User equipment and wireless positioning method performed by user equipment

Abstract

Techniques for wireless positioning are disclosed. In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) performs at least one positioning procedure with at least one transmission-reception point (TRP) and sends a positioning report of the at least one positioning procedure via first low layer signaling or both the first low layer signaling and second signaling different from the first low layer signaling.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 025,592, filed on May 15, 2020, entitled “DETERMINING FACTORS FOR SPLITTING POSITIONING STATE INFORMATION (PSI) BETWEEN UPLINK CONTROL INFORMATION (UCI) AND MEDIUMACCESS CONTROL CONTROL ELEMENTS (MAC-CE)” and U.S. Non-Provisional Application No. 17 / 308,683, filed on May 5, 2021, entitled “DETERMINING FACTORS FOR SPLITTING POSITIONING STATE INFORMATION (PSI) BETWEEN UPLINK CONTROL INFORMATION (UCI) AND MEDIUMACCESS CONTROL CONTROL ELEMENTS (MAC-CE)”, both of which are assigned to the present assignee and are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0003] Various aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications. Background Art

[0004] 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 and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, internet-enabled wireless services, and fourth-generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, 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), and time division multiple access (TDMA), the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the like.

[0005] The fifth-generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), calls for improvements such as higher data speeds, more connections, and better coverage. The 5G standard, developed by the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, aims to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to tens of thousands of users and one gigabit per second to dozens of employees in an office. To support large-scale sensor deployments, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. Therefore, 5G mobile communications should achieve significantly improved spectral efficiency compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiency should be improved, and latency should be substantially reduced compared to current standards. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The following presents a simplified overview of one or more aspects disclosed herein. The following overview should therefore not be considered an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, nor should it be considered to identify key or critical elements related to all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. The sole purpose of the following overview is therefore to present certain concepts related to one or more aspects related to the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description given below.

[0007] In one aspect, a wireless positioning method performed by a user equipment (UE) includes performing at least one positioning process with at least one transmit-receive point (TRP); and sending a positioning report for at least one positioning process via a first low-layer signaling or both the first low-layer signaling and a second signaling different from the first low-layer signaling.

[0008] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: perform at least one positioning procedure with at least one transmit-receive point (TRP); and send a positioning report for at least one positioning procedure via the at least one transceiver via first low-layer signaling or both the first low-layer signaling and a second signaling different from the first low-layer signaling.

[0009] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes components for performing at least one positioning procedure with at least one transmit-receive point (TRP); and components for sending a positioning report for at least one positioning procedure via first low-layer signaling or both the first low-layer signaling and a second signaling different from the first low-layer signaling.

[0010] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: perform at least one positioning procedure with at least one transmit-receive point (TRP); and send a positioning report for at least one positioning procedure via first low-layer signaling or both the first low-layer signaling and a second signaling different from the first low-layer signaling.

[0011] Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the drawings and detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing various aspects of the disclosure and are intended to illustrate these aspects only and not to limit them.

[0013] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0014] Figure 2A and 2B An example wireless network structure according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown.

[0015] Figure 3A 、 3B 3C are simplified block diagrams of several example aspects of components that may be used in a user equipment (UE), a base station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured to support communications as taught herein.

[0016] Figures 4A to 4D is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure and channels within the frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 5 An example wireless network structure showing high-level architectural enhancements for low-latency positioning is illustrated.

[0018] Figures 6A to 6C Various LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) Information Elements (IEs) that a UE may use to report positioning measurements to a location server are shown.

[0019] Figure 7 Another IE is shown that the UE may use to report positioning measurements to the location server.

[0020] Figure 8 and 9 An example medium access control element (MAC-CE) is shown.

[0021] Figure 10 An example method of wireless positioning according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] Aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings, and the related drawings relate 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 no longer be described in detail or will be omitted to avoid confusing the relevant details of the present disclosure.

[0023] 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.

[0024] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of different technologies and techniques 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 in the following description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

[0025] In addition, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions performed, for example, by 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(s) of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a set of corresponding computer instructions that, when executed, will cause or instruct the processor of the associated device to perform the functions described herein. Accordingly, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which are considered to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each aspect described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic" that is "configured to" perform the described actions.

[0026] 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 particular radio access technology (RAT). In general, a UE can be any wireless communication device used by a user to communicate on a wireless communication network (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet, a laptop, a consumer asset location device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.). A UE can be mobile or can be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station" or variations thereof. In general, a UE can communicate with a core network via the RAN, and through the core network, the UE can connect to external networks such as the Internet and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for UEs to connect to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.), etc.

[0027] A base station can operate according to one of several RATs for communicating with UEs, depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), new radio (NR) Node B (also known as gNB or gNode B), etc. A base station may primarily support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may provide pure edge node signaling, while in other systems it may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link through which a UE can send signals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). The communication link through which a base station can send signals to a UE is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) may refer to either an uplink / reverse or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0028] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs, which may or may not be co-located. For example, when the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to the cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, a non-co-located physical TRP may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighboring base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. Because a TRP is a point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references to transmitting from or receiving at a base station will be understood to refer to a specific TRP of a base station.

[0029] In some implementations of supporting positioning of a UE, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead send a reference signal to the UE for measurement by the UE, and / or receive and measure signals sent by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when sending a signal to the UE) and / or a position measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring a signal from the UE).

[0030] An "RF signal" comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal," where the context clearly indicates that the term "signal" refers to either a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0031] Figure 1An example wireless communication system 100 according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled "BS") 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 and / or ng-eNBs where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0032] 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 5G core (5GC)) via backhaul links 122, and through the core network 170 to one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)). The location server(s) 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. The base stations 102 may perform, among other functions, functions related to one or more of: transmitting user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and device tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (eg, through the EPC / 5GC) via a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0033] Base station 102 can communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each base station 102 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells in each geographic coverage area 110 can be supported by base station 102. 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, or the like) and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) 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 Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that can provide access to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" can refer to one or both of the logical communication entity and the base station supporting it, depending on the context. In addition, since a TRP is generally a physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" can be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term “cell” may also refer to a geographic coverage area (eg, a sector) of a base station, so long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communications within some portion of the geographic coverage area 110 .

[0034] While the geographic coverage areas 110 of adjacent macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), some geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with a larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes small cell and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a Home eNB (HeNB), which may provide service to a restricted group called a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG).

[0035] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also known as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also known as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may utilize MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for the downlink than for the uplink).

[0036] 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 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure to determine whether a channel is available before communicating.

[0037] The small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can adopt LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' adopting LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can enhance the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE-U, License Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0038] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 that can operate at millimeter wave frequencies and / or near-millimeter wave frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequencies (EHF) are part of the RF spectrum in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF ranges from 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with wavelengths between 1 mm and 10 mm. Radio waves in this frequency band are referred to as millimeter waves. Near-millimeter waves extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz, with wavelengths of 100 mm. Super high frequency (SHF) bands extend between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and are also known as centimeter waves. Communications using the millimeter wave / near-millimeter wave radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short ranges. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 can utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) on the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. It should also be understood that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using millimeter waves or near-millimeter waves and beamforming. It should therefore be understood that the foregoing description is merely an example and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0039] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing a radio frequency signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts that signal in all directions (omnidirectional). Using transmit beamforming, the network node determines the location (relative to the transmitting network node) of a given target device (e.g., a UE) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device(s). To change the directionality of the RF signal while transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node can use an array of antennas (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") to create an RF beam that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to each antenna in the correct phase relationship, so that the radio waves from each antenna add together to increase radiation in the desired direction, while canceling to suppress radiation in undesirable directions.

[0040] The transmit beams can be quasi-colocated, meaning that they appear to have the same parameters to the receiver (e.g., UE) regardless of whether the transmit antennas of the network nodes themselves are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-colocated (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived from information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial reception parameters of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel.

[0041] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify the RF signal detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver may increase the gain setting and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase its gain level) the RF signal received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to be beamforming in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain in other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is highest compared to the beam gain in the directions 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.) for the RF signal received from that direction.

[0042] The transmit and receive beams may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that the parameters of the second beam (e.g., transmit or receive beam) used for the second reference signal can be derived from information about the first beam (e.g., receive beam or transmit beam) of the first reference signal. For example, the UE may use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0043] Note that a "downlink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station is forming a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if a UE is forming a downlink beam, it is a receive beam to receive a downlink reference signal. Similarly, an "uplink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, and if a UE is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0044] 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). The millimeter wave band generally includes the FR2, FR3, and FR4 frequency ranges. Therefore, the terms "millimeter wave" and "FR2" or "FR3" or "FR4" are often used interchangeably.

