Location indication of uplink resources for positioning

Abstract

In some implementations, a method of wireless communication at a base station for wireless positioning of a user equipment (UE) may include transmitting an assistance to a different device, the assistance indicating a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRP of the base station configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS), the location is different from a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRP of the base station configured to transmit a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS). The method also includes performing a measurement of UL reference signals received by the first set of TRPs. And the method further includes transmitting the measurement to the different device.

Description

[0001] Related Applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 17 / 822,047, filed on August 24, 2022, entitled “LOCATION INDICATION FOR UPLINK RESOURCES FOR POSITIONING,” which is assigned to the assignee of this application and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art 1. Technical Field

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

[0004] 2. Related technologies

[0005] In a fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) mobile communication network, a UE may transmit an uplink (UL) signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)), which may be received by a base station and / or other transmit / receive points (TRPs) to perform angle and / or distance measurements to determine the position of the UE using any one of a variety of positioning methods. The precise coordinates of the antenna reference point of the TRP receiving the SRS may result in an increased accuracy of the determined positioning of the UE. Summary of the invention

[0006] An example method of wirelessly communicating at a base station for wirelessly locating a user equipment (UE), the example method comprising: sending assistance to different devices, the assistance indicating the location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs of the base station configured to receive uplink (UL) sounding reference signals (SRS), which is different from the location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs of the base station configured to send downlink (DL) positioning reference signals (PRS). The method also includes performing measurements of UL reference signals received by the first set of TRPs. And the method also includes sending the measurements to the different devices.

[0007] A method for wireless communication at a UE for wireless positioning, the method comprising: sending an UL reference signal to a base station. The method also comprises receiving assistance data from a network node, the assistance data indicating a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS) of the base station, which is different from a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs configured for sending a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) of the base station.

[0008] An example base station for wirelessly locating user equipment (UE) includes: a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processing units, the one or more processing units being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory. The one or more processing units are configured to: send assistance to different devices, the assistance indicating the location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs of the base station configured to receive an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS), which is different from the location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs of the base station configured to send a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS). The one or more processing units are also configured to: perform measurements of UL reference signals received by the first set of TRPs; and send the measurements to different devices.

[0009] An example user equipment (UE) for wireless positioning includes: a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processing units, the one or more processing units being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory. The one or more processing units are configured to: send an UL reference signal to a base station; and receive assistance data from a network node, the assistance data indicating a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS) of the base station, which is different from a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs configured for sending a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS) of the base station. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0010] Figure 1 is a diagram of a positioning system according to one embodiment.

[0011] Figure 2 is a diagram of a fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) positioning system, which illustrates a positioning system implemented within a 5G NR communication system (e.g., Figure 1 implementation scheme of a positioning system).

[0012] Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating beamforming in a 5G NR positioning system.

[0013] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating a simplified TRP panel including a TRP transmit panel and a TRP receive panel having an antenna array that can perform reference signal transmission and / or reception.

[0014] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating how to define antenna reference points (ARPs) of a TRP transmitting panel and a TRP receiving panel of a simplified TRP panel according to one embodiment.

[0015] Fig. 6A and Figure 6B is an example of assistance data indicating a common reference point location and an ARP relative position with respect to the common reference point, according to one embodiment.

[0016] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating how to define ARPs of a TRP sending panel and a TRP receiving panel of a simplified TRP panel according to one embodiment.

[0017] Figure 8 is a call flow diagram of a UE-based process for performing positioning determination of a target UE by reporting the location of an ARP for a TRP for receiving UL-SRS by a base station according to one embodiment.

[0018] Fig. 9 is a call flow diagram of a UE-assisted process for performing positioning determination of a target UE by reporting the location of an ARP for a TRP for receiving a UL-SRS by a base station according to one embodiment.

[0019] Fig.10 Detailed description is a flowchart of a method for performing wireless communications at a base station for positioning a UE by reporting the location of an ARP of a TRP for receiving a UL-SRS by the base station according to one embodiment.

[0020] Fig.11 1. is a flowchart of a method for performing wireless communication at a UE for positioning a target UE according to one embodiment, wherein the positioning is performed by reporting the position of an ARP of a TRP for receiving a UL-SRS by a base station.

[0021] Fig.12 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system.

[0022] Fig.13 is a block diagram of a UE according to one embodiment.

[0023] Similar reference symbols in the various drawings indicate similar elements according to certain example implementations. In addition, multiple instances of an element can be indicated by adding a letter or hyphen and a second number after the first number of the element. For example, multiple instances of element 110 can be indicated as 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, etc. or 110a, 110b, 110c, etc. When only the first number is used to refer to such an element, any instance of the element should be understood (for example, the element 110 in the previous example will refer to elements 110-1, 110-2 and 110-3 or to elements 110a, 110b and 110c). DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The following description is directed to certain specific implementations for the purpose of describing the innovative aspects of each embodiment. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein can be applied in a variety of different ways. The described specific implementations can be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of sending and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals according to any communication standard, such as any of the following: the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4 standard for ultra-wideband (UWB), the IEEE 802.11 standard (including those identified as Technical standards), Standard, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GSM / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), 1xEV-DO, EV-DO Revision A, EV-DO Revision B, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), Evolved High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), or other known signals for communicating within a wireless, cellular or Internet of Things (IoT) network, such as a system utilizing 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G or further implementations thereof.

[0025] As used herein, "RF signals" include electromagnetic waves that transmit information through the space between a transmitter (or transmitting device) and a receiver (or receiving device). As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of each RF signal through multiple channels or paths, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal.

[0026] Additionally, unless otherwise indicated, references to "reference signals," "positioning reference signals," "reference signals used for positioning," etc. may be used to refer to signals used to locate user equipment (UE). As described in more detail herein, such signals may include any of a variety of signal types, but may not necessarily be limited to positioning reference signals (PRS) as defined in relevant wireless standards.

[0027] In addition, unless otherwise specified, the term "positioning" as used herein may refer to absolute position determination, relative position determination, ranging, or a combination thereof. For the purpose of location or sensing services, such positioning may include and / or be based on timing, angle, phase or power measurements or a combination thereof (which may include RF sensing measurements).

[0028] In a wireless communication network, when positioning a UE, a position measurement (e.g., angle of arrival (AOA), angle of departure (AOD), time of arrival (TOA)) may be determined based on a reference signal sent between a base station and the UE to be positioned. For example, such a signal may include a PRS or an SRS, which may be used, for example, to perform positioning of the UE based on observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA), AOD, and round-trip signal propagation delay (RTT).

[0029] At the base station, the transmission and reception of reference signals (e.g., transmission of downlink (DL) PRS and reception of uplink (UL) SRS) are performed using a TRP. However, in many specific implementations, the transmission point of the TRP and the reception point of the TRP are separated in order to improve the performance of the system. For example, in a sub-band full-duplex (SBFD) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, the TRP transmission panel and the TRP reception panel are separated to mitigate DL and UL interference. In addition, for a full-duplex gNB that allocates SRS resources in the UL band of a full-duplex time slot, it is expected that the reception point of the TRP is different from the transmission point of the same TRP. Therefore, in order to improve the accuracy of positioning the UE (e.g., increase the accuracy of the angle and / or distance measurement of the reference signal), the coordinates / positions of both the antenna reference point (ARP) of the DL PRS resources and the ARP of the UL SRS resources may be reported by the base station. Additional details are provided herein.

[0030] Figure 1 is a simplified illustration of a positioning system 100 according to one embodiment, in which a UE 105, a location server 160, and / or other components of the positioning system 100 may use the techniques provided herein for positioning a user equipment (UE). The techniques described herein may be implemented by one or more components of the positioning system 100. The positioning system 100 may include: a UE 105; one or more satellites 110 (also referred to as space vehicles (SVs)) for a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as a global positioning system (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, or BeiDou; a base station 120; an access point (AP) 130; a location server 160; a network 170; and an external client 180. In general, the positioning system 100 may estimate the location of the UE 105 based on RF signals received by and / or transmitted from the UE 105 and the known locations of other components (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, base stations 120, APs 130) that send and / or receive RF signals. Reference Figure 2 Additional details regarding specific location estimation techniques are discussed in more detail.

[0031] It should be pointed out that Figure 1 Only a generalized illustration of various components is provided, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each component may be repeated as needed. Specifically, although only one UE 105 is illustrated, it should be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the positioning system 100. Similarly, the positioning system 100 may include more than one UE 105. Figure 1 A greater or lesser number of base stations 120 and / or APs 130 are illustrated. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the positioning system 100 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. In addition, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality. In some embodiments, for example, the external client 180 may be directly connected to the location server 160. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize many modifications to the illustrated components.

[0032] Depending on the desired functionality, network 170 may include any one of a variety of wireless and / or wired networks. Network 170 may, for example, include any combination of public and / or private networks, local area networks and / or wide area networks, etc. In addition, network 170 may utilize one or more wired and / or wireless communication technologies. In some embodiments, network 170 may include, for example, cellular or other mobile networks, wireless local area networks (WLANs), wireless wide area networks (WWANs), and / or the Internet. Examples of network 170 include long-term evolution (LTE) wireless networks, fifth-generation (5G) wireless networks (also referred to as new radio (NR) wireless networks or 5G NR wireless networks), Wi-Fi WLANs, and the Internet. LTE, 5G, and NR are wireless technologies defined or being defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Network 170 may also include more than one network and / or more than one type of network.

