Method and apparatus for partial positioning state information (PSI) omission rules for lower layer transmissions

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) generates a positioning state information (PSI) report and sends the PSI report to a network entity in a lower layer channel container (e.g., in a physical channel or a medium access control channel) to reduce latency. For example, a PSI report is generated based on multiple PSI report elements determined based on uplink (UL), downlink (DL), or UL and DL positioning measurements. Each PSI report element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE. The PSI report elements are sorted according to a priority-based rule, for example, from the highest priority to the lowest priority. If the size of the PSI report element is larger than the lower layer channel container, one or more low priority PSI report elements in the low priority PSI report element are omitted from the PSI report. The network entity can receive and process the PSI report based on the same priority-based rule.

Description

Technical Field

[0001]

[0013] Generally speaking, aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless communications and the like. Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication systems have evolved over many generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including temporary 2.5G networks), third generation (3G) high speed data, wireless service with Internet capabilities, and fourth generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE), 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) variations of TDMA, and the like.

[0003] The fifth generation (5G) mobile standard requires higher data transmission speeds, a larger number of connections and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance, the 5G standard (also referred to as "new radio" or "NR") is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of the tens of thousands of users and 1 gigabit per second to dozens of workers in an office floor. Hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported to support large sensor deployments. Therefore, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to the current 4G / LTE standards. In addition, signaling efficiency should be enhanced and latency should be significantly reduced compared to current standards. Summary of the invention

[0004] A user equipment (UE) generates a positioning state information (PSI) report and sends the PSI report to a network entity in a lower layer channel container (e.g., in a physical channel or a medium access control channel) to reduce latency. For example, a PSI report is generated based on multiple PSI report elements determined based on uplink (UL), downlink (DL), or UL and DL positioning measurements performed by the UE. Each PSI report element includes information related to the positioning measurements performed by the UE. The PSI report elements are sorted according to a priority-based rule, for example, from the highest priority to the lowest priority. If the size of the PSI report element is larger than the lower layer channel container, one or more low priority PSI report elements in the low priority PSI report element are omitted from the PSI report. The network entity can receive and process the PSI report based on the same priority-based rule.

[0005] In one implementation, a method for wireless communication of a user equipment (UE) performed by a UE includes: determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE; generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report; and sending the PSI report to a network entity in a lower layer channel container.

[0006] In one implementation, a user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication includes: a wireless transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with a network entity in a wireless communication system; at least one memory; at least one processor coupled to the wireless transceiver and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: determine a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE; generate a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report; and send the PSI report to the network entity in a lower layer channel container via the wireless transceiver.

[0007] In one implementation, a user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication includes: a unit for determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE; a unit for generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report; and a unit for sending the PSI report to a network entity in a lower layer channel container.

[0008] In one implementation, a non-transitory storage medium includes program code stored thereon, the program code being operable to configure at least one processor in a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, the program code comprising: program code for determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE; program code for generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report; and program code for sending the PSI report to a network entity in a lower layer channel container.

[0009] In one implementation, a method for wireless communication of a user equipment (UE) performed by a network entity in a wireless network includes: receiving a positioning state information (PSI) report from the UE in a physical lower layer data channel container, the PSI report containing PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are sorted by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report; and processing the PSI report using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

[0010] In one implementation, a network entity in a wireless network configured to support wireless communications of a user equipment (UE) includes: an external interface configured to wirelessly communicate with the UE; at least one memory; at least one processor coupled to the external interface and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive a positioning state information (PSI) report from the UE in a lower layer channel container via the external interface, the PSI report comprising PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are sorted by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report; and process the PSI report using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

[0011] In one implementation, a network entity in a wireless network configured to support wireless communications of a user equipment (UE) includes: a unit for receiving a positioning state information (PSI) report from a UE in a lower layer channel container, the PSI report containing PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are sorted by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report; and a unit for processing the PSI report using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

[0012] In one implementation, a non-transitory storage medium including program code stored thereon, the program code being operable to configure at least one processor in a network entity in a wireless network to support wireless communications of a user equipment (UE), the program code comprising: program code for receiving a positioning state information (PSI) report from the UE in a lower layer channel container, the PSI report comprising PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are sorted by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report; and program code for processing the PSI report using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided solely for illustration of the aspects and not limitation thereof.

[0014] Figure 1 An exemplary wireless communication system in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0015] Figure 2A and Figure 2B Example wireless network structures in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure are shown.

[0016] Figure 3 A base station and a user equipment (UE) are shown (they may be Figure 1 A block diagram of the design of one of the base stations and one of the UEs in the embodiment.

[0017] Figure 4 is a diagram of the structure of an exemplary subframe sequence with positioning reference signal (PRS) positioning opportunities.

[0018] Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating a UE configured to sort and omit low priority Positioning State Information (PSI) report elements in a PSI report to be sent on a lower layer channel in accordance with the disclosure herein.

[0019] Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating a UE and a network entity configured to respectively send and receive a PSI report having PSI reporting elements sorted based on priority on a lower layer channel according to the disclosure herein, wherein low priority PSI reporting elements are omitted from the PSI report.

[0020] Figure 7is a message flow having various messages sent between components of a wireless communication system according to the disclosure herein, the message flow illustrating ordering and omission of low priority PSI report elements in a PSI report sent on a lower layer channel.

[0021] Figure 8 is a flow chart of an exemplary method for wireless communication of a UE in a manner consistent with the disclosed implementations, wherein the UE orders and omits PSI report elements from a PSI report according to priority-based rules and sends the PSI report on a lower layer channel.

[0022] Fig. 9 is a flow chart of an exemplary method for wireless communication of a UE consistent with the disclosed implementations, wherein a network entity receives a PSI report on a lower layer channel, the PSI report including PSI report elements ordered according to a priority-based rule.

[0023] Fig.10 is a schematic block diagram illustrating certain exemplary features of a UE capable of sorting and omitting low priority PSI report elements in a PSI report sent on a lower layer channel in accordance with the disclosure herein.

[0024] Fig.11 A schematic block diagram illustrating certain exemplary features of a network entity capable of supporting wireless communications with a UE to sort and omit low priority PSI report elements in a PSI report sent on a lower layer channel is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] Various aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and in the related drawings relating to various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be designed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the present disclosure.

[0026] The words "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.

[0027] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of different techniques and methods may be used to represent the information and signals described below. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the following description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

[0028] In addition, many aspects are described in terms of a sequence of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein may be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. In addition, the sequence of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a corresponding set of computer instructions stored therein, which, when executed, will cause or instruct the associated processor of the device to perform the functionality described herein. Therefore, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which are contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the various aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic configured to perform the described actions."

[0029] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any specific radio access technology (RAT). In general, a UE may 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, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headsets, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate on a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or may be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may 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 may communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE may be connected to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms are also possible for the UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet, such as over a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (eg, based on IEEE 802.11, etc.), and the like.

[0030] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with a UE (depending on the network in which the base station is deployed), and may alternatively be referred to 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 functionality, while in other systems it may provide additional control and / or network management functionality. The communication link through 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 through 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 traffic channel or a DL / forward traffic channel.

[0031] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmission point or to multiple physical transmission points that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical transmission point, the physical transmission point may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to a cell of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical transmission points, the physical transmission point may be an antenna array of the 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 transmission points, the physical transmission point 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 transmission point may be a serving base station that receives a measurement report from a UE and a neighbor base station whose reference RF signal the UE is measuring.

[0032] Figure 1 An exemplary wireless communication system 100 is shown. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) includes various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macrocell 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 a 5G network) or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0033] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a next generation core (NGC)) via a backhaul link 122, or interface to one or more location servers 172 via the core network 170. The base stations 102 may perform, among other functions, functions related to one or more of: transmitting user data, wireless channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), user and device tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and transmission of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via EPC / NGC) via a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0034] The base station 102 can communicate with the UE 104 wirelessly. Each of the base stations 102 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells can be supported by the 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 (referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.)), and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) used to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells can be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) or other protocol types) that can provide access to different types of UEs. In some cases, the term "cell" can also refer to a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station, as long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a certain portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0035] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of adjacent macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handoff region), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with the larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' may have a coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0036] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include UL (also referred to as a reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, which may include spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL ​​than for UL).

[0037] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a WLAN station (STA) 152 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz) via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) before communicating to determine whether a channel is available.

[0038] The small cell base station 102' can operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can employ LTE or 5G technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum as the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can improve coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE Unlicensed (LTE-U), License Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0039] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180, which may operate in mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a portion 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 may extend downward to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short distances. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmitting and receiving) on ​​the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for extremely high path loss and short distances. In addition, it will be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the foregoing description is merely exemplary and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0040] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines the location of a given target device (e.g., a UE) (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 for the receiving device. In order to change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that are broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node can use an array of antennas (also referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") that creates a beam of RF waveform that can be "guided" to point in different directions without actually moving the antenna. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to each antenna with the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the individual antennas are added together to increase the radiation in the desired direction while canceling to suppress the radiation in the undesired direction.

[0041] 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 and / or adjust the phase setting of an antenna array in a particular direction to amplify the RF signal received from that direction (e.g., increase the gain level of the RF signal received from that direction). Thus, when a receiver is referred to as performing 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 of 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.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

[0042] In 5G, the spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base stations 102 / 180, UEs 104 / 182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (from 450 to 6000 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 to 52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one 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 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 and UE-specific control channels. 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. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, there may be no UE-specific signaling information and signals 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 can have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carrier. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. For example, this is done to balance the load on different carriers. Because a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier on which a base station is communicating, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. can be used interchangeably.

[0043] 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 obtained by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0044] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs (such as UE 190) indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UEs 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., through D2D P2P link 192, UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to WLAN AP 150 (through D2D P2P link 194, UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In one example, any well-known D2D RAT (such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), etc.) to support D2D P2P links 192 and 194.

[0045] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a UE 164 that may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 over the communication link 120 and / or with the mmW base station 180 over the 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. In one aspect, the UE 164 may include a PSI manager 166 that may enable the UE 164 to perform the UE operations described herein. Note that although Figure 1 Only one UE is shown as having a PSI manager 166, but Figure 1 Any UE in the UEs may be configured to perform the UE operations described herein.

[0046] Figure 2AAn example wireless network architecture 200 is shown. For example, the NGC 210 (also referred to as "5GC") can be functionally viewed as a control plane function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate cooperatively to form a core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the NGC 210, and specifically, to the control plane function 214 and the user plane function 212. In additional configurations, the eNB 224 can also be connected to the NGC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. In addition, the eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the new RAN 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of the eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. The gNB 222 or the eNB 224 may communicate with the UE 204 (e.g., Figure 1 204). Another optional aspect may include one or more location servers 230a, 230b (sometimes collectively referred to as location servers 230) (which may correspond to location server 172), which may communicate with control plane function 214 and user plane function 212 in NGC 210, respectively, to provide location assistance for UE 204. Location server 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, may all correspond to a single server. Location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for UE 204 that may be connected to location server 230 via a core network, NGC 210, and / or via the Internet (not shown). Furthermore, location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively, may be outside the core network (e.g., in new RAN 220).

[0047] Figure 2BAnother example wireless network structure 250 is shown. For example, the NGC 260 (also referred to as "5GC") can be functionally viewed as a control plane function provided by the access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, the user plane function (UPF) 262, the session management function (SMF) 266, the SLP 268, and the LMF 270, which operate in conjunction to form the core network (i.e., NGC 260). The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the ng-eNB 224 to the NGC 260 and specifically to the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively. In additional configurations, the gNB 222 can also be connected to the NGC 260 via the control plane interface 265 to the AMF 264 and the user plane interface 263 to the UPF 262. In addition, the eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223 (with or without gNB direct connectivity to the NGC 260). In some configurations, the new RAN 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNB 224 and gNB 222. The ng-gNB 222 or the eNB 224 can communicate with the UE 204 (e.g., Figure 1 The base stations of the new RAN 220 communicate with the AMF 264 over the N2 interface and with the UPF 262 over the N3 interface.

[0048] The functions of AMF include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of session management (SM) messages between UE204 and SMF 266, transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between UE 204 and short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). AMF also interacts with authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and UE 204, and receives intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) User Identity Module (USIM), AMF retrieves security materials from AUSF. The functions of AMF also include security context management (SCM). SCM receives keys from SEFA, which SCM uses to derive keys specific to the 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 (which may correspond to the location server 172) and between the new RAN 220 and the LMF 270, allocation of an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer identifier for interworking with the EPS, and notification of mobility events for the UE 204. In addition, the AMF also supports the functionality of non-3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access networks.

[0049] The functions of the UPF include: acting as an anchor point for intra / inter-RAT mobility (if 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, service steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), service usage reporting, Quality of Service (QoS) processing for the user plane (e.g., UL / DL rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in DL), UL service verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), 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.

[0050] The functions of SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of service steering at UPF to route services to appropriate destinations, control of policy enforcement and parts of QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface over which SMF 266 communicates with AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0051] Another optional aspect may include LMF 270, which can communicate with NGC 260 to provide location assistance for UE 204. LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed on multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each can correspond to a single server. LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more positioning services for UE 204, and UE 204 can be connected to LMF 270 via the core network, NGC 260 and / or via the Internet (not shown).

