Measurement in different active bandwidth portions during measurement window based on processing capability of user equipment

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communication are disclosed. In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) receives a request to measure resources associated with a positioning frequency layer (PFL), the resources including a first processing window (PPW) resource within a first PRS processing window (PPW) and a second PRS resource within a second PPW. The UE measures the first PRS resource, the second PRS resource, or both based on one or more PPW selection parameters. In another aspect, a UE determines whether processing of measurements of a first resource, a second resource, and a third resource associated with a respective measurement window (e.g., PPW, measurement gap, etc.) exceeds a processing capability of the UE. The UE processes the measurement based on the processing capability determination.

Description

Background Art 1. Technical Field

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications.

[0003] 2. Description of related technologies

[0004] Wireless communication systems have evolved over many generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high speed data, wireless service with Internet capabilities, and fourth generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are many different types of wireless communication systems in use today, including cellular systems and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the like.

[0005] The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide higher data rates, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on reference signals for positioning (RS-P), such as downlink, uplink, or sidelink positioning reference signals (PRS)), and other technical enhancements compared to previous standards. These enhancements, along with the use of higher frequency bands, advances in PRS processes and technologies, and high-density deployments of 5G, enable high-precision positioning based on 5G. Summary of the invention

[0006] The following presents a simplified summary of the invention related to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Therefore, the following summary of the invention should neither be considered as an exhaustive overview related to all conceived aspects, nor should it be considered to identify key or decisive elements related to all conceived aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Therefore, the sole purpose of the following summary of the invention is to present certain concepts related to one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein in a brief form before the detailed embodiments presented below.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of operating a user equipment (UE) includes: receiving a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; receiving a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; receiving a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); receiving a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; determining whether processing of measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; and processing the measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource based on the processing capability determination.

[0008] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; receive, via the at least one transceiver, a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; receive, via the at least one transceiver, a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); receive, via the at least one transceiver, a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; determine whether processing of measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; and process the measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource based on the processing capability determination.

[0009] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: means for receiving a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; means for receiving a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; means for receiving a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); means for receiving a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; means for determining whether processing of measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; and means for processing the measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource based on the processing capability determination.

[0010] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, which when executed by a user equipment (UE) causes the UE to: receive a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; receive a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; receive a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); receive a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; determine whether processing of measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; and process the measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource based on the processing capability determination.

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

[0012] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided solely for illustration and not limitation of the various aspects.

[0013] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0014] Figure 2A , Figure 2B and Figure 2C Example wireless network structures according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

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

[0016] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0017] Figure 5 is a diagram of an example positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for PRS transmission for a given base station in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating various downlink channels within an example downlink time slot in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example downlink PRS measurement scenario according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 8 Table illustrating different techniques for reducing physical layer PRS processing latency according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Fig. 9 is a diagram of an example downlink PRS transmission, processing, and reporting cycle for multiple UEs in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 10A to FIG. 10C A table showing various feature groups associated with different types of PRS processing capabilities and corresponding components of these feature groups is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Fig.11 is a diagram illustrating an example downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) configuration for two transmit reception points (TRPs) operating in the same positioning frequency layer in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] Fig.12 An exemplary process of communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0025] Fig.13 An exemplary process of communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0026] Fig.14 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figure 12 to Figure 13 An example specific implementation of the process.

[0027] Fig.15 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figure 12 to Figure 13 An example specific implementation of the process.

[0028] Fig.16 Example configurations depicting UE processing capabilities of PRS in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0029] Fig.17 An exemplary process of communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0030] Fig.18 Illustrate various aspects of the present disclosure Fig.17 An example specific implementation of the process.

[0031] Fig.19 Illustrate various aspects of the present disclosure Fig.17 An example specific implementation of the process.

[0032] Fig. 20 Illustrate various aspects of the present disclosure Fig.17 An example specific implementation of the process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] Various aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings for various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be designed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted to avoid making the relevant details of the present disclosure difficult to understand.

[0034] The words "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.

[0035] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of different techniques and technologies may be used to represent the information and signals described below. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the following description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, which depends in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

[0036] In addition, many aspects are described in terms of a sequence of actions to be performed by, for example, an element of a computing device. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein may be performed by a specific circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. Additionally, the sequence of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transient computer-readable storage medium, in which a corresponding computer instruction set is stored, which, when executed, will cause or command the associated processor of the device to perform the functionality described herein. Therefore, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the various aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic configured to perform the described actions."

[0037] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any specific radio access technology (RAT). In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset location device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) head-mounted device, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or may be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station" or variations thereof. In general, a UE may communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE may connect to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms are also possible for the UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (eg, based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.), etc.

[0038] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with a UE, depending on the network in which the base station is deployed, and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a new radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be primarily used to support wireless access for UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may provide only edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, it may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link by which a UE may transmit a signal to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link by which a base station may transmit a signal to a UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term "traffic channel (TCH)" may refer to an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0039] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRP may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighboring base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. As used herein, since a TRP is a point by which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, references to transmitting from a base station or receiving at a base station should be understood to refer to a specific TRP of a base station.

[0040] In some implementations of supporting UE positioning, a base station may not support wireless access for a UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead send a reference signal to be measured by the UE to the UE and / or may receive and measure a signal sent by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning tower (e.g., in the case of sending a signal to the UE) and / or as a position measurement unit (e.g., in the case of receiving and measuring a signal from the UE).

[0041] An "RF signal" includes an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal" where it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0042] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system 100 according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled as "BS") and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macrocell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network), or gNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of the two, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0043] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) through a backhaul link 122, and interface with one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) through the core network 170. The location server 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. The location server 172 may be integrated with the base station 102. The UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location server 172 via another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., the AP 150 described below), etc. For signaling purposes, communications between UE 104 and location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), with intermediate nodes (if any) omitted from the signaling diagram for clarity.

[0044] Among other functions, the base station 102 may perform functions related to one or more of the following: delivering user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC / 5GC) via a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0045] Base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each of base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells may be supported by base station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., on a certain frequency resource, which is referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) used to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types) that may provide access to different types of UEs. Since a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" may refer to either or both of a logical communication entity and a base station supporting the logical communication entity, depending on the context. In addition, since the TRP is generally the physical transmission point of the cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station, as long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0046] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with the larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB) that may provide services to a restricted group called a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0047] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric for the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than to the uplink).

[0048] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a WLAN access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA) 152 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz) via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedure prior to communication to determine whether a channel is available.

[0049] The small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can adopt LTE or NR technology and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' using LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can improve the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE-U, License Assisted Access (LAA) or MulteFire.

[0050] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 that can operate in mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW can be extended down to a frequency of 3 GHz, with a wavelength of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, which is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 can utilize beamforming (transmitting and / or receiving) through the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. In addition, it should be understood that in an alternative configuration, one or more base stations 102 may also use mmW or near mmW and beamforming for transmission. Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0051] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device. In order to change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that broadcast the RF signal. For example, a network node can use an array of antennas (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") that produces RF beams that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antenna. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to each antenna in the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas are added together to increase the radiation in the desired direction while canceling to suppress the radiation in the undesired direction.

[0052] The transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antennas are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived based on information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Therefore, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0053] In receive beamforming, the receiver uses receive beams to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver may increase the gain setting of the antenna array in a particular direction and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a particular direction to amplify the RF signal received from that direction (e.g., increase its gain level). Therefore, when a receiver is said to perform beamforming in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

[0054] The transmit beam and the receive beam may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that parameters of a second beam (e.g., a transmit beam or a receive beam) for a second reference signal may be derived from information about a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0055] Note that depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming a downlink beam to send a reference signal to the UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE is forming a downlink beam, the downlink beam is a receive beam that receives a downlink reference signal. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, while if the UE is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0056] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz - 7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz - 52.6 GHz). It should be understood that, despite the portion of FR1 being greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes occurs with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and articles, despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz - 300 GHz) identified as the "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0057] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz-24.25 GHz). The bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus may effectively extend the features of FR1 and / or FR2 to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations beyond 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz to 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz to 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz to 300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0058] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used in this document, the term "below 6 GHz" and the like can broadly refer to frequencies that can be less than 6 GHz, can be within FR1, or can include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" and the like are used in this document, they can broadly refer to frequencies that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or can be within the EHF band.

[0059] In a multi-carrier system (such as 5G), one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that can be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier, and which can be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, since the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are usually UE-specific, those UE-specific signaling information and signals may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carrier. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier on which a base station communicates, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. are used interchangeably.

[0060] For example, still referring to Figure 1, one of the frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate obtained with a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0061] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a UE 164, which may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via a communication link 120 and / or communicate with the mmW base station 180 via a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0062] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 are capable of sidelink communication. A sidelink-capable UE (SL-UE) may communicate with base station 102 via communication link 120 using a Uu interface (i.e., an air interface between a UE and a base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other via a wireless sidelink 160 using a PC5 interface (i.e., an air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or simply "sidelink") is an adaptation of a core cellular network (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without communicating through a base station. Sidelink communications may be unicast or multicast and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2X) communications (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communications, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communications, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more SL-UEs in a group of SL-UEs utilizing sidelink communications may be located within the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102, or may be unable to receive transmissions from the base station 102 for other reasons. In some cases, groups of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which each SL-UE transmits to each other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, the base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. In other cases, sidelink communications are performed between the SL-UEs without involving the base station 102.

[0063] In one aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate on an interesting wireless communication medium that may be shared with other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points and other wireless communications between other RATs. A "medium" may include one or more time, frequency, and / or spatial communication resources associated with wireless communications between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs (e.g., covering one or more channels across one or more carriers). In one aspect, the interesting medium may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed band shared between various RATs. Although different licensed bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems (particularly those that employ small cell access points) have recently expanded operations into unlicensed bands such as the unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technology (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi"). Example systems of this type include different variants of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

[0064] Note that although Figure 1 Only two of these UEs are illustrated as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), but any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs. Furthermore, although only UE 182 is described as being capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) may be capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they may beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other SL-UEs), toward other UEs (e.g., UE 104), toward base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cells 102', access point 150), and the like. Thus, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may utilize beamforming via sidelink 160.

[0065] exist Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , the UE illustrated (for simplicity, in Figure 1Any of the UEs 104 (shown as a single UE 104 in FIG. 1 ) may receive a signal 124 from one or more earth-orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, the SVs 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that the UEs 104 may use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a transmitter system (e.g., SV 112) positioned to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine its position on or above the earth based at least in part on a positioning signal (e.g., signal 124) received from the transmitter. Such a transmitter typically transmits a signal that is marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. Although typically located in the SVs 112, the transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. The UEs 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers that are specifically designed to receive the signal 124 in order to derive geographic location information from the SVs 112.

[0066] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signal 124 may be enhanced by various 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. For example, SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), Multifunction Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), Global Positioning System (GPS) Assisted Geographic Augmented Navigation or GPS and Geographic Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN), etc. Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

[0067] In one aspect, SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as an improved base station 102 (without a ground antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element in turn will provide access to other elements in the 5G network, and ultimately provide access to entities outside the 5G network (such as Internet web servers and other user devices). In this way, instead of or in addition to communication signals from a ground base station 102, a UE 104 can receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from a SV 112.

[0068] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, which are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “side links”). Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UEs 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity through the D2D P2P link), and has a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to WLAN AP 150 (UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity through the D2D P2P link). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can be supported by any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth ® etc.