[0033] The base station 120 and the access point (AP) 130 are communicatively coupled to the network 170. In some embodiments, the base station 120 may be owned, maintained and / or operated by a cellular network provider and may employ any of a variety of wireless technologies, as described herein below. Depending on the technology of the network 170, the base station 120 may include a node B, an evolved node B (eNodeB or eNB), a transceiver base station (BTS), a radio base station (RBS), an NR node B (gNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), etc. In the case where the network 170 is a 5G network, the base station 120 as a gNB or ng-eNB may be part of a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) that may be connected to a 5G core network (5GC). In view of the open radio access network (O-RAN) and / or virtualized radio access network (V-RAN or vRAN) in 5G or higher networks, the functionality performed by the base station 120 in the earlier networks (e.g., 3G and 4G) may be divided into different functional components (e.g., radio unit (RU), distributed unit (DU), central unit (CU)) and layers (e.g., L1 / L2 / L3), which may be executed on different devices at different locations connected, for example, via fronthaul connections, midhaul connections, and backhaul connections. As described herein, a "base station" (or ng-eNB, gNB, etc.) may include any or all of these functional components. For example, AP 130 may include a Wi-Fi AP or AP or an AP with cellular capabilities (e.g., 4G LTE and / or 5GNR). Thus, UE 105 can transmit and receive information with network-connected devices such as location server 160 by accessing network 170 via base station 120 using first communication link 133. Additionally or alternatively, because AP 130 can also be communicatively coupled with network 170, UE 105 can communicate with network-connected and Internet-connected devices (including location server 160) using second communication link 135 or via one or more other mobile devices 145.

[0034] As used herein, the term "base station" may generally refer to a single physical transmission point or multiple co-located physical transmission points that may be located at a base station 120. A transmit receive point (TRP) (also referred to as a transmit / receive point) corresponds to this type of transmission point, and the term "TRP" may be used interchangeably with the terms "gNB," "ng-eNB," and "base station" herein. In some cases, a base station 120 may include multiple TRPs—for example, where each TRP is associated with a different antenna or a different antenna array of the base station 120. As used herein, the transmit functionality of a TRP may be performed using a transmit point (TP), and / or the receive functionality of a TRP may be performed by a receive point (RP), which may be physically separate or distinct from the TP. That is, a TRP may include both a TP and an RP. A physical transmission point may include an antenna array of a base station 120 (for example, as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system and / or where the base station employs beamforming). The term "base station" may additionally refer to multiple non-co-located physical transmission points, which may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station).

[0035] As used herein, the term "cell" may generally refer to a logical communication entity for communicating with base station 120, and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) for distinguishing adjacent cells operating via the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types that may provide access for different types of devices (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocols). In some cases, the term "cell" may refer to a portion of a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) on which the logical entity operates.

[0036] Satellites 110 may be used to locate UE 105 in one or more ways. For example, satellites 110 (also referred to as space vehicles (SVs)) may be part of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), such as a global positioning system (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, or BeiDou. Positioning using RF signals from GNSS satellites may include measuring multiple GNSS signals at a GNSS receiver of UE 105 to perform code-based and / or carrier-based positioning, which may be highly accurate. Additionally or alternatively, satellites 110 may be used for non-terrestrial network (NTN) based positioning, where satellites 110 may be functionally operable as a TRP (or multiple TPs) of a network (e.g., an LTE and / or NR network) and may be communicatively coupled with network 170. In particular, reference signals (e.g., PRS) sent by satellites 110 for NTN based positioning may be similar to those sent by base stations 120 and may be coordinated by location server 160. In some embodiments, satellites 110 used for NTN based positioning may be different from those used for GNSS based positioning.

[0037] The location server 160 may include a server and / or other computing device configured to determine an estimated location of the UE 105 and / or provide data (e.g., “assistance data”) to the UE 105 to facilitate location measurement and / or location determination by the UE 105. According to some embodiments, the location server 160 may include a Home Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (H-SLP), which may support the SUPL User Plane (UP) location solution defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and may support location services for the UE 105 based on subscription information of the UE 105 stored in the location server 160. In some embodiments, the location server 160 may include a Discovery SLP (D-SLP) or an Emergency SLP (E-SLP). The location server 160 may also include an enhanced serving mobile location center (E-SMLC) that supports positioning of the UE 105 using a control plane (CP) positioning solution for LTE radio access of the UE 105. The location server 160 may also include a location management function (LMF) that supports positioning of the UE 105 using a control plane (CP) positioning solution for NR or LTE radio access of the UE 105.

[0038] In the CP positioning solution, from the perspective of the network 170, the signaling used to control and manage the positioning of the UE 105 can use existing network interfaces and protocols and be exchanged as signaling between the elements of the network 170 and with the UE 105. In the UP positioning solution, from the perspective of the network 170, the signaling used to control and manage the positioning of the UE 105 can be exchanged between the location server 160 and the UE 105 as data (e.g., data sent using the Internet Protocol (IP) and / or the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)).

[0039] As previously noted (and discussed in more detail below), the estimated position of UE 105 may be based on measurements of RF signals transmitted from and / or received by UE 105. In particular, these measurements may provide information about the relative distances and / or angles of UE 105 from one or more components in positioning system 100 (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, APs 130, base stations 120). The estimated position of UE 105 may be estimated geometrically (e.g., using multi-angle measurements and / or multilateration) based on the distance and / or angle measurements along with the known positions of the one or more components.

[0040] Although ground components such as AP 130 and base station 120 may be fixed, embodiments are not limited thereto. Mobile components may be used. For example, in some embodiments, the location of UE 105 may be estimated based at least in part on measurements of RF signals 140 communicated between UE 105 and one or more other mobile devices 145 (the one or more other mobile devices may be mobile or fixed). As illustrated, the other mobile devices may include, for example, mobile phone 145-1, vehicle 145-2, static communication / positioning device 145-3, or other static and / or mobile devices capable of providing wireless signals for locating UE 105, or a combination thereof. Wireless signals from mobile device 145 for locating UE 105 may include using, for example, (including Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)), IEEE 802.11x (e.g. ), ultra-wideband (UWB), IEEE802.15x, or a combination thereof. The mobile device 145 may additionally or alternatively use non-RF wireless signals such as infrared signals or other optical technologies to locate the UE 105.

[0041] The mobile device 145 may include other UEs that are communicatively coupled to a cellular network or other mobile network (e.g., network 170). When one or more other mobile devices 145 including a UE are used in the positioning determination of a particular UE 105, the UE 105 whose positioning is to be determined may be referred to as a "target UE", and each of the other mobile devices 145 used may be referred to as an "anchor UE". In order to perform positioning determination on the target UE, the corresponding positioning of the one or more anchor UEs may be known and / or determined jointly with the target UE. Direct communication between one or more other mobile devices 145 and UE 105 may include side links and / or similar device-to-device (D2D) communication technologies. The side link defined by 3GPP is a form of D2D communication under cellular-based LTE and NR standards. UWB may be a technology by which measurements from one or more anchor devices (e.g., mobile devices 145) may be used to facilitate the positioning of a target device (e.g., UE 105).

[0042] According to some embodiments, such as when the UE 105 includes and / or is incorporated into a vehicle, a form of D2D communication used by the mobile device 105 may include vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication. V2X is a communication standard for vehicles to exchange information about the traffic environment with related entities. V2X may include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication between vehicles with V2X capabilities, vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication between vehicles and infrastructure-based equipment (commonly referred to as roadside units (RSUs)), vehicle-to-person (V2P) communication between vehicles and nearby people (pedestrians, cyclists and other road users), etc. In addition, V2X may use any of a variety of wireless RF communication technologies. For example, cellular V2X (CV2X) is a form of V2X that uses cellular-based communications in a direct communication mode defined by 3GPP, such as LTE (4G), NR (5G) and / or other cellular technologies. Figure 1 The illustrated UE 105 may correspond to a component or device located on a vehicle, RSU, or other V2X entity for communicating V2X messages. In an embodiment in which V2X is used, the static communication / positioning device 145-3 (which may correspond to an RSU) and / or the vehicle 145-2 may therefore communicate with the UE 105 and may be used to determine the location of the UE 105 using techniques similar to those used by the base station 120 and / or AP 130 (e.g., using multi-angle and / or multi-point positioning). It may be further noted that, according to some embodiments, the mobile device 145 (which may include a V2X device), the base station 120, and / or the AP 130 may be used together (e.g., in a WWAN positioning solution) to determine the location of the UE 105.

[0043] The estimated position of UE 105 may be used in a variety of applications, such as to assist a user of UE 105 in direction finding or navigation or to assist another user (e.g., associated with external client 180) in locating UE 105. "Position" is also referred to herein as "position estimate," "estimated position," "position," "position estimate," "position fix," "estimated position," "position fix," or "fix." The process of determining a position may be referred to as "positioning," "position determination," "position determination," or the like. The position of UE 105 may include an absolute position of UE 105 (e.g., latitude and longitude, and possibly altitude) or a relative position of UE 105 (e.g., a position expressed as a distance north or south, east or west, and possibly above or below some other known fixed position (including, for example, the position of base station 120 or AP 130) or some other location (such as the position of UE 105 at some known previous time, or the position of mobile device 145 (e.g., another UE) at some known previous time). The location may be specified as a geodetic location including coordinates that may be absolute (e.g., latitude, longitude, and optionally altitude), relative (e.g., relative to some known absolute location), or local (e.g., X, Y, and optionally Z coordinates according to a coordinate system defined relative to a local area, such as a factory, warehouse, university campus, shopping mall, stadium, or convention center). The location may alternatively be a city location, and may then include one or more of a street address (e.g., including a country, state, county, city, road and / or street name or label, and / or road or street number) and / or a label or name of a place, a building, a portion of a building, a floor of a building, and / or a room within a building, etc. The location may also include uncertainty or error indications, such as horizontal distances and possibly vertical distances over which the location is expected to have error, or an indication of an area or volume (e.g., a circle or ellipse) within which the UE 105 is expected to be located with a certain confidence level (e.g., 95% confidence).

[0044] The external client 180 may be a web server or remote application that may have some association with the UE 105 (e.g., accessible by a user of the UE 105), or may be a server, application, or computer system that provides location services to one or more other users, which may include obtaining and providing the location of the UE 105 (e.g., to enable services such as friend or relative locating or child or pet locating). Additionally or alternatively, the external client 180 may obtain the location of the UE 105 and provide it to emergency service providers, government agencies, etc.

