User equipment positioning signal measurement and / or transmission

Abstract

A user equipment configured for wireless signal exchange, comprising: a transceiver, the transceiver being configured to wirelessly transmit outgoing signals and wirelessly receive incoming signals; a memory; and a processor, the processor being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory and configured to perform at least one of the following: measuring an uplink positioning reference signal received from the transceiver, the uplink positioning reference signal having an uplink channel configuration; or measuring a first sidelink positioning reference signal received from the transceiver, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having a first sidelink channel configuration; or sending a second sidelink positioning reference signal via the transceiver, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having a second sidelink channel configuration.

Description

[0001] background

[0002] Wireless communication systems have evolved through generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high-speed data wireless service with Internet capabilities, and fourth generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax), fifth generation (5G), etc. There are many different types of wireless communication systems in use today, including cellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), global system for mobile access (GSM) TDMA variants, etc.

[0003] The fifth generation (5G) mobile standard requires higher data transmission speeds, a greater number of connections and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide tens of megabits per second data rates to each of tens of thousands of users, and 1 gigabit per second data rate to dozens of employees in an office floor. Hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported to support large sensor deployments. Therefore, the spectrum efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly improved compared to the current 4G standard. In addition, signaling efficiency should be improved and waiting time should be greatly reduced compared to the current standard.

[0004] Obtaining the location of a mobile device accessing a wireless network can be useful for many applications, including, for example, emergency calls, personal navigation, asset tracking, locating friends or family members, etc. Existing positioning methods include methods based on measuring radio signals transmitted from various devices or entities, including satellite vehicles (SVs) and terrestrial radio sources in wireless networks, such as base stations and access points. It is expected that standardization for 5G wireless networks will include support for various positioning methods, which can utilize reference signals transmitted by base stations for positioning determination in a manner similar to the way LTE wireless networks currently utilize positioning reference signals (PRS) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRS).

[0005] Overview

[0006] An example user equipment configured for wireless signal exchange includes: a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit outgoing signals and wirelessly receive incoming signals; a memory; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory and configured to perform at least one of the following: measuring an uplink positioning reference signal received from the transceiver, the uplink positioning reference signal having an uplink channel configuration; or measuring a first sidelink positioning reference signal received from the transceiver, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having a first sidelink channel configuration; or sending a second sidelink positioning reference signal via the transceiver, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having a second sidelink channel configuration.

[0007] Implementation of such user equipment may include one or more of the following features. The processor is configured to send a second side link positioning reference signal, the second side link positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a side link synchronization signal format, a side link channel state information reference signal format, a side link phase tracking reference signal format, or a side link demodulation reference signal format. The processor is configured to measure a first side link positioning reference signal, the first side link positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a side link synchronization signal format, a side link channel state information reference signal format, a side link phase tracking reference signal format, or a side link demodulation reference signal format. The processor is configured to use at least one of resource repetition or beam sweeping to send a second side link positioning reference signal. The processor is configured to send a second side link positioning reference signal and implement signal silence on the second side link positioning reference signal. The processor is configured to: send a second side link positioning reference signal; receive positioning information received by the transceiver from another user equipment via a side link channel from the transceiver; and send positioning information to a network entity.

[0008] Additionally or alternatively, implementation of such user equipment may include one or more of the following features. The processor is configured to receive auxiliary data from a transceiver and is configured to perform at least one of the following: measure a first sidelink positioning reference signal based on the auxiliary data or measure an uplink positioning reference signal based on the auxiliary data. The auxiliary data includes an expected reference signal time difference value corresponding to the first sidelink positioning reference signal or the uplink positioning reference signal and an uncertainty in the expected reference signal time difference value. The processor is configured to: measure the first sidelink positioning reference signal; determine positioning information based on the first sidelink positioning reference signal; and send positioning information to a network entity via the transceiver. The processor is configured to send a second sidelink positioning reference signal associated with at least one of a user equipment identifier corresponding to the user equipment or a cellular cell identifier.

[0009] Another example user equipment configured for wireless signal exchange comprises: a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit outgoing signals and wirelessly receive incoming signals; and at least one of the following: an uplink measurement device for measuring an uplink positioning reference signal received from the transceiver, the uplink positioning reference signal having an uplink channel configuration; or a sidelink measurement device for measuring a first sidelink positioning reference signal received from the transceiver, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having a first sidelink channel configuration; or a sending device for sending a second sidelink positioning reference signal via the transceiver, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having a second sidelink channel configuration.

[0010] The implementation of such user equipment may include one or more of the following features. The user equipment includes a transmitting device, and the transmitting device is used to transmit a second side link positioning reference signal, and the second side link positioning reference signal has an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a side link synchronization signal format, a side link channel state information reference signal format, a side link phase tracking reference signal format, or a side link demodulation reference signal format. The user equipment includes a side link measurement device, and the side link measurement device is used to measure a first side link positioning reference signal, and the first side link positioning reference signal has an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a side link synchronization signal format, a side link channel state information reference signal format, a side link phase tracking reference signal format, or a side link demodulation reference signal format. The user equipment includes a transmitting device, and the transmitting device is used to use at least one of resource repetition or beam sweeping to transmit the second side link positioning reference signal. The user equipment includes a transmitting device, and the transmitting device is used to implement signal silence on the second side link positioning reference signal. The user equipment comprises sending means, and the user equipment comprises: means for receiving from the transceiver positioning information received by the transceiver from another user equipment via a sidelink channel; and means for sending the positioning information to the network entity.

[0011] Additionally or alternatively, implementation of such user equipment may include one or more of the following features. The user equipment includes a device for receiving auxiliary data from a transceiver, wherein the user equipment includes a sidelink measurement device, and the sidelink measurement device is used to perform at least one of the following: measure a first sidelink positioning reference signal based on the auxiliary data or measure an uplink positioning reference signal based on the auxiliary data. The auxiliary data includes an expected reference signal time difference value corresponding to the first sidelink positioning reference signal or the uplink positioning reference signal and an uncertainty in the expected reference signal time difference value. The user equipment includes a sidelink measurement device, and the user equipment includes: a device for determining positioning information based on the first sidelink positioning reference signal; and a device for sending positioning information to a network entity. The sending device is used to send a second sidelink positioning reference signal associated with at least one of a user equipment identifier corresponding to the user equipment or a cellular cell identifier.

[0012] An example method for exchanging wireless sidelink positioning signals, comprising: measuring, at a user equipment, an uplink positioning reference signal received by the user equipment, the uplink positioning reference signal having an uplink channel configuration; or measuring, at the user equipment, a first sidelink positioning reference signal received by the user equipment, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having a first sidelink channel configuration; or sending a second sidelink positioning reference signal from the user equipment, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having a second sidelink channel configuration.

[0013] Implementation of such a method may include one or more of the following features. The method includes sending a second side link positioning reference signal, the second side link positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a side link synchronization signal format, a side link channel state information reference signal format, a side link phase tracking reference signal format, or a side link demodulation reference signal format. The method includes measuring a first side link positioning reference signal, the first side link positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a side link synchronization signal format, a side link channel state information reference signal format, a side link phase tracking reference signal format, or a side link demodulation reference signal format. The method includes sending a second side link positioning reference signal using at least one of resource repetition or beam sweeping. The method includes sending a second side link positioning reference signal and implementing signal silencing on the second side link positioning reference signal. The method includes sending a second side link positioning reference signal, and the method includes: receiving positioning information from another user equipment via a side link channel by a user equipment; and sending positioning information to a network entity.

[0014] Additionally or alternatively, implementation of such a method may include one or more of the following features. The method includes receiving auxiliary data, and the method includes at least one of the following: measuring a first sidelink positioning reference signal based on the auxiliary data or measuring an uplink positioning reference signal based on the auxiliary data. The auxiliary data includes an expected reference signal time difference value corresponding to the first sidelink positioning reference signal or the uplink positioning reference signal and an uncertainty in the expected reference signal time difference value. The method includes measuring a first sidelink positioning reference signal, and the method includes: determining positioning information based on the first sidelink positioning reference signal; and sending the positioning information to a network entity. The method includes sending a second sidelink positioning reference signal associated with at least one of a user equipment identifier corresponding to a user equipment, or a cellular cell identifier.

[0015] An example non-volatile processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor of a user equipment to perform the following operations: measure an uplink positioning reference signal received from a transceiver of the user equipment, the uplink positioning reference signal having an uplink channel configuration; or measure a first sidelink positioning reference signal received from a transceiver of the user equipment, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having a first sidelink channel configuration; or send a second sidelink positioning reference signal via the transceiver, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having a second sidelink channel configuration.

[0016] Implementations of such storage media may include one or more of the following features. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: send a second sidelink positioning reference signal, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a sidelink synchronization signal format, a sidelink channel state information reference signal format, a sidelink phase tracking reference signal format, or a sidelink demodulation reference signal format. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations:

[0017] A first sidelink positioning reference signal is measured, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a sidelink synchronization signal format, a sidelink channel state information reference signal format, a sidelink phase tracking reference signal format, or a sidelink demodulation reference signal format. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: use at least one of resource repetition or beam sweeping to send the second sidelink positioning reference signal. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: send a second sidelink positioning reference signal and achieve signal silence on the second sidelink positioning reference signal. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to send a second sidelink positioning reference signal, and the storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: receive positioning information received by the transceiver from another user equipment via a sidelink channel from the transceiver; and send the positioning information to a network entity.

[0018] Additionally or alternatively, an implementation of such a storage medium may include one or more of the following features. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to receive auxiliary data from a transceiver, wherein the instructions configured to cause the processor to measure a first side link positioning reference signal are configured to cause the processor to perform at least one of the following: measure the first side link positioning reference signal based on the auxiliary data or measure the uplink positioning reference signal based on the auxiliary data. The auxiliary data includes an expected reference signal time difference value corresponding to the first side link positioning reference signal or the uplink positioning reference signal and an uncertainty in the expected reference signal time difference value. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to measure the first side link positioning reference signal, and the storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: determine positioning information based on the first side link positioning reference signal; and send positioning information to a network entity via a transceiver. The storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations:

[0019] A second sidelink positioning reference signal associated with at least one of a user equipment identifier or a cell identifier corresponding to the user equipment is transmitted. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0021] Figure 1 is a simplified diagram of an example wireless communication system.

[0022] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 0046] A block diagram of components of an example user equipment is shown in FIG.

[0023] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 A block diagram of components of an example transmit / receive point is shown in FIG.

[0024] Figure 4 yes Figure 1 A block diagram of the components of the example server shown in .

[0025] Figure 5-Figure 7 is a simplified diagram of an example technique for determining the location of a mobile device using information from multiple base stations.

[0026] Figure 8 yes Figure 2 A block diagram of an example of user equipment is shown in FIG.

[0027] Fig. 9 The signaling and process flow for measuring uplink positioning reference signals and / or sidelink positioning reference signals at a UE.

[0028] Fig.10 It is the signaling and process flow for sending and measuring sidelink positioning reference signals.

[0029] Fig.11 It is a flowchart of a wireless side link positioning signal exchange method.

[0030] Detailed Description

[0031] This article discusses the technology for locating user equipment using an uplink positioning reference signal measured by a UE and / or a sidelink positioning reference signal measured by a UE. For example, a UE may transmit an uplink positioning reference signal, and a high-end UE may receive and measure the uplink positioning reference signal. Additionally or alternatively, a high-end UE may transmit a sidelink positioning reference signal, and another high-end UE may receive and measure the sidelink positioning reference signal. Measurement of an uplink positioning reference signal may be used to determine the position of a UE that sends an uplink positioning reference signal. Measurement of a sidelink positioning reference signal may be used to determine the position of a UE that receives a sidelink positioning reference signal or a UE that sends a positioning reference signal. These are examples, and other examples may be implemented.

[0032] The items and / or techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned. Positioning accuracy may be improved, for example, by providing UE reference points for positioning (e.g., in addition to base station reference points). Latency in UE positioning determination may be reduced. Other capabilities may be provided, and not every implementation according to the present disclosure necessarily provides any of the capabilities discussed, let alone necessarily provides all of the capabilities.

[0033] The description may quote a sequence of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. Each action described herein can be performed by a dedicated circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. The sequence of actions described herein may be implemented in a non-transient computer readable medium having stored thereon a corresponding set of computer instructions that, upon execution, will cause an associated processor to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects described herein may be implemented in a number of different forms, all of which fall within the scope of the present disclosure, including the claimed subject matter.

[0034] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not dedicated to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise specified. In general, such UEs may be any wireless communication devices (e.g., mobile phones, routers, tablet computers, laptop computers, tracking devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc.) used by users to communicate on a wireless communication network. UEs may be mobile or may be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT," "client device," "wireless device," "subscriber device," "subscriber terminal," "subscriber station," "user terminal" or UT, "mobile terminal," "mobile station," or variations thereof. In general, a UE may communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE may be connected to external networks (such as the Internet) and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to a core network and / or the Internet are also possible for a UE, such as through a wired access network, a WiFi network (e.g., based on IEEE 802.11, etc.), and the like.

[0035] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs when in communication with a UE, depending on the network in which the base station is deployed, and may be referred to alternatively as an access point (AP), a network node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a general NodeB (gNodeB, gNB), etc. In addition, in some systems, a base station may provide pure edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, the base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions.

