Terminal, system and method for performing a sidelink positioning procedure

Abstract

A first terminal may include a receiver that receives, from a second terminal, configuration parameters for a sidelink (SL) positioning procedure in which positioning information of the first terminal is obtained. Further, the first terminal may include a processor configured to determine indexing information and synchronization information to be used during SL transmission to obtain the positioning information based on the configuration parameters.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to wireless devices and wireless networks, including devices, circuits and methods for performing sidelink positioning procedures. Background Art

[0002] The use of wireless communication systems is growing rapidly. In recent years, wireless devices such as smart phones and tablet computers have become increasingly sophisticated. In addition to supporting phone calls, many mobile devices now also provide access to the Internet, email, text messaging, and navigation using the Global Positioning System (GPS), and are capable of operating sophisticated applications that utilize these functions. In addition, there are many different wireless communication technologies and wireless communication standards. Some examples of wireless communication standards include GSM, UMTS (e.g., associated with WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, Advanced LTE (LTE-A), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), IEEE 802.11 (WLAN or Wi-Fi), and Bluetooth. TM etc.

[0003] The introduction of an ever-increasing number of features and functions in wireless communication devices has also created a continuing need for improved wireless communications and improved wireless communication devices. In order to increase coverage and better serve the increased demand and scope of intended uses of wireless communications, in addition to the above-mentioned communication standards, there are also wireless communication technologies under development, including the fifth generation (5G) standard and the new radio (NR) communication technology. Therefore, there is a need to improve the field of supporting such development and design. Summary of the invention

[0004] According to one or more embodiments, a first terminal includes a receiver that receives configuration parameters for a sidelink (SL) positioning process from a second terminal, and obtains positioning information of the first terminal in the SL positioning process. In addition, the first terminal may include a processor that is configured to: determine, based on the configuration parameters, indexing information and synchronization information to be used in the SL transmission process to obtain positioning information.

[0005] The techniques described herein may be implemented in and / or used with a number of different types of devices, including, but not limited to, any of cellular telephones, wireless devices, tablet computers, wearable computing devices, portable media players, and a variety of other computing devices.

[0006] This disclosure is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the topics described in this document. Therefore, it should be understood that the above features are only examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or essence of the topics described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the topics described herein will become apparent through the following detailed description, drawings, and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] A better understanding of the present subject matter may be gained when the following detailed description of the various aspects is considered in conjunction with the following drawings:

[0008] Figure 1

[0013] An example wireless communication system according to some aspects is illustrated.

[0009] Figure 2 An example block diagram of a UE according to some aspects is illustrated.

[0010] Figure 3 An example block diagram of a BS in accordance with some aspects is illustrated.

[0011] Figure 4 An example block diagram of wireless communication circuitry in accordance with some aspects is illustrated.

[0012] Figure 5

[0013] An example sidelink (SL) positioning process according to some aspects is illustrated.

[0013] FIG. 6A to FIG. 6D is a diagram illustrating an example SL positioning process including a SL-Location Management Function (LMF) according to some aspects.

[0014] Figure 7 is a flow chart of a method for performing a SL positioning process according to some aspects of the detailed description.

[0015] Fig. 8A and Figure 8B is a diagram illustrating a first example SL positioning process including a time difference of arrival (TDOA) terminal configuration according to some aspects.

[0016] Fig.9A and Fig. 9B is a schematic diagram of a second example SL positioning process including a TDOA configuration according to some aspects.

[0017] Fig.10 is a flow chart of a method for performing a SL positioning process according to some aspects of the detailed description.

[0018] Fig.11A and Fig. 11B is a diagram illustrating an example SL positioning process including angle of arrival (AoA) terminal configuration according to some aspects.

[0019] Fig. 11C and Fig.11D is a diagram illustrating an example SL positioning process including angle of departure (AoD) terminal configuration according to some aspects.

[0020] Fig.12 is a flow chart of a method for performing a SL positioning process according to some aspects of the detailed description.

[0021] Although the features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific aspects thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and described in detail herein. However, it should be understood that the drawings and detailed description thereof are not intended to be limited to the specific forms disclosed, but on the contrary, are intended to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0022] Considering relative positioning, ranging and absolute positioning, the performance and feasibility of potential solutions for sidelink (SL) positioning in 5G / New Radio (NR) need to be studied and evaluated. In order to achieve improved SL positioning, the embodiments disclosed herein will propose several solutions, including: 1) Location Management Function (LMF) for SL-based positioning; 2) Sidelink Time Difference of Arrival (SL-TDOA) solution (based on outgoing or incoming SL signals); 3) Solution based on Sidelink Angle of Arrival / Angle of Departure (SL-AoA / AoD) analysis; and 4) Sidelink Group ID Measurement (SL-Group ID).

[0023] According to one or more embodiments, a user equipment (UE) device or terminal communicating with other terminals (other wireless communication devices, network devices, UE devices and / or base station (BS) devices) may perform radio transmissions including a positioning process to obtain positioning information related to the UE device. The positioning information may be one or more results from a measurement operation that specifies the location of the UE device relative to one or more neighboring terminals having known locations on the earth or within a specific area (in a predetermined or estimated area, such as its location in a section of a building).

[0024] In some embodiments, the UE device may be configured to use at least one sidelink (SL) communication link to coordinate positioning processes with other terminals. When the UE device is in an area with reduced coverage from the core network or no coverage from the core network, the UE device or one of the other terminals may use the established SL communication link to calculate the positioning information of the UE device. In order to calculate the positioning information, the data transmission from the UE device may be configured with specific resources to obtain the positioning information. The UE device may obtain the positioning information by implementing one of the multiple SL positioning processes. These positioning processes may be modified based on the existing coverage on the UE device, continuous data transmission between adjacent terminals, and other sensing and / or communication processes. In the present disclosure, a variety of these possible SL positioning processes are described in detail.

[0025] The UE device may be configured to perform one or more SL transmissions as part of the SL transmission process. The one or more SL transmissions may be transmissions that follow the following protocol: in the protocol, the UE device allocates resources for the same indexing information and the same synchronization information used across adjacent terminals. In some embodiments, the UE device is configured to communicate with at least one adjacent terminal using indexing information and synchronization information. The synchronization information may include communication information related to the allocation of resources for at least one synchronization signal. The terminals involved in the SL positioning process using SL transmission may all share the same synchronization signal. The indexing information may include communication information that identifies at least one adjacent terminal of the UE device as a positioning reference. The positioning reference may be a neighboring terminal configured to obtain its absolute position on the earth or in a specific area. The UE device may implement the SL positioning process when an instruction is received from one of its adjacent terminals, or when approval is received from one of its adjacent terminals after requesting the initialization of the SL positioning process. The UE device may coordinate SL transmissions with terminals connected via multiple radio access technologies (RATs) (i.e., LTE-A, 5G NR, and the upcoming 6G).

[0026] In some embodiments, the UE device is configured to perform SL transmission without negatively impacting the user's experience. To achieve this, the UE device allocates positioning resources without compromising data integrity from communication resources allocated in the same SL transmission. Successful allocation of resources in SL transmissions can prevent data rate reduction, latency increase, or jitter. In this regard, the UE device obtains communication parameters that define indexing information and synchronization information for the SL positioning process. The UE device can use the communication parameters to determine the resource allocation mode to be used in the SL transmission process.

[0027] In other embodiments, the UE device identifies the SL reference signal used in the SL positioning process to obtain positioning information based on the configuration parameters. The resource allocation mode can be determined based on the identified SL reference signal. The resource allocation mode may include resources allocated to include the SL reference signal. Examples of SL reference signals may include: SL-positioning reference signal (PRS), the SL-PRS is configured to be implemented in a first resource allocation mode; SL-positioning sounding reference signal (PSRS), the SL-PSRS is configured to be implemented in a second resource allocation mode; or SL-joint PRS / PSRS (P(S)RS), the SL-P(S)RS is configured to be implemented in a first resource allocation mode, a second resource allocation mode, or a combination of the first resource allocation mode and the second resource allocation mode based on the terminal information of the UE device.

[0028] The UE device may initiate the SL positioning process by transmitting a broadcast signal to a neighboring terminal, where the broadcast signal may include terminal capabilities and at least one communication request. The terminal capabilities may be communication information about one or more transmission and reception capabilities of the UE device, and the communication request may include a request to the neighboring terminal to start the positioning process.

[0029] As described above, the configuration parameters may be received by the UE device from the neighboring terminal via the SL communication link. If the neighboring terminal is another UE device, the configuration parameters may be obtained from the other UE device via an additional communication link established with the core network. If the neighboring terminal is a base station, the configuration parameters may be obtained from the base station via higher layer signaling (e.g., signaling received from an upper layer using radio resource control (RRC) messaging or medium access control (MAC) messaging in a device connected to the core network).

[0030] During the SL positioning process, the UE device may attempt to obtain its location information when it recognizes that the UE has left the area of ​​coverage from the core network (for example, the UE device is outside the coverage). The UE device may obtain the location information and its absolute position directly from the neighboring terminal. In some embodiments, the UE device may be configured to derive its absolute position from the location information obtained from the neighboring terminal. During the SL positioning process between the neighboring terminal and the UE device, the absolute position of the UE device may be derived based on the absolute position to the neighboring terminal and the position of the UE device relative to the neighboring terminal. When the absolute position of the neighboring terminal is obtained, the neighboring terminal or UE device may determine the relative positioning associated with the UE device. In some embodiments, the neighboring terminal or UE device may determine the position of the UE device relative to the neighboring terminal after evaluating one or more signals received or transmitted. Then, the neighboring terminal or UE device may calculate the absolute position of the UE device based on the relative positioning. In some embodiments, options for the positioning process include: location management function (LMF) positioning process, arrival time difference (TDOA) positioning process, arrival angle (AoA) positioning process, departure angle (AoD) positioning process, or SL-group ID positioning process.

[0031] The following is a glossary of terms that may be used in this disclosure:

[0032] Storage media -Any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to include installation media (e.g., CD-ROM, floppy disk, or tape device; computer system memory or random access memory, such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, Rambus RAM), non-volatile memory such as Flash, magnetic media (e.g., hard drive or optical storage device; register or other similar type of memory element). The memory medium may also include other types of non-transitory memory or a combination thereof. In addition, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system that executes the program, or may be located in a different second computer system that is connected to the first computer system via a network such as the Internet. In the latter case, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media that may reside in different locations (e.g., in different computer systems connected via a network). The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., expressed as a computer program) that may be executed by one or more processors.

[0033] Carrier medium - Storage media as described above and physical transmission media such as buses, networks and / or other physical transmission media that transmit signals such as electrical, electromagnetic or digital signals.

[0034] Programmable hardware components - Includes various hardware devices that include multiple programmable function blocks connected via programmable interconnects. Examples include FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), PLD (Programmable Logic Device), FPOA (Field Programmable Object Array), and CPLD (Complex PLD). Programmable function blocks can range from fine-grained (combinatorial logic or lookup table) to coarse-grained (arithmetic logic unit or processor core). Programmable hardware elements may also be referred to as "configurable logic units".

[0035] User Equipment (UE) (also called "user device", "UE device" or "terminal") - Any of various types of computer systems or devices that are mobile or portable and perform wireless communication. Examples of UE devices include mobile phones or smart phones (e.g., iPhone TM , based on Android TM phones), portable gaming devices (e.g., Nintendo DS TM , PlayStation Portable TM 、Gameboy Advance TM , iPhone TM ), laptops, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart glasses), PDAs, portable internet devices, music players, data storage devices, other handheld devices, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, instrument clusters, heads-up display (HUD) devices, on-board diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashboard mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDT), electronic engine management systems (EEMS), electronic / engine control units (ECU), electronic / engine control modules (ECM), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or "smart" appliances, machine type communication (MTC) devices, machine interaction (M2M), Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc. In general, the term "UE" or "UE device" or "terminal" or "user equipment" can be broadly defined to cover any electronic, computing and / or telecommunication device (or combination of devices) that is easily transportable by a user (or vehicle) and capable of wireless communication.