[0045] As previously noted, the example positioning system 100 may be implemented using a wireless communication network such as an LTE-based or 5GNR-based network. Figure 2 A diagram of a 5G NR positioning system 200 is shown, which illustrates an embodiment of a positioning system (e.g., positioning system 100) that implements 5G NR. The 5G NR positioning system 200 can be configured to determine the location of the UE 105 by using access nodes to implement one or more positioning methods. The access nodes can include NR Node Bs (gNBs) 210-1 and 210-2 (collectively referred to herein as gNBs 210), ng-eNBs 214, and / or WLANs 216. The gNBs 210 and / or ng-eNBs 214 can communicate with the UE 105. Figure 1 The base station 120 corresponds to the WLAN 216, and the WLAN 216 can be connected to the Figure 1 130. Optionally, the 5G NR positioning system 200 may be additionally configured to determine the location of the UE 105 by using the LMF 220 (which may correspond to the location server 160) to implement one or more positioning methods. Here, the 5G NR positioning system 200 includes the UE 105, and components of a 5G NR network, which includes a next generation (NG) radio access network (RAN) (NG-RAN) 235 and a 5G core network (5G CN) 240. The 5G network may also be referred to as an NR network; the NG-RAN 235 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or an NR RAN; and the 5G CN 240 may be referred to as an NG core network.

[0046] The 5G NR positioning system 200 may also utilize information from satellites 110. As previously indicated, satellites 110 may include GNSS satellites from a GNSS system such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) or a similar system such as GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). Additionally or alternatively, satellites 110 may include NTN satellites that may be communicatively coupled with LMF 220 and operably used as TRPs (or TPs) in NG-RAN 235. Thus, satellites 110 may communicate with one or more gNBs 210.

[0047] It should be noted that Figure 2Only generalized illustrations of various components are provided, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each of which may be repeated or omitted as desired. Specifically, although only one UE 105 is illustrated, it should be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the 5G NR positioning system 200. Similarly, the 5G NR positioning system 200 may include a larger (or smaller) number of satellites 110, gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, wireless local area network (WLAN) 216, access and mobility management function (AMF) 215, external client 230, and / or other components. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the 5G NR positioning system 200 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. In addition, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted, depending on the desired functionality.

[0048] UE 105 may include and / or be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a terminal (SET) enabled with secure user plane location (SUPL), or some other name. In addition, UE 105 may correspond to a cellular phone, a smart phone, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal data assistant (PDA), a navigation device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or some other portable or mobile device. Typically, although not necessarily, UE 105 may support the use of one or more radio access technologies (RATs) such as GSM, CDMA, W-CDMA, LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX TM ), 5G NR (e.g., using NG-RAN 235 and 5G CN 240). UE 105 may also support wireless communications using WLAN 216, which is similar to one or more RATs and as previously described with respect to Figure 1 The use of one or more of these RATs may allow UE 105 (e.g., via Figure 2 Elements of the 5G CN 240, not shown, communicate with external clients 230, or possibly via a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 225, and / or allow external clients 230 (e.g., via GMLC 225) to receive location information about UE 105. When implemented in or communicatively coupled with a 5G NR network, Figure 2 The external client 230 may correspond to Figure 1 External client 180.

[0049] UE 105 may include a single entity or may include multiple entities, such as in a personal area network in which a user may employ audio, video and / or data I / O devices and / or body sensors and separate wired or wireless modems. The estimate of the location of UE 105 may be referred to as location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position, position estimate or position fix, and may be geodetic, providing location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) for UE 105, which may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., height above sea level; height above or depth below ground level, floor level or basement level). Alternatively, the location of UE 105 may be expressed as a municipal location (e.g., a postal address or a designation of a point or smaller area in a building, such as a specific room or floor). The location of UE 105 may also be expressed as a region or volume (geographically or municipally defined) within which UE 105 is expected to be located with a certain probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of the UE 105 may also be a relative location, including, for example, a distance and direction or relative X, Y (and Z) coordinates defined relative to some origin at a known location, which may be defined geodetically, in municipal form, or with reference to a point, area, or volume indicated on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, the use of the term location may include any of these variations unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of the UE, local X, Y, and possibly Z coordinates are typically solved, and then the local coordinates are converted to absolute coordinates (e.g., with respect to latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level) if necessary.

[0050] Figure 2 The base stations in the NG-RAN 235 shown may correspond to Figure 1 The base stations 120 in the NG-RAN 235 may include gNBs 210. Pairs of gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235 may be connected to each other (e.g., Figure 2 The communication interface between the base stations (gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) may be referred to as an Xn interface 237. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 105 via wireless communication between the UE 105 and one or more gNBs 210, which may use 5G NR to provide wireless communication access to the 5G CN 240 on behalf of the UE 105. The wireless interface between the base station (gNB210 and / or ng-eNB 214) and the UE 105 may be referred to as an Uu interface 239. 5G NR radio access may also be referred to as NR radio access or 5G radio access. Figure 2, it is assumed that the serving gNB for UE 105 is gNB 210-1, but other gNBs (e.g., gNB 210-2) may act as serving gNBs if UE 105 moves to another location, or may act as secondary gNBs to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to UE 105.

[0051] Figure 2 The base stations in the illustrated NG-RAN 235 may additionally or alternatively include a next generation evolved Node B (also referred to as ng-eNB) 214. The ng-eNB 214 may be connected to one or more gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235—e.g., directly, or indirectly via other gNBs 210 and / or other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 214 may provide LTE radio access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) radio access to the UE 105. Figure 2 Some of the gNBs 210 (e.g., gNB 210-2) and / or ng-eNBs 214 may be configured to function as positioning-only beacons that may transmit signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) and / or may broadcast assistance data to assist in positioning UE 105, but may not receive signals from UE 105 or other UEs. Some of the gNBs 210 (e.g., gNB 210-2 and / or another gNB not shown) and / or ng-eNBs 214 may be configured to function as detection-only nodes that may scan for signals containing, for example, PRS data, assistance data, or other location data. Such detection-only nodes may not transmit signals or data to the UE, but may transmit signals or data (related to, for example, PRS, assistance data, or other location data) to other network entities (e.g., one or more components of 5G CN 240, external clients 230, or a controller), which may receive and store the data or use the data to locate at least UE 105. It should be noted that although Figure 2 Only one ng-eNB 214 is shown in FIG, but some embodiments may include multiple ng-eNBs 214. Base stations (e.g., gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) may communicate directly with each other via an Xn communication interface. Additionally or alternatively, the base station may communicate directly or indirectly with other components of the 5G NR positioning system 200 (such as LMF 220 and AMF 215).

[0052] The 5G NR positioning system 200 may also include one or more WLANs 216 that may be connected to a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF) 250 in the 5GCN 240 (e.g., in the case of an untrusted WLAN 216). For example, the WLAN 216 may support IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi access for the UE 105 and may include one or more Wi-Fi APs (e.g., Figure 1 Here, the N3IWF 250 may be connected to other elements in the 5G CN 240, such as the AMF 215. In some embodiments, the WLAN 216 may support another RAT, such as Bluetooth. The N3IWF 250 may provide support for secure access of the UE 105 to other elements in the 5G CN 240 and / or may support interworking of one or more protocols used by the WLAN 216 and the UE 105 with one or more protocols used by other elements of the 5G CN 240 (such as the AMF 215). For example, the N3IWF 250 may support: IPSec tunnel establishment with the UE 105, termination of the IKEv2 / IPSec protocol with the UE 105, termination of the N2 and N3 interfaces with the 5G CN 240 for the control plane and the user plane, respectively, and relay of uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) control plane non-access stratum (NAS) signaling across the N1 interface between the UE 105 and the AMF 215. In some other embodiments, the WLAN 216 may be directly connected to elements in the 5G CN 240 (e.g., Figure 2 215) and not via the N3IWF 250. For example, a direct connection of the WLAN 216 to the 5GCN 240 may occur when the WLAN 216 is a trusted WLAN for the 5GCN 240 and may use a trusted WLAN interworking function (TWIF) ( Figure 2 It should be noted that although Figure 2 Only one WLAN 216 is shown in FIG. 2 , but some embodiments may include multiple WLANs 216 .

[0053] The access node may include any of a variety of network entities that enable communication between the UE 105 and the AMF 215. As noted, this may include a gNB 210, an ng-eNB 214, a WLAN 216, and / or other types of cellular base stations. However, the access node providing the functionality described herein may additionally or alternatively include a cellular network entity that enables communication with the UE 105. Figure 2An entity that communicates with any of a variety of RATs not illustrated in the specification (which may include non-cellular technologies). Therefore, as used in the embodiments described below, the term "access node" may include but is not necessarily limited to gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN 216.

[0054] In some embodiments, an access node (such as gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and / or WLAN 216) (alone or in combination with other components of 5G NR positioning system 200) may be configured to: in response to receiving a request for location information from LMF 220, obtain a location measurement for an uplink (UL) signal received from UE 105 and / or obtain a DL location measurement from UE 105 for a downlink (DL) signal received by UE 105 from one or more access nodes. As noted, although Figure 2 The access nodes (gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and WLAN 216) are depicted as being configured to communicate in accordance with 5G NR, LTE, and Wi-Fi communication protocols, respectively, but access nodes configured to communicate in accordance with other communication protocols may be used, such as, for example, a Node B using a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) protocol for a Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), an eNB using an LTE protocol for an Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), or an eNB using a LTE protocol for a WLAN. For example, in a 4G Evolved Packet System (EPS) that provides LTE radio access to UE 105, the RAN may include E-UTRAN, which may include base stations including eNBs that support LTE radio access. The core network for EPS may include an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). EPS may then include E-UTRAN plus EPC, where Figure 2 , E-UTRAN corresponds to NG-RAN 235 and EPC corresponds to 5GCN 240. The methods and techniques described herein for obtaining the municipal location of UE 105 may be applicable to such other networks.

