Recovery request triggered by cell reselection procedure during RRC inactive mode positioning

Abstract

In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) performs a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure. The UE sends an RRC recovery request to the second cell in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS. The second cell retrieves SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC recovery request, determines an SRS configuration for the RRC-based inactive SRS positioning estimation procedure in the second cell based on the SRS capability information, and sends the SRS configuration to the UE.

Description

Background Art 1. Technical Field

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communications.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Technologies

[0004] Wireless communication systems have evolved over many generations, including first-generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second-generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, internet-enabled 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 Communications Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the like.

[0005] The fifth-generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), enables higher data speeds, increased connectivity, and improved coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide higher data rates, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on reference signals for positioning (RS-P), such as downlink, uplink, or sidelink Positioning Reference Signals (PRS)), and other technical enhancements compared to previous standards. These enhancements, along with the use of higher frequency bands, advances in PRS procedures and technology, and high-density deployments of 5G, enable highly accurate positioning based on 5G. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects disclosed herein. Therefore, the following summary should not be considered an exhaustive overview of all contemplated aspects, nor should it be considered to identify key or critical elements related to all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Therefore, the sole purpose of the following summary is to present certain concepts related to one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description presented below.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of operating a user equipment (UE) includes: performing a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure; sending an RRC recovery request to the second cell in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS; and receiving an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell in response to the RRC recovery request.

[0008] In one aspect, a method of operating a second cell includes: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) resumption request from a user equipment (UE) in response to a cell reselection procedure of the UE from a first cell to the second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure of the UE, wherein the RRC resumption request includes a resumption cause associated with the SRS; and retrieving SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC resumption request; determining an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell based on the SRS capability information; and sending the SRS configuration to the UE.

[0009] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: perform a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure; send an RRC recovery request to the second cell via the at least one transceiver in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS; and receive, via the at least one transceiver, an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell in response to the RRC recovery request.

[0010] In one aspect, a second cell includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) resumption request from a user equipment (UE) via the at least one transceiver in response to a cell reselection process of the UE from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation process of the UE, wherein the RRC resumption request includes a resumption cause associated with the SRS; and retrieve SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC resumption request; determine an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation process in the second cell based on the SRS capability information; and send the SRS configuration to the UE via the at least one transceiver.

[0011] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: means for performing a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure; means for sending an RRC recovery request to the second cell in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS; and means for receiving an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell in response to the RRC recovery request.

[0012] In one aspect, a second cell includes: means for receiving a radio resource control (RRC) resumption request from a user equipment (UE) in response to a cell reselection procedure of the UE from a first cell to the second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure of the UE, wherein the RRC resumption request includes a resumption cause associated with the SRS; and means for retrieving SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC resumption request; means for determining an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell based on the SRS capability information; and means for sending the SRS configuration to the UE.

[0013] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: perform a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure; send an RRC recovery request to the second cell in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS; and receive an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell in response to the RRC recovery request.

[0014] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a second cell, cause the second cell to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) resumption request from a user equipment (UE) during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure of the UE in response to a cell reselection procedure of the UE from a first cell to the second cell, wherein the RRC resumption request includes a resumption cause associated with the SRS; and retrieve SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC resumption request; determine an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell based on the SRS capability information; and send the SRS configuration to the UE.

[0015] Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the drawings and detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided solely for illustration and not limitation of the aspects.

[0017] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0018] Figure 2A 、 Figure 2B and Figure 2C Example wireless network structures according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0019] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE), a base station, and a network entity, respectively, and configured to support communications as taught herein.

[0020] Figure 4is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0021] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating various downlink channels within an example downlink time slot in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0022] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating various uplink channels within an example uplink time slot in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0023] Figure 7 is a diagram illustrating an example downlink positioning reference signal (DL-PRS) configuration for two transmit reception points (TRPs) operating in the same positioning frequency layer in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 8 Different radio resource control (RRC) states available in New Radio (NR) according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0025] Figure 9 A low power deferred Mobile Terminated Location Request (MT-LR) procedure with event reporting in RRC_INACTIVE state for UL+DL positioning in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0026] Figure 10 The RNAU process according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0027] Figure 11 A positioning estimation process based on RRC inactive SRS according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0028] Figure 12 An exemplary process of communication according to one aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0029] Figure 13 An exemplary process of communication according to one aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0030] Figure 14 Example implementations of processes according to aspects of the present disclosure performed in conjunction with each other are illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] Various aspects of the present disclosure are provided below in the description and related drawings of various examples provided for illustrative purposes. 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 to avoid making the relevant details of the present disclosure difficult to understand.

[0032] The words "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.

[0033] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of different techniques and methods may be used to represent the information and signals described below. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the following description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, and so on.

[0034] Furthermore, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein may be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequences of actions described herein may be viewed as being fully embodied within any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, will cause or command an associated processor of a device to perform the functionality described herein. Accordingly, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which are contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, for each of the various aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "logic configured to perform the described actions."

[0035] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT). Generally speaking, a UE can be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet, laptop, consumer asset location device, wearable device (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., car, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE can be mobile or stationary (e.g., at certain times) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT," "client device," "wireless device," "subscriber device," "subscriber terminal," "subscriber station," "user terminal" or "UT," "mobile device," "mobile terminal," "mobile station," or variations thereof. Generally speaking, a UE can communicate with a core network via the RAN, and through the core network, the UE can connect to external networks such as the Internet and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms are also possible for the UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (eg, based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.).

[0036] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with UEs, depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may alternatively 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 known as gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may primarily support wireless access for UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may only provide edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, a base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link through which a UE can transmit signals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link through which a base station can transmit signals to a UE is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term "traffic channel (TCH)" may refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0037] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to the cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRPs may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighboring base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. Because, as used herein, a TRP is the point at which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, references to transmitting from or receiving at a base station should be understood to refer to a specific TRP of a base station.

[0038] In some implementations that support UE positioning, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead transmit a reference signal to the UE 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., when transmitting a signal to the UE) and / or as a position measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring a signal from the UE).

[0039] An "RF signal" comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply as a "signal" where the context clearly indicates that the term "signal" refers to either a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0040] Figure 1An example wireless communication system 100 according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The wireless communication system 100, which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN), may include various base stations 102 (labeled "BS") and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macrocell base stations 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 the two, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0041] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) via backhaul links 122. The base stations 102 may also 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 servers 172 may be part of the core network 170 or external to the core network 170. The location servers 172 may be integrated with the base stations 102. The UEs 104 may communicate with the location servers 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location servers 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location servers 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), or the like. For signaling purposes, communication between UE 104 and location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), with intermediate nodes (if any) omitted from the signaling diagram for clarity.

[0042] Among other functions, the base stations 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. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC / 5GC) over a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0043] Base stations 102 can communicate wirelessly with UEs 104. Each of base stations 102 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells can be supported by base stations 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used for communicating with a base station (e.g., via a frequency resource, such as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.) and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) that distinguishes cells operating on the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells can be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types) that can provide access to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" can refer to either or both the logical communication entity and the base station supporting the logical communication entity, depending on the context. Furthermore, 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 a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station, as long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communications within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0044] While the geographic coverage areas 110 of adjacent macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some areas of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with the larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a Home eNB (HeNB), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG).

[0045] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also known as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also known as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may utilize MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be over one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric for the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than to the uplink).

[0046] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 that communicates with a wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA) 152 in an unlicensed spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz) via a communication link 154. When communicating in the unlicensed spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure prior to communicating to determine whether a channel is available.

[0047] The small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. Small cell base stations 102' employing LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can improve the coverage and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE-U, License Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0048] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180, which can operate at mmW and / or near-mmW frequencies to communicate with UEs 182. Extremely high frequencies (EHF) are part of the RF portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with wavelengths between 1 and 10 mm. Radio waves in this frequency band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near-mmW frequencies extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz, with wavelengths of 100 mm. Super high frequencies (SHF) frequency bands extend between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and are also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near-mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short range. mmW base stations 180 and UEs 182 can utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) on mmW communication links 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Furthermore, it should be understood that, in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near-mmW frequencies and beamforming. Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0049] Transmit beamforming is a technique used to focus an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts it 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 the receiving device with a faster and stronger RF signal (in terms of data rate). To alter the directionality of the RF signal during transmission, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node can use an array of antennas (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array"), which forms an RF beam that can be "steered" 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, so that the radio waves from the individual antennas add together in the desired direction to increase radiation, while canceling out in undesired directions to suppress radiation.