[0052] Figure 3 Base station 102 and UE 104 (which may be Figure 1 1. Block diagram of a design 300 of a base station 102 and a UE 104. Base station 102 may be equipped with T antennas 334a through 334t, and UE 104 may be equipped with R antennas 352a through 352r, where in general, T≥1 and R≥1.

[0053] At the base station 102, the transmit processor 320 may receive data for one or more UEs from the data source 312, select one or more modulation and coding schemes (MCS) for each UE based at least in part on a channel quality indicator (CQI) received from the UE, process (e.g., encode and modulate) the data for the UE based at least in part on the MCS selected for each UE, and provide data symbols for all UEs. The transmit processor 320 may also process system information (e.g., for semi-static resource partitioning information (SRPI), etc.) and control information (e.g., CQI requests, grants, upper layer signaling, etc.), and provide overhead symbols and control symbols. The transmit processor 320 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS)) and synchronization signals (e.g., primary synchronization signals (PSS) and secondary synchronization signals (SSS)). The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 330 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, overhead symbols, and / or reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide T output symbol streams to T modulators (MOD) 332a to 332t. Each modulator 332 may process a corresponding output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 332 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and up-convert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. T downlink signals from modulators 332a to 332t may be sent via T antennas 334a to 334t, respectively. According to various aspects described in more detail below, synchronization signals may be generated using position coding to convey additional information.

[0054] At the UE 104, antennas 352a to 352r can receive downlink signals from the base station 102 and / or other base stations, and can provide received signals to demodulators (DEMOD) 354a to 354r, respectively. Each demodulator 354 can condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) the received signal to obtain input samples. Each demodulator 354 can further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. The MIMO detector 356 can obtain received symbols from all R demodulators 354a to 354r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols (if applicable), and provide detected symbols. The receive processor 358 can process (e.g., demodulate and decode) the detected symbols, provide decoded data for the UE 104 to the data sink 360, and provide decoded control information and system information to the controller / processor 380. The channel processor may determine reference signal received power (RSRP), received signal strength indicator (RSSI), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), channel quality indicator (CQI), etc. In some aspects, one or more components of the UE 104 may be included in a housing.

[0055] On the uplink, at the UE 104, a transmit processor 364 may receive and process data from a data source 362 and control information from a controller / processor 380 (e.g., for reports including RSRP, RSSI, RSRQ, CQI, etc.). The transmit processor 364 may also generate reference symbols for one or more reference signals. The symbols from the transmit processor 364 may be precoded by the TX MIMO processor 266 (if applicable), further processed by modulators 354a through 354r (e.g., for DFT-s-OFDM, CP-OFDM, etc.), and transmitted to the base station 102. At the base station 102, uplink signals from the UE 104 and other UEs may be received by the antenna 334, processed by the demodulator 332, detected by the MIMO detector 336 (if applicable), and further processed by the receive processor 338 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 104. The receive processor 338 may provide the decoded data to the data sink 339 and the decoded control information to the controller / processor 340. The base station 102 may include a communication unit 344 and communicate with the location server 172 via the communication unit 344. The location server 172 may include a communication unit 394, a controller / processor 390, and a memory 392.

[0056] The controller / processor 340 of the base station 102, the controller / processor 380 of the UE 104, the controller / microprocessor 390 of the location server 172, and / or Figure 3 Any other component of the may perform one or more techniques associated with sorting and omitting low priority PSI report elements in a positioning state information (PSI) report sent on a lower layer channel, as described in more detail elsewhere herein. For example, the controller / processor 340 of the base station 102, the controller / processor 380 of the UE 104, the controller / microprocessor 390 of the location server 172, and / or Figure 3 Any other component may perform or direct e.g. Figure 8 The process of 800 Fig. 9 The operations of process 900 and / or other processes as described herein. Memories 342, 382, ​​and 392 may store data and program codes for base station 102, UE 104, and location server 172, respectively. In some aspects, memory 342, memory 382, ​​and memory 392 may include non-transitory computer-readable media storing one or more instructions for wireless communication. For example, one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of base station 102, UE 104, or location server 172, may perform or direct, for example, Figure 8 The process of 800 Fig. 9 The process 900 and / or operations of other processes as described herein. The scheduler 346 can schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0057] As pointed out above, Figure 3 is provided as an example. Other examples may differ from those described above. Figure 3 An example of description.

[0058] Figure 4 The structure of an exemplary subframe sequence 400 with positioning reference signal (PRS) positioning opportunities according to various aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The subframe sequence 400 can be suitable for broadcasting PRS signals from a base station (e.g., any of the base stations described herein) or other network nodes. The subframe sequence 400 can be used in an LTE system, and the same or similar subframe sequences can be used in other communication technologies / protocols (such as 5GNR). Figure 4 In , 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. Figure 4As shown, the downlink and uplink radio frames 410 may each have a duration of 10 milliseconds (ms). For a downlink frequency division duplex (FDD) mode, in the example shown, the radio frame 410 is organized into ten subframes 412 each having a duration of 1 ms. Each subframe 412 includes two time slots 414, each time slot 414 having, for example, a duration of 0.5 ms.

[0059] In the frequency domain, the available bandwidth may be divided into uniformly spaced orthogonal subcarriers 416 (also referred to as "tones" or "bins"). For example, for a normal length cyclic prefix (CP) using, for example, 15 kHz spacing, the subcarriers 416 may be grouped into groups of twelve (12) subcarriers. A resource (represented as a block of subframes 412) of one OFDM symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain is referred to as a resource element (RE). Each group of 12 subcarriers 416 and 14 OFDM symbols is referred to as a resource block (RB), and in the example above, the number of subcarriers in a resource block may be written as For a given channel bandwidth, the number of available resource blocks on each channel 422 (which is also referred to as a transmission bandwidth configuration 422) is indicated as For example, for the 3 MHz channel bandwidth in the above example, the number of available resource blocks on each channel 422 is given by Note that the frequency components of a resource block (eg, 12 subcarriers) are called physical resource blocks (PRBs).

[0060] The base station can Figure 4 The frame configuration shown is similar or the same as the frame configuration to send a radio frame (e.g., radio frame 410) or other physical layer signaling sequence supporting a PRS signal (i.e., a downlink (DL) PRS), which can be measured and used for UE (e.g., any UE described herein) positioning estimation. Other types of wireless nodes in the wireless communication network (e.g., distributed antenna system (DAS), remote radio head (RRH), UE, AP, etc.) can also be configured to send to communicate with Figure 4 A PRS signal configured in a manner similar to (or identical to) that depicted in .

[0061] A set of resource elements used for transmission of a PRS signal is referred to as a "PRS resource". A set of resource elements may span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and N (e.g., 1 or more) consecutive symbols in a time slot 414 in the time domain. For example, the cross-hatched resource elements in a time slot 414 may be examples of two PRS resources. A "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources used for transmission of a PRS signal, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource identifier (ID). In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same transmit receive point (TRP). The PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (wherein a TRP may transmit one or more beams). Note that this does not have any implication as to whether the UE knows the TRP and beam from which the signal is transmitted.

[0062] PRS may be sent in special positioning subframes grouped into positioning opportunities. A PRS opportunity is an example of a periodically repeated time window (e.g., consecutive time slots) in which PRS is expected to be sent. Each periodically repeated time window may include a group of one or more consecutive PRS opportunities. Each PRS opportunity may include N PRS The PRS positioning opportunities of the cells supported by the base station may occur periodically at an interval determined by T PRS milliseconds or subframes. As an example, Figure 4 shows the periodicity of positioning opportunities, where N PRS is equal to 4 418 and T PRS Greater than or equal to 20420. In some aspects, T may be measured as the number of subframes between the start of consecutive positioning opportunities. PRS Multiple PRS opportunities may be associated with the same PRS resource configuration, in which case each such opportunity is referred to as an "opportunity of the PRS resource" or the like.

[0063] PRS can be sent at constant power. PRS can also be sent at zero power (i.e., muted). When PRS signals between different cells overlap by occurring simultaneously or almost simultaneously, muting (which turns off regularly scheduled PRS transmission) may be useful. In this case, PRS signals from some cells can be muted, while PRS signals from other cells are sent (e.g., at constant power). Muting can assist UEs in signal acquisition and arrival time (TOA) and reference signal time difference (RSTD) measurements of unmuted PRS signals (by avoiding interference from muted PRS signals). Muting can be considered as not transmitting PRS within a given positioning opportunity for a particular cell. A muting mode (also referred to as a muting sequence) can be signaled to a UE (e.g., using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP)) using a bit string. For example, in a bit string signaled to indicate a muting mode, if the bit at position j is set to "0", the UE can infer that the PRS is muted within the jth positioning opportunity.

[0064] To further improve the audibility of the PRS, the positioning subframe can be a low-interference subframe transmitted without a user data channel. Therefore, in an ideal synchronized network, the PRS may be interfered by the PRS of other cells with the same PRS pattern index (i.e., with the same frequency offset), rather than interference from data transmission. The frequency offset can be defined as the PRS ID of the cell or other transmission point (TP) (denoted as ), or if no PRS ID is assigned, it is defined as the physical cell identifier (PCI) (denoted as ), which results in an effective frequency reuse factor of six (6).

[0065] To also improve the audibility of the PRS (e.g., when the PRS bandwidth is limited, such as having only six resource blocks corresponding to a 1.4 MHz bandwidth), the frequency band used for consecutive PRS positioning occasions (or consecutive PRS subframes) may be changed in a known and predictable manner via frequency hopping. In addition, a cell supported by a base station may support more than one PRS configuration, where each PRS configuration may include a different frequency offset (vshift), a different carrier frequency, a different bandwidth, a different code sequence, and / or a different sequence of PRS positioning occasions (with a specific number of subframes per positioning occasion (N)). PRS ) and a specific period (T PRS )). In some implementations, one or more of the PRS configurations supported in a cell may be for directional PRS and may then have additional different characteristics, such as different transmission directions, different horizontal angle ranges, and / or different vertical angle ranges.

[0066] As described above, the PRS configuration including the PRS transmission / muting schedule is signaled to the UE to enable the UE to perform PRS positioning measurements. It is not desirable for the UE to blindly perform detection of the PRS configuration.

[0067] 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), transmitter reference signals (TRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), etc.

[0068] Similar to the DL PRS transmitted by the base station discussed above, the UE may transmit a UL PRS for positioning. The UL PRS may be, for example, a sounding reference signal (SRS) for positioning. Using the DL PRS received from the base station and / or the UL PRS transmitted to the base station, the UE may perform various positioning methods, such as time of arrival (TOA), reference signal time difference (RSTD), time difference of arrival (TDOA), reference signal received power (RSRP), time difference between reception and transmission of a signal (Rx-Tx), angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of transmission (AoD), etc. In some implementations, the DL PRS and the UL PRS are jointly received and transmitted to perform multi-cell positioning measurements, such as multiple round trip times (RTT).

[0069] Various positioning techniques rely on DL PRS or UL PRS (or SRS for positioning). For example, positioning techniques using reference signals include downlink-based positioning, uplink-based positioning, and combined downlink- and uplink-based positioning. For example, downlink-based positioning includes positioning methods such as DL-TDOA and DL-AoD. Uplink-based positioning includes positioning methods such as UL-TDOA and UL-AoA. Downlink- and uplink-based positioning includes positioning methods such as RTT (multi-RTT) with one or more neighboring base stations. There are other positioning methods, including methods that do not rely on PRS. For example, enhanced cell ID (E-CID) is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements.

[0070] 3GPP Release 16 addresses techniques for high-precision positioning, such as the use of large bandwidth, beam scanning in Frequency Range 2 (FR2) (including bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz), angle-based positioning methods (such as AoA and AoD), and multi-RTT. However, latency is not addressed in depth in Release 16. For example, in Release 16, it is agreed that "UE-based positioning" (such as DL-based positioning) saves latency. However, reporting in Release 16 is via LPP or RRC using mechanisms similar to LTE, and low-latency reporting is not provided. For example, LPP and RRC share physical resources and include redundancy, which is advantageous in many ways, but inherently increases latency.

[0071] However, low latency is desired for positioning. For example, in some Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) situations, a latency of less than 100 ms or less than 10 ms may be desired. In order to reduce latency in positioning, reporting can be performed using lower layer channels such as Layer 1 (L1) (which is the physical (PHY) layer) or Layer 2 (L2) (which is the medium access control (MAC) layer) instead of using higher latency LPP or RRC. For example, lower layer reporting can be used with on-demand positioning using special physical random access channel (PRACH) sequences. Using lower layer (L1 / L2) reporting to reduce latency is beneficial for communication between UE 104 and base station 102. Additional mechanisms can be used to address latency issues between UE 104 and LMF 270, such as "LMF in RAN". With LMF in RAN, the location server is located within the same Technical Specification Group (TSG) Radio Access Network (RAN). For example, the location server may be an internal function of a NG-RAN node, the location server may be a logical node within a split gNB, or the location server may be a logical node in the NG-RAN, connected to a NG-RAN node (gNB and / or ng-eNB) via an interface such that it can still receive reports from the UE

[0072] However, positioning measurements are currently reported via higher layer signaling, e.g., via Layer 3 (L3) (which is RRC or LPP). For example, measurement reports that may be provided via higher layer signaling include, for example, one or more of TOA, TDOA, RSRP, Rx-Tx, AoA / AoD, multipath reports (e.g., for TOA, RSRP, and AoA / AoD), motion state (e.g., walking, driving, etc.) and trajectory, and report quality indication.

