System and method for providing new radio positioning

Abstract

The invention relates to a system and method for providing new radio positioning. Systems and methods for determining an estimated location of a user equipment (UE) are provided. For example, a UE may provide a positioning request to a node when the UE is in a radio resource control idle (RRCIDLE) or inactive (RRCINACTIVE state. The positioning request may be implemented in a random access channel (RACH) message A (MsgA). The UE may then receive a positioning response from the node. The positioning response may be implemented in a RACH message B (MsgB).

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application is a divisional application of the invention patent application with international application number PCT / US2020 / 013093, international application date January 10, 2020, date of entry into the Chinese national phase July 26, 2021, Chinese national application number 202080010899.9, and invention name “System and method for providing new radio positioning”.

[0003] This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 791,469, filed on January 11, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0004] Various embodiments may generally relate to the field of wireless communications. Summary of the invention

[0005] Aspects and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows, or may be learned from the description, or may be learned through practice of the embodiments.

[0006] An exemplary aspect of the present disclosure relates to a user equipment (UE) for use in a wireless network. The UE includes one or more processors configured to provide a positioning request to a node when the UE is in a radio resource control idle (RRC_IDLE) or inactive (RRC_INACTIVE) state. The positioning request is implemented in a random access channel (RACH) message A (MsgA). The one or more processors are further configured to receive a positioning response from the node. The positioning response is implemented in a RACH message B (MsgB).

[0007] In some embodiments, MsgA includes a physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble.

[0008] In some embodiments, MsgA includes at least one of a positioning procedure of a requested type, a request for additional allocation of reference signals, one or more signal location parameter measurements, a UE identity, and a positioning reference resource of a requested type.

[0009] In some embodiments, the requested type of positioning procedure includes downlink (DL) only positioning techniques, uplink (UL) only positioning techniques, or both DL and UL positioning techniques.

[0010] In some embodiments, the positioning response includes estimated coordinates of the UE, a metric characterizing the quality of the coordinate estimate, a timestamp indicating the time of reception of one or more reference signals, a request for additional positioning measurements, configuration or activation of additional resources for transmission of positioning reference signals, and location information associated with downlink (DL) positioning reference resources.

[0011] In some embodiments, MsgB includes at least one of an estimated position of the UE, a metric characterizing the quality or uncertainty of the estimated position, a timestamp indicating the time when the node received MsgA, a timestamp indicating the time when the node transmitted MsgB, a request for additional positioning measurements, or location information associated with a DL positioning reference resource.

[0012] In some embodiments, the estimated location of the UE is determined by a location functional entity and provided to the node.

[0013] In some embodiments, the one or more processors are further configured to receive a UL positioning reference signal (PRS) resource configuration from the node prior to receiving the positioning response, and provide UL PRS data to the node, the UL PRS data being determined at least in part based on the received UL PRS resource configuration.

[0014] In some embodiments, the one or more processors are further configured to receive a DL PRC resource configuration from the node prior to providing the positioning request. In such embodiments, the MsgA includes a DL PRS measurement report determined at least in part based on the received DL PRC resource configuration.

[0015] In some embodiments, the positioning response includes a UL PRS resource configuration. In such embodiments, the one or more processors are further configured to provide UL PRS data to the node, the UL PRS data determined at least in part based on the received UL PRS resource configuration.

[0016] Other aspects of the present disclosure relate to methods, systems, apparatuses, tangible non-transitory computer-readable media, user interfaces, and devices for determining an estimated location of a UE.

[0017] These and other features, aspects and advantages of various embodiments will be better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims.The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the relevant principles.

[0018] The purpose of providing this summary is only to review some exemplary embodiments in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the subject matter described herein. Therefore, it should be understood that the above-mentioned features are only examples and should not be construed as narrowing the scope or essence of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent through the following detailed description, drawings and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] A detailed discussion of embodiments related to those of ordinary skill in the art is set forth in this specification with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0020] Figure 1 Depicted are diagrams of exemplary methods of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments.

[0021] Figure 2 Depicted is a diagram of another exemplary method of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments.

[0022] Figure 3 Depicted is a diagram of another exemplary method of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments.

[0023] Figure 4a depicts a diagram of another exemplary method of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments.

[0024] Figure 4b depicts a diagram of another exemplary method of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments.

[0025] Figure 5a depicts a diagram of another exemplary method of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments.

[0026] Figure 5b depicts an illustration of another exemplary method of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments.

[0027] Figure 6 Depicted is a diagram of another exemplary method of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments.

[0028] Figure 7 Depicted is a diagram of another exemplary method of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments.

[0029] Figure 8 Depicted is an exemplary system architecture according to some embodiments.

[0030] Fig. 9 Another exemplary system architecture is depicted in accordance with some embodiments.

[0031] Fig.10 Another exemplary system architecture is depicted in accordance with some embodiments.

[0032] Fig.11 Depicted is a block diagram of exemplary infrastructure equipment, according to some embodiments.

[0033] Fig.12 A block diagram of an exemplary platform is depicted, according to some embodiments.

[0034] Fig.13 Depicted is a block diagram of an exemplary baseband circuit and front-end module according to some embodiments.

[0035] Fig.14 Depicted is a block diagram of exemplary protocol functionality that may be implemented in a wireless communication device in accordance with some embodiments.

[0036] Fig.15 Depicted is a block diagram of exemplary core network components according to some embodiments.

[0037] Fig.16 Depicted is a block diagram of exemplary components of a NFV-enabled system according to some embodiments.

[0038] Fig.17 A block diagram of an exemplary computer system that can be used to implement various embodiments is depicted.

[0039] Fig.18 A flowchart of an exemplary method of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments is depicted.

[0040] Fig.19 A flowchart of an exemplary method of determining an estimated location of a user equipment according to some embodiments is depicted.

[0041] Features and advantages of the embodiments will become more apparent from the detailed description set forth below when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters identify corresponding elements throughout. In the accompanying drawings, like reference numerals generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and / or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit in the corresponding reference numeral. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0042] Reference will now be made in detail to the embodiments, one or more examples of which are shown in the accompanying drawings. Each example is provided by way of illustrating an embodiment of the present invention rather than by way of limiting the present invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations may be made to the embodiments without departing from the scope or essence of the present disclosure. For example, a feature shown or described as part of one embodiment may be used together with another embodiment to produce yet another embodiment. Therefore, aspects of the present disclosure are intended to encompass such modifications and variations.

[0043] The foregoing description is intended to enable any person skilled in the art to implement and use the present disclosure, and is provided in the context of a specific application and its requirements. In addition, for the purpose of illustration and description only, the foregoing description of the embodiments of the present disclosure has been presented. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present disclosure to the disclosed form. Thus, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the essence and scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the discussion of the foregoing embodiments is not intended to limit the present disclosure. Therefore, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but will be given the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

[0044] The following specific embodiments relate to the accompanying drawings. The same figure numbers may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, for the purpose of illustration and not limitation, specific details, such as specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc., are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from the present disclosure that various aspects of various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that deviate from these specific details. In some cases, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so that the description of various embodiments will not be obscured by unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrase "A or B" refers to (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0045] The disclosed embodiments include methods and signaling protocols for enhanced positioning in a cellular wireless communication network for next generation cellular systems, such as, for example, 3GPP LTE R16+ and 3GPP NR R16+. However, it should be understood that the various embodiments are generally applicable to any type of wireless communication system. Various disclosed embodiments are intended to reduce the first fix time (TFF) of a UE by reducing the signaling overhead between the UE and the gNB / LMF (location management function) required for UE positioning.

[0046] Conventional wireless communication systems do not support positioning procedures for users in "standby" or idle mode. In order to obtain estimated coordinates for this type of user, it is necessary to "wake up" them and apply the positioning procedure. The disclosed embodiments include procedures for optimizing positioning mechanisms for UEs in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE states. The mechanism helps reduce the delay between positioning requests and coordinated estimates; in addition, the mechanism helps to spend less power on positioning related signaling as well as spectrum resources.

[0047] The NR Rel-16 standard will support a 2-step RACH procedure that will help users enter an active / connected state from an idle state more efficiently. Exemplary aspects of the present disclosure utilize a 2-step RACH procedure for users in an idle or inactive state to perform a coordinate calculation procedure. A skilled person will appreciate that the 2-step RACH procedure combines messages 1 and 3 from the 4-step RACH into a single message, referred to herein as message A (MsgA), and combines messages 2 and 4 from the 4-step RACH into a single message, referred to herein as message B (MsgB).

[0048] Figure 1 A flow chart of an exemplary method 100 for such coordinate calculation according to an embodiment is depicted. At 102, the UE may provide MsgA to the gNB node. MsgA may include a physical random access channel preamble and a random positioning request. The random positioning request may be included in Message 1 from a 4-step RACH. At 104, the gNB detects the PRACH preamble and the positioning request and sends a positioning response as MsgB. The positioning response may be incorporated into, for example, Message 2 of a 4-step RACH.

[0049] Exemplary embodiments include a novel NR 2-step positioning RACH mechanism and UL SRS / PRS transmission procedures for UE positioning. Various embodiments may provide: (i) improved positioning latency and performance in NR communication systems; (ii) improved energy efficiency for positioning operation of NR communication systems.

[0050] As used herein, a signal location parameter (SLP) is a parameter of a signal applicable for user positioning purposes. Such parameters include phase difference, arrival time, arrival time timestamp, arrival time difference, propagation time / delay, arrival angle / departure angle, received reference signal power, and any other information that may be relevant to facilitate UE geographic coordinate estimation. As used herein, a positioning reference signal (PRS) is a signal sent by a cell / eNB / gNB / TRP / network entity or a UE for measuring SLP. Therefore, understanding PRS is beneficial for UE location. Depending on the specific implementation and the measurement and reporting type, PRS may include a sequence and signal of a specific design or any data transmission with good cross-correlation and autocorrelation characteristics. Examples of such signals in UL are PRACH, SRS, or PRS / ranging signals. In the downlink, the signal may include PRS, CSI-RS, CRS, etc. As used herein, a reference resource refers to a resource for transmitting PRS characterized by a stamp / ID, which may be configured by higher layer signaling and may be configured to the UE for measurement and reporting. For example, the following IDs may be used: PRS resource ID, CSI-RS resource ID, UL SRS resource ID, PRACH resource ID, etc.

[0051] Generally speaking, NR technology can support three types of RAT-related positioning: (i) DL-only solution (gNB transmits reference signals and UE performs SLP measurements) - Example: D-TDOA DLR STD measurement; (ii) UL-only solution (UE transmits reference signals and gNB performs SLP measurements) - Example: U-TDOA UL RSTD measurement; (iii) DL and UL-only solution (gNB and UE transmit reference signals and gNB and UE perform SLP measurements) - Example: RTT measurement. In some cases, NR technology can support a combination of DL-only, UL-only, DL-based and UL-based solutions.

[0052] Each of the RAT-dependent implementations may be characterized by different DL / UL reference signal sets for measurement of signal location parameters and measurement reporting and signaling procedures. However, all procedures have a common positioning request and positioning response that can be triggered by the UE or gNB / NW / LMF.

[0053] In various embodiments, a 2-step RACH method may be used for positioning services, characterized by the transmission of MsgA from the UE to the gNB and the transmission of MsgB from the gNB to the UE. In the case of UE-initiated positioning, MsgA may be considered as a positioning request, while MsgB may be considered as a positioning response. The transmission timing relationship between these two messages (transmitting MsgA and receiving MsgB) may be pre-defined, indicated in MsgA or determined by the gNB. This 2-step RACH method may be used to trigger any type of NR positioning techniques and solutions: for example, (DL only (D-TDOA), UL only (U-TDOA), DL and ULE-CID and / or RTT). Depending on the requested positioning method, there may be multiple variants of different NR positioning procedures. In some specific embodiments, the 2-step RACH may be used for ranging and RTT types of positioning.

[0054] NR positioning based on ranging and RTT

[0055] In some embodiments, positioning according to aspects of the present disclosure may include ranging and round trip time (RTT) positioning. In the case of UE-initiated ranging, the UE requests the network to perform RTT ranging using a single or multiple cells. In this embodiment, the network pre-allocates resources for UL ranging signal transmission (e.g., PRACH / SRS or new UL PRS signal). The UE at time instance t 1 t t performs UL PRS transmission at t t t and the gNB performs the arrival time measurement and timestamps it 2,i , where i is the index of the gNB / TRP performing the timing estimation. After the timing estimation, the gNB / TRP 3,i DL PRS transmission is performed at the serving gNB. 2,i and t 3,i The estimated value or its difference is reported directly to the network and / or UE. The UE uses the DL PRS transmission from the gNB / TRP to estimate the timestamp t 4,i .t 4,i Timestamp and about t 1 and t 2,i and t 3,i The combination of information can be used to estimate RTTi = (t 4,i -t 1 )+(t 3,i -t 2,i ).

[0056] In one embodiment, using 2-step RACH, the UE may transmit a RACH signal (message A, msgA) associated with a PUSCH transmission on pre-allocated spectrum resources. The PUSCH transmission payload with a MAC IE may indicate that the initiated 2-step PRACH procedure is to perform RTT measurement using a serving cell or multiple cells (including a serving cell and neighboring cells). The PUSCH payload may include information about the PRACH transmission timestamp t 1 information, as well as providing an indication of the UE identity and specific ranging / positioning request. The UE may also provide additional information about the DL CSI-RS resource ID or DL ​​PRS resource ID that it has previously monitored and made measurements of signal location parameters. This information (if available) may also be included in the PUSCH content. If no information about DL measurements of the SLP is available, or the corresponding DL reference signal is not configured, the gNB may respond to the UE 2-step PRACH request and configure or indicate / activate DL reference signals (e.g., DL PRS / CSI-RS) for estimating the timestamp of signal arrival on each DL PRS resource and signal this information in the PDCCH / PDSCH (message B-msgB). In addition, the gNB may provide information about the estimated timestamp t 2,i and t 3,i timestamps, including those collected from neighboring cells and associated with the DL reference resources used to transmit the DL reference signals used to measure the signal location parameters. Alternatively, if the serving gNB does not allocate a DL PRS, the UE may use SSB transmissions to measure t 4,i timing.

[0057] In an alternative embodiment, the gNB / TRP sets the timer based on a local timer (e.g., loosely synchronized) at a predefined time instance t 1,i The UE uses its own local timer to measure the t for each neighbor cell / TRP or configured DL PRS resource. 2,i timestamp and during a UL ranging transmission (eg, PRACH / SRS or a new UL PRS signal) with a common t that may be represented by a UL PRS signal and an associated PUSCH payload transmission 3 The timestamp is used to share this information. For UL transmissions, the UE may be pre-configured or granted dedicated UL positioning resources by the serving gNB. The gNB / TRP measures t based on processing of the received UL ranging transmissions. 4,i Timestamp. Considering that the gNB / TRP knows the time of DL PRS transmission 1,i time instance, RTTi can be calculated on the network side as (t 4,i -t 1,i)+(t 3 -t 2,i ) and reported back to the UE by the serving gNB / TRP.

[0058] As an example, the NR positioning procedure may use a 2-step RACH procedure. Dedicated user plane and control plane signaling may also be defined to support UE positioning in NR systems. Therefore, in some embodiments, generic / legacy NR procedures, signaling protocols and functions (such as, for example, Radio Resource Control (RRC) / LTE positioning protocol / NR positioning protocol (cellular positioning protocol) / MAC or physical layer signaling) may be used to generalize and implement the corresponding signaling and procedures.

[0059] NR positioning PRACH design and resource allocation

[0060] As indicated, the MsgA from the UE may include a PRACH preamble. In some embodiments, the positioning PRACH preamble may have the same sequence design and physical structure as the legacy preamble from the random access channel. In such cases, the distinction is made by the resource set used for the positioning RACH preamble transmission (i.e., the dedicated allocated resource set allocated by the gNB for NR positioning). The dedicated allocated resource set used for positioning PRACH and PRACH for other purposes (e.g., initial intervention using a 2-step or 4-step RACH procedure) may be multiplexed in time division multiplexing (TDM), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), and code division multiplexing (CDM) as well as combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the positioning PRACH preamble shares the same set of resources as the existing preamble from the random access channel, but has a different sequence design. In either case, the UE may randomly select the PRACH resources for transmission, or use a predefined hash function based on the UE ID. In another option, the UE may be configured with a dedicated PRACH preamble, which may be based on a contention-free 2-step RACH procedure for positioning.

[0061] In some embodiments, the 2-step RACH procedure can also be used for UL-only positioning solutions (e.g., U-TDOA) or DL-only positioning (e.g., D-TDOA). From the UE perspective (RRC_IDLE / RRC_INACTIVE / RRC_CONNECTED), the following two options for NR positioning procedures can be considered: (i) DL / UL PRS resource configuration information is known on the UE; (ii) DL / UL PRS resource configuration information is unknown on the UE.

