Mobility analysis exchange between network entities

Abstract

Aspects presented herein may improve the efficiency, accuracy, and / or latency of a UE positioning procedure by enabling mobility analysis associated with a UE or set of UEs to be exchanged between a location server and a NWDAF directly or via another network entity. In one aspect, a first network entity sends a request for mobility data associated with a set of UEs, where the request for the mobility data is sent for a second network entity associated with mobility data analysis. The first network entity receives an indication of the mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request. The first network performs at least one positioning function for at least one UE of the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. non-provisional patent application serial number 17 / 814,583, filed on July 25, 2022, entitled “MOBILITY ANALYTICS EXCHANGEBETWEEN NETWORK ENTITIES,” which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates generally to positioning systems, and more particularly to positioning systems involving mobility analysis exchanges. Background Art

[0004] Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide a variety of telecommunication services, such as telephony, video, data, messaging, and broadcast. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources. Examples of such multiple access technologies include code division multiple access (CDMA) systems, time division multiple access (TDMA) systems, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) systems, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and time division synchronous code division multiple access (TD-SCDMA) systems.

[0005] These multiple access technologies have been adopted in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate at city, country, region, and even global levels. An example telecommunication standard is 5G New Radio (NR). 5G NR is part of the continuous mobile broadband evolution promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to meet new requirements associated with latency, reliability, security, scalability (e.g., with the Internet of Things (IoT)) and other requirements. 5G NR includes services associated with enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine type communication (mMTC), and ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). Certain aspects of 5G NR may be based on 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards. It is necessary to further improve 5G NR technology. In addition, these improvements may also be applicable to other multiple access technologies and telecommunication standards that employ these technologies. Summary of the invention

[0006] The following presents a summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of these aspects. This summary is not an extensive review of all envisioned aspects. This summary is neither intended to identify the key or important elements of all aspects, nor to describe the scope of any or all aspects. Its only purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to a more detailed description presented later.

[0007] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus sends a request for mobility data associated with a set of user equipment (UE), wherein the request for the mobility data is sent to a second network entity associated with mobility data analysis. The apparatus receives an indication of mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request. The apparatus performs at least one positioning function for at least one UE in the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data.

[0008] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method, a computer-readable medium, and an apparatus are provided. The apparatus receives a request for mobility data associated with a set of UEs, wherein the request for the mobility data is received from a first network entity, wherein the second network entity is associated with mobility data analysis. The apparatus sends an indication of the mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request, wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent for the first network entity.

[0009] To achieve the aforementioned and related purposes, one or more aspects include the features fully described below and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the accompanying drawings set forth in detail some exemplary features of one or more aspects. However, these features are only indicative of only some of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects can be employed. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network.

[0011] Figure 2A is a diagram illustrating an example of a first frame according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 2B is a diagram illustrating an example of downlink (DL) channels within a subframe according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0013] Figure 2C is a diagram illustrating an example of a second frame according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 2Dis a diagram illustrating an example of uplink (UL) channels within a subframe according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a base station and a user equipment (UE) in an access network.

[0016] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of UE positioning based on reference signal measurement.

[0017] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating example downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) resource prioritization in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0018] Fig. 6A is a diagram illustrating an example of joint Uu and side link (SL) positioning according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 6B is a diagram illustrating an example of SL positioning according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 6C is a diagram illustrating example joint Uu and SL positioning according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 7 is a communication flow illustrating an example Mobile Terminal Location Request (MT-LR) procedure for location services according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 8 is a communication flow illustrating an example Mobile Originated Location Request (MO-LR) procedure in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Fig. 9 is a communication flow illustrating an example MO-LR procedure according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] Fig.10 is a communication flow illustrating an example MT-LR procedure for location services according to various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Fig.11 is a communication flow 1100 illustrating an example MT-LR procedure for location services in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Fig.12 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication.

[0027] Fig.13 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication.

[0028] Fig.14are diagrams illustrating examples of hardware implementations for example apparatuses and / or network entities.

[0029] Fig.15 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication.

[0030] Fig.16 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication.

[0031] Fig.17 are diagrams illustrating examples of hardware implementations for example apparatuses and / or network entities. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] The various aspects presented herein can improve the efficiency, accuracy and / or latency of UE positioning procedures by enabling mobility analysis associated with a UE or a set of UEs to be exchanged between a location server and an NWDAF directly or via another network entity. For example, in one aspect of the present disclosure, a mobility analysis associated with a UE or a set of UEs can be exchanged between an LMF and an AMF associated with or communicating with an NWDAF, or between an LMF and an NWDAF for improving location services. In one aspect, the LMF may request and receive a mobility analysis to design different assistance data for a group of UEs identified by a mobility analysis function. For example, the LMF may obtain input that the NWDAF has identified a set of UEs in a queue, and the LMF may transmit the same assistance data to all UEs within the UE set. The assistance data may indicate which TRPs, PRS resource sets, PRS resources, and / or priorities to be included in the assistance data. On the other hand, an LMF participating in a sidelink positioning session may establish an SL group and use the UE group reported by the NWDAF to determine a set of UEs that are likely to move together. On the other hand, the LMF may use the "predicted mobility statistics" of a UE or a group of UEs to assign assistance data for an upcoming area based on the provided prediction. On the other hand, the LMF may use the "predicted mobility statistics" to select, configure and / or initiate one or more of the following: positioning method, positioning technique, pre-configuration of measurement gaps, pre-configuration of positioning processing windows, UE-based operation / positioning mode for UE assistance, expected RSTD window, and / or expected AoD / AoA window, etc.

[0033] The detailed description set forth below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings is a description of various configurations and does not represent the only configurations with which the concepts described herein can be practiced. In order to provide a thorough understanding of the various concepts, the specific embodiments include specific details. However, these concepts can be practiced without these specific details. In some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in block diagram form to avoid obscuring these concepts.

[0034] Several aspects of the telecommunication system are also presented with reference to various apparatuses and methods. These apparatuses and methods are described in the following detailed description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings by various blocks, components, circuits, processes, algorithms, etc. (collectively referred to as "elements"). These elements may be implemented using electronic hardware, computer software, or any combination thereof. Whether these elements are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0035] As an example, an element or any part of an element or any combination of elements can be implemented as a "processing system", which includes one or more processors. The example of a processor includes a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a central processing unit (CPU), an application processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a system on a chip (SoC), a baseband processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a state machine, a gate logic part, a discrete hardware circuit and other suitable hardware configured to perform various functionalities described throughout the present disclosure. One or more processors in a processing system can execute software. Whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language or other terms, software should be broadly interpreted as meaning instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subroutines, software components, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions or any combination thereof.

[0036] Therefore, in one or more example aspects, specific implementations and / or use cases, the described functions may be implemented with hardware, software, or any combination thereof. If implemented with software, the functions may be stored or encoded as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media. Storage media may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, such computer-readable media may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, other magnetic storage devices, combinations of these types of computer-readable media, or any other medium that can be used to store computer-executable code in the form of instructions or data structures that can be accessed by a computer.

[0037] Although various aspects, specific implementations and / or use cases are described in this application by the illustration of some examples, additional or different aspects, specific implementations and use cases may be generated in many different arrangements and scenarios. The various aspects, specific implementations and / or use cases described herein can be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, shapes, sizes and packaging arrangements. For example, aspects, specific implementations and / or use cases can be generated via integrated chip specific implementations and other devices based on non-module components (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication equipment, computing equipment, industrial equipment, retail / purchase equipment, medical equipment, artificial intelligence (AI) enabled devices, etc.). Although some examples may be specifically for use cases or applications, or may not be specifically for use cases or applications, the described examples may have a wide range of applicability. Aspects, specific implementations and / or use cases may be in the range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level specific implementations, and further to the range of aggregated, distributed or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems in conjunction with one or more technologies herein. In some practical environments, the equipment in conjunction with the various aspects and features described may also include additional components and features for implementing and practicing the various aspects claimed and described. For example, the transmission and reception of wireless signals necessarily include multiple components for analog and digital purposes (e.g., hardware components including antennas, RF chains, power amplifiers, modulators, buffers, processors, interleavers, adders / accumulators, etc.) The various techniques described herein can be practiced in a wide variety of devices, chip-level components, systems, distributed arrangements, aggregated or disaggregated components, end-user devices, etc., of various sizes, shapes, and configurations.

[0038] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G NR system) can be arranged with various components or constituent parts in a variety of ways. In a 5G NR system or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a radio access network (RAN) node, a core network node, a network element or a network equipment (such as a base station (BS), or one or more units (or one or more components) that perform base station functionality can be implemented in an aggregated architecture or a decomposed architecture. For example, a BS (such as a Node B (NB), an evolved NB (eNB), an NR BS, a 5G NB, an access point (AP), a transmit receive point (TRP) or a cell, etc.) can be implemented as an aggregated base station (also referred to as an independent BS or a monolithic BS) or a decomposed base station.

[0039] A converged base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A decomposed base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack physically or logically distributed between two or more units, such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed in one or more other RAN nodes. A DU may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of a CU, a DU, and a RU may be implemented as a virtual unit, i.e., a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit.

[0040] Base station operation or network design may take into account the aggregated nature of base station functionality. For example, a disaggregated base station may be used in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (network configuration such as that initiated by the O-RAN Alliance)), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). Decomposition may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing functionality of at least one unit, which may enable flexibility in network design. Individual units of a disaggregated base station or disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0041] Figure 1 1 is a diagram 100 illustrating an example of a wireless communication system and an access network. The illustrated wireless communication system includes a disaggregated base station architecture. The disaggregated base station architecture may include one or more CUs 110 that may communicate directly with a core network 120 via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 120 through one or more disaggregated base station units, such as a near real-time (near RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 125 via an E2 link, or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 115 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 105, or both. The CU 110 may communicate with one or more DUs 130 via corresponding midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DU 130 may communicate with one or more RUs 140 via corresponding fronthaul links. The RU 140 may communicate with corresponding UEs 104 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, a UE 104 may be served simultaneously by multiple RUs 140.

[0042] Each of the units (i.e., CU 110, DU 130, RU 140, and near-RT RIC 125, non-RT RIC 115, and SMO framework 105) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or send signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of these units or an associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interface of these units may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via a transmission medium. For example, these units may include a wired interface configured to receive or send signals to one or more of the other units on a wired transmission medium. Additionally, these units may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, transmitter, or transceiver (such as an RF transceiver) configured to receive or send signals, or both, to one or more of the other units on a wireless transmission medium.

[0043] In some aspects, CU 110 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by CU 110. CU 110 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some specific implementations, CU 110 may be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RA configuration, the CU-UP unit may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface (such as an E1 interface). As needed, CU 110 may be implemented to communicate with DU 130 for network control and signaling.

[0044] DU 130 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 140. In some aspects, DU 130 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.) depending at least in part on a functional split such as that defined by 3GPP. In some aspects, DU 130 may also host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by DU 130 or with control functions hosted by CU 110.

[0045] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 140. In some deployments, the RU 140 controlled by the DU 130 may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions or low PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.), or both, based at least in part on functional splitting (such as lower layer functional splitting). In such an architecture, the RU 140 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 104. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control plane and user plane communications with the RU 140 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 130. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 130 and the CU 110 in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0046] The SMO framework 105 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 105 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which may be managed via an operation and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 105 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 190) to perform network element lifecycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, CU 110, DU 130, RU 140, and near-RT RIC 125. In some specific implementations, the SMO framework 105 may communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN (such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 111) via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some specific implementations, the SMO framework 105 may communicate directly with one or more RUs 140 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 105 may also include a non-RT RIC 115 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 105 .

[0047] The non-RT RIC 115 may be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML) (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 125. The non-RT RIC 115 may be coupled to or communicate with the near-RT RIC 125 (such as via an A1 interface). The near-RT RIC 125 may be configured to include logic functions that enable near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions through an interface (such as via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 110, one or more DUs 130, or both, and the O-eNB with the near-RT RIC 125.

[0048] In some implementations, in order to generate an AI / ML model to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 125, the non-RT RIC 115 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information may be utilized by the near-RT RIC 125 and may be received from a non-network data source or from a network function at the SMO framework 105 or the non-RT RIC 115. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 115 or the near-RT RIC 125 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 115 may monitor long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 105 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via the creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0049] At least one of the CU 110, the DU 130, and the RU 140 may be referred to as a base station 102. Therefore, the base station 102 may include one or more of the CU 110, the DU 130, and the RU 140 (each component is indicated by a dotted line to indicate that each component may be included in the base station 102, or may not be included in the base station). The base station 102 provides an access point to the core network 120 for the UE 104. The base station 102 may include a macro cell (a high-power cellular base station) and / or a small cell (a low-power cellular base station). Small cells include femto cells, pico cells, and micro cells. A network including both small cells and macro cells may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home evolved Node B (eNB) (HeNB), which may provide services to a restricted group referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG). The communication link between RU 140 and UE 104 may include uplink (UL) (also known as reverse link) transmission from UE 104 to RU 140 and / or downlink (DL) (also known as forward link) transmission from RU 140 to UE 104. The communication link may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming and / or transmit diversity. The communication link may be through one or more carriers. For each carrier allocated in a carrier aggregation of up to Yx MHz (x component carriers) for transmission in each direction, the base station 102 / UE 104 may use a spectrum of up to Y MHz (e.g., 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz, 100MHz, 400MHz, etc.) bandwidth. The carriers may be adjacent to each other or may not be adjacent to each other. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to DL compared to UL). The component carrier may include a primary component carrier and one or more secondary component carriers. The primary component carrier may be referred to as a primary cell (PCell) and the secondary component carrier may be referred to as a secondary cell (SCell).

[0050] Some UEs 104 may communicate with each other using a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 158. The D2D communication link 158 may use DL / UL wireless wide area network (WWAN) spectrum. The D2D communication link 158 may use one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink discovery channel (PSDCH), a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), and a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH). The D2D communication may be through a variety of wireless D2D communication systems, such as, for example, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard, LTE, or NR.

[0051] The wireless communication system may also include a Wi-Fi AP 150 that communicates with a UE 104 (also referred to as a Wi-Fi station (STA)) via a communication link 154, for example, in a 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum, etc. When communicating in an unlicensed spectrum, the UE 104 / AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) to determine whether a channel is available prior to communication.

[0052] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). Although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes occurs with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and articles, although it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz–300 GHz) that is identified as the "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0053] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125GHz–24.25GHz). The bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, so the features of FR1 and / or FR2 can be effectively extended to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations to more than 52.6GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR2-2 (52.6GHz–71GHz), FR4 (71GHz–114.25GHz), and FR5 (114.25GHz–300GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0054] In view of the above, unless otherwise specified, if the term "6 GHz or less" is used in this document, it can broadly refer to frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specified, if the term "millimeter wave" is used in this document, it can broadly refer to frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, FR4, FR2-2 and / or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

[0055] The base station 102 and the UE 104 may each include multiple antennas (such as antenna elements, antenna panels, and / or antenna arrays) to facilitate beamforming. The base station 102 may send a beamformed signal 182 to the UE 104 in one or more transmit directions. The UE 104 may receive the beamformed signal from the base station 102 in one or more receive directions. The UE 104 may also send a beamformed signal 184 to the base station 102 in one or more transmit directions. The base station 102 may receive the beamformed signal from the UE 104 in one or more receive directions. The base station 102 / UE 104 may perform beam training to determine the best receive direction and transmit direction for each of the base station 102 / UE 104. The transmit direction and receive direction of the base station 102 may be the same or different. The transmit direction and receive direction of the UE 104 may be the same or different.

