected high-end UE 704 may transmit its position to the NR-light UE 706 (e.g., via the wireless side link 730), which may then transmit it to the network (e.g., the base station 702, via the wireless communication link 720) or other entity requesting its positioning (e.g., an application running on the NR-light UE 706). Alternatively, the selected high-end UE 704 may inform the network (e.g., via the wireless communication link 720) that the positioning of the NR-light UE 706 is the same as its own positioning (e.g., in the case where the network is requesting the positioning of the NR-light UE 706).

[0125] In one example, the positioning accuracy of the NR-light UE 706 can be improved by utilizing a round trip time (RTT) procedure or other terrestrial positioning techniques on the communication link 722. In one example, the NR-light UE 706 can be configured to calculate relative positioning information of the high-end UE 704 based on the RTT procedure. The NR-light UE 706 can report the relative positioning information to the base station 702 via the wireless communication link 722, and the network (e.g., the location server 230, the LMF 270) can be configured to perform positioning estimation based on the relative positioning information reported by the NR-light UE 706 and the position of the high-end UE 704. The NR-light UE 706 can achieve power saving by transmitting positioning reference signals (e.g., UL-PRS, SRS) to the high-end UE 704 via the wireless side link 730 (rather than to the base station 702 via the wireless communication link 722). Because the range to the high-end UE 704 is shorter than the range to the base station 702, such positioning measurement transmission requires lower transmission power.

[0126] Reference Figure 8 , see further Figure 7 , a message flow diagram 800 of an example round trip time (RTT) procedure between an NR-light UE 706 and a high-end UE 704 is shown. In an example, the high-end UE 704 may be configured to send a request measurement message 804 to the NR-light UE 706 via a communication link 730. The NR-light UE 706 may be configured to transmit a downlink reference signal (DL-RS) 806 at time T1. In an example, the communication link 730 is a sidelink CSI-RS within a PSSCH transmission. The high-end UE 704 is configured to measure the time of arrival (TOA) of the DL-RS at time T2. The high-end UE 704 transmits an uplink reference signal (UL-RS) 808 at time T3 and reports the time difference between T2 and T3 (i.e., T3-T2). The NR-light UE 706 measures the TOA of the UL-RS 808 at time T4 and may be configured to calculate the distance between the high-end UE 704 and the NR-light UE 704. For example, the distance 'd' can be calculated as:

[0127]

[0128] where c is the speed of light.

[0129] In one example, the NR-light UE 706 may provide the measurement times T1-T4 to the base station 702 via the communication link 722, and the network (e.g., the location server 230, the LMF 270) may be configured to determine the distance between the NR-light UE 706 and the high-end UE 704. The NR-light UE 706 may optionally be configured to provide a result message 810 including the distance calculation to the high-end UE 704. Figure 8 The timing elements of the basic message flow between the NR-light UE 706 and the high-end UE 704 are shown, but additional calibration factors to compensate for antenna feed and other hardware-related delays may be required to improve the accuracy of the distance measurement. In an example, the high-end UE 704 can also use the AoA of the UL-RS 808 to estimate the positioning of the NR-light UE 706. The high-end UE 704 can report the positioning estimate to the NR-light UE 706 and / or the network.

[0130] Reference Fig. 9A , see further Figure 7 and 8 , a diagram 900 of an example procedure for positioning an NR-light UE 910 using multiple high-end UEs is shown. Diagram 900 includes a base station 902, a first high-end UE 904, a second high-end UE 906, a third high-end UE 908, and an NR-light UE 910. The NR-light UE 706 may be in communication with the base station 902 via a wireless communication link 912 (e.g., communication link 120). In an embodiment, the high-end UEs 904, 906, 908 may also be able to communicate with the base station 902 through the wireless communication link 912. The NR-light UE 910 is in communication with each of the neighboring high-end UEs 904, 906, 908 via a wireless side link 914. The wireless side link 914 may be an NR side link and may support a physical side link control channel (PSCCH) and / or a physical side link shared channel (PSSCH) between the high-end UEs 904, 906, 908 and the NR-light UE 910. In one example, a high-end UE 904, 906, 908 or NR-light UE 910 may use the sidelink CSI-RS transmitted for CQI for positioning. High-end UEs and NR-light UEs may transmit CSI-RS within a PSSCH transmission, and the receiving UE may measure the corresponding transmit and receive times (e.g., TOA). Positioning measurements may be multiplexed on the same channel as the UE that transmits the CSI-RS, where CQI / RI is fed back to the UE that transmits the CSI-RS. In one example, special CSI-RS may be used for positioning measurements (e.g., staggered pattern, single port instead of 2 ports, higher density).

