Method and system for cloud-based multi-technology positioning engine

Abstract

Techniques for wireless positioning are disclosed. In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) may determine that at least a portion of a multi-technology positioning procedure should be offloaded (810). The UE may transmit a request to perform the portion of the multi-technology positioning procedure to a server (820). The UE may receive a result of the offloaded portion of the multi-technology positioning procedure from the server (830). The UE may determine a positioning estimate based at least in part on the received results. The portion of the multi-technology positioning process may include intra-technology interior point detection, inter-technology interior point detection, interior point weighting, any other portion of the multi-technology positioning process, or a combination thereof (810).

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 1. FIELD OF THE TECHNOLOGY

[0001] Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless positioning.

[0002] 2. Description of Related Technologies

[0003] Wireless communication systems have evolved through 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, Internet-capable wireless services, and fourth-generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular systems and Personal Communication 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), etc.

[0004] The fifth-generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, better coverage, and 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, advancements in PRS processes and technologies, and the high-density deployment of 5G, enable high-precision positioning based on 5G. SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects related to the present disclosure. Accordingly, the following summary is not to be considered an exhaustive overview of all contemplated aspects, nor is it to be considered to identify key or critical elements of all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Thus, the sole purpose of the following summary is to present in a simplified form certain concepts related to one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein prior to the detailed description that follows.

[0006] In one aspect, a method of wireless positioning performed by a user equipment (UE) includes: determining that at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning process should be offloaded; transmitting a request to a server to perform at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process; receiving, from the server, a result of at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process; and determining a positioning estimate based at least in part on the result, wherein at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process includes at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; performing outlier rejection across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of wireless positioning performed by a network entity includes receiving, from a UE, a request to perform at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning process; performing at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process; and transmitting, to the UE, a result of at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process, wherein at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process includes at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; performing outlier rejection across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

[0008] In one aspect, a UE includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: determine that at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning process should be offloaded; transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a request to a server to perform at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process; receive, via the at least one transceiver, a result of at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process from the server; and determine a positioning estimate based at least in part on the result, wherein at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process includes at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; performing outlier rejection across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

[0009] In one aspect, a network entity includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, a request from a UE to perform at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning procedure; perform at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning procedure; and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a result of at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning procedure to the UE, wherein at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning procedure includes at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; performing outlier rejection together across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

[0010] Based on the figures and the detailed description, other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The drawings are presented to assist in describing aspects of the present disclosure, and the drawings are provided for illustration only and not to limit the aspects.

[0012] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0013] Figure 2A 、 Figure 2B and Figure 2C An example wireless network structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0014] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C are simplified block diagrams of several example aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE), a base station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured to support communication as taught herein.

[0015] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0016] Figure 5 Examples of various positioning methods supported in New Radio (NR) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0017] Figure 6 An example multi-technological positioning engine (MTPE) in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0018] Figure 7is a signaling and event diagram of an example process associated with methods and systems for cloud-based MTPE according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0019] Figure 8 is a flowchart of an example process performed by a UE associated with methods and systems for a cloud-based multi-technological positioning engine according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0020] Figure 9 is a flowchart of an example process performed by a network entity associated with methods and systems for a cloud-based multi-technological positioning engine according to aspects of the present disclosure. Detailed Description

[0021] Techniques for wireless positioning are disclosed. In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) may determine that at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning process should be offloaded. The UE may transmit a request to a server to perform the portion of the multi-technological positioning process. The UE may receive a result of the offloaded portion of the multi-technological positioning process from the server. The UE may determine a positioning estimate based at least in part on the received result. The portion of the multi-technological positioning process may include in-technique inlier detection, inter-technique inlier detection, inlier weighting, any other portion of the multi-technological positioning process, or a combination thereof.

[0022] Aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description of various examples provided for illustrative purposes and the related drawings. Alternative aspects may be devised 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 so as not to obscure the relevant details of the present disclosure.

[0023] 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 superior or better than other aspects. Similarly, the term "aspects of the present disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the discussed features, advantages, or modes of operation.

[0024] Those skilled in the art will understand that any of a variety of different technologies 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 referred to throughout the following description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the particular application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, and so on.

[0025] In addition, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by components of a computing device, for example. It will be recognized that the various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequences of actions described herein can be regarded as fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, will cause or direct a relevant processor of the device to perform the functionality described herein. Accordingly, the various aspects of the present disclosure can be embodied in many different forms, all of which are expected to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects described herein, a corresponding form of any such aspect can be described herein, for example, as "logic configured to perform the described actions."

[0026] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT). In general, a UE can be any wireless communication device used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset tracking device, wearable device (e.g., smart watch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headsets, etc.), vehicle (e.g., car, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.). A 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 "access terminal" or "AT," "client device," "wireless device," "subscriber equipment," "subscriber terminal," "subscriber station," "user terminal" or "UT," "mobile device," "mobile terminal," "mobile station," or variations thereof. In general, a UE can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, a UE can communicate with external networks such as the Internet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for a UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet are possible, such as via a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards, etc.).

[0027] 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 alternatively may be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as gNB or gNodeB), etc. The base station may be mainly used to support the wireless access of the UE, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the supported UE. In some systems, the base station may only provide edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, it may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link by which the UE may transmit signals to the base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). The communication link by which the base station may transmit signals to the UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, 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.

[0028] 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, in the case where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be the antenna of the base station corresponding to the cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. In the case 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 in the case where the base station employs beamforming). In the case 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 TRPs may be the serving base station that receives measurement reports from the UE and an adjacent base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. Since, as used herein, the TRP is the point by which the base station transmits and receives wireless signals, a reference to transmission from or reception at the base station should be understood to refer to a specific TRP of the base station.

[0029] In some specific implementations that support UE positioning, the base station may not support the wireless access of the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may alternatively send reference signals to be measured by the UE and / or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., in the case of sending signals to the UE) and / or be referred to as a position measurement unit (e.g., in the case of receiving and measuring signals from the UE).

[0030] 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 send a single “RF signal” or multiple “RF signals” to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through a multipath channel, a receiver may receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between the transmitter and the receiver may be referred to as a “multipath” RF signal. As used herein, where the context clearly indicates that the term “signal” refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal, the RF signal may also be referred to as a “wireless signal” or simply “signal”.

[0031] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system 100 in accordance with 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 “BS”) and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macro cell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network), or gNBs (where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network), or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femto cells, pico cells, micro cells, etc.

[0032] The base stations 102 may together form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) via 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)) via 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 stations 102. The UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location server 172 via another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), etc. For signaling purposes, the communication between the UE 104 and the location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., via the core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via a direct connection 128), where intermediate nodes (if any) are omitted from the signaling diagram for clarity.

[0033] Among other functions, base station 102 may perform functions related to one or more of the following: delivering user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. Base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., via EPC / 5GC) through backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0034] Base station 102 may communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each base station in base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographical coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells may be supported by base stations 102 in each geographical coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity for communicating with a base station (e.g., on a certain frequency resource, which is referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.), and may be associated with an identifier for distinguishing cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies (e.g., physical cell identifier (PCI), enhanced cell identifier (ECI), virtual cell identifier (VCI), cell global identifier (CGI), etc.). In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types that may provide access for different types of UEs (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types). Since a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" may, depending on the context, refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it. In addition, since the TRP is typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to the geographical coverage area (e.g., sector) of a base station, as long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a certain part of the geographical coverage area 110.

[0035] Although the geographical coverage areas 110 of adjacent macro cell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some areas within the geographical coverage area 110 may substantially overlap with the larger geographical coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (marked as "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographical coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographical coverage areas 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A network including both small cell base stations and macro cell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. The heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB) that may provide services to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0036] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include an uplink (also referred to as a reverse link) transmission from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or a downlink (DL) (also referred to as a forward link) transmission 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 compared to the uplink).

[0037] 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 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). 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 before communication to determine if the channel is available.

[0038] The small cell base station 102' may operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum as used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' adopting LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum may enhance the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed-assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0039] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180, which may operate at mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies to communicate with the UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with wavelengths between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this frequency band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW may extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz, with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, which is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communication using the mmW / near mmW radio frequency band has high path loss and relatively short distances. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmission and / or reception) on the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. In addition, it should be understood that in an alternative configuration, one or more of the base stations 102 may also use mmW or near mmW and beamforming for transmission. Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0040] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing RF signals in a specific direction. Conventionally, 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. To change the directivity of the RF signal during transmission, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each transmitter of one or more transmitters that broadcast the RF signal. For example, the network node may use an array of antennas (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array"), which creates an RF beam that can be "manipulated" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF currents from the transmitters are fed to the individual antennas with the correct phase relationship such that the radio waves from the individual antennas add together to increase the radiation in the desired direction while canceling to suppress the radiation in the undesired directions.

[0041] The transmit beams can be quasi - co - located, which means that they appear to have the same parameters to the receiver (e.g., UE), regardless of whether the transmit antennas of the network node 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 of 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. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is of 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 transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is of 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 transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is of 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 transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is of QCL type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial reception parameters of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0042] In receive beamforming, the receiver uses receive beams to amplify the RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver can increase the gain setting of the antenna array in a specific direction and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a specific direction to amplify the RF signal received from that direction (e.g., increase its gain level). Thus, when the receiver is described as beamforming in a certain direction, this means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gains in other directions, or the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gains of all other receive beams available to the receiver in that direction. 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.) for the RF signals received from that direction.