[0045] 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 the 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 and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that can be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and can be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, a secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier can contain only necessary signaling information and signals, such as those specific to the UE, which may not be present in the secondary carrier, as the primary uplink and downlink carriers are typically UE-specific. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carrier. The network can change the primary carrier for any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Because a "serving cell" (whether a PCell or SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency / component carrier with which a certain base station is communicating, the terms "cell," "serving cell," "component carrier," "carrier frequency," and similar terms are used interchangeably.

[0046] For example, still referring to Figure 1 , one of the frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell") and the other frequencies 180 used by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 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 theoretically result in a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0047] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a UE 164 that may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via a communication link 120 and / or with a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 via a millimeter wave (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 mmWave base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0048] exist Figure 1In the example of FIG. 1 , one or more Earth-orbiting Satellite Positioning System (SPS) spacecraft (SV) 112 (eg, satellites) may be used as the UEs shown (for simplicity, in FIG. 1 ). Figure 1 124) is an independent source of location information for any one of the UEs 104 (shown as a single UE 104 in FIG). The UE 104 may include one or more dedicated SPS receivers specifically designed to receive SPS signals 124 in order to obtain geographic location information from the SV 112. The SPS typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SV 112) positioned to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine its position on or above the Earth based at least in part on a signal received from the transmitter (e.g., SPS signal 124). Such a transmitter typically transmits a signal with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. Although typically located in the SV 112, the transmitter may sometimes be located on a ground-based control station, base station 102, and / or other UEs 104.

[0049] The use of the SPS signal 124 may be enhanced by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), which may be associated with or otherwise enabled for one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, an SBAS may include augmentation system(s) that provide integrity information, differential corrections, and the like, such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) Assisted Geographic Augmentation Navigation or the GPS and Geographic Augmentation Navigation System (GAGAN), and / or the like. Thus, as used herein, an SPS may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems and / or augmentation systems, and the SPS signal 124 may include an SPS, an SPS class, and / or other signals associated with such one or more SPSs.

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

[0051] Figure 2A An example wireless network architecture 200 is shown. For example, 5GC 210 (also known as the Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally considered to include control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, data network access, IP routing, etc.), which work together to form the core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect gNBs 222 to 5GC 210, specifically to user plane functions 212 and control plane functions 214, respectively. In additional configurations, ng-eNBs 224 can also connect to 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to control plane functions 214, and to user plane functions 212 via NG-U 213. Furthermore, ng-eNBs 224 can communicate directly with gNBs 222 via backhaul connections 223. In some configurations, the next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. The gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0052] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that can communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for (multiple) UEs 204. The location server 230 can 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, each server can correspond to a single server. The location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can connect to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not shown). Furthermore, the location server 230 can be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively can be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0053] Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 250 is shown. 5GC 260 (may correspond to Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 in the 5GC 210 can be functionally considered to be a control plane function, provided by the access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and a user plane function, provided by the session management function (SMF) 262, which operate in conjunction to form the core network (i.e., the 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any UE described herein) and the session management function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, short message service (SMS) message transmission between the UE 204 and the short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and a security anchor function (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with the authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 also include security context management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF for deriving access network specific keys. The functions of the AMF 264 also include location service management for regulatory services, transmission of location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (as the location server 230), transmission of location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, EPS bearer identifier allocation for interworking with the Evolved Packet System (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functions for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0054] The functions of the UPF 262 include serving as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), serving as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection with a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) processing (e.g., uplink and / or downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support the transmission of location service messages between the UE 204 and a location server (e.g., SLP 272) over the user plane.

[0055] The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, flow control configuration at the UPF 262 to route traffic to the correct destination, control of partial policy enforcement QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0056] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that can communicate with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The 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 across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively can each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can be connected to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown). The SLP 272 can support similar functionality as the LMF 270, but the LMF 270 can communicate with the AMF 264, the NG-RAN 220, and the UE 204 over a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols designed to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data), and the SLP 272 can communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (in Figure 2B ) communicate via a user plane (eg, using protocols designed to convey voice and / or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0057] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260 (specifically, the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively) to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, while the interface between the gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the "N3" interface. The gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 of the NG-RAN 220 can communicate directly with each other via the backhaul connection 223 (referred to as the "Xn-C" interface). One or more of the gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 can communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a wireless interface (referred to as the "Uu" interface).

[0058] The functionality of the gNB 222 is divided between a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226 and one or more gNB Distribution Units (gNB-DUs) 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions for transmitting user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and similar functions, except for those functions specifically allocated to the gNB-DU(s) 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 carries the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocols for the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that carries the radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC), and physical (PHY) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. Therefore, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, and communicates with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers.

[0059] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C 2. The diagram shows a network entity 306 that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any base station described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any network function described herein, including location server 230 and LMF 270), or alternatively may be independent thereof. Figure 2A and Figure 2B 20 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure, such as a dedicated network, to support file transfer operations as taught herein. It should be understood that these components can be implemented in different types of devices (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.) in different implementations. The components shown can also be incorporated into other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. In addition, a given device may include one or more components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0060] UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, providing means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for avoiding transmission, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown) (e.g., NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, and / or the like). WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes (e.g., other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) on a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a set of time / frequency resources in a particular spectrum). WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be configured differently depending on the designated RAT to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358, respectively (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), and conversely, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358, respectively (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354 for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352 for receiving and decoding the signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0061] UE 302 and base station 304 also include, at least in some cases, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. Short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide communication over a wireless communication medium of interest via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 are devices for communicating (e.g., devices for transmitting, devices for receiving, devices for measuring, devices for tuning, devices for avoiding transmitting, etc.) with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) such as PC5, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near field communication (NFC), etc.). The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be configured differently according to the specified RAT to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), respectively, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.), respectively. Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364 for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362 for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be WiFi transceivers, transceiver, and / or transceiver, NFC transceiver, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceiver.

[0062] UE 302 and base station 304 also include, at least in some cases, satellite positioning system (SPS) receivers 330 and 370. SPS receivers 330 and 370 can be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and can provide means for receiving and / or measuring SPS signals 338 and 378, respectively, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, BeiDou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC) signals, Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) signals, and the like. SPS receivers 330 and 370 can include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing SPS signals 338 and 378, respectively. SPS receivers 330 and 370 appropriately request information and operations from other systems and perform the necessary calculations to determine the location of UE 302 and base station 304 using measurements obtained using any suitable SPS algorithm.

[0063] Each of the base station 304 and the network entity 306 includes one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, which provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or to communicate with other network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0064] The transceiver can be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes a transmitter circuit (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and a receiver circuit (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). In some implementations, the transceiver can be an integrated device (e.g., implementing the transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit in a single device), in some implementations can include separate transmitter circuits and separate receiver circuits, or in other implementations can be implemented in other ways. The transmitter circuit and receiver circuit of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) can be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. Wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow a corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming," as described herein. Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow a corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that the corresponding device can only receive or transmit at a specific time, but not simultaneously. The wireless transceivers (eg, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include a network listening module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

[0065] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, and in some implementations, network transceivers 380 and 390) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be generally described as "a transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver can be inferred from the type of communication being performed. For example, backhaul communications between network devices or servers are typically associated with signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communications between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) are typically associated with signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0066] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 each include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394 for providing functionality related to, for example, wireless communications, and for providing other processing functionality. Thus, processors 332, 384, and 394 may provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for instructing, and the like. In one aspect, processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuits, or various combinations thereof.

[0067] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively, include storage circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, memories 340, 386, and 396 can provide a means for storing, a means for retrieving, a means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 can include positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. Positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be hardware circuitry that is part of or coupled to processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, which, when executed, causes UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. In other aspects, positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be external to processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which, when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. Figure 3A Possible locations for the location component 342 are shown, for example, it can be part of one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or can be a standalone component. Figure 3B Possible locations for the location component 388 are shown, for example, it can be part of one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or can be a separate component. Figure 3CPossible locations for the positioning component 398 are shown, for example, it can be part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or it can be a separate component.

[0068] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to one or more processors 332 to provide a means for sensing or detecting motion and / or orientation information independently of motion data derived from signals received by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or an SPS receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. Furthermore, the sensor(s) 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate position in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0069] In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides a means for providing indications to the user (e.g., audio and / or visual indications) and / or a means for receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device, such as a keyboard, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include a user interface.