[0050] Transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning they appear to have the same parameters to a receiver (e.g., a UE), regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antenna is physically co-located. In NR, four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships exist. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about a second reference RF signal on a 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 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 a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0051] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses receive beams to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver may increase the gain setting of the antenna array in a particular direction and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase the gain level of) the RF signals received from that direction. Therefore, when a receiver is said to be beamforming in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain in other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) for the RF signals received from that direction.

[0052] The transmit beam and receive beam can be spatially correlated. This spatial correlation means that the parameters of a second beam (e.g., a transmit beam or a receive beam) used for a second reference signal can be derived based on information about the first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE can use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam based on the receive beam parameters to transmit an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station.

[0053] Note that depending on the entity forming the "downlink" beam, the beam can be either 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 downlink reference signals. Similarly, depending on the entity forming the "uplink" beam, the beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam. For example, if the base station is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink receive beam, while if the UE is forming an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink transmit beam.

[0054] 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 ranges designated FR1 (410 MHz–7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz–52.6 GHz). It should be understood that, despite a portion of FR1 exceeding 6 GHz, FR1 is often (and interchangeably) referred to as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes arises with FR2, which is often (and interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and articles, despite being distinct from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz to 300 GHz), which is designated as a "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0055] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating band for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz to 24.25 GHz). Frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, effectively extending the features of FR1 and / or FR2 to mid-band frequencies. Furthermore, higher frequency 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 frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0056] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "sub-6 GHz" or the like is used herein, it can be broadly referred to as frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" or the like is used herein, it can be broadly referred to as frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

[0057] In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell," and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells." In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that can be configured and used to provide additional radio resources once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals. For example, since the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are typically UE-specific, UE-specific signaling information and signals may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell can have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary 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 through which a base station communicates, the terms "cell," "serving cell," "component carrier," "carrier frequency," etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0058] For example, still referring to Figure 1 In the example, one of the frequencies used by macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies used by macrocell base station 102 and / or mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically double the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate achieved with a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0059] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a UE 164 that may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via a communication link 120 and / or with the mmW base station 180 via a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0060] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 are capable of sidelink communication. Sidelink-capable UEs (SL-UEs) can communicate with base station 102 via communication link 120 using the Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between the UE and the base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) can also communicate directly with each other via wireless sidelink 160 using the PC5 interface (i.e., the air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or simply "sidelink") is an adaptation of the core cellular network standard (e.g., LTE, NR) that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without going 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, and more. One or more SL-UEs in a group of SL-UEs utilizing sidelink communication may be located within the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102 or, for other reasons, unable to receive transmissions from the 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, the base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for the sidelink communication. In other cases, the sidelink communication is performed between the SL-UEs without involving the base station 102.

[0061] In one aspect, sidelink 160 may operate over 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. A "medium" may include one or more time, frequency, and / or spatial communication resources associated with wireless communications between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs (e.g., encompassing 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 frequency band shared among various RATs. While various licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems (particularly those employing small cell access points) have recently expanded their operation into unlicensed frequency bands, such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology, commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi"). Example systems of this type include various variations of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

[0062] It should be noted that although Figure 1 Only two of these UEs are illustrated as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), but any of the illustrated UEs could be SL-UEs. Furthermore, while only UE 182 is depicted as capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) could be capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are beamforming capable, they can beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other SL-UEs), toward other UEs (e.g., UE 104), toward a base station (e.g., base stations 102 and 180, small cell 102′, access point 150), and so on. Thus, in some cases, UEs 164 and 182 could utilize beamforming via sidelink 160.

[0063] exist Figure 1 In the example of FIG, the UE illustrated (for simplicity, Figure 1Any UE (shown as a single UE 104 in FIG. 1 ) can receive signal 124 from one or more Earth-orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, SV 112 can be part of a satellite positioning system that UE 104 can use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SV 112) positioned to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine its position on or above the Earth based, at least in part, on positioning signals (e.g., signal 124) received from the transmitters. Such transmitters typically transmit a signal with a repeating pseudorandom noise (PN) code marked with a set number of chips. While typically located in SV 112, the transmitter can sometimes be located in a ground-based control station, base station 102, and / or other UEs 104. UE 104 can include one or more specialized receivers specifically designed to receive signal 124 in order to derive geographic location information from SV 112.

[0064] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signal 124 may be enhanced by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, and the like, such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS)-Assisted Geo-Augmented Navigation, or the GPS and Geo-Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN). 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.

[0065] In one aspect, SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, SV 112 connects to an earth station (also known as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn connects to elements in the 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a terrestrial antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element, in turn, provides access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities external to the 5G network, such as internet web servers and other user devices. Thus, UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from SV 112, either instead of or in addition to communication signals from terrestrial base station 102.

[0066] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that 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 "side links"). Figure 1 In the example, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UEs 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., UE 190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity through the D2D P2P link), and has a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to WLAN AP 150 (UE 190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity through the D2D P2P link). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can be supported by any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth ® wait.

[0067] Figure 2A An example wireless network architecture 200 is illustrated. For example, 5GC 210 (also known as the Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally considered to include control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate in conjunction to form the core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect gNBs 222 to 5GC 210, specifically to user plane functions 212 and control plane functions 214, respectively. In additional configurations, ng-eNBs 224 can also connect to 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to control plane functions 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. Furthermore, ng-eNBs 224 can communicate directly with gNBs 222 via backhaul connections 223. In some configurations, the next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either (or both) the gNBs 222 or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0068] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that can communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The location server 230 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each can correspond to a single server. The location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204 that can connect to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). In addition, the location server 230 can be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively can be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0069] Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 240 is illustrated. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 in the 5GC 210 can be functionally considered to include control plane functions provided by the access and mobility management function (AMF) 264 and user plane functions provided by the user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate in conjunction to form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, access authentication and authorization, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM)-based authentication, the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The AMF 264's functionality also includes Security Context Management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF, which it uses to derive access network-specific keys. The AMF 264's functionality also includes location service management for regulated services, transport of location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as the location server 230), transport 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 notification of UE 204 mobility events. Furthermore, the AMF 264 supports functionality for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0070] The UPF 262 functions include serving as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), serving as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) handling (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in 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 delivery of location service messages between the UE 204 and a location server (such as the SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0071] 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 at the UPF 262 for routing traffic to the correct destination, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0072] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that can communicate with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each can correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can connect to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown). The SLP 272 may support similar functionality as the LMF 270, but whereas the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, the NG-RAN 220, and the UE 204 on a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data), the SLP 272 may communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (e.g., third-party servers 274) on a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0073] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274 that can communicate with the LMF 270, SLP 272, 5GC 260 (e.g., via the AMF 264 and / or UPF 262), NG-RAN 220, and / or 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 external client. The third-party servers 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, each may correspond to a single server.

[0074] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and specifically the UPF 262 and AMF 264, respectively, to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB 222 and / or ng-eNB 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the "N2" interface, 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 can communicate directly with each other via a backhaul connection 223, referred to as an "Xn-C" interface. One or more of the gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 can communicate with one or more UEs 204 over a wireless interface, referred to as a "Uu" interface.

[0075] The functionality of a gNB 222 is divided between a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DUs) 228, and one or more gNB Radio Units (gNB-RUs) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions, including delivery of user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and more, in addition to those functions specifically assigned to the gNB-DU 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 typically hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols for the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that typically hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers for the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and a cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of the gNB 222 is typically hosted by one or more independent gNB-RUs 229, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between the gNB-DU 228 and the gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC and MAC layers, and with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0076] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G NR system) can be arranged in a variety of ways using various components or parts. In a 5G NR system or network, network nodes, network entities, network mobility elements, 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 a converged or disaggregated architecture. For example, a base station (such as a Node B (NB), an evolved NB (eNB), a NR base station, a 5G NR base station, an access point (AP), a transmit / receive point (TRP), or a cell) can be implemented as a converged base station (also known as a standalone base station or a single-chip base station) or a disaggregated base station.