[0131] In operation, neighboring high-end UEs 904, 906, 908 may be configured to overlap with NR-light UE 910. Figure 8 . The corresponding multiple RTT measurements can be used for multi-lateration positioning. For example, the first RTT exchange RTT1 between the high-end UE 904 and the NR-light UE 910 is used to determine the first distance 920. Similarly, the second RTT exchange RTT2 and the third RTT exchange RTT3 can be used to determine the corresponding second distance 922 and the third distance 924. In one embodiment, the NR-light UE 910 is configured to calculate the position based on the information received from the high-end UEs 904, 906, 908 without communicating with the network via the base station 902. In addition to the RTT exchange, the high-end UEs 904, 906, 908 are also configured to provide their corresponding positions (e.g., latitude / longitude / altitude) to the NR-light UE 910 via the side link 914. The NR-light UE 910 is configured to estimate its own positioning using the position and the corresponding range calculation (i.e., using the local calculation of the processing system 332). The NR-light UE 910 can estimate its own positioning locally without reporting the results (or RTT measurements) to the high-end UEs 904, 906, 908 and the network / base station 902 to save power and reduce latency.

[0132] In another embodiment, the NR-light UE 910 may report RTT measurements in a higher layer signaling protocol (such as an LPP type protocol) between the base station 902 and the NR-light UE 910. The RTT measurement may include multiple observations, and pruning and leveling across these observations may be used to improve the positioning estimate. This procedure may be performed independently with respect to each of the high-end UEs 904, 906, 908 without synchronization of these high-end UEs.

[0133] In one example, the NR-light UE 910 may report measurements to the network (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270) and request the network to perform a positioning estimate. For example, the network may determine the location of the high-end UEs 904, 906, 908, and determine the location of the NR-light UE 910 based on the reported measurements and the corresponding locations of the high-end UEs 904, 906, 908.

[0134] In another example, the NR-lightweight UE 910 may be configured to search for and report to the base station 902 (or other network resources) the high-end UEs 904, 906, 908 that are closest to the NR-lightweight UE 910. In the case of an excessive number of UEs (i.e., more than three UEs), the network (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270) may select which high-end UEs to participate in the NR-lightweight UE positioning. The selection may be based on the availability (arability) and quality of positioning of the high-end UE. The network may notify the NR-lightweight UE 910 (via a communication link 912) which high-end UE group can participate in its positioning. The NR-lightweight UE 910 may send an initial RTT measurement 806 to each of the available high-end UEs and receive a response message 808 from each of the high-end UEs. The NR-lightweight UE 910 may be configured to initiate measurements of specific DL-RS IDs of the high-end UEs. The requested measurement may be acquired at a specified timing in time (e.g., RTT derived from DL-RS ID=5 on frame 100). The NR-light UE 910 may also be configured to signal the high-end UE to stop reporting measurement information. For example, the NR-light UE 910 may remain stationary for an extended period of time, thereby reducing the need for the high-end UE to report location information.

[0135] Reference Fig. 9B , see further Figure 1-9A , an example procedure 950 for positioning a mobile NR-light UE 952 using multiple high-end UEs is shown. The NR-light UE 952 travels on a path 954 and is configured to exchange measurement messages with multiple high-end UEs as it travels along the path. To facilitate description, the path 954 is depicted as a straight line, but the path 954 can be any transposition in space. For example, at a first position 956, the NR-light UE 952 is adjacent to the first high-end UE 962 and exchanges a first RTT measurement (i.e., RTT1) with the first high-end UE 962 via a side link 914. The first high-end UE 962 also provides the NR-light UE 952 with the current position of the first high-end UE 962 at a time corresponding to the RTT distance measurement (t1, d1). The current position of the first high-end UE 962 may be based on SPS positioning or other ground positioning methods.

