Positioning operations based on filtered map data

Abstract

In an aspect, a user device or a server may obtain a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) location of the user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both. The user device or the server may filter map data indicative of a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS location, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data. The user device or the server may determine a location estimate for the user device based on the filtered map data.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 371,460, filed on August 15, 2022, entitled “POSITIONING OPERATION BASED ON FILTERED MAP DATA,” and U.S. Non-Provisional Application No. 18 / 330,424, filed on June 7, 2023, entitled “POSITIONING OPERATION BASED ON FILTERED MAPDATA,” both of which are assigned to the assignee of this application and are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Background Art 1. Technical Field

[0003] Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communications.

[0004] 2. Description of related technologies

[0005] Wireless communication systems have evolved over many generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high speed data, wireless service with Internet capabilities, and fourth generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are many different types of wireless communication systems in use today, including cellular systems and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the like.

[0006] The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide higher data rates, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on reference signals for positioning (RS-P), such as downlink, uplink, or sidelink positioning reference signals (PRS)), and other technical enhancements compared to previous standards. These enhancements, along with the use of higher frequency bands, advances in PRS processes and technologies, and high-density deployments of 5G enable high-precision positioning based on 5G.

[0007] Vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technologies are being implemented to support autonomous driving applications, such as wireless communications between vehicles, between vehicles and roadside infrastructure, and between vehicles and pedestrians, especially with the increased data rates and reduced latency of 5G. As a result, modern motor vehicles are increasingly adopting technologies to help drivers avoid drifting into adjacent lanes or making unsafe lane changes (e.g., lane departure warning (LDW)), or to warn drivers of other vehicles behind them when they are backing up, or to automatically brake when the vehicle in front of them suddenly stops or slows down (e.g., forward collision warning (FCW)), etc. The continued evolution of automotive technology aims to provide even greater safety benefits and ultimately provide an automated driving system (ADS) that can take charge of the entire driving task without user intervention.

[0008] There are six levels defined to achieve full automation. At level 0, human drivers perform all driving. At level 1, the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) on the vehicle can sometimes assist the human driver in steering or braking / acceleration, but the two are not performed at the same time. At level 2, the ADAS on the vehicle can actually control both steering and braking / acceleration at the same time in some cases. The human driver must continue to focus all attention at all times and perform the remaining driving tasks. At level 3, the ADS on the vehicle itself can perform all aspects of the driving task in some cases. In these cases, the human driver must be ready to take back control at any time when the ADS requests the human driver to take back control. In all other cases, the human driver performs the driving task. At level 4, the ADS on the vehicle itself can perform all driving tasks and monitor the driving environment, and basically perform all driving in some cases. In these cases, humans do not need to concentrate their attention. At level 5, the ADS on the vehicle can perform all driving in all cases. The human occupant is just a passenger, and driving is never involved. Summary of the invention

[0009] The following presents a simplified summary of the invention related to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Thus, the following summary of the invention should neither be considered as an exhaustive overview related to all conceived aspects, nor should it be considered to identify key or decisive elements related to all conceived aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Therefore, the sole purpose of the following summary of the invention is to present certain concepts related to one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein in a brief form before the detailed embodiments presented below.

[0010] In one aspect, a method for locating a user device includes: obtaining a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of the user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both; filtering map data indicating a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS position, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; and determining a position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data.

[0011] In one aspect, an apparatus includes: a memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to: obtain a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of a user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both; filter map data indicating a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS position, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; and determine a position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data.

[0012] In one aspect, an apparatus includes: components for obtaining a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of a user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both; components for filtering map data indicating a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS position, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; and components for determining a position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data.

[0013] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to: obtain a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of a user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both; filter map data indicating a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS position, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; and determine a position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data.

[0014] Other objects and advantages associated with the various aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the drawings and detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided solely for illustration and not limitation of the various aspects.

[0016] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0017] Figure 2A and Figure 2B Example wireless network structures according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0018] Figure 3 is a top view of a vehicle employing an integrated radar camera sensor behind a windshield in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 4 An onboard computer architecture according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0020] Figure 5 A block diagram illustrating a process flow for filtering map data and performing a positioning operation based on the filtered map data in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Fig. 6A A map represented by map data according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0022] Figure 6B The invention illustrates various aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 6A The map data indicates possible routes of the user device, with the map overlaid with a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) position of the user device and a sensor-based trajectory of the user device.

[0023] Fig. 7A Filtering possible routes outside a predetermined range of a GNSS position of a user device is illustrated in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 7B Filtering possible routes that are inconsistent with a sensor-based trajectory of a user device is illustrated in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 8 Example methods of locating user equipment according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Various aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings for various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be designed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted to avoid making the relevant details of the present disclosure difficult to understand.

[0027] The words "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or superior to other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.

[0028] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of different techniques and methods may be used to represent the information and signals described below. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the following description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, which depends in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, and so on.

[0029] In addition, many aspects are described in terms of a sequence of actions to be performed by, for example, an element of a computing device. It should be understood that the various actions described herein may be performed by a specific circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by a program instruction executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of the two. Additionally, the sequence of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transient computer-readable storage medium, in which a corresponding computer instruction set is stored, which, when executed, will cause or command the associated processor of the device to perform the functionality described herein. Therefore, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the various aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "a logical component configured to perform the described action".

[0030] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" (BS) are not intended to be dedicated to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise specified. Generally speaking, a UE can be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset location device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) head-mounted device, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. The UE can be mobile or can be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station" or variations thereof. Generally speaking, a UE can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE can connect to external networks such as the Internet and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for the UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.), etc.

[0031] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with a UE, depending on the network in which the base station is deployed, and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a new radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be primarily used to support wireless access for UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may only provide edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, a base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link by which a UE may transmit a signal to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link by which a base station may transmit a signal to a UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term "traffic channel (TCH)" may refer to an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0032] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRP may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and an adjacent base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. Because, as used herein, a TRP is a point by which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, references to transmitting from a base station or receiving at a base station should be understood to refer to a specific TRP of a base station.

[0033] In some specific implementations of supporting UE positioning, the base station may not support wireless access for the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead send a reference signal to be measured by the UE to the UE and / or may receive and measure a signal sent by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., in the case of sending a signal to the UE) and / or as a position measurement unit (e.g., in the case of receiving and measuring a signal from the UE).

[0034] An "RF signal" includes an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal" where it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0035] Figure 1An example wireless communication system 100 according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled as "BS") and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macrocell base stations 102 may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network) or gNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network) or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0036] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) through a backhaul link 122, and interface with one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) through the core network 170. The location server 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. The location server 172 may be integrated with the base station 102. The UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location server 172 through another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., the AP 150 described below), and the like. For signaling purposes, communication between UE 104 and location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), with intermediate nodes (if any) omitted from the signaling diagram for clarity.