[0077] A converged base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A disaggregated base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed across two or more units, such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed across one or more other RAN nodes. A 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, namely a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0078] Base station type operation or network design may take into account the aggregated nature of base station functionality. For example, a disaggregated base station may be used in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (such as the network configuration initiated by the O-RAN Alliance)), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). Disaggregation may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing the functionality of at least one unit, which enables flexibility in network design. The various units of a disaggregated base station or disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0079] Figure 2C An example disaggregated base station architecture 250 according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. Disaggregated base station architecture 250 may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CUs 226), which may communicate directly with a core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via backhaul links, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more disaggregated base station units, such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link, a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 255, or both. CUs 280 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via corresponding midhaul links, such as the F1 interface. DUs 285 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 287 (e.g., gNB-RUs 229) via corresponding fronthaul links. The RUs 287 can communicate with corresponding UEs 204 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, a UE 204 can be served by multiple RUs 287 simultaneously.

[0080] Each of the units (i.e., CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, as well as near-RT RIC 259, non-RT RIC 257, and SMO framework 255) may include or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units, or an associated processor or controller that provides instructions to the communication interface of these units, may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, these units may include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals to one or more of the other units via the wired transmission medium. Additionally, these units may include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, transmitter, or transceiver (such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) configured to receive or transmit signals, or both, to one or more of the other units over the wireless transmission medium.

[0081] 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 configured to communicate signals with 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 implementations, 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.

[0082] 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 a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more higher physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.), depending at least in part on a functional split (such as that defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)). In some aspects, the DU 285 may also host one or more lower PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 285 or with control functions hosted by the CU 280.

[0083] Lower layer functionality may be implemented by one or more RUs 287. In some deployments, a RU 287 controlled by a DU 285 may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functionality, low-PHY layer functionality (such as performing Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs), Inverse FFTs (iFFTs), digital beamforming, Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering), or both, based at least in part on a functional split (such as a lower layer functional split). In such an architecture, the RU 287 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 204. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communications with the RU 287 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 285 and CU 280 in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.

[0084] The SMO framework 255 can be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of both non-virtualized 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, which can be managed via an operations 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 Open Cloud (O-Cloud) 269) to perform network element lifecycle management (such as instantiating virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as the O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, the CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259. In some implementations, the SMO framework 255 can communicate with 4G RAN hardware (such as the Open eNB (O-eNB) 261) via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO framework 255 can communicate directly with one or more RUs 287 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 255 may also include a non-RT RIC 257 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 255 .

[0085] The non-RT RIC 257 can be configured to include logic that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 259. The non-RT RIC 257 can be coupled to or in communication with the near-RT RIC 259 (e.g., via an A1 interface). The near-RT RIC 259 can be configured to include logic that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources through data collection and actions via an interface (e.g., via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 280, one or more DUs 285, or both, and the O-eNB with the near-RT RIC 259.

[0086] In some implementations, the non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server to generate AI / ML models to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 259. This information may be utilized by the near-RT RIC 259 and may 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 in performance and employ AI / ML models to execute corrective actions through the SMO framework 255 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or by creating RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0087] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C 2. The diagram illustrates a method that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any base station described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any network function described herein, including location server 230 and LMF 270), or alternatively may be independent thereof. Figure 2A and Figure 2B Several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) within the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure (such as a dedicated network) depicted in the present disclosure are illustrated to support operations as described herein. It should be understood that these components may be implemented in different types of devices with different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described as providing similar functionality. Furthermore, a given device may include one or more of these components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0088] UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for preventing transmission, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc. WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a certain set of time / frequency resources in a particular spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be configured in different ways to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to a designated RAT, and conversely, receive and decode the signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.), respectively. Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354 for transmitting and encoding the signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352 for receiving and decoding the signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0089] At least in some cases, the UE 302 and the base station 304 each further include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide for communicating over the wireless communication medium of interest via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth ® 、Zigbee ® 、Z-Wave ®, PC5, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), ultra-wideband (UWB), etc.) and other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) (e.g., components for transmitting, receiving, measuring, tuning, blocking, etc.). 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 a specified RAT, and conversely, receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.), respectively. Specifically, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include: one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, and one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368. As a specific example, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth ® Transceiver, Zigbee ® and / or Z-Wave ® transceiver, NFC transceiver, UWB transceiver or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceiver.

[0090] At least in some cases, UE 302 and base station 304 also include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 can be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and can provide components for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. If satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, 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), and the like. If satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 can be communication signals originating from a 5G network (e.g., carrying control and / or user data). Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 can include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and operations from other systems as appropriate and, at least in some cases, perform calculations using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm to determine the positions of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively.

[0091] Base station 304 and network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, 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. For 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 with other network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0092] A transceiver can be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired or wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). In some implementations, a transceiver can be an integrated device (e.g., implementing transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry in a single device), in some implementations can include separate transmitter circuitry and separate receiver circuitry, or in other implementations can be implemented in other ways. The transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390, in some implementations) can be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. Wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow a corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming," as described herein. Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow a corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), so that a corresponding device can only receive or only transmit at a given time, rather than both receive and transmit at the same time. The wireless transceivers (eg, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 , short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 ) may also include a network listening module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

[0093] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., in some implementations, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390) and wired transceivers (e.g., in some implementations, network transceivers 380 and 390) may be generally referred to as a "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver can be inferred based on the type of communication being performed. For example, backhaul communications between network devices or servers typically involve signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communications between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) typically involve signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0094] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that can 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 for providing functionality related to, for example, wireless communication, as well as for providing other processing functionality. Thus, processors 332, 384, and 394 can provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for computing, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, and the like. In one aspect, processors 332, 384, and 394 can 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.

[0095] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively, include memory circuitry implementing memory 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 may provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may include SRS components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. SRS components 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, that, when executed, cause UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the SRS components 342, 388, and 398 can be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the SRS components 342, 388, and 398 can be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which, when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. Figure 3A Possible locations for the SRS component 342 are illustrated, which may be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. Figure 3B Possible locations for the SRS component 388 are illustrated, which may be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. Figure 3C Possible locations for the SRS component 398 are illustrated, which may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component.

[0096] UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to one or more processors 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information independent of motion data derived from signals received by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or satellite signal receiver 330. By way of example, sensors 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. Furthermore, sensors 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, sensors 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate a position in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0097] In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides means for providing indications to the user (e.g., audible and / or visual indications) 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, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include a user interface.

[0098] Referring in more detail to the one or more processors 384, in the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for the RRC layer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. One or more processors 384 may provide: RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting 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 (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0099] Transmitter 354 and receiver 352 may implement Layer 1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. Transmitter 354 handles the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), and M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM). The coded and modulated symbols may then be separated into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers, multiplexed with reference signals (e.g., pilots) in the time and / or frequency domains, and then combined using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially pre-decoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator can be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. The channel estimates can be derived from a reference signal and / or channel state feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream can then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 can modulate an RF carrier with the corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0100] At UE 302, receiver 312 receives the signal via its corresponding antenna 316. Receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides this 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 this information to recover any spatial streams destined for UE 302. If there are multiple spatial streams destined for UE 302, they can be combined by receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. Receiver 312 then 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 on each subcarrier, along with the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point transmitted by base station 304. These soft decisions can be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted by base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332, which implement layer 3 (L3) and layer 2 (L2) functionality.

[0101] In the downlink, one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing between transport 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.

[0102] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with downlink transmissions by the base station 304, the 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 (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0103] Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback sent by base station 304 may be used by transmitter 314 to select appropriate coding and modulation schemes and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by transmitter 314 may be provided to different antennas 316. Transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with the corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0104] Uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in conjunction with the receiver functionality at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives the signal through its respective antenna 356. The receiver 352 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 384.