[0062] Positioning request (MsgA)

[0063] In an embodiment, the potential contents of the MsgA transmitted by the UE to the gNB at the first step of the two-step PRACH procedure may include the payload of the MsgA. The payload may contain a type of requested positioning procedure (e.g., UL-UTDOA only, DL and UL-RTT with serving cell, RTT with serving cell + neighboring cells, DL-D-TDOA only, etc.). The payload may also include requests for additional allocations of reference signals or their activation (if preconfigured) (e.g., request for UL SRS / PRS resource allocation; request for DL ​​SRS / PRS resource allocation; request for UL SRS / PRS resource allocation followed by DL CSI-RS / PRS; request for DL ​​CSI-RS / PRS resource allocation followed by UL SRS / PRS). The payload may also include the type of requested (UL or DL) positioning reference resource (periodic / semi-persistent / aperiodic, etc.). The payload may also include initial SLP measurements, such as: initial timestamp t of RACH preamble transmission 1 ; If the RACH transmission is also associated with a UL SRS / PRS transmission, the initial timestamp of the UL SRS / PRS transmission t 1 ; A priori measurement of DL PRS / CSI-RS positioning resources and associated resource IDs (e.g., RSRP, timestamp t2 i )(if available); a list of cell IDs detected by the UE; a list of DL PRS / CSI-RS resource IDs; and / or a list of SSB indices. The payload may also include the UE ID and / or other positioning related parameters, such as previous UE coordinates, location capabilities based on the UE, positioning service related information (e.g., QoS for the positioning procedure, such as latency, accuracy level). The payload may also include the PUSCH message type used for positioning. Depending on the positioning procedure, not all fields are present. Considering that the PUSCH payload size can be predetermined, if the payload is small, the message may need to have a fixed size and be zero-padded to the fixed size. In order to correctly interpret the message, message type information may be added. The message type may be included in the MAC CE. The payload may also include MsgB resources. For example, when the UE expects to receive MsgB from the gNB or monitor the PDCCH channel for MsgB reception, the UE may indicate a time interval or a specific resource. This can be used to reduce UE power consumption and allocate a certain processing time to the network / gNB. If a contention-based 2-step RACH positioning procedure is adopted, the payload may also include information about contention resolution.

[0064] Positioning response (MsgB)

[0065] Depending on whether the UE requests or uses additional reference signals for NR positioning, four PRS configuration scenarios are possible: Scenario 1—No PRS configuration; Scenario 2—DL PRS configuration only; Scenario 3—UL PRS configuration only; Scenario 4—DL and UL PRS configuration. As indicated, the node may respond to the UE's positioning request by sending a response implemented in a RACH MsgB. Depending on the type of PRS configuration, the response message (MsgB) from the gNB to the UE may contain different information fields. To resolve contention, the gNB may respond with the same contention resolution information initiated and carried in MsgA from the UE in MsgB.

[0066] For example, for scenario 1, if the UE (idle / inactive or connected) does not have any information about the DL PRS configuration, it can Figure 2 The procedure depicted in the figure depicts an exemplary flow chart of a method 200 for single-cell positioning based on PRACH transmission. At 202, the UE may provide a MsgA to the serving gNB. At 204, the serving gNB may provide a measurement report to the location function, which may send an estimated coordinate report (including the calculated coordinates) back to the serving gNB at 206. At 208, the gNB may provide a positioning response to the UE in MsgB format. The positioning response may include at least one of the following fields: estimated UE coordinates based on serving / neighboring cell measurements; a metric characterizing the quality or uncertainty of the coordinate estimate; a timestamp t of the PRACH or UL reference signal reception. 2,i and the corresponding resource ID and QCL information (if any); the timestamp t of DL reference signal transmission (SSB / DL, PRS / DL, CSI-RS) 3,i and corresponding resource ID and QCL information (if any); request / trigger for additional positioning measurements and their types; configuration or activation of additional DL / UL resource sets for transmitting positioning reference signals for additional measurements of SLP and its types; location information associated with DL positioning reference resources so that the UE can perform self-positioning.

[0067] In the second scenario, if the UE (idle / inactive or connected) does not have any system information about DL PRS, the following can be applied: Figure 3 The positioning procedure based on UL PRS transmission is described. Specifically, Figure 3A flow chart of an exemplary method 300 for UL PRS based positioning for 2-step RACH according to an embodiment is depicted. At 302, the UE may provide a positioning request (MsgA) to the serving gNB. At 304, the serving gNB may request the gNB / location function entity to provide the UE with UL PRS configuration, and at 306, the location function entity may provide the configuration to the serving gNB. At 308, the serving gNB may indicate the configuration to the UE via the positioning response carrier in MsgB or through any upper layer signaling based on RRC or LTE / NR positioning protocols (LPP / NPP - Cellular Positioning Protocol) or through Secure User Plane Location (SUPL). The positioning response may include at least one of the following fields: UL SRS / PRS resource set configuration of the positioning procedure requested by the UE (e.g., information about UL SRS / PRS transmission resources (resource ID), their types (periodic / semi-persistent / aperiodic) and / or UL PRS / SRS sequence initialization information (sequence ID)); UL SRS / PRS measurement data (e.g., timestamp of UL SRS / PRS signal reception and other SLPs measured by each TRP / gNB and / or information about the geographic location coordinates of the TRP / gNB measuring the SLP); timestamp of MsgB transmission.

[0068] At 310, the UE may provide UL PRS to the serving gNB and / or one or more other gNBs. At 312, all gNB measurements are reported to the location function, which provides the calculated coordinates back to the serving gNB at 314. At 316, the serving gNB may provide the calculated coordinates to the UE via a RACH response in format MsgB or through upper layer signaling based on RRC or LTE / NR positioning protocols (LPP / NPP - Cellular Positioning Protocol or SUPL).

[0069] In the third scenario, for an idle UE with system DL PRS information, the DL PRS based positioning procedure may be completed as depicted in FIG. 4a. Specifically, FIG. 4a depicts a flow chart of an exemplary method 400 for DL ​​PRS based positioning for 2-step RACH. At 402, the location function entity may provide DL PRS resource configuration information to the serving gNB and one or more other gNBs. At 404, the serving gNB may provide the DL PRS configuration information to the UE. At 406, the UE transmits a DL PRS measurement report along with a positioning request to the serving gNB via MsgA or through any upper layer signaling based on RRC or LTE / NR positioning protocol (LPP / NPP - Cellular Positioning Protocol) or through SUPL. At 408, the gNB sends the report to the location function, which provides the calculated coordinates. At 410, the calculated coordinates are sent to the gNB and then at 412, the calculated coordinates are sent by the gNB to the UE via a RACH response in format MsgB or through any upper layer signaling based on RRC or LTE / NR positioning protocol (LPP / NPP - Cellular Positioning Protocol) or through SUPL.

[0070] If the UE does not have any system DL PRS information, a DL PRS based positioning procedure as shown in FIG4b may be applied. Specifically, FIG4b depicts a flow chart of an exemplary method 420 for providing DL PRS based positioning for 2-step RACH. At 422, the location function entity may provide the configuration of DL / UL resources to the serving gNB and / or one or more other gNBs. At 424, the UE may provide a location request to the serving gNB via MsgA or other signaling format. At 426, the serving gNB transmits the DL PRS configuration to the UE via a positioning response in MsgB format. The positioning response may include at least one of the following fields: configuration of DL PRS / CSI-RS resources for the positioning procedure requested by the UE (e.g., DL PRS transmission resources and ID (resource set for DL ​​positioning) and / or DL ​​PRS sequence initialization parameters (sequence ID)); DL PRS / CSI-RS measurement data (e.g., timestamps of UL SRS / PRS signal reception and other SLPs measured by each TRP / gNB and / or information about the geographic location coordinates of the TRP / gNB measuring the SLP); and timestamps of MsgB transmissions or any transmissions associated with MsgB DL PRS or CSI-RS signals.

[0071] At 428, after transmitting the DL PRS, the UE transmits a DL PRS measurement report to the serving gNB, and at 430, the gNB sends the report to the location function / server. At 432, the gNB provides the measurement report to the location function entity. At 434, the location function entity provides the calculated coordinates to the serving gNB. At 436, the calculated coordinates are sent to the UE via a RACH response with format MsgB or other format.

[0072] In a fourth scenario, if the UE has DL PRS information, a UL+DL PRS based positioning procedure as shown in FIG. 5a may be implemented. Specifically, FIG. 5a depicts a flow chart of an exemplary method 500 for UL and DL PRS based positioning for 2-step RACH. At 502 and 504, the DL PRS resource configuration may be provided from the location function entity to the serving gNB, to one or more other gNBs, and then provided by the serving gNB and / or the other gNBs to the UE. At 506, the UE may provide a MsgA positioning request to the serving gNB, and at 508, the serving gNB may request UL PRS configuration information from the location function entity. At 510, the location function entity may provide the UL PRS configuration information to the serving gNB, and at 512, the serving gNB may provide the information to the UE in MsgB or through any upper layer signaling based on RRC or LTE / NR positioning protocol (LPP / NPP-cellular positioning protocol) or through SUPL. After the UL PRS is transmitted by the UE at 514, the gNB sends a measurement report based on the UL PRS to the location function at 516. The location function provides the calculated coordinates at 518. The calculated coordinates are sent to the UE at 520 via a RACH response in format MsgB or through any upper layer signaling based on RRC or LTE / NR positioning protocols (LPP / NPP - Cellular Positioning Protocol) or through SUPL.

[0073] If the UE does not have DL PRS information, a UL+DL PRS based positioning procedure as shown in FIG. 5b may be implemented. FIG. 5b depicts a flow chart of an exemplary method 540 for providing UL and DL PRS based positioning for 2-step RACH according to an embodiment. At 542, the location function provides DL PRS configuration information to the serving gNB and / or other gNBs. At 544, the UE provides a positioning request via MsgA or other format. At 546, the serving gNB requests the location function node to provide UL PRS configuration for a specific UE, and at 548, the location function entity provides the information. At 550, the serving gNB transmits the UL and DL PRS configuration to the UE via a positioning response in MsgB format or through any upper layer signaling based on RRC or LTE / NR positioning protocol (LPP / NPP-Cellular Positioning Protocol) or through SUPL. After transmitting the UL and DL PRS at 552 and 554, at 556, the UE transmits a DL PRS measurement report to the serving gNB. At 558, the gNB sends a measurement report based on the UL and DL PRS to the location function, which provides the calculated coordinates at 560. At 562, the calculated coordinates are sent to the UE via a RACH response in format MsgB or through any upper layer signaling based on RRC or LTE / NR positioning protocols (LPP / NPP - Cellular Positioning Protocol) or through SUPL.

[0074] Although the 2-step PRACH based method can be used as a mechanism to run the NR positioning procedure, in another more general implementation, dedicated user plane and control plane signaling can also be used and defined to support UE positioning in NR systems. Therefore, the corresponding signaling and procedures can be generalized and implemented using common NR procedures, signaling protocols and functions.

[0075] An exemplary implementation may use RRC (Radio Resource Control) / MAC. In such an implementation, positioning may include one or more of the following features: configuring or activating a specific NR positioning procedure; configuring DL and UL resources and resource types and reference signal IDs for positioning measurements; associating DL and UL resources with references; configuring UE DL measurement reports for positioning; signaling any assistance information to simplify or improve measurements; activating or deactivating UE DL measurements for positioning; activating or deactivating UE reporting for positioning; activating or deactivating UE UL reference signal transmission for positioning.

[0076] Another exemplary implementation may use LPP / NPP (cellular positioning protocol). In such an embodiment, positioning may include one or more of the following features: configuring or activating a specific NR positioning procedure; configuring DL and UL resources and resource types and reference signal IDs for positioning measurements; configuring UE DL measurement reports for positioning; signaling any assistance information to simplify or improve measurements; activating or deactivating UE DL measurements for positioning; activating or deactivating UE reporting for positioning; activating or deactivating UE UL reference signal transmission for positioning.

[0077] Another exemplary implementation may use SUPL (Secure User Plane Location Protocol). In such an embodiment, positioning may include one or more of the following features: configuring or activating a specific NR positioning procedure; configuring DL and UL resources and resource types and reference signal IDs for positioning measurements; configuring UE DL measurement reports for positioning; signaling any assistance information to simplify or improve measurements; activating or deactivating UE DL measurements for positioning; activating or deactivating UE reporting for positioning; activating or deactivating UE UL reference signal transmission for positioning.

[0078] Another exemplary implementation may use physical layer signaling, such as DCI. In such an embodiment, positioning may include one or more of the following features: activating or deactivating UE DL measurements for positioning; activating or deactivating UE reporting for positioning; activating or deactivating UE UL reference signal transmission for positioning.

[0079] Independent of the actual signaling used in the two subsequent diagrams, the NR positioning procedure and signaling can be generalized based on the UE / gNB behavior for transmission of reference signals and measurements for two practical cases: Case 1: The UE does not have a priori DL measurements based on previous DLPRS / CSI-RS / SSB transmissions. The UE transmits UL reference signals for positioning before making measurements on DL reference signals. The method for Case 1 is described in Figure 6600 is described in the method 600 depicted in . At (optional) 602, the UE requests the gNB / NW / LMF to allocate UL resources for UL positioning reference signals (UL PRACH, UL SRS, UL PRS) or both UL positioning reference signals and UL shared channel transmissions. At 604, the gNB / NW / LMF indicates the allocation of UL positioning resources for UL positioning reference signals (UL PRACH, UL SRS, UL PRS) or both UL positioning reference signals and UL shared channel transmissions, and notifies / coordinates the allocation to neighboring gNBs / TRPs and triggers UE UL transmissions on the allocated resources. At 606, the UE transmits UL positioning reference signals (ULPRACH, UL SRS, UL PRS) or both UL positioning reference signals and UL shared channel transmissions. The UE may indicate a timestamp for the transmission timing of the UL reference signal in the UL shared channel transmission.

[0080] At 608, the gNB / TRP performs measurements of signal location parameters based on the UE UL transmission and selects a UL RX beam to serve the UE. The UL RSRP criterion is measured on the configured UL positioning resources (e.g., the maximum RSRP power or maximum power of the first arrival path may be used). At 610, the gNB configures or activates a DL PRS / DL CSI-RS signal set for positioning measurements and triggers UE measurements of signal location parameters (e.g., FAP timing corresponding to each configured DL PRS / CSI-RS resource). At the same time, the gNB may signal the results of the measurements of the signal location parameters obtained based on the UL reference signal transmission to the UE or any other network entity. In addition, the gNB may signal the timestamp t3 of the DL PRS / CSI RS transmission for each resource and the location coordinates associated with the configured DL PRS / CSI_RS resources.

[0081] At 612, the gNB transmits a DL PRS / CSI-RS signal for UE positioning measurement and applies the selected Rx beam to transmit the DL PRS / CSI-RS signal. At 614, the UE performs measurement of a signal location parameter for each DL-PRS / DL CSI-RS resource. At 616, the UE performs self-positioning by using the measured signal location parameter and location information provided by the gNB. The UE may report the measurement and estimated coordinates of the signal location parameter to the gNB, etc.

[0082] In case 2, the UE has a priori DL measurements based on previous DL PRS / CSI-RS / SSB transmissions. The UE processes the DL reference signals for positioning before transmitting the UL reference signals for positioning. Figure 7Case 2 is described in Figure 7, which depicts an exemplary method 700 according to an implementation scheme. At 702, the UE requests the gNB, etc. to allocate DL resources for DL ​​positioning reference signals or both DL positioning reference signals and DL shared channel transmissions. At 704, the gNB, etc. indicates to the UE the allocation of DL resources for DL ​​positioning reference signals and / or DL ​​shared channel transmissions, and triggers the measurement of signal location parameters on the allocated resources through DCI. The UE may also perform DL measurements autonomously. At 706, the UE uses the DL reference signal to measure the signal location parameters. At 708, the UE may report to the gNB a subset of DL reference resource IDs recommended for DL ​​positioning measurements. At 710, the gNB may provide the UE with a configuration indicating the UL resources or resource IDs used to transmit UL reference signals and associated DL reference resource IDs, or set a correspondence between UL reference resources and DL reference resources.

[0083] At 712, the UE transmits UL positioning reference signals and / or UL shared channel transmissions using the best UL beam for each DL positioning resource. At 714, the gNB et al. perform measurements of signal location parameters based on the UE UL transmission of the reference signal and applying the DL RX beam associated with the pre-defined UL positioning resource. At 716, the gNB transmits the measurements for UE positioning to the UE so that a UE position estimate can be made.

[0084] Figure 6 to Figure 7 The processes and functions of may be performed by one or more of the following: application circuit 1105 or 1205 , baseband circuit 1110 or 1210 , or processor 1710 .

[0085] System and implementation

[0086] Figure 8 An exemplary architecture of a system 800 of a network according to various embodiments is shown. The following description is provided for an exemplary system 800 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary embodiments are not limited in this regard, and the embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and the like.

[0087] like Figure 8As shown, system 800 includes UE 801a and UE 801b (collectively referred to as "UE 801"). In this example, UE 801 is shown as a smart phone (e.g., a handheld touch screen mobile computing device that can connect to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a consumer electronic device, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a feature phone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a pager, a wireless handheld device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), an in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) device, an instrument panel (IC), a head-up display (HUD) device, an on-board diagnostic (OBD) device, a dashtop mobile equipment (DME), a mobile data terminal (MDT), an electronic engine management system (EEMS), an electronic / engine control unit (ECU), an electronic / engine control module (ECM), an embedded system, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system (EMS), a networked or "smart" appliance, an MTC device, an M2M, an IoT device, etc.

[0088] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 801 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. The IoT UE may utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC to exchange data with an MTC server or device via PLMN, ProSe or D2D communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks. M2M or MTC data exchanges may be machine-initiated data exchanges. The IoT network describes interconnected IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure) with short-lived connections. The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connectivity to the IoT network.