[0070] Referring in more detail to the one or more processors 384, in a downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functions for the RRC layer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. One or more processors 384 may provide RRC layer functions associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions related to header compression / decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with transmission of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel priority.

[0071] The transmitter 354 and receiver 352 may implement Layer 1 (L1) functions associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1 (including the physical (PHY) layer) may include error detection on the transmission channel, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of the transmission channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 processes the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be divided into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers, multiplexed with reference signals (e.g., pilots) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol streams are spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. The channel estimates from the channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with the corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0072] At UE 302, receiver 312 receives the signal via its corresponding antenna 316. Receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 332. Transmitter 314 and receiver 312 implement Layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. Receiver 312 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for UE 302, they can be combined by receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. Receiver 312 then uses a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to convert the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain. The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols and reference signals on each subcarrier are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point transmitted by base station 304. These soft decisions can be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted by base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332 which implement Layer 3 (L3) and Layer 2 (L2) functions.

[0073] In the uplink, one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. One or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0074] Similar to the functions described for the base station 304 in conjunction with downlink transmissions, the one or more processors 332 provide RRC layer functions associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functions associated with transmission of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs into transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0075] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback sent by base station 304 may be used by transmitter 314 to select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by transmitter 314 may be provided to different antenna(s) 316. Transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with the corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0076] The uplink transmission is processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described with respect to the receiver functionality at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives the signal through its corresponding antenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 384.

[0077] In the uplink, one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from UE 302. The IP packets from one or more processors 384 may be provided to the core network. One or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0078] For convenience, UE 302, base station 304 and / or network entity 306 may be configured to Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C 1 is shown as including various components that can be configured according to the various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the components shown may have different functions in different designs. Specifically, Figures 3A to 3C Various components in are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may differ due to design choice, cost, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in Figure 3A In the case of , a particular implementation of UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities but no cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320 (e.g., only cellular, etc.), or may omit the SPS receiver 330, or may omit the sensor(s) 344, etc. In another example, in Figure 3B In certain cases, a particular implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi "hotspot" access point without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 360 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the SPS receiver 370, etc. For the sake of brevity, descriptions of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

[0079] Various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may communicate with each other via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. In one aspect, the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may form or be part of communication interfaces for the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively. For example, when different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may provide communication between them.

[0080] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C The components of can be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C The components may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or be combined with at least one memory component to store information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the functionality. For example, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented by the processor and (multiple) memory components of the UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by the processor and (multiple) memory components of the base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). In addition, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by the processor and (multiple) memory components of the network entity 306 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed by a UE, a base station, a network entity, or the like. However, as will be appreciated, such operations, actions and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350 and 360, memory components 340, 386 and 396, positioning components 342, 388 and 398, etc.

[0081] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may operate separately from a network operator or cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a dedicated network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).

[0082] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (eg, base stations and UEs). Figure 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of a downlink frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating an example of channels within a downlink frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 4C is a diagram 450 illustrating an example of an uplink frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 4D is a diagram 480 illustrating an example of channels within an uplink frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0083] LTE (and in some cases NR) uses OFDM on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option of using OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are often also called tunes, bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing can be 15 kilohertz (kHz), and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Therefore, for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), the nominal FFT size can be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth can also be divided into subbands. For example, one subband may cover 1.08 MHz (ie, 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0084] LTE supports a single parameter set (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR can support multiple parameter sets (μ), for example, it can provide subcarrier spacing of 15kHz (μ=0), 30kHz (μ=1), 60kHz (μ=2), 120kHz (μ=3), and 240kHz (μ=4) or larger. In each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For 15kHz SCS (μ=0), there is one slot per subframe, 10 slots per frame, the slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms), the symbol duration is 66.7 microseconds (μs), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) for a 4K FFT size is 50. For 30kHz SCS (μ=1), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.5ms, the symbol duration is 33.3μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) for a 4K FFT size is 100. For 60kHz SCS (μ=2), there are four slots per subframe, 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25ms, the symbol duration is 16.7μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) for a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120kHz SCS (μ=3), there are eight slots per subframe, 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125ms, the symbol duration is 8.33μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) for a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240kHz SCS (μ=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, 160 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.0625ms, the symbol duration is 4.17μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) for a 4K FFT size is 800.

[0085] exist Figures 4A to 4D In the example, a 15kHz parameter set is used. Therefore, in the time domain, a 10ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes, each 1ms, and each subframe contains one time slot. Figures 4A to 4D , time is represented horizontally (e.g., on the X-axis) with time increasing from left to right, and frequency is represented vertically (e.g., on the Y-axis) with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

[0086] A resource grid can be used to represent a time slot, each of which includes one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also called physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). One RE can correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. Figures 4A to 4DIn the parameter set for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB can contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB can contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0087] Some REs carry downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS). DL-RS may include positioning reference signal (PRS), tracking reference signal (TRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), cell-specific reference signal (CRS), channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signal (DMRS), primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), synchronization signal block (SSB), etc. Figure 4A Example locations of REs (labeled "R") that carry PRS are shown.

[0088] A set of resource elements (REs) used to transmit PRS is called a "PRS resource." A set of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and N (such as one or more) consecutive symbols within a time slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

[0089] The transmission of PRS resources within a given PRB has a specific comb size (comb size) (also known as "comb density"). The comb size 'N' represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / modulation spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for comb size 'N', PRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of a symbol of a PRB. For example, for comb-4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, and 8) are used to transmit the PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, comb sizes of comb-2, comb-4, comb-6, and comb-12 are supported for DL-PRS. Figure 4A An example PRS resource configuration for Comb-6 (which spans six symbols) is shown. That is, the positions of the shaded REs (labeled "R") indicate a Comb-6 PRS resource configuration.

[0090] Currently, a DL-PRS resource can span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot, using a full frequency domain staggered pattern. A DL-PRS resource can be configured in downlink or flexible (FL) symbols in any slot configured by higher layers. For all REs in a given DL-PRS resource, a constant energy per resource element (EPRE) may be applied. The following are frequency offsets for comb sizes of 2, 4, 6, and 12 over 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols: 2-Symbol Comb-2: {0, 1}; 4-Symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1}; 6-Symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 12-Symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 4-Symbol Comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3}; 12-Symbol Comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 6-Symbol Comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; 12-Symbol Comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; 12-Symbol Comb-12: {0, 6, 3, 9, 1, 7, 4, 10, 2, 8, 5, 11}.

[0091] A "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources used to transmit a PRS signal, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a specific TRP (e.g., identified by a TRPID). In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the same periodicity, a common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as a "PRS-resource repetition factor") across time slots. Periodicity refers to the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource of the first PRS instance to the first repetition of the same first PRS resource of the next PRS instance. The period may have a length selected from 2^μ*{4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240} time slots, where μ=0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} time slots.

[0092] The PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP can transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in a PRS resource set can be transmitted on a different beam, and therefore "PRS resource" or simply "resource" can also be referred to as a "beam." It should be noted that this has no effect on whether the UE knows the TRP and the beam in which the PRS is transmitted.

[0093] A "PRS instance" or "PRS opportunity" is an instance of a periodically repeating time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive time slots) in which a PRS is expected to be transmitted. A PRS opportunity may also be referred to as a "PRS positioning opportunity," "PRS positioning instance," "positioning opportunity," "positioning instance," "positioning repetition," or simply "opportunity," "instance," or "repetition."

[0094] A "positioning frequency layer" (also referred to simply as a "frequency layer") is a set of one or more PRS resource sets spanning one or more TRPs (whose values ​​of certain parameters are the same). Specifically, the set of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning that all parameter sets supported for PDSCH are also supported for PRS), the same point A, the same downlink PRS bandwidth value, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The point A parameter takes the value of the parameter "ARFCN-ValueNR" (where "ARFCN" stands for "Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number") and is an identifier / code that specifies a pair of physical radio channels for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth can have a granularity of four PRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers have been defined, and each TRP of each frequency layer can be configured with a maximum of two PRS resource sets.

