Receiving Signal Path Allocation for Multi-Location Frequency Layer Processing

Abstract

A signal processing method, comprising: sending, from a user equipment to a network entity, an ability indication indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing a plurality of positioning reference signals corresponding to a plurality of different frequencies of different frequency layers, the plurality of positioning reference signals being at least partially overlapped in reception time at the user equipment; receiving, at the user equipment, the plurality of positioning reference signals at least partially overlapped in time; and processing, at the user equipment, the plurality of positioning reference signals according to the ability indication.

Description

Background Art

[0001] Wireless communication systems have evolved through many 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) wireless service with high-speed data Internet capabilities, fourth-generation (4G) service (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax), fifth-generation (5G) service, and so on. Currently, there are many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular and Personal Communication Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include 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), GSM variants of TDMA, etc.

[0002] The fifth-generation (5G) mobile standard requires higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, better coverage, and other improvements. According to the 5G standard of the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, it is designed to provide a data rate of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, and a data rate of 1 gigabit per second to dozens of employees on an office floor. To support large-scale sensor deployments, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. Therefore, compared with the current 4G standard, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communication should be significantly enhanced. In addition, compared with the current standard, the signaling efficiency should be enhanced and the latency should be greatly reduced. Summary of the Invention

[0003] An example user equipment includes: an interface including a plurality of receive signal paths; a memory; and a processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the memory, configured to: send, via the interface, an ability indication to a network entity indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing a plurality of positioning reference signals corresponding to a plurality of different frequencies of different frequency layers, the plurality of positioning reference signals at least partially overlapping in the reception time at the user equipment; and measure the plurality of positioning reference signals received by the interface at least partially overlapping in time.

[0004] Another example user equipment includes: means for sending an ability indication to a network entity indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing a plurality of positioning reference signals corresponding to a plurality of different frequencies of different frequency layers, the plurality of positioning reference signals at least partially overlapping in the reception time at the user equipment; and means for processing the plurality of positioning reference signals received by the user equipment at least partially overlapping in time.

[0005] An example signal processing method includes: sending, from a user equipment to a network entity, an ability indication indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing a plurality of positioning reference signals corresponding to a plurality of different frequencies of different frequency layers, where the plurality of positioning reference signals at least partially overlap in reception time at the user equipment; receiving, at the user equipment, the plurality of positioning reference signals at least partially overlapping in time; and processing, at the user equipment, the plurality of positioning reference signals according to the ability indication.

[0006] An example non-transitory processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor of a user equipment to, for processing signals at the user equipment: send, from the user equipment to a network entity, an ability indication indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing a plurality of positioning reference signals corresponding to a plurality of different frequencies of different frequency layers, where the plurality of positioning reference signals at least partially overlap in time at the user equipment; and process the plurality of positioning reference signals according to the ability indication. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Figure 1 is a simplified schematic diagram of an example wireless communication system.

[0008] Figure 2 is Figure 1 a block diagram of components of the example user equipment shown.

[0009] Figure 3 is a block diagram of components of an example transmit / receive point.

[0010] Figure 4 is a block diagram of components of an example server, various embodiments of which are shown in Figure 1 therein.

[0011] Figure 5 is a block diagram of an example user equipment.

[0012] Figure 6 is Figure 5 a simplified diagram of an example of a received signal path shown.

[0013] Figure 7 is a timing diagram of a plurality of positioning frequency layers received simultaneously.

[0014] Figure 8 is a timing diagram of a plurality of positioning frequency layers received in a single measurement gap, where each of a plurality of sets of the plurality of positioning frequency layers is received simultaneously.

[0015] Figure 9 is a timing diagram of one set of a plurality of positioning frequency layers received simultaneously and another set of a plurality of positioning frequency layers received simultaneously but time-division multiplexed with another set.

[0016] Figure 10 A simplified diagram of an ability indication indicating whether a user equipment is capable of processing multiple positioning frequency layers received at least partially overlapping in time.

[0017] Figure 11 A simplified diagram of an ability indication indicating the number of received signal paths and the measurement accuracy for processing multiple positioning frequency layers received at least partially overlapping in time.

[0018] Figure 12 A simplified diagram of an ability indication indicating the number of received signal paths for processing positioning frequency layers received at least partially overlapping in time and the number of positioning frequency layers.

[0019] Figure 13 A simplified diagram of an ability indication indicating the measurement accuracy for processing positioning frequency layers received at least partially overlapping in time.

[0020] Figure 14 The processing and signal flow for determining location information.

[0021] Figure 15 A block flow diagram of a signal processing method. Detailed implementation

[0022] Techniques for allocating received signal paths to process positioning reference signals received at least partially overlapping in time are discussed herein. For example, a UE (user equipment) may assign one or more received signal paths for receiving positioning reference signals in different positioning frequency layers at least partially overlapping in time. The UE may send a capability message to one or more network entities, the capability message indicating the UE's ability to process positioning reference signals received at least partially overlapping in time. The capability message may indicate the assignment and / or measurement accuracy of one or more received signal paths provided by the UE for positioning frequency layers that are at least partially overlapping in reception time (e.g., for different frequency bands, frequency band combinations, or bands within a frequency band combination). However, other examples may be implemented.

[0023] The items and / or techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned. The processing power for processing positioning reference signals received at least partially overlapping in time may be managed. The expectation for the accuracy of location information for processing positioning reference signals received at least partially overlapping in time may be managed. Other functions may be provided, and not every implementation according to the present disclosure must provide any of the functions discussed, let alone all of them.

[0024] Obtaining the location of a mobile device accessing a wireless network may be useful for many applications, including, for example, emergency calls, personal navigation, consumer asset tracking, locating friends or family members, etc. Existing location methods include methods based on measuring radio signals transmitted from various devices or entities, such as base stations and access points, including satellite vehicles (SVs) and terrestrial wireless power sources in a wireless network. It is expected that the standardization of 5G wireless networks will include support for various location methods that can utilize reference signals transmitted by base stations in a manner similar to how LTE wireless networks currently use positioning reference signals (PRSs) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRSs) for position determination.

[0025] This specification may relate, for example, to a sequence of actions performed by elements of a computing device. The various actions described herein may be performed by a particular circuit (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. The sequence of actions described herein may be embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, will cause the associated processor to perform the functions described herein. Thus, the various aspects described herein may be embodied in many different forms, all of which are within the scope of the present disclosure, including the claimed subject matter.

[0026] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” are not specific to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT). In general, such a UE may be any wireless communication device that a user uses to communicate via a wireless communication network (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset tracking device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.). The UE may be mobile or may be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be interchangeably referred to as “access terminal” or “AT,” “client device,” “wireless device,” “subscriber device,” “subscriber terminal,” “subscriber station,” “user terminal” or “UT,” “mobile terminal,” “mobile station,” “mobile device,” or variants thereof. Generally, a UE may communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE may connect to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for the UE, such as via a wired access network, a Wi-Fi network (e.g., based on IEEE 802.11, etc.), and so on.

[0027] The base station can operate according to one of several RATs for communicating with the UE, depending on the network in which it is deployed. Examples of base stations include access points (APs), network nodes, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), or gNode B (gNB). Additionally, in some systems, the base station can provide a pure edge node signaling function, while in other systems, the base station can provide additional control and / or network management functions.

[0028] The UE can be implemented by any one of a variety of 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 telephone, a smart phone, a tablet, a consumer asset tracking device, an asset tag, etc. The communication link through which the UE sends signals to the RAN can be referred to as an uplink channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). The communication link through which the RAN sends signals to the UE can be referred to as a downlink or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to an uplink / reverse or downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0029] As used herein, the term "cell" or "sector" can correspond to one of multiple cells of a base station or to the base station itself, depending on the context. The term "cell" can refer to a logical communication entity for communicating with a base station (e.g., via a carrier) and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., physical cell identifier (PCID), virtual cell identifier (VCID)) for differentiating adjacent cells operating via the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier can support multiple cells and different cells can be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others), and different protocol types can provide access for different types of devices. In some examples, the term "cell" can refer to a part of the geographical coverage area (e.g., sector) over which a logical entity operates.

[0030] Reference Figure 1, examples of the communication system 100 include User Equipment (UE) 105, UE 106, a Radio Access Network (RAN), here a Fifth Generation (5G) Next Generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN) 135, a 5G Core Network (5GC) 140, and a server 150. UE 105 and / or UE 106 can be, for example, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, location tracker devices, cellular phones, vehicles (e.g., cars, trucks, buses, boats, etc.), or other devices. The 5G network can also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) network; the NG-RAN 135 can be referred to as a 5G RAN or an NR RAN; and the 5GC 140 can be referred to as an NG Core Network (NGC). The standardization of the NG-RAN and 5GC is being carried out in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Thus, the NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140 can comply with current or future standards from 3GPP for 5G support. The NG-RAN 135 can be another type of RAN (e.g., 3G RAN), a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) RAN, etc. UE 106 can be configured and coupled similarly to UE 105 to send and / or receive signals from / to similar other entities in the system 100, but for simplicity of the figures, such signaling is not indicated in Figure 1 . Similarly, for simplicity, the discussion focuses on UE 105. The communication system 100 can utilize information from a constellation 185 of satellite vehicles (SVs) 190, 191, 192, 193 for a Satellite Positioning System (SPS) (e.g., a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), 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 can include additional or alternative components.

[0031] As Figure 1As shown, the NG-RAN 135 includes NR Node B (gNB) 110a, 110b, and Next Generation eNodeB (ng-eNB) 114, and the 5GC 140 includes Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, Session Management Function (SMF) 117, Location Management Function (LMF) 120, and Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNB 114 are communicatively coupled to each other, each being configured to perform two-way wireless communication with the UE 105, and each being communicatively coupled to the AMF 115 and configured to perform two-way communication with the AMF 115. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNB 114 may be referred to as Base Stations (BSs). The AMF 115, SMF 117, LMF 120, and GMLC 125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the GMLC is communicatively coupled to an 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. A base station such as the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 may be a macro cell (e.g., a high-power cellular base station), or a small cell (e.g., a low-power cellular base station), or an access point (e.g., a short-range base station configured to communicate with short-range technologies such as WiFi, WiFi-Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth Bluetooth - Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, etc.). One or more BSs (e.g., one or more gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or NG-ENB 114) may be configured to communicate with the UE 105 via multiple carriers. Each of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNB 114 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographical area (e.g., a cell). Each cell may be divided into multiple sectors according to the base station antennas.

[0032] Figure 1A general description of various components is provided, any one or all of which can be used as appropriate, and each component can be replicated or omitted as necessary. Specifically, although one UE 105 is shown, many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) can be used in the communication system 100. Similarly, the communication system 100 can include a greater (or smaller) number of SVs (i.e., more or fewer than the four SVs 190 - 193 shown), gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, external client 130, and / or other components. The shown connections that connect the various components in the communication system 100 include data and signaling connections, which can include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. Additionally, depending on the required functionality, the components can be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted.

[0033] Although Figure 1 a 5G-based network is shown, similar network implementations and configurations can be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. The implementations described herein (whether for 5G technology and / or for one or more other communication technologies and / or protocols) can be used for a UE (e.g., UE 105) to transmit (or broadcast) a directed synchronization signal, receive and measure a directed signal, and / or provide location assistance to the UE 105 (via GMLC 125 or other location servers) and / or calculate the location of the UE 105 at a location-capable device such as the UE 105, GNB 110a, 110b, or LMF 120 based on measurements of such directed transmission signals received at the UE 105. The Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125, Location Management Function (LMF) 120, Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, SMF 117, ng-eNB (eNodeB) 114, and gNB (gNodeB) 110a, 110b are examples, and in various embodiments, can be replaced by various other location server functions and / or base station functions, or include various other location server functions and / or base station functions.

[0034] System 100 is capable of wireless communication because the components of System 100 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (using a wireless connection at least some of the time) via, for example, gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, and / or 5GC 140 (and / or one or more other devices not shown, such as one or more other base station transceivers). For indirect communication, the communication can be changed during transmission from one entity to another, for example, changing the header information of a data packet, changing the format, etc. UE 105 can include multiple UEs and can be a mobile wireless communication device, but can communicate wirelessly and via a wired connection. UE 105 can be any of a variety of devices, for example, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-based device, etc., but these are examples as it is not required that UE 105 be any of these configurations, and other configurations of the UE can be used. Other UEs can include wearable devices (e.g., smartwatches, smart jewelry, smart glasses, or headphones, etc.). Other UEs can also be used, whether currently existing or developed in the future. In addition, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) can be implemented within System 100 and can communicate with each other and / or with UE 105, gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, 5GC 140, and / or external client 130. For example, such other devices can include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment, and / or automation devices, etc. 5GC 140 can communicate with external client 130 (e.g., a computer system), for example, to allow external client 130 to request and / or receive location information about UE 105 (e.g., via GMLC 125).

[0035] UE 105 or other devices can be configured to communicate over various networks and / or for various purposes and / or using various technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communication, multiple frequencies of Wi-Fi communication, satellite positioning, one or more types of communication (e.g., GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything, e.g., V2P (Vehicle-to-Pedestrian), V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure), V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle), etc.), IEEE 802.11p, etc.). V2X communication can be cellular (Cellular-V2X (C-V2X)) and / or WiFi (e.g., DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communications)). System 100 can support operation on multi-carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter can simultaneously transmit modulated signals on multiple carriers. Each modulated signal can be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) signal, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) signal, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signal, Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal can be transmitted on a different carrier and can carry pilots, overhead information, data, etc. UEs 105, 106 can communicate with each other through UE-to-UE sidelink (SL) communication by transmitting on one or more sidelink channels such as the Physical Sidelink Synchronization Channel (PSSCH), Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), or Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH).

[0036] UE 105 can include and / or can be referred to as a device, mobile device, wireless device, mobile terminal, terminal, mobile station (MS), Secure User Plane Location (SUPL)-enabled terminal (SET), or some other name. Additionally, UE 105 can correspond to a mobile phone, smartphone, laptop, tablet, PDA, consumer asset tracking device, navigation device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, health monitor, security system, smart city sensor, smart meter, wearable tracker, or some other portable or mobile device. Typically, although not necessarily, UE 105 can support the use of such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), LTE, High Speed Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE802.11WiFi (also known as Wi-Fi), Bluetooth Wireless communication using one or more radio access technologies such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5G New Radio (NR) (e.g., using NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140). The UE 105 may support wireless communication using a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that may be connected to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using, for example, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or Packet Cable. Using one or more of these RATs may allow the UE 105 to communicate with an external client 130 (e.g., via Figure 1 elements of the 5GC 140 not shown, or possibly via the GMLC 125) and / or allow the external client 130 to receive location information about the UE 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125).