[0069] Figure 2A An example wireless network structure 200 is illustrated. For example, the 5GC 210 (also referred to as the Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally viewed as a control plane (C-plane) function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane (U-plane) function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate in conjunction to form a core network. The user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and the control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, and specifically to the user plane function 212 and the control plane function 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the ng-eNB 224 can also be connected to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. In addition, the ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, a next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0070] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that can communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The location server 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204 that may be connected to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). In addition, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0071] Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 240 is illustrated. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 in the 5GC 210 can be functionally viewed as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and a user plane function provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate in conjunction to form a core network (i.e., the 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include: registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any UE described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives an intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In case of authentication based on UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), AMF 264 retrieves security material from AUSF. The functionality of AMF 264 also includes security context management (SCM). SCM receives keys from SEAF, which it uses to derive access network specific keys. The functionality of AMF 264 also includes location service management for regulatory services, for the transmission of location service messages between UE 204 and Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as location server 230), for the transmission of location service messages between NG-RAN 220 and LMF 270, for the allocation of Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifiers for interoperation with EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notifications. In addition, AMF 264 also supports functionality for non-3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0072] The functions of UPF 262 include: acting as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) handling (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and transmitting and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. UPF 262 may also support the delivery of location service messages between UE 204 and a location server (such as SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0073] The functions of SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, traffic steering configuration for routing traffic to the correct destination at UPF 262, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which SMF 266 communicates with AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0074] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that can communicate with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively can each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can be connected to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). SLP 272 may support similar functionality as LMF 270, but LMF 270 may communicate with AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UE 204 on a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data), and SLP 272 may communicate with UE 204 and external clients (e.g., third-party servers 274) on a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0075] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274 that may communicate with the LMF 270, the SLP 272, the 5GC 260 (e.g., via the AMF 264 and / or the UPF 262), the NG-RAN 220, and / or the UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., a location estimate) of the UE 204. Thus, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a location service (LCS) client or an external client. The third-party server 274 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server.

[0076] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and specifically the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively, to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, and the interface between the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the "N3" interface. The gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via a backhaul connection 223 referred to as an "Xn-C" interface. One or more of the gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a wireless interface referred to as a "Uu" interface.

[0077] The functionality of the gNB 222 may be divided between a gNB central unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB distributed units (gNB-DU) 228, and one or more gNB radio units (gNB-RU) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions other than those specifically assigned to the gNB-DU 228, including delivery of user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and the like. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 generally hosts the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that generally hosts the radio link control (RLC) and medium access control (MAC) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 may support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of the gNB 222 is typically hosted by one or more independent gNB-RUs 229, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between the gNB-DU 228 and the gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC layer, the SDAP layer, and the PDCP layer, communicates with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC layer and the MAC layer, and communicates with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0078] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G NR system) can be arranged with various components or parts in a variety of ways. In a 5G NR system or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a RAN node, a core network node, a network element or a network equipment (such as a base station or one or more units (or one or more components) that perform base station functionality) can be implemented in an aggregated or decomposed architecture. For example, a base station (such as a Node B (NB), an evolved NB (eNB), an NR base station, a 5GNB, an access point (AP), a transmit receive point (TRP) or a cell, etc.) can be implemented as an aggregated base station (also known as a stand-alone base station or a single-chip base station) or a decomposed base station.

[0079] A converged base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A decomposed base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed between two or more units, such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed in one or more other RAN nodes. A DU may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CU, DU, and RU may also be implemented as a virtual unit, namely a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0080] Base station type operations or network designs may take into account the aggregated nature of base station functionality. For example, a disaggregated base station may be used in an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (network configurations such as those initiated by the O-RAN Alliance)), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). Decomposition may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing functionality of at least one unit, which may enable flexibility in network design. Individual units of a disaggregated base station or disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0081] Figure 2C An example disaggregated base station architecture 250 is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The disaggregated base station architecture 250 may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CUs 226) that may communicate directly with a core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more disaggregated base station units, such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 255, or both. The CU 280 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DUs 285 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 287 (e.g., gNB-RUs 229) via respective fronthaul links. The RU 287 can communicate with a corresponding UE 204 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, a UE 204 can be served by multiple RUs 287 simultaneously.

[0082] Each of these units (i.e., CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259, non-RT RIC 257, and SMO framework 255) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or send signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of these units or an associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interface of these units may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via a transmission medium. For example, these units may include a wired interface configured to receive or send signals to one or more of the other units via a wired transmission medium. Additionally, these units may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, a transmitter, or a transceiver (such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) configured to receive or send signals, or both, to one or more of the other units on a wireless transmission medium.

[0083] In some aspects, CU 280 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 280. CU280 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some specific implementations, CU 280 may be logically divided into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP unit may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface (such as an E1 interface). As needed, CU 280 may be implemented to communicate with DU 285 for network control and signaling.

[0084] DU 285 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 287. In some aspects, DU 285 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.) at least in part according to functional splits such as those defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In some aspects, DU 285 may also host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by DU 285 or with control functions hosted by CU 280.

[0085] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 287. In some deployments, a RU 287 controlled by a DU 285 may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions or low PHY layer functions (such as performing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.), or both, based at least in part on functional partitioning (such as lower layer functional partitioning). In such an architecture, the RU 287 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 204. In some specific implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane and user plane communications with the RU 287 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 285 and the CU 280 in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0086] The SMO framework 255 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 255 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which may be managed via an operation and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 255 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 269) to perform network element lifecycle management (such as instantiating virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259. In some specific implementations, the SMO framework 255 may communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN (such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 261) via the O1 interface. In addition, in some specific implementations, the SMO framework 255 may communicate directly with one or more RUs 287 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 255 may also include a non-RT RIC 257 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 255 .

[0087] The non-RT RIC 257 may be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 259. The non-RT RIC 257 may be coupled to or in communication with the near-RT RIC 259 (such as via an A1 interface). The near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to include logic functions that enable near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions through an interface (such as via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 280, one or more DUs 285, or both, and the O-eNB with the near-RT RIC 259.

[0088] In some implementations, in order to generate an AI / ML model to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 259, the non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information may be utilized by the near-RT RIC 259 and may be received from a non-network data source or from a network function at the SMO framework 255 or the non-RT RIC 257. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 257 or the near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 257 may monitor long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 255 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0089] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C Several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) are illustrated that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including the location server 230 and the LMF 270, or alternatively may not be dependent on Figure 2A and Figure 2B 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure, such as a dedicated network, to support file sending operations as taught herein. It should be understood that these components may be implemented in different types of devices with different specific implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other devices in the communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described as providing similar functionality. Moreover, a given device may include one or more of these components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0090] UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for preventing transmitting, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc. WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) on a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a set of time / frequency resources in a particular spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be configured in different ways to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to a specified RAT, and conversely, receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include: one or more transmitters 314 and 354 for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352 for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0091] At least in some cases, UE 302 and base station 304 each further include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. Short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide for communicating over the wireless communication medium of interest via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth ® 、Zigbee ® 、Z-Wave ®, PC5, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), wireless access for vehicle environments (WAVE), near field communication (NFC), etc.) and other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) for communicating (e.g., components for sending, components for receiving, components for measuring, components for tuning, components for preventing sending, etc.). The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be configured in different ways to send and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to the specified RAT, and conversely, receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 respectively include: one or more transmitters 324 and 364 for sending and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362 for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth ® Transceiver, Zigbee ® and / or Z-Wave ® transceiver, NFC transceiver or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceiver.

[0092] At least in some cases, the UE 302 and the base station 304 also include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. In the case where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be global positioning system (GPS) signals, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian regional navigation satellite system (NAVIC), quasi-zenith satellite system (QZSS), etc. In the case where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request appropriate information and operations from other systems and, at least in some cases, perform calculations using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm to determine the positions of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively.

[0093] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) for communicating with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or communicate with other network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0094] The transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes a transmitter circuit system (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and a receiver circuit system (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). In some implementations, the transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., implementing the transmitter circuit system and the receiver circuit system in a single device), in some implementations may include separate transmitter circuit systems and separate receiver circuit systems, or may be implemented in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuit system and the receiver circuit system of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming", as described herein. Similarly, the wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receiver 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) so that the corresponding device can only receive or only transmit at a given time, rather than both receive and transmit at the same time. The wireless transceivers (eg, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 , short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 ) may also include a network listening module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

[0095] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360 in some implementations, and network transceivers 380 and 390) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be generally characterized as a "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred based on the type of communication being performed. For example, backhaul communications between network devices or servers typically involve signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communications between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) will typically involve signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0096] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that can be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, for providing functionality related to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. Thus, processors 332, 384, and 394 can provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for sending, means for indicating, etc. In one aspect, processors 332, 384, and 394 can include, for example, one or more general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuit systems, or various combinations thereof.

[0097] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memory 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, memory 340, 386, and 396 may provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may include positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. Positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively, may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, which, when executed, cause UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. Figure 3A Possible locations for a location component 342 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. Figure 3B Possible locations for a location component 388 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. Figure 3C Possible locations for a location component 398 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.

[0098] UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to one or more processors 332 to provide a means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information that is independent of motion data derived from signals received by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or satellite signal receivers 330. As an example, sensor 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. In addition, sensor 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, sensor 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate positioning in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0099] In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides means for providing indications to a user (e.g., audible and / or visual indications) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when a user actuates a sensing device such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include a user interface.

[0100] Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, in a downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. One or more processors 384 may provide: RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0101] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement layer 1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include: error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially pre-decoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. Channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback sent by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0102] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives the signal through its corresponding antenna 316. The receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by the receiver 312. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier and the reference signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the signal constellation point that is most likely to be sent by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally sent by the base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332, which implement layer 3 (L3) and layer 2 (L2) functionality.

[0103] In the uplink, one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. One or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0104] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with downlink transmissions performed by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 provide: RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with transmission of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0105] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback sent by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select appropriate coding and modulation schemes and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antennas 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0106] The uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives the signal through its respective antenna 356. The receiver 352 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 384.

[0107] In the uplink, one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from UE 302. IP packets from one or more processors 384 may be provided to the core network. One or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0108] For convenience, UE 302, base station 304 and / or network entity 306 may Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C, is shown as including various components that can be configured according to the various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. Specifically, FIG. 3A to FIG. 3C The various components in are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, cost, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in Figure 3A In the case of , a specific implementation of UE 302 may omit WWAN transceiver 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities but no cellular capabilities), may omit short-range wireless transceiver 320 (e.g., only cellular, etc.), may omit satellite signal receiver 330, may omit sensor 344, etc. In another example, in Figure 3B In the case of a wireless network, a specific implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi "hotspot" access point without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 360 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the satellite receiver 370, etc. For the sake of brevity, illustrations of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

[0109] Various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may form or be part of a communication interface for the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively. For example, where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may provide for communication between the different logical entities.

[0110] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C The components of can be implemented in various ways. In some specific implementations, Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3CThe components of may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or be combined with at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). Moreover, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by a processor and memory component of network entity 306 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). For simplicity, various operations, actions and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by a UE", "by a base station", "by a network entity", etc. However, it should be understood that such operations, actions and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc. (such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350 and 360, memories 340, 386 and 396, positioning components 342, 388 and 398, etc.).

[0111] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be operated separately from a network operator or a cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a dedicated network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).

[0112] NR supports a variety of cellular network-based positioning technologies, including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and downlink and uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include: observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) in NR. In the OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, the UE measures the difference between the arrival time (ToA) of the reference signal (e.g., positioning reference signal (PRS)) received from the paired base stations (referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or arrival time difference (TDOA) measurement), and reports these differences to the positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in the assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each non-reference base station. Based on the known positions of the base stations involved and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity (e.g., a UE for UE-based positioning or a location server for UE-assisted positioning) can estimate the position of the UE.

[0113] For DL-AoD positioning, the positioning entity uses measurement reports from the UE on received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmit beams to determine the angle between the UE and the transmitting base station. The positioning entity can then estimate the UE's position based on the determined angle and the known location of the transmitting base station.

[0114] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS)) sent by the UE. For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from the UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurement and the angle of the receive beam to determine the angle between the UE and the base station. Based on the determined angle and the known location of the base station, the positioning entity can then estimate the position of the UE.