[0036] The UE can be implemented by any of several types of devices, including but not limited to a printed circuit (PC) card, a compact flash device, an external or internal modem, a wireless or wired phone, a smart phone, a tablet, a tracking device, an asset tag, etc. The communication link by which the UE can send signals to the RAN is called an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link by which the RAN can send signals to the UE is called a downlink or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) may refer to an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0037] As used herein, depending on the context, the term "cell" or "sector" may correspond to one of multiple cells of a base station or to the base station itself. The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., on a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier to distinguish adjacent cells operating via the same or different carriers (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)). In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types that may provide access to different types of devices (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types). In some examples, the term "cell" may refer to a portion of a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) on which the logical entity operates.

[0038] Reference Figure 1, an example of a communication system 100 includes a UE 105, a radio access network (RAN) 135 (here a fifth generation (5G) next generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN)), and a 5G core network (5GC) 140. The UE 105 may be, for example, an IoT device, a location tracker device, a cellular phone, a vehicle, or other device. A 5G network may also be referred to as a new radio (NR) network; the NG-RAN 135 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or a NR RAN; and the 5GC 140 may be referred to as an NG core network (NGC). Standardization of the NG-RAN and the 5GC is being conducted in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Accordingly, the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may follow current or future standards from the 3GPP for 5G support. The RAN 135 may be another type of RAN, for example, a 3G RAN, a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) RAN, etc. The communication system 100 may utilize information from a constellation 185 of satellite vehicles (SVs) 190, 191, 192, 193 of a satellite positioning system (SPS), such as a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, or BeiDou, or some other local or regional SPS, such as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Additional components of the communication system 100 are described below. The communication system 100 may include additional or alternative components.

[0039] like Figure 1As shown in FIG. 1 , the NG-RAN 135 includes NR B nodes (gNBs) 110a, 110b and next generation evolved B nodes (ng-eNBs) 114, and the 5GC 140 includes an access and mobility management function (AMF) 115, a session management function (SMF) 117, a location management function (LMF) 120, and a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 125. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNBs 114 are communicatively coupled to each other, each configured to perform bidirectional wireless communication with the UE 105, and each communicatively coupled to the AMF 115 and configured to perform bidirectional communication with the AMF 115. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNBs 114 may be referred to as base stations (BSs). The AMF 115, the SMF 117, the LMF 120, and the GMLC 125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the GMLC is communicatively coupled to the external client 130. The SMF 117 may serve as an initial contact point for a service control function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and delete media sessions. The BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may be macro cells (e.g., high-power cellular base stations), or small cells (e.g., low-power cellular base stations), or access points (e.g., short-range base stations configured to communicate with short-range technologies such as WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth ,Bluetooth - Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, etc.) for communication). One or more of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may be configured to communicate with the UE 105 via multiple carriers. Each of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic area (e.g., a cellular cell). Each cellular cell may be divided into a plurality of sectors according to the base station antenna.

[0040] Figure 1 A generalized explanation of the various components is provided, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each component may be repeated or omitted as desired. Specifically, although only one UE 105 is illustrated, many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may be utilized in the communication system 100. Similarly, the communication system 100 may include a larger (or smaller) number of SVs (i.e., more or less than the four SVs 190-193 shown), gNBs 110a, 100b, ng-eNBs 114, AMFs 115, external clients 130, and / or other components. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the communication system 100 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. In addition, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality.

[0041] Although Figure 1 A 5G-based network is illustrated, but similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. Implementations described herein (which are for 5G technologies and / or for one or more other communication technologies and / or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) directional synchronization signals, receive and measure directional signals at a UE (e.g., UE 105), and / or provide location assistance to UE 105 (via GMLC 125 or other location server), and / or calculate the location of UE 105 at a device with location capabilities (such as UE 105, gNB 110a, 110b, or LMF 120) based on measurement parameters received at UE 105 for such directional transmitted signals. The gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 125, the location management function (LMF) 120, the access and mobility management function (AMF) 115, the SMF 117, the ng-eNB (eNodeB) 114 and the gNB (gNodeB) 110a, 110b are examples and may be replaced by or include various other location server functionalities and / or base station functionalities, respectively, in various embodiments.

[0042] The system 100 is capable of wireless communication because the components of the system 100 can communicate with each other (at least sometimes using wireless connections), for example, directly or indirectly, via BS 110a, 110b, 114 and / or network 140 (and / or one or more other devices not shown, such as one or more other base transceiver stations). For indirect communication, the communication may be changed during transmission from one entity to another, for example, in order to change the header information of the data packet, change the format, etc. The UE 105 may include multiple UEs and may be a mobile wireless communication device, but may communicate wirelessly and via a wired connection. The UE 105 may be any of the various devices, such as a smart phone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-based device, etc., but these are only examples, because the UE 105 does not need to be any of these configurations, and other configurations of the UE may be used. Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart jewelry, smart glasses, or head-mounted devices, etc.). Other UEs may also be used, whether currently existing or developed in the future. In addition, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) can be implemented within the system 100 and can communicate with each other and / or with the UE 105, the BSs 110a, 110b, 114, the core network 140, and / or external clients 130. For example, such other devices may include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and / or automation devices, etc. The core network 140 can communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., a computer system), for example, to allow the external client 130 (e.g., via the GMLC 125) to request and / or receive location information about the UE 105.

[0043] The UE 105 or other device may be configured to communicate in various networks and / or for various purposes and / or using various technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communication, multi-frequency Wi-Fi communication, satellite positioning, one or more types of communication (e.g., GSM (Global System for Mobile), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), V2X (e.g., V2P (vehicle to pedestrian), V2I (vehicle to infrastructure), V2V (vehicle to vehicle), etc.), IEEE 802.11p, etc.) for communication. V2X communication can be cellular (cellular-V2X (C-V2X)) and / or WiFi (e.g., DSRC (dedicated short range connection)). System 100 can support operation on multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter can transmit modulated signals on multiple carriers simultaneously. Each modulated signal can be a code division multiple access (CDMA) signal, a time division multiple access (TDMA) signal, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) signal, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal can be sent on a different carrier and can carry a pilot, overhead information, data, etc.

[0044] UE 105 may include and / or may be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a terminal (SET) enabled with secure user plane location (SUPL), or some other name. In addition, UE 105 may correspond to a cellular phone, a smart phone, a laptop, a tablet device, a PDA, a tracking device, a navigation device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an asset tracker, a health monitor, a security system, a smart city sensor, a smart meter, a wearable tracker, or some other portable or mobile device. Typically, although not required, UE 105 may support the use of one or more radio access technologies (RATs) (such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 WiFi (also known as Wi-Fi), Bluetooth (BT), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5G New Radio (NR) (e.g., using NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140), etc.) for wireless communication. UE 105 may support wireless communication using a wireless local area network (WLAN), which may use, for example, a digital subscriber line (DSL) or packet cable to connect to other networks (e.g., the Internet). Using one or more of these RATs may allow UE 105 (e.g., via elements ( Figure 1125), or possibly via GMLC 125) to communicate with external client 130 and / or allow external client 130 to receive location information about UE 105 (e.g., via GMLC 125).

[0045] UE 105 may include a single entity or may include multiple entities, such as in a personal area network, where users may employ audio, video, and / or data I / O (input / output) devices, and / or body sensors and separate wired or wireless modems. The estimate of the location of UE 105 may be referred to as a location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position fix, position estimate, or position fix, and may be geographic, providing location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) about UE 105, which may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., height above sea level; height above or depth below ground level, floor level, or basement level). Alternatively, the location of UE 105 may be expressed as a municipal location (e.g., expressed as a postal address or a designation of a point or smaller area in a building (such as a specific room or floor)). The location of UE 105 may be expressed as an area or volume (geographically or municipally defined) within which UE 105 is expected to be located with a certain probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a relative location including, for example, a distance and direction from a known location. The relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to a certain origin at a known location, which may be defined, for example, geographically, in municipal form, or with reference to a point, area, or volume indicated, for example, on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, the use of the term location may include any of these variants unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of the UE, local x, y, and possibly z coordinates are typically solved, and then (if necessary) the local coordinates are converted into absolute coordinates (e.g., with respect to latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level).

[0046] UE 105 may be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of a variety of technologies. UE 105 may be configured to be indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. D2D P2P links may use any appropriate D2D radio access technology (RAT) (such as LTE direct (LTE-D), WiFi direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth etc.). One or more UEs in a group of UEs utilizing D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area of ​​a transmit / receive point (TRP), such as one or more of gNB 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114. Other UEs in the group may be outside such geographic coverage area or may be unable to receive transmissions from the base station for other reasons. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. The TRP may facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be performed between UEs without involving a TRP. One or more UEs in a group of UEs utilizing D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area of ​​a TRP. Other UEs in the group may be outside such geographic coverage area or may be unable to receive transmissions from the base station for other reasons. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. The TRP may facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be performed between UEs without involving a TRP.

[0047] Figure 1 The base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 include NR B nodes (referred to as gNBs 110a and 110b). Each pair of gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 may be connected to each other via one or more other gNBs. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 105 via wireless communications between the UE 105 and one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b. The gNBs 110a, 110b may provide wireless communications access to the 5GC 140 on behalf of the UE 105 using 5G. Figure 1 , it is assumed that the serving gNB for UE 105 is gNB 110a, but another gNB (e.g., gNB 110b) may serve as the serving gNB if UE 105 moves to another location, or may serve as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to UE 105.

[0048] Figure 1The base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 may include an ng-eNB 114 (also referred to as a next generation evolved Node B). The ng-eNB 114 may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 (possibly via one or more other gNBs and / or one or more other ng-eNBs). The ng-eNB 114 may provide LTE wireless access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to the UE 105. One or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 may be configured to function as a positioning-only beacon, which may transmit signals to assist in determining the location of the UE 105, but may not be able to receive signals from the UE 105 or other UEs.

[0049] BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may each include one or more TRPs. For example, each sector within a cell of the BS may include a TRP, but multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., sharing a processor but having separate antennas). System 100 may include only macro TRPs, or system 100 may have different types of TRPs, such as macro, micro, and / or femto TRPs. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several thousand meters) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscriptions. A micro TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a micro cell) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscriptions. A femto or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a femto cell) and may allow restricted access by terminals associated with the femto cell (e.g., terminals of users in a residence).

[0050] As mentioned, although Figure 1 Nodes configured to communicate according to a 5G communication protocol are depicted, but nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols (such as, for example, an LTE protocol or an IEEE 802.11x protocol) may also be used. For example, in an evolved packet system (EPS) that provides LTE wireless access to UE 105, the RAN may include an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), which may include base stations including evolved Node Bs (eNBs). The core network for the EPS may include an evolved packet core (EPC). The EPS may include the E-UTRAN plus the EPC, where the E-UTRAN corresponds to the UE 105. Figure 1 NG-RAN 135 in and the EPC corresponds to Figure 1 5GC 140 in.

[0051] The gNBs 110a, 110b and ng-eNB 114 may communicate with the AMF 115; for positioning functionality, the AMF 115 communicates with the LMF 120. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UE 105, including cell changes and handovers, and may participate in supporting signaling connections to the UE 105 and possibly data and voice bearers for the UE 105. The LMF 120 may communicate directly with the UE 105, or directly with the BSs 110a, 110b, 114, for example, via wireless communications. The LMF 120 may support positioning of the UE 105 when the UE 105 accesses the NG-RAN 135, and may support various positioning procedures / methods, such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (e.g., Downlink (DL) OTDOA or Uplink (UL) OTDOA), Real-Time Kinematics (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhanced Cell ID (E-CID), Angle of Arrival (AOA), Angle of Departure (AOD), and / or other positioning methods. The LMF 120 may process a location service request for the UE 105 received from, for example, the AMF 115 or the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be connected to the AMF 115 and / or the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be referred to by other names, such as a Location Manager (LM), a Location Function (LF), a Commercial LMF (CLMF), or a Value-Added LMF (VLMF). A node / system implementing LMF 120 may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as an enhanced serving mobile location center (E-SMLC) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP). At least a portion of the positioning functionality (including the derivation of the location of UE 105) may be performed at UE 105 (e.g., using signal measurements obtained by UE 105 for signals transmitted by wireless nodes (such as gNB 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114), and / or assistance data provided to UE 105 by LMF 120, for example). AMF 115 may serve as a control node for processing signaling between UE 105 and core network 140, and provide QoS (quality of service) flow and session management. AMF 115 may support the mobility of UE 105 (including cell changes and handovers), and may participate in supporting signaling connections to UE 105.

[0052] The GMLC 125 may support a location request for the UE 105 received from the external client 130, and may forward the location request to the AMF 115 for forwarding by the AMF 115 to the LMF 120, or may forward the location request directly to the LMF 120. A location response (e.g., containing a location estimate of the UE 105) from the LMF 120 may be returned to the GMLC 125 directly or via the AMF 115, and the GMLC 125 may then return the location response (e.g., containing the location estimate) to the external client 130. The GMLC 125 is shown as being connected to both the AMF 115 and the LMF 120, but in some implementations the 5GC 140 may support only one of these connections.