[0037] The UE 105 may include a single entity or may include multiple entities, such as in a personal area network where the user may use audio, video, and / or data I / O (input / output) devices and / or body sensors as well as separate wired or wireless modems. An estimate of the location of the UE 105 may be referred to as a location, location estimate, location bearing, bearing, positioning, positioning estimate, or positioning bearing and may be geographical, providing location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) for the UE 105, which may or may not include an elevation component (e.g., height above sea level, height above ground, floor, or basement, or depth below ground). Alternatively, the location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a city location (e.g., as a postal address or designation of a point or small area in a building such as a specific room or floor). The location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a region or volume (defined geographically or in urban form) within which the UE 105 is expected to be located with a certain probability or confidence (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a relative location, including, for example, distance and direction from a known location. This relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) that are defined relative to an origin at a known location, which may be defined, for example, geographically, in urban terms, or by reference to a point, area, or volume indicated on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the descriptions contained herein, unless otherwise indicated, the use of the term location may include any of these variations. When calculating the location of the UE, the regional x, y, and possibly z coordinates are typically solved for and then, if necessary, converted to absolute coordinates (e.g., for latitude, longitude, and elevation above or below mean sea level).

[0038] The UE 105 can be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of a variety of different technologies. The UE 105 can be configured to indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. The D2D P2P links can be supported by any suitable D2D radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth and so on. One or more UEs in a group of UEs utilizing D2D communication can be within the geographical coverage area of a transmission / reception point (TRP) such as one or more of gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographical coverage area or may not be able to receive transmissions from the base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication can utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each UE can transmit to other UEs in the group. The TRP can facilitate resource scheduling for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication can be performed between UEs without the participation of the TRP. One or more UEs in a group of UEs utilizing D2D communication can be within the geographical coverage area of a TRP. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographical coverage area or may not be able to receive transmissions from the base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication can utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each UE can transmit to other UEs in the group. The TRP can facilitate resource scheduling for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication can be performed between UEs without the participation of the TRP.

[0039] Figure 1 The base stations (BSs) in the illustrated NG-RAN 135 include NR node Bs, which are referred to as gNB 110a and 110b. The paired gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 can be connected to each other via one or more other gNBs. Wireless communication between the UE 105 and one or more of gNBs 110a, 110b provides the UE 105 with access to the 5G network, which can represent the UE 105 to use 5G to provide wireless communication access to the 5GC 140. In Figure 1 this example, it is assumed that the serving gNB of the UE 105 is gNB 110a, although if the UE 105 moves to another location, another gNB (e.g., gNB 110b) can be used as the serving gNB or can be used as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to the UE 105.

[0040] Figure 1The base station (BS) in the NG-RAN 135 shown may include an ng-eNB 114, which is also referred to as a next-generation evolved Node B. The ng-eNB 114 may possibly be connected to one or more gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 via one or more other gNBs and / or one or more other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 114 may provide LTE radio access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) radio access to the UE 105. One or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or the ng-eNB 114 may be configured to act as a positioning beacon only, which may send signals to assist in determining the location of the UE 105, but may not receive signals from the UE 105 or other UEs.

[0041] Each of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or the ng-eNB 114 may include one or more TRPs. For example, each sector within a cell of the BS may include one TRP, although multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., share a processor but have separate antennas). The system 100 may include only macro TRPs, or the system 100 may have different types of TRPs, such as, macro, pico, and / or femto TRPs, etc. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographical area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access to terminals with a service subscription. A pico TRP may cover a relatively small geographical area (e.g., a pico cell) and may allow unrestricted access to terminals with a service subscription. A femto or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographical area (e.g., a femto cell) and may allow restricted access to terminals associated with that femto cell (e.g., terminals of users in a home).

[0042] Each of gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 may include a Radio Unit (RU), a Distributed Unit (DU), and a Central Unit (CU). For example, gNB 110a includes RU 111, DU 112, and CU 113. RU 111, DU 112, and CU 113 divide the functions of gNB 110a. Although gNB 110a is shown to have a single RU, a single DU, and a single CU, a gNB may include one or more RUs, one or more DUs, and / or one or more CUs. The interface between CU 113 and DU 112 is referred to as the F1 interface. RU 111 is configured to perform Digital Front End (DFE) functions (e.g., analog-to-digital conversion, filtering, power amplification, transmission / reception) and digital beamforming, and includes a part of the Physical (PHY) layer. RU 111 may use massive Multiple-Input / Multiple-Output (MIMO) to perform DFE and may be integrated with one or more antennas of gNB 110a. DU 112 hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), and Physical layer of gNB 110a. One DU may support one or more cells, and each cell is supported by a single DU. The operation of DU 112 is controlled by CU 113. CU 113 is configured to perform functions for transmitting user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, etc., although some functions are specifically assigned to DU 112. CU 113 hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of gNB 110a. UE 105 may communicate with CU 113 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, communicate with DU 112 via the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers, and communicate with RU 111 via the PHY layer.

[0043] As previously mentioned, although Figure 1 nodes configured to communicate according to the 5G communication protocol are depicted, nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols such as, for example, the LTE protocol or the IEEE 802.11x protocol may be used. For example, in an Evolved Packet System (EPS) that provides LTE radio access to UE 105, the Radio Access Network (RAN) may include an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), which may include base stations that include evolved Node Bs (eNBs). The core network of the EPS may include an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The EPS may include E-UTRAN plus EPC, where E-UTRAN corresponds to Figure 1 NG-RAN 135 in Figure 1 and EPC corresponds to

[0044] gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNB 114 can communicate with AMF 115, and AMF 115 communicates with LMF 120 for positioning functions. AMF 115 can support the mobility of UE 105, including cell change and handover, and can participate in supporting the signaling connection to UE 105, and may support the data and voice bearers of UE 105. LMF 120 can communicate directly with UE 105, for example, via wireless communication, or directly with gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. When UE 105 accesses NG-RAN 135, LMF 120 can support the positioning of UE 105 and can support positioning processes / methods such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (e.g., Downlink (DL) OTDOA or Uplink (UL) OTDOA), Round Trip Time (RTT), Multi-Cell RTT, 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. LMF 120 can process, for example, location service requests for UE 105 received from AMF 115 or from GMLC 125. LMF 120 can be connected to AMF 115 and / or GMLC 125. LMF 120 can be referred to by other names, such as Location Manager (LM), Location Function (LF), Commercial LMF (CLMF), or Value-Added LMF (VLMF). The node / system implementing LMF 120 can additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP). At least a part of the positioning function (including deriving the location of UE 105) can be executed at UE 105 (e.g., using signal measurements on signals transmitted by wireless nodes such as gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 obtained by UE 105, and / or auxiliary data provided to UE 105 by LMF 120, for example). AMF 115 can be used as a control node for handling the signaling between UE 105 and 5GC 140, and can provide QoS (Quality of Service) flow and session management. AMF 115 can support the mobility of UE 105, including cell change and handover, and can participate in supporting the signaling connection to UE 105.

[0045] Server 150 (e.g., a cloud server) is configured to obtain a location estimate of UE 105 and provide it to external client 130. For example, server 150 may be configured to run a microservice / service that obtains a location estimate of UE 105. For example, server 150 may pull a location estimate from one or more of UE 105, gNBs 110a, 110b (e.g., via RUs 111, DUs 112, and CUs 113) and / or ng-eNB 114 and / or LMF 120 (e.g., by sending a location request thereto). As another example, one or more of UE 105, gNBs 110a, 110b (e.g., via RUs 111, DUs 112, and CUs 113) and / or LMF 120 may push a location estimate of UE 105 to server 150.

[0046] GMLC 125 may support a location request for UE 105 received from external client 130 via server 150, and may forward such a location request to AMF 115 for forwarding by AMF 115 to AMF 120, or may forward the location request directly to AMF 120. A location response from LMF 120 (e.g., containing a location estimate of UE 105) may be returned to GMLC 125 directly or via AMF 115, and GMLC 125 may then return the location response (e.g., containing the location estimate) to external client 130 via server 150. GMLC 125 is shown connected to AMF 115 and LMF 120, although in some implementations it may not be connected to AMF 115 or LMF 120.

[0047] As Figure 1 shown, LMF 120 may communicate with gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 using the New Radio Positioning Protocol A (which may be referred to as NPPa or NRPPa), which is defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of the LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa) defined in 3GPP TS 36.455, where NRPPa messages are transported between gNB 110a (or gNB 110b) and LMF 120 and / or between ng-eNB 114 and LMF 120 via AMF 115. As Figure 1Further shown, 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 also 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, the LPP and / or NPP messages may be transmitted between the UE 105 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115 and the serving gNB 110a, 110b or serving ng-eNB 114 for the UE 105. For example, the LPP and / or NPP messages may be transmitted between the LMF 120 and the AMF 115 using the 5G location service application protocol (LCS AP), and may be transmitted 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 the 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 the positioning of the UE 105 using network-based positioning methods such as E-CID (e.g., when used 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 the 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 placed remotely from the gNB and / or TRP and configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNB and / or TRP.

[0048] Using UE-assisted positioning methods, the UE 105 may obtain position measurements and send such measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) for calculating a position estimate of the UE 105. For example, the position measurements may include one or more of received signal strength indication (RSSI), round-trip signal travel time (RTT), reference signal time difference (RSTD), reference signal received power (RSRP), and / or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) for the gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, and / or WLAN AP. The position measurements may also or alternatively include measurements of GNSS pseudorange, code phase, and / or carrier phase of the SVs 190-193.

[0049] Using a UE-based positioning method, the UE 105 can obtain position measurements (e.g., which can be the same as or similar to the position measurements used for UE-assisted positioning methods), and can calculate the position of the UE 105 (e.g., with the aid of assistance data received from a position server such as the LMF 120 or assistance data broadcast by the gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114 or other base stations or APs).

[0050] Using a network-based positioning method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114) or APs can obtain position measurements (e.g., RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ of the signal transmitted by the UE 105 or measurements of time of arrival (ToA)) and / or can receive the measurements obtained by the UE 105. One or more base stations or APs can send this measurement for calculating the position estimate of the UE 105 to a position server (e.g., the LMF 120).

[0051] The information provided by the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 to the LMF 120 using NRPPa can include timing and configuration information for the directional SS transmission and position coordinates. The LMF 120 can provide some or all of this information to the UE 105 as assistance data in LPP and / or NPP messages via the NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140.

[0052] The LPP or NPP message sent from the LMF 120 to the UE 105 can instruct the UE 105 to perform any one of various things according to the required functions. For example, the LPP or NPP message can contain instructions for the UE 105 to obtain measurements of 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 can instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurement quantities (e.g., beam ID, beam width, average angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements) of the directional signals transmitted within a specific cell supported by one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 (or supported by some other type of base station such as an eNB or a WiFi AP). The UE 105 can send this measurement quantity back to the LMF 120 in the 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.

[0053] As described above, although the communication system 100 has been described in terms of 5G technology, the communication system 100 can be implemented to support other communication technologies (such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, etc.) for supporting and interacting with mobile devices such as UE 105 (e.g., for implementing voice, data, positioning, and other functions). In some such embodiments, the 5GC 140 can be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, the 5GC 140 can use the non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF, Figure 1 not shown) in the 5GC 140 to connect to a WLAN. For example, the WLAN can support IEEE 802.11 WiFi access for the UE 105 and can include one or more WiFi APs. Here, the N3IWF can 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 can be replaced by one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in EPS, the NG-RAN 135 can be replaced by an E-UTRAN including eNBs, and the 5GC 140 can be replaced by an EPC including a mobility management entity (MME) instead of the AMF 115, an E-SMLC instead of the LMF 120, and a GMLC similar to the GMLC 125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC can use LPPa instead of NRPPa to send location information to and receive location information from the eNBs in the E-UTRAN, and can use LPP to support the positioning of the UE 105. In these other embodiments, positioning the UE 105 using the directional PRS can be supported in a manner similar to that described herein for the 5G network, except that the functions and processes described herein for the gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, and LFM 120 can be applied to other network elements such as eNBs, WiFi APs, MMEs, and E-SMLCs in some cases.

[0054] As described above, in some embodiments, the positioning function can be implemented at least in part using directional SS beams transmitted by base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) within the range of the UE (e.g., Figure 1 the UE 105) for which the positioning is to be determined. In some cases, the UE can use directional SS beams from multiple base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, etc.) to calculate the positioning of the UE.

[0055] Also refer to Figure 2, UE 200 is an example of one of UEs 105, 106, and includes a computing platform that includes a processor 210, a memory 211 that includes software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for a transceiver 215 (including a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250), 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, one or more sensors 213, the transceiver interface 214, the user interface 216, the SPS receiver 217, the camera 218, and the positioning device 219 can be communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 220 (which can be configured for, e.g., optical communication and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., one or more of the camera 218, the positioning device 219, and / or one or more of the one or more sensors 213, etc.) can be omitted from the UE 200. The processor 210 can 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 can include multiple processors, including a general-purpose / 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 can include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, the sensor processor 234 can include, e.g., a processor for RF (radio frequency) sensing (using one or more (cellular) wireless signals transmitted and reflections for identifying, mapping, and / or tracking objects) and / or ultrasonic waves, etc. The modem processor 232 can support dual SIM / dual connectivity (or even more SIMs). For example, one SIM (subscriber identity module or user identity module) can be used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), while another SIM can be used by an end user of the UE 200 for connectivity. The memory 211 is a non-transitory storage medium that can include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, optical disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 211 stores software 212, which can be processor-readable, processor-executable software code that contains instructions configured to cause the processor 210 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 212 may not be directly executed by the processor 210, but may be configured to cause the processor 210 to perform functions, e.g., when compiled and executed. This description may refer to the processor 210 performing functions, but this includes other implementations, such as the processor 210 running software and / or firmware. This description may refer to the processor 210 that performs functions simply as one or more of the processors 230-234 that perform functions.This description may refer to the UE 200 that performs functions as one or more appropriate components of the UE 200 that performs functions. In addition to and / or in place of the memory 211, the processor 210 may include a memory with stored instructions. The functions of the processor 210 will be discussed more fully below.

[0056] Figure 2 The configuration of the UE 200 shown in the figure is an example rather than a limitation of the present disclosure including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, example configurations of the UE include one or more of the processors 230-234 of the processor 210, the memory 211, and the wireless transceiver 240. Other example configurations include one or more of the processors 230-234 of the processor 210, the memory 211, the wireless transceiver, and one or more of the sensors 213, the user interface 216, the SPS receiver 217, the camera 218, the PD 219, and / or the wired transceiver.

[0057] The UE 200 may include a modem processor 232 that is capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and down-converted by the transceiver 215 and / or the SPS receiver 217. The modem processor 232 may perform baseband processing on signals to be up-converted for transmission by the transceiver 215. Similarly or alternatively, the baseband processing may be performed by the processor 230 and / or the DSP 231. However, other configurations may be used to perform the baseband processing.