[0056] The base station 102 may include and / or be referred to as a gNB, a Node B, an eNB, an access point, a base transceiver station, a radio base station, a radio transceiver, a transceiver function, a basic service set (BSS), an extended service set (ESS), a transmit receive point (TRP), a network node, a network entity, a network equipment, or some other suitable term. The base station 102 may be implemented as an integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, a relay node, a sidelink node, an aggregated (monolithic) base station with a baseband unit (BBU) (including a CU and a DU) and a RU, or as a disaggregated base station including one or more of a CU, a DU, and / or a RU. A set of base stations that may include disaggregated base stations and / or aggregated base stations may be referred to as a next generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN).

[0057] The core network 120 may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) 161, a session management function (SMF) 162, a user plane function (UPF) 163, a unified data management (UDM) 164, one or more location servers 168, and other functional entities. AMF 161 is a control node that handles signaling between UE 104 and core network 120. AMF 161 supports registration management, connection management, mobility management, and other functions. SMF 162 supports session management and other functions. UPF 163 supports packet routing, packet forwarding, and other functions. UDM 164 supports the generation of authentication and key agreement (AKA) credentials, user identity handling, access authorization, and subscription management. One or more location servers 168 are illustrated as including a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 165 and a location management function (LMF) 166. However, in general, the one or more location servers 168 may include one or more location / positioning servers, which may include one or more of the GMLC 165, LMF 166, positioning determination entity (PDE), serving mobile location center (SMLC), mobile positioning center (MPC), etc. GMLC 165 and LMF 166 support UE location services. GMLC 165 provides an interface for clients / applications (e.g., emergency services) to access UE positioning information. LMF 166 receives measurement and assistance information from NG-RAN and UE 104 via AMF 161 to calculate the positioning of UE 104. NG-RAN may determine the positioning of UE 104 using one or more positioning methods. Positioning UE 104 may involve signal measurements, positioning estimates, and optional speed calculations based on these measurements. Signal measurements may be performed by UE 104 and / or serving base station 102. The measured signals may be based on a satellite positioning system (SPS) 170 (e.g., one or more of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), a global positioning system (GPS), a non-terrestrial network (NTN), or other satellite positioning / location systems), LTE signals, wireless local area network (WLAN) signals, Bluetooth signals, a terrestrial beacon system (TBS), sensor-based information (e.g., an atmospheric pressure sensor, a motion sensor), an NR enhanced cell ID (NR E-CID) method, NR signals (e.g., multi-round trip time (multi-RTT), DL angle of departure (DL-AoD), DL time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), UL time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), and UL angle of arrival (UL-AoA) positioning), and / or one or more of other systems / signals / sensors.

[0058] Examples of UE 104 include cellular phones, smart phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, laptops, personal digital assistants (PDAs), satellite radios, global positioning systems, multimedia devices, video devices, digital audio players (e.g., MP3 players), cameras, game consoles, tablet computers, smart devices, wearable devices, vehicles, electric meters, gas pumps, large or small kitchen appliances, healthcare equipment, implants, sensors / actuators, displays, or any other similarly functional devices. Some of the UEs 104 may be referred to as IoT devices (e.g., parking meters, gas pumps, toasters, vehicles, heart monitors, etc.). UE 104 may also be referred to as stations, mobile stations, subscriber stations, mobile units, subscriber units, wireless units, remote units, mobile devices, wireless devices, wireless communication devices, remote devices, mobile subscriber stations, access terminals, mobile terminals, wireless terminals, remote terminals, mobile phones, user agents, mobile clients, clients, or some other suitable terminology. In some scenarios, the term UE may also be applied to one or more supporting devices, such as in a device cluster arrangement. One or more of these devices may access the network collectively and / or individually.

[0059] Reference again Figure 1 In some aspects, the LMF 166 may be configured to send a request for mobility data associated with a set of UEs, wherein the request for mobility data is sent to a second network entity associated with mobility data analysis; receive an indication of mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request; and perform at least one positioning function for at least one UE in the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data (e.g., via the configuration ID association component 199). In some aspects, the NWDAF 196 may be configured to receive a request for mobility data associated with a set of UEs, wherein the request for mobility data is received from a first network entity, wherein the second network entity is associated with mobility data analysis; and send an indication of mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request, wherein the indication of mobility data is sent to the first network entity (e.g., via the mobility analysis process component 197).

[0060] Figure 2A FIG200 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first subframe within a 5G NR frame structure. Figure 2B FIG230 is a diagram illustrating an example of DL channels within a 5G NR subframe. Figure 2C FIG250 is a diagram illustrating an example of a second subframe within a 5G NR frame structure. Figure 2DFIG280 is a diagram illustrating an example of UL channels within a 5G NR subframe. The 5G NR frame structure may be frequency division duplex (FDD), where for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within that subcarrier set are dedicated to either DL or UL, or may be time division duplex (TDD), where for a particular set of subcarriers (carrier system bandwidth), subframes within that subcarrier set are dedicated to both DL and UL. Figure 2A , Figure 2C In the example provided, the 5G NR frame structure is assumed to be TDD, where subframe 4 is configured with slot format 28 (most of which are DL), where D is DL, U is UL, and F is flexible between DL / UL, and subframe 3 is configured with slot format 1 (all of which are UL). Although subframes 3 and 4 are shown as having slot formats 1 and 28, respectively, any particular subframe may be configured with any of the various available slot formats 0 to 61. Slot formats 0 and 1 are both DL and both UL, respectively. Other slot formats 2-61 include a mix of DL, UL, and flexible symbols. The slot format is configured for the UE via a received slot format indicator (SFI) (dynamically configured via DL control information (DCI) or semi-statically / statically configured via radio resource control (RRC) signaling). Note that the following description also applies to the 5G NR frame structure as TDD.

[0061] FIG. 2A to FIG. 2D The frame structure is illustrated, and various aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable to other wireless communication technologies that may have different frame structures and / or different channels. A frame (10ms) may be divided into 10 subframes of the same size (1ms). Each subframe may include one or more time slots. A subframe may also include a microslot, which may include 7, 4 or 2 symbols. Each time slot may include 14 or 12 symbols, depending on whether the cyclic prefix (CP) is conventional or extended. For a conventional CP, each time slot may include 14 symbols, and for an extended CP, each time slot may include 12 symbols. The symbol on the DL may be a CP orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) (CP-OFDM) symbol. The symbol on the UL may be a CP-OFDM symbol (for high throughput scenarios) or a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) symbol (also known as a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) symbol) (for power-limited scenarios; limited to single-stream transmission). The number of time slots within a subframe is based on the CP and parameter set. The parameter set defines the subcarrier spacing (SCS) and effectively defines the symbol length / duration, which is equal to 1 / SCS.

[0062]

[0063] For normal CP (14 symbols / slot), different parameter sets μ0 to 4 allow 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 slots per subframe, respectively. For extended CP, parameter set 2 allows 4 slots per subframe. Accordingly, for normal CP and parameter set μ, there are 14 symbols / slot and 2 μ timeslots / subframe. The subcarrier spacing can be equal to 2 μ *15kHz, where μ is parameter set 0 to 4. Therefore, the subcarrier spacing for parameter set μ=0 is 15kHz, and the subcarrier spacing for parameter set μ=4 is 240kHz. The symbol length / duration is inversely related to the subcarrier spacing. FIG. 2A to FIG. 2D An example of a parameter set μ=2 with a normal CP of 14 symbols per slot and 4 slots per subframe is provided. The slot duration is 0.25 ms, the subcarrier spacing is 60 kHz, and the symbol duration is about 16.67 μs. Within a frame set, there may be one or more different bandwidth parts (BWPs) that are frequency-division multiplexed (see Figure 2B ). Each BWP may have a specific parameter set and CP (normal or extended).

[0064] A resource grid may be used to represent a frame structure. Each slot includes a resource block (RB) (also referred to as a physical RB (PRB)) extending over 12 consecutive subcarriers. The resource grid is divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs). The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0065] like Figure 2A As illustrated, some of the REs carry reference (pilot) signals (RS) for the UE. The RS may include a demodulation RS (DM-RS) (indicated as R for a particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) and a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The RS may also include a beam measurement RS (BRS), a beam refinement RS (BRRS), and a phase tracking RS (PT-RS).

[0066] Figure 2BExamples of various DL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated. A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries DCI within one or more control channel elements (CCEs) (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs), each CCE including six RE groups (REGs), each REG including 12 consecutive REs in an OFDM symbol of an RB. A PDCCH within a BWP may be referred to as a control resource set (CORESET). The UE is configured to monitor PDCCH candidates in a PDCCH search space (e.g., a common search space, a UE-specific search space) during a PDCCH monitoring opportunity on a CORESET, wherein the PDCCH candidates have different DCI formats and different aggregation levels. Additional BWPs may be located at higher and / or lower frequencies on the channel bandwidth. A primary synchronization signal (PSS) may be within symbol 2 of a particular subframe of a frame. The PSS is used by UE 104 to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identification. A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) may be within symbol 4 of a particular subframe of a frame. The SSS is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and the radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the physical cell identifier (PCI). Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the DM-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form a synchronization signal (SS) / PBCH block (also referred to as an SS block (SSB)). The MIB provides the system frame number (SFN) and the number of RBs in the system bandwidth. The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information such as system information blocks (SIBs) that are not sent via the PBCH, and paging messages.

[0067] like Figure 2C As illustrated, some of the REs carry DM-RS (indicated as R for a particular configuration, but other DM-RS configurations are possible) for channel estimation at the base station. The UE may send a DM-RS for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) and a DM-RS for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The PUSCH DM-RS may be sent in the first or first two symbols of the PUSCH. Depending on whether a short PUCCH or a long PUCCH is sent and depending on the specific PUCCH format used, the PUCCH DM-RS may be sent in different configurations. The UE may send a sounding reference signal (SRS). The SRS may be sent in the last symbol of a subframe. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may send the SRS on one of the comb teeth. The SRS may be used by the base station for channel quality estimation to achieve frequency-dependent scheduling of the UL.

[0068] Figure 2DExamples of various UL channels within a subframe of a frame are illustrated. The PUCCH may be located at a position as indicated in one configuration. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) acknowledgement (ACK) (HARQ-ACK) feedback (i.e., one or more HARQ ACK bits indicating one or more ACKs and / or negative ACKs (NACKs)). The PUSCH carries data and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0069] Figure 3 370 is a block diagram of a base station 310 communicating with a UE 350 in an access network. In the DL, Internet Protocol (IP) packets may be provided to a controller / processor 375. The controller / processor 375 implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality. Layer 3 includes a radio resource control (RRC) layer, and layer 2 includes a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The controller / processor 375 provides RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., MIB, SIB), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with transfer of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0070] The transmit (TX) processor 316 and receive (RX) processor 370 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1 (which includes the physical (PHY) layer) may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The TX processor 316 handles the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-order phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-order quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The decoded and modulated symbols can then be divided into parallel streams. Subsequently, each stream can be mapped to an OFDM subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time domain and / or frequency domain, and then combined using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially pre-coded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator 374 may be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes, as well as for spatial processing. Channel estimates may be derived from reference signals and / or channel state feedback sent by the UE 350. Each spatial stream may then be provided to a different antenna 320 via a separate transmitter 318Tx. Each transmitter 318Tx may modulate a radio frequency (RF) carrier for transmission using a corresponding spatial stream.

[0071] At the UE 350, each receiver 354Rx receives a signal through its corresponding antenna 352. Each receiver 354Rx recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to a receive (RX) processor 356. The TX processor 368 and the RX processor 356 implement layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The RX processor 356 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 350. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 350, they can be merged into a single OFDM symbol stream by the RX processor 356. The RX processor 356 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier and the reference signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point sent by the base station 310. These soft decisions can be based on channel estimates calculated by the channel estimator 358. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally sent on the physical channel by the base station 310. The data and control signals are then provided to the controller / processor 359, which implements layer 3 and layer 2 functionality.

[0072] The controller / processor 359 may be associated with a memory 360 that stores program codes and data. The memory 360 may be referred to as a computer readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 359 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets. The controller / processor 359 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and / or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

[0073] Similar to the functions described in conjunction with DL transmissions performed by the base station 310, the controller / processor 359 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto TBs, demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0074] The TX processor 368 may use channel estimates derived by the channel estimator 358 from a reference signal or feedback sent by the base station 310 to select appropriate coding and modulation schemes and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the TX processor 368 may be provided to different antennas 352 via corresponding transmitters 354Tx. Each transmitter 354Tx may modulate an RF carrier with a corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0075] UL transmissions are processed at the base station 310 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at the UE 350. Each receiver 318Rx receives a signal through its corresponding antenna 320. Each receiver 318Rx recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the RX processor 370.

[0076] The controller / processor 375 may be associated with a memory 376 that stores program codes and data. The memory 376 may be referred to as a computer readable medium. In the UL, the controller / processor 375 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets. The controller / processor 375 is also responsible for error detection using ACK and / or NACK protocols to support HARQ operations.

[0077] At least one of the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375 may be configured to perform operations related to Figure 1 The mobility analysis request component 199 combines various aspects.

[0078] Figure 4 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of UE positioning based on reference signal measurements (which may also be referred to as “network-based positioning”) according to various aspects of the present disclosure. UE 404 may be at time T SRS_TX UL-SRS 412 is sent and at time T PRS_RX A DL positioning reference signal (PRS) (DL-PRS) 410 is received. TRP 406 may be at time T SRS_RX Receive UL-SRS 412 and at time T PRS_TX 410. UE 404 may receive DL-PRS 410 before transmitting UL-SRS 412, or may transmit UL-SRS 412 before receiving DL-PRS 410. In both cases, a positioning server (e.g., location server 168) or UE 404 may determine the UL-SRS 412 based on ||T SRS_RX –T PRS_TX |–|T SRS_TX –T PRS_RX || determines RTT 414. Thus, multi-RTT positioning may utilize UE Rx-Tx time difference measurements (i.e., |T SRS_TX –T PRS_RX |) and DL-PRS reference signal received power (RSRP) (DL-PRS-RSRP), and the measured TRP Rx-Tx time difference measurement (ie, |T SRS_RX –T PRS_TX |) and UL-SRS-RSRP. UE 404 measures UE Rx-Tx time difference measurement (and / or DL-PRS-RSRP of received signals) using assistance data received from the positioning server, and TRP 402, 406 measures gNB Rx-Tx time difference measurement (and / or UL-SRS-RSRP of received signals) using assistance data received from the positioning server. These measurements may be used at the positioning server or UE 404 to determine RTT, which is used to estimate the position of UE 404. Other methods for determining RTT are possible, such as, for example, using downlink (DL) time difference of arrival (TDOA) (DL-TDOA) and / or uplink TODA (UL-TDOA) measurements.