[0053] like Figure 1 As further explained in , LMF 120 may communicate with gNB 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 using a new radio positioning protocol A (which may be referred to as NPPa or NRPPa), which may be defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa) defined in 3GPP TS 36.455, wherein NRPPa messages are communicated between gNB 110a (or gNB 110b) and LMF 120, and / or between ng-eNB 114 and LMF 120 via AMF 115. Figure 1As further explained in 3GPP TS 36.355, the LMF 120 and the UE 105 may communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), which may be defined in 3GPP TS 36.355. The LMF 120 and the UE 105 may additionally or alternatively communicate using a new radio positioning protocol (which may be referred to as NPP or NRPP), which may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of the LPP. Here, LPP and / or NPP messages may be communicated between the UE 105 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115 and the serving gNB 110a, 110b or the serving ng-eNB 114 of the UE 105. For example, the LPP and / or NPP messages may be communicated between the LMF 120 and the AMF 115 using the 5G Location Services Application Protocol (LCS AP), and may be communicated between the AMF 115 and the UE 105 using the 5G Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol. The LPP and / or NPP protocols may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, OTDOA, and / or E-CID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using a network-based positioning method such as E-CID (e.g., in conjunction with measurements obtained by the gNB 110a, 110b, or ng-eNB 114) and / or may be used by the LMF 120 to obtain location-related information from the gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114, such as parameters defining directional SS transmissions from the gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. The LMF 120 may be co-located or integrated with the gNB or TRP, or may be located remotely from the gNB and / or TRP and configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNB and / or TRP.

[0054] Using UE-assisted positioning methods, UE 105 may obtain location measurements and send these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 120) for use in calculating a location estimate for UE 105. For example, the location measurements may include one or more of: received signal strength indication (RSSI), round trip signal propagation time (RTT), reference signal time difference (RSTD), reference signal received power (RSRP), and / or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) of gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, and / or WLAN AP. The location measurements may additionally or alternatively include measurements of GNSS pseudoranges, code phases, and / or carrier phases of SVs 190-193.

[0055] Using the UE-based positioning method, UE 105 can obtain position measurements (e.g., which can be the same or similar to position measurements for UE-assisted positioning methods) and can calculate the position of UE 105 (e.g., with the aid of auxiliary data received from a location server (such as LMF 120) or broadcast by gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114 or other base stations or APs).

[0056] Using network-based positioning methods, one or more base stations (e.g., gNB 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114) or APs may obtain location measurements (e.g., measurements of RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, or time of arrival (ToA) of signals transmitted by UE 105) and / or may receive measurements obtained by UE 105. The one or more base stations or APs may send these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 120) for use in calculating a location estimate for UE 105.

[0057] The information provided to LMF 120 by gNB 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 using NRPPa may include timing and configuration information for directional SS transmissions and location coordinates. LMF 120 may provide some or all of this information to UE 105 as assistance data in LPP and / or NPP messages via NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140.

[0058] The LPP or NPP message sent from LMF 120 to UE 105 may instruct UE 105 to do any of a variety of things, depending on the desired functionality. For example, the LPP or NPP message may include instructions for UE 105 to obtain measurements for GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and / or OTDOA (or some other positioning method). In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement parameters (e.g., beam ID, beam width, average angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements) of directional signals transmitted within a particular cell supported by one or more of gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 (or supported by some other type of base station, such as an eNB or WiFi AP). The UE 105 may send these measurement parameters back to the LMF 120 in an LPP or NPP message (e.g., within a 5G NAS message) via the serving gNB 110a (or serving ng-eNB 114) and the AMF 115.

[0059] As mentioned, although the communication system 100 is described with respect to 5G technology, the communication system 100 may be implemented to support other communication technologies (such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, etc.) that are used to support and interact with mobile devices (such as UE 105) (e.g., to implement voice, data, positioning, and other functionality). In some such embodiments, the 5GC 140 may be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, the non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF, Figure 1 115) connects the 5GC 140 to the WLAN. For example, the WLAN may support IEEE 802.11 WiFi access for the UE 105 and may include one or more WiFi APs. Here, the N3IWF may be connected to the WLAN and other elements in the 5GC 140, such as the AMF 115. In some embodiments, both the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may be replaced by one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in the EPS, the NG-RAN 135 may be replaced by an E-UTRAN including an eNB, and the 5GC 140 may be replaced by an EPC including a mobility management entity (MME) replacing the AMF 115, an E-SMLC replacing the LMF 120, and a GMLC that may be similar to the GMLC 125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC may use LPPa instead of NRPPa to send location information to and receive location information from the eNBs in the E-UTRAN, and may use LPP to support positioning of the UE 105. In these other embodiments, positioning of UE 105 using directional PRS may be supported in a manner similar to that described herein for 5G networks, with the difference that the functions and procedures described herein for gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, and LMF 120 may in some cases be applied alternatively to other network elements, such as eNBs, WiFi APs, MMEs, and E-SMLCs.

[0060] As mentioned, in some embodiments, positioning functionality may be implemented at least in part using directional SS beams transmitted by base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114) that are located at the UE (e.g., Figure 1 In some instances, the UE may use directional SS beams from multiple base stations (such as gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, etc.) to calculate the positioning of the UE.

[0061] Also refer to Figure 2UE 200 is an example of one of UEs 112-114 and includes a computing platform including a processor 210, a memory 211 including software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for a transceiver 215, a user interface 216, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 217, a camera 218, and a positioning device (PD) 219. The processor 210, the memory 211, the sensor(s) 213, the transceiver interface 214, the user interface 216, the SPS receiver 217, the camera 218, and the positioning device 219 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 220 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., camera 218, positioning device 219, and / or one or more sensors 213, etc.) may be omitted from UE 200. The processor 210 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.). The processor 210 may include multiple processors, including a general / application processor 230, a digital signal processor (DSP) 231, a modem processor 232, a video processor 233, and / or a sensor processor 234. One or more of the processors 230-234 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, the sensor processor 234 may include, for example, a processor for radar, ultrasonic wave, and / or laser radar, etc. The modem processor 232 may support dual SIM / dual connectivity (or even more SIMs). For example, one SIM (subscriber identity module or subscriber identification module) may be used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and another SIM may be used by an end user of the UE 200 to obtain connectivity. The memory 211 is a non-transitory storage medium, which may include a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a disk memory, and / or a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 211 stores software 212, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 210 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 212 may not be directly executable by the processor 210, but may be configured (e.g., when compiled and executed) to cause the processor 210 to perform various functions. The present description may only refer to the processor 210 performing a function, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations in which the processor 210 executes software and / or firmware. The present description may refer to the processor 210 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the processors 230-234 performing the function. The present description may refer to the UE 200 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the UE 200 performing the function. The processor 210 may include a memory with stored instructions as a supplement and / or alternative to the memory 211.The functionality of processor 210 is discussed more fully below.

[0062] Figure 2 The configuration of UE 200 shown in is an example and not a limitation of the present invention (including claims), and other configurations may be used. For example, an example configuration of UE includes one or more of processors 230-234 in processor 210, memory 211, and wireless transceiver 240. Other example configurations include one or more of processors 230-234 of processor 210, memory 211, wireless transceiver 240, and one or more of the following: sensor 213, user interface 216, SPS receiver 217, camera 218, PD 219 and / or wired transceiver 250.

[0063] UE 200 may include a modem processor 232 that may be capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and down-converted by transceiver 215 and / or SPS receiver 217. Modem processor 232 may perform baseband processing of signals to be up-converted for transmission by transceiver 215. Additionally or alternatively, baseband processing may be performed by processor 230 and / or DSP 231. However, other configurations may be used to perform baseband processing.

[0064] UE 200 may include sensor(s) 213, which may include, for example, one or more of various types of sensors, such as one or more inertial sensors, one or more magnetometers, one or more environmental sensors, one or more optical sensors, one or more weight sensors, and / or one or more radio frequency (RF) sensors, etc. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responsive to acceleration of UE 200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes. Sensor(s) 213 may include one or more magnetometers for determining orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north) that may be used for any of a variety of purposes (e.g., to support one or more compass applications). Environmental sensor(s) may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors, one or more barometric pressure sensors, one or more ambient light sensors, one or more camera imagers, and / or one or more microphones, etc. Sensor(s) 213 may generate analog and / or digital signals, indications of which may be stored in memory 211 and processed by DSP 231 and / or processor 230 to support one or more applications (such as, for example, applications involving positioning and / or navigation operations).

[0065] The sensor(s) 213 may be used for relative position measurement, relative position determination, motion determination, etc. The information detected by the sensor(s) 213 may be used for motion detection, relative displacement, dead reckoning, sensor-based position determination, and / or sensor-assisted position determination. The sensor(s) 213 may be used to determine whether the UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or mobile and / or whether to report certain useful information related to the mobility of the UE 200 to the LMF 120. For example, based on the information obtained / measured by the sensor(s), the UE 200 may notify / report to the LMF 120 that the UE 200 has detected movement or that the UE 200 has moved, and report the relative displacement / distance (e.g., via dead reckoning implemented by the sensor(s) 213, or sensor-based position determination, or sensor-assisted position determination). In another example, for relative positioning information, the sensor / IMU may be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of another device relative to the UE 200, etc.

[0066] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements of the direction of motion and / or speed of motion of the UE 200, which may be used for relative position determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may detect the linear acceleration and rotational speed of the UE 200, respectively. The linear acceleration measurements and rotational speed measurements of the UE 200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction of motion and displacement of the UE 200. The instantaneous direction of motion and displacement may be integrated to track the position of the UE 200. For example, a reference position of the UE 200 at a certain moment may be determined, for example, using the SPS receiver 217 (and / or by some other means), and measurements obtained from the accelerometer(s) and the gyroscope(s) after that moment may be used for dead reckoning to determine the current position of the UE 200 based on the movement (direction and distance) of the UE 200 relative to the reference position.

[0067] The magnetometer(s) may determine the magnetic field strength in different directions, which may be used to determine the orientation of the UE 200. For example, the orientation may be used to provide a digital compass for the UE 200. The magnetometer may be a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. Alternatively, the magnetometer may be a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer may provide a means for sensing a magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field, for example, to the processor 210.

[0068] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250 configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a transmitter 242 and a receiver 244 coupled to one or more antennas 246 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) wireless signals 248 and converting signals from the wireless signals 248 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 248. Thus, the transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 244 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 240 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the TRP and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth , Zigbee, etc. The new radio may use millimeter wave frequencies and / or sub-6 GHz frequencies. The wired transceiver 250 may include a transmitter 252 and a receiver 254 configured for wired communication (e.g., with the network 135). The transmitter 252 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 254 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214 (e.g., via an optical connection and / or an electrical connection). The transceiver interface 214 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 215.

[0069] The user interface 216 may include one or more devices in a number of devices (such as, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a display device, a vibration device, a keyboard, a touch screen, etc.). The user interface 216 may include any device more than one of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to enable a user to interact with one or more applications hosted by the UE 200. For example, the user interface 216 may store an indication of an analog and / or digital signal in the memory 211 in response to an action from the user to be processed by the DSP 231 and / or the general processor 230. Similarly, the application hosted on the UE 200 may store an indication of an analog and / or digital signal in the memory 211 to present an output signal to the user. The user interface 216 may include an audio input / output (I / O) device, which includes, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a digital-to-analog circuit system, an analog-to-digital circuit system, an amplifier and / or a gain control circuit system (including any device more than one of these devices). Other configurations of audio I / O devices may be used. Additionally or alternatively, the user interface 216 may include one or more touch sensors that respond to touch and / or pressure on, for example, a keyboard and / or a touch screen of the user interface 216 .

[0070] The SPS receiver 217 (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring the SPS signal 260 via the SPS antenna 262. The antenna 262 is configured to convert the wireless signal 260 into a wired signal (e.g., an electrical signal or an optical signal) and may be integrated with the antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signal 260 in whole or in part to estimate the position of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to determine the position of the UE 200 by performing trilateration using the SPS signal 260. The general purpose processor 230, the memory 211, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors (not shown) may be utilized in conjunction with the SPS receiver 217 to process the acquired SPS signal in whole or in part, and / or calculate the estimated position of the UE 200. The memory 211 may store indications (e.g., measurements) of the SPS signal 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals obtained from the wireless transceiver 240) for use in performing positioning operations. The general processor 230, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors, and / or the memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for processing measurements to estimate the location of the UE 200.

[0071] UE 200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still or moving images. Camera 218 may include, for example, an imaging sensor (e.g., a charge coupled device or CMOS imager), a lens, analog-to-digital circuitry, a frame buffer, etc. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of signals representing captured images may be performed by general purpose processor 230 and / or DSP 231. Additionally or alternatively, video processor 233 may perform conditioning, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of signals representing captured images. Video processor 233 may decode / decompress stored image data for presentation on a display device (not shown) (e.g., of user interface 216).

[0072] Positioning device (PD) 219 may be configured to determine the location of UE 200, the motion of UE 200, and / or the relative location of UE 200, and / or time. For example, PD 219 may communicate with SPS receiver 217, and / or include some or all of SPS receiver 217. PD 219 may work appropriately with processor 210 and memory 211 to perform at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, although the description herein may only refer to PD 219 being configured to perform or performing according to a positioning method. PD 219 may be additionally or alternatively configured to: use ground-based signals (e.g., at least some signals 248) for trilateration, assist in obtaining and using SPS signals 260, or both to determine the position of UE 200. PD219 may be configured to determine the location of UE 200 using one or more other techniques (e.g., relying on the UE's self-reported location (e.g., part of the UE's location beacon)), and may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and ground positioning signals) to determine the location of UE 200. PD 219 may include one or more sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, etc.), which may sense the orientation and / or movement of UE 200 and provide an indication of the orientation and / or movement, and processor 210 (e.g., processor 230 and / or DSP 231) may be configured to use the indication to determine the movement of UE 200 (e.g., velocity vector and / or acceleration vector). PD 219 may be configured to provide an indication of uncertainty and / or error in the determined positioning and / or movement.