[0037] Among other functions, the base station 102 can perform functions related to one or more of the following: delivering user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC / 5GC) on a backhaul link 134, which can be wired or wireless.

[0038] Base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each of base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells may be supported by base station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., via a frequency resource, which is referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) used to distinguish cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types) that may provide access to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" may refer to one or both of the logical communication entity and the base station supporting it, depending on the context. In some cases, the term “cell” may also refer to a geographic coverage area (eg, a sector) of a base station, as long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communications within some portion of the geographic coverage area 110 .

[0039] Although the geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some areas of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with the larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB) that may provide services to a restricted group referred to as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0040] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also referred to as a reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric for the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than to the uplink).

[0041] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a WLAN access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA) 152 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz) via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedure prior to communication to determine whether a channel is available.

[0042] The small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can adopt LTE or NR technology and use the same 5GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' adopting LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can improve the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE-U, License Assisted Access (LAA) or MulteFire.

[0043] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a mmW base station 180, which may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, and a wavelength between 1 mm and 10 mm. The radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW may extend downward to a frequency of 3 GHz, and a wavelength of 100 mm. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, and is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmitting and / or receiving) on ​​the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for extremely high path loss and short range. In addition, it should be understood that in an alternative configuration, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0044] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device. In order to change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that broadcast the RF signal. For example, a network node can use an array of antennas (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") that produces RF beams that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antenna. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to each antenna in the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas are added together in the desired direction to increase radiation while canceling out in the undesired direction to suppress radiation.

[0045] The transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antennas are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived based on information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Therefore, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0046] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify an RF signal detected on a given channel. For example, a receiver may increase the gain setting of an antenna array in a particular direction and / or adjust the phase setting of an antenna array in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase its gain level) the RF signal received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to be beamforming in a certain direction, this means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

[0047] The transmit beam and the receive beam may be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that parameters of a second beam (e.g., a transmit beam or a receive beam) for a second reference signal may be derived based on information about a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0048] Note that depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming a downlink beam to send a reference signal to the UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE is forming a downlink beam, the downlink beam is a receive beam that receives a downlink reference signal. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink receive beam, while if the UE is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink transmit beam.

[0049] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5GNR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz–7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz–52.6 GHz). It should be understood that, although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “below 6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar naming problem sometimes occurs with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, although different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz to 300 GHz) identified as the “millimeter wave” band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0050] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125GHz to 24.25GHz). The bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and therefore the features of FR1 and / or FR2 can be effectively extended to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operations to more than 52.6GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4-a or FR4-1 (52.6GHz-71GHz), FR4 (52.6GHz-114.25GHz) and FR5 (114.25GHz-300GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0051] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "below 6 GHz" or the like is used in this document, it can be broadly referred to as a frequency that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" or the like is used in this document, it can be broadly referred to as a frequency that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

[0052] In a multi-carrier system (such as 5G), one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2), which can be configured and used to provide additional radio resources once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, since the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are typically UE-specific, those UE-specific signaling information and signals may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carrier. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier through which a base station communicates, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0053] For example, still refer to Figure 1 , one of the frequencies used by macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies used by macrocell base station 102 and / or mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate obtained with a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0054] exist Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , the UE illustrated (for simplicity, in Figure 1Any UE (shown as a single UE 104 in FIG. 1 ) can receive a signal 124 from one or more earth orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, the SVs 112 can be part of a satellite positioning system that the UEs 104 can use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine its position on or above the earth based at least in part on a positioning signal (e.g., signal 124) received from the transmitters. Such a transmitter typically transmits a signal marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. Although typically located in the SVs 112, the transmitters can sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. The UEs 104 can include one or more dedicated receivers that are specifically designed to receive the signal 124 in order to derive geographic location information from the SVs 112.

[0055] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signal 124 may be enhanced by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, and the like, such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), Multifunction Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), Global Positioning System (GPS) Assisted Geographic Augmented Navigation, or GPS and Geographic Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN), and the like. Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

[0056] In one aspect, SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a ground antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element in turn will provide access to other elements in the 5G network, and ultimately provide access to entities outside the 5G network (such as Internet web servers and other user devices). In this way, instead of or in addition to communication signals from ground base stations 102, UE 104 can receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from SV 112.

[0057] In particular, leveraging the increased data rates and reduced latency of NR, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication technology is being implemented to support intelligent transportation system (ITS) applications, such as wireless communications between vehicles (vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)), between vehicles and roadside infrastructure (vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I)), and between vehicles and pedestrians (vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P)). The goal is to enable vehicles to sense the environment around them and communicate that information to other vehicles, infrastructure, and personal mobile devices. Such vehicle communications will enable safety, mobility, and environmental advances that current technology cannot provide. Once fully implemented, this technology is expected to reduce non-damaged vehicle collisions by 80%.

[0058] Still reference Figure 1 , the wireless communication system 100 may include a plurality of V-UEs 160 that may communicate with a base station 102 over a communication link 120 using a Uu interface (i.e., an air interface between a UE and a base station). The V-UEs 160 may also communicate directly with each other over a wireless side link 162, with a roadside unit (RSU) 164 (roadside access point) over a wireless side link 166, or with a sidelink-capable UE 104 over a wireless side link 168 using a PC5 interface (i.e., an air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless side link (or just "sidelink") is an adaptation of a core cellular network (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without going through a base station. The sidelink communication may be unicast or multicast and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, V2V communication, V2X communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more V-UEs in a group of V-UEs 160 utilizing sidelink communication may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102. Other V-UEs 160 in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102 or otherwise unable to receive transmissions from the base station 102. In some cases, groups of V-UEs 160 communicating via sidelink communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each V-UE 160 transmits to each other V-UE 160 in the group. In some cases, the base station 102 facilitates scheduling of resources for the sidelink communication. In other cases, the sidelink communication is performed between the V-UEs 160 without involving the base station 102.

[0059] In one aspect, the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 can operate over a wireless communication medium of interest, which can be shared with other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points and other wireless communications between other RATs. A "medium" may include one or more time, frequency, and / or spatial communication resources (e.g., covering one or more channels across one or more carriers) associated with wireless communications between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs.

[0060] In one aspect, the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may be cV2X links. The first generation of cV2X has been standardized in LTE, and the next generation is expected to be defined in NR. cV2X is a cellular technology that also enables device-to-device communications. In the United States and Europe, cV2X is expected to operate in the licensed ITS bands below 6 GHz. Other frequency bands may be allocated in other countries. Thus, as a specific example, the medium of interest utilized by the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may correspond to at least a portion of the licensed ITS bands below 6 GHz. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this frequency band or cellular technology.