[0058] The UE 200 may include one or more sensors 213, which may include, for example, one or more sensors of various types, 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. The inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., jointly responsive to the acceleration of the UE 200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes (e.g., one or more three-dimensional gyroscopes). One or more sensors 213 may include one or more magnetometers (e.g., one or more three-dimensional magnetometers) to determine the orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), which may be used for any of a variety of purposes, such as to support one or more compass applications. One or more environmental sensors 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. One or more sensors 213 may generate analog and / or digital signal indications, which may be stored in the memory 211 and processed by the DSP 231 and / or the processor 230 to support one or more applications (such as applications focused on positioning and / or navigation operations).

[0059] One or more sensors 213 may be used for relative position measurement, relative position determination, motion determination, etc. Information detected by one or more sensors 213 may be used for motion detection, relative displacement, dead reckoning, sensor-based position determination, and / or sensor-assisted position determination. One or more sensors 213 may be used to determine whether the UE 200 is stationary (at rest) or moving and / or whether to report certain useful information about the mobility of the UE 200 to the LMF 120. For example, based on the information obtained / measured by one or more sensors 213, the UE 200 may notify / report to the LMF 120 that the UE 200 has detected movement or the UE 200 has moved, and report the relative displacement / distance (e.g., via dead reckoning, or sensor-based position determination, or sensor-assisted position determination enabled by one or more sensors 213). In another example, for relative positioning information, sensors / IMU may be used to determine the angle and / or orientation, etc. of other devices relative to the UE 200.

[0060] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements of the direction of motion and / or speed of motion of the UE 200, which may be used for relative position determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may detect the linear acceleration and rotational speed of the UE 200, respectively. The linear acceleration and rotational speed measurements of the UE 200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction of motion and displacement of the UE 200. The instantaneous direction and displacement of the motion may be integrated to track the position of the UE 200. For example, the reference position of the UE 200 may be determined for a moment using, for example, the SPS receiver 217 (and / or by some other component), and the measurements from one or more accelerometers and one or more gyroscopes after that moment may be used for dead reckoning to determine the current position of the UE 200 based on the motion (direction and distance) of the UE 200 relative to the reference position.

[0061] One or more magnetometers may determine the magnetic field strength in different directions, and the magnetic field strength may be used to determine the orientation of the UE 200. For example, this orientation may be used to provide a digital compass for the UE 200. One or more magnetometers may include a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. One or more magnetometers may include a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of the magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. One or more magnetometers may provide components for sensing the magnetic field and, for example, providing an indication of the magnetic field to the processor 210.

[0062] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250, which are configured to communicate with other devices via a wireless connection and a wired connection, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a wireless transmitter 242 and a wireless receiver 244 coupled to an antenna 246 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals 248, and for converting signals from the wireless signals 248 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and converting signals from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 248. Thus, the wireless transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 244 may include multiple receivers, which 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 different 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 wired transmitter 252 and a wired receiver 254, which are configured for wired communication. For example, a network interface may be used to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send communications to and receive communications from the NG-RAN 135. The wired transmitter 252 may include multiple transmitters, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 254 may include multiple receivers, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured for, e.g., optical communication and / or electrical communication. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214, e.g., via an optical and / or electrical connection. The transceiver interface 214 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 215. The wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244, and / or the antenna 246 may each include multiple transmitters, multiple receivers, and / or multiple antennas, respectively, for transmitting and / or receiving appropriate signals, respectively.

[0063] The user interface 216 may include one or more of 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 more than any one of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to enable a user to interact with one or more applications hosted by the UE 200. For example, the user interface 216 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 for processing by the DSP 231 and / or the general - purpose processor 230 in response to actions from the user. Similarly, applications hosted on the UE 200 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 to present output signals to the user. The user interface 216 may include an audio input / output (I / O) device that includes, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a digital - to - analog circuit, an analog - to - digital circuit, an amplifier, and / or a gain - control circuit (including more than any one of these devices). Other configurations of the audio I / O device may be used. Equally or alternatively, the user interface 216 may include one or more touch sensors responsive to, for example, touch and / or pressure on the keyboard and / or touch screen of the user interface 216.

[0064] The SPS receiver 217 (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver) is capable of receiving and acquiring SPS signals 260 via the SPS antenna 262. The SPS antenna 262 is configured to convert the SPS signals 260 from wireless signals to wired signals (e.g., electrical signals or optical signals) and may be integrated with the antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process all or part of the acquired SPS signals 260 to estimate the location of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 by using trilateration of the SPS signals 260. The general - purpose processor 230, the memory 211, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors (not shown) may be used to process all or part of the acquired SPS signals together with the SPS receiver 217 and / or calculate the estimated location of the UE 200. The memory 211 may store indications (e.g., measurements) of the SPS signals 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals acquired from the wireless transceiver 240) for performing location operations. The general - purpose processor 230, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors and / or the memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for processing the measurements to estimate the location of the UE 200.

[0065] The UE 200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still or moving images. The camera 218 may include, for example, an imaging sensor (e.g., a charge-coupled device or a CMOS imager), a lens, analog-to-digital circuitry, a frame buffer, and the like. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of the signals representing the captured images may be performed by the general-purpose processor 230 and / or the DSP 231. Similarly or alternatively, the video processor 233 may perform conditioning, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of the signals representing the captured images. The video processor 233 may decode / decompress the stored image data for presentation on a display device (not shown), such as the user interface 216.

[0066] The positioning device (PD) 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200, the movement of the UE 200, and / or the relative location and / or time of the UE 200. For example, the PD 219 may communicate with the SPS receiver 217 and / or include some or all of the SPS receiver 217. The PD 219 may operatively couple with the processor 210 and the memory 211 to perform at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, although the description herein may refer to the PD 219 being configured to perform or acting in accordance with the positioning methods. The PD 219 may also or alternatively be configured to perform trilateration using ground-based signals (e.g., at least some of the signals 248), assist in obtaining and using SPS signals 260, or both to determine the location of the UE 200. The PD 219 may be configured to use one or more other techniques (e.g., relying on self-reported location of the UE (e.g., as part of a positioning beacon of the UE)) to determine the location of the UE 200 and may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and ground positioning signals) to determine the location of the UE 200. The PD 219 may include one or more sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, etc.) that may sense the orientation and / or movement of the UE 200 and provide an indication that the processor 210 (e.g., the processor 230 and / or the DSP 231) may be configured to use to determine the movement of the UE 200 (e.g., a velocity vector and / or an acceleration vector). The PD 219 may be configured to provide an indication of the uncertainty and / or error in the determined location and / or movement. The functionality of the PD 219 may be provided in a variety of different manners and / or configurations, such as by the general-purpose application processor 230, the transceiver 215, the SPS receiver 217, and / or another component of the UE 200, and may be provided by hardware, software, firmware, or various combinations thereof.

[0067] Also refer to Figure 3, examples of the TRP 300 of gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 include a computing platform that includes a processor 310, a memory 311 that includes 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 optical and / or electrical communication, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., the radio interface) may be omitted from the TRP 300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 310 may include multiple processors (e.g., as Figure 2 shown, including a general-purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor). The memory 311 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, optical disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 311 stores software 312, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code that contains instructions configured to cause the processor 310 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executed by the processor 310, but may be configured to cause the processor 310 to perform functions when compiled and executed, for example.

[0068] This description may refer to the processor 310 performing functions, but this includes other implementations, such as the processor 310 running software and / or firmware. This description may refer to the processor 310 performing functions simply as one or more processors included in the processor 310 that performs the functions. This description may refer to the TRP 300 performing functions simply as one or more appropriate components (e.g., the processor 310 and the memory 311) of the TRP 300 that performs the functions (and thus is one of gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114). In addition to and / or instead of the memory 311, the processor 310 may include a memory with stored instructions. The functions of the processor 310 will be discussed more fully below.

[0069] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and / or a wired transceiver 350, which are configured to communicate with other devices via wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a wireless transmitter 342 and a wireless receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more downlink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 348, and for 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 wireless signals 348. Thus, the wireless transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 344 may include multiple receivers, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) according to various different 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 wired transceiver 350 may include a wired transmitter 352 and a wired receiver 354, which are configured for wired communication. For example, a network interface may be used to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send communications to and receive communications from the LMF 120 (e.g., and / or one or more other network entities). The wired transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 354 may include multiple receivers, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured for, e.g., optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0070] Figure 3The configuration of the TRP 300 shown is an example rather than a limitation of the present disclosure that includes the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein discusses that the TRP 300 is configured to perform or execute several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the LMF 120 and / or the UE 200 (i.e., the LMF 120 and / or the UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0071] Also refer to Figure 4 , the server 400 (of which the LMF 120 is an example) includes a computing platform that includes a processor 410, a memory 411 that includes 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 optical and / or electrical communication, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., the wireless interface) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 410 may include multiple processors (e.g., as Figure 2 shown, including a general / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor). The memory 411 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, optical disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 stores software 412, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code that includes instructions configured to cause the processor 410 to perform the various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executed by the processor 410, but may be configured to cause the processor 410 to perform functions when, for example, compiled and executed. This description may refer to the processor 410 performing functions, but this includes other implementations, such as the processor 410 running software and / or firmware. This description may refer to the processor 410 that performs functions simply as one or more processors included in the processor 410 that performs functions. This description may refer to the server 400 that performs functions as one or more appropriate components of the server 400 that performs functions. In addition to and / or instead of the memory 411, the processor 410 may include a memory with stored instructions. The functions of the processor 410 will be discussed more fully below.

[0072] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and / or a wired transceiver 450, which are configured to communicate with other devices via a wireless connection and a wired connection respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a wireless transmitter 442 and a wireless receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) and / or receiving (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 448, and for 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 wireless signals 448. Thus, the wireless transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 444 may include multiple receivers, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) according to various different 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 wired transceiver 450 may include a wired transmitter 452 and a wired receiver 454, which are configured for wired communication. For example, a network interface may be used to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send and receive communications to / from the TRP 300 (e.g., and / or one or more other network entities). The wired transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 454 may include multiple receivers, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 may be configured for, e.g., optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0073] The description herein may refer to the processor 410 performing functions, but this includes other implementations such as the processor 410 running software (stored in the memory 411) and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the server 400 performing functions simply as one or more appropriate components of the server 400 performing functions (e.g., the processor 410 and the memory 411).

[0074] Figure 4The configuration of the server 400 shown is an example rather than a limitation of the present disclosure that includes the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Similarly or alternatively, the description herein discusses that the server 400 is configured to perform or perform several functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the TRP 300 and / or the UE 200 (i.e., the TRP 300 and / or the UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0075] Positioning technology

[0076] For terrestrial positioning of UEs in a cellular network, techniques such as Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) and Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) typically operate in a "UE-assisted" mode, where the UE measures reference signals (e.g., PRS, CRS, etc.) transmitted by base stations and then provides them to a location server. The location server then calculates the positioning of the UE based on the measurements and known locations of the base stations. Since these techniques use a location server to calculate the positioning of the UE rather than the UE itself, these positioning techniques are not often used in applications such as automotive or mobile phone navigation, which typically rely on satellite-based positioning.

[0077] The UE may use a Satellite Positioning System (SPS) (Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)) for high-precision positioning using Precise Point Positioning (PPP) or Real-Time Kinematics (RTK) techniques. These techniques use auxiliary data such as measurements from ground stations. LTE Release 15 allows for the encryption of data such that only UEs subscribed to the service can read the information. This auxiliary data changes over time. Therefore, a UE subscribed to the service may not easily "break the encryption" for other UEs by passing the data to other UEs that have not paid for the subscription. Each time the auxiliary data changes, the passing needs to be repeated.

[0078] In UE-assisted positioning, the UE sends measurements (e.g., TDOA, Angle of Arrival (AoA), etc.) to a location server (e.g., LMF / eSMLC). The location server has a Base Station Almanac (BSA) that contains multiple "entries" or "records", one record per cell, where each record contains the geographical cell location but may also include other data. Identifiers of the 'records' in the BSA can be referenced. The BSA and the measurements from the UE can be used to calculate the positioning of the UE.

[0079] In traditional UE-based positioning, the UE calculates its own position, thus avoiding sending measurements to the network (e.g., a location server), which in turn improves latency and scalability. The UE uses relevant BSA record information from the network (e.g., the location of a gNB (a broader 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 is easier to make the BSA information (compared to PPP or RTK information) available to UEs that have not subscribed to and paid for the decryption key. The transmission of reference signals by the gNB makes it possible for the BSA information to be accessible for crowd-sourcing or war-driving, essentially enabling the generation of BSA information based on in-situ and / or overhead observations.

[0080] Positioning techniques can be characterized and / or evaluated based on one or more criteria such as positioning accuracy and / or latency. Latency is the time elapsed between an event that triggers the determination of positioning-related data and the availability of that data at the positioning system interface (e.g., the interface of the LMF 120). At the initialization of the positioning system, the latency of the availability of positioning-related data is referred to as the first positioning time (TTFF), and the latency after the TTFF is greater. The reciprocal of the time elapsed between two consecutive positioning-related data availabilities is referred to as the update rate, i.e., the rate at which positioning-related data is generated after the first positioning. Latency can depend on processing capabilities, such as those of the UE. For example, the UE can report its processing capabilities as the duration of DL PRS symbols that the UE can process per T time amount (e.g., T ms) assuming 272 PRBs (physical resource blocks) are allocated, in units of time (e.g., milliseconds). Other examples of capabilities that can affect latency are the number of TRPs from which the UE can process PRS, the number of PRSs that the UE can process, and the bandwidth of the UE.

[0081] One or more of many different positioning techniques (also referred to as positioning methods) can be used to determine the location of an entity such as one of UEs 105, 106. For example, known location determination techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also referred to as TDOA and including UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), enhanced cell identification (E-CID), DL-AoD, UL-AoA, etc. RTT uses the time for a signal to travel from one entity to another and back to determine the range between the two entities. This range, plus the known location of the first entity and the angle (e.g., azimuth) between the two entities, can be used to determine the location of the second entity. In multi-RTT (also referred to as multi-cell RTT), multiple ranges from one entity (e.g., a UE) to other entities (e.g., a TRP) and the known locations of the other entities can be used to determine the location of an entity. In TDOA techniques, the time difference of arrival between one entity and other entities can be used to determine the relative range to the other entities, and those can be combined with the known locations of the other entities to determine the location of an entity. The angle of arrival and / or departure can be used to assist in determining the location of an entity. For example, the angle of arrival or departure of a signal, combined with the range between the devices (determined using the signal, e.g., the signal's travel time, the signal's received power, etc.) and the known location of one of the devices, can be used to determine the location of the other device. The angle of arrival or departure can be the azimuth relative to a reference direction (e.g., true north). The angle of arrival or departure can be the zenith angle relative to directly up from an entity (i.e., radially outward from the center of the Earth). E-CID uses the identification of the serving cell, the timing advance (i.e., the difference between the receive and transmit times at the UE), the estimated timing and power of detected neighboring cell signals, and possibly the angle of arrival (e.g., the angle of arrival of a signal from a base station at the UE, and vice versa) to determine the location of the UE. In TDOA, the time difference of arrival of signals from different sources at a receiving device, together with the known locations of the sources and the known offset of the transmission times from the sources, is used to determine the location of the receiving device.