[0073] Also refer to Figure 3, an example of a TRP 300 for BSs 110a, 110b, 114 includes a computing platform including a processor 310, a memory 311 including software (SW) 312, and a transceiver 315. The processor 310, the memory 311, and the transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 320 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the devices shown (e.g., a wireless interface) may be omitted from the TRP 300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.). The processor 310 may include multiple processors (e.g., including, for example, Figure 4 ). The memory 311 is a non-volatile storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk storage, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 311 stores software 312, which may be a processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 310 to perform the various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured (for example, when compiled and executed) to cause the processor 310 to perform various functions. The present description may refer only to the processor 310 performing a function, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations in which the processor 310 executes software and / or firmware. The present description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more processors included in the processor 310 performing the function. The description may refer to TRP 300 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components of TRP 300 (and thereby one of BSs 110a, 110b, 114) performing that function. Processor 310 may include a memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or in lieu of memory 311. The functionality of processor 310 is discussed more fully below.

[0074] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and a wired transceiver 350 configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a transmitter 342 and a receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) wireless signals 348 and converting signals from the wireless signals 348 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 348. Thus, the transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 344 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to communicate in accordance with various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, etc. , Zigbee, etc.) to communicate signals (e.g., with UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices). The wired transceiver 350 may include a transmitter 352 and a receiver 354 configured for wired communication (e.g., with the network 140) to, for example, send communications to and receive communications from the LMF 120. The transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 354 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0075] Figure 3 The configuration of TRP 300 shown in is an example and is not intended to limit the present invention (including the claims), and other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein discusses that TRP 300 is configured to perform several functions or that TRP 300 performs several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by LMF 120 and / or UE 200 (i.e., LMF 120 and / or UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0076] Also refer to Figure 4, the server 400 (which is an example of the LMF 120) includes a computing platform including a processor 410, a memory 411 including software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. The processor 410, the memory 411, and the transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 420 (which may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the devices shown (e.g., a wireless interface) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.). The processor 410 may include multiple processors (e.g., including, for example, Figure 4 410 ). The memory 411 is a non-volatile storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk storage, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 stores software 412, which may be a processor-readable, processor-executable software code containing instructions that are configured to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured (for example, when compiled and executed) to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions. The present description may only refer to the processor 410 performing a function, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations in which the processor 410 executes software and / or firmware. The present description may refer to the processor 410 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more processors included in the processor 410 performing the function. The present description may refer to the server 400 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the server 400 performing the function. Processor 410 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or in lieu of memory 411. The functionality of processor 410 is discussed more fully below.

[0077] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and a wired transceiver 450 configured to communicate with other devices via wireless connections and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a transmitter 442 and a receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) wireless signals 448 and converting signals from the wireless signals 448 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 448. Thus, the transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the receiver 444 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate in accordance with various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, etc. , Zigbee, etc.) to communicate signals (e.g., with UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices). Wired transceiver 450 may include a transmitter 452 and a receiver 454 configured for wired communication (e.g., with network 135) to, for example, send communications to TRP 300 and receive communications from TRP 300. Transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or receiver 454 may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. Wired transceiver 450 may be configured, for example, for optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0078] Figure 4 The configuration of server 400 shown in is an example and is not intended to limit the present invention (including the claims), and other configurations may be used. For example, wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Additionally or alternatively, the description herein discusses that server 400 is configured to perform several functions or that server 400 performs several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by TRP 300 and / or UE 200 (i.e., TRP 300 and / or UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0079] Positioning Technology

[0080] For terrestrial positioning of UEs in cellular networks, techniques such as Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) and Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) typically operate in a "UE-assisted" mode, where measurements of reference signals (e.g., PRS, CRS, etc.) transmitted by base stations are acquired by the UE and then provided to a location server. The location server then calculates the position of the UE based on these measurements and the known positions of the base stations. Because these techniques use a location server (rather than the UE itself) to calculate the position of the UE, these positioning techniques are not frequently used in applications such as automotive or cell phone navigation, which instead typically rely on satellite-based positioning.

[0081] The UE can use a satellite positioning system (SPS) (Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)) to use precise point positioning (PPP) or real-time kinematic (RTK) techniques for high accuracy positioning. These techniques use assistance data, such as measurements from ground-based stations. LTE Release 15 allows the data to be encrypted so that only UEs subscribed to the service can read the information. Such assistance data changes over time. As a result, a UE subscribed to the service may not be able to easily "crack the encryption" for other UEs by passing the data to other UEs that have not paid for the subscription. This transfer needs to be repeated every time the assistance data changes.

[0082] In UE-assisted positioning, the UE sends measurements (e.g., TDOA, Angle of Arrival (AoA), etc.) to a positioning server (e.g., LMF / eSMLC). The positioning server has a base station almanac (BSA) that contains multiple "entries" or "records", one record per cell, where each record contains a geographic cell location, but may also include other data. An identifier of a "record" among multiple "records" in the BSA may be referenced. The BSA and the measurements from the UE may be used to calculate the positioning of the UE.

[0083] In conventional UE-based positioning, the UE calculates its own position, avoiding sending measurements to the network (e.g., a location server), which in turn improves latency and scalability. The UE uses the relevant BSA record information from the network (e.g., the location of the gNB (more broadly, the base station)). The BSA information can be encrypted. However, since the BSA information changes much less frequently than, for example, the PPP or RTK assistance data described previously, it may be easier (compared to PPP or RTK information) to make the BSA information available to UEs that are not subscribed and pay for decryption keys. The transmission of reference signals by the gNB makes the BSA information potentially accessible to crowdsourcing or driving attacks, essentially enabling the BSA information to be generated based on in-the-field and / or over-the-top observations.

[0084] Positioning techniques may be characterized and / or evaluated based on one or more criteria, such as positioning determination accuracy and / or latency. Latency is the time that elapses between an event that triggers the determination of positioning-related data and the availability of that data at a positioning system interface (e.g., an interface of LMF 120). At initialization of the positioning system, the latency for the availability of positioning-related data is called the Time To First Fix (TTFF) and is greater than the latency after the TTFF. The inverse of the time that elapses between the availability of two consecutive positioning-related data is called the update rate, i.e., the rate at which positioning-related data is generated after the first fix.

[0085] One or more of many different positioning techniques (also referred to as positioning methods) may be used to determine the location of an entity (such as one of the UEs 112-114). For example, known positioning determination techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also referred to as TDOA, and including UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), enhanced cell identification (E-CID), DL-AoD, UL-AoA, etc. RTT uses the time it takes for a signal to travel from one entity to another and back to determine the range between the two entities. The range plus the known position of the first of the entities and the angle (e.g., azimuth) between the two entities may be used to determine the position of the second of the entities. In multi-RTT (also referred to as multi-cell RTT), multiple ranges from one entity (e.g., UE) to other entities (e.g., TRP) and the known positions of the other entities may be used to determine the position of the one entity. In TDOA techniques, the travel time differences between one entity and the other entities may be used to determine the relative ranges to the other entities, and those relative ranges combined with the known positions of the other entities may be used to determine the position of the one entity. The angle of arrival and / or angle of departure can be used to help determine the location of an entity. For example, the angle of arrival or angle of departure of a signal combined with the range between devices (range determined using the signal (e.g., the travel time of the signal, the received power of the signal, etc.)) and the known position of one of these devices can be used to determine the location of another device. The angle of arrival or angle of departure can be an azimuth relative to a reference direction (such as true north). The angle of arrival or angle of departure can be a zenith angle relative to directly upward from the entity (i.e., relative to radially outward from the center of the earth). E-CID uses the identity of the serving cell, the timing advance (i.e., the difference between the reception and transmission time at the UE), the estimated timing and power of the detected neighbor cell signal, and the possible angle of arrival (e.g., the angle of arrival of the signal from the base station at the UE, or vice versa) to determine the location of the UE. In TDOA, the arrival time difference of signals from different sources at the receiving device together with the known positions of these sources and the known offsets of the transmission time from these sources are used to determine the location of the receiving device.

[0086] In network-centric RTT estimation, a serving base station instructs a UE to scan / receive RTT measurement signals (e.g., PRS) on serving cells of two or more neighboring base stations (and typically serving base stations, since at least three base stations are required). The one or more base stations transmit RTT measurement signals on low reuse resources (e.g., resources used by base stations to transmit system information) allocated by the network (e.g., a location server, such as LMF 120). The UE records the arrival time (also referred to as reception time, received time, received time, or arrival time (ToA)) of each RTT measurement signal relative to the current downlink timing of the UE (e.g., as derived by the UE from a DL signal received from its serving base station), and (e.g., when instructed by its serving base station) transmits a common or individual RTT response message (e.g., SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) for positioning, UL-PRS) to the one or more base stations, and may calculate the time difference T between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message. Rx→Tx (i.e., UET Rx-Tx or UE Rx-Tx ) is included in the payload of each RTT response message. The RTT response message will include a reference signal from which the base station can infer the ToA of the RTT response. By comparing the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal from the base station and the ToA of the RTT response at the base station, the Tx→Rx The time difference T reported by the UE Rx→Tx , the base station can infer the propagation time between the base station and the UE, from which the base station can determine the distance between the UE and the base station by assuming the speed of light during the propagation time.

[0087] UE-centric RTT estimation is similar to the network-based approach, except that the UE transmits uplink RTT measurement signals (e.g., when instructed by the serving base station), which are received by multiple base stations in the vicinity of the UE. Each involved base station responds with a downlink RTT response message, which may include in the RTT response message payload the time difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal at the base station and the transmission time of the RTT response message from the base station.

[0088] For both network-centric and UE-centric procedures, the side performing the RTT calculation (the network or the UE) typically (but not always) transmits a first message or signal (e.g., an RTT measurement signal), and the other side responds with one or more RTT response messages or signals, which may include the difference between the ToA of the first message or signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message or signal.

[0089] Multi-RTT techniques may be used to determine positioning. For example, a first entity (e.g., a UE) may send one or more signals (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast from a base station), and a plurality of second entities (e.g., other TSPs, such as base stations and / or UEs) may receive signals from the first entity and respond to the received signals. The first entity receives responses from the plurality of second entities. The first entity (or another entity, such as an LMF) may use the responses from the second entity to determine the range to the second entity, and may use the plurality of ranges and the known positions of the second entity to determine the position of the first entity by trilateration.

[0090] In some instances, additional information may be obtained in the form of an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of departure (AoD), which defines a straight line direction (e.g., which may be in the horizontal plane, or in three dimensions) or a range of possible directions (e.g., of the UE as seen from the location of a base station). The intersection of the two directions may provide another estimate of the UE's position.

[0091] For positioning techniques (e.g., TDOA and RTT) that use PRS (positioning reference signal) signals, PRS signals sent by multiple TRPs are measured, and the arrival times of these signals, the known transmission times, and the known locations of the TRPs are used to determine the range from the UE to the TRPs. For example, RSTD (reference signal time difference) can be determined for PRS signals received from multiple TRPs, and these RSTDs are used in TDOA techniques to determine the location (position) of the UE. Positioning reference signals may be referred to as PRS or PRS signals. PRS signals are typically transmitted using the same power, and PRS signals with the same signal characteristics (e.g., the same frequency shift) may interfere with each other, so that PRS signals from farther TRPs may be drowned out by PRS signals from closer TRPs, so that signals from farther TRPs may not be detected. PRS muting can be used to help reduce interference by muting some PRS signals (reducing the power of the PRS signal, for example, to zero and thereby not transmitting the PRS signal). In this way, the UE may more easily detect (at the UE) a weaker PRS signal without a stronger PRS signal interfering with the weaker PRS signal.

[0092] The positioning reference signal (PRS) includes a downlink PRS (DL-PRS) and an uplink PRS (UL-PRS) (which may be referred to as an SRS (sounding reference signal) for positioning). The PRS may include a PRS resource or a PRS resource set of a frequency layer. The DL-PRS positioning frequency layer (or simply the frequency layer) is a collection of DL-PRS resource sets from one or more TRPs, which has common parameters configured by higher layer parameters DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer (DL-PRS-positioning frequency layer), DL-PRS-ResourceSet (DL-PRS-resource set) and DL-PRS-Resource (DL-PRS-resource). Each frequency layer has a DL-PRS subcarrier spacing (SCS) for the DL-PRS resource set and DL-PRS resource in the frequency layer. Each frequency layer has a DL-PRS cyclic prefix (CP) for the DL-PRS resource set and DL-PRS resource in the frequency layer. Furthermore, the DL-PRS point A parameter defines the frequency of the reference resource block (and the lowest subcarrier of the resource block), where DL-PRS resources belonging to the same DL-PRS resource set have the same point A, and all DL-PRS resource sets belonging to the same frequency layer have the same point A. The frequency layers also have the same DL-PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size value.