[0043] The transmit beams and receive beams can be spatially related. The spatial relationship means that the parameters of the second beam (e.g., transmit beam or receive beam) for the second reference signal can be derived based on information about the first beam (e.g., receive beam or transmit beam) of the first reference signal. For example, the UE can use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB)) from the base station. Then, the UE can form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0044] 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 transmit 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 for receiving the downlink reference signal. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam can be a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, while if the UE is forming an uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0045] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz – 7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz – 52.6 GHz). It should be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, in various documents and articles, FR1 is typically (interchangeably) referred to as the "sub-6 GHz" band. Regarding FR2, a similar naming issue sometimes occurs, which is typically (interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and articles, although it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz to 300 GHz) identified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as the "millimeter wave" band.

[0046] The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are typically referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designations FR3 (7.125 GHz to 24.25 GHz). The bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus can effectively extend the features of FR1 and / or FR2 to the mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz to 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz to 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz to 300 GHz). Each of these higher bands falls within the EHF band.

[0047] Taking into account the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used herein, terms such as "below 6 GHz" can generally represent frequencies that can be less than 6 GHz, can be within FR1, or can include mid-band frequencies. Additionally, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if terms such as "millimeter wave" are used herein, they can generally represent frequencies that can include mid-band frequencies, can be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a, or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or can be within the EHF band.

[0048] 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) utilized by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell, where the UE 104 / 182 performs the initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment process or initiates the RRC connection re-establishment process in that cell. 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). The 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 only contain 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 exist in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell can have different downlink primary carriers. The same holds true for the primary uplink carrier. The network can 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 the carrier frequency / component carrier on which a certain base station communicates, terms such as "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. can be used interchangeably.

[0049] For example, still referring to Figure 1, one of the frequencies utilized by macro cell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and other frequencies used by macro cell base station 102 and / or mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCell"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, compared to the data rate obtained with a single 20 MHz carrier, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz).

[0050] Wireless communication system 100 may further include UE 164, which may communicate with macro cell base station 102 via communication link 120 and / or with mmW base station 180 via mmW communication link 184. For example, macro cell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCell for UE 164, and mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCell for UE 164.

[0051] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 are capable of sidelink communication. A UE with sidelink capabilities (SL-UE) may communicate with base station 102 via the Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between the UE and the base station) through communication link 120. The SL-UE (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also use the PC5 interface (i.e., the air interface between UEs with sidelink capabilities) to communicate directly with each other via wireless sidelink 160. The wireless sidelink (or simply referred to as "sidelink") is an adaptation of the core cellular network (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without communicating through a base station. Sidelink communication can be unicast or multicast and can be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more SL-UEs in a group of SL-UEs that utilize sidelink communication may be located within the geographical coverage area 110 of base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside the geographical coverage area 110 of base station 102 or, for other reasons, may not be able to receive transmissions from base station 102. In some cases, each group of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each SL-UE transmits to every other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communication. In other cases, sidelink communication is performed between the SL-UEs without involving base station 102.

[0052] In one aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate on a wireless communication medium of interest, which may be shared with other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points and other wireless communications between other RATs. The "medium" may include one or more time, frequency, and / or spatial communication resources associated with wireless communication between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs (e.g., covering one or more channels across one or more carriers). In one aspect, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed band shared between various RATs. Although different licensed bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems (specifically those employing small cell access points) have recently extended their operation into unlicensed bands such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) bands used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technologies commonly referred to as "WiFi"). Example systems of this type include different variants of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, etc.

[0053] Note that while Figure 1 only two of these UEs are illustrated as SL-UEs (i.e., UE 164 and 182), any one of the illustrated UEs may be an SL-UE. Additionally, although only UE 182 is described as being capable of beamforming, any one of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) is capable of beamforming. In cases where the SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they may beamform towards each other (i.e., towards other SL-UEs), towards other UEs (e.g., UE 104), towards base stations (e.g., base station 102, 180, small cell 102', access point 150), etc. Thus, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may utilize beamforming over the sidelink 160.

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

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

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

[0057] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs (such as UE 190), which are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as "sidelinks"). In Figure 1 In the example of, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs in UE 104 connected to one of the base stations in base station 102 (for example, UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity through this D2D P2P link), and has a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to WLAN AP 150 (UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity through this 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), and so on.

[0058] Figure 2A Illustrates an example wireless network structure 200. For example, 5GC 210 (also known as Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally regarded as a control plane (C-plane) function 214 (such as UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane (U-plane) function 212 (such as UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which cooperate to form a core network. The user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and the control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect gNB 222 to 5GC 210, and specifically connect to the user plane function 212 and the control plane function 214 respectively. In an additional configuration, ng-eNB 224 can also be connected to 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. In addition, ng-eNB224 can communicate directly with gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 can have one or more gNB 222s, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNB 224 and gNB 222. Any one (or both) of gNB222 or ng-eNB 224 can communicate with one or more UEs 204 (such as any of the UEs described herein).

[0059] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that may communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The location server 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204 that may be connected to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). Additionally, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0060] Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 240 is illustrated. The 5GC 260 (which may correspond to Figure 2AThe 5GC 210) can be functionally regarded as the control plane function provided by the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 264 and the user plane function provided by the User Plane Function (UPF) 262, which cooperate 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., any one of the UEs described herein) and the Session Management Function (SMF) 266, 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 the intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves the security material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 also include Security Context Management (SCM). The SCM receives the key from the SEAF and uses this key to derive the access network specific key. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location service management for regulatory services, transmission of location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as the location server 230), transmission of location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, allocation of Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifiers for interoperability with EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functionality for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0061] The functions of the 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 the 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, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflected QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport-level packet marking in the 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. The UPF 262 may also support the transfer of location service messages between the UE 204 and a location server (such as the SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0062] The functions of the 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 the UPF 262, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is referred to as the N11 interface.

[0063] Another optional aspect may include the LMF 270, which may communicate with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The LMF 270 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which may be connected to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). The SLP 272 may support functions similar to those of the LMF 270, but the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, the NG-RAN 220, and the UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols designed to convey signaling messages rather than voice or data), and the SLP 272 may communicate with the UE 204 and an external client (such as a third-party server 274) on the user plane (e.g., using protocols designed to carry voice and / or data, such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0064] Another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274 that may communicate with the LMF 270, the SLP 272, the 5GC 260 (e.g., via the AMF 264 and / or the UPF 262), the NG-RAN 220, and / or the UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., a location estimate) of the UE 204. Thus, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a location service (LCS) client or an external client. The third-party server 274 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively may each correspond to a single server.

[0065] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and specifically the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220, respectively. The interface between the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, while 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 the "Xn-C" interface. One or more of the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a radio interface referred to as the "Uu" interface.

[0066] The functionality of gNB 222 can be divided between a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DU) 228, and one or more gNB Radio Units (gNB-RU) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions other than those specifically allocated to the gNB-DU 228, including passing user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and so on. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 generally hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that generally hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 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-DU 228s 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-RU 229s, 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, SDAP layer, and PDCP layer, communicates with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC layer and MAC layer, and communicates with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0067] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G NR system) can be arranged with various components or constituent parts in a variety of ways. In a 5G NR system or network, network nodes, network entities, mobility elements of the network, RAN nodes, core network nodes, network elements, or network equipment (such as a base station or one or more units (or one or more components) that perform base station functionality) can be implemented in an aggregated or disaggregated architecture. For example, a base station (such as a Node B (NB), evolved NB (eNB), NR base station, 5G NB, access point (AP), transmit receive point (TRP), or cell, etc.) can be implemented as an aggregated base station (also referred to as a stand-alone base station or a monolithic base station) or a disaggregated base station.

[0068] A centralized base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A split base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed between two or more units, such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs). In some aspects, the CU may be implemented within the RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed among one or more other RAN nodes. The DU may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CU, DU, and RU may also be implemented as a virtual unit, i.e., a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0069] Base station type operations or network designs may consider the aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, split base stations may be used in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN, such as a network configuration advocated by the O-RAN Alliance), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). Splitting may include distributing functions across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtualizing the function of at least one unit, which may enable flexibility in network design. The various units of a split base station or split RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0070] Figure 2C An example split base station architecture 250 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The split base station architecture 250 may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CU 226), which may communicate directly with a core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more split base station units, such as a near real-time (near RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link or a non-real-time (non RT) RIC 257 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 255 or both. The CU 280 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DU 228) via a respective midhaul link, such as an F1 interface. The DU 285 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 287 (e.g., gNB-RU 229) via a respective fronthaul link. The RU 287 may communicate with a respective UE 204 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some embodiments, the UE 204 may be served simultaneously by multiple RUs 287.

[0071] Each of these units (i.e., CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and the near RT RIC 259, non-RT RIC 257, and SMO framework 255) may include one or more interfaces or be coupled to one or more interfaces that are configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively referred to as signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units or the associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interfaces of these units may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units may include a wired interface that is configured to receive or transmit signals to one or more of the other units via the wired transmission medium. Additionally, the unit may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, transmitter, or transceiver (such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) that is configured to receive or transmit signals, or both, to one or more of the other units via the wireless transmission medium.

[0072] In some aspects, the CU 280 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface that is configured to convey signals to other control functions hosted by the CU 280. The CU 280 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit - User Plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., Central Unit - Control Plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the CU 280 may be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP units may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP units via an interface (such as an E1 interface). As needed, the CU 280 may be implemented to communicate with the DU 285 for network control and signaling.

