Positioning reference signal repetition measurement management

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communication are disclosed. In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) receives, from a location server, a positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration of at least one PRS resource of at least one set of PRS resources for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration comprises at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one set of PRS resources and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; and aggregating the first signal strength measurements of a first subset of the plurality of repetitions obtained using the first receive beam until the first signal strength of the first subset of the repetitions satisfies an upper signal strength threshold or does not satisfy a lower signal strength threshold.

Description

Background Art 1. Technical Field

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

[0002] 2. Description of Related Technologies

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

[0004] The fifth-generation (5G) wireless standard, known as New Radio (NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide higher data rates, more accurate positioning (e.g., based on Positioning Reference Signals (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 technologies, and high-density deployments of 5G, enable highly accurate positioning based on 5G. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects disclosed herein. Therefore, the following summary should neither be considered an exhaustive overview of all contemplated aspects nor 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.

[0006] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes: receiving a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP) from a location server, wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating multiple repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the multiple repetitions; and aggregating first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions obtained using a first receive beam until a first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold, or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of communication performed by a location server includes: receiving from a transmit receive point (TRP) a first positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for at least one PRS resource in at least one PRS resource set for the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted; and sending to a user equipment (UE) a second PRS configuration for the at least one PRS resource in the at least one PRS resource set, wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating the time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions.

[0008] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes: receiving a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP) from a location server, wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; receiving an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted; and obtaining positioning measurements for a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, wherein the subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions.

[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: receive, from a location server via the at least one transceiver, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; and aggregate first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using a first receive beam until a first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions satisfies an upper signal strength threshold, or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not satisfy a lower signal strength threshold.

[0010] In one aspect, a location server includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: receive, from a transmit receive point (TRP) via the at least one transceiver, a first positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for at least one PRS resource in at least one PRS resource set for the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted; and transmit, to a user equipment (UE) via the at least one transceiver, a second PRS configuration for the at least one PRS resource in the at least one PRS resource set, wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating the time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions.

[0011] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: receive, from a location server via the at least one transceiver, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; receive, via the at least one transceiver, an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted; and obtain positioning measurements for a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, wherein the subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions.

[0012] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: a component for receiving, from a location server, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; and a component for aggregating first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using a first receive beam until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold.

[0013] In one aspect, a location server includes: means for receiving, from a transmit receive point (TRP), a first positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for at least one PRS resource in at least one PRS resource set for the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted; and means for sending, to a user equipment (UE), a second PRS configuration for the at least one PRS resource in the at least one PRS resource set, wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating the time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions.

[0014] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: means for receiving, from a location server, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; means for receiving an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted; and means for obtaining positioning measurements for a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, wherein the subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions.

[0015] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive from a location server a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; and aggregate first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using a first receive beam until a first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold, or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold.

[0016] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a location server, cause the location server to: receive from a transmit receive point (TRP) a first PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted; and transmit to a user equipment (UE) a second PRS configuration for the at least one PRS resource in the at least one PRS resource set, wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating the time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions.

[0017] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive from a location server a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; receive an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted; and obtain positioning measurements for a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, wherein the subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions.

[0018] 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

[0019] 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.

[0020] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0021] Figure 2A 、 Figure 2B and Figure 2C Example wireless network structures according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0022] 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.

[0023] Figure 4 An example Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) capability transfer procedure, an assistance data transfer procedure, and a location information transfer procedure between a target device and a location server according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0024] Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0025] Figure 6Ais 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.

[0026] Figure 6B is a diagram of example positioning reference signal (PRS) configurations for PRS transmission for a given base station in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0027] Figure 7 An “NR-DL-PRS-Info” information element (IE) according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0028] Figure 8A and Figure 8B Possible values of the “dl-PRS-Periodicity-and-ResourceSetSlotOffset” field for different subcarrier spacings according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0029] Figure 9 is a diagram of example PRS resource repetition and beam sweeping options according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0030] Figure 10A is a diagram illustrating an example of implementing an upper threshold for coherently combining repetitions of PRS resources according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0031] Figure 10B is a diagram illustrating an example of implementing a lower threshold for coherently combining repetitions of PRS resources according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0032] Figure 11A is a diagram illustrating an example of measuring PRS resource repetition with each receive beam until an upper threshold is met or a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is low enough to be discarded according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0033] Figure 11B is a diagram illustrating an example of performing initial beam scanning and then using the most promising candidate receive beams for further combining according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0034] Figure 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of multiple coherence windows for repetition of PRS resources according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0035] Figures 13 to 15 Example methods of communication according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] 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 designed without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted to avoid making the relevant details of the present disclosure difficult to understand.

[0037] 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.

[0038] 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, etc.

[0039] In addition, 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 the two. 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 the associated processor of the device to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, 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. In addition, 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."