[0093] The TRP may be configured, for example, by instructions received from a server and / or by software in the TRP to send DL-PRS on a schedule. According to the schedule, the TRP may send DL-PRS intermittently (e.g., periodically at consistent intervals from the initial transmission). The TRP may be configured to send one or more PRS resource sets. A resource set is a collection of PRS resources across a TRP, where these resources have the same periodicity, a common muting mode configuration (if any), and the same cross-slot repetition factor. Each PRS resource set includes a plurality of PRS resources, where each PRS resource includes a plurality of resource elements (REs), which may span multiple physical resource blocks (PRBs) within N (one or more) consecutive symbols within a slot. A PRB is a set of REs that span several consecutive symbols in the time domain and several consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. In an OFDM symbol, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs. Each PRS resource is configured with an RE offset, a slot offset, a symbol offset within a slot, and the number of consecutive symbols that a PRS resource may occupy within a slot. The RE offset defines the starting RE offset in frequency for the first symbol within the DL-PRS resource. The relative RE offsets of the remaining symbols within the DL-PRS resource are defined based on the initial offset. The slot offset is the starting slot of the DL-PRS resource relative to the corresponding resource set slot offset. The symbol offset determines the starting symbol of the DL-PRS resource within the starting slot. The transmitted REs may be repeated across slots, where each transmission is referred to as a repetition, so that there may be multiple repetitions in the PRS resource. The DL-PRS resources in a DL-PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP, and each DL-PRS resource has a DL-PRS resource ID. The DL-PRS resource ID in a DL-PRS resource set is associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (although a TRP may transmit one or more beams).

[0094] PRS resources can also be defined by quasi co-location and starting PRB parameters. Quasi co-location (QCL) parameters can define any quasi co-location information of DL-PRS resources and other reference signals. DL-PRS can be configured to be QCL type D with DL-PRS or SS / PBCH (synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel) blocks from a serving cell or a non-serving cell. DL-PRS can be configured to be QCL type C with SS / PBCH blocks from a serving cell or a non-serving cell. The starting PRB parameter defines the starting PRB index of the DL-PRS resource relative to reference point A. The granularity of the starting PRB index is one PRB, and the minimum value can be 0 and the maximum value is 2176 PRBs.

[0095] A PRS resource set is a collection of PRS resources with the same periodicity, the same muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across time slots. Each time all repetitions of all PRS resources in a PRS resource set are configured to be transmitted is referred to as an "instance". Thus, an "instance" of a PRS resource set is a specified number of repetitions for each PRS resource and a specified number of PRS resources within a PRS resource set, such that once the specified number of repetitions is transmitted for each of the specified number of PRS resources, the instance is complete. An instance may also be referred to as an "opportunity". A DL-PRS configuration including a DL-PRS transmission schedule may be provided to a UE to facilitate the UE to measure the DL-PRS (or even enable the UE to measure the DL-PRS).

[0096] RTT positioning is an active positioning technique because RTT uses positioning signals sent by the TRP to the UE and by the UE (participating in RTT positioning) to the TRP. The TRP can send a DL-PRS signal received by the UE, and the UE can send an SRS (sounding reference signal) signal received by multiple TRPs. The sounding reference signal may be referred to as an SRS or an SRS signal. In 5G multi-RTT, coordinated positioning can be used in which the UE sends a single UL-SRS received by multiple TRPs instead of sending a separate UL-SRS for each TRP. A TRP participating in multi-RTT will typically search for UEs currently residing on the TRP (served UEs, where the TRP is the serving TRP) and also search for UEs residing on adjacent TRPs (neighbor UEs). A neighbor TRP may be a TRP of a single BTS (e.g., a gNB), or may be a TRP of one BTS and a TRP of a separate BTS. For RTT positioning (including multi-RTT positioning), the DL-PRS signal and the UL-SRS signal in the PRS / SRS signal pair used to determine the RTT (and thereby the range between the UE and the TRP) may occur close to each other in time so that errors due to UE motion and / or UE clock drift and / or TRP clock drift are within acceptable limits. For example, the signals in the PRS / SRS signal pair may be transmitted from the TRP and the UE, respectively, within approximately 10 ms of each other. In the case where the SRS signal is being sent by the UE and the PRS and SRS signals are communicated close to each other in time, it has been found that radio frequency (RF) signal congestion may result (which may result in excessive noise, etc.) (especially if many UEs are attempting to locate concurrently), and / or computational congestion may result at the TRP where many UEs are attempting to be measured concurrently.

[0097] RTT positioning can be UE-based or UE-assisted. In UE-based RTT, UE 200 determines the RTT and corresponding range to each of TRPs 300, and determines the positioning of UE 200 based on the range to TRP 300 and the known position of TRP 300. In UE-assisted RTT, UE 200 measures the positioning signal and provides the measurement information to TRP 300, and TRP 300 determines RTT and range. TRP 300 provides the range to a location server (e.g., server 400), and the server determines the position of UE 200, for example, based on the range to different TRPs 300. RTT and / or range can be determined by the TRP 300 receiving (all) signals from UE 200, by the TRP 300 in combination with one or more other devices (e.g., one or more other TRPs 300 and / or server 400), or by one or more devices other than TRP 300 that receive (all) signals from UE 200.

[0098] Various positioning technologies are supported in 5G NR. The NR native positioning methods supported in 5G NR include DL-only positioning methods, UL-only positioning methods, and DL+UL positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include DL-TDOA and DL-AoD. Uplink-based positioning methods include UL-TDOA and UL-AoA. Positioning methods based on combined DL+UL include RTT with one base station and RTT with multiple base stations (multi-RTT). Positioning estimates (e.g., for UEs) may be referred to by other names, such as position estimates, positions, positioning, positioning fixes, fixes, etc. The positioning estimate may be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possible altitude), or may be municipal and include a street address, a postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. The positioning estimate may be further defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possible altitude). The positioning estimate may include expected errors or uncertainties (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the expected location will be contained with a specified or default confidence level). Refer to each Figure 5-Figure 7 Discuss examples of positioning using OTDOA, RTT, and AoD.

[0099] refer to Figure 5, the example wireless communication system 500 includes base stations 502-1, 502-2, 502-3 and UE 504. UE 504 may correspond to any UE described herein and is configured to calculate an estimated position of UE 504 and / or assist another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third-party application, etc.) in calculating an estimate of the position of UE 504. UE 604 may communicate wirelessly with base stations 502-1, 502-2, and 502-3 (which may correspond to any combination of base stations described herein) using RF signals and standardized protocols for modulating RF signals and exchanging information packets. By extracting different types of information from the exchanged RF signals and utilizing the layout of the wireless communication system 500 (e.g., the locations of the base stations), UE 504 may determine the location of UE 504 and / or assist in determining the location of UE 504 in a predefined reference coordinate system. UE 504 may be configured to use a two-dimensional (2D) coordinate system and / or a three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system to specify the location of UE 504. Additionally, although Figure 5 One UE 504 and three base stations 502-1, 502-2, 502-3 are illustrated, but more UEs 504 may be used and / or more or fewer base stations may be used.

[0100] To support positioning estimation, base stations 502-1, 502-2, 502-3 may be configured to broadcast positioning reference signals (e.g., PRS, NRS, etc.) to enable UE 504 to measure characteristics of such reference signals. For example, the Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) positioning method is a multi-lateration method in which UE 504 measures the time difference (referred to as Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD)) between specific reference signals (e.g., PRS, CRS, CSI-RS, etc.) transmitted by different pairs of network nodes (e.g., pairs of base stations, pairs of antennas of base stations, etc.), and either reports these time differences to a location server (such as LMF 120) or calculates a position estimate based on these time differences.

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

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

[0103] In some cases, the OTDOA assistance data may also include an "expected RSTD" parameter, along with the uncertainty of the expected RSTD value, which provides information to the UE 504 about the RSTD value that the UE 504 is expected to measure at the current location of the UE 504 between the reference network node and each neighbor network node. The expected RSTD, along with the associated uncertainty, may define a search window for the UE 504 within which the UE 504 is expected to receive a reference signal for measuring RSTD values. The search window may be defined in other ways, for example, by a start time and an end time. The OTDOA assistance information may also include a reference signal configuration information parameter that helps the UE determine when a reference signal positioning opportunity occurs on a signal received from each neighbor network node relative to a reference signal positioning opportunity for the reference network node, and determine a reference signal sequence transmitted from each network node to measure a signal arrival time (ToA) or RSTD.

[0104] The location server (e.g., LMF 120) may send the assistance data to the UE 504 and / or the assistance data may originate directly from the network nodes (e.g., base stations 502-1, 502-2, 502-3), such as in a periodically broadcast overhead message, etc. Additionally or alternatively, the UE 504 may be configured to detect neighbor network nodes without using assistance data.

[0105] The assistance data may be based on a coarse location determined for the UE. For example, the E-CID may be used to determine a coarse location of the UE 504 and the coarse location, along with the known locations of the base stations 502-1, 502-2, 502-3 used to determine expected RSTD values.

[0106] UE 504 may be configured to measure (e.g., based in part on assistance data) and (optionally) report RSTD between reference signals received from a pair of network nodes. Using RSTD measurements, known absolute or relative transmission timing of each network node, and known positioning of transmit antennas for reference network nodes and neighboring network nodes, the network (e.g., LMF 120, base stations 502-1, 502-2, 502-3) and / or UE 504 may estimate the positioning of UE 504. More specifically, the RSTD of neighbor network node “k” relative to reference network node “Ref” may be given as (ToA k –ToA Ref ), where the ToA value can be measured modulo a subframe duration (1ms) to remove the effect of measuring different subframes at different times. Figure 5 In the example of , the time differences measured between the reference cell of base station 502-1 and the cells of neighboring base stations 502-2 and 502-3 are represented as τ2-τ1 and τ3-τ1, where τ1, τ2, and τ3 represent the ToA of the reference signals from the transmit antennas of base stations 502-1, 502-2, and 502-3, respectively. UE 504 can convert the ToA measurements for different network nodes into RSTD measurements and (optionally) send them to LMF 120. The location of UE 504 can be determined (determined by UE 504 or LMF 120) by using (i) RSTD measurements, (ii) known absolute or relative transmission timing of each network node, (iii) known positioning of physical transmit antenna(s) for the reference network node and neighboring network nodes, and / or (iv) directional reference RF signal characteristics (such as the direction of transmission).

[0107] Still reference Figure 5, in order to obtain a position estimate using OTDOA measured time differences, the positions and relative transmission timings of network nodes may be provided by a location server (e.g., LMF 120) to UE 504. A position estimate for UE 504 may be obtained (e.g., by UE 504 and / or by LMF 120) from OTDOA measured time differences and from other measurements made by UE 504 (e.g., measurements of signal timing from Global Positioning System (GPS) or other Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellites). In these implementations (referred to as hybrid positioning), OTDOA measurements may contribute to obtaining a position estimate for UE 504, but may not fully determine the position estimate.

[0108] Uplink time difference of arrival (UTDOA) is a positioning method similar to OTDOA, but is based on an uplink reference signal (e.g., a positioning sounding reference signal (SRS), also known as an uplink positioning reference signal (UL-PRS)) transmitted by a UE (e.g., UE 504). In addition, transmit and / or receive beamforming at base stations 502-1, 502-2, 502-3 and / or UE 504 can help provide wideband bandwidth at the cell edge to improve accuracy. Beam refinement can also take advantage of channel reciprocity procedures in 5G NR.

[0109] In NR, coarse time synchronization (e.g., within the cyclic prefix (CP) duration of an OFDM symbol) across gNBs can be provided. Round trip time (RTT) based methods can use coarse timing synchronization to determine position and as such are practical positioning methods in NR.

[0110] Reference Figure 6 , an example wireless communication system 600 for multi-RTT based positioning determination includes a UE 604 (which may correspond to any UE described herein) and base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3. The UE 604 may be configured to calculate a positioning estimate for the UE 604, and / or assist another entity (e.g., a base station or core network component, another UE, a location server, a third-party application, etc.) in calculating a positioning estimate for the UE 604. The UE 604 may be configured to communicate wirelessly with the base stations 602-1, 602-2, and 602-3 (which may correspond to any base station described herein) using RF signals and standardized protocols for modulating RF signals and exchanging information packets.

[0111] To determine the location (x, y) of UE 604, the entity determining the location of UE 604 may use the locations of base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3, which may be represented in a reference coordinate system as (x k ,y k ), among which Figure 6In the example of k=1, 2, 3. In the case where one of the base station 602-2 (e.g., the serving base station) or the UE 604 determines the location of the UE 604, the locations of the base stations 602-1, 602-3 involved may be provided by a location server (e.g., LMF 120) having the network geometry to the serving base station 602-2 or the UE 604. Alternatively, the location server may determine the location of the UE 604 using a known network geometry.

[0112] Either the UE 604 or the corresponding base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3 may determine the distance d between the UE 604 and the corresponding base stations 602-1, 602-2, and 602-3. k (where k=1, 2, 3). Determining the RTT 610-1, 610-2, 610-3 of signals exchanged between the UE 604 and a respective one of the base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3 and converting the RTT into a distance d may be performed. k RTT techniques can measure the time between sending a signaling message (e.g., a reference RF signal) and receiving a response. These methods can utilize calibration to remove / reduce processing and / or hardware delays. In some environments, it can be assumed that the processing delays of UE 604 and base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3 are the same, but this may not be accurate.

[0113] The UE 604, the base stations 602-1, 602-2, 602-3, and / or the location server may use the distance d by using a variety of known geometric design techniques such as, for example, trilateration. k Solve the location (x, y) of UE 604. Figure 6 It can be seen that the location of UE 604 is ideally located at the common intersection of three semicircles, each of which has a radius d k and center (x k ,y k ), where k = 1, 2, 3.