[0105] In the uplink, one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from UE 302. The IP packets from one or more processors 384 may be provided to the core network. One or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0106] For convenience, UE 302, base station 304 and / or network entity 306 Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C1 is shown as including 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. In particular, Figures 3A to 3C Various components in are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, cost, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in Figure 3A In the case of , a particular implementation of UE 302 may omit WWAN transceiver 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities but no cellular capabilities), or may omit short-range wireless transceiver 320 (e.g., only cellular, etc.), or may omit satellite signal receiver 330, or may omit sensor 344, etc. In another example, in Figure 3B In certain embodiments, a particular implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi "hotspot" access point without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver 360 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 370, etc. For the sake of brevity, illustrations of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art.

[0107] Various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. In one aspect, the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may form or be part of communication interfaces for the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively. For example, 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 for communication between the different logical entities.

[0108] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C The components of can be implemented in various ways. In some specific implementations, Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3CThe components of the present invention 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). Each circuit may utilize and / or incorporate at least one memory component to store information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 through 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 through 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). Furthermore, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 through 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 may be described herein as being performed "by a UE," "by a base station," "by a network entity," and the like. However, it should be understood that such operations, actions and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the 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, SRS components 342, 388 and 398, etc.

[0109] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may operate independently of a network operator or cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a dedicated network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).

[0110] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (eg, base stations and UEs). Figure 4 FIG4 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to 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.

[0111] 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, unlike 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, often referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. Generally speaking, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing can be 15 kilohertz (kHz), while the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Therefore, for a system bandwidth of 1.25 megahertz (MHz), 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, the nominal fast Fourier transform (FFT) size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth may also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for a system bandwidth of 1.25 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0112] LTE supports a single parameter set (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR supports multiple parameter sets (µ). For example, subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz (µ=0), 30 kHz (µ=1), 60 kHz (µ=2), 120 kHz (µ=3), and 240 kHz (µ=4) or larger may be available. In each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For a 15 kHz SCS (µ=0), there is one slot per subframe, 10 slots per frame, a slot duration of 1 millisecond (ms), a symbol duration of 66.7 microseconds (µs), and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 50 with a 4K FFT size. For a 30 kHz SCS (µ=1), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, a slot duration of 0.5 ms, a symbol duration of 33.3 µs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 100 with a 4K FFT size. For 60kHz SCS (µ=2), there are four slots per subframe, 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25ms, the symbol duration is 16.7µs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120kHz SCS (µ=3), there are eight slots per subframe, 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125ms, the symbol duration is 8.33µs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240kHz SCS (µ=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, 160 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.0625ms, the symbol duration is 4.17µs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 800.

[0113] exist Figure 4 In the example, a 15 kHz parameter set is used. Therefore, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes, each 1 ms, and each subframe includes one time slot. 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.

[0114] A resource grid can be used to represent a time slot, each of which includes one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also called physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. Figure 4In the parameter set for cyclic prefixes, for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may 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.

[0115] Some REs may carry reference (pilot) signals (RS). These reference signals may 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 (SSBs), and sounding reference signals (SRS), depending on whether the illustrated frame structure is used for uplink or downlink communication. Figure 4 Example locations of REs carrying reference signals (labeled “R”) are illustrated.

[0116] Figure 5 FIGURE 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating various downlink channels within an example downlink time slot. Figure 5 In , 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. Figure 5 In the example of , a 15 kHz parameter set is used. Therefore, in the time domain, the illustrated time slot length is one millisecond (ms), divided into 14 symbols.

[0117] In NR, the channel bandwidth, or system bandwidth, is divided into multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs). A BWP is a set of contiguous RBs selected from a contiguous subset of common RBs for a given set of parameters on a given carrier. Generally, a maximum of four BWPs can be specified in the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can be configured with up to four BWPs on the downlink and up to four BWPs on the uplink. Only one BWP (uplink or downlink) can be active at a given time, meaning the UE can only receive or transmit on one BWP at a time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater than the bandwidth of an SSB, but may or may not contain an SSB.

[0118] refer to Figure 5, the Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) is used by the UE to determine the subframe / symbol timing and the physical layer identity. The Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and the radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the position of the aforementioned DL-RS. The Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) carrying the Master Information Block (MIB) can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also referred to as SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and the System Frame Number (SFN). The Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not sent through the PBCH (such as the System Information Block (SIB)), and paging messages.

[0119] The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) within one or more control channel elements (CCEs). Each CCE consists of one or more resource element group (REG) bundles (which can span multiple symbols in the time domain). Each REG bundle consists of one or more REGs, each corresponding to 12 resource elements (a resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The set of physical resources used to carry the PDCCH / DCI is called a control resource set (CORESET) in NR. In NR, the PDCCH is confined to a single CORESET and transmitted with its own DMRS. This enables UE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

[0120] exist Figure 5 In the example shown in Figure 2, there is one CORESET per BWP, and the CORESET spans three symbols in the time domain (although it could be just one symbol or two symbols). Unlike LTE control channels that occupy the entire system bandwidth, in NR, PDCCH channels are localized to a specific region (i.e., CORESET) in the frequency domain. Therefore, Figure 5 The frequency components of the PDCCH shown in FIG are illustrated as less than a single BWP in the frequency domain. Note that although the illustrated CORESETs are continuous in the frequency domain, the CORESETs do not need to be contiguous. Furthermore, a CORESET may span less than three symbols in the time domain.

[0121] The DCI within the PDCCH carries information about uplink resource allocations (persistent and non-persistent) and a description of the downlink data sent to the UE (referred to as an uplink grant and a downlink grant, respectively). More specifically, the DCI indicates the resources scheduled for downlink data channels (e.g., the PDSCH) and uplink data channels (e.g., the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)). Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIs can be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of a variety of formats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplink scheduling, downlink scheduling, uplink transmit power control (TPC), etc. The PDCCH can be transmitted using 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

[0122] Figure 6 FIGURE 6 is a diagram illustrating various uplink channels within an example uplink time slot. Figure 6 In , 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. Figure 6 In the example of , a 15 kHz parameter set is used. Therefore, in the time domain, the illustrated time slot length is one millisecond (ms), divided into 14 symbols.

[0123] The Random Access Channel (RACH), also known as the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), may be within one or more slots within a frame based on the PRACH configuration. The PRACH may include six consecutive RB pairs within a slot. The PRACH allows a UE to perform initial system access and achieve uplink synchronization. The Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) may be located at the edge of the uplink system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, CSI reports, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) carries data and may additionally be used to carry buffer status reports (BSRs), power headroom reports (PHRs), and / or UCI.

[0124] In one aspect, Figure 4 The reference signals carried by the REs marked with an "R" in the figure may be SRSs. The SRSs transmitted by the UE can be used by the base station to obtain channel state information (CSI) for the transmitting UE. CSI describes how the RF signal propagates from the UE to the base station and represents the combined effects of scattering, attenuation, and power loss over distance. Systems use SRSs for resource scheduling, link adaptation, massive MIMO, beam management, and more.

[0125] The set of REs used for SRS transmission is called an "SRS resource" and can be identified by the parameter "SRS-ResourceId." A set of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and "N" (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbols within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol, an SRS resource occupies one or more consecutive PRBs. An "SRS resource set" is a group of SRS resources used for SRS signal transmission and is identified by an SRS resource set ID ("SRS-ResourceSetId").

[0126] The SRS resource within a given PRB is transmitted with a specific comb size (also referred to as "comb density"). The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the SRS resource configuration. Specifically, for comb size "N", the SRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of one symbol of the PRB. For example, for comb-4, for each symbol of the SRS resource configuration, the REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, 8) are used to transmit the SRS of the SRS resource. Figure 4 In the example of FIG, the illustrated SRS is comb-tooth-4 on four symbols. That is, the position of the shaded SRS RE indicates the SRS resource configuration of comb-tooth-4.