[0036] Wireless Devices- Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform wireless communications. A wireless device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed at a certain location. A UE is an example of a wireless device.

[0037] Communications equipment -Any of various types of computer systems or devices that perform communications, where the communications may be wired or wireless. A communications device may be portable (or mobile), or may be stationary or fixed at a location. A wireless device is an example of a communications device. A UE is another example of a communications device.

[0038] Base Station -The term "base station", "wireless base station" or "wireless station" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication station that is installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system. For example, if the base station is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternatively be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB". If the base station is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB". Although certain aspects are described in the context of LTE or 5G NR, references to "eNB", "gNB", "nodeB", "base station", "NB", etc. may also refer to one or more wireless nodes that serve a cell to provide a wireless connection between a user equipment and a generally wider network, and the concepts discussed are not limited to any particular wireless technology. Although certain aspects are described in the context of LTE or 5G NR, references to "eNB", "gNB", "nodeB", "base station", "NB", etc. are not intended to limit the concepts discussed herein to any particular wireless technology, and the concepts discussed may be applied to any wireless system.

[0039] node - The term "node" or "wireless node" as used herein may refer to one or more devices associated with a cell that provides wireless connectivity between user equipment and a typically wired network.

[0040] Processing element (or processor) -refers to various elements or combinations of elements capable of performing functions in a device, such as user equipment or a cellular network device. A processing element may include, for example, a processor and associated memory, portions or circuits of individual processor cores, an entire processor core, a separate processor, a processor array, a circuit such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable hardware element such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and any of the above various combinations.

[0041] Channel-A medium for transmitting information from a sender (transmitter) to a receiver. It should be noted that since the characteristics of the term "channel" can vary according to different wireless protocols, the term "channel" as used herein can be considered to be used in a manner that conforms to the standards of the type of device to which the term is used. In some standards, the channel width can be variable (e.g., depending on device capabilities, frequency band conditions, etc.). For example, LTE can support scalable channel bandwidths of 1.4MHz to 20MHz. A WLAN channel can be 22MHz wide, while a Bluetooth channel can be 1Mhz wide. Other protocols and standards may include different definitions of channels. In addition, some standards may define and use multiple types of channels (e.g., different channels for uplink or downlink and / or different channels for different purposes such as data, control information, etc.).

[0042] frequency band - The term "frequency band" has the full scope of its ordinary meaning and includes at least a segment of the spectrum (eg, radio frequency spectrum) in which channels are used or set aside for the same purpose.

[0043] Configured as - Various components may be described as being "configured to" perform one or more tasks. In such contexts, "configured to" is a broad statement that generally means "having a structure" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently performing the task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors can be configured to electrically connect a module to another module even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, "configured to" can be a broad statement that generally means "having a structure" that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, the component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently turned on. Typically, the circuitry that forms the structure corresponding to "configured to" may include hardware circuitry.

[0044] For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be interpreted as including the phrase "configured to". Representing a component configured to perform one or more tasks expressly intends that the component does not invoke the interpretation of 35 U.S.C. §112(f).

[0045] Example Wireless Communication System

[0046] Now go to Figure 1 , illustrates a simplified example of a wireless communication system according to some aspects. Note that Figure 1 The system is only one non-limiting example of possible systems, and features of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

[0047] As shown, the example wireless communication system includes a base station 102A that communicates with one or more user devices 106A and user devices 106B to 106Z via a transmission medium. Each of the user devices may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE). Therefore, the user device 106 is referred to as a UE or UE device.

[0048] The base station (BS) 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or a cell site (eg, a "cellular base station") and may include hardware that enables wireless communications with the UEs 106A-106Z.

[0049] The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station may be referred to as a "cell". The base station 102A and the user equipment 106 may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), which are also referred to as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000. Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of LTE, the base station may alternatively be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB". Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB".

[0050] In some aspects, UE 106 may be an IoT UE that may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), a short-range service (ProSe), or a device-to-device (D2D) communication, a sensor network, or an IoT network. M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine-initiated data exchange. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs that may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. As an example, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) may utilize ProSe features using a PC5 interface to communicate directly between devices. The IoT UE may also execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0051] As shown, UE 106 (such as UE 106A and UE 106B) can directly exchange communication data via PC5 interface 108. For example, PC5 interface 108 may include one or more physical channels, including but not limited to a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), and a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH).

[0052] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the base stations 102 may be a roadside unit (RSU) or act as an RSU. The term RSU may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable wireless node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the road side that provides connectivity support to a passing vehicle UE (vUE). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RSU's RF circuitry may be packaged in a weather-resistant enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0053] As shown, the base station 102A may also be configured to communicate with a network 100 (e.g., a core network of a cellular service provider, a telecommunications network such as a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and / or the Internet, among other possibilities). Thus, the base station 102A may facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and the network 100. Specifically, the cellular base station 102A may provide the UE 106 with various communication capabilities such as voice, SMS, and / or data services.

[0054] Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations 102B to 102N) operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards can therefore be provided as a network of cells that can provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs 106A to 106Z and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0055] Thus, although base station 102A may function as Figure 1 106A to 106Z, each UE 106 may also be able to receive signals from (and possibly be within communication range of) one or more other cells (which may be provided by base stations 102B to 102Z and / or any other base stations), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells." Such cells may also be able to facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100. Such cells may include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pico" cells, and / or any other variety of other granularity of cell sizes that provide a service area. For example, in Figure 1 The base stations 102A and 102B illustrated in FIG. 1 may be macro cells, while the base station 102Z may be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0056] In some aspects, base station 102A may be a next generation base station (e.g., a 5G New Radio (5GNR) base station or "gNB"). In some aspects, the gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) / 5G core (5GC) network. In addition, a gNB cell may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). In addition, a UE capable of operating in accordance with 5GNR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs. For example, base station 102A and one or more other base stations 102 may support joint transmissions such that UE 106 may be able to receive transmissions from multiple base stations (and / or multiple TRPs provided by the same base station). For example, as Figure 1 As illustrated, base station 102A and base station 102C are both shown serving UE 106A.

[0057] Note that UE 106 is capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, in addition to at least one of the cellular communication protocols discussed in the above definitions, UE 106 may also be configured to communicate using wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and / or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.). If desired, UE 106 may additionally or alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) (e.g., GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H), and / or any other wireless communication protocol. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0058] In one or more embodiments, UE 106 may be a device with cellular communication capabilities, such as a mobile phone, handheld device, computer, laptop, tablet, smart watch or other wearable device, or virtually any type of wireless device.

[0059] UE 106 may include a processor (processing element) configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. UE 106 may perform any of the method aspects described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, UE 106 may include a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), an integrated circuit, and / or any of a variety of other possible hardware components configured to perform (e.g., individually or in combination) any of the method aspects described herein or any portion of any of the method aspects described herein.

[0060] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some aspects, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, NR or LTE using at least some shared radio components. As an additional possibility, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using CDMA2000 (1xRTT / 1xEV-DO / HRPD / eHRPD) or LTE using a single shared radio component and / or GSM or LTE using a single shared radio component. The shared radio component may be coupled to a single antenna, or may be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., for a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) configuration) for performing wireless communications. Typically, the radio component may include any combination of a baseband processor, an analog RF signal processing circuit (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or a digital processing circuit (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio component may use the aforementioned hardware to implement one or more receive chains and transmit chains. For example, UE 106 may share one or more portions of a receive chain and / or a transmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies such as those discussed above.

[0061] In some aspects, the UE 106 may include a separate transmit chain and / or receive chain (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radio components shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radio components used uniquely by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 may include a shared radio component for communicating using either LTE or 5G NR (or, in various possibilities, either LTE or 1xRTT, or either LTE or GSM), and an independent radio component for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

[0062] In some aspects, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the base stations 102 to the UE 106, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, such time-frequency plane representations are conventional practices, which makes radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid may include multiple resource blocks, which describe the mapping of specific physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a group of resource elements. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0063] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 106. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about, among other things, transport formats and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 106 of transport formats, resource allocations, and HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to uplink shared channels. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UEs 102 within a cell) may be performed at any of the base stations 102 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 106. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UEs.

[0064] PDCCH can use control channel elements (CCE) to convey control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to four sets of nine physical resource elements, called resource element groups (REGs). Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0065] Description of the Sidelink (SL) communication link

[0066] In one or more embodiments, the SL communication link is a communication link established between terminals acting as UE devices. In the SL communication link, each of the aforementioned physical channels corresponds to a group of resource elements carrying information originating from a higher layer. These resource elements may be transmitted via a sidelink physical signal used by the physical layer without carrying information originating from a higher layer. These physical signals may include indexing information signaling and synchronization information signaling. The indexing information signaling may include indexing information that uses a reference signal (e.g., a demodulation reference signal) to identify at least one terminal positioning reference. The positioning reference may be a terminal configured to obtain its absolute position on the earth or in a specific area. The synchronization information signaling may include synchronization information related to the allocation of resources for at least one synchronization signal.

[0067] Reference signals are used to provide baseline transmission information to multiple terminals, which can be able to identify the baseline transmission information on transmissions received from each other. As described above, reference signals are predefined signals that occupy specific resource elements within the communication time-frequency grid. In the NR specification, multiple types of reference signals can be transmitted in different ways and are intended to be used by the receiving device for different purposes. In the present disclosure, reference signals are modified for specific implementations in SL transmission.

[0068] Examples of synchronization information may include communication information related to the allocation of resources for at least one synchronization signal. The first option for the synchronization signal may be a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PSSCH. In an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol for PSSCH, the synchronization signal may be an associated DMRS. The second option for the synchronization signal may be a DMRS for a demodulation reference signal (DMRS) for PSSCH. The third option for the synchronization signal may be a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) configured to track phase changes and compensate for phase noise during SL transmission, which may be used for higher carrier frequencies. The time density and frequency of the PTRS may be configured by an upper layer and may be configured according to a resource pool. The fourth option for the synchronization signal may be a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS). CSI-RS may be used for channel sounding. The receiving device may measure the received CSI-RS and may then report the CSI back to the transmitter via PSSCH. CSI-RS may be configurable in both the time domain and the frequency domain. CSI-RS may be used to provide fine channel state information. The fifth option for the synchronization signal may be a synchronization signal (SS) / PSBCH block. The time slot in which the SS / PSBCH block is transmitted may be referred to as a sidelink synchronization signal block (S-SSB). The SS / PSBCH block may include PSBCH, a sidelink primary synchronization signal (SPSS), and a sidelink secondary synchronization signal (SSSS) symbol. The period of S-SSB transmission may be 16 frames, and within each period, the number N of S-SSB blocks in the S-SSB period is configured at the RRC. The selection range for N may vary based on the parameter set and the frequency range.

[0069] In one or more embodiments, the UE device is configured to handle concurrent sidelink and uplink / downlink transmissions. If any of the UE devices includes limited reception capabilities compared to the rest of the UE devices, the UE device may prioritize sidelink communication reception, sidelink discovery reception on carriers configured by the eNodeB, and last sidelink discovery reception on carriers not configured by the gNB.

[0070] The sidelink transmission may be organized into segments with a duration T f radio frames, each of which consists of 20 radio frames of duration T 时隙 The sidelink subframe consists of two consecutive time slots starting from an even time slot. The physical channel or signaling transmitted in the time slot can be described by a resource grid corresponding to a first number of subcarriers and a second number of single carrier (SC)-frequency division multiple access (FDMA) symbols.