[0095] The concept of frequency layers is somewhat similar to the concepts of component carriers and bandwidth parts (BWPs), but the difference is that component carriers and BWPs are used by a base station (or macrocell base station and small cell base station) to transmit data channels, while frequency layers are used by several (usually three or more) base stations to transmit PRSs. When a UE sends its positioning capabilities to the network (such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session), it can indicate the number of frequency layers it can support. For example, the UE can indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

[0096] Figure 4B An example of various channels within a downlink timeslot of a radio frame is shown. In NR, the channel bandwidth or system bandwidth is divided into multiple BWPs. A BWP is a set of contiguous PRBs, which are a contiguous subset of common RBs selected from a specific set of parameters on a specific carrier. In general, up to four BWPs can be specified in the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can be configured with up to four BWPs on the downlink and up to four BWPs on the uplink. At a given time, only one BWP (uplink or downlink) can be active, which means that the UE can only receive or transmit through one BWP at the same time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater than the bandwidth of the SSB, but it may or may not contain the SSB.

[0097] refer to Figure 4B , the primary synchronization signal (PSS) is used by the UE to determine the subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identity. The UE uses the secondary synchronization signal (SSS) to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and the radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the position of the aforementioned DL-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the MIB can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also known as SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information that is not sent through the PBCH, such as system information blocks (SIBs) and paging messages.

[0098] The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) in one or more control channel elements (CCEs). Each CCE includes one or more RE group (REG) bundles (which can span multiple symbols in the time domain). Each REG bundle includes one or more REGs. Each REG corresponds to 12 resource elements (a resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The set of physical resources used to carry PDCCH / DCI is called a control resource set (CORESET) in NR. In NR, a PDCCH is confined to a single CORESET and is transmitted with its own DMRS. This enables UE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

[0099] exist Figure 4B In the example above, each BWP has one CORESET, and the CORESET spans three symbols in the time domain (although it could be just one or two symbols). Unlike LTE control channels that occupy the entire system bandwidth, in NR, the PDCCH channel is located in a specific region (i.e., CORESET) in the frequency domain. Therefore, Figure 4B The frequency components of the PDCCH shown in the figure are shown as being smaller than a single BWP in the frequency domain. It should be noted that although the CORESET is shown as continuous in the frequency domain, it does not have to be continuous. In addition, the span of the CORESET in the time domain can be smaller than three symbols.

[0100] The DCI within the PDCCH carries information about uplink resource allocation (persistent and non-persistent) and a description of the downlink data sent to the UE, which are called uplink and downlink grants, respectively. More specifically, the DCI indicates the resources scheduled for the downlink data channel (e.g., PDSCH) and the uplink data channel (e.g., PUSCH). Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIs can be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of multiple formats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplink scheduling, for downlink scheduling, for uplink transmit power control (TPC), etc. A PDCCH can be transmitted by 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

[0101] like Figure 4C As shown in , some REs (marked as "R") carry DMRS for channel estimation at a receiver (e.g., a base station, another UE, etc.). The UE may additionally transmit SRS in, for example, the last symbol of a slot. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may transmit the SRS on one of the combs. Figure 4C In the example shown, SRS is a comb-2 on one symbol. SRS can be used by the base station to obtain channel state information (CSI) for each UE. CSI describes how the RF signal propagates from the UE to the base station and represents the combined effects of scattering, attenuation, and power loss with distance. The system uses SRS for resource scheduling, link adaptation, massive MIMO, beam management, and more.

[0102] Currently, an SRS resource can span 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot with a comb size of Comb-2, Comb-4, or Comb-8. The following are the frequency offsets from symbol to symbol for the currently supported SRS comb patterns. 1-symbol comb-2: {0}; 2-symbol comb-2: {0, 1}; 4-symbol comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1}; 4-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3}; 8-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 12-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 4-symbol comb-8: {0, 4, 2, 6}; 8-symbol comb-8: {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7}; and 12-symbol comb-8: {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7, 0, 4, 2, 6}.

[0103] The set of resource elements used for SRS transmission is called an "SRS resource" and can be identified by the parameter "SRS-ResourceId". The set of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and N (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbols within a time slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol, an SRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs. An "SRS resource set" is a set of SRS resources used for SRS signal transmission and is identified by an SRS resource set ID ("SRS-ResourceSetId").

[0104] Generally speaking, the UE sends SRS to enable the receiving base station (serving base station or adjacent base station) to measure the channel quality between the UE and the base station. However, SRS can also be specifically configured as an uplink positioning reference signal for uplink-based positioning processes such as uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), round-trip time (RTT), uplink angle of arrival (UL-AOA), etc. As used herein, the term "SRS" may refer to an SRS configured for channel quality measurement or an SRS configured for positioning purposes. The former may be referred to herein as "SRS for communication" and / or the latter may be referred to as "SRS for positioning" to distinguish between the two types of SRS when necessary.

[0105] For positioning SRS (also known as "UL-PRS"), several enhancements to the previous SRS definition have been proposed, such as new staggering patterns within SRS resources (except single symbol / comb-2), new comb types for SRS, new sequences for SRS, a larger number of SRS resource sets per component carrier, and a larger number of SRS resources per component carrier. In addition, the parameters "SpatialRelationInfo" (spatial relationship information) and "PathLossReference" (path loss reference) are to be configured based on downlink reference signals or SSBs from neighboring TRPs. Furthermore, an SRS resource can be sent outside the active BWP, and an SRS resource can span multiple component carriers. In addition, SRS can be configured in the RRC connected state and only sent within the active BWP. In addition, there may be no frequency hopping, no repetition factor, only a single antenna port, and new lengths for SRS (e.g., 8 and 12 symbols). There may also be open-loop power control instead of closed-loop power control, and it may be possible to use comb-8 (i.e., an SRS is sent every eighth subcarrier in the same symbol). Finally, the UE can transmit UL-AoA using the same transmit beam of multiple SRS resources. All of these are additional features of the current SRS frame, which are configured through RRC high-level signaling (and may be triggered or activated through MAC control elements (CE) or DCI).

[0106] Figure 4D Examples of various channels within an uplink time slot of a frame according to aspects of the present disclosure are shown. A random access channel (RACH), also known as a physical random access channel (PRACH), can be within one or more time slots within a frame based on the PRACH configuration. The PRACH can include six consecutive RB pairs within a time slot. The PRACH allows a UE to perform initial system access and achieve uplink synchronization. The physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) can be located at the edge of the uplink system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, CSI reports, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) carries data and can also be used to carry buffer status reports (BSRs), power headroom reports (PHRs), and / or UCI.

[0107] It should be noted that the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as, but not limited to, PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc., as defined in LTE and NR. Furthermore, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may refer to either downlink or uplink positioning reference signals, unless the context indicates otherwise. To further distinguish the type of PRS, downlink positioning reference signals may be referred to as "DL-PRS," while uplink positioning reference signals (e.g., SRS, PTRS for positioning) may be referred to as "UL-PRS." Furthermore, for signals that can be transmitted in both the uplink and downlink (e.g., DMRS, PTRS), the prefix "UL" or "DL" may be added to distinguish the direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" can be distinguished from "DL-DMRS."

[0108] NR supports many cellular network-based positioning technologies, including downlink-based, uplink-based, and downlink and uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) in NR. In the OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning process, the UE measures the difference in the arrival time (ToA) of the reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from paired base stations, which is called reference signal time difference (RSTD) or arrival time difference (TDOA) measurement, and reports them to the positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in the assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each non-reference base station. Based on the known positions of the participating base stations and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity can estimate the position of the UE.

[0109] For DL-AoD positioning, the positioning entity uses beam reports of received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmit beams from the UE to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the transmitting base station. The positioning entity can then estimate the UE's position based on the determined angle(s) and the known positions of the transmitting base station(s).

[0110] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS)) transmitted by the UE. For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from the UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angle(s) of the receive beam(s) to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the base station(s). Based on the determined angle(s) and the known position(s) of the base station(s), the positioning entity can then estimate the position of the UE.

[0111] Downlink and uplink-based positioning methods include enhanced cell ID (E-CID) positioning and multi-round trip time (RTT) positioning (also known as "multi-cell RTT"). During the RTT process, the initiator (base station or UE) sends an RTT measurement signal (e.g., PRS or SRS) to the responder (UE or base station), and the responder sends an RTT response signal (e.g., SRS or PRS) back to the initiator. The RTT response signal includes the difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response signal, which is called the receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. The initiator calculates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the ToA of the RTT response signal, which is called the transmit-receive (Tx-Rx) time difference. The propagation time (also known as "flight time") between the initiator and the responder can be calculated from the Tx-Rx and Rx-Tx time differences. Based on the propagation time and the known speed of light, the distance between the initiator and the responder can be determined. For multi-RTT positioning, the UE performs RTT procedures with multiple base stations to determine its position based on the known locations of the base stations (e.g., using multilateration). RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning technologies (such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD) to improve position accuracy.

