Relay and remote SL UE positioning configuration by paging delivery methods

Abstract

In some implementations, a relay user equipment (UE) may obtain positioning capability information from one or more remote UEs, where for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the respective remote UE for performing sidelink (SL) positioning. The relay UE may obtain positioning configuration information for performing the SL positioning session. The relay UE may transmit the positioning configuration information to the one or more remote UEs, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information during one or more paging moments (POs) of the one or more remote UEs.

Description

[0001] Related Applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit of Greek application No. 20220100391, filed on May 13, 2022, entitled “RELAY AND REMOTE SL UE POSITIONING CONFIGURATION THROUGHPAGING TRANSFER METHOD,” which is assigned to the assignee of this application and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art 1. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly to determining the location of a user equipment (UE) using radio frequency (RF) signals.

[0004] 2. Related technologies

[0005] In a data communication network, various positioning techniques may be used to determine the position of a mobile device (referred to herein as a UE). Some of these positioning techniques may involve determining distance and / or angle information of RF signals received by one or more other UEs that are communicatively coupled to the data communication network. In the fifth generation (5G) wireless standard referred to as New Radio (NR), direct communication between UEs (including the transmission of RF signals for positioning) may be referred to as a side link (SL). Positioning sessions between UEs may be conducted to perform positioning measurements using SL RF signals, and the UEs may coordinate such SL positioning sessions to ensure efficient use of bandwidth and other wireless resources. Summary of the invention

[0006] An example method for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery at a relay user equipment (UE) according to the present disclosure may include obtaining positioning capability information from one or more remote UEs at the relay UE, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning. The method may also include obtaining positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session at the relay UE. The method may also include transmitting the positioning configuration information from the relay UE to the one or more remote UEs, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information during one or more paging moments (PO) of the one or more remote UEs.

[0007] An example method for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery at a location server according to the present disclosure may include receiving positioning capability information of one or more remote UEs from a relay user equipment (UE) at the location server, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning. The method may also include determining positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session based at least in part on the positioning capability information. The method may also include transmitting the positioning configuration information from the location server to the relay UE, wherein the location server transmits the positioning configuration information in a paging request.

[0008] According to an example relay user equipment (UE) for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery according to the present disclosure may include a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processors, the one or more processors being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to obtain positioning capability information from one or more remote UEs via the transceiver, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning. The one or more processors may further be configured to obtain positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session. The one or more processors may further be configured to transmit the positioning configuration information to the one or more remote UEs via the transceiver, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information during one or more paging moments (PO) of the one or more remote UEs.

[0009] An example location server for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery according to the present disclosure may include a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive positioning capability information of one or more remote UEs from a relay user equipment (UE) via the transceiver, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning. The one or more processors may further be configured to determine positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session based at least in part on the positioning capability information. The one or more processors may further be configured to transmit the positioning configuration information to the relay UE via the transceiver, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information in a paging request.

[0010] This summary is neither intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter nor is it intended to be used alone to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to appropriate portions of the entire specification of the present disclosure, any or all of the drawings, and each claim. The foregoing and other features and examples will be described in more detail in the following description, claims, and drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Figure 1 is a diagram of a positioning system according to one embodiment.

[0012] Figure 2 is a diagram of a fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) positioning system, which illustrates a positioning system implemented within a 5G NR communication system (e.g., Figure 1 implementation scheme of a positioning system).

[0013] FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C is a simplified diagram of a scenario in which sidelink (SL) positioning may be used to determine the position of a target user equipment (UE).

[0014] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating a scenario in which relay paging is used.

[0015] Figure 5 is an example according to some embodiments wherein (for example, Figure 4 ) The principle of the relay paging mechanism can be extended to the illustration of the positioning scenario.

[0016] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating frequency usage of a relay and a remote UE in three different example situations.

[0017] Figure 7 is a call flow diagram illustrating a first example process for providing positioning configuration through the paging delivery method described herein according to one embodiment

[0018] Figure 8 is a call flow illustrating a second example process for providing location configuration via the paging delivery method described herein according to one embodiment.

[0019] Fig. 9 is a call flow illustrating a third example process for providing positioning configuration via the paging delivery method described herein, according to one embodiment.

[0020] Fig.10 is a flow chart of a method for enabling a SL positioning session using paging delivery at a relay UE according to one embodiment.

[0021] Fig.11is a flow chart of a method for enabling a SL positioning session using paging delivery at a location server UE according to one embodiment.

[0022] Fig.12 is a block diagram of an implementation of a UE that may be utilized in implementations as described herein.

[0023] Fig.13 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system that may be utilized in embodiments as described herein.

[0024] Similar reference numerals in the various drawings indicate similar elements according to certain example implementations. In addition, multiple instances of an element can be indicated by adding a letter or hyphen and a second numeral after the first numeral of the element. For example, multiple instances of element 110 can be indicated as 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, etc. or 110a, 110b, 110c, etc. When only the first numeral is used to refer to such an element, any instance of the element should be understood (for example, element 110 in the previous example will refer to elements 110-1, 110-2 and 110-3 or to elements 110a, 110b and 110c). DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] The following description is directed to certain specific implementations in order to describe the innovative aspects of various embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein can be applied in a variety of different ways. The described specific implementations can be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of sending and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals according to any communication standard, such as any of the following: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4 standard for ultra-wideband (UWB), the IEEE 802.11 standard (including those identified as Technical standards), Standard, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GSM / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), 1xEV-DO, EV-DO Revision A, EV-DO Revision B, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), Evolved High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), or other known signals for communicating within a wireless, cellular or Internet of Things (IoT) network, such as a system utilizing 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G or further implementations thereof.

[0026] As used herein, "RF signals" include electromagnetic waves that transmit information through the space between a transmitter (or transmitting device) and a receiver (or receiving device). As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of each RF signal through multiple channels or paths, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal.

[0027] Additionally, unless otherwise noted, references to "reference signals," "positioning reference signals," "reference signals for positioning," etc. may be used to refer to signals used to locate user equipment (UE). As described in more detail herein, such signals may include any of a variety of signal types, but may not necessarily be limited to positioning reference signals (PRS) as defined in relevant wireless standards.

[0028] The position determination of the UE may be based at least in part on measurements of signals sent and / or received by the UE via a side link (SL). In some instances, it may be necessary to determine the position and / or perform these signal measurements by a remote UE that is not actively connected to the network, but is still communicatively connected to the network via a relay UE and can be contacted via a paging mechanism implemented by the network. The embodiments herein utilize the paging mechanism to relay positioning information to enable the relay and remote UE to be positioned without a separate discovery process. Additional details on such embodiments are provided after the discussion of related technologies.

[0029] Figure 1is a simplified illustration of a positioning system 100 according to one embodiment, in which a mobile device 105, a location server 160, and / or other components of the positioning system 100 can use the techniques provided herein for providing a SL positioning configuration for positioning of the mobile device 105 through paging delivery. The techniques described herein can be implemented by one or more components of the positioning system 100. The positioning system 100 may include: a mobile device 105; one or more satellites 110 (also referred to as spacecraft (SV)) for a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as a global positioning system (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, or BeiDou; a base station 120; an access point (AP) 130; a location server 160; a network 170; and an external client 180. In general, the positioning system 100 can estimate the location of the mobile device 105 based on RF signals received by and / or transmitted from the mobile device 105 and the known locations of other components (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, base stations 120, APs 130) that send and / or receive RF signals. Additional details about specific location estimation techniques are discussed below.

[0030] It should be noted that Figure 1 Only a generalized illustration of the various components is provided, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each component may be repeated as needed. Specifically, although only one mobile device 105 is illustrated, it should be understood that many mobile devices (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the positioning system 100. Similarly, the positioning system 100 may include more than one mobile device 105. Figure 1 100. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the positioning system 100 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. In addition, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced and / or omitted according to the desired functionality. In some embodiments, for example, the external client 180 may be directly connected to the location server 160. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize many modifications to the illustrated components.

[0031] Depending on the desired functionality, the network 170 may include any of a variety of wireless and / or wired networks. The network 170 may, for example, include any combination of public and / or private networks, local area networks and / or wide area networks, etc. In addition, the network 170 may utilize one or more wired and / or wireless communication technologies. In some embodiments, the network 170 may include, for example, a cellular or other mobile network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), and / or the Internet. Examples of the network 170 include long-term evolution (LTE) wireless networks, fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks (also known as new radio (NR) wireless networks or 5G NR wireless networks), Wi-Fi WLAN, and the Internet. LTE, 5G, and NR are wireless technologies defined or being defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The network 170 may also include more than one network and / or more than one type of network. In a wireless cellular network (e.g., LTE or 5G), the mobile device 105 may be referred to as a user equipment (UE)

[0032] The base station 120 and the access point (AP) 130 are communicatively coupled to the network 170. In some embodiments, the base station 120 may be owned, maintained and / or operated by a cellular network provider and may employ any of a variety of wireless technologies, as described below. Depending on the technology of the network 170, the base station 120 may include a node B, an evolved node B (eNodeB or eNB), a transceiver base station (BTS), a radio base station (RBS), an NR node B (gNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), etc. In the case where the network 170 is a 5G network, the base station 120 as a gNB or ng-eNB may be part of a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) that may be connected to a 5G core network (5GC). In view of the open radio access network (O-RAN) and / or virtualized radio access network (V-RAN or vRAN) in 5G or higher generation networks, the functions performed by the base station 120 in earlier generation networks (e.g., 3G and 4G) may be separated into different functional components (e.g., radio unit (RU), distributed unit (DU), and central unit (CU)) and layers (e.g., L1 / L2 / L3), which may be executed on different devices at different locations connected, for example, via fronthaul, midhaul, and backhaul connections. As described herein, a "base station" (or ng-eNB, gNB, etc.) may include any or all of these functional components. For example, AP 130 may include a Wi-Fi AP or AP or an AP with cellular capabilities (e.g., 4G LTE and / or 5G NR). Thus, the mobile device 105 can transmit and receive information with network connectivity devices (such as location server 160) by accessing the network 170 via the base station 120 using the first communication link 133. Additionally or alternatively, because the AP 130 can also be communicatively coupled with the network 170, the mobile device 105 can communicate with network connectivity and Internet connectivity devices (including the location server 160) using the second communication link 135 or via one or more other mobile devices 145.

[0033] As used herein, the term "base station" may generally refer to a single physical transmission point or multiple co-located physical transmission points that may be located at a base station 120. A transmit receive point (TRP) (also referred to as a transmit / receive point) corresponds to this type of transmission point, and the term "TRP" may be used interchangeably with the terms "gNB," "ng-eNB," and "base station" herein. In some cases, a base station 120 may include multiple TRPs—for example, where each TRP is associated with a different antenna or a different antenna array of the base station 120. As used herein, the transmit function of a TRP may be performed using a transmit point (TP), and / or the receive function of a TRP may be performed by a receive point (RP), which may be physically separate or different from the TP. That is, a TRP may include both a TP and an RP. A physical transmission point may include an antenna array of a base station 120 (for example, as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system and / or where the base station employs beamforming). The term "base station" may additionally refer to multiple non-co-located physical transmission points, which may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station).

[0034] As used herein, the term "cell" may generally refer to a logical communication entity for communicating with base station 120, and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) for distinguishing neighboring cells operating via the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types that may provide access for different types of devices (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocols). In some cases, the term "cell" may refer to a portion (e.g., an area) of a geographic coverage area in which the logical entity operates.