[0082] In network - centric RTT estimation, the serving base station instructs the UE to scan / receive RTT measurement signals (e.g., PRS) on the serving cells of two or more neighboring base stations (and typically the serving base station, as at least three base stations are required). One of the multiple base stations transmits the RTT measurement signal on low - reuse resources (e.g., resources used by the base station to transmit system information) allocated by the network (e.g., a location server such as LMF120). The UE records the arrival time (also referred to as receive time, received time, or time - of - arrival (TOA)) of each RTT measurement signal relative to the UE's current downlink timing (e.g., as derived from the DL signal received by the UE from its serving base station), and sends a common or individual RTT response message (e.g., a positioning SRS (sounding reference signal), i.e., UL - PRS) to one or more base stations (e.g., when instructed by its serving base station), and can include in the payload of each RTT response message 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., UE T Rx-Tx or UE Rx-Tx ). The RTT response message can include a reference signal from which the base station can derive the ToA of the RTT response. By comparing the difference T Tx→Rx between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal from the base station and the ToA of the RTT response at the base station with the time difference T Rx→Tx reported by the UE, the base station can derive the propagation time between the base station and the UE, and the base station can determine the distance between the UE and the base station from this propagation time by assuming the speed of light within this propagation time.

[0083] UE - centric RTT estimation is similar to the network - based method, except that the UE transmits an uplink RTT measurement signal (e.g., when instructed by the serving base station), which is received by multiple base stations near the UE. Each involved base station responds with a downlink RTT response message, which can 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.

[0084] For both network - centric and UE - centric processes, the side performing the RTT calculation (the network or the UE) typically (although not always) sends one or more first messages or signals (e.g., one or more RTT measurement signals), and the other side responds with one or more RTT response messages or signals, which can include the difference between the ToA of one or more first messages or signals and the transmission time of one or more RTT response messages or signals.

[0085] Multi-RTT techniques can be used to determine the location. For example, a first entity (e.g., a UE) can send one or more signals (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast from a base station), and multiple second entities (e.g., other TSPs such as base stations and / or UEs) can receive the signal from the first entity and respond to this received signal. The first entity receives the responses from the multiple second entities. The first entity (or another entity such as an LMF) can use the responses from the second entities to determine the ranges to the second entities, and can use the multiple ranges of the second entities and the known locations to determine the location of the first entity by trilateration.

[0086] In some cases, additional information can be obtained in the form of an angle of arrival (AoA) or an angle of departure (AoD), which defines a straight-line direction (e.g., in a horizontal plane or in three dimensions) or a range of possible directions (e.g., for a UE, from the location of a base station). The intersection of two directions can provide another estimate of the location of the UE.

[0087] For positioning techniques using PRS (positioning reference signal) signals (e.g., TDOA and RTT), the PRS signals transmitted by multiple TRPs are measured, and the arrival time of the signals, the known transmission time, and the known locations of the TRPs are used to determine the ranges from the UE to the TRPs. For example, an RSTD (reference signal time difference) can be determined for the PRS signals received from multiple TRPs, and the RSTD is used in TDOA techniques to determine the positioning (location) of the UE. The positioning reference signal can be referred to as PRS or a PRS signal. 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, such that PRS signals from a farther TRP may be overwhelmed by PRS signals from a closer TRP, such that the signals from the farther TRP may not be detected. PRS muting can be used to help reduce interference by muting some PRS signals (e.g., reducing the power of the PRS signal to zero and thus not transmitting the PRS signal). In this way, the UE can more easily detect weaker (at the UE) PRS signals without the situation where stronger PRS signals interfere with weaker PRS signals. The term RS and its variants (e.g., PRS, SRS, CSI-RS (channel state information-reference signal)) can refer to one reference signal or more than one reference signal.

[0088] Positioning reference signals (PRS) include downlink PRS (DL PRS, often simply referred to as PRS) and uplink PRS (UL PRS) (which can be referred to as SRS (sounding reference signal) for positioning). The PRS can include a PN code (pseudo-random digital code) or be generated using a PN code (e.g., by modulating a carrier signal with a PN code), such that the source of the PRS can be used as a pseudolite. The PN code can be unique to the PRS source (at least within a specified area, such that the same PRS from different PRS sources does not overlap). The PRS can include a PRS resource or a set of PRS resources in a frequency layer. The DL PRS positioning frequency layer (or simply the frequency layer) is a set of DL PRS resource sets from one or more TRPs, where the PRS resources have common parameters configured by the higher layer parameters DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer, DL-PRS-ResourceSet, and DL-PRS-Resource. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS subcarrier spacing (SCS) for the DL PRS resource sets and DL PRS resources in the frequency layer. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS cyclic prefix (CP) for the DL PRS resource sets and DL PRS resources in the frequency layer. In 5G, one resource block occupies 12 consecutive subcarriers and a specified number of symbols. Also, the DL PRS point A parameter defines the frequency of the reference resource block (and the lowest subcarrier of the resource block), where the 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 layer also has the same DL PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size value (i.e., the frequency of the PRS resource elements per symbol, such that for comb-N, every Nth resource element is a PRS resource element). The PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and can be associated with a specific TRP (identified by a cell ID) transmitted by an antenna panel of a base station. The PRS resource ID in the PRS resource set can be associated with an omnidirectional signal and / or with a single beam (and / or beam ID) transmitted from a single base station (where the base station can transmit one or more beams). Each PRS resource in the PRS resource set can be transmitted on different beams, and thus the PRS resource (or simply the resource) can also be referred to as a beam. This has no impact on whether the UE knows the base station transmitting the PRS and the beam on which the PRS is transmitted.

[0089] The TRP can be configured to transmit DL PRS according to a schedule, for example, by instructions received from a server and / or by software in the TRP. According to this schedule, the TRP can transmit DL PRS intermittently, for example, periodically at a consistent interval starting from an initial transmission. The TRP can be configured to transmit one or more PRS resource sets. A resource set is a collection of PRS resources across a TRP, and these resources have the same periodicity, common mute pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across time slots. Each PRS resource set includes multiple PRS resources, and each PRS resource includes multiple resource elements (REs). The resource elements can be located in multiple resource blocks (RBs) within N (one or more) consecutive symbols within a time slot. An RB is a collection of REs that spans a certain number of one or more consecutive symbols in the time domain and a certain number of (12 for 5G RBs) consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain. Each PRS resource is configured with an RE offset, a time slot offset, a symbol offset within the time slot, and the number of consecutive symbols that the PRS resource can occupy within the time slot. The RE offset defines the starting RE offset of the first symbol within the DL PRS resource in frequency. The relative RE offsets of the remaining symbols within the DL PRS resource are defined based on the initial offset. The time slot offset is the starting time slot of the DL PRS resource relative to the corresponding resource set time slot offset. The symbol offset determines the starting symbol of the DL PRS resource within the starting time slot. The transmitted REs can be repeated across time slots, where each transmission is called a repetition, so there can be multiple repetitions within the PRS resource. The DL PRS resources within 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 IDs within a DL PRS resource set are associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (however, the TRP can transmit one or more beams).

[0090] The PRS resources can also be defined by quasi - co - location and starting PRB parameters. The quasi - co - location (QCL) parameters can define any quasi - co - location information of the DL PRS resource with other reference signals. The DL PRS can be configured to be quasi - co - located type D (type D) with the DL PRS or SS / PBCH (synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel) block from a serving cell or a non - serving cell. The DL PRS can be configured to be quasi - co - located type C (type C) with the SS / PBCH block 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 it can have a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 2176 PRBs.

[0091] A PRS resource set is a collection of PRS resources having the same periodicity, the same mute pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across time slots. Each time all the repetitions of all the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are configured to be transmitted, it is called 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 in the PRS resource set such that once the specified number of repetitions have been transmitted for each of the specified number of PRS resources, the instance is complete. An instance can also be referred to as an "occasion". A DL PRS configuration including DL PRS transmission scheduling can be provided to a UE to facilitate (or even enable) the UE to measure the DL PRS.

[0092] Multiple frequency layers of PRS can be aggregated to provide an effective bandwidth that is individually greater than any of the layer bandwidths. Multiple frequency layers (which can be contiguous and / or separate) of a component carrier, and that meet criteria such as being quasi-co-located (QCLed) and having the same antenna port, can be stitched together to provide a larger effective PRS bandwidth (for both DL PRS and UL PRS), thereby increasing the arrival time measurement accuracy. Stitching includes combining PRS measurements on individual bandwidth segments into a unified segment such that the stitched PRS can be considered to be obtained from a single measurement. Being quasi-co-located (QCLed), the different frequency layers behave similarly, enabling stitching of PRS to result in a larger effective bandwidth. The larger effective bandwidth (which can be referred to as the bandwidth of the aggregated PRS or the frequency bandwidth of the aggregated PRS) provides better time domain resolution (e.g., TDOA). Aggregated PRS includes a collection of PRS resources, and each PRS resource of the aggregated PRS can be called a PRS component, and each PRS component can be transmitted on different component carriers, frequency bands, or frequency layers or on different parts of the same frequency band.

[0093] RTT positioning is an active positioning technique because RTT uses positioning signals sent from the TRP to the UE and sent from the UE (participating in RTT positioning) to the TRP. The TRP can send DL-PRS signals received by the UE, and the UE can send SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) signals received by multiple TRPs. The sounding reference signal can be referred to as SRS or SRS signal. In 5G multi-RTT, coordinated positioning can be used with a UE that sends a single UL-SRS for positioning received by multiple TRPs instead of sending discrete UL-SRSs for positioning for each TRP. The TRPs participating in multi-RTT typically search for UEs currently resident on that TRP (served UEs, where the TRP is the serving TRP) and UEs resident on adjacent TRPs (adjacent UEs). An adjacent TRP can be a TRP of a single BTS (e.g., gNB), or can 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 for positioning (and thus for determining the range between the UE and the TRP) can be close to each other in time such that the errors caused by UE movement and / or UE clock drift and / or TRP clock drift are within acceptable limits. For example, the signals in the PRS / SRS signal pair for positioning can be sent from the TRP and the UE respectively within about 10 milliseconds of each other. As the SRS signal for positioning is sent by the UE and the PRS and SRS signals for positioning are transmitted close to each other in time, it has been found that especially if many UEs try to position simultaneously, it may lead to radio frequency (RF) signal congestion (which may cause excessive noise, etc.) and / or computational congestion at the TRP trying to measure many UEs simultaneously.

[0094] RTT positioning can be UE-based or UE-assisted. In UE-based RTT, the UE 200 determines the RTT and the corresponding range to each TRP 300 and the positioning of the UE 200 based on the range to the TRP 300 and the known location of the TRP 300. In UE-assisted RTT, the UE 200 measures the positioning signal and provides the measurement information to the TRP 300, and the TRP 300 determines the RTT and the range. The TRP 300 provides the range to a location server (e.g., server 400), and the server determines the location of the UE 200, for example, based on the ranges to different TRPs 300. The RTT and / or the range can be determined by the TRP 300 that receives the signal from the UE 200, in combination with one or more other devices (e.g., one or more other TRPs 300 and / or server 400) by that TRP 300, or determined by one or more devices other than the TRP 300 that receives the signal from the UE 200.

[0095] 5G NR supports multiple positioning techniques. The NR native positioning methods supported by 5G NR include DL-only positioning methods, UL-only positioning methods, and DL+UL positioning methods. The positioning methods based on the downlink include DL-TDOA and DL-AoD. The positioning methods based on the uplink include UL-TDOA and UL-AoA. The combined positioning methods based on DL+UL include RTT using one base station and RTT using multiple base stations (multi-RTT).

[0096] Positioning estimates (e.g., for a UE) may be referred to by other names, such as location estimates, position, positioning, positioning orientation, bearing, etc. A positioning estimate may be geodesic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or may be civic and include a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of a location. A positioning estimate may also be defined relative to some other known location, or defined in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A positioning estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including a region or volume within which the location is expected to be included at some specified or default confidence level).

[0097] Overlapped positioning reference signal reception

[0098] A UE may receive PRS to determine location information (e.g., one or more measurement results, ranges, position estimates, etc.). The discussion herein refers to requesting PRS, but the term PRS includes PRS and / or SRS for positioning, and includes such signals regardless of whether the signal is DL, UL, or SL. These signals may also be referred to as NRS (navigation reference signals). A UE may receive multiple PRs in multiple different frequency layers (referred to as PFL or positioning frequency layers) that are at least partially overlapping in time. That is, a UE may receive at least a respective portion of each of the multiple signals simultaneously, or may receive one signal over a first time span and may receive a second signal over a second time span that overlaps the first time span (e.g., the first time span starts before the start of the second time span and ends after the start of the second time span). However, a UE may not process the received signals from all of the UE's antennas for the received signals, e.g., because the UE cannot do so or does not do so for one or more other reasons (e.g., to save power).

[0099] The PRS is defined for NR positioning of the UE to detect and measure one or more neighboring entities (e.g., TRP, UE). Multiple configurations of the PRS are supported to enable various deployments (e.g., indoor, outdoor, sub-6 GHz, millimeter wave). For example, Table 1 shows various reference signals, the corresponding 3GPP standard versions, the corresponding UE measurements, and the corresponding positioning techniques that can use the reference signals.

[0100] Table 1

[0101]

[0102] Reference Figure 5 and further reference Figures 1 - 4 , the UE 500 includes a processor 510, an interface 520, and a memory 530, which are communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 540. The UE 500 may include Figure 5 some or all of the components shown, and may include one or more other components (such as Figure 2 any of those components shown in), such that the UE 200 may be an example of the UE500. The processor 510 may include one or more components of the processor 210. The interface 520 may include one or more components of the transceiver 215, e.g., a wireless transmitter 242 and an antenna 246, or a wireless receiver 244 and an antenna 246, or a wireless transmitter 242, a wireless receiver 244, and an antenna 246. Similarly or alternatively, the interface 520 may include a wired transmitter 252 and / or a wired receiver 254. The interface 520 may include an SPS receiver 217 and an SPS antenna 262. The memory 530 may be configured similarly to the memory 211, e.g., including software having processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 510 to perform functions.