[0112] The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the ID of the serving cell, the timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strength of detected neighboring base stations. The UE's position is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base station(s).

[0113] To assist in positioning operations, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include an identifier of the base station (or cell / TRP of the base station) from which the reference signal is measured, reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive positioning subframes, the period of the positioning subframe, the muting sequence, the frequency hopping sequence, the reference signal identifier, the reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to a particular positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may come directly from the base station itself (e.g., in a periodically broadcast overhead message, etc.). In some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighboring network nodes on its own without the use of assistance data.

[0114] In the case of OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedures, the assistance data may further include an expected RSTD value and an associated uncertainty or search window around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the value range of the expected RSTD may be + / - 500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any resource used for positioning measurements is in FR1, the value range of the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / - 32 μs. In other cases, when all resources used for (multiple) positioning measurements are in FR2, the value range of the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / - 8 μs.

[0115] A location estimate may be referred to by other names, such as a location estimate, location, location fix, fix, or the like. A location estimate may be geodetic and contain coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may be urban and include a street address, a postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. A location estimate may also be defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A location estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with some specified or default confidence level).

[0116] Currently, positioning measurements are reported via higher layer signaling, specifically LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) signaling and / or RRC signaling. Such reports are referred to as "measurement reports," "positioning reports," and the like. LPP is used point-to-point between a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) and a UE to position the UE using position-related measurements obtained from one or more reference sources (e.g., satellites for GPS positioning, base stations for DL-TDOA positioning, WLAN APs for WLAN positioning, etc.). However, to reduce latency, NR has introduced a technique for reporting Positioning State Information (PSI) using lower layer (e.g., Layer 1 (L1) / Layer 2 (L2)) signaling. PSI reports are low-layer positioning reports and may include RAT-based measurements, i.e., measurements based on NR reference signals (e.g., DL-PRS, TRS, SSB, etc.), or non-RAT-based measurements, i.e., measurements or other information derived from reference sources other than NR reference sources (e.g., Bluetooth, air pressure sensor, motion sensor, GPS, OTDOA based on LTE PHY signals, E-CID based on LTE PHY signals, etc.).

[0117] Figure 5 An example wireless network structure 500 showing high-level architectural enhancements for low-latency positioning is shown. The wireless network structure 500 is a reference point representation of various network entities, similar to Figure 2B The wireless network structure 250 in FIG. Figure 5 Zhongyu Figure 2B The network entities in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 have the same reference numerals as the network entities in FIG. 3 . Figure 2B As shown and referenced in Figure 2B For the sake of simplicity, these network entities are not described here. Figure 2B In addition to the network entities shown in FIG, the wireless network architecture 500 also includes a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 268 and an External Client / Application Function (AF) 570. The GMLC 268 is the first node that the External Client / AF 570 accesses in a cellular network (e.g., LTE, NR) and sends a positioning request to the AMF 264. Figure 5 In the example, the NG-RAN 220 includes a serving (S) gNB 222 and multiple neighboring (N) gNBs 222, each of which can include a location management component (LMC) 274.

[0118] Figure 5 A control plane path 510 is shown between an external client / AF 570 and a UE 204 for setting up a location session with the UE 204. Specifically, the external client / AF 570 sends a location request to the GMLC 268, which forwards the request to the AMF 264. The AMF 264 sends the location request to the serving (S)gNB 222 in the NG-RAN 220, which sends the request to the UE 204 over the air interface (referred to as the "Uu" interface) between the serving gNB 222 and the UE 204. More specifically, the LMC 274 at the serving gNB 222 handles the reception and transmission of the location request. The location request may instruct the UE 204 to perform specific measurements (e.g., RSTD measurements, Rx-Tx time difference measurements, etc.) or to report a location estimate calculated by the UE 204 (e.g., based on GPS, WLAN, etc.).

[0119] After performing the requested measurements or calculating the position estimate, the UE 204 responds to the location request by sending one or more low layer positioning reports (e.g., PSI reports) to the serving gNB 222 via the L1 / L2 path 520. More specifically, the UE 204 sends the low layer positioning report(s) to the LMC 274 via the L1 / L2 path 520. The UE 204 may send the low layer positioning report(s) via L1 in uplink control information (UCI) and / or via L2 in a MAC control element (MAC CE). The low layer positioning report(s) include the requested measurements or position estimate.

[0120] The LMC 274 packages the low layer positioning report(s) from the UE 204 and sends them to the external client / AF 570 over the user plane path 530. Specifically, the LMC 274 sends the low layer positioning report(s) to the UPF 262, which forwards the report(s) to the external client / AF 570. Since the LMC 274 is present at the gNB 222, there is no need to send the low layer positioning report(s) to the external client / AF 570 via the LMF 270.

[0121] As mentioned above, measurement reports (also known as "positioning reports") are currently reported via LPP signaling (Layer 3). There are different information elements (IEs) in LPP that can be used to report each of the three currently supported per-RAT positioning methods (i.e., DL-TDOA, DL-AoD, Multi-RTT). Specifically, TDOA measurements (i.e., RSTD measurements) are reported in the "NR-DL-TDOA-SignalMeasurementInformation" IE, DL-AoD measurements are reported in the "NR-DL-AoD-SignalMeasurementInformation" IE, and multi-RTT measurements (e.g., UE-Rx-Tx time difference measurements) are reported in the "NR-Multi-RTT-SignalMeasurementInformation" IE.

[0122] To reduce latency, it is beneficial to report the information contained in these IEs via low-layer (L1 / L2) signaling (e.g., PSI reports). However, since low-layer containers (e.g., UCI and MAC-CE containers) cannot carry as much information as high-layer reports (such as LPP IEs), techniques are needed to reduce the overhead of low-layer reports. Therefore, it would be beneficial to determine the typical size of these high-layer measurement reports.

[0123] Figures 6A to 6C 1 shows various LPP IEs that a UE may use to report DL-TDOA measurements to a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272). Specifically, Figure 6A An “NR-DL-TDOA-SignalMeasurementInformation” IE 600 and an “NR-DL-TDOA-MeasElement” IE 620 are shown. Figure 6BAn “NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement” IE 640 is shown for reporting additional DL-TDOA measurements that are not suitable for the “NR-DL-TDOA-SignalMeasurementInformation” IE 600 . Figure 6C Shown are an “NR-TimeStamp” IE 660 and an “NR-TimingMeasQuality” IE 680. The “NR-Timestamp” IE 660 is used to report the timestamp of the DL-TDOA measurements reported in the “NR-DL-TDOA-SignalMeasurementInformation” IE 600 and any “NR-DL-TDOA-AdditionalMeasurementElement” IE 620.

[0124] Table 1 below shows the various fields in the DL-TDOA measurement report, their usage, and sizes.

[0125]

[0126]

[0127] Table 1

[0128] As shown in Table 1, each RSTD measurement may have 45 to 63 bits, plus an additional seven bits for the quality indicator of the reference ToA (i.e., the ToA of the reference signal from the reference TRP). There may be up to 64 RSTD measurements per positioning frequency layer because there may be up to 64 TRPs per positioning frequency layer. If the UE selects a different reference ToA, an additional eight to 392 bits are required to identify the new reference TRP. For example, reporting 10 RSTDs with an indication of only the TRP for each RSTD measurement, with a step size of 1 nanosecond (ns) and a 30kHz SCS, without changing the reference TRP, would require 497 bits (i.e., 49 x 10 + 7 = 497). If the UE were to select a new reference TRP, there would be an additional overhead of at least eight bits.

[0129] Figure 7 An example “NR-multiRTT-” (NR-Multi-RTT-Signal Measurement Information) IE 700 is shown, which a UE may use to report multi-RTT measurements to a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272). The measurements are provided as a list of TRPs, where the first TRP in the list serves as a reference TRP.

[0130] Table 2 below shows the various fields in the multi-RTT measurement report, their usage, and sizes.