[0073] The DU 285 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 287. In some aspects, the DU 285 may host one or more of the radio link control (RLC) layer, the media access control (MAC) layer, and one or more high physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation, and demodulation, etc.) at least partially depending on a functional split (such as the functional split defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)). In some aspects, the DU 285 may also host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface that is configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 285 or with control functions hosted by the CU 280.

[0074] The lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 287. In some deployments, the RUs 287 controlled by the DU 285 may correspond to logical nodes that host RF processing functions or low PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.) or both at least partially based on a functional split (such as a lower layer functional split). In such an architecture, the RUs 287 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 204. In some embodiments, the real-time and non-real-time aspects of the control and user plane communication with the RUs 287 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 285 and the CU 280 in a cloud-based RAN architecture (such as a vRAN architecture).

[0075] The SMO framework 255 can be configured to support the RAN deployment and orchestration of non-virtualized network elements and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 255 can be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, and these dedicated physical resources can be managed via an operation and maintenance interface (such as the O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 255 can be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as the Open Cloud (O-Cloud) 269) to perform network element lifecycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as the O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements can include, but are not limited to, the CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259. In some specific implementations, the SMO framework 255 can communicate with the hardware aspect of the 4G RAN (such as the Open eNB (O-eNB) 261) via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some specific implementations, the SMO framework 255 can communicate directly with one or more RUs 287 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 255 can also include a non-RT RIC 257 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 255.

[0076] The non-RT RIC 257 can be configured to include logical functions that can enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 259. The non-RT RIC 257 can be coupled to or communicate with the near-RT RIC 259 (such as via the A1 interface). The near-RT RIC 259 can be configured to include logical functions that can enable near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources through an interface (such as via the E2 interface) via data collection and actions, and this interface connects one or more CUs 280, one or more DUs 285, or both, and the O-eNB to the near-RT RIC 259.

[0077] In some specific implementations, to generate the AI / ML models to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 259, the non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server. Such information can be utilized by the near-RT RIC 259 and can be received from non-network data sources or from network functions at the SMO framework 255 or the non-RT RIC 257. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 257 or the near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 257 may monitor long-term trends and patterns of performance and employ an AI / ML model to perform corrective actions via the SMO framework 255 (such as reconfiguration via O1) or via creating RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0078] Figure 3A , Figure 3B and Figure 3C illustrate several example components (represented by the corresponding boxes) that can be incorporated into the UE 302 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), the base station 304 (which may correspond to any base station described herein), and the network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any network function described herein, including the location server 230 and the LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent of Figure 2A and Figure 2B the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure depicted in

[0079] UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively. These wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers provide components (e.g., components for transmitting, receiving, measuring, tuning, blocking transmission, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown) such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, etc. WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can each be respectively connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356 for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one specified RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) on an interested wireless communication medium (e.g., a set of time / frequency resources in a specific spectrum). WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be configured in different ways to respectively transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to the specified RAT, and conversely, to respectively receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 respectively include: one or more transmitters 314 and 354 for respectively transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, and one or more receivers 312 and 352 for respectively receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358.

[0080] At least in some cases, UE 302 and base station 304 each also include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. Short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be respectively connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, and provide for communicating on an interested wireless communication medium via at least one specified RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Components (e.g., components for transmission, reception, measurement, tuning, blocking transmission, etc.) that communicate with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) using technologies like PC5, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), wireless access for vehicle environments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), ultra-wideband (UWB), etc. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be configured in different ways to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to the specified RAT, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 respectively include one or more transmitters 324 and 364 for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, and one or more receivers 322 and 362 for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368. As a specific example, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be WiFi transceivers, transceivers, and / or transceivers, NFC transceivers, UWB transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0081] In at least some cases, the UE 302 and the base station 304 also include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 can be respectively connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, and can provide components for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378. In the case where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 can be Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. In the case where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 can be communication signals from a 5G network (e.g., carrying control and / or user data). The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 can include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 can request appropriate information and operations from other systems, and at least in some cases, perform calculations using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithms to respectively determine the positions of the UE 302 and the base station 304.

[0082] Base station 304 and network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390 respectively, which provide components (such as components for transmission, components for reception, etc.) for communicating with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or communicate with other network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0083] The transceivers can be configured to communicate via wired or wireless links. The transceivers (whether wired transceivers or wireless transceivers) include transmitter circuits (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuits (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). In some specific implementations, the transceiver can be an integrated device (e.g., the transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit are implemented in a single device), in some specific implementations may include separate transmitter circuits and separate receiver circuits, or can be implemented in other ways in other specific implementations. The transmitter circuits and receiver circuits of the wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some specific implementations) can be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuits (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) can include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, which allows the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmission "beamforming" as described herein. Similarly, the wireless receiver circuits (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) can include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, which allows the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit can share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that the corresponding device can only receive or only transmit at a given time, rather than receive and transmit both at the same time. The wireless transceivers (e.g., WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) can also include a network listening module (NLM) for performing various measurements, etc.

[0084] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360 in some embodiments, and network transceivers 380 and 390), and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some embodiments) may generally be characterized as "a transceiver", "at least one transceiver", or "one or more transceivers". Thus, a particular transceiver may be inferred to be a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver based on the type of communication being performed. For example, fronthaul communication between network devices or servers typically involves signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) will typically involve signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0085] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 each include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, for providing functionality related to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. Thus, processors 332, 384, and 394 may provide components for processing, such as components for determining, components for calculating, components for receiving, components for sending, components for indicating, etc. In one aspect, processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuits, or various combinations thereof.

[0086] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 each include a memory circuit that implements memories 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, memories 340, 386, and 396 can provide components for storage, retrieval, maintenance, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may each include positioning components 342, 388, and 398. Positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, which when executed cause UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be external to processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be memory modules stored in memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which when executed by processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.) cause UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. Figure 3A Illustrates possible locations of positioning component 342, which can be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or can be an independent component. Figure 3B Illustrates possible locations of positioning component 388, which can be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or can be an independent component. Figure 3C Illustrates possible locations of positioning component 398, which can be part of, for example, one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or can be an independent component.

[0087] UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to one or more processors 332 to provide components for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information unrelated to movement data derived from signals received from one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or satellite signal receivers 330. By way of example, sensors 344 may include accelerometers (e.g., microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices), gyroscopes, geomagnetic sensors (e.g., compasses), altimeters (e.g., barometric altimeters), and / or any other type of movement detection sensor. Additionally, sensors 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide movement information. For example, sensors 344 may use a combination of multi-axis accelerometers and orientation sensors to provide the ability to calculate positioning in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0088] Additionally, UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides components for providing an indication to a user (e.g., an audible and / or visual indication) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when the user actuates a sensing device such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, base station 304 and network entity 306 may also include a user interface.

[0089] Referring in more detail to one or more processors 384, in the downlink, IP packets from network entity 306 may be provided to processor 384. One or more processors 384 may implement functionality for the RRC layer, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, radio link control (RLC) layer, and media access control (MAC) layer. One or more processors 384 may provide: RRC layer functionality associated with the broadcast of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction via automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with the mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0090] Transmitter 354 and receiver 352 can implement Layer 1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, which includes the Physical (PHY) layer, can include: error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. Transmitter 354 disposes of the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The encoded and modulated symbols can then be divided into parallel streams. Then, each stream can be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time domain and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to generate a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially pre-coded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from the channel estimator can be used to determine the encoding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. The channel estimates can be derived from the reference signals transmitted by UE 302 and / or channel state feedback. Then, each spatial stream can be provided to one or more different antennas 356. Transmitter 354 modulates the RF carrier with the corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0091] At UE 302, receiver 312 receives signals through its corresponding antenna 316. Receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 332. Transmitter 314 and receiver 312 implement Layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Receiver 312 can perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for UE 302, they can be combined by receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. Then, receiver 312 uses a fast Fourier transform (FFT) to convert the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain. The frequency-domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols and reference signals on each subcarrier are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by base station 304. These soft decisions can be based on the channel estimates calculated by the channel estimator. Then, the soft decisions are decoded and de-interleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted by base station 304 on the physical channel. Then, the data and control signals are provided to one or more processors 332, which implement Layer 3 (L3) and Layer 2 (L2) functionality.

[0092] In the downlink, one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. One or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0093] Similar to the functionality described in connection with downlink transmission by base station 304, one or more processors 332 provide: RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0094] Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator from reference signals or feedback transmitted by base station 304 can be used by transmitter 314 to select appropriate decoding and modulation schemes and facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by transmitter 314 can be provided to different antennas 316. Transmitter 314 can modulate RF carriers with the respective spatial streams for transmission.

[0095] Uplink transmission is processed at base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at UE 302. Receiver 352 receives signals via its respective antennas 356. Receiver 352 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carriers and provides the information to one or more processors 384.

[0096] In the uplink, one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from UE 302. The IP packets from one or more processors 384 can be provided to the core network. One or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0097] For convenience, UE 302, base station 304, and / or network entity 306 are in Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3Cis shown to include various components that can be configured according to the various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. Specifically, Figures 3A to 3C the various components in are optional in an alternative configuration, and each aspect includes configurations that may vary due to design choices, cost, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in Figure 3A the case of, a particular implementation of the UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver 310 (e.g., a wearable device or a tablet computer or a PC or a laptop may have WiFi and / or Bluetooth capabilities without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 320 (e.g., only cellular, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 330, or may omit the sensor 344, and so on. In another example, in Figure 3B the case of, a particular implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver 350 (e.g., a WiFi "hotspot" access point without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 360 (e.g., only cellular, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 370, and so on. For the sake of brevity, illustrations of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but will be readily understood by those skilled in the art.