[0089] UE 801 may be configured to connect, e.g., be communicatively coupled, to RAN 810. In an embodiment, RAN 810 may be an NG RAN or 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to a RAN 810 operating in an NR or 5G system 800, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to a RAN 810 operating in an LTE or 4G system 800. UE 801 utilizes connections (or channels) 803 and 804, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

[0090] In this example, connections 803 and 804 are shown as air interfaces to achieve communication coupling, and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and / or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, the UE 801 may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 805. The ProSe interface 805 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface 805, and may include one or more logical channels, including but not limited to PSCCH, PSSCH, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

[0091] UE 801b is shown as being configured to access AP 806 (also referred to as "WLAN node 806", "WLAN 806", "WLAN terminal 806", "WT 806", etc.) via connection 807. Connection 807 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 806 will include Wireless Fidelity. router. In this example, AP 806 is shown connected to the Internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 801b, RAN 810, and AP 806 may be configured to utilize LWA operation and / or LWIP operation. LWA operation may involve UE 801b in RRC_CONNECTED state being configured by RAN nodes 811a-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve UE 801b using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 807) via an IPsec protocol tunnel to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent through connection 807. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entire original IP packet and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

[0092] The RAN 810 may include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 811a and 811b (collectively referred to as "RAN nodes 811") that enable connections 803 and 804. As used herein, the terms "access node," "access point," and the like may describe equipment that provides radio baseband functionality for data and / or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BSs, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs, or TRPs, and may include ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the terms "NG RAN nodes," and the like may refer to RAN nodes 811 (e.g., gNBs) operating in NR or 5G systems 800, while the terms "E-UTRAN nodes," and the like may refer to RAN nodes 811 (e.g., eNBs) operating in LTE or 4G systems 800. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 811 may be implemented as one or more of dedicated physical devices such as a macrocell base station and / or a low power (LP) base station for providing a femtocell, picocell or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0093] In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN node 811 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network that may be referred to as a CRAN and / or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement RAN functional splitting, such as PDCP splitting, where the RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes 811; MAC / PHY splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 811; or "lower PHY" splitting, where the RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers, and upper portions of the PHY layers are operated by the CRAN / vBBUP, and the lower portions of the PHY layers are operated by individual RAN nodes 811. This virtualization framework allows idle processor cores of the RAN node 811 to execute other virtualized applications. In some embodiments, individual RAN nodes 811 may represent a plurality of virtualized applications via individual F1 interfaces ( Figure 8 In these embodiments, the gNB-DU may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., Fig.11), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 810 or by a server pool in a manner similar to CRAN / vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 811 may be a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is a next generation eNB that provides E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminals to the UE 801 and is connected to the 5GC (e.g., Fig.10 RAN node of CN 1020).

[0094] In a V2X scenario, one or more of the RAN nodes 811 may be an RSU or act as an RSU. The term "roadside unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, wherein an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU", and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled to a radio frequency circuit located on the road side that provides connectivity support to a passing vehicle UE 801 (vUE 801). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communication (DSRC) band to provide extremely low latency communications required for high-speed events, such as collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications as well as other cellular communication services. In addition or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and / or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Some or all of the computing device and the RSU's RF circuitry may be packaged in a weather-resistant enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and / or backhaul network.

[0095] Any of the RAN nodes 811 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for the UE 801. In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 811 may fulfill various logical functions of the RAN 810, including but not limited to the functions of a radio network controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0096] In an embodiment, UE 801 may be configured to communicate with each other or with any of RAN nodes 811 on a multi-carrier communication channel using OFDM communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as but not limited to OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiment is not limited in this respect. OFDM signals may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0097] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 811 to the UE 801, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or a time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each time slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice, which makes wireless resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to an OFDM symbol and an OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to a time slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in the resource grid is represented as a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block includes a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. Such resource blocks are used to transmit several different physical downlink channels.

[0098] According to various embodiments, UE 801 and RAN node 811 communicate data (e.g., transmit data and receive data) through a licensed medium (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and / or "licensed frequency band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and / or "unlicensed frequency band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, and the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5 GHz frequency band.

[0099] To operate in an unlicensed spectrum, the UE 801 and the RAN node 811 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms. In these embodiments, the UE 801 and the RAN node 811 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and / or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or otherwise occupied before transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium / carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0100] LBT is a mechanism by which equipment (e.g., UE 801, RAN node 811, etc.) senses a medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a particular channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include a CCA that utilizes at least an ED to determine whether other signals are present on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or idle. The LBT mechanism allows cellular / LAA networks to coexist with existing systems in unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy over a period of time on an expected transmission band and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

[0101] Typically, existing systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLAN uses a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA / CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE 801, AP 806, etc.) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. In addition, in the case where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid conflicts. The backoff mechanism may be a counter randomly introduced within the CWS that increases exponentially when a conflict occurs and is reset to a minimum value when the transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA / CA of WLAN. In some embodiments, the LBT process of a DL or UL transmission burst (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmission) may have a LAA contention window of variable length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values ​​of the CWS of LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmissions may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (eg, transmission burst) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

[0102] The LAA mechanism is built on the CA technology of the LTE-Advanced system. In CA, each aggregated carrier is called a CC. A CC can have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20 MHz, and up to five CCs can be aggregated, so the maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In an FDD system, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL ​​and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, each CC may have a different bandwidth from other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are typically the same for DL ​​and UL.

[0103] CA also includes individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may be different, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide the PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle activities related to RRC and NAS. Other serving cells are called SCells, and each SCell may provide individual SCCs for both UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, and changing PCCs may require UE 801 to undergo switching. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in an unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA SCells"), and the LAA SCells are assisted by the PCells operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells, indicating different PUSCH start positions within the same subframe.

[0104] The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 801. The PDCCH carries, among other information, information about the transport format and resource allocation related to the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 801 about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (allocation of control and shared channel resource blocks to UE 801b within a cell) may be performed on any of the RAN nodes 811 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 801. Downlink resource allocation information may be sent on the PDCCH for (e.g., allocated to) each of the UEs 801.

[0105] PDCCH uses CCE to transmit control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols can first be organized into quadruplets, which can then be arranged using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. One or more of these CCEs can be used to transmit each PDCCH, where each CCE can correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, respectively, called REGs. Four quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) symbols can be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and channel conditions, one or more CCEs can be used to transmit the PDCCH. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

[0106] Some embodiments may use the concept of resource allocation for control channel information, which is an extension of the above concept. For example, some embodiments may utilize EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements, referred to as EREG. In some cases, ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

[0107] RAN nodes 811 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 812. In embodiments where system 800 is an LTE system (eg, when CN 820 is a Fig. 9 801 ), the interface 812 may be an X2 interface 812. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 811 (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC 820, and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC 820. In some embodiments, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user packets transmitted over the X2 interface, and may be used to transmit information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information about user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information about the successful in-sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 801 for user data; information about PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to the UE 801; information about the current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C can provide intra-LTE access mobility functions, including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transmission control, etc.; load management functions; and inter-cell interference coordination functions.

[0108] When system 800 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN 820 is Fig.10In an implementation scheme of the 5GC 1020 in the 5GC 820, the interface 812 may be an Xn interface 812. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 811 (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC 820, between a RAN node 811 (e.g., a gNB) and an eNB connected to the 5GC 820, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC 820. In some implementation schemes, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support / provide data forwarding and flow control functions. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for the UE 801 in a connected mode (e.g., a CM connection) includes functions for managing UE mobility in a connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 811. The mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) service RAN node 811 to the new (target) service RAN node 811; and control of the user plane tunnel between the old (source) service RAN node 811 and the new (target) service RAN node 811. The protocol stack of Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and / or IP layer for carrying user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as the Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer built on SCTP. SCTP may be on top of the IP layer and may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transport is used to deliver signaling PDUs. In other embodiments, the Xn-U protocol stack and / or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same or similar to the user plane and / or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

[0109] RAN 810 is shown as being communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 820. CN 820 may include a plurality of network elements 822 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 801) connected to CN 820 via RAN 810. The components of CN 820 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 820 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instance of a portion of CN 820 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0110] Generally speaking, the application server 830 may be an element that provides applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 830 may also be configured to support one or more communication services for the UE 801 via the EPC 820 (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social network services, etc.).

[0111] In an embodiment, CN 820 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5GC 820" or the like), and RAN 810 may be connected to CN 820 via an NG interface 813. In an embodiment, NG interface 813 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 814, which carries traffic data between RAN node 811 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 815, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 811 and AMF. Fig.10 Discussed in more detail, CN 820 is an implementation of 5GC 820.

[0112] In an embodiment, CN 820 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5GC 820", etc.), while in other embodiments, CN 820 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 820 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 820", etc.), RAN 810 may be connected to CN 820 via an S1 interface 813. In an embodiment, S1 interface 813 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 814, which carries traffic data between RAN node 811 and S-GW; and an S1-MME interface 815, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 811 and MME. Fig. 9 An exemplary architecture is shown in which CN 820 is an EPC 820.

[0113] Fig. 9 FIG. 9 shows an exemplary architecture of a system 900 including a first CN 920 according to various embodiments. In this example, the system 900 may implement the LTE standard, where the CN 920 is a Figure 8 In addition, UE 901 can communicate with Figure 8 The UE 801 is the same as or similar to the UE 801, and the E-UTRAN 910 may be Figure 8 The CN 920 may be a RAN that is the same as or similar to the RAN 810 of the mobile station, and may include the RAN node 811 discussed previously. The CN 920 may include an MME 921, an S-GW 922, a P-GW 923, an HSS 924, and an SGSN 925.

[0114] The MME 921 may be similar in function to the control plane of a traditional SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of the UE 901. The MME 921 may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access, such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as "EPS MM" or "EMM" in an E-UTRAN system) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc. for maintaining knowledge of the current location of the UE 901, providing user identity confidentiality to users / subscribers, and / or performing other similar services. Each UE 901 and MME 921 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and when the attachment procedure is successfully completed, an MM context may be established in the UE 901 and the MME 921. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE 901. The MME 921 may be coupled to the HSS 924 via an S6a reference point, to the SGSN 925 via an S3 reference point, and to the S-GW 922 via an S11 reference point.

[0115] The SGSN 925 may be a node that serves the UE 901 by tracking the location of the individual UE 901 and performing security functions. In addition, the SGSN 925 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G / 3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by the MME 921; handling of UE 901 time zone functions, as specified by the MME 921; and MME selection for handover to the E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between the MME 921 and the SGSN 925 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in an idle state and / or an active state.

[0116] The HSS 924 may include a database for network users, which includes subscription-related information for supporting network entities in handling communication sessions. The EPC 920 may include one or several HSSs 924, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, the capacity of the equipment, the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 924 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing solutions, location dependencies, etc. The S6a reference point between the HSS 924 and the MME 921 may enable the transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating / authorizing users to access the EPC 920 between the HSS 924 and the MME 921.

[0117] The S-GW 922 may terminate the S1 interface 813 toward the RAN 910 ( Fig. 9 The S-GW 922 may be a local mobility anchor for inter-RAN node handovers and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and enforcement of certain policies. The S11 reference point between the S-GW 922 and the MME 921 may provide a control plane between the MME 921 and the S-GW 922. The S-GW 922 may be coupled to the P-GW 923 via the S5 reference point.

[0118] The P-GW 923 may terminate the SGi interface toward the PDN 930. The P-GW 923 may communicate with the PDN 930 via the IP interface 825 (see, e.g., Figure 8 ) routes data packets between EPC 920 and external networks such as a network including an application server 830 (alternatively referred to as an "AF"). In an embodiment, P-GW 923 can communicate with the network via IP communication interface 825 (see, for example, Figure 8 ) is communicatively coupled to an application server ( Figure 8 Application server 830 or Fig. 9The S5 reference point between the P-GW 923 and the S-GW 922 may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 923 and the S-GW 922. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 922 relocation due to the mobility of the UE 901 and whether the S-GW 922 needs to be connected to a non-colocated P-GW 923 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW 923 may also include nodes for policy implementation and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). In addition, the SGi reference point between the P-GW 923 and the packet data network (PDN) 930 may be an operator-external public, private PDN, or an internal operator packet data network, for example, for providing IMS services. The P-GW 923 may be coupled to the PCRF 926 via a Gx reference point.

[0119] The PCRF 926 is a policy and charging control element of the EPC 920. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 926 in a domestic public land mobile network (HPLMN) associated with an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of the UE 901. In a roaming scenario with local traffic breakout, there may be two PCRFs associated with the IP-CAN session of the UE 901: a domestic PCRF (H-PCRF) in the HPLMN and a visited PCRF (V-PCRF) in the visited public land mobile network (VPLMN). The PCRF 926 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 930 via the P-GW 923. The application server 930 may signal the PCRF 926 to indicate a new service flow and select appropriate QoS and charging parameters. The PCRF 926 may configure the rule to a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which starts QoS and charging as specified by the application server 930. The Gx reference point between PCRF 926 and P-GW 923 may allow QoS policies and charging rules to be transferred from PCRF 926 to PCEF in P-GW 923. The Rx reference point may reside between PDN 930 (or "AF 930") and PCRF 926.

[0120] Fig.10The architecture of a system 1000 including a second CN 1020 according to various embodiments is shown. The system 1000 is shown to include: a UE 1001, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed UE 801 and UE 901; a (R) AN 1010, which may be the same or similar to the previously discussed RAN 810 and RAN 910, and which may include the previously discussed RAN node 811; and a DN 1003, which may be, for example, an operator service, Internet access, or a third-party service; and a 5GC 1020. The 5GC 1020 may include an AUSF 1022; an AMF 1021; an SMF 1024; an NEF 1023; a PCF 1026; an NRF 1025; an UDM 1027; an AF 1028; an UPF 1002; and an NSSF 1029.

[0121] The UPF 1002 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with the DN 1003, and a branch point to support multi-host PDU sessions. The UPF 1002 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, perform the user plane portion of policy rules, lawful interception of packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing on the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 1002 may include an uplink classifier to support routing of traffic flows to the data network. The DN 1003 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services. The DN 1003 may include or be similar to the application server 830 discussed previously. UPF 1002 may interact with SMF 1024 via the N4 reference point between SMF 1024 and UPF 1002.

[0122] The AUSF 1022 may store data for authenticating the UE 1001 and handle functions related to authentication. The AUSF 1022 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 1022 may communicate with the AMF 1021 via the N12 reference point between the AMF 1021 and the AUSF 1022; and may communicate with the UDM 1027 via the N13 reference point between the UDM 1027 and the AUSF 1022. In addition, the AUSF 1022 may present an interface based on the Nausf service.

[0123] AMF 1021 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., responsible for registering UE 1001, etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 1021 may be the termination point of the N11 reference point between AMF 1021 and SMF 1024. AMF 1021 may provide transport for SM messages between UE 1001 and SMF 1024, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 1021 may also provide a transport mechanism for UE 1001 and SMSF ( Fig.10 1001). The AMF 1021 may act as a SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 1022 and the UE 1001, receiving intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 1001 authentication process. In the case of using USIM-based authentication, the AMF 1021 may retrieve security material from the AUSF 1022. The AMF 1021 may also include an SCM function that receives keys from the SEA for deriving access network-specific keys. In addition, the AMF 1021 may be a termination point for the RAN CP interface, which may include or be the N2 reference point between the (R)AN 1010 and the AMF 1021; and the AMF 1021 may be a termination point for NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection.

[0124] The AMF 1021 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 1001 over the N3 IWF interface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. The N3IWF may be the termination point for the N2 interface between the (R)AN 1010 and the AMF 1021 for the control plane, and may be the termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN 1010 and the UPF 1002 for the user plane. Thus, the AMF 1021 may process N2 signaling for PDU sessions and QoS from the SMF 1024 and the AMF 1021, encapsulate / decapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnels, mark N3 user plane packets in the uplink, and perform QoS corresponding to N3 packet markings, taking into account QoS requirements associated with such markings received over N2. The N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control plane NAS signaling between the UE 1001 and the AMF 1021 via the N1 reference point between the UE 1001 and the AMF 1021, and relay uplink and downlink user plane packets between the UE 1001 and the UPF 1002. The N3IWF also provides a mechanism for establishing an IPsec tunnel with the UE 1001. The AMF 1021 may present an interface based on the Namf service, and may be an N14 reference point between the two AMFs 1021 and the AMF 1021 and the 5G-EIR ( Fig.10 The termination point of the N17 reference point between the two (not shown).

[0125] UE 1001 may need to register with AMF 1021 in order to receive network services. RM is used to register UE 1001 with the network (e.g., AMF 1021) or deregister the UE, and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF 1021). UE 1001 may operate in the RM-REGISTERED state or the RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, UE 1001 is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 1021 does not maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 1001, so AMF 1021 cannot reach UE 1001. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 1001 is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 1021 may maintain the valid location or routing information of UE 1001, so AMF 1021 can reach UE 1001. In the RM-REGISTERED state, UE 1001 can perform a mobility registration update procedure, perform a periodic registration update procedure triggered by the expiration of a periodic update timer (for example, to notify the network that UE 1001 is still active), and perform a registration update procedure to update UE capability information or renegotiate protocol parameters with the network, etc.

[0126] The AMF 1021 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 1001, each RM context being associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, a database object, etc., which indicates or stores, among other things, the registration status and periodic update timer for each access type. The AMF 1021 may also store a 5GC MM context which may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF 1021 may store the CE mode B restriction parameters of the UE 1001 in the associated MM context or RM context. The AMF 1021 may also derive values ​​from the UE's usage setting parameters already stored in the UE context (and / or MM / RM context) when necessary.

[0127] The CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE 1001 and the AMF 1021 through the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to implement NAS signaling exchanges between the UE 1001 and the CN 1020, and includes both a signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., an RRC connection or a UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and an N2 connection of the UE 1001 between the AN (e.g., the RAN 1010) and the AMF 1021. The UE 1001 may operate in one of two CM states (CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode). When the UE 1001 is operating in the CM-IDLE state / mode, the UE 1001 may not have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 1021 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R) AN 1010 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 1001. When the UE 1001 operates in the CM-CONNECTED state / mode, the UE 1001 may have a NAS signaling connection established with the AMF 1021 through the N1 interface, and there may be a (R) AN 1010 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and / or N3 connection) for the UE 1001. Establishing an N2 connection between the (R) AN 1010 and the AMF 1021 may cause the UE 1001 to transition from the CM-IDLE mode to the CM-CONNECTED mode, and when the N2 signaling between the (R) AN 1010 and the AMF 1021 is released, the UE 1001 may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode.