[0115] Downlink and uplink based positioning methods include: enhanced cell ID (E-CID) positioning and multi-round trip time (RTT) positioning (also referred to as "multi-cell RTT" and "multi-RTT"). In the RTT procedure, a first entity (e.g., a base station or UE) sends a first RTT-related signal (e.g., a PRS or SRS) to a second entity (e.g., a UE or a base station), and the second entity sends a second RTT-related signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the first entity. Each entity measures the time difference between the arrival time (ToA) of the received RTT-related signal and the transmission time of the transmitted RTT-related signal. This time difference is called the received-to-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement can be performed or adjusted to include only the time difference between the nearest time slot boundary of the received signal and the transmitted signal. The two entities may then transmit their Rx-Tx time difference measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 270), which calculates the round trip propagation time (i.e., RTT) between the two entities based on the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., calculated as the sum of the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements). Alternatively, one entity may transmit its Rx-Tx time difference measurements to the other entity, which then calculates the RTT. The distance between the two entities may be determined based on the RTT and a known signal speed (e.g., the speed of light). For multi-RTT positioning, a first entity (e.g., a UE or base station) performs an RTT positioning procedure with multiple second entities (e.g., multiple base stations or UEs) so that the location of the first entity can be determined based on the distance to the second entity and the known location of the second entity (e.g., using multi-point positioning). RTT and multi-RTT methods may be combined with other positioning techniques (such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD) to improve location accuracy.

[0116] The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing and signal strength of the detected neighboring base stations. The UE's position is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base stations.

[0117] To assist the positioning operation, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include: an identifier of the base station (or cell / TRP of the base station) from which the reference signal is measured, reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive time slots including PRS, the periodicity of consecutive time slots including PRS, silent sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier, reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to a specific positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base station itself (e.g., in an overhead message broadcast periodically, etc.). In some cases, the UE itself may be able to detect neighboring network nodes without using assistance data.

[0118] In the case of OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedures, the assistance data may also include an expected RSTD value and associated uncertainty, or a search window around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the expected RSTD value range may be + / -500 microseconds (µs). In some cases, when any resource used for positioning measurements is in FR1, the expected RSTD uncertainty value range may be + / -32µs. In other cases, when all resources used for positioning measurements are in FR2, the expected RSTD uncertainty value range may be + / -8µs.

[0119] The position estimate may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, a position, a fix, a position fix, a fix, etc. The position estimate may be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or may be municipal and include a street address, a postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. The position estimate may be further defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). The position estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be contained with some specified or default confidence level).

[0120] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (eg, base stations and UEs). Figure 4 4 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure. The frame structure may be a downlink or uplink frame structure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0121] LTE (and in some cases NR) utilizes OFDM on the downlink and single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option of using OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also often referred to as tones, frequency bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers can be 15 kilohertz (kHz), and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180kHz). Therefore, for a system bandwidth of 1.25 megahertz (MHz), 2.5MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, or 20MHz, the nominal FFT size can be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth may also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (ie, 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidths of 1.25 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0122] LTE supports a single parameter set (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple parameter sets (µ), for example, 15kHz (µ=0), 30kHz (µ=1), 60kHz (µ=2), 120kHz (µ=3), and 240kHz (µ=4) or larger subcarrier spacings may be available. In each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For 15kHz SCS (µ=0), there is one slot per subframe, 10 slots per frame, the slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms), the symbol duration is 66.7 microseconds (µs), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 50. For 30kHz SCS (µ=1), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.5ms, the symbol duration is 33.3µs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 100. For 60kHz SCS (µ=2), there are four slots per subframe, 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25ms, the symbol duration is 16.7µs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120kHz SCS (µ=3), there are eight slots per subframe, 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125ms, the symbol duration is 8.33µs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240kHz SCS (µ=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, 160 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.0625ms, the symbol duration is 4.17µs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 800.

[0123] exist Figure 4 In the example of , a parameter set of 15 kHz is used. Therefore, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes, each subframe is 1 ms, and each subframe includes one time slot. Figure 4 , time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), where time increases from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), where frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top.

[0124] A resource grid may be used to represent a time slot, each of which includes one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. Figure 4In the parameter set of , for a normal cyclic prefix (CP), an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0125] Some REs may carry reference (pilot) signals (RS). These reference signals may include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSB), sounding reference signals (SRS), etc., depending on whether the illustrated frame structure is used for uplink communication or downlink communication. Figure 4 Example locations of REs carrying reference signals (labeled “R”) are illustrated.

[0126] Downlink PRS (DL-PRS) has been defined for NR positioning, enabling the UE to detect and measure more neighboring TRPs. Several configurations are supported to enable various deployments (e.g., indoor, outdoor, sub-6GHz, mmW). In addition, UE-assisted positioning (where the network entity estimates the location of the target UE) and UE-based positioning (where the target UE estimates its own location) are also supported. The following table illustrates the various types of reference signals that can be used for the various positioning methods supported in NR.

[0127]

[0128] Table 1

[0129] A set of resource elements (REs) used for transmission of a PRS is referred to as a "PRS resource". A set of resource elements may span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and "N" (such as 1 or more) consecutive symbols within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

[0130] The transmission of PRS resources within a given PRB has a specific comb size (also referred to as "comb density"). The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for comb size "N", the PRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of a symbol of the PRB. For example, for comb-4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, the REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, 8) are used to transmit the PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, comb sizes of comb-2, comb-4, comb-6, and comb-12 are supported for DL-PRS. Figure 4 An example PRS resource configuration for Comb-4 (which spans four symbols) is illustrated. That is, the positions of shaded REs (labeled as "R") indicate the PRS resource configuration for Comb-4.

[0131] Currently, DL-PRS resources may span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols in a slot using a full frequency domain staggered pattern. DL-PRS resources may be configured in any downlink or flexible (FL) symbol in a slot that is configured by higher layers. There may be a constant energy per resource element (EPRE) for all REs for a given DL-PRS resource. The following are the symbol-by-symbol frequency offsets for comb sizes 2, 4, 6, and 12 over 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. 2-Symbol Comb-2: {0, 1}; 4-Symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1}; 6-Symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 12-Symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0,1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 4-Symbol Comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3} (as in Figure 4 ); 12-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1,3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 6-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; 12-symbol comb-6: {0, 3,1, 4, 2, 5, 0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; and 12-symbol comb-12: {0, 6, 3, 9, 1, 7, 4, 10, 2, 8,5, 11}.

[0132] A "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources used to transmit a PRS signal, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a specific TRP (identified by the TRP ID). In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the same periodicity, a common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as "PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor") across time slots. The periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource of the first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource of the next PRS instance. The periodicity may have a length selected from: 2^µ*{4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120,10240} slots, where µ = 0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} slots.

[0133] The PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP may transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in a PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam, and therefore, a "PRS resource" (or simply "resource") may also be referred to as a "beam". Note that this does not have any implication on whether the UE knows the TRP and beam on which the PRS is transmitted.

[0134] A "PRS instance" or "PRS opportunity" is an instance of a periodically repeated time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive time slots) in which a PRS is expected to be sent. A PRS opportunity may also be referred to as a "PRS positioning opportunity", "PRS positioning instance", "positioning opportunity", "positioning instance", "positioning repetition", or simply "opportunity", "instance" or "repetition".

[0135] A "positioning frequency layer" (also referred to simply as a "frequency layer") is a set of one or more PRS resource sets with the same values ​​for certain parameters across one or more TRPs. Specifically, the set of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning that all parameter sets supported for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) are also supported for PRS), the same point A, the same value of the downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The point A parameter takes the value of the parameter "ARFCN-ValueNR" (where "ARFCN" stands for "absolute radio frequency channel number") and is an identifier / code that specifies a pair of physical radio channels used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of four PRBs, and the minimum value is 24 PRBs and the maximum value is 272 PRBs. Currently, a UE may support up to four frequency layers across all frequency bands across all positioning methods, and up to two PRS resource sets may be configured per frequency layer per TRP.

[0136] The concept of frequency layer is somewhat similar to the concept of component carrier and bandwidth part (BWP), but the difference is that component carrier and BWP are used by one base station (or macro cell base station and small cell base station) to send data channels, while frequency layer is used by several (usually three or more) base stations to send PRS. The UE can indicate the number of frequency layers that the UE can support when the UE transmits its positioning capabilities to the network (such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session). For example, the UE can indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

[0137] It should be noted that the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as but not limited to: PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc. as defined in LTE and NR. In addition, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may refer to downlink or uplink positioning reference signals, unless otherwise indicated by the context. If further distinction is needed between the types of PRS, the downlink positioning reference signal may be referred to as "DL-PRS", while the uplink positioning reference signal (e.g., SRS, PTRS used for positioning) may be referred to as "UL-PRS". In addition, for signals that can be sent in both uplink and downlink (e.g., DMRS, PTRS), these signals may be prepended with "UL" or "DL" to distinguish the direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" may be distinguished from "DL-DMRS".

[0138] Figure 5 is a diagram of an example PRS configuration 500 for PRS transmission for a given base station in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 5 In , time is represented horizontally, increasing from left to right. Each long rectangle represents a time slot, and each short (shaded) rectangle represents an OFDM symbol. Figure 5 In the example of FIG. 5 , a PRS resource set 510 (labeled as “PRS resource set 1”) includes two PRS resources, namely a first PRS resource 512 (labeled as “PRS resource 1”) and a second PRS resource 514 (labeled as “PRS resource 2”). The base station transmits PRS on the PRS resources 512 and 514 of the PRS resource set 510 .

[0139] PRS resource set 510 has an opportunity length (N_PRS) of two slots and a periodicity (T_PRS) of, for example (for 15 kHz subcarrier spacing) 160 slots or 160 milliseconds (ms). Thus, both PRS resources 512 and 514 are two consecutive slots in length and repeat every T_PRS slots starting from the slot in which the first symbol of the corresponding PRS resource appears. Figure 5 In the example of , PRS resource 512 has a symbol length (N_symb) of two symbols, and PRS resource 514 has a symbol length (N_symb) of four symbols. PRS resource 512 and PRS resource 514 may be transmitted on separate beams of the same base station.

[0140] Each instance of the PRS resource set 510 (illustrated as instances 520a, 520b, and 520c) includes a length of "2" opportunities (i.e., N_PRS=2) for each PRS resource 512, 514 in the PRS resource set. The PRS resources 512 and 514 repeat once every T_PRS time slot up to a muting sequence periodicity of T_REP. Therefore, a bitmap of length T_REP will be needed to indicate which opportunities of the instances 520a, 520b, and 520c of the PRS resource set 510 are muted (i.e., not transmitted).

[0141] In one aspect, there may be additional constraints on the PRS configuration 500. For example, for all PRS resources (e.g., PRS resources 512, 514) of a PRS resource set (e.g., PRS resource set 510), the base station may configure the following parameters to be the same: (a) opportunity length (N_PRS), (b) number of symbols (N_symb), (c) comb type, and / or (d) bandwidth. In addition, for all PRS resources in all PRS resource sets, the subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix may be configured to be the same for one base station or for all base stations. Whether for one base station or for all base stations may depend on the ability of the UE to support the first and / or second options.

[0142] In some designs, the LMF provides the complete PRS configuration to the gNB as auxiliary information, and the gNB determines the pre-configuration of the measurement gap (MG). Category 1 procedures associated with the UE may be used to provide the complete PRS configuration to the gNB as pre-configured auxiliary information for the MG. In some designs, the MG activation request may be initiated by the LMF. In some designs, the signaling procedure for the MG activation request uses category 2 signaling procedures associated with the UE. In some designs, the MG activation request message may include information similar to the RRC LocationMeasurementIndication message. In some designs, the LMF may provide auxiliary information to help the gNB determine the PRS processing window (described in more detail below). In some designs, for activation request procedures initiated by non-LMF, a unified signaling procedure on NRPPa may be used to deliver the pre-configured MG and PRS processing window configuration information.

[0143] Figure 6 600 is a diagram illustrating various downlink channels within an example downlink time slot. Figure 6 In , time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), where time increases from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), where frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top. Figure 6 In the example of , a 15 kHz parameter set is used. Therefore, in the time domain, the illustrated time slot length is one millisecond (ms), divided into 14 symbols.

[0144] In NR, the channel bandwidth or system bandwidth is divided into multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs). A BWP is a set of contiguous RBs selected from a contiguous subset of common RBs for a given set of parameters on a given carrier. In general, a maximum of four BWPs can be specified in the downlink and uplink. That is, the UE can be configured with up to four BWPs on the downlink and up to four BWPs on the uplink. Only one BWP (uplink or downlink) can be active at a given time, which means that the UE can only receive or transmit on one BWP at a time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater than the bandwidth of the SSB, but it may or may not contain the SSB.