[0098] The various components of the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to each other via data buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. In one aspect, the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may respectively form or be part of the communication interfaces of the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306. For example, in the case where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may provide communication between the different logical entities.

[0099] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C the components of can be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3CThe components may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Also, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of network entity 306 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE", "by the base station", "by the network entity", etc. However, as will be understood, such operations, actions, and / or functions can actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memories 340, 386, and 396, positioning components 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0100] In some designs, network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, network entity 306 may operate differently from a network operator or the cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260). For example, network entity 306 may be a component of a private network that may be configured to communicate with UE 302 via base station 304 or independently of base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).

[0101] Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). Figure 4 is a diagram 400 illustrating an example frame structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The frame structure may be a downlink or uplink frame structure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0102] LTE (and in some cases NR) utilizes Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, different from LTE, NR also has the option of using OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, which are also often referred to as frequency tones, frequency slots, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. Generally speaking, modulation symbols are transmitted using OFDM in the frequency domain and SC-FDM in the time domain. The interval between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number (K) of subcarriers can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the interval of subcarriers can be 15 kilohertz (kHz), and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Therefore, for system bandwidths of 1.25 megahertz (MHz), 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, the nominal Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) size can be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048 respectively. The system bandwidth can also be divided into multiple subbands. For example, a subband can cover 1.8 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and for system bandwidths of 1.25 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, there can be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands respectively.

[0103] LTE supports a single parameter set (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR can support multiple parameter sets (μ), e.g., 15 kHz (μ = 0), 30 kHz (μ = 1), 60 kHz (μ = 2), 120 kHz (μ = 3), and 240 kHz (μ = 4) or larger subcarrier spacings may be available. In each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per time slot. For 15 kHz SCS (μ = 0), there is one time slot per subframe, 10 time slots per frame, the time slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms), the symbol duration is 66.7 microseconds (μs), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 50. For 30 kHz SCS (μ = 1), there are two time slots per subframe, 20 time slots per frame, the time slot duration is 0.5 ms, the symbol duration is 33.3 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 100. For 60 kHz SCS (μ = 2), there are four time slots per subframe, 40 time slots per frame, the time slot duration is 0.25 ms, the symbol duration is 16.7 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120 kHz SCS (μ = 3), there are eight time slots per subframe, 80 time slots per frame, the time slot duration is 0.125 ms, the symbol duration is 8.33 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240 kHz SCS (μ = 4), there are 16 time slots per subframe, 160 time slots per frame, the time slot duration is 0.0625 ms, the symbol duration is 4.17 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 800.

[0104] In Figure 4 's example, a parameter set of 15 kHz is used. Thus, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equal-sized subframes, each subframe being 1 ms, and each subframe includes one time slot. In Figure 4 , time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), where time increases from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), where frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top.

[0105] A resource grid can be used to represent a time slot, and each time slot includes one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also known as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE can correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. In Figure 4In the parameter set, for the normal cyclic prefix, an RB can contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For the extended cyclic prefix, an RB can contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0106] Some REs can carry reference (pilot) signals (RS). These reference signals can include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSB), sounding reference signals (SRS), etc., depending on whether the illustrated frame structure is used for uplink communication or downlink communication. Figure 4 Examples of the example positions of REs carrying reference signals (marked as "R") are illustrated.

[0107] Figure 5 Examples of various positioning methods supported in New Radio (NR) according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. NR supports a variety of cellular network-based positioning techniques, including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and downlink- and uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include: observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) in NR. Figure 5 Examples of various positioning methods according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. In the OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning process illustrated in scenario 510, the UE measures the difference between the times of arrival (ToA) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from paired base stations (referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements), and reports these differences to the positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives the identifiers (IDs) of the reference base station (e.g., serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in the assistance data. Then, the UE measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each non-reference base station. Based on the known positions of the involved base stations and the RSTD measurement results, the positioning entity (e.g., the UE for UE-based positioning or the location server for UE-assisted positioning) can estimate the position of the UE.

[0108] For the DL-AoD positioning illustrated in scenario 520, the positioning entity uses the measurement report of the received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmission beams from the UE to determine the angle between the UE and the transmitting base station. Then, the positioning entity can estimate the location of the UE based on the determined angle and the known location of the transmitting base station.

[0109] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS)) sent by the UE to multiple base stations. Specifically, the UE sends one or more uplink reference signals, which are measured by a reference base station and multiple non-reference base stations. Then, each base station reports the reception time of the reference signal (referred to as relative time of arrival (RTOA)) to a positioning entity (e.g., a location server) that knows the locations and relative timings of the base stations involved. Based on the received-to-received (Rx-Rx) time difference between the reported RTOA of the reference base station and the reported RTOA of each non-reference base station, the known locations of the base stations, and their known timing offsets, the positioning entity can use TDOA to estimate the location of the UE.

[0110] For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from the UE on one or more uplink reception beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angles of the reception beams to determine the angle between the UE and the base station. Based on the determined angle and the known location of the base station, the positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE.

[0111] Downlink- and uplink-based positioning methods include: enhanced cell ID (E-CID) positioning and multi-round-trip time (RTT) positioning (also known as "multi-cell RTT" and "multi-RTT"). During the RTT process, a first entity (e.g., a base station or a UE) sends a first RTT-related signal (e.g., a PRS or an SRS) to a second entity (e.g., a UE or a base station), and the second entity sends a second RTT-related signal (e.g., an SRS or a PRS) back to the first entity. Each entity measures the time difference between the arrival time (ToA) of the received RTT-related signal and the transmission time of the transmitted RTT-related signal. This time difference is referred to as the received-to-transmitted (Rx-Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement can be made or adjusted to include only the time difference between the received signal and the nearest time slot boundary of the transmitted signal. Then, the two entities can transmit their Rx-Tx time difference measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 270), which calculates the round-trip propagation time (i.e., RTT) between the two entities based on these two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., calculated as the sum of the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements). Alternatively, one entity can transmit its Rx-Tx time difference measurement to the other entity, and then the other entity calculates the RTT. The distance between the two entities can be determined based on the RTT and a known signal speed (e.g., the speed of light). For multi-RTT positioning illustrated in scenario 530, a first entity (e.g., a UE or a base station) performs an RTT positioning process with multiple second entities (e.g., multiple base stations or UEs) so that the location of the first entity can be determined (e.g., using multilateration) based on the distances to the second entities and the known locations of the second entities. The RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning techniques (such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD) to improve location accuracy, as illustrated in scenario 540.

[0112] The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strength of the detected neighboring base stations. Then, based on this information and the known locations of the base stations, the location of the UE is estimated.

[0113] To assist in the positioning operation, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide auxiliary data to the UE. For example, the auxiliary data may include: the identifier of the base station (or the cell / TRP of the base station) from which the reference signal is measured, reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., including the number of consecutive time slots including the PRS, the periodicity of the consecutive time slots including the PRS, the silence sequence, the frequency hopping sequence, the reference signal identifier, the reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to a specific positioning method. Alternatively, the auxiliary data may directly originate from the base station itself (e.g., in periodically broadcast overhead messages, etc.). In some cases, the UE itself may be able to detect adjacent network nodes without using the auxiliary data.

[0114] In the case of the OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning process, the auxiliary data may further include the expected RSTD value and the associated uncertainty or search window around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the value range of the expected RSTD may be + / -500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for positioning measurement are in FR1, the value range of the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / -32 μs. In other cases, when all of the resources used for positioning measurement are in FR2, the value range of the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / -8 μs.

[0115] Location estimation may be referred to by other names, such as positioning estimation, location, positioning, positioning lock, lock, etc. The location estimation may be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or it may be civic and include a street address, a postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. The location estimation may be further defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). The positioning estimation may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including the area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with a certain specified or default confidence).

[0116] When multiple sets of positioning measurements are available at the device, using a subset of them may provide better performance compared to using all the measurements to arrive at a location estimate. For example, if one of the measurements may be very noisy or associated with a non-line-of-sight (NLOS) channel, ignoring that measurement from the location estimation process will help improve the accuracy. In another example, while 5G transmit / receive points (TRPs) tend to have accurate ground truth, WiFi access points (WAPs) may not; using the incorrect ground truth from such WAPs in the positioning process will have a negative impact on the location estimation accuracy of the target node. Therefore, it is desirable to develop a positioning engine that can fuse measurements across several technologies (cellular, WiFi, UWB, GNSS, etc.).

[0117] Therefore, a Multi-Technology Positioning Engine (MTPE) is proposed herein. The MTPE can be regarded as a collection of in-technology filtering blocks, followed by an inter-technology fusion block that can fuse measurements across multiple technologies. The calculations performed by the MTPE (such as outlier detection algorithms (e.g., RANSAC, RAIM, and others)) can be complex and cause significant computational overhead, especially when there are multiple measurements from several anchors, which may exceed the capabilities of the UE. Therefore, techniques for distributing the calculations between the UE and the server are presented herein. In some aspects, the UE can rely on a remote server (such as Connected Intelligent Edge (CIE)) to perform the expensive calculations and assist the UE in the fusion process. Processes and decision criteria for helping the UE decide when to offload the calculations to the server, as well as the associated signaling between the UE and the server, are also proposed herein.