[0136] The NR-light UE 952 travels along the path 954 to a second location 958 at a second time (t2). The NR-light UE 952 is adjacent to a second high-end UE 964 and exchanges a second RTT measurement (i.e., RTT2) with the second high-end UE 964 via the side link 914. The second high-end UE 964 also provides the current location of the second high-end UE 964 to the NR-light UE 952 at a time corresponding to the second RTT distance measurement (t2, d2). The NR-light UE 952 travels along the path 954 to a third location and exchanges a third RTT measurement (i.e., RTT3) with an adjacent third high-end UE 966 via the side link 914. The third high-end UE 966 also provides the current location of the third high-end UE 966 to the NR-light UE 952 at a time corresponding to the third RTT distance measurement (t3, d3).

[0137] The NR-lightweight UE 952 is configured to determine the current location based on distance measurements obtained from high-end UEs 962, 964, 966. The NR-lightweight UE 952 may utilize an inertial sensor (i.e., sensor 351) to determine a deployment vector between the location where the RTT measurement was obtained and the time at which the current location was calculated. For example, the NR-lightweight UE 952 may utilize an accelerometer and a gyroscope (e.g., STLSM6DSL, etc.) to calculate a first deployment vector 'A' between the first location 956 and the current location of the NR-lightweight UE 952. In general, a deployment vector may have a three-dimensional direction and magnitude, such as azimuth / altitude and range. In one example, the sensor 351 may be configured to detect footsteps or other movements of a user and calculate the deployment based on the footsteps and stride length of the user. At time t3, the NR-lightweight UE 952 may apply the first deployment vector 'A' to the location of the first high-end UE 962 to obtain a projected positioning of the first high-end UE 962', such as Fig. 9B . The first RTT distance (RTT1) is applied to the projected positioning of the first high-end UE 962' to calculate a first range arc 970. Similarly, a second deployment vector 'B' may be calculated and applied to the position of the second high-end UE 964 to obtain the projected positioning of the second high-end UE 964'. The second RTT distance (RTT2) is applied to the projected positioning of the second high-end UE 964' to calculate a second range arc 972. The third range arc 974 may be based on a third RTT measurement distance (RTT3). The positioning of the NR-lightweight UE 952 at time t3 may be estimated based on the intersection of the three range arcs 970, 972, 974. Although Fig. 9B, but the estimated position may be obtained based on RTT and position exchanges with two or more high-end UEs. Thus, in one example, the NR-light UE 952 may be configured to derive its own position without sending measurements to the high-end UEs 962, 964, 966 or the network. Fig. 9B In the positioning procedure described in , the NR-light UE is configured to locally estimate its own positioning without reporting to the high-end UE 962, 964, 966 and the network (e.g., via the gNB) to save power and reduce latency.

[0138] In one embodiment, when encountering a new high-end UE, the NR-light UE 952 may track the positions, measured distances, and corresponding times of several high-end UEs and calculate a running fix). Stale UE positions and measurements may be omitted from the positioning calculation to reduce errors associated with inertial sensor drift. Fig. 9B The positioning method in can be used in crowded events (such as marathons) to reduce the over-the-air messaging between a large group of NR-light UEs and network base stations. The reduction in messaging can reduce the power consumption of NR-light UEs and reduce the latency of the network.

[0139] Reference Fig.10 , see further Figure 1-9B , a method 1000 for determining location information of a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE) includes the stages shown. However, the method 1000 is only an example and not limiting. The method 1000 may be modified, for example, by having stages added, removed, rearranged, combined, performed concurrently, and / or having a single stage split into multiple stages. For example, the following stages 1002 and 1010 are optional. Still other modifications to the method 1000 as shown and described are also possible.

[0140] At stage 1002, method 1000 may optionally include receiving a measurement request message from at least one neighboring high-end user equipment. The communication device 308 in the NR-light UE 706 may be a means for receiving the measurement request message. The measurement request message 804 may be provided via the sidelink channel 730 and configured to indicate that the high-end UE 704 is ready to receive a timing message from the NR-light UE 706.

[0141] At stage 1004, method 1000 includes: transmitting a first timing measurement signal to the at least one adjacent high-end user equipment. The communication device 308 in the NR-light UE 706 may be a means for transmitting the first timing measurement signal. In an example, the NR-light UE 706 may be configured to transmit the DL-RS 806 as the first timing measurement signal at time T1, and the high-end UE 704 is configured to measure the TOA of the DL-RS at time T2. Multiple high-end UEs (such as UEs 904, 906, 908) may be configured to each receive a DL-RS message and capture TOA information about each of the corresponding DL-RS messages.