[0061] In one aspect, the side links 162, 166, 168 may be dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) links. DSRC is a unidirectional or bidirectional short-range to medium-range wireless communication protocol that uses the Wireless Access in Vehicular Environment (WAVE) protocol (also known as IEEE 802.11p) for V2V, V2I, and V2P communications. IEEE 802.11p is an approved modification to the IEEE 802.11 standard and operates in the licensed ITS band of 5.9 GHz (5.85 GHz-5.925 GHz) in the United States. In Europe, IEEE 802.11p operates in the ITS G5A band (5.875 GHz-5.905 MHz). Other frequency bands may be allocated in other countries. The V2V communications briefly described above occur on a safety channel, which is typically a 10 MHz channel dedicated to safety purposes in the United States. The rest of the DSRC band (total bandwidth is 75 MHz) is intended for other services of interest to drivers, such as road regulations, toll collection, parking automation, etc. Thus, as a specific example, the medium of interest utilized by the sidelinks 162, 166, 168 may correspond to at least a portion of the licensed ITS band at 5.9 GHz.

[0062] Alternatively, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed frequency band shared among the various RATs. Although different licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems (particularly those employing small cell access points) have recently expanded operations into unlicensed frequency bands such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi"). Example systems of this type include different variations of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

[0063] Communication between V-UEs 160 is referred to as V2V communication, communication between V-UEs 160 and one or more RSUs 164 is referred to as V2I communication, and communication between V-UEs 160 and one or more UEs 104 (where these UEs 104 are P-UEs) is referred to as V2P communication. V2V communication between V-UEs 160 may include, for example, information about the position, speed, acceleration, heading, and other vehicle data of these V-UEs 160. V2I information received at V-UEs 160 from one or more RSUs 164 may include, for example, road rules, parking automation information, etc. V2P communication between V-UEs 160 and UEs 104 may include information about, for example, the position, speed, acceleration, and heading of the V-UEs 160 and the position, speed (for example, in the case where the UE 104 is carried by a user on a bicycle) and heading of the UEs 104.

[0064] Note that although Figure 1 Only two of the UEs are illustrated as V-UEs (V-UE 160), but any of the illustrated UEs (e.g., UE 104, 152, 182, 190) may be V-UEs. In addition, although only these V-UEs 160 and a single UE 104 have been illustrated as being connected via a side link, Figure 1Any of the illustrated UEs, whether V-UE, P-UE, etc., may be capable of sidelink communications. In addition, although only UE 182 is described as being capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including V-UE 160) may be capable of beamforming. In the case where V-UE 160 is capable of beamforming, they may beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other V-UE 160), toward RSU 164, toward other UEs (e.g., UE 104, 152, 182, 190), etc. Thus, in some cases, V-UE 160 may utilize beamforming on sidelinks 162, 166, and 168.

[0065] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs (such as UE 190) indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. Figure 1 In the example of FIG. 1 , UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UEs 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity through the D2D P2P link), and has a D2D P2P link 194 with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150 (UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity through the D2D P2P link). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can be supported by any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Etc. As another example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be side links, as described above with reference to side links 162 , 166 , and 168 .

[0066] Figure 2AAn example wireless network structure 200 is illustrated. For example, the 5GC 210 (also referred to as the Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally viewed as a control plane (C-plane) function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane (U-plane) function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate in conjunction to form a core network. The user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and the control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, and specifically to the user plane function 212 and the control plane function 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the ng-eNB 224 can also be connected to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. In addition, the ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein), in Figure 2A In the example, the one or more UEs are V-UEs.

[0067] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that can communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The location server 230 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively can each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204 that can be connected to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). In addition, the location server 230 can be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively can be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0068] Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 240 is illustrated. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 in the figure can be functionally considered as a control plane function provided by the access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and a user plane function provided by the user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate in conjunction to form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include: registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., V-UE) and a session management function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and the short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with the authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives an intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes security context management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF, which are used by the SCM to derive access network specific keys. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location service management for regulatory services, for the transmission of location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as a location server 230), for the transmission of location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, for the allocation of Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifiers for interoperation with EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notifications. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functionality for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0069] The functions of UPF 262 include: acting as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) handling (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and transmitting and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. UPF 262 can also support the delivery of location service messages between UE 204 and a location server (such as SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0070] The functions of SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, traffic steering configuration for routing traffic to the correct destination at UPF 262, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which SMF 266 communicates with AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0071] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that can communicate with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively can each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can be connected to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). SLP 272 can support similar functionality as LMF 270, but LMF 270 can communicate with AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols designed to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data), and SLP 272 can communicate with UE 204 and external clients (e.g., third-party servers 274) on the user plane (e.g., using protocols designed to carry voice and / or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0072] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274 that can communicate with the LMF 270, SLP 272, 5GC 260 (e.g., via AMF 264 and / or UPF 262), NG-RAN 220, and / or UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., location estimate) of UE 204. Thus, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a location service (LCS) client or an external client. The third-party server 274 may be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or may alternatively each correspond to a single server.

[0073] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and specifically the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively, to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, and the interface between the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the "N3" interface. The gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via a backhaul connection 223 referred to as an "Xn-C" interface. One or more of the gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a wireless interface referred to as a "Uu" interface.

[0074] The functionality of the gNB 222 is divided between a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DU) 228, and one or more gNB Radio Units (gNB-RU) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions other than those specifically assigned to the gNB-DU 228, including delivery of user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, etc. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 typically hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that typically hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of the gNB 222 is typically hosted by one or more independent gNB-RUs 229, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between the gNB-DU 228 and the gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC layer, the SDAP layer, and the PDCP layer, communicates with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC layer and the MAC layer, and communicates with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0075] Autonomous and semi-autonomous driving safety technologies use a combination of hardware (sensors, cameras and radars) and software to help vehicles identify specific safety risks so that they can warn the driver to take action (in the case of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)) or they can take action themselves (in the case of automated driving systems (ADS)) to avoid collisions. Vehicles equipped with ADAS or ADS include one or more camera sensors mounted on the vehicle, which capture images of the front, and possibly the rear and side scenes of the vehicle. Radar systems can also be used to detect objects along the road and possibly behind and on the sides of the vehicle. Radar systems use RF waves to determine the range, direction, speed and / or height of objects along the road. More specifically, a transmitter sends a pulse of an RF wave that bounces back from any object in its path. The pulse reflected from the object returns a small portion of the energy of the RF wave to the receiver, which is usually located at the same location as the transmitter. Cameras and radars are usually oriented to capture their respective versions of the same scene.

[0076] A processor within the vehicle, such as a digital signal processor (DSP), analyzes the captured camera images and radar frames and attempts to identify objects within the captured scene. Such objects may be other vehicles, pedestrians, road signs, objects within the road of travel, etc. Radar systems provide reasonably accurate measurements of object distance and speed in a variety of weather conditions. However, radar systems typically do not have sufficient resolution to identify features of detected objects. However, camera sensors typically do provide sufficient resolution to identify object features. Cues to the shape and appearance of objects extracted from the captured images can provide sufficient characteristics for the classification of different objects. Given the complementary nature of the two sensors, data from the two sensors can be combined (called "fusion") in a single system for improved performance.