[0040] 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). In general, a UE can be any wireless communication device used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset location device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.). A UE can be mobile or can be stationary (e.g., at certain times) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station" or variations thereof. Generally speaking, a UE can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE can connect to external networks such as the Internet and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for the UE, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.).

[0041] 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 referred to 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.

[0042] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit receive point (TRP) or to 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 TRP 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 a point at which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, references to transmitting from a base station or receiving at a base station should be understood to refer to a specific TRP of a base station.

[0043] In some implementations of supporting 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).

[0044] An "RF signal" includes electromagnetic waves of a given frequency that transmit 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 makes it clear that the term "signal" refers to either a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0045] 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.

[0046] 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 UE 104 may communicate with the location servers 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location server 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location server 172 via another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), etc. For signaling purposes, 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.

[0047] 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 EPC / 5GC) over a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0048] 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 station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used to communicate with a base station (e.g., via a frequency resource, which is referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.) and 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 some portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0049] Although 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).

[0050] 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).

[0051] 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.

[0052] The small cell base station 102′ can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102′ can adopt LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102′ adopting LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can improve the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE-U, License Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0053] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 that can operate at mmW frequencies and / or near-mmW frequencies to communicate with the UE 182. Extremely high frequencies (EHF) are part of the RF spectrum in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with wavelengths between 1 mm 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 ranges. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmitting and / or receiving) on the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. In addition, it should be understood that in an alternative configuration, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near-mmW 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.

[0054] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing the receiving device with a faster and stronger RF signal (in terms of data rate). To change the directionality of an RF signal while transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of 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") that form RF beams 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 in 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.

[0055] The transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antennas are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-located (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived based on information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. 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 the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal sent on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0056] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses receive beams to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, a receiver may increase the gain setting of an antenna array in a particular direction and / or adjust the phase setting of an antenna array in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase the gain level of) RF signals received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to be beamforming in a certain direction, this means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), etc.) for the RF signals received from that direction.

[0057] The transmit beam and receive beam can be spatially correlated. The spatial relationship means that the parameters of the second beam (e.g., transmit beam or receive beam) used for the second reference signal can be derived based on information about the first beam (e.g., receive beam or transmit beam) of the first reference signal. For example, the UE can use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB)) from the base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0058] 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.

[0059] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz - 7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz - 52.6 GHz). It should be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes occurs with respect to FR2, which is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and articles, although it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz - 300 GHz) identified as the "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0060] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating bands for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125GHz-24.25GHz). The frequency bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus the features of FR1 and / or FR2 can be effectively extended to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operation to more than 52.6GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6GHz-71GHz), FR4 (52.6GHz-114.25GHz), and FR5 (114.25GHz-300GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0061] With the above aspects in mind, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that, if used herein, the term "sub-6 GHz," etc., may broadly refer to frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Furthermore, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that, if used herein, the term "millimeter wave," etc., may broadly refer to 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.

[0062] 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 generally UE-specific, those UE-specific signaling information and signals may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell 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. can be used interchangeably.

[0063] For example, still referring to Figure 1 In one embodiment, one of the frequencies used by macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies used by macrocell base station 102 and / or mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a doubled data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate achieved with a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0064] 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.

[0065] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may be capable of sidelink communication. Sidelink-capable UEs (SL-UEs) may communicate with base station 102 via communication link 120 using a Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between the UE and the base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other via a wireless sidelink 160 using a PC5 interface (i.e., the air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or simply "sidelink") is an adaptation of a core cellular network (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without going through a base station. Sidelink communication may be unicast or multicast and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more SL-UEs in a group of SL-UEs 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 each other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, the base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communication. In other cases, sidelink communication is performed between the SL-UEs without involving the base station 102.

[0066] In one aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate on a wireless communication medium of interest, which may be shared with other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points and other wireless communications between other RATs. 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 between various RATs. While different licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems (particularly those employing small cell access points) have recently expanded operations into unlicensed frequency bands such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology, commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi"). Example systems of this type include different variations of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

[0067] Note that although Figure 1 Only two of these UEs are illustrated as SL-UEs (i.e., UE 164 and UE 182), but any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs. Furthermore, although only UE 182 is described as capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) may be capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they may beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other SL-UEs), toward other UEs (e.g., UE 104), toward a base station (e.g., base station 102, base station 180, small cell 102′, access point 150), and so forth. Thus, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 may utilize beamforming via sidelink 160.

[0068] exist Figure 1 In the example of FIG, the UE illustrated (for simplicity, Figure 1Any UE (shown as a single UE 104 in FIG) can receive a signal 124 from one or more Earth-orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, the SVs 112 can be part of a satellite positioning system that the UEs 104 can use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable a receiver (e.g., a UE 104) to determine its position on or above the Earth based, at least in part, on positioning signals (e.g., signals 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 the SVs 112, the transmitters can sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. The UEs 104 can include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive the signal 124 in order to derive geographic location information from the SVs 112.

[0069] 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), among others. 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.