[0071] In some embodiments, SL transmissions may be configured according to a resource allocation pattern provided by the gNB. The resource allocation pattern may provide dynamic grants for sidelink resources, as well as grants for periodic sidelink resources that are semi-statically configured via sidelink configured grants. In order to improve the reliability of SL transmissions, a dynamic sidelink grant DCI may provide resources for one or more transmissions of a transport block. Grants configured via the sidelink may be SL transmissions that are configured to be used immediately by the UE device before these grants are released via RRC signaling. Before the radio link failure (RLF) detection timer expires, when a beam failure or physical layer problem occurs in the NR access link (Uu), the UE device may be allowed to continue using this type of grant configured via the sidelink, and then fall back to the abnormal resource pool. Another type of grant configured via the sidelink may be a grant that is configured once and cannot be used until the gNB sends a DCI to the UE device indicating that the grant is now valid and until another DCI indicates deactivation.

[0072] In a sidelink configured grant, the resources are a periodically recurring set of sidelink resources with the gNB matching the resources to those characteristics for V2X communications. Multiple configured grants may be configured to allow different services, communication types, etc. Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) information for dynamic and configured grants may optionally be provided or constrained by RRC signaling rather than DCI. The RRC may configure the exact MCS used or a range of MCSs. The MCS may also be left unconfigured. For situations where the RRC does not provide the exact MCS, the UE device may be left to select an appropriate MCS on its own based on any knowledge it may have about the transport blocks to be transmitted and the sidelink radio conditions. The gNB scheduling activity may be driven by reports in which the UE device shares its sidelink communication characteristics with the gNB, or by requesting sidelink resource allocations from the gNB through a sidelink buffer status report (BSR) process similar to Uu.

[0073] In some embodiments, SL transmission for UE devices may be configured according to a self-selected resource allocation mode. SL transmission may be transmitted by the UE device a specific number of times after the resource allocation mode is selected or before the reason for resource reselection is triggered. SL transmission may be performed to support unicast and multicast communications in the physical layer. SL transmission may be configured to reserve resources to be used for multiple blind transmissions of a transport block or transmissions based on HARQ feedback. SL transmission may be performed to select resources to be used for the initial transmission of a subsequent transport block.

[0074] In one or more embodiments, the resource allocation mode selected for SL transmission may be implemented in a SL bandwidth part (BWP). The SL BWP may be a group of contiguous resource blocks configured for SL transmission within a predetermined channel bandwidth. The configuration of the SL BWP and the resource pool is established by the RRC layer and provided to lower layers when activated. In a given frequency band, there may be at least one valid SL BWP for a UE device at a time. The SL BWP may be defined by its frequency, bandwidth, subcarrier spacing (SCS), and cyclic prefix (CP). The SL BWP may define parameters common to all resource pools contained therein, namely, the number of symbols and start symbols used for SL in all time slots (except those with synchronization signal blocks (SSBs)), power control for the PSBCH, and the position of the direct current (DC) subcarrier.

[0075] The SL BWP may have different lists of resource pools for transmission and reception to allow UE devices to transmit in a pool and receive in another pool. For transmission, there may be one pool for selected mode, one pool for scheduled mode (e.g., when the gNodeB assists with resource selection), and one pool for exception cases. These resource pools may be expected to be used for transmission or reception only, except when the SL feedback mechanism is activated, in which case the UE device may transmit an acknowledgement (ACK) message in the receive pool and receive an ACK message in the transmit pool.

[0076] In 5G NR technology, a resource pool may be located inside a SL BWP, which is defined by a set of consecutive resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain defined by an information element labeled sl-Rb-Number, which starts at a RB defined by an information element labeled sl-StartRBsubchannel. In addition, the resource pool may be divided into subchannels of a size defined by an information element labeled sl-SubchannelSize, which may take one of a number of values ​​(i.e., 10, 12, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, and 100). Depending on the values ​​of sl-RB-Number and sl-SubchannelSize, some RBs inside the resource pool cannot be used by the UE.

[0077] In the time domain, the resource pool has some available time slots configured by various parameters. In order to determine which time slots belong to the pool, a series of criteria can be applied. Time slots in which SSBs are transmitted cannot be used. The number and position of these time slots can be based on a predefined configuration. Time slots that are not allocated for UL (for example, in terms of time division duplexing (TDD)) or do not have all available symbols (according to the SL BWP configuration) can also be excluded from the resource pool. Some time slots can be reserved so that the number of remaining time slots is a multiple of the bitmap length defined by the tag sl-TimeResource-r16 or Lbitmap, which can range from 10 bits to 160 bits. The reserved time slots can be distributed throughout a variable number of time slots. The bitmap sl-TimeResource-r16 can be applied to the remaining time slots to calculate the final set of identified / marked time slots belonging to the pool.

[0078] In some embodiments, the duration of each SL frame and SL subframe is 10 milliseconds (ms) and 1 ms, respectively. The SL frame and SL subframe may include a parameter set μ that may define the SCS, the number of time slots in a subframe, and a cyclic prefix option. In NR SL, the value of μ ranges from 0 to 3. In addition, the supported μ values ​​differ in different frequency bands. In the frequency domain, the SCS may be defined by a parameter set. In this regard, the SCS may be proportional to the parameter set. Within a SL subframe, the time slots may be numbered from 0 to N subframes. In NR, assuming that different UE devices may operate in different BWPs and using different parameter sets, common resource blocks may be used for devices to locate frequency resources within the carrier bandwidth.

[0079] Example Communication Device

[0080] Figure 2 An example simplified block diagram of a communication device 106 according to some aspects is illustrated. Note that Figure 2 The block diagram of the communication device is only one example of a possible communication device. According to various aspects, in addition to other devices, the communication device 106 can be a UE device or terminal, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, a notebook or a portable computing device), a tablet computer and / or a combination of devices. As shown, the communication device 106 may include a group of components 300 configured to perform core functions. For example, the group of components can be implemented as a system on a chip (SOC), which can include parts for various purposes. Alternatively, the group of components 300 can be implemented as a separate component or a group of components for various purposes. This group of components 300 can be coupled to various other circuits of the communication device 106 (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly).

[0081] For example, the communication device 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 310), input / output interfaces such as connector I / F 320 (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; a docking station; a charging station; input devices such as a microphone, camera, keyboard; output devices such as speakers; etc.), a display 360 that may be integrated with the communication device 106 or external to it, and wireless communication circuitry 330 (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, NR, UMTS, GSM, CDMA2000, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, etc.). In some aspects, the communication device 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), such as a network interface card (e.g., for Ethernet connection).

[0082] Wireless communication circuitry 330 may be coupled (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) to one or more antennas, such as one or more antennas 335 as shown. Wireless communication circuitry 330 may include cellular communication circuitry and / or short- to medium-range wireless communication circuitry, and may include multiple receive chains and / or multiple transmit chains for receiving and / or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a MIMO configuration.

[0083] In some aspects, as further described below, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include one or more receive chains (including and / or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and / or radio components) for multiple radio access technologies (RATs) (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). In addition, in some aspects, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include a single transmit chain that can switch between radio components dedicated to specific RATs. For example, a first radio component may be dedicated to a first RAT (e.g., LTE) and may communicate with a dedicated receive chain and a transmit chain shared with a second radio component. A second radio component may be dedicated to a second RAT (e.g., 5G NR) and may communicate with a dedicated receive chain and a shared transmit chain. In some aspects, the second RAT is capable of operating at millimeter wave frequencies. Because the operating frequency of millimeter wave systems is higher than the typical frequency in LTE systems, signals in the millimeter wave frequency range are severely attenuated due to environmental factors. To help address this attenuation problem, millimeter wave systems typically utilize beamforming and include more antennas than LTE systems. These antennas can be organized into antenna arrays or panels consisting of individual antenna elements. These antenna arrays can be coupled to a radio link.

[0084] The communication device 106 may also include and / or be configured for use with one or more user interface elements.

[0085] The communication device 106 may also include one or more smart cards 345 that include subscriber identity module (SIM) functionality, such as one or more universal integrated circuit cards (UICC) 345 .

[0086] As shown, SOC 300 may include a processor 302 that may execute program instructions for communication device 106 and a display circuit 304 that may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to display 360. Processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340 (which may be configured to receive addresses from processor 302 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read-only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310)), and / or to other circuits or devices such as display circuit 304, wireless communication circuit 330, connector I / F 320, and / or display 360. MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some aspects, MMU 340 may be included as part of processor 302.

[0087] As described above, the communication device 106 can be configured to communicate using wireless and / or wired communication circuits. As described herein, the communication device 106 may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. The processor 302 of the communication device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein (e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition thereto), the processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Alternatively (or in addition thereto), in combination with one or more of the other components 300, 304, 306, 310, 320, 330, 340, 345, 350, 360, the processor 302 of the communication device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

[0088] In addition, as described in the present invention, processor 302 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, processor 302 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 302. In addition, each integrated circuit may include a circuit (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 302.

[0089] In addition, as described herein, wireless communication circuit 330 may include one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in wireless communication circuit 330. Therefore, wireless communication circuit 330 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of wireless communication circuit 330. In addition, each integrated circuit may include a circuit (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of wireless communication circuit 330.

[0090] Example Base Station

[0091] Figure 3 An example block diagram of a base station 102 according to some aspects is illustrated. Note that Figure 3 Base stations are non-limiting examples of possible base stations. As shown, base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for base station 102. Processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured to receive addresses from processor 404 and convert these addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

[0092] Base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. Network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide access as described above in Figure 1 Multiple devices of the telephone network described in, such as UE device 106.

[0093] The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to multiple devices, such as the UE devices 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may be coupled to a telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide a telephone network (e.g., in addition to other UE devices served by the cellular service provider).

[0094] In some aspects, base station 102 may be a next generation base station (e.g., a 5G New Radio (5GNR) base station or "gNB"). In such aspects, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) / 5G core (5GC) network. Furthermore, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). Furthermore, a UE capable of operating in accordance with 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0095] The base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434 and possibly multiple antennas. The at least one antenna 434 may be configured to function as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with the UE device 106 via the radio component 430. The antenna 434 communicates with the radio component 430 via a communication chain 432. The communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain, or both. The radio component 430 may be configured to communicate via various wireless communication standards, including 5G NR, LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, etc.

[0096] The base station 102 may be configured to perform wireless communications using multiple wireless communication standards. In some cases, the base station 102 may include multiple radio components that enable the base station 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, the base station 102 may include an LTE radio component for performing communications according to LTE and a 5G NR radio component for performing communications according to 5G NR. In this case, the base station 102 may be able to operate as both an LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. When the base station 102 supports millimeter waves, the 5G NR radio component may be coupled to one or more millimeter wave antenna arrays or panels. As another possibility, the base station 102 may include a multimode radio component that can perform communications according to any one of a plurality of wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and LTE, 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

[0097] In addition, BS102 may include hardware and software components for implementing or supporting the specific implementation of the features described herein. The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement or support a specific implementation of part or all of the methods described herein (e.g., by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element (such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA)), or as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a combination thereof. Alternatively (or in addition), in combination with one or more of the other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, 470, the processor 404 of the BS102 may be configured to implement or support a specific implementation of part or all of the features described herein.

[0098] In addition, as described herein, one or more processors 404 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor 404 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 404. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 404.

[0099] In addition, as described herein, radio 430 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, radio 430 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of radio 430. In addition, each integrated circuit may include a circuit (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of radio 430.