[0073] It may be desirable to report positioning measurements, which are sometimes referred to herein as positioning state information (PSI) in lower layers (e.g., L1 / L2), to reduce latency. Positioning state information may alternatively be referred to as CSI report for positioning, CSI report with positioning measurements, measured location report, positioning measurement report, positioning information report, location information report, CSI report with location information. However, when PSI is reported using lower layer signaling, the size of the PSI report may be larger than the scheduled reporting container. If the PSI report does not fit within the reporting container, rather than discarding the entire PSI report, partial PSI omission may be used, in which a set of priority-based rules is used to identify lower priority information that can be omitted from the PSI report.

[0074] In NR, the UE may report channel state information (CSI) in a manner that omits lower priority information from the report. CSI is not related to positioning, but provides a mechanism by which the UE reports various measured radio channel quality parameters to the network (e.g., gNB). CSI reports several different radio channel parameters such as Channel Quality Indicator (CQI), Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI), Rank Indicator (RI), Layer Indicator (LI), L1-RSRP. The interpretation of some fields may depend on the values ​​of other fields, and a CSI report consists of a set of fields in a pre-specified order. A single UL transmission (e.g., on the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) or Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)) may contain multiple reports arranged according to a priority order, e.g., as defined in 3GPP TS 38.214, which may depend on: reporting period (e.g., aperiodic, semi-persistent, periodic on PUSCH / PUCCH); type (e.g., L1-RSRP or non-L1-RSRP); serving cell index (e.g., in the case of carrier aggregation); and reportconfigID.

[0075] CSI can be reported in two parts, e.g., a 2-part CSI report. With a 2-part CSI pre-ordering, the first part (part 1) of all reports are collected together and the second part (part 2) is collected separately, and each set is encoded separately. The part 1 payload size is based on the configuration parameters, while the part 2 payload size depends on the configuration and the part 1 content. The number of coded bits / symbols to be output after coding and rate matching is calculated based on the number of input bits and a beta factor, e.g., as defined in 3GPP TS 38.212. In addition, a link is defined between an instance of a resource set (RS) being measured and the corresponding report.

[0076] Especially for PUSCH-based CSI reporting and Type II CSI reporting, the CSI payload size may vary significantly depending on the RI selection. For example, for Type II reporting, the PMI payload for RI=2 is almost twice the PMI payload for RI=1. Since the gNB is not aware of the RI selection before scheduling aperiodic CSI reporting on PUSCH, the gNB will allocate PUSCH resources (i.e., in the frequency and time domain) using its best guess of the RI selection that the UE will make (e.g., perhaps by looking at historical RI reports). Therefore, the gNB may allocate PUSCH resources under the assumption that the UE will report RI=1, but the UE actually reports RI=2, which has a PMI payload size that is almost twice that of RI=1. In this case, the CSI payload will likely not fit within the PUSCH container, i.e., the code rate will be too large or even the uncoded systematic bits will not fit. Instead of discarding the entire CSI report, if the CSI payload will not fit within the PUSCH container, partial CSI omission may be used, where a portion of the CSI is omitted from the report, but the remaining locations of the CSI are reported, e.g., this may provide some utility to the gNB and at least give information about RI selection so that the gNB can allocate appropriate PUSCH resources for the next aperiodic CSI request.

[0077] The CSI content in CSI Part 2 may be ordered in a predetermined manner. For example, if multiple CSI reports are sent in the PUSCH, the wideband CSI components (i.e., wideband PMI and CQI) for all reports are mapped to the most significant bits of the uplink control information (UCI). The subband CSI for each report is then mapped according to a priority rule, where the subband CSI for even-numbered subbands is mapped first, followed by the subband CSI for odd-numbered subbands. If the resulting code rate for the UCI is above a threshold, a portion of the least significant UCI bits is omitted until the code rate drops below the threshold. Therefore, the subband CSI for the odd-numbered subbands of the report will be omitted before the corresponding subband CSI for the even-numbered subbands. If the subband CSI for odd-numbered subbands is omitted, the gNB will still receive subband PMI and CQI information for even-numbered subbands in the frequency domain and can therefore interpolate PMI / CQI between the two reported subbands to try to estimate the missing PMI / CQI value for the middle odd-numbered subband.

[0078] Positioning state information (PSI) differs from CSI in that the type of information used for positioning measurements included in a PSI report may vary widely depending on the type of positioning measurements performed, the number of positioning measurements, the type of positioning methods being supported, etc.

[0079] As discussed above, it may be desirable to report PSI on a lower layer (L1 / L2) uplink channel (e.g., on the physical layer (PUSCH or PUCCH), on the MAC layer (Medium Access Control-Control Element (MAC-CE) block), or on a Physical Sidelink Shared Control Channel (PSSCH)). A PSI report may include one or more types of positioning measurements and one or more groups of positioning measurements of a teaching type. The size of the report for positioning measurements may change, for example, based on UE selection or determination of positioning measurement or reporting configuration. A PSI report may be split into two or more parts containing at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size. The size of at least one part may change, for example, because the UE 104 may detect fewer TRPs than expected, or the UE may report only a subset of the expected measurements, for example, the UE may report only RSTD and not RSRP even if the UE is configured to report both.

[0080] Since the size of at least a portion of the PSI report may change, the PSI payload may not fit in a channel container scheduled for the PSI report, for example, in PUSCH, PUCCH, PSSCH or MAC-CE, i.e., the code rate will be too large or even uncoded system bits will not fit. Therefore, the PSI report elements can be sorted in a predetermined manner (e.g., according to a priority-based rule) so that the variable size portion or lower priority PSI elements in the report will be omitted from the PSI report before the high priority elements. For example, the PSI report elements can be mapped to the channel container according to the priority rule, wherein the higher priority PSI report elements are mapped first, followed by the lower priority PSI report elements in sequence. If the resulting code rate of the PSI report is higher than a threshold (e.g., based on the size of the channel container), the lowest priority PSI report element is omitted until the code rate drops below the threshold. The receiver can receive the PSI report and process the PSI report according to the priority-based rule.

[0081] The types of positioning measurements or information that may be included in the PSI report include, for example, timing measurements (such as RSTD, UE Rx-Tx, TOA, etc.), energy measurements (such as RSRP), quality metrics, speed and / or trajectory measurements, reference TRP, multipath information, line of sight (LOS) or non-line of sight (NLOS) factors, signal to interference and noise ratio (SINR), and timestamp. It should be understood that this list is not exhaustive and it may be desirable to include other types of positioning measurements or information in the PSI report. Each positioning measurement may be reported as one or more vectors, for example, each vector being a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof. Thus, for example, an RSTD vector may be indicated as {RSTD1, RSTD2…RSTDN), all of which are associated with timestamp 1 and may come from the same or different TRPs, since there are cases where the UE reports multiple RSTDs for the same TRP.

[0082] The priority-based rules may be configurable (e.g., configured by a base station or UE) or may be static (e.g., stored in memory in the UE and the network entity receiving the PSI report). Examples of priority-based rules for sorting PSI report elements may include one or more of the following.

[0083] Rule 1: A first type of positioning measurement has a higher priority than a second type of positioning measurement. For example, in one implementation, a timing measurement may have a higher priority than an energy measurement. For example, RSTD across a TRP may take precedence over RSRP across a TRP, or UE Rx-Tx across a TRP may take precedence over RSRP across a TRP. In addition, one type of timing positioning measurement may take precedence over another type of timing positioning measurement, for example, RSTD across a TRP takes precedence over UE Rx-Tx across a TRP. Similarly, one type of energy positioning measurement may take precedence over another type of energy positioning measurement.

[0084] Rule 2: Quality metrics may have a lower priority than the positioning measurements to which they relate. For example, UE 104 may sort the positioning measurement vectors first and then the quality metric vectors. For example, if UE 104 is to report ten RSTD vectors with associated quality metric vectors, UE 104 may sort the reports as: RSTD1, RSTD2, ... RSTD10, quality1, quality2, ... quality10.

[0085] Rule 3: Serving base station, e.g., TRP (or reference TRP) measurements take precedence over neighboring TRP measurements. For example, when reporting ten TOA measurements, UE 104 may report TOA1, TOA2, ... TOA10, where the first TOA measurement (e.g., "TOA1") corresponds to the serving or reference TRP.

[0086] Rule 4: The identifier of the reference base station (TRP), PRS resource or PRS resource set has a higher priority than all positioning measurements. Therefore, the identifier of the TRP, PRS resource or PRS resource selected by the UE as reference is reported before any positioning measurement.

[0087] Rule 5: The priority of the PSI reporting element is based on the configured positioning method. For example, if the UE 104 is configured for TDOA, RSTD positioning measurements have a higher priority than RSRP measurements. If the UE 104 is configured for AoD, RSRP positioning measurements have a higher priority than RSTD measurements. If the UE 104 is configured for multi-RTT, Rx-Tx positioning measurements have a higher priority than RSRP measurements. Priority can also be based on multiple positioning methods (for example, if the UE 104 is configured for a hybrid positioning method). For example, if the UE 104 is configured for TDOA and multi-RTT, RSTD positioning measurements can have a higher priority than Rx-Tx measurements.

[0088] Rule 6: Multipath reports or LOS / NLOS determination factors have a lower priority than first path reports. For example, examples of first path reports may include RSTD, UE Rx-Tx, RSRP, and examples of multipath reports may include the difference between the second path positioning measurement relative to the first path positioning measurement. Therefore, UE 104 may sort the PSI report elements using all RSTD, Rx-Tx, RSRP vectors, then sort the quality metrics (if Rule 2 is applied), and then sort the multipath reports.

[0089] Rule 7: The UE may receive a configuration of a priority rule for each positioning measurement type. For example, the configuration may be received from a location server (e.g., LMF 270) or a serving gNB or TRP, or from a sidelink UE. For example, the UE 104 may receive a configuration with an order of positioning measurement types.

[0090] Rule 8: When UE 104 reports a positioning measurement vector, the corresponding timestamp is reported using the positioning measurement vector. For example, if UE 104 is reporting RSTD vectors and RSRP vectors and their timestamps, UE 104 may report RSTD1, RSTD2, ... RSTD10, TimeStampRSTD, RSRP1, RSRP2, ..., RSRP10, TimeStampRSRP.

[0091] Rule 9: Interleave measurement vectors from different types of positioning measurements. For example, if the UE 104 is expected to report two RSTD vectors (e.g., from two different frequency layers) and one Rx-Tx vector, then interleave the vectors from different types of positioning measurements, e.g., RSTD vector 1, Rx-Tx vector 1, RSTD vector 2.

[0092] Rule 10: The UE 104 may determine the sequential configuration of the positioning measurement type and report the sequential configuration using the PSI report. The sequential configuration may be reported, for example, in the first part of the report having a fixed size so that the report is not omitted.

[0093] In some implementations, all of the above rules may be used together. In other implementations, only a subset of the rules may be used. As an example, UE 104 may sort the PSI report elements based on the priority-based rules (such as the rules described above as shown in the following table), where priority 0 is the highest priority and priority 9 is the lowest priority.

[0094]

[0095] Table 1

[0096] Figure 55 is a block diagram 500 showing a UE 104 according to one aspect of the present disclosure, the UE 104 being configured to sort and omit low priority PSI report elements in a PSI report to be sent on a lower layer channel. As shown, the UE 104 may determine a plurality of PSI report elements 502. Each PSI report element, for example, includes information related to a positioning measurement performed by the UE 104. As discussed above, the PSI report element may include, for example, an RSTD vector, a UE Rx-Tx vector, an RSRP vector, a positioning measurement quality metric vector, a speed vector, a reference TRP, a TOA vector, a multi-radial quantity, a LOS / NLOS factor, a SINR vector, or a timestamp. As shown by arrow 504, the UE 104 sorts the PSI report elements according to a priority-based rule (such as the rule discussed above), thereby generating sorted PSI elements 506, wherein the highest priority PSI report element is displayed on the left and the lowest priority PSI report element is displayed on the right. In this example, the size of the ordered PSI report element is larger than a lower layer channel container, e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH, or PSSCH, or in a MAC-CE in which the PSI report is to be sent. Therefore, the UE 104 generates a PSI report 508 including a higher priority PSI report element, and omits 510 lower priority PSI elements (e.g., PSI element 6 and PSI element 4) from the PSI report. When omitting a PSI report element of a particular priority level, the UE 104 omits all information of that priority level. For example, the PSI report element can be mapped to a channel container according to a priority rule, wherein the higher priority PSI report element is mapped first, followed by the lower priority PSI report elements. If the resulting size of the PSI report is higher than the size of the channel container, the lowest priority PSI report element is omitted until the size of the resulting PSI report fits in the channel container.