[0070] 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 referred to 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 ground antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element, in turn, provides access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately provides access to entities external to the 5G network, such as Internet web servers and other user devices. Thus, UE 104 can receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from SV 112, instead of or in addition to communication signals from terrestrial base station 102.

[0071] 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) or peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “side links”). Figure 1 In the example of FIG, 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), wait.

[0072] 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, and 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 gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0073] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that can communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The location server 230 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively can each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204 that can be connected to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). In addition, the location server 230 can be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively can be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0074] Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 240 is illustrated. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 in the network can be functionally considered to be a control plane function provided by the access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and a user plane function provided by the user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate in conjunction to form the core network (i.e., the 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, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and 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 case of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) based authentication, the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes Security Context Management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF, which the SCM uses to derive access network specific keys. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location service management for regulatory services, for transmission of location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as the location server 230), for transmission of location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, for EPS bearer identifier allocation for interoperation with the Evolved Packet System (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functionality for non-3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0075] The functions of the UPF 262 include: acting as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) handling (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and transmitting and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. 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.

[0076] The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, traffic steering configuration for routing traffic to the correct destination at the UPF 262, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0077] 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 to 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).

[0078] 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 an 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 may each correspond to a single server.

[0079] 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.

[0080] 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 one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of the gNB 222 is typically hosted by one or more independent gNB-RUs 229, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between the gNB-DU 228 and the gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, 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.

[0081] The deployment of a communication system such as a 5G NR system can be arranged in a variety of ways using various components or constituent parts. In a 5G NR system or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a RAN node, a core network node, a network element or a network equipment (such as a base station or one or more units (or one or more components) that perform base station functionality) can be implemented in an aggregated or decomposed architecture. For example, a base station (such as a node B (NB), an evolved NB (eNB), an NR base station, a 5GNB, an access point (AP), a transmit receive point (TRP) or a cell, etc.) can be implemented as an aggregated base station (also known as a stand-alone base station or a monolithic base station) or a decomposed base station.

[0082] 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 decomposed 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).

[0083] Base station type operation or network design can take into account the aggregated nature of base station functionality. For example, a disaggregated base station can be utilized in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (such as a 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 can include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing functionality of at least one unit, which can enable flexibility in network design. Various units of a disaggregated base station or disaggregated RAN architecture can be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0084] 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 (e.g., a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link, or a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 255, or both). CUs 280 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via corresponding midhaul links (e.g., an 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.

[0085] Each of the units (i.e., CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and 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 that 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.

[0086] In some aspects, the CU 280 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface that is configured to 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 specific 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 unit may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit 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.

[0087] 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.

[0088] 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 or low PHY layer functionality (such as performing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), Inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, etc.), or both, based at least in part on 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, both 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).

[0089] 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, CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259. In some implementations, the SMO framework 255 can communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN (such as 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 .

[0090] The non-RT RIC 257 can be configured to include logic functions that enable non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 259. The non-RT RIC 257 can be coupled to or 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 functions that enable near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources through data collection and actions over 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.

[0091] In some implementations, the non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server to generate an AI / ML model to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 259. Such 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 perform corrective actions through the SMO framework 255 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or via the creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0092] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C Several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) are illustrated that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including the location server 230 and the LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent thereof). Figure 2A and Figure 2B The depicted NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure, such as a dedicated network, is implemented to support operations as described herein. It should be understood that these components can be implemented in different types of devices with different specific implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components can 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. In addition, 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.

[0093] 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 antennas 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 transceiver 310 and the WWAN transceiver 350 can be configured in different ways to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to a specified RAT, and conversely, receive and decode the signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.). Specifically, the WWAN transceiver 310 and the WWAN transceiver 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.

[0094] 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 a wireless communication medium of interest via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, The short-range wireless transceiver 320 and the short-range wireless transceiver 360 are components (e.g., components for transmitting, components for receiving, components for measuring, components for tuning, components for preventing transmission, etc.) for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) using a PC5, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), ultra-wideband (UWB), etc.). The short-range wireless transceiver 320 and the short-range wireless transceiver 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.). Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include: one or more transmitters 324 and 364 for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362 for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As a specific example, the short-range wireless transceiver 320 and the short-range wireless transceiver 360 may be a WiFi transceiver, transceiver, and / or transceiver, NFC transceiver, UWB transceiver or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceiver.

[0095] 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), etc. If satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 can be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. Satellite signal receiver 330 and satellite signal receiver 370 may include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and satellite positioning / communication signals 378, respectively. Satellite signal receiver 330 and satellite signal receiver 370 may optionally request information and operations from other systems and, at least in some cases, perform calculations using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm to determine the position of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively.