[0100] Example Cellular Communications Circuit

[0101] Figure 4 An example simplified block diagram of a cellular communication circuit according to some aspects is illustrated. Note that Figure 4 The block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry of is only one example of possible cellular communication circuitry; other circuitry, such as circuitry that includes or is coupled to enough antennas for different RATs to perform uplink activities using separate antennas, or circuitry that includes or is coupled to fewer antennas (e.g., that can be shared between multiple RATs) is also possible. According to some aspects, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may be included in a communication device such as the communication device 106 described above. As described above, the communication device 106 may be a UE device, a mobile device or station, a wireless device or station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet, and / or a combination of devices, among other devices.

[0102] The cellular communication circuitry 330 may be (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335a, 335b, and 336 as shown. In some aspects, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may include dedicated receive chains (including and / or coupled to (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) dedicated processors and / or radio components) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). For example, Figure 4 As shown, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include a first modem 510 and a second modem 520. The first modem 510 may be configured to communicate according to a first RAT (e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A), and the second modem 520 may be configured to communicate according to a second RAT (e.g., such as 5G NR).

[0103] As shown, the first modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and a memory 516 in communication with the processor 512. The modem 510 may communicate with a radio frequency (RF) front end 530. The RF front end 530 may include circuits for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 530 may include a receiving circuit (RX) 532 and a transmitting circuit (TX) 534. In some aspects, the receiving circuit 532 may communicate with a downlink (DL) front end 550, which may include circuits for receiving radio signals via an antenna 335a.

[0104] Similarly, the second modem 520 may include one or more processors 522 and a memory 526 in communication with the processor 522. The modem 520 may communicate with the RF front end 540. The RF front end 540 may include circuits for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 540 may include a receiving circuit 542 and a transmitting circuit 544. In some aspects, the receiving circuit 542 may communicate with the DL front end 560, which may include circuits for receiving radio signals via the antenna 335b.

[0105] In some aspects, the switch 570 may couple the transmission circuit 534 to an uplink (UL) front end 572. In addition, the switch 570 may couple the transmission circuit 544 to the UL front end 572. The UL front end 572 may include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via the antenna 336. Thus, when the cellular communication circuit 330 receives an instruction to transmit according to a first RAT (e.g., via a transmission chain including the transmission circuit 534 and the UL front end 572) supported by the first modem 510, the switch 570 may be switched to a first state that allows the first modem 510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmission chain including the transmission circuit 534 and the UL front end 572). Similarly, when the cellular communication circuit 330 receives an instruction to transmit according to a second RAT (e.g., via a transmission chain including the transmission circuit 544 and the UL front end 572) supported by the second modem 520, the switch 570 may be switched to a second state that allows the second modem 520 to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmission chain including the transmission circuit 544 and the UL front end 572).

[0106] As described herein, the first modem 510 and / or the second modem 520 may include hardware and software components for implementing any of the various features and techniques described herein. For example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium), the processors 512, 522 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein. Alternatively (or in addition), the processors 512, 522 may be configured as programmable hardware elements, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), in combination with one or more of the other components 530, 532, 534, 540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336, the processors 512, 522 may be configured to implement part or all of the features described herein.

[0107] In addition, as described herein, the processors 512, 522 may include one or more processing elements. Therefore, the processors 512, 522 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the processors 512, 522. In addition, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., first circuits, second circuits, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the processors 512, 522.

[0108] In some aspects, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include only one transmit / receive chain. For example, the cellular communication circuit 330 may not include the modem 520, the RF front end 540, the DL front end 560, and / or the antenna 335b. As another example, the cellular communication circuit 330 may not include the modem 510, the RF front end 530, the DL front end 550, and / or the antenna 335a. In some aspects, the cellular communication circuit 330 may also not include the switch 570, and the RF front end 530 or the RF front end 540 may communicate with the UL front end 572, for example, directly.

[0109] Example SL Communication Link Management

[0110] SL communication links may be used to help reduce interference and help support a large number of wireless devices in proximity to each other. The SL communication links effectively allow for the transmission and reception of SL transmissions. In some embodiments, a beam is a representation of a communication shared between two wireless devices. These SL transmissions may be directed by each wireless device. In some embodiments, a SL transmission with a predetermined direction may be referred to as a beam. When a beam is directed toward an area that is relatively small compared to a cell wide signal, the wireless node needs to know where the wireless device is located relative to the wireless node to allow the wireless node to direct the beam toward the wireless device.

[0111] Figure 5A schematic diagram 500 is shown illustrating multiple SL communication links established to perform multiple SL transmissions. The SL transmissions may be used to implement a SL positioning procedure, the purpose of which is to obtain positioning information for a target 760. Figure 5 A wireless element with multi-cell interference equipped with array antennas and capable of establishing multiple SL communication links is shown. The arrays in these wireless elements can be used for both sensing and high-rate low-latency communication.

[0112] exist Figure 5 In the diagram 700 of FIG. 7 , the target 760 may request to identify its location using SL transmission coordinated with UE 706A, UE 706B, and UE 706C. As described above, the SL transmission may be coordinated to include a resource allocation pattern configured for the SL transmission.

[0113] In this example, UE 706C may include beams A790A, ..., 790Z (collectively referred to as 790) configured to exchange SL transmissions. Target 760 may be a wireless device or terminal, such as a UE device with an unknown location. In one or more embodiments, target 760 may request permission to exchange SL transmissions with UE 706A, UE 706B, and UE 706C. The permission may be confirmed by SL transmission. In this case, permission may be required to confirm that the resource allocation pattern is coordinated between multiple SL transmissions. For example, in order to transmit SL transmissions in a licensed frequency band, the terminal may need to confirm with a base station connected to the network that the licensed frequency band has space for SL transmission using the requested resource allocation pattern. Similarly, in order to transmit SL transmissions in a licensed frequency band, the terminal may need to confirm with a base station connected to the network that the power level of the SL transmission is equal to or lower than the allowed safety / interference threshold.

[0114] In some embodiments, UE 706C may selectively use certain beams for receiving or transmitting SL transmissions. Figure 5In the example shown, UE 706C may use transmission beam A 790A and transmission beam Z 790Z for transmitting SL transmission. UE 706C may use reception beam M 790M for receiving SL transmission. UE 706C may establish communication link A 730A and communication link B 730B with UE 706A and UE 706B, respectively. These communication links may be used by UE 706C to exchange instructions for identifying the location of target 760 with UE 706A and UE 706B. In each communication link, UE 706A and UE 706B may provide information about sensing feedback to UE 706C to obtain positioning information. In this regard, UE 706A uses transmission beam A 740A and transmission beam M 740M to provide SL transmission to UE 706C and target 760, respectively. UE 706A may use receive beam G 840G for receiving SL transmissions from UE 706B. UE 706A may establish communication link A 730A and communication link C 730C with UE 706C and UE 706B, respectively. Ultimately, UE 706B uses transmit beam M 750M and transmit beam Z 750Z to provide SL transmissions to target 760 and UE 706A, respectively. UE 706B may use receive beam A 750A for receiving SL transmissions from UE 706C. UE 706B may establish communication link B 730B and communication link C 730C with UE 706C and UE 706B, respectively.

[0115] exist Figure 5 In the example of , target 760 uses transmit beam A 770A to provide SL transmission to UE 706C. In addition, target 760 uses receive beam B 770B and receive beam C 770C to receive SL transmissions from UE 706A and UE 706B. Target 760 can establish positioning link A 780A, positioning link B 780B, and positioning link C 780C with UE 706C, UE 706A, and UE 706B. These positioning links can be used by UE 706C, UE 706A, and UE 706B to sense (e.g., identify) relative positioning information of target 760.

[0116] In some embodiments, the terminal performing SL transmission (e.g., reference Figure 5The target 760) may be configured to allocate sensing resources for communicating with one or more neighboring terminals. The terminal may allocate resources for SL transmission based on terminal capabilities pre-configured in the target 760 (i.e., parameters such as UE-capabilities) and / or based on terminal capabilities provided by higher layer signaling obtained from a device directly connected to the network (i.e., a network gateway or a base station if the terminal is a UE device). In some embodiments, the terminal confirms the resource allocation mode with another terminal that is expected to receive the SL transmission before transmitting. The terminal capabilities may indicate resource allocation support information for the terminal.

[0117] In one or more embodiments, the terminal performs SL transmission to perform an SL positioning process to obtain positioning information related to the terminal. The terminal or one of the adjacent terminals may use SL transmission to identify or request relative positioning information of the target device. The relative positioning information may include the position and / or distance of the target device relative to one of the adjacent terminals. The relative positioning information may include the known position (e.g., absolute position) of one or more adjacent terminals. For example, the relative positioning information may be obtained by the target device and may include the position of the target device relative to three different adjacent terminals. The information may also include the absolute position for at least one of the adjacent terminals. Upon receiving the relative positioning information, the target device may calculate its exact position (e.g., two-dimensional position or three-dimensional position) relative to one of the adjacent signals that provide the absolute position. The target device may then calculate its absolute position based on the absolute position of the adjacent terminal and the position of the target device relative to the adjacent terminal.

[0118] In one or more embodiments, two UE devices communicating with each other may use a SL communication link to exchange SL transmissions. The SL communication link may be defined for 5G NR in Section 6.3.8 TS 36.331 of the 3GPP standard.

[0119] In some embodiments, replacing one of the UE devices, performing the function and having a reference Figure 1 and Figure 3 The structure of the base station 102 described above can be used to calculate positioning information.

[0120] FIG. 6A to FIG. 6D is a schematic diagram illustrating a positioning process in which the positioning information of the terminal is obtained. Fig. 6A810, the system 800A includes a UE2 850 with an unknown location. UE2 850 is outside of a coverage area 810 provided by a core network (shown only as coverage area 810). Therefore, UE2 850 cannot rely on wireless communication services with the core network to obtain its location (e.g., the terminal cannot connect to a positioning system (such as GPS or satellite)). In the coverage area 810, UE1 840 is connected to a gNB 830, which facilitates a connection between UE1 840 and a location management function (LMF) 820 via a core link connection 825 and a core link connection 835, respectively. The gNB 830 may make a reference Figure 1 , Figure 3 , Figure 4 and Figure 5 The functions of the base station 102 are described. The core link connection 835 can be programmed with multiple uplink and downlink transmission channels. The core link connection 845 can be programmed to distribute higher layer signals to other base stations.

[0121] In one or more embodiments, the LMF 820 may be configured to provide location services to UE1 840 in the coverage area 810. The LMF 820 may receive a location service request from the gNB 830 after receiving a communication request from the UE1 840. In response, the LMF 820 may assist the UE1 840 in identifying its location. The location of the UE1 840 may be calculated using only the UE1 840 with the assistance of the gNB 830 or with the assistance of one or more additional neighboring terminals. The LMF 820 may return the result of the location service to the UE1 840 (e.g., a location estimate for the absolute location of the UE1 840) via the gNB 830.

[0122] exist Figure 6B In the system 800B, UE2 850 has an unknown location. Although UE2 850 may be in a coverage area 810 provided by a core network, UE2 850 relies on a sidelink connection 845 with UE1 840 to reach resources from the core network. Therefore, as long as the core network is accessed via UE1 840, UE2 850 can rely on wireless communication services with the core network to obtain its location. In the coverage area 810, UE1 840 is connected to a gNB 830, which facilitates the connection between UE1 840 and LMF 820 via a core link connection 825 and a core link connection 835, respectively.

[0123] In one or more embodiments, the LMF 820 may be configured to provide location services to UE1 840 in the coverage area 810. The LMF 820 may receive a location service request from the gNB 830 after receiving a communication request from UE1 840 or UE2 850. In response, the LMF 820 may assist UE1 840 or UE2 850 in identifying their location. Fig. 6A The location of UE1 840 is determined. The location of UE2 850 may be calculated using UE1 840 and UE2 850 with the assistance of gNB 830 or with the assistance of one or more additional neighboring terminals. LMF 820 may return the result of the location service to UE2 850 (e.g., a location estimate for the absolute location of UE2 850) via a sidelink connection 845 with UE1 840.