[0055] The gNB 210 and ng-eNB 214 may communicate with the AMF 215, which communicates with the LMF 220 for positioning functionality. The AMF 215 may support mobility of the UE 105, including cell change and handover of the UE 105 from an access node of a first RAT (e.g., a gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN 216) to an access node of a second RAT. The AMF 215 may also be involved in supporting signaling connections with the UE 105 and possibly supporting data and voice bearers for the UE 105. The LMF 220 may support positioning the UE 105 using a CP positioning solution when the UE 105 accesses the NG-RAN 235 or the WLAN 216, and may support positioning procedures and methods, including UE-assisted / UE-based and / or network-based procedures / methods, such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (which may be referred to as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) in NR), Frequency Difference of Arrival (FDOA), Real-Time Kinematics (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhanced Cell ID (ECID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), WLAN Positioning, Round Trip Signal Propagation Delay (RTT), Multi-Cell RTT, and / or other positioning procedures and methods. The LMF 220 may also process a location service request for the UE 105 received, for example, from the AMF 215 or from the GMLC 225. The LMF 220 may be connected to the AMF 215 and / or the GMLC 225. In some embodiments, the network (such as 5GCN 240) may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC) or a SUPL location platform (SLP). It should be noted that in some embodiments, at least a portion of the positioning functionality (including determining the location of UE 105) may be performed at UE 105 (e.g., by measuring downlink PRS (DL-PRS) signals sent by wireless nodes (such as gNB 210, ng-eNB 214 and / or WLAN 216), and / or using assistance data provided to UE 105, for example, by LMF 220).

[0056] The Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 225 may support location requests for the UE 105 received from the external client 230, and may forward such location requests to the AMF 215 for forwarding by the AMF 215 to the LMF 220. A location response (e.g., including a location estimate for the UE 105) from the LMF 220 may similarly be returned to the GMLC 225 directly or via the AMF 215, and the GMLC 225 may then return the location response (e.g., including the location estimate) to the external client 230.

[0057] A network exposure function (NEF) 245 may be included in the 5GCN 240. The NEF 245 may support secure exposure of capabilities and events regarding the 5GCN 240 and the UE 105 to the external client 230, which may therefore be referred to as an access function (AF) and may enable secure provisioning of information from the external client 230 to the 5GCN 240. The NEF 245 may be connected to the AMF 215 and / or the GMLC 225 for obtaining the location (e.g., municipal location) of the UE 105 and providing the location to the external client 230.

[0058] like Figure 2 As further illustrated, LMF 220 may communicate with gNB 210 and / or with ng-eNB 214 using NR Positioning Protocol Annex (NRPPa) as defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa messages may be communicated between gNB 210 and LMF 220 and / or between ng-eNB 214 and LMF 220 via AMF 215. Figure 2 As further illustrated, the LMF 220 and the UE 105 may communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) as defined in 3GPP TS 37.355. Here, LPP messages may be passed between the UE 105 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 and the serving gNB 210-1 or the serving ng-eNB 214 of the UE 105. For example, the LPP messages may be passed between the LMF 220 and the AMF 215 using messages for service-based operations (e.g., based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)), and may be passed between the AMF 215 and the UE 105 using the 5G NAS protocol. The LPP protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, TDOA, multi-cell RTT, AoD, and / or ECID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of UE 105 using network-based positioning methods such as ECID, AoA, uplink TDOA (UL-TDOA), and / or may be used by LMF 220 to obtain location-related information from gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214, such as parameters defining DL-PRS transmissions from gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214.

[0059] In the case where the UE 105 accesses the WLAN 216, the LMF 220 may use NRPPa and / or LPP to obtain the location of the UE 105 in a manner similar to that just described for the UE 105 accessing the gNB 210 or ng-eNB 214. Thus, NRPPa messages may be passed between the WLAN 216 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 and the N3IWF 250 to support network-based positioning of the UE 105 and / or to pass other location information from the WLAN 216 to the LMF 220. Alternatively, NRPPa messages may be passed between the N3IWF 250 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 to support network-based positioning of the UE 105 based on location-related information and / or location measurements that are known or accessible to the N3IWF 250 and passed from the N3IWF 250 to the LMF 220 using NRPPa. Similarly, LPP and / or LPP messages may be communicated between UE 105 and LMF 220 via AMF 215, N3IWF 250, and serving WLAN 216 of UE 105 to support UE-assisted or UE-based positioning of UE 105 by LMF 220.

[0060] In the 5G NR positioning system 200, positioning methods may be classified as "UE-assisted" or "UE-based". This may depend on where the request to determine the location of the UE 105 originates. For example, where the request originates from the UE (e.g., from an application or "app" executed by the UE), the positioning method may be classified as UE-based. On the other hand, where the request originates from an external client 230, LMF 220, or other device or service within the 5G network, the positioning method may be classified as UE-assisted (or "network-based").

[0061] With UE-assisted positioning methods, the UE 105 may obtain location measurements and transmit these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 220) for use in computing a location estimate for the UE 105. For RAT-dependent positioning methods, the location measurements may include one or more of the following for one or more access points of the gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and / or WLAN 216: received signal strength indicator (RSSI), round trip signal propagation time (RTT), reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), reference signal time difference (RSTD), time of arrival (TOA), AoA, receive time-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx), differential AoA (DAoA), AoD, or timing advance (TA). Additionally or alternatively, similar measurements may be made on sidelink signals sent by other UEs, which may be used as anchor points for positioning the UE 105 if the locations of these other UEs are known. The position measurements may additionally or alternatively include measurements for a RAT-independent positioning method, such as GNSS (eg, GNSS pseudoranges with respect to satellites 110 , GNSS code phase, and / or GNSS carrier phase), WLAN, or the like.

[0062] Using the UE-based positioning method, the UE 105 can obtain a position measurement (e.g., which can be the same or similar to the position measurement of the UE-assisted positioning method), and the position of the UE 105 can be further calculated (e.g., with the aid of auxiliary data received from a location server such as LMF 220, SLP or broadcast by gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN 216).

[0063] Using a network-based positioning method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214), one or more APs (e.g., in WLAN 216), or N3IWF 250 may obtain location measurements (e.g., measurements of RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, AoA, or TOA) of signals sent by UE 105, and / or may receive measurements obtained by UE 105 or, in the case of N3IWF 250, by APs in WLAN 216, and may transmit these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 220) for use in calculating a position estimate for UE 105.

[0064] The positioning of UE 105 may also be classified as UL-based, DL-based, or DL-UL-based according to the type of signal used for positioning. For example, in the case where positioning is based only on signals received at UE 105 (e.g., from a base station or other UE), the positioning may be classified as DL-based. On the other hand, in the case where positioning is based only on signals sent by UE 105 (which may be received by, for example, a base station or other UE), the positioning may be classified as UL-based. DL-UL-based positioning includes positioning based on signals sent and received by UE 105, such as RTT-based positioning. Sidelink (SL)-assisted positioning includes signals communicated between UE 105 and one or more other UEs. According to some embodiments, UL, DL, or DL-UL positioning as described herein may be able to use SL signaling as a supplement or replacement for SL, DL, or DL-UL signaling.

[0065] Depending on the type of positioning (e.g., UL-based, DL-based, or DL-UL-based), the type of reference signal used may be different. For example, for DL-based positioning, these signals may include PRS (e.g., DL-PRS sent by a base station or SL-PRS sent by other UEs), which may be used for TDOA measurements, AoD measurements, and RTT measurements. Other reference signals that may be used for positioning (UL, DL, or DL-UL) may include: Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Synchronization Signal (e.g., Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) Synchronization Signal (SS)), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), etc. In addition, the reference signal may be sent in a Tx beam and / or received in an Rx beam (e.g., using beamforming techniques), which may affect angle measurements such as AoD and / or AoA.

[0066] Figure 3 is an example including two TRPs 320-1 and 320-2 having antenna arrays (which may correspond to Figure 1 Base station 120 and / or Figure 2 2 and / or ng-eNB 214), these antenna arrays can perform beamforming to produce directional beams for sending and / or receiving reference signals. Figure 3 Also illustrated is a UE 105 that can also use beamforming to send and / or receive reference signals. Such directional beams are used in 5G NR wireless communication networks. Each directional beam can have a beam width centered in a different direction, so that different beams of the TRP 320 can correspond to different areas within the coverage area of ​​the TRP 320.

[0067] Different operating modes may enable TRPs 320-1 and 320-2 to use a greater or lesser number of beams. For example, in a first operating mode, TRP 320 may use 16 beams, in which case each beam may have a relatively wide beamwidth. In a second operating mode, TRP 320 may use 64 beams, in which case each beam may have a relatively narrow beamwidth. Depending on the capabilities of TRP 320, the TRP may use any number of beams that TRP 320 may be able to shape. The operating mode and / or number of beams may be defined in the relevant wireless standards and may correspond to different directions (e.g., horizontal and vertical) in either or both of the azimuth and elevation angles. Different operating modes may be used to send and / or receive different signal types. Additionally or alternatively, UE 105 may be able to use different numbers of beams, which may also correspond to different operating modes, signal types, etc.

[0068] In some cases, TRP 320 may use beam scanning. Beam scanning is a process in which TRP 320 may transmit RF signals in different directions, typically continuously, using different corresponding beams, effectively "scanning" across a coverage area. For example, TRP 320 may scan 120 degrees or 360 degrees in an azimuth direction, which may be repeated periodically for each beam scan. Each directional beam may include an RF reference signal (e.g., a PRS resource), wherein base station 120-1 generates a set of RF reference signals including Tx beams 305-a, 305-b, 305-c, 305-d, 305-e, 305-f, 305-g, and 305-h, and base station 120-2 generates a set of RF reference signals including Tx beams 309-a, 309-b, 309-c, 309-d, 309-e, 309-f, 309-g, and 309-h. As mentioned, because UE 105 may also include an antenna array, it may use beamforming to receive RF reference signals sent by base stations 120-1 and 120-2 to form respective receive beams (Rx beams) 311-a and 311-b. Beamforming in this manner (performed by base station 120 and optionally by UE 105) may be used to make communications more efficient. They may also be used for other purposes, including making measurements for positioning determination (e.g., AoD and AoA measurements).