[0103] Interface 520 includes a plurality of receive signal paths 560. For example, interface 520 may include two, four, eight, or more receive signal paths 560 for receiving PRS (or other signals). Receive signal path 560 includes one or more transducers 570 (configured to convert between wireless and wired (including optical) signals) and a plurality of signal chains 580 (configured to convey wired signals to / from processor 510). Each receive signal path 560 includes a combination of one or more of transducers 570 communicatively coupled to one of signal chains 580, although multiple receive signal paths 560 may share a single one of one or more transducers 570 (a single one of one or more transducers 570 may be connected to multiple signal chains 580). One or more of one or more transducers 570 may include an array of transducer elements. One or more of signal chains 580 may include a tuner for adjusting the frequency that may be received by a corresponding transducer 570. One or more of signal chains 580 may include, for example, one or more phase shifters (not shown) for electronically beam steering a corresponding one of one or more transducers 570 (e.g., for receiving signals at a particular angle of arrival) and / or, for example, one or more frequency filters (not shown) for isolating signals in a particular frequency band.

[0104] Also refer to Figure 6, multiple receive signal paths 560 can be provided. One or more transducers 610, 620 can be coupled to one or more respective tuners 611, 621, the tuners 611, 621 can be coupled to one or more respective phase shifters 612, 622, and the phase shifters 612, 622 can be coupled to one or more filters 613, 623 and one or more filters 614, 624 to receive one or more signals from one or more desired AoAs and provide the signals to the processor 510, for example for measurement. The tuners 611, 621, phase shifters 612, 622, and filters 613, 614, 623, 624 are optional, and any one or more of these items can be omitted. The tuners 611, phase shifters 612, and filters 613, 614 provide two signal chains 580. The transducer 610 and the two signal chains 580 provide two receive signal paths. The transducer 610 can include one or more antenna panels. The tuner 611 can be adjusted under the control of the processor 510 such that the transducer 610 is tuned to receive different frequencies (e.g., signals of different frequency bands). The phase shifter 612 can be controlled by the processor 510 to provide different phase shifts to the transducer 610 to steer the beam of the transducer 610. The filters 613, 614 can be configured to block or allow desired signal frequencies and can be controlled by the processor 510 to change the blocked / passed frequencies. The transducer 620, tuner 621, phase shifter 622, and filters 623, 624 provide functions similar to those of the transducer 610, tuner 611, phase shifter 612, and filters 613, 614. For example, by changing the phase shifts and / or frequency filters applied to the received signals, one or more receive signal paths 560 can be changed to receive signals of different frequencies and / or different angles of arrival at different times. The illustrated receive signal paths 560 are examples, and other configurations are possible.

[0105] The description herein may refer to the processor 510 performing functions, but this includes other implementations such as the processor 510 running software (stored in the memory 530) and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the UE 500 performing functions simply as one or more appropriate components of the UE 500 performing functions (e.g., the processor 510 and the memory 530). The processor 510 (possibly in combination with the memory 530 and, when appropriate, the interface 520) includes an overlapping RS unit 550. The overlapping RS unit 550 may be configured to determine one or more capabilities of the UE 500 to process multiple PRSs that are at least partially time-overlapped received by the interface 520, and / or report to a network entity (e.g., the TRP 300) one or more capabilities of the UE 500 to process multiple PRSs that are at least partially time-overlapped received by the interface 520. The configuration and functions of the overlapping RS unit 550 are further discussed herein, where the overlapping RS unit 550 is configured to perform the functions described as being performed by the overlapping RS unit 550.

[0106] Reference is also made to Figures 7 - 9 , the UE may receive multiple PRs in multiple corresponding positioning frequency layers (PFLs). For example, the active BWP 710 (bandwidth part, which is a set of consecutive RBs that occupy some or all of the channel bandwidth) may be followed by an MG 720 (measurement gap 720), which may be followed by another active BWP 730. During the MG 720, signals in two different PFLs 722, 724 may be received. As Figure 7As shown, PFLs 722 and 724 overlap partially in time, but not completely in time. This is an example, and PFLs 722 and 724 can extend together in time and overlap over their entire respective times. Signals of PFLs that overlap at least partially in time are considered concurrent signals (synchronous signals) or concurrent PFLs (synchronous PFLs) because at least a portion of the signals is considered to be received concurrently (simultaneously). PFLs 722 and 724 differ in that PFLs 722 and 724 correspond to different frequencies, i.e., span different bandwidths, although the bandwidths can overlap at least partially. As another example, signals of PFLs 822, 824, 826, and 828 can be received during MG 820 between active BWPs 810 and 830. In this example, PFLs 822 and 824 are received concurrently and PFLs 826 and 828 are received concurrently, where PFLs 822 and 824 are time-division multiplexed (TDMed) relative to PFLs 826 and 828, but within the same MG. As another example, signals of PFLs 922 and 924 can be received during MG 920 between active BWPs 910 and 930, and PFLs 962, 964, and 966 can be received during MG 960 between active BWPs 950 and 970. PFLs 922 and 924 can be received again in one or more later MGs (e.g., MG 940). In this example, PFLs 922 and 924 are received concurrently and PFLs 962, 964, and 966 are received concurrently, where PFLs 922 and 924 are time-division multiplexed (TDMed) relative to PFLs 962, 964, and 966 in different MGs. Even though all three PFLs 962, 964, and 966 span different times and do not overlap simultaneously (PFLs 962 and 966 do not overlap in time, but PFLs 962 and 964 overlap and PFLs 964 and 966 overlap), PFLs 962, 964, and 966 are considered to be received simultaneously. Figures 7 - 9 The example timings of the PFLs shown in

[0107] The processor 510 (e.g., the overlapping RS unit 550) may be configured to provide an indication that the UE 500 is capable of processing multiple signals of multiple PFLs received at least partially overlapping in time. The processor 510 may be configured to indicate that the UE 500 may process multiple simultaneous PFLs, i.e., PFLs received at least partially overlapping in time. The terms simultaneous and concurrent and their variants (e.g., simultaneously and concurrently) may be used interchangeably herein. The overlapping RS unit 550 may be configured to indicate the number of receive signal paths 560 from which the processor 510 may process signals from different simultaneously received PFLs (i.e., received at least partially overlapping in time, even if the resource elements of different PFLs never overlap in time). Similarly or alternatively, the overlapping RS unit 550 may be configured to indicate the measurement accuracy that the processor 510 may provide by processing signals from different simultaneously received PFLs.

[0108] The UE 500 (e.g., the overlapping RS unit 550) may be configured to support the processing of simultaneously received PRS for multiple PFLs (e.g., while limiting the RF complexity of the UE 500). For example, the overlapping RS unit 550 may assign the receive signal paths 560 to groups of receive signal paths from which to process the respective signals of the PFLs. For example, the overlapping RS unit 550 may assign the receive signal paths 560 to K antenna groups to simultaneously process K PFLs received by the UE 500. The measurement accuracy of each PFL may be a function of the number N of receive signal paths, and the UE 500 may assign a number N of receive signal paths for receiving each PFL to be processed, e.g., capable of receiving a PFL (e.g., having a transducer 570 tuned to the frequency span for receiving the PFL). For example, to process a single PFL, it may be desirable for the UE 500 to assign all N received signal paths 560 to the PFL. As another example, to process two or more simultaneously received PFLs, it may be desirable for the UE 500 to assign at least floor(N / K) receive signal paths 560 for each PFL, where K is the number of PFLs. The floor function rounds down to the nearest integer, such that floor(N / 3)=1, where N = 4. Thus, to process two, three, or four simultaneously received PFLs with a total of four receive signal paths 560 available, it may be expected that the UE 500 uses at least floor(4 / 2)=2 receive signal paths 560 for each PFL, at least floor(4 / 3)=1 receive signal path 560 for each PFL, and at least floor(4 / 4)=1 receive signal path 560 for each PFL.

[0109] The UE 500 can be configured statically or dynamically to process simultaneously received PFLs using at least a specified number of receive signal paths 560. For example, the specified number of receive signal paths 560 can be configured statically (e.g., stored in the memory 530 during the manufacture of the UE 500) for processing simultaneously received PFLs for each of various parameters or combinations of parameters (e.g., frequency bands, combinations of frequency bands, bands within a combination of frequency bands, etc.). As another example, the specified number of receive signal paths 560 can be configured dynamically, e.g., sent to the UE 500 by the TRP 300 or the server 400 (or another entity). The dynamically specified number can override the statically specified number, and in the absence of a dynamically specified number, the statically specified number can serve as a default value. For each parameter or combination of parameters, the statically or dynamically specified amount can be one (in which case no parameter or combination of parameters needs to be specified), or it can vary for different parameters or combinations of parameters. For example, the specified number can be a single receive signal path 560. The overlapping RS unit 550 can be configured to indicate that the UE 500 is capable of processing simultaneously received PFLs based on the UE 500 being able to utilize at least the specified number of receive signal paths 560 for such processing.

[0110] Similarly or alternatively, the UE 500 can be configured statically or dynamically to provide a specified measurement accuracy. Similar to the number of receive signal paths 560, the measurement accuracy can be specified for one or more parameters and / or combinations of parameters, the dynamically specified measurement accuracy can override the statically specified measurement accuracy, and the statically specified measurement accuracy can be used as the default measurement accuracy. The UE 500 can be configured to determine, or can be statically programmed to select whether to use a specified number of antennas or provide a specified measurement accuracy (if both are specified). For example, the specified measurement accuracy can be the measurement accuracy corresponding to measurements using a single receive signal path 560. The overlapping RS unit 550 can be configured to indicate that the UE 500 is capable of such processing based on the UE 500 being able to process simultaneously received PFLs while providing at least the specified measurement accuracy for each respective PFL.

[0111] Reference Figure 10 and further reference Figure 5 , the overlapping RS unit 550 can be configured to provide an ability indication regarding the UE 500's ability to process simultaneously received PFLs. In Figure 10In the example shown, the capability indication 1000 includes an indication as to whether the UE 500 can handle simultaneously received PFLs in accordance with a frequency band, or a combination of frequency bands, or a frequency band within a combination of frequency bands. The capability indication may include an indication of only a frequency band, or only a combination of frequency bands, or only a frequency band within a combination of frequency bands, or may include a combination of two or more of these frequency conditions for the indicated simultaneously received PFL handling capability. Here, the capability indication 1000 indicates (by a single bit value of "1") that the UE 500 can handle simultaneously received PFLs in the combination of frequency bands of frequency band 1 (FB1) and frequency band 2 (FB2), that the UE 500 can handle simultaneously received PFLs in FB1 but cannot handle simultaneously received PFLs in frequency band 3 (FB3) in the combination of frequency bands of FB1 and FB3, and that the UE 500 cannot handle simultaneously received PFLs in frequency band 5 (FB5). The capability indication 1000 can be encoded such that the capability indication 1000 does not provide an indication of a frequency band, a combination of frequency bands, or a frequency band within a combination of frequency bands, but has bits in appropriate positions corresponding to the frequency band, the combination of frequency bands, and / or the frequency band within the combination of frequency bands to indicate whether the UE 500 can handle simultaneously received PFLs. Since no indication of the number or measurement accuracy of the receive signal paths 560 is provided, the capability indication 1000 implicitly indicates that the UE 500 can meet (i.e., at least provide) an appropriate default number of receive signal paths, or can meet (i.e., at least provide) an appropriate default measurement accuracy for FB1 of the combination of frequency bands of FB1 and FB3 and for FB1 and FB2 of the combination of frequency bands of FB1 and FB2.

[0112] Also referring Figure 11 , the overlapping RS unit 550 can be configured to provide a capability indication 1100 indicating a specific number and / or a specific measurement accuracy of the receive signal paths 560. The capability indication 1100 includes both the number and the measurement accuracy of the receive signal paths 560, but one or more numbers and / or one or more accuracies may be omitted, e.g., the number may be completely omitted, or the accuracy may be completely omitted, or both the number and the accuracy may be completely omitted, or one or more numbers may be indicated and one or more numbers and / or one or more accuracies may be omitted. In Figure 11In the example shown, the capability indication 1100 includes an indication of the number of receive signal paths 560 that can be used according to a frequency band, a frequency band combination, or a frequency band in a frequency band combination, or an indication of the measurement accuracy that can be provided for each frequency band, frequency band combination, or frequency band in a frequency band combination. Each measurement accuracy may include one or more appropriate parameters (e.g., RSTD, Rx-Tx, RSRP specifying the maximum error of a test case), where Param1, Param2, Param3, Param4 each represent one or more parameter values. The capability indication may include an indication of only the frequency band, or only the frequency band combination, or only the frequency band in a frequency band combination, or may include a combination of two or more of these frequency conditions for the indicated simultaneous PFL processing capability. Similar to the capability indication 1000, the capability indication 1100 may also include an indication of whether the UE 500 is capable of processing simultaneously received PFLs, but these explicit indications may be omitted because an indication of a non-zero value of the number of receive signal paths and / or the measurement accuracy can be used as an implicit indication of such a capability. The sum of the numbers of receive signal paths 560 indicated for a single frequency band combination in the capability indication 1100 (or other indication) may exceed the total number of receive signal paths 560 that can be used for that frequency band combination. In fact, all receive signal paths 560 that can be used for a frequency band combination can be used for each frequency band in the frequency band combination. Additionally, the indicated number of receive signal paths 560 and / or the indicated measurement accuracy may be the actual or minimum number of receive signal paths 560 and / or the actual or minimum measurement accuracy that the UE 500 will use / provide. If these values are minimum values, the UE 500 may use more receive signal paths 560 than the indicated number and / or provide a better measurement accuracy than the indicated one. The overlapping RS unit 550 may specify the maximum number of PFLs corresponding to the indicated number of receive signal paths and / or the determined measurement accuracy. The measurement accuracy may be determined because the measurement accuracy may be hard-coded in the memory and read from the memory, may be determined by reading a received measurement accuracy indication, and / or may be implicitly determined, for example, by decoding a received message based on a measurement accuracy table.

[0113] Each of the numbers of receive signal paths 560 indicated in the capability indication 1100 (or other capability indication) may be the (minimum) number of receive signal paths 560 for each PFL for receiving the corresponding frequency band, frequency band combination, or frequency band in a frequency band combination. In this case, the indicated number of receive signal paths 560 will be shared by all PFLs of the corresponding frequency band / frequency band combination / frequency band in a frequency band combination.

[0114] The overlapping RS unit 550 may indicate the total number N of receive signal paths available for a given frequency band, frequency band combination, and / or frequency band within a frequency band combination (i.e., the frequency band / frequency band combination / frequency band within the frequency band combination), and may determine the number of receive signal paths for each PFL based on a statically configured protocol. For example, the UE 500 and the TRP 300 (and / or the server 400) may be statically configured (e.g., according to industry standard specifications) to divide the indicated number of receive signal paths in some way, such as evenly if possible, rounded down if not (e.g., floor(N / K)), or a protocol for determining a specific amount that may not be equal for different PFLs.