[0128] SMF 1024 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modification, and release, including tunnel maintenance between UPF and AN nodes); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuring UPF's traffic steering to route traffic to the correct destination; terminating the interface toward the policy control function; control portion of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system); terminating the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information sent to AN via AMF over N2; and determining the SSC mode for the session. SM may refer to the management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between a UE 1001 and a data network (DN) 1003 identified by a data network name (DNN). The PDU session may be established upon request by UE 1001, modified upon request by UE 1001 and 5GC 1020, and released upon request by UE 1001 and 5GC 1020 using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1 reference point between UE 1001 and SMF 1024. Upon request from an application server, 5GC 1020 may trigger a specific application in UE 1001. In response to receiving a trigger message, UE 1001 may deliver the trigger message (or relevant parts / information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in UE 1001. The identified application in UE 1001 may establish a PDU session with a specific DNN. SMF 1024 may check whether the UE 1001 request complies with user subscription information associated with UE 1001. In this regard, SMF 1024 may retrieve and / or request to receive update notifications about SMF 1024 level subscription data from UDM 1027.

[0129] SMF 1024 may include the following roaming functions: handling local execution to apply QoS SLA (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful interception (for SM events and interface with LI system, in VPLMN); and support interaction with external DN to transmit signaling for PDU session authorization / authentication through external DN. In a roaming scenario, an N16 reference point between two SMFs 1024 may be included in the system 1000, which may be located between another SMF 1024 in the visited network and the SMF 1024 in the home network. In addition, SMF 1024 may present an interface based on Nsmf services.

[0130] NEF 1023 may provide a device for securely exposing services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, application functions (e.g., AF 1028), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, NEF 1023 may authenticate, authorize and / or restrict AF. NEF 1023 may also convert information exchanged with AF 1028 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 1023 may convert between AF service identifiers and internal 5GC information. NEF 1023 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on their exposure capabilities. The information may be stored at NEF 1023 as structured data or at a data storage NF using a standardized interface. The stored information may then be re-exposed to other NFs and AFs by NEF 1023 and / or used for other purposes such as analysis. In addition, NEF 1023 may present an interface based on Nnef services.

[0131] NRF 1025 may support service discovery functionality, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide information of discovered NF instances to NF instances. NRF 1025 also maintains information of available NF instances and the services they support. As used herein, the term "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of a program code. In addition, NRF 1025 may present an interface based on Nnrf services.

[0132] The PCF 1026 may provide for control plane functions to enforce their policy rules, and may also support a unified policy framework for managing network behavior. The PCF 1026 may also implement a FE to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of the UDM 1027. The PCF 1026 may communicate with the AMF 1021 via the N15 reference point between the PCF 1026 and the AMF 1021, which may include the PCF 1026 in the visited network and the AMF 1021 in the case of a roaming scenario. The PCF 1026 may communicate with the AF 1028 via the N5 reference point between the PCF 1026 and the AF 1028; and communicate with the SMF 1024 via the N7 reference point between the PCF 1026 and the SMF 1024. The system 1000 and / or the CN 1020 may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF 1026 (in the home network) and the PCF 1026 in the visited network. Additionally, PCF 1026 may present an interface based on Npcf services.

[0133] The UDM 1027 may process subscription-related information to support the processing of communication sessions by network entities, and may store subscription data of the UE 1001. For example, the subscription data may be transmitted between the UDM 1027 and the AMF 1021 via the N8 reference point between the UDM 1027 and the AMF. The UDM 1027 may include two parts: an application FE and a UDR ( Fig.10 FE and UDR are not shown). UDR can store subscription data and policy data of UDM 1027 and PCF 1026, and / or structured data for exposure and application data of NEF 1023 (including PFD for application detection, application request information of multiple UE 1001). Nudr service-based interface can be presented by UDR 221 to allow UDM 1027, PCF 1026 and NEF 1023 to access specific sets of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete and subscribe to notifications of related data changes in UDR. UDM may include UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, etc. In different transactions, several different front ends may serve the same user. UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in UDR, and performs authentication credential processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management and subscription management. UDR can interact with SMF 1024 via the N10 reference point between UDM 1027 and SMF 1024. UDM 1027 may also support SMS management, where SMS-FE implements similar application logic as previously discussed.In addition, UDM 1027 may present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0134] AF 1028 can provide the influence of applications on traffic routing, provide access to NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. NCE can be a mechanism that allows 5GC 1020 and AF 1028 to provide information to each other via NEF 1023, which can be used for edge computing specific implementation. In such implementation schemes, network operators and third-party services can be hosted near the UE 1001 access point of the attachment to achieve effective service delivery through reduced end-to-end delay and load on the transmission network. For edge computing implementation schemes, 5GC can select UPF 1002 near UE 1001 and perform traffic steering from UPF 1002 to DN 1003 via N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location and information provided by AF 1028. In this way, AF 1028 can affect UPF (re) selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 1028 is considered a trusted entity, the network operator can allow AF 1028 to interact directly with the relevant NF. In addition, AF 1028 can present an interface based on Naf services.

[0135] NSSF 1029 may select a set of network slice instances to serve UE 1001. If necessary, NSSF 1029 may also determine the allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAI. NSSF 1029 may also determine a set of AMFs or a list of candidate AMFs 1021 to serve UE 1001 based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying NRF 1025. The selection of a set of network slice instances for UE 1001 may be triggered by AMF 1021, where UE 1001 registers by interacting with NSSF 1029, which may cause changes to AMF 1021. NSSF 1029 may interact with AMF 1021 via the N22 reference point between AMF 1021 and NSSF 1029; and may communicate with AMF 1021 via the N31 reference point ( Fig.10 The NSSF 1029 may communicate with another NSSF 1029 in the visited network (not shown). In addition, the NSSF 1029 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0136] As previously discussed, CN 1020 may include SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages from other entities, such as SMS-GMSC / IWMSC / SMS routers, to UE 1001 or from the UE to other entities. SMS may also interact with AMF 1021 and UDM 1027 for notification procedures that UE 1001 is available for SMS transmission (e.g., setting a UE unreachable flag and notifying UDM 1027 when UE 1001 is available for SMS).

[0137] CN 120 may also include Fig.10 Other elements not shown, such as data storage system / architecture, 5G-EIR, SEPP, etc. The data storage system may include SDSF, UDSF, etc. Any NF can communicate with UDSF ( Fig.10 The N18 reference point between the NF and the NF (not shown) stores or retrieves unstructured data in or from the UDSF (e.g., UE context). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data, or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near a single NF. In addition, the UDSF may present an interface based on the Nudsf service ( Fig.10 (not shown). The 5G-EIR may be a NF that checks the status of the PEI to determine whether to blacklist a specific equipment / entity from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on the inter-PLMN control plane interface.

[0138] Additionally, there may be more reference points and / or service-based interfaces between NF services in a NF; however, for clarity, Fig.10 These interfaces and reference points are omitted. In one example, CN 1020 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between an MME (e.g., MME 921) and AMF 1021 to enable interworking between CN 1020 and CN 920. Other example interfaces / reference points may include an interface based on N5g-EIR services presented by 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between an NRF in a visited network and an NRF in a home network; and an N31 reference point between an NSSF in a visited network and an NSSF in a home network.

[0139] Fig.11 An example of infrastructure equipment 1100 according to various embodiments is shown. The infrastructure equipment 1100 (or "system 1100") can be implemented as a base station, a radio head, a RAN node (such as the RAN node 811 and / or AP 806 shown and described previously), an application server 830, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. In other examples, the system 1100 can be implemented in or by a UE.

[0140] System 1100 includes: application circuit 1105, baseband circuit 1110, one or more radio front end modules (RFEM) 1115, memory circuit 1120, power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 1125, power tee circuit 1130, network controller circuit 1135, network interface connector 1140, satellite positioning circuit 1145 and user interface 1150. In some embodiments, device 1100 may include additional elements, such as, for example, memory / storage, display, camera, sensor, or input / output (I / O) interface. In other embodiments, the following components may be included in more than one device. For example, the circuit may be included separately in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU or other similar embodiments.

[0141] Application circuit 1105 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of the following: a low dropout regulator (LDO), an interrupt controller, a serial interface such as SPI, I 2C or general programmable serial interface module, real-time clock (RTC), timer-counter including interval timer and watchdog timer, general input / output (I / O or IO), memory card controller such as secure digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC) or similar products, universal serial bus (USB) interface, mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) interface and joint test access group (JTAG) test access port. The processor (or core) of application circuit 1105 can be coupled with memory / storage element or can include memory / storage element, and can be configured to execute instructions stored in memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on system 1100. In some embodiments, memory / storage element can be on-chip memory circuit, which can include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0142] The processor of the application circuit 1105 may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 1105 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 1105 may include one or more Intel FPGAs. or Processor: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor, Accelerated Processing Unit (APU) or Processor; ARM-based processors licensed by ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A series processors provided by Cavium (TM), Inc. and MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior P-class processor; etc. In some embodiments, the system 1100 may not utilize application circuits 1105, and instead may include a dedicated processor / controller to process IP data received, for example, from an EPC or 5GC.

[0143] In some embodiments, the application circuit 1105 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, etc. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. For example, the programmable processing device may be one or more field programmable devices (FPDs), such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs, such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 1105 may include logic blocks or logic architectures, as well as other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such an embodiment, the circuitry of the application circuit 1105 may include a memory unit (e.g., an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, a static memory (e.g., a static random access memory (SRAM), an anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic architectures, data, etc. in a look-up table (LUT), etc.

[0144] The baseband circuit 1110 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Fig.13 The various hardware electronic components of the baseband circuit 1110 are discussed.

[0145] The user interface circuit 1150 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system 1100, or one or more peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral components to interact with the system 1100. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touch pad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio transmitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0146] The radio front end module (RFEM) 1115 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some embodiments, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Fig.13 Antenna array 1311), and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 1115 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0147] The memory circuit 1120 may include one or more of the following: a volatile memory including a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and / or a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and a non-volatile memory (NVM) including a high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as a "flash memory"), a phase change random access memory (PRAM), a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may be combined with and The memory circuit 1120 may be implemented as one or more of: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

[0148] The PMIC 1125 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources, such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of a brownout (undervoltage) and a surge (overvoltage) condition. The power tee circuit 1130 may provide power extracted from a network cable to provide both power and data connections for the infrastructure equipment 1100 using a single cable.

[0149] The network controller circuit 1135 can provide a connection to the network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet based on a GRE tunnel, Ethernet based on a multi-protocol label switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. A physical connection can be used to provide a network connection to / from the infrastructure equipment 1100 via a network interface connector 1140, which can be an electrical connection (commonly referred to as a "copper interconnect"), an optical connection, or a wireless connection. The network controller circuit 1135 may include one or more dedicated processors and / or FPGAs for communicating using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some embodiments, the network controller circuit 1135 may include multiple controllers for providing connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

[0150] The positioning circuit 1145 includes a circuit for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by a positioning network of a global satellite navigation system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the United States' Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union's Galileo system, China's Beidou Navigation Satellite System, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., using the Indian constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France's Doppler Orbit Chart and Satellite Integrated Radio Positioning (DORIS), etc. for navigation), etc. The positioning circuit 1145 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communications) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 1145 may include a micro technology (micro PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 1145 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 1110 and / or RFEM 1115 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuit 1145 may also provide location data and / or time data to the application circuit 1105, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 811, etc.), etc.

[0151] Fig.11 The components shown may communicate with each other using interface circuitry that may include any number of bus and / or interconnect (IX) technologies, such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems may be included, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0152] Fig.12 An example of a platform 1200 (or "device 1200") according to various embodiments is shown. In an embodiment, the computer platform 1200 may be suitable for use as a UE 801, 901, an application server 830, and / or any other element / device discussed herein. The platform 1200 may include any combination of components shown in the example. The components of the platform 1200 may be implemented as an integrated circuit (IC), part of an IC, a discrete electronic device, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform 1200, or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. Fig.12The block diagram is intended to show a high-level view of the components of computer platform 1200. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangements of the components shown may occur in other embodiments.

[0153] Application circuit 1205 includes circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and LDO, interrupt controller, serial interface (such as SPI), I 2 The processor (or core) of the application circuit 1205 may be coupled to or may include a memory / storage element and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory / storage device to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system 1200. In some embodiments, the memory / storage element may be an on-chip memory circuit that may include any suitable volatile and / or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, flash memory, solid-state memory, and / or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein.

[0154] The processor of the application circuit 1105 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, multi-threaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuit 1105 may include or may be a dedicated processor / controller for operating according to various embodiments herein.

[0155] As an example, the processor of the application circuit 1205 may include a processor based on Architecture TM Processors such as Quark TM 、Atom TM , i3, i5, i7 or MCU class processors, or available from Santa Clara, CA The processor of application circuit 1205 may also be one or more of the following: Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Processor or Accelerated Processing Unit (APU); from Inc.'s A5-A9 processors, Snapdragon by Technologies, Inc. TM Processor, Texas Instruments, Open Multimedia Applications Platform(OMAP) TM processors; MIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as the MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M series processors; etc. In some embodiments, application circuit 1205 can be part of a system on a chip (SoC), in which application circuit 1205 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, such as company( Edison Corporation TM or Galileo TM SoC board.

[0156] Additionally or alternatively, the application circuit 1205 may include circuits such as, but not limited to, one or more field programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs, etc.; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), etc.; ASICs such as structured ASICs, etc.; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); etc. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 1205 may include logic blocks or logic structures, and other interconnected resources that can be programmed to perform various functions such as the processes, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuits of the application circuit 1205 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuse, etc.)) for storing logic blocks, logic structures, data, etc. in a lookup table (LUT), etc.

[0157] Baseband circuit 1210 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Fig.13Various hardware electronic components of baseband circuit 1210 are discussed.

[0158] The RFEM 1215 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-millimeter wave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some embodiments, the one or more sub-millimeter wave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., below). Fig.13 Antenna array 1311), and the RFEM can be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative embodiment, both millimeter wave and sub-millimeter wave radio functions can be implemented in the same physical RFEM 1215 that combines both millimeter wave antennas and sub-millimeter waves.

[0159] The memory circuit 1220 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a quantitative system memory. For example, the memory circuit 1220 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory, including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and / or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuit 1220 may be developed according to the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) based low power double data rate (LPDDR) design such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, etc. The memory circuit 1220 may be implemented as one or more of a solder-in package integrated circuit, a single die package (SDP), a dual die package (DDP), or a quad die package (Q17P), a socketed memory module, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) including a micro DIMM or a mini DIMM, and / or soldered to a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In a low-power embodiment, the memory circuit 1220 may be an on-chip memory or register associated with the application circuit 1205. In order to provide persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems, etc., the memory circuit 1220 may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, among others, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), a hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive change memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory. For example, the computer platform 1200 may be combined with a computer system obtained from and Three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memory.

[0160] Removable memory circuitry 1223 may include devices, circuitry, housings / casings, ports or receptacles, etc., for coupling portable data storage devices to platform 1200. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, micro SD cards, xD picture cards, etc.), as well as USB flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, etc.

[0161] The platform 1200 may further include an interface circuit (not shown) for connecting external devices to the platform 1200. External devices connected to the platform 1200 via the interface circuit include a sensor circuit 1221 and an electromechanical component (EMC) 1222, and a removable memory device coupled to a removable memory circuit 1223.

[0162] Sensor circuitry 1221 comprises a device, module, or subsystem that is intended to detect events or changes in its environment and to send information about the detected events (sensor data) to some other device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an inertial measurement unit (IMU) including an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) including a three-axis accelerometer, a three-axis gyroscope, and / or a magnetometer; a level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; a barometric pressure sensor; a gravity meter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lensless aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasonic transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; and the like.

[0163] The EMC 1222 includes devices, modules or subsystems that are intended to enable the platform 1200 to change its state, position and / or orientation or to move or control a mechanism or (sub) system. In addition, the EMC 1222 may be configured to generate messages / signaling and send messages / signaling to other components of the platform 1200 to indicate the current state of the EMC 1222. Examples of the EMC 1222 include one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and / or solid-state relays (SSRs)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), audible sound generators, visual warning devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks and / or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, the platform 1200 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 1222 based on one or more capture events and / or instructions or control signals received from service providers and / or various clients.

[0164] In some embodiments, the interface circuit may connect the platform 1200 to the positioning circuit 1245. The positioning circuit 1245 includes circuits for receiving and decoding signals transmitted / broadcasted by the positioning network of the GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) may include the GPS of the United States, the GLONASS of Russia, the Galileo system of the European Union, the Beidou navigation satellite system of China, regional navigation systems or GNSS augmentation systems (e.g., NAVIC, QZSS of Japan, DORIS of France, etc.), etc. The positioning circuit 1245 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc. for facilitating OTA communication) to communicate with components of the positioning network such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuit 1245 may include a micro PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking / estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuit 1245 may also be part of or interact with the baseband circuit 1110 and / or the RFEM 1215 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. Positioning circuitry 1245 may also provide location data and / or time data to application circuitry 1205, which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations) for use in turn-by-turn navigation applications, and the like.

[0165] In some embodiments, the interface circuit may connect the platform 1200 to a near field communication (NFC) circuit 1240. The NFC circuit 1240 is configured to provide contactless short-range communication based on the radio frequency identification (RFID) standard, wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between the NFC circuit 1240 and an NFC-enabled device (e.g., an "NFC touch point") external to the platform 1200. The NFC circuit 1240 includes an NFC controller coupled to an antenna element and a processor coupled to the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip / IC that provides NFC functionality to the NFC circuit 1240 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit a short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transfer stored data to the NFC circuit 1240, or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuit 1240 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smart phone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) close to the platform 1200.