[0069] As described above, in many wireless communication implementations, the TRP transmitting panel and the TRP receiving panel are separated to achieve the desired positioning performance. For example, Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating a simplified TRP panel 400 including a TRP transmission panel 410 and a TRP reception panel 420 (which may correspond to Figure 1 Base station 120, Figure 2 gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214 and / or Figure 3 TRP 320). Figure 4 Also illustrated is a UE 105 that can also perform reference signal transmission and / or reception. Such different panels for reference signal transmission and reception (e.g., transmission of downlink (DL) PRS 412 and reception of uplink (UL) SRS 422) may be used in a 5G NR wireless communication network (e.g., in an SBFD system or a full-duplex system). Each TRP panel of the TRP transmission panel 410 and the TRP reception panel 420 may have a different ARP indicating the position of the corresponding TRP panel.

[0070] For example, Figure 4 As illustrated, the TRP transmit panel 410 may have a PRS-ARP 415 (also referred to as a "DL-PRS resource reference point") indicating the location of an antenna array for transmitting a PRS reference signal. The TRP receive panel 420 may have an SRS-ARP 425 (also referred to as a "UL-SRS resource reference point") indicating the location of an antenna array for receiving a PRS reference signal. The PRS-ARP 415 and the SRS-ARP 425 are in different locations (e.g., with a translational offset and / or a rotational offset (not shown)).

[0071] In many existing positioning schemes (e.g., multi-RTT positioning, UL-TDOA positioning, and UL-AoA positioning), the coordinates of the PRS-ARP 415 are determined by a base station (e.g., Figure 1 Base station 120, gNB 210 and / or Figure 2 The ng-eNB 214) reports to the LMF in the assistance data (e.g., Figure 2 LMF 220). For example, in addition to other information (e.g., timing information of the TRP served by the base station, DL-PRS configuration of the TRP served by the base station, SSB information of the TRP), the auxiliary data sent from the base station to the LMF may also include spatial direction information of the DL-PRS resources of the TRP served by the base station and / or geographic coordinate information of the DL-PRS resources of the TRP served by the base station. However, in most of those positioning schemes, the position / coordinates of the ARP of the UL-SRS resources (e.g., SRS-ARP425) are not reported (e.g., assumed to be the same as the coordinates of the PRS-ARP). As described above, not knowing the coordinates / position of the ARP of the UL SRS resources may negatively affect the accuracy of positioning. As will be described in detail below, the technology disclosed herein defines and reports the coordinates / position of the ARP of the UL-SRS resources for accurately positioning the UE.

[0072] In some embodiments, the location of the ARP for the UL-SRS resources may be defined based on a common reference point shared with the ARP for the DL-PRS. Figure 5 As illustrated, the TRP panel 500 may include a TRP transmitting panel 510 and a TRP receiving panel 520 (which may correspond to Figure 1 Base station 120, Figure 2 gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214, Figure 3 TRP 320 and / or Figure 4 The TRP panel 400 in the figure), the PRS-ARP 515 and the SRS-ARP 525 for respectively indicating the positions of the TRP sending panel 510 and the TRP receiving panel 520, and a common reference point 505 of the TRP panel 500 defined for reporting the positions of both the PRS-ARP 515 and the SRS-ARP 525.

[0073] In some embodiments, the common reference point 505 may be defined as the center of the TRP panel 500 (e.g., the center of mass of the TRP panel 500), the midpoint of the PRS-ARP 515 and the SRS-ARP 525, or any arbitrary point for desired performance (e.g., the exterior of the TRP panel 500). Thus, the positions of the PRS-ARP 515 and the SRS-ARP 525 may be defined as relative positions with respect to the common reference point. For example, Fig. 6A and Figure 6B is an example of assistance data indicating a common reference point location 610 (eg, defining the location of common reference point 505) and an ARP relative location 620 with respect to that reference point. Fig. 6A As illustrated, in some embodiments, a common reference point may be defined using, for example, latitude, longitude, and an uncertainty value. Fig. 6A As illustrated, in some embodiments, values ​​such as angle, altitude, longitude, latitude, uncertainty values, etc. may be measured to define the relative position of the ARP with respect to a common reference point location 610.

[0074] Although the assumption Figure 6B Only one ARP relative position (e.g., ARP relative position 620) is indicated in the auxiliary data in the , but for each TRP, each DL-PRS resource and UL-SRS resource of the TRP (e.g., Figure 5 The TRP panel in the figure) can be assigned a separate ARP relative position and indicated in the auxiliary data sent by the base station (described in detail below).

[0075] In some embodiments, the ARPs of the DL-PRS resources and the UL-SRS resources may be defined based on a single common reference point. Figure 7As illustrated, the TRP panels 700 (which may correspond to Figure 1 Base station 120, Figure 2 gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214, Figure 3 TRP 320 and / or Figure 4 The TRP panel 400 in FIG. 4 may include a DL resource common reference point 711 for defining the location of the ARP of the DL-PRS resource 710 and a UL resource common reference point 721 for defining the location of the ARP of the UL-SRS resource 720. The locations of the PRS-ARP 715 and the SRS-ARP 725 may be defined as relative locations relative to the DL resource common reference point 711 and the UL resource common reference point 721, respectively, similar to defining the relative location with respect to the common reference point location 610 and the ARP relative location 620 with respect to the reference point, as shown in FIG. 6 .

[0076] In some embodiments, the position of the UL resource common reference point 721 and the position of the DL resource common reference point 711 may be defined separately by having different coordinates. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the UL resource common reference point 721 may be defined as a relative position with respect to the DL resource common reference point 711, similar to defining the common reference point position 610 and the ARP relative position 620, as shown in FIG6 , or vice versa. In some embodiments, if one of the DL resource common reference point 711 or the UL resource common reference point 721 is not defined or reported in the assistance data, a default common reference point may be assumed. For example, if only the DL resource common reference point 711 is defined and the UL resource common reference point 721 is not defined, it may be assumed that the UL resource common reference point 721 is the same as the DL resource common reference point 711. Therefore, the position of the SRS-ARP 725 may be defined as a relative position with respect to an assumed DL resource common reference point, similar to defining the common reference point position 610 and the ARP relative position 620, as shown in FIG6 . Figure 5 The described scheme.

[0077] In some embodiments, in addition to angle, altitude, longitude, latitude, etc., relative position may also include defining / specifying a translation offset, a rotation offset, or any combination thereof relative to a corresponding common reference point.

[0078] As described above, the defined location information of PRS-ARP and SRS-ARP (e.g., Figure 5 PRS-ARP 515 and SRS-ARP 525 in, and Figure 7The PRS-ARP 715 and SRS-ARP 725 in the UE may be reported by the base station to different devices (e.g., UE and / or location server) in the assistance data with different positioning schemes. It should be noted that although the location information of both PRS-ARP and SRS-ARP is defined, the location information of PRS-ARP and SRS-ARP may be sent independently (e.g., Figure 5 PRS-ARP515 and SRS-ARP 525 in Figure 7 The PRS-ARP 715 and SRS-ARP 725 in the auxiliary data may have different defined positions from each other (e.g., having different defined positions from each other). For example, in a positioning scheme using only a UL reference signal, the position information of the SRS-ARP may be sent in the auxiliary data without referring to the position of the PRS-ARP.

[0079] For example, Figure 8 800 is a call flow diagram of a UE-based (or UE-initiated) process for performing positioning determination of a target UE (e.g., UE 105) by reporting the location of an ARP for a TRP for receiving a UL-SRS by a base station (e.g., base station 120) according to some embodiments. Figure 1 Sample, Figure 8 is provided as a non-limiting example. It may be noted that Figure 8 The illustrated arrows between the various components illustrate messages or information being transferred from one component to another.

[0080] At block 805, the process may begin, for example, with a positioning request generated from an application (or app) executed by the UE to determine the location or position of a target UE, such as UE 105. This may be a result from user interaction with UE 105 based on a determined schedule or based on other triggers, including user input. Additionally or alternatively, the positioning request may come from a separate device.

[0081] In response, UE 105 may generate a positioning request notification. As indicated at arrow 810, the request may be transmitted to location server 160, which may coordinate the transmission of reference signals between base station 120 and UE 105. In DL-UL based positioning (such as RTT based positioning), both DL-PRS and UL-SRS are transmitted and received by base station 120. In some embodiments, communication between location server 160 and UE 105 may occur via an LPP positioning session.

[0082] At arrow 815, reference signals such as DL-PRS and / or UL-SRS may be communicated between base station 120 and UE 105 according to the coordination of location server 160 (eg, configuration information or assistance data provided by location server 160). Figure 8 Although the communication between components is illustrated, it should be understood that there may be any number of intermediary devices, servers, etc. that can relay such messages, including Figure 8 (For example, a message from UE 105 to location server 160 may pass through base station 120, which may be a serving base station for UE 105.)

[0083] At arrow 820, location information of a TRP configured to send and / or receive a reference signal (eg, Figure 5 the location of the PRS-ARP 515 and the SRS-ARP 525, and / or Figure 7 The location of the target UE may be determined by measuring the PRS-ARP 715 and SRS-ARP 725 in the UE 105 and / or by measurements determined based on reference signals (e.g., measurements determined by the base station 120 based on the UL reference signals) from the base station 120 to the UE 105 for use in determining the location of the target UE (e.g., indicated in assistance data sent from the base station 120 to the UE 105). Figure 5 , Figure 6 and Figure 7 ) defines the location information of the ARP. In some embodiments, the base station 120 may send the ARP location information and / or the UL reference signal measurement directly to the UE 105. Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the base station 120 may relay the ARP location information and / or the UL reference signal measurement to the UE 105 via the location server 160. For example, as illustrated by dashed lines 822 and 824, the base station 120 may send the ARP location information and / or the UL reference signal measurement to the location server 160 (e.g., indicated in the assistance data sent from the base station 120 to the location server 160), and the location server 160 may send the ARP location information and / or the UL reference signal measurement to the UE 105 via the assistance data (e.g., including the ARP location information and / or the UL reference signal measurement in the assistance data sent to the UE 105).

[0084] It should be understood that although Figure 8 As shown, the ARP location information and the UL reference signal measurement are sent simultaneously (e.g., indicated in the same auxiliary data), but the ARP location information and the UL reference signal measurement can be sent separately at different time points. For example, the ARP location information can be sent in advance before the reference signal is exchanged at arrow 815.