[0035] Satellites 110 may be used to locate mobile device 105 in one or more ways. For example, satellites 110 (also referred to as space vehicles (SVs)) may be part of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), such as a global positioning system (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, or BeiDou. Positioning using RF signals from GNSS satellites may include measuring multiple GNSS signals at a GNSS receiver of mobile device 105 to perform code-based and / or carrier-based positioning, which may be highly accurate. Additionally or alternatively, satellites 110 may be used for non-terrestrial network (NTN) based positioning, where satellites 110 may be functionally operable as a TRP (or multiple TPs) of a network (e.g., an LTE and / or NR network) and may be communicatively coupled with network 170. Specifically, reference signals (e.g., PRS) sent by satellites 110 for NTN based positioning may be similar to those sent by base station 120 and may be coordinated by location server 160. In some embodiments, satellites 110 used for NTN based positioning may be different from those used for GNSS based positioning.

[0036] The location server 160 may include a server and / or other computer system configured to determine an estimated location of the mobile device 105 and / or provide data (e.g., “assistance data”) to the mobile device 105 to facilitate location measurement and / or location determination by the mobile device 105. According to some embodiments, the location server 160 may include a Home Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (H-SLP), which may support the SUPL User Plane (UP) positioning solution defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), and may support location services for the mobile device 105 based on subscription information for the mobile device 105 stored in the location server 160. In some embodiments, the location server 160 may include a Discovery SLP (D-SLP) or an Emergency SLP (E-SLP). The location server 160 may also include an Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC), which uses a Control Plane (CP) positioning solution to support positioning of the mobile device 105 for LTE radio access of the mobile device 105. The location server 160 may also include a location management function (LMF) that supports positioning of the mobile device 105 using a control plane (CP) positioning solution for NR or LTE radio access of the mobile device 105.

[0037] In the CP positioning solution, from the perspective of the network 170, the signaling for controlling and managing the positioning of the mobile device 105 can use existing network interfaces and protocols and be exchanged as signaling between the elements of the network 170 and with the mobile device 105. In the UP positioning solution, from the perspective of the network 170, the signaling for controlling and managing the positioning of the mobile device 105 can be exchanged between the location server 160 and the mobile device 105 as data (e.g., data transmitted using the Internet Protocol (IP) and / or the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)).

[0038] As previously mentioned (and discussed in more detail below), the estimated position of the mobile device 105 can be based on measurements of RF signals transmitted from and / or received by the mobile device 105. Specifically, these measurements can provide information about the relative distances and / or angles of the mobile device 105 and one or more components in the positioning system 100 (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, APs 130, base stations 120). The estimated position of the mobile device 105 can be estimated geometrically (e.g., using multi-angle measurements and / or multilateration) based on the distance and / or angle measurements along with the known positions of the one or more components.

[0039] Although ground components such as AP 130 and base station 120 may be fixed, embodiments are not limited in this regard. Mobile components may be used. For example, in some embodiments, the location of mobile device 105 may be estimated based at least in part on measurements of RF signals 140 communicated between mobile device 105 and one or more other mobile devices 145 (the one or more other mobile devices may be mobile or fixed). As illustrated, the other mobile devices may include, for example, mobile phone 145-1, vehicle 145-2, static communication / positioning device 145-3, or other static and / or mobile devices capable of providing wireless signals for positioning mobile device 105, or combinations thereof. Wireless signals from mobile device 145 for positioning mobile device 105 may include using, for example, (including Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)), IEEE 802.11x (e.g. ), ultra-wideband (UWB), IEEE 802.15x, or a combination thereof. The mobile device 145 may additionally or alternatively use non-RF wireless signals for positioning of the mobile device 105, such as infrared signals or other optical technologies.

[0040] Mobile devices 145 may include other mobile devices that are communicatively coupled to a cellular or other mobile network (e.g., network 170). When one or more other mobile devices 145 are used in the positioning determination of a particular mobile device 105, the mobile device 105 whose positioning is to be determined may be referred to as a "target mobile device" and each of the other mobile devices 145 used may be referred to as an "anchor mobile device". (In cellular / mobile broadband networks, the terms "anchor UE" and "target UE" may be used.) In order to make a positioning determination for a target mobile device, the corresponding positioning of the one or more anchor mobile devices may be known and / or determined jointly with the target mobile device. Direct communication between one or more other mobile devices 145 and mobile device 105 may include sidelinks and / or similar device-to-device (D2D) communication technologies. The sidelink defined by 3GPP is a form of D2D communication under cellular-based LTE and NR standards. UWB may be one such technology by which it can use measurements from one or more anchor devices (e.g., mobile devices 145) to facilitate the positioning of a target device (e.g., mobile device 105).

[0041] According to some embodiments, such as when the mobile device 105 includes and / or is incorporated into a vehicle, a form of D2D communication used by the mobile device 105 may include vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. V2X is a communication standard for vehicles to exchange information about the traffic environment with related entities. V2X may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication between vehicles with V2X capabilities, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication between vehicles and infrastructure-based equipment (commonly referred to as roadside units (RSUs)), vehicle-to-person (V2P) communication between vehicles and nearby people (pedestrians, cyclists and other road users), etc. In addition, V2X can use any of a variety of wireless RF communication technologies. For example, cellular V2X (CV2X) is a form of V2X that uses cellular-based communications in a direct communication mode defined by 3GPP, such as LTE (4G), NR (5G) and / or other cellular technologies. Figure 1The mobile device 105 illustrated in the figure may correspond to a component or device on a vehicle, RSU, or other V2X entity used to communicate V2X messages. In an embodiment in which V2X is used, the static communication / positioning device 145-3 (which may correspond to an RSU) and / or the vehicle 145-2 may therefore communicate with the mobile device 105 and may be used to determine the location of the mobile device 105 using techniques similar to those used by the base station 120 and / or AP 130 (e.g., using multi-angle and / or multilateration positioning). It may also be noted that according to some embodiments, the mobile device 145 (which may include a V2X device), the base station 120, and / or the AP 130 may be used together (e.g., in a WWAN positioning solution) to determine the location of the mobile device 105.

[0042] The estimated position of mobile device 105 may be used in various applications, such as to assist a user of mobile device 105 with direction finding or navigation or to assist another user (e.g., associated with external client 180) in locating mobile device 105. "Position" is also referred to herein as "position estimate," "estimated position," "position," "position estimation," "position determination," "estimated position," "position determination," or "determination." The process of determining a position may be referred to as "positioning," "position determination," "position determination," or the like. The position of mobile device 105 may include an absolute position of mobile device 105 (e.g., latitude and longitude, and possibly altitude) or a relative position of mobile device 105 (e.g., a position expressed as a distance north or south, east or west, and possibly above or below some other known fixed location (including, for example, the location of base station 120 or AP 130) or some other location (such as the location of mobile device 105 at some known previous time, or the location of mobile device 145 (e.g., another mobile device) at some known previous time). The location may be specified as a geodetic location including coordinates that may be absolute (e.g., latitude, longitude, and optionally altitude), relative (e.g., relative to some known absolute location), or local (e.g., X, Y, and optionally Z coordinates according to a coordinate system defined relative to a local area, such as a factory, warehouse, college campus, shopping mall, stadium, or convention center). The location may alternatively be a city location, and may then include one or more of a street address (e.g., including a country, state, county, city, road and / or street name or label, and / or road or street number) and / or a label or name of a place, a building, a portion of a building, a floor of a building, and / or a room within a building, etc. The location may also include an uncertainty or error indication, such as a horizontal and likely vertical distance that the location is expected to have error, or an indication of an area or volume (e.g., a circle or ellipse) within which the mobile device 105 is expected to be located with a certain confidence level (e.g., 95% confidence).

[0043] The external client 180 may be a web server or remote application that may have some association with the mobile device 105 (e.g., may be accessed by a user of the mobile device 105), or may be a server, application, or computer system that provides location services to some other user or users, which may include obtaining and providing the location of the mobile device 105 (e.g., to enable services such as friend or relative locating or child or pet location). Additionally or alternatively, the external client 180 may obtain the location of the mobile device 105 and provide it to emergency service providers, government agencies, etc.

[0044] Figure 2 A diagram showing a 5G NR positioning system 200 is shown, illustrating a positioning system implementing 5G NR (which may correspond to at least a portion of a larger positioning system as described herein, such as Figure 1 Implementation of the positioning system 100). The 5G NR positioning system 200 may be configured to determine the location of the user equipment (UE) 205 by using access nodes to implement one or more positioning methods, and the access nodes may include NR Node B (gNB) 210-1 and 210-2 (collectively referred to as gNB 210 in this document), ng-eNB 214 and / or WLAN 216. The gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214 may correspond to the base stations described elsewhere herein, and the WLAN 216 may correspond to one or more access points described elsewhere herein. Optionally, the 5G NR positioning system 200 may also be configured to determine the location of the UE 205 by using the LMF 220 (which may correspond to the location server described elsewhere herein) to implement one or more positioning methods. Here, the 5G NR positioning system 200 includes a UE 205 and components of a 5G NR network, including a next generation (NG) radio access network (RAN) (NG-RAN) 235 and a 5G core network (5GCN) 240. The 5G network may also be referred to as an NR network; the NG-RAN 235 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or an NR RAN; and the 5G CN 240 may be referred to as an NG core network.

[0045] The 5G NR positioning system 200 may also utilize information from satellites 207. As previously indicated, the satellites 207 may include GNSS satellites from a GNSS system such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) or a similar system such as GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). Additionally or alternatively, the satellites 207 may include NTN satellites that may be communicatively coupled with the LMF 220 and operable to serve as TRPs (or TPs) in the NG-RAN 235. Thus, the satellites 207 may communicate with one or more gNBs 210.

[0046] It should be noted that Figure 2 Only generalized illustrations of various components are provided, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each component may be repeated or omitted as desired. Specifically, although only one UE 205 is illustrated, it should be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the 5G NR positioning system 200. Similarly, the 5G NR positioning system 200 may include a larger (or smaller) number of GNSS satellites 207, gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, wireless local area network (WLAN) 216, access and mobility management function (AMF) 215, external client 230, and / or other components. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the 5G NR positioning system 200 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. In addition, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted according to the desired functionality.

[0047] UE 205 may include and / or be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a terminal (SET) enabled with secure user plane location (SUPL), or some other name. In addition, UE 205 may correspond to a cellular phone, a smart phone, a laptop computer, a tablet device, a personal data assistant (PDA), a navigation device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or some other portable or mobile device. Typically, although not necessarily, UE 205 may support the use of one or more radio access technologies (RATs) such as GSM, CDMA, W-CDMA, LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE802.11 Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX TM), 5G NR (e.g., using NG-RAN 235 and 5GCN 240), etc. UE 205 may also support wireless communications using WLAN 216, which (similar to one or more RATs as described elsewhere herein) may connect to other networks, such as the Internet. Using one or more of these RATs may allow UE 205 (e.g., via Figure 2 Elements of the 5G CN 240 not shown in the figure may communicate with the external client 230 via the Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 225) and / or allow the external client 230 to receive location information about the UE 205 (e.g., via the GMLC 225). Figure 2 The external client 230 may correspond to an external client as implemented in a 5G NR network or communicatively coupled with a 5G NR network.