[0142] At stage 1006, method 1000 includes: receiving a second timing measurement signal from the at least one neighboring high-end user equipment. The processing system 332 and the communication device 308 in the NR-light UE 706 are means for receiving the second timing measurement signal. The high-end UE 704 is configured to send a second timing measurement message 808 to the NR-light UE at time T3. For multiple high-end UEs, the NR-light UE 706 may receive a positioning message from each of the high-end UEs at the corresponding T3. The second timing measurement signal may include an indication of the difference between the TOA of the first timing measurement signal (i.e., DL-RS 806) and the transmission time (i.e., T3) of the second timing measurement message 808.

[0143] At stage 1008, method 1000 includes determining location information of the bandwidth limited UE based on at least the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal. The processing system 332 in the NR-lightweight UE 706 is a device for determining location information. In one example, the NR-lightweight UE 706 measures the TOA of the second timing measurement message 808 at time T4 and calculates location information (e.g., distance from the high-end UE 704), as described in equation (1) above. In one embodiment, the NR-lightweight UE 706 may provide the timing measurement to a network server and receive the calculated distance from the network.

[0144] At stage 1010, method 1000 may optionally include transmitting location information to the at least one adjacent high-end user equipment. The communication device 308 in the NR-light UE 706 is a means for transmitting location information. In an example, the NR-light UE 706 or network resources (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, base station 702) may be configured to determine the distance between the NR-light UE 706 and the high-end UE 704 based on the timing measurement information. The distance information may be provided to the high-end UE 704 via an optional result message 810.

[0145] Reference Fig.11 , see further Figure 1-9B, a method 1100 for providing a timing measurement signal to a bandwidth-limited UE using a high-end UE includes the stages shown. However, the method 1100 is only an example and not limiting. The method 1100 can be modified, for example, by having stages added, removed, rearranged, combined, performed concurrently, and / or having a single stage split into multiple stages. For example, the following stages 1102 and 1108 are optional. Still other modifications to the method 1100 as shown and described are also possible.

[0146] At stage 1102, method 1100 may optionally include sending a measurement request message to the bandwidth limited user equipment. The communication device 308 of the high-end UE 704 is a means for sending the measurement request message. The measurement request message 804 may be provided via the side link channel 730 and is configured to indicate that the high-end UE 704 is ready to receive timing messages from the NR-light UE 706.

[0147] At stage 1104, method 1100 includes: receiving a first timing measurement signal from a bandwidth-constrained user equipment. The communication device 308 of the high-end UE 704 is a device for receiving the first timing measurement signal. The high-end UE 704 is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth-constrained UE. The NR-light UE 706 is an example of a bandwidth-constrained UE. The high-end UE 704 may be in communication with the NR-light UE 706 via a wireless side link 730. The wireless side link 730 may be an NR side link and may support a physical side link control channel (PSCCH) and / or a physical side link shared channel (PSSCH) between the high-end UE 704 and the NR-light UE 706. The NR-light UE 706 may be configured to send a first timing measurement signal as a downlink reference signal (DL-RS) 806 at time T1. In one example, the first timing measurement signal is provided via a side link CSI-RS within a PSSCH transmission. In an example, the high-end UE 704 may also be configured to determine AoA information based on the first timing message 806. The AoA information may be used to determine a position to the NR-light UE 706.

[0148] At stage 1106, method 1100 includes transmitting a second timing measurement signal to the bandwidth-constrained user equipment. The communication device 308 of the high-end UE 704 is a means for transmitting the second timing measurement signal. The high-end UE 704 is configured to measure the arrival time (TOA) of the first timing measurement signal sent at stage 1102. For example, the TOA of the DL-RS 806 is the T2 time, such as Figure 8. The high-end UE 704 is configured to transmit a second timing measurement signal to the NR-light UE 706 based in part on the TOA of the first timing measurement signal. For example, the NR-light UE 706 is configured to receive the second timing measurement signal 808 at T4. The high-end UE 706 may include the time difference between T2 and T3 (i.e., T3-T2) in the second timing measurement signal 808.