[0085] At block 830, the UE 105 may determine the location of the target UE based on the reference signal and the assistance data. For example, the UE 105 may determine location measurements such as one or more of the following based on the location information of the reference signal and the ARP: received signal strength indicator (RSSI), round trip signal propagation time (RTT), reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), reference signal time difference (RSTD), time of arrival (TOA), AoA, receive time-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx), differential AoA (DAoA), AoD, etc. The UE 105 may determine a location estimate of the target UE based on the one or more location measurements.

[0086] For another example, Fig. 9 900 is a call flow diagram of a UE-assisted (or network-initiated) process for performing positioning determination of a target UE (e.g., UE 105) by reporting the location of an ARP for a TRP receiving a UL-SRS according to one embodiment. Figure 1 Sample, Fig. 9 is provided as a non-limiting example. It may be noted that Fig. 9 The illustrated arrows between the various components illustrate messages or information being transferred from one component to another.

[0087] The process may begin by obtaining a positioning request at location server 160, as indicated at block 905. As previously indicated, UE-assisted (or network-based) positioning may be based on information from an external client (e.g., Figure 1 External client 180 and / or Figure 2 Additionally or alternatively, the request may come from a service within the wireless network that may require the location of the target UE (e.g., UE 105) to provide specific functionality.

[0088] In response to the positioning request, the location server 160 may notify the UE 105 of the positioning request via a positioning request notification, as indicated at arrow 910. In some embodiments, this may include initiating a communication session between the location server 160 and the UE 105. In particular, the positioning request notification at arrow 910 may notify the UE 105 to prepare the UE 105 to subsequently perform position measurements on one or more reference signals (e.g., DL-PRS and UL-SRS) transmitted between the base station 120 and the UE 105.

[0089] Similar to Figure 8In the illustrated process, reference signals such as DL-PRS and / or UL-SRS may be communicated between the base station 120 and the UE 105 according to the coordination of the location server 160 at arrow 915. At arrow 920, location information (e.g., ARP configured for sending and / or receiving reference signals) may be sent from the base station 120 to the location server 160. Figure 5 The location of the PRS-ARP515 and SRS-ARP525, and / or Figure 7 715 and SRS-ARP 725 in the UE) and / or UL reference signal measurements (e.g., measurements determined by base station 120 based on the UL reference signal) for determining the location of the target UE. The location information and / or UL reference signal measurements may be indicated in the assistance data sent from base station 120 to location server 160. The location information may be indicated in the manner described above (e.g., regarding Figure 5 , Figure 6 and Figure 7 ) defines the location information of the ARP. In some implementations, DL-PRS measurements (eg, measurements determined by UE 105 based on DL reference signals) may also be sent to location server 160 for use in determining the location of the target UE.

[0090] It should be understood that although Fig. 9 As shown, the ARP location information and the UL reference signal measurement are sent simultaneously (e.g., indicated in the same auxiliary data), but the ARP location information and the UL reference signal measurement can be sent separately at different time points. For example, the ARP location information can be sent in advance before the reference signal is exchanged at arrow 915.

[0091] At block 930, the location server 160 may determine the location of the target UE based on the reference signal and the assistance data. For example, the location server 160 may determine location measurements such as one or more of the following based on the location information of the reference signal and the ARP: received signal strength indicator (RSSI), round trip signal propagation time (RTT), reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), reference signal time difference (RSTD), time of arrival (TOA), AoA, receive time-transmit time difference (Rx-Tx), differential AoA (DAoA), AoD, etc. The location server 160 may determine a location estimate of the target UE based on the one or more location measurements.

[0092] Fig.101 is a flow chart of a method 1000 for wirelessly communicating at a base station for locating a target UE by reporting the location of an ARP of a TRP for receiving a UL-SRS by the base station according to one embodiment. The method 1000 provides for reporting the location of an ARP of a TRP for receiving a UL-SRS in the manner indicated in the previously described embodiments. Fig.10 The blocks shown illustrate functional means that may be performed by hardware and / or software components of a base station. Fig.12 Example components of a base station are illustrated in FIG. 1 , and these example components are described in more detail below. It should be understood that not all Fig.10 All functionality of the boxes shown is required and Fig.10 The functions of the boxes shown may be different from Fig.10 Execute in the order shown.

[0093] In some embodiments, at box 1010, the functionality includes sending auxiliary data to a different device (e.g., a location server 160 and / or a UE 105), wherein the auxiliary data indicates the location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs of the base station configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS), which is different from the location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs of the base station configured for sending a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0094] As described above, in some embodiments, the SRS-ARP may be defined based on a common reference point shared by the PRS-ARP and the SRS-ARP, and the positions of the PRS-ARP and the SRS-ARP may be defined as relative positions and / or offsets relative to the common reference point, such as with respect to Figure 5 and as described in FIG6 .

[0095] Additionally or alternatively, in some embodiments, the SRS-ARP may be defined based on separate common reference points corresponding to the PRS-ARP and the SRS-ARP, respectively, and the positions of the PRS-ARP and the SRS-ARP may be defined as relative positions and / or offsets relative to the common reference point, as described with respect to FIGS. Figure 7 as described.

[0096] It should be understood that although both PRS-ARP and SRS-ARP can be defined in the technical solution disclosed in this article, in some specific implementations where SRS is sent independently of the sending of PRS (for example, without the sending of PRS), the position of SRS-ARP can be sent without referring to the position of PRS-ARP.

[0097] The means for performing the functionality at block 1010 may include a bus 1205, a processor 1210, an input device 1215, a communication subsystem 1230 (a wireless communication interface 1233), a working memory 1235, and / or other components of the computer system 1200, such as Fig.12 exemplified.

[0098] The functionality at block 1020 includes performing measurements of UL reference signals (e.g., SRS) received by the first set of TRPs. Means for performing the functionality at block 1020 may include bus 1205, processor 1210, input device 1215, communication subsystem 1230 (wireless communication interface 1233), working memory 1235, and / or other components of computer system 1200, such as Fig.12 exemplified.

[0099] The functionality at block 1030 includes sending measurements to a different device. As previously indicated, the different device may include a location server (e.g., location server 160) or a UE (e.g., UE 105). The means for performing the functionality at block 1030 may include bus 1205, processor 1210, input device 1215, communication subsystem 1230 (wireless communication interface 1233), working memory 1235, and / or other components of computer system 1200, such as Fig.12 exemplified.

[0100] Fig.11 is a flow chart of a method 1100 for performing wireless communication at a UE for locating a target UE according to one embodiment. Fig.13 The functional means illustrated by the illustrated blocks may be performed by hardware and / or software components of a UE (eg, UE 105). Fig.13 , which are described in more detail below. Fig.11 All functionality of the boxes shown is required and Fig.11 The functions of the boxes shown may be different from Fig.11 Execute in the order shown.

[0101] The functionality at block 1110 includes sending a UL reference signal (e.g., SRS) to a base station (e.g., base station 120). Means for performing the functionality at block 1110 may include a wireless communication interface 1330, a bus 1305, a digital signal processor (DSP) 1320, a processing unit 1310, a memory 1360, and / or other components of the UE 105, as illustrated in FIG.

[0102] In some implementations, the functionality at block 1120 includes receiving assistance data from a network node, the assistance data indicating a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs of a base station configured for receiving uplink (UL) sounding reference signals (SRS) that is different from a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs of the base station configured for sending downlink (DL) positioning reference signals (PRS). As previously indicated, the network node may include a location server (e.g., location server 160) or a base station. The assistance data may also include measurements of UL reference signals determined by a base station (e.g., base station 120).

[0103] As described above, in some embodiments, the SRS-ARP may be defined based on a common reference point shared by the PRS-ARP and the SRS-ARP, and the positions of the PRS-ARP and the SRS-ARP may be defined as relative positions and / or AN offsets relative to the common reference point, such as with respect to Figure 5 and as described in FIG6 .

[0104] In some embodiments, the PRS-ARP and the SRS-ARP may be defined according to separate common reference points corresponding to the PRS-ARP and the SRS-ARP, respectively, and the positions of the PRS-ARP and the SRS-ARP may be defined as relative positions and / or offsets relative to the common reference points, as described with respect to FIGS. Figure 7 As described.

[0105] It should be understood that although both PRS-ARP and SRS-ARP can be defined in the technical solution disclosed in this article, in some specific implementations where SRS is sent independently of the sending of PRS (for example, without the sending of PRS), the position of SRS-ARP can be sent without referring to the position of PRS-ARP.

[0106] Means for performing functionality at block 1120 may include a wireless communication interface 1330, a bus 1305, a digital signal processor (DSP) 1320, a processing unit 1310, a memory 1360, and / or other components of the UE 105, as illustrated in FIG. 13 .

[0107] Fig.12 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system 1200 that may be used, in whole or in part, to provide one or more network components (e.g., Figure 1 The base station 120 and the location server 160, Figure 2 It should be noted that Fig.12 It is intended only to provide a generalized illustration of the various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. Fig.12 The broad illustration shows how various system elements can be implemented in a relatively separate or relatively more integrated manner. Fig.12 The illustrated components may be localized to a single device and / or distributed among various networked devices that may be located at different geographical locations.

[0108] The computer system 1200 is shown as including hardware elements that can be electrically coupled via a bus 1205 (or can communicate in other ways as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processing unit 1210, which may include but is not limited to one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration processors, etc.) and / or other processing structures, which can be configured to perform one or more of the methods described herein. The computer system 1200 may also include one or more input devices 1215, which may include but are not limited to a mouse, a keyboard, a camera, a microphone, etc.; and one or more output devices 1220, which may include but are not limited to a display device, a printer, etc.

[0109] The computer system 1200 may also include (and / or communicate with) one or more non-transitory storage devices 1225, which may include, but are not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage devices, and / or may include, but are not limited to, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices such as RAM and / or ROM, which may be programmable, flash-updatable, and the like. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, and the like. Such data storage may include databases and / or other data structures for storing and managing messages and / or other information to be transmitted to one or more devices via the hub, as described herein.