[0096] The base station 304 and the 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, the base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the 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 to communicate with other network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0097] A transceiver can be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitter 314, transmitter 324, transmitter 354, transmitter 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receiver 312, receiver 322, receiver 352, receiver 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., in some implementations, network transceiver 380 and network transceiver 390) can be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitter 314, transmitter 324, transmitter 354, transmitter 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antenna 316, antenna 326, antenna 356, antenna 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming", as described herein. Similarly, the wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receiver 312, receiver 322, receiver 352, receiver 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antenna 316, antenna 326, antenna 356, antenna 366), such as antenna arrays, which allow the corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit can share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antenna 316, antenna 326, antenna 356, antenna 366), so that the 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 (e.g., WWAN transceivers 310 and WWAN transceivers 350, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and short-range wireless transceivers 360) can also include a network listening module (NLM) for performing various measurements, etc.

[0098] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., in some implementations, transceiver 310, transceiver 320, transceiver 350, and transceiver 360, and network transceiver 380 and network transceiver 390) and wired transceivers (e.g., in some implementations, network transceiver 380 and network transceiver 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 may 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.

[0099] 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.

[0100] 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 can provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 can include positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. Positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be hardware circuitry that is part of or coupled to processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, and that, when executed, causes UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be external to processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be memory modules stored in 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 are illustrated for a location component 342, which can be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or can be a standalone component. Figure 3B Possible locations are illustrated for a location component 388, which can be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or can be a standalone component. Figure 3C Possible locations are illustrated for a location component 398, which can be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or can be a standalone component.

[0101] The 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, the 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, the sensors 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, the 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.

[0102] 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.

[0103] 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.

[0104] 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), 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 domain, and then combined using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM 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 based on a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback sent 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.

[0105] 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 the 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 converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, as well as 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.

[0106] 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.

[0107] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with downlink transmissions performed 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 (encryption, decryption, 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.

[0108] 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.

[0109] 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.

[0110] 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.

[0111] 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 specific 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.

[0112] Various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data bus 334, data bus 382, and data bus 392, respectively. In an aspect, data bus 334, data bus 382, and data bus 392 may form or be part of communication interfaces for the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively. For example, data bus 334, data bus 382, and data bus 392 may provide for communication between different logical entities where the different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station 304).

[0113] 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). Here, each circuit may use and / or be combined with 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 to 346 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriately configuring the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriately configuring the processor components). In addition, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of network entity 306 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriately configuring the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed by a UE, a base station, a network entity, or the like. However, as will be appreciated, 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, positioning components 342, 388 and 398, etc.).

[0114] 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).

[0115] The Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) is used point-to-point between a location server (e.g., LMF 270) and a target device (e.g., UE) to locate the target device using positioning-related measurements obtained from one or more reference sources (physical entities or portions of physical entities that provide signals measurable by the target device to obtain the target device's location). An LPP session is used between the location server and the target device to obtain position-related measurements or a position estimate, or to transfer assistance data. Currently, a single LPP session is used to support a single location request, and multiple LPP sessions can be used between the same endpoints to support multiple different location requests. Each LPP session consists of one or more LPP transactions (or procedures), each of which performs a single operation (capability exchange, assistance data transfer, or location information transfer). Each LPP transaction involves the exchange of one or more LPP messages between the location server and the target device. The general format of an LPP message consists of a set of common fields followed by a body. The body (which may be empty) contains information specific to a particular message type. Each message type contains information specific to one or more positioning methods and / or information common to all positioning methods.

[0116] An LPP session generally includes at least a capability transfer or indication procedure, an assistance data transfer or delivery procedure, and a location information transfer or delivery procedure. Figure 4 Illustrated are example LPP capability transfer procedures 410, LPP assistance data transfer procedures 430, and LPP location information transfer procedures 450 between a target device (labeled "target") and a location server (labeled "server") according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0117] The purpose of the LPP Capability Transfer procedure 410 is to enable the transfer of capabilities from a target device (e.g., UE 204) to a location server (e.g., LMF 270). In this context, capabilities refer to positioning and protocol capabilities related to LPP and the positioning methods supported by LPP. In the LPP Capability Transfer procedure 410, the location server (e.g., LMF 270) indicates the types of capabilities required by the target device (e.g., UE 204) in an LPP Request Capabilities message. The target device responds with an LPP Offer Capabilities message. The capabilities included in the LPP Offer Capabilities message should correspond to any capability types specified in the LPP Request Capabilities message. Specifically, for each positioning method for which a capability request was included in the LPP Request Capabilities message, if the target device supports that positioning method, the target device includes the target device's capabilities for the supported positioning method in the LPP Offer Capabilities message. For the LPP Capability Indication procedure, the target device provides unsolicited capabilities to the location server in an LPP Offer Capabilities message (i.e., without receiving an LPP Request Capabilities message).

[0118] The purpose of the LPP Assistance Data Delivery process 430 is to enable a target device to request assistance data from a location server to assist in positioning, and to enable the location server to deliver assistance data to the target device without a request. In the LPP Assistance Data Delivery process 430, the target device transmits an LPP Request Assistance Data message to the location server. The location server responds to the target device with an LPP Provide Assistance Data message containing assistance data. The delivered assistance data should match or be a subset of the assistance data requested in the LPP Request Assistance Data message. The location server may also provide any unsolicited information it deems useful to the target device. The location server may also send one or more additional LPP Provide Assistance Data messages containing further assistance data to the target device. With the LPP Assistance Data Delivery process, the location server provides unsolicited assistance data necessary for positioning. Assistance data may be provided periodically or aperiodically.