[0048] UE 205 may include a single entity or may include multiple entities, such as in a personal area network in which a user may employ audio, video, and / or data I / O devices, and / or body sensors and separate wired or wireless modems. The estimate of the location of UE 205 may be referred to as location, location estimation, location determination, determination, orientation, orientation estimation, or orientation determination, and may be geodetic, thereby providing location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) about UE 205, which may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., height above sea level; height above or depth below ground level, floor level, or basement level). Alternatively, the location of UE 205 may be expressed as a municipal location (e.g., a postal address or a designation of a point or smaller area in a building, such as a specific room or floor). The location of UE 205 may also be expressed as an area or volume (geographically or municipally defined) within which the UE 205 is expected to be located with a certain probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of the UE 205 may also be a relative location, including, for example, a distance and direction or relative X, Y (and Z) coordinates defined relative to some origin at a known location, which may be defined geodetically, municipally, or with reference to a point, area, or volume indicated on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the descriptions contained herein, the use of the term "location" may include any of these variations unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of the UE, local X, Y, and possibly Z coordinates are typically solved, and then the local coordinates are converted to absolute coordinates (e.g., with respect to latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level) if necessary.

[0049] Figure 2The base stations in the NG-RAN 235 shown in FIG. 1 may correspond to base stations described elsewhere herein and may include gNBs 210. Pairs of gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235 may be connected to each other (e.g., as shown in FIG. 1 ). Figure 2 The communication interface between the base stations (gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) may be referred to as an Xn interface 237. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 205 via wireless communication between the UE 205 and one or more gNBs 210, which may use 5G NR to provide wireless communication access to the 5G CN 240 on behalf of the UE 205. The wireless interface between the base station (gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) and the UE 205 may be referred to as an Uu interface 239. 5G NR radio access may also be referred to as NR radio access or 5G radio access. Figure 2 , it is assumed that the serving gNB for UE 205 is gNB 210-1, but other gNBs (e.g., gNB 210-2) may act as serving gNBs if UE 205 moves to another location, or may act as secondary gNBs to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to UE 205.

[0050] Figure 2 The base stations in the NG-RAN 235 shown in the figure may additionally or alternatively include a next generation evolved Node B (also referred to as ng-eNB) 214. The ng-eNB 214 may be connected to one or more gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235—e.g., directly or indirectly via other gNBs 210 and / or other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 214 may provide LTE radio access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) radio access to the UE 205. Figure 2Some of the gNBs 210 (e.g., gNB 210-2) and / or ng-eNBs 214 in the 5G CN 240 may be configured to function as positioning-only beacons that may transmit signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) and / or may broadcast assistance data to assist in positioning the UE 205, but may not receive signals from the UE 205 or from other UEs. Some of the gNBs 210 (e.g., gNB 210-2 and / or another gNB not shown) and / or ng-eNBs 214 may be configured to function as detection-only nodes that may scan for signals containing, for example, PRS data, assistance data, or other location data. Such detection-only nodes may not transmit signals or data to the UE, but may transmit signals or data (relating to, for example, PRS, assistance data, or other location data) to other network entities (e.g., one or more components of the 5G CN 240, an external client 230, or a controller), which may receive and store the data or use the data to locate at least the UE 205. Note that although in Figure 2 Only one ng-eNB 214 is shown in the figure, but some embodiments may include multiple ng-eNBs 214. Base stations (e.g., gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) may communicate directly with each other via an Xn communication interface. Additionally or alternatively, the base station may communicate directly or indirectly with other components of the 5G NR positioning system 200 (such as LMF 220 and AMF 215).

[0051] The 5G NR positioning system 200 may also include one or more WLANs 216 that may be connected to a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF) 250 in the 5GCN 240 (e.g., in the case of an untrusted WLAN 216). For example, the WLAN 216 may support IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi access for the UE 205 and may include one or more Wi-Fi APs (e.g., access points as described elsewhere herein). Here, the N3IWF 250 may be connected to other elements in the 5G CN 240, such as the AMF 215. In some embodiments, the WLAN 216 may support another RAT, such as Bluetooth. The N3IWF 250 may provide support for secure access of the UE 205 to other elements in the 5GCN 240 and / or may support interworking of one or more protocols used by the WLAN 216 and the UE 205 with one or more protocols used by other elements of the 5G CN 240 (such as the AMF 215). For example, the N3IWF 250 may support: IPSec tunnel establishment with the UE 205, termination of the IKEv2 / IPSec protocol with the UE 205, termination of the N2 and N3 interfaces with the 5G CN 240 for the control plane and the user plane, respectively, and relay of uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) control plane non-access stratum (NAS) signaling across the N1 interface between the UE 205 and the AMF 215. In some other embodiments, the WLAN 216 may be directly connected to elements in the 5G CN 240 (e.g., Figure 2 215) and not via the N3IWF 250. For example, a direct connection of the WLAN 216 to the 5GCN 240 may occur when the WLAN 216 is a trusted WLAN for the 5GCN 240 and may use a trusted WLAN interworking function (TWIF) ( Figure 2 (not shown). Note that although Figure 2 Only one WLAN 216 is shown in FIG. 2 , but some embodiments may include multiple WLANs 216 .

[0052] The access node may include any of a variety of network entities that enable communication between the UE 205 and the AMF 215. As mentioned, this may include a gNB 210, an ng-eNB 214, a WLAN 216, and / or other types of cellular base stations. However, an access node that provides the functionality described herein may additionally or alternatively include a cellular network entity that enables communication with the UE 205. Figure 2An entity that communicates with any of the various RATs not illustrated in the specification (which may include non-cellular technologies). Thus, as used in the embodiments described below, the term "access node" may include, but is not necessarily limited to, a gNB 210, an ng-eNB 214, or a WLAN 216.

[0053] In some embodiments, an access node (such as a gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and / or WLAN 216) (alone or in combination with other components of the 5G NR positioning system 200) may be configured to: in response to receiving a request for location information from LMF 220, obtain a location measurement for an uplink (UL) signal received from UE 205) and / or obtain from UE 205 a DL location measurement obtained by UE 205 for a downlink (DL) signal received by UE 205 from one or more access nodes. As mentioned, although Figure 2 The access nodes (gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and WLAN 216) are depicted as being configured to communicate in accordance with 5G NR, LTE, and Wi-Fi communication protocols, respectively, but access nodes configured to communicate in accordance with other communication protocols may be used, such as, for example, a Node B using a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) protocol for a Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), an eNB using an LTE protocol for an Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), or an eNB using a LTE protocol for a WLAN. For example, in a 4G Evolved Packet System (EPS) that provides LTE wireless access to UE 205, the RAN may include an E-UTRAN, which may include base stations including eNBs that support LTE wireless access. The core network for the EPS may include an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The EPS may then include the E-UTRAN plus the EPC, where Figure 2 , E-UTRAN corresponds to NG-RAN 235 and EPC corresponds to 5GCN 240. The methods and techniques described herein for obtaining the municipal location of UE 205 may be applicable to such other networks.

[0054] The gNB 210 and ng-eNB 214 may communicate with the AMF 215, which communicates with the LMF 220 for positioning functions. The AMF 215 may support the mobility of the UE 205, including cell changes and handovers of the UE 205 from an access node of a first RAT (e.g., a gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN 216) to an access node of a second RAT. The AMF 215 may also be involved in supporting signaling connections with the UE 205 and possibly supporting data and voice bearers for the UE 205. The LMF 220 may support positioning the UE 205 using a CP positioning solution when the UE 205 accesses the NG-RAN 235 or the WLAN 216, and may support positioning procedures and methods, including UE-assisted / UE-based and / or network-based procedures / methods, such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (which may be referred to as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) in NR), Frequency Difference of Arrival (FDOA), Real-Time Kinematics (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhanced Cell ID (ECID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), WLAN positioning, Round Trip Signal Propagation Delay (RTT), Multi-Cell RTT, and / or other positioning procedures and methods. The LMF 220 may also process, for example, a location service request for the UE 205 received from the AMF 215 or from the GMLC 225. The LMF 220 may be connected to the AMF 215 and / or the GMLC 225. In some embodiments, the network (such as 5GCN 240) may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC) or a SUPL location platform (SLP). Note that in some embodiments, at least a portion of the positioning functions (including determining the location of UE 205) may be performed at UE 205 (e.g., by measuring downlink PRS (DL-PRS) signals sent by wireless nodes (such as gNB 210, ng-eNB 214 and / or WLAN 216) and / or using assistance data provided to UE 205 by, for example, LMF 220).

[0055] The Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 225 may support location requests for the UE 205 received from the external client 230, and may forward such location requests to the AMF 215 for forwarding by the AMF 215 to the LMF 220. A location response (e.g., including a location estimate of the UE 205) from the LMF 220 may similarly be returned to the GMLC 225 directly or via the AMF 215, and the GMLC 225 may then return the location response (e.g., including the location estimate) to the external client 230.

[0056] A network exposure function (NEF) 245 may be included in the 5GCN 240. The NEF 245 may support secure exposure of capabilities and events regarding the 5GCN 240 and the UE 205 to the external client 230, which may therefore be referred to as an access function (AF) and may enable secure provisioning of information from the external client 230 to the 5GCN 240. The NEF 245 may connect to the AMF 215 and / or the GMLC 225 to obtain the location (e.g., municipal location) of the UE 205 and provide the location to the external client 230.

[0057] like Figure 2 As further illustrated in , LMF 220 may communicate with gNB 210 and / or with ng-eNB 214 using NR Positioning Protocol Annex (NRPPa) as defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa messages may be passed between gNB 210 and LMF 220 and / or between ng-eNB 214 and LMF 220 via AMF 215. Figure 2 As further illustrated in 3GPP TS 37.355, the LMF 220 and the UE 205 may communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) as defined in 3GPP TS 37.355. Here, LPP messages may be transferred between the UE 205 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 and the serving gNB 210-1 or the serving ng-eNB 214 of the UE 205. For example, the LPP messages may be transferred between the LMF 220 and the AMF 215 using messages for service-based operations (e.g., based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)), and may be transferred between the AMF 215 and the UE 205 using the 5G NAS protocol. The LPP protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 205 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, TDOA, multi-cell RTT, AoD, and / or ECID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of UE 205 using network-based positioning methods such as ECID, AoA, uplink TDOA (UL-TDOA) and / or may be used by LMF 220 to obtain location-related information from gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214, such as parameters defining DL-PRS transmissions from gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214.

[0058] In the case where the UE 205 accesses the WLAN 216, the LMF 220 may use NRPPa and / or LPP to obtain the location of the UE 205 in a manner similar to that just described for the UE 205 accessing the gNB 210 or ng-eNB 214. Thus, NRPPa messages may be passed between the WLAN 216 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 and the N3IWF 250 to support network-based positioning of the UE 205 and / or to pass other location information from the WLAN 216 to the LMF 220. Alternatively, NRPPa messages may be passed between the N3IWF 250 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 to support network-based positioning of the UE 205 based on location-related information and / or location measurements that are known or accessible to the N3IWF 250 and passed from the N3IWF 250 to the LMF 220 using NRPPa. Similarly, LPP and / or LPP messages may be communicated between UE 205 and LMF 220 via AMF 215, N3IWF 250, and serving WLAN 216 of UE 205 to support UE-assisted or UE-based positioning of UE 205 by LMF 220.

[0059] In the 5G NR positioning system 200, positioning methods may be classified as "UE-assisted" or "UE-based". This may depend on where the request to determine the position of the UE 205 originates. For example, if the request originates from the UE (e.g., from an application or "app" executed by the UE), the positioning method may be classified as UE-based. On the other hand, if the request originates from an external client 230, LMF 220, or other device or service within the 5G network, the positioning method may be classified as UE-assisted (or "network-based").