[0097] Figure 6 6 is a block diagram 600 illustrating a UE 104 and a network entity 610 configured to send and receive PSI reports 602, respectively, on a lower layer channel, wherein PSI report elements are ordered based on priority, and wherein low priority PSI report elements are omitted from the PSI report, according to one aspect of the present disclosure. Figure 6As shown, UE 104 may send a prepared PSI report 602 to a network entity 610. The network entity 610 receiving the PSI report may be, for example, a base station (such as base station 102) or a location server (such as location server 172 or LMF 270) or a sidelink UE. PSI report 602 is sent in a lower layer channel container and contains a plurality of ordered PSI report elements, including information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE. Figure 5 As shown, the UE orders the PSI reporting elements in the PSI report 602 based on a priority-based rule, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report 602 .

[0098] As shown, the PSI report 602 may be split into two or more parts including at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size. Figure 6 As shown, a first portion 604 of the PSI report 602 includes PSI report elements or information having a fixed size. For example, in some implementations, the UE 104 may configure a priority-based rule, and may include the priority-based rule configuration in the first portion 604 of the PSI report 602, along with other report information whose size does not vary with the content of the UE report (e.g., reporting the configuration included in portion 2). A second portion 606 of the PSI report 602 includes PSI report elements that may have a variable size, wherein PSI report elements that are omitted from the PSI report 602 are omitted from the second portion 606.

[0099] Figure 7 According to the disclosure of this article, Figure 1 700 of various messages sent between components of the communication system 100 depicted in FIG. 700 , which illustrates the ordering and omission of low priority PSI report elements in PSI reports sent on lower layer channels. The location server 702 may be, for example, Figure 12 or the LMF 270 shown in FIG. 2. The serving base station 102-1 and the other base stations 102-2, 102-3 are sometimes collectively referred to as base stations 102. The UE 704 may be a UE that performs sidelink communication with the UE 104. The UE 104 may be configured to perform UE-assisted positioning or UE-based positioning using downlink-based positioning, uplink-based positioning, or a combination of downlink-based and uplink-based positioning. In the message flow 700, unless otherwise stated, it is assumed that the UE 104 and the location server 702 may communicate using lower layer channels and other mechanisms as discussed above (such as LMF in the RAN) to reduce latency. For example, the location server 702 may be within the RAN 701, for example, as an internal function of a NG-RAN node (such as the serving base station 102-1), the location server 702 may be a logical node within a split gNB (e.g., the serving base station 102-1), or the location server may be a logical node in the NG-RAN 701 that is connected to the NG-RAN node (e.g., the serving base station 102-1 and the neighboring base stations 102-2 and 102-3) via an interface so that it can still receive reports from the UE. It should be understood that the location server 702 may be performed Figure 7 Preliminary or additional conventional stages not shown in , such as capability request and response, request and provision of assistance data, etc.

[0100] At stage 1, UE 104 may receive a configuration of a priority-based rule for ordering PSI report elements. For example, the configuration may be provided by serving base station 102-1, location server 702, or sidelink UE 704.

[0101] At phase 2 and phase 3, UE 104 receives DLPRS from serving base station 102-1 and neighboring base stations 102-2 and 102-3.

[0102] At stage 4, UE 104 may optionally send a UL PRS or SRS to base station 102 for positioning.

[0103] At stage 5, the UE 104 may perform DL positioning measurements for one or more positioning methods based on the DL PRS received at stage 2 and stage 3, perform UL positioning measurements for one or more positioning methods based on the UL PRS sent at stage 4, or perform DL and UL positioning measurements for one or more positioning methods based on the DL PRS received at stage 2 and stage 3 and the UL PRS sent at stage 4. In some implementations, the UE 104 may perform multiple positioning measurements, for example, positioning measurements of the same type at different times and / or positioning measurements of different types at the same time or at different times. For example, the positioning information obtained by the UE 104 from the positioning measurements includes one or more of the following: timing measurements (such as RSTD, UE Rx-Tx, TOA, etc.), energy measurements (such as RSRP), quality metrics, speed and / or trajectory measurements, reference TRP, multipath information, LOS / NLOS factors, SINR, and timestamps. The positioning measurements may be used for one or more positioning methods for which the UE 104 is configured, such as TDOA, AoD, multi-RTT, hybrid positioning methods, etc.

[0104] At stage 6, UE 104 may receive, for example, from serving base station 102-1, a schedule or grant for a lower layer container in which UE 105 is to send a PSI report.

[0105] At stage 7, the UE 104 generates a PSI report based on the priority-based rules and the positioning measurements. As discussed above, the UE 104 may generate multiple PSI report elements based on the positioning measurements from stage 5. The UE 104 sorts the PSI report elements according to the priority-based rules. For example, a configuration of the priority-based rules may be received from a network entity in stage 1, or the UE may generate the priority-based rule configuration based on the positioning measurement type, or the priority-based rules may be fixed in the UE. The UE 104 generates the PSI report using the sorted PSI report elements. If the size of the PSI report element is larger than the size that the scheduled lower layer channel container can accommodate, the UE 104 omits at least one low priority PSI report element when generating the PSI report so that the PSI report fits within the lower layer channel container. Figure 6 As shown, the PSI report can be divided into multiple parts, where at least one part can have a constant size and the remaining parts can have variable sizes. For example, a low priority PSI report element omitted from the PSI report can be omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report having a variable size. If the UE 104 generates a priority-based rule configuration, the priority-based rule configuration can be included in the PSI report.

[0106] At stage 8, the UE 104 sends a PSI report in a lower layer channel container, for example, on the uplink to the sidelink UE 704, the serving base station 102, or the location server 702. For example, the UE 104 may send the PSI report using the PHY layer (e.g., using PUSCH, PUCCH, PSSCH) or using MAC-CE at the MAC layer. Sending the PSI report on a lower layer channel advantageously reduces latency compared to, for example, transmission on an RRC channel.

[0107] At one of stage 9a and stage 9b, the PSI report is processed using priority-based rules, for example, by serving base station 102-1 or location server 702, respectively, to determine the PSI report elements.

[0108] Figure 8 A flow chart is shown of an exemplary method 800 for wireless communications by a UE, such as UE 104, performed by the UE in a manner consistent with the disclosed implementations.

[0109] At block 802, the UE determines a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, e.g., as in Figure 7 At block 804, a PSI report is generated based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules (e.g., from highest priority to lowest priority) for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report, e.g., as in Figure 5 Neutral Figure 7 For example, the UE may order the PSI report elements according to one or more priority-based rules, such as in Figure 5 Neutral Figure 7 At block 806, a PSI report is sent to a network entity (such as another UE, a serving base station, or a location server) in a lower layer channel container, e.g., as in Figure 6 Neutral Figure 7 This is discussed at stage 8 of

[0110] In one implementation, all PSI report elements are larger in size than the lower layer channel container, and at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report so that the remaining PSI report elements fit within the lower layer channel container, e.g., as in Figure 5 Neutral Figure 7 This is discussed at stage 7 of

[0111] In one implementation, the lower layer channel container may be a physical layer channel container or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) block. For example, the physical layer channel container may be a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

[0112] In one implementation, the PSI report may be divided into a plurality of parts including at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size, and wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report, e.g., as in Figure 6 Neutral Figure 7 This is discussed at stage 7 of

[0113] In one implementation, the information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE in the PSI report element may be one or more of the following: at least one reference signal time difference (RSTD) vector; at least one UE receive-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) vector; at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) vector; at least one quality metric vector; at least one velocity vector; a reference transmit-receive point (TRP); at least one time of arrival (TOA) vector; at least one multi-radial quantity; at least one line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor; at least one signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) vector; at least one timestamp, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0114] In one implementation, the one or more priority-based rules may be that a first type of positioning measurement has a higher priority than a second type of measurement. For example, the first type of positioning measurement may be a timing measurement, and the second type of measurement may be an energy measurement.

[0115] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may be that a quality metric has a lower priority than a positioning measurement associated with the quality metric.

[0116] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may be that positioning measurements associated with a serving or reference transmission reception point (TRP) have a higher priority than positioning measurements associated with a neighboring TRP.

[0117] In one implementation, the one or more priority-based rules may be an identifier associated with a reference transmit reception point (TRP), a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, or a set of PRS resources and having a higher priority than all positioning measurements.

[0118] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may be configured based on a positioning method.

[0119] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may be that a multipath report or a line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor has a lower priority than a first path report.

[0120] In one implementation, the UE may also receive a priority-based rule configuration based on the positioning measurement type from the network entity, wherein the PSI report elements are sorted based on the priority-based rule configuration, for example, as in Figure 7 This was discussed in Phase 1 of .

[0121] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may report a timestamp corresponding to each positioning measurement vector with a lower priority than the positioning measurement vector, where a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0122] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may be that measurement vectors for different types of positioning measurements are interleaved.

[0123] In one implementation, the UE may generate a priority-based rule configuration based on the positioning measurement type, wherein one or more priority-based rules for sorting PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration, and wherein the PSI report includes an indication of the priority-based rule configuration, for example, as in Figure 7 This is discussed in Stages 7 and 8 of .

[0124] In one implementation, the network entity may be one of a serving base station in a radio access network (RAN), a location server in the RAN, or a second UE in communication with the UE (eg, in a sidelink communication).

[0125] Fig. 9 A flowchart of an exemplary method 900 for wireless communications for a UE (such as UE 104) performed by a network entity in a wireless network (such as a serving base station in a RAN (e.g., base station 102)), or a location server with a RAN (such as location server 172 or LMF 270), or a UE in sidelink communication with the UE) in a manner consistent with the disclosed implementations is shown.

[0126] At block 902, a network entity receives a positioning state information (PSI) report from a UE in a lower layer channel container, the PSI report comprising PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are ordered by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report, e.g., as in Figure 7 At block 904, the network entity processes the PSI report using one or more priority-based rules to determine PSI report elements, such as Figure 7 discussed at Stages 9a and 9b of .

[0127] In one implementation, the size of the ordered PSI report elements is larger than the lower layer channel container, and at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report so that the remaining ordered PSI report elements fit within the lower layer channel container, e.g., as in Figure 5 Neutral Figure 7 This is discussed at stage 7 of

[0128] In one implementation, the lower layer channel container may be a physical layer channel container or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) block. For example, the physical layer channel container may be a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

[0129] In one implementation, the PSI report may be divided into a plurality of parts including at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size, and wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report, e.g., as in Figure 6 Neutral Figure 7 This is discussed at stage 7 of

[0130] In one implementation, the information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE in the PSI report element may be one or more of the following: at least one reference signal time difference (RSTD) vector; at least one UE receive-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) vector; at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) vector; at least one quality metric vector; at least one velocity vector; a reference transmit-receive point (TRP); at least one time of arrival (TOA) vector; at least one multi-radial quantity; at least one line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor; at least one signal-to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) vector; at least one timestamp, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0131] In one implementation, the one or more priority-based rules may be that a first type of positioning measurement has a higher priority than a second type of measurement. For example, the first type of positioning measurement may be a timing measurement, and the second type of measurement may be an energy measurement.

[0132] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may be that a quality metric has a lower priority than a positioning measurement associated with the quality metric.

[0133] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may be that positioning measurements associated with a serving or reference transmission reception point (TRP) have a higher priority than positioning measurements associated with a neighboring TRP.

[0134] In one implementation, the one or more priority-based rules may be an identifier associated with a reference transmit reception point (TRP), a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, or a set of PRS resources and having a higher priority than all positioning measurements.

[0135] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may be configured based on a positioning method.

[0136] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may be that a multipath report or a line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor has a lower priority than a first path report.

[0137] In one implementation, the network entity may send a priority-based rule configuration based on the positioning measurement type to the UE, wherein one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration.

[0138] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may report a timestamp corresponding to each measurement vector, where a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, same TRP, same beam, same frequency band, same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0139] In one implementation, one or more priority-based rules may be that measurement vectors for different types of positioning measurements are interleaved.

[0140] In one implementation, the network entity may also receive a priority-based rule configuration based on the positioning measurement type from the UE in the PSI report, wherein one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration, for example, as in Figure 7 This is discussed in Stages 7 and 8 of .

[0141] Fig.10 1 shows a UE 1000 (eg, which may be Figure 1 1000 is a schematic block diagram of certain exemplary features of a UE 1000 (shown in FIG. 1000 ), which is capable of sorting and omitting low priority PSI report elements in PSI reports sent on lower layer channels. The UE 1000 may, for example, include one or more processors 1002, a memory 1004, an external interface (e.g., a wireless network interface) such as a wireless transceiver 1010, and the transceiver 1010 may be operably coupled to a non-transitory computer-readable medium 1020 and the memory 1004 using one or more connections 1006 (e.g., buses, lines, optical fibers, links, etc.). The UE 1000 may also include additional items not shown, such as a user interface, which may include, for example, a display, a keypad or other input device (such as a virtual keyboard on a display), through which a user can interface with the UE or a satellite positioning system receiver. In certain example implementations, all or part of the UE 1000 may take the form of a chipset or the like. The wireless transceiver 1010 may include, for example, a transmitter 1012 implemented to transmit one or more signals on one or more types of wireless communication networks and a receiver 1014 for receiving one or more signals transmitted on one or more types of wireless communication networks.