[0119] The purpose of the LPP Location Information Transfer process 450 is to enable a location server to request location measurement data and / or a position estimate from a target device, and to enable a target device to transfer location measurement data and / or a position estimate to a location server without a request. In the LPP Location Information Transfer process 450, the location server transmits an LPP Request Location Information message to the target device requesting location information, indicating the type of location information requested and potentially associated QoS. The target device responds to the location server with an LPP Provide Location Information message to transfer the location information. Unless the location server explicitly allows additional location information, the transferred location information must match or be a subset of the location information requested in the LPP Request Location Information message. More specifically, if the requested information is compatible with the capabilities and configuration of the target device, the target device includes the requested information in the LPP Provide Location Information message. Otherwise, if the target device does not support one or more of the requested positioning methods, the target device continues to process the message as if it contained only information for supported positioning methods and handles the signaling content of the unsupported positioning methods through LPP error detection. If requested by the LPP Request Location Information message, the target device transmits an Additional LPP Provide Location Information message to the location server to deliver additional location information.The LPP Location Information Delivery procedure supports the delivery of positioning estimates based on unsolicited services.

[0120] LPP also defines procedures related to error indication when a receiving endpoint (target device or location server) receives erroneous or unexpected data or detects that some data is missing. Specifically, when a receiving endpoint determines that a received LPP message contains errors, the receiving endpoint may return an error message indicating one or more errors to the sending endpoint and discard the received / erroneous message. If the receiving endpoint is able to determine that the erroneous LPP message is an LPP error or abort message, the receiving endpoint discards the received message without returning an error message to the sending endpoint.

[0121] LPP also defines procedures related to abort indications, allowing a target device or location server to abort an ongoing process due to an unexpected event (e.g., an LCS client canceling a location request). The abort procedure can also be used to stop an ongoing process (e.g., periodic location reports from a target device). During the abort procedure, a first endpoint determines that a process P must be aborted and transmits an abort message to a second endpoint, carrying the transaction ID of process P. The second endpoint then aborts process P.

[0122] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (eg, base stations and UEs). Figure 5 FIG5 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.

[0123] 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, which are also often referred to as frequency tones, frequency bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. Generally speaking, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using 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), and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Thus, 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.

[0124] LTE supports a single parameter set (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple parameter sets (μ), for example, 15kHz (μ=0), 30kHz (μ=1), 60kHz (μ=2), 120kHz (μ=3), and 240kHz (μ=4) or larger subcarrier spacings may be available. In each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For a 15kHz 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) with a 4K FFT size of 50. For a 30kHz SCS (μ=1), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, a slot duration of 0.5ms, a symbol duration of 33.3μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size of 100. 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.

[0125] exist Figure 5 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 5 , 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.

[0126] 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 5In 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.

[0127] 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 5 Example locations of REs carrying reference signals (labeled "R") are illustrated.

[0128] The set of resource elements (REs) used for transmitting PRS is called a "PRS resource". The set of resource elements may span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and "N" (such as one or more) consecutive symbols within a time slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, the PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

[0129] The PRS 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 PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for comb size "N", the PRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of one symbol of the PRB. For example, for comb-4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, the REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, and 8) are used to transmit the PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, for DL-PRS, comb sizes of comb-2, comb-4, comb-6, and comb-12 are supported. Figure 5 An example PRS resource configuration for comb-4 (which spans four symbols) is illustrated. That is, the positions of the shaded REs (labeled "R") indicate a comb-4 PRS resource configuration.

[0130] Currently, DL-PRS resources can span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot using a full frequency domain staggered pattern. DL-PRS resources can be configured in any downlink or flexible (FL) symbol in a slot that is configured by higher layers. There may be a constant energy per resource element (EPRE) for all REs of a given DL-PRS resource. The following are the symbol-by-symbol frequency offsets for comb sizes of 2, 4, 6, and 12 over 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. 2-symbol Comb-2: {0, 1}; 4-symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1}; 6-symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 12-symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 4-symbol Comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3} (as in Figure 5 ); 12-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 6-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; 12-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; and 12-symbol comb-12: {0, 6, 3, 9, 1, 7, 4, 10, 2, 8, 5, 11}.

[0131] A "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources used to transmit a PRS signal, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. In addition, the PRS resources in the PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a specific TRP (identified by the TRP ID). In addition, the PRS resources in the PRS resource set have the same periodicity, common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as "PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor") across time slots. The periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource of the first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource of the next PRS instance. The periodicity may have a length selected from the following: 2^μ*{4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240} time slots, where μ=0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} slots.