[0060] With UE-assisted positioning methods, UE 205 may obtain location measurements and transmit these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 220) for use in computing a location estimate for UE 205. For RAT-dependent positioning methods, the location measurements may include one or more of the following for one or more access points of gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and / or WLAN 216: received signal strength indicator (RSSI), round trip signal propagation time (RTT), reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), reference signal time difference (RSTD), time of arrival (TOA), AoA, receive time-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx), differential AoA (DAoA), AoD, or timing advance (TA). Additionally or alternatively, similar measurements may be made on sidelink signals sent by other UEs, which may be used as anchor points for positioning UE 205 if the positions of these other UEs are known. The position measurements may additionally or alternatively include measurements for a RAT-independent positioning method, such as GNSS (eg, GNSS pseudoranges with respect to GNSS satellites 207 , GNSS code phase, and / or GNSS carrier phase), WLAN, and the like.

[0061] Using the UE-based positioning method, UE 205 can obtain a position measurement (e.g., which can be the same or similar to the position measurement of the UE-assisted positioning method), and the position of UE 205 can be further calculated (e.g., with the aid of auxiliary data received from a location server such as LMF 220, SLP or broadcast by gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN 216).

[0062] Using a network-based positioning method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214), one or more APs (e.g., in WLAN 216), or N3IWF 250 may obtain location measurements (e.g., measurements of RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, AoA, or TOA) of signals sent by UE 205, and / or may receive measurements obtained by UE 205 or, in the case of N3IWF 250, by APs in WLAN 216, and may transmit these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 220) for use in calculating a position estimate for UE 205.

[0063] The positioning of UE 205 may also be classified as UL-based, DL-based, or DL-UL-based, depending on the type of signal used for positioning. For example, if positioning is based only on signals received at UE 205 (e.g., from a base station or other UE), the positioning may be classified as DL-based. On the other hand, if positioning is based only on signals sent by UE 205 (which may be received by, for example, a base station or other UE), the positioning may be classified as UL-based. DL-UL-based positioning includes positioning based on signals sent and received by UE 205, such as RTT-based positioning. Sidelink (SL)-assisted positioning includes signals communicated between UE 205 and one or more other UEs. According to some embodiments, the UL, DL, or DL-UL positioning described herein may be able to use SL signaling as a supplement or replacement for SL, DL, or DL-UL signaling.

[0064] Depending on the type of positioning (e.g., UL-based, DL-based, or DL-UL-based), the type of reference signal used may be different. For example, for DL-based positioning, these signals may include PRS (e.g., DL-PRS sent by a base station or SL-PRS sent by other UEs), which may be used for TDOA measurements, AoD measurements, and RTT measurements. Other reference signals that may be used for positioning (UL, DL, or DL-UL) may include: Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Synchronization Signal (e.g., Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) Synchronization Signal (SS)), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), etc. In addition, the reference signal may be sent in a Tx beam and / or received in an Rx beam (e.g., using beamforming techniques), which may affect angle measurements such as AoD and / or AoA.

[0065] FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C 3 is a simplified illustration of a scenario in which sidelink positioning may be used to determine the position of a target UE 305 according to some embodiments. One or more anchor UEs 310 may be used to transmit and / or receive reference signals via a sidelink. As illustrated, one or more base stations 320 (Uu interface) may also be used to determine positioning. However, it will be appreciated that the signals used for positioning of the UE 305 may vary depending on the desired functionality. More specifically, some types of positioning may utilize other than, for example, FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C Signals other than RTT / TDOA illustrated in .

[0066] Figure 3AThe diagram of illustrates a configuration in which positioning of a target UE 305 may include RTT and / or TDOA measurements between the target UE 305 and three base stations 320. In this configuration, the target UE 305 may be within the coverage of a DL and / or UL signal via a Uu connection with the base station 320. Additionally, an anchor UE 310 at a known location may be used to improve the position determination of the target UE 305 by providing an additional anchor. As illustrated, ranging may be performed between the target UE 305 and the anchor UE 310 by performing RTT measurements via a sidelink connection between the target UE 305 and the anchor UE 310.

[0067] Figure 3B The diagram of illustrates a configuration in which the positioning of the target UE 305 can be only sidelink (SL only) positioning / ranging. In this configuration, the target UE 305 can perform RTT measurements via a sidelink connection between multiple anchor UEs 310. In this example, the target UE 305 may not be in the UL coverage of the base station 320, and therefore each anchor UE 310 may report RTT measurement information to the network via a Uu connection between each anchor UE 310 and the base station 320. (In the case where the UE relays information between the remote UE and the base station, the UE may be referred to as a "relay" UE.) Such a scenario may exist when the target UE 305 has a weaker transmit power than the anchor UE 310 (for example, the target UE 305 includes a wearable device, and the anchor UE includes a larger cellular phone, an IOT device, etc.). In other scenarios in which the target UE 305 is within the UL coverage of the base station 320, the target UE 305 may report the RTT measurement directly to the base station 320. In some implementations, no base station 320 may be used, in which case one of the UEs (eg, one of the anchor UEs 310 or the target UE 305 ) may receive the RTT measurement information and determine the position of the target UE 305 .

[0068] Figure 3C 305. The diagram of exemplifies a configuration in which the positioning of the target UE 305 may include the target UE 305 and the anchor UE 310 receiving a reference signal (DL-PRS) from the base station 320 and the target UE 305 transmitting a reference signal (SL-PRS) to the anchor UE 310. The positioning of the target UE may be determined based on the known positions of the base station 320 and the anchor UE 310 and the time difference between the time when the anchor UE 310 receives the reference signal from the base station 320 and the time when the anchor UE 310 receives the reference signal from the target UE 305.

[0069] As previously discussed, sidelink positioning (e.g., SL-only positioning or Uu / SL positioning, such as FIG. 3A to FIG. 3CThe use of a resource pool (shown) for positioning may utilize a resource pool (RP-P) for positioning. The RP-P may be communicated to the UE via a sidelink configuration (e.g., using the techniques described below), and may specify a specific resource pool for sidelink reference signals in different scenarios. A resource pool includes a set of resources (e.g., frequency and time resources in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) scheme used by 4G and 5G cellular technologies) that may be used to send RF signals via a sidelink for positioning. Each resource pool may also include a specific subcarrier spacing (SCS), a cyclic prefix (CP) type, a bandwidth (BW) (e.g., subcarriers, bandwidth portions, etc.), a time domain location (e.g., periodicity and slot offsets). The resource pool may include, for example, a Tx resource pool for "mode 1" sidelink positioning, where sidelink positioning is performed using one or more network-connected UEs, in which case the network-connected UEs may receive network-based resource allocations via a Uu interface with a base station (e.g., via downlink control information (DCI) or radio resource control (RRC)). Tx resource pools for "mode 2" sidelink positioning, where autonomous resource selection is performed by the UE in the absence of network-based resource allocation. The resource pools may also include Rx resource pools, which may be used in mode 1 or mode 2 sidelink positioning. Each RP-P configuration may be relayed via a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), which may retain one or more SL-PRS configurations. Each of the one or more SL-PRS configurations in the RP-P may include corresponding specific physical layer characteristics, such as the number of symbols, comb type, comb offset, number of subchannels, a certain channel size, and a starting resource block (RB). The RP-P configuration may also include sensing configuration, power control, and / or channel busy rate (CBR).

[0070] According to some embodiments, an exception RP-P may be specified and used in situations where it may not be expected or possible to perform side link positioning via an available resource pool of a non-exceptional RP-P for the side link. Such exceptions may include situations similar to those that trigger the use of an exception resource pool for communication, such as situations where there may be physical layer problems before the UE completes and initiates a connection or during the handover of the UE. Like the non-exceptional RP-P for the side link, the exception RP-P for the side link may be configured or pre-configured and may be allocated or autonomously selected by the network (e.g., used in mode 1 or mode 2 side link positioning). In addition, according to some embodiments, the exception RP-P may be pre-configured, pre-loaded and / or hard-coded into UEs for different geographic areas or regions. For example, in the case of public safety, different countries may specify specific resources for the exception RP-P. The exception RP-P may be configured via a dedicated signaling (e.g., PC5) via the Uu interface and / or configured via a system information block (SIB). In some embodiments, the exception RP-P may be broadcast during the positioning session setup phase or discovery phase of the UE. Additionally or alternatively, resource reservation techniques may be used to assign or allocate exceptional RP-Ps.

[0071] In mode 2 (for example, FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C Conducting a sidelink positioning session in a manner illustrated in the example above may generally be inefficient because the target UE may need to determine which other UEs are nearby and can be used to serve as anchor UEs in the sidelink positioning session. To do this, the target UE may need to perform a discovery process, which may introduce latency in the sidelink positioning process. The embodiments described herein may address these and other problems by providing mechanisms that can be used to eliminate the need to perform discovery. Specifically, embodiments may utilize information and mechanisms used in cellular networks to relay paging to remote UEs (e.g., outside of network coverage).

[0072] Paging is a mechanism that can be used in cellular network power saving UEs. Paging allows the UE to enter low power or "sleep" (e.g., RRC idle or inactive mode) and then wake up and check for pages from the cellular network periodically based on a predetermined schedule. Paging for a UE may use an identifier such as a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) to identify the UE. If the UE receives a page, it may power on and connect with the cellular network (e.g., enter RRC connected mode) to communicate data in accordance with the page. For example, the cellular network may transmit a page to the UE when the UE is receiving a phone call and / or in other situations where the network wants to "push" data to the UE.

[0073] Relay paging is a mechanism built on the concept of paging to allow a relay UE to communicate pages to other UEs. Figure 4 An example thereof is illustrated.

[0074] Figure 4 4 is a diagram illustrating a scenario 400 in which relay paging is used. In relay paging, paging from a cellular network may be relayed by a relay UE 410, which may be referred to as UE-to-network (UE2N) relaying. Specifically, for a cellular network having multiple TRPs (e.g., base stations) including a TRP 420, a relay UE 410 within a coverage area 430 of the TRP 420 may be used to relay paging sent by the TRP 420 to one or more remote UEs 440-1, 440-2, 440-3, and 440-4 (collectively referred to herein as remote UEs 440) that are outside the coverage area 430 (and any other TRPs of the cellular network) and in a dormant (idle / inactive) mode. The relay UE 410 and the remote UE 440 may communicate with each other via direct communication (e.g., device-to-device (D2D) communication, such as sidelink / PC5-RRC signaling) with a separate coverage area 450. Thus, the relay UE 410 is located within both the coverage area 430 of the TRP 420 and the coverage area 450 of the remote UE 440. In addition, the relay UE 410 listens to the paging sent by the TRP 420 to determine whether there is a page for any of the remote UEs 440 (e.g., as identified by their corresponding RNTIs). If so, the relay UE 410 may communicate the page to the respective remote UE 440 based on the schedule for the remote UE 440 to receive the page, thereby causing the respective remote UE 440 to wake up (e.g., enter RRC connected mode).

[0075] The paging search space (which may be referred to as "pagingSearchSpace" in the relevant 3GPP standards) may represent the time and / or frequency used by the UE to listen for paging. Each instance of transmitting a paging may be referred to as a paging time (PO). A specific remote UE 440 may exchange capability information to determine whether the relay UE 410 is able to monitor and relay the PO of the specific remote UE 440. This capability may be subject to any PO of the relay UE 410 itself. If the relay UE 410 cannot monitor the PO of the specific remote UE 440, the relay UE 410 may (e.g., via the TRP 420) notify the network, and the network may modify the paging search space of the specific remote UE 440 so that it can be received by the relay UE 410. Aligning the paging search spaces of the relay UE 410 and one or more remote UEs 440 may help the relay UE 410 save power. Depending on the desired functionality, the relay UE 410 may relay the entire paging and / or a summary or truncated version thereof.