[0118] Figure 6 An MTPE 600 in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In Figure 6 the illustrated example, the MTPE 600 includes two in-technology filtering blocks 602, generally labeled "Technology A" and "Technology B", but which represent any two technologies that support positioning measurements, e.g., cellular, WiFi, UWB, GNSS, etc. Although Figure 6 two in-technology filtering blocks 602 are illustrated, the same concept can be applied to any number of in-technology filtering blocks. In Figure 6 the example shown, each in-technology filtering block 602 performs the steps of sorting and / or pruning the anchors based on quality criteria (block 604), and performs in-technology anchor outlier rejection (block 606). This results in a so-called set of inliers of the anchors, which may be referred to as inlier anchors or inlier set.

[0119] As Figure 6 further shown, the MTPE 600 also includes an inter-technology filtering block 608, which cascades the inlier anchors across technologies and performs outlier rejection (block 610) and performs cost function error minimization, such as a weighted linear average of cost components across technologies and measurement types (block 612) over a sweep of the number of anchors included in the inlier set. In some aspects, an overall position estimate can be operated on (e.g., also in block 612). If block 612 is performed by a network entity, the position estimate can be provided to the UE. If block 612 is performed by the UE, the position estimate can be provided to the network entity. In some aspects, the cost function error minimization can use the following equation:

[0120]

[0121] where:

[0122] Represents different types of measurement sets, such as AoA, ToA,

[0123] w A and w B Represents weights, and

[0124] is a weighted cost function.

[0125] According to some aspects of the present disclosure, a method for cloud-based MTPE may include allowing a UE to offload some or all of the fusion computations to a remote server. As used herein, fusion computations may include, but are not limited to, performing outlier rejection of location anchors (e.g., block 606, block 610), determining weights of inlier location anchors (e.g., block 612), and providing an overall location estimate (e.g., this may also occur in block 612). Whether the location estimate is reported may be determined by signaling and / or message flow aspects.

[0126] Figure 7 is a signaling and event diagram of an example process 700 associated with a method and system for cloud-based MTPE according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 7 The example illustrated in shows the interaction between a server 702 (or other network entity), a device 704 (e.g., a UE), and one or more anchors 706 (e.g., location anchors), which involves what is referred to herein as a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning (CHP) signal, but which may have other names. The signaling between the server 702 and the device 704 may generally be classified as configuration messages (labeled as message set 1 in Figure 7 and report messages (labeled as message set 2 in Figure 7 ). Labeling message set 1 and message set 2 is for illustration only and not for limitation.

[0127] In Figure 7 the example illustrated, at block 708, the server 702 transmits a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Capability (CHPC) request message to one or more devices including the device 704. The CHPC request message is for the server 702 to identify potential UEs as part of the positioning engine ecosystem and gain some understanding of the positioning capabilities of the device 704 and other devices in the cooperative context.

[0128] As Figure 7 shown, in response, at block 710, the device 704 may transmit a CHPC report message to the server 702. The CHPC report message provides information about what types of technologies the device 704 can support, what kinds of measurements are currently available, etc. In some aspects, the CHPC report message may contain the following information, as shown in Table 1 below:

[0129]

[0130]

[0131] As Figure 7 Further shown, at block 712, the server 702 may transmit a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Allocation (CHPA) report. The CHPA report allows the server 702 to provide scheduling information to the device 704 for performing measurements using the expected anchors, e.g., the scheduling information provided by the server 702 to the device 704 in the CHPC report at block 710. The CHPA report may include details of the time / frequency / spatial resource allocation for the measurements to be made by the device 704, as well as the expected periodicity of the exchange of these CHP messages. This iteration may also be on-demand.

[0132] As Figure 7 Further shown, at block 714, the device 704 may perform the measurement phase in block 714 using signals received from or transmitted to one or more anchors 706. The measurement phase in block 714 may involve more than one type of technology, such as cellular, WiFi, UWB, GNSS, etc.

[0133] As Figure 7 Further shown, at block 716, the device 704 may optionally perform one or more fusion calculations. In some aspects, the device 704 may perform the functions of block 610 in Figure 6 . In some aspects, the device 704 may also perform the functions of block 612 in Figure 6 .

[0134] As Figure 7 Further shown, at block 718, the device 704 may transmit a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Measurement (CHPM) report to the server 702. The CHPM report may contain the values of all the supported parameters provided in the CHCP report at block 710.

[0135] As Figure 7 Further shown, at block 720, the server 702 may optionally perform one or more fusion calculations. In some aspects, the server 702 may perform the functions of block 610 in Figure 6 . In some aspects, the server 702 may also perform the functions of block 612 in Figure 6 .

[0136] As Figure 7As further shown, at block 722, the server 702 may transmit a second CHPA report to the device 704. In some aspects, the second CHPA report may include a location estimate after fusion performed by the device 704. In some aspects, the second CHPA report may include a set of preferred anchors and associated measurements to be used in the fusion calculation. In some aspects, the second CHPA report may include a weight for each of the measurements and techniques to be used in the fusion calculation.

[0137] Thus, in one method, the device 704 may offload all fusion calculations to the remote server 702. In this method, the device 704 is completely dependent on the positioning engine at the server 702 and does not perform the fusion calculation at block 716. In some aspects, the server may be a dedicated Qualcomm server or a Connected Intelligent Edge (CIE). In this method, the device 704 may notify the server 702 via the CHPC report at block 710 that the device 704 intends to offload all fusion calculations to the server 702. In some aspects, the device 704 performs measurements using anchors according to the scheduling information in the first CHPA report at block 712. In some aspects, the device 704 may use other nearby devices for measurements (cooperative method).

[0138] In this method, the server 702 performs the fusion calculation at block 720. In some aspects, the second CHPA report at block 722 may include scheduling information for another upcoming measurement phase. In some aspects, the second CHPA report at block 722 may contain the results after fusion across all measurements from the positioning engine at the server 702. In some aspects, the second CHPA report at block 722 may specify how the server 702 performs the fusion process.

[0139] In some aspects, the set of messages illustrated Figure 7 may be repeated on a periodic basis. In some aspects, Message Set 1 and Message Set 2 may each be associated with its own periodicity. For example, Message Set 2 may be repeated more frequently than Message Set 1. In some aspects, the set of messages illustrated Figure 7 may be triggered on demand. For example, Message Set 1 may be triggered by a CHPC request message, and Message Set 2 may be triggered by a CHPM report.

[0140] In some aspects, the second CPHA report at block 722 may indicate to the server 702 how to perform the fusion process with sufficient specificity for the device 704 to perform some part of the fusion process itself. For example, the second CPHA report may include a list of inlier positioning anchors whose data is used in the fusion process, their associated weights, or other information required for the fusion calculation.

[0141] Using this knowledge, device 704 can choose to trigger Message Set 2 at time period T2, for example, by periodically transmitting a CHPM report message at T2. However, before the end of the time period, device 704 can perform the measurement phase in block 714 and perform its own fusion calculation in block 716 by applying the same fusion technique as described in the server 702's most recent CHPA report message in block 722. Then, device 704 can trigger a new Message Set 2 by transmitting the CHPM report in block 718, which can prompt the server 702 to transmit an updated second CHPA report in block 722. In this method, the value of T2 can be used to control how frequently device 704 relies on server 702 for fusion calculations. Between updates from server 702, device 704 can replicate the fusion technique described in the most recent CHPA report in block 722.

[0142] There are multiple criteria that can be used to determine when device 704 should trigger the occurrence of Message Set 2. Criteria for which in-tech filtering should be performed include, but are not limited to, the following.

[0143] Periodicity. In some aspects, in-tech can be performed on a periodic basis, i.e., a time duration threshold is defined such that in-tech filtering is performed at regular intervals. In some aspects, different techniques can be associated with different update rates.

[0144] Loss of measurement information. For example, measurements from one or more inliers in set “A” are no longer available (e.g., device 704 may be outside the coverage of the anchors in “A”). In some aspects, a timing threshold can also be imposed on the duration for which these measurements are unavailable.

[0145] Deviation. For example, a large deviation can be observed in the values of measurements from one or more inliers in set “A”. In some aspects, a deviation threshold can be defined based on the variance of the values observed over time. These values can include, but are not limited to: SNR or SINR, or channel energy response; LOS probability (in some aspects, device 704 can employ proprietary techniques to estimate this parameter); intermediate estimates such as ToA, AoA, etc.; and sensor-related parameters (such as outputs from accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers, etc.).

[0146] Mobility threshold. For example, a highly mobile device 704 may experience fast fading, in which case set “A” is more likely to change (e.g., device 704 may be outside the coverage of the anchors in “A”). In some aspects, such mobility information can be provided from the IMU or other sensors in device 704 to server 702.

[0147] Approaching / leaving the cell.For example, depending on the approximate location of device 704, the remote server may pre - notify device 704 that device 704 is about to leave the coverage area of a particular anchor. In some aspects, device 704 may respond to this information by removing the particular anchor from set “A”. Similarly, device 704 may prepare to include new anchors for intra - technology filtering. In some aspects, the remote server may be an LMF, a dedicated Qualcomm server, or a Connected Intelligent Edge (CIE).

[0148] Ground truth accuracy. Some anchors may have ground - truth accuracy that changes over time. For example, some access points (APs) may have to use crowdsourcing or other positioning techniques to continuously update their own positions. In some aspects, a ground - truth accuracy threshold may be used by device 704 to trigger the creation of a new set of inlier anchors.