[0149] At stage 1108, method 1100 may optionally include: receiving location information from bandwidth-constrained user equipment. The communication device 308 of the high-end UE 704 is a means for receiving location information. In an example, the NR-light UE 706 may determine the distance to the high-end UE 704. The NR-light UE 706 may provide the calculated distance (and possible orientation based on the AoA provided by the high-end UE 704) to the base station 702 via the wireless link 722. The calculated measurement may be included in a higher layer signaling package (such as an LPP type protocol). The NR-light UE 706 may be configured to provide timing message information (e.g., T1, T2, T3, T4) to a network server (e.g., location server 230, LMF270) to calculate location information (e.g., distance, orientation). In an example with multiple high-end UEs (such as UEs 904, 906, 908), the network server may utilize the location of the high-end UE and the location information obtained via RTT (e.g., RTT1, RTT2, RTT3) exchanges to calculate a location estimate for the NR-light UE 910. The location estimate may be provided directly to the NR-light UE 910 via the wireless link 912. In an example, the NR-light UE 706 may provide a signal to the high-end UE 704 indicating how often the RTT exchanges will occur.

[0150] Reference Fig.12 , see further Figure 1-9B , the method 1200 for determining the location of a bandwidth-limited UE includes the stages shown. However, the method 1200 is only an example and not limiting. The method 1200 can be modified, for example, by having stages added, removed, rearranged, combined, performed concurrently, and / or having a single stage split into multiple stages.

[0151] At stage 1202, method 1200 includes: receiving an indication of one or more adjacent high-end user equipment from a bandwidth-limited UE. The communication device 326 in the network entity 306 is a device for receiving an indication. In an example, the NR-light UE 706 is an example of a bandwidth-limited UE, and a side link 730 can be used to search for adjacent high-end UEs (such as high-end UE 704). The NR-light UE 706 can then use the wireless link 722 to provide an indication (such as a device ID, user ID\ or other data fields associated with the high-end UE 704) to the base station 702. The wireless side link 730 can be a D2D P2P link 192, 194, an NR side link, a PC5 link, or other technology. The side link 730 can support a physical side link control channel (PSCCH) and / or a physical side link shared channel (PSSCH) between the high-end UE 704 and the NR-light UE 706.

[0152] At stage 1204, method 1200 includes: determining one or more participating user equipment based on an indication of the one or more high-end user equipment. The processing system 336 in the network entity 306 can be a device for determining one or more participating user equipment. The network entity 306 can receive indications of multiple neighboring high-end UEs from the NR-light UE 706 and select which high-end UEs are to participate in NR-light UE positioning. For example, if there are more than 3 high-end UEs, the network entity 306 can dynamically select a high-end UE group based on the availability and quality of positioning of the high-end UE. The selected high-end UE group is one or more participating user equipment. In one example, the NR-light UE 706 can also receive timing measurements from the base station 702 and from the high-end UE. In this example, the base station 702 can be regarded as a participating UE.

[0153] At stage 1206, method 1200 includes providing an indication of one or more participating user equipment to the NR-light user equipment. The communication device 326 in the network entity 306 is a device for providing an indication of one or more participating user equipment. The indication may include a device ID, or other identification information to enable the NR-light UE 706 to exchange timing messages with the adjacent high-end UE 704. In an example, the indication may include a specific DL-RS ID of a specific high-end UE. The indication may also include frame information for facilitating the exchange of timing messages.

[0154] At stage 1208, method 1200 includes receiving measurement information from a bandwidth limited user equipment. The communication device 326 in the network entity 306 is a means for receiving measurement information. The NR-Light UE 706 is configured to provide measurement information (such as timing measurements RTT1, RTT2, RTT3 or calculated distances 920, 922, 924) to the base station 902 via the wireless link 912. The measurement information may be included in a higher layer signaling protocol (e.g., LPP) and processed by the network entity 306.

[0155] At stage 1210, the method 1200 includes: calculating the location of the bandwidth limited user equipment based at least in part on the measurement information. The processing system 336 in the network entity 306 may be a device for calculating the location of the NR-light user equipment. The network entity 306 may be configured to determine the location of the NR-light UE 910 using the locations of the high-end UEs 904, 906, 908 and the measured distances 920, 922, 924 (and possible orientation based on AoA measurements). For example, the network entity 306 may calculate the location of the NR-light UE 910 using multi-lateration positioning techniques. The network entity 306 may receive multiple measurements from the NR-light UE 910 associated with each of the participating user equipments, and may utilize pruning and averaging across these measurements when calculating the location of the NR-light UE 910.