[0145] refer to Figure 6, the primary synchronization signal (PSS) is used by the UE to determine the subframe / symbol timing and the physical layer identity. The secondary synchronization signal (SSS) is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and the radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the aforementioned DL-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also referred to as SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information that is not sent through the PBCH (such as the system information block (SIB)), and paging messages.

[0146] The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) in one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE includes one or more RE group (REG) bundles (which can span multiple symbols in the time domain), each REG bundle includes one or more REGs, each REG corresponds to 12 resource elements (one resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The set of physical resources used to carry PDCCH / DCI is called a control resource set (CORESET) in NR. In NR, PDCCH is confined to a single CORESET and is transmitted with its own DMRS. This enables UE-specific beamforming for PDCCH.

[0147] exist Figure 6 In the example of NR, there is one CORESET per BWP, and the CORESET spans three symbols in the time domain (although it could be just one symbol or two symbols). Unlike LTE control channels that occupy the entire system bandwidth, in NR, the PDCCH channel is localized to a specific region (i.e., CORESET) in the frequency domain. Therefore, Figure 6 The frequency components of the PDCCH shown in FIG are illustrated as less than a single BWP in the frequency domain. Note that although the illustrated CORESETs are continuous in the frequency domain, the CORESETs do not need to be continuous. Furthermore, the CORESETs may span less than three symbols in the time domain.

[0148] The DCI within the PDCCH carries information about uplink resource allocations (persistent and non-persistent) and descriptions of downlink data sent to the UE (referred to as uplink grants and downlink grants, respectively). More specifically, the DCI indicates resources scheduled for downlink data channels (e.g., PDSCH) and uplink data channels (e.g., physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)). Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIs may be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs may have one of a variety of formats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplink scheduling, downlink scheduling, uplink transmit power control (TPC), etc. The PDCCH may be transmitted by 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

[0149] The following are the currently supported DCI formats. Format 0-0: Fallback for PUSCH scheduling; Format 0-1: Non-fallback for PUSCH scheduling; Format 1-0: Fallback for PDSCH scheduling; Format 1-1: Non-fallback for PDSCH scheduling; Format 2-0: Notify the UE group of the timeslot format; Format 2-1: Notify the UE group of PRBs and OFDM symbols, where the UE can assume that there is no transmission for the UE; Format 2-2: Transmission of TPC commands for the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) and PUSCH; and Format 2-3: Transmission of a set of SRS requests and TPC commands for SRS transmission. Note that the fallback format is the default scheduling option, which has non-configurable fields and supports basic NR operation. In contrast, the non-fallback format is flexible to accommodate NR features.

[0150] As will be appreciated, the UE needs to be able to demodulate (also referred to as "decode") the PDCCH in order to read the DCI and thereby obtain the scheduling of resources allocated to the UE on the PDSCH and PUSCH. If the UE fails to demodulate the PDCCH, the UE will not know the location of the PDSCH resources, and it will continue to try to demodulate the PDCCH using different PDCCH candidate sets in subsequent PDCCH monitoring opportunities. If the UE fails to demodulate the PDCCH after a certain number of attempts, the UE declares a radio link failure (RLF). In order to overcome the PDCCH demodulation problem, the search space is configured for efficient PDCCH detection and demodulation.

[0151] Typically, a UE will not attempt to demodulate every PDCCH candidate that may be scheduled in a time slot. In order to reduce the constraints on the PDCCH scheduler and to reduce the number of blind demodulation attempts made by the UE, a search space is configured. A search space is indicated by a set of consecutive CCEs that the UE is expected to monitor for scheduling assignments / grants related to a certain component carrier. There are two types of search spaces used for PDCCH to control each component carrier: Common Search Space (CSS) and UE-Specific Search Space (USS).

[0152] The common search space is shared across all UEs, while the UE-specific search space is used for each UE (i.e., the UE-specific search space is specific to a particular UE). For the common search space, the DCI cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is scrambled with the system information radio network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI), random access RNTI (RA-RNTI), temporary cell RNTI (TC-RNTI), paging RNTI (P-RNTI), interruption RNTI (INT-RNTI), slot format indication RNTI (SFI-RNTI), TPC-PUCCH-RNTI, TPC-PUSCH-RNTI, TPC-SRS-RNTI, cell RNTI (C-RNTI), or configured scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI) for all common procedures. For the UE-specific search space, the DCI CRC is scrambled with the C-RNTI or CS-RNTI as these are specific to an individual UE.

[0153] The UE demodulates the PDCCH using four UE-specific search space aggregation levels (1, 2, 4, and 8) and two common search space aggregation levels (4 and 8). Specifically, for the UE-specific search space, aggregation level "1" has six PDCCH candidates per time slot and is six CCEs in size. Aggregation level "2" has six PDCCH candidates per time slot and is 12 CCEs in size. Aggregation level "4" has two PDCCH candidates per time slot and is eight CCEs in size. Aggregation level "8" has two PDCCH candidates per time slot and is 16 CCEs in size. For the common search space, aggregation level "4" has four PDCCH candidates per time slot and is 16 CCEs in size. Aggregation level "8" has two PDCCH candidates per time slot and is 16 CCEs in size.

[0154] Each search space includes a set of consecutive CCEs that can be allocated to PDCCH (referred to as PDCCH candidates). The UE demodulates all PDCCH candidates in these two search spaces (USS and CSS) to find DCI for the UE. For example, the UE can demodulate the DCI to obtain scheduled uplink grant information on the PUSCH and downlink resources on the PDSCH. Note that the aggregation level is the number of REs of the CORESET that carry the PDCCH DCI message and is expressed in the form of CCEs. There is a one-to-one mapping between the aggregation level and the number of CCEs per aggregation level. That is, for aggregation level "4", there are four CCEs. Thus, as shown above, if the aggregation level is "4" and the number of PDCCH candidates in a time slot is "2", the size of the search space is "8" (i.e., 4 x 2 = 8).

[0155] Referring back to PRS, the following table provides the current physical layer DL-PRS processing capabilities that a UE can report. These values ​​indicate the amount of time that a UE may need in order to buffer and process DL-PRS at the physical layer.

[0156]

[0157] Table 2

[0158] The measurement window for each positioning frequency layer depends on (1) the reporting capability of the UE (e.g., according to Table 2), (2) the PRS periodicity (denoted as T PRS or T_PRS), (3) measurement gap periodicity (in the absence of measurement gaps, the UE is expected not to measure PRS), and (4) the number of receive beams of the UE (if operating in FR2).

[0159] Figure 7 700 is a diagram illustrating an example DL-PRS measurement scenario according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 7 , time is represented horizontally. The arrows represent a PRS periodicity 710 of 20 ms, and the boxes represent PRS resources 720 within the PRS periodicity 710, whose PRS symbols have a duration of 0.5 ms in milliseconds.

[0160] Based on the above considerations related to the length of the measurement window, given the following assumptions, Figure 7The minimum PRS measurement window in the example of will be 88 ms: (1) one PRS frequency layer in FR1, (2) PRS RSTD measurements are performed across four PRS instances (i.e., four repetitions of PRS periodicity 710), (3) both PRS periodicity 710 and measurement gap periodicity (denoted as "measurement gap repetition period" or "MGRP") are equal to 20 ms, and (4) the configured PRS resources are within the PRS processing capability of the UE. For the fourth assumption, parameters (N, T) = (0.5 ms, 8 ms) (from Table 2), where N is the duration of the PRS resources 720 in milliseconds that the UE can process every T = 8 ms. Therefore, after the last PRS periodicity 710, there is an 8 ms period (i.e., T) during which the UE processes the PRS resources 720 received during four PRS periodicities 710, resulting in a total latency of 88 ms.

[0161] For positioning procedures where low latency is required (e.g., less than 10 ms at the physical layer), an 88 ms measurement window at the physical layer (e.g., Figure 7 ) will not meet the requirements. Figure 8 Table 800 illustrates different techniques for reducing physical layer PRS processing latency in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0162] Referring to the enhancement in the first row of table 800, different UEs may have different time domain processing windows while ensuring that network resources may be used across UEs. Fig. 9 is a diagram 900 of an example DL-PRS transmission, processing, and reporting cycle for multiple UEs in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 9 In the example of FIG. 9 , three UEs have been configured to use a "DDDSU" frame structure 910 in a time division duplex (TDD) 30kHz SCS. As mentioned above, for a 30kHz SCS (µ=1), there are 20 slots per frame and the slot duration is 0.5ms. Therefore, each box of the DDDSU frame structure 910 represents a 0.5ms slot. The DDDSU frame structure 910 includes a repetition of three downlink (D) slots, one special (S) slot, and one uplink (U) slot.

[0163] exist Fig. 9In the example of , PRS is received in the first three downlink time slots of the frame, and SRS is sent in the fourth time slot. PRS and SRS may be received and sent as part of a downlink and uplink-based positioning session, such as an RTT positioning session, respectively. The three time slots in which PRS is received (i.e., measured) may correspond to PRS instances. Typically, the PRS instance should be included within a few milliseconds (here, 2ms) of the start of the PRS transmission, processing, and reporting cycle. SRS transmission (if necessary, as here, for downlink and uplink-based positioning procedures) should be close to the PRS instance (here, in the next time slot).

[0164] like Fig. 9 As shown, a first UE (labeled "UE1") has been configured with a PRS transmission, processing and reporting cycle 920, a second UE (labeled "UE2") has been configured with a PRS transmission, processing and reporting cycle 930, and a third UE (labeled "UE3") has been configured with a PRS transmission, processing and reporting cycle 940. The PRS transmission, processing and reporting cycles 920, 930 and 940 may be repeated periodically (e.g., every 10ms) for a certain duration. Each UE is expected to transmit a positioning report (e.g., its corresponding Rx-Tx time difference measurement result) at the end of its PRS transmission, processing and reporting cycle (e.g., every 10ms). Each UE transmits its report on the PUSCH (e.g., the configured uplink grant). Specifically, the first UE transmits its report on the PUSCH 924, the second UE transmits its report on the PUSCH 934, and the third UE transmits its report on the PUSCH 944.

[0165] like Fig. 9 As shown, different UEs have each been configured with their own PRS processing gap (or simply "processing gap") or PRS processing window (or simply "processing window") in which to process the PRS measured in the first three time slots of the frame (e.g., determine the ToA of the PRS and calculate the Rx-Tx time difference measurement result). Specifically, the first UE has been configured with processing gap 922, the second UE has been configured with processing gap 932, and the third UE has been configured with processing gap 942. Fig. 9 In the example shown in FIG. 1 , the length of each processing gap is 4 ms.

[0166] like Fig. 9As shown, the processing gap of each UE is offset from the processing gaps of other UEs, but still within the UE's 10ms PRS transmission, processing and reporting cycle. In addition, there is still a PUSCH opportunity for reporting the UE's measurement results after the processing gap. Even if there is a gap between the PRS instance and the processing gaps of the second UE and the third UE, the timing between measurement and reporting is limited due to the short length of the UE's corresponding PRS transmission, processing and reporting cycles 930 and 940.

[0167] The technical advantage of configuring offset processing gaps for UEs is greater spectrum utilization. Instead of all UEs processing PRS simultaneously after a PRS instance (and SRS transmission) and thus not processing other signals, different UEs can continue to transmit and receive while other UEs do not continue to transmit and receive.

[0168] Refer to Processing Gap in more detail, e.g. Fig. 9 As shown, a processing gap is a time window after the time when the PRS is received and measured. Thus, this is a time period during which the UE processes the PRS (e.g., to determine the ToA of the PRS for Rx-Tx time difference measurement or RSTD measurement) without having to measure any other signal. In other words, a processing gap is a time period during which the UE prioritizes the PRS over other channels, which may include prioritizing over data (e.g., PDSCH), control (e.g., PDCCH), and any other reference signal. However, as Fig. 9 As shown, there may be a gap between the time of measurement and the processing gap. Note that in some cases, depending on the capabilities of the UE, the processing gap may only correspond to the actual PRS symbols being measured.