[0115] Also refer to Figure 12 Also, the overlapping RS unit 550 may generate a capability indication to indicate the number of receive signal paths 560 based on the number of PFLs to be received in the corresponding frequency band / frequency band combination / frequency band within the frequency band combination. For example, the overlapping RS unit 550 may determine the number of receive signal paths as all receive signal paths 560 available for a given frequency band / frequency band combination / frequency band within the frequency band combination, as a default value (e.g., one), or as a function (e.g., floor(K / N), where K is the number of PFLs and N is the number of capable receive signal paths). In this example, based on whether one of the two simultaneously received PFLs is received, the capability indication 1200 includes different numbers of receive signal paths for the frequency band combination FB1 - FB2. Additionally, the capability indication 1200 indicates for the frequency band FB3 within the frequency band combinations FB1 and FB3 that each PFL will use at least one receive signal path regardless of the number of PFLs (since the number of PFLs is blank and thus implicitly indicated as 0, indicating any number). The indicated number of receive signal paths may be for each PFL or may be the total number to be divided among the PFLs (e.g., according to a protocol). For example, the capability indication 1200 indicates for the frequency band FB1 of the frequency band combinations of FB1 and FB3 and for the frequency band FB5 that the number of receive signal paths 560 is the function floor(N / K), and provides the value of N in each case (i.e., the total number of receive signal paths capable of receiving the corresponding frequency band / frequency band combination / frequency band within the frequency band combination). The TRP 300 may thus determine the number of receive signal paths 560 based on the scheduled number of PFLs that the UE 500 is to receive simultaneously.

[0116] Also refer to Figure 13, the overlapping RS unit 550 may generate a capability indication (e.g., capability indication 1300) to indicate a set of measurement accuracies corresponding to a respective frequency band / frequency band combination / bands in a frequency band combination. For example, the overlapping RS unit 550 may determine a set of measurement accuracies Set1 as the measurement accuracy corresponding to the number of receive signal paths 560 to be used, e.g., the number is determined from floor(K / N). As another example, the overlapping RS unit 550 may assign measurement accuracies as a second set Set2 based on each PFL being assigned a receive signal path. As another example, the overlapping RS unit 550 may assign measurement accuracies as a third set Set3 that includes all receive signal paths 560 of the PFLs that can receive the respective frequency band / frequency band combination / bands in a frequency band combination. The overlapping RS unit 550 may specify a maximum number of PFLs for Set3 applicability.

[0117] The overlapping RS unit 550 may dynamically provide the capability indication to the TRP 300, the server 400 (e.g., a location server such as an LMF), and / or another entity. The overlapping RS unit 550 may provide capability indications with different values over time, e.g., based on changing power constraints (e.g., in response to the UE 500 attempting to reduce power consumption), and / or based on one or more other factors. For example, the overlapping RS unit 550 may use a MAC-CE (Medium Access Control - Control Element) message to dynamically send the capability indication.

[0118] Capability indications 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300 are examples and do not limit the present disclosure as various variations of capability indications may be used. For example, different combinations of information may be included. As another example, bands corresponding to one or more of various frequency ranges (e.g., FR1, FR2, FR3, FR4 (i.e., FR2x)) may be indicated.

[0119] Reference Figure 14 and further reference Figures 1 - 13 , the processing and signal flow 1400 for determining location information includes the stages shown. The signal flow 1400 is an example, and stages may be added to it, removed from it, and / or rearranged within it.

[0120] At stage 1410, the TRP 300 sends a PRS configuration message 1412 to the UE 500. The PRS configuration message 1412 may indicate resource configuration parameters of one or more PRSs (e.g., DL-PRS or SL-PRS) to be sent to the UE 500. The parameters may include one or more of the number of combs, time and / or frequency offsets, repetition factors, active times of previously scheduled RSs, etc. The PRS configuration message 1412 may indicate the scheduling of the PRS such that simultaneous reception of the PRS corresponding to each PFL can be determined.

[0121] At stage 1420, the UE 500 sends a capability message 1422. The capability message 1422 indicates one or more capabilities related to the processing of PFLs received simultaneously by the UE 500. For example, the capability message 1422 may indicate whether the UE 500 can process PFLs that at least partially overlap in time, the number of receive signal paths 560 that the UE 500 can allocate for processing the PRS corresponding to the frequency bands in the respective frequency band / frequency band combination / frequency band combination, the measurement accuracy corresponding to the frequency bands in the respective frequency band / frequency band combination / frequency band combination, etc., examples of which are shown in Figures 10 - 13 shown below.

[0122] At stage 1430, the TRP 300 may send a PRS 1432. The PRS 1432 is sent according to the PRS configuration message 1412. Similarly or alternatively, the PRS 1432 may be sent to the UE 500 from one or more other sources (e.g., one or more other TRPs 300 and / or one or more other UEs 500). The PRS 1432 may include PRSs of multiple PFLs that arrive at the UE 500 at least partially overlapping in time.

[0123] Stages 1410, 1420, and 1430 may be repeated, for example, with the same or different values and / or configurations. For example, the UE 500 may send a dynamic capability indication regarding the dynamic capabilities of the UE 500 to process the PRs of different PFLs that arrive at the UE 500 simultaneously (i.e., at least partially overlapping in time).

[0124] At stage 1440, the UE 500 determines location information based on the received PRS. For example, the UE 500 may measure the PRS from the TRP 300 and / or from another UE 500 to determine location information (e.g., RSRP, ToA, SINR, location estimate, range, etc.). The UE 500 may send some or all of the determined location information to the TRP 300 in a location information message 1442.

[0125] At stage 1450, the TRP 300 may determine location information. The TRP 300 may determine the range and / or location estimate of the UE 500, for example, based on the location information message 1442 and possibly based on one or more other messages with additional measurement information. Similarly or alternatively, another network entity such as the server 400 (e.g., LMF) may determine location information based on the information provided by the TRP 300 and / or one or more other entities such as the UE 500.

[0126] Operation

[0127] Reference Figure 15 , and further reference Figures 1 - 14 , the signal processing method 1500 includes the stages shown. However, the method 1500 is only an example and not restrictive. The method 1500 may be changed, for example, by adding, removing, rearranging, combining, executing stages simultaneously, and / or splitting a single stage into multiple stages.

[0128] At stage 1510, the method 1500 includes sending, from a user equipment to a network entity, an ability indication indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing multiple positioning reference signals corresponding to different frequency layers, where the multiple positioning reference signals at least partially overlap in reception time at the user equipment. For example, the overlapping RS unit 550 may send an ability message 1422 to the TRP 300 (e.g., an indication of one or more abilities for processing PRs that at least partially overlap in time as discussed). The processor 510 (possibly in combination with the memory 530, in combination with the interface 520 (e.g., the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246)) may include components for sending the ability indication.

[0129] At stage 1520, the method 1500 includes receiving, at the user equipment, multiple positioning reference signals that at least partially overlap in time. For example, the UE 500 receives the PRS 1432, where the PRS for the corresponding PFL at least partially overlap in time. The processor 510 (possibly in combination with the memory 530, possibly in combination with the interface 520 (e.g., the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246)) may include components for receiving the multiple positioning reference signals.

[0130] At stage 1530, method 1500 includes processing the plurality of positioning reference signals at a user equipment according to an ability indication. For example, the processing may include transmitting the PRS along an assigned receive signal path 560 and / or measuring the PRS, e.g., determining one or more measurement parameters (such as ToA, RSRP, etc.) by processor 510. Processor 510 (possibly in combination with memory 530, possibly in combination with interface 520 (e.g., receive signal path 560)) may include components for processing the plurality of positioning reference signals.

[0131] The implementation of method 1500 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, the capability indication includes at least one of a number of paths or a precision capability, where the number of paths is the number of receive signal paths that the user equipment will use to receive multiple positioning reference signals. For example, the capability indication may indicate one or more numbers of receive signal paths 560 or antennas (or antenna panels, such as a set of transducers) that UE 500 may use for multiple positioning reference signals and / or one or more measurement precisions that UE 500 may provide for the positioning reference signals. In a further example implementation, the capability indication includes a corresponding frequency band indication for each of at least one of the number of paths or the precision capability. For example, one or more frequency bands may be indicated in the capability indication. The different indicated frequency bands may have different numbers of receive signal paths and / or different indicated measurement precisions. In another example implementation, the capability indication includes a corresponding frequency band combination indication for each of at least one of the number of paths or the precision capability. For example, one or more frequency band combinations may be indicated in the capability indication. The different indicated frequency band combinations may have different numbers of receive signal paths and / or different indicated measurement precisions. For example, the capability indication may include one or more frequency band combinations, such as the frequency band combinations in capability indications 1000, 1100, 1200, 1300. In a further example implementation, the capability indication includes a single bit for each corresponding frequency band combination, and the single bit indicates whether the user equipment is capable of processing the corresponding positioning reference signal among the multiple positioning reference signals. For example, one bit may be used for each frequency band combination to indicate whether UE 500 can process simultaneously received PFLs. UE 500 may be statically or dynamically configured (e.g., according to a standard) to process each PFL received from one receive signal path (e.g., through one antenna), where the precision parameter is a function of the number of receive signal paths used to receive each PFL. In a further example implementation, for each corresponding frequency band combination for which the capability indication indicates that the user equipment is capable of processing the corresponding positioning reference signal among the multiple positioning reference signals, method 1500 includes receiving each of the corresponding positioning reference signals among the multiple positioning reference signals using a single receive signal path among the multiple receive signal paths in the absence of a capability indication including a value of a number of paths greater than 1. Thus, the default may be to receive each PFL through a single receive signal path for processing. In another further example implementation, the capability indication includes a corresponding frequency band / frequency band combination indication for each of at least one of the number of paths or the precision capability, and each frequency band / frequency band combination indication indicates the frequency bands in the frequency band combination. For example, the capability indication may indicate one or more specific frequency bands in one or more of the indicated frequency band combinations, and each frequency band in the frequency band combination may have a related number of the indicated receive signal paths 560 and / or a related indicated measurement precision.In another further example implementation, the capability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths is the minimum number of receive signal paths of the user equipment, and the respective positioning reference signals among the plurality of positioning reference signals of the corresponding positioning frequency layer from each of the receive signal paths will be processed. For example, the indicated number of receive signal paths 560 can be the minimum number of receive signal paths to be assigned to the corresponding PFL. The corresponding PFL can be indicated explicitly (e.g., by a specific PFL (e.g., determined from the PRS configuration information)) or implicitly (e.g., by indicating a frequency band, or a combination of frequency bands, or a frequency band within a combination of frequency bands with an implicit indication of all PFLs within the corresponding frequency). In another further example implementation, the capability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths is the total number of receive signal paths of the user equipment capable of transmitting a plurality of positioning reference signals. For example, the capability indication can indicate the total number of receive signal paths 560 available (e.g., tuned to an appropriate frequency) for transmitting the PRS. The number of receive signal paths 560 actually used can be determined from an appropriate protocol, such as a statically configured formula such as floor(K / N). In another further example implementation, the capability indication includes the number of paths, and method 1500 further includes receiving a plurality of positioning reference signals using the plurality of antennas indicated by the number of paths. The processor 510 (possibly in combination with the memory 530, in combination with an interface (e.g., the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246 and the receive signal path 560)) can include components for receiving the plurality of positioning reference signals using the number of antennas indicated by the number of paths. In another further example implementation, the capability indication includes an accuracy capability, and the accuracy capability is the minimum accuracy capability of the user equipment for the corresponding positioning frequency layer. As discussed above, the corresponding PFL can be indicated explicitly or implicitly. In another example implementation, the capability indication includes the number of paths (e.g., and does not explicitly include an accuracy capability), where the number of paths provides an implicit indication of the accuracy capability. The accuracy capability can be a function of the number of receive signal paths (e.g., the number of antennas) for receiving the plurality of positioning reference signals (e.g., each of the plurality of positioning reference signals), and can thus be determined from the number of receive signal paths (e.g., the number of antennas).

[0132] Additionally or alternatively, the implementation of method 1500 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, each of the plurality of positioning reference signals is received via at least a default number of the plurality of received signal paths. For example, the processor 510 may cause (e.g., by adjusting one or more of the tuners 611, 621, one or more of the phase shifters 612, 622, and / or one or more of the filters 613, 614, 623, 624) each of the plurality of positioning reference signals to be received via at least a default number of the plurality of received signal paths. The default number may be set according to a standard specification and may be, for example, a single received signal path or a sufficient number of received signal paths to provide one or more corresponding accuracy requirements. In another example implementation, the capability indication includes a plurality of band indications, and receiving the plurality of positioning reference signals includes receiving each set of the plurality of sets of the plurality of positioning reference signals from one or more shared received signal paths of the plurality of received signal paths, where each set of the plurality of sets of the plurality of positioning reference signals includes positioning reference signals having frequencies in the respective bands indicated by the plurality of band indications. For example, the UE 500 may be statically configured (e.g., according to a standard specification) such that PFLs within the same frequency band (or frequency range) share a received signal path (e.g., a shared antenna), such that each PFL within the same frequency band is received by the same one or more received signal paths.

[0133] Additionally or alternatively, the implementation of method 1500 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, the capability indication includes a sharing indication indicating multiple frequency bands, and for each of the multiple frequency bands, receiving the multiple positioning reference signals includes receiving the corresponding positioning reference signal of the multiple positioning reference signals using one or more shared paths among the multiple receive signal paths. For example, UE 500 may report which frequency bands will share a receive signal path, e.g., the report is for each set of frequency bands in a frequency band combination (e.g., a pair). For each group of frequency bands sharing a receive signal path (e.g., an antenna), UE 500 may be configured statically or dynamically such that all PFLs within those frequency bands will be received by all receive signal paths, a single receive signal path, or floor(K / N) receive signal paths. UE 500 may be configured to select the number of receive signal paths to use, e.g., based on one or more accuracy requirements to be met, or based on the capabilities and / or availability of the receive signal paths, and / or based on one or more other criteria. The processor 510 may indicate, e.g., in the sharing indication, what number of receive signal paths UE 500 will use to receive the multiple frequency bands. In a further example implementation, the corresponding positioning reference signal of the multiple positioning reference signals is received as a selection from the following: (1) a single shared path among one or more shared paths; or (2) each of one or more shared paths among a first number of antennas N, the first number of antennas N being the total number of one or more shared paths capable of receiving the corresponding positioning reference signal of the multiple positioning reference signals of the multiple frequency bands; or (3) each of one or more shared paths among a second number of antennas M, the second number of antennas being equal to floor(K / N), where K is the number of multiple frequency bands. For example, the processor 510 may select one or more receive signal paths 560 to receive respective PRSs in PRS 1432. The processor 510 (possibly in combination with the memory 530, in combination with an interface (e.g., the wireless receiver 244 and antenna 246 and receive signal path 560)) may include components for receiving the corresponding positioning reference signal of the multiple positioning reference signals. In a further example implementation, the sharing indication indicates whether each positioning signal of the multiple positioning signals will be received according to (1), (2), or (3). For example, the capability message 1422 may indicate the protocol that UE 500 follows for receiving PRS 1432.