[0076] Figure 5 is an example according to some embodiments wherein (for example, Figure 4The principle of the relay paging mechanism can be extended to a diagram of a positioning scenario 500. In the scenario 500, components 510 to 550 correspond to Figure 4 Components 410 to 450, and location server 560 may correspond to Figure 1 Location server 160 and / or Figure 2 LMF 220 (e.g., if the cellular network includes a 5G cellular network). As mentioned, embodiments may utilize a framework of relay paging to facilitate determination of an anchor UE for sidelink positioning. This may enable a UE (e.g., a relay UE 510 or a remote UE 540) to determine a UE with which to conduct a sidelink positioning session more quickly than the discovery process in sidelink mode 2 operation. In addition, this may reduce positioning latency in most cases. If the relay UE 510 is connected to the network (e.g., via TRP 520), the location server 560 may determine configuration and resource pool configuration (e.g., PRS configuration including frequency, timing, etc.) based on the sidelink positioning capabilities of the remote UE 540 relayed by the relay UE 510. If disconnected from the network, the relay UE 510 may determine configuration settings based on the sidelink positioning capabilities of the remote UE 540 (e.g., instead of the location server 560).

[0077] Generally speaking, operating in Mode 1 (where the network coordinates the sidelink positioning session) has a latency advantage over operating in Mode 2 (where the UEs coordinate the sidelink positioning session between themselves) because Mode 2 involves performing a discovery process, as previously described. Conventionally, a remote UE 540 (e.g., a UE not operating in connected mode) may not be able to operate in Mode 1 to conduct a sidelink positioning session. This can be illustrated using the following two examples.

[0078] In a first example, relay UE 510 may determine that it needs to perform a positioning session. Because relay UE 510 is connected to the network, TRP 520 and location server 560 will know the positioning capabilities of relay UE 510. However, TRP 520 and location server 560 will not know the positioning capabilities of remote UE 540. Therefore, relay UE 510 may need to perform positioning in Mode 2.

[0079] In the second example, the first remote UE 540-1 may determine that it needs to perform a positioning session. The network will not be aware of the positioning capability of the first remote UE 540-1 because it is out of network coverage. Therefore, similar to the first example, the first remote UE 540-1 may need to perform positioning in Mode 2.

[0080] Embodiments herein may enable the UE in such examples to operate in Mode 1 for sidelink positioning by utilizing a paging relay framework to share positioning related information. This may allow the network or UE to determine the configuration and resource pool configuration for the sidelink positioning session without requiring a separate discovery process.

[0081] To this end, various embodiments may provide a relay UE (e.g., relay UE 510) that stores the positioning capabilities of one or more remote UEs (e.g., remote UE 540). According to some embodiments, the capability of each remote UE to perform sidelink positioning may be stored by the relay UE as a corresponding Boolean flag of the remote UE. (This may be stored by the relay UE, for example, in a manner similar to the way the relay UE stores paging information for each remote UE.) The positioning capability information may be provided by each remote UE to the relay UE after the sidelink connection is established. Examples are provided below. According to some embodiments, the maximum number of remote UEs for which positioning capabilities are stored by the relay UE may be defined in an applicable standard (e.g., a 3GPP standard for sidelink positioning), or may be defined based on the ability of the relay UE to store the positioning capabilities of the remote UEs.

[0082] According to some embodiments, the relay UE may also transmit positioning capability information to a location server (e.g., location server 560). That is, in addition to transmitting its own positioning capability, the relay UE may also transmit capability information of remote UEs to the location server (e.g., via a base station / TRP). Such functionality may include modifying applicable standards to do this, because conventional 3GPP standards for sidelink positioning may (i) restrict UEs to provide their own positioning capability information, and (ii) restrict location servers to receive positioning capability information of a specific UE through a specific UE. Therefore, the modified 3GPP standards may allow (i) UEs to relay positioning capability information of other UEs, and (ii) location servers to receive positioning capability information of a first UE from a second UE (specifically, receiving positioning capability information of a remote UE from a relay UE). According to some embodiments, the relay UE may transmit positioning capability information after receiving positioning capability information from one or more remote UEs and / or after receiving a request for positioning capability information from a network (e.g., from a base station / TRP and / or LMF).

[0083] According to some embodiments, the relay UE and the remote UE may support a positioning session paging mechanism, similar to traditional relay paging. That is, the relay UE and the remote UE may be performed in a manner similar to relay paging, wherein each UE searches a search space for paging (if necessary, wakes up to do this). The search space used for positioning may even use the same search space as the search space used for paging. In this case, positioning information may be relayed in paging, so that when the corresponding paging for the relay UE and / or the remote UE is indicated to participate in the positioning session, the relay UE and / or the remote UE can participate in the positioning session. According to some embodiments, each UE may have different capabilities for such functions. For example, a first capability may include supporting such positioning session paging when the relay UE is connected to the network (e.g., the relay UE 510 is communicatively connected to the TRP 520). A second capability may include supporting such positioning session paging when the relay UE is out of coverage with respect to the network. In such a situation, for example, if the relay UE wants to communicate with the remote UE (e.g., establish an active communication session), the relay UE may continue to provide paging to the remote UE. The third capability may include supporting both the first capability and the second capability (i.e., when the relay UE is connected to or disconnected from the network). (By definition, the remote UE will always be out of network coverage.)

[0084] According to some embodiments, positioning session paging can be enabled by introducing new paging causes. That is, in addition to the current cause, performing a positioning session can also be included in the cause type (e.g., voice call, data, etc.) used to paging the remote UE. A positioning session can be performed to determine the position of the relay UE and / or the remote UE. In some embodiments, a positioning search space can be established for a positioning use case in a manner similar to a paging search for traditional paging. In such embodiments, the relay UE can read the positioning search space and pass the positioning information for the remote UE to the corresponding remote UE. In some embodiments, the positioning search space may be located within the activated bandwidth part (BWP) used by the relay UE. In some embodiments, the positioning search space may be located outside the activated BWP for the relay UE. In some embodiments, the positioning search space may be located in different combinations of the BWP for the relay UE.

[0085] According to some embodiments, positioning configuration information may be included in paging. That is, similar to paging and paging record lists for sidelink data, positioning paging may include, for example, positioning paging records and positioning paging record lists. The paging record list may include positioning configurations for one or more remote UEs. Similar to paging, positioning configuration information may be specific to a specific relay or remote UE. Positioning configuration information may include relevant information that enables a relay or remote UE to participate in a positioning session. This may include, for example, PRS resources, resource sets, TRPs, and / or other such information about resources that may be used by each UE for positioning. Each PRS resource may have a specific bandwidth, comb / symbol information / option (e.g., for symbol usage in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication scheme, such as used in 4G and 5G cellular / mobile communication networks), a starting slot / symbol, repetitions, and / or the like.

[0086] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating frequency usage of a relay and a remote UE in three different example cases (case 1, case 2, and case 3). Different UEs may have different capabilities for supporting each case. For example, some UEs may be able to support only one case (e.g., case 1, case 2, or case 3), other UEs may be able to support two cases, and yet other UEs may be able to support all three cases.

[0087] Here, case 1 includes relay and remote UE operating in a common BWP 605-1 within a common component carrier (CC) 610-1. That is, a control resource set (CORESET) including a set of time-frequency resources and parameters for carrying control information (which may be defined in resource blocks (RBs) and / or resource elements (REs) in an OFDM communication scheme used in a cellular / mobile communication network) is located within the common BWP 605-1 and CC 610-1, and the control information is used for positioning and data of both remote UEs and relay UEs. As illustrated, the frequency bands using the positioning CORESET set of remote UE 620-1, the data CORESET of other remote UEs 630-1, the positioning CORESET of relay UE 640-1, and the data CORESET of relay UE 650-1 each fall within the common relay and remote UE BWP 605-1 and the common CC 610-1.

[0088] Case 2 illustrates a case where the relay UE and the remote UE use different BWPs. That is, the Uu interface used by the relay UE and the SL / PC5 interface used by the remote UE may run on different BWPs. Figure 6As shown, case 2 has two BWPs: a remote UE BWP 605-2a and a relay UE BWP 605-2b. Therefore, the positioning CORESET of the remote UE 620-2 and the data CORESET of the remote UE 630-2 are communicated within the remote UE BWP 605-2a, and the positioning CORESET of the relay UE 640-2 and the data CORESET of the relay UE 650-2 are communicated within the relay UE BWP 605-2b. In case 2, both the remote UE BWP 605-2a and the relay UE BWP 605-2b are located within the common CC 610-2.

[0089] Case 3 illustrates a scenario similar to Case 2. However, here, different BWPs are separately located in different CCs. More specifically, Case 3 has two BWPs: a remote UE BWP 605-3a and a relay UE BWP 605-3b. The positioning CORESET of the remote UE 620-3 and the data CORESET of the remote UE 630-3 are communicated in the remote UE BWP 605-3a, and the positioning CORESET of the relay UE 640-3 and the data CORESET of the relay UE 650-3 are communicated in the relay UE BWP 605-3b. However, in contrast to Case 2, the remote UE BWP 605-3a is located in the first CC 610-3a, and the relay UE BWP 605-3b is located in the second CC 610-3b.

[0090] As mentioned, different UEs may be able to support different cases. Because cases 2 and 3 require the relay UE to tune to a separate BWP (and in case 3, to a separate CC), constraints such as power, timing for retuning, etc. may act as limitations on the relay UE in reading paging and positioning search spaces. Nevertheless, as mentioned above, in all three cases, some UEs may be able to perform the functions of a relay UE. These capabilities may be shared with one or more remote UEs and / or networks (e.g., base stations / TRPs and / or location servers).

[0091] Figure 7is a call flow diagram illustrating a first example process 700 of providing positioning configuration through a paging delivery method as described above according to one embodiment. In this example, a relay UE 710 determines that it needs to perform a positioning session, as indicated at block 730. The determination may be made, for example, based on an application executed by the UE (e.g., a navigation application), user input, a request received by the UE from another device, or a combination thereof. As mentioned, a base station 715 (e.g., a serving base station for the relay UE 710) and a location server 720 (e.g., a LMF in a 5G network) may traditionally be aware of the positioning capabilities of the relay UE 710, but may not be aware of the positioning capabilities of one or more remote UEs 725 outside the coverage of the network of the base station 715 and the location server 720. Therefore, the relay UE 710 may traditionally need to perform a positioning session in mode 2, which, as previously discussed, may result in a delay in positioning due to performing a discovery process.

[0092] However, according to process 700, the positioning capability information of the remote UE 725 may be propagated in advance to the relay UE 710 and the network. That is, as indicated by arrow 735, the remote UE 725 may provide the positioning capability information, which may then relay the positioning capability information of the remote UE 725 to the location server 720, as indicated by arrow 735. As such, when the relay UE 710 determines that it needs a positioning session (again, as indicated at block 730) and transmits a corresponding positioning session request to the location server 720 (indicated by arrow 745), the location server 720 may then determine configuration information for the location session based on the positioning capabilities of both the relay UE 710 and the remote UE 725. The determination of this configuration information is indicated at block 750. According to some embodiments, the positioning capability information of the relay UE 710 may be pre-provided to the location server 720 via conventional means. Additionally or alternatively, the relay UE 710 may include its positioning capability information when relaying positioning capability information from the remote UE 725 at arrow 740. As previously described, the relay UE 710 may provide the positioning capability information of the remote UE 725 in response to a request from the location server 720 (not shown) and / or in response to one or more other triggers (e.g., receiving positioning capability information, a timer / schedule for transmitting the information, etc.). For its part, the remote UE 725 may provide positioning capability information at any of a variety of times, such as when establishing a sidelink / PC5 communication with the relay UE 710, when moving to a different location, when providing paging information to the relay UE 710, or any combination thereof.