[0131]

[0132]

[0133] Table 2

[0134] As shown in Table 2, each Rx-Tx time difference measurement may have 45 to 63 bits. As with RSTD measurements, there may be up to 64 Rx-Tx time difference measurements per positioning frequency layer because there are up to 64 TRPs per positioning frequency layer. For example, reporting 10 Rx-Tx time difference measurements with an indication of only the TRP per RTT measurement, with a step size of 1ns and a 30kHz SCS, without changing the reference from the UE, would require 490 bits (49 x 10 = 490). Each 49 bits consists of an eight-bit TRP ID, a 19-bit RTT measurement, a 15-bit timestamp, and a seven-bit quality indicator.

[0135] When transmitting uplink data, the UE may send (e.g., periodically or upon request from the base station) a power headroom report to indicate how much transmit power the UE can use in addition to the transmit power used for the current transmission. The power headroom is the maximum transmit power the UE is allowed to use (i.e., the nominal transmit power) minus the current transmit power (particularly the PUSCH power). If the power headroom value is a positive number, it means that the transmit power used by the UE is less than the maximum allowed transmit power, which means that the UE can send more data if the serving base station allows it. If the power headroom value is a negative value, it means that the UE is transmitting at a power level greater than the allowed transmit power.

[0136] A power headroom report is a type of MAC-CE that the UE sends to the serving base station. The base station uses the reported value to estimate how much uplink bandwidth the UE can use in a specific timeslot. The more resource blocks a UE uses, the higher its transmit power. However, the UE's transmit power should not exceed the maximum power defined in the specification and / or allocated by the base station.

[0137] Figure 8 An example power headroom MAC-CE 800 is shown. The power headroom MAC-CE 800 includes two "R" fields for reserved bits, each of which is set to '0'. The remaining six bits represent the value of the power headroom (PH). Figure 8 As shown, the length of MAC-CE is eight bits, so it is called an "octet". The MAC-CE octet is a MAC-CE container.

[0138] Another type of MAC-CE is the Sidelink CSI Report MAC-CE, which is sent by one UE to another UE via a sidelink between two UEs (e.g., D2D P2P link 192). The Sidelink CSI Report MAC-CE is identified by a MAC subheader containing a Logical Cell Identifier (LCID), which serves as a component carrier identifier. The priority of the Sidelink CSI Report MAC-CE is fixed at '1'.

[0139] Figure 9 An example sidelink CSI report MAC-CE 900 is shown. The "RI" field represents the derived value of the rank indicator (RI) for the sidelink CSI report. The length of the RI field is one bit. The "CQI" field represents the derived value of the CQI for the sidelink CSI report. The length of the field is four bits. The remaining three bits of the power headroom MAC-CE 800 are reserved bits ("R" bits), each of which is set to "0".

[0140] The maximum size of the UCI is 1736 bits, but there is no retransmission of the UCI. On the contrary, although the MAC-CE container is small (i.e. one or more octets), the MAC-CE has a retransmission function because it is part of the PUSCH (see Figure 4D ). For positioning reports, the load is the same regardless of whether the UE is far away from the base station (e.g., at or near the cell edge), which is not the case for CSI reports. That is, the load for positioning reports is the same regardless of the UE's distance from the base station, while the load for CSI reports depends on the UE's distance from the base station, just as the CSI value depends on the distance from the transmitter. Since the channel between the UE and the base station deteriorates with increasing distance, retransmissions (to ensure reliable reception) become more important as the distance increases.

[0141] The present disclosure provides techniques that enable a UE to split the PSI to be included in a positioning report between UCI and MAC-CE containers, or to select the container type to use. The decision on how to split the positioning report or select the container type may be based on a set of factors.

[0142] A first factor for determining whether and which parts of a positioning report are included in the UCI or MAC-CE may be the RSRP (or other measure of signal strength) of the primary or serving cell. If the RSRP is below a threshold, the UE may use the MAC-CE, while if the RSRP is above a threshold, the EU may use the UCI. In one aspect, the RSRP threshold may be configured for different positioning reports.

[0143] The second factor used to determine whether to include a positioning report in the UCI or MAC-CE and which parts to include may be the payload size of the positioning report. If the size of the payload is above a threshold, the UE may use the UCI for positioning reporting, and if the size of the payload is below a threshold, the UE may use the MAC-CE. The load threshold may be specified in the applicable standard, configured by the serving base station (or location server), or determined and reported by the UE. In addition, payload size thresholds may be configured for different types of positioning reports. That is, different types of reports (e.g., DL-TDOA reports, multi-RTT reports, etc.) may be associated with different thresholds.

[0144] A third factor used to determine whether and which parts of the positioning report are included in the UCI or MAC-CE can be the current power headroom value. In other words, the power headroom value can be used as a threshold for selecting between the UCI and MAC-CE for positioning reporting. Like other thresholds, the power headroom reporting threshold can be configured for different types of positioning reports.

[0145] In one aspect, the serving base station (or location server) may configure the UE to use UCI or MAC-CE based on one or more of the above factors. Alternatively, the UE may suggest whether to use UCI or MAC-CE for positioning reporting based on one or more of the above factors.

[0146] In some cases, instead of sending the entire positioning report via UCI or MAC-CE as described above, the UE may send part of the positioning report via UCI and the rest via MAC-CE. For example, the UE may report the eight-bit identifiers of the first 'X' TRPs via MAC-CE (e.g., "TRP-ID-r16" in Tables 1 and 2), and the identifiers of the remaining TRPs via UCI. As another example, the UE may report the basic RSTD (or Rx-Tx time difference) measurement via MAC-CE (e.g., "nr-RSTD-r16" and "nr-UE-RxTxTimeDiff-r16" in Tables 1 and 2, respectively), and report the remaining additional RSTD (or Rx-Tx) measurements via UCI. As yet another example, the UE may report a coarse measurement via MAC-CE and then report all other fine versions via UCI. As yet another example, if the UE selects a new reference TRP (e.g., "TRP-ID-r16" in Table 1), it may report the new reference TRP via MAC-CE. However, if the UE selects a new PRS resource or PRS resource set (e.g., "DL-PRS-IdInfo-r16" in Table 1), it may report the new PRS resource or resource set via UCI because these values ​​require a larger payload.

[0147] In addition, quality indicators of positioning measurements can be reported as part of the UCI or moved to the MAC-CE report. Similarly, timestamps (e.g., "nr-TimeStamp-r16" in Tables 1 and 2) can be reported as part of the UCI or moved to the MAC-CE report. Finally, additional parts or generally multipath components can be reported as part of the UCI or moved to the MAC-CE report. More specifically, the UE can be configured via the higher layer parameter "UE Rx-Tx-Time-MeasRequestInfo" to report multiple UE Rx-Tx time difference measurements corresponding to a single configured SRS resource or resource set for positioning. Each measurement corresponds to a single received DL-PRS resource or resource set, which can be located in different positioning frequency layers. Depending on the UE's capabilities, the UE can be configured to report up to four downlink RSTD measurements per pair of cells, with each measurement being between different DL-PRS resource pairs or DL-PRS source sets within the DL-PRS configured for those cells. A single reference timing is used for up to four measurements performed on the same cell pair and all downlink RSTD measurements in the same report. A UE can be configured to measure and report up to eight DL-PRS RSRP measurements on different DL-PRS resources from the same cell. When a UE reports DL-PRS RSRP measurements from one DL-PRS resource set, the UE can indicate which DL-PRS RSRP measurements have been made using the same spatial domain filter used for reception.

[0148] As can be appreciated, by sending PSI at the lower layers (L1 and / or L2), latency can be significantly reduced. Furthermore, sending some or all positioning reports via MAC-CE can improve reliability based on the retransmission characteristics of MAC-CE. By sending some or all positioning reports via UCI, the amount of low-layer data that can be sent increases based on the longer length of the UCI.

[0149] Figure 10 An example method 1000 of wireless positioning according to aspects of the present disclosure is shown. In one aspect, the method X00 may be performed by a UE (eg, any UE described herein).

[0150] At 1010, the UE performs at least one positioning procedure (e.g., DL-TDOA, multi-RTT, DL-AoD, etc.) with at least one TRP (e.g., the TRP of any base station described herein). In one aspect, operation 1010 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0151] At 1020, the UE sends a positioning report of at least one positioning process via a first lower layer signaling (e.g., UCI, MAC-CE) or both the first lower layer signaling and a second signaling different from the first lower layer signaling (e.g., UCI and (multiple) MAC-CE or (multiple) MAC-CE and LPP). In one aspect, operation 1020 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0152] It can be appreciated that a technical advantage of method 1000 is that reporting delays are reduced.