[0124] exist Figure 6C In the system 800C, UE2 850 has an unknown location. Although UE2 850 may be in a coverage area 810 provided by a core network, UE2 850 relies on a sidelink connection 845 with UE1 840 to reach resources from the core network. Therefore, as long as the core network is accessed via UE1 840, UE2 850 can rely on wireless communication services with the core network to obtain its location. In the coverage area 810, UE1 840 is connected to a gNB 830, which facilitates the connection between UE1 840 and LMF 820 via a core link connection 825 and a core link connection 835, respectively. In addition, UE1 840 communicates directly with the SL-LMF 860, which provides all the functions described with reference to LMF 820. The SL-LMF can be a module located in UE1 840.

[0125] In one or more embodiments, LMF 820 and SL-LMF 860 may be configured to provide location services to UE1 840 in coverage area 810. LMF 820 may receive a location service request and may use a reference Figure 6B Assistance in the manner described.

[0126] SL-LMF 860 may receive a location service request without involving gNB 830. Instead, SL-LMF 860 may receive a location service request directly from UE1 840 via access link connection 847. In response, SL-LMF 860 may assist UE1 840 in identifying its location. The location of UE1 840 may be calculated using UE1 840, UE2 850 with the assistance of gNB 830 or with the assistance of one or more neighboring terminals. SL-LMF 860 may return the results of the location service directly to UE1 840.

[0127] In one or more embodiments, the SL-LMF 860 may be configured to provide location services to UE1 840 in the coverage area 810. The LMF 820 may receive a location service request directly from UE1 840 after receiving a communication request from UE2 850. In response, the SL-LMF 860 may assist UE2 850 in identifying its location. The location of UE2 850 may be determined using UE1 840 with the assistance of the gNB 830 or with the assistance of one or more additional neighboring terminals. The LMF 820 may return the results of the location service to UE2 850 via the sidelink connection 845 with UE1 840.

[0128] exist Fig.6D 850. In the example of FIG. 800D, system 800D includes UE2 850 with an unknown location. UE1 840 and UE2 850 may be out of coverage from coverage area 810. Instead, UE1 840 and UE2 850 may be in coverage area 870 provided by UE1 840 and its connection to SL-LMF 860 via access link connection 847. Coverage area 870 may be provided by a network with positioning capabilities instead of the core network. Coverage area 870 may be provided by the core network via the SL-LMF.

[0129] In one or more embodiments, the SL-LMF 860 may be configured to provide location services to UE1 840 and UE2 850 in the coverage area 870. The SL-LMF 860 may receive a location service request and may include a reference to the location service request. Figure 6C Assistance in the manner described.

[0130] In the positioning process involving SL-LMF 860, UE1 840 or UE2 850 may recognize that UE2 850 cannot receive downlink communication signals from the core network due to terminal capabilities or terminal configuration associated with UE2 850. In order to obtain relative positioning information for UE2 850, UE2 850 may determine a resource allocation pattern based on the SL-LMF located in UE1 840. UE2 850 may be configured to exchange SL transmissions with UE1 840 via sidelink connection 845. Sidelink connection 845 may be based on reference Figure 5 The described method uses the SL communication link established by the synchronization information.

[0131] The SL communication link may be established using the indexing information. The indexing information may include communication information identifying at least one neighboring terminal to UE2 850 as a positioning reference. The positioning reference may be a neighboring terminal configured to obtain its absolute position on the earth or in a specific area. FIG. 6A to FIG. 6DIn the example, the positioning reference may be UE1 840 .

[0132] In some embodiments, SL-LMF 860 identifies relative positioning information for UE2 850 without calculating its absolute position. In these cases, the relative positioning information may include the position of UE2 850 relative to UE1 840 and the absolute position of UE1 840. UE1 840 or UE2 850 may calculate the absolute position of UE2 850 based on the relative positioning information.

[0133] Configuration parameters for implementing the SL positioning process may be received from the SL-LMF 860 at UE1 840 and / or UE2 850. In addition, the absolute position of UE1 840 and / or the absolute position of UE2 850 may be calculated by the SL-LMF 860 without requiring any calculation by the UE device.

[0134] SL transmission during LMF positioning

[0135] In one or more embodiments, information may be transmitted from a UE device to one of the LMFs. The information may include indexing information such as secondary synchronization reference signal received power (SS-RSRP), secondary synchronization reference signal received quality (SS-RSRQ), CSI-RSPR, CSI-RSRQ, physical cell ID or other NR cell / group global identifiers, S-SSB-RSRP, S-SSB-RSRQ, SL-CSI-RSRP and / or SL-CSI-RSRQ. The information may include the SL-UE ID (i.e., the ID for the terminal in the SL link communication) and the SL-UE Rx-Tx time difference from each UE device. These signals have been described in detail above.

[0136] In one or more embodiments, information may be transmitted from a reference UE device to one of the LMFs. The information may include SL information such as SL AoA / AoD (e.g., azimuth and elevation) and UE ID. The information may include results that may be obtained in NR measurements or Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) measurements. NR measurements may include SL-UE ID, S-SSB-RSRP, S-SSB-RSRQ, SL-CSI-RSRP and / or SL-CSI-RSRQ. E-UTRA measurements may include E-UTRA physical cell ID, E-UTRA RSRP and / or E-UTRA RSRQ.

[0137] Perform SL-Group ID location process

[0138] In one or more embodiments, in the SL-group ID positioning process, positioning information about the UE device may be estimated after obtaining information about the serving gNB and / or a group of neighboring terminals. The SL-group ID positioning process may be implemented to determine the location of the first terminal using group ID information belonging to a group of neighboring terminals. The information may be obtained using SL transmissions in one or more SL communication links. For the sole purpose of obtaining positioning information, the SL-group ID may not require the UE device to perform additional measurements. The positioning process may not provide measurement configuration or measurement control messages, and the UE device may report the available measurements it has instead of being required to take additional measurement actions.

[0139] The SL-Group ID positioning procedure may use UE and / or NR radio resource related measurements to improve the location estimate of the UE device. The information exchanged during the SL-Group ID positioning procedure may be the same as that listed for SL transmission in the LMF positioning procedure.

[0140] In S-SSB-RSRP measurement, PSBCH DMR can be used to perform S-SSB-RSRP measurement. In addition, SSSS can be used for S-SSB-RSRP measurement. The terminal can use only PSBCH DMRS, or a combination of SSSS and PSBCH DMRS.

[0141] In S-SSB-RSRQ, NxS-SS-RSRP / NR is the carrier received signal strength indication (RSSI), where N is the number of resource blocks in the NR carrier RSSI measurement bandwidth.

[0142] In the SL-CSI-RS-RSRP measurement and the SL-CSI-RS-RSRQ measurement, the SL-CSI-RSRP may be defined as the linear average over the power contributions (in Watts) of the resource elements of the antenna ports carrying the CSI reference signal configured for RSRP measurement within the considered measurement frequency bandwidth in the configured CSI-RS opportunities. In addition, the SL-CSI-RSRQ may be defined as the ratio of NxCSI-RSRP to CSI-RSSI, where N is the number of resource blocks in the CSI-RSSI measurement bandwidth. The measurements in the numerator and denominator may be performed on the same set of resource blocks.

[0143] In Rx-Tx difference measurements for various UE devices, the results may be obtained via timing advance (TA) estimation. In sidelink AoA / AoD measurements, the results may be estimated at the terminal communicating using the SL communication link based on its capacity (e.g., using algorithms such as multiple signal classification (MUSIC) and signal parameter estimation via rotational invariance techniques (ESPRIT)). These algorithms are non-limiting examples for estimating azimuth and / or elevation based on identifying the corresponding beam index.

[0144] Steering Figure 7 , a flow chart 900 is shown, which details a method for performing a SL positioning procedure according to a SL-LMF positioning procedure or a SL-Group ID positioning procedure. In this example, the method is performed by a first terminal, which exchanges information via a SL communication link established with a base station and / or one or more neighboring terminals.

[0145] At 910, the flowchart begins with the first terminal receiving configuration parameters for a SL positioning process from the second terminal, in which positioning information is obtained. The positioning process may be an LMF positioning process or an SL-Group ID positioning process. The LMF positioning process may include using LMF or SL-LMF as described above with respect to FIG. 6A to FIG. 6D The SL-Group ID positioning process may be implemented to determine the location of the first terminal using group ID information belonging to a group of neighboring terminals, as described above.

[0146] At 920, the flowchart continues, where the first terminal determines, based on the configuration parameters, indexing information and synchronization information to be used in the SL transmission process to obtain positioning information. The indexing information may include communication information that identifies at least one neighboring terminal to the first terminal as a positioning reference. The positioning reference may be a neighboring terminal configured to obtain its absolute position on the earth or in a specific area. The first terminal may implement the SL positioning process upon receiving an instruction from one of its neighboring terminals. The synchronization information may include communication information related to the allocation of resources for at least one synchronization signal. The terminals involved in the SL positioning process using SL transmission may all share the same synchronization signal.

[0147] At 930, a resource allocation pattern to be used in the SL transmission process is determined based on the configuration parameters. At this stage, for the LMF positioning process, the first terminal or the second terminal can determine whether the first terminal is outside the coverage area, partially outside the coverage area, or completely inside the coverage area. In the SL-Group ID positioning process, the first terminal or the second terminal can request a group ID and additional group information related to one or more additional neighboring signals communicated via the SL communication link.

[0148] At 940, a resource allocation pattern is implemented according to the SL transmission process to obtain positioning information. For the LMF positioning process, the resource allocation pattern is determined based on whether the first terminal is outside the coverage area, partially outside the coverage area, or completely inside the coverage area. For the SL-Group ID positioning process, the resource allocation pattern is determined based on the group ID and the capabilities of the neighboring terminals.

[0149] At 950, SL signaling is transmitted from the first terminal to the second terminal. The SL signaling may indicate indexing information and synchronization information. At 960, it is determined whether the first terminal or the second terminal is to calculate positioning information according to the LMF positioning process or the SL-Group ID positioning process. At this stage, either terminal may be designated as a terminal that calculates an absolute position for the first terminal based on the known position of the positioning reference and the position of the first terminal from the terminal serving as the positioning reference. The positioning reference may be the second terminal, or it may be an additional terminal.

[0150] The flowchart ends at 970, where the first terminal obtains relative positioning information including the absolute position of the first terminal. Based on the determination in 960, the first terminal or the second terminal determines the absolute position of the first terminal. If the second terminal determines the absolute position of the first terminal, the first terminal obtains the information by receiving a communication from the second terminal.

[0151] Fig. 8A and Fig.9A Schematic diagrams 1000A and 1100A, respectively, illustrate examples of TDOA positioning processes according to one or more aspects. Fig. 8A and Fig.9A Wireless elements with multi-cell interference that are equipped with array antennas and are capable of establishing SL communication links and / or performing SL transmissions are shown. Arrays in these wireless elements can be used for both sensing and high-rate low-latency communication. Figure 8B and Fig. 9B From Fig. 8A and Fig.9A A timeline for calculating the arrival time of at least two SL transmissions is illustrated from the perspective of one of the wireless devices involved.

[0152] In some embodiments, the TDOA positioning process is based on the following: based on the time delay of arrival at (or from) the target terminal of 2 or more adjacent terminals in the positioning set. The positioning set is a group of terminals (excluding the target terminal) used for SL-TDOA. The positioning set can be pre-configured before the TDOA positioning process starts, or it can be set dynamically. The positioning set may include two terminals for two-dimensional (2-D) positioning and three terminals for 3-D positioning. The TDOA positioning process can be suitable for identifying positioning information related to the target terminal outside the coverage area, in the partial coverage area, and in the full coverage area scenario.