[0132] The PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (one TRP can transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in a PRS resource set can be transmitted on a different beam, and therefore, a "PRS resource" (or simply "resource") can also be referred to as a "beam." Note that this does not imply whether the UE knows the TRP and beam on which the PRS is transmitted.

[0133] A "PRS instance" or "PRS opportunity" is an instance of a periodically repeating time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive time slots) in which a PRS is expected to be transmitted. A PRS opportunity may also be referred to as a "PRS positioning opportunity," "PRS positioning instance," "positioning opportunity," "positioning instance," "positioning repetition," or simply "opportunity," "instance," or "repetition."

[0134] A "positioning frequency layer" (also referred to simply as a "frequency layer") is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets with the same values for certain parameters across one or more TRPs. Specifically, the set of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning that all parameter sets supported for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) are also supported for PRS), the same point A, the same value of the downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The point A parameter takes the value of the parameter "ARFCN-ValueNR" (where "ARFCN" stands for "Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number") and is an identifier / code that specifies a pair of physical radio channels for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth can have a granularity of four PRBs, with a minimum value of 24 PRBs and a maximum value of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers have been defined, and up to two PRS resource sets can be configured per TRP per frequency layer.

[0135] The concept of frequency layers is somewhat similar to that of component carriers and bandwidth parts (BWPs), but differs in that component carriers and BWPs are used by one base station (or a macrocell base station and a small cell base station) to transmit data channels, while frequency layers are used by several (typically three or more) base stations to transmit PRSs. A UE can indicate the number of frequency layers it can support when communicating its positioning capabilities to the network (such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session). For example, a UE can indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

[0136] It should be noted that the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as, but not limited to, PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc. as defined in LTE and NR. In addition, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may refer to a downlink positioning reference signal, an uplink positioning reference signal, or a sidelink positioning reference signal, unless otherwise indicated by the context. If further distinction is needed between the types of PRS, the downlink positioning reference signal may be referred to as a "DL-PRS," the uplink positioning reference signal (e.g., the SRS used for positioning, i.e., PTRS) may be referred to as a "UL-PRS," and the sidelink positioning reference signal may be referred to as a "SL-PRS." In addition, for signals that can be sent in the downlink, uplink and / or sidelink (e.g., DMRS), these signals can be prefixed with "DL", "UL" or "SL" to distinguish the direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" can be different from "DL-DMRS".

[0137] Figure 6A FIG6 is a diagram 600 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 6A In 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”.

[0138] 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.

[0139] Figure 6B is a diagram of an example PRS configuration 650 for PRS transmission for a given base station in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 6B In , time is represented horizontally, increasing from left to right. Each long rectangle represents a time slot, and each short (shaded) rectangle represents an OFDM symbol. Figure 6B In the example shown in FIG, a PRS resource set 610 (labeled as “PRS resource set 1”) includes two PRS resources, namely a first PRS resource 612 (labeled as “PRS resource 1”) and a second PRS resource 614 (labeled as “PRS resource 2”). The base station transmits PRS on the PRS resources 612 and 614 in the PRS resource set 610.

[0140] The PRS resource set 610 has an opportunity length (N_PRS) of two slots and a periodicity (T_PRS) of, for example (for a 15 kHz subcarrier spacing) 160 slots or 160 milliseconds (ms). Thus, both PRS resources 612 and 614 are two consecutive slots in length and repeat every T_PRS slots, starting with the slot in which the first symbol of the corresponding PRS resource appears. Figure 6B In the example of , the PRS resource 612 has a symbol length (N_symb) of two symbols, and the PRS resource 614 has a symbol length (N_symb) of four symbols. The PRS resource 612 and the PRS resource 614 may be transmitted on separate beams of the same base station.

[0141] Each instance of the PRS resource set 610 (illustrated as instances 620a, 620b, and 620c) includes a length of "2" opportunities for each PRS resource 612, 614 in the PRS resource set (i.e., N_PRS=2). The PRS resources 612 and 614 repeat once every T_PRS time slot up to a muting sequence periodicity of T_REP. Therefore, a bitmap of length T_REP is required to indicate which opportunities of the instances 620a, 620b, and 620c of the PRS resource set 610 are muted (i.e., not transmitted).

[0142] In one aspect, additional constraints may be placed on the PRS configuration 650. For example, for all PRS resources (e.g., PRS resources 612, 614) in a PRS resource set (e.g., PRS resource set 610), the base station may configure the following parameters to be the same: (a) opportunity length (N_PRS), (b) number of symbols (N_symb), (c) comb type, and / or (d) bandwidth. In addition, for all PRS resources in all PRS resource sets, the subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix may be configured to be the same for one base station or for all base stations. Whether this is for one base station or for all base stations may depend on the UE's ability to support the first and / or second options.

[0143] The LPP information element (IE) "NR-DL-PRS-Info" (provided in the LPP Provide Assistance Data message) defines the downlink PRS configuration. Figure 7 The "NR-DL-PRS-Info" IE 700 according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 7 As shown, the "NR-DL-PRS-Info" IE 700 includes a "dl-PRS-Periodicity-and-ResourceSetSlotOffset" field, a "dl-PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor" field, and a "dl-PRS-ResourceTimeGap" field. The following table provides definitions of these fields.