[0166] The driver circuit 1246 may include software and hardware elements for controlling specific devices embedded in, attached to, or otherwise communicatively coupled to the platform 1200. The driver circuit 1246 may include various drivers to allow other components of the platform 1200 to interact with or control various input / output (I / O) devices that may be present in or connected to the platform 1200. For example, the driver circuit 1246 may include: a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of the platform 1200, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of the sensor circuit 1221 and controlling and allowing access to the sensor circuit 1221, an EMC driver for obtaining an actuator position of the EMC 1222 and / or controlling and allowing access to the EMC 1222, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, and an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

[0167] A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) 1225 (also referred to as “power management circuit 1225”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform 1200. Specifically, the PMIC 1225 may control power selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion relative to the baseband circuit 1210. When the platform 1200 is capable of being powered by a battery 1230, for example, when the device is included in UE 801, 901, the PMIC 1225 may be generally included.

[0168] In some embodiments, the PMIC 1225 may control or otherwise be part of various power saving mechanisms of the platform 1200. For example, if the platform 1200 is in the RRC_Connected state, in which the platform is still connected to the RAN node because it expects to receive traffic soon, then after a period of inactivity, the platform may enter a state known as discontinuous reception mode (DRX). During this state, the platform 1200 may be powered off for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 1200 may transition to the RRC_Idle state, in which the device is disconnected from the network and no operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. are performed. The platform 1200 enters a very low power state and performs paging, in which the device wakes up periodically again to listen to the network and then powers off again. The platform 1200 may not receive data in this state; to receive data, the device may then transition back to the RRC_Connected state. Additional power saving modes may prevent the device from using the network for longer than the paging interval (ranging from a few seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device cannot connect to the network and may be completely powered off. Any data sent during this time will incur significant latency, and it is assumed that latency is acceptable.

[0169] The battery 1230 can power the platform 1200, but in some examples, the platform 1200 can be mounted in a fixed location and can have a power source coupled to the grid. The battery 1230 can be a lithium-ion battery, a metal-air battery such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, etc. In some embodiments, such as in V2X applications, the battery 1230 can be a typical lead-acid car battery.

[0170] In some embodiments, the battery 1230 may be a "smart battery" that includes or is coupled to a battery management system (BMS) or a battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS may be included in the platform 1200 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 1230. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 1230, such as the state of health (SoH) and state of function (SoF) of the battery 1230 to provide fault prediction. The BMS may transmit information of the battery 1230 to the application circuit 1205 or other components of the platform 1200. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 1205 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 1230 or the current from the battery 1230. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform 1200 may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, etc.

[0171] A power block or other power source coupled to the grid can be coupled to the BMS to charge the battery 1230. In some examples, the power block XS30 can be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform 1200. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit can be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuit selected can depend on the size of the battery 1230 and therefore the current required. Charging can be performed using the aviation fuel standard published by the Aviation Fuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance, or the Rezence charging standard published by the Wireless Power Alliance.

[0172] The user interface circuit 1250 includes various input / output (I / O) devices present in or connected to the platform 1200, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to implement user interaction with the platform 1200 and / or a peripheral component interface designed to implement interaction with the peripheral components of the platform 1200. The user interface circuit 1250 includes input device circuits and output device circuits. The input device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including, in particular, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. The output device circuit includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or otherwise conveying information (such as sensor readings, actuator positions, or other similar information). The output device circuitry may include any number and / or combination of audio or visual displays, including, in particular, one or more simple visual outputs / indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs, such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., liquid crystal displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where outputs of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc. are generated or produced by the operation of the platform 1200. The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printers, etc. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry 1221 may be used as an input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, a motion capture device, etc.) and one or more EMCs may be used as output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator for providing tactile feedback, etc.). In another example, an NFC circuit may be included to read an electronic tag and / or connect to another NFC-enabled device, the NFC circuitry including an NFC controller and a processing device coupled to an antenna element. The peripheral component interface may include, but is not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power interface, etc.

[0173] Although not shown, the components of platform 1200 may communicate with each other using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a time-triggered protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus / IX may be a proprietary bus / IX, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus / IX systems, such as I 2 C interface, SPI interface, point-to-point interface and power bus, etc.

[0174] Fig.13 Exemplary components of a baseband circuit 1310 and a radio front end module (RFEM) 1315 are shown according to various embodiments. The baseband circuit 1310 corresponds to Fig.11 The baseband circuit 1110 and Fig.12 Baseband circuit 1210. RFEM1315 respectively correspond to Fig.11 RFEM 1115 and Fig.12 RFEM 1215. As shown, RFEM 1315 may include at least a radio frequency (RF) circuit 1306, a front end module (FEM) circuit 1308, and an antenna array 1311 coupled together as shown.

[0175] The baseband circuit 1310 includes circuits and / or control logic components configured to execute various radio / network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuit 1306. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation / demodulation, encoding / decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the modulation / demodulation circuit of the baseband circuit 1310 may include a fast Fourier transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping / demapping function. In some embodiments, the encoding / decoding circuit of the baseband circuit 1310 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or low-density parity check (LDPC) encoder / decoder functions. The implementation of the modulation / demodulation and encoder / decoder functions is not limited to these examples, and may include other suitable functions in other embodiments. The baseband circuit 1310 is configured to process the baseband signal received from the receive signal path of the RF circuit 1306 and generate a baseband signal for the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 1306. The baseband circuit 1310 is configured to communicate with the application circuit 1105 / 1205 (see Fig.11 and Fig.12 ) to generate and process baseband signals and control the operation of RF circuit 1306. Baseband circuit 1310 may handle various radio control functions.

[0176] The aforementioned circuits and / or control logic components of the baseband circuit 1310 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 1304A, a 4G / LTE baseband processor 1304B, a 5G / NR baseband processor 1304C, or some other baseband processors 1304D for other existing generations, generations under development, or generations to be developed in the future (e.g., the sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 1304A-D may include a module stored in the memory 1304G and executed via a central processing unit (CPU) 1304E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functions of the baseband processors 1304A-D may be provided as a hardware accelerator (e.g., FPGA, ASIC, etc.) loaded with appropriate bitstreams or logic blocks stored in corresponding memory units. In various embodiments, the memory 1304G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which, when executed by the CPU 1304E (or other baseband processor), will enable the CPU 1304E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuit 1310, schedule tasks, etc. Examples of RTOS may include: Operating System Embedded (OSE) provided TM , by Mentor Nucleus RTOS provided TM , by Mentor Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Express Provided by ThreadX TM ,Depend on FreeRTOS and REX OS provided by Open Kernel (OK) OKL4 is provided, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuit 1310 includes one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 1304F. The audio DSP 1304F includes elements for compression / decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

[0177] In some embodiments, each of processors 1304A-1304E includes a corresponding memory interface to send data to / receive data from memory 1304G. Baseband circuit 1310 may also include one or more interfaces for communicatively coupling to other circuits / devices, such as an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to baseband circuit 1310; an interface for sending data to / receiving data from a memory external to the baseband circuit; Figure 11 to Figure 12 An application circuit interface for sending data to / receiving data from the application circuit 1105 / 1205; Fig.13 RF circuit 1306 to send data / receive data from the RF circuit RF circuit interface; for receiving data from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., near field communication (NFC) components, Low power consumption components, components, etc.) to send data / receive data from these wireless hardware elements; and a power management interface that sends power or control signals to / receives power or control signals from the PMIC 1225.

[0178] In an alternative embodiment (which can be combined with the above embodiment), the baseband circuit 1310 includes one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled to each other and to the CPU subsystem, the audio subsystem and the interface subsystem via an interconnect subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem can also be coupled to the digital baseband interface and the mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus system, a point-to-point connector, a network on chip (NOC) structure and / or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include a DSP circuit, a buffer memory, a program memory, a voice processing accelerator circuit, a data converter circuit such as an analog-to-digital converter circuit and a digital-to-analog converter circuit, an analog circuit including one or more of an amplifier and a filter, and / or other similar components. In one aspect of the present disclosure, the baseband circuit 1310 may include a protocol processing circuit with one or more control circuit instances (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuit and / or the radio frequency circuit (e.g., the radio front end module 1315).

[0179] although Fig.13Not shown, but in some embodiments, the baseband circuit 1310 includes various processing devices (e.g., a "multi-protocol baseband processor" or "protocol processing circuit") to operate one or more wireless communication protocols and various processing devices to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuit operates or implements various protocol layers / entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when the baseband circuit 1310 and / or the RF circuit 1306 are part of a millimeter wave communication circuit or some other suitable cellular communication circuit, the protocol processing circuit may operate LTE protocol entities and / or 5G / NR protocol entities. In the first example, the protocol processing circuit will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, when the baseband circuit 1310 and / or the RF circuit 1306 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, the protocol processing circuit may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In the second example, the protocol processing circuit will operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g., 1304G) for storing program code and data for operating protocol functions, and one or more processing cores for executing program code and performing various operations using data. The baseband circuitry 1310 may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

[0180] The various hardware elements of the baseband circuit 1310 discussed herein may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuit 1310 may be appropriately combined in a single chip or a single chipset, or disposed on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 1310 and the RF circuit 1306 may be implemented together, such as, for example, a system on a chip (SOC) or a system-in-package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 1310 may be implemented as a separate SoC communicatively coupled to the RF circuit 1306 (or multiple instances of the RF circuit 1306). In yet another example, some or all of the components of the baseband circuit 1310 and the application circuit 1105 / 1205 may be implemented together as a separate SoC mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., a "multi-chip package").

[0181] In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 1310 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 1310 may support communications with E-UTRAN or other WMANs, WLANs, WPANs. Embodiments in which baseband circuitry 1310 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0182] RF circuit 1306 may enable communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, RF circuit 1306 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuit 1306 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuits for down-converting RF signals received from FEM circuit 1308 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuit 1310. RF circuit 1306 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuits for up-converting baseband signals provided by baseband circuit 1310 and providing RF output signals for transmission to FEM circuit 1308.

[0183] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuit 1306 may include a mixer circuit 1306a, an amplifier circuit 1306b, and a filter circuit 1306c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuit 1306 may include a filter circuit 1306c and the mixer circuit 1306a. The RF circuit 1306 may also include a synthesizer circuit 1306d for synthesizing the frequencies used by the mixer circuit 1306a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1306a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 1308 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 1306d. The amplifier circuit 1306b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 1306c may be a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuit 1310 for further processing. In some embodiments, although this is not required, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1306a of the receive signal path may include a passive mixer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0184] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 1306a of the transmit signal path may be configured to upconvert an input baseband signal based on a synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 1306d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 1308. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuit 1310 and may be filtered by filter circuit 1306c.

[0185] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1306a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for orthogonal down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1306a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image suppression (e.g., Hartley image suppression). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1306a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 1306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 1306a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

[0186] In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, RF circuit 1306 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits, and baseband circuit 1310 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuit 1306.

[0187] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0188] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1306d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, but the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect, as other types of frequency synthesizers may also be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuit 1306d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0189] Synthesizer circuit 1306d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency based on the frequency input and the divider control input for use by mixer circuit 1306a of RF circuit 1306. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 1306d may be a fractional-N / N+1 synthesizer.

[0190] In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by the baseband circuit 1310 or the application circuit 1105 / 1205 according to the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 1105 / 1205.

[0191] The synthesizer circuit 1306d of the RF circuit 1306 may include a frequency divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the frequency divider may be a dual-mode frequency divider (DMD), and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a cascaded, tunable, delay element, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a set of D-type flip-flops. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to divide the VCO cycle into Nd equal phase groups, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0192] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 1306d can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as an output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and can be used with a quadrature generator and divider circuit to generate multiple signals with multiple different phases relative to each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, the output frequency can be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuit 1306 can include an IQ / polarity converter.

[0193] FEM circuitry 1308 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array 1311, amplify the received signals, and provide an amplified version of the received signals to RF circuitry 1306 for further processing. FEM circuitry 1308 may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify transmit signals provided by RF circuitry 1306 for transmission by one or more antenna elements in antenna array 1311. In various embodiments, amplification by the transmit or receive signal paths may be accomplished only in RF circuitry 1306, only in FEM circuitry 1308, or in both RF circuitry 1306 and FEM circuitry 1308.

[0194] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 1308 may include a TX / RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 1308 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 1308 may include an LNA to amplify the received RF signal and provide the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., provided to the RF circuit 1306). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 1308 may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (e.g., provided by the RF circuit 1306), and one or more filters for generating an RF signal for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 1311.

[0195] The antenna array 1311 includes one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured to convert an electrical signal into a radio wave to travel through the air and convert the received radio wave into an electrical signal. For example, a digital baseband signal provided by the baseband circuit 1310 is converted into an analog RF signal (e.g., a modulated waveform), which is amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array 1311 including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed into a variety of arrangements as known and / or discussed herein. The antenna array 1311 may include a microstrip antenna or a printed antenna fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 1311 may be formed as a patch of metal foil of various shapes (e.g., a patch antenna) and may be coupled to the RF circuit 1306 and / or the FEM circuit 1308 using a metal transmission line or the like.

[0196] The processor of the application circuit 1105 / 1205 and the processor of the baseband circuit 1310 can be used to execute elements of one or more instances of the protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuit 1310 can be used alone or in combination to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuit 1105 / 1205 can utilize data received from these layers (e.g., packet data) and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As mentioned herein, layer 3 may include an RRC layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 2 may include a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, which will be described in further detail below. As mentioned herein, layer 1 may include a PHY layer of a UE / RAN node, which will be described in further detail below.

[0197] Fig.14 Various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to some embodiments are shown. Specifically, Fig.14An arrangement 1400 is included to show the interconnection between various protocol layers / entities. Various protocol layers / entities operating in conjunction with 5G / NR system standards and LTE system standards are provided. Fig.14 The following description, but Fig.14 Some or all aspects of the invention may also be applicable to other wireless communication network systems.

[0198] In addition to other higher layer functions not shown, the protocol layers of arrangement 1400 may also include one or more of PHY 1410, MAC 1420, RLC 1430, PDCP 1440, SDAP 1447, RRC 1455, and NAS layer 1457. These protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., Fig.14 Items 1459, 1456, 1450, 1449, 1445, 1435, 1425, and 1415).

[0199] PHY 1410 can send and receive physical layer signals 1405, which can be received or sent from one or more other communication devices to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signals 1405 may include one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. PHY 1410 may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and switching purposes) and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC1455). PHY 1410 may also further perform error detection on transmission channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transmission channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to physical channels and MIMO antenna processing. In an embodiment, an instance of PHY 1410 may process a request from an instance of MAC1420 via one or more PHY-SAP 1415 and provide an indication thereto. According to some embodiments, the request and indication transmitted via PHY-SAP 1415 may include one or more transmission channels.

[0200] An instance of MAC 1420 may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of RLC 1430 via one or more MAC-SAPs 1425. These requests and indications transmitted via MAC-SAP 1425 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 1420 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY 1410 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs delivered from PHY 1410 via transport channels to one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

[0201] An instance of RLC 1430 may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of PDCP 1440 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 1435. These requests and indications transmitted via RLC-SAPs 1435 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC 1430 may operate in a variety of operating modes, including: transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC 1430 may perform transmission of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transmission, and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission. RLC 1430 may also perform resegmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transmission, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transmission, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transmission, detect protocol errors for AM data transmission, and perform RLC re-establishment.

[0202] An instance of PDCP 1440 may process requests from an instance of RRC 1455 and / or an instance of SDAP 1447 via one or more Packet Data Convergence Protocol Service Points (PDCP-SAP) 1445 and provide indications thereto. These requests and indications transmitted via PDCP-SAP 1445 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 1440 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP sequence numbers (SNs), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs when lower layers are reestablished, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs when lower layers are reestablished for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, encrypt and decrypt control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discard, and perform security operations (e.g., encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0203] An instance of SDAP 1447 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities and provide indications thereto via one or more SDAP-SAPs 1449. These requests and indications transmitted via SDAP-SAPs 1449 may include one or more QoS flows. SDAP 1447 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL packets and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 1447 may be configured for a separate PDU session. In the UL direction, NG-RAN 810 may control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways (reflective mapping or explicit mapping). For reflective mapping, SDAP 1447 of UE 801 may monitor the QFI of the DL packets of each DRB, and may apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For DRBs, SDAP 1447 of UE 801 may map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow corresponding to the QoS flow ID and PDU session observed in the DL packets of the DRB. To implement the reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 1010 may mark the DL packets with a QoS flow ID over the Uu interface. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC 1455 configuring the SDAP 1447 with explicit mapping rules of QoS flows to DRBs, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP 1447. In an embodiment, the SDAP 1447 may be used only in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

[0204] The RRC 1455 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 1410, MAC 1420, RLC 1430, PDCP 1440, and SDAP 1447, via one or more Management Service Access Points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment, an instance of the RRC 1455 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 1457 and provide instructions thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 1456. The main services and functions of the RRC 1455 may include broadcasting of system information (e.g., included in a MIB or SIB related to NAS), broadcasting of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance, and release of an RRC connection between the UE 801 and the RAN 810 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. These MIBs and SIBs may include one or more IEs, each of which may include a separate data field or data structure.

[0205] NAS 1457 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 801 and AMF 1021. NAS 1457 may support the mobility and session management procedures of UE 801 to establish and maintain an IP connection between UE 801 and P-GW in the LTE system.

[0206] According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of the arrangement 1400 may be implemented in the UE 801, the RAN node 811, the AMF 1021 in the NR implementation or the MME 921 in the LTE implementation, the UPF 1002 in the NR implementation or the S-GW 922 and the P-GW 923 in the LTE implementation, etc., for control plane or user plane communication protocol stacks between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of the UE 801, the gNB 811, the AMF 1021, etc. may communicate with corresponding peer protocol entities that may be implemented in or on another device (using the services of corresponding lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication). In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of gNB 811 may host the RRC 1455, SDAP 1447, and PDCP 1440 of the gNB that control operations of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 811 may each host the RLC 1430, MAC 1420, and PHY 1410 of gNB 811.