[0077] To further enhance ADAS and ADS systems, especially at Level 3 and above, autonomous and semi-autonomous vehicles can take advantage of high-definition (HD) map data sets that contain significantly more detailed information and true ground absolute accuracy than currently found in conventional resources. Such HD maps can provide accuracy within 7cm to 10cm absolute range, a highly detailed catalog of all fixed physical assets associated with the road, such as road lanes, road edges, shoulders, dividers, traffic signals, signage, paint markings, poles and other data that helps autonomous / semi-autonomous vehicles safely navigate roads and intersections. HD maps can also provide electronic horizon predictive awareness, which enables autonomous / semi-autonomous vehicles to know what is ahead.

[0078] Note that an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle may be, but need not be, a V-UE. Likewise, a V-UE may be, but need not be, an autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle. An autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle is a vehicle equipped with ADAS or ADS. A V-UE is a vehicle with cellular connectivity to a 5G or other cellular network. An autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicle that uses or is capable of using cellular technology for positioning and / or navigation is a V-UE.

[0079] Reference now Figure 3 , illustrates a vehicle 300 (referred to as the “ego vehicle” or “host vehicle”) that includes a radar camera sensor module 320 located in an interior compartment behind a windshield 312 of the vehicle 300. The radar camera sensor module 320 includes a radar assembly that is configured to transmit radar signals through the windshield 312 in a horizontal coverage area 350 (shown by a dashed line) and receive reflected radar signals reflected from any object within the coverage area 350. The radar camera sensor module 320 also includes a camera assembly for capturing images based on light waves seen and captured through the windshield 312 in a horizontal coverage area 360 (shown by a dashed line).

[0080] Although Figure 3 An example is illustrated in which the radar assembly and the camera assembly are co-located components in a shared housing, but as will be appreciated, they may be separately housed in different locations within the vehicle 300. For example, the camera may be Figure 3 As shown, the radar assembly may be located in a guardrail or front bumper of the vehicle 300. Figure 3 The radar camera sensor module 320 is illustrated as being located behind the windshield 312, but it may alternatively be located in the top sensor array or elsewhere. Figure 3 Only a single radar camera sensor module 320 is illustrated, but as will be appreciated, the vehicle 300 may have multiple radar camera sensor modules 320 pointing in different directions (to the side, forward, rearward, etc.). The various radar camera sensor modules 320 may be under the "skin" of the vehicle (e.g., behind the windshield 312, door panels, bumpers, guardrails, etc.) or in an overhead sensor array.

[0081] Radar camera sensor module 320 may detect one or more objects (or no objects) relative to vehicle 300. Figure 3In the example of FIG. 3 , there are two objects that can be detected by the radar camera sensor module 320 within the horizontal coverage areas 350 and 360: vehicles 330 and 340. The radar camera sensor module 320 can estimate parameters of the detected objects, such as position, range, direction, speed, size, classification (e.g., vehicle, pedestrian, road sign, etc.), etc. The radar camera sensor module 320 can be used onboard the vehicle 300 for automotive safety applications, such as adaptive cruise control (ACC), forward collision warning (FCW), collision mitigation or avoidance via autonomous braking, lane departure warning (LDW), etc.

[0082] Co-locating the camera and radar permits these components to share electronics and signal processing, and in particular enables early radar camera data fusion. For example, the radar and camera can be integrated onto a single board. Joint radar camera alignment techniques can be employed to align both the radar and the camera. However, co-location of the radar and camera is not required for practicing the techniques described herein.

[0083] Figure 4 An onboard computer (OBC) 400 of a vehicle 300 according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In one aspect, the OBC 400 may be part of an ADAS or ADS. The OBC 400 may also be a V-UE of the vehicle 300. The OBC 400 includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium (i.e., a memory 404) and one or more processors 406 that communicate with the memory 404 via a data bus 408. The memory 404 includes one or more storage modules storing computer-readable instructions that can be executed by one or more processors 406 to perform the functions of the OBC 400 described herein. For example, one or more processors 406 in combination with the memory 404 can implement the various operations described herein.

[0084] One or more radar camera sensor modules 320 are coupled to the OBC 400 (for simplicity, Figure 4 In some aspects, the radar camera sensor module 320 includes at least one camera 412, at least one radar 414, and optionally a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor 416. The OBC 400 also includes one or more system interfaces 410 that connect one or more processors 406 to the radar camera sensor module 320 via a data bus 408, and optionally, to other vehicle subsystems (not shown).

[0085] At least in some cases, the OBC 400 also includes one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 430 configured to communicate via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown) (such as NR networks, LTE networks, global system for mobile communications (GSM) networks, etc.). The one or more WWAN transceivers 430 can be connected to one or more antennas (not shown) for communicating with other network nodes (such as other V-UEs, pedestrian UEs, infrastructure access points, roadside units (RSUs), base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., certain time / frequency resource sets in a specific spectrum). The one or more WWAN transceivers 430 can be configured in various ways for sending and encoding signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to the designated RAT and vice versa for receiving and decoding signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.).

[0086] At least in some cases, the OBC 400 also includes one or more short-range wireless transceivers 440 (e.g., Wi-Fi transceivers, Bluetooth transceivers, etc.). The one or more short-range wireless transceivers 440 can be connected to one or more antennas (not shown) for communicating with other network nodes (such as other V-UEs, pedestrian UEs, infrastructure access points, RSUs, etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X), IEEE 802.11p (also known as Wireless Access for Vehicle Environments (WAVE)), Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest. The one or more short-range wireless transceivers 440 can be configured in various ways for sending and encoding signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to the designated RAT and conversely for receiving and decoding signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.).

[0087] As used herein, a "transceiver" may include transmitter circuitry, receiver circuitry, or a combination thereof, but need not provide both transmit and receive functionality in all designs. For example, low-functionality receiver circuitry may be employed in some designs to reduce cost (e.g., a receiver chip or similar circuitry that simply provides low-level sniffing) when it is not necessary to provide full communications.

[0088] At least in some cases, the OBC 400 also includes a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver 450. The GNSS receiver 450 may be connected to one or more antennas (not shown) for receiving satellite signals. The GNSS receiver 450 may include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing GNSS signals. The GNSS receiver 450 requests information and operations from other systems as appropriate, and performs the calculations required to determine the position of the vehicle 300 using measurements obtained by any suitable GNSS algorithm.

[0089] In one aspect, the OBC 400 may utilize one or more WWAN transceivers 430 and / or one or more short-range wireless transceivers 440 to download one or more maps 402, which may then be stored in the memory 404 and used for vehicle navigation. The map 402 may be one or more high-definition (HD) maps that may provide a highly detailed inventory of all fixed physical assets associated with the road, such as road lanes, road edges, shoulders, dividers, traffic signals, signs, paint markings, poles, and other data that assists the vehicle 300 in safely navigating roads and intersections, with accuracy within an absolute range of 7 cm to 10 cm. The map 402 may also provide electronic horizon prediction awareness, which enables the vehicle 300 to know what is ahead.