[0093] After the location server determines the configuration information for a positioning session, it may then transmit a paging request and the configuration information for relaying UE 710, as indicated by arrow 755. As discussed, the configuration information may include timing, frequency, and / or other information used by the UE to perform the positioning session. As previously mentioned, the configuration information may be included in the paging request. For example, a positioning paging record (e.g., "PosPagingRecord") included in the paging request may define the positioning configuration. The relaying UE 710 may then decode the paging and the paging record for the remote UE 725, as indicated by block 760, and transmit the decoded positioning configuration information to the remote UE 725, as indicated by arrow 765. In some embodiments, the relaying UE 710 may broadcast this information to the remote UE 725. In some embodiments, the relaying UE may transmit one or more unicast messages to each remote UE among the remote UEs 725. Additionally or alternatively, as previously indicated, the relaying UE 710 may decode a portion of the paging record and transmit a summary and / or forward the applicable portion of the paging / paging record to each respective remote UE 725. After transmitting the positioning configuration information, the relaying UE 710 and the remote UE 725 may conduct a positioning session, as indicated by block 770. To determine the location of the relaying UE 710, measurements and / or other information related to the positioning session may be passed between the UEs according to conventional positioning techniques and / or relayed to the location server 720 via the relaying UE 710. Thus, the positioning session may operate effectively in a mode 2 sidelink configuration.

[0094] It may be noted that a subset of UEs for which the positioning information is known and included in the positioning paging record may be used for the positioning session. For example, in the positioning paging record, the location server may provide the configuration information for M UEs. However, the location server may use only N UEs (where N < M) for the positioning session. The number of UEs used in the positioning session may vary with the environment (some environments may use more or fewer UEs than others to obtain a reliable location determination for the UE).

[0095] Figure 8 is a call flow diagram illustrating a second example process 800 for providing a positioning configuration by the paging delivery method as described above. Contrary to the example initiated by the relaying UE in Figure 7 , this example illustrates a location server-initiated process for determining the location of a specific remote UE (among remote UEs 825). As can be seen, the operations in the example process 800 generally reflect Figure 7 the operations in process 700 of Figure 7825. However, here, the location server 820 may determine that the particular remote UE requires a positioning session, as indicated at block 830. This determination may be made, for example, in response to a request within the cellular / mobile communication network (e.g., a positioning function within the network), a request from an external device or entity (e.g., an e911 request), or a combination thereof. Thus, it may determine configuration information, as indicated at block 850. Similarly, the paging frame may be used to initially obtain positioning capability information for the remote UE 825, as well as to propagate configuration information back to the relay UE 810 and the remote UE 825.

[0096] Fig. 9 is a call flow illustrating a third example process 900 for providing location configuration via the paging delivery method as described above, according to one embodiment. Figure 7 The example of the relay UE initiation in FIG. 8 illustrates the UE-initiated positioning process. As can be seen, the operations in the example process 800 generally reflect Figure 7 Therefore, these operations can be performed as described previously with respect to Figure 7 However, here, it is the specific remote UE (among the remote UEs 925) that determines that a specific remote UE requires a positioning session, as indicated at block 930. Figure 7 The process 700 of the present invention can be based on, for example, an application (e.g., a navigation application) executed by a particular remote UE, a user input, a request received by the UE from another device, or a combination thereof. The particular remote UE can then transmit a positioning session request to the relay UE 910, as indicated by arrow 945, and the relay UE relays the positioning session request to the location server, as indicated by arrow 947. Similar to Figure 7 and Figure 8 , the location server 920 may then determine the configuration information, as indicated at block 950. Likewise, the paging frame may be used to initially obtain the positioning capability information of the remote UE 925, as well as to propagate the configuration information back to the relay UE 910 and the remote UE 925.

[0097] According to some embodiments, a particular remote UE may specify a time at which a positioning session is to be conducted. That is, upon determining that a positioning session is required, the particular remote UE may also determine a future time T at which a positioning session is required. This time T may be included in the positioning session request (arrow 945) and relayed (at arrow 947) to the location server 920. Thus, the location server 920 may transmit a paging request (arrow 955) at time T, as requested by the particular remote UE requesting the positioning session.

[0098] Fig.10is a flow chart of a method 1000 for enabling a SL positioning session using paging delivery at a relay UE according to one embodiment. Fig.10 The components of the functions illustrated in one or more of the illustrated blocks may be performed by hardware and / or software components of the UE. Fig.12 Example components of a UE are illustrated in FIG, and are described in more detail below.

[0099] At box 1010, the function includes obtaining positioning capability information from one or more remote UEs at the relay UE, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning. For example, this may include the ability to perform positioning-related measurements (e.g., ToA, RSTD, RSRP, RTT, TDOA, AoA, etc.); positioning-related QoS, accuracy and / or granularity capabilities; capabilities regarding timing and / or frequency; or a combination thereof. As previously described, the information may be obtained by the relay UE from one or more remote UEs. One or more remote UEs may transmit the information based on one or more triggers, such as a predefined schedule or periodicity, a triggering event (e.g., moving more than a threshold distance from a previous position, a predetermined timer expiring, when a SL communication link is established with the relay UE, or a combination thereof). According to some embodiments, method 1000 may also include storing the positioning capability information by the relay UE. This may enable, for example, the UE to provide positioning capability information at a subsequent time or use the positioning capability information to determine positioning configuration information for a SL positioning session. According to some embodiments, the number of remote UEs for which the relay UE can store positioning configuration information may be limited. The limit may be defined by a management specification, specified by a location server or other device, determined by the relay UE itself, or a combination thereof. Thus, according to some embodiments of method 1000, the number of the one or more remote UEs may be less than a predetermined maximum number of remote UEs for which the relay UE is configured to store positioning capability information.

[0100] The means for performing the functions at block 1010 may include a bus 1205, a processor 1210, a DSP 1220, a wireless communication interface 1230, a sensor 1240, a memory 1260, and / or other components of the UE 1200, such as Fig.12 As illustrated and described below.

[0101] At block 1020, the functionality includes obtaining, at the relay UE, positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session. As previously described, the relay UE may obtain such positioning configuration information by determining the positioning configuration information itself (e.g., based on its positioning capability information and the positioning capability information of the one or more remote UEs) or by receiving the positioning configuration information from a separate device (such as a location server).

[0102] In an embodiment in which the location server determines the positioning configuration information, method 1000 may include one or more additional functions. Such embodiments may include, for example, transmitting the positioning capability information of the one or more remote UEs from the relay UE to the location server. As mentioned, in such embodiments, obtaining the positioning configuration information may include receiving the positioning configuration information from the location server. In such embodiments, transmitting the positioning capability information may be in response to receiving a request for the positioning capability information from the location server at the relay UE.

[0103] As previously described, in some embodiments, receiving the positioning configuration information from the location server may include receiving the positioning configuration information in a paging request. In some embodiments, the paging request may be received in a paging search space for positioning. The paging search space for positioning may be located within an activated bandwidth part (BWP) of the relay UE; located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE but within the same component carrier (CC) of the activated BWP of the relay UE; or located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE and located in a CC separate from the CC of the activated BWP of the relay UE. In some embodiments, the paging request includes a positioning paging record and a positioning paging record list.

[0104] As described in the above examples, the SL positioning session can be used to determine the position of the target UE including the relay UE or the remote UE. In such instances, the target UE can initiate the SL positioning session. Therefore, in some embodiments of method 1000, the SL positioning session is used to determine the position of the relay UE. In such instances, method 1000 may also include determining to initiate the SL positioning session at the relay UE, and transmitting a positioning session request from the relay UE to the location server before obtaining the positioning configuration information. In some embodiments, the SL positioning session is used to determine the position of a specific remote UE among the one or more remote UEs. In such instances, method 1000 may also include, before obtaining the positioning configuration information, receiving a positioning session request from the specific remote UE at the relay UE, and transmitting the positioning session request from the relay UE to the location server.

[0105] The means for performing the functions at block 1020 may include a bus 1205, a processor 1210, a DSP 1220, a wireless communication interface 1230, a sensor 1240, a memory 1260, and / or other components of the UE 1200, such as Fig.12 As illustrated and described below.

[0106] At box 1030, the function includes transmitting the positioning configuration information from the relay UE to the one or more remote UEs, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information during one or more paging moments (PO) of the one or more remote UEs. Likewise, the positioning configuration information for a given remote UE may be included in a special positioning paging record, which may be delivered in its entirety by the relay UE or aggregated / truncated by the relay UE. As indicated in the previously described embodiments, the positioning session may then be conducted between the relay UE and the one or more remote UEs based on the positioning configuration information.

[0107] The means for performing the functions at block 1030 may include a bus 1205, a processor 1210, a DSP 1220, a wireless communication interface 1230, a sensor 1240, a memory 1260, and / or other components of the UE 1200, such as Fig.12 As illustrated and described below.

[0108] Fig.11 is a flow chart of a method 1100 for enabling a SL positioning session using paging delivery at a location server UE according to one embodiment. Fig.11 The components of the functions illustrated in one or more of the illustrated blocks may be performed by hardware and / or software components of a computer server or other computer system. Fig.13 Example components of a computer system are illustrated in FIG. 4 and described in more detail below.

[0109] At box 1110, the function includes receiving positioning capability information of one or more remote UEs from the relay UE at the location server, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning. Similarly, these capabilities may include, for example, capabilities for performing positioning-related measurements (e.g., ToA, RSTD, RSRP, RTT, TDOA, AoA, etc.); positioning-related QoS, accuracy and / or granularity capabilities; capabilities regarding timing and / or frequency; or a combination thereof. As indicated in the previously described embodiments, the information may be obtained by the relay UE from the one or more remote UEs and passed by the relay UE to the location server. In some embodiments, the relay UE may also provide its positioning capability information in the same manner as it provides the positioning capability information of the one or more remote UEs. As previously described, the relay UE may provide the information in response to a request from the location server. Thus, some embodiments of method 1100 may also include, before receiving the positioning capability information, transmitting a request for the positioning capability information from the location server to the relay UE.

[0110] The means for performing the functions at block 1110 may include bus 1305, processor 1310, DSP 1320, communication subsystem 1330, memory 1335, and / or other components of computer system 1300, such as Fig.13 As illustrated and described below.

[0111] At block 1120, the functionality includes determining positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session based at least in part on the positioning capability information. Similarly, the location server may coordinate the SL positioning session based on the various capabilities of the relay UE and one or more remote UEs. The means for performing the functionality at block 1120 may include the bus 1305, the processor 1310, the DSP 1320, the communication subsystem 1330, the memory 1335, and / or other components of the computer system 1300, such as Fig.13 As illustrated and described below.

[0112] At box 1130, the function includes transmitting the positioning configuration information from the location server to the relay UE, wherein the location server transmits the positioning configuration information in a paging request. According to some embodiments, the paging request may be transmitted in a paging search space for positioning. The paging search space for positioning may be located within an activated bandwidth part (BWP) of the relay UE, outside the activated BWP of the relay UE but within the same component carrier (CC) of the activated BWP of the relay UE, or outside the activated BWP of the relay UE and in a CC separate from the CC of the activated BWP of the relay UE. Similarly, as previously described, according to some embodiments, the paging request may include a positioning paging record and a positioning paging record list.

[0113] The means for performing the functions at block 1130 may include bus 1305, processor 1310, DSP 1320, communication subsystem 1330, memory 1335, and / or other components of computer system 1300, such as Fig.13 As illustrated and described below.