[0149] Loss of visual information. Cameras can also be used as part of position estimation. Images or videos can contain visual features (perception, depth) which can then be passed to the inter - technology filtering block. Visual features can be extracted from the image / video using image - processing techniques or ML - based techniques. When one or more of the visual features are no longer available, intra - technology filtering can be performed to update the inlier set from “A” to “B”. In some aspects, a threshold can be imposed on the duration for which these visual features are unavailable before triggering the intra - technology filtering operation.

[0150] Loss of sensor information. IMUs and sensors can also be used as part of position estimation. When one or more sensor - related parameters (such as outputs from accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers, etc.) are no longer available, intra - technology filtering can be performed to update the inlier set from “A” to “B”. In such cases, the sensor - related parameters can be removed from set “A”. In some aspects, a threshold can be imposed on the duration for which these sensor - related parameters are unavailable before triggering the intra - technology filtering operation.

[0151] Feedback from the inter-technology filter block to the intra-technology filter block. For a particular intra - technology block, feedback from the inter - technology fusion block can trigger an update of the inlier set. In some aspects, this feedback can be in the form of a set of normalized weights, where each intra - technology block is associated with a weight. For example, one of the intra - technology blocks may be associated with a lower weight (compared to other technologies), which in turn implies that the corresponding technology is less useful than other technologies. This can trigger an update of the inlier set to improve performance. In some aspects, each intra - technology block can be associated with its own weight threshold for triggering an update of the inlier set.

[0152] In another method, device 704 may offload some but not all of the fused computations to remote server 702. In this method, device 704 relies on the positioning engine at server 702 to perform some of the fused computations, but independently performs other fused computations. In some aspects, device 704 may offload computations related to a specific technology (e.g., NR or WiFi) to the server. In some aspects, the UE may offload intra-technology filter block computations related to one or more specific technologies. In some aspects, device 704 may offload some or all of the inter-technology filter block computations. In some aspects, device 704 may offload computations related to a specific type of measurement (e.g., ToA, AoA, or visual data) to server 702.

[0153] Device 704 may employ decision criteria to determine whether to offload computations to server 702. In some aspects, the decision criteria may be related to processing time. In some aspects, the decision criteria may include the number of available anchors related to a specific technology. For example, if the number of anchors to be processed is large, device 704 may decide to offload the computations to server 702. In some aspects, the decision criteria may include the number of available measurements related to a specific type of measurement. For example, if the number of available measurements related to a specific type of measurement is large, device 704 may decide to offload the computations to server 702. In some aspects, the decision criteria may include the total number of measurements and / or anchors of various technologies that must be processed by the inter-technology filter block.

[0154] In some aspects, the decision criteria may include latency considerations. For example, device 704 may determine that it can perform the computations faster on its own compared to exchanging CHPC / CHPM / CHPA messages with server 702. In some aspects, the decision criteria may include power consumption considerations. For example, device 704 may wish to conserve power and offload the computational burden to server 702. In some aspects, the decision criteria may include processing capability considerations. For example, device 704 may not have the computational power required for fused measurements (e.g., if device 704 is a low-cost IoT device).

[0155] In some aspects, one or more of the above considerations may be part of the offloading decision process. In some aspects, a unique threshold may be applied to each of the above considerations.

[0156] In another approach, device 704 notifies server 702 of the decision criteria that device 704 uses to make offloading decisions. In some aspects, the offloading decision criteria can be explicitly provided by device 704 to server 702 as part of the CHPC report in block 710. In some aspects, the offloading decision criteria can be implicitly provided by device 704 to server 702 because server 702 will be able to perform fusion calculations only on those measurements included in the CHPM report in block 718. In some aspects, device 704 can notify server 702 of specific measurements that device 704 intends to offload to server 702, for example, instead of or in addition to transmitting the decision criteria.

[0157] Alternatively, the UE can also implicitly provide these indications in the CHPM report in block 718. This is implicitly understood because the server will be able to fuse only those measurements included in the CHPM report in block 718. In some aspects, device 704 can choose to transmit the CHPM report message with a period of T2. However, before the end of the period, device 704 can perform the measurement phase in block 714 and perform its own fusion calculation in block 716 by applying the same fusion technique as the fusion technique described by server 702 in its most recent CHPA report message in block 722.

[0158] In some aspects, the same criteria described above for determining whether device 704 should trigger the occurrence of message set 2 can also be applied here.

[0159] Figure 8 is a flow diagram of an example process 800 associated with a method and system for a cloud-based multi-technology positioning engine in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some specific implementations, Figure 8 one or more of the process blocks of Figure 8 can be performed by a user equipment (UE) (e.g., UE 104). In some specific implementations, Figure 8 one or more of the process blocks of

[0160] can be performed by another device or a group of devices separate from or including the UE. Additionally or alternatively, Figure 8As shown, process 800 may include determining, at block 810, that at least a portion of a multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded, where at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; performing outlier rejection across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set. The components for performing the operations of block 810 may include the processor 332, the memory 340, or the WWAN transceiver 310 of the UE 302. For example, the UE 302 may use the processor 332 and the memory 340 to determine that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded.

[0161] As Figure 8 As further shown, process 800 may include transmitting, at block 820, a request to a server to perform at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process. The components for performing the operations of block 820 may include the processor 332, the memory 340, or the WWAN transceiver 310 of the UE 302. For example, the UE 302 may use the transmitter 314 to transmit the request.

[0162] As Figure 8 As further shown, process 800 may include receiving, at block 830, a result of at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process from the server. The components for performing the operations of block 830 may include the processor 332, the memory 340, or the WWAN transceiver 310 of the UE 302. For example, the UE 302 may use the receiver 312 to receive the result.

[0163] As Figure 8 As further shown, process 800 may include determining, at block 840, a positioning estimate based at least in part on the result. The components for performing the operations of block 840 may include the processor 332, the memory 340, or the WWAN transceiver 310 of the UE 302. For example, the UE 302 may use the processor 332 and the memory 340 to determine the positioning estimate based at least in part on the result.

[0164] In some aspects, determining the relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor includes performing cost function error minimization or determining a weighted linear average of cost components across technology types and measurement types.

[0165] In some aspects, determining that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded includes determining that all of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded.

[0166] In some aspects, determining that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded includes determining to offload calculations related to a particular technology, calculations related to a particular type of measurement, calculations related to in-tech inlier detection, calculations related to inter-tech inlier detection, calculations related to operations of relative weights of anchor points, or a combination thereof.

[0167] In some aspects, transmitting a request to execute at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes transmitting to a server a CHPC report message indicating the technologies supported by the UE, the types of positioning measurements executable by the UE, or a combination thereof.

[0168] In some aspects, process 800 includes receiving from a server a first CHPA report message that includes scheduling information for performing measurements using the identified positioning anchor points, information regarding time, frequency, or spatial resource allocation for the measurements to be performed by the UE, the periodicity with which the UE is expected to transmit measurement reports to the server, or a combination thereof.

[0169] In some aspects, transmitting a request to execute at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process further includes transmitting to the server a CHPM report including the results of positioning measurements previously performed by the UE.

[0170] In some aspects, receiving the result of at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes receiving from the server a second CHPA report that includes a position estimate, a set of preferred positioning anchor points for one or more technologies, the weights of each positioning anchor point in the set of preferred positioning anchor points for each of the one or more technologies, the weights for each of the one or more technologies, or a combination thereof.

[0171] In some aspects, transmitting a request to execute at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes transmitting the request periodically according to a time period.

[0172] In some aspects, the process may further include, before the expiration of the time period, performing a positioning estimate using the result of at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process previously received from the server.

[0173] In some aspects, determining that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded includes determining that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded based on one or more criteria for offloading, and wherein the method further includes providing the server with the one or more criteria for offloading.

[0174] Process 800 may include additional embodiments, such as any single embodiment or any combination of embodiments described below and / or in combination with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein. Although Figure 8illustrates an example block of process 800, but in some embodiments, process 800 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or blocks arranged in a different manner compared to the blocks depicted in Figure 8 Two or more blocks of process 800 may be executed in parallel. Additionally or alternatively,

[0175] Figure 9 is a flowchart of an example process 900 associated with a method and system for a cloud-based multi-technology positioning engine according to aspects of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, Figure 9 One or more process blocks of Figure 9 may be executed by a network entity (e.g., location server 172, LMF 270, positioning server, or custom server). In some embodiments, Figure 9 One or more process blocks of

[0176] As Figure 9 shown, process 900 may include receiving, at block 910, a request from a user equipment (UE) to perform at least a portion of a multi-technology positioning process, where at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; performing outlier rejection across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set. The components for performing the operations of block 910 may include the processor 394, the memory 396, or the network transceiver 390 of the network entity 306. For example, the network entity 306 may receive the request via the network transceiver 390.

[0177] As Figure 9 further shown, process 900 may include performing, at block 920, at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process. The components for performing the operations of block 920 may include the processor 394, the memory 396, or the network transceiver 390 of the network entity 306. For example, the network entity 306 may use the processor 394 and the memory 396 to perform at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process.

[0178] As Figure 9As further shown, process 900 may include transmitting, at block 930, the result of at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning process. The components for performing the operations of block 930 may include the processor 394, the memory 396, or the network transceiver 390 of network entity 306. For example, network entity 306 may transmit the result via network transceiver 390.

[0179] In some aspects, determining the relative weights of the intra-technological point anchors includes performing cost function error minimization or determining a weighted linear average of the cost components across technology types and measurement types.

[0180] In some aspects, receiving a request to perform at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning process includes receiving a request to perform all of the multi-technological positioning process.