[0169] A processing gap or processing window is different from a measurement gap. In a processing gap, there is no retuning gap as in a measurement gap - the UE does not change its BWP but continues with the BWP it had before the processing gap. In addition, the location server (e.g., LMF 270) can determine the processing gap and the UE will not need a processing gap to transmit an RRC request to the serving base station and wait for a reply. Thus, the processing gap will reduce signaling overhead and latency.

[0170] Information related to the PRS processing gap may be provided in unicast assistance data received by the UE. For example, the LPP provides assistance data message may include information determining the processing gap. Alternatively, the PRS processing gap information may be included in an LPP provides location information message to the UE, or included in on-demand PRS information (e.g., UE-initiated on-demand PRS and processing gap information). The processing gap may be associated with one or more positioning frequency layers, one or more PRS resource sets, one or more PRS resources, or any combination thereof.

[0171] The UE may include a request for a specific processing gap in the LPP Assistance Data Request message. Alternatively, the UE may include PRS processing gap information in the LPP Provide Capabilities message. For example, the UE may selectively include a processing gap request for a "strict" PRS processing case (e.g., a case where there is a limited time between measuring a PRS instance and reporting the measurement). The request may include how long a PRS processing gap the UE requires for low-latency PRS processing applications. For example, for a PRS instance with "X" PRS resource sets, resources, or symbols, the UE may require 4 ms of processing time. The location server may use this recommendation to transmit assistance data associated with a specific PRS processing gap to the UE.

[0172] The processing gap information configured to the UE and / or recommended by the UE may include: (1) offsets relative to: (a) the start or offset of a PRS instance (e.g., Fig. 9 The processing gap of the second UE in the PRS instance is offset by 4 ms from the start of the PRS instance); (b) the end of the PRS instance (e.g., Fig. 9 The processing gap of the third UE in the PRS instance is offset by 3.5 ms from the end of the PRS instance); (c) PRS resource offset; (d) PRS resource set offset; or (e) time slot, subframe or frame boundary (e.g., Fig. 9 The processing gap for the second UE in the frame is offset by 4.5 ms from the start of the frame); (2) the length and / or end time of the processing gap; (3) whether the processing gap is per UE, per band, per band combination (BC), per frequency range (e.g., FR1 or FR2), whether the processing gap affects LTE; and / or (4) how many PRS resources, resource sets, or instances can be processed within a processing gap of this length. In some cases, the location of the start / offset of the processing gap may depend on the UE ID.

[0173] To configure a processing gap for a UE, a location server (e.g., LMF 270) may first transmit an on-demand PRS configuration and a suggestion or recommendation or a request or request for a processing gap for the UE to a serving base station of the UE. Note that the location server may not need to transmit the requested processing gap at the same time (e.g., in the same message) as the on-demand PRS configuration. Second, the serving base station may transmit a response to the location server. The response may be an acceptance of the requested processing gap or a configuration of a different processing gap. Third, the location server transmits assistance data for the positioning session to the UE. The assistance data includes the PRS configuration and the associated processing gap.

[0174] In some cases, the UE may utilize autonomous processing gaps (i.e., autonomous PRS prioritization). In such cases, after a PRS instance, if no measurement gap is configured, the UE may drop or ignore all other traffic for a period of time without notifying the serving base station. In one aspect, there may be a maximum window in which the UE is allowed to perform these autonomous PRS prioritizations. As an example, the UE may expect to complete PRS processing within "X" ms (e.g., 6 ms) after the end of a PRS instance, and within this "X" milliseconds, the UE may select a period of "Y" ms (where "Y" is less than "X", e.g., 4 ms) during which the UE autonomously prioritizes PRS over other channels. During this window, it is up to the UE to decide whether to drop or ignore any other channels and processes (e.g., CSI processes) - the serving base station will not refrain from transmitting to the UE.

[0175] In one aspect, the processing gap information (e.g., processing gap offset) may be implicitly determined by UE-specific parameters. For example, using a modulo operation with the UE's ID may result in the UEs measuring the same PRS instance and still time-division multiplexing their PRS processing (e.g., Fig. 9 ).

[0176] In an aspect, the serving base station may configure the UE using a MAC control element (MAC-CE) or a DCI, instead of the location server configuring the processing gap for the UE via the LPP.

[0177] Typically, DL-PRS has a lower priority than other channels in LTE and NR. This is because when no measurement gaps are configured for the UE, the UE is not expected to process DL-PRS in the same symbol as other downlink signals and channels sent to the UE. However, if a higher priority for DL-PRS than other channels is supported, various factors should be considered.

[0178] Currently, the working assumption for PRS processing without measurement gaps (also called "no measurement gap" PRS processing or "no MG" PRS processing) is that, subject to UE capabilities, PRS measurements should be supported outside of measurement gaps and within the PRS processing window (e.g. Fig. 9 As exemplified and referenced in Fig. 9 In addition, UE measurements within an active downlink BWP whose PRS has the same parameter set as the UE's active downlink BWP shall be supported.

[0179] Within the PRS processing window (such as Fig. 9 As exemplified and referenced in Fig. 9As described above, subject to the UE determining DL-PRS as a higher priority, the following UE capabilities are expected to be supported. The first capability (referred to as "capability 1" or "type 1" capability) indicates whether the UE is able or expected to prioritize PRS over all other downlink signals / channels in all symbols within the PRS processing window. This capability includes two sub-capabilities. The first sub-capability (referred to as "capability 1A" or "type 1A" capability) indicates that downlink signals / channels from all downlink component carriers (CCs) (per UE) are affected. The second sub-capability (referred to as "capability 1B" or "type 1B" capability) indicates that only downlink signals / channels from a specific frequency band / CC(s) are affected.

[0180] For Type 1B capabilities, in some cases, the PRS may be in a CC of a first band, and if the UE attempts to perform PRS processing in this first CC / band, the PRS processing in another band may be affected. For example, in FR2, if the UE uses the same beam management across bands, performing PRS processing in one band (and performing beam management on those PRS) may affect the beams used in the data / control / reference signals of the second band. Therefore, additional signaling may be required. Specifically, the UE may report its capabilities regarding whether measurement gap-free PRS processing in one band will affect downlink reception in another band. The report may be per band pair (i.e., which band pairs will be affected) or per band combination (i.e., which band combinations will be affected).

[0181] The second UE capability (referred to as "capability 2" or "type 2" capability) indicates whether the UE is able or expected to prioritize PRS over other downlink signals / channels only in PRS symbols within the PRS processing window. Type 2 capabilities may be per CC or per frequency band and are higher level capabilities than type 1 capabilities. It is expected that the UE can declare the capability for PRS processing outside of measurement gaps.

[0182] In some designs, the PRS processing window is configured per BWP. In some designs, a processing type (e.g., Type 1A, Type 1B, or Type 2) may be associated with a PRS processing window if and only if multiple processing types per band in UE capability signaling are supported. As described above, the Type 1A capability indicates that the UE may discard processing of any DL signal in any DL band and prioritize PRS processing within the PRS processing window. In some designs, the band ID and CC ID associated with the PRS processing window need not be provided. In some designs, a single priority indicator may be provided for the PRS processing window, which applies to all PRSs within the PRS processing window within the BWP (e.g., PRS processing windows on different BWPs may have different priority indicators). In some designs, the maximum number of PRS processing windows activated per BWP is 1. In some designs, the maximum number of PRS processing windows activated across all active DL BWPs is 4. In some designs, the maximum number of PRS processing windows concurrently activated across all active DL BWPs is 1.

[0183] For the purpose of this feature, it is contemplated to specify PRS related conditions, where the following conditions are selected: (1) only applicable to serving cell PRS, or (2) all PRS under the condition that applies to non-serving cell PRS. It should be noted that when the UE determines that other downlink signals / channels have higher priority than PRS measurement / processing, it is contemplated that the UE does not measure / process DL-PRS, which applies to all the above capability options.

[0184] In view of the above, further details on which downlink signals / channels should be prioritized over PRS would be helpful. In addition, it would be helpful to have further details on how the UE determines the priority of DL-PRS based on one or more of the following: (1) based on indication / configuration from the serving base station, or (2) other options (e.g., implicit, signaling from LMF, etc.).

[0185] FIG. 10A to FIG. 10C Tables 1000, 1030, and 1050, respectively, illustrate various feature groups associated with different types of PRS processing capabilities and corresponding components of these feature groups, according to aspects of the present disclosure. FIG. 10A to FIG. 10C In the acronym "MG" stands for "Measurement Gap".

[0186] In the present disclosure, a UE may declare a PRS processing window capability of type 1A, type 1B, type 2, or a combination thereof for PRS processing outside of a measurement gap. The UE may declare the capability to its serving base station (e.g., via RRC or MAC control element (MAC-CE) signaling) and / or a location server (e.g., via LPP) in one or more capability messages. In subsequent configuration / activation of the PRS processing window, if the UE has declared that it supports multiple PRS processing window types, the serving base station or location server may include explicit signaling indicating whether the type of the PRS processing window is type 1A, type 1B, or type 2. However, if the UE has declared a single type of PRS processing window capability, this field may be optional.

[0187] The signaling of the type of PRS processing window may be from the location server to the serving base station (e.g., via NR Positioning Protocol Type A (NRPPa)) to the UE (e.g., via RRC or MAC-CE), or from the base station to the UE (e.g., via RRC or MAC-CE), or from the location server to the UE (e.g., via LPP). For example, the location server may indicate to the base station that it wants the UE to apply a particular type of PRS processing window based on the UE's PRS processing capabilities, and in response, the base station will configure the UE to use / apply that type of PRS processing window.

[0188] In various aspects, the UE is expected to be triggered with a single type of PRS processing window at a certain time. That is, the UE is expected not to apply more than one type of PRS processing window at a certain time. The triggered PRS processing window type (Type 1A, Type 1B, or Type 2) can be applied (1) across all CCs, (2) in a single CC, or (3) in a single frequency band (or simply "band").

[0189] In various aspects, within the same type of PRS processing windows, the UE expects the PRS processing windows to not overlap (1) across all CCs (e.g., more applicable to Type 1A), (2) within a CC (e.g., more applicable to Type 2), or (3) within a frequency band (e.g., more applicable to Type 1B).

[0190] In the event that the UE has declared a PRS processing window capability of type 1A, type 1B, type 2, or a combination thereof, the UE may also report its capability of the maximum number of positioning frequency layers (PFLs) that it can process for the declared type of PRS processing window. If the UE declares type 1A PRS processing window capability, then (1) a single PFL is assumed to be processed across all frequency bands, or (2) the UE reports separately the number of PFLs that the UE can process and the maximum number of PFLs that the UE can process (currently up to 4 PFLs), or (3) the maximum number of PFLs currently supported (4 PFLs) is applicable to PRS processing without measurement gaps. If the UE declares type 1B capability, then (1) the UE may be able to process a single PFL in each frequency band, or (2) the UE reports separately the number of PFLs that the UE can process and the maximum number of PFLs that the UE can process (currently up to 4 PFLs), or (3) the maximum number of PFLs currently supported (4 PFLs) is applicable to PRS processing without measurement gaps. If the UE declares Type 2 capability, then (1) the UE may be able to process a single PFL in each CC, or (2) the UE separately reports the number of PFLs that the UE can process and the maximum number of PFLs that the UE can process (currently up to 4 PFLs), or (3) the maximum number of PFLs currently supported (4 PFLs) applies to PRS processing without measurement gaps.

[0191] In some cases, even for Type 2 UEs (which typically have higher capabilities than Type 1A UEs or Type 1B UEs), the UE may support X CCs for downlink carrier aggregation (CA), but may only support up to Y PFLs for PRS processing without measurement gaps, where Y is less than X. For example, the UE may support only one PFL in each CC for the purpose of PRS processing. As a more detailed example, the same UE may declare the following PFL-related capabilities: (1) four PFLs for both PRS processing based on measurement gaps and PRS processing without measurement gaps, (2) two PFLs for PRS processing window Type 1A, and (3) one PFL for PRS processing window Type 1B. Note that the legacy capability (i.e., a maximum of four PFLs across all positioning methods across all frequency bands) may be interpreted as an upper limit across all types of PRS processing (i.e., Type 1A, Type 1B, and Type 2 based on measurement gaps and without measurement gaps).