[0079] DL-AoD positioning may utilize the measured DL-PRS-RSRP of downlink signals received from multiple TRPs 402, 406 at the UE 404. The UE 404 measures the DL-PRS-RSRP of the received signals using assistance data received from a positioning server, and the resulting measurements, along with the departure azimuth angle (A-AoD), departure zenith angle (Z-AoD), and other configuration information, are used to position the UE 404 relative to neighboring TRPs 402, 406.

[0080] DL-TDOA positioning may utilize DL reference signal time difference (RSTD) (and / or DL-PRS-RSRP) of downlink signals received from multiple TRPs 402, 406 at the UE 404. The UE 404 measures the DL RSTD (and / or DL-PRS-RSRP) of the received signals using assistance data received from a positioning server, and the resulting measurements are used along with other configuration information to position the UE 404 relative to neighboring TRPs 402, 406.

[0081] UL-TDOA positioning may utilize the UL relative time of arrival (RTOA) (and / or UL-SRS-RSRP) of uplink signals sent from UE 404 at multiple TRPs 402, 406. TRPs 402, 406 measure the UL-RTOA (and / or UL-SRS-RSRP) of received signals using assistance data received from a positioning server, and the resulting measurements are used along with other configuration information to estimate the position of UE 404.

[0082] UL-AoA positioning may utilize the measured azimuth angle of arrival (A-AoA) and zenith angle of arrival (Z-AoA) of uplink signals sent from the UE 404 at multiple TRPs 402, 406. The TRPs 402, 406 measure the A-AoA and Z-AoA of the received signals using assistance data received from a positioning server, and the resulting measurements are used along with other configuration information to estimate the position of the UE 404.

[0083] Additional positioning methods may be used to estimate the position of the UE 404, such as, for example, UE-side UL-AoD and / or DL-AoA. Note that data / measurements from various techniques may be combined in various ways to increase accuracy, determine and / or enhance certainty, supplement / complement measurements and / or replace / provide missing information. For the purposes of this disclosure, the suffixes "based on" and "assisted" may refer to a node that is responsible for performing positioning calculations (and may also provide measurements) and a node that provides measurements (but may not perform positioning calculations), respectively. For example, operations in which a UE provides measurements to a base station / positioning entity for use in calculating a position estimate may be described as "UE-assisted", "UE-assisted positioning" and / or "UE-assisted position calculation", while operations in which a UE calculates its own position may be described as "UE-based", "UE-based positioning" and / or "UE-based position calculation".

[0084] It should be noted that the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as but not limited to: PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc. as defined in LTE and NR. In addition, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may refer to downlink or uplink positioning reference signals, unless otherwise indicated by the context. If it is necessary to further distinguish the type of PRS, the downlink positioning reference signal may be referred to as "DL-PRS", and the uplink positioning reference signal (e.g., SRS, PTRS used for positioning) may be referred to as "UL-PRS". In addition, for signals that can be sent in both uplink and downlink (e.g., DMRS, PTRS), these signals may be prepended with "UL" or "DL" to distinguish the direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" can be distinguished from "DL-DMRS".

[0085] A positioning frequency layer (PFL) (or "frequency layer" in some examples) may refer to a set of one or more PRS resource sets with the same values ​​for certain parameters across one or more TRPs. Specifically, the set of PRS resource sets may have the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (e.g., meaning that all parameter sets that support PDSCH also support PRS), the same point A, the same downlink PRS bandwidth value, the same starting PRB (and center frequency) and / or the same comb size, etc. The point A parameter may take the value of the parameter ARFCN-ValueNR (where "ARFCN" stands for "absolute radio frequency channel number") and may be an identifier / code that specifies a physical radio channel pair for transmission and reception. In some examples, the downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of four PRBs, and the minimum value is 24 PRBs and the maximum value is 272 PRBs. In other examples, up to four frequency layers have been configured, and up to two PRS resource sets may be configured per frequency layer per TRP.

[0086] The concept of frequency layer may be similar to component carrier (CC) and BWP, where CC and BWP may be used by one base station (or macro cell base station and small cell base station) to send data channels, and frequency layer may be used by multiple (e.g., three or more) base stations to send PRS. The UE may indicate the number of frequency layers it can support when the UE transmits its positioning capabilities to the network (such as during a positioning protocol session). For example, the UE may indicate whether it can support one or four PFLs.

[0087] In some scenarios, the UE may receive multiple PRS resources from multiple TRPs via one or more PFLs, where the UE may not have the ability to process all of the multiple PRS resources. Therefore, the UE may apply a predefined prioritization rule to prioritize the measurement of the PRS resources. Based on the predefined prioritization rule, the UE may measure a subset of the multiple PRS resources, and the UE may skip measuring another subset of the multiple PRS resources.

[0088] Figure 55 is a diagram illustrating an example DL PRS resource prioritization according to various aspects of the present disclosure. A UE may be configured with multiple PRS resources in the assistance data of a positioning session, wherein the number of PRS resources to be processed by the UE may exceed the processing capability of the UE. In one example, the UE may assume that the DL PRS resources in the assistance data are sorted in descending order of measurement priority. For example, if the UE is configured to receive or measure DL PRS resources via multiple frequency layers (e.g., PFLs), wherein each PFL may include PRS resources sent from multiple TRPs, the UE may measure the DL PRS resources based on priorities associated with the multiple frequency layers (e.g., from the first frequency layer to the last frequency layer), based on priorities associated with TRPs in each PFL (e.g., from the first TRP to the last TRP in the PFL), based on priorities associated with RPS resource sets associated with each TRP (e.g., from the first PRS resource set to the last TRP resource set in the TRP), and based on priorities associated with RPS resources within each PRS resource set (e.g., from the first PRS resource in the resource set to the last PRS resource), etc.

[0089] For example, as shown in diagram 500, the UE may be configured to receive DL PRS from a first frequency layer 502 (PFL 1) and a second frequency layer 504 (PFL 2). The first frequency layer 502 may include DL PRS transmitted from a first TRP 506 and a second TRP 508, wherein the first TRP 506 may transmit PRS using a first PRS resource 516 and a second PRS resource 518 in a first PRS resource set 510 and using a first PRS resource 520 and a second PRS resource 522 in a second PRS resource set 512, and the second TRP 508 may transmit PRS using a first PRS resource 524 and a second PRS resource 526 in a first PRS resource set 514. Similarly, the UE may also receive DL PRS from the second frequency layer 504 via multiple TRPs, PRS resource sets, and / or PRS resources.

[0090] In one example, if the UE does not have the ability to process all configured PRS resources, the UE may be configured to receive or measure the PRS received from the first frequency layer 502 before processing the PRS in the second frequency layer 504. Similarly, if there is also a third frequency layer (PFL 3) and a fourth frequency layer (PFL 4), the UE may be configured to first receive or measure the PRS received from the first frequency layer 502, then the PRS received from the second frequency layer 504, then the PRS received from the third frequency layer, and then the PRS received from the fourth frequency layer (e.g., the PRS is processed / measured based on PFL 1>PFL 2>PFL 3>PFL 4). If the UE does not have the ability to process / measure the PRS in a frequency layer, the UE may skip measuring the PRS in the frequency layer. For example, if the UE is configured to receive the PRS via the first frequency layer 502 and the second frequency layer 504, but the UE is just able to process / measure the PRS in the first frequency layer 502, the UE may skip the PRS measurement for the second frequency layer 504.

[0091] Similarly, within a frequency layer, if the UE does not have the ability to process all PRSs in the frequency layer, the UE may prioritize its PRS measurements based on the priority associated with the TRP. For example, the UE may be configured to receive or measure the PRS received from the first TRP 506 before processing the PRS from the second TRP 508. Similarly, if there is also a third TRP (TRP 3) and a fourth TRP (TRP 4), the UE may be configured to receive or measure the PRS received from the first TRP 506, then receive or measure the PRS from the second TRP 508, then receive or measure the PRS from the third TRP, and then receive or measure the PRS from the fourth TRP (e.g., the PRS is processed / measured based on TRP 1>TRP 2>TRP 3>TRP 4 with frequency layers). If the UE does not have the ability to process / measure the PRS from a TRP, the UE may skip measuring the PRS in that TRP. For example, if the UE is configured to receive PRS through the first TRP 506 and the second TRP 508 via the first frequency layer 502, but the UE is just able to process / measure the PRS in the first TRP 506, the UE may skip the PRS measurement for the second TRP 508.

[0092] In addition, within a TRP, if the UE does not have the ability to process all PRSs in the TRP, the UE may prioritize its PRS measurements based on the priorities associated with the PRS resource sets. For example, the UE may be configured to receive or measure the PRS received from the first PRS resource set 510 before processing the PRS from the second PRS resource set 512. Similarly, if there is also a third PRS resource set (PRS resource set 3) and a fourth PRS resource set (PRS resource set 4), the UE may be configured to first receive or measure the PRS received from the first PRS resource set 510, then the PRS received from the second PRS resource set 512, then the PRS received from the third PRS resource set, and then the PRS received from the fourth PRS resource set (e.g., the PRS is processed / measured based on PRS resource set 1>PRS resource set 2>PRS data set 3>PRS information set 4 with a TRP). If the UE does not have the ability to process / measure the PRS in a PRS resource set, the UE may skip measuring the PRS in the PRS resource set. For example, if the UE is configured to receive PRS from the first TRP 506 via the first PRS resource set 510 and the second PRS resource set 512, but the UE is just able to process / measure the PRS in the first PRS resource set 510, the UE may skip PRS measurement for the second PRS resource set 512.

[0093] Finally, within a PRS resource set, if the UE does not have the capability to process all PRSs in the PRS resource set, the UE may prioritize its PRS measurements based on the priority associated with the PRS resource. For example, the UE may be configured to receive or measure the PRS received from the first PRS resource 516 before processing the PRS from the second PRS resource 518. Similarly, if there are also third PRS resources (PRS resource 3) and fourth PRS resources (PRS resource 4), the UE may be configured to first receive or measure the PRS received from the first PRS resource 516, then the PRS received from the second PRS resource 518, then the PRS received from the third PRS resource, and then the PRS received from the fourth PRS resource (e.g., the PRS is processed / measured based on PRS resource 1>PRS resource 2>PRS resource 3>PRS resource 4 with a PRS resource set). If the UE does not have the capability to process / measure the PRS in a PRS resource, the UE may skip measuring the PRS in that PRS resource. For example, if the UE is configured to receive PRS via the first PRS resource 516 and the second PRS resource 518 in the first PRS resource set 510 , but the UE is just able to process / measure the PRS in the first PRS resource 516 , the UE may skip PRS measurement for the second PRS resource 518 .

[0094] Thus, if the UE is configured with multiple PRS resources via multiple frequency layers, multiple TRPs, multiple PRS resource sets, and / or multiple PRS resources, the UE may sort the frequency layers according to priority (e.g., up to four frequency layers), also sort the TRPs per frequency layer according to priority (e.g., up to sixty-four (64) TRPs per frequency layer), sort the PRS resource sets per TRP according to priority (e.g., up to two resource sets per TRP), and / or sort the PRS resources per PRS resource set (e.g., up to sixty-four (64) PRS resources per PRS resource set). In other words, within a positioning frequency layer, the DL PRS resources may be sorted in descending order of priority of measurement performed by the UE, with the reference indicated by nr-DL-PRS-ReferenceInfo as the highest priority for measurement, and assuming the following priorities: (1) up to 64 dl-PRS-IDs per frequency layer are sorted according to priority; and (2) up to 2 DL PRS resource sets per dl-PRS-ID per frequency layer are sorted according to priority.

[0095] In some scenarios, the positioning of a UE may be improved via sidelink (SL) positioning or communication with the assistance of one or more other UEs. Fig. 6A 600A is a diagram illustrating an example of joint Uu and SL positioning according to various aspects of the present disclosure. In one example, UE 602 may be within the DL coverage of one or more TRPs (which may be referred to as within the Uu DL coverage), where UE 602 may receive PRS sent from the one or more TRPs. In addition, one or more TRPs may also be within the UL coverage of UE 602 (which may be referred to as within the Uu UL coverage), where one or more TRPs may receive SRS sent from UE 602 (or SRS sent by UE 602 can reach one or more TRPs). Therefore, UE 602 may be based on, for example, a combination of Figure 4 The described RTT and TDoA are used to directly perform a UE positioning session (which may be referred to as Uu positioning) with one or more TRPs. In some examples, a UE with a known location can improve Uu positioning by providing additional anchors. For example, a UE 604 with a known location (e.g., a sidelink device) can assist in the positioning of UE 602 by providing an anchor for UE 602, where UE 604 and UE 602 can perform SL-based positioning, such as SL RTT. In other words, UE 604 can serve and act like one or more TRPs by exchanging reference signals with UE 604. Using additional anchors, the positioning of UE 602 can be improved. For example, the additional anchors may be able to cover directions not covered by one or more TRPs.

[0096] Figure 6B600B is a diagram illustrating an example of SL positioning according to various aspects of the present disclosure. In another example, UE 602 may not be within the DL coverage of one or more TRPs (e.g., without Uu DL coverage), wherein UE 602 may not be able to receive PRS sent from the one or more TRPs. Similarly, one or more TRPs may also not be within the UL coverage of UE 602 (e.g., without Uu UL coverage), wherein one or more TRPs may not be able to receive SRS sent from UE 602 (or SRS sent by UE 602 cannot reach one or more TRPs). Therefore, the positioning entity (e.g., LMF or location server) may configure UE set 604 (e.g., side link devices within the coverage of UE 602) to perform SL-based positioning / ranging with UE 602. Therefore, the positioning of UE 602 can be determined without Uu DL and UL coverage. In some examples, this can be applied to positioning lower-end UEs via assistance from advanced / higher-end UEs. However, if there are no UEs within the coverage area of ​​UE 602 (eg, UE 604 is out of coverage), the positioning of UE 602 may not involve the network (eg, not involve Uu).

[0097] Figure 6C 600C is a diagram illustrating example joint Uu and SL positioning according to various aspects of the present disclosure. In another example, UE 602 may be within the DL coverage of one or more TRPs (e.g., within available Uu DL coverage), where UE 602 may be able to receive PRS sent from one or more TRPs. However, one or more TRPs may not be within the UL coverage of UE 602 (e.g., within no Uu UL coverage), where one or more TRPs may not be able to receive SRS sent from UE 602 (or the SRS sent by UE 602 cannot reach one or more TRPs). In one example, a relay UE 604 (with a known position) may participate in the positioning estimation of UE 602 without UL PRS transmission in Uu. For example, UE 602 may send SL RPS to UE 604 instead of sending SRS directly to one or more TRPs. Therefore, positioning of UE 602 can still be achieved.

[0098] The network entity may be associated with or include a network data analysis function (NWDAF) that may be used to collect data from UEs, network functions, and / or operations, administration, and maintenance (OAM) systems, etc. (e.g., from the 5G core, cloud, and / or edge network that may be used for analysis). In other words, the NWDAF may be part of an architecture that uses mechanisms and interfaces specified for 5G and OAM services.

[0099] NWDAF can interact with different entities for different purposes. For example, NWDAF can perform one or more of the following: (1) data collection based on subscriptions to events provided by access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), policy control function (PCF), user data management (UDM), application function (AF), and OAM (directly or via NEF); (2) analysis and data collection using data collection coordination function (DCCF); (3) retrieving information from a data repository (e.g., retrieving subscriber related information from UDR via UDM); (4) storing and retrieving information according to an analysis data repository function (ADRF); (5) analysis and data collection according to a messaging framework adapter function (MFAF); (6) retrieving information about a network function (NF) (e.g., retrieving NF related information according to a network repository function (NRF)); (7) providing analysis to consumers on demand; and / or (8) providing large amounts of data to consumers, etc.