[0110] The computer system 1200 may also include a communication subsystem 1230, which may include wireless communication technologies managed and controlled by a wireless communication interface 1233, as well as wired technologies (such as Ethernet, coaxial communication, universal serial bus (USB), etc.). The wireless communication interface 1233 may transmit and receive wireless signals 1255 (e.g., signals according to 5GNR or LTE) via a wireless antenna 1250. Therefore, the communication subsystem 1230 may include a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device and / or a chipset, etc., which may enable the computer system 1200 to communicate with any device on the corresponding network (including user equipment (UE), base station and / or other TRP, and / or any other electronic device described herein) on any or all of the communication networks described herein. Therefore, the communication subsystem 1230 can be used to receive and transmit data, as described in the embodiments of this invention.

[0111] In many embodiments, the computer system 1200 will also include a working memory 1235, which may include a RAM or ROM device, as described above. The software elements shown as being located within the working memory 1235 may include an operating system 1240, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more applications 1245, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments, and / or may be designed to implement methods provided by other embodiments and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more of the processes described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions that can be executed by a computer (and / or a processing unit within a computer); then, in one aspect, such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0112] The set of these instructions and / or codes may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (such as the storage device 1225 described above). In some cases, the storage medium may be incorporated into a computer system such as the computer system 1200. In other embodiments, the storage medium may be separate from the computer system (e.g., a removable medium such as an optical disk), and / or may be provided in an installation package so that the storage medium can be used to program, configure, and / or adapt a general-purpose computer having the instructions / code stored thereon. The instructions may take the form of executable code that can be executed by the computer system 1200, and / or may take the form of source code and / or installable code that, when compiled and / or installed on the computer system 1200 (e.g., using any of a variety of commonly available compilers, installers, compression / decompression utilities, etc.), takes the form of executable code.

[0113] Fig.13 An embodiment of UE 105 is shown, which may be described above (e.g., in conjunction with Figures 1 to 11 ) is utilized as described above. For example, UE 105 may execute Fig.11 One or more of the functions of the method shown. It should be noted that Fig.13 It is intended only to provide a generalized illustration of various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. Fig.13 The illustrated components may be localized as a single physical device and / or distributed among various networked devices that may be located at different physical locations. In addition, as previously noted, the functionality of the UE discussed in the previously described embodiments may be provided by Fig.13 The invention may be executed by one or more of the illustrated hardware and / or software components.

[0114] UE 105 is shown as including hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via bus 1305 (or may communicate in other ways as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processing unit 1310, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (such as DSP chips, graphics acceleration processors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.), and / or other processing structures or components. Fig.13 As shown, some embodiments may have a separate DSP 1320, depending on the desired functionality. Position determination and / or other determinations based on wireless communication may be provided in the processing unit 1310 and / or the wireless communication interface 1330 (discussed below). The UE 105 may also include: one or more input devices 1370, which may include but are not limited to one or more keyboards, touch screens, touch pads, microphones, buttons, dials, switches, etc.; and one or more output devices 1315, which may include but are not limited to one or more displays (e.g., touch screens), light emitting diodes (LEDs), speakers, etc.

[0115] UE 105 may also include a wireless communication interface 1330, which may include but is not limited to a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device and / or a chipset (such as Device, IEEE 802.11 device, IEEE 802.15.4 device, Wi-Fi device, WiMAX device, WAN device and / or various cellular devices, etc.), etc., the wireless communication interface can enable UE 105 to communicate with other devices as described in the above embodiments. Therefore, the wireless communication interface 1330 may include an RF circuit that can be tuned between an active BWP and one or more additional frequency bands having one or more FLs used for PRS signals, as described herein. The wireless communication interface 1330 may allow the TRP of the network to communicate (e.g., send and receive) data and signaling, such as via eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, access point, various base stations and / or other access node types and / or other network components, computer systems and / or any other electronic device communicatively coupled to the TRP, as described herein. Communication can be performed via one or more wireless communication antennas 1332 that transmit and / or receive wireless signals 1334. According to some embodiments, the wireless communication antenna 1332 may include multiple discrete antennas, antenna arrays, or any combination thereof.

[0116] Depending on the desired functionality, the wireless communication interface 1330 may include a separate receiver and transmitter, or any combination of transceivers, transmitters, and / or receivers to communicate with base stations (e.g., ng-eNBs and gNBs) and other terrestrial transceivers (such as wireless devices and access points). The UE 105 may communicate with different data networks, which may include various network types. For example, a wireless wide area network (WWAN) may be a CDMA network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) network, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) network, a WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) network, and the like. A CDMA network may implement one or more RATs, such as CDMA2000, WCDMA, and the like. CDMA2000 includes IS-95, IS-2000, and / or IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement GSM, a digital advanced mobile phone system (D-AMPS), or some other RAT. OFDMA networks may employ LTE, Advanced LTE, 5G NR, and the like. 5G NR, LTE, Advanced LTE, GSM, and WCDMA are described in documents from 3GPP. Cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 3" (3GPP2). 3GPP and 3GPP2 documents are publicly available. WLAN may also be an IEEE 802.11x network, while a wireless personal area network (WPAN) may be a Bluetooth network, IEEE802.15x, or some other type of network. The techniques described herein may also be used for any combination of WWAN, WLAN, and / or WPAN.

[0117] The UE 105 may also include sensors 1340. The sensors 1340 may include, but are not limited to, one or more inertial sensors and / or other sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, cameras, magnetometers, altimeters, microphones, proximity sensors, light sensors, barometers, etc.), some of which may be used to obtain positioning-related measurements and / or other information.

[0118] Embodiments of UE 105 may also include a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver 1380 that is capable of receiving signals 1384 from one or more GNSS satellites using antenna 1382 (which may be the same as antenna 1332). Positioning based on GNSS signal measurements may be used to supplement and / or incorporate the techniques described herein. GNSS receiver 1380 may extract the position of UE 105 from GNSS satellites 110 of GNSS systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), Galileo, GLONASS, the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) over Japan, the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) over India, the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) over China, etc. using conventional techniques. In addition, the GNSS receiver 1380 may be used with various augmentation systems (e.g., satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS)) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems, such as, for example, the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multifunction Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), and the Geographic Augmentation Navigation System (GAGAN), among others.

[0119] It can be noted that although Fig.13 1380 is illustrated as a different component, but the embodiments are not limited thereto. As used herein, the term "GNSS receiver" may include hardware and / or software components configured to obtain GNSS measurements (measurements from GNSS satellites). Therefore, in some embodiments, the GNSS receiver may include a measurement engine executed by one or more processing units such as processing unit 1310, DSP 1320, and / or a processing unit (as software) within the wireless communication interface 1330 (e.g., in a modem). The GNSS receiver may also optionally include a positioning engine that can use the GNSS measurements from the measurement engine to determine the position of the GNSS receiver using an extended Kalman filter (EKF), a weighted least squares method (WLS), a hatch filter, a particle filter, etc. The positioning engine may also be executed by one or more processing units such as processing unit 1310 or DSP 1320.

[0120] The UE 105 may also include and / or be in communication with a memory 1360. The memory 1360 may include, but is not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices such as random access memory (RAM) and / or read-only memory (ROM), which may be programmable, flash-updatable, and the like. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data storage, including but not limited to various file systems, database structures, and the like.

[0121] The memory 1360 of the UE 105 may also include software elements ( Fig.13 105 ), including an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code (such as one or more applications), which software elements may include computer programs provided by various embodiments, and / or may be designed to implement methods provided by other embodiments, and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments, as described herein. By way of example only, one or more processes described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions in memory 1360 that can be executed by UE 105 (and / or processing unit 1310 or DSP 1320 within UE 105). In one aspect, such code and / or instructions may then be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations according to the described methods.

[0122] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantial modifications may be made according to specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may also be used, and / or specific elements may be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. In addition, connections to other computing devices, such as network input / output devices, may be employed.

[0123] With reference to the accompanying drawings, the components that may include memory may include non-transient machine-readable media. As used herein, the terms "machine-readable medium" and "computer-readable medium" refer to any storage medium that participates in providing data that enables a machine to operate in a particular manner. In the embodiments provided above, various machine-readable media may involve providing instructions / codes to a processing unit and / or other devices for execution. Additionally or alternatively, machine-readable media may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / codes. In many specific implementations, computer-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media may take a variety of forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example: magnetic and / or optical media, any other physical media with hole patterns, RAM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or memory box, carrier waves described below, or any other medium from which a computer can read instructions and / or codes.

[0124] The methods, systems and devices discussed herein are examples. Various embodiments may omit, replace or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, features described with respect to certain embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. The various components of the accompanying drawings provided herein may be embodied in hardware and / or software. In addition, technology may evolve, and therefore many elements are examples, which do not limit the scope of the present disclosure to those specific examples.

[0125] It has proven convenient at times, primarily for reasons of common usage, to refer to such signals as bits, information, values, elements, symbols, characters, variables, terms, numbers, digital symbols, and the like. However, it should be understood that all of these or similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless otherwise specifically stated, as will be apparent from the above discussion, it should be understood that throughout this specification, discussions utilizing terms such as "processing," "computing," "calculating," "determining," "ascertaining," "identifying," "correlating," "measuring," "performing," and the like refer to the actions or processes of a particular device such as a special-purpose computer or similar special-purpose electronic computing device. Thus, in the context of this specification, a special-purpose computer or similar special-purpose electronic computing device is capable of manipulating or transforming signals, typically represented as physical, electronic, electrical, or magnetic quantities in a memory, register, or other information storage device, a transmitting device, or a display device of the special-purpose computer or similar special-purpose electronic computing device.