[0114] Reference Figure 7, a wireless communication system 700 for determining UE positioning using angle of departure (AoD) information includes base stations 702-1, 702-2 and UE 704. As shown, RF beams 706-1, 706-2 can be sent by base stations 702-1, 702-2 to UE 704 in a straight line. The DLAoD of the beams 706-1, 706-2 received by UE 704 relative to base stations 702-1, 702-2 can be determined. The AoD information and the position of the base stations 702-1, 702-2 can be used to determine the intersection of the beams 706-1, 702-2, including the measurement uncertainty for each of the beams 706-1, 706-2, where the intersection corresponds to the position (x, y) of UE 704. The AoD can be in a horizontal plane or in three dimensions. Although system 700 illustrates AoD positioning determination, the UE positioning can also be determined using the angle of arrival (AoA). For UL AoA positioning determination, the angle of arrival of the beam from the UE 704 may be found at the base stations 702 - 1 , 702 - 2 , and this information along with the locations of the base stations 702 - 1 , 702 - 2 may be used to determine the location of the UE 704 .

[0115] UE PRS measurement and / or transmission

[0116] Positioning accuracy (i.e., the accuracy of the determined positioning estimate) can be improved in various ways. For example, positioning accuracy is generally improved as more measurements relative to more reference points (e.g., more TRPs) are obtained. Networks are typically deployed based on expected communication needs rather than on positioning accuracy, for example, in terms of the number of TRPs and the locations of the TRPs. A network configured for communication needs may not provide sufficient positioning accuracy. A greater number of base stations in the network and thus TRPs can provide higher positioning accuracy, but may incur significant costs because base stations are expensive. Positioning accuracy can be improved by using UEs as reference points, for example, by UE-to-UE side link positioning signal transmission and / or measurement, thereby increasing the number of positioning signal sources, thereby increasing the number of reference points. The increased number of reference points can produce, for example, an increased number of ranges to known locations for trilateral measurement, resulting in reduced uncertainty in the determined positioning estimate.

[0117] The UE used as a reference point may be referred to as a high-end UE and may include a mobile or stationary UE. For example, a high-end UE may be a roadside unit (RSU) (also referred to as roadside equipment (RSE)), which is part of the C-V2X infrastructure (e.g., set on a roadside structure such as a lamp post, a building surface, etc.) and may transmit and / or receive PRS to / from other UEs. The high-end UE may receive and measure UL-PRS from other UEs, and / or may receive and measure SL-PRS (sidelink PRS) from other UEs, and / or may transmit SL-PRS to other UEs that other UEs may measure.

[0118] High-end UEs may differ from base stations in various ways. For example, a high-end UE may be configured to communicate with other UEs using one or more sidelink channels (which have a different protocol from the cellular cell channel), may lack a connection to a wired backhaul, and may lack the ability to configure RRC signaling for other UEs. For example, a high-end UE may use the sidelink to provide some dynamic information (e.g., scheduling sidelink channels or signals such as PSSCH (physical sidelink shared channel), or aperiodic sidelink CSI-RS, or aperiodic sidelink SRS), but may not provide other UEs with semi-static signaling configuration information for scheduling or controlling the transmission of positioning reference signals (e.g., providing semi-static parameters on how and when to transmit positioning SRS). For example, a base station may be configured to configure a UE to transmit positioning SRS periodically, aperiodically, or semi-persistently. For semi-persistent transmission, the positioning SRS transmission may be triggered by a base station or a high-end UE. The cellular cell channel uses NR technology, and the signal sent on the cellular cell channel conforms to a different protocol from the signal sent on the sidelink channel (i.e., sent according to a different protocol from the signal sent on the sidelink channel).

[0119] refer to Figure 8 , and further reference Figure 2 , UE 800 (which is Figure 2 The example of UE 200 shown in FIG. 8 includes a processor 810, an interface 820, and a memory 830, which are communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 840. UE 800 may include Figure 8 , and may include one or more other components, such as Figure 2810. The interface 820 may include one or more components of the transceiver 215, for example, the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246, or the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246, or the wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246. Additionally or alternatively, the interface 820 may include a wired transmitter 252 and / or a wired receiver 254. The memory 830 may be configured similarly to the memory 211, for example, including software having processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 810 to perform functions. The description herein may only refer to the processor 810 performing functions, but this includes other implementations, such as implementations in which the processor 810 executes software and / or firmware (stored in the memory 830). The description herein may refer to the UE 800 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components of the UE 800 (e.g., the processor 810 and the memory 830) performing the function. As discussed herein, the processor 810 (possibly in conjunction with the memory 830 and, where appropriate, the interface 820) includes a PRS unit 550 that is configured to measure PRS (e.g., UL-PRS, SL-PRS) and / or is configured to transmit PRS. The PRS unit 850 is further discussed below, and this specification may generally refer to the processor 810 or generally refer to the UE 800 performing any function of the PRS unit 850.

[0120] The PRS unit 550 may be configured to measure a PRS signal. For example, the PRS unit 550 may be configured to measure a positioning SRS (UL-PRS) sent by another UE, received by the interface 820 (e.g., antenna 246 and wireless receiver 244), and received by the processor 810 from the interface 820. The UL-PRS occupies UL resources, which are transmitted on an uplink channel (e.g., PUSCH (physical uplink shared channel), PUCCH (physical uplink control channel)). Additionally or alternatively, the PRS unit 550 may be configured to measure a sidelink positioning reference signal (SL-PRS) received from the interface 820, which is received by the interface 820 (e.g., antenna 246 and wireless receiver 244). Although the SL-PRS has an SL configuration (i.e., complies with the SL protocol) and is transmitted on the side link, it may have the format of a UL-PRS or DL-PRS or other (reference) signal, for example, a similar or identical sequence, a time-frequency pattern within a time slot, and / or a pattern on a time slot (e.g., number of resources, resource time gap, resource repetition factor, silent mode). As another example, the SL-PRS may be a SL signal used for positioning, such as a SL-PSS (SL primary synchronization signal), a SL-SSS (SL secondary synchronization signal), a SL-CSI-RS (SL channel state information reference signal), and a SL-PTRS (SL phase tracking reference signal). As another example, the SL-PRS may be a side link channel used for positioning (e.g., a PSBCH (physical side link broadcast channel), a PSSCH (physical side link shared channel), a PSCCH (physical side link control channel), including or excluding the corresponding DMRS). The PRS unit 550 may be configured to receive auxiliary data from a base station and use the auxiliary data to measure the received PRS (e.g., positioning SRS or SL-PRS). The assistance data may include, for example, RSTD (including expected RSTD and RSTD uncertainty) for TDOA-based positioning.

[0121] Additionally or alternatively, the PRS unit 550 may be configured to send a SL-PRS. The PRS unit 550 may be configured to send a SL-PRS to another UE via the interface 820 (e.g., the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246), wherein the SL-PRS has a sidelink configuration (i.e., transmitted according to the sidelink protocol) and is transmitted on the sidelink. The PRS unit 550 may be configured to generate a SL-PRS having a format of a DL-PRS or similar to a DL-PRS, or having a positioning SRS (UL-PRS). As another example, the PRS unit 550 may be configured to generate a SL-PRS as a sidelink reference signal (SL-RS), such as a SL-PSS, SL-SSS, SL-CSI-RS, SL-PTRS that are transferred for positioning. As another example, the PRS unit 550 may generate a SL-PRS as a SL channel (e.g., PSBCH, PSSCH, PSCCH), which is transferred for positioning, including or not including a corresponding DMRS. The PRS unit 550 may be configured to generate a SL-PRS similar to a DL-PRS with repetition, beam sweeping (through different SL-PRS resources), and / or quieting occasions (ie, zero-power SL-PRS).

[0122] refer to Fig. 9 , and further refer to Figure 1-Figure 8 , the signaling and process flow 900 for measuring uplink positioning reference signals and / or sidelink positioning reference signals at a UE includes the stages shown. Process 900 is only an example, as stages can be added, rearranged and / or removed. As a non-exhaustive example, stage 920, stage 930 and / or stage 960 can be omitted. Process 900 includes the interaction of UE 905 and UE 800 (i.e., a high-end UE capable of measuring and / or transmitting SL-PRS). UE 905 can be an example of UE 800 or can be an example of UE 200 and is configured to be different from UE 800, for example, where UE 905 is not configured to transmit SL-PRS at stage 940, as discussed below. Either or both of UE 905, 800 can be, for example, a vehicle (or connected to a vehicle or integrated with a vehicle).

[0123] At stage 910, the base station configures the UE 905 for positioning signal transmission. The TRP 300 may send a configuration message 912 to the UE 905 to configure the UE 905 to transmit positioning signals, such as UL-PRS and / or SL-PRS. For example, the configuration message 912 may provide transmission parameters, such as the number of resources per PRS resource set, resource repetition factor, resource time gap, silent mode information, and / or beam sweeping information. The configuration message 912 may include configuration parameters regarding whether the UE 905 is to use UL resources and / or use SL resources to send PRS information. The configuration message 912 may include one or more instructions regarding the format of the PRS to be transmitted by the UE 905, for example, whether the transmitted PRS should have the format of a UL-PRS, a DL-PRS, a SL signal, or another signal such as a reference signal (e.g., a DMRS). The configuration message 912 may include a user equipment identifier corresponding to the UE 905, and / or a cellular cell identifier. TRP 300 may also send a configuration message 914 to UE 800 having information similar to that in configuration message 912 to configure UE 800 to receive UL-PRS and / or SL-PRS positioning signals.

[0124] Optionally, at stage 910, UE 800 may send a configuration request message 916 to UE 905, and / or UE 905 may send a configuration message 918 to UE 800. For example, the configuration request message 916 may include a request for positioning signal muting (e.g., a requested muting mode and / or one or more requested measurement gaps) for uplink and / or sidelink PRS. UE 800 may determine the requested positioning signal muting, for example, based on one or more criteria, such as expected interference and / or the importance of the positioning signal (e.g., if UE 800 is involved in an emergency call, the positioning signal has high importance). UE 905 may determine uplink and / or sidelink positioning signal muting, for example, to help reduce interference, and generate a configuration message 918 to include positioning signal muting information. UE 800 may receive the positioning signal muting information from a roadside unit (RSU, also known as roadside equipment (RSE)) such as TRP 300 or UE 905.

[0125] At stage 920, the TRP 300 obtains assistance data. The TRP 300 may obtain assistance data from the LMF 120, which may determine the assistance data to help the UE 800 measure the PRS from the UE 905, for example, to help the UE 905 measure the PRS more accurately, faster, and / or using less processing power than without the assistance data. For example, the LMF 120 may determine the coarse position of the UE 905, for example, using the E-CID and / or another positioning technique. The LMF 120 may determine the assistance data using the coarse position of the UE 905, the known position of the reference signal source, and the known position of the UE 800. For example, the assistance data may be a search window indicated by an expected RSTD value and an expected RSTD uncertainty value (or indicated by one or more other values). The position of the UE 800 may be determined in various ways and provided to the LMF 120. For example, the UE 800 may determine the position of the UE 800 using an SPS signal and send the determined position to the LMF 120. As another example, the UE 800 may be placed at a location that is part of a network infrastructure deployment and the location of the UE 800 is determined in some manner (e.g., using mapping, using SPS signals, etc.) and provided to the LMF 120, which provides the location to the TRP 300. The UE 800 may, for example, be stationary, such as being attached to a stationary roadside structure, such as a lamp post or a building.

[0126] At stage 930, the TRP 300 provides assistance data to the UE 800 in an assistance data message 932. The assistance data may have been determined at stage 920, or may have been determined in other ways and stored in the memory 311.

[0127] At stage 940, UE 905 sends one or more positioning reference signals to UE 800. For example, UE 905 may send UL-PRS to UE 800 in UL-PRS message 942. UL-PRS message 942 is sent on a cell channel (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH) by occupying UL-PRS resources. In order to send UL-PRS message 942, UE 905 does not need to be configured with PRS unit 550. As another example, in addition to or instead of sending message 942, UE 905 may send SL-PRS to UE 800 in SL-PRS message 944. UE 905 may be configured to be similar to at least some aspects of UE 800, for example, configured to at least obtain (e.g., generate or retrieve from a memory) and send SL-PRS. SL-PRS message 944 has a sidelink configuration (i.e., configured according to a sidelink protocol) and is sent on a sidelink channel by occupying SL resources. The side link channel used to send the SL-PRS message 944 may be, for example, a PSBCH, a PSSCH, or a PSCCH. The SL-PRS message 944 may have a format of a UL-PRS or a DL-PRS or a DMRS, etc., which may facilitate the implementation of the UE 800 by utilizing (e.g., reusing) an existing UL-PRS, DL-PRS, or DMRS configuration for the UE to generate and send the SL-PRS. The SL-PRS message may include a repurposed SL-RS (such as a SL-PSS, a SL-SSS, a SL-CSI-RS, or a SL-PTRS), for example, having a format of a SL-RS.

[0128] At stage 950, the UE 800 may measure the PRS and may determine positioning information. The UE 800, being a high-end UE, is configured to measure (e.g., capture and decode) the UL-PRS and / or is configured to measure the SL-PRS, and measures the PRS received from the UE 905 at stage 950. The UE 800 may be configured to determine positioning information from one or more received PRSs. The positioning information may include one or more PRS measurements and / or information derived from one or more measurements, such as one or more pseudoranges, the positioning of the UE 905, etc. For example, the UE 800 may measure the received PRS using the assistance data from the assistance data message 932, for example, to search for the PRS during a search window indicated by the assistance data, and / or to process the PRS based on one or more assistance data parameters to determine positioning information, such as the arrival time of the PRS, the arrival time difference of the PRS relative to a reference signal, and / or the range from the UE 800 to the UE 905. UE 800 may use the determined distance between UE 800 and UE 905 to help determine the location of UE 905. Having UE 800 determine the location of UE 905 may reduce latency compared to sending measurement information to a network entity such as LMF 120 to determine the location of UE 905.