[0090] The vehicle 300 may include one or more sensors 420 that may be coupled to the one or more processors 406 via one or more system interfaces 410. The one or more sensors 420 may provide components for sensing or detecting information related to the state and / or environment of the vehicle 300, such as speed, heading (e.g., compass heading), headlight status, fuel consumption, etc. By way of example, the one or more sensors 420 may include an odometer, a speedometer, a tachometer, an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), etc. Although shown as being located outside of the OBC 400, some of these sensors 420 may be located on the OBC 400 and some may be located elsewhere in the vehicle 300.

[0091] The OBC 400 may also include a positioning component 418. The positioning component 418 may include a hardware circuit that is part of or coupled to the one or more processors 406, which, when executed, causes the OBC 400 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the positioning component 418 may be external to the one or more processors 406 (e.g., part of a positioning processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioning component 418 may be one or more memory modules stored in the memory 404, which, when executed by the one or more processors 406 (or the positioning processing system, another processing system, etc.), causes the OBC 400 to perform the functionality described herein. As a specific example, the positioning component 418 may include multiple positioning engines, a positioning engine aggregator, a sensor fusion module, etc. Figure 4 Possible locations for a location component 418 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of the memory 404, the one or more processors 406, or any combination thereof, or may be a separate component.

[0092] In one aspect, camera 412 may capture the viewing area of ​​camera 412 at a periodic rate (e.g., Figure 3 In one aspect, radar 414 may capture image frames (also referred to herein as camera frames) of a scene within the viewing area of ​​camera 414 (illustrated as horizontal coverage area 360 in FIG. 1 ). Figure 3 4 and 5. The radar frames of the scene within the horizontal coverage area 350 are illustrated in FIG. 4. The periodicity rate at which the camera 412 and the radar 414 capture their respective frames may be the same or different. Each camera and radar frame may be timestamped. Thus, in the case of different periodicity rates, the timestamps may be used to select the captured camera and radar frames simultaneously or nearly simultaneously for further processing (e.g., fusion).

[0093] Figure 5 1 is a block diagram illustrating a process flow 500 for filtering map data and performing a positioning operation based on the filtered map data according to various aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 5 The data flow shown may correspond to data sent by a user device such as Figure 1 any one of the UEs (e.g., 104, 152, 182, 190, or 160), Figure 2A and Figure 2B UE 204 in, or Figure 3 and Figure 4 300 or Figure 4 OBC 400 in Figure 1 Any of the base stations in Figure 1 and Figure 2ALocation servers in Figure 2B Positioning operations are used to determine a position estimate or navigation solution for a user device.

[0094] like Figure 5 As shown, the process flow 500 includes a multi-stage filtering process 510, which receives map data 502 and a GNSS position of a user device and / or a sensor-based trajectory 504, filters the map data 502 based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS position of the user device and / or the sensor-based trajectory 504, and provides the filtered map data (including, for example, a selected possible route of the user device) to a positioning process 520.

[0095] In one aspect, the map data may indicate a possible route of a user device. The possible route may correspond to a road, a pedestrian path, a ferry route, etc. In one aspect, the map data may include pixel data representing the possible route. In one aspect, the map data may include line segments representing the possible route. In one aspect, the map data may include coordinates of the possible route.

[0096] In some aspects, providing map data directly to the positioning process 520 may improve the accuracy of the positioning process 520. However, in some cases, incorrect possible routes and / or too many possible routes available to the positioning process 520 may instead cause the performance of the positioning process 520 to be degraded.

[0097] Thus, in some aspects, instead of providing map data 502 and GNSS positions and / or sensor-based trajectories 504 directly to positioning process 520, multi-stage filtering process 510 may be used to select possible routes (i.e., filtered map data) that may be highly relevant to positioning process 520 based on one or more criteria associated with GNSS positions. In some aspects, GNSS positions and / or sensor-based trajectories 504 may be obtained and / or maintained independently of the results of map data and / or positioning process 520.

[0098] In some aspects, the multi-stage filtering process 510 may include one or more filtering process stages based on one or more criteria associated with GNSS location, sensor-based trajectory, or both.

[0099] For example, the one or more filtering processes may include a process 512 for filtering possible routes beyond a certain proximity of the GNSS location, which may correspond to the criteria of the range threshold for filtering possible routes outside a predetermined range of the GNSS location. In some aspects, the range threshold may be determined based on the type of user device (e.g., wearable device or vehicle-mounted OBC) or the mode of the navigation process (e.g., pedestrian mode, driving mode, or public transportation mode) or the current moving speed of the user device, etc. For example, if the user device is a wearable device, the range threshold may be different based on whether the user carrying the user device is walking or traveling in a vehicle (e.g., as may be inferred based on the navigation mode and / or the current moving speed).

[0100] The one or more filtering processes may include a process 514 for filtering possible routes inconsistent with the sensor-based trajectory, which may correspond to a criteria for an inconsistency threshold for filtering possible routes inconsistent with the sensor-based trajectory. The inconsistency threshold may correspond to a heading of the trajectory, a curvature of the trajectory, an estimated speed of the user device based on the trajectory, or an estimated acceleration of the user device based on the trajectory, etc.

[0101] In some aspects, the one or more filtering processes may include process 516. In some aspects, process 516 includes assigning weights to possible routes based on path attributes of the possible routes, and filtering the possible routes based on the corresponding weights satisfying a weight threshold. In some aspects, satisfying the weight threshold corresponds to the corresponding weight being greater than the weight threshold. In some aspects, the path attributes include the length, area, or type of the corresponding possible route. In some examples, process 516 may also be based on GNSS position and / or sensor-based trajectory. For example, weights may be assigned based on whether the user carrying the user device is walking or traveling in a vehicle (such as may be inferred based on, for example, a navigation mode and / or a current moving speed, which may be determined based on a GNSS position and / or a sensor-based trajectory).

[0102] In some aspects, multi-stage filtering process 510 may include another process for filtering possible routes based on another criterion associated with GNSS location or sensor-based trajectory. In some aspects, process 512, process 514, and / or process 516 may be different from Figure 5 Any order of the examples may be arranged or omitted.

[0103] The multi-stage filtering process 510 also includes a process 518, in which the remaining possible routes of the filtered map data can be classified as clear, unclear, or unavailable. For example, if a specific route in the remaining possible routes can be determined at process 518 to be selected by the positioning process 520 with sufficient certainty, then the specific route in the remaining possible routes can be classified as clear. If two or more possible routes in the remaining possible routes can be determined by process 518 as being selectable by the positioning process 520 with sufficient certainty, then two or more possible routes in the remaining possible routes can be classified as unclear. Finally, the possible routes that can be determined by process 518 as unlikely to be selected by the positioning process 520 can be classified as unavailable.