[0142] In some embodiments, the UE 1000 may include an antenna 1011, which may be internal or external. The UE antenna 1011 may be used to send and / or receive signals processed by the wireless transceiver 1010. In some embodiments, the UE antenna 1011 may be coupled to the wireless transceiver 1010. In some embodiments, measurements of signals received (sent) by the UE 1000 may be performed at the connection point of the UE antenna 1011 and the wireless transceiver 1010. For example, the measurement reference point for the received (sent) RF signal measurement may be the input (output) terminal of the receiver 1014 (transmitter 1012) and the output (input) terminal of the UE antenna 1011. In a UE 1000 having multiple UE antennas 1011 or an antenna array, the antenna connector may be considered as a virtual point representing the aggregate output (input) of the multiple UE antennas. The UE 1000 may receive a signal (e.g., DL PRS) and / or send an ULPRS or SRS for positioning. Measurements of signals including one or more of the following may be processed by one or more processors 1002: timing measurements (such as RSTD, UE Rx-Tx, TOA, etc.), energy measurements (such as RSRP), quality metrics, speed and / or trajectory measurements, reference TRP, multipath information, line of sight (LOS) or non-line of sight (NLOS) factors, signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR), and timestamps.

[0143] The one or more processors 1002 may be implemented using a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. For example, the one or more processors 1002 may be configured to perform the functions discussed herein by implementing one or more instructions or program codes 1008 on a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as the medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004. In some embodiments, the one or more processors 1002 may represent one or more circuits that may be configured to perform at least a portion of a data signal computing process or processing associated with the operation of the UE 1000.

[0144] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may store instructions or program code 1008 containing executable code or software instructions that, when executed by one or more processors 1002, cause the one or more processors 1002 to operate as a special-purpose computer programmed to perform the techniques disclosed herein. As shown in the UE 1000, the medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include one or more components or modules that may be implemented by one or more processors 1002 to perform the methods described herein. Although the components or modules are shown as software executable by one or more processors 1002 in the medium 1020, it should be understood that the components or modules may be stored in the memory 1004, or may be dedicated hardware in one or more processors 1002 or external to the processor.

[0145] A number of software modules and data tables may reside in the medium 1020 and / or memory 1004 and be utilized by the one or more processors 1002 to manage both the communications and functions described herein. It should be understood that the organization of the contents of the medium 1020 and / or memory 1004 as shown in the UE 1000 is merely exemplary, and thus, the functionality of the modules and / or data structures may be combined, separated and / or structured in different ways depending on the implementation of the UE 1000.

[0146] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include a UL PRS transmission module 1022 , which when implemented by the one or more processors 1002 configures the one or more processors 1002 to transmit a UL PRS or SRS for positioning via the wireless transceiver 1010 .

[0147] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include a DL PRS module 1024 , which when implemented by the one or more processors 1002 configures the one or more processors 1002 to receive, via the wireless transceiver 1010 , a DL PRS transmitted by one or more base stations.

[0148] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include a positioning measurement module 1026, which, when implemented by the one or more processors 1002, configures the one or more processors 1002 to perform positioning measurements using the received DL PRS and / or UL PRS. For example, the one or more processors 1002 may be configured to perform DL positioning measurements for one or more positioning methods based on the received DL PRS, perform UL positioning measurements for one or more positioning methods based on the transmitted UL PRS, or perform DL and UL positioning measurements for one or more positioning methods based on the received DL PRS and the transmitted UL PRS. Multiple positioning measurements may be performed, for example, the same type of positioning measurements may be performed at different times, and / or different types of positioning measurements may be performed at the same time or at different times. The positioning measurements may be used for one or more positioning methods, such as TDOA, AoD, multi-RTT, hybrid positioning methods, etc. For example, one or more processors 1002 may be configured to include one or more of the following positioning measurements: timing measurements (such as RSTD, UE Rx-Tx, TOA, etc.), energy measurements (such as RSRP), quality metrics, speed and / or trajectory measurements, reference TRP, multipath information, LOS / NLOS factors, SINR, and timestamps. In some implementations, one or more processors 1002 may also be configured to use positioning measurements and the location of the base station (e.g., received in the assistance data) to estimate the location of the UE 1000 in a UE-based positioning process.

[0149] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include a PSI reporting element module 1028, which when implemented by the one or more processors 1002 configures the one or more processors 1002 to determine a plurality of PSI reporting elements based on information related to positioning measurements. For example, the information related to positioning measurements used to determine the PSI reporting elements may include one or more of the following: at least one RSTD vector; at least one UE Rx-Tx vector; at least one RSRP vector; at least one quality metric vector; at least one speed vector; a reference TRP; at least one TOA vector; at least one multi-radial quantity; at least one LOS / NLOS factor; at least one SINR vector; at least one timestamp.

[0150] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include a priority configuration module 1030, which, when implemented by one or more processors 1002, configures one or more processors 1002 to receive a priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type from a network entity (such as a serving base station, a location server, or a sidelink UE) via a wireless transceiver 1010.

[0151] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include a configuration priority rule module 1032, which when implemented by the one or more processors 1002 configures the one or more processors 1002 to configure a priority rule for sorting the PSI report elements. For example, the configuration for the priority rule may be received from a network entity and stored in the medium and / or the memory 1004. The configuration for the priority rule may be generated by the UE 1000 itself and stored in the medium and / or the memory 1004, and may be sent to the network entity together with the PSI report. In some implementations, the configuration for the priority rule may be static and stored in the medium and / or the memory 1004.

[0152] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include a scheduling module 1034, which, when implemented by the one or more processors 1002, configures the one or more processors 1002 to: determine a schedule for a lower layer channel container in which the UE 1000 is to send a PSI report, for example by receiving a grant from a serving base station via a wireless transmitter.

[0153] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include an ordering module 1036 that, when implemented by the one or more processors 1002, configures the one or more processors 1002 to order the PSI report elements according to a priority-based rule, e.g., from highest priority to lowest priority. For example, the order of the PSI report elements may be based on the priority given to different types of positioning measurement information.

[0154] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include a PSI reporting module 1038, which when implemented by the one or more processors 1002 configures the one or more processors 1002 to generate a PSI report based on the sorted PSI report elements. For example, if the size of the PSI report element is larger than the size that the scheduled lower layer channel container can accommodate, the one or more processors 1002 may be configured to omit at least one low priority PSI report element from the PSI report. The one or more processors 1002 may be configured to divide the PSI report into a plurality of parts, wherein at least one part may have a constant size and the remaining parts may have a variable size, wherein the omitted low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report having a variable size. For example, if a priority-based rule configuration is generated by the UE 1000, the one or more processors 1002 may be configured to include the priority-based rule configuration in the PSI report.

[0155] The medium 1020 and / or the memory 1004 may include a send PSI report module 1040, which, when implemented by the one or more processors 1002, configures the one or more processors 1002 to send a PSI report to a network entity (such as another UE, a serving base station, or a location server) in a SL or UL lower layer channel container via the wireless transceiver 1010. For example, the UE 104 may send the PSI report using a PHY layer (e.g., using PUSCH, PUCCH, PSSCH) or using a MAC-CE block at a MAC layer.

[0156] The methods described herein may be implemented by various units according to the application. For example, these methods may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. For hardware implementations, one or more processors 1002 may be implemented in one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, electronic devices, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or combinations thereof.

[0157] For firmware and / or software implementations, the methods can be implemented using modules (e.g., procedures, functions, etc.) that perform the functions described herein. Any machine-readable medium that tangibly embodies instructions can be used to implement the methods described herein. For example, software code can be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium 1020 or memory 1004 connected to one or more processors 1002 and executed by one or more processors 1002. The memory can be implemented within one or more processors or outside one or more processors. As described herein, the term "memory" refers to any type of long-term, short-term, volatile, non-volatile, or other memory, and is not limited to any particular type of memory or amount of memory, or the type of medium on which the memory is stored.

[0158] If implemented in firmware and / or software, the functionality may be stored as one or more instructions or program code 1008 on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as medium 1020 and / or memory 1004. Examples include computer-readable media encoded with a data structure and computer-readable media encoded with a computer program 1008. For example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium including program code 1008 stored thereon may include program code 1008 for supporting sorting and omitting low priority PSI report elements in PSI reports sent on lower layer channels in a manner consistent with the disclosed embodiments. Non-transitory computer-readable medium 1020 includes physical computer storage media. Storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such non-transitory computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code 1008 in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer; as used herein, magnetic disks and optical disks include compact disks (CDs), laser disks, optical disks, digital versatile disks (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray disks, where magnetic disks typically reproduce data magnetically, while optical disks utilize lasers to reproduce data optically. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0159] In addition to being stored on the computer-readable medium 1020, instructions and / or data may also be provided as signals on a transmission medium included in the communication device. For example, the communication device may include a wireless transceiver 1010 with signals indicating instructions and data. The instructions and data are configured to cause one or more processors to implement the functions outlined in the claims. That is, the communication device includes a transmission medium with signals indicating information for performing the disclosed functions.

[0160] The memory 1004 may represent any data storage mechanism. The memory 1004 may include, for example, a main memory and / or a secondary memory. The main memory may include, for example, a random access memory, a read-only memory, etc. Although shown as being separate from the one or more processors 1002 in this example, it should be understood that all or part of the main memory may be provided within the one or more processors 1002 or otherwise co-located / coupled with the one or more processors 1002. The secondary memory may include, for example, a memory of the same or similar type as the main memory and / or one or more data storage devices or systems, such as, for example, a disk drive, an optical drive, a tape drive, a solid-state memory drive, etc.

[0161] In some implementations, the secondary memory may be operable to receive or otherwise be configurable to be coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium 1020. Thus, in some example implementations, the methods and / or apparatus presented herein may take the form of all or part of a computer-readable medium 1020, which may include computer-implemented code 1008 stored thereon, which, if executed by one or more processors 1002, may be operably enabled to perform all or part of the example operations as described herein. The computer-readable medium 1020 may be part of the memory 1004.

[0162] In one implementation, a UE, such as UE 1000, may be configured for wireless communication and may include means for determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) report elements, wherein each PSI report element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, which may be, for example, a wireless transceiver 1010 and one or more processors 1002 having dedicated hardware or executable code or software instructions implemented in memory 1004 and / or medium 1020, such as a positioning measurement module 1026 and a PSI report element module 1028. A means for generating a PSI report based on the PSI report elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI report elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report, may be, for example, one or more processors 1002 having dedicated hardware or executable code or software instructions implemented in memory 1004 and / or medium 1020, such as a sorting module 1036 and a PSI report module 1038. For example, in some implementations, the UE may include: a means for sorting PSI report elements according to one or more priority-based rules may be, for example, one or more processors 1002 having dedicated hardware or executable code or software instructions implemented in memory 1004 and / or medium 1020, such as a sorting module 1036. A means for sending a PSI report to a network entity in a lower layer channel container may be, for example, a wireless transceiver 1010 and one or more processors 1002 having dedicated hardware or executable code or software instructions implemented in memory 1004 and / or medium 1020, such as a sending PSI report module 1040.

[0163] In one implementation, the UE may also include: a unit for receiving a priority-based rule configuration based on the positioning measurement type from a network entity (wherein one or more priority-based rules for sorting PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration), which may be, for example, a wireless transceiver 1010 and one or more processors 1002, the wireless transceiver 1010 and the one or more processors 1002 having dedicated hardware or executable code or software instructions implemented in the memory 1004 and / or the medium 1020, such as a priority configuration module 1030 and a configuration priority rule module 1032.

[0164] In one implementation, the UE may also include: a unit for generating a priority-based rule configuration based on the positioning measurement type (wherein one or more priority-based rules for sorting PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration, and wherein the PSI report includes an indication of the priority-based rule configuration), which may be, for example, a wireless transceiver 1010 and one or more processors 1002, the wireless transceiver 1010 and the one or more processors 1002 having dedicated hardware or executable code or software instructions implemented in the memory 1004 and / or the medium 1020, such as a priority configuration module 1030 and a configure priority rule module 1032, a PSI reporting module 1038, and a send PSI report module 1040.

[0165] Fig.11 A schematic block diagram illustrating certain exemplary features of a network entity 1100 in a wireless network according to the disclosure herein is shown, the network entity 1100 being capable of supporting wireless communications with a UE (e.g., UE 104) to sort and omit low priority PSI report elements in a PSI report sent on a lower layer channel. For example, the network entity 1100 may be a Figure 1 and Figure 2B102 or location server 172 or LMF 270 in the serving base station 102 or location server 172 or LMF 270, or another UE in communication with the SL of the UE. For example, the network entity 1100 may include one or more processors 1102, a memory 1104, and an external interface, the external interface may include a wireless transceiver 1110 (e.g., a wireless network interface) (e.g., if the network entity 1100 is a serving base station or a sidelink UE) and / or a communication interface 1116 (e.g., a wired or wireless network interface to other network entities and / or a core network), the wireless transceiver 1110 and / or the communication interface 1116 may be operably coupled to a non-transitory computer-readable medium 1120 and the memory 1104 using one or more connections 1106 (e.g., buses, lines, optical fibers, links, etc.). In some implementations, the network entity 1100 may also include additional items not shown, such as a user interface, which may include, for example, a display, a keypad or other input device (such as a virtual keyboard on a display), through which a user can interface with the network entity (e.g., if the network entity is a sidelink UE). In some example implementations, all or part of the network entity 1100 may be in the form of a chipset or the like. The wireless transceiver 1110 (if present) may, for example, include a transmitter 1112 and a receiver 1111, wherein the transmitter 1112 is enabled to send one or more signals on one or more types of wireless communication networks, and the receiver 1111 is used to receive one or more signals sent on one or more types of wireless communication networks. The communication interface 1116 may be a base station capable of connecting to other base stations (e.g., in a RAN) or network entities (such as Figure 1 A wired or wireless interface to the location server 172 as shown.