[0100] In some examples, a single instance or multiple instances of NWDAF may be deployed in a public land mobile network (PLMN). If multiple NWDAF instances are deployed, the architecture supports deploying NWDAF as a central NF, as a collection of distributed NFs, or as a combination of the two. If multiple NWDAF instances are deployed, the NWDAF may act as an aggregation point (e.g., an aggregator NWDAF) and collect analysis information from other NWDAFs that may have different service areas to generate aggregated analysis (e.g., each analysis ID), possibly with analysis generated by itself. In one example, when there are multiple NWDAFs, not all of them may be designated to provide the same type of analysis results (e.g., some of them may be dedicated to providing certain types of analysis). An analysis ID information element (IE) may be used to identify the types of supported analysis that the NWDAF can generate. In another example, an NWDAF instance may be co-located with a 5GS NF.

[0101] A mobility mode may refer to a network concept that determines UE mobility parameters within an AMF. For example, a mobility mode may be a concept that may be used by an AMF to characterize and optimize UE mobility. The AMF may determine and update the mobility mode of a UE (or a set of UEs) based on UE subscriptions, statistics of UE mobility, network local policies, and UE-assisted information, or any combination thereof. Statistics of UE mobility may be historical or expected UE mobility trajectories. If an NWDAF is deployed, statistics of UE mobility may also be analysis (e.g., statistics or predictions) provided by the NWDAF. In some examples, the AMF may use a mobility mode to optimize the mobility support provided to the UE, such as for registration area allocation.

[0102] The NWDAF can be triggered by one or more network entities via various means. For example, the trigger for the AMF to request or subscribe to analysis information from the NWDAF can be internal logic in the AMF, and may include, for example: UE access and mobility-related event subscriptions of other NFs (e.g., SMF, NEF), locally detected events, and / or received analysis information, etc. In some examples, the triggering condition may depend on the operator and implementation policy in the AMF. When the triggering condition occurs, the AMF may decide whether to specify any analysis information, and if so, request or subscribe to analysis information from the NWDAF. The AMF may subscribe to the UE's mobility-related abnormal behavior analysis after detecting certain local events (e.g., frequent mobility re-registrations of one or more UEs) in order to track UE mobility trends and take corresponding actions.

[0103] UE-related analyses that may be provided by the NWDAF may include UE mobility analysis, UE communication analysis, expected UE behavior parameter-related network data analysis, and / or abnormal behavior-related network data analysis. NWDAF service consumers may request these analyses individually or in combination. As an example, a NWDAF service consumer may obtain expected UE behavior parameters for a group of UEs or a specific UE from the NWDAF by requesting analysis for both UE mobility and UE. Based on local rules, the NWDAF may utilize the UDM to retrieve user consent for the UE before data collection. If the user consents to the collection of data that is not granted by the UE, the NWDAF may reject / cancel any analysis subscription for any UE-related analysis, where the target of the analysis is set to the SUPI or GPSI of the UE.

[0104] In one example, the NWDAF supporting UE mobility statistics or prediction can collect UE mobility related information from NF, OAM, and / or can perform data analysis to provide UE mobility statistics or prediction. The service consumer can be a NF (e.g., AMF, SMF, or AF). The consumers of these analyses can indicate one or more of the following in the request:

[0105] -Analysis ID = "UE Mobility";

[0106] - Target of analysis report: single UE or a group of UEs;

[0107] -Analysis filter information optionally includes:

[0108] ○ Area of ​​Interest (AOI): limits the scope of UE mobility analysis to the provided area;

[0109] ○ Interviewed Area of ​​Interest (Interviewed AOI): Consider only the current (e.g., now)

[0110] Additional filters for UEs in at least one visited AOI that are located in the "AOI" and were previously (e.g., in the "analysis target period") located in the visited AOI. If this parameter is provided, the analysis target period can be in the past (e.g., to support statistics);

[0111] o For Local Area Data Network (LAN) services, the customer (eg, SMF) may provide a LADN Data Network Name (DNN) to refer to the LADN service area as the AOI.

[0112] -Analysis target period indicates the time period for which statistics or predictions are requested. For conventional analysis scenarios, the analysis target period may be associated with analysis filter information = AOI, while for scenarios with analysis ID = UE mobility and analysis filter information = (AOI and visited AOI), the analysis target period may be associated with the visited AOI and used to obtain statistics for those UEs that are currently residing in an AOI and were previously (e.g., in the "analysis target period") located in at least one of the visited AOIs.

[0113] - maximum number of objects;

[0114] - the appropriate or desired level of accuracy of the analysis;

[0115] - the appropriate or desired order of results of slot entries: rising or falling slot start;

[0116] - Suitable or desired location information granularity: TA level or cell level; and

[0117] In the subscription, you can include the notification correlation ID and the notification target address.

[0118] Table 1 below is an example of NWDAF services (eg, NF services provided by NWDAF), which may also be referred to as analyzed consumer entities.

[0119]

[0120] Table 1 - Analyzed consumer entities

[0121] NWDAF, which supports data analysis on UE mobility, is able to collect UE mobility information from OAM, 5GC, and AF. The detailed information collected by NWDAF may be Minimization of Drive Tests (MDT) data from OAM, network data from 5GC, and / or service data from AF. UE mobility information from OAM is the UE location carried in the MDT data. Network data related to UE mobility from 5GC may be UE location information, UE location trends, and / or UE access behavior trends.

[0122] Table 2 below is an example of UE mobility information collected from 5GC.

[0123]

[0124] Table 2 - Input data in UE mobility analysis Table 3 below is an example of service data related to UE mobility provided by AF.

[0125]

[0126] Table 3 - Service data from AF related to UE mobility

[0127] Depending on the accuracy level requested, data collection may be provided over samples (e.g., spatial subset of UEs or UE groups, temporal subset of UE location information). In one example, reporting the current UE location may cause the AMF to request the NG-RAN to report the UE location and thus additional signaling and load in the NG-RAN and AMF. Consumers retrieving data from the AMF may be instructed to use the current location with caution to avoid excessive signaling.

[0128] The NWDAF supporting data analysis on UE mobility may be able to provide UE mobility analysis to the consumer NF or AF. The analysis results provided by the NWDAF may be UE mobility statistics as shown in Table 4 below and / or UE mobility prediction as shown in Table 5 below.

[0129]

[0130] Table 4 - UE mobility statistics

[0131] In one example, when the target of the analysis report is an individual UE, a UE ID (e.g., SUPI) may be included, and the NWDAF may provide the analysis mobility results (e.g., a list of (predicted) time slots) to the NF service consumer of the UE. In another example, if the visited AOI is provided in the analysis request / subscription, the UE location may provide information about the observed locations where the UE or UE group has resided during the analysis target period. In another example, when possible and applicable to the access type, the UE location may be provided according to the appropriate or desired location information granularity.

[0132]

[0133] Table 5 - UE mobility prediction

[0134] Figure 7700 is a communication flow illustrating an example mobile terminal location request (MT-LR) procedure for location services (e.g., UE-assisted positioning) in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. The numbers associated with the communication flow 700 do not specify a particular time sequence and are merely used as a reference for the communication flow 700. Various aspects presented herein may provide general network positioning for a location service client outside of a PLMN for a location service (LCS) (e.g., a regulated location service), such as in a non-roaming scenario. Various aspects presented herein may be applicable to a request from an LCS client for the current location of a target UE (e.g., a UE that is participating in positioning), where the LCS client may be authorized to use location services and privacy verification is not specified.

[0135] At 720, the external location service client 714 may transmit a request (e.g., an LCS service request) for the location of the target UE 702 identified by a general public subscription identifier (GPSI) or a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI) to the gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 710. The request may include a specified quality of service (QoS), supported geographic area description (GAD) shapes, and client types. If a location is specified for more than one UE, the steps that follow below may be repeated, and in this case, the GMLC 710 may verify whether the number of target UEs in the LCS service request is equal to or less than the maximum number of target UEs for the LCS client. If the maximum number of target UEs is exceeded, the GMLC 710 may reject the LCS service request, skipping steps 722 to 738, and then at the step described in conjunction with 740, the GMLC 710 may respond to the external location service client 714 with an appropriate error reason.

[0136] At 722, the GMLC 710 may call a Nudm_UECM_Get service operation to the home unified data management (UDM) 712 of the target UE 702 to locate using the GPSI or SUPI of the UE 702. The Nudm_UECM_Get service operation may be used by a NF (e.g., NEF, GMLC, SMSF) to retrieve registration information from the UDM (e.g., NF ID where the UE access and mobility management context or PDU session context is reachable). The requesting NF may provide the UE ID of interest to the NF type. The Nudm_UECM_Get service operation may use the UE ID and NF type to search for a registered NF that is returned to the requester.

[0137] At 724, the UDM 712 may return the network address of the current serving AMF 706, such as via a Nudm_UECM_Get response message.

[0138] At 726, the GMLC 710 may invoke a Namf_Location_ProvidePositioningInfo service operation to the AMF 706 to request the current location of the UE 702. The service operation may include the SUPI, and client type and may include the specified QoS and supported GAD shapes.

[0139] At 728, if the UE 702 is in a connection management (CM) idle (CM-IDLE) state, the AMF 706 may initiate a network-triggered service request procedure to establish a signaling connection with the UE 702.

[0140] At 730, the AMF 706 may select the LMF 708 based on the available information or based on the local configuration of the AMF 706. The LMF selection may take into account the 5G-AN (e.g., RAN 704) currently serving the UE 702. The selection may use an NRF query.

[0141] At 732, the AMF 706 may call the Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation service operation to the LMF 708 to request the current location of the UE 702. The service operation may include an LCS-related identifier, a serving cell identifier of a primary cell in a primary RAN node and a primary cell in a secondary RAN node (when available based on a dual connectivity scenario), and the client type may include an indication of whether the UE 702 supports the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), a specified QoS, and a supported GAD shape. In some examples, the service operation may also include an AMF 706 identity.

[0142] At 734, LMF 708 may perform operations such as combining Figure 4 During this step, the LMF 708 may use the Namf_Communication_N1N2MessageTransfer service operation to request the transfer of positioning-related N1 messages to the UE 702 or the transfer of network positioning messages to the serving NG-RAN (e.g., RAN 704) node (gNB or NG-eNB) of the UE 702.

[0143] At 736, LMF 708 may return a Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation response to AMF 706 to return the current location of UE 702. The service operation may include an LCS-related identifier, the location estimate, its age and accuracy, and may include information about the positioning method.

[0144] At 738, the AMF 706 may return a Namf_Location_ProvidePositioningInfo response to the GMLC 710 (or location retrieval function (LRF)) to return the current location of the UE 702. The service operation may include the location estimate, its age and accuracy, and may include information about the positioning method.

[0145] At 740 , the GMLC 710 may transmit a location service response to the external location service client 714 (eg, via an LCD service response message).

[0146] Figure 8 and Fig. 9 8 is a communication flow 800 illustrating an example mobile originated location request (MO-LR) procedure (e.g., UE based positioning) according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The numbers associated with the communication flow 800 do not specify a particular time sequence and are merely used as a reference for the communication flow 800. Various aspects presented herein provide for a general network positioning requested by a UE to a serving PLMN for obtaining location related information or only assistance data for the UE itself.

[0147] At 820, if UE 802 is in CM-IDLE state, UE 802 initiates a UE-triggered service request to establish a signaling connection with AMF 806.

[0148] At 822, UE 802 may transmit a MO-LR request message included in an uplink (UL) non-access stratum NAS transport message. The MO-LR request may optionally include up to three LPP positioning messages. Different types of location services may be requested: a position estimate for UE 802, a position estimate for UE 802 to be transmitted to LCS client 814 or AF 818, or position assistance data. If UE 802 is requesting its own position or its own position is transmitted to LCS client 814 or AF 818, the message may carry LCS requested QoS information (e.g., accuracy, response time, LCS QoS class), a requested maximum position age, a requested position type (e.g., "current position" or "current or last known position"), and optionally, for the current position, a scheduled position time. If the UE 802 is requesting that its position be communicated to the LCS client 814, the message may include an identity of the LCS client 814 or AF 818, and may include an address of the GMLC by which the LCS client 814 or AF 818 may be accessed (via the Network Open Function (NEF) 816). In addition, a service type may be included that indicates which MO-LR service of the LCS client the UE 802 is requesting. The message may also include an indicator that indicates a pseudonym that may be assigned by the network and transferred to the LCS client as an identity of the UE 802. If the UE 802 instead requests location assistance data, the embedded LPP message may specify the type of assistance data and the positioning method to which the assistance data applies.

[0149] For an LCS MO-LR requesting a location transfer to an LCS Client 814 or AF 818, the AMF 806 may assign a GMLC address, such as a Visited GMLC (VGMLC) address, which is stored in the AMF 806. If the VGMLC address is not available, the AMF 806 may reject the positioning request. The AMF 806 may verify the subscription profile of the UE 802 and decide whether to allow the requested service by checking the mobile origination data retrieved from the UDM during the UE registration procedure.

[0150] If the requested location type is "current or last known location" and the requested maximum location information age is available, the AMF 806 may verify whether it stores a previously obtained location estimate and associated timestamp (if available) for the target UE 802. If the AMF 806 stores a location estimate and associated timestamp (if available) and the location estimate meets the requested accuracy and the requested maximum location age, the AMF 806 may skip the steps described at 824, 826, 828, and 830.

[0151] At 824, the AMF 806 may select the LMF 808. The LMF selection may take into account the 5G-AN (e.g., RAN 804) currently serving the UE 802. The selection may use an NRF query.

[0152] At 826, the AMF 806 may call the Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation service operation to the LMF 808. The service operation may include an LCS-related identifier, a serving cell identifier, a client type, an indication of whether a location estimate or location assistance data is specified, UE positioning capabilities (if available), a list of assistance data subscribed to by the MO-LR, and any embedded LPP messages in the MO-LR request. If the location of the UE 802 is requested, the service request may include an indication of whether the UE 802 supports LPP, the requested QoS, the supported GAD shapes, and any scheduled location times. If location assistance data is requested, the embedded LPP message will convey the requested location assistance data type. In some examples, the service operation may also include an identification of the AMF 806. Once the AMF has selected the LMF, the AMF may be specified to continue using the LMF for the duration of the session. In one example, if the UE 802 is requesting its own location, the AMF 806 may not indicate support for the GAD shape of local coordinates.

[0153] At 828, if the UE 802 is requesting its own location, certain actions may be performed along with other actions if there is a scheduled location time. If the UE 802 instead requests location assistance data, the LMF 808 may transfer that data to the UE 802. The LMF 808 may determine the exact location assistance data to transfer based on the type of data specified by the UE 802, the UE 802 positioning capabilities, the assistance data subscribed to by the MO-LR, and the current cell.