[0127] Currently, an SRS resource with a comb size of Comb-2, Comb-4, or Comb-8 can span 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot. The following are the symbol-by-symbol frequency offsets for the currently supported SRS comb patterns. 1-symbol Comb-2: {0}; 2-symbol Comb-2: {0, 1}; 2-symbol Comb-4: {0, 2}; 4-symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0,1}; 4-symbol Comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3} (as in Figure 4 ); 8-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2,1, 3}; 12-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 4-symbol comb-8: {0, 4, 2, 6}; 8-symbol comb-8: {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7}; and 12-symbol comb-8: {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5,3, 7, 0, 4, 2, 6}.

[0128] Generally speaking, as described above, the UE transmits the SRS to enable the receiving base station (serving base station or neighboring base station) to measure the channel quality (i.e., CSI) between the UE and the base station. However, the SRS can also be specifically configured as an uplink positioning reference signal for uplink-based positioning procedures, such as uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), round-trip time (RTT), uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA), etc. As used herein, the term "SRS" may refer to an SRS configured for channel quality measurement or an SRS configured for positioning purposes. When it is necessary to distinguish between the two types of SRS, the former may be referred to herein as "SRS for communication" and / or the latter may be referred to herein as "SRS for positioning" or "SRS for positioning."

[0129] Several enhancements to the previously defined SRS have been proposed for "Positioning SRS" (also known as "UL-PRS"), including new interleaving patterns within SRS resources (beyond single symbol / comb-2), new comb types for SRS, new SRS sequences, a larger number of SRS resource sets per component carrier, and a larger number of SRS resources per component carrier. Furthermore, the parameters "SpatialRelationInfo" and "PathLossReference" are configured based on downlink reference signals or SSBs from adjacent TRPs. Furthermore, an SRS resource can be transmitted outside the active BWP and span multiple component carriers. Furthermore, SRS can be configured in the RRC connected state and transmitted only within the active BWP. Furthermore, no frequency hopping, no repetition factor, a single antenna port, and new SRS lengths (e.g., 8 and 12 symbols) are possible. Open-loop power control and no closed-loop power control are also possible, and comb-8 (i.e., SRS transmitted every eighth subcarrier in the same symbol) can be used. Finally, a UE can transmit from multiple SRS resources through the same transmit beam for UL-AoA. All of these are features in addition to the current SRS framework, which is configured through RRC higher layer signaling (and potentially triggered or activated through MAC control elements (MAC-CE) or downlink control information (DCI)).

[0130] Figure 7 FIG700 is a diagram illustrating an example PRS configuration for two TRPs (labeled “TRP1” and “TRP2”) operating in the same positioning frequency layer (labeled “Positioning Frequency Layer 1”) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. For a positioning session, assistance data indicating the illustrated PRS configuration may be provided to the UE. Figure 7In the example of FIG, a first TRP ("TRP1") is associated with (e.g., transmits) two PRS resource sets labeled "PRS Resource Set 1" and "PRS Resource Set 2," and a second TRP ("TRP2") is associated with one PRS resource set labeled "PRS Resource Set 3." Each PRS resource set includes at least two PRS resources. Specifically, the first PRS resource set ("PRS Resource Set 1") includes PRS resources labeled "PRS Resource 1" and "PRS Resource 2," the second PRS resource set ("PRS Resource Set 2") includes PRS resources labeled "PRS Resource 3" and "PRS Resource 4," and the third PRS resource set ("PRS Resource Set 3") includes PRS resources labeled "PRS Resource 5" and "PRS Resource 6."

[0131] When the UE is configured with a number of PRS resources exceeding its capabilities in the assistance data of the positioning method, the UE assumes that the PRS resources in the assistance data are sorted in descending order of measurement priority. Currently, the 64 TRPs of each frequency layer are sorted according to priority, and the two PRS resource sets of each TRP of the frequency layer are sorted according to priority. However, the four frequency layers may or may not be sorted according to priority, and the 64 PRS resources in the PRS resource set of each TRP of each frequency layer may or may not be sorted according to priority. The reference indicated by the assistance data parameter "nr-DL-PRS-ReferenceInfo" for each frequency layer has the highest priority at least for the DL-TDOA positioning process.

[0132] NR supports multiple cellular network-based positioning techniques, including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and both 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. During OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning, the UE measures the difference between the time 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 a positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives identifiers (IDs) for a reference base station (e.g., the serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each of the non-reference base stations. Based on the known positions of the involved base stations and the RSTD measurements, a positioning entity (e.g., a UE for UE-based positioning or a location server for UE-assisted positioning) can estimate the UE's position.

[0133] For DL-AoD positioning, the positioning entity uses measurement reports from the UE regarding the received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmit beams to determine the angle between the UE and the transmitting base station. The positioning entity can then estimate the UE's position based on the determined angle and the known location of the transmitting base station.

[0134] 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. Each base station then reports the time of reception of the reference signal (referred to as relative time of arrival (RTOA)) to a positioning entity (e.g., a location server) that knows the location and relative timing of the base stations involved. Based on the receive-to-receive (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 UE's position.

[0135] 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 receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angle of the receive 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 UE's position.

[0136] Downlink and uplink-based positioning methods include enhanced cell ID (E-CID) positioning and multiple 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 UE) transmits a first RTT-related signal (e.g., a PRS or SRS) to a second entity (e.g., a UE or base station), which then transmits a second RTT-related signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the first entity. Each entity measures the time difference between the time of arrival (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-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement can be performed or adjusted to include only the time difference between the nearest slot boundary of the received and transmitted signals. The two entities may then 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 the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., as the sum of the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements). Alternatively, one entity may transmit its Rx-Tx time difference measurements to the other entity, which then calculates the RTT. The distance between the two entities may be determined based on the RTT and a known signal speed (e.g., the speed of light). For multi-RTT positioning, a first entity (e.g., a UE or base station) performs an RTT positioning procedure with multiple second entities (e.g., multiple base stations or UEs) to enable the first entity's location to be determined based on the distance to the second entities and the known locations of the second entities (e.g., using multilateration). RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning techniques (such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD) to improve location accuracy.

[0137] 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 of detected neighboring base stations, along with estimated timing and signal strength. The UE's position is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base stations.

[0138] To assist in positioning operations, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance 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., the number of consecutive time slots containing PRS, the periodicity of consecutive time slots containing PRS, the muting sequence, the frequency hopping sequence, the reference signal identifier, the reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to the specific positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base station itself (e.g., in a periodically broadcast overhead message, etc.). In some cases, the UE itself may be able to detect neighboring network nodes without the use of assistance data.

[0139] In the case of OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedures, the assistance data may also include an expected RSTD value and an associated uncertainty, or search window, around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the expected RSTD value may range from + / - 500 microseconds (µs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for positioning measurements are in FR1, the expected RSTD uncertainty may range from + / - 32 µs. In other cases, when all resources used for positioning measurements are in FR2, the expected RSTD uncertainty may range from + / - 8 µs.

[0140] A location estimate may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, location, position fix, position fix, fix, etc. A location estimate may be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or may be municipal and include a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. The location estimate may be further defined relative to some other known location or defined in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). The location estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with some specified or default confidence level).

[0141] After the random access procedure, the UE is in the RRC connected state. The RRC protocol is used on the air interface between the UE and the base station. The main functions of the RRC protocol include connection establishment and release functions, broadcast of system information, radio bearer establishment, reconfiguration, release, RRC connection mobility procedures, paging notification and release, and outer loop power control. In LTE, the UE can be in one of two RRC states (connected or idle), but in NR, the UE can be in one of three RRC states (connected, idle, or inactive). Different RRC states have different radio resources associated with them, and the UE can use these radio resources when it is in a given state. Note that, as mentioned above, the different RRC states are usually capitalized; however, this is not required, and the states can also be written in lowercase.

[0142] Figure 8 800 is a diagram illustrating different RRC states (also referred to as RRC modes) available in NR according to various aspects of the present disclosure. When a UE is powered on, the UE is initially in an RRC disconnected / idle state 810. After a random access procedure, the UE moves to an RRC connected state 820. If there is no activity at the UE for a short period of time, the UE may suspend its session by moving to an RRC inactive state 830. The UE may resume its session by performing a random access procedure to transition back to the RRC connected state 820. Therefore, the UE needs to perform a random access procedure to transition to the RRC connected state 820 regardless of whether the UE is in the RRC idle state 810 or the RRC inactive state 830.