[0134] Implementation example

[0135] The following numbered clauses provide example implementations.

[0136] Clause 1. A user equipment, comprising:

[0137] an interface including a plurality of receive signal paths;

[0138] a memory; and

[0139] a processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the memory and configured to:

[0140] send, via the interface, an ability indication to a network entity indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing multiple positioning reference signals corresponding to multiple different frequencies of different frequency layers, the multiple positioning reference signals being at least partially overlapped in terms of reception time at the user equipment; and

[0141] measure the multiple positioning reference signals received by the interface at least partially overlapped in time.

[0142] Clause 2. The user equipment according to Clause 1, wherein the ability indication includes at least one of a number of paths or a precision ability, the number of paths being the number of multiple received signal paths that the user equipment will use to receive multiple positioning reference signals.

[0143] Clause 3. The user equipment according to Clause 2, wherein the ability indication includes a corresponding frequency band indication for each of at least one of the number of paths or the precision ability.

[0144] Clause 4. The user equipment according to Clause 2, wherein the ability indication includes a corresponding frequency band combination indication for each of at least one of the number of paths or the precision ability.

[0145] Clause 5. The user equipment according to Clause 4, wherein the ability indication consists of a single bit for each corresponding frequency band combination, the single bit indicating whether the user equipment is capable of processing the corresponding positioning reference signal among the multiple positioning reference signals.

[0146] Clause 6. The user equipment according to Clause 5, wherein for each corresponding frequency band combination for which the ability indication indicates that the user equipment is capable of processing the corresponding positioning reference signal among the multiple positioning reference signals, the user equipment is configured to receive each of the corresponding positioning reference signals among the multiple positioning reference signals using a single received signal path among the multiple received signal paths in the absence of an ability indication including a value of a number of paths greater than 1.

[0147] Clause 7. The user equipment according to Clause 2, wherein the ability indication includes a corresponding frequency band / frequency band combination indication for each of at least one of the number of paths or the precision ability, each frequency band / frequency band combination indication indicating a frequency band in the frequency band combination.

[0148] Clause 8. The user equipment according to Clause 2, wherein the capability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths is the minimum number of the multiple received signal paths of the interface, and the processor processes the corresponding positioning reference signal among the multiple positioning reference signals of the corresponding positioning frequency layer according to each of the multiple received signal paths.

[0149] Clause 9. The user equipment according to Clause 2, wherein the capability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths is the total number of the multiple received signal paths of the interface capable of transmitting multiple positioning reference signals.

[0150] Clause 10. The user equipment according to Clause 2, wherein the capability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths indicates the number of antennas of the user equipment to be used for receiving multiple positioning reference signals.

[0151] Clause 11. The user equipment according to Clause 2, wherein the capability indication includes the accuracy capability, and the accuracy capability is the minimum accuracy capability of the user equipment for the corresponding positioning frequency layer.

[0152] Clause 12. The user equipment according to Clause 2, wherein the capability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths provides an implicit indication of the accuracy capability.

[0153] Clause 13. The user equipment according to Clause 1, wherein the processor is configured to receive each positioning reference signal among the multiple positioning reference signals with at least a default number of the multiple received signal paths.

[0154] Clause 14. The user equipment according to Clause 1, wherein the capability indication includes multiple band indications, and wherein the processor is configured to receive each set among the multiple sets of the multiple positioning reference signals from one or more shared received signal paths of the multiple received signal paths, and each set among the multiple sets of the multiple positioning reference signals includes a positioning reference signal having a frequency in the corresponding band indicated by the multiple band indications.

[0155] Clause 15. The user equipment according to Clause 1, wherein the capability indication includes a shared indication indicating multiple bands, and the corresponding positioning reference signals among the multiple positioning reference signals of the multiple bands will each be received by one or more shared paths among the multiple received signal paths.

[0156] Clause 16. The user equipment according to Clause 15, wherein the processor is configured to process the corresponding positioning reference signal among the multiple positioning reference signals of the multiple bands according to one selected from the following:

[0157] (1) A single shared path among one or more shared paths; or

[0158] (2) For each of one or more shared paths of the first antenna quantity N, the first antenna quantity N is the total number of one or more shared paths capable of receiving a respective positioning reference signal among a plurality of positioning reference signals capable of receiving multiple frequency bands; or

[0159] (3) For each of one or more shared paths of the second antenna quantity M, the second antenna quantity is equal to floor(K / N), where K is the number of multiple frequency bands.

[0160] Clause 17. The user equipment according to Clause 16, wherein the sharing indication indicates whether the processor will process a respective positioning reference signal among the multiple positioning reference signals of multiple frequency bands according to (1), (2), or (3).

[0161] Clause 18. A user equipment, comprising:

[0162] A component for sending to a network entity an ability indication indicating the ability of the user equipment to process multiple positioning reference signals corresponding to multiple different frequencies of different frequency layers, the multiple positioning reference signals being at least partially overlapped in reception time at the user equipment; and

[0163] A component for processing the multiple positioning reference signals received by the user equipment at least partially overlapped in time.

[0164] Clause 19. The user equipment according to Clause 18, wherein the ability indication includes at least one of a path quantity or a precision ability, and the path quantity is the number of received signal paths of a receiving component in the component for processing for receiving multiple positioning reference signals.

[0165] Clause 20. The user equipment according to Clause 19, wherein the ability indication includes a respective frequency band indication corresponding to each of at least one of the path quantity or the precision ability.

[0166] Clause 21. The user equipment according to Clause 19, wherein the ability indication includes a respective frequency band combination indication corresponding to each of at least one of the path quantity or the precision ability.

[0167] Clause 22. The user equipment according to Clause 21, wherein the ability indication consists of a single bit for each respective frequency band combination, and the single bit indicates whether the user equipment is capable of processing a respective positioning reference signal among the multiple positioning reference signals.

[0168] Clause 23. The user equipment according to Clause 22, wherein, for each corresponding frequency band combination of the positioning reference signals in which the ability indication indicates that the user equipment is capable of processing the corresponding positioning reference signal among multiple positioning reference signals, the receiving component is used to receive each of the corresponding positioning reference signals among the multiple positioning reference signals by using a single receiving signal path among the multiple receiving signal paths in the absence of an ability indication including a value of the number of paths greater than 1.

[0169] Clause 24. The user equipment according to Clause 19, wherein the ability indication includes a corresponding frequency band / frequency band combination indication corresponding to each of at least one of the number of paths or the accuracy ability, and each frequency band / frequency band combination indication indicates the frequency bands in the frequency band combination.

[0170] Clause 25. The user equipment according to Clause 19, wherein the ability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths is the minimum number of receiving signal paths of the component for processing, and the component for processing will process the corresponding positioning reference signal among the multiple positioning reference signals of the corresponding positioning frequency layer according to each receiving signal path among the receiving signal paths.

[0171] Clause 26. The user equipment according to Clause 19, wherein the ability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths is the total amount of receiving signal paths of the component for processing capable of transmitting multiple positioning reference signals.

[0172] Clause 27. The user equipment according to Clause 19, wherein the ability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths indicates the number of antennas that the receiving component will use to receive multiple positioning reference signals.

[0173] Clause 28. The user equipment according to Clause 19, wherein the ability indication includes the accuracy ability, and the accuracy ability is the minimum accuracy ability of the user equipment for the corresponding positioning frequency layer.

[0174] Clause 29. The user equipment according to Clause 18, wherein the ability indication includes multiple frequency band indications, and wherein the component for processing includes a receiving component for receiving each set of multiple sets of positioning reference signals from one or more shared receiving signal paths among the multiple receiving signal paths, and each set of multiple sets of positioning reference signals includes positioning reference signals having frequencies in the corresponding frequency bands indicated by the multiple frequency band indications.

[0175] Clause 30. The user equipment according to Clause 18, wherein the component for processing includes a receiving component, the receiving component includes multiple receiving signal paths, and wherein the ability indication includes a shared indication indicating multiple frequency bands, and the corresponding positioning reference signals among the multiple positioning reference signals of the multiple frequency bands will be received by one or more shared paths among the multiple receiving signal paths.

[0176] Clause 31. The user equipment according to Clause 30, wherein the component for processing is configured to process a corresponding positioning reference signal among multiple positioning reference signals of multiple frequency bands according to one selected from the following:

[0177] (1) A single shared path among one or more shared paths; or

[0178] (2) Each shared path among one or more shared paths with a first antenna number N, where the first antenna number N is the total number of one or more shared paths capable of receiving the corresponding positioning reference signal among multiple positioning reference signals of multiple frequency bands; or

[0179] (3) Each shared path among one or more shared paths with a second antenna number M, where the second antenna number is equal to floor(K / N), and K is the number of frequency bands.

[0180] Clause 32. A signal processing method, comprising:

[0181] Sending, from a user equipment to a network entity, an ability indication indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing multiple positioning reference signals corresponding to multiple different frequencies of different frequency layers, where the multiple positioning reference signals at least partially overlap in reception time at the user equipment;

[0182] Receiving, at the user equipment, multiple positioning reference signals at least partially overlapping in time; and

[0183] Processing the multiple positioning reference signals at the user equipment according to the ability indication.

[0184] Clause 33. The signal processing method according to Clause 32, wherein the ability indication includes at least one of a path number or a precision ability, and the path number is the number of received signal paths that the user equipment will use to receive multiple positioning reference signals.

[0185] Clause 34. The signal processing method according to Clause 33, wherein the ability indication includes a corresponding frequency band indication for each of at least one of the path number or the precision ability.

[0186] Clause 35. The signal processing method according to Clause 33, wherein the ability indication includes a corresponding frequency band combination indication for each of at least one of the path number or the precision ability.

[0187] Clause 36. The signal processing method according to Clause 35, wherein the ability indication consists of a single bit for each corresponding frequency band combination, and the single bit indicates whether the user equipment is capable of processing the corresponding positioning reference signal among multiple positioning reference signals.

[0188] Clause 37. The signal processing method according to Clause 36, wherein, for an ability indication indicating that a user equipment is capable of processing a corresponding positioning reference signal in each corresponding frequency band combination of a plurality of positioning reference signals, the signal processing method includes, in the absence of an ability indication including a value of a number of paths greater than 1, receiving each of the corresponding positioning reference signals in the plurality of positioning reference signals using a single received signal path among the plurality of received signal paths.

[0189] Clause 38. The signal processing method according to Clause 33, wherein the ability indication includes a corresponding frequency band / frequency band combination indication corresponding to each of at least one of the number of paths or the accuracy ability, and each frequency band / frequency band combination indication indicates a frequency band in the frequency band combination.

[0190] Clause 39. The signal processing method according to Clause 33, wherein the ability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths is the minimum number of received signal paths of the user equipment, and according to each of the received signal paths in the received signal paths, the corresponding positioning reference signal in the plurality of positioning reference signals of the corresponding positioning frequency layer will be processed.

[0191] Clause 40. The signal processing method according to Clause 33, wherein the ability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths is the total number of received signal paths of the user equipment capable of transmitting a plurality of positioning reference signals.

[0192] Clause 41. The signal processing method according to Clause 33, wherein the ability indication includes the number of paths, and the signal processing method further includes receiving a plurality of positioning reference signals using a plurality of antennas indicated by the number of paths.

[0193] Clause 42. The signal processing method according to Clause 33, wherein the ability indication includes the accuracy ability, and the accuracy ability is the minimum accuracy ability of the user equipment for the corresponding positioning frequency layer.

[0194] Clause 43. The signal processing method according to Clause 33, wherein the ability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths provides an implicit indication of the accuracy ability.

[0195] Clause 44. The signal processing method according to Clause 32, wherein the ability indication includes a plurality of frequency band indications, and wherein receiving a plurality of positioning reference signals includes receiving each set in a plurality of sets of positioning reference signals from one or more shared received signal paths among the plurality of received signal paths, and each set in the plurality of sets of positioning reference signals includes a positioning reference signal having a frequency in the corresponding frequency band indicated by the plurality of frequency band indications.

[0196] Clause 45. The signal processing method according to Clause 32, wherein the capability indication includes a sharing indication indicating a plurality of frequency bands, and wherein, for each of the plurality of frequency bands, receiving a plurality of positioning reference signals includes receiving a corresponding positioning reference signal among the plurality of positioning reference signals using one or more shared paths among the plurality of received signal paths.

[0197] Clause 46. The signal processing method according to Clause 45, wherein the corresponding positioning reference signal among the plurality of positioning reference signals is received according to a selection from the following:

[0198] (1) A single shared path among one or more shared paths; or

[0199] (2) Each of one or more shared paths among a first number of antennas N, the first number of antennas N being the total number of one or more shared paths capable of receiving the corresponding positioning reference signal among the plurality of positioning reference signals for the plurality of frequency bands; or

[0200] (3) Each of one or more shared paths among a second number of antennas M, the second number of antennas being equal to floor(K / N), where K is the number of the plurality of frequency bands.

[0201] Clause 47. The signal processing method according to Clause 46, wherein the sharing indication indicates whether the corresponding positioning reference signal among the plurality of positioning reference signals will be received according to (1), (2), or (3).

[0202] Clause 48. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium, including processor-readable instructions that are configured to cause a processor of a user equipment to, for processing signals at the user equipment:

[0203] Send a capability indication indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing a plurality of positioning reference signals corresponding to a plurality of different frequencies of different frequency layers from the user equipment to a network entity, the plurality of positioning reference signals being at least partially overlapped in time at the user equipment; and

[0204] Process the plurality of positioning reference signals according to the capability indication.

[0205] Clause 49. The storage medium according to Clause 48, wherein the capability indication includes at least one of a number of paths or a precision capability, the number of paths being the number of received signal paths that the user equipment will use to receive the plurality of positioning reference signals.

[0206] Clause 50. The storage medium according to Clause 49, wherein the capability indication includes a corresponding frequency band indication for each of at least one of the number of paths or the precision capability.

[0207] Clause 51. The storage medium according to Clause 49, wherein the capability indication includes a respective band indication corresponding to each of at least one of the number of paths or the precision capability.

[0208] Clause 52. The storage medium according to Clause 51, wherein the capability indication consists of a single bit for each respective band combination, the single bit indicating whether the user equipment is capable of processing the respective positioning reference signal among a plurality of positioning reference signals, wherein the respective positioning reference signal among the plurality of positioning reference signals is received by the user equipment with at least partial overlap in time.