[0144]

[0145] Table 1

[0146] like Figure 7As shown in Table 1, the "dl-PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor" field indicates how many times each DL-PRS resource is repeated for a single instance of a DL-PRS resource set, and may have a value of {2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} resource repetitions. The "dl-PRS-ResourceTimeGap" field indicates the offset between two repeated instances (i.e., repetitions) of a DL-PRS resource within a single instance of a DL-PRS resource set, and may have a value of {1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32} time slots.

[0147] Figure 8A and Figure 8B The possible values of the "dl-PRS-Periodicity-and-ResourceSetSlotOffset" field for different subcarrier spacings according to various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. Specifically, Figure 8A The values for 15kHz subcarrier spacing (denoted as "ScS15-r16") and 30kHz subcarrier spacing (denoted as "scs30-r16") are exemplified, and Figure 8B Values for a 60 kHz subcarrier spacing (denoted as "scs60-r16") and a 120 kHz subcarrier spacing (denoted as "scs120-r16") are illustrated.

[0148] Figure 9 is a diagram of example PRS resource repetition and beam sweeping options according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 9 In the example of FIG, time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. Each box represents a time slot in the time domain and a certain bandwidth in the frequency domain.

[0149] Figure 9 An example (or occasion) of two DL-PRS resource sets (i.e., a first DL-PRS resource set 910 and a second DL-PRS resource set 950) is illustrated. Each DL-PRS resource set 910 and 950 includes four PRS resources (labeled as "resource 1," "resource 2," "resource 3," and "resource 4") and has a repetition factor of four (i.e., the "dl-PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor" field is set to "n4"). A repetition factor of four means that each of the four PRS resources is repeated four times (i.e., transmitted four times) in the DL-PRS resource set. In other words, there are four repetitions of each of the four PRS resources within the DL-PRS resource set. Note that, as Figure 9 As illustrated in , the duration spanned by one DL-PRS resource set containing repeated DL-PRS resources should not exceed the PRS periodicity.

[0150] exist Figure 9 In the example of , DL-PRS resource set 910 and DL-PRS resource set 950 have different time gaps (ie, different values of the "dl-PRS-ResourceTimeGap" field). Figure 9 In the example, the DL-PRS resource set 910 has a time gap of one slot (i.e., the "dl-PRS-ResourceTimeGap" field is set to "s1"), which means that each repetition of a PRS resource (e.g., "resource 1") begins on the first slot after the previous repetition of the PRS resource. Thus, as illustrated for the DL-PRS resource set 910, four repetitions of each of the four PRS resources are grouped together. Specifically, the four repetitions of the PRS resource "resource 1" occupy the first four slots of the DL-PRS resource set 910 (i.e., slots n to n+3), the four repetitions of the PRS resource "resource 2" occupy the next four slots (i.e., slots n+4 to n+7), the four repetitions of the PRS resource "resource 3" occupy the next four slots (i.e., slots n+8 to n+11), and the four repetitions of the PRS resource "resource 4" occupy the last four slots (i.e., slots n+12 to n+15).

[0151] In contrast, DL-PRS resource set 950 has a time gap of four slots (i.e., the "dl-PRS-ResourceTimeGap" field is set to "s4"), which means that each repetition of a PRS resource (e.g., "Resource 2") begins on the fourth slot after the previous repetition of that PRS resource. Thus, as illustrated by DL-PRS resource set 950, four repetitions of each of the four PRS resources are scheduled every fourth slot. For example, the four repetitions of PRS resource "Resource 1" occupy the first, fifth, ninth, and thirteenth slots (i.e., slots n, n+4, n+8, and n+12) of DL-PRS resource set 950.

[0152] The purpose of repetition of PRS resources is to permit receive beam scanning across the repetitions of the PRS resources (by the UE) to enable the receiver to aggregate or combine the measured signal gains of the repetitions for coverage extension and to allow for intra-instance muting (e.g., if one repetition is muted, there are still other repetitions for the receiver to measure). Beam scanning across repetitions may be beneficial in cases where the UE does not know the direction in which the PRS resources are transmitted, and thus can determine the best beam for receiving the PRS resources (i.e., the beam that produces the highest signal gain or signal strength for the PRS resources). In cases where the signal strength of the PRS resource repetitions is low, such as when the UE is far from the transmission point, aggregating or combining signal strength (gain) measurements across the PRS resource repetitions may be beneficial.

[0153] The present disclosure contemplates scenarios in which the UE is configured with multiple repetitions for each PRS resource indicated in assistance data (e.g., via the "dl-PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor" field in the "NR-DL-PRS-Info" IE 700). In such scenarios, it is up to the UE to determine how to measure the PRS resources with repetitions. For example, the UE may use PRS resource repetitions to perform coherent combining across repetitions to improve the signal strength (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)) and resulting positioning measurements (e.g., time of arrival (TOA)) of the PRS resources. As another example, the UE may use repetitions for beam selection to maximize the SNR and increase the number of line-of-sight (LOS) links.