[0114] Fig.12 is a block diagram of an implementation of UE 1200, which may be described above (eg, associated Figures 1 to 11 ) is utilized as described in the above. For example, UE 1200 may execute Fig.10 One or more of the functions of the method shown and / or the more general functions of a relay UE or remote UE as described herein. It should be noted that Fig.12 It is intended only to provide a generalized illustration of various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. It may be noted that in some instances, Fig.12 The illustrated components may be localized as a single physical device and / or distributed among various networked devices that may be located at different physical locations. In addition, as previously mentioned, the functionality of the UE discussed in the previously described embodiments may be provided by Fig.12 The system may be executed by one or more of the hardware and / or software components illustrated in the specification.

[0115] UE 1200 is shown as including hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via bus 1205 (or may communicate in other ways as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processor 1210, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors (e.g., application processors), one or more special-purpose processors (such as digital signal processor (DSP) chips, graphics acceleration processors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.), and / or other processing structures or components. Processor 1210 may include one or more processing units, which may be housed in a single integrated circuit (IC) or multiple ICs. Fig.12As shown, some embodiments may have a separate DSP 1220, depending on the desired functionality. Position determination and / or other determinations based on wireless communication may be provided in the processor 1210 and / or the wireless communication interface 1230 (discussed below). The UE 1200 may also include: one or more input devices 1270, which may include but are not limited to one or more keyboards, touch screens, touch pads, microphones, buttons, dials, switches, etc.; and one or more output devices 1215, which may include but are not limited to one or more displays (e.g., touch screens), light emitting diodes (LEDs), speakers, etc.

[0116] UE 1200 may also include a wireless communication interface 1230, which may include but is not limited to a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device and / or a chipset (such as Device, IEEE 802.11 device, IEEE 802.15.4 device, Wi-Fi device, WiMAX device, WAN device and / or various cellular devices, etc.), etc., which can enable UE 1200 to communicate with other devices as described in the above embodiments. The wireless communication interface 1230 may allow the use of the TRP of the network, for example, via eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, access point, various base stations and / or other access node types, and / or other network components, computer systems, and / or any other electronic device communicatively coupled to the TRP to communicate (e.g., send and receive) data and signaling, as described herein. Communication may be performed via one or more wireless communication antennas 1232 that transmit and / or receive wireless signals 1234. According to some embodiments, the wireless communication antenna 1232 may include multiple discrete antennas, antenna arrays, or any combination thereof. The antenna 1232 may be able to use beams (e.g., Tx beams and Rx beams) to send and receive wireless signals. Beamforming may be performed using digital and / or analog beamforming techniques with corresponding digital and / or analog circuitry. The wireless communication interface 1230 may include such circuitry.

[0117] Depending on the desired functionality, the wireless communication interface 1230 may include separate receivers and transmitters, or any combination of transceivers, transmitters, and / or receivers to communicate with base stations (e.g., ng-eNBs and gNBs) and other terrestrial transceivers (such as wireless devices and access points). UE 1200 may communicate with different data networks, which may include various network types. For example, the WWAN may be a CDMA network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) network, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) network, a WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) network, etc. A CDMA network may implement one or more RATs, such as WCDMA, etc. Includes IS-95, IS-2000, and / or IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement GSM, Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS), or some other RAT. An OFDMA network may employ LTE, Advanced LTE, 5G NR, and the like. 5G NR, LTE, Advanced LTE, GSM, and WCDMA are described in documents from 3GPP. Described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). 3GPP and 3GPP2 documents are publicly available. A wireless local area network (WLAN) may also be an IEEE 802.11x network, and a wireless personal area network (WPAN) may be a Bluetooth network, IEEE 802.15x, or some other type of network. The techniques described herein may also be used for any combination of WWAN, WLAN, and / or WPAN.

[0118] UE 1200 may also include sensors 1240. Sensors 1240 may include, but are not limited to, one or more inertial sensors and / or other sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, cameras, magnetometers, altimeters, microphones, proximity sensors, light sensors, barometers, etc.), some of which may be used to obtain position-related measurements and / or other information.

[0119] Embodiments of UE 1200 may also include a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver 1280 that is capable of receiving signals 1284 from one or more GNSS satellites using antenna 1282 (which may be the same as antenna 1232). Positioning based on GNSS signal measurements may be used to supplement and / or incorporate the techniques described herein. GNSS receiver 1280 may use conventional techniques to extract the position of UE 1200 from GNSS satellites of GNSS systems such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Galileo, GLONASS, Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) covering Japan, IRNSS covering India, BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) covering China, etc. In addition, the GNSS receiver 1280 may be used for various augmentation systems (e.g., satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS)) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems, such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multifunction Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), and the Geographic Augmentation Navigation System (GAGAN), among others.

[0120] It can be noted that although Fig.12 1280 is illustrated as a different component, but the embodiments are not limited to this. As used herein, the term "GNSS receiver" may include hardware and / or software components configured to obtain GNSS measurements (measurements from GNSS satellites). Therefore, in some embodiments, the GNSS receiver may include (as software) a measurement engine executed by one or more processors (such as processor 1210, DSP 1220 and / or a processor within wireless communication interface 1230 (for example, in a modem)). The GNSS receiver may also optionally include a positioning engine that can use the GNSS measurements from the measurement engine to determine the orientation of the GNSS receiver using an extended Kalman filter (EKF), weighted least squares (WLS), a hatch filter, a particle filter, etc. The positioning engine may also be executed by one or more processors such as processor 1210 or DSP 1220.

[0121] UE 1200 may also include and / or be in communication with memory 1260. Memory 1260 may include, but is not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices such as random access memory (RAM) and / or read-only memory (ROM), which may be programmable, flash-updatable, and the like. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including but not limited to various file systems, database structures, and the like.

[0122] The memory 1260 of the UE 1200 may also include software elements ( Fig.12 1200), including an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more applications, which software elements may include computer programs provided by various embodiments and / or may be designed to implement methods provided by other embodiments and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more processes described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions in memory 1260 that can be executed by UE 1200 (and / or processor 1210 or DSP 1220 within UE 1200). Then, in some embodiments, such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0123] Fig.13 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system 1300 that may be used in whole or in part to provide one or more network components (e.g., Figure 1 , Figure 5 , Figures 7 to 9 and Fig.11 It should be noted that Fig.13 It is intended only to provide a generalized illustration of the various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. Fig.13 The following broadly illustrates how various system elements can be implemented in a relatively separate or relatively more integrated manner. Fig.13 The illustrated components may be localized into a single device and / or distributed among various networked devices that may be located at different geographical locations.

[0124] The computer system 1300 is shown as including hardware elements that can be electrically coupled via a bus 1305 (or can communicate in other ways as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processor 1310, which may include but is not limited to one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration processors, etc.) and / or other processing structures, which can be configured to perform one or more of the methods described herein. The computer system 1300 may also include: one or more input devices 1315, which may include but are not limited to a mouse, a keyboard, a camera, a microphone, etc.; and one or more output devices 1320, which may include but are not limited to a display device, a printer, etc.

[0125] The computer system 1300 may also include (and / or communicate with) one or more non-transitory storage devices 1325, which may include, but are not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage devices, and / or may include, but are not limited to, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices such as RAM and / or ROM, which may be programmable, flash-updatable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, etc. Such data storage may include databases and / or other data structures for storing and managing messages and / or other information to be transmitted to one or more devices via the hub, as described herein.

[0126] The computer system 1300 may also include a communication subsystem 1330, which may include wireless communication technologies managed and controlled by a wireless communication interface 1333, as well as wired technologies (such as Ethernet, coaxial communication, universal serial bus (USB), etc.). The wireless communication interface 1333 may include one or more wireless transceivers, which may transmit and receive wireless signals 1355 (e.g., signals according to 5G NR or LTE) via a wireless antenna 1350. Therefore, the communication subsystem 1330 may include a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device and / or a chipset, etc., which may enable the computer system 1300 to communicate with any device on the corresponding network including user equipment (UE), base stations and / or other TRPs, and / or any other electronic device described herein on any or all of the communication networks described herein. Therefore, the communication subsystem 1330 can be used to receive and transmit data, as described in the embodiments of this invention.

[0127] In many embodiments, the computer system 1300 will also include a working memory 1335, which may include a RAM or ROM device, as described above. The software elements shown as being located within the working memory 1335 may include an operating system 1340, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more applications 1345, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments and / or may be designed to implement methods provided by other embodiments and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more of the procedures described for the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions executable by a computer (and / or a processor within a computer); then, in one aspect, such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0128] The set of these instructions and / or codes may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (such as storage device 1325 described above). In some cases, the storage medium may be incorporated into a computer system such as computer system 1300. In other embodiments, the storage medium may be separate from the computer system (e.g., removable media such as an optical disk), and / or may be provided in an installation package so that the storage medium can be used to program, configure, and / or adapt a general-purpose computer having the instructions / code stored thereon. These instructions may take the form of executable code that can be executed by computer system 1300, and / or may take the form of source code and / or installable code that, when compiled and / or installed on computer system 1300 (e.g., using any of a variety of commonly available compilers, installers, compression / decompression utilities, etc.), then takes the form of executable code.

[0129] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantial modifications may be made according to specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may also be used, and / or specific elements may be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. In addition, connections to other computer systems (such as network input / output devices) may be employed.

[0130] With reference to the accompanying drawings, the components that may include memory may include non-transient machine-readable media. As used herein, the terms "machine-readable medium" and "computer-readable medium" refer to any storage medium that participates in providing data that enables a machine to operate in a particular manner. In the embodiments provided above, various machine-readable media may be involved when providing instructions / codes to a processor and / or other devices for execution. Additionally or alternatively, machine-readable media may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / codes. In many specific implementations, computer-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media may take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media and volatile media. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example: magnetic and / or optical media, any other physical media with hole patterns, RAM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or memory box, or any other medium that can be used for computer-readable instructions and / or codes.

[0131] The methods, systems and devices discussed herein are examples. Various embodiments may omit, replace or add various processes or components as appropriate. For example, the features described for certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. The different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. The various components of the accompanying drawings provided herein may be embodied in hardware and / or software. In addition, technology may evolve, and therefore many elements are examples, which do not limit the scope of the present disclosure to those specific examples.

[0132] It has proven convenient at times, primarily for reasons of common usage, to refer to such signals as bits, information, values, elements, symbols, characters, variables, terms, numbers, digital symbols, and the like. It will be understood, however, that all of these or similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless specifically stated otherwise, as will be apparent from the above discussion, it will be understood that throughout this specification, discussions utilizing terms such as "processing," "computing," "calculating," "determining," "ascertaining," "identifying," "correlating," "measuring," "performing," and the like refer to the actions or processes of a particular device such as a special-purpose computer or similar special-purpose electronic computing device. Thus, in the context of this specification, a special-purpose computer or similar special-purpose electronic computing device is capable of manipulating or transforming signals, typically represented as physical, electronic, electrical, or magnetic quantities in a memory, register, or other information storage device, a transmitting device, or a display device of the special-purpose computer or similar special-purpose electronic computing device.

[0133] As used herein, the terms "and" and "or" may include various meanings that are also intended to depend at least in part on the context in which such terms are used. Generally, "or", if used in association with a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C (inclusive meaning is used here) as well as A, B, or C (exclusive meaning is used here). In addition, as used herein, the term "one or more" may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in the singular, or may be used to describe a certain combination of features, structures, or characteristics. However, it should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example, and the subject matter claimed is not limited to this example. In addition, the term "at least one of", if used in association with a list, such as A, B, or C, may be interpreted to mean any combination of A, B, and / or C, such as A, AB, AA, AAB, AABBCCC, etc.