[0209] Clause 53. The storage medium according to Clause 52, wherein the processor-readable instructions include instructions configured to cause the processor to cause the user equipment to perform the following operations. For each respective band combination for which the capability indication indicates that the user equipment is capable of processing the respective positioning reference signal among a plurality of positioning reference signals, in the absence of a capability indication including a value of the number of paths greater than 1, receive each of the respective positioning reference signals among the plurality of positioning reference signals using a single received signal path among the plurality of received signal paths.

[0210] Clause 54. The storage medium according to Clause 49, wherein the capability indication includes a respective band / band combination indication corresponding to each of at least one of the number of paths or the precision capability, and each band / band combination indication indicates the bands in the band combination.

[0211] Clause 55. The storage medium according to Clause 49, wherein the capability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths is the minimum number of received signal paths of the user equipment, and the processor-readable instructions are configured to cause the processor to process the respective positioning reference signal among the plurality of positioning reference signals for the corresponding positioning frequency layer according to each of the received signal paths in the received signal paths.

[0212] Clause 56. The storage medium according to Clause 49, wherein the capability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths is the total number of received signal paths of the user equipment capable of transmitting a plurality of positioning reference signals to the processor.

[0213] Clause 57. The storage medium according to Clause 49, wherein the capability indication includes the number of paths, and wherein the processor-readable instructions include processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor to cause the user equipment to receive a plurality of positioning reference signals using the number of antennas indicated by the number of paths.

[0214] Clause 58. The storage medium according to Clause 49, wherein the capability indication includes the precision capability, and the precision capability is the minimum precision capability of the user equipment for the corresponding positioning frequency layer.

[0215] Clause 59. The storage medium according to Clause 49, wherein the capability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths provides an implicit indication of the accuracy capability.

[0216] Clause 60. The storage medium according to Clause 48, wherein the capability indication includes a plurality of band indications, and wherein the processor-readable instructions include processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor to cause the user equipment to perform the following operations: receive each set of a plurality of sets of positioning reference signals from one or more shared receive signal paths of a plurality of receive signal paths, each set of the plurality of sets of positioning reference signals including positioning reference signals having frequencies in corresponding bands indicated by the plurality of band indications.

[0217] Clause 61. The storage medium according to Clause 48, wherein the capability indication includes a shared indication indicating a plurality of bands, and wherein the processor-readable instructions include processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to cause the user equipment to perform the following operations: for each of the plurality of bands, receiving a plurality of positioning reference signals includes receiving the corresponding positioning reference signal of the plurality of positioning reference signals using one or more shared paths among the plurality of receive signal paths.

[0218] Clause 62. The storage medium according to Clause 61, wherein the instructions configured to cause the processor to cause the user equipment to receive the corresponding positioning reference signal of the plurality of positioning reference signals are configured to cause the user equipment to receive the corresponding positioning reference signal of the plurality of positioning reference signals according to one selected from the following:

[0219] (1) A single shared path among one or more shared paths; or

[0220] (2) Each of one or more shared paths of a first antenna number N, where the first antenna number N is the total number of one or more shared paths capable of receiving each of the plurality of bands; or

[0221] (3) Each of one or more shared paths of a second antenna number M, where the second antenna number is equal to floor(K / N), where K is the number of the plurality of bands.

[0222] Clause 63. The storage medium according to Clause 62, wherein the shared indication indicates whether the processor will process the corresponding positioning reference signal of the plurality of positioning reference signals of the plurality of bands according to (1), (2), or (3).

[0223] Other considerations

[0224] Other examples and embodiments are within the scope 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 executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof. The features implementing the functions can also be physically located in various positions, including being distributed such that portions of the functions are implemented at different physical locations.

[0225] As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" also include the plural forms unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. As used herein, the terms "comprises", "comprising", "includes", and / or "including", specify the presence of the stated feature, integer, step, operation, element, and / or component, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0226] Moreover, as used herein, "or" as used in a list of items (which may be preceded by "at least one" or by "one or more") indicates a disjunctive list, e.g., a list of "at least one of A, B, or C", or a list of "one or more of A, B, or C", or a list of "A or 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 combinations with more than one feature (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Thus, a recitation of an item (e.g., a processor) being configured to perform a function with respect to at least one of A or B, or an item being configured to perform function A or function B means that the item can be configured to perform the function with respect to A, or can be configured to perform the function with respect to B, or can be configured to perform the function with respect to A and B. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to measure at least one of A or B" or "a processor configured to measure C or B" means that the processor can be configured to measure A (and can be configured to or not be configured to measure B), or can be configured to measure B (and can be configured to or not be configured to measure A), or can be configured to measure A and measure B (and can be configured to select which one or both of A and B to measure). Similarly, a recitation of a component for measuring at least one of A or B includes a component for measuring A (which may or may not be able to measure B), or a component for measuring B (and may be configured to or not be configured to measure A), or a component for measuring A and B (which may be able to select which one or both of A and B to measure). As another example, a recitation of an item (e.g., a processor) being configured to perform at least one of perform function X or perform function Y means that the item can be configured to perform function X, or can be configured to perform function Y, or can be configured to perform function X and perform function Y. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to measure at least one of X or Y" means that the processor can be configured to measure X (and can be configured to or not be configured to measure Y), or can be configured to measure Y (and can be configured to or not be configured to measure X), or can be configured to measure X and measure Y (and can be configured to select which one or both of X and Y to measure).

[0227] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, a statement 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 also be based on one or more items and / or conditions in addition to the recited item or condition.

[0228] Substantive modifications can be made according to specific requirements. For example, customized hardware can also be used, and / or specific components can be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software such as applets, etc.) executed by a processor, or both. In addition, connections with other computing devices such as network input / output devices can be adopted. Unless otherwise specified, the functional or other components shown in the figures and / or discussed herein that are interconnected or communicate are communicatively coupled. That is, they can be directly or indirectly connected to enable communication between them.

[0229] The systems and devices discussed above are examples. Various processes or components can be omitted, substituted, or added according to needs for various configurations. For example, the features described for certain configurations can be combined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of the configurations can be combined in a similar manner. Moreover, technology evolves, and thus, many elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the disclosure or the claims.

[0230] A wireless communication system is a system in which communication is wirelessly transmitted, that is, through electromagnetic and / or acoustic waves traveling through the atmosphere rather than through wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not have all communications wirelessly transmitted, but is configured to have at least some communications wirelessly transmitted. In addition, the term "wireless communication device" or a similar term does not require that the functions of the device be specifically or uniformly primarily for communication, or that the device be a mobile device, but indicates that the device includes wireless communication capabilities (one-way or two-way), for example, including at least one radio for wireless communication (each radio is part of a transmitter, receiver, or transceiver).

[0231] Specific details are given in the specification to provide a thorough understanding of example configurations (including implementations). However, the configurations can be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and technologies are shown without unnecessary details to avoid obscuring the configurations. This specification only provides example configurations and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configurations of the claims. Instead, the description of the above configurations provides a description of implementing the technology. Various changes may occur in the functions and arrangements of the elements.

[0232] 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 fashion. Using a computing platform, various processor-readable media can participate in providing instructions / code to a processor for execution and / or can be used to store and / or carry such instructions / code (e.g., as a signal). In many implementations, the processor-readable medium is a physical and / or tangible storage medium. Such a medium can take a variety of forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical disks and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media includes but is not limited to dynamic memory.

[0233] After describing several example configurations, various modifications, alternative constructions, and equivalents can be used. For example, the above elements can be components of a larger system, where other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the present invention. Moreover, many operations can be performed before, during, or after considering the above elements. Accordingly, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0234] A statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or higher than) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value meets or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, e.g., in the resolution of a computing system, the second threshold is higher than the first threshold by a value. A statement that a value is less than (or is at or below) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold, e.g., in the resolution of a computing system, the second threshold is lower than the first threshold by a value.

Claims

1. A user equipment, comprising: an interface including a plurality of receive signal paths; a memory; and a processor communicatively coupled to the interface and the memory and configured to: send, via the interface, an ability indication to a network entity indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing a plurality of positioning reference signals corresponding to a plurality of different frequencies of different frequency layers, the plurality of positioning reference signals at least partially overlapping in reception time at the user equipment; and measure the plurality of positioning reference signals received by the interface at least partially overlapping in time, wherein the ability indication includes at least one of a path number or a precision ability, and the path number is the number of the plurality of receive signal paths that the user equipment will use to receive the plurality of positioning reference signals.

2. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the ability indication includes a corresponding frequency band indication for each of at least one of the path number or the precision ability.

3. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the ability indication includes a corresponding frequency band combination indication for each of at least one of the path number or the precision ability.

4. The user equipment according to claim 3, wherein the ability indication consists of a single bit for each corresponding frequency band combination, and the single bit indicates whether the user equipment is capable of processing the corresponding positioning reference signal among the plurality of positioning reference signals.

5. The user equipment according to claim 4, wherein for each corresponding frequency band combination for which the ability indication indicates that the user equipment is capable of processing the corresponding positioning reference signal among the plurality of positioning reference signals, the user equipment is configured to receive each of the corresponding positioning reference signals among the plurality of positioning reference signals using a single receive signal path among the plurality of receive signal paths in the absence of the ability indication including a value of the path number greater than 1.

6. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the ability indication includes a corresponding frequency band / frequency band combination indication for each of at least one of the path number or the precision ability, and each frequency band / frequency band combination indication indicates a frequency band in the frequency band combination.

7. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the ability indication includes the path number, and the path number is the minimum number of the plurality of receive signal paths of the interface, and the processor will process the corresponding positioning reference signal among the plurality of positioning reference signals for each positioning frequency layer according to each receive signal path among the plurality of receive signal paths.

8. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the ability indication includes the path number, and the path number is the total amount of the plurality of receive signal paths of the interface capable of transmitting the plurality of positioning reference signals.

9. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein the ability indication includes the path number, and the path number indicates the number of antennas that the user equipment will use to receive the plurality of positioning reference signals.

10. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein, the capability indication includes the accuracy capability, and the accuracy capability is the minimum accuracy capability of the user equipment for the corresponding positioning frequency layer.

11. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein, the capability indication includes the number of paths, and the number of paths provides an implicit indication of the accuracy capability.

12. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein, the processor is configured to receive each positioning reference signal of the plurality of positioning reference signals via at least a default number of the plurality of received signal paths.

13. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein, the capability indication includes a plurality of band indications, and wherein the processor is configured to receive each set of the plurality of sets of positioning reference signals of the plurality of positioning reference signals via one or more shared received signal paths of the plurality of received signal paths, and each set of the plurality of sets of positioning reference signals includes positioning reference signals having frequencies in corresponding bands indicated by the plurality of band indications.

14. The user equipment according to claim 1, wherein, the capability indication includes a shared indication indicating a plurality of bands, and corresponding positioning reference signals among the plurality of positioning reference signals of the plurality of bands will each be received via one or more shared paths of the plurality of received signal paths.

15. The user equipment according to claim 14, wherein, the processor is configured to process the corresponding positioning reference signals among the plurality of positioning reference signals of the plurality of bands according to one selected from the following: (1) A single shared path among the one or more shared paths; or (2) Each of the one or more shared paths with a first antenna number N, where the first antenna number N is the total number of the one or more shared paths capable of receiving the corresponding positioning reference signals among the plurality of positioning reference signals of the plurality of bands; or (3) Each of the one or more shared paths with a second antenna number M, where the second antenna number is equal to floor(K / N), and K is the number of the plurality of bands.

16. The user equipment according to claim 15, wherein, the shared indication indicates whether the processor will process the corresponding positioning reference signals among the plurality of positioning reference signals of the plurality of bands according to (1), (2), or (3).

17. A user equipment, comprising: means for sending to a network entity a capability indication indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing a plurality of positioning reference signals corresponding to a plurality of different frequencies of different frequency layers, the plurality of positioning reference signals being at least partially overlapped in reception time at the user equipment; and means for processing the plurality of positioning reference signals received by the user equipment at least partially overlapped in time, wherein the capability indication includes at least one of the number of paths or the accuracy capability, and the number of paths is the number of received signal paths that the user equipment will use to receive the plurality of positioning reference signals.

18. The user equipment according to claim 17, wherein, the capability indication includes a plurality of band indications, and wherein the component for processing includes a receiving component for receiving each set of the plurality of sets of positioning reference signals from one or more shared receiving signal paths of the plurality of receiving signal paths, each set of the plurality of sets of positioning reference signals including a positioning reference signal having a frequency in a corresponding frequency band indicated by the plurality of band indications.

19. A signal processing method, comprising: sending, from a user equipment to a network entity, a capability indication indicating that the user equipment is capable of processing a plurality of positioning reference signals corresponding to a plurality of different frequencies of different frequency layers, the plurality of positioning reference signals being at least partially overlapped in reception time at the user equipment; receiving, at the user equipment, the plurality of positioning reference signals at least partially overlapped in time; and processing, at the user equipment, the plurality of positioning reference signals according to the capability indication, wherein the capability indication includes at least one of a path number or a precision capability, the path number being the number of receiving signal paths that the user equipment will use to receive the plurality of positioning reference signals.

20. The signal processing method according to claim 19, wherein, the capability indication includes a corresponding band indication for each of at least one of the path number or the precision capability.

21. The signal processing method according to claim 19, wherein, the capability indication includes a corresponding band combination indication for each of at least one of the path number or the precision capability.

22. The signal processing method according to claim 19, wherein, the capability indication includes a corresponding band / band combination indication for each of at least one of the path number or the precision capability, each band / band combination indication indicating a band in a band combination.

23. The signal processing method according to claim 19, wherein, the capability indication includes the path number, and the path number is the minimum number of the receiving signal paths of the user equipment, and according to each of the receiving signal paths in the receiving signal paths, a corresponding positioning reference signal in the plurality of positioning reference signals of the corresponding positioning frequency layer will be processed.

24. The signal processing method according to claim 19, wherein, the capability indication includes the path number, and the path number is the total number of receiving signal paths of the user equipment capable of transmitting the plurality of positioning reference signals.

25. The signal processing method according to claim 19, wherein, the capability indication includes a plurality of band indications, and wherein receiving the plurality of positioning reference signals includes receiving each set of the plurality of sets of positioning reference signals from one or more shared receiving signal paths of the plurality of receiving signal paths, each set of the plurality of sets of positioning reference signals including a positioning reference signal having a frequency in a corresponding frequency band indicated by the plurality of band indications.

26. The signal processing method according to claim 19, wherein, the capability indication includes a sharing indication indicating a plurality of frequency bands, and wherein, for each of the plurality of frequency bands, receiving the plurality of positioning reference signals includes receiving a corresponding positioning reference signal of the plurality of positioning reference signals using one or more shared paths among a plurality of received signal paths.

27. A processor-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 19-26.

28. A computer program product comprising computer instructions which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform the method according to any one of claims 19-26.

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