[0143] Operations performed in the RRC idle state 810 include public land mobile network (PLMN) selection, broadcast of system information, cell reselection mobility, paging for mobile terminated data (initiated and managed by the 5GC), and discontinuous reception (DRX) for core network paging (configured by the non-access stratum (NAS)). Operations performed in the RRC connected state 820 include 5GC (e.g., 5GC 260) and NG-RAN (e.g., NG-RAN 220) connection establishment (both control plane and user plane), UE context storage at the NG-RAN and UE, NG-RAN knowledge of the cell to which the UE belongs, delivery of unicast data to / from the UE, and network-controlled mobility. Operations performed in the RRC Inactive state 830 include broadcast of system information, cell reselection for mobility, paging (initiated by the NG-RAN), RAN-based Notification Area (RNA) management (performed by the NG-RAN), DRX for RAN paging (configured by the NG-RAN), 5GC and NG-RAN connection establishment for the UE (both control and user plane), storage of UE context in the NG-RAN and the UE, and NG-RAN knowledge of the RNA to which the UE belongs.

[0144] Figure 9 A low-power deferred mobile terminated location request (MT-LR) procedure 900 with event reporting in RRC_INACTIVE state for UL+DL positioning according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. Specifically, a first small data transmission (SDT) procedure is performed to set the UL-SRS configuration, followed by a second SDT procedure that includes an associated measurement / reporting phase that includes measurement / reporting of UL-SRS measurements (e.g., by the gNB) and DL-PRS measurements (e.g., by the UE). Figure 9 The process 900 depicted in is generally known and defined in the relevant 3GPP standards and therefore will not be described in further detail.

[0145] Figure 9 The process 900 depicted in FIGURE 9 may be associated with several drawbacks or limitations. In a first example, in some conventional positioning procedures, the serving gNB is unaware of whether the UE should transition to the RRC_INACTIVE state or the RRC_IDLE state (e.g., after a deferred MT-LR initiation). In a second example, NR positioning measurements (e.g., DL-PRS RSRP, DL RSTD, UE Rx-Tx time difference, DL PRS-RSRPP) are currently only applicable in the RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_CONNECTED states (i.e., not in RRC_IDLE). In a third example, for UL positioning (including UL+DL positioning), a new SRS may be configured in the UE each time an event report is triggered, resulting in significant signaling activity, such as for periodic events. In a fourth example, during the RRC_INACTIVE state, the target device may perform cell reselection, taking into account that the device may be in motion. This results in the release of the SRS configuration and the termination of SRS transmission at the target device. The UE will need to resume the RRC connection in the new cell to obtain the new SRS.

[0146] In some designs, the grouping of cells to which a UE can be paged by the network can be characterized as a RAN Notification Area (RNA). This grouping of cells can be referred to as an RNA cell list. When a UE moves out of the RNA cell list, it can report its location change, similar to the Tracking Area Update (TAU) framework in LTE, which is referred to as RAN-based Notification Area Update (RNAU) (triggered via the serving ng-eNB or gNB).

[0147] Figure 10 An RNAU process 1000 according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In some designs, mobility managed in terms of paging and RNAU procedures for 5G has some improvements over LTE's MM to meet 5G use cases.

[0148] refer to Figure 10 At operation 1, the UE recovers from RRC_INACTIVE, providing the Inactive Radio Network Temporary Identifier (I-RNTI) assigned by the last serving gNB and an appropriate cause value, such as a RAN Notification Area Update. At operation 2, if the gNB identity contained in the I-RNTI can be resolved, the gNB requests the last serving gNB to provide the UE context, providing the cause value received at operation 1. At operation 3, the last serving gNB provides the UE context (as assumed below). Alternatively, the last serving gNB may decide to move the UE to RRC_IDLE, or, if the UE is still within the previously configured RNA, maintain the UE context in the last serving gNB and keep the UE in RRC_INACTIVE. At operation 4, the gNB may move the UE to RRC_CONNECTED, transfer the UE back to RRC_IDLE (in which case, the gNB transmits an RRCRelease message), or transfer the UE back to RRC_INACTIVE, as assumed below. At operation 5, if the loss of DL user data buffered in the last serving gNB is to be prevented, the gNB provides a forwarding address. At operations 6-7, the gNB performs a path switch. At operation 8, the gNB maintains the UE in the RRC_INACTIVE state by transmitting an RRCRelease with a suspend indication. At operation 9, the gNB triggers the release of UE resources at the last serving gNB.

[0149] In some designs, Figure 10 The RRCResumeRequest at operation 1 can be configured as follows:

[0150]

[0151]

[0152] In some designs, ResumeCause provides the resume cause of the RRCResumeRequest at operation 11, as provided by upper layers or RRC. Since the UE used an unknown cause value, the gNB is not expected to reject RRCResumeRequest1. In some designs, resumeIdentity is the UE identity that facilitates UE context retrieval at the gNB. In some designs, resumeMAC-I is an authentication token that facilitates UE authentication at the gNB. The 16 least significant bits of MAC-I are calculated using the security configuration as specified in the relevant 3GPP standards.

[0153] In some designs, the IE recovery reason may indicate any of the following reasons, for example:

[0154]

[0155] Figure 11 The present invention illustrates a positioning estimation process 1100 based on RRC inactive SRS according to various aspects of the present disclosure. Specifically, Figure 11 The RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process 1100 depicted in FIG. 1 is a DL+UL positioning estimation process (eg, including both DL PRS measurements and UL SRS measurements).

[0156] refer to Figure 11 , a first DP procedure is performed to set the UL-SRS configuration, followed by a second SDT procedure, which includes an associated measurement / reporting phase that includes measurement / reporting of UL-SRS measurements (e.g., performed by the gNB) and DL-PRS measurements (e.g., performed by the UE). Figure 11 The process 1100 depicted in is generally known and defined in the relevant 3GPP standards.

[0157] The size of the SDT can be a critical process for UEs in RRC inactive state. If the data size is too large, the UE may need to send multiple SDTs for SDT (e.g. Figure 11 (In some designs, the SDT includes an RRC recovery request message and an assistance data message for UL-SRS. In some designs, both the RRC recovery request message and the assistance data message for UL-SRS have their own respective payloads. Specifically, the size of the assistance data message for UL-SRS may vary depending on the indicated SRS capability. Therefore, reducing the size of the SDT associated with the RRC recovery request message may be advantageous for UEs in an RRC inactive state.)

[0158] In some designs, the target device uses the IE NR-UL-ProvideCapabilities to indicate its ability to support UL-PRS and provide its UL-PRS capabilities to the location server, for example:

[0159]

[0160] The various SRS capabilities indicated via the IE NR-UL-ProvideCapabilities may include SRS-CapabilityPerBand-r16, OLPC-SRS-Pos-r16, SpatialRelationsSRS-Pos-r16, and SRS-PosResourcesPerBand-r16, to name a few. Therefore, the IE NR-UL-ProvideCapabilities may become very large, which increases Figure 11 The size of the SDT at operations 3 and 15.

[0161] Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to SRS specific resumption causes that may be utilized in association with a cell reselection procedure performed by a UE participating in an RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure. In some designs, a new UE may utilize an SRS specific resumption cause such that the SRS capabilities indicated by the UE in the old serving cell via the IE NR-UL-ProvideCapabilities may be omitted from the SDT including the RRC resumption request in the new serving cell. This may reduce the overall size of the SDT, which may provide various technical advantages. Specifically, a smaller SDT may be sent faster, with fewer repetitions, etc. This in turn may reduce the chances of releasing the SRS configuration and terminating SRS transmission at the UE, thereby avoiding the need to resume the RRC connection in the new cell to obtain a new SRS. Thus, the reliability of the SRS based positioning estimation may be improved via the SRS specific resumption cause field.

[0162] Figure 12 An exemplary process 1200 of communicating according to one aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 12 The process 1200 is performed by a UE (such as UE 302).