[0192] In some aspects, the UE may send one or more capability messages to the first network entity, the one or more capability messages indicating one or more types of PRS processing windows that the UE can apply for PRS processing without measurement gaps, wherein each type of PRS processing window in the one or more types of PRS processing windows indicates a different capability of the UE to prioritize PRS processing over processing of other channels. On the other hand, the UE may receive a configuration message from the second network entity, the configuration message indicating one type of PRS processing window among one or more types of PRS processing windows that the UE intends to use for processing PRS.

[0193] Fig.11 1100 is a diagram illustrating an example PRS configuration for two TRPs (labeled "TRP1" and "TRP2") operating in the same positioning frequency layer (labeled "Positioning Frequency Layer 1") in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. For a positioning session, assistance data indicating the illustrated PRS configuration may be provided to the UE. Fig.11 In the example of , a first TRP ("TRP1") is associated with (e.g., transmits) two PRS resource sets labeled "PRS resource set 1" and "PRS resource set 2", and a second TRP ("TRP2") is associated with one PRS resource set labeled "PRS resource set 3". Each PRS resource set includes at least two PRS resources. Specifically, the first PRS resource set ("PRS resource set 1") includes PRS resources labeled "PRS resource 1" and "PRS resource 2", the second PRS resource set ("PRS resource set 2") includes PRS resources labeled "PRS resource 3" and "PRS resource 4", and the third PRS resource set ("PRS resource set 3") includes PRS resources labeled "PRS resource 5" and "PRS resource 6".

[0194] In some designs, for MG-free measurements within the active BW and PRS processing window (PPW) within the same parameter set, PRS may be measured if PRS is considered to have higher priority than other DL signals / channels under some conditions. These conditions include at least that the Rx timing difference between the PRS from the non-serving cell and the PRS from the serving cell is within a threshold. The LMF may transmit a request for specific PPW parameters to the serving gNB. In some designs, the UE may not be able to recommend / request a PPW. In some designs, multiple PPWs may be preconfigured and a single PPW may be activated using DL-MAC-CE.

[0195] In some designs, the main differences of MG-free measurements within PPW compared to MG-based PRS processing are: (i) UL signals / channels are not affected / interrupted during PPW, (ii) no RF retuning is required since the UE does not change the active BWP, (iii) better multiplexing of PRS with other channels / better interruption of DL traffic (at least for Type 1B / 2), and / or (iv) PRS is processed only within PPW and the UE is expected to be able to report at the end of the PPW.

[0196] The above Type 1A, Type 1B and Type 2 capabilities can be characterized as PPW types as follows:

[0197]

[0198] Table 3: PPW types

[0199] In some designs as described above, the gNB uses RRC configuration to indicate PPW priority (e.g., providing a single priority indicator for the PPW that applies to all PRSs within the PPW). In one example, the UE may indicate support for two priority states, including state 1 and state 2, where PRSs have a higher priority than DL channels, and state 2 where PRSs have a lower priority than DL channels. In another example, the UE may indicate support for three priority states, including state 1, state 2, and state 3, where PRSs have a higher priority than DL channels, state 2, where PRSs have a lower priority than PDCCH and URLLC PDSCH and higher than other PDSCH / CSI-RS (e.g., a URLLC channel corresponds to a dynamically scheduled PDSCH whose PUCCH resources for carrying ACK / NAK are marked as high priority), and state 3, where PRSs have a lower priority than DL channels. In another example, the UE may indicate support for a single priority state; i.e., state 1 where PRSs have a higher priority than all DL channels. In the various examples above, the relative priority between PRS and SSB is flexible and may vary.

[0200] In some designs, the UE may indicate support for more than one processing type and corresponding PRS processing capabilities on a frequency band. In some designs, the gNB may decide which processing type to use. In some designs described above, a PPW is configured for each DL BWP. In some designs, the PPW configuration includes a starting slot, periodicity, duration / length, SCS information, priority, and processing type. In some designs described above:

[0201] • The maximum number of PPWs preconfigured per DL BWP is 4.

[0202] •The maximum number of PPWs that can be activated / deactivated by DL MAC CE is 1.

[0203] • At each single instance of PPW, a single PFL can be measured.

[0204] • The maximum number of PPWs activated per DL BWP is 1, and the maximum number across all active DL BWPs is 4.

[0205] • The maximum number of activated PPWs that overlap in time across all active DL BWPs is one.

[0206] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to configuration of a PPW on an active BWP, whereby a positioning estimation entity requests a UE to measure resources of a single PFL associated with the PPW, whereby the UE measures a first PRS resource, a second PRS resource, or both based on one or more PPW selection parameters. Such aspects may provide various technical advantages, such as improved positioning estimation accuracy, reduced positioning estimation latency, etc.

[0207] Fig.12 An exemplary process 1200 of communicating according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Fig.12 The process 1200 is performed by a UE such as UE 302.

[0208] refer to Fig.12 At 1210, the UE 302 (eg, the receiver 312 or 322, etc.) receives a first configuration of a first PRS processing window (PPW) for a first active bandwidth part (BWP).

[0209] refer to Fig.12 At 1220, the UE 302 (eg, the receiver 312 or 322, etc.) receives a second configuration of a second PPW of a second active BWP, the first PPW and the second PPW not overlapping in time.

[0210] refer to Fig.12 At 1230, the UE 302 (eg, the receiver 312 or 322, etc.) receives a request to measure resources associated with a positioning frequency layer (PFL), the resources including a first PRS resource within a first PPW and a second PRS resource within a second PPW.

[0211] refer to Fig.12 At 1240, the UE 302 (eg, the receiver 312 or 322, the processor 332, the positioning component 342, etc.) measures the first PRS resource, the second PRS resource, or both based on one or more PPW selection parameters.

[0212] Fig.13 An exemplary process 1300 of communicating according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Fig.13 The process 1300 is performed by a positioning estimation entity such as UE 302 (eg, for UE-based positioning estimation) or a network component (eg, BS 304 or a network entity 306 such as LMF or an O-RAN component such as RU / CU / DU, etc.).

[0213] refer to Fig.13 At 1310, a positioning estimation entity (eg, transmitter 314 or 324 or 354 or 364, transceiver 380 or 390, etc.) sends a first configuration of a first PRS processing window (PPW) of a first active bandwidth part (BWP) to a user equipment (UE).

[0214] refer to Fig.13 At 1320, the positioning estimation entity (eg, transmitter 314 or 324 or 354 or 364, transceiver 380 or 390, etc.) sends a second configuration of a second PPW of a second active BWP to the UE, the first PPW and the second PPW not overlapping in time.

[0215] refer to Fig.13 At 1330, a positioning estimation entity (e.g., transmitter 314 or 324 or 354 or 364, transceiver 380 or 390, etc.) sends a request to the UE to measure resources associated with a positioning frequency layer (PFL), the resources including a first PRS resource within a first PPW and a second PRS resource within a second PPW.

[0216] refer to Fig.13 At 1340, a positioning estimation entity (eg, receiver 312 or 322 or 352 or 362, transceiver 380 or 390, etc.) receives measurement information associated with the UE's measurement of the first PRS resource, the second PRS resource, or both from the UE based on one or more PPW selection parameters.

[0217] Fig.14 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figure 12 to Figure 13 An example implementation of processes 1200 to 1300 is 1400. Fig.14 , assume that BWP1 (denoted as 1410) and BWP2 (denoted as 1420) are active, where BWP1 is located on CC1 and BWP2 is located on CC2. Two instances of PFL1 (denoted as 1430 and 1440, respectively) are shown overlapping both BWP1 and BWP2. In some designs, a single PPW (i.e., a non-overlapping PPW) may be active at any given time. In particular, at different times, PPW1 (denoted as 1450) is located on BWP1, while PPW2 (denoted as 1460) is located on BWP2. In addition, although Fig.14BWP1 and BWP2 are depicted as having the same bandwidth, but in other designs, BWP1 and BWP2 may have different bandwidths. Fig.14 PPW1 and PPW2 are depicted as having the same duration, but in other designs, PPW1 and PPW2 may have different durations.

[0218] refer to Figure 12 to Figure 14 In some designs, the one or more PPW selection parameters may include, for example:

[0219] PPW timing parameters, or

[0220] ● a processing time parameter (e.g., measured PRS resources are associated with less processing time than unmeasured PRS resources), or

[0221] ● bandwidth parameters, or

[0222] ● Processing window length parameters, or

[0223] ● Resource load parameters, or

[0224] ● Discontinuous Reception (DRX) parameters, or

[0225] ● a priority parameter, or

[0226] ● conflicting parameters, or

[0227] ●Any combination of them.

[0228] In an example where the one or more PPW selection parameters include a PPW timing parameter, the UE may select the earliest PPW in time to improve latency such that the measured PRS resource corresponds to the earliest one of the first PRS resource and the second PRS resource.

[0229] In examples where one or more PPW selection parameters include a processing time parameter, the UE may select a PPW that will improve its response time (e.g., measured PRS resources are associated with less processing time than unmeasured PRS resources). In some designs, this will be a function of the processing window starting point and length and type. In the previous example, if PPW1 is type 2 and PPW2 is type 1A, then even if PPW1 is configured earlier than PPW2, it may ultimately take longer to complete processing of the PRS in PPW1 than the PRS in PPW2.

[0230] In examples where the one or more PPW selection parameters include a bandwidth parameter, the UE may select a PPW that operates at a larger BW to improve accuracy (eg, measured PRS resources are associated with a larger bandwidth than unmeasured PRS resources).

[0231] In examples where the one or more PPW selection parameters include a processing window length load parameter, the UE may select a PPW operation that will have a larger processing window length.

[0232] In examples where one or more PPW selection parameters include a resource load parameter, resource deployment outside the processing window may be considered and the UE may select a PPW on the CC with a lower scheduling and processing load (e.g., measured PRS resources are associated with a corresponding active BWP that has more scheduled resources outside the corresponding PPW than unmeasured PRS resources).

[0233] In an example where the one or more PPW selection parameters include a DRX parameter, the UE may select a PPW on the CC for which DRX will be enabled (e.g., pick a PPW that enters the DRX on duration / active time). For example, the measured PRS resources may be associated with a corresponding active BWP for which DRX is enabled, and the unmeasured PRS resources are associated with a corresponding active BWP for which DRX is disabled. In another example, the measured PRS resources are associated with a corresponding active BWP for which DRX is enabled during a DRX on period, and the unmeasured PRS resources are associated with a corresponding active BWP for which DRX is enabled during a DRX off period.

[0234] In an example where the one or more PPW selection parameters include a priority parameter, the UE may select a PPW on the CC that will schedule a lower priority channel. For example, the one or more PPW selection parameters may include a priority parameter, and measured PRS resources may be associated with a higher priority than unmeasured PRS resources.

[0235] In an example where one or more PPW selection parameters include a conflict parameter, measured PRS resources may be associated with corresponding PPWs that do not include a scheduling conflict, and unmeasured PRS resources may be associated with corresponding PPWs that include a scheduling conflict, as described below with respect to Fig.15 As described.

[0236] Fig.15 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figure 12 to Figure 13 An example implementation 1500 of processes 1200 to 1300 is provided. Fig.15 The 1510 to 1560 usually correspond to Fig.14 1410 to 1460, except that the bandwidths of PPW2 and BWP2 are greater than the bandwidths of PPW1 and BWP1, and Fig.15Also depicted is SSB 1570 within PPW2 of BWP2. Thus, SSB 1570 collides with PPW2. In this case, in an example, the UE may select PPW1 so that most of the processing capacity of PPW2 may be allocated to SSB processing (eg, the UE selects a "non-collision" PPW).

[0237] refer to Figure 12 to Figure 13 In some designs, only one of the first PRS resource and the second PRS resource is measured, while the other of the first PRS resource and the second PRS resource is not measured.