[0181] In some aspects, receiving a request to perform at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning process includes receiving a CHPC report message indicating the technologies that the UE can support, the types of positioning measurements that the UE can perform, or a combination thereof.

[0182] In some aspects, process 900 includes transmitting a first CHPA report message to the UE, the first CHPA report message including scheduling information for performing measurements using the identified positioning anchors, information regarding time, frequency, or spatial resource allocation for the measurements to be performed by the UE, the periodicity with which the UE is expected to transmit measurement reports to the network entity, or a combination thereof.

[0183] In some aspects, receiving a request to perform at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning process further includes receiving from the UE a CHPM report including the results of positioning measurements previously performed by the UE.

[0184] In some aspects, transmitting the result of at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning process includes transmitting a second CHPA report, the second CHPA report including a position estimate, a set of preferred positioning anchors for one or more technologies, the weights of each positioning anchor in the set of preferred positioning anchors for each of the one or more technologies, the weights for each of the one or more technologies, or a combination thereof.

[0185] Process 900 may include additional specific implementations, such as any individual specific implementation or any combination of specific implementations described below and / or in combination with one or more other processes described elsewhere herein. Although Figure 9 example blocks of process 900 are shown, in some specific implementations, process 900 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or blocks arranged in a different manner compared to the Figure 9 blocks depicted therein. Additionally or alternatively, two or more blocks of process 900 may be performed in parallel.

[0186] As will be appreciated, the technical advantages of the methods described herein are that, by providing a mechanism by which device 704 can offload some or all of the inter-technology and / or intra-technology filtering block tasks to server 702, device 704 can save power, reduce latency, and obtain the benefits of fused computing that it would not otherwise receive. Another technical advantage is that server 702 can have additional information that can assist in fused computing and that is not otherwise known to device 704. For example, the information can include some statistics about a particular area that the server can obtain from information received from other devices previously in the area.

[0187] In the foregoing detailed description, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in the various examples. This manner of disclosure should not be construed as intending that the example clauses have more features than those expressly recited in each clause. On the contrary, aspects of the present disclosure may include fewer than all of the features of the individual example clauses disclosed. Accordingly, the following clauses are hereby incorporated into the description, where each clause may stand on its own as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer in the clause to a particular combination with one of the other clauses, the aspects of that dependent clause are not limited to the particular combination. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include combinations of aspects of the dependent clause with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause or any features with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. The aspects disclosed herein expressly include these combinations, unless expressly stated or readily inferred not to be intended to use a particular combination (e.g., conflicting aspects such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor). Additionally, it is contemplated that aspects of the clauses may be included in any other independent clause, even if that clause does not directly depend on the independent clause.

[0188] Specific example embodiments are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0189] Clause 1. A method of wireless positioning performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: determining that at least a portion of a multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded; transmitting a request to a server to perform the at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process; receiving, from the server, a result of the at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process; and determining a positioning estimate based at least in part on the result, wherein the at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process comprises at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an intra-technology inlier positioning anchor set; performing outlier rejection across one or more intra-technology inlier positioning anchor sets together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

[0190] Clause 2. The method according to Clause 1, wherein determining the relative weights of the in-tech interior point anchors includes performing cost function error minimization or determining a weighted linear average of cost components across technology types and measurement types.

[0191] Clause 3. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 2, wherein determining that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded includes determining that all of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded.

[0192] Clause 4. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 3, wherein determining that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded includes determining to offload: calculations related to a specific technology; calculations related to a specific type of measurement; calculations related to in-tech interior point detection; calculations related to inter-tech interior point detection; calculations related to operations of the relative weights of the anchors; or a combination thereof.

[0193] Clause 5. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 4, wherein transmitting the request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes transmitting to the server a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Capability (CHPC) report message indicating the technologies that the UE is capable of supporting, the types of positioning measurements that the UE is capable of performing, or a combination thereof.

[0194] Clause 6. The method according to Clause 5, further comprising receiving from the server a first Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Assignment (CHPA) report message including: scheduling information for performing measurements using the identified positioning anchors; information regarding time, frequency, or spatial resource allocation for the measurements to be performed by the UE; the periodicity with which the UE is expected to transmit measurement reports to the server; or a combination thereof.

[0195] Clause 7. The method according to any one of Clauses 5 to 6, wherein transmitting the request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process further includes transmitting to the server a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Measurement (CHPM) report including the results of positioning measurements previously performed by the UE.

[0196] Clause 8. The method according to any one of Clauses 5 to 7, wherein receiving the result of at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes receiving from the server a second Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Assignment (CHPA) report including: a position estimate; a set of preferred positioning anchors for one or more technologies; the weights of each positioning anchor in the set of preferred positioning anchors for each of the one or more technologies; the weights for each of the one or more technologies; or a combination thereof.

[0197] Clause 9. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 8, wherein transmitting the request to execute at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process includes transmitting the request periodically according to a time period.

[0198] Clause 10. The method according to Clause 9, further comprising performing a positioning estimation using the result of at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process previously received from the server before the expiration of the time period.

[0199] Clause 11. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 10, wherein determining that at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded includes determining that at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded based on one or more criteria for offloading, and wherein the method further comprises providing the one or more criteria for offloading to the server.

[0200] Clause 12. A method for wireless positioning performed by a network entity, the method comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a request to execute at least a part of a multi-technology positioning process; executing at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process; and transmitting, to the UE, the result of at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process, wherein at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process includes at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to generate an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; performing outlier rejection together across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology to generate an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

[0201] Clause 13. The method according to Clause 12, wherein determining the relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor includes performing cost function error minimization or determining a weighted linear average of cost components across technology types and measurement types.

[0202] Clause 14. The method according to any one of Clauses 12 to 13, wherein receiving the request to execute at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process includes receiving a request to execute all of the multi-technology positioning process.

[0203] Clause 15. The method according to any one of Clauses 12 to 14, wherein receiving the request to execute at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process includes receiving a collaborative hybrid positioning capability (CHPC) report message indicating the technologies that the UE can support, the types of positioning measurements that the UE can perform, or a combination thereof.

[0204] Clause 16. The method according to clause 15 further comprises transmitting to the UE a first Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Allocation (CHPA) report message comprising: scheduling information for performing measurements using the identified positioning anchors; information on time, frequency or spatial resource allocation for the measurements to be performed by the UE; the periodicity with which the UE is expected to transmit measurement reports to the network entity; or a combination thereof.

[0205] Clause 17. The method according to any one of clauses 15 to 16, wherein receiving the request to perform at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process further comprises receiving from the UE a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Measurement (CHPM) report comprising the results of positioning measurements previously performed by the UE.

[0206] Clause 18. The method according to any one of clauses 15 to 17, wherein transmitting the result of at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process comprises transmitting a second Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Allocation (CHPA) report comprising: a position estimate; a set of preferred positioning anchors for one or more technologies; a weight for each positioning anchor in the set of preferred positioning anchors for each of the one or more technologies; a weight for each of the one or more technologies; or a combination thereof.

[0207] Clause 19. A User Equipment (UE) comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: determine that at least a part of a multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded; transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a request to perform at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process to a server; receive, via the at least one transceiver, the result of at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process from the server; and determine a positioning estimate at least in part based on the result, wherein at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process comprises at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; performing outlier rejection across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight for each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

[0208] Clause 20. The UE according to clause 19, wherein, in order to determine the relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor, the at least one processor is configured to perform cost function error minimization or determine a weighted linear average of cost components across technology types and measurement types.

[0209] Clause 21. The UE according to any one of Clauses 19 to 20, wherein, in order to determine that at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded, the at least one processor is configured to determine that all of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded.

[0210] Clause 22. The UE according to any one of Clauses 19 to 21, wherein, in order to determine that at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded, the at least one processor is configured to determine to offload: calculations related to a specific technology; calculations related to a specific type of measurement; calculations related to inlier detection within a technology; calculations related to inlier detection between technologies; calculations related to operations of relative weights of anchor points; or a combination thereof.

[0211] Clause 23. The UE according to any one of Clauses 19 to 22, wherein, in order to transmit the request for performing at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to transmit a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Capability (CHPC) report message to the server indicating the technologies that the UE can support, the types of positioning measurements that the UE can perform, or a combination thereof.

[0212] Clause 24. The UE according to Clause 23, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive, from the server via the at least one transceiver, a first Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Allocation (CHPA) report message including: scheduling information for performing measurements using identified positioning anchor points; information about time, frequency, or spatial resource allocation for the measurements to be performed by the UE; the periodicity at which the UE is expected to transmit measurement reports to the server; or a combination thereof.

[0213] Clause 25. The UE according to any one of Clauses 23 to 24, wherein, in order to transmit the request for performing at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to transmit a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Measurement (CHPM) report including the results of positioning measurements previously performed by the UE to the server.

[0214] Clause 26. The UE according to any one of Clauses 23 to 25, wherein, in order to receive the result of at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to receive, from the server, a second Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Allocation (CHPA) report including: a position estimate; a set of preferred positioning anchor points for one or more technologies; the weights of each positioning anchor point in the set of preferred positioning anchor points for each of the one or more technologies; the weights for each of the one or more technologies; or a combination thereof.

[0215] Clause 27. The UE according to any one of Clauses 19 to 26, wherein, in order to transmit the request for performing at least a part of the multi-technological positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to periodically transmit the request according to a time period.

[0216] Clause 28. The UE according to Clause 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to perform a positioning estimate using the result of at least a part of the multi-technological positioning process previously received from the server before the expiration of the time period.