[0156] Reference Fig.13 , see further Figure 1-9B , a method 1300 for determining the location of a mobile bandwidth-limited UE includes the stages shown. However, the method 1300 is only an example and not limiting. The method 1300 may be modified, for example, by having stages added, removed, rearranged, combined, performed concurrently, and / or having a single stage split into multiple stages.

[0157] At stage 1302, method 1300 includes: using a bandwidth limited user equipment to determine a location of a first high-end user equipment and a range to the first high-end user equipment at a first time. The communication device 308 in the NR-light UE 952 may be a means for determining the location of the first high-end UE and the range to the first high-end UE. In an example, the bandwidth limited UE is the NR-light UE 952. Fig. 9B , the first time may be time t1 when the NR-light UE 952 exchanges timing messages with the first high-end UE 962 via the side link 914 at the first location 956. The first high-end UE 962 also provides its current location at t1, and may provide the AoA of the timing message to the NR-light UE 952 via the side link 914 at time t1.

[0158] At stage 1304, the method 1300 includes determining, using the bandwidth limited user equipment, a location of a second high-end user equipment and a range to the second high-end user equipment at a second time. The communication device 308 in the NR-Light UE 952 may be a means for determining a location of the second high-end UE and a range to the second high-end UE. Fig. 9B In the example of , the second time may be time t3 when the NR-light UE 952 exchanges timing messages with the third high-end UE 966 via the side link 914 at the third location. The third high-end UE 966 also provides its current location at t3, and may provide the AoA of the timing message to the NR-light UE 952 via the side link 914 at time t3.

[0159] At stage 1306, method 1300 includes: determining a deployment vector of a bandwidth limited user equipment from a first time to a second time. The processing system 332 and the sensor 351 in the NR-light UE 952 are means for determining a deployment vector. The NR-light UE 952 may utilize an inertial sensor (i.e., sensor 351) to determine a deployment vector between a location at which an RTT measurement is obtained and a time at which a current location is calculated. For example, the NR-light UE 952 may utilize an accelerometer and a gyroscope to calculate a first deployment vector 'A' between a first location 956 and a current location of the NR-light UE 952. The deployment vector may include a three-dimensional direction and magnitude, such as azimuth / altitude and range. The deployment vector represents a change in positioning as a result of detection by the inertial sensor.

[0160] At stage 1308, method 1300 includes: calculating a projected position of a first high-end user equipment based on the deployment vector. The processing system 332 in the NR-light UE 952 is a means for calculating the projected position of the first high-end UE. Fig. 9B As depicted in , the first deployment vector 'A' may be applied to the position of the first high-end UE 962 to generate a projected position 962'. The projected position of the first high-end UE 962' represents a theoretical position of the first high-end UE 962 if the first high-end UE 962' moves equally with the bandwidth-limited UE from the first time to the second time.

[0161] At stage 1310, the method 1300 includes: calculating an estimated position of the bandwidth limited user equipment at a second time based at least in part on the range to the first high-end user equipment as applied to the projected position of the first high-end user equipment and the position of the second high-end user equipment and the range to the second high-end user equipment. The processing system 332 in the NR-light UE 952 is a means for calculating the estimated position. At the second time, the NR-light UE 952 may apply the first deployment vector 'A' to the position of the first high-end UE 962 to obtain a projected position of the first high-end UE 962', as Fig. 9B The NR-light UE 952 is configured to apply the first distance (ie, RTT1) to the projected location of the first high-end UE 962' to calculate a first range arc 970. The second range arc (eg, Fig. 9B The third range arc (974) in (974) may be based on a third RTT measurement distance (RTT3). The positioning of the NR-light UE 952 at the second time may be estimated based on the intersection of the two range arcs 970, 974. Although method 1300 discloses two range arcs, three or more range arcs may be obtained based on the exchange of the positions of three or more high-end UEs with the RTI. The AoA information received from the high-end UE may also be used to calculate the estimated positioning. In one example, the high-end UE may move from one location to another between the first time and the second time, and thus a single high-end UE may be used as the first high-end UE and the second high-end UE in method 1300. The method 1300 enables the NR-light UE 952 to calculate its own position locally without computational assistance from the network or the high-end UE. That is, the NR-light UE 952 does not require auxiliary data from the network (e.g., via the gNB) or the high-end UE. The NR-light UE 952 can discover neighboring high-end UEs and exchange timing messages (including the positioning estimate of the high-end UE), and then estimate its position without utilizing the network. Performing positioning calculations locally enables the NR-light UE 952 to save power and allows for a reduction in message traffic on the network.