[0207] In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 1457, RRC 1455, PDCP 1440, RLC 1430, MAC 1420, and PHY 1410. In this example, an upper layer 1460 may be built on top of NAS 1457, which includes an IP layer 1461, SCTP 1462, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1463.

[0208] In a NR specific implementation, AP 1463 can be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1463 for the NG interface 813 defined between the NG-RAN node 811 and the AMF 1021, or AP 1463 can be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1463 for the Xn interface 812 defined between two or more RAN nodes 811.

[0209] The NG-AP 1463 may support the functionality of the NG interface 813 and may include an elementary procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the NG-RAN node 811 and the AMF 1021. The NG-AP 1463 services may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 801) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 811 and the AMF 1021). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 811 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF 1021 to establish, modify and / or release the UE context in the AMF 1021 and the NG-RAN node 811; a mobility function for UE 801 in ECM-CONNECTED mode, for intra-system HO to support mobility within the NG-RAN, and for inter-system HO to support mobility from / to the EPS system; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between UE 801 and AMF 1021; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 1021 and the UE 801; an NG interface management function for setting up the NG interface and monitoring errors over the NG interface; a warning message sending function for providing a means to transmit a warning message via the NG interface or to cancel an ongoing warning message broadcast; a NAS signaling transport function for transmitting or rerouting NAS messages between the UE 801 and the AMF 1021; a NAS node selection function for determining the association between the AMF 1021 and the UE 801; a ... 820 is a configuration transmission function for requesting and transmitting RAN configuration information (eg, SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 811; and / or other similar functions.

[0210] The XnAP 1463 may support the functions of the Xn interface 812 and may include XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the NG RAN 811 (or E-UTRAN 910), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, procedures related to dual connectivity, etc. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures that are not related to a specific UE 801, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, etc.

[0211] In an LTE specific implementation, AP 1463 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1463 for an S1 interface 813 defined between an E-UTRAN node 811 and an MME, or AP 1463 may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1463 for an X2 interface 812 defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 811.

[0212] The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP) 1463 may support the functionality of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include an S1-AP EP. The S1-AP EP may be an interaction unit between the E-UTRAN node 811 and the MME 921 within the LTE CN 820. The S1-AP 1463 services may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. The functions performed by these services include, but are not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transmission, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transmission.

[0213] The X2AP 1463 may support the functions of the X2 interface 812 and may include an X2AP basic mobility procedure and an X2AP global procedure. The X2AP basic mobility procedure may include a procedure for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 820, such as a handover preparation and cancellation procedure, an SN state transfer procedure, a UE context retrieval and a UE context release procedure, a RAN paging procedure, a procedure related to dual connectivity, etc. The X2AP global procedure may include a procedure that is not related to a specific UE 801, such as an X2 interface setup and reset procedure, a load indication procedure, an error indication procedure, a cell activation procedure, etc.

[0214] The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP / IP layer) 1462 can provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). SCTP 1462 can ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 811 and the AMF 1021 / MME 921 based in part on the IP protocol supported by IP 1461. The Internet Protocol layer (IP) 1461 can be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, the IP layer 1461 can deliver and transmit PDUs using point-to-point transport. In this regard, the RAN node 811 may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME / AMF to exchange information.

[0215] In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include SDAP 1447, PDCP 1440, RLC 1430, MAC 1420, and PHY 1410 in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between UE 801, RAN node 811, and UPF 1002 in NR implementation, or communication between S-GW 922 and P-GW 923 in LTE implementation. In this example, the upper layer 1451 may be built on top of SDAP 1447 and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP / IP) 1452, a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol for a user plane layer (GTP-U) 1453, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 1463.

[0216] The transport network layer 1454 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of an IP transport, and a GTP-U 1453 may be used on top of a UDP / IP layer 1452 (including a UDP layer and an IP layer) to carry a user plane PDU (UP-PDU). The IP layer (also referred to as the "Internet layer") may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets, for example, in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats.

[0217] GTP-U 1453 may be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. For example, the transmitted user data may be packets in any of the IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats. UDP / IP 1452 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication of selected data flows. The RAN node 811 and the S-GW 922 may utilize the S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer (e.g., PHY 1410), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1420, RLC 1430, PDCP 1440, and / or SDAP 1447), a UDP / IP layer 1452, and GTP-U 1453. The S-GW 922 and the P-GW 923 may utilize the S5 / S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a UDP / IP layer 1452, and a GTP-U 1453. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support the mobility and session management procedures of the UE 801 to establish and maintain an IP connection between the UE 801 and the P-GW 923.

[0218] In addition, despite Fig.14Not shown, but an application layer may exist above the AP 1463 and / or transport network layer 1454. The application layer may be a layer where a user of the UE 801, RAN node 811, or other network element interacts with a software application, for example, executed by the application circuit 1105 or the application circuit 1205, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for the software application to interact with the communication system (such as the baseband circuit 1310) of the UE 801 or RAN node 811. In some embodiments, the IP layer and / or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5 to 7 of the open systems interconnection (OSI) model, or portions thereof (e.g., OSI layer 7—application layer, OSI layer 6—presentation layer, and OSI layer 5—session layer).

[0219] Fig.15 Components of the core network according to various embodiments are shown. The components of CN 920 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In an embodiment, the components of CN 1020 can be implemented in the same or similar manner as discussed herein with respect to the components of CN 920. In some embodiments, NFV is used to virtualize any or all of the above-mentioned network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). A logical instance of CN 920 may be referred to as a network slice 1501, and each logical instance of CN 920 may provide specific network functions and network characteristics. A logical instance of a portion of CN 920 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 1502 (e.g., network sub-slice 1502 is shown as including P-GW 923 and PCRF 926).

[0220] As used herein, the terms "instantiation" and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" may refer to the concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code. A network instance may refer to information identifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection and routing in different IP domains or in the case of overlapping IP addresses. A network slice instance may refer to a set of network function (NF) instances and the resources (e.g., computing, storage, and networking resources) required to deploy a network slice.

[0221] Compared to 5G systems (see e.g. Fig.10), a network slice always includes a RAN part and a CN part. Support for network slicing relies on the principle that traffic for different slices is handled by different PDU sessions. The network can implement different network slices by scheduling and also by providing different L1 / L2 configurations. If NAS has provided an RRC message, UE 1001 provides auxiliary information for network slice selection in an appropriate RRC message. Although the network can support a large number of slices, the UE does not need to support more than 8 slices at the same time.

[0222] The network slice may include the CN 1020 control plane and user plane NF, the NG-RAN 1010 in the serving PLMN, and the N3IWF function in the serving PLMN. Each network slice may have a different S-NSSAI and / or may have a different SST. The NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and each network slice is uniquely identified by the S-NSSAI. The network slices may differ in terms of supported features and network function optimizations, and / or multiple network slice instances may deliver the same service / feature, but for different UE 1001 groups (e.g., enterprise users). For example, each network slice may deliver different committed services and / or may be dedicated to a specific customer or enterprise. In this example, each network slice may have a different S-NSSAI with the same SST but with a different slice differentiator. In addition, a single UE may be served simultaneously by one or more network slice instances via a 5G AN and be associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. In addition, an AMF 1021 instance serving a single UE 1001 may belong to each network slice instance serving the UE.

[0223] Network slicing in NG-RAN 1010 involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic for different network slices that have been pre-configured. Slice awareness in NG-RAN 1010 is introduced at the PDU session level by indicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to the PDU session in all signaling including PDU session resource information. How NG-RAN 1010 supports slices enabled in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., a set of network functions including each slice) is implementation dependent. NG-RAN 1010 selects the RAN portion of the network slice using auxiliary information provided by UE 1001 or 5GC 1020, which explicitly identifies one or more of the pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. NG-RAN 1010 also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices according to SLA. A single NG-RAN node can support multiple slices, and NG-RAN 1010 can also apply appropriate RRM policies for SLAs in appropriate locations to each supported slice. NG-RAN 1010 can also support QoS differentiation within a slice.

[0224] If available, the NG-RAN 1010 may also use UE assistance information to select an AMF 1021 during the initial attach. The NG-RAN 1010 routes the initial NAS to the AMF 1021 using the assistance information. If the NG-RAN 1010 cannot select an AMF 1021 using the assistance information, or the UE 1001 does not provide any such information, the NG-RAN 1010 sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF 1021, which may be in the AMF 1021 pool. For subsequent access, the UE 1001 provides the temp ID assigned to the UE 1001 by the 5GC 1020 to enable the NG-RAN 1010 to route the NAS message to the appropriate AMF 1021, as long as the tempID is valid. The NG-RAN 1010 is aware of and can reach the AMF 1021 associated with the temp ID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies.

[0225] The NG-RAN 1010 supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN 1010 resource isolation can be achieved with the help of RRM policies and protection mechanisms that should avoid starvation of shared resources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for another slice. In some embodiments, NG-RAN 1010 resources can be fully assigned to a slice. How the NG-RAN 1010 supports resource isolation depends on the specific implementation.

[0226] Some slices may be only partially available in the network. Awareness in the NG-RAN 1010 of supported slices in its neighboring cells may be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. Slice availability may not change within the registration area of ​​the UE. The NG-RAN 1010 and 5GC 1020 are responsible for handling service requests for slices that may or may not be available in a given area. The granting or denial of access to a slice may depend on factors such as support for the slice, availability of resources, support of the requested service by the NG-RAN 1010.

[0227] UE 1001 may be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In the case where UE 1001 is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and for intra-frequency cell reselection, UE 1001 attempts to camp on the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities may be used to control the frequency that UE 1001 camps on. 5GC 1020 will verify that UE 1001 has the right to access the network slice. Prior to receiving the Initial Context Setup Request message, NG-RAN 1010 may be allowed to apply some temporary / local policies based on the perception of the specific slice that UE 1001 is requesting access to. During the initial context setup, NG-RAN 1010 is informed of the slice for which resources are being requested.

[0228] NFV architecture and infrastructure can be used to virtualize one or more NFs onto physical resources including a combination of industry standard server hardware, storage hardware or switches (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware). In other words, the NFV system can be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components / functions.

[0229] Fig.16 1600 is a block diagram illustrating components of a NFV-enabled system 1600 according to some exemplary embodiments. System 1600 is shown to include VIM 1602, NFVI 1604, VNFM 1606, VNF 1608, EM 1610, NFVO 1612, and NM 1614.

[0230] The VIM 1602 manages resources of the NFVI 1604. The NFVI 1604 may include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) for executing the system 1600. The VIM 1602 may utilize the NFVI 1604 to manage the lifecycle of virtual resources (e.g., creation, maintenance, and teardown of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, failures, and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems.

[0231] VNFM 1606 may manage VNF 1608. VNF 1608 may be used to perform EPC components / functions. VNFM 1606 may manage the lifecycle of VNF 1608 and track the performance, failures, and security of the virtual aspects of VNF 1608. EM 1610 may track the performance, failures, and security of the functional aspects of VNF 1608. Tracking data from VNFM 1606 and EM 1610 may include, for example, PM data used by VIM 1602 or NFVI 1604. VNFM 1606 and EM 1610 may both scale up / down the number of VNFs of system 1600.

[0232] NFVO 1612 may coordinate, authorize, release, and engage resources of NFVI 1604 in order to provide requested services (e.g., execute EPC functions, components, or slices). NM 1614 may provide an end-user functional package responsible for network management, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of VNFs may occur via EM 1610).

[0233] Fig.17 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methods discussed herein, according to some exemplary embodiments. Specifically, Fig.17 A schematic diagram of hardware resources 1700 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1710, one or more memory / storage devices 1720, and one or more communication resources 1730, each of which can be communicatively coupled via a bus 1740. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1702 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1700.

[0234] Processor 1710 may include, for example, processor 1712 and processor 1714. Processor 1710 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

[0235] The memory / storage device 1720 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 1720 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0236] The communication resources 1730 may include an interconnect or network interface component or other suitable device to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1704 or one or more databases 1706 via the network 1708. For example, the communication resources 1730 may include a wired communication component (e.g., for coupling via USB), a cellular communication component, an NFC component, (or Low power consumption) components, components and other communication components.

[0237] The instructions 1750 may include software, programs, applications, applet, applications, or other executable code for causing at least any one of the processors 1710 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1750 may reside in whole or in part within at least one of the processor 1710 (e.g., within a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 1720, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 1750 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1700 from any combination of the peripheral device 1704 or the database 1706. Thus, the memory of the processor 1710, the memory / storage device 1720, the peripheral device 1704, and the database 1706 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0238] In some embodiments, Figures 8 to 17 The electronic device, network, system, chip or component or part thereof or specific implementation in some other figures of this document may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques or methods described herein or part thereof. Fig.18 One such exemplary method 1800 is depicted in . For example, at 1802, the method 1800 may include processing or causing processing of a received random positioning request message. At 1804, the method 1800 may include transmitting or causing transmission of a random positioning response message to determine an estimated position coordinate. Fig.19 An exemplary method 1900 according to an embodiment is depicted. At 1902, method 1900 may include transmitting or causing transmission of a random positioning request message. At 1904, method 1900 may include processing or causing processing of a received random positioning response message to determine an estimated position coordinate.

[0239] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components shown in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes and / or methods described in the following example section. For example, the baseband circuit described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following embodiments. For another example, the circuits associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc. described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the embodiments shown in the example section below.

[0240] Example

[0241] Embodiment 1 may include a method for RAT-related positioning based on advanced NR, the method comprising: a 2-step RACH procedure for triggering DL-only (D-TDOA), triggering UL-only (U-TDOA), or triggering DL and UL positioning (RTT), or any other positioning method; and NR signaling for triggering DL-only (D-TDOA), UL-only (U-TDOA), or DL ​​and UL positioning (RTT), or any other positioning method, the NR signaling comprising any of the following: RRC; MAC; LPP; NPP; physical layer signaling.

[0242] Embodiment 2 may include a method according to embodiment 1 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the 2-step RACH procedure includes two messages MsgA and MsgB.

[0243] Embodiment 3 may include a method according to embodiment 2 or some other embodiments herein, wherein MsgA is sent by the UE to the gNB and includes: a PRACH transmission (RACH preamble); an associated PUSCH transmission with an embedded MAC IE; and an associated UL SRS transmission.

[0244] Embodiment 4 may include the method of embodiment 3 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the MsgA with associated PUSCH transmission with embedded MAC IE / RRC IE includes:

[0245] Type of positioning procedure requested (e.g., UL-UTDOA only, DL and UL-RTT with serving cell, RTT with serving cell + neighbor cells, DL-D-TDOA only, etc.); Request for additional allocation of reference signals or their activation (if pre-configured) (e.g., request for UL SRS / PRS resource allocation; request for DL ​​SRS / PRS resource allocation; request for UL SRS / PRS resource allocation followed by DL CSI-RS / PRS; request for DL ​​CSI-RS / PRS resource allocation followed by UL SRS / PRS); Type of UL positioning reference resource requested (periodic / semi-persistent / aperiodic, etc.); Type of DL positioning reference resource requested (periodic / semi-persistent / aperiodic, etc.); Initial SLP measurement (e.g., initial timestamp t of RACH preamble transmission); 1 ; If the RACH transmission is also associated with a UL SRS / PRS transmission, the initial timestamp of the UL SRS / PRS transmission is t 1 ; A priori measurement of DL PRS / CSI-RS positioning resources and associated resource IDs (e.g., RSRP, timestamp t2 i)(if available); List of cell IDs detected by the UE; List of DL PRS / CSI-RS resource IDs; List of SSB indices); UE ID; Other positioning related parameters; Previous UE coordinates; Location capabilities based on the UE; Positioning service related information (e.g. QoS for the positioning procedure, such as latency, accuracy level); PUSCH message type used for positioning; Depending on the positioning procedure, not all fields are present. Considering that the PUSCH payload size can be predetermined, the message may need to have a fixed size and be padded to a fixed size if the payload is small. In order to correctly interpret the message, message type information may be added; MsgB resources; When the UE expects to receive MsgB from the gNB or monitor the PDCCH channel for MsgB reception, the UE can indicate the time interval or specific resources; This can be used to reduce UE power consumption and allocate a certain processing time to the network / gNB; and if a contention-based 2-step RACH positioning procedure is adopted, information about contention resolution.

[0246] Embodiment 5 may include a method according to Embodiment 2 or some other embodiments herein, wherein MsgB is sent by the gNB to the UE in response to MsgA and includes: estimated UE coordinates based on serving / neighboring cell measurements; a metric characterizing the quality or uncertainty of the coordinate estimate; a timestamp t2i of PRACH or UL reference signal reception and the corresponding resource ID and QCL information (if any); a timestamp t3i of DL reference signal transmission (SSB / DL, PRS / DL, CSI-RS) and the corresponding resource ID and QCL information (if any); a request / trigger for additional positioning measurements and their types; a configuration or activation of additional DL / UL resource sets for transmitting positioning reference signals for additional measurements of SLP and their types; a UL SRS / PRS resource set configuration for the positioning procedure requested by the UE (e.g., information about UL SRS / PRS transmission resources (resource ID), their types (periodic / semi-persistent / non-periodic); UL PRS / SRS sequence initialization information (sequence ID)); UL SRS / PRS measurement data (e.g., about UL Timestamp of SRS / PRS signal reception and information about other SLPs measured by each TRP / gNB; information about the geographic location coordinates of the TRP / gNB measuring the SLP); timestamp of MsgB transmission; configuration of DL PRS / CSI-RS resources for the positioning procedure requested by the UE (e.g., DL PRS transmission resources and ID (resource set for DL ​​positioning); DL PRS sequence initialization parameters (sequence ID)); DL PRS / CSI-RS measurement data (e.g., timestamp of UL SRS / PRS signal reception and information about other SLPs measured by each TRP / gNB; information about the geographic location coordinates of the TRP / gNB measuring the SLP); timestamp of MsgB transmission or any transmission associated with MsgB DL PRS or CSI-RS signal; and the same contention resolution information initiated and carried in MsgA from the UE.