[0104] After process 518, multi-stage filtering process 510 can provide the selected possible routes to positioning process 520, wherein a positioning operation is performed based on the filtered map data including at least the possible routes selected at process 518. In one aspect, the selected possible routes include only specific possible routes that are classified as clear. In one aspect, the selected possible routes include multiple possible routes that are classified as unclear. In some aspects, all remaining routes are provided to positioning process 520 along with corresponding classification labels. In at least one aspect, possible routes classified as unavailable are not provided to positioning process 520.

[0105] In the positioning process 520, a position estimate or navigation solution for the user device may be determined based on the specific route classified as clear, if the presence of the specific route classified as clear is provided by the multi-stage filtering process 510. In addition, a position estimate or navigation solution for the user device may be determined based on one of the multiple routes classified as unclear, if the absence of the specific route classified as clear and the presence of multiple routes classified as unclear are provided by the multi-stage filtering process 510.

[0106] Fig. 6A and Figure 6B Non-limiting examples of map data, a GNSS location of a user device, and a sensor-based trajectory of a user device that the multi-stage filtering process 510 may be based on are illustrated.

[0107] Fig. 6AA map 600 represented by map data in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. As non-limiting examples, map 600 graphically illustrates real-world features using different fill patterns, including a pattern of buildings 602, a pattern of parks 604, and a pattern of roads 606. In addition, the map data indicates possible routes for performing a positioning process for a user device. The possible routes are visualized in map 600, as illustrated using pattern 608. In this non-limiting example, only pedestrian available routes are considered, and in one aspect, the possible routes may correspond to at least sidewalks along roads, pedestrian paths between buildings, and trails in parks.

[0108] Figure 6B Examples of various aspects of the present disclosure Fig. 6A 6, which is superimposed with a GNSS position 612 of the user device and a sensor-based trajectory 616 of the user device. The possible routes indicated by the map data are illustrated using a pattern 608. In some aspects, each of the possible routes is defined as a line segment (or link) that ends without abutting any other route in the possible routes or ends by abutting the end of another route in the possible routes.

[0109] In some aspects, the GNSS position of the user device can be determined based on any of the positioning examples described above 612. In some aspects, the sensor-based trajectory 616 of the user device can be determined based on one or more motion sensors, accelerometers, radar sensors, or cameras of the user device and / or based on a radar sensor or camera disposed externally to the user device.

[0110] Fig. 7A Filtering possible routes outside a predetermined range of a GNSS position of a user device is illustrated in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. Fig. 7A The non-limiting example shown corresponds to a method based on Fig. 6A and Figure 6B The illustrated map data, GNSS position and sensor-based trajectory are used to perform Figure 5 Process 512 in.

[0111] according to Fig. 7AIn some aspects, process 512 may be performed based on criteria for a range threshold of an area 702 within a predetermined range of a GNSS location 612. In some aspects, the range threshold may be determined based on one or more of the type of user device, the mode of the navigation process, the current speed of movement of the user device, etc. In some aspects, process 512 filters possible routes based on proximity relative to the user device. Process 512 may filter possible routes outside the predetermined range of the GNSS location 612. In this example, the removed routes outside the area 702 are illustrated by pattern 712, and the remaining routes at least partially within the area 702 are illustrated by pattern 716. In some aspects, process 512 may start with possible routes that have been filtered by one or more other filtering processes. In some aspects, process 512 may provide the remaining routes to another filtering process as possible routes to start with.

[0112] Figure 7B Filtering possible routes inconsistent with a user trajectory of a user device according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 7B The non-limiting example shown corresponds to a method based on Fig. 6A and Figure 6B The illustrated map data, GNSS position and sensor-based trajectory are used to perform Figure 5 Process 514.

[0113] according to Figure 7B , in some aspects, process 514 may be performed based on criteria of a non-conformance threshold corresponding to one or more of a heading of the trajectory, a curvature of the trajectory, an estimated speed of the user device based on the trajectory, or an estimated acceleration of the user device based on the trajectory, etc. In this non-limiting example, the removed routes that are inconsistent with trajectory 616 are illustrated by pattern 762, and the remaining routes that are inconsistent with trajectory 616 are illustrated by pattern 766. In some aspects, process 514 may start with possible routes that have been filtered by one or more other filtering processes. In some aspects, process 514 may provide the remaining routes to another filtering process as possible routes to start with.

[0114] Figure 8 An example method 800 for locating a user device according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In one aspect, the method 800 may be performed by a user device such as Figure 1 any one of the UEs (e.g., 104, 152, 182, 190, or 160), Figure 2A and Figure 2B UE 204 (eg, 204), or Figure 3 and Figure 4 Transportation in 300 or Figure 4 OBC 400 in Figure 1 Any of the base stations in Figure 1 and Figure 2A Location servers in Figure 2B LMF, SLP or third-party server) or both.

[0115] At 810, the user device or the server obtains a GNSS position of the user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both. In one aspect, operation 810 may be performed by the one or more processors 406, memory 404, and / or positioning component 418, and may be performed in conjunction with GNSS receiver 450, the one or more sensors 420, radar camera sensor module 320, camera 412, radar 414, and / or LiDAR sensor 416, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing this operation. In one aspect, operation 810 may be performed by one or more processors of a server communicatively coupled to the user device.

[0116] At 820, the user device or the server filters the map data indicating the possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS location, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data. In some aspects, operation 820 may include as described with reference to Figure 5 One or more of the illustrated filtering process 512 or filtering process 514 or filtering process 516. In one aspect, operation 820 may be performed by the one or more processors 406, memory 404, and / or positioning component 418, and may be performed in conjunction with GNSS receiver 450, the one or more sensors 420, radar camera sensor module 320, camera 412, radar 414, and / or LiDAR sensor 416, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing this operation. In one aspect, operation 820 may be performed by one or more processors of a server communicatively coupled to the user device.

[0117] At 830, the user device or the server determines a position estimate or navigation solution for the user device based on the filtered map data. In one aspect, operation 830 may be performed by the one or more processors 406, memory 404, and / or positioning component 418, and may be performed in conjunction with GNSS receiver 450, the one or more sensors 420, radar camera sensor module 320, camera 412, radar 414, and / or LiDAR sensor 416, any or all of which may be considered as means for performing this operation. In one aspect, operation 830 may be performed by one or more processors of a server communicatively coupled to the user device.

[0118] As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of method 800 is improved accuracy and efficiency of positioning operations for a user device by providing filtered map data including selected possible routes that may be highly relevant to the positioning operations based on one or more criteria associated with GNSS position and / or sensor-based trajectories.