[0154] At 830, when a location estimate that best meets the requested QoS has been obtained or when the requested location assistance data has been transferred to the UE 802, the LMF 808 may return a Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation response to the AMF 806. The service operation may include the LCS-related identifier, the location estimate (if the location estimate is obtained), its age and accuracy, and may include information about the positioning method. If the location estimate is not successfully obtained, or if the requested location assistance data cannot be successfully transferred to the UE 802, the failure reason may be included in the service operation. If UE positioning capabilities are received at 828, the service operation may also include UE positioning capabilities, including an indication that these capabilities are immutable and were not received from the AMF 806 at 826. If the UE 802 is requesting location assistance data, the steps described in conjunction with 832 to 848 may be skipped.

[0155] At 832, if the location estimate is successfully obtained, the AMF 806 may invoke the Ngmlc_Location_LocationUpdate service operation assigned at 822 to the VGMLC 810. The service operation may carry the identity of the UE 802, the event that caused the location estimate (MO-LR) and the location estimate, its age, an indication of the accuracy obtained, and the LCS QoS class requested by the target UE 802. In addition, the service operation may include a pseudonym indicator, the identity of the LCS client 814, the AF ID, the GMLC address, the timestamp of the location estimate, and the service type specified by the UE 802 (if available).

[0156] At 834, if the UE 802 did not request transfer of its location to the LCS client 814 or the AF 818 at 822, the steps described in conjunction with 834 to 846 may be skipped. If the VGMLC 810 is the same NF instance as the home GMLC (HGMLC) 812, this step may be skipped. Otherwise the VGMLC 810 may invoke a Ngmlc_Location_LocationUpdate service operation to the HGMLC 812 (the VGMLC 810 may query the NRF to obtain the address of the HGMLC 812), which includes the information received from the AMF 806.

[0157] At 826, if the pseudonym indicator is included in the MO-LR location information, the HGMLC 812 may assign a pseudonym to the UE 802. If the identified LCS client 814 is not accessible by the HGMLC 812, the steps described in conjunction with 836 and 842 may be skipped. Otherwise, the GMLC may transfer location information to the LCS client 814 according to the LCS QoS class requested by the target UE 802, the location information carrying the identity or pseudonym of the UE 802, the event that caused the location estimate (MO-LR), the service identity (if available), and the location estimate, the timestamp of the location estimate (if available), and its age. If the LCS QoS class requested by the UE 802 is guaranteed, the GMLC may transmit the result to the LCS client 814 if the result has been indicated to meet the requested accuracy. If the LCS QoS class requested by the UE 802 is best effort, the GMLC may transmit any result it receives to the LCS client 814 along with appropriate indications if the requested accuracy is not met. In some examples, the HGMLC 812 may map the service type identification received at 834 into a service identification.

[0158] At 838, if the ID of AF 818 was included at 820, HGMLC 812 may assign the address of NEF 816 based on local configuration or via NRF and invoke a Ngmlc_Location_LocationUpdateNotify service request carrying the AF ID to NEF 816. The location information parameters transmitted within this service operation may be the same as described at 826, except that a pseudonym is not included.

[0159] At 840, if the identified AF 818 is not accessible by the NEF 816, the steps described at 840 and 843 may be skipped. Otherwise, the NEF 816 may transfer the location information to the identified AF 818 by calling the Nnef_Location_LocationUpdateNotify service.

[0160] At 842, if the LCS client 814 does not support MO-LR (due to temporary or permanent reasons) or is unable to handle the position estimate of the UE 802 (e.g., the LCS client 814 does not know the service identifier, or the UE 802 is not registered with the LCS client 814, the LCS client 814 does not have the corresponding data for the UE 802), the LCS client 814 may return a location information confirmation message with a suitable error cause to the HGMLC 812. Otherwise, the LCS client 814 may handle the position estimate according to the service identifier and transmit a location information confirmation message to the GMLC or HGMLC 812, which signals that the position estimate of the UE 802 has been successfully handled.

[0161] At 843, if AF 818 is unable to handle the location estimate of UE 802 (e.g., UE 802 is not registered with AF 818, AF 818 does not have corresponding data for UE 802), AF 818 may respond to the Nnef_Location_LocationUpdateNotify service request with an appropriate error reason. Otherwise, AF 818 may handle the location estimate according to the service identifier and respond to the Nnef_Location_LocationUpdateNotify service request indicating that the location estimate of UE 802 has been successfully handled.

[0162] At 844, the NEF 816 may transmit a Ngmlc_Location_LocationUpdateNotify service response to the HGMLC 812 as a result of the operation.

[0163] At 846, if the VGMLC 810 is the same NF instance as the HGMLC 812, this step may be skipped. If the identified LCS client 814 or AF 818 is not accessible, the HGMLC 812 may transmit a Ngmlc_Location_LocationUpdate service response with an appropriate error cause to the VGMLC 810. Otherwise, the response may include an acknowledgment. The message may specify whether the location estimate of the UE 802 has been successfully handled by the identified LCS client 814 or AF 818, and if not, the corresponding error cause is obtained at 824 to 844. In addition, the HGMLC 812 may record billing information for both the UE 802 and interworking revenue charges.

[0164] At 848, if the VGMLC 810 receives the MO-LR location information confirmation from the HGMLC 812, if the identified LCS client 814 or AF 818 is not accessible, the VGMLC 810 may transmit a Ngmlc_Location_LocationUpdate service response with an appropriate error cause to the AMF 806. Otherwise, the response may include an acknowledgment. The message may specify whether the location estimate of the UE 802 has been successfully processed by the identified LCS client 814 or AF 818, and if not, the corresponding error cause is obtained from 836 to 844. In addition, the VGMLC 810 may record the billing information of both the UE 802 and the interworking revenue charges.

[0165] If the VGMLC 810 receives a Ngmlc_Location_LocationUpdate request from the AMF 806 and it is not specified to be transmitted to any LCS client or the AF 818, the VGMLC 810 may record the charging information of the UE 802 and respond to the Ngmlc_Location_LocationUpdate request to the AMF 806.

[0166] At 850, the AMF 806 may transmit a MO-LR response message included in the DL NAS transport message. If the UE 802 is requesting its own location, the response may carry any location estimate requested by the UE 802 and a timestamp of the location estimate (if available), including an indication received from the LMF 808 as to whether the obtained location estimate meets the requested accuracy, or an indicator as to whether the location estimate was successfully transferred to the identified LCS client 814 or AF 818. If the location estimate was successfully transferred to the identified LCS client 814 or AF 818, the MO-LR response message may specify whether the location estimate of the UE 802 has been successfully handled by the identified LCS client 814 or AF 818, and if not, the corresponding error cause obtained in step 13. In addition, the AMF 806 may record charging information.

[0167] The various aspects presented herein can improve the efficiency, accuracy and / or latency of UE positioning procedures by enabling mobility analysis associated with a UE or a set of UEs to be exchanged between a location server and a NWDAF directly or via another network entity. For example, in one aspect of the present disclosure, mobility analysis associated with a UE or a set of UEs can be exchanged between an LMF and an AMF associated with or communicating with the NWDAF, or between an LMF and the NWDAF for improved location services.

[0168] In one aspect, the LMF may request and receive mobility analysis to design different assistance data for a set of UEs identified by the mobility analysis function. For example, the LMF may obtain input that the NWDAF has identified a set of UEs in a queue, and the LMF may transmit the same assistance data to all UEs in the set of UEs. The assistance data may indicate which TRPs to include, PRS resource sets, PRS resources, and / or priorities to use in the assistance data.

[0169] On the other hand, the LMF participating in the sidelink positioning session may establish a SL grouping and use the UE groups reported by the NWDAF to determine the set of UEs that are likely to move together.

[0170] On the other hand, the LMF may use "predicted mobility statistics" of a UE or a group of UEs to assign assistance data for the upcoming area according to the provided prediction.

[0171] On the other hand, the LMF may use "predicted mobility statistics" to select, configure and / or initiate one or more of the following: positioning method, positioning technology, pre-configuration of measurement gaps, pre-configuration of positioning processing windows, UE-based operation / positioning mode for UE assistance, expected RSTD window, and / or expected AoD / AoA window, etc.

[0172] Fig.10 1000 is a communication flow illustrating an example MT-LR procedure for location services according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The numbers associated with the communication flow 1000 do not specify a particular time order and are only used as a reference for the communication flow 1000. The various aspects presented herein may enable the LMF to request and / or receive UE mobility analysis for a UE or a set of UEs via the AMF. For example, an interface associated with exchanging or transferring UE mobility related parameters, analysis and / or statistics may be established or defined between the LMF and the AMF, so that the AMF may obtain UE mobility related parameters, analysis and / or statistics for the UE or a set of UEs from the NWDAF and transfer them to the LMF. In one aspect, the UE mobility related parameters, analysis and / or statistics may include a mobility pattern of the UE based on the UE's subscription, statistics of UE mobility, network local policies, UE speed acceleration and direction, or any combination thereof. The statistics of UE mobility may be a historical or expected UE movement trajectory. The information provided by the UE mobility related parameters, analysis and / or statistics may help the LMF define an improved or optimal set of assistance data for the UE or a set of UEs.

[0173] At 1020, the external location service client 1014 may transmit a request (e.g., an LCS service request) for the location of the UE 1002 identified by the GPSI or SUPI to the GMLC 1010. The request may include the specified QoS, supported GAD shapes, and client types. If the location is specified for more than one UE, the steps that follow below may be repeated, and in this case, the GMLC 1010 may verify whether the number of UEs in the LCS service request is equal to or less than the maximum target UE number for the LCS client. If the maximum target UE number is exceeded, the GMLC 1010 may reject the LCS service request, steps 1022 to 1038 may be skipped, and the GMLC 1010 may then respond to the external location service client 1014 at step 1040 with an appropriate error reason (e.g., via an LCS service response message).

[0174] At 1022, the GMLC 1010 may call the Nudm_UECM_Get service operation to the home UDM 1012 of the UE 1002 to locate using the GPSI or SUPI of the UE 1002. The Nudm_UECM_Get service operation may be used by a NF (e.g., NEF, GMLC, SMSF) to retrieve registration information from the UDM (e.g., NF ID where the UE access and mobility management context or PDU session context is reachable). The requesting NF may provide the UE ID of interest to the NF type. The Nudm_UECM_Get service operation may use the UE ID and NF type to search for a registered NF that is returned to the requester.

[0175] At 1024, the UDM 1012 may return the network address of the current serving AMF 1006, such as via a Nudm_UECM_Get response message.

[0176] At 1026, the GMLC 1010 may call a Namf_Location_ProvidePositioningInfo service operation to the AMF 1006 to request the current location of the UE 1002. The service operation may include the SUPI, and client type and may include the specified QoS and supported GAD shapes.

[0177] At 1028, if the UE 1002 is in the CM-IDLE state, the AMF 1006 may initiate a network-triggered service request procedure to establish a signaling connection with the UE 1002.

[0178] At 1030, the AMF 1006 may select the LMF 1008 based on available information or based on the local configuration of the AMF 1006. The LMF selection may take into account the 5G-AN (e.g., RAN 1004) currently serving the UE 1002. The selection may use an NRF query.

[0179] At 1031, the AMF 1006 (or the LMF 1008 via the AMF 1006) may request the NWDAF 1007 to provide a mobility analysis associated with the UE 1002 (or a group of UEs including the UE 1002), wherein the mobility analysis may include UE mobility related parameters, analysis and / or statistics. For example, the mobility analysis may include a mobility pattern of the UE 1002, statistics of the UE mobility of the UE 1002, a network local policy, a historical movement of the UE 1002, a predicted movement of the UE 1002, a speed, acceleration and / or direction of the UE 1002, or a combination thereof. In response to the request of the AMF 1006, the NWDAF 1007 may send the requested mobility analysis associated with the UE 1002 to the AMF 1006.

[0180] At 1032, the AMF 1006 may send or communicate the mobility analysis associated with the UE 1002 to the LMF 1008. For example, the AMF 1006 may invoke the Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation service operation to request the current location of the UE 1002 to the LMF 1008, and the request may include the mobility analysis associated with the UE 1002. The service operation may include an LCS-related identifier, a serving cell identifier of a primary cell in a primary RAN node and a primary cell in a secondary RAN node (when available based on a dual connectivity scenario), and the client type may include an indication of whether the UE 1002 supports LPP, a specified QoS, and a supported GAD shape. In some examples, the service operation may also include an AMF 1006 identity.

[0181] At 1034, LMF 1008 may perform operations such as combining Figure 4One or more of the positioning procedures described. The LMF 1008 may determine one or more parameters associated with the positioning procedure performed based on the mobility analysis received from the AMF 1006 at 1032 to improve or optimize the assistance data configured for the UE 1002 (or for a group of UEs). Similarly, during this step, the LMF 1008 may use the Namf_Communication_N1N2MessageTransfer service operation to request the transfer of positioning-related N1 messages to the UE 1002 or the transfer of network positioning messages to the serving NG-RAN (e.g., RAN 1004) node (gNB or NG-eNB) of the UE 1002.

[0182] At 1036, the LMF 1008 may return a Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation response to the AMF 1006 to return the current location of the UE 1002. The service operation may include an LCS-related identifier, the location estimate, its age and accuracy, and may include information about the positioning method.

[0183] In another aspect of the disclosure, at 1036 or via a separate or additional step, the LMF 1008 may be configured to update UE mobility related parameters associated with the UE 1002 to the AMF 1006. For example, the updated UE mobility related parameters may include detected PRS TRPs / resources with signal strengths above or below a signal threshold (e.g., very strong, strong, and weak signal strengths, etc.), the mobility mode of the UE (if available) (e.g., speed, acceleration, direction), line-of-sight (LOS) and / or non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions relative to the serving cell and neighboring cells, multipath information related to the serving cell and neighboring cells, Doppler estimates of the UE 1002, or a combination thereof. All of this information may assist the AMF 1006 in defining optimal handover sets and redirection scenarios and / or provide better mobility management at the AMF 1006. In some examples, the AMF 1006 may also update this information to the NWDAF.

[0184] At 1038, the AMF 1006 may return a Namf_Location_ProvidePositioningInfo response to the GMLC 1010 (or Location Retrieval Function (LRF)) to return the current location of the UE 1002. The service operation may include the location estimate, its age and accuracy, and may include information about the positioning method.

[0185] At 1040 , the GMLC 1010 may transmit a location service response to the external location service client 1014 (eg, via an LCD service response message).

[0186] In another aspect of the present disclosure, the aspects described herein (such as the steps described in conjunction with 1031, 1032, and 1034) may also be applied in conjunction with Figure 8 and Fig. 9 For example, refer to the MO-LR procedure described in Figure 8 Prior to transmitting the Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation request at 826, the AMF 806 may communicate with the NWDAF to obtain a mobility analysis associated with the UE 802. Then, at 826, the AMF 806 may pass the obtained mobility analysis to the LMF 808. Then, at 828, the LMF 808 may perform operations such as combining Figure 4 One or more of the positioning procedures described for the UE 802. The LMF 808 may determine one or more parameters associated with the positioning procedure performed based on the mobility analysis received from the AMF 806 at 826 to improve or optimize the assistance data configured for the UE 802 (or for a group of UEs).