[0153] In the above detailed description, it can be seen that different features are combined together in the examples. This disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than the features explicitly mentioned in each clause. On the contrary, various aspects of the present disclosure may include fewer features than all the features of the disclosed single example clauses. Therefore, the following clauses should be considered to be included in the specification, where each clause itself can serve as a separate example. Although each dependent clause in these clauses can refer to a specific combination with one of the other clauses, the (multiple) aspects of the dependent clause are not limited to specific combinations. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include combinations of the dependent clause (multiple) aspects with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause, or any combination of any features with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations, unless it is explicitly expressed or can be easily inferred that a specific combination is not intended (for example, contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor). In addition, aspects of a clause may also be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly subordinate to the independent clause.

[0154] The following numbered clauses describe embodiments:

[0155] Clause 1. A wireless communication method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: performing at least one positioning procedure with at least one transmit-receive point (TRP); determining whether to send a positioning report for the at least one positioning procedure via first low-layer signaling, second signaling different from the first low-layer signaling, or both; and based on the determination, sending the positioning report via the first low-layer signaling, the second signaling, or both.

[0156] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the first low layer signaling comprises uplink control information (UCI) and the second signaling comprises one or more medium access control elements (MAC-CEs).

[0157] Clause 3. A method according to clause 2, wherein: the determining comprises determining to send the positioning report via one of the first lower layer signaling and the second signaling, and the UE determines to send the positioning report via one of the first lower layer signaling and the second signaling based on one or more factors.

[0158] Clause 4. The method according to clause 3, wherein the one or more factors include: signal strength of the primary cell, load size of the positioning report, power headroom value, UE suggestion, or any combination thereof.

[0159] Clause 5. The method of clause 4, wherein the signal strength comprises reference signal received power (RSRP).

[0160] Clause 6. A method according to any one of clauses 4 to 5, wherein the UE sends the positioning report via second signaling based on the signal strength being below a signal strength threshold.

[0161] Clause 7. The method of clause 6, wherein the signal strength threshold is based on a type of at least one positioning procedure.

[0162] Clause 8. A method according to any one of clauses 4 to 7, wherein the UE sends the positioning report via first lower layer signaling based on the payload size being greater than a payload size threshold.

[0163] Clause 9. The method of clause 8, wherein the load size threshold is based on a type of at least one positioning procedure.

[0164] Clause 10. A method according to any of clauses 4 to 9, wherein the UE sends the positioning report via first lower layer signalling based on the power headroom value being below a power headroom threshold.

[0165] Clause 11. The method of clause 10, wherein the power headroom threshold is based on a type of at least one positioning procedure.

[0166] Clause 12. A method according to any one of clauses 2 to 11, wherein: the determining comprises determining to send the positioning report via both first low layer signaling and second signaling, and the UE sends the first part of the positioning report via the first low layer signaling and sends the second part of the positioning report via the second signaling.

[0167] Clause 13. A method according to clause 12, wherein the UE sends a first set of transmit-receive point (TRP) identifiers in the second part of the positioning report and sends a second set of TRP identifiers in the first part of the positioning report.

[0168] Clause 14. A method according to any of clauses 12 to 13, wherein the UE sends basic positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning procedure in the second part of the positioning report and sends additional positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning procedure in the first part of the positioning report.

[0169] Clause 15. A method according to any of clauses 12 to 14, wherein the UE sends coarse positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning procedure in the second part of the positioning report and sends fine positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning procedure in the first part of the positioning report.

[0170] Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 14 to 15, wherein the positioning measurements comprise reference signal time difference (RSTD) measurements, received-to-transmitted (Rx-Tx) measurements, or both.

[0171] Clause 17. A method according to any of clauses 12 to 16, wherein the UE sends an identifier of a new TRP associated with at least one positioning procedure in the second part of the positioning report and sends an identifier of one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources or PRS resource sets associated with at least one positioning procedure in the first part of the positioning report.

[0172] Clause 18. A method according to any of clauses 12 to 17, wherein the UE sends a quality indicator of positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning procedure in the first part of the positioning report or the second part of the positioning report.

[0173] Clause 19. A method according to any of clauses 12 to 18, wherein the UE sends a timestamp of positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure in the first part of the positioning report or the second part of the positioning report.

[0174] Clause 20. A method according to any of clauses 12 to 19, wherein the UE sends an additional part of positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure in the first part of the positioning report or the second part of the positioning report.

[0175] Clause 21. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 20, wherein the second signaling is a second lower layer signaling.

[0176] Clause 22. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 21, wherein at least one positioning process comprises a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning process, a multiple round trip time (multi-RTT) positioning process, or an angle of departure (AoD) positioning process.

[0177] Clause 23. An apparatus comprising a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor configured to perform the method of any one of clauses 1 to 22.

[0178] Clause 24. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any one of clauses 1 to 22.

[0179] Clause 25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising at least one instruction for causing a computer or a processor to perform the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 22.

[0180] The following numbered clauses describe additional embodiments:

[0181] Clause 1. A wireless positioning method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: performing at least one positioning process with at least one transmit-receive point (TRP); and sending a positioning report for at least one positioning process via a first low-layer signaling or both the first low-layer signaling and a second signaling different from the first low-layer signaling.

[0182] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the first low layer signaling comprises uplink control information (UCI) and the second signaling comprises one or more medium access control elements (MAC-CEs).

[0183] Clause 3. The method of clause 1, wherein the first low layer signaling comprises one or more MAC-CEs and the second signaling comprises one or more Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) messages.

[0184] Clause 4. The method of clause 3, wherein sending the positioning report comprises sending the positioning report via one of the first low layer signaling and the second signaling based on one or more factors.

[0185] Clause 5. The method according to clause 4, wherein the one or more factors include: signal strength of the primary cell, load size of the positioning report, power headroom value, UE suggestion, or any combination thereof.

[0186] Clause 6. The method of clause 5, wherein the signal strength comprises reference signal received power (RSRP).

[0187] Clause 7. The method of any one of clauses 5 to 6, wherein the positioning report is sent via the second signaling based on the signal strength being below a signal strength threshold.

[0188] Clause 8. The method of clause 7, wherein the signal strength threshold is based on a type of at least one positioning procedure.

[0189] Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 5 to 6, wherein the positioning report is sent via the first lower layer signaling based on the payload size being greater than a payload size threshold.

[0190] Clause 10. The method of clause 9, wherein the load size threshold is based on a type of at least one positioning procedure.

[0191] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 5 to 6, wherein the positioning report is sent via the first lower layer signaling based on the power headroom value being below a power headroom threshold.

[0192] Clause 12. The method of clause 11, wherein the power headroom threshold is based on a type of at least one positioning procedure.

[0193] Clause 13. The method of clause 3, wherein sending the positioning report comprises sending a first part of the positioning report via first low layer signaling, and sending a second part of the positioning report via second signaling.

[0194] Clause 14. The method of clause 13, further comprising: sending a first set of transmit-receive point (TRP) identifiers in a second part of the positioning report, and sending a second set of TRP identifiers in the first part of the positioning report.

[0195] Clause 15. The method according to any one of clauses 13 to 14, further comprising: sending basic positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning process in the second part of the positioning report, and sending additional positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning process in the first part of the positioning report.

[0196] Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 13 to 15, further comprising sending coarse positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning procedure in a second part of the positioning report, and sending fine positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning procedure in a first part of the positioning report.

[0197] Clause 17. The method according to any one of clauses 13 to 16 further comprises: sending a new TRP identifier associated with at least one positioning process in the second part of the positioning report, and sending identifiers of one or more positioning reference signal (PRS) resources or PRS resource sets associated with at least one positioning process in the first part of the positioning report.

[0198] Clause 18. The method of any of clauses 13 to 17, further comprising sending a quality indicator of positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning process in the first part of the positioning report or in the second part of the positioning report.

[0199] Clause 19. The method of any of clauses 13 to 18, further comprising sending a timestamp of positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure in the first part of the positioning report or the second part of the positioning report.

[0200] Clause 20. The method of any of clauses 13 to 19, further comprising sending an additional portion of positioning measurements associated with at least one positioning procedure in the first part of the positioning report or the second part of the positioning report.

[0201] Clause 21. The method of any one of clauses 1, 2, and 4 to 20, wherein the second signaling is a second lower layer signaling.

[0202] Clause 22. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 21, wherein at least one positioning process comprises a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning process, a multiple round trip time (multi-RTT) positioning process, or an angle of departure (AoD) positioning process.