[0163] refer to Figure 12 At 1210, the UE 302 (e.g., the receiver 312 or 322, the transmitter 314 or 324, the SRS component 342, the processor 332, etc.) performs a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a positioning estimation procedure based on a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS). In some designs, the components for performing the cell reselection procedure may include Figure 3A receiver 312 or receiver 322, transmitter 314 or transmitter 324, SRS component 342, processor 332, etc.

[0164] refer to Figure 12At 1220, UE 302 (e.g., transmitter 314 or transmitter 324, etc.) sends an RRC recovery request to the second cell in response to the cell reselection process, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS. In some designs, the means for performing the transmission may include Figure 3A transmitter 314 or transmitter 324, etc.

[0165] refer to Figure 12 At 1230, UE 302 (e.g., receiver 312 or receiver 322, etc.) receives an SRS configuration for an RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation process in a second cell in response to the RRC recovery request. In some designs, the means for performing the reception may include Figure 3A Receiver 312 or receiver 322, etc.

[0166] Figure 13 An exemplary process 1300 for communication according to one aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. The process 1300 of FIG. 16 is performed by a second cell (e.g., BS 304 or TRP, or an O-RAN component such as a RU / CU / DU, a combination thereof, etc.). Specifically, the second cell performing process 1300 may correspond to a new cell (e.g., a new gNB, a new RU / CU / DU, etc.) following a cell reselection procedure of the UE.

[0167] refer to Figure 13 At 1310, a second cell (e.g., receiver 352 or receiver 362, etc.) receives a radio resource control (RRC) recovery request from a user equipment (UE) in response to a cell reselection process of the UE from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS) based positioning estimation process of the UE, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS. In some designs, the means for performing the receiving may include Figure 3B Receiver 352 or receiver 362, etc.

[0168] refer to Figure 13 At 1320, the second cell (e.g., receiver 352 or receiver 362, transmitter 354 or transmitter 364, network transceiver 380, etc.) retrieves SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC recovery request. In some designs, the means for performing the retrieval may include Figure 3B receiver 352 or receiver 362, transmitter 354 or transmitter 364, network transceiver 380, etc.

[0169] refer to Figure 13At 1330, the second cell (e.g., SRS component 388, processor 384, etc.) determines an SRS configuration for an RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation process in the second cell based on the SRS capability information. In some designs, the means for performing the determination may include Figure 3B SRS component 388, processor 384, etc.

[0170] refer to Figure 13 At 1340, the second cell (eg, transmitter 354 or transmitter 364, etc.) transmits the SRS configuration to the UE. In some designs, the means for performing the transmission may include Figure 3B transmitter 354 or transmitter 364, etc.

[0171] refer to Figures 12 to 13 In some designs, the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation process. In other designs, the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation process.

[0172] refer to Figures 12 to 13 In some designs, the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same radio access network (RAN) notification area (RNA). In other designs, the first cell is associated with a first radio access network (RAN) notification area (RNA), and the second cell is associated with a second RNA. In some designs, the RRC recovery request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE. As described above, omitting the SRS capability indication from the RRC recovery request may significantly reduce the size of the associated SDT, which may improve SDT reliability and help avoid SRS configuration release (thereby improving the overall positioning estimate accuracy of the UE).

[0173] Figure 14 Illustrated is an example implementation 1400 of processes 1200 - 1300 performed in conjunction with one another (at a UE and an NG-RAN, respectively) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0174] refer to Figure 14 At 1402, assuming execution Figure 11Operations 1 through 14b are performed. At some later point in time, at 1404, the UE performs reselection to a cell within the same RNA. At operation 3, the UE transmits an SDT with an RRC recovery request and recovery cause = "pos-SRS," rather than including assistance data with the UE's UL SRS capabilities. Here, pos-SRS acts as a trigger for the serving gNB to retrieve the UE's UL SRS capabilities via the network, rather than receiving the UE's UL SRS capabilities directly from the UE itself via the SDT. As described above, this reduces overall signaling and SDT payload.

[0175] refer to Figures 12 to 14 In some designs, this process can be facilitated by storing the UE's UL SRS capabilities at the RAN (such as in the LMF or AMF). In some designs, as described above, the UE does not need to update its SRS capabilities as part of reselection in inactive mode. Instead, it can transmit a trigger (i.e., recovery cause = "pos-SRS") to locate the UE's network-stored UL SRS capabilities to a new serving cell. In some designs, any valid UE identifier can be used by the new gNB (after reselection) to retrieve the SRS capabilities from the LMF / AMF. In some designs, the new gNB will determine the new SRS configuration and transmit it to the UE.

[0176] refer to Figures 12 to 14 ,In some designs, the above process can be implemented in various scenarios.

[0177] In the first example scenario, the UE is engaged in an RRC inactive positioning session. Only the DL positioning method is configured. As part of reselection within the RAN, the UE reselects to a new cell. The UE should not transmit any RAN area updates to the network.

[0178] In the second example scenario, the UE is engaged in an RRC inactive positioning session. Only UL or DL+UL positioning methods are configured. As part of reselection within the RAN notification area, the UE reselects to a new cell. The UE shall provide the network with a RAN area update with a new cause, pos-SRS.

[0179] In the third example scenario, after receiving an RNA update with cause "pos-SRS" from the UE, the new gNB shall configure a new positioning SRS configuration for the UE. The new gNB keeps the UE in RRC Inactive state.

[0180] In the fourth example scenario, the UE is engaged in an RRC inactive positioning session. Only DL+UL positioning methods are configured. As part of a reselection outside the RAN notification area, the UE reselects to a new cell. In one example, the UE should transmit any RAN area updates with the cause "RNA Update" to the network. In this case, the UE needs to transmit an SRS request again to the new RAN cell. In another example, the UE should transmit any RAN area updates with the cause "Pos-SRS" to the network. In this case, the new RAN should communicate with the old RAN to retrieve SRS capabilities and pass them on to the UE.

[0181] In the detailed description above, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in the examples. This disclosure should not be interpreted as an intention that the example clauses have more features than those explicitly mentioned in each clause. On the contrary, the various aspects of the present disclosure may include fewer than all the features of the individual example clauses disclosed. Therefore, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated into the description accordingly, with each clause itself serving as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination with one of the other clauses in the clause, the aspects of the dependent clause are not limited to specific combinations. 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 combinations of any features with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations unless it is expressly expressed or can be easily inferred that a specific combination is not intended to be used (for example, contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor). In addition, it is also expected that various aspects of a clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

[0182] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0183] Clause 1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: performing a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure; sending an RRC recovery request to the second cell in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS; and receiving an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell in response to the RRC recovery request.

[0184] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the RRC-inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure is an uplink (UL)-only positioning estimation procedure, or wherein the RRC-inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation procedure.

[0185] Clause 3. A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 2, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA).

[0186] Clause 4. A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA) and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

[0187] Clause 5. A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the RRC recovery request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

[0188] Clause 6. A method of operating a second cell, the method comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) resumption request from a user equipment (UE) in response to a cell reselection procedure of the UE from a first cell to the second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure of the UE, wherein the RRC resumption request includes a resumption cause associated with the SRS; and retrieving SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC resumption request; determining an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell based on the SRS capability information; and sending the SRS configuration to the UE.

[0189] Clause 7. The method of clause 6, wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation procedure, or wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation procedure.

[0190] Clause 8. A method as described in any of clauses 6 to 7, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA).

[0191] Clause 9. A method as described in any of clauses 6 to 8, wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA) and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

[0192] Clause 10. The method of Clause 9, wherein the network component providing the SRS capability information is associated with the first RNA.

[0193] Clause 11. A method as set forth in any of clauses 6 to 10, wherein the RRC recovery request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

[0194] Clause 12. A method as described in any of clauses 6 to 11, wherein the second cell comprises a base station, a transmit reception point (TRP), an open RAN (O-RAN) component, or a combination thereof.

[0195] Clause 13. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: perform a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure; send an RRC recovery request to the second cell via the at least one transceiver in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS; and receive, via the at least one transceiver, an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell in response to the RRC recovery request.

[0196] Clause 14. The UE of clause 13, wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation procedure, or wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation procedure.

[0197] Clause 15. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 13 to 14, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA).