[0187] Fig.11 1100 is a communication flow illustrating an example MT-LR procedure for location services according to various aspects of the present disclosure. The numbers associated with the communication flow 1100 do not specify a particular time order and are only used as a reference for the communication flow 1100. The various aspects presented herein may enable the LMF to request and / or receive UE mobility analysis for a UE or a set of UEs from the NWDAF. For example, an interface associated with exchanging or transferring UE mobility related parameters, analysis and / or statistics may be established or defined between the LMF and the NWDAF so that the LME may obtain UE mobility related parameters, analysis and / or statistics for a UE or a set of UEs from the NWDAF. In one aspect, the UE mobility related parameters, analysis and / or statistics may include a mobility pattern of the UE based on the UE's subscription, statistics of UE mobility, network local policies, UE speed acceleration and direction, or any combination thereof. The statistics of UE mobility may be a historical or expected UE movement trajectory. The information provided by the UE mobility related parameters, analysis and / or statistics may help the LMF define an improved or optimal set of assistance data for the UE or a set of UEs.

[0188] At 1120, the external location service client 1114 may transmit a request (e.g., an LCS service request) for the location of the UE 1102 identified by the GPSI or SUPI to the GMLC 1110. The request may include the specified QoS, supported GAD shapes, and client types. If the location is specified for more than one UE, the steps that follow below may be repeated, and in this case, the GMLC 1110 may verify whether the number of UEs in the LCS service request is equal to or less than the maximum target UE number for the LCS client. If the maximum target UE number is exceeded, the GMLC 1110 may reject the LCS service request, steps 1122 to 1138 may be skipped, and the GMLC 1110 may then respond to the external location service client 1114 at 1140 with an appropriate error reason (e.g., via an LCS service response message).

[0189] At 1122, the GMLC 1110 may call a Nudm_UECM_Get service operation to the home UDM 1112 of the UE 1102 to locate using the GPSI or SUPI of the UE 1102. The Nudm_UECM_Get service operation may be used by a NF (e.g., NEF, GMLC, SMSF) to retrieve registration information from the UDM (e.g., NF ID where the UE access and mobility management context or PDU session context is reachable). The requesting NF may provide the UE ID of interest to the NF type. The Nudm_UECM_Get service operation may use the UE ID and NF type to search for a registered NF that is returned to the requester.

[0190] At 1124, the UDM 1112 may return the network address of the current serving AMF 1106, such as via a Nudm_UECM_Get response message.

[0191] At 1126, the GMLC 1110 may invoke a Namf_Location_ProvidePositioningInfo service operation to the AMF 1106 to request the current location of the UE 1102. The service operation may include the SUPI, and client type and may include the specified QoS and supported GAD shapes.

[0192] At 1128, if the UE 1102 is in the CM-IDLE state, the AMF 1106 may initiate a network-triggered service request procedure to establish a signaling connection with the UE 1102.

[0193] At 1130, the AMF 1106 may select the LMF 1108 based on the available information or based on the local configuration of the AMF 1106. The LMF selection may take into account the 5G-AN (e.g., RAN 1104) currently serving the UE 1102. The selection may use an NRF query.

[0194] At 1132, the AMF 1106 may invoke the Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation service operation to the LMF 1108 to request the current location of the UE 1102. The service operation may include an LCS-related identifier, a serving cell identifier of a primary cell in a primary RAN node and a primary cell in a secondary RAN node (when available based on a dual connectivity scenario), and the client type may include an indication of whether the UE 1102 supports LPP, a specified QoS, and supported GAD shapes. In some examples, the service operation may also include an AMF 1106 identity.

[0195] At 1133, LMF 1108 may request NWDAF 1107 to provide mobility analysis associated with UE 1102 (or a group of UEs including UE 1102), wherein the mobility analysis may include UE mobility related parameters, analysis and / or statistics. For example, the mobility analysis may include mobility patterns of UE 1102, statistics of UE mobility of UE 1102, network local policies, historical movement of UE 1102, predicted movement of UE 1102, speed, acceleration and / or direction of UE 1102, or a combination thereof. In response to the request of LMF 1108, NWDAF 1107 may send the requested mobility analysis associated with UE 1102 to AMF 1106 from LMF 1108. In some examples, before requesting NWDAF 1107 to provide mobility analysis, LMF may first establish an interface with NWDAF 1107.

[0196] At 1134, LMF 1108 may perform operations such as combining Figure 4 One or more positioning procedures in the described positioning procedures. LMF 1108 may determine one or more parameters associated with the positioning procedure performed based on the mobility analysis received from NWDAF at 1133 to improve or optimize the assistance data configured for UE 1102 (or for a group of UEs). Similarly, during this step, LMF 1108 may use Namf_Communication_N1N2MessageTransfer service operation to request the transfer of positioning-related N1 messages to UE 1102 or the transfer of network positioning messages to the serving NG-RAN (e.g., RAN1104) node (gNB or NG-eNB) of UE 1102.

[0197] At 1136, LMF 1108 may return a Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation response to AMF 1106 to return the current location of UE 1102. The service operation may include an LCS-related identifier, the location estimate, its age and accuracy, and may include information about the positioning method.

[0198] Similarly, in one example, at 1136 or via a separate or additional step, the LMF 1108 may be configured to update UE mobility related parameters associated with the UE 1102 to the AMF 1106. For example, the updated UE mobility related parameters may include detected PRS TRPs / resources with signal strengths above or below a signal threshold (e.g., very strong, strong, and weak signal strengths, etc.), the UE's mobility mode (if available) (e.g., speed, acceleration, direction), line-of-sight (LOS) and / or non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions relative to the serving cell and neighboring cells, multipath information related to the serving cell and neighboring cells, Doppler estimates of the UE 1102, or a combination thereof. All of this information may assist the AMF 1106 in defining optimal handover sets and redirection scenarios and / or provide better mobility management at the AMF 1106.

[0199] At 1138, the AMF 1106 may return a Namf_Location_ProvidePositioningInfo response to the GMLC 1110 (or location retrieval function (LRF)) to return the current location of the UE 1102. The service operation may include the location estimate, its age and accuracy, and may include information about the positioning method.

[0200] At 1140 , the GMLC 1110 may transmit a location service response to the external location service client 1114 (eg, via an LCD service response message).

[0201] In another aspect of the present disclosure, the aspects described herein (such as the steps described in conjunction with 1133 and 1134) may also be applied in conjunction with Figure 8 and Fig. 9 For example, refer to the MO-LR procedure described in Figure 8 After receiving the Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation request at 826, the LMF 808 may communicate with the NWDAF to obtain a mobility analysis associated with the UE 802. Then, at 828, the LMF 808 may perform operations such as combining Figure 4One or more of the described positioning procedures for UE 802. LMF 808 may determine one or more parameters associated with positioning procedures performed based on mobility analysis received from NWDAF to improve or optimize assistance data configured for UE 802 (or for a group of UEs).

[0202] Fig.12 1200 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a first network entity (eg, LMF 708, 808, 1008, 1108; network entity 1402). The method may enable the first network entity to request and receive mobility analysis for a set of UEs to improve location services.

[0203] At 1202, a first network entity may establish an interface with a second network entity based on mobility data associated with a set of UEs, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.11 At 1133, before requesting mobility analysis for UE 1102, LMF 1108 may establish an interface with NWDAF 1107. The establishment of the interface may be performed by, for example Fig.14 The mobility analysis request component 199, the transceiver 1446 and / or the communication interface 1418 / 1438 / 1448 of the network entity 1402 are executed.

[0204] At 1204, the first network entity may send a request for mobility data associated with the set of UEs, wherein the request for mobility data is sent to a second network entity associated with mobility data analysis, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1031, LMF 1108 may send a request for mobile analysis associated with UE 1002 from NWDAF 1007 via AMF 1006. The sending of the request may be performed by, for example, Fig.14 The mobility analysis request component 199, the transceiver 1446 and / or the communication interface 1418 / 1438 / 1448 of the network entity 1402 are executed.

[0205] In one example, the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is at least one of a mobility analysis associated with the set of UEs or a set of mobility parameters associated with the set of UEs.

[0206] In another example, the mobility data includes: a mobility pattern of a UE set, one or more statistics of UE mobility of a UE set, a network local policy, one or more historical movements of a UE set, one or more predicted movements of a UE set, at least one of a speed, acceleration or direction of a UE set, or a combination thereof.

[0207] In another example, the request for mobility data is sent via a third network entity to the second network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is received from the second network entity via the third network entity. In this example, the first network entity is a LMF or location server, the second network entity is a NWDAF, and the third network entity is an AMF.

[0208] In another example, the request for mobility data is sent directly to the second network entity, and wherein the indication of mobility data is received directly from the second network entity. In this example, the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, and the second network entity is a NWDAF.

[0209] At 1206, the first network entity may receive an indication of mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1032, the LMF may receive mobility analysis associated with the UE 1002 from the AMF 1006. The receipt of the indication of mobility data may be performed by, for example Fig.14 The mobility analysis request component 199, the transceiver 1446 and / or the communication interface 1418 / 1438 / 1448 of the network entity 1402 are executed.

[0210] At 1208, the first network entity may generate an AD for at least one UE or a set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1034 of the present invention, LMF 1008 may determine one or more parameters associated with a positioning procedure performed based on the mobility analysis received from AMF 1006 at 1032 to improve or optimize the assistance data configured for UE 1002 (or for a group of UEs). The generation of AD may be performed by, for example, Fig.14 The mobility analysis request component 199, the transceiver 1446 and / or the communication interface 1418 / 1438 / 1448 of the network entity 1402 are executed.

[0211] At 1210, the first network entity may perform at least one positioning function for at least one UE in the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1034, LMF 1008 may execute one or more positioning procedures for UE 1002. The at least one positioning function may be provided by, for example, Fig.14 The mobility analysis request component 199, the transceiver 1446 and / or the communication interface 1418 / 1438 / 1448 of the network entity 1402 are executed.

[0212] In one example, the first network entity may determine which TRPs, PRS resource sets, or PRS resources to include for at least one UE or a set of UEs based on an indication of the mobility data.

[0213] In another example, the first network entity may select a group of UEs from the set of UEs for the SL positioning session based on an indication of the mobility data.

[0214] In another example, the first network entity may determine, based on an indication of the mobility data, at least one of the following for at least one UE or a set of UEs: at least one positioning method, at least one positioning technique, pre-configuration of measurement gaps, pre-configuration of positioning processing windows, a UE-based or UE-assisted operation mode, at least one expected RSTD window, at least one expected AoD window, at least one expected AoA window, or a combination thereof.

[0215] At 1212, the first network entity may send updated mobility data associated with at least one UE in the set of UEs to the AMF, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1036, LMF 1008 may be configured to update UE mobility related parameters associated with UE 1002 to AMF 1006. The sending of the updated mobility data may be performed by, for example Fig.14 The updated mobility data includes: PRS resources or TRP resources with signal strength above or below a signal threshold of at least one UE; mobility mode of at least one UE; LOS and NLOS conditions of at least one UE relative to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells; multipath information of at least one UE related to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells; Doppler estimation of at least one UE; or a combination thereof. In another example, the updated mobility data is forwarded to the second network entity via the AMF.

[0216] Fig.131300 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a first network entity (eg, LMF 708, 808, 1008, 1108; network entity 1402). The method may enable the first network entity to request and receive mobility analysis for a set of UEs to improve location services.

[0217] At 1304, the first network entity may send a request for mobility data associated with the set of UEs, wherein the request for mobility data is sent to a second network entity associated with mobility data analysis, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1031, LMF 1108 may send a request for mobile analysis associated with UE 1002 from NWDAF 1007 via AMF 1006. The sending of the request may be performed by, for example, Fig.14 The mobility analysis request component 199, the transceiver 1446 and / or the communication interface 1418 / 1438 / 1448 of the network entity 1402 are executed.

[0218] In one example, the first network entity may establish an interface with the second network entity based on mobility data associated with the set of UEs, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.11 At 1133, before requesting mobility analysis for UE 1102, LMF 1108 may establish an interface with NWDAF 1107. The establishment of the interface may be performed by, for example Fig.14 The mobility analysis request component 199, the transceiver 1446 and / or the communication interface 1418 / 1438 / 1448 of the network entity 1402 are executed.

[0219] In another example, the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is at least one of a mobility analysis associated with the set of UEs or a set of mobility parameters associated with the set of UEs.

[0220] In another example, the mobility data includes: a mobility pattern of a UE set, one or more statistics of UE mobility of a UE set, a network local policy, one or more historical movements of a UE set, one or more predicted movements of a UE set, at least one of a speed, acceleration or direction of a UE set, or a combination thereof.

[0221] In another example, the request for mobility data is sent via a third network entity to the second network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is received from the second network entity via the third network entity. In this example, the first network entity is a LMF or location server, the second network entity is a NWDAF, and the third network entity is an AMF.

[0222] In another example, the request for mobility data is sent directly to the second network entity, and wherein the indication of mobility data is received directly from the second network entity. In this example, the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, and the second network entity is a NWDAF.

[0223] At 1306, the first network entity may receive an indication of mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1032, the LMF may receive mobility analysis associated with the UE 1002 from the AMF 1006. The receipt of the indication of mobility data may be performed by, for example Fig.14 The mobility analysis request component 199, the transceiver 1446 and / or the communication interface 1418 / 1438 / 1448 of the network entity 1402 are executed.

[0224] In one example, the first network entity may generate an AD for at least one UE or a set of UEs based on an indication of the mobility data, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1034 of the present invention, LMF 1008 may determine one or more parameters associated with a positioning procedure performed based on the mobility analysis received from AMF 1006 at 1032 to improve or optimize the assistance data configured for UE 1002 (or for a group of UEs). The generation of AD may be performed by, for example, Fig.14 The mobility analysis request component 199, the transceiver 1446 and / or the communication interface 1418 / 1438 / 1448 of the network entity 1402 are executed.

[0225] At 1310, the first network entity may perform at least one positioning function for at least one UE in the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1034, LMF 1008 may execute one or more positioning procedures for UE 1002. The at least one positioning function may be provided by, for example, Fig.14The mobility analysis request component 199, the transceiver 1446 and / or the communication interface 1418 / 1438 / 1448 of the network entity 1402 are executed.

[0226] In one example, the first network entity may determine which TRPs, PRS resource sets, or PRS resources to include for at least one UE or a set of UEs based on an indication of the mobility data.

[0227] In another example, the first network entity may select a group of UEs from the set of UEs for the SL positioning session based on an indication of the mobility data.

[0228] In another example, the first network entity may determine, based on an indication of the mobility data, at least one of the following for at least one UE or a set of UEs: at least one positioning method, at least one positioning technique, pre-configuration of measurement gaps, pre-configuration of positioning processing windows, a UE-based or UE-assisted operation mode, at least one expected RSTD window, at least one expected AoD window, at least one expected AoA window, or a combination thereof.

[0229] In another example, the first network entity may send updated mobility data associated with at least one UE in the set of UEs to the AMF, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1036, LMF 1008 may be configured to update UE mobility related parameters associated with UE 1002 to AMF 1006. The sending of the updated mobility data may be performed by, for example Fig.14 The updated mobility data includes: PRS resources or TRP resources with signal strength above or below a signal threshold of at least one UE; mobility mode of at least one UE; LOS and NLOS conditions of at least one UE relative to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells; multipath information of at least one UE related to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells; Doppler estimation of at least one UE; or a combination thereof. In another example, the updated mobility data is forwarded to the second network entity via the AMF.