[0247] Embodiment 6 is an apparatus comprising: an apparatus for transmitting a random positioning request message; and an apparatus for processing a received random positioning response message to determine an estimated position coordinate.

[0248] Embodiment 7 includes the subject matter of embodiment 6 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the estimated position coordinates are determined based on a positioning reference signal and one or more measured signal location parameters (SLPs).

[0249] Embodiment 8 includes the subject matter of embodiment 7 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the SLP measures on the downlink, uplink, or both.

[0250] Embodiment 9 includes the subject matter of embodiment 7 or 8 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the positioning reference signal is a PRACH, an SRS, or a ranging signal.

[0251] Embodiment 10 includes the subject matter of any one of embodiments 6 to 9 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the apparatus is user equipment or a portion thereof.

[0252] Embodiment 11 is an apparatus comprising: an apparatus for processing a received random positioning request message; and an apparatus for transmitting a random positioning response message to determine an estimated location coordinate.

[0253] Embodiment 12 includes the subject matter of embodiment 11 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the estimated location coordinates are determined based on a positioning reference signal and one or more measured signal location parameters (SLPs).

[0254] Embodiment 13 includes the subject matter of embodiment 12 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the SLP measures on the downlink, uplink, or both.

[0255] Embodiment 14 includes the subject matter of embodiment 12 or 13 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the positioning reference signal is a PRACH, an SRS, or a ranging signal.

[0256] Embodiment 15 includes the subject matter of any one of embodiments 11 to 14 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the apparatus is a base station or a portion thereof.

[0257] Embodiment 16 is an apparatus configured to: transmit a random positioning request message; and process a received random positioning response message to determine an estimated location coordinate.

[0258] Embodiment 17 includes the subject matter of embodiment 16 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the estimated location coordinates are determined based on a positioning reference signal and one or more measured signal location parameters (SLPs).

[0259] Embodiment 18 includes the subject matter of embodiment 17 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the SLP measures on the downlink, uplink, or both.

[0260] Embodiment 19 includes the subject matter of embodiment 17 or 18 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the positioning reference signal is a PRACH, an SRS, or a ranging signal.

[0261] Embodiment 20 includes the subject matter of any of Embodiments 16 to 19 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the apparatus is user equipment or a portion thereof.

[0262] Embodiment 21 is an apparatus configured to: process a received random positioning request message; and transmit a random positioning response message to determine an estimated location coordinate.

[0263] Embodiment 22 includes the subject matter of embodiment 21 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the estimated location coordinates are determined based on a positioning reference signal and one or more measured signal location parameters (SLPs).

[0264] Embodiment 23 includes the subject matter of embodiment 22 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the SLP measures on the downlink, uplink, or both.

[0265] Embodiment 24 includes the subject matter of embodiment 22 or 23 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the positioning reference signal is a PRACH, an SRS, or a ranging signal.

[0266] Embodiment 25 includes the subject matter of any one of Embodiments 21 to 24 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the apparatus is a base station or a portion thereof.

[0267] Embodiment 26 is a method comprising: transmitting or causing transmission of a random positioning request message; and processing or causing processing of a received random positioning response message to determine an estimated position coordinate.

[0268] Embodiment 27 includes the subject matter described in accordance with embodiment 26 or some other embodiments described herein, and also includes determining or causing determination of estimated position coordinates based on the positioning reference signal and one or more measured signal location parameters (SLP).

[0269] Embodiment 28 includes the subject matter of Embodiment 27 or some other embodiments herein, further comprising measuring or causing measurement of SLP on the downlink, uplink, or both.

[0270] Embodiment 29 includes the subject matter of embodiment 27 or 28 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the positioning reference signal is a PRACH, an SRS, or a ranging signal.

[0271] Embodiment 30 includes the subject matter of any one of Embodiments 6 to 9 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method is performed in whole or in part by user equipment or a portion thereof.

[0272] Embodiment 31 is a method comprising: processing or causing processing of a received random positioning request message; and transmitting or causing transmission of a random positioning response message to determine an estimated position coordinate.

[0273] Embodiment 32 includes the subject matter described in accordance with embodiment 31 or some other embodiments described herein, and also includes determining or causing determination of estimated position coordinates based on the positioning reference signal and one or more measured signal location parameters (SLP).

[0274] Embodiment 33 includes the subject matter described in accordance with embodiment 32 or some other embodiments herein, and also includes measuring or causing measurement of SLP on the downlink, uplink, or both.

[0275] Embodiment 34 includes the subject matter of embodiment 32 or 33 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the positioning reference signal is a PRACH, an SRS, or a ranging signal.

[0276] Embodiment 35 includes the subject matter described in accordance with any one of embodiments 31 to 34 or some other embodiments herein, wherein the method is performed in whole or in part by a base station or a portion thereof.

[0277] Embodiment Z01 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 35, or any other method or process described herein.

[0278] Embodiment Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method according to or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 35 or any other method or process described herein.

[0279] Embodiment Z03 may include an apparatus comprising logic components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of a method according to or related to any of Embodiments 1 to 35, or any other method or process described herein.

[0280] Embodiment Z04 may include a method, technique or process described or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 35, or a portion or component thereof.

[0281] Embodiment Z05 may include a device comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media, wherein the one or more computer-readable media include instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a method, technique, or process, or a portion thereof, described in or related to any one of Embodiments 1 to 35.

[0282] Embodiment Z06 may include a signal according to or related to any one of embodiments 1 to 35, or a portion or component thereof.

[0283] Embodiment Z07 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0284] Embodiment Z08 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0285] Embodiment Z09 may include a system for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0286] Embodiment Z10 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0287] Unless explicitly stated otherwise, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more embodiments provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the various embodiments.

[0288] Abbreviations and terms

[0289] For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations may be applied to the examples and implementations discussed herein but are not intended to be limiting.

[0290] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0291] 4G Fourth Generation

[0292] 5G Fifth Generation

[0293] 5GC 5G Core Network

[0294] ACK

[0295] AF Application Function

[0296] AM Confirmation Mode

[0297] AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate

[0298] AMF Access and Mobility Management Function

[0299] AN Access Network

[0300] ANR Automatic Neighbor Relation

[0301] AP application protocol, antenna port, access point

[0302] API Application Programming Interface

[0303] APN Access Point Name

[0304] ARP Assignment Reserve Priority

[0305] ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

[0306] AS Access Layer

[0307] ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation One

[0308] AUSF authentication server function

[0309] AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

[0310] BCH Broadcast Channel

[0311] BER Bit Error Rate

[0312] BFD Beam Fault Detection

[0313] BLER Block Error Rate

[0314] BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying

[0315] BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server

[0316] BSS Business Support System

[0317] BS Base Station

[0318] BSR Buffer Status Report

[0319] BW Bandwidth

[0320] BWP Bandwidth Part

[0321] C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0322] CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority

[0323] CAPEX Capital Expenditure

[0324] CBRA Contention-based random access

[0325] CC component carrier, country code, encryption checksum

[0326] CCA Clear Channel Assessment

[0327] CCE Control Channel Element

[0328] CCCH Common Control Channel

[0329] CE Coverage Enhancement

[0330] CDM Content Delivery Network

[0331] CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

[0332] CFRA Contention-free random access

[0333] CG Cell Group

[0334] Cl cell identifier

[0335] CID Cell ID (eg, positioning method)

[0336] CIM Common Information Model

[0337] CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio

[0338] CK Cryptographic Key

[0339] CM connection management, conditional enforcement

[0340] CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service

[0341] CMD command

[0342] CMS Cloud Management System

[0343] CO Conditional optional

[0344] CoMP Coordinated Multi-Point Transmission

[0345] CORESET Control Resource Set

[0346] COTS Commercial Off-the-Shelf

[0347] CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Attachment Point

[0348] CPD Connection Point Descriptor

[0349] CPE user terminal equipment

[0350] CPICH Common Pilot Channel

[0351] CQI Channel Quality Indicator

[0352] CPU CSI processing unit, central processing unit

[0353] C / R Command / Response field bit

[0354] CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN

[0355] CRB Common Resource Block

[0356] CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check

[0357] CRI Channel State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS Resource Indicator

[0358] C-RNTI Cell RNTI

[0359] CS Circuit Switched

[0360] CSAR Cloud Service Archive

[0361] CSI Channel State Information

[0362] CSI-IM CSI interference measurement

[0363] CSI-RS CSI reference signal

[0364] CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power

[0365] CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal reception quality

[0366] CSI-SINR CSI signal to interference plus noise ratio

[0367] CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access

[0368] CSMA / CA CSMA with Collision Avoidance

[0369] CSS Common Search Space, Cell Specific Search Space

[0370] CTS Clear to Send

[0371] CW codeword

[0372] CWS Contention Window Size

[0373] D2D Device to Device

[0374] DC dual connection, direct current

[0375] DCI Downlink Control Information

[0376] DF deployment preferences

[0377] DL Downlink

[0378] DMTF Distributed Management Task Force

[0379] DPDK Data Plane Development Kit

[0380] DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal

[0381] DN Data Network

[0382] DRB Data Radio Bearer

[0383] DRS Discovery Reference Signal

[0384] DRX Discontinuous Reception

[0385] DSL Domain Specific Language Digital Subscriber Line

[0386] DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer

[0387] DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot

[0388] E-LAN ​​Ethernet Local Area Network

[0389] E2E End to End

[0390] ECCA Extended Clear Channel Assessment, Extended CCA

[0391] ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE

[0392] ED Energy Detection

[0393] EDGE Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)

[0394] EGMF exposes governance management functions

[0395] EGPRS Enhanced GPRS

[0396] EIR Equipment Identity Register

[0397] eLAA Enhanced License Assisted Access, enhanced LAA

[0398] EM Component Manager

[0399] eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband

[0400] EMS Component Management System

[0401] eNB Evolved Node B, E-UTRAN Node B

[0402] EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity

[0403] EPC Evolved Packet Core

[0404] EPDCCH Enhanced PDCCH, Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0405] EPRE Energy per resource element

[0406] EPS Evolved Packet System

[0407] EREG Enhanced REG, Enhanced Resource Element Group

[0408] ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute

[0409] ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System

[0410] eUICC embedded UICC, embedded universal integrated circuit card

[0411] E-UTRA Evolved UTRA

[0412] E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN

[0413] EV2X Enhanced V2X

[0414] F1AP F1 Application Protocol

[0415] F1-C F1 control plane interface

[0416] F1-U F1 User Plane Interface

[0417] FACCH Fast Associated Control Channel

[0418] FACCH / F Fast Associated Control Channel / Full Rate

[0419] FACCH / H Fast Associated Control Channel / Half Rate

[0420] FACH Forward Access Channel

[0421] FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signalling Channel

[0422] FB Function Block

[0423] FBI Feedback

[0424] FCC Federal Communications Commission

[0425] FCCH Frequency Correction Channel

[0426] FDD Frequency Division Duplex

[0427] FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0428] FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0429] FE Front End

[0430] FEC Forward Error Correction

[0431] FFS For further study

[0432] FFT Fast Fourier Transform

[0433] feLAA Further Enhanced Authorization Assisted Access, Further Enhanced LAA

[0434] FN Frame Number

[0435] FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array

[0436] FR Frequency Range

[0437] G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0438] GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network

[0439] GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node

[0440] GLONASS GLObal'naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Chinese: Global Navigation Satellite System

[0441] gNB Next Generation Node B

[0442] gNB-CU gNB centralized unit, next generation Node B centralized unit

[0443] gNB-DU gNB distributed unit, next generation Node B distributed unit

[0444] GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

[0445] GPRS General Packet Radio Service

[0446] GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Mobile Experts Group

[0447] GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0448] GTP-U User Plane GPRS Tunneling Protocol

[0449] GTS Go to sleep signal (related to WUS)

[0450] GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier

[0451] GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identifier

[0452] HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request

[0453] HANDO, HO switch

[0454] HFN Hyperframe Number

[0455] HHO Hard Handover

[0456] HLR Home Location Register

[0457] HN Home Network

[0458] HO Switchover

[0459] HPLMN Local Public Land Mobile Network

[0460] HSDPA High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access

[0461] HSN Hopping Sequence Number

[0462] HSPA High Speed ​​Packet Access

[0463] HSS Home Subscriber Server

[0464] HSUPA High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access

[0465] HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol

[0466] HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http / 1.1 over SSL, i.e., port 443)

[0467] I-Block Information Block

[0468] ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identifier

[0469] ICIC Inter-cell Interference Coordination

[0470] ID

[0471] IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform

[0472] IE Information Elements

[0473] IBE In-Band Emission

[0474] IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

[0475] IEI Information Element Identifier

[0476] IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length

[0477] IETF Internet Engineering Task Force

[0478] IF Infrastructure

[0479] IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia

[0480] IMC IMS credentials

[0481] IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity

[0482] IMGI International Mobile Group Identity

[0483] IMPI IP Multimedia Private Identity

[0484] IMPU IP Multimedia Public Identity

[0485] IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem

[0486] IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0487] IoT

[0488] IP Internet Protocol

[0489] Ipsec IP security, Internet Protocol security

[0490] IP-CAN IP connection access network

[0491] IP-M IP Multicast

[0492] IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4

[0493] IPv6 Internet Protocol version 6

[0494] IR

[0495] IS Synchronization

[0496] IRP Integration Reference Point

[0497] ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

[0498] ISIM IM Service Identity Module

[0499] ISO International Organization for Standardization

[0500] ISP Internet Service Provider

[0501] IWF interworking function

[0502] I-WLAN Intercommunication WLAN

[0503] K convolutional code constraint length, USIM personal key

[0504] kB kilobyte (1000 bytes)

[0505] Kbps Kilobits per second

[0506] Kc encryption key

[0507] Ki Personal user authentication key

[0508] KPI Key Performance Indicator

[0509] KQI Key Quality Indicator

[0510] KSI Key Set Identifier

[0511] Ksps Kilosymbols per second

[0512] KVM Kernel Virtual Machine

[0513] L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)

[0514] L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power

[0515] L2 Layer 2 (Data Link Layer)

[0516] L3 Layer 3 (Network Layer)

[0517] LAA Authorized Assisted Access

[0518] LAN Local Area Network

[0519] LBT Listen before you speak

[0520] LCM Lifecycle Management

[0521] LCR Low Chip Rate

[0522] LCS Location Services

[0523] LCID Logical Channel ID

[0524] LI layer indicator

[0525] LLC Logical Link Control, Low Layer Compatibility

[0526] LPLMN Local PLMN

[0527] LPP LTE Positioning Protocol

[0528] LSB Least Significant Bit

[0529] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0530] LWA LTE-WLAN Aggregation

[0531] LWIP LTE / WLAN radio level integration with IPsec tunneling

[0532] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0533] M2M Machine to Machine

[0534] MAC Media Access Control (protocol layer content)

[0535] MAC Message Authentication Code (security / encrypted content)

[0536] MAC-A MAC for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3 context)

[0537] MAC-I MAC for data integrity of signalling messages (TSG T WG3 context)

[0538] MANO Management and Orchestration

[0539] MBMS Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service

[0540] MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service Single Frequency Network

[0541] MCC Mobile Country Code

[0542] MCG Master Cell Group

[0543] MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time

[0544] MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme

[0545] MDAF Management Data Analysis Function

[0546] MDAS Management Data Analysis Service

[0547] MDT Minimized Drive Test

[0548] ME Mobile Equipment

[0549] MeNB Master eNB

[0550] MER Message Error Rate

[0551] MGL Measurement Gap Length

[0552] MGRP measurement gap repetition period

[0553] MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base

[0554] MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

[0555] MLC Mobile Location Center

[0556] MM Mobility Management

[0557] MME Mobility Management Entity

[0558] MN Master Node

[0559] MO measurement object, mobile station initiated

[0560] MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast Channel

[0561] MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0562] MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0563] MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access Channel

[0564] MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0565] MPLS Multi-Protocol Label Switching

[0566] MS Mobile Station

[0567] MSB Most Significant Bit

[0568] MSC Mobile Switching Center

[0569] MSI minimum system information, MCH scheduling information

[0570] MSID Mobile Station Identifier

[0571] MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number

[0572] MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number

[0573] MT Mobile Station Termination, Mobile Terminal

[0574] MTC Machine Type Communication

[0575] mMTC Massive MTC, Massive Machine Type Communication

[0576] MU-MIMO Multi-User MIMO

[0577] MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS

[0578] NACK Negative Acknowledgement

[0579] NAI Network Access Identifier

[0580] NAS Non-Access Stratum

[0581] NCT Network Connection Topology

[0582] NEC network capabilities exposed

[0583] NE-DC NR-E-UTRA dual connectivity

[0584] NEF Network Exposure Function

[0585] NF Network Function

[0586] NFP Network Forwarding Path

[0587] NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor

[0588] NFV Network Function Virtualization

[0589] NFVI NFV Infrastructure

[0590] NFVO NFV Orchestrator

[0591] NG Next Generation

[0592] NGEN-DC NG-RAN, E-UTRA-NR dual connectivity

[0593] NM Network Manager

[0594] NMS Network Management System

[0595] N-PoP Network Point of Presence

[0596] NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB

[0597] NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast Channel

[0598] NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0599] NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0600] NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access Channel

[0601] NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0602] NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal

[0603] NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal

[0604] NR New Radio, Neighbor Relations

[0605] NRF NF Repository Functionality

[0606] NRS Narrowband Reference Signal

[0607] NS Network Services

[0608] NSA Non-standalone operation mode

[0609] NSD Network Service Descriptor

[0610] NSR Network Service Record

[0611] NSSAI Network Slice Selection Assistance Information

[0612] S-NNSAI Single NSSAI

[0613] NSSF network slice selection function

[0614] NW Network

[0615] NWUS Narrowband wake-up signal, narrowband WUS

[0616] NZP Non Zero Power

[0617] O&M Operation and Maintenance

[0618] ODU2 Optical Channel Data Unit - Type 2

[0619] OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

[0620] OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0621] OOB Out of Band

[0622] OOS Out of Sync

[0623] OPEX Operational Expenses

[0624] OSI Other System Information

[0625] OSS Operation Support System

[0626] OTA Air

[0627] PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio

[0628] PAR Peak to Average Ratio

[0629] PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

[0630] PC Power Control, Personal Computer

[0631] PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC

[0632] Pcell Primary cell

[0633] PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identifier

[0634] PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function

[0635] PCF Policy Control Function

[0636] PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function

[0637] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence Protocol Layer

[0638] PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

[0639] PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol

[0640] PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network

[0641] PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

[0642] PDU Protocol Data Unit

[0643] PEI Permanent Equipment Identifier

[0644] PFD Packet Flow Description

[0645] P-GW PDN Gateway

[0646] PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel

[0647] PHY Physical Layer

[0648] PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

[0649] PIN Personal Identification Number

[0650] PM performance measurement

[0651] PMI Precoding matrix indicator

[0652] PNF Physical Network Function

[0653] PNFD Physical Network Functional Descriptor

[0654] PNFR Physical Network Function Record

[0655] POC Mobile Intercom Service

[0656] PP, PTP point to point

[0657] PPP Point-to-Point Protocol

[0658] PRACH Physical RACH

[0659] PRB Physical Resource Block

[0660] PRG Physical Resource Group

[0661] ProSe proximity services, proximity-based services

[0662] PRS Positioning Reference Signal

[0663] PRR Packet Receive Radio

[0664] PS Packet Service

[0665] PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel

[0666] PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel

[0667] PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel

[0668] PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel

[0669] PSCell Primary SCell

[0670] PSS Primary Synchronization Signal

[0671] PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network

[0672] PT-RS Phase Tracking Reference Signal

[0673] PTT Push to Talk

[0674] PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel

[0675] PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

[0676] QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

[0677] QCI QoS Class Identifier

[0678] QCL Quasi-Co-sited

[0679] QFI QoS flow ID, QoS flow identifier

[0680] QoS Quality of Service

[0681] QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying

[0682] QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System

[0683] RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI

[0684] RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst

[0685] RACH Random Access Channel

[0686] RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service

[0687] RAN Radio Access Network

[0688] RAND random number (for authentication)

[0689] RAR Random Access Response

[0690] RAT Radio Access Technology

[0691] RAU Routing Area Update

[0692] RB Resource Block, Radio Bearer

[0693] RBG Resource Block Group

[0694] REG Resource Element Group

[0695] Rel version

[0696] REQ Request

[0697] RF

[0698] RI Rank Indicator

[0699] RIV Resource Indicator Value

[0700] RL Radio Link

[0701] RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control Layer

[0702] RLC AM RLC Acknowledgement Mode

[0703] RLC UM RLC Unacknowledged Mode

[0704] RLF Radio Link Failure

[0705] RLM Radio Link Monitoring

[0706] RLM-RS RLM reference signal

[0707] RM Registration Management

[0708] RMC Reference Measurement Channel

[0709] RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information

[0710] RN Relay Node

[0711] RNC Radio Network Controller

[0712] RNL Radio Network Layer

[0713] RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0714] ROHC Robust Header Compression

[0715] RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control Layer

[0716] RRM Radio Resource Management

[0717] RS reference signal

[0718] RSRP Reference Signal Received Power

[0719] RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality

[0720] RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator

[0721] RSU Road Side Unit

[0722] RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference

[0723] RTP Real Time Protocol

[0724] RTS Ready to send

[0725] RTT Round Trip Time

[0726] Rx Receive, Receiver

[0727] S1AP S1 Application Protocol

[0728] S1-MME is used for S1 control plane

[0729] S1-U S1 for user plane

[0730] S-GW Service Gateway

[0731] S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identifier

[0732] S-TMSI SAE temporary mobile station identifier

[0733] SA Standalone Operation Mode

[0734] SAE system architecture evolution

[0735] SAP Service Access Point

[0736] SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor

[0737] SAPI Service Access Point Identifier

[0738] SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC

[0739] SCell Secondary Cell

[0740] SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access

[0741] SCG Secondary Cell Group

[0742] SCM Security Context Management

[0743] SCS Subcarrier Spacing

[0744] SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol

[0745] SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation Protocol Layer

[0746] SDL Supplemental Downlink

[0747] SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function

[0748] SDP Service Discovery Protocol (Bluetooth related)

[0749] SDSF structured data storage function

[0750] SDU Service Data Unit

[0751] SEAF Security Anchoring Function

[0752] SeNB Secondary eNB

[0753] SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy

[0754] SFI Slot Format Indicator

[0755] SFTD Space Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and Frame Timing Difference

[0756] SFN System Frame Number

[0757] SgNB

[0758] SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

[0759] S-GW Service Gateway

[0760] SI System Information

[0761] SI-RNTI System Information RNTI

[0762] SIB System Information Block

[0763] SIM Subscriber Identity Module

[0764] SIP Session Initiation Protocol

[0765] SiP System in Package

[0766] SL Side Link

[0767] SLA Service Level Agreement

[0768] SM Session Management

[0769] SMF session management functions

[0770] SMS Short Message Service

[0771] SMSF SMS Function

[0772] SMTC SSB-based measurement timing configuration

[0773] SN Secondary Node, Serial Number

[0774] SoC System on Chip

[0775] SON Self-Organizing Network

[0776] SpCell Special Cell

[0777] SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-persistent CSI RNTI

[0778] SPS Semi-Persistent Scheduling

[0779] SQN Serial Number

[0780] SR Scheduling Request

[0781] SRB Signalling Radio Bearer

[0782] SRS Sounding Reference Signal

[0783] SS Sync Signal

[0784] SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS / PBCH Block

[0785] SSBRI SS / PBCH block resource indicator, synchronization signal block resource indicator

[0786] SSC Session and Service Continuity

[0787] SS-RSRP Reference signal received power based on synchronization signal

[0788] SS-RSRQ Reference signal reception quality based on synchronization signal

[0789] SS-SINR Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio based on synchronization signal

[0790] SSS Secondary synchronization signal

[0791] SSSG Search Space Cluster

[0792] SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator

[0793] SST Slice / Service Type

[0794] SU-MIMO Single User MIMO

[0795] SUL Supplementary Uplink

[0796] TA Timing Advance, Tracking Area

[0797] TAC Tracking Area Code

[0798] TAG Timing Advance Group

[0799] TAU Tracking Area Updates

[0800] TB Transfer Block

[0801] TBS Transport Block Size

[0802] TBD To be defined

[0803] TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator

[0804] TCP transport communication protocol

[0805] TDD Time Division Duplex

[0806] TDM Time Division Multiplexing

[0807] TDMA Time Division Multiple Access

[0808] TE Terminal Equipment

[0809] TEID Tunnel End Point Identifier

[0810] TFT Business Flow Template

[0811] TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

[0812] TNL Transport Network Layer

[0813] TPC Transmit Power Control

[0814] TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator

[0815] TR Technical Report

[0816] TRP, TRxP Transmission Receive Point

[0817] TRS Tracking Reference Signal

[0818] Trx Transceiver

[0819] TS Technical Specifications, Technical Standards

[0820] TTI Transmission Time Interval

[0821] Tx transmission, transmitter

[0822] U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity

[0823] UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter

[0824] UCI Uplink Control Information

[0825] UE User Equipment

[0826] UDM Unified Data Management

[0827] UDP User Datagram Protocol

[0828] UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function

[0829] UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card

[0830] UL Uplink

[0831] UM Unconfirmed Mode

[0832] UML Unified Modeling Language

[0833] UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

[0834] UP User Plane

[0835] UPF User Plane Function

[0836] URI Uniform Resource Identifier

[0837] URL Uniform Resource Locator

[0838] URLLC Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications

[0839] USB Universal Serial Bus

[0840] USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module

[0841] USS UE-specific search space

[0842] UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

[0843] UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

[0844] UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot

[0845] V2I Vehicle to Infrastructure

[0846] V2P Vehicle to Pedestrian

[0847] V2V Vehicle to Vehicle

[0848] V2X Vehicle to Everything

[0849] VIM Virtualization Infrastructure Manager

[0850] VL Virtual Link

[0851] VLAN Virtual LAN, Virtual Local Area Network

[0852] VM Virtual Machine

[0853] VNF Virtualized Network Function

[0854] VNFFG VNF forwarding graph

[0855] VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor

[0856] VNFM VNF Manager

[0857] VoIP Voice over IP, Voice over Internet Protocol

[0858] VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network

[0859] VPN Virtual Private Network

[0860] VRB Virtual Resource Block

[0861] WiMAX Global Interoperability for Microwave Access

[0862] WLAN Wireless Local Area Network

[0863] WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network

[0864] WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network

[0865] X2-C X2 control plane

[0866] X2-U X2 user plane

[0867] XML Extensible Markup Language

[0868] XRES Expected User Response

[0869] XOR

[0870] ZC Zadoff-Chu

[0871] ZP Zero Power

[0872] For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply to the examples and implementations discussed herein but are not intended to be limiting.

[0873] As used herein, the term "circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a hardware component such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) configured to provide the described functions, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc. In some embodiments, the circuit may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functions. The term "circuit" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements and a program code for performing the functions of the program code (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system). In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuit.

[0874] As used herein, the term "processor circuit" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuit capable of sequentially and automatically performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations or recording, storing, and / or transmitting digital data. The term "processor circuit" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (such as program code, software modules, and / or functional processes). The terms "application circuit" and / or "baseband circuit" may be considered synonymous with "processor circuit" and may be referred to as "processor circuit".

[0875] As used herein, the term "interface circuit" refers to a circuit that enables, is a part of, or includes information exchange between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuit" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, etc.

[0876] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device that has radio communication capabilities and can describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. In addition, the terms "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous and may be referred to as a client, mobile phone, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. In addition, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device that includes a wireless communication interface.

[0877] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to physical or virtualized equipment and / or infrastructure for providing wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with and / or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN equipment, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, etc.

[0878] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computer devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0879] As used herein, the terms "appliance", "computer appliance", etc. refer to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. A "virtual appliance" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a device equipped with a hypervisor that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or is otherwise dedicated to providing specific computing resources.

[0880] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and / or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as a computer device, a mechanical device, a memory space, a processor / CPU time and / or a processor / CPU usage rate, a processor and accelerator load, a hardware time or usage rate, a power supply, an input / output operation, a port or a network socket, a channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage rate, storage, a network, a database and an application, a unit of work, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage and / or network resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to an application, a device, a system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources that a computer device / system can access via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any kind of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing resources and / or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services that can be accessed through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and can be clearly identified.

[0881] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any tangible or intangible transmission medium for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to "communication channel", "data communication channel", "transmission channel", "data transmission channel", "access channel", "data access channel", "link", "data link", "carrier", "radio frequency carrier" and / or any other similar terms representing a path or medium through which data is transmitted. In addition, the term "link" as used herein refers to a connection between two devices for transmitting and receiving information over a RAT.

[0882] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during the execution of program code.

[0883] The terms "coupled," "communicatively coupled," and their derivatives are used herein. The term "coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, may mean that two or more elements are in indirect contact with each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements said to be coupled to each other. The term "directly coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The term "communicatively coupled" may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with each other by means of communication, including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, etc.

[0884] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains the contents.

[0885] The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0886] The term "SSB" refers to SS / PBCH block.

[0887] The term "primary cell" refers to an MCG cell operating on a primary frequency, where the UE either performs an initial connection establishment procedure or initiates a connection re-establishment procedure.

[0888] The term "primary SCG cell" refers to an SCG cell in which a UE performs random access when reconfiguration is performed using a synchronization procedure for DC operation.

[0889] The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources on top of a special cell for a UE configured with CA.

[0890] The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of serving cells including a PSCell for a UE configured with DC and zero or more secondary cells.

[0891] The term "serving cell" refers to a primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED without CA / DC configured, where there is only one serving cell including the primary cell.

[0892] The term "serving cell" refers to a cell group including a special cell for a UE configured with CA and in RRC_CONNECTED and all secondary cells.

[0893] The term "special cell" refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term "special cell" refers to the Pcell.

Claims

1. A base station BS used in a wireless network, the BS comprising: One or more processors configured to: receiving a positioning request from a user equipment UE when the UE is in a radio resource control idle RRC_IDLE or inactive RRC_INACTIVE state, characterized in that the positioning request is implemented in a random access channel RACH message A MsgA, wherein the MsgA includes a physical random access channel PRACH preamble and a payload, and the payload includes a type of requested positioning procedure; and providing a positioning response to the UE, wherein the positioning response is implemented in a RACH message B MsgB, MsgA and MsgB are part of the 2-step RACH procedure.

2. The BS of claim 1, wherein the MsgA comprises at least one of a request for additional allocation of reference signals, one or more signal location parameter measurements, a UE identity, or a requested type of positioning reference resource. 3 . The BS of claim 1 , wherein the requested type of positioning procedure comprises a downlink-only (DL) positioning technique, an uplink-only (UL) positioning technique, or both a DL and UL positioning technique.

4. The BS of claim 1 , wherein the positioning response comprises estimated coordinates of the UE, a metric characterizing a quality of the coordinate estimate, a timestamp indicating a reception time of one or more reference signals, a request for additional positioning measurements, a configuration or activation of additional resources for transmission of positioning reference signals, or location information associated with downlink (DL) positioning reference resources.

5. The BS of claim 1, wherein the MsgB includes at least one of an estimated position of the UE, a metric characterizing the quality or uncertainty of the estimated position, a timestamp indicating a reception time of the MsgA by the BS, a timestamp indicating a transmission time of the MsgB by the BS, a request for additional positioning measurements, or location information associated with a DL positioning reference resource.

6. The BS of claim 5, wherein the estimated location of the UE is determined by a location function entity and provided to the BS.

7. The BS of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to provide an uplink (UL) positioning reference signal (PRS) resource configuration to the UE, and receive UL PRS data from the UE, the UL PRS data being determined at least in part based on the UL PRS resource configuration.

8. The BS of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to provide a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRC) resource configuration to the UE, and wherein the MsgA includes a DL PRS measurement report, the DL PRS measurement report being determined at least in part based on the DL PRC resource configuration.

9. The BS of claim 1 , wherein the positioning response comprises an uplink (UL) positioning reference signal (PRS) resource configuration, and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive UL PRS data from the UE, the UL PRS data being determined at least in part based on the UL PRS resource configuration.

10. A method for determining an estimated location of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network, the method comprising: receiving, by a base station BS, a positioning request from the UE when the UE is in a radio resource control idle RRC_IDLE or inactive RRC_INACTIVE state, characterized in that the positioning request is implemented in a random access channel RACH message A MsgA, wherein the MsgA comprises a physical random access channel PRACH preamble and a payload, wherein the payload comprises a type of requested positioning procedure; and The BS provides a positioning response to the UE, wherein the positioning response is implemented in a RACH message B MsgB, MsgA and MsgB are part of the 2-step RACH procedure.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: The BS provides the UE with an uplink UL positioning reference signal PRS resource configuration, and UL PRS data is received by the BS, the UL PRS data being determined based at least in part on the UL PRS resource configuration.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising providing, by the BS, a downlink (DL) PRC resource configuration to the UE, wherein the MsgA comprises a DL PRS measurement report, the DL PRS measurement report being determined at least in part based on the DL PRC resource configuration.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the positioning response comprises an uplink (UL) PRS resource configuration, and wherein the method further comprises receiving, by the BS, UL PRS data from the UE, the UL PRS data being determined at least in part based on the UL PRS resource configuration.

14. One or more computer readable media CRM, said one or more CRM comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of a base station BS, cause said BS to: A positioning request is received from a user equipment UE when the UE is in a radio resource control idle RRC_IDLE or inactive RRC_INACTIVE state, characterized in that: The positioning request is implemented in a random access channel RACH message A MsgA, wherein the MsgA includes a physical random access channel PRACH preamble and a payload, wherein the payload includes a type of requested positioning procedure; and providing a positioning response to the UE, wherein the positioning response is implemented in a RACH message B MsgB, MsgA and MsgB are part of the 2-step RACH procedure.

15. The one or more CRMs of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the BS to provide an uplink (UL) positioning reference signal (PRS) resource configuration to the UE, and to receive UL PRS data from the UE, the UL PRS data being determined at least in part based on the UL PRS resource configuration.

16. The one or more CRMs of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the BS to provide a downlink (DL) PRC resource configuration to the UE, and wherein the MsgA comprises a DL PRS measurement report determined at least in part based on the DL PRC resource configuration.

17. The one or more CRMs of claim 14, wherein the positioning response includes a UL PRS resource configuration, and wherein the instructions further cause the BS to receive UL PRS data from the UE, the UL PRS data being determined based at least in part on the UL PRS resource configuration.

18. One or more CRMs according to claim 14, wherein the MsgB includes at least one of an estimated position of the UE, a metric characterizing the quality or uncertainty of the estimated position, a timestamp indicating a reception time of the MsgA, a timestamp indicating a transmission time of the MsgB, a request for additional positioning measurements, or location information associated with a DL positioning reference resource.

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