[0153] In one or more embodiments, the TDOA positioning process solves a hyperbolic system to estimate the target terminal location using the known positions of neighboring terminals in the positioning set. The target terminal can determine the time difference between the received multiple transmissions and use the determined time information to replace the unknown quantity in the corresponding formula for each terminal in the positioning set. Fig. 8A and Fig.9A In the figure, a hyperbola is formed by multiple coverage areas (only two are shown as representatives) represented by dashed lines. Neighboring terminals may know their absolute positions or be able to obtain their absolute positions. In some embodiments, in hybrid SL-TDOA, the gNB may replace one or more terminals in the positioning set.

[0154] In the TDOA positioning process, the indexing information may be transmitted based on whether the expected transmission is to or from the gNB. If the transmission is transmitted to the gNB, the SL-PSRS may be used as a reference signal. If the transmission is transmitted from the gNB, the target terminal may expect to receive the Uu-based PRS as a reference signal. These processes may be used in situations where the target terminal is out of coverage, in partial coverage, and in full coverage scenarios. The indexing information may be pre-configured or dynamically set. The indexing information may be set explicitly to obtain positioning information, or it may be different from the indexing information used for SL transmissions.

[0155] In the TDOA positioning process, the synchronization information may indicate that the synchronization source may be used for SL transmission between adjacent terminals. As described above, the synchronization source may be the same for all terminals in the positioning set. The synchronization source may be a synchronization signal that is pre-configured or dynamically set.

[0156] In NR V2X, multiple synchronization sources can be used to meet the synchronization source requirements set in TS 38.133 of the 3GPP standard. These synchronization sources may include GNSS, NR cells on non-V2X sources, E-UTRAN cells, or SyncRef UEs in out-of-coverage scenarios. The target terminal can select the synchronization source based on different priorities of gNB (in the case where gNB is involved), GNSS, and SyncRef UE.

[0157] As described above, a positioning reference may be determined based on the reference information. In some embodiments, the positioning reference is a terminal (i.e., a UE device or a base station) (which may have a known location, such as a positioning reference unit) used as a reference for SL-TDOA. In this regard, the positioning reference may be a gNB, a UE device / location reference unit connected to / synchronized with a gNB, or any other UE device. The positioning reference may be in the coverage of a GNSS (including out-of-coverage terminals) or may be connected to / synchronized with a terminal in the coverage of a GNSS.

[0158] Before estimating the absolute position of the target terminal, all terminals in the positioning set may need to synchronize with the positioning reference. In some embodiments, the SL coverage indication (indicating whether the terminal is in coverage or out of coverage) can be used to identify the type of positioning reference from the examples provided above. A GNSS coverage indication can also be added. In this case, a priority can be used by the terminals in the positioning set to determine which of the terminals is used as a reference (e.g., GNSS>gNB).

[0159] The SL-TDOA positioning process can be "incoming" or "outgoing". In an incoming SL-TDOA positioning process, the target terminal receives a reference signal from a positioning set. This allows for passive position estimation, in which the target terminal is not the target of signal transmissions from terminals in the positioning set. In an outgoing SL-TDOA positioning process, the target terminal sends a reference signal to the positioning set. In some embodiments, the SL-TDOA positioning process described herein may be performed from the perspective of one of the neighboring terminals (e.g., a candidate UE). In this case, the positioning process may be performed or observed from the perspective of a predetermined TRP or gNB.

[0160] exist Fig. 8AIn the schematic diagram 1000A of FIG. 1 , the absolute position of the target 1040 is unknown. To calculate the absolute position, the target 1040 may rely on positioning information obtained from one or more of UE1 1010, UE2 1020, and UE3 1030. UE1 1010, UE2 1020, and UE3 1030 provide signals to the target 1040 at reception times τ1, τ2, and τ3. Fig. 8A Multiple UE devices are shown, but a combination of UE devices and base stations may be used to determine the absolute location of target 1040. Fig. 8A In , the positioning set includes UE1 1010, UE2 1020 and UE3 1030, wherein one of the UE devices serves as a positioning reference. Fig. 8A In the example of , UE1 1010 and UE2 1020 provide coverage A 1050A and coverage B 1050B to target 1040, respectively.

[0161] In an incoming SL-TDOA (e.g., IN-SL-TDOA) positioning process, the absolute position of the target terminal is estimated based on the SL reference signal time difference (RSTD). In addition, the absolute position of the target terminal can be estimated based on SL PRS-RSRP / SL SRS-PRSRP measurements of radio signals received at the terminal from multiple NR SL-UEs, or a mixture of NR TRP and NR SL-UEs (e.g., hybrid IN-SL-TDOA), or together with knowledge of the geographic coordinates of the terminal and their relative received signal timing. In the present disclosure, a P(S)RS parameter or information element refers to a signal that includes the functionality of PRS, SRS, or a combination of both.

[0162] According to some aspects, the following Table 1 shows the information that can be transmitted from the LMF to the terminal during the IN-SL-TDOA positioning process. The LMF can be as follows: FIG. 6A to FIG. 6D The conventional LMF or SL-LMF described in . In this regard, the SL-LMF can be disconnected from the core network core in the event that the terminal hosting it is out of coverage. In Table 1, it is indicated whether certain information can be obtained with the help of a given terminal or based on the terminal itself. Terminal-assisted information is information estimated based on measurements made by the UE device, which the UE provides to neighboring terminals for any corresponding calculations. Terminal-based information is information estimated based on measurements and calculations made by the UE device.

[0163]

[0164] Table 1

[0165] According to some aspects, Table 2 below shows information that can be transmitted from the UE to the LMF in IN-SL-TDOA.

[0166]

[0167] Table 2

[0168] In accordance with some aspects, Table 3 below shows the information that can be transmitted from the gNB / SL-UE to the LMF in IN-SL-TDOA.

[0169]

[0170] Table 3

[0171] The IN-SL-TDOA positioning process may include: identifying a positioning set, identifying a positioning reference in the positioning set, establishing a common synchronization reference, configuring the SL-P(S)RS, and configuring a positioning set group (for P(S)RS reception with or without PSSCH). In order to obtain positioning information for the target 1040, each terminal in the positioning set may send a corresponding SL-P(S)RS in a SL transmission. In order to obtain positioning information, the target 1040 may send a SL-P(S)RS request to the positioning set. In response, the positioning set sends the SL-P(S)RS. As described above, the SL-P(S)RS may be FDM (SL-PRS or SL-SRS) or CDM (SL-SRS). In addition, the transmission with the SL-P(S)RS may be periodic or semi-persistent scheduling (SPS). Finally, a transmission with the SL-P(S)RS may be sent individually from each terminal in the positioning set within a pre-configured or dynamically modified period.

[0172] After receiving the SL transmission, the SL transmission indicating the TDOA feedback may be transmitted to the positioning estimator. The positioning estimator may be a UE positioning estimator implemented using physical layer feedback (e.g., layer 1 feedback). The feedback may include all positioning information required to determine the absolute position of the target 1040. The positioning estimator may be a designated UE or gNB from the positioning set. In this case, the feedback may be provided to the designated UE / gNB. The positioning estimator may be an LMF / SL-LMF. In this case, the feedback may be provided to the LMF / SL-LMF. The positioning estimator may be the target 1040, in which case no feedback is required.

[0173] Figure 8B An example of a timeline 1000B is shown, which shows that multiple PRSs arrive at a target 1040 from UE1 1010 and UE 2 1020, which provide coverage A 1050A and coverage B 1050B to the target 1040, respectively. Figure 8BIn the example of , time increases in the direction of the arrow (to the right). At the first transmission time (T1), UE1 1010 performs a SL transmission including a first PSR (PSR1) toward the target 1040. The first PSR arrives at the target 1040 at the first reception time (τ1). The difference between the first transmission time and the first reception time is the first time displacement (P1). At the second transmission time (T2), UE2 1020 performs a SL transmission including a second PSR (PSR2) toward the target 1040. The second PSR arrives at the target 1040 at the second reception time (τ2). The difference between the second transmission time and the second reception time is the second time displacement (P2). The RSTD of the first reception time and the second reception time is the absolute value of their difference, which can be expressed as RSTD 1,2 =τ2-τ1.

[0174] If the absolute positions of UE1 1010 and UE2 1020 are known, these positions may be represented as a first position with coordinates (x1, y1) and a second position with coordinates (x2, y2). Assuming unknown positions with coordinates (x, y) and a speed of light c equal to approximately 299,782,458 meters per second, a pair of formulas based on the first reception time and the second reception time may be derived as shown in Formulas (1) and (2) below.

[0175]

[0176] Equations (1) and (2) can be used to solve for an unknown position with coordinates (x, y). As described above, target 1040 and / or other terminals in the positioning set can perform these calculations.

[0177] exist Fig.9A In the schematic diagram 1100A of FIG. 1 , the absolute position of the target 1140 is unknown. To calculate the absolute position, the target 1140 may rely on positioning information obtained from one or more of UE1 1110, UE2 1120, and UE3 1130. UE1 1110, UE2 1120, and UE3 1130 provide signals to the target 1140 at reception times τ1, τ2, and τ3. Fig.9A Multiple UE devices are shown, but a combination of UE devices and base stations may be used to determine the absolute location of target 1140. Fig.9A In , the positioning set includes UE1 1110, UE2 1120, and UE3 1130, wherein one of the UE devices serves as a positioning reference. Fig.9A In the example of , UE1 1110 and UE2 1120 provide coverage A 1150A and coverage B 1150B to target 1140, respectively.

[0178] In the outgoing SL-TDOA (e.g., OUT-SL-TDOA) positioning process, the absolute position of the target terminal is estimated based on the SL relative time of arrival (RTOA). In addition, the absolute position of the target terminal can be estimated based on the SL PRS-RSRP / SLSRS-PRSRP measurements performed at different devices using SL transmissions together with other configuration information.

[0179] According to some aspects, Table 4 below shows information that can be transmitted from the LMF to the terminal during the OUT-SL-TDOA positioning process. The LMF can be as follows: FIG. 6A to FIG. 6D In this regard, the SL-LMF may be disconnected from the core network core when the terminal hosting it is out of coverage. In Table 4, assistance data that may be transmitted from the gNB / SL-UE to the LMF is indicated.

[0180]

[0181] Table 4

[0182] Table 5 shows information that may be transmitted from the serving gNB / SL UE to the LMF according to some aspects.

[0183] Table 5

[0184] In accordance with some aspects, Table 6 shows measurement results that can be transmitted from the gNB / SL-UE to the LMF.

[0185]

[0186] Table 6

[0187] The OUT-SL-TDOA positioning process may include: identifying a positioning set, identifying a positioning reference in the positioning set, establishing a common synchronization reference, configuring the SL-P(S)RS, and configuring a positioning set group (for P(S)RS reception with or without PSSCH). In order to obtain positioning information for target 1140, target 1140 may send the SL-P(S)RS to the positioning set in one or more SL transmissions. In order to obtain positioning information, target 1140 may send the SL-P(S)RS to the positioning set using the PSSCH. In some cases, target 1140 may send the PSSCH to one of the terminals in the positioning set, and may send the SL-P(S)RS to all other terminals in the positioning set. In addition, the transmission with the SL-P(S)RS may be periodic or semi-persistently scheduled (SPS). Finally, the transmission with the SL-P(S)RS may be sent in a multicast to all terminals in the positioning set.