[0166] In some embodiments, the network entity 1100 may include an antenna 1111, which may be internal or external. The antenna 1111 may be used to send and / or receive signals processed by the wireless transceiver 1110. In some embodiments, the antenna 1111 may be coupled to the wireless transceiver 1110. In some embodiments, the measurement of the signal received (sent) by the network entity 1100 may be performed at the connection point of the antenna 1111 and the wireless transceiver 1110. For example, the measurement reference point for the received (sent) RF signal measurement may be the input (output) terminal of the receiver 1114 (transmitter 1112) and the output (input) terminal of the antenna 1111. In a network entity 1100 having multiple antennas 1111 or an antenna array, the antenna connector may be regarded as a virtual point representing the aggregate output (input) of the multiple antennas. In some embodiments, the network entity 1100 may measure the received signal (e.g., UL PRS or SRS for positioning) including signal strength and TOA measurements, and the raw measurements may be processed by one or more processors 1102.

[0167] The one or more processors 1102 may be implemented using a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. For example, the one or more processors 1102 may be configured to perform the functions discussed herein by implementing one or more instructions or program codes 1108 on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as the medium 1120 and / or the memory 1104. In some embodiments, the one or more processors 1102 may represent one or more circuits that may be configured to perform at least a portion of a data signal computing process or processing associated with the operation of the network entity 1100.

[0168] The medium 1120 and / or the memory 1104 may store instructions or program code 1108 containing executable code or software instructions that, when executed by one or more processors 1102, cause the one or more processors 1102 to operate as a special-purpose computer programmed to perform the techniques disclosed herein. As shown in the network entity 1100, the medium 1120 and / or the memory 1104 may include one or more components or modules that may be implemented by one or more processors 1102 to perform the methods described herein. Although the components or modules are shown as software executable by one or more processors 1102 in the medium 1120, it should be understood that the components or modules may be stored in the memory 1104 or may be dedicated hardware in one or more processors 1102 or external to the processor.

[0169] A number of software modules and data tables may reside in the medium 1120 and / or memory 1104 and be utilized by the one or more processors 1102 to manage both the communications and functions described herein. It should be understood that the organization of the contents of the medium 1120 and / or memory 1104 as shown in the network entity 1100 is merely exemplary, and thus, the functionality of the modules and / or data structures may be combined, separated and / or structured in different ways depending on the implementation of the network entity 1100.

[0170] The medium 1120 and / or the memory 1104 may include a UL PRS transmission module 1122 (e.g., if the network entity 1100 is a serving base station), which, when implemented by one or more processors 1102, configures the one or more processors 1102 to receive a UL PRS or SRS for positioning from the UE 114 via the wireless transceiver 1110.

[0171] The medium 1120 and / or the memory 1104 may include a DL PRS module 1124 (eg, if the network entity 1100 is a serving base station), which when implemented by the one or more processors 1102 configures the one or more processors 1102 to send a DL PRS to the UE 114 via the wireless transceiver 1110 .

[0172] The medium 1120 and / or the memory 1104 may include a scheduling module 1126 (e.g., if the network entity 1100 is a serving base station), which, when implemented by the one or more processors 1102, configures the one or more processors 1102 to schedule a lower layer channel container in which the UE 104 is to send a PSI report and send a schedule or grant to the UE 104 via a wireless transmitter.

[0173] The medium 1120 and / or the memory 1104 may include a receive PSI report module 1128, which when implemented by the one or more processors 1102 configures the one or more processors 1102 to receive a PSI report from the UE 104 in a lower layer channel container, for example, via the wireless transceiver 1110 (if the network entity 1100 is a sidelink UE or a serving base station) or the communication interface 1116 (if the network entity 1100 is a location server). The lower layer channel container may be, for example, a SL channel (if the network entity 1100 is another UE) or a UL channel (if the network entity 1100 is a serving base station or a location server). For example, the PSI report may be received at the PHY layer, for example, using PUSCH, PUCCH, PSSCH, or at the MAC layer using MAC-CE. The PSI report may include information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE 104, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are sorted by the UE based on the priority-based rule, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report.

[0174] The medium 1120 and / or the memory 1104 may include a priority configuration module 1130, which when implemented by the one or more processors 1102 configures the one or more processors 1102 to configure a priority rule to be used by the UE to sort the PSI report elements. For example, the configuration for the priority rule may be sent to the UE, for example, via the wireless transceiver 1110 or the communication interface 1116. If the UE 104 generates a priority rule configuration, the one or more processors 1102 may be configured to receive a priority rule confirmation from the UE, for example, in a PSI report. In some implementations, the configuration for the priority rule may be static and stored in the medium and / or the memory 1104.

[0175] The medium 1120 and / or the memory 1104 may include a process PSI report module 1132 that, when implemented by the one or more processors 1102, configures the one or more processors 1102 to process the PSI report based on the priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

[0176] The methods described herein may be implemented by various units according to the application. For example, these methods may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. For hardware implementations, one or more processors 1102 may be implemented in one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, microcontrollers, microprocessors, electronic devices, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or combinations thereof.

[0177] For firmware and / or software implementations, the methods can be implemented using modules (e.g., procedures, functions, etc.) that perform the functions described herein. Any machine-readable medium that tangibly embodies instructions can be used to implement the methods described herein. For example, software code can be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium 1120 or memory 1104 connected to one or more processors 1102 and executed by one or more processors 1102. The memory can be implemented within one or more processors or outside one or more processors. As used herein, the term "memory" refers to any type of long-term, short-term, volatile, non-volatile, or other memory, and is not limited to any particular type of memory or amount of memory, or the type of medium on which the memory is stored.

[0178] If implemented in firmware and / or software, the functionality may be stored as one or more instructions or program code 1108 on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, such as medium 1120 and / or memory 1104. Examples include computer-readable media encoded with a data structure and computer-readable media encoded with a computer program 1108. For example, a non-transitory computer-readable medium including program code 1108 stored thereon may include program code 1108 for supporting a UE to sort and omit low priority PSI report elements in a PSI report received by a network entity on a lower layer channel in a manner consistent with the disclosed embodiments. The non-transitory computer-readable medium 1120 includes physical computer storage media. The storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such non-transitory computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code 1108 in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer; as used herein, magnetic disks and optical disks include compact disks (CDs), laser disks, optical disks, digital versatile disks (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray disks, where magnetic disks typically reproduce data magnetically, while optical disks utilize lasers to reproduce data optically. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0179] In addition to being stored on the computer-readable medium 1120, instructions and / or data may also be provided as signals on a transmission medium included in the communication device. For example, the communication device may include a wireless transceiver 1110 with signals indicating instructions and data. The instructions and data are configured to cause one or more processors to implement the functions outlined in the claims. That is, the communication device includes a transmission medium with signals indicating information for performing the disclosed functions.

[0180] The memory 1104 may represent any data storage mechanism. The memory 1104 may include, for example, a main memory and / or a secondary memory. The main memory may include, for example, a random access memory, a read-only memory, etc. Although shown as being separate from the one or more processors 1102 in this example, it should be understood that all or part of the main memory may be provided within the one or more processors 1102 or otherwise co-located / coupled with the one or more processors 1102. The secondary memory may include, for example, a memory of the same or similar type as the main memory and / or one or more data storage devices or systems, such as, for example, a disk drive, an optical drive, a tape drive, a solid-state memory drive, etc.

[0181] In some implementations, the secondary memory may be operable to receive or otherwise be configurable to be coupled to the non-transitory computer-readable medium 1120. Thus, in some example implementations, the methods and / or apparatus presented herein may take the form of all or part of a computer-readable medium 1120, which may include computer-implemented code 1108 stored thereon, which, if executed by one or more processors 1102, may be operably enabled to perform all or part of the example operations as described herein. The computer-readable medium 1120 may be part of the memory 1104.

[0182] In one implementation, a network entity (such as network entity 1100) may be configured for wireless communication and may include a unit for receiving a positioning state information (PSI) report from a UE in a lower layer channel container (the PSI report includes PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are sorted by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report), which may be, for example, an external interface (including a transceiver 1110 and a communication interface 1116), one or more processors 1102 (with dedicated hardware or executable code or software instructions implemented in memory 1104 and / or medium 1120), such as a receive PSI report module 1128. The unit for processing the PSI report using one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report element may be, for example, one or more processors 1102, which have dedicated hardware or executable code or software instructions implemented in memory 1104 and / or medium 1120, such as a process PSI report module 1132.

[0183] In one implementation, the network entity may also include: a unit for sending a priority-based rule configuration based on the positioning measurement type to the UE (wherein one or more priority-based rules for sorting PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration), which may be, for example, an external interface (including a transceiver 1110 and a communication interface 1116), one or more processors 1102 (having dedicated hardware or executable code or software instructions implemented in the memory 1104 and / or the medium 1120), such as a priority configuration module 1130.

[0184] In one implementation, the network entity may also include: a unit for receiving a priority-based rule configuration based on the positioning measurement type from the UE in the PSI report (wherein one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration), which may be, for example, an external interface (including a transceiver 1110 and a communication interface 1116), one or more processors 1102 (having dedicated hardware or executable code or software instructions implemented in the memory 1104 and / or the medium 1120), such as a priority configuration module 1130.

[0185] References throughout this specification to "one example," "an example," "some examples," or "exemplary implementations" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in conjunction with a feature and / or example may be included in at least one feature and / or example of the claimed subject matter. Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one example," "in an example," "in some examples," or "in some implementations," or other similar phrases, in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same features, examples, and / or limitations. Furthermore, particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more examples and / or features.

[0186] Some parts of the detailed description included herein are presented in the form of algorithms or symbolic representations of operations on binary digital signals stored in the memory of a specific device or a dedicated computing device or platform. In the context of this particular specification, the term specific device, etc., once programmed to perform specific operations according to instructions from program software, includes a general-purpose computer. Algorithmic descriptions or symbolic representations are examples of techniques used by ordinary technicians in signal processing or related fields to convey the essence of their work to other technicians in the field. Here and in a general sense, algorithms are considered to be self-consistent sequences of operations or similar signal processing that lead to desired results. In this context, operations or processing involve physical manipulation of physical quantities. Usually, but not necessarily, these quantities can take the form of electrical or magnetic signals that can be stored, transmitted, combined, compared or otherwise manipulated. It turns out that sometimes, mainly for commonly used reasons, it is convenient to refer to such signals as bits, data, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, numerical values, etc. However, it should be understood that all of these or similar terms will be associated with appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless otherwise specifically noted, as is apparent from the discussion herein, it should be understood that discussions throughout this specification utilizing terms such as "processing," "computing," "calculating," "determining," etc., refer to actions or processes of a specific apparatus such as a special purpose computer, a special purpose computing apparatus, or a similar special purpose electronic computing device. Thus, in the context of this specification, a special purpose computer or a similar special purpose electronic computing device is capable of manipulating or transforming signals, which are typically represented as physical electronic or magnetic quantities within a memory, register, or other information storage device, transmission device, or display device of the special purpose computer or a similar special purpose electronic computing device.

[0187] In the foregoing detailed description, numerous specific details have been set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the claimed subject matter. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the claimed subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. In other cases, methods and apparatus that would be known to those of ordinary skill have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the claimed subject matter.

[0188] As used herein, the terms "and," "or," and "and / or" may include a variety of meanings, and it is also expected that these meanings will depend, at least in part, on the context in which the terms are used. In general, "or," if used with an associative list such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C (used herein in an inclusive sense) as well as A, B, or C (used herein in an exclusive sense). Furthermore, as used herein, the term "one or more" may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in the singular, or may be used to describe a plurality or some other combination of features, structures, or characteristics. It should be noted, however, that this is merely an illustrative example, and claimed subject matter is not limited to this example.

[0189] While what is presently considered to be exemplary features has been shown and described, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various other modifications may be made, and equivalents may be substituted, without departing from the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation to the teachings of the claimed subject matter without departing from the central concept described herein.

[0190] Examples of implementations are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0191] 1. A method for wireless communication of a user equipment (UE), comprising:

[0192] determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE;

[0193] generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report; and

[0194] The PSI report is sent in a lower layer channel container to a network entity.

[0195] 2. A method according to clause 1, wherein the size of all of the PSI report elements is larger than the lower layer channel container, and at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report so that the remaining PSI report elements fit within the lower layer channel container.