[0154] Note that "coherent combining" is the addition of PRS measurements in both the phase and amplitude domains. For example, assume a first PRS measurement (denoted as "PRS1") is associated with a first PRS repetition (denoted as "Repetition 1"), and a second PRS measurement (denoted as "PRS2") is associated with a second PRS repetition (denoted as "Repetition 2"). Both PRS measurements PRS1 and PRS2 are in the complex domain. Adding PRS1 and PRS2 together in the complex domain is coherent combining, while adding the absolute value of PRS1 and the absolute value of PRS2 is incoherent combining. Note that phase coherence of the PRS measurements across the repetitions is necessary for coherent combining.

[0155] The present disclosure provides techniques related to PRS processing implementation at a UE and related signaling to enhance measurement and combine results of multiple PRS resource repetitions.

[0156] As a first technique, the UE may implement one or more processing and combining thresholds for coherently combining repetitions of PRS resources into a single measurement for the PRS resources. Figure 10A is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example of implementing an upper threshold for coherently combining repetitions of PRS resources in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 10B is a diagram 1050 illustrating an example of implementing a lower threshold for coherently combining repetitions of PRS resources in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 10A and Figure 10B , each vertical box labeled “PRS” represents a repetition of PRS resources, and each ellipse represents a receive (Rx) beam of a UE.

[0157] refer to Figure 10AThe upper threshold (also referred to herein as a "stop threshold") may be a signal strength threshold (e.g., an SNR threshold) that indicates a desired signal strength for the PRS resource (e.g., to obtain sufficiently accurate measurements of the PRS resource). Once the UE has combined enough PRS resource repetitions to satisfy the signal strength threshold, the UE may stop measuring and combine additional repetitions. Figure 10A In the example of , the UE reaches the stopping threshold after measuring and combining three repetitions of the PRS resource using the same receive beam (marked as "1"). Therefore, the UE does not need to measure and combine any additional repetitions of the PRS resource.

[0158] Using a stopping threshold recognizes that if the UE has achieved good signal strength for measurement of a PRS resource, there is no need to continue combining PRS resource repetitions. The stopping threshold may be particularly useful in good signal strength conditions because very few repetitions may be needed to achieve the desired signal strength for PRS measurement.

[0159] refer to Figure 10B The lower threshold (also referred to herein as a "starting threshold") may be a signal strength threshold (e.g., an SNR threshold) indicating a minimum signal strength for repeated measurements of a PRS resource. In this case, if the measurement of the first PRS resource repetition does not satisfy the starting threshold, the UE refrains from measuring additional repetitions. Using the starting threshold recognizes that it is not necessary to combine measurements of PRS resource repetitions because the UE may be in poor coverage conditions (e.g., far from the transmission point where the PRS resource is transmitted).

[0160] As will be appreciated, the UE may implement both a start threshold and a stop threshold. For example, if the start threshold is met (e.g., the measured SNR of the first PRS resource repetition is greater than or equal to the start threshold), the UE may measure the repetition of the PRS resource until the stop threshold is met (e.g., the measured SNR of the combined PRS resource repetition is greater than or equal to the stop threshold).

[0161] like Figure 10A and Figure 10BAs shown, the UE implements a start threshold and / or stop threshold for one receive beam (beam "1"). Once the UE stops measuring the PRS resource repetition using one receive beam based on the start threshold and / or stop threshold being met, the UE can switch to the next receive beam if it is capable of utilizing a measurement gap (a period of time during which the serving base station refrains from downlink transmission to the UE and optionally refrains from scheduling the UE for uplink transmission). However, if the UE does not have beam switching capability, it can ignore the remaining repetitions and save power. The UE can use a different receive beam in subsequent repetitions / instances of the PRS resource set containing the PRS resources. The UE can indicate its ability to perform measurements using beam switching within a measurement gap, for example, in an LPP provide capability message.

[0162] Both the lower and upper thresholds may be set by the UE implementation or configured by the location server to the UE (e.g., in an LPP Provide Assistance Data message or an LPP Request Location Information message). In the case where the location server configures the UE, the location server may determine the thresholds based on an analysis of measurements it has previously received. For example, the analysis may use a machine learning function.

[0163] As another technique described herein, a UE may implement beam switching across repetitions of a PRS resource within a measurement gap. Some UEs may have the capability to perform beam switching within a measurement gap and utilize different receive beams to measure different PRS resource repetitions. Various strategies may be employed to determine the optimal receive beam for receiving / measuring a PRS resource.

[0164] Figure 11A This is an example of measuring the PRS resource repetition with each receive beam until an upper threshold is met (e.g., as described above with reference to Figure 10A and Figure 10B The stopping threshold described above) or the SNR is low enough to be discarded (e.g., below the above reference Figure 10A and Figure 10B 1100 shows an example of a