[0134] Several embodiments have been described, and various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, where other rules may take precedence over the application of the various embodiments or otherwise modify the application of the various embodiments. In addition, multiple steps may be performed before, during, or after considering the above elements. Therefore, the above description does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0135] In view of this description, various embodiments may include different combinations of features. Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0136] Clause 1. A method for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery at a relay user equipment (UE), the method comprising: obtaining positioning capability information from one or more remote UEs at the relay UE, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning; obtaining positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session at the relay UE; and transmitting the positioning configuration information from the relay UE to the one or more remote UEs, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information during one or more paging moments (PO) of the one or more remote UEs.

[0137] Clause 2. The method according to clause 1, further comprising storing the positioning capability information by the relay UE.

[0138] Clause 3. A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 2, wherein the number of the one or more remote UEs is less than a predetermined maximum number of remote UEs for which the relay UE is configured to store positioning capability information.

[0139] Clause 4. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 3, further comprising transmitting the positioning capability information of the one or more remote UEs from the relay UE to a location server, wherein obtaining positioning configuration information comprises receiving the positioning configuration information from the location server.

[0140] Clause 5. The method of clause 4, wherein transmitting the positioning capability information is in response to receiving, at the relay UE, a request for the positioning capability information from the location server.

[0141] Clause 6. The method of any one of clauses 4 to 5, wherein receiving the positioning configuration information from the location server comprises receiving the positioning configuration information in a paging request.

[0142] Clause 7. The method of clause 6, wherein the paging request is received in a paging search space used for positioning.

[0143] Clause 8. A method according to Clause 7, wherein the paging search space used for positioning is: located within an activated bandwidth part (BWP) of the relay UE; located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE but within the same component carrier (CC) as the activated BWP of the relay UE; or located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE and in a CC separate from the CC of the activated BWP of the relay UE.

[0144] Clause 9. A method as described in any of clauses 6 to 8, wherein the paging request includes a location paging record and a location paging record list.

[0145] Clause 10. A method according to any one of clauses 4 to 9, wherein the SL positioning session is used to determine the location of the relay UE, and wherein the method further includes: determining to initiate the SL positioning session at the relay UE; and transmitting a positioning session request from the relay UE to the location server before obtaining the positioning configuration information.

[0146] Clause 11. A method according to any one of clauses 4 to 9, wherein the SL positioning session is used to determine the location of a specific remote UE among the one or more remote UEs, and wherein the method further includes, before obtaining the positioning configuration information: receiving a positioning session request from the specific remote UE at the relay UE; and transmitting the positioning session request from the relay UE to the location server.

[0147] Clause 12. A method for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery at a location server, the method comprising: receiving positioning capability information of one or more remote UEs from a relay user equipment (UE) at the location server, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning; determining positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session based at least in part on the positioning capability information; and transmitting the positioning configuration information from the location server to the relay UE, wherein the location server transmits the positioning configuration information in a paging request.

[0148] Clause 13. The method of clause 12, further comprising, prior to receiving the positioning capability information, transmitting a request for the positioning capability information from the location server to the relay UE.

[0149] Clause 14. The method of any of clauses 12 to 13, wherein the paging request is transmitted in a paging search space used for positioning.

[0150] Clause 15. A method according to clause 14, wherein the paging search space used for positioning is: located within an activated bandwidth part (BWP) of the relay UE; located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE but within the same component carrier (CC) of the activated BWP of the relay UE; or located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE and in a CC separate from the CC of the activated BWP of the relay UE.

[0151] Clause 16. The method of any one of clauses 12 to 15, wherein the paging request comprises a location paging record and a location paging record list.

[0152] Clause 17. A relay user equipment (UE) for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery, the relay UE comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and one or more processors, the one or more processors being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: obtain positioning capability information from one or more remote UEs via the transceiver, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning; obtain positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session; and transmit the positioning configuration information to the one or more remote UEs via the transceiver, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information during one or more paging moments (PO) of the one or more remote UEs.

[0153] Clause 18. The relay UE of Clause 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to store the positioning capability information in the memory.

[0154] Clause 19. A relay UE as described in any of clauses 17 to 18, wherein the number of the one or more remote UEs is less than a predetermined maximum number of remote UEs for which the relay UE is configured to store positioning capability information.

[0155] Clause 20. A relay UE according to any one of clauses 17 to 19, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the positioning capability information of the one or more remote UEs to a location server via the transceiver, and wherein, in order to obtain the positioning configuration information, the one or more processors are configured to receive the positioning configuration information from the location server.

[0156] Clause 21. The relay UE of Clause 20, wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit the positioning capability information in response to receiving a request for the positioning capability information from the location server.

[0157] Clause 22. The relay UE of any of clauses 20 to 21, wherein, to receive the positioning configuration information from the location server, the one or more processors are configured to receive the positioning configuration information in a paging request.

[0158] Clause 23. The relay UE of clause 22, wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive a paging request received in a paging search space for positioning.

[0159] Clause 24. A relay UE according to clause 23, wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive the paging search space for positioning, and the paging search space for positioning is: located within an activated bandwidth part (BWP) of the relay UE; located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE but within the same component carrier (CC) of the activated BWP of the relay UE; or located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE and in a CC separate from the CC of the activated BWP of the relay UE.

[0160] Clause 25. A relay UE as described in any of clauses 22 to 24, wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive a location paging record and a location paging record list in the paging request.

[0161] Clause 26. A relay UE according to any one of clauses 20 to 25, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: determine to initiate the SL positioning session; and before obtaining the positioning configuration information, transmit a positioning session request to the location server via the transceiver.

[0162] Clause 27. A relay UE according to any one of clauses 20 to 25, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, before obtaining the positioning configuration information: receive a positioning session request from a remote UE via the transceiver; and transmit the positioning session request to the location server via the transceiver.

[0163] Clause 28. A location server for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery, the location server comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and one or more processors, the one or more processors being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receive positioning capability information of one or more remote UEs from a relay user equipment (UE) via the transceiver, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning; determine positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session based at least in part on the positioning capability information; and transmit the positioning configuration information to the relay UE via the transceiver, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information in a paging request.

[0164] Clause 29. The location server of Clause 28, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, prior to receiving the positioning capability information, transmit a request for the positioning capability information from the location server to the relay UE.

[0165] Clause 30. The location server of any of clauses 28 to 29, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the paging request in a paging search space for positioning.

[0166] Clause 31. An apparatus having means for performing the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 16.

[0167] Clause 32. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions comprising code for performing the method of any one of clauses 1 to 16.

Claims

1. A method for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery at a relay user equipment (UE), the method comprising: Obtaining, at the relay UE, positioning capability information from one or more remote UEs, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning; Obtaining, at the relay UE, positioning configuration information for performing the SL positioning session; and The positioning configuration information is transmitted from the relay UE to the one or more remote UEs, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information during one or more paging occasions (POs) of the one or more remote UEs. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising storing the positioning capability information by the relay UE. 3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the number of the one or more remote UEs is less than a predetermined maximum number of remote UEs for which the relay UE is configured to store positioning capability information. 4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the positioning capability information of the one or more remote UEs from the relay UE to a location server, wherein obtaining positioning configuration information comprises receiving the positioning configuration information from the location server. 5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein transmitting the positioning capability information is in response to receiving a request for the positioning capability information from the location server at the relay UE.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving the positioning configuration information from the location server comprises receiving the positioning configuration information in a paging request. The method of claim 6 , wherein the paging request is received in a paging search space used for positioning.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the paging search space used for positioning: Located within an activated bandwidth part (BWP) of the relay UE; Located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE but within the same component carrier (CC) as the activated BWP of the relay UE; or Located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE and in a CC separate from the CC of the activated BWP of the relay UE.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the paging request includes a location paging record and a location paging record list.

10. The method according to claim 4, wherein the SL positioning session is used to determine the location of the relay UE, and wherein the method further comprises: Determining, at the relay UE, to initiate the SL positioning session; as well as Before obtaining the positioning configuration information, a positioning session request is transmitted from the relay UE to the location server.

11. The method according to claim 4, wherein the SL positioning session is used to determine the location of a specific remote UE among the one or more remote UEs, and wherein the method further comprises, before obtaining the positioning configuration information: receiving, at the relay UE, a positioning session request from the specific remote UE; and The positioning session request is transmitted from the relay UE to the location server.

12. A method for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session at a location server using paging delivery, the method comprising: receiving, at the location server, positioning capability information of one or more remote UEs from a relay user equipment (UE), wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning; determining positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session based at least in part on the positioning capability information; and The positioning configuration information is transmitted from the location server to the relay UE, wherein the location server transmits the positioning configuration information in a paging request. 13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising, before receiving the positioning capability information, transmitting a request for the positioning capability information from the location server to the relay UE.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the paging request is transmitted in a paging search space used for positioning.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the paging search space used for positioning: Located within an activated bandwidth part (BWP) of the relay UE; Located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE but within the same component carrier (CC) as the activated BWP of the relay UE; or Located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE and in a CC separate from the CC of the activated BWP of the relay UE.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the paging request includes a location paging record and a location paging record list.

17. A relay user equipment (UE) for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery, the relay UE comprising: Transceiver; Memory; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: Obtaining positioning capability information from one or more remote UEs via the transceiver, wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning; Obtaining positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session; and The positioning configuration information is transmitted to the one or more remote UEs via the transceiver, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information during one or more paging occasions (POs) of the one or more remote UEs.

18. The relay UE of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to store the positioning capability information in the memory.

19. The relay UE of claim 17, wherein the number of the one or more remote UEs is less than a predetermined maximum number of remote UEs for which the relay UE is configured to store positioning capability information.

20. The relay UE of claim 17, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the positioning capability information of the one or more remote UEs to a location server via the transceiver, and wherein, To obtain the positioning configuration information, the one or more processors are configured to receive the positioning configuration information from the location server.

21. The relay UE of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are configured to transmit the positioning capability information in response to receiving a request for the positioning capability information from the location server.

22. The relay UE according to claim 20, wherein: To receive the positioning configuration information from the location server, the one or more processors are configured to receive the positioning configuration information in a paging request.

23. The relay UE of claim 22, wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive a paging request received in a paging search space for positioning.

24. The relay UE of claim 23, wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive the paging search space for positioning, the paging search space for positioning: Located within an activated bandwidth part (BWP) of the relay UE; located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE but within the same component carrier (CC) as the activated BWP of the relay UE; or Located outside the activated BWP of the relay UE and in a CC separate from the CC of the activated BWP of the relay UE.

25. The relay UE of claim 22, wherein the one or more processors are configured to receive a positioning paging record and a positioning paging record list in the paging request.

26. The relay UE of claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: Determine to initiate the SL positioning session; and Before obtaining the positioning configuration information, a positioning session request is transmitted to the location server via the transceiver.

27. The relay UE according to claim 20, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, before obtaining the positioning configuration information: receiving, via the transceiver, a positioning session request from a remote UE; and The positioning session request is transmitted to the location server via the transceiver.

28. A location server for enabling a sidelink (SL) positioning session using paging delivery, the location server comprising: Transceiver; Memory; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: receiving, via the transceiver, positioning capability information of one or more remote user equipment (UE) from a relay user equipment (UE), wherein, for each of the one or more remote UEs, the positioning capability information indicates at least one capability of the corresponding remote UE for performing SL positioning; determining positioning configuration information for conducting the SL positioning session based at least in part on the positioning capability information; and The positioning configuration information is transmitted to the relay UE via the transceiver, wherein the relay UE transmits the positioning configuration information in a paging request.

29. The location server of claim 28, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to, prior to receiving the positioning capability information, transmit a request for the positioning capability information from the location server to the relay UE.

30. The location server of claim 28, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit the paging request in a paging search space used for positioning.

Images