[0119] In the above specific embodiments, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in each example. This disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than the features explicitly mentioned in each clause. On the contrary, various aspects of the present disclosure may include less than all the features of the disclosed individual example clauses. Therefore, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated into the description accordingly, where each clause itself can be used as a separate example. Although each subordinate clause can refer to a specific combination of one clause with other clauses in a clause, the aspects of the subordinate clause are not limited to specific combinations. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include a combination of the subject matter of the subordinate clause aspect with any other subordinate clause or independent clause or any feature with other subordinate clauses and independent clauses. Various aspects disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations, unless it is clearly expressed or can be easily inferred that a specific combination is not intended to be used (for example, contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor). In addition, it is also expected that various aspects of the clause can be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly subordinate to the independent clause.

[0120] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0121] Clause 1. A method for locating a user device, the method comprising: obtaining a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of the user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both; filtering map data indicating a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS position, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; and determining a position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data.

[0122] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the one or more criteria include: an inconsistency threshold for filtering possible routes that are inconsistent with the sensor-based trajectory.

[0123] Clause 3. The method of clause 1, wherein the one or more criteria include: a range threshold for filtering possible routes outside a predetermined range of the GNSS position.

[0124] Clause 4. A method according to clause 1, wherein weights are assigned to the possible routes based on path attributes of the possible routes, the path attributes including the length, area or type of the corresponding route, and wherein filtering the map data further includes filtering the possible routes based on the corresponding weights satisfying a weight threshold.

[0125] Clause 5. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 4, wherein determining the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data comprises: classifying the remaining possible routes of the filtered map data as unambiguous, ambiguous or unavailable; and in the presence of a specific route classified as unambiguous, determining the position estimate of the user device based on the specific route classified as unambiguous.

[0126] Clause 6. A method according to Clause 5, wherein determining the location estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data includes: in the absence of the specific route classified as clear and the presence of multiple routes classified as ambiguous, determining the location estimate of the user device based on one of the multiple routes classified as ambiguous.

[0127] Clause 7. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 6, wherein the map data includes pixel data representing the possible routes.

[0128] Clause 8. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 6, wherein the map data comprises line segments representing the possible routes.

[0129] Clause 9. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 6, wherein the map data comprises coordinates of the possible routes.

[0130] Clause 10. A device comprising: a memory; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured to: obtain a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of a user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both; filter map data indicating a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS position, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; and determine a position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data.

[0131] Clause 11. The apparatus of clause 10, wherein the one or more criteria include an inconsistency threshold for filtering possible routes that are inconsistent with the sensor-based trajectory.

[0132] Clause 12. The apparatus of clause 10, wherein the one or more criteria include a range threshold for filtering possible routes outside a predetermined range of the GNSS position.

[0133] Clause 13. An apparatus according to clause 10, wherein weights are assigned to the possible routes based on path attributes of the possible routes, the path attributes including length, area or type of the corresponding route, and wherein the at least one processor configured to filter the map data includes the at least one processor configured to filter the possible routes based on the corresponding weights satisfying a weight threshold.

[0134] Clause 14. An apparatus according to any one of clauses 10 to 13, wherein the at least one processor configured to determine the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data includes the at least one processor configured to: classify the remaining possible routes of the filtered map data as unambiguous, ambiguous or unavailable; and in the presence of a specific route classified as unambiguous, determine the position estimate of the user device based on the specific route classified as unambiguous.

[0135] Clause 15. An apparatus according to clause 14, wherein the at least one processor configured to determine the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data includes the at least one processor configured to perform the following operations: in the absence of the specific route classified as clear and the presence of multiple routes classified as ambiguous, determine the position estimate of the user device based on one of the multiple routes classified as ambiguous.

[0136] Clause 16. An apparatus as described in any of clauses 10 to 15, wherein the map data includes pixel data representing the possible routes.

[0137] Clause 17. An apparatus as described in any of Clauses 10 to 15, wherein the map data includes line segments representing the possible routes.

[0138] Clause 18. An apparatus as described in any of Clauses 10 to 15, wherein the map data includes coordinates of the possible routes.

[0139] Clause 19. A device comprising: a component for obtaining a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of a user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both; a component for filtering map data indicating a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS position, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; and a component for determining a position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data.

[0140] Clause 20. The apparatus of Clause 19, wherein the one or more criteria include an inconsistency threshold for filtering possible routes that are inconsistent with the sensor-based trajectory.

[0141] Clause 21. The apparatus of Clause 19, wherein the one or more criteria include a range threshold for filtering possible routes outside a predetermined range of the GNSS position.

[0142] Clause 22. An apparatus according to clause 19, wherein weights are assigned to the possible routes based on path attributes of the possible routes, the path attributes including the length, area or type of the corresponding route, and wherein the component for filtering the map data also includes a component for filtering the possible routes based on the corresponding weights satisfying a weight threshold.

[0143] Clause 23. An apparatus according to any one of clauses 19 to 22, wherein the component for determining the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data includes: a component for classifying remaining possible routes of the filtered map data as unambiguous, ambiguous or unavailable; and a component for determining the position estimate of the user device based on a specific route classified as unambiguous in the presence of the specific route classified as unambiguous.

[0144] Clause 24. An apparatus according to clause 23, wherein the component for determining the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data includes: a component for determining the position estimate of the user device based on one of the multiple routes classified as ambiguous in the absence of the specific route classified as clear and the presence of multiple routes classified as ambiguous.

[0145] Clause 25. An apparatus as described in any of clauses 19 to 24, wherein the map data includes pixel data representing the possible routes.

[0146] Clause 26. An apparatus as described in any of Clauses 19 to 24, wherein the map data includes line segments representing the possible routes.

[0147] Clause 27. An apparatus as described in any of Clauses 19 to 24, wherein the map data includes coordinates of the possible routes.

[0148] Clause 28. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to: obtain a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of a user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both; filter map data indicating a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS position, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; and determine a position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data.

[0149] Clause 29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 28, wherein the one or more criteria include: an inconsistency threshold for filtering possible routes that are inconsistent with the sensor-based trajectory.

[0150] Clause 30. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 28, wherein the one or more criteria include a range threshold for filtering possible routes outside a predetermined range of the GNSS position.

[0151] Clause 31. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 28, wherein weights are assigned to the possible routes based on path attributes of the possible routes, the path attributes including length, area or type of the corresponding route, and wherein the instructions that, when executed by the device, cause the device to filter the map data include instructions that, when executed by the device, cause the device to filter the possible routes based on corresponding weights satisfying a weight threshold.

[0152] Clause 32. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 28 to 31, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the device, cause the device to determine the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data include instructions that, when executed by the device, cause the device to perform the following operations: classify remaining possible routes of the filtered map data as unambiguous, ambiguous, or unavailable; and in the presence of a specific route classified as unambiguous, determine the position estimate of the user device based on the specific route classified as unambiguous.