[0126] As used herein, the terms "and" and "or" may include multiple meanings that are also intended to depend at least in part on the context in which such terms are used. Generally, "or", if used in association with a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C (inclusive meanings are used here) as well as A, B, or C (exclusive meanings are used here). In addition, as used herein, the term "one or more" may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in the singular form, or may be used to describe a certain combination of features, structures, or characteristics. However, it should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example, and the subject matter claimed is not limited to this example. In addition, the term "at least one of...", if used in association with a list, such as A, B, or C, may be interpreted to mean any combination of A, B, and / or C, such as A, AB, AA, AAB, AABBCCC, etc.

[0127] Several embodiments have been described, and various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, where other rules may take precedence over the application of the various embodiments or otherwise modify the application of the various embodiments. In addition, multiple steps may be performed before, during, or after considering the above elements. Therefore, the above description does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0128] Clause 1. A method of wirelessly communicating at a base station for wirelessly locating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: sending assistance to different devices, the assistance indicating a device of the base station configured to receive an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal

[0129] The position of the antenna reference point (ARP) of the first set of TRPs of the base station (SRS) is different from the position of the antenna reference point (ARP) of the second set of TRPs of the base station configured to send a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0130] The method further comprises performing measurements of UL reference signals received by the first set of TRPs. And the method further comprises sending the measurements to the different devices. Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the assistance data comprises a location of a common reference point of the first set of TRPs and the second set of TRPs, and wherein the location of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs is defined by a relative position relative to the location of the common reference point.

[0131] Clause 3. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 2, wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the common reference point, wherein the offset comprises: translation; rotation; or any combination thereof.

[0132] Clause 4. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the auxiliary data comprises: a first position of a first common reference point of the first group of TRPs; and a second position of a second common reference point of the second group of TRPs, different from the first position, wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the first common reference point.

[0133] Clause 5. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the offset comprises:

[0134] Translation; rotation; or any combination thereof.

[0135] Clause 6. A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the different device comprises a location server or the UE.

[0136] Clause 7. A method of wirelessly communicating at a UE for wireless positioning, the method comprising: sending an UL reference signal to a base station. The method further comprises receiving assistance data from a network node, the assistance data indicating a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs of the base station configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS), the location being different from a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs of the base station configured for sending a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0137] Clause 8. The method of clause 7, wherein the network node comprises a location server or the base station.

[0138] Clause 9. A method according to any one of clauses 7 to 8, wherein the auxiliary data includes the position of a common reference point of the first group of TRPs and the second group of TRPs, and wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by a relative position relative to the position of the common reference point.

[0139] Clause 10. A method according to any one of clauses 7 to 9, wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the common reference point, wherein the offset comprises: translation; rotation; or any combination thereof.

[0140] Clause 11. A method according to any one of clauses 7 to 10, wherein the auxiliary data comprises: a first position of a first common reference point of the first group of TRPs; and a second position of a second common reference point of the second group of TRPs, different from the first position, wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the first common reference point.

[0141] Clause 12. The method of any one of clauses 7 to 11, wherein the offset comprises:

[0142] Translation; rotation; or any combination thereof.

[0143] Clause 13. A method as described in any of clauses 7 to 12, wherein the assistance data also includes measurements of the UL reference signal.

[0144] Clause 14. A server for wirelessly locating a user equipment (UE), the server comprising: a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processing units, the one or more processing units being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory. The one or more processing units are configured to: send assistance to a different device, the assistance indicating a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs of the base station configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS), the location being different from a location of a first set of TRPs of the base station configured for sending a downlink (DL) sounding reference signal (SRS).

[0145] The one or more processing units are further configured to: perform measurements of UL reference signals received by the first set of TRPs; and send the measurements to the different devices.

[0146] Clause 15. A server according to clause 14, wherein the auxiliary data includes the location of a common reference point of the first group of TRPs and the second group of TRPs, and wherein the location of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by a relative position relative to the location of the common reference point.

[0147] Clause 16. The server of any one of clauses 14 to 15, wherein the positions of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs are defined by offsets relative to the positions of the common reference point, wherein the offsets include: translation; rotation;

[0148] or any combination thereof.

[0149] Clause 17. A server according to any one of clauses 14 to 16, wherein the assistance data comprises: a first position of a first common reference point of the first set of TRPs; and

[0150] A second common reference point of the second set of TRPs has a second position different from the first position, wherein the position of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the first common reference point.

[0151] Clause 18. The server of any one of clauses 14 to 17, wherein the offset comprises: a translation; a rotation; or any combination thereof.

[0152] Clause 19. A server as described in any of clauses 14 to 18, wherein the different device comprises a location server or the UE.

[0153] Clause 20. A server for user equipment (UE) for wireless positioning, the server comprising: a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processing units, the one or more processing units being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory. The one or more processing units are configured to: send an UL reference signal to a base station; and receive assistance data from a network node, the assistance data indicating a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs of the base station configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS), the location being different from a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs of the base station configured for sending a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS), wherein the assistance data further indicates a measurement of the UL reference signal.

[0154] Clause 21. A UE as described in clause 20, wherein the network node comprises a location server or the base station.

[0155] Clause 22. A UE according to any one of clauses 20 to 21, wherein the auxiliary data includes the position of a common reference point of the first group of TRPs and the second group of TRPs, and wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by a relative position relative to the position of the common reference point.

[0156] Clause 23. A UE according to any one of clauses 20 to 22, wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the common reference point, wherein the offset comprises: a translation; a rotation; or any combination thereof.

[0157] Clause 24. A UE according to any one of clauses 20 to 23, wherein the auxiliary data comprises: a first position of a first common reference point of the first group of TRPs; and a second position of a second common reference point of the second group of TRPs, which is different from the first position, wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the first common reference point.

[0158] Clause 25. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 20 to 24, wherein the offset comprises:

[0159] Translation; rotation; or any combination thereof.

[0160] Clause 26. A UE as described in clauses 20 to 25, wherein the assistance data also includes measurements of the UL reference signal.

Claims

1. A method for wirelessly locating a user equipment (UE) at a base station, the method comprising: sending assistance data to different devices, the assistance data indicating a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of transmit reception points (TRPs) of the base station configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS), the location being different from a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs of the base station configured for sending a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS); performing measurements of UL reference signals received by the first set of TRPs; and The measurements are sent to the different devices.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary data includes the position of a common reference point of the first group of TRPs and the second group of TRPs, and wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by a relative position relative to the position of the common reference point.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the positions of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs are defined by offsets relative to the position of the common reference point, wherein the offsets comprise: Translation; Rotate; or Any combination of them.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the auxiliary data comprises: a first position of a first common reference point of the first set of TRPs; and A second common reference point of the second set of TRPs has a second position different from the first position, wherein the position of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the first common reference point.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the offset comprises: Translation; Rotate; or Any combination of them. The method of claim 1 , wherein the different device comprises a location server or the UE.

7. A method for wireless communication at a UE for wireless positioning, the method comprising: sending an uplink (UL) reference signal to a base station; as well as Receive auxiliary data from a network node, wherein the auxiliary data indicates the position of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs of the base station configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS), which is different from the position of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs of the base station configured for sending a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS). The method of claim 7 , wherein the network node comprises a location server or the base station.

9. A method according to claim 7, wherein the auxiliary data includes the position of a common reference point of the first group of TRPs and the second group of TRPs, and wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by a relative position relative to the position of the common reference point.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the positions of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs are defined by offsets relative to the positions of the common reference point, wherein the offsets comprise: Translation; Rotate; or Any combination of them.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the auxiliary data comprises: a first position of a first common reference point of the first set of TRPs; and A second common reference point of the second set of TRPs has a second position different from the first position, wherein the position of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the first common reference point.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the offset comprises: Translation; Rotate; or Any combination of them.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the assistance data further comprises a measurement of the UL reference signal.

14. A base station for wirelessly locating a user equipment (UE), the base station comprising: Transceiver; Memory; and one or more processing units, the one or more processing units being communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the one or more processing units being configured to: sending assistance data to different devices, the assistance data indicating a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of transmit reception points (TRPs) of the base station configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS), the location being different from a location of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs of the base station configured for sending a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS); performing measurements of UL reference signals received by the first set of TRPs; and The measurements are sent to the different devices.

15. A server according to claim 14, wherein the auxiliary data includes the position of a common reference point of the first group of TRPs and the second group of TRPs, and wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by a relative position relative to the position of the common reference point.

16. The server of claim 15, wherein the positions of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs are defined by offsets relative to the positions of the common reference point, wherein the offsets comprise: Translation; Rotate; or Any combination of them.

17. The server according to claim 14, wherein the auxiliary data comprises: a first position of a first common reference point of the first set of TRPs; and A second common reference point of the second set of TRPs has a second position different from the first position, wherein the position of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the first common reference point.

18. The server of claim 17, wherein the offset comprises: Translation; Rotate; or Any combination of them.

19. The server of claim 14, wherein the different device comprises a location server or the UE.

20. A user equipment (UE) for wireless positioning, the UE comprising: Transceiver; Memory; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the one or more processors are configured to: sending an uplink (UL) reference signal to a base station; and Receive auxiliary data from a network node, wherein the auxiliary data indicates the position of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a first set of TRPs of the base station configured for receiving an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS), which is different from the position of an antenna reference point (ARP) of a second set of TRPs of the base station configured for sending a downlink (DL) positioning reference signal (PRS).

21. The UE of claim 20, wherein the network node comprises a location server or the base station.

22. A UE according to claim 20, wherein the auxiliary data includes the position of a common reference point of the first group of TRPs and the second group of TRPs, and wherein the position of the ARP of the first group of TRPs is defined by a relative position relative to the position of the common reference point.

23. The UE of claim 22, wherein the positions of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs are defined by offsets relative to the position of the common reference point, wherein the offsets comprise: Translation; Rotate; or Any combination of them.

24. The UE according to claim 22, wherein the assistance data comprises: a first position of a first common reference point of the first set of TRPs; and A second common reference point of the second set of TRPs has a second position different from the first position, wherein the position of the ARPs of the first set of TRPs is defined by an offset relative to the position of the first common reference point.

25. The UE of claim 24, wherein the offset comprises: Translation; Rotate; or Any combination of them.

26. The UE of claim 20, wherein the assistance data further comprises a measurement of the UL reference signal.

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