[0188] After receiving the SL transmission, the SL transmission indicating the TDOA feedback may be transmitted to a positioning estimator. The positioning estimator may be a UE positioning estimator implemented using physical layer feedback (e.g., layer 1 feedback). The feedback may include all positioning information required to determine the absolute position of the target 1140. The positioning estimator may be a designated UE or gNB from the positioning set. In this case, the feedback may be provided to the designated UE / gNB. The positioning estimator may be an LMF / SL-LMF. In this case, the feedback may be provided to the LMF / SL-LMF. The positioning estimator may be the target 1140, in which case the feedback is transmitted to the target 1140.

[0189] Fig. 9B An example of a timeline 1100B is shown, which represents multiple PRSs from a target 1140 departing from UE1 1110 and UE 2 1120, which provide coverage A 1150A and coverage B 1150B to the target 1140, respectively. Fig. 9B In the example of , time increases in the direction of the arrow (to the right). At the broadcast transmission time (T0), the target 1140 performs a SL transmission including a first PSR (PSR1) toward UE11110 and a second PSR (PSR2) toward UE2 1120. The first PSR arrives at UE1 1110 at a first reception time (τ1). The difference between the broadcast transmission time and the first reception time is the first time displacement (P1). The second PSR arrives at UE2 1120 at the second reception time (τ2). The difference between the broadcast transmission time and the second reception time is the second time displacement (P1). The RSTD of the first reception time and the second reception time is the absolute value of their difference, which can be expressed as RSTD 1,2 =τ2-τ1.

[0190] If the absolute positions of UE1 1010 and UE2 1020 are known, these positions may be represented as a first position with coordinates (x1, y1) and a second position with coordinates (x2, y2). Assuming unknown positions with coordinates (x, y) and a speed of light c equal to approximately 299,782,458 meters per second, a pair of formulas based on the first reception time and the second reception time may be derived as shown in Formulas (3) and (4) below.

[0191]

[0192] Equations (1) and (2) can be used to solve for an unknown position with coordinates (x, y). As described above, target 1140 and / or other terminals in the positioning set can perform these calculations.

[0193] Steering Fig.10, a flow chart 1200 is shown, which details a method for performing a SL positioning process according to a TDOA positioning process. In this example, the method is performed by a first terminal, which exchanges information via a SL communication link established with a base station and / or one or more neighboring terminals.

[0194] At 1210, the flowchart begins with the first terminal receiving configuration parameters for a SL positioning process from the second terminal, in which positioning information is obtained. The positioning process may be a TDOA positioning process. The TDOA positioning process may include using IN-SL-TDOA or OUT-SL-TDOA as described above with respect to Fig. 8A and Figure 8B The position of the first terminal is determined in the manner described. The IN-SL-TDOA positioning process can be implemented by prioritizing the transmission of SL transmissions to the first terminal. The OUT-SL-TDOA positioning process can be implemented by prioritizing the transmission of SL transmissions from the first terminal.

[0195] At 1220, the flowchart continues, where the first terminal determines, based on the configuration parameters, indexing information and synchronization information to be used in the SL transmission process to obtain positioning information. The indexing information may include communication information that identifies at least one neighboring terminal to the first terminal as a positioning reference. The positioning reference may be a neighboring terminal configured to obtain its absolute position on the earth or in a specific area. The first terminal may implement the SL positioning process upon receiving an instruction from one of its neighboring terminals. The synchronization information may include communication information related to the allocation of resources for at least one synchronization signal. The terminals involved in the SL positioning process using SL transmission may all share the same synchronization signal.

[0196] At 1230, a resource allocation pattern to be used in the SL transmission process is determined based on the configuration parameters. At this stage, for the TDOA positioning process, the first terminal or the second terminal can determine whether the first terminal is outside the coverage area, partially outside the coverage area, or completely inside the coverage area. In addition, the first terminal or the second terminal can determine whether to calculate the absolute position of the first terminal based on measurements of SL transmissions received by the first terminal or based on SL transmissions transmitted by the first terminal.

[0197] At 1240, a resource allocation pattern is implemented according to the SL transmission process to obtain positioning information. For the TDOA positioning process, the resource allocation pattern is determined based on whether the first terminal is outside the coverage area, partially outside the coverage area, or completely inside the coverage area. In addition, the resource allocation pattern is determined based on whether the assistance data is intended to be provided to the LMF or the SL-LMF. As described above, the LMF and the SL-LMF can be incorporated into one of the neighboring terminals in the positioning set.

[0198] At 1250, SL signaling is transmitted from the first terminal to the second terminal. The SL signaling may indicate indexing information and synchronization information. At 1260, it is determined whether the first terminal or the second terminal is to calculate positioning information according to the TDOA positioning process. At this stage, either terminal may be designated as a terminal that calculates an absolute position for the first terminal based on the known position of the positioning reference and the position of the first terminal from the terminal that serves as the positioning reference. The positioning reference may be the second terminal, or it may be an additional terminal. Under the TDOA positioning process, a resource allocation pattern may be implemented to include resources to / from the first terminal that identify the first terminal or the second terminal as a positioning estimator.

[0199] The flowchart ends at 1270, where the first terminal obtains relative positioning information including the absolute position of the first terminal. Based on the determination in 1260, the first terminal or the second terminal determines the absolute position of the first terminal. If the second terminal determines the absolute position of the first terminal, the first terminal obtains the information by receiving communication from the second terminal.

[0200] FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D Schematic diagrams 1300A to 1300D are illustrated, which show multiple terminals configured to identify the absolute position of a target terminal based on two or more neighboring terminals in a positioning set. The positioning set is a group of terminals (excluding the target terminal) used to perform an AoA positioning process or an AoD positioning process. The positioning set can be pre-configured before the positioning process starts, or the positioning set can be dynamically set. The absolute position of the target terminal can be determined after the AoA positioning process or the AoD positioning process.

[0201] In the AoA positioning process, the angles at which SL transmissions arrive at neighboring terminals from the target terminal are measured. These angles are then associated with the reference signal measurement results for each SL transmission to obtain the absolute position of the target terminal. In the AoD positioning process, the angles at which SL transmissions leave neighboring terminals to the target terminal are measured. These angles are then associated with the reference signal measurement results for each SL transmission to obtain the absolute position of the target terminal. The AoA positioning process and the AoD positioning process can be configured to obtain the absolute position of the target terminal when the target terminal is out of coverage, in partial coverage, and in full coverage scenarios. In the AoA positioning process and the AoD positioning process, positioning algorithms (such as MUSIC or ESPRIT algorithms) can be used to estimate the azimuth and elevation angles. At this point, the position estimator can estimate the absolute position of the target terminal based on triangulation of the estimated angles. As shown in some of the figures, the gNB can be one or more of the terminals in the positioning set. In the case where a gNB is included, the process can be referred to as implementing a hybrid SL positioning operation.

[0202] For hybrid SL positioning, the transmitted positioning information may be based on whether the expected transmission is to or from the gNB. The SL-PSRS may be used by the target terminal in positioning procedures involving transmissions to the gNB. In positioning procedures involving transmissions from the gNB, the target terminal expects to receive a typical Uu-based PRS.

[0203] As described above, a positioning reference may be determined based on the indexing information. In some embodiments, the positioning reference is a terminal (i.e., a UE device or a base station) used as a reference for the positioning process (possibly with a known location, such as a positioning reference unit). In this regard, the positioning reference may be a gNB, a UE device / location reference unit connected to / synchronized with a gNB, or any other UE device. The positioning reference may be in the coverage of a GNSS (including out-of-coverage terminals) or may be connected to / synchronized with a terminal in the coverage of a GNSS.

[0204] In the AoA positioning process, the target terminal may send a reference signal to all terminals in the positioning set. In the AoD positioning process, the target terminal may receive reference signals from all terminals in the positioning set. This may allow passive position estimation in which the target terminal is not the target of signal transmissions from terminals in the positioning set. In some embodiments, the AoA positioning process and the AoD positioning process described herein may be performed from the perspective of one of the neighboring terminals (e.g., a candidate UE). In this case, the positioning process may be performed or observed from the perspective of a predetermined TRP or gNB.

[0205] exist Fig.11A and Fig. 11B In the example of , multiple terminals attempt to identify the absolute position of the target 1340 in the AoA positioning process. Fig.11A In , the remaining terminals in the terminals are such a positioning set, which includes UE1 1310 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA1 1350A, UE2 1320 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA2 1350A, and UE3 1330 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA3 1350A. Fig. 11B , the remaining terminals in the terminal are such a positioning set, which includes UE1 1310 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA1 1370A, base station 1360 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA2 1360B, and UE3 1330 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA3 1370C. In the AoA positioning process, the absolute position of the target terminal can be estimated based on SL PRS-RSRP / SL SRS-PRSRP measurements performed at different devices using SL transmissions together with other configuration information.

[0206] According to some aspects, the following Table 7 shows the information that can be transmitted from the LMF to the terminal during the AoA positioning process. The LMF can be as follows FIG. 6A to FIG. 6D In this regard, the SL-LMF can be disconnected from the core network core in the event that the terminal hosting it is out of coverage. In Table 1, it is indicated whether certain information can be obtained with the help of a given terminal or based on the terminal itself.

[0207]

[0208] Table 7

[0209] Table 8 lists the information that can be transmitted from the serving gNB / SL UE to the LMF according to some aspects.

[0210] Table 8

[0211] According to some aspects, Table 9 lists the measurement results that can be transmitted from the gNB / SL-UE to the LMF.

[0212]

[0213] Table 9

[0214] The AoA positioning process may include: identifying a positioning set, identifying a positioning reference in the positioning set, configuring the SL-P(S)RS, and configuring a positioning set group (for P(S)RS reception with or without PSSCH). In order to obtain positioning information for target 1340, target 1340 may send the SL-P(S)RS to the positioning set in one or more SL transmissions. In order to obtain positioning information, target 1340 may send the SL-P(S)RS to the positioning set using the PSSCH. In some cases, target 1340 may send the PSSCH to one of the terminals in the positioning set, and may send the SL-P(S)RS to all other terminals in the positioning set. In addition, the transmission with the SL-P(S)RS may be periodic or semi-persistently scheduled (SPS). Ultimately, the transmission with the SL-P(S)RS may be sent in a multicast to all terminals in the positioning set.

[0215] After receiving the SL transmission, target 1340 measures AoA and SL-P(S)RS-RSRP. In addition, a SL transmission indicating AoA feedback may be transmitted to a positioning estimator. The positioning estimator may be a UE positioning estimator implemented using physical layer feedback (e.g., layer 1 feedback). The feedback may include all positioning information required to determine the absolute position of target 1340. The positioning estimator may be a designated UE or gNB from a positioning set. In this case, the feedback may be provided to the designated UE / gNB. The positioning estimator may be an LMF / SL-LMF. In this case, the feedback may be provided to the LMF / SL-LMF. The positioning estimator may be target 1340, in which case the feedback is transmitted to target 1340.

[0216] exist Fig. 11C and Fig.11D In the example of , multiple terminals attempt to identify the absolute position of the target 1340 in the AoD positioning process. Fig. 11C In , the remaining terminals in the terminals are such a positioning set, which includes UE1 1310 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA1 1380A, UE2 1320 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA2 1380B, and UE3 1330 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA3 1380C. Fig.11D 1390A, the remaining terminals in the terminal are such a positioning set, which includes UE1 1310 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA1 1390A, base station 1360 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA2 1390B, and UE3 1330 receiving signal transmission at angle AoA3 1390C. In the AoD positioning process, the absolute position of the target terminal can be estimated based on SL PRS-RSRP / SL SRS-PRSRP measurements performed at different devices using SL transmissions together with other configuration information.

[0217] According to some aspects, the following Table 7 shows the information that can be transmitted from the LMF to the terminal during the AoA positioning process. The LMF can be as follows FIG. 6A to FIG. 6D In this regard, the SL-LMF can be disconnected from the core network core in the event that the terminal hosting it is out of coverage. In Table 1, it is indicated whether certain information can be obtained with the help of a given terminal or based on the terminal itself.