[0217] Clause 29. The UE according to any one of Clauses 19 to 28, wherein determining that at least a part of the multi-technological positioning process should be offloaded includes determining that at least a part of the multi-technological positioning process should be offloaded based on one or more criteria for offloading, and wherein the method further includes providing the one or more criteria for offloading to the server.

[0218] Clause 30. A network entity, comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, a request for performing at least a part of a multi-technological positioning process from a user equipment (UE); perform at least a part of the multi-technological positioning process; and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, the result of at least a part of the multi-technological positioning process to the UE, wherein at least a part of the multi-technological positioning process includes at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to generate an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; performing outlier rejection together across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology to generate an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

[0219] Clause 31. The network entity according to Clause 30, wherein, in order to determine the relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor, the at least one processor is configured to perform cost function error minimization or determine a weighted linear average of cost components across technology types and measurement types.

[0220] Clause 32. The network entity according to any one of Clauses 30 to 31, wherein, in order to receive the request for performing at least a part of the multi-technological positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to receive a request for performing all of the multi-technological positioning process.

[0221] Clause 33. The network entity according to any one of Clauses 30 to 32, wherein, in order to receive the request to perform at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to receive a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Capability (CHPC) report message indicating the technologies that the UE is capable of supporting, the types of positioning measurements that the UE is capable of performing, or a combination thereof.

[0222] Clause 34. The network entity according to Clause 33, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a first Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Allocation (CHPA) report message to the UE, including: scheduling information for performing measurements using the identified positioning anchors; information regarding time, frequency, or spatial resource allocation for the measurements to be performed by the UE; the periodicity with which the UE is expected to transmit measurement reports to the network entity; or a combination thereof.

[0223] Clause 35. The network entity according to any one of Clauses 33 to 34, wherein, in order to receive the request to perform at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to receive a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Measurement (CHPM) report from the UE, including the results of positioning measurements previously performed by the UE.

[0224] Clause 36. The network entity according to any one of Clauses 33 to 35, wherein, in order to transmit the results of at least a part of the multi-technology positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to transmit a second Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Allocation (CHPA) report, including: a position estimate; a set of preferred positioning anchors for one or more technologies; the weights for each positioning anchor in the set of preferred positioning anchors for each of the one or more technologies; the weights for each of the one or more technologies; or a combination thereof.

[0225] Clause 37. An apparatus, comprising: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the transceiver, wherein the memory, the transceiver, and the processor are configured to perform the method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 18.

[0226] Clause 38. An apparatus, comprising components for performing the method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 18.

[0227] Clause 39. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable including at least one instruction for causing a computer or a processor to perform the method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 18.

[0228] Those skilled in the art should understand that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may have been mentioned throughout the above description can be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0229] In addition, those skilled in the art should understand that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, the various illustrative components, boxes, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functionality in different ways for each particular application, but such specific implementation decisions should not be construed as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0230] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented or executed using a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the 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, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0231] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein can be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of both. The software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., a UE). In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

[0232] In one or more example aspects, the functionality may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functionality may be stored on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. The storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of 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 typically reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0233] Although the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Additionally, the functions, steps, and / or acts of the method claims according to aspects of the present disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Moreover, although elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is also contemplated unless expressly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method of wireless positioning performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: Determining that at least a portion of a multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded; Transmitting a request to a server to perform the at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process; Receiving from the server the result of the at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process; And Determining a positioning estimate based at least in part on the result, Wherein the at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes at least one of the following: Performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; Performing outlier rejection across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; And Determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor includes performing cost function error minimization or determining a weighted linear average of cost components across technology types and measurement types.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded includes determining that all of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded includes determining to offload: Calculations related to a specific technology; Calculations related to a specific type of measurement; Calculations related to inlier detection within the technology; Calculations related to inlier detection between technologies; Calculations related to operations of relative weights of anchors; Or a combination thereof.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein transmitting the request to perform the at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes transmitting to the server a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Capability (CHPC) report message indicating the technologies that the UE is capable of supporting, the types of positioning measurements that the UE is capable of performing, or a combination thereof.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising receiving from the server a first Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Assignment (CHPA) report message including: Scheduling information for performing measurements using identified positioning anchors; Information regarding time, frequency, or spatial resource allocation for measurements to be performed by the UE; The periodicity with which the UE is expected to transmit measurement reports to the server; Or a combination thereof.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein transmitting the request to perform the at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process further includes transmitting to the server a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Measurement (CHPM) report including the results of positioning measurements previously performed by the UE.

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein receiving the result of the at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes receiving from the server a second Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Assignment (CHPA) report including: A position estimate; A preferred set of positioning anchors for one or more technologies; The weight of each positioning anchor in the set of preferred positioning anchors for each of the one or more technologies; The weight for each of the one or more technologies; Or a combination thereof.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein transmitting the request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes transmitting the request periodically according to a time period.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising performing a positioning estimate using the result of at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process previously received from the server before the expiration of the time period.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded includes determining that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded based on one or more criteria for offloading, and wherein the method further comprises providing the one or more criteria for offloading to the server.

12. A method of wireless positioning performed by a network entity, the method comprising: Receiving from a user equipment (UE) a request to perform at least a portion of a multi-technology positioning process; Performing at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process; And Transmitting to the UE the result of at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process, wherein at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes at least one of the following: Performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; Performing outlier rejection across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; And Determining the relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein determining the relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor includes performing cost function error minimization or determining a weighted linear average of cost components across technology types and measurement types.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein receiving the request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes receiving a request to perform all of the multi-technology positioning process.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein receiving the request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process includes receiving a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Capability (CHPC) report message indicating the technologies that the UE is capable of supporting, the types of positioning measurements that the UE is capable of performing, or a combination thereof.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising transmitting to the UE a first Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Allocation (CHPA) report message including: Scheduling information for performing measurements using the identified positioning anchors; Information regarding time, frequency, or spatial resource allocation for the measurements to be performed by the UE; The periodicity at which the UE is expected to transmit measurement reports to the network entity; Or a combination thereof.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein receiving the request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process further comprises receiving, from the UE, a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Measurement (CHPM) report comprising results of positioning measurements previously performed by the UE.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein transmitting the results of at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process comprises transmitting a second Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Assignment (CHPA) report comprising: A position estimate; A set of preferred positioning anchors for one or more technologies; Weights for each positioning anchor in the set of preferred positioning anchors for each of the one or more technologies; Weights for each of the one or more technologies; Or a combination thereof.

19. A User Equipment (UE) comprising: A memory; At least one transceiver; And At least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: Determine that at least a portion of a multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded; Transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process to a server; Receive, via the at least one transceiver, the results of at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process from the server; And Determine a positioning estimate based at least in part on the results, Wherein at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process comprises at least one of the following: Performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; Performing outlier rejection across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; And Determining relative weights for each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

20. The UE according to claim 19, wherein, To determine the relative weights for each inter-technology inlier anchor, the at least one processor is configured to perform cost function error minimization or determine a weighted linear average of cost components across technology types and measurement types.

21. The UE according to claim 19, wherein To determine that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded, the at least one processor is configured to determine that the entire multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded.

22. The UE according to claim 19, wherein, To determine that at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process should be offloaded, the at least one processor is configured to determine to offload: Calculations related to a specific technology; Calculations related to a specific type of measurement; Calculations related to inlier detection within the technology; Calculations related to inlier detection between technologies; Calculations related to operations of relative weights of anchors; Or a combination thereof.

23. The UE according to claim 19, wherein To transmit the request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technology positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to transmit a Cooperative Hybrid Positioning Capability (CHPC) report message to the server indicating the technologies the UE is capable of supporting, the types of positioning measurements the UE is capable of performing, or a combination thereof.

24. The UE according to claim 19, wherein To transmit the request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to transmit the request periodically according to a time period.

25. The UE according to claim 19, wherein determining that at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process should be offloaded includes determining that at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process should be offloaded based on one or more criteria for offloading, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to provide the one or more criteria for offloading to the server.

26. A network entity, comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, a request to perform at least a portion of a multi-technological positioning process from a user equipment (UE); perform at least the portion of the multi-technological positioning process; and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a result of at least the portion of the multi-technological positioning process to the UE, wherein at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process includes at least one of the following: performing outlier rejection across a set of positioning anchors of the same technology to produce an inlier positioning anchor set within the technology; performing outlier rejection across one or more inlier positioning anchor sets within the technology together to produce an inter-technology inlier anchor set; and determining a relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor in the inter-technology inlier anchor set.

27. The network entity according to claim 26, wherein, To determine the relative weight of each inter-technology inlier anchor, the at least one processor is configured to perform cost function error minimization or determine a weighted linear average of cost components across technology types and measurement types.

28. The network entity according to claim 26, wherein, To receive the request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to receive a request to perform all of the multi-technological positioning process.

29. The network entity according to claim 26, wherein, To receive the request to perform at least a portion of the multi-technological positioning process, the at least one processor is configured to receive a co-operative hybrid positioning capability (CHPC) report message indicating the technologies that the UE is capable of supporting, the types of positioning measurements that the UE is capable of performing, or a combination thereof.

30. The network entity according to claim 29, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit, via the at least one transceiver, a first co-operative hybrid positioning allocation (CHPA) report message including: scheduling information for performing measurements using identified positioning anchors; information about time, frequency, or spatial resource allocation for measurements to be performed by the UE; the periodicity with which the UE is expected to transmit measurement reports to the network entity; or a combination thereof.

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