[0230] Fig.141400 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a network entity 1402. The network entity 1402 may be a LMF, a component of a LMF, or may implement LMF functionality. The network entity 1402 may include at least one of a CU 1410, a DU 1430, or a RU 1440. For example, depending on the layer functionality handled by the mobility analysis request component 199, the network entity 1402 may include a CU 1410; both a CU 1410 and a DU 1430; each of the CU 1410, the DU 1430, and the RU 1440; the DU 1430; both a DU 1430 and a RU 1440; or a RU 1440. The CU 1410 may include a CU processor 1412. The CU processor 1412 may include an on-chip memory 1412'. In some aspects, the CU 1410 may also include an additional memory module 1414 and a communication interface 1418. CU 1410 communicates with DU 1430 via a midhaul link, such as an F1 interface. DU 1430 may include a DU processor 1432. DU processor 1432 may include on-chip memory 1432'. In some aspects, DU 1430 may also include additional memory modules 1434 and a communication interface 1438. DU 1430 communicates with RU 1440 via a fronthaul link. RU 1440 may include a RU processor 1442. RU processor 1442 may include on-chip memory 1442'. In some aspects, RU 1440 may also include additional memory modules 1444, one or more transceivers 1446, antenna 1480, and communication interface 1448. RU 1440 communicates with UE 104. On-chip memory 1412', 1432', 1442' and additional memory modules 1414, 1434, 1444 may each be considered a computer-readable medium / memory. Each computer readable medium / memory may be non-transitory. Each of processors 1412, 1432, 1442 is responsible for general processing, including executing software stored on the computer readable medium / memory. The software, when executed by the corresponding processor, causes the processor to perform the various functions described above. The computer readable medium / memory may also be used to store data manipulated by the processor when executing the software.

[0231] As discussed above, the mobility analysis request component 199 may be configured to send a request for mobility data associated with a set of UEs, wherein the request for mobility data is sent for a second network entity associated with mobility data analysis. The mobility analysis request component 199 may also be configured to receive an indication of mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request. The mobility analysis request component 199 may also be configured to perform at least one positioning function for at least one UE in the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data. The mobility analysis request component 199 may be within one or more processors of one or more of the CU 1410, the DU 1430, and the RU 1440. The mobility analysis request component 199 may be one or more hardware components that are specifically configured to perform the process / algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by one or more processors, or some combination thereof. The network entity 1402 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In one configuration, the network entity 1402 may include means for sending a request for mobility data associated with the set of UEs, wherein the request for mobility data is sent to a second network entity associated with mobility data analysis. The network entity 1402 may also include means for receiving an indication of mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request. The network entity 1402 may also include means for performing at least one positioning function for at least one UE in the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data.

[0232] In one configuration, the network entity 1402 may also include means for establishing an interface with the second network entity based on the mobility data associated with the set of UEs.

[0233] In another configuration, the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is at least one of a mobility analysis associated with the set of UEs or a set of mobility parameters associated with the set of UEs.

[0234] In another configuration, the mobility data includes: a mobility pattern of the UE set, one or more statistics of UE mobility of the UE set, a network local policy, one or more historical movements of the UE set, one or more predicted movements of the UE set, at least one of the speed, acceleration or direction of the UE set, or a combination thereof.

[0235] In another configuration, the request for mobility data is sent via a third network entity to the second network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is received from the second network entity via the third network entity. In this configuration, the first network entity is a LMF or location server, the second network entity is a NWDAF, and the third network entity is an AMF.

[0236] In another configuration, the request for the mobility data is sent directly to the second network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is received directly from the second network entity. In this configuration, the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, and the second network entity is a NWDAF.

[0237] In another configuration, the network entity 1402 may further include means for generating an AD for at least one UE or a set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data.

[0238] In another configuration, the network entity 1402 may also include: a component for determining which TRPs, PRS resource sets, or PRS resources to include for at least one UE or a set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data.

[0239] In another configuration, the network entity 1402 may further include means for selecting a group of UEs from the set of UEs for the SL positioning session based on the indication of the mobility data.

[0240] In another configuration, the network entity 1402 may also include: a component for determining, based on the indication of the mobility data, at least one of the following for at least one UE or a set of UEs: at least one positioning method, at least one positioning technology, pre-configuration of measurement gaps, pre-configuration of positioning processing windows, UE-based or UE-assisted operation mode, at least one expected RSTD window, at least one expected AoD window, at least one expected AoA window, or a combination thereof.

[0241] In another configuration, the network entity 1402 may further include: a component for sending updated mobility data associated with at least one UE in the UE set to the AMF. In one configuration, the updated mobility data includes: PRS resources or TRP resources with signal strength above or below a signal threshold for at least one UE; mobility mode of at least one UE, LOS and NLOS conditions of at least one UE relative to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, multipath information of at least one UE related to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, Doppler estimation of at least one UE, or a combination thereof. In another configuration, the updated mobility data is forwarded to the second network entity via the AMF.

[0242] The means may be a mobility analysis request component 199 of the network entity 1402 configured to perform the functions recited by the means. As described above, the network entity 1402 may include the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375. Thus, in one configuration, the means may be the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and / or the controller / processor 375 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.

[0243] Fig.15 1500 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a second network entity (eg, NWDAF 196, 1007, 1107; network entity 1702). The method may enable the second network entity to provide mobility analysis for a set of UEs to an LMF or location server to improve location services.

[0244] At 1502, the second network entity may establish an interface with the first network entity based on mobility data associated with the set of UEs, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.11 At 1133, before sending the mobility analysis for UE 1102 to LMF 1108, NWDAF 1107 may establish an interface with LMF 1108. The establishment of the interface may be performed by, for example Fig.17 The mobility analysis process component 197, the transceiver 1746 and / or the communication interface 1718 / 1738 / 1748 of the network entity 1702 is performed.

[0245] At 1504, the second network entity may receive a request for mobility data associated with the set of UEs, wherein the request for mobility data is received from the first network entity, and wherein the second network entity is associated with mobility data analysis, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1031, NWDAF 1107 may receive a request for mobility analysis associated with UE 1002 from AMF 1006 or from LMF 1008 via AMF 1006. Receipt of the request may be performed by, for example Fig.17 The mobility analysis process component 197, the transceiver 1746 and / or the communication interface 1718 / 1738 / 1748 of the network entity 1702 is performed.

[0246] In one example, the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is at least one of a mobility analysis associated with the set of UEs or a set of mobility parameters associated with the set of UEs.

[0247] In another example, the mobility data includes: a mobility pattern of a UE set, one or more statistics of UE mobility of a UE set, a network local policy, one or more historical movements of a UE set, one or more predicted movements of a UE set, at least one of a speed, acceleration or direction of a UE set, or a combination thereof.

[0248] In another example, the request for mobility data is received from the first network entity via the third network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent to the first network entity via the third network entity. In this example, the first network entity is a LMF or location server, the second network entity is a NWDAF, and the third network entity is an AMF.

[0249] In another example, the request for the mobility data is received directly from the first network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent directly to the first network entity. In this example, the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, and the second network entity is a NWDAF.

[0250] At 1506, the second network entity may send an indication of mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request, wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent to the first network entity, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1032, NWDAF 1007 may send mobility analysis associated with UE 1002 to AMF 1006. The sending of the indication of mobility data may be performed by, for example Fig.17 The mobility analysis process component 197, the transceiver 1746 and / or the communication interface 1718 / 1738 / 1748 of the network entity 1702 is performed.

[0251] At 1508, the second network entity may receive, via the AMF, updated mobility data associated with at least one UE in the set of UEs, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, NWDAF 1007 may receive updated UE mobility related parameters associated with UE 1002 from AMF 1006. The updated mobility data may be received by, for example Fig.17The mobility analysis process component 197, the transceiver 1746 and / or the communication interface 1718 / 1738 / 1748 of the network entity 1702 in the example are performed. In one example, the updated mobility data includes: PRS resources or TRP resources with signal strength above or below a signal threshold of at least one UE; mobility pattern of at least one UE, LOS and NLOS conditions of at least one UE relative to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, multipath information of at least one UE related to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, Doppler estimation of at least one UE, or a combination thereof.

[0252] Fig.16 1600 is a flow chart of a method of wireless communication. The method may be performed by a second network entity (eg, NWDAF 196, 1007, 1107; network entity 1702). The method may enable the second network entity to provide mobility analysis for a set of UEs to an LMF or location server to improve location services.

[0253] At 1604, the second network entity may receive a request for mobility data associated with the set of UEs, wherein the request for mobility data is received from the first network entity, and wherein the second network entity is associated with mobility data analysis, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1031, NWDAF 1107 may receive a request for mobility analysis associated with UE 1002 from AMF 1006 or from LMF 1008 via AMF 1006. Receipt of the request may be performed by, for example Fig.17 The mobility analysis process component 197, the transceiver 1746 and / or the communication interface 1718 / 1738 / 1748 of the network entity 1702 is performed.

[0254] In one example, the second network entity may establish an interface with the first network entity based on mobility data associated with the set of UEs, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.11 At 1133, before sending the mobility analysis for UE 1102 to LMF 1108, NWDAF 1107 may establish an interface with LMF 1108. The establishment of the interface may be performed by, for example Fig.17 The mobility analysis process component 197, the transceiver 1746 and / or the communication interface 1718 / 1738 / 1748 of the network entity 1702 is performed.

[0255] In another example, the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is at least one of a mobility analysis associated with the set of UEs or a set of mobility parameters associated with the set of UEs.

[0256] In another example, the mobility data includes: a mobility pattern of a UE set, one or more statistics of UE mobility of a UE set, a network local policy, one or more historical movements of a UE set, one or more predicted movements of a UE set, at least one of a speed, acceleration or direction of a UE set, or a combination thereof.

[0257] In another example, the request for mobility data is received from the first network entity via the third network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent to the first network entity via the third network entity. In this example, the first network entity is a LMF or location server, the second network entity is a NWDAF, and the third network entity is an AMF.

[0258] In another example, the request for the mobility data is received directly from the first network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent directly to the first network entity. In this example, the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, and the second network entity is a NWDAF.

[0259] At 1606, the second network entity may send an indication of mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request, wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent to the first network entity, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, in Fig.10 At 1032, NWDAF 1007 may send mobility analysis associated with UE 1002 to AMF 1006. The sending of the indication of mobility data may be performed by, for example Fig.17 The mobility analysis process component 197, the transceiver 1746 and / or the communication interface 1718 / 1738 / 1748 of the network entity 1702 is performed.

[0260] In one example, the second network entity may receive, via the AMF, updated mobility data associated with at least one UE in the set of UEs, such as in conjunction with Fig.10 and Fig.11 For example, NWDAF 1007 may receive updated UE mobility related parameters associated with UE 1002 from AMF 1006. The updated mobility data may be received by, for example Fig.17The mobility analysis process component 197, the transceiver 1746 and / or the communication interface 1718 / 1738 / 1748 of the network entity 1702 in the example are performed. In this example, the updated mobility data includes: PRS resources or TRP resources with signal strength above or below a signal threshold of at least one UE; mobility mode of at least one UE, LOS and NLOS conditions of at least one UE relative to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, multipath information of at least one UE related to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, Doppler estimation of at least one UE, or a combination thereof.

[0261] Fig.171700 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware implementation for a network entity 1702. The network entity 1702 may be a LMF, a component of a LMF, or may implement LMF functionality. The network entity 1702 may include at least one of a CU 1710, a DU 1730, or a RU 1740. For example, depending on the layer functionality handled by the mobility analysis process component 197, the network entity 1702 may include a CU 1710; both a CU 1710 and a DU 1730; each of the CU 1710, the DU 1730, and the RU 1740; the DU 1730; both a DU 1730 and a RU 1740; or the RU 1740. The CU 1710 may include a CU processor 1712. The CU processor 1712 may include an on-chip memory 1712'. In some aspects, the CU 1710 may also include an additional memory module 1714 and a communication interface 1718. CU 1710 communicates with DU 1730 via a midhaul link, such as an F1 interface. DU 1730 may include a DU processor 1732. DU processor 1732 may include on-chip memory 1732'. In some aspects, DU 1730 may also include additional memory modules 1734 and a communication interface 1738. DU 1730 communicates with RU 1740 via a fronthaul link. RU 1740 may include a RU processor 1742. RU processor 1742 may include on-chip memory 1742'. In some aspects, RU 1740 may also include additional memory modules 1744, one or more transceivers 1746, antenna 1780, and communication interface 1748. RU 1740 communicates with UE 104. On-chip memory 1712', 1732', 1742' and additional memory modules 1714, 1734, 1744 may each be considered a computer-readable medium / memory. Each computer readable medium / memory may be non-transitory. Each of processors 1712, 1732, 1742 is responsible for general processing, including executing software stored on the computer readable medium / memory. The software, when executed by the corresponding processor, causes the processor to perform the various functions described above. The computer readable medium / memory may also be used to store data manipulated by the processor when executing the software.

[0262] As discussed above, the mobility analysis process component 197 may be configured to receive a request for mobility data associated with a set of UEs, wherein the request for mobility data is received from a first network entity, wherein a second network entity is associated with mobility data analysis. The mobility analysis process component 197 may also be configured to send an indication of mobility data associated with a set of UEs based on the request, wherein the indication of mobility data is sent for the first network entity. The mobility analysis process component 197 may be within one or more processors of one or more of the CU 1710, DU 1730, and RU 1740. The mobility analysis process component 197 may be one or more hardware components that are specifically configured to perform the process / algorithm, implemented by one or more processors configured to perform the process / algorithm, stored in a computer-readable medium for implementation by one or more processors, or some combination thereof. The network entity 1702 may include a variety of components configured for various functions. In one configuration, the network entity 1702 may include: means for receiving a request for mobility data associated with a set of UEs, wherein the request for mobility data is received from a first network entity, wherein a second network entity is associated with mobility data analysis. The network entity 1702 may also include: means for sending an indication of mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request, wherein the indication of mobility data is sent to the first network entity.

[0263] In one configuration, the network entity 1702 may also include means for establishing an interface with the first network entity based on mobility data associated with the set of UEs.

[0264] In another configuration, the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is at least one of a mobility analysis associated with the set of UEs or a set of mobility parameters associated with the set of UEs.

[0265] In another configuration, the mobility data includes: a mobility pattern of the UE set, one or more statistics of UE mobility of the UE set, a network local policy, one or more historical movements of the UE set, one or more predicted movements of the UE set, at least one of the speed, acceleration or direction of the UE set, or a combination thereof.

[0266] In another configuration, the request for mobility data is received from the first network entity via a third network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent to the first network entity via the third network entity. In this configuration, the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, the second network entity is a NWDAF, and the third network entity is an AMF.

[0267] In another configuration, the request for the mobility data is received directly from the first network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent directly to the first network entity. In this configuration, the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, and the second network entity is a NWDAF.

[0268] In another configuration, the network entity 1702 may further include: a component for receiving updated mobility data associated with at least one UE in the set of UEs via the AMF. In this configuration, the updated mobility data includes: PRS resources or TRP resources with signal strength above or below a signal threshold for at least one UE; mobility mode of at least one UE, LOS and NLOS conditions of at least one UE relative to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, multipath information of at least one UE related to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, Doppler estimation of at least one UE, or a combination thereof.