[0218]

[0219] Table 10

[0220] According to some aspects, Table 11 below shows the information that can be transmitted from the UE to the LMF in IN-SL-TDOA.

[0221]

[0222] Table 11

[0223] In accordance with some aspects, Table 3 below shows the information that can be transmitted from the gNB / SL-UE to the LMF in IN-SL-TDOA.

[0224]

[0225] Table 12

[0226] The AoD positioning process may include: identifying a positioning set, configuring the SL-P(S)RS, and configuring a positioning set group (for P(S)RS reception with or without PSSCH). In order to obtain positioning information for the target 1340, each terminal in the positioning set may send a corresponding SL-P(S)RS in a SL transmission. In order to obtain positioning information, the target 1340 may send a SL-P(S)RS request to the positioning set. In response, the positioning set sends the SL-P(S)RS. As described above, the SL-P(S)RS can be FDM (SL-PRS or SL-SRS) or CDM (SL-SRS). In addition, the transmission with the SL-P(S)RS can be periodic or semi-persistent scheduling (SPS). Finally, a transmission with the SL-P(S)RS can be sent individually from each terminal in the positioning set within a pre-configured or dynamically modified period.

[0227] After receiving the SL transmission, the SL transmission indicating the AoD feedback may be transmitted to the positioning estimator. The positioning estimator may be a UE positioning estimator implemented using physical layer feedback (e.g., layer 1 feedback). The feedback may include all positioning information required to determine the absolute position of the target 1340. The positioning estimator may be a designated UE or gNB from the positioning set. In this case, the feedback may be provided to the designated UE / gNB. The positioning estimator may be an LMF / SL-LMF. In this case, the feedback may be provided to the LMF / SL-LMF. The positioning estimator may be the target 1340, in which case no feedback needs to be transmitted.

[0228] Steering Fig.12 , a flow chart 1400 is shown, which details a method for performing a SL positioning process according to an AoA positioning process or an AoD positioning process. In this example, the method is performed by a first terminal, which exchanges information via a SL communication link established with a base station and / or one or more neighboring terminals.

[0229] At 1410, the flowchart begins with the first terminal receiving configuration parameters for a SL positioning process from the second terminal, in which positioning information is obtained. The positioning process may be an AoA positioning process or an AoD positioning process, which is performed as described above with respect to FIG. 11A to FIG. 11D The AoA positioning process can be implemented by prioritizing the transmission of SL transmissions from the first terminal and collecting the angles at which these signals arrive at adjacent terminals. The AoD positioning process can be implemented by prioritizing the transmission of SL transmissions to the first terminal and collecting the angles at which these signals leave adjacent terminals.

[0230] At 1420, the flowchart continues, where the first terminal determines, based on the configuration parameters, indexing information and synchronization information to be used in the SL transmission process to obtain positioning information. The indexing information may include communication information that identifies at least one neighboring terminal to the first terminal as a positioning reference. The positioning reference may be a neighboring terminal configured to obtain its absolute position on the earth or in a specific area. The first terminal may implement the SL positioning process upon receiving an instruction from one of its neighboring terminals. The synchronization information may include communication information related to the allocation of resources for at least one synchronization signal. The terminals involved in the SL positioning process using SL transmission may all share the same synchronization signal.

[0231] At 1430, a resource allocation mode to be used in the SL transmission process is determined based on the configuration parameters. At this stage, for both the AoA positioning process and the AoD positioning process, the first terminal or the second terminal may determine whether the first terminal is outside the coverage area, partially outside the coverage area, or completely inside the coverage area. In addition, the first terminal or the second terminal may determine whether to calculate the absolute position of the first terminal based on the SL transmission transmitted by the first terminal or based on the measurement of the SL transmission received by the first terminal.

[0232] At 1440, a resource allocation pattern is implemented according to the SL transmission process to obtain positioning information. For the AoA positioning process and the AoD positioning process, the resource allocation pattern is determined based on whether the first terminal is outside the coverage area, partially outside the coverage area, or completely inside the coverage area. In addition, the resource allocation pattern is determined based on whether the assistance data is intended to be provided to the LMF or the SL-LMF. As described above, the LMF and the SL-LMF can be incorporated into one of the neighboring terminals in the positioning set.

[0233] At 1450, SL signaling is transmitted from the first terminal to the second terminal. The SL signaling may indicate indexing information and synchronization information. At 1460, it is determined whether the first terminal or the second terminal is to calculate positioning information according to the AoA positioning process or the AoD positioning process. At this stage, either terminal may be designated as a terminal that calculates an absolute position for the first terminal based on the known position of the positioning reference and the position of the first terminal from the terminal serving as the positioning reference. The positioning reference may be the second terminal, or it may be an additional terminal. Under the AoA positioning process or the AoD positioning process, the resource allocation pattern may be implemented to include resources to / from the first terminal that identify the first terminal or the second terminal as a positioning estimator.

[0234] The flowchart ends at 1470, where the first terminal obtains relative positioning information including the absolute position of the first terminal. Based on the determination in 1460, the first terminal or the second terminal determines the absolute position of the first terminal. If the second terminal determines the absolute position of the first terminal, the first terminal obtains the information by receiving communication from the second terminal.

[0235] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0236] Aspects of the present disclosure can be implemented in any of a variety of forms. For example, some aspects can be implemented as computer-implemented methods, computer-readable storage media, or computer systems. Other aspects can be implemented using one or more custom-designed hardware devices such as ASICs. Other aspects can be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements such as FPGAs.

[0237] In some aspects, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium may be configured such that it stores program instructions and / or data, where the program instructions, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method (e.g., any of the method aspects described herein, or any combination of the method aspects described herein, or any subset of any of the method aspects described herein, or any combination of such subsets).

[0238] In some aspects, a device (e.g., UE 106, BS 102, network element 600) may be configured to include a processor (or a group of processors) and a memory medium, wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, wherein the program instructions are executable to implement any of the various method aspects described herein (or any combination of the method aspects described herein, or any subset of any method aspects of the method aspects described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of a variety of forms.

[0239] Although the above aspects have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to include all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A first terminal, comprising: a receiver that receives configuration parameters for a sidelink (SL) positioning process from a second terminal, and obtains positioning information of the first terminal in the sidelink (SL) positioning process; and A processor, the processor being configured to: Based on the configuration parameters, indexing information and synchronization information to be used in the SL transmission process to obtain the positioning information are determined.

2. The first terminal according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to: determining a resource allocation mode to be used in the SL transmission process based on the configuration parameters, and The resource allocation mode is implemented according to the SL transmission process to obtain the positioning information.

3. The first terminal according to claim 1, further comprising: a transmitter, the transmitter transmitting a broadcast signal to the second terminal, the broadcast signal including terminal capabilities and a communication request, The terminal capability is information about one or more transmission and reception capabilities of the first terminal, and The communication request is a signaling requesting to start the positioning process.

4. The first terminal according to claim 1, wherein the configuration parameters are received by the first terminal via a SL communication link.

5. The first terminal according to claim 1, wherein: The second terminal is a base station, and The configuration parameters are determined by the base station via higher layer signaling.

6. The first terminal according to claim 1, wherein: The positioning process is a positioning management function (LMF) positioning process, and The processor is further configured to: It is identified that the first terminal cannot receive a downlink communication signal from a core network, and the resource allocation mode is determined according to the SL-LMF located in the second terminal.

7. The first terminal according to claim 6, wherein: The transmitter is further configured to: transmit SL signaling to the second terminal, the SL signaling indicating the indexing information and the synchronization information, and The receiver is further configured to: receive relative positioning information, the relative positioning information comprising a position of the first terminal relative to the second terminal and an absolute position of the second terminal, the absolute position of the second terminal being obtained via the SL-LMF, and The processor is further configured to calculate an absolute position of the first terminal based on the relative positioning information.

8. The first terminal according to claim 6, wherein: The transmitter is further configured to: transmit SL signaling to the second terminal, the SL signaling indicating the indexing information and the synchronization information, and The receiver is further configured to receive relative positioning information including an absolute position of the first terminal, wherein the absolute position of the first terminal is obtained via the SL-LMF in the second terminal.

9. The first terminal according to claim 1, wherein: When the positioning process is an SL-Group ID positioning process, and The processor is further configured to: identifying a SL-Channel State Information (CSI) configuration in the configuration parameters, the SL-CSI configuration supporting power measurement or quality measurement in a predetermined frequency bandwidth, and The resource allocation mode is determined according to the SL-CSI configuration.

10. The first terminal according to claim 9, wherein: The transmitter is further configured to: transmit the resource allocation mode to the second terminal, The receiver is further configured to: receive relative positioning information from the second terminal, the relative positioning information comprising a power measurement result or a quality measurement result and coverage information related to the second terminal, and The processor is further configured to calculate an absolute position of the first terminal based on the relative positioning information. 11 . The first terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to: determine the resource allocation mode according to the indexing information and the synchronization information.

12. The first terminal according to claim 11, wherein the positioning process is one of the following: a location management function (LMF) positioning process, a time difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning process, an angle of arrival (AoA) positioning process, an angle of departure (AoD) positioning process or a SL-group ID positioning process.

13. The first terminal according to claim 12, wherein the azimuth angle and the elevation angle are estimated based on a Multiple Signal Classification (MUSIC) and Signal Parameter Estimation via Rotational Invariance Technique (ESPRIT) algorithm in the positioning process.

14. The first terminal according to claim 11, wherein: The processor is further configured to: establishing a communication link with a third terminal, and identifying the second terminal or the third terminal as a positioning reference based on the indexing information, and The transmitter is further configured to transmit the indexing information and the synchronization information to the second terminal and the third terminal.

15. The first terminal according to claim 14, wherein: The receiver is further configured to receive relative positioning information from the second terminal or the third terminal, the relative positioning information including an absolute position of the first terminal estimated based on the positioning information received by the positioning reference.

16. The first terminal according to claim 14, wherein: The receiver is further configured to: receive relative positioning information from each of the second terminal and the third terminal, each relative positioning information including an absolute position of the second terminal or the third terminal and a position from the first terminal to the second terminal or the third terminal, and The processor is further configured to calculate an absolute position of the first terminal based on the absolute position of the second terminal, the absolute position of the third terminal, and the position from the first terminal to the second terminal or the third terminal.

17. The first terminal according to claim 11, wherein: The processor is further configured to: establishing a communication link with a third terminal, and identifying the second terminal or the third terminal as a positioning reference based on the indexing information, The receiver is further configured to receive measurement information from the second terminal and the third terminal, the measurement information being calculated by each of the second terminal and the third terminal based on the indexing information and the synchronization information.

18. The first terminal according to claim 17, wherein: The transmitter is further configured to: transmit the measurement information to the second terminal or the third terminal, and The receiver is further configured to receive relative positioning information including an absolute position of the first terminal estimated based on the measurement information received at the second terminal or the third terminal.

19. The first terminal according to claim 17, wherein: The processor is further configured to calculate an absolute position of the first terminal based on the measurement information received from the second terminal and the third terminal.

20. A method comprising any action or combination of actions substantially as described herein in the detailed description.

21. A method substantially as described herein with reference to each or any combination of the drawings included herein or with reference to each or any combination of the paragraphs in the detailed description.

22. A wireless device configured to perform any action or combination of actions substantially as described herein in a specific embodiment included in the wireless device.

23. A wireless station configured to perform any action or combination of actions substantially as described herein in a specific embodiment comprised in the wireless station.

24. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause performance of any action or combination of actions as substantially described herein in the detailed description.

25. An integrated circuit configured to perform any action or combination of actions as substantially described herein in the detailed description.

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