[0196] 3. A method as described in any of clauses 1 or 2, wherein the lower layer channel container comprises a physical layer channel container or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) block.

[0197] 4. A method as described in clause 3, wherein the physical layer channel comprises a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

[0198] 5. A method according to any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the PSI report is divided into multiple parts including at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size, and wherein the at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report.

[0199] 6. A method according to any of clauses 1-5, wherein the information related to the positioning measurements performed by the UE in the PSI report element includes one or more of the following: at least one reference signal time difference (RSTD) vector; at least one UE receive-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) vector; at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) vector; at least one quality metric vector; at least one velocity or trajectory vector; a reference transmit-receive point (TRP); at least one time of arrival (TOA) vector; at least one multi-radial quantity; at least one line of sight (LOS) / non-line of sight (NLOS) factor; at least one signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) vector; at least one timestamp, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0200] 7. A method as described in any of clauses 1-6, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: a first type of positioning measurement has a higher priority than a second type of measurement.

[0201] 8. A method as described in clause 7, wherein the first type of positioning measurements are timing measurements and the second type of measurements are energy measurements.

[0202] 9. A method as described in any of clauses 1-8, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: a quality metric having a lower priority than a positioning measurement associated with the quality metric.

[0203] 10. A method according to any of clauses 1-9, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: positioning measurements associated with a service or reference transmit / receive point (TRP) have a higher priority than positioning measurements associated with an adjacent TRP.

[0204] 11. A method according to any of clauses 1-10, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: an identifier associated with a reference transmit receive point (TRP), a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource or a PRS resource set and having a higher priority than the positioning measurement.

[0205] 12. A method according to any of clauses 1-11, wherein the one or more priority-based rules are configured based on a positioning method.

[0206] 13. A method as described in any of clauses 1-12, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: a multipath report or a line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor has a lower priority than a first path report.

[0207] 14. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 13, further comprising:

[0208] A priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type is received from the network entity, wherein the PSI report elements are ordered based on the priority-based rule configuration.

[0209] 15. A method according to any of clauses 1-14, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: reporting a timestamp corresponding to each positioning measurement vector with a lower priority than the positioning measurement vector, wherein the vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0210] 16. A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 15, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: interleaving measurement vectors for different types of positioning measurements.

[0211] 17. The method according to any one of clauses 1-16 further includes: generating a priority-based rule configuration based on the positioning measurement type, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration, and wherein the PSI report includes an indication of the priority-based rule configuration.

[0212] 18. A method as described in any of clauses 1-17, wherein the network entity comprises one of a serving base station in a radio access network (RAN), a location server in the RAN, or a second UE in communication with the UE.

[0213] 19. A user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication, comprising:

[0214] a wireless transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly with a network entity in a wireless communication system;

[0215] at least one memory;

[0216] at least one processor coupled to the wireless transceiver and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

[0217] determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE;

[0218] generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report; and

[0219] The PSI report is sent in a lower layer channel container to the network entity via the wireless transceiver.

[0220] 20. A UE as set out in clause 19, wherein the size of all of the PSI reporting elements is larger than the lower layer channel container, and wherein the at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report such that the remaining PSI reporting elements fit within the lower layer channel container.

[0221] 21. A UE as described in any of clauses 19 or 20, wherein the lower layer channel container comprises a physical layer channel container or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) block.

[0222] 22. A UE as described in clause 21, wherein the physical layer channel comprises a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

[0223] 23. A UE according to any of clauses 19-22, wherein the PSI report is divided into a plurality of parts having at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size, and wherein the at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report.

[0224] 24. A UE according to any of clauses 19-23, wherein the information related to the positioning measurements performed by the UE in the PSI reporting element includes one or more of the following: at least one reference signal time difference (RSTD) vector; at least one UE receive-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) vector; at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) vector; at least one quality metric vector; at least one velocity or trajectory vector; a reference transmit-receive point (TRP); at least one time of arrival (TOA) vector; at least one multi-radial quantity; at least one line of sight (LOS) / non-line of sight (NLOS) factor; at least one signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) vector; at least one timestamp, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0225] 25. A UE as described in any of clauses 19-24, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: a first type of positioning measurement has a higher priority than a second type of measurement.

[0226] 26. A UE as set out in clause 25, wherein the first type of positioning measurements are timing measurements and the second type of measurements are energy measurements.

[0227] 27. A UE as described in any of clauses 19-26, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: a quality metric having a lower priority than a positioning measurement associated with the quality metric.

[0228] 28. A UE according to any of clauses 19-27, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: positioning measurements associated with a serving or reference transmit reception point (TRP) have a higher priority than positioning measurements associated with an adjacent TRP.

[0229] 29. A UE according to any of clauses 19-28, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: an identifier associated with a reference transmit reception point (TRP), a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource or a set of PRS resources and having a higher priority than all positioning measurements.

[0230] 30. A UE as described in any of clauses 19-29, wherein the one or more priority-based rules are configured based on a positioning method.

[0231] 31. A UE as described in any of clauses 19-30, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: multipath reports or line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factors have a lower priority than first path reports.

[0232] 32. A UE as set out in any of clauses 19 to 31, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

[0233] A priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type is received from the network entity via the wireless transceiver, wherein the PSI reporting elements are ordered based on the priority-based rule configuration.

[0234] 33. A UE according to any of clauses 19-32, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: reporting a timestamp corresponding to each positioning measurement vector with a lower priority than the positioning measurement vector, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0235] 34. A UE as described in any of clauses 19-33, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: interleaving measurement vectors used for different types of positioning measurements.

[0236] 35. A UE according to any of clauses 19-34, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: generate a priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration, and wherein the PSI report includes an indication of the priority-based rule configuration.

[0237] 36. A UE as described in any of clauses 19-35, wherein the network entity comprises one of a serving base station in a radio access network (RAN), a location server in the RAN, or a second UE in communication with the UE.

[0238] 37. A user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication, comprising:

[0239] means for determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE;

[0240] means for generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report; and

[0241] Means for sending the PSI report in a lower layer channel container to a network entity.

[0242] 38. A non-transitory storage medium comprising program code stored thereon, the program code being operable to configure at least one processor in a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, the program code comprising:

[0243] program code for determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE;

[0244] program code for generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report; and

[0245] Program code for sending the PSI report in a lower layer channel container to a network entity.

[0246] 39. A method for wireless communication of a user equipment (UE) performed by a network entity in a wireless network, comprising:

[0247] receiving a positioning state information (PSI) report from the UE in a lower layer channel container, the PSI report comprising PSI reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, wherein the PSI reporting elements in the PSI report are ordered by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report; and

[0248] The PSI report is processed using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

[0249] 40. A method according to clause 39, wherein the size of the ordered PSI report elements is larger than the lower layer channel container, and at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report so that the remaining ordered PSI report elements fit within the lower layer channel container.

[0250] 41. A method as described in any of clauses 39 or 40, wherein the lower layer channel container comprises a physical layer channel container or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) block.

[0251] 42. A method as described in clause 41, wherein the physical layer channel comprises a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

[0252] 43. A method according to any of clauses 39 to 41, wherein the PSI report is divided into a plurality of parts comprising at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size, and wherein the at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report.

[0253] 44. A method according to any of clauses 39-43, wherein the information related to the positioning measurements performed by the UE in the PSI report element includes one or more of the following: at least one reference signal time difference (RSTD) vector; at least one UE receive-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) vector; at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) vector; at least one quality metric vector; at least one velocity or trajectory vector; a reference transmit-receive point (TRP); at least one time of arrival (TOA) vector; at least one multi-radial quantity; at least one line of sight (LOS) / non-line of sight (NLOS) factor; at least one signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) vector; at least one timestamp, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0254] 45. A method as described in any of clauses 39-44, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: a first type of positioning measurement has a higher priority than a second type of measurement.

[0255] 46. ​​A method as described in clause 45, wherein the first type of positioning measurements are timing measurements and the second type of measurements are energy measurements.

[0256] 47. A method as described in any of clauses 39-46, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: a quality metric having a lower priority than a positioning measurement associated with the quality metric.

[0257] 48. A method as described in any of clauses 39-47, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: positioning measurements associated with a service or reference transmit reception point (TRP) have a higher priority than positioning measurements associated with an adjacent TRP.

[0258] 49. A method according to any of clauses 39-48, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: an identifier associated with a reference transmit receive point (TRP), a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource or a set of PRS resources and having a higher priority than all positioning measurements.

[0259] 50. A method as described in any of clauses 39-49, wherein the one or more priority-based rules are configured based on a positioning method.

[0260] 51. A method as described in any of clauses 39-50, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: a multipath report or a line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor having a lower priority than a first path report.

[0261] 52. A method according to any one of clauses 39 to 51, further comprising:

[0262] A priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type is sent to the UE, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration.

[0263] 53. A method as described in any of clauses 39-52, wherein the one or more priority-based rule reports are timestamps corresponding to each measurement vector, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0264] 54. A method as described in any of clauses 39-53, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: interleaving measurement vectors for different types of positioning measurements.

[0265] 55. The method according to any of clauses 39-54 further includes: receiving a priority-based rule configuration based on positioning measurement type from the UE in the PSI report, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration.

[0266] 56. A method as described in any of clauses 39-55, wherein the network entity comprises one of a serving base station in a radio access network (RAN), a location server in the RAN, or a second UE in communication with the UE.

[0267] 57. A network entity in a wireless network configured to support wireless communications of a user equipment (UE), comprising:

[0268] an external interface configured to communicate wirelessly with the UE;

[0269] at least one memory;

[0270] at least one processor coupled to the external interface and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:

[0271] receiving, via the external interface, a positioning state information (PSI) report from the UE in a lower layer channel container, the PSI report comprising PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are ordered by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report; and

[0272] The PSI report is processed using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

[0273] 58. A network entity as described in clause 57, wherein the size of the ordered PSI report elements is larger than the lower layer channel container, and the at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report so that the remaining ordered PSI report elements fit within the lower layer channel container.

[0274] 59. A network entity as described in any of clauses 57 or 58, wherein the lower layer channel container comprises a physical layer channel container or a medium access control - control element (MAC-CE) block.

[0275] 60. A network entity as described in clause 59, wherein the physical layer channel comprises a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

[0276] 61. A network entity according to any of clauses 57-60, wherein the PSI report is divided into multiple parts including at least one part with a constant size and a remaining part with a variable size, and wherein the at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report.

[0277] 62. A network entity according to any of clauses 57-61, wherein the information in the PSI reporting element related to the positioning measurements performed by the UE includes one or more of the following: at least one reference signal time difference (RSTD) vector; at least one UE receive-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) vector; at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) vector; at least one quality metric vector; at least one velocity or trajectory vector; a reference transmit receive point (TRP); at least one time of arrival (TOA) vector; at least one multi-radial quantity; at least one line of sight (LOS) / non-line of sight (NLOS) factor; at least one signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) vector; at least one timestamp, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0278] 63. A network entity as described in any of clauses 57-62, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: positioning measurements of a first type have a higher priority than measurements of a second type.

[0279] 64. A network entity as described in clause 63, wherein the first type of positioning measurements are timing measurements and the second type of measurements are energy measurements.

[0280] 65. A network entity as described in any of clauses 57-65, wherein the one or more priority-based rules comprise that a quality metric has a lower priority than a positioning measurement associated with the quality metric.

[0281] 66. A network entity as described in any of clauses 57-65, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: positioning measurements associated with a service or reference transmit reception point (TRP) have a higher priority than positioning measurements associated with an adjacent TRP.

[0282] 67. A network entity according to any of clauses 57-66, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: an identifier associated with a reference transmit receive point (TRP), a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource or a set of PRS resources and having a higher priority than all positioning measurements.

[0283] 68. A network entity as described in any of clauses 57-67, wherein the one or more priority-based rules are configured based on a positioning method.

[0284] 69. A network entity as described in any of clauses 57-68, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: multipath reports or line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factors have a lower priority than first path reports.

[0285] 70. A network entity as claimed in any of clauses 57 to 69, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

[0286] A priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type is sent to the UE via the external interface, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for ordering the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration.

[0287] 71. A network entity as described in any of clauses 57-70, wherein the one or more priority-based rules report a timestamp corresponding to each measurement vector, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

[0288] 72. A network entity as described in any of clauses 57-71, wherein the one or more priority-based rules include: interleaving measurement vectors for different types of positioning measurements.

[0289] 73. A network entity according to any of clauses 57-72, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive a priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type from the UE in the PSI report via the external interface, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration.

[0290] 74. A network entity as described in any of clauses 57-73, wherein the network entity comprises one of a serving base station in a radio access network (RAN), a location server in the RAN, or a second UE in communication with the UE.