[0153] Clause 33. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 32, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the device, cause the device to determine the location estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data include instructions that, when executed by the device, cause the device to perform the following operations: in the absence of the specific route classified as clear and the presence of multiple routes classified as ambiguous, determine the location estimate of the user device based on one of the multiple routes classified as ambiguous.

[0154] Clause 34. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 28 to 33, wherein the map data comprises pixel data representing the possible routes.

[0155] Clause 35. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of Clauses 28 to 33, wherein the map data includes line segments representing the possible routes.

[0156] Clause 36. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of Clauses 28 to 33, wherein the map data includes coordinates of the possible routes.

[0157] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0158] In addition, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits and algorithmic steps described in conjunction with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software or a combination of the two. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary components, frames, modules, circuits and steps have been generally described in terms of their functionality. Whether such functions are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints proposed to the entire system. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functionality in different ways for each specific application, but such specific implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0159] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic components, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in an alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0160] The methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be directly embodied in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to a processor so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be integral with the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In an alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in a user terminal as discrete components.

[0161] In one or more example aspects, the described functions can be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions can be stored on a computer-readable medium or sent via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, which include any media that facilitates the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. Storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage devices, disk storage devices or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media that can be used to carry or store desired program codes in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer. Moreover, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is sent from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves, coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves are included in the definition of the medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc, where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

[0162] Although the foregoing disclosure shows the exemplary aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. In addition, the functions, steps and / or actions of the method claims according to the various aspects of the present disclosure as described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. In addition, although the elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, plural forms may also be considered unless explicitly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method for locating a user equipment, the method comprising: obtaining a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of the user equipment, a sensor-based trajectory of the user equipment, or both; filtering map data indicating a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS location, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; as well as A location estimate of the user equipment is determined based on the filtered map data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria include: An inconsistency threshold for filtering possible routes that are inconsistent with the sensor-based trajectory.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria include: A range threshold is used to filter possible routes outside a predetermined range of the GNSS position.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein weights are assigned to the possible routes based on path attributes of the possible routes, the path attributes including length, area or type of the corresponding route, and The filtering of the map data further includes filtering possible routes based on corresponding weights satisfying a weight threshold.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data comprises: classifying remaining possible routes of the filtered map data as unambiguous, ambiguous, or unusable; as well as In case there is a specific route classified as unambiguous, the position estimate of the user equipment is determined based on the specific route classified as unambiguous.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data comprises: In the absence of the specific route classified as unambiguous and in the presence of a plurality of routes classified as ambiguous, the position estimate of the user equipment is determined based on one of the plurality of routes classified as ambiguous.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the map data includes pixel data representing the possible routes. The method of claim 1 , wherein the map data includes line segments representing the possible routes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the map data includes coordinates of the possible routes.

10. A device, comprising: Memory; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory, the at least one processor being configured to: obtaining a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of a user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both; filtering map data indicating a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS location, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; as well as A location estimate of the user equipment is determined based on the filtered map data.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more criteria include: An inconsistency threshold for filtering possible routes that are inconsistent with the sensor-based trajectory.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the one or more criteria include: A range threshold is used to filter possible routes outside a predetermined range of the GNSS position.

13. The device according to claim 10, wherein weights are assigned to the possible routes based on path attributes of the possible routes, the path attributes including length, area or type of the corresponding route, and The at least one processor configured to filter the map data includes the at least one processor configured to filter possible routes based on corresponding weights satisfying a weight threshold.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor configured to determine the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data comprises the at least one processor configured to: classifying remaining possible routes of the filtered map data as unambiguous, ambiguous, or unusable; and In case there is a specific route classified as unambiguous, the position estimate of the user equipment is determined based on the specific route classified as unambiguous.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor configured to determine the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data comprises the at least one processor configured to: In the absence of the specific route classified as unambiguous and in the presence of a plurality of routes classified as ambiguous, the position estimate of the user equipment is determined based on one of the plurality of routes classified as ambiguous. 16 . The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the map data comprises pixel data representing the possible routes, line segments representing the possible routes, or coordinates of the possible routes, or a combination thereof.

17. A device, comprising: means for obtaining a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of a user equipment, a sensor-based trajectory of said user equipment, or both; means for filtering map data indicative of a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS location, the sensor-based trajectory, or both, to obtain filtered map data; and Means for determining a position estimate for the user equipment based on the filtered map data.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the one or more criteria include: An inconsistency threshold for filtering possible routes that are inconsistent with the sensor-based trajectory.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the one or more criteria include: A range threshold is used to filter possible routes outside a predetermined range of the GNSS position.

20. The device according to claim 17, wherein weights are assigned to the possible routes based on path attributes of the possible routes, the path attributes including length, area or type of the corresponding route, and The means for filtering the map data further comprises means for filtering possible routes based on corresponding weights satisfying a weight threshold.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the means for determining the position estimate of the user equipment based on the filtered map data comprises: means for classifying remaining possible routes of the filtered map data as unambiguous, ambiguous or unusable; and Means for determining the position estimate of the user equipment based on the specific route classified as unambiguous if there is a specific route classified as unambiguous.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the means for determining the position estimate of the user equipment based on the filtered map data comprises: Means for determining the position estimate of the user equipment based on one of the plurality of routes classified as ambiguous if the particular route is not present and a plurality of routes are present.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the map data comprises pixel data representing the possible routes, line segments representing the possible routes, or coordinates of the possible routes, or a combination thereof.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to: obtaining a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position of a user device, a sensor-based trajectory of the user device, or both; filtering map data indicative of a possible route of the user device based on one or more criteria associated with the GNSS location, the sensor-based trajectory, or both to obtain filtered map data; and A location estimate of the user equipment is determined based on the filtered map data.

25. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the one or more criteria include: An inconsistency threshold for filtering possible routes that are inconsistent with the sensor-based trajectory.

26. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the one or more criteria include: A range threshold is used to filter possible routes outside a predetermined range of the GNSS position.

27. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein weights are assigned to the possible routes based on path attributes of the possible routes, the path attributes including length, area or type of the corresponding route, and Wherein the instructions that, when executed by the device, cause the device to filter the map data include instructions that, when executed by the device, cause the device to filter possible routes based on corresponding weights satisfying a weight threshold.

28. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to determine the position estimate of the user device based on the filtered map data include instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to: classifying remaining possible routes of the filtered map data as unambiguous, ambiguous, or unusable; and In case there is a specific route classified as unambiguous, the position estimate of the user equipment is determined based on the specific route classified as unambiguous.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 28, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to determine the position estimate of the user equipment based on the filtered map data include instructions that, when executed by the apparatus, cause the apparatus to: In the absence of the specific route classified as unambiguous and in the presence of a plurality of routes classified as ambiguous, the position estimate of the user equipment is determined based on one of the plurality of routes classified as ambiguous.

30. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 24, wherein the map data comprises pixel data representing the possible routes, line segments representing the possible routes, or coordinates of the possible routes, or a combination thereof.

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