[0129] At stage 960, the UE 800 may send at least some positioning information to the network entity 906 in a positioning information message 962. The network entity 906 may include more than one entity, i.e., the UE 800 may send positioning information to more than one other entity. The network entity may be a TRP and / or another entity, such as a location server, e.g., LMF 120. The positioning information message 962 may, for example, include the determined location of the UE 905, raw measurements of the received PRS, and / or processed measurements (e.g., ToA, RSTD, etc.). The network entity 906, such as LMF 120, may collect positioning information for the same UE 905 corresponding to multiple UEs 800, and use the collected information (e.g., multiple distances corresponding to multiple UEs 800, multiple angles of arrival at multiple UEs 800) to determine the location of the UE 905.

[0130] refer to Fig.10 , and further refer to Figure 1-Figure 9, the signaling and process flow 1000 for sending and measuring the sidelink positioning reference signal includes the stages shown. Process 1000 is only an example, as stages may be added, rearranged and / or removed. As two non-exhaustive examples, stage 1020, stage 1030, 1060 and / or stage 1070 may be omitted. UE 800-1, 800-2 are examples of UE 800, although UE 800-1, 800-2 may be configured differently. For example, UE 800-1 may be configured to receive and measure SL-PRS, and may or may not be configured to send SL-PRS. As another example, UE 800-2 may be configured to send SL-PRS, and may or may not be configured to receive and measure SL-PRS.

[0131] At stage 1010, the base station configures UE 800-2 for positioning signal transmission. TRP 300 may send a configuration message 1012 to UE 800-2 to configure UE 800-2 to transmit SL-PRS positioning signals. For example, the configuration message 1012 may provide transmission parameters, such as the number of resources per PRS resource set, resource repetition factor, resource time gap, silent mode information, and / or beam sweeping information. The configuration message 1012 may include one or more instructions about the format of the PRS to be transmitted by UE 800-2, for example, whether the transmitted PRS should have the format of UL-PRS, DL-PRS, SL signal, or another signal such as a reference signal (e.g., DMRS). The configuration message 1012 may include a user equipment identifier corresponding to UE 800-2, and / or a cellular cell identifier. TRP 300 may also send a configuration message 1014 having information similar to that in configuration message 1012 to UE 800-1 to configure UE 800-1 to receive the SL-PRS positioning signal.

[0132] Optionally, at stage 1010, UE 800-1 may send a configuration request message 1016 to UE 800-2, and / or UE 800-2 may send a configuration message 1018 to UE 800-1. For example, the configuration request message 1016 may include a request for positioning signal muting (e.g., a requested muting pattern and / or one or more requested measurement gaps) for the sidelink PRS. UE 800-1 may determine the requested positioning signal muting, for example, based on one or more criteria, such as expected interference and / or the importance of the positioning signal (e.g., if UE 800-1 is involved in an emergency call, the positioning signal has high importance). UE 800-2 may determine the sidelink positioning signal muting, for example, to help reduce interference, and generate a configuration message 1018 to include the positioning signal muting information. UE 800-1 may receive the positioning signal muting information from an RSU such as TRP 300 or UE 800-2.

[0133] At stage 1020, the TRP 300 determines assistance data. The TRP 300 (or another entity such as the LMF 120) may determine assistance data to assist the UE 800-1 in measuring the PRS from the UE 800-2, e.g., to assist the UE 800-1 in measuring the PRS more accurately, more quickly, and / or using less processing power than without the assistance data. For example, the TRP 300 may determine a coarse location of the UE 800-1, e.g., using the E-CID and / or another positioning technique. The TRP 300 may determine the assistance data using the coarse location of the UE 800-1, the known location of the reference signal source, and the known location of the UE 800-2. The UE 800-2 may be a stationary UE, e.g., attached to a roadside structure, or may be a mobile UE with a known location (e.g., determined and provided to the TRP 300). For example, the assistance data may be a search window indicated by an expected RSTD value and an expected RSTD uncertainty value (or indicated by one or more other values, such as a start time or an end time).

[0134] At stage 1030, TRP 300 provides assistance data to UE 800-1 in an assistance data message 1032. The assistance data may have been determined at stage 1020, or may have been determined in other ways and stored in memory 311.

[0135] At stage 1040, UE 800-2 sends one or more positioning reference signals to UE 800-1. For example, UE 800-2 may send a SL-PRS to UE 800-1 in a SL-PRS message 1042. UE 800-2 may be configured to obtain (e.g., generate or retrieve from a memory) and occupy SL resources to send a SL-PRS message 1042 having a sidelink configuration (i.e., configured according to a sidelink protocol) on a sidelink channel. The sidelink channel used to send the SL-PRS message 1042 may be, for example, a PSBCH, a PSSCH, or a PSCCH. The SL-PRS message 1042 may have a format of a UL-PRS or a DL-PRS or a DMRS, etc., which may facilitate the implementation of UE 800 by utilizing (e.g., reusing) an existing UL-PRS, DL-PRS, or DMRS configuration of the UE for generating and sending the SL-PRS. The SL-PRS message may include a diverted SL-RS (such as a SL-PSS, SL-SSS, SL-CSI-RS, or SL-PTRS), for example, having a format of the SL-RS. The SL-PRS resource set of the SL-PRS message 1042 is associated with the UE 800-2.

[0136] At stage 1050, UE 800-1 may measure the PRS and may determine positioning information. UE 800-1, being a high-end UE, is configured to measure (e.g., capture and decode) the SL-PRS and measures the PRS received from UE 800-2 at stage 1050. UE 800-1 may measure the SL-PRS using assistance data. UE 800-1 may be configured to determine positioning information from one or more received PRSs (e.g., using assistance data) (e.g., as discussed above).

[0137] At stage 1060, UE 800-1 may send at least some positioning information to UE 800-2 in a positioning information message 1062. Additionally or alternatively, UE 800-1 may send at least some positioning information to network entity 1006 in a positioning information message 1064. Network entity 1006 may include more than one entity, i.e., UE 800-1 may send positioning information to more than one other entity. Network entity 1006 may be a TRP and / or another entity, such as a location server, e.g., LMF 120. Positioning information message 1062 and / or message 1064 may, for example, include the determined location of UE 800-1, raw measurements of received PRS, and / or processed measurements (e.g., ToA, RSTD, etc.).

[0138] At stage 1070, UE 800-2 may send positioning information to network entity 1006 in positioning information message 1072. Message 1072 may include some or all of the positioning information in message 1062. UE 800-2 may, for example, send PRS measurements and / or the location of UE 800-1 to the network entity. For example, if network entity 1006 (e.g., TRP) is out of communication range of UE 800-1 but within communication range of UE 800-2, the positioning information determined by UE 800-1 may still reach network entity 1006 via UE 800-2. Network entity 1006, such as LMF 120, may collect positioning information for the same UE 800-1 from multiple UEs 800-2 and use the collected information (e.g., multiple distances, multiple departure angles) to determine the location of UE 800-1. Additionally or alternatively, UE 800-2 may determine the location of UE 800-1 based on positioning information (e.g., multiple ranges corresponding to multiple UEs 800-2, multiple angles of arrival of SL-PRS corresponding to multiple UEs 800-2) in message 1062. Having UE 800-2 determine the location of UE 800-1 may reduce latency compared to sending measurement information to a network entity such as LMF 120 to determine the location of UE 800-1.

[0139] You can Fig. 9 The process 900 shown in FIG. 1 is combined with the process 1000. That is, the UE 800-1 may be the UE 905 and may transmit the UL-PRS and / or SL-PRS in addition to measuring the SL-PRS from the UE 800-2, and the UE 800-2 may measure the UL-PRS and / or SL-PRS from the UE 800-1 in addition to transmitting the SL-PRS.

[0140] Reference Fig.11 , and further refer to Figure 1-Figure 10 , the method 1100 for wireless side link positioning signal exchange includes the stages shown. However, the method 1100 is merely an example and is not restrictive. The method 1100 can be changed, for example, by adding, removing, rearranging, combining, executing concurrently, and / or splitting a single stage into multiple stages. For example, any one of the stages 1110, 1120, or 1130 can be omitted, wherein the method 1100 may include only one of the stages 1110, 1120, 1130, or a combination of two of the stages 1110, 1120, 1130, or all three of the stages 1110, 1120, 1130.

[0141] At stage 1110, method 1100 includes measuring, at a user equipment, an uplink positioning reference signal received by the user equipment, the uplink positioning reference signal having an uplink channel configuration. For example, UE 800 may measure a UL-PRS in a UL-PRS message 942. The UL-PRS may have a conventional UL-PRS format and occupy UL resources on an uplink channel (e.g., PUSCH, PUCCH). Processor 810 and memory 830 may include means for measuring an uplink positioning reference signal.

[0142] At stage 1120, method 1100 includes measuring, at the user equipment, a first sidelink positioning reference signal received by the user equipment, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having a first sidelink channel configuration. For example, UE 800 may receive the SL-PRS in the SL-PRS message 944 and determine characteristics (e.g., RSSI, ToA, RSTD) of the received SL-PRS. UE 800 may measure the SL-PRS, which has a format of a UL-PRS, a DL-PRS, a SL synchronization signal (e.g., SL-PSS, SL-SSS), a SL-CSI-RS, a SL-PTRS, or a SL-DMRS (i.e., a DMRS of a SL channel). Processor 810 and memory 830 may include means for measuring the first sidelink positioning reference signal.

[0143] At stage 1130, method 1100 includes sending a second sidelink positioning reference signal from the user equipment, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having a second sidelink channel configuration. For example, UE 800-2 may send a SL-PRS to UE 800-1 in a SL-PRS message 1042. The SL-PRS may have a format of a UL-PRS, a DL-PRS, a SL synchronization signal (e.g., SL-PSS, SL-SSS), a SL-CSI-RS, a SL-PTRS, or a SL-DMRS (i.e., a DMRS of a SL channel such as a PSBCH, a PSSCH, a PSCCH). The second SL-PRS may be sent using at least one of resource repetition or beam sweeping. For example, UE 800-2 may cause the SL-PRS to be sent in a beam that changes direction over time and / or with multiple transmissions of the same SL resource. A second SL-PRS may be sent, as well as signal muting implemented on the SL-PRS. For example, UE 800-2 may transmit at least one resource of a second SL-PRS and may silence (i.e., selectively withhold transmission of) at least one other scheduled resource of the second SL-PRS (i.e., at least one other resource that would be transmitted if muting was not implemented). The second SL-PRS may be transmitted in association with a user ID, and / or a cell identity corresponding to the UE. For example, UE 800-2 may transmit a SL-PRS message 1042 having the SL-PRS message 1042 including an ID of UE 800-2 and a cell ID. Processor 810, interface 820 (e.g., wireless transmitter 242 and antenna 246), and memory 830 may include means for transmitting a second sidelink positioning reference signal.

[0144] The method 1100 may include one or more of the following features. For example, the method 1100 may include receiving positioning information from another UE via a sidelink channel and sending the positioning information to a network entity. For example, UE 800-2 may receive a positioning information message 1062 in a sidelink channel and send at least some positioning information from the message 1062 to the network entity 1006. The processor 810, the interface 820 (e.g., the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246), and the memory 830 may include means for receiving positioning information via a sidelink channel. The processor 810, the interface 820 (e.g., the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246, or the wired transmitter 252), and the memory 830 may include means for sending positioning information to a network entity. As another example, the method 1100 may include measuring a first SL-PRS, determining positioning information from the first SL-PRS, and sending the positioning information to a network entity. For example, as in Fig. 9 As shown and referenced in Fig. 9As discussed, the UE 800 may measure the SL-PRS in the SL-PRS message 944 received on the sidelink channel and determine positioning information at stage 950. The UE 800 may send the positioning information in the positioning information message 962 to the network entity 906. The processor 810 and the memory 830 may include means for determining the positioning information. The processor 810, the interface 820 (e.g., the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246, or the wired transmitter 252), and the memory 830 may include means for sending the positioning information to the network entity.

[0145] Additionally or alternatively, the method 1100 may include one or more of the following features. For example, the method 1100 may include receiving positioning assistance data, may include measuring a first sidelink positioning reference signal based on the assistance data and / or measuring an uplink positioning reference signal based on the assistance data. Fig. 9 The UE 800 shown in FIG. 8 may receive the assistance data message 932 and use the assistance data in the message 932 to measure the UL-PRS in the message 942 and / or the SL-PRS in the message 944 . Fig.10 UE 800-2 shown in the figure can receive the assistance data message 1032 and use the assistance data in the message 1032 to measure the SL-PRS in the message 1042. The assistance data may include a search window corresponding to the UL-PRS or the SL-PRS. The search window may include the expected RSTD and the uncertainty of the expected RSTD. The processor 810, the interface 820 (e.g., the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246), and the memory 830 may include a device for receiving positioning assistance data.