[0291] 75. A network entity in a wireless network configured to support wireless communications of a user equipment (UE), comprising:

[0292] means for receiving a positioning state information (PSI) report from the UE in a lower layer channel container, the PSI report comprising PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are ordered by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report; and

[0293] Means for processing the PSI report using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

[0294] 76. A non-transitory storage medium comprising program code stored thereon, the program code being operable to configure at least one processor in a network entity in a wireless network to support wireless communications of a user equipment (UE), the program code comprising:

[0295] program code for receiving a positioning state information (PSI) report from the UE in a lower layer channel container, the PSI report comprising PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element includes information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are ordered by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report; and

[0296] Program code for processing the PSI report using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

[0297] Therefore, it is intended that the claimed subject matter not be limited to the particular examples disclosed, but that such claimed subject matter may also include all aspects falling within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication of a user equipment (UE), comprising: determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, the PSI reporting element comprising at least one positioning timing measurement and at least one quality metric associated with the at least one positioning timing measurement; generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report, wherein, according to the one or more priority-based rules, a quality metric has a lower priority than a positioning timing measurement associated with the quality metric; and The PSI report is sent to a network entity on a lower layer channel in a channel container scheduled for the PSI report.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: All of the PSI reporting elements are larger in size than the lower layer channel container, and the at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report such that the remaining PSI reporting elements fit within the lower layer channel container.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The lower layer channel container includes a physical layer channel container or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) block.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein: The physical layer channels include a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The PSI report is divided into a plurality of parts including at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size, and wherein the at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The information related to the positioning measurements performed by the UE in the PSI report element includes one or more of the following: at least one reference signal time difference (RSTD) vector; at least one UE receive-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) vector; at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) vector; at least one quality metric vector; at least one speed or trajectory vector; a reference transmit-receive point (TRP); at least one time of arrival (TOA) vector; at least one multi-radial quantity; at least one line of sight (LOS) / non-line of sight (NLOS) factor; at least one signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) vector; at least one timestamp, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include positioning measurements of a first type having a higher priority than measurements of a second type.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein: The first type of positioning measurements are timing measurements and the second type of measurements are energy measurements.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include positioning measurements associated with a serving or reference transmission reception point (TRP) having a higher priority than positioning measurements associated with a neighboring TRP.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include an identifier associated with a reference transmit reception point (TRP), a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, or a set of PRS resources and having a higher priority than positioning measurements.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules are configured based on a positioning method.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include a multipath report or a line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor having a lower priority than a first path report.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: A priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type is received from the network entity, wherein the PSI report elements are ordered based on the priority-based rule configuration.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include: reporting a timestamp corresponding to each positioning measurement vector with a lower priority than the positioning measurement vector, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include interleaving measurement vectors for different types of positioning measurements.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: A priority-based rule configuration is generated based on a positioning measurement type, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for ordering the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration, and wherein the PSI report includes an indication of the priority-based rule configuration.

17. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The network entity includes one of a serving base station in a radio access network (RAN), a location server in the RAN, or a second UE in communication with the UE.

18. A user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication, comprising: a wireless transceiver configured to communicate wirelessly with a network entity in a wireless communication system; at least one memory; at least one processor coupled to the wireless transceiver and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, the PSI reporting element comprising at least one positioning timing measurement and at least one quality metric associated with the at least one positioning timing measurement; generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report, wherein, according to the one or more priority-based rules, a quality metric has a lower priority than a positioning timing measurement associated with the quality metric; and The PSI report is sent to the network entity via the wireless transceiver on a lower layer channel in a channel container scheduled for the PSI report.

19. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: All of the PSI reporting elements are larger in size than the lower layer channel container, and the at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report such that the remaining PSI reporting elements fit within the lower layer channel container.

20. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The lower layer channel container includes a physical layer channel container or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) block.

21. The UE according to claim 20, wherein: The physical layer channels include a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

22. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The PSI report is divided into a plurality of parts including at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size, and wherein the at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report.

23. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The information related to the positioning measurements performed by the UE in the PSI report element includes one or more of the following: at least one reference signal time difference (RSTD) vector; at least one UE receive-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) vector; at least one reference signal received power (RSRP) vector; at least one quality metric vector; at least one speed or trajectory vector; a reference transmit-receive point (TRP); at least one time of arrival (TOA) vector; at least one multi-radial quantity; at least one line of sight (LOS) / non-line of sight (NLOS) factor; at least one signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) vector; at least one timestamp, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

24. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include positioning measurements of a first type having a higher priority than measurements of a second type.

25. The UE according to claim 24, wherein: The first type of positioning measurements are timing measurements and the second type of measurements are energy measurements.

26. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include positioning measurements associated with a serving or reference transmission reception point (TRP) having a higher priority than positioning measurements associated with a neighboring TRP.

27. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include an identifier associated with a reference transmit reception point (TRP), a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, or a set of PRS resources and having a higher priority than all positioning measurements.

28. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules are configured based on a positioning method.

29. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include a multipath report or a line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor having a lower priority than a first path report.

30. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The at least one processor is further configured to: A priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type is received from the network entity via the wireless transceiver, wherein the PSI reporting elements are ordered based on the priority-based rule configuration.

31. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include: reporting a timestamp corresponding to each positioning measurement vector with a lower priority than the positioning measurement vector, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

32. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include interleaving measurement vectors for different types of positioning measurements.

33. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The at least one processor is further configured to generate a priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration, and wherein the PSI report includes an indication of the priority-based rule configuration.

34. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: The network entity includes one of a serving base station in a radio access network (RAN), a location server in the RAN, or a second UE in communication with the UE.

35. A user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication, comprising: means for determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, the PSI reporting element comprising at least one positioning timing measurement and at least one quality metric associated with the at least one positioning timing measurement; means for generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report, wherein, according to the one or more priority-based rules, a quality metric has a lower priority than a positioning timing measurement associated with the quality metric; and Means for sending the PSI report to a network entity on a lower layer channel in a channel container scheduled for the PSI report.

36. A non-transitory storage medium comprising program code stored thereon, the program code being operable to configure at least one processor in a user equipment (UE) for wireless communication, the program code comprising: program code for determining a plurality of positioning state information (PSI) reporting elements, wherein each PSI reporting element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, the PSI reporting element comprising at least one positioning timing measurement and at least one quality metric associated with the at least one positioning timing measurement; program code for generating a PSI report based on the PSI reporting elements and one or more priority-based rules for the PSI reporting elements, wherein at least one low priority PSI reporting element is omitted from the PSI report, wherein, according to the one or more priority-based rules, a quality metric has a lower priority than a positioning timing measurement associated with the quality metric; and Program code for sending the PSI report to a network entity on a lower layer channel in a channel container scheduled for the PSI report.

37. A method for user equipment (UE) wireless communications performed by a network entity in a wireless network, comprising: receiving a positioning state information (PSI) report from the UE in a channel container scheduled for a PSI report on a lower layer channel, the PSI report comprising PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, the PSI report element comprising at least one positioning timing measurement and at least one quality metric associated with the at least one positioning timing measurement, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are ordered by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report, and wherein the one or more priority-based rules comprise: a quality metric having a lower priority than a positioning measurement associated with the quality metric; and The PSI report is processed using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein: The ordered PSI reporting element is larger in size than the lower layer channel.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein: The lower layer channel includes a physical layer channel or a medium access control (MAC) layer channel, and the channel container is a physical layer channel container or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) block.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein: The physical layer channels include a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

41. The method of claim 37, wherein: The PSI report is divided into a plurality of parts including at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size, and wherein the at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report.

42. The method of claim 37, wherein: The positioning timing measurements in the PSI reporting element include one or more of the following: at least one reference signal time difference (RSTD) vector; at least one UE receive-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) vector; at least one time of arrival (TOA) vector; and wherein the PSI reporting element also includes: a reference signal received power (RSRP) vector; a velocity or trajectory vector; a reference transmit-receive point (TRP); a multi-radial quantity; a line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor; a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) vector; and a timestamp, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

43. The method of claim 37, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include positioning measurements of a first type having a higher priority than measurements of a second type.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein: The first type of positioning measurements are timing measurements and the second type of measurements are energy measurements.

45. The method of claim 37, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include positioning measurements associated with a serving or reference transmission reception point (TRP) having a higher priority than positioning measurements associated with a neighboring TRP.

46. ​​The method of claim 37, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include an identifier associated with a reference transmit reception point (TRP), a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, or a set of PRS resources and having a higher priority than all positioning measurements.

47. The method of claim 37, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules are configured based on a positioning method.

48. The method of claim 37, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include a multipath report or a line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor having a lower priority than a first path report.

49. The method of claim 37, further comprising: A priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type is sent to the UE, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration.

50. The method of claim 37, wherein: The one or more priority-based rule reports correspond to a timestamp for each measurement vector, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, same TRP, same beam, same frequency band, same antenna, or a combination thereof.

51. The method of claim 37, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include interleaving measurement vectors for different types of positioning measurements.

52. The method of claim 37, further comprising: A priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type is received from the UE in the PSI report, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for ordering the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration.

53. The method of claim 37, wherein: The network entity includes one of a serving base station in a radio access network (RAN), a location server in the RAN, or a second UE in communication with the UE.

54. A network entity in a wireless network configured to support wireless communications of a user equipment (UE), comprising: an external interface configured to communicate wirelessly with the UE; at least one memory; at least one processor coupled to the external interface and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receiving, from the UE via the external interface, a positioning state information (PSI) report on a lower layer channel in a channel container scheduled for a PSI report, the PSI report comprising PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, the PSI report element comprising at least one positioning timing measurement and at least one quality metric associated with the at least one positioning timing measurement, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are ordered by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report, and wherein the one or more priority-based rules comprise: a quality metric having a lower priority than a positioning measurement associated with the quality metric; and The PSI report is processed using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

55. The network entity according to claim 54, wherein: The ordered PSI reporting element is larger in size than the lower layer channel.

56. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The lower layer channel includes a physical layer channel or a medium access control (MAC) layer channel, and the channel container is a physical layer channel container or a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) block.

57. The network entity according to claim 56, wherein: The physical layer channels include a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH).

58. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The PSI report is divided into a plurality of parts including at least one part having a constant size and a remaining part having a variable size, and wherein the at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the remaining part of the PSI report.

59. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The positioning timing measurements in the PSI reporting element include one or more of the following: at least one reference signal time difference (RSTD) vector; at least one UE receive-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx) vector; at least one time of arrival (TOA) vector; and wherein the PSI reporting element also includes: a reference signal received power (RSRP) vector; a velocity or trajectory vector; a reference transmit-receive point (TRP); a multi-radial quantity; a line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor; a signal-to-interference and noise ratio (SINR) vector; and a timestamp, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, the same TRP, the same beam, the same frequency band, the same antenna, or a combination thereof.

60. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include positioning measurements of a first type having a higher priority than measurements of a second type.

61. The network entity according to claim 60, wherein: The first type of positioning measurements are timing measurements and the second type of measurements are energy measurements.

62. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include positioning measurements associated with a serving or reference transmission reception point (TRP) having a higher priority than positioning measurements associated with a neighboring TRP.

63. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include an identifier associated with a reference transmit reception point (TRP), a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource, or a set of PRS resources and having a higher priority than all positioning measurements.

64. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules are configured based on a positioning method.

65. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include a multipath report or a line-of-sight (LOS) / non-line-of-sight (NLOS) factor having a lower priority than a first path report.

66. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The at least one processor is further configured to: A priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type is sent to the UE via the external interface, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for ordering the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration.

67. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The one or more priority-based rule reports correspond to a timestamp for each measurement vector, wherein a vector is a collection of one or more measurements associated with at least one of the same time, same TRP, same beam, same frequency band, same antenna, or a combination thereof.

68. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The one or more priority-based rules include interleaving measurement vectors for different types of positioning measurements.

69. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The at least one processor is further configured to receive, via the external interface, a priority-based rule configuration based on a positioning measurement type from the UE in the PSI report, wherein the one or more priority-based rules for sorting the PSI report elements are based on the priority-based rule configuration.

70. The network entity of claim 54, wherein: The network entity includes one of a serving base station in a radio access network (RAN), a location server in the RAN, or a second UE in communication with the UE.

71. A network entity in a wireless network configured to support wireless communications of a user equipment (UE), comprising: means for receiving, from the UE in a channel container scheduled for a positioning state information (PSI) report on a lower layer channel, the PSI report comprising PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, the PSI report element comprising at least one positioning timing measurement and at least one quality metric associated with the at least one positioning timing measurement, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are ordered by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report, and wherein the one or more priority-based rules comprise: a quality metric having a lower priority than a positioning measurement associated with the quality metric; and Means for processing the PSI report using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

72. A non-transitory storage medium comprising program code stored thereon, the program code being operable to configure at least one processor in a network entity in a wireless network to support wireless communications of a user equipment (UE), the program code comprising: Program code for receiving a positioning state information (PSI) report from the UE in a channel container scheduled for the PSI report on a lower layer channel, the PSI report comprising PSI report elements, wherein each PSI report element comprises information related to positioning measurements performed by the UE, the PSI report element comprising at least one positioning timing measurement and at least one quality metric associated with the at least one positioning timing measurement, wherein the PSI report elements in the PSI report are ordered by the UE based on one or more priority-based rules, wherein at least one low priority PSI report element is omitted from the PSI report, and wherein the one or more priority-based rules comprise: a quality metric having a lower priority than a positioning measurement associated with the quality metric; and Program code for processing the PSI report using the one or more priority-based rules to determine the PSI report elements.

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