[0238] refer to Figure 12 to Figure 13 In some designs, both the first PRS resource and the second PRS resource are measured. For example, consider Fig.15 A variant of , in which the SSB is omitted. In this case, the first PRS resource (e.g., PPW1) may precede the second PRS resource (e.g., PPW2) in time, the second PPW (e.g., PPW2) may be associated with a longer duration than the first PPW (e.g., PPW1), and the second PPW (e.g., PPW2) may be associated with a larger bandwidth than the first PPW (e.g., PPW1). In an example, the UE may divide the measurement period into (i) an acquisition and tracking phase (e.g., initial detection of a cell) and (ii) a tracking phase (e.g., actual measurement and reporting of a PRS cell). In an example, the acquisition / initial detection of a PRS resource may be assigned to a smaller PPW (e.g., in terms of duration or bandwidth or both), and the tracking / actual measurement of a PRS resource may be assigned to a larger processing window (e.g., in terms of duration or bandwidth or both). Thus, in one aspect, the first PRS resource is measured in association with the acquisition phase for initial detection of a cell, and the second PRS resource is measured in association with the tracking phase for PRS measurement and reporting. Again, the above example assumes that PPW2 is used for measurement, but if Fig.15 This may not be the case if the depicted SSB collision excludes PPW2 from the measurement.

[0239] refer to Figure 12 to Figure 13 In some designs, the UE may determine that the first PRS resource is associated with a line-of-sight (LOS) path and the second PRS resource is associated with a non-LOS (NLOS) path. In some designs, only measurement information associated with the first PRS resource is reported. For example, the UE may select the PPW that will have a better LOS measurement indicator (e.g., the UE may perform measurements on two PPWs, find the LOS indicators of the two PPWs, and report the measurements from the PPW that will have the better LOS measurement).

[0240] refer to Figure 12 to Figure 13In some designs, the UE may measure the same positioning reference signal (PRS) resource throughout a positioning session that includes multiple PRS opportunities. For example, the UE may be allowed to measure and report only one PPW throughout the positioning session. In this case, it may be assumed that all resources / TRPs in a single measurement report are measured through the same PPW. The LMF shall assume that all measurements belong to the same bandwidth or the same PPW.

[0241] refer to Figure 12 to Figure 13 In some designs, the UE may receive an indication of a set of transmit receive points (TRPs), positioning reference signal (PRS) resource sets, PRS resources, or a combination thereof to be measured in the same PPW from a positioning estimation entity, and the UE may measure the first PRS resource, the second PRS resource, or both according to the indication. For example, the UE may receive signaling of a set of TRPs, PRS resource sets, PRS resources that need to be measured through the same PPW from a positioning estimation entity (e.g., LMF, etc.). For example, {TRP1, TRP2} need to be measured within the same PPW, and {TRP3, TRP4} need to be measured within the same PPW. In some designs, multiple TRP groups (or PRS resource groups) may be defined (e.g., depending on how the UE specifically implements how to schedule different groups in the PPW).

[0242] refer to Figure 12 to Figure 13 In some designs, the UE may also report measurement information based on PRS resource measurements. In some designs, the measurement information includes a first indication of a first bandwidth associated with a first active BWP, a second bandwidth associated with a second active BWP, or both, or the measurement information includes a second indication of a first bandwidth offset associated with the first active BWP, a second bandwidth offset associated with the second active BWP, or both, or a combination thereof. For example, the same bandwidth in different parts of a BWP may have different channel responses. For example, consider a system bandwidth of 100 MHz. The channel response of the first 5 MHz may be irrelevant relative to the last 5 MHz part of the system bandwidth. For the case where the UE reports measurements across two PPWs, the UE may report the bandwidth and / or bandwidth offset associated with each PRS bandwidth (BWP1 and BWP2, or specifically the bandwidth of the PRS resources of PPW1 and PPW2).

[0243]

[00136] In some aspects, the UE may report the PRS processing capability of the UE to a positioning estimation entity such as an LMF. For example, the PRS processing capability of the UE may indicate the duration N (in ms) of a DL PRS symbol that the UE may process per T ms assuming the maximum DL PRS bandwidth (in MHz) supported and reported by the UE. In some designs, the UE may report the PRS processing capability as T: {8, 16, 20, 30, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280} ms and N: {0.125, 0.25, 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6,8, 12, 16, 20, 25, 30, 32, 35, 40, 45, 50} ms.

[0244] Fig.16 An example configuration 1600 depicting UE processing capabilities for PRS according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. Fig.16 In FIG. 1 , it is assumed that BWP1 (denoted as 1610 ) is active, where BWP1 is located on CC1 . Two instances of PFL1 (denoted as 1620 and 1630 , respectively) are shown overlapping the two BWP1 s. The first PPW (or PPW1 ) is shown at 1650 . Fig.16 In the example of , assume that the processing capability is (N, T) = (4, 20). In other words, the UE has the processing capability to measure 4 milliseconds of PRS resources every 20 milliseconds. In some designs, the LMF may configure the UE to schedule a maximum of 4 milliseconds of PRS resources every 20 milliseconds to match the UE processing capability. In other words, the UE processing capability indicates the maximum number of PRS measurements that the UE can process within the UE measurement period.

[0245] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to determining whether processing measurements of resources associated with different PFLs on different active BWPs will exceed the processing capability of the UE. The UE may then process measurements associated with resources on both PFLs based on the processing capability determination. Such aspects may provide various technical advantages, such as improved positioning estimate accuracy, reduced positioning estimate latency, etc.

[0246] Fig.17 An exemplary process 1700 of communicating according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Fig.17 Process 1700 is performed by a UE such as UE 302.

[0247] refer to Fig.17 At 1710 , the UE 302 (eg, the receiver 312 or 322 , etc.) receives a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window.

[0248] refer to Fig.17At 1720 , the UE 302 (eg, the receiver 312 or 322 , etc.) receives a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window.

[0249] refer to Fig.17 At 1730, the UE 302 (eg, the receiver 312 or 322, etc.) receives a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL).

[0250] refer to Fig.17 At 1740 , the UE 302 (eg, the receiver 312 or 322 , etc.) receives a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL.

[0251] refer to Fig.17 At 1750, the UE 302 (eg, the processor 332, the positioning component 342, etc.) determines whether processing of the measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE.

[0252] refer to Fig.17 At 1760, the UE 302 (eg, the processor 332, the positioning component 342, etc.) processes the measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource based on the processing capability determination.

[0253] refer to Fig.17 In some designs, the UE may also report measurement information associated with the measurement of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource to the positioning estimation entity. In some designs, the UE may also send an indication of the processing capability of the UE to the positioning estimation entity (e.g., BS, LMF, etc.). It should be noted that if the UE itself corresponds to the positioning estimation entity (e.g., for UE-based positioning estimation), the various receiving and reporting operations may correspond to information exchange between logical components of the UE).

[0254] refer to Fig.17 In some designs, the processing capability determination determines that the measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceed the processing capability of the UE, and based on the processing capability determination, the measurements associated with the first resource and the second resource are processed before the measurements associated with the third resource. Examples of this aspect are Fig.17 Depicted in.

[0255] Fig.18 Illustrate various aspects of the present disclosure Fig.17An example implementation of process 1700 is 1800. Fig.18 In FIG. 1 , it is assumed that BWP1 (denoted as 1810 ) and BWP2 (denoted as 1820 ) are active, where BWP1 is located on CC1 and BWP2 is located on CC2 . Two instances of PFL1 (denoted as 1830 and 1840 , respectively) are shown overlapping BWP1 , and one instance of PFL2 (denoted as 1850 ) is shown overlapping BWP2 . Fig.18 In the embodiment, the first measurement window (e.g., MG1 1860) overlaps with PFL1 1830 on BWP1, the second measurement window (e.g., MG2 1870) overlaps with PFL1 1840 on BWP1, and the third measurement window (e.g., PPW1 1880) overlaps with PLF2 1850 on BWP2. In one example, PPW1 1880 is a PPW of type 1a or a PPW of type 1b. In addition, although Fig.18 BWP1 and BWP2 are depicted as having the same bandwidth, but in other designs, BWP1 and BWP2 may have different bandwidths. Fig.18 The first, second, and third measurement windows are depicted as having the same duration, or at least similar duration, but in other designs, the first, second, and third measurement windows may have different durations.

[0256] refer to Fig.18 , in a similar Fig.16 In some designs of , assume that the UE processing capability of the PRS is (N, T) = (4,20). In this case, PFL2 of PPW1 1880 is scheduled within 20 ms of MG1 1860. In this case, as an example, the UE may complete processing measurements for both MG1 1860 and MG2 1870 before processing PPW1 1880, even though PPW1 1880 is temporally between MG1 1860 and MG2 1870. In other words, the UE will not attempt to switch back and forth between PFLs to process all measurement windows in sequence, as this would violate the UE processing capability. In this case, the UE measurement period is based on (e.g., equal to or corresponds to) the sum of two separate PFL periods (in this case, 2×20 ms=40 ms). Although Fig.18 An example is depicted where BWP1 includes an MG and BWP2 includes a PPW, but in other designs, a third MG may be used instead of PPW1. In this case, the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and the third measurement window also corresponds to a third MG.

[0257] refer to Fig.17, in some designs (e.g. Fig.18 ), the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and the third measurement window corresponds to a PRS processing window (PPW) associated with a first active BWP in a plurality of active bandwidth parts (BWPs). In some designs (e.g., as Fig.18 ), the PPW is type 1A or type 1B, and the processing of the measurement associated with the third resource occurs outside the third measurement window (e.g., in other words, PPW1 1880 is processed after MG2 1870, which is outside the normal measurement window of PPW1 1880).

[0258] refer to Fig.17 In some designs, the processing capability determines that the measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource do not exceed the processing capability of the UE, and the measurements associated with the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource are processed in sequence. Examples of this aspect are Fig.19 Depicted in.

[0259] Fig.19 Illustrate various aspects of the present disclosure Fig.17 An example implementation 1900 of process 1700 is provided. Fig.19 1910 to 1980 usually correspond to Fig.18 1810 to 1890, except that PPW1 1980 is moved in time so as not to violate the processing capability of the UE.

[0260] refer to Fig.19 , in a similar Fig.16 In some designs of , assume that the UE processing capability of PRS is (N, T) = (4,20). In this case, the PFL2 scheduling of PPW1 1980 is 20 milliseconds later than that of MG1 1960. In this case, as an example, the UE may complete the processing of measuring MG1 1960, MG2 1970, and PPW1 1980 (e.g., the processing order corresponds to the order of these measurement cycles in time). In other words, Fig.18 Different, the UE will switch back and forth between PFLs to process all measurement windows in sequence, as this will not violate the UE processing capabilities. In this case, the UE measurement period is based on (e.g., equal to or corresponds to) the longer (or largest) of the first measurement period (MG period or 20 milliseconds) associated with the first PFL and the second measurement period (PPW1 period) associated with the second PFL. Fig.19An example is depicted where BWP1 includes an MG and BWP2 includes a PPW, but in other designs, a third MG may be used instead of PPW1. In this case, the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and the third measurement window also corresponds to a third MG.

[0261] refer to Fig.19 , in some designs (e.g. Fig.19 ), the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and the third measurement window corresponds to a PRS processing window (PPW) associated with a first active BWP in a plurality of active bandwidth parts (BWPs). In some designs (e.g., as Fig.19 ), the PPW is type 1A or type 1B, and the processing of the measurement associated with the third resource occurs within the third measurement window (e.g., with Fig.18 on the contrary).

[0262] Fig. 20 Illustrate various aspects of the present disclosure Fig.17 The example implementation of process 1700 is 2000. Fig. 20 In FIG. 1 , it is assumed that BWP1 (denoted as 2010) and BWP2 (denoted as 2020) are active, where BWP1 is located on CC1 and BWP2 is located on CC2. Two instances of PFL1 (denoted as 2030 and 2040, respectively) are shown overlapping BWP1, and one instance of PFL2 (denoted as 2050) is shown overlapping BWP2. Fig. 20 , a first measurement window (e.g., MG1 2060) overlaps PFL1 2030 on BWP1, a second measurement window (e.g., MG2 2070) overlaps PFL1 2040 on BWP1, and a third measurement window (e.g., MG3 2080) overlaps PLF2 2050 on BWP2. A fourth measurement window (e.g., MG4 2090) is also depicted, but MG4 2090 does not overlap PFL1 or PFL2. In addition, although Fig.18 BWP1 and BWP2 are depicted as having the same bandwidth, but in other designs, BWP1 and BWP2 may have different bandwidths. Fig.18 The first, second, and third measurement windows are depicted as having the same duration, or at least similar duration, but in other designs, the first, second, and third measurement windows may have different durations.