[0162] Other examples and implementations fall within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software and computers, the above functions may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof. Features that implement the functions may also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed so that parts of the functions are implemented at different physical locations.

[0163] Similarly, as used herein, “or” used in a list of items followed by “at least one of” or followed by “one or more of” indicates a disjunctive list so that, for example, a list of “at least one of A, B, or C” or a list of “one or more of A, B, or C” or “A, B, or C, or a combination thereof” means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), as well as combinations having more than one feature (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.).

[0164] As used herein, unless otherwise stated, a recitation that a function or operation is “based on” an item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the recited item or condition, and may be based on one or more items and / or conditions other than the recited item or condition.

[0165] Furthermore, an indication that information is sent or transmitted "to" an entity, or a statement that information is sent or transmitted "to" an entity, is not required to complete the communication. Such indications or statements include situations where information is passed from a sending entity but does not reach the intended recipient of the information. An intended recipient may be referred to as a recipient entity, e.g., a receiving execution environment, even if the information is not actually received. Furthermore, an entity configured to send or transmit information "to" an intended recipient is not required to be configured to complete the delivery of the information to the intended recipient. For example, the entity may provide information with an indication of the intended recipient to another entity that is capable of forwarding the information and the indication of the intended recipient.

[0166] A wireless communication system is a system in which at least some communications are transmitted wirelessly, for example, by electromagnetic waves and / or sound waves propagating through atmospheric space rather than through wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not enable all communications to be transmitted wirelessly, but may be configured to enable at least some communications to be transmitted wirelessly. In addition, the term "wireless communication device" or similar terms does not require that the functionality of the device is exclusively or uniformly primarily used for communication, or that the device is a mobile device, but rather indicates that the device includes wireless communication capabilities (unidirectional or bidirectional), for example, including at least one radio (each radio is part of a transmitter, receiver or transceiver) for wireless communication.

[0167] Substantial modifications may be made depending on specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may also be used, and / or specific elements may be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. In addition, connections to other computing devices (such as network input / output devices) may be employed.

[0168] As used herein, the terms "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 computer system, various computer-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / codes for execution to the processor(s), and / or may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / codes (e.g., as signals). In many implementations, computer-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media may 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.

[0169] Common forms of physical and / or tangible computer readable media include, for example: a floppy disk, a floppy disk, a hard disk, a magnetic tape, or any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, any other physical medium with a pattern of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or memory cartridge, a carrier wave as described hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer can read instructions and / or code.

[0170] Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions to one or more processors for execution. By way of example only, the instructions may initially be carried on a magnetic disk and / or optical disc of a remote computer. The remote computer may download the instructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions as signals over a transmission medium for receipt and / or execution by the computer system.

[0171] The methods, systems, and devices discussed above are examples. Various configurations may appropriately omit, replace, or add various procedures or components. For example, in an alternative configuration, the methods may be performed in an order different from the order described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. In addition, the 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 may evolve, and thus, many elements are examples, without limiting the scope of the present disclosure or claims.

[0172] Specific details are given in this description to provide a thorough understanding of example configurations (including implementations). However, these configurations can be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary details to avoid confusing these configurations. This description only provides example configurations without limiting the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims. On the contrary, the previous description of the configuration provides a description for implementing the described technology. Various changes can be made to the function and arrangement of the elements without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure.

[0173] Each configuration may also be described as a process depicted as a flow chart or block diagram. Although each flow chart or block diagram may describe the operation as a sequential process, some operations may be performed in parallel or simultaneously. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. The process may have additional stages and functions that are not included in the accompanying drawings. In addition, examples of these methods may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the program code or code segment for performing the task may be stored in a non-transient computer-readable medium (such as a storage medium). The processor may perform one or more of the described tasks.

[0174] Components shown in the drawings and / or discussed herein as being connected, coupled (e.g., communicatively coupled), or in communication with each other (functionally or otherwise) are operatively coupled. That is, they can be connected directly or indirectly by wire and / or wirelessly to enable signal transmission between them.