[0146] Other considerations

[0147] Other examples and implementations fall within the scope and spirit of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software and computers, the above functions can be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, hard wiring or any combination thereof executed by a processor. The features that implement the functions can also be physically located at various locations, including being distributed so that the parts of the functions are implemented at different physical locations. The statement that the feature implements the function, or the statement that the feature can implement the function includes that the feature can be configured to implement the function (for example, the statement that the project performs function X, or the statement that the project can perform function X includes that the project can be configured to perform function X). The element discussed can be a component of a larger system, in which other rules can take precedence over the application of the present invention or otherwise modify the application of the present invention. In addition, several operations can be taken before, during or after considering the elements or operations discussed above. Accordingly, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0148] As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" also include the plural forms, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. As used herein, the terms "comprises", "has", "includes", and / or "contains" indicate the presence of the described features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0149] Likewise, as used herein, "or" used in a list of items followed by "at least one of" or followed by "one or more of" indicates a disjunctive list, such that, for example, a list of "at least one of A, B, or C" or a list of "one or more of A, B, or C" means A or B or C or AB (A and B) or AC (A and C) or BC (B and C) or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or a combination having more than one feature (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Thus, a reference to an item (e.g., a processor) being configured to perform a function with respect to at least one of A or B means that the item may be configured to perform a function with respect to A, or may be configured to perform a function with respect to B, or may be configured to perform a function with respect to both A and B. For example, the phrase "the processor is configured to measure at least one of A or B" means that the processor may be configured to measure A (and may or may not be configured to measure B), or may be configured to measure B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or may be configured to measure A and measure B (and may be configured to select which or both of A and B to measure). Similarly, the statement that a device is used to measure at least one of A or B includes: a device for measuring A (which may or may not be able to measure B), or a device for measuring B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or a device for measuring A and B (which may be able to select which or both of A and B to measure). As another example, the statement that a processor is configured to at least one of A or B means that the processor is configured to A (and may or may not be configured to B), or is configured to B (and may or may not be configured to B), or is configured to A and B, where A is a function (e.g., determining, obtaining, or measuring, etc.) and B is a function.

[0150] Substantial variations may be made depending on specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may also be used, and / or specific elements may be implemented in hardware, in software executed by a processor (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or in both. Further, connections to other computing devices (such as network input / output devices) may be employed.

[0151] As used herein, unless otherwise stated, a recitation that a function or operation is “based on” an item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the recited item or condition, and may be based on one or more items and / or conditions other than the recited item or condition.

[0152] The systems and devices discussed above are examples. Various configurations may appropriately omit, replace, or add various procedures or components. For example, features described with reference to certain configurations may be combined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of a configuration may be combined in a similar manner. In addition, technology may evolve, and thus, many elements are examples, without limiting the scope of the present disclosure or claims.

[0153] A wireless communication system is a system in which communications are transmitted wirelessly, i.e., by electromagnetic waves and / or sound waves propagating through atmospheric space rather than by wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not enable all communications to be transmitted wirelessly, but may be configured to enable at least some communications to be transmitted wirelessly. In addition, the term "wireless communication device" or similar terms does not require that the functionality of the device is exclusively or uniformly primarily used for communication, or that the device is a mobile device, but rather indicates that the device includes wireless communication capabilities (unidirectional or bidirectional), for example, including at least one radio (each radio is part of a transmitter, receiver or transceiver) for wireless communication.

[0154] Specific details are given in this description to provide a thorough understanding of example configurations (including implementations). However, these configurations can be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary details to avoid confusing these configurations. This description only provides example configurations without limiting the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims. On the contrary, the previous description of the configuration provides a description for implementing the technology. Various changes can be made to the function and arrangement of the elements without departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure.

[0155] As used herein, the terms "processor-readable medium," "machine-readable medium," and "computer-readable medium" refer to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a particular manner. Using a computing platform, various processor-readable media may involve providing instructions / codes for execution to the processor(s), and / or may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / codes (e.g., as signals). In many implementations, processor-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical disks and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, but are not limited to, dynamic memory.

[0156] Several example configurations have been described, and various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, in which other rules may take precedence over the application of the present invention or otherwise modify the application of the present invention. In addition, several operations may be taken before, during, or after considering the above elements. Accordingly, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0157] A statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or higher than) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that a value meets or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is one value higher than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system. A statement that a value is less than (or within or below) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that a value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is one value lower than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system.

Claims

1. A reference point user equipment UE configured for wireless signal exchange, the user equipment comprising: a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit outgoing signals and wirelessly receive incoming signals; Memory; as well as a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory and configured to: receiving a configuration message from a transmission / reception point TRP, the configuration message configuring the reference point UE to receive an uplink positioning reference signal UL-PRS transmitted by a mobile UE, the mobile UE being configured by the TRP for the UL-PRS; measuring a UL-PRS received by the reference point UE from the mobile UE on an uplink channel according to the configuration message; Positioning information for the mobile UE is determined using the measured UL-PRS.

2. The reference point user equipment of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to measure a first sidelink positioning reference signal received by the reference point UE, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having a first sidelink channel configuration.

3. The reference point user equipment of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: send a second sidelink positioning reference signal from the reference point UE, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having a second sidelink channel configuration, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a sidelink synchronization signal format, a sidelink channel state information reference signal format, a sidelink phase tracking reference signal format, or a sidelink demodulation reference signal format.

4. The reference point user equipment of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to measure the first sidelink positioning reference signal, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a sidelink synchronization signal format, a sidelink channel state information reference signal format, a sidelink phase tracking reference signal format, or a sidelink demodulation reference signal format.

5. The reference point user equipment of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to send the second sidelink positioning reference signal using at least one of resource repetition or beam sweeping.

6. The reference point user equipment of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to: transmit the second sidelink positioning reference signal and implement signal muting on the second sidelink positioning reference signal.

7. The reference point user equipment of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: receiving positioning information from the mobile UE via a sidelink channel; and The positioning information is sent to a network entity.

8. The reference point user equipment of claim 2, wherein the processor is configured to receive assistance data, wherein measuring the first sidelink positioning reference signal or measuring the uplink positioning reference signal is further based on the assistance data.

9. The reference point user equipment of claim 8, wherein the assistance data comprises an expected reference signal time difference value corresponding to the first sidelink positioning reference signal or the uplink positioning reference signal and an uncertainty of the expected reference signal time difference value.

10. The reference point user equipment of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to: The positioning information is sent to a network entity via the transceiver.

11. The reference point user equipment of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to: send the second sidelink positioning reference signal associated with at least one of a user equipment identifier or a cellular cell identifier corresponding to the user equipment.

12. A reference point user equipment UE configured for wireless signal exchange, the reference point UE comprising: a transceiver configured to wirelessly transmit outgoing signals and wirelessly receive incoming signals; means for receiving a configuration message from a transmission / reception point TRP, said configuration message configuring said reference point UE for receiving an uplink positioning reference signal UL-PRS transmitted by a mobile UE, said mobile UE being configured by said TRP for said UL-PRS; uplink measurement means for measuring a UL-PRS received at the transceiver from the mobile UE on an uplink channel according to the configuration message; as well as Means for determining positioning information for the mobile UE using the measured UL-PRS.

13. The reference point user equipment of claim 12, further comprising a device for measuring, at the reference point UE, a first sidelink positioning reference signal received by the reference point UE, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having a first sidelink channel configuration.

14. The reference point user equipment of claim 12, wherein the reference point user equipment further comprises a transmitting device, the transmitting device being used to transmit a second sidelink positioning reference signal from the reference point UE, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having a second sidelink channel configuration, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a sidelink synchronization signal format, a sidelink channel state information reference signal format, a sidelink phase tracking reference signal format, or a sidelink demodulation reference signal format.

15. The reference point user equipment of claim 13, wherein the reference point user equipment comprises a side link measurement device, and the side link measurement device is used to measure the first side link positioning reference signal, the first side link positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a side link synchronization signal format, a side link channel state information reference signal format, a side link phase tracking reference signal format, or a side link demodulation reference signal format.

16. The reference point user equipment of claim 14, wherein the reference point user equipment comprises a transmitting device, and the transmitting device is used to transmit the second sidelink positioning reference signal using at least one of resource repetition or beam sweeping.

17. The reference point user equipment according to claim 14, wherein the reference point user equipment comprises a transmitting device, and the transmitting device is used to implement signal silencing on the second sidelink positioning reference signal.

18. The reference point user equipment of claim 12, wherein the reference point user equipment further comprises: means for receiving positioning information from the mobile UE via a sidelink channel; as well as Means for sending the positioning information to a network entity.

19. The reference point user equipment of claim 13, further comprising: The apparatus is configured to receive assistance data, wherein measuring the first sidelink positioning reference signal or measuring the uplink positioning reference signal is further based on the assistance data.

20. The reference point user equipment of claim 19, wherein the assistance data comprises an expected reference signal time difference value corresponding to the first sidelink positioning reference signal or the uplink positioning reference signal and an uncertainty of the expected reference signal time difference value.

21. The reference point user equipment of claim 13, wherein the reference point user equipment further comprises: Means for sending the positioning information to a network entity.

22. The reference point user equipment according to claim 14, wherein the sending means is configured to send the second sidelink positioning reference signal associated with at least one of a user equipment identifier corresponding to the user equipment or a cellular cell identifier.

23. A method for exchanging wireless side link positioning signals, the method comprising: By reference point user equipment UE: receiving, by the reference point UE, a configuration message from a transmission / reception point TRP, the configuration message configuring the reference point UE to receive an uplink positioning reference signal UL-PRS transmitted by a mobile UE, the mobile UE being configured by the TRP for the UL-PRS; measuring, at the reference point UE, a UL-PRS received by the reference point UE from the mobile UE on an uplink channel according to the configuration message; The measured UL-PRS is used by the reference point UE to determine positioning information for the mobile UE.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises measuring, at the reference point UE, a first sidelink positioning reference signal received by the reference point UE, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having a first sidelink channel configuration.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises sending a second sidelink positioning reference signal from the reference point UE, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having a second sidelink channel configuration, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a sidelink synchronization signal format, a sidelink channel state information reference signal format, a sidelink phase tracking reference signal format, or a sidelink demodulation reference signal format.

26. A method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the method includes measuring the first sidelink positioning reference signal, and the first sidelink positioning reference signal has an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a sidelink synchronization signal format, a sidelink channel state information reference signal format, a sidelink phase tracking reference signal format, or a sidelink demodulation reference signal format.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the method comprises transmitting the second sidelink positioning reference signal using at least one of resource repetition or beam sweeping.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the method comprises transmitting the second sidelink positioning reference signal and implementing signal silencing on the second sidelink positioning reference signal.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises: receiving, by the reference point UE, positioning information from the mobile UE via a sidelink channel; as well as The positioning information is sent to a network entity.

30. The method of claim 24, further comprising receiving assistance data, wherein measuring the first sidelink positioning reference signal or measuring the uplink positioning reference signal is further based on the assistance data.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the assistance data comprises an expected reference signal time difference value corresponding to the first sidelink positioning reference signal or the uplink positioning reference signal and an uncertainty of the expected reference signal time difference value.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein the method further comprises: The positioning information is sent to a network entity.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein the method comprises sending the second sidelink positioning reference signal associated with at least one of a user equipment identity or a cell identity corresponding to the user equipment.

34. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor of a reference point user equipment (UE) to: receiving a configuration message from a transmission / reception point TRP, the configuration message configuring the reference point UE to receive an uplink positioning reference signal UL-PRS transmitted by a mobile UE, the mobile UE being configured by the TRP for the UL-PRS; measuring a UL-PRS received by the reference point UE from the mobile UE on an uplink channel according to the configuration message; Positioning information for the mobile UE is determined using the measured UL-PRS.

35. The storage medium of claim 34, wherein the storage medium further comprises instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: measure a first sidelink positioning reference signal received by the reference point UE, the first sidelink positioning reference signal having a first sidelink channel configuration.

36. A storage medium as described in claim 34, wherein the storage medium further includes instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: sending a second sidelink positioning reference signal from the reference point UE, the second sidelink positioning reference signal having a second sidelink channel configuration, and the second sidelink positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a sidelink synchronization signal format, a sidelink channel state information reference signal format, a sidelink phase tracking reference signal format, or a sidelink demodulation reference signal format.

37. A storage medium as described in claim 35, wherein the storage medium includes instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: measure the first side link positioning reference signal, the first side link positioning reference signal having an uplink positioning reference signal format, a downlink positioning reference signal format, a side link synchronization signal format, a side link channel state information reference signal format, a side link phase tracking reference signal format, or a side link demodulation reference signal format.

38. The storage medium of claim 36, wherein the storage medium comprises instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: transmit the second sidelink positioning reference signal using at least one of resource repetition or beam sweeping.

39. The storage medium of claim 36, wherein the storage medium comprises instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: transmit the second sidelink positioning reference signal and implement signal silencing on the second sidelink positioning reference signal.

40. The storage medium of claim 34, wherein the storage medium further comprises instructions configured to cause the processor to: receiving positioning information from the mobile UE via a sidelink channel; and The positioning information is sent to a network entity.

41. The storage medium of claim 35, further comprising instructions configured to cause the processor to receive assistance data, wherein measuring the first sidelink positioning reference signal or measuring the uplink positioning reference signal is further based on the assistance data.

42. The storage medium of claim 41, wherein the assistance data comprises an expected reference signal time difference value corresponding to the first sidelink positioning reference signal or the uplink positioning reference signal and an uncertainty in the expected reference signal time difference value.

43. The storage medium of claim 35, wherein the storage medium further comprises instructions configured to cause the processor to: The positioning information is sent to a network entity via a transceiver.

44. The storage medium of claim 36, wherein the storage medium comprises instructions configured to cause the processor to perform the following operations: sending the second sidelink positioning reference signal associated with at least one of a user equipment identifier or a cellular cell identifier corresponding to the user equipment.

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