[0263] refer to Fig.17 If LMF can Fig.19 or Fig. 20 If the PFL is scheduled as in (e.g., so that PFL2 can be measured without violating the UE processing capability), the UE may start processing the measurements of the two PFLs concurrently or simultaneously, thereby being able to measure the PFL2 with respect to the UE processing capability. Fig.18 The scenario described in the example reduces the UE measurement period (for example, to the longer of the PFL1 measurement period and the PFL2 measurement period, rather than Fig.18 The sum of the two PFL measurement cycles in .

[0264] In the above detailed description, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in each example. This disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than the features explicitly mentioned in each clause. On the contrary, various aspects of the present disclosure may include less than all the features of the disclosed individual example clauses. Therefore, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated into the description accordingly, wherein each clause itself can be used as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination of one clause with other clauses in a clause, the aspects of the dependent clause are not limited to a specific combination. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include a combination of the subject matter of the dependent clause aspect with any other dependent clause or independent clause or any feature with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. Various aspects disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations, unless it is explicitly expressed or can be easily inferred that a specific combination is not intended (e.g., contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as an insulator and a conductor). In addition, it is also expected that various aspects of the clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

[0265] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0266] Clause 1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; receiving a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; receiving a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); receiving a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; determining whether processing measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; and processing the measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource based on the processing capability determination.

[0267] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, further comprising: reporting measurement information associated with the measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource to a positioning estimation entity.

[0268] Clause 3. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 2, the method further comprising: sending an indication of the processing capability of the UE to a positioning estimation entity.

[0269] Clause 4. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the processing capability determination determines that the measurements of the first resource, the second resource and the third resource exceed the processing capability of the UE, and wherein based on the processing capability determination, the measurements associated with the first resource and the second resource are processed before the measurements associated with the third resource.

[0270] Clause 5. The method of clause 4, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and wherein the third measurement window corresponds to a positioning reference signal (PRS) processing window (PPW) associated with a first active bandwidth part (BWP) of a plurality of active BWPs.

[0271] Clause 6. The method of Clause 5, wherein the PPW is Type 1A or Type 1B, and wherein the processing of the measurements associated with the third resource occurs outside of the third measurement window.

[0272] Clause 7. The method of any of clauses 4 to 6, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and wherein the third measurement window corresponds to a third MG.

[0273] Clause 8. A method as described in any of clauses 4 to 7, wherein the processing capability of the UE indicates a maximum number of PRS measurements that the UE can process within a UE measurement period.

[0274] Clause 9. The method of clause 8, wherein the UE measurement period is based on a sum of two measurement periods associated with the first PFL.

[0275] Clause 10. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the processing capability determination determines that the measurements of the first resource, the second resource and the third resource do not exceed the processing capability of the UE, and wherein the measurements associated with the first resource, the second resource and the third resource are processed in sequence.

[0276] Clause 11. The method of clause 10, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and wherein the third measurement window corresponds to a positioning reference signal (PRS) processing window (PPW) associated with a first active bandwidth part (BWP) of a plurality of active BWPs.

[0277] Clause 12. The method of clause 11, wherein the PPW is type 1A or type 1B, and wherein the processing of the measurements associated with the third resource occurs within the third measurement window.

[0278] Clause 13. The method of any of clauses 10 to 12, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and wherein the third measurement window corresponds to a third MG.

[0279] Clause 14. A method as described in any of clauses 10 to 13, wherein the processing capability of the UE indicates a maximum number of PRS measurements that the UE can process within a UE measurement period.

[0280] Clause 15. The method of clause 14, wherein the UE measurement period is based on the longer of a first measurement period associated with the first PFL and a second measurement period associated with the second PFL.

[0281] Clause 16. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; receive, via the at least one transceiver, a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; receive, via the at least one transceiver, a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); receive, via the at least one transceiver, a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; determine whether processing measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; and process the measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource based on the processing capability determination.

[0282] Clause 17. The UE of clause 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to report measurement information associated with the measurement of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource to a positioning estimation entity.

[0283] Clause 18. A UE as described in any of clauses 16 to 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send an indication of the processing capability of the UE to a positioning estimation entity via the at least one transceiver.

[0284] Clause 19. A UE according to any one of clauses 16 to 18, wherein the processing capability determination determines that the measurements of the first resource, the second resource and the third resource exceed the processing capability of the UE, and wherein based on the processing capability determination, the measurements associated with the first resource and the second resource are processed before the measurements associated with the third resource.

[0285] Clause 20. A UE according to clause 19, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and wherein the third measurement window corresponds to a positioning reference signal (PRS) processing window (PPW) associated with a first active bandwidth part (BWP) of a plurality of active BWPs.

[0286] Clause 21. The UE of clause 20, wherein the PPW is type 1A or type 1B, and wherein the processing of the measurements associated with the third resources occurs outside of the third measurement window.

[0287] Clause 22. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 19 to 21, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and wherein the third measurement window corresponds to a third MG.

[0288] Clause 23. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 19 to 22, wherein the processing capability of the UE indicates a maximum number of PRS measurements that the UE is capable of processing within a UE measurement period.

[0289] Clause 24. The UE of clause 23, wherein the UE measurement period is based on a sum of two measurement periods associated with the first PFL.

[0290] Clause 25. A UE according to any one of clauses 16 to 24, wherein the processing capability determination determines that the measurements of the first resource, the second resource and the third resource do not exceed the processing capability of the UE, and wherein the measurements associated with the first resource, the second resource and the third resource are processed in sequence.

[0291] Clause 26. The UE of clause 25, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and wherein the third measurement window corresponds to a third MG.

[0292] Clause 27. A UE as set out in any of clauses 25 to 26, wherein the processing capability of the UE indicates a maximum number of PRS measurements that the UE is capable of processing within a UE measurement period.

[0293] Clause 28. The UE of clause 27, wherein the UE measurement period is based on the longer of a first measurement period associated with the first PFL and a second measurement period associated with the second PFL.

[0294] Clause 29. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: a component for receiving a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; a component for receiving a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; a component for receiving a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); a component for receiving a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; a component for determining whether processing measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; and a component for processing the measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource based on the processing capability determination.

[0295] Clause 30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, which, when executed by a user equipment (UE), causes the UE to: receive a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; receive a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; receive a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); receive a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; determine whether processing measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; and process the measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource based on the processing capability determination.

[0296] Clause 29. An apparatus, comprising: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor, the processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the memory, the transceiver, and the processor being configured to perform the method of any one of clauses 1 to 28.

[0297] Clause 30. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any one of clauses 1 to 28.

[0298] Clause 31. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising at least one instruction for causing a computer or a processor to perform the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 28.

[0299] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0300] In addition, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits and algorithmic steps described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software or a combination of the two. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary components, frames, modules, circuits and steps have been generally described in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints proposed to the entire system. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functionality in different ways for each specific application, but such specific implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0301] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed using a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in an alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0302] The methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be directly embodied in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be integral with the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In an alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in a user terminal as discrete components.

[0303] In one or more example aspects, the function may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the function may be stored on a computer-readable medium or sent via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. The storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. Exemplarily and not restrictively, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage devices, magnetic disk storage devices or other magnetic storage devices, and any other medium that can also be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer. In addition, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is sent from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves are included in the definition of the medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc, where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0304] Although the foregoing disclosure shows the exemplary aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. In addition, the functions, steps and / or actions of the method claims according to the various aspects of the present disclosure described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. In addition, although the elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in singular form, plural forms may also be considered unless explicitly stated to be limited to the singular form.

Claims

1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; receiving a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; receiving a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); receiving a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; determining whether processing of measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; as well as The measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource are processed based on the processing capability determination.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Measurement information associated with the measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource is reported to a positioning estimation entity.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: An indication of the processing capability of the UE is sent to a positioning estimation entity.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processing capability determination determines that the measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceed the processing capability of the UE, and Wherein based on the processing capability determination, the measurements associated with the first resource and the second resource are processed before the measurements associated with the third resource.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and Wherein the third measurement window corresponds to a positioning reference signal (PRS) processing window (PPW) associated with a first active bandwidth part (BWP) among a plurality of active BWPs.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the PPW is type 1A or type 1B, and Wherein said processing of said measurements associated with said third resource occurs outside of said third measurement window.

7. The method according to claim 4, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and The third measurement window corresponds to a third MG.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the processing capability of the UE indicates a maximum number of PRS measurements that the UE can process within a UE measurement period.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the UE measurement period is based on a sum of two measurement periods associated with the first PFL.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the processing capability determination determines that the measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource do not exceed the processing capability of the UE, and Wherein the measurements associated with the first resource, the second resource and the third resource are processed sequentially.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and Wherein the third measurement window corresponds to a positioning reference signal (PRS) processing window (PPW) associated with a first active bandwidth part (BWP) among a plurality of active BWPs.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the PPW is type 1A or type 1B, and Wherein said processing of said measurements associated with said third resource occurs within said third measurement window.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and The third measurement window corresponds to a third MG.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the processing capability of the UE indicates a maximum number of PRS measurements that the UE can process within a UE measurement period.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the UE measurement period is based on a longer one of a first measurement period associated with the first PFL and a second measurement period associated with the second PFL.

16. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; determining whether processing of measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; as well as The measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource are processed based on the processing capability determination.

17. The UE of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: Measurement information associated with the measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource is reported to a positioning estimation entity.

18. The UE of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: The indication of the processing capability of the UE is sent to a positioning estimation entity via the at least one transceiver.

19. The UE according to claim 16, wherein the processing capability determination determines that the measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceed the processing capability of the UE, and Wherein based on the processing capability determination, the measurements associated with the first resource and the second resource are processed before the measurements associated with the third resource.

20. The UE according to claim 19, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and Wherein the third measurement window corresponds to a positioning reference signal (PRS) processing window (PPW) associated with a first active bandwidth part (BWP) among a plurality of active BWPs.

21. The UE according to claim 20, wherein the PPW is type 1A or type 1B, and Wherein said processing of said measurements associated with said third resource occurs outside of said third measurement window.

22. The UE according to claim 19, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and The third measurement window corresponds to a third MG.

23. The UE of claim 19, wherein the processing capability of the UE indicates a maximum number of PRS measurements that the UE can process within a UE measurement period.

24. The UE of claim 23, wherein the UE measurement period is based on a sum of two measurement periods associated with the first PFL.

25. The UE according to claim 16, wherein the processing capability determination determines that the measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource do not exceed the processing capability of the UE, and Wherein the measurements associated with the first resource, the second resource and the third resource are processed sequentially.

26. The UE according to claim 25, wherein the first measurement window and the second measurement window correspond to a first measurement gap (MG) and a second MG, respectively, and The third measurement window corresponds to a third MG.

27. The UE of claim 25, wherein the processing capability of the UE indicates a maximum number of PRS measurements that the UE can process within a UE measurement period.

28. The UE of claim 27, wherein the UE measurement period is based on a longer one of a first measurement period associated with the first PFL and a second measurement period associated with the second PFL.

29. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: means for receiving a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; means for receiving a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; means for receiving a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); means for receiving a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; means for determining whether processing of measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; and Means for processing the measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource based on the processing capability determination.

30. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receiving a first configuration of a first measurement window and a second measurement window; receiving a second configuration of a third measurement window, the third measurement window being temporally between the first measurement window and the second measurement window; receiving a first request to measure a first resource within the first measurement window and a second resource associated with the second measurement window, the first resource and the second resource being associated with a first positioning frequency layer (PFL); receiving a second request to measure a third resource within the third measurement window, the third resource being associated with a second PFL; determining whether processing of measurements of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource exceeds a processing capability of the UE; as well as The measurements associated with each of the first resource, the second resource, and the third resource are processed based on the processing capability determination.

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