[0203] Clause 23. An apparatus comprising a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor configured to perform the method of any one of clauses 1 to 22.

[0204] Clause 24. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any one of clauses 1 to 22.

[0205] Clause 25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising at least one instruction for causing a computer or a processor to perform the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 22.

[0206] Those skilled in the art will understand that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the foregoing description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0207] In addition, those skilled in the art will recognize that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic steps described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of the two. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described generally according to their functions above. Whether these functions are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the entire system. Technicians can implement the described functions in various ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as resulting in departure from the scope of this disclosure.

[0208] The various illustrative logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed using a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0209] The methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be integrated with the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In an alternative, the processor and storage medium may reside in a user terminal as discrete components.

[0210] In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on a computer-readable medium or sent as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, and communication media include any media that facilitate the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. The storage medium may be any available medium that a computer can access. As an example and not limitation, such 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 carry or store the required program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer. Similarly, any connection may be appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is sent from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio, and microwave), the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technology (such as infrared, radio, and microwave) are all included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0211] Although the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps, and / or actions of the method claims according to the disclosed aspects described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural may be contemplated unless a limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.

Claims

1. A wireless positioning method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: performing at least one positioning procedure with at least one transmit-receive point TRP; sending a positioning report for the at least one positioning procedure via both at least a first low layer signaling and a second signaling different from the first low layer signaling, The first low layer signaling includes uplink control information UCI or one or more medium access control elements MAC-CE, and wherein the first part of the positioning report is sent via the first low layer signaling, and the second part of the positioning report is sent via the second signaling; as well as Coarse positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure are sent in a second part of the positioning report, and fine positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure are sent in a first part of the positioning report. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first low layer signaling comprises UCI, and the second signaling comprises at least one MAC-CE. 3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first low layer signaling comprises one or more MAC-CE messages, and the second signaling comprises one or more Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) messages.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein sending the positioning report comprises: The positioning report is sent via one of the first low layer signaling and the second signaling based on one or more factors.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more factors include: Signal strength of the primary cell, The payload size of the positioning report, Power headroom value, UE recommends or Any combination of them. 6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the one or more factors include a signal strength of a primary cell, and the signal strength includes a reference signal received power (RSRP). 7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the one or more factors include a signal strength of a primary cell, and the positioning report is sent via the second signaling based on the signal strength being lower than a signal strength threshold. The method of claim 7 , wherein the signal strength threshold is based on a type of the at least one positioning procedure.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the one or more factors include a payload size of the positioning report, and sending the positioning report via the first low layer signaling based on the payload size being greater than a payload size threshold.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the load size threshold is based on a type of the at least one positioning procedure. 11 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the one or more factors include a power headroom value, and the positioning report is sent via the first low layer signaling based on the power headroom value being lower than a power headroom threshold.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the power headroom threshold is based on a type of the at least one positioning procedure.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: A first set of transmit-receive point TRP identifiers is sent in the second part of the positioning report, and a second set of TRP identifiers is sent in the first part of the positioning report.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Basic positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure are sent in the second part of the positioning report, and additional positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure are sent in the first part of the positioning report.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: An identifier of a new TRP associated with the at least one positioning process is sent in the second part of the positioning report, and an identifier of one or more positioning reference signal PRS resources or PRS resource sets associated with the at least one positioning process is sent in the first part of the positioning report.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising: A quality indicator of positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure is sent in the first part of the positioning report or in the second part of the positioning report.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising: A timestamp of positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure is sent in the first part of the positioning report or the second part of the positioning report.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising: An additional portion of positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure is sent in the first part of the positioning report or in the second part of the positioning report. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the second signaling is a second low-layer signaling.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one positioning process comprises a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning process, a multiple round trip time (RTT) positioning process, or an angle of departure (AoD) positioning process.

21. A user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; as well as One or more processors coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors being configured, individually or in combination, to: performing at least one positioning procedure with at least one transmit-receive point TRP; sending, via the one or more transceivers, a positioning report for the at least one positioning procedure via at least first low layer signaling and second signaling different from the first low layer signaling, The first low layer signaling includes uplink control information UCI or one or more medium access control elements MAC-CE, and wherein the first part of the positioning report is sent via the first low layer signaling, and the second part of the positioning report is sent via the second signaling; as well as Coarse positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure are sent in a second part of the positioning report, and fine positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure are sent in a first part of the positioning report.

22. The UE according to claim 21, wherein the first low layer signaling comprises UCI, and the second signaling comprises at least one MAC-CE. 23 . The UE according to claim 21 , wherein the first low layer signaling comprises one or more MAC-CEs, and the second signaling comprises one or more Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) messages.

24. The UE of claim 23, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: The positioning report is sent via the one or more transceivers via one of the first low layer signaling and the second signaling based on one or more factors.

25. The UE of claim 24, wherein the one or more factors include: Signal strength of the primary cell, The payload size of the positioning report, Power headroom value, UE recommends or Any combination of them.

26. The UE of claim 25, wherein the one or more factors include a signal strength of a primary cell, and the signal strength includes a reference signal received power (RSRP). 27 . The UE of claim 25 , wherein the one or more factors include a signal strength of a primary cell, and the positioning report is sent via the second signaling based on the signal strength being lower than a signal strength threshold.

28. The UE of claim 27, wherein the signal strength threshold is based on a type of the at least one positioning procedure.

29. The UE of claim 25, wherein the one or more factors include a payload size of the positioning report, and the positioning report is sent via the first low layer signaling based on the payload size being greater than a payload size threshold.

30. The UE of claim 29, wherein the load size threshold is based on a type of the at least one positioning procedure.

31. The UE of claim 25, wherein the one or more factors include a power headroom value, and the positioning report is sent via the first low layer signaling based on the power headroom value being lower than a power headroom threshold.

32. The UE of claim 31 , wherein the power headroom threshold is based on a type of the at least one positioning procedure.

33. The UE of claim 21 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: A first set of transmit-receive point TRP identifiers is sent in the second part of the positioning report via the one or more transceivers, and a second set of TRP identifiers is sent in the first part of the positioning report.

34. The UE of claim 21 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: Basic positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure are sent in the second part of the positioning report via the one or more transceivers, and additional positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure are sent in the first part of the positioning report.

35. The UE of claim 21 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: A new TRP identifier associated with the at least one positioning process is sent in the second part of the positioning report via the one or more transceivers, and identifiers of one or more positioning reference signal PRS resources or PRS resource sets associated with the at least one positioning process are sent in the first part of the positioning report.

36. The UE of claim 21 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: A quality indicator of positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure is sent in the first part of the positioning report or the second part of the positioning report via the one or more transceivers.

37. The UE of claim 21 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: A timestamp of positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure is sent in the first part of the positioning report or the second part of the positioning report via the one or more transceivers.

38. The UE of claim 21 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: An additional portion of positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure is sent in the first portion of the positioning report or the second portion of the positioning report via the one or more transceivers. The UE according to claim 21 , wherein the second signaling is a second lower layer signaling.

40. The UE of claim 21, wherein the at least one positioning procedure comprises a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning procedure, a multiple round trip time (RTT) positioning procedure, or an angle of departure (AoD) positioning procedure.

41. A user equipment (UE), comprising: means for performing at least one positioning procedure with at least one transmit-receive point TRP; means for sending a positioning report for said at least one positioning procedure via both at least a first low layer signaling and a second signaling different from said first low layer signaling, The first low layer signaling includes uplink control information UCI or one or more medium access control elements MAC-CE, and wherein the first part of the positioning report is sent via the first low layer signaling, and the second part of the positioning report is sent via the second signaling; and Means for sending coarse positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure in a second portion of the positioning report and sending fine positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure in a first portion of the positioning report.

42. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: performing at least one positioning procedure with at least one transmit-receive point TRP; sending a positioning report for the at least one positioning procedure via both at least a first low layer signaling and a second signaling different from the first low layer signaling, The first low layer signaling includes uplink control information UCI or one or more medium access control elements MAC-CE, and wherein a first part of the positioning report is sent via the first low layer signaling, and a second part of the positioning report is sent via the second signaling; and Coarse positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure are sent in a second part of the positioning report, and fine positioning measurements associated with the at least one positioning procedure are sent in a first part of the positioning report.

43. A program product storing instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 20.

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