[0198] Clause 16. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 13 to 15, wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA) and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

[0199] Clause 17. A UE as set out in any of clauses 13 to 16, wherein the RRC resumption request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

[0200] Clause 18. A second cell, the second cell comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor being communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor being configured to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) resumption request from a user equipment (UE) via the at least one transceiver in response to a cell reselection process of the UE from a first cell to the second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS) based positioning estimation process of the UE, wherein the RRC resumption request includes a resumption cause associated with the SRS; and retrieve SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC resumption request; determine an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process in the second cell based on the SRS capability information; and send the SRS configuration to the UE via the at least one transceiver.

[0201] Clause 19. The second cell of clause 18, wherein the RRC-inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation procedure, or wherein the RRC-inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation procedure.

[0202] Clause 20. The second cell of any of clauses 18 to 19, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA).

[0203] Clause 21. The second cell of any of clauses 18 to 20, wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA) and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

[0204] Clause 22. The second cell of Clause 21, wherein the network component providing the SRS capability information is associated with the first RNA.

[0205] Clause 23. The second cell of any of clauses 18 to 22, wherein the RRC recovery request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

[0206] Clause 24. The second cell of any of clauses 18 to 23, wherein the second cell comprises a base station, a transmit reception point (TRP), an open RAN (O-RAN) component, or a combination thereof.

[0207] Clause 25. A user equipment (UE), comprising: means for performing a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS) based positioning estimation procedure; means for sending an RRC recovery request to the second cell in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS; and means for receiving an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell in response to the RRC recovery request.

[0208] Clause 26. The UE of clause 25, wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation procedure, or wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation procedure.

[0209] Clause 27. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 25 to 26, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA).

[0210] Clause 28. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 25 to 27, wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA) and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

[0211] Clause 29. A UE as set out in any of clauses 25 to 28, wherein the RRC recovery request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

[0212] Clause 30. A second cell, the second cell comprising: means for receiving a radio resource control (RRC) resumption request from a user equipment (UE) in response to a cell reselection procedure of the UE from a first cell to the second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS) based positioning estimation procedure of the UE, wherein the RRC resumption request includes a resumption cause associated with the SRS; and means for retrieving SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC resumption request; means for determining an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell based on the SRS capability information; and means for sending the SRS configuration to the UE.

[0213] Clause 31. The second cell of clause 30, wherein the RRC-inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation procedure, or wherein the RRC-inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation procedure.

[0214] Clause 32. The second cell of any of clauses 30 to 31, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA).

[0215] Clause 33. A second cell as described in any of clauses 30 to 32, wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA) and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

[0216] Clause 34. The second cell of clause 33, wherein the network component providing the SRS capability information is associated with the first RNA.

[0217] Clause 35. The second cell of any of clauses 30 to 34, wherein the RRC recovery request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

[0218] Clause 36. A second cell as described in any of clauses 30 to 35, wherein the second cell comprises a base station, a transmit reception point (TRP), an open RAN (O-RAN) component, or a combination thereof.

[0219] Clause 37. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: perform a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure; send an RRC recovery request to the second cell in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS; and receive an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation procedure in the second cell in response to the RRC recovery request.

[0220] Clause 38. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 37, wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation procedure, or wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation procedure.

[0221] Clause 39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 37 to 38, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA).

[0222] Clause 40. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 37 to 39, wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA) and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

[0223] Clause 41. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 37 to 40, wherein the RRC resume request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

[0224] Clause 42. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a second cell, cause the second cell to: receive a radio resource control (RRC) resumption request from a user equipment (UE) in response to a cell reselection process of the UE from a first cell to the second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS) based positioning estimation process of the UE, wherein the RRC resumption request includes a resumption cause associated with the SRS; and retrieve SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC resumption request; determine an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process in the second cell based on the SRS capability information; and send the SRS configuration to the UE.

[0225] Clause 43. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 42, wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation procedure, or wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation procedure is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation procedure.

[0226] Clause 44. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 42 to 43, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA).

[0227] Clause 45. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 42 to 44, wherein the first cell is associated with a first radio access network (RAN) notification area (RNA) and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

[0228] Clause 46. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 45, wherein the network component providing the SRS capability information is associated with the first RNA.

[0229] Clause 47. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 42 to 46, wherein the RRC resumption request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

[0230] Clause 48. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 42 to 47, wherein the second cell comprises a base station, a transmit reception point (TRP), an open RAN (O-RAN) component, or a combination thereof.

[0231] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, light fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0232] In addition, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic steps described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination thereof. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been generally described above in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints proposed for the entire system. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functions in different ways for each specific application, but such specific implementation decisions should not be interpreted as resulting in departure from the scope of this disclosure.

[0233] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed using a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, 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. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0234] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. 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 an alternative embodiment, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., a UE). In an alternative embodiment, the processor and storage medium may reside in the user terminal as discrete components.

[0235] In one or more exemplary aspects, the described functions may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions 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 the transfer of a computer program from one location to another. A storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Furthermore, 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, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc. Disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0236] Although the foregoing disclosure illustrates exemplary aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. In addition, the functions, steps, and / or actions of the method claims according to the various aspects of the present disclosure described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, plural forms are also contemplated unless expressly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: performing a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS) based positioning estimation procedure; sending an RRC recovery request to the second cell in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS; as well as An SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process in the second cell is received in response to the RRC recovery request.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation process, or The RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation process is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation process. 3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA). 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA), and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the RRC resume request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

6. A method of operating a second cell, the method comprising: receiving a radio resource control (RRC) resumption request from a user equipment (UE) in response to a cell reselection procedure of the UE from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS) based positioning estimation procedure of the UE, wherein the RRC resumption request includes a resumption cause associated with the SRS; as well as retrieving SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC resume request; determining an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process in the second cell based on the SRS capability information; as well as Sending the SRS configuration to the UE.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation process, or The RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation process is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation process. 8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA).

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA), and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the network component providing the SRS capability information is associated with the first RNA.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the RRC resume request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the second cell comprises a base station, a transmit reception point (TRP), an open RAN (O-RAN) component, or a combination thereof.

13. A user equipment (UE), comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; as well as at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: performing a cell reselection procedure from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS) based positioning estimation procedure; sending an RRC recovery request to the second cell via the at least one transceiver in response to the cell reselection procedure, wherein the RRC recovery request includes a recovery cause associated with the SRS; as well as An SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process in the second cell is received via the at least one transceiver in response to the RRC resumption request.

14. The UE according to claim 13, wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation process, or The RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation process is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation process. 15 . The UE of claim 13 , wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA). 16 . The UE of claim 13 , wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA), and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

17. The UE of claim 13, wherein the RRC resume request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

18. A second cell, comprising: Memory; at least one transceiver; as well as at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a radio resource control (RRC) resumption request from a user equipment (UE) in response to a cell reselection procedure of the UE from a first cell to a second cell during a radio resource control (RRC) inactive reference signal (SRS)-based positioning estimation procedure of the UE, wherein the RRC resumption request includes a resumption cause associated with the SRS; as well as retrieving SRS capability information associated with the UE from a network component in response to the RRC resume request; determining an SRS configuration for the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process in the second cell based on the SRS capability information; as well as The SRS configuration is transmitted to the UE via the at least one transceiver.

19. The second cell according to claim 18, wherein the RRC inactive SRS based positioning estimation process is an uplink (UL) only positioning estimation process, or The RRC inactive SRS-based positioning estimation process is a downlink (DL) and UL positioning estimation process.

20. The second cell of claim 18, wherein the first cell and the second cell are associated with the same Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA).

21. The second cell of claim 18, wherein the first cell is associated with a first Radio Access Network (RAN) Notification Area (RNA), and the second cell is associated with a second RNA.

22. The second cell of claim 21, wherein the network component providing the SRS capability information is associated with the first RNA.

23. The second cell of claim 18, wherein the RRC recovery request does not include an SRS capability indication associated with the UE.

24. The second cell of claim 18, wherein the second cell comprises a base station, a transmit reception point (TRP), an open RAN (O-RAN) component, or a combination thereof.

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