[0175] Several example configurations have been described, and various modifications, alternative constructions, 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 the application of the present invention or otherwise modify the application of the present invention. In addition, several operations may be taken before, during, or after considering the above elements. Accordingly, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0176] "About" and / or "about" as used herein in reference to a measurable value (such as an amount, a duration of time, etc.) encompasses deviations of ±20% or ±10%, ±5%, or +0.1% from the specified value, as is appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein. "Substantially" as used herein in reference to a measurable value (such as an amount, a duration of time, a physical property (such as a frequency), etc.) also encompasses deviations of ±20% or ±10%, ±5%, or +0.1% from the specified value, as is appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein.

[0177] A statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or higher than) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that a value meets or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is one value higher than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system. A statement that a value is less than (or within or below) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that a value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is one value lower than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system.

[0178] Furthermore, more than one invention may be disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for performing positioning by a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE), comprising: transmitting a first timing measurement signal to at least one neighboring high-end UE, wherein the at least one neighboring high-end UE is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth-limited UE; receiving a second timing measurement signal from the at least one neighboring high end UE; as well as The location information of the bandwidth limited UE is determined based on at least the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the location information of the bandwidth-limited UE comprises: A distance to the at least one neighboring high-end UE is calculated using at least one processor in the bandwidth-constrained UE.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising: establishing a sidelink connection to the at least one neighboring high end UE, wherein the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal are transmitted and received via the sidelink connection; as well as A current location of the at least one neighboring high-end UE is received via the sidelink connection.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Obtaining an identification of the at least one adjacent high-end UE from a base station; as well as A sidelink connection is established to the at least one neighboring high end UE, wherein the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal are transmitted and received via the sidelink connection.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: A measurement request message is received from the at least one neighboring high end UE before transmitting the first timing measurement signal.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: The location information is transmitted to the at least one proximate high-end UE.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: Transmit location information to network nodes.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal utilize a channel state information reference signal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the channel state information reference signal is within a physical sidelink control channel.

10. A bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE), comprising: Memory; Transceiver; at least one processor operably coupled to the memory and the transceiver and configured to: transmitting a first timing measurement signal to at least one neighboring high-end UE, wherein the at least one neighboring high-end UE is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth-limited UE; receiving a second timing measurement signal from the at least one neighboring high end UE; as well as The location information of the bandwidth limited UE is determined based on at least the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal.

11. The bandwidth limited UE of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to calculate a distance to the at least one neighboring high-end UE.

12. The bandwidth limited UE of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: establishing a sidelink connection to the at least one neighboring high end UE, wherein the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal are transmitted and received via the sidelink connection; and A current location of the at least one neighboring high-end UE is received via the sidelink connection.

13. The bandwidth limited UE of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: Obtaining an identification of the at least one neighboring high-end UE from a network node; and A sidelink connection is established to the at least one neighboring high end UE, wherein the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal are transmitted and received via the sidelink connection.

14. The bandwidth limited UE of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive a measurement request message from the at least one neighboring high end UE before transmitting the first timing measurement signal.

15. The bandwidth-constrained UE of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit the location information to the at least one neighboring high-end UE.

16. The bandwidth-constrained UE of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit the location information to a network node.

17. The bandwidth-constrained UE of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to utilize a channel state information reference signal for the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal.

18. The bandwidth limited UE of claim 17, wherein the channel state information reference signal is within a physical sidelink control channel.

19. A bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE), comprising: means for transmitting a first timing measurement signal to at least one neighboring high end UE, wherein the at least one neighboring high end UE is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth limited UE; means for receiving a second timing measurement signal from the at least one neighboring high end UE; as well as means for determining location information of the bandwidth limited UE based at least on the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal.

20. Bandwidth-constrained User Equipment (UE) according to claim 19, comprising means for performing the method steps according to any one of claims 2-9.

21. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions for causing one or more processors to locate a bandwidth-constrained user equipment (UE), the processor-readable instructions comprising: code for transmitting a first timing measurement signal to at least one neighboring high end UE, wherein the at least one neighboring high end UE is capable of using more bandwidth than the bandwidth limited UE; code for receiving a second timing measurement signal from the at least one neighboring high end UE; as well as Code for determining location information of the bandwidth-limited UE based at least on the first timing measurement signal and the second timing measurement signal.

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