[0269] The means may be a mobility analysis process component 197 of the network entity 1702 configured to perform the functions recited by the means. As described above, the network entity 1702 may include the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and the controller / processor 375. Thus, in one configuration, the means may be the TX processor 316, the RX processor 370, and / or the controller / processor 375 configured to perform the functions recited by the means.

[0270] It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of the blocks in the disclosed process / flowchart is only an illustration of the exemplary method. It should be understood that the specific order or hierarchy of the blocks in the process / flowchart can be rearranged based on design preferences. In addition, some blocks can be combined or omitted. The attached method claims provide the elements of each block in a sample order, but are not limited to the specific order or hierarchy provided.

[0271] The foregoing description is provided to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the various aspects described herein. Various modifications to these aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects. Therefore, the claims are not limited to the various aspects described herein, but should be given the full scope consistent with the language claims. Unless otherwise specified, reference to an element in the singular form does not mean "one and only one", but "one or more". Terms such as "if", "when ..." and "at ..." do not mean a direct temporal relationship or reaction. That is, these phrases, such as "when ...", do not mean an instant action in response to the occurrence of an action or during the occurrence of an action, but only mean that if the condition is met, the action will occur without a specific or instantaneous time constraint to make the action occur. The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "used as an example, instance, or illustration". Any aspect described as "exemplary" herein is not necessarily interpreted as being preferred or having an advantage over other aspects. Unless otherwise specified, the term "some" refers to one or more. Combinations such as "at least one of A, B, or C", "one or more of A, B, or C", "at least one of A, B and C", "one or more of A, B, and C", and "A, B, C, or any combination thereof" include any combination of A, B, and / or C, and may include multiple A, multiple B, or multiple C. Specifically, combinations such as "at least one of A, B, or C", "one or more of A, B, or C", "at least one of A, B, and C", "one or more of A, B, and C", and "A, B, C, or any combination thereof" may be only A, only B, only C, A and B, A and C, B and C, or A and B and C, wherein any such combination may contain one or more members of A, B, or C. A set should be interpreted as a set of elements, wherein the number of elements is one or more. Thus, for a set of X, X will include one or more elements. If the first device receives data from the second device or sends data to the second device, the data may be received / sent directly between the first device and the second device, or indirectly between the first device and the second device through a collection of devices. All structural and functional equivalents of the elements of the various aspects described throughout the present disclosure that are known or will later be known to a person of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are covered by the claims. In addition, nothing disclosed herein is intended to be dedicated to the public, regardless of whether such disclosure is explicitly stated in the claims. Words such as "module", "mechanism", "element", "device", etc. cannot replace the word "component". Therefore, no claim element will be understood as a component plus function unless the element is explicitly stated using the phrase "component for..."

[0272] As used herein, the phrase "based on" should not be interpreted as referring to a closed set of information, one or more conditions, one or more factors, etc. In other words, the phrase "based on A" (where "A" can be information, a condition, a factor, etc.) should be interpreted as "based at least on A" unless specifically stated differently.

[0273] The following aspects are merely illustrative and may be combined with other aspects or teachings described herein without limitation.

[0274] Aspect 1 is a method for performing wireless communications at a first network entity, comprising: sending a request for mobility data associated with a set of UEs, wherein the request for the mobility data is sent to a second network entity associated with mobility data analysis; receiving an indication of the mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request; and performing at least one positioning function for at least one UE in the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data.

[0275] Aspect 2 is a method according to aspect 1, the method further comprising: establishing an interface with the second network entity based on the mobility data associated with the set of UEs.

[0276] Aspect 3 is a method according to any one of aspects 1 or 2, wherein the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is at least one of a mobility analysis associated with the set of UEs or a mobility parameter set associated with the set of UEs.

[0277] Aspect 4 is a method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 3, wherein the mobility data includes: a mobility pattern of the UE set, one or more statistics of UE mobility of the UE set, a network local policy, one or more historical movements of the UE set, one or more predicted movements of the UE set, at least one of the speed, acceleration or direction of the UE set, or a combination thereof.

[0278] Aspect 5 is a method according to any one of aspects 1 to 4, wherein the request for the mobility data is sent to the second network entity via a third network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is received from the second network entity via the third network entity.

[0279] Aspect 6 is a method according to aspect 5, wherein the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, the second network entity is a NWDAF, and the third network entity is an AMF.

[0280] Aspect 7 is a method according to any one of aspects 1 to 6, wherein the request for the mobility data is sent directly to the second network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is received directly from the second network entity.

[0281] Aspect 8 is a method according to aspect 7, wherein the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, and the second network entity is a NWDAF.

[0282] Aspect 9 is a method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 8, the method further comprising: sending updated mobility data associated with the at least one UE in the UE set to the AMF.

[0283] Aspect 10 is a method according to aspect 9, wherein the updated mobility data includes: PRS resources or TRP resources of the at least one UE having a signal strength above or below a signal threshold; the mobility mode of the at least one UE, the LOS and NLOS conditions of the at least one UE relative to the serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, the multipath information of the at least one UE related to the serving cell and the one or more neighboring cells, the Doppler estimate of the at least one UE, or a combination thereof.

[0284] Aspect 11 is a method according to aspect 9, wherein the updated mobility data is forwarded to the second network entity via the AMF.

[0285] Aspect 12 is a method according to any one of aspects 1 to 11, the method further comprising: generating an AD for the at least one UE or the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data.

[0286] Aspect 13 is a method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 12, the method further comprising: determining which TRPs, PRS resource sets or PRS resources to include for the at least one UE or the UE set based on the indication of the mobility data.

[0287] Aspect 14 is a method according to any one of aspects 1 to 13, further comprising: selecting a group of UEs from the set of UEs for a SL positioning session based on the indication of the mobility data.

[0288] Aspect 15 is a method according to any one of Aspects 1 to 14, wherein in order to perform the at least one positioning function for the at least one UE, the at least one processor is configured to: determine at least one of the following for the at least one UE or the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data: at least one positioning method, at least one positioning technology, pre-configuration of measurement gaps, pre-configuration of positioning processing windows, UE-based or UE-assisted operation modes, at least one expected RSTD window, at least one expected AoD window, at least one expected AoA window, or a combination thereof.

[0289] Aspect 16 is an apparatus for wireless communication at a first network entity, the apparatus comprising: a memory; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being coupled to the memory and being configured to implement any one of Aspects 1 to 15 based at least in part on information stored in the memory.

[0290] Aspect 17 is the apparatus of aspect 16, the apparatus further comprising at least one of a transceiver or an antenna coupled to the at least one processor.

[0291] Aspect 18 is an apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising means for implementing any one of aspects 1 to 15.

[0292] Aspect 19 is a computer-readable medium (eg, non-transitory computer-readable medium) storing computer-executable code, wherein the code, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement any one of aspects 1 to 15.

[0293] Aspect 20 is a method for performing wireless communications at a second network entity, the method comprising: receiving a request for mobility data associated with a set of UEs, wherein the request for the mobility data is received from a first network entity, wherein the second network entity is associated with mobility data analysis; and sending an indication of the mobility data associated with the set of UEs based on the request, wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent to the first network entity.

[0294] Aspect 21 is a method according to aspect 20, the method further comprising: establishing an interface with the first network entity based on the mobility data associated with the set of UEs.

[0295] Aspect 22 is a method according to any one of aspects 20 or 21, wherein the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is at least one of a mobility analysis associated with the set of UEs or a set of mobility parameters associated with the set of UEs.

[0296] Aspect 23 is a method according to any one of Aspects 20 to 22, wherein the mobility data includes: a mobility pattern of the UE set, one or more statistics of UE mobility of the UE set, a network local policy, one or more historical movements of the UE set, one or more predicted movements of the UE set, at least one of the speed, acceleration or direction of the UE set, or a combination thereof.

[0297] Aspect 24 is a method according to any one of aspects 20 to 23, wherein the request for the mobility data is received from the first network entity via a third network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent to the first network entity via the third network entity.

[0298] Aspect 25 is a method according to aspect 24, wherein the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, the second network entity is a NWDAF, and the third network entity is an AMF.

[0299] Aspect 26 is a method according to any one of aspects 20 to 25, wherein the request for the mobility data is received directly from the first network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent directly to the first network entity.

[0300] Aspect 27 is a method according to aspect 26, wherein the first network entity is a LMF or a location server, and the second network entity is a NWDAF.

[0301] Aspect 28 is a method according to any one of aspects 20 to 27, the method further comprising: receiving, via the AMF, updated mobility data associated with the at least one UE in the set of UEs.

[0302] Aspect 29 is a method according to aspect 28, wherein the updated mobility data includes: PRS resources or TRP resources of the at least one UE having a signal strength above or below a signal threshold; the mobility mode of the at least one UE, the LOS and NLOS conditions of the at least one UE relative to the serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, the multipath information of the at least one UE related to the serving cell and the one or more neighboring cells, the Doppler estimate of the at least one UE, or a combination thereof.

[0303] Aspect 30 is an apparatus for wireless communication at a second network entity, the apparatus comprising: a memory; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being coupled to the memory and being configured to implement any one of aspects 20 to 29 based at least in part on information stored in the memory.

[0304] Aspect 31 is the apparatus of aspect 30, the apparatus further comprising at least one of a transceiver or an antenna coupled to the at least one processor.

[0305] Aspect 32 is an apparatus for wireless communication, the apparatus comprising means for implementing any one of aspects 20 to 29.

[0306] Aspect 33 is a computer-readable medium (eg, non-transitory computer-readable medium) storing computer-executable code, wherein the code, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to implement any one of aspects 20 to 29.

Claims

1. An apparatus for wireless communication at a first network entity, the apparatus comprising: Memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and based at least in part on the information stored in the memory, the at least one processor configured to: sending a request for mobility data associated with a set of user equipment (UEs), wherein the request for the mobility data is sent to a second network entity associated with mobility data analysis; receiving, based on the request, an indication of the mobility data associated with the set of UEs; as well as At least one positioning function is performed for at least one UE in the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: An interface with the second network entity is established based on the mobility data associated with the set of UEs.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is at least one of a mobility analysis associated with the set of UEs or a set of mobility parameters associated with the set of UEs.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobility data comprises: a mobility mode of the set of UEs, one or more statistics of UE mobility of the set of UEs, Network local policy, one or more historical movements of the set of UEs, one or more predicted movements of the set of UEs, At least one of the velocity, acceleration or direction of the set of UEs, or A combination of them.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the request for the mobility data is sent to the second network entity via a third network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is received from the second network entity via the third network entity.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first network entity is a location management function (LMF) or a location server, the second network entity is a network data analysis function (NWDAF), and the third network entity is an access and mobility management function (AMF).

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the request for the mobility data is sent directly to the second network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is received directly from the second network entity.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the first network entity is a location management function (LMF) or a location server, and the second network entity is a network data analysis function (NWDAF).

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: Sending updated mobility data associated with the at least one UE in the set of UEs to an access and mobility management function (AMF).

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the updated mobility data comprises: a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource or a transmit reception point (TRP) resource of the at least one UE having a signal strength above or below a signal threshold; a mobility mode of the at least one UE, line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions of the at least one UE with respect to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, multipath information of the at least one UE related to the serving cell and the one or more neighboring cells, a Doppler estimate of the at least one UE, or A combination of them.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the updated mobility data is forwarded to the second network entity via the AMF.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to perform the at least one positioning function for the at least one UE, the at least one processor is configured to: Assistance data (AD) is generated for the at least one UE or the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to perform the at least one positioning function for the at least one UE, the at least one processor is configured to: Which transmit reception points (TRPs), positioning reference signal (PRS) resource sets, or PRS resources are to be included for the at least one UE or the set of UEs is determined based on the indication of the mobility data.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein to perform the at least one positioning function for the at least one UE, the at least one processor is configured to: A group of UEs is selected from the set of UEs for a sidelink (SL) positioning session based on the indication of the mobility data.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein to perform the at least one positioning function for the at least one UE, the at least one processor is configured to: determining, for the at least one UE or the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data, at least one of: At least one positioning method, At least one positioning technology, Preconfiguration of the measuring gap, Pre-configuration of positioning processing windows, UE-based or UE-assisted operation mode, at least one expected reference signal time difference (RSTD) window, At least one expected Angle of Departure (AoD) window, At least one expected angle of arrival (AoA) window, or A combination of them.

16. A method for wireless communication at a first network entity, the method comprising: sending a request for mobility data associated with a set of user equipment (UEs), wherein the request for the mobility data is sent to a second network entity associated with mobility data analysis; receiving, based on the request, an indication of the mobility data associated with the set of UEs; as well as At least one positioning function is performed for at least one UE in the set of UEs based on the indication of the mobility data.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the mobility data comprises: a mobility pattern of the set of UEs, one or more statistics of UE mobility of the set of UEs, Network local policy, one or more historical movements of the set of UEs, one or more predicted movements of the set of UEs, At least one of the velocity, acceleration or direction of the set of UEs, or A combination of them.

18. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: Sending updated mobility data associated with the at least one UE in the set of UEs to an access and mobility management function (AMF).

19. An apparatus for wireless communication at a second network entity, the apparatus comprising: Memory; and at least one processor coupled to the memory and based at least in part on the information stored in the memory, the at least one processor configured to: receiving a request for mobility data associated with a set of user equipment (UEs), wherein the request for the mobility data is received from a first network entity, wherein the second network entity is associated with mobility data analysis; and An indication of the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is sent based on the request, wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent for the first network entity.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: An interface with the first network entity is established based on the mobility data associated with the set of UEs.

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is at least one of a mobility analysis associated with the set of UEs or a set of mobility parameters associated with the set of UEs.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the mobility data comprises: a mobility mode of the set of UEs, one or more statistics of UE mobility of the set of UEs, Network local policy, one or more historical movements of the set of UEs, one or more predicted movements of the set of UEs, At least one of the velocity, acceleration or direction of the set of UEs, or A combination of them.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the request for the mobility data is received from the first network entity via a third network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent to the first network entity via the third network entity.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the first network entity is a location management function (LMF) or a location server, the second network entity is a network data analysis function (NWDAF), and the third network entity is an access and mobility management function (AMF).

25. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the request for the mobility data is received directly from the first network entity, and wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent directly to the first network entity.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the first network entity is a location management function (LMF) or a location server, and the second network entity is a network data analysis function (NWDAF).

27. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: Updated mobility data associated with the at least one UE in the set of UEs is received via an access and mobility management function (AMF).

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the updated mobility data comprises: a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource or a transmit reception point (TRP) resource of the at least one UE having a signal strength above or below a signal threshold; a mobility mode of the at least one UE, line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions of the at least one UE with respect to a serving cell and one or more neighboring cells, multipath information of the at least one UE related to the serving cell and the one or more neighboring cells, a Doppler estimate of the at least one UE, or A combination of them.

29. A method for wireless communication at a second network entity, the method comprising: receiving a request for mobility data associated with a set of user equipment (UEs), wherein the request for the mobility data is received from a first network entity, wherein the second network entity is associated with mobility data analysis; and An indication of the mobility data associated with the set of UEs is sent based on the request, wherein the indication of the mobility data is sent for the first network entity.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the mobility data comprises: a mobility mode of the set of UEs, one or more statistics of UE mobility of the set of UEs, Network local policy, one or more historical movements of the set of UEs, one or more predicted movements of the set of UEs, At least one of the velocity, acceleration or direction of the set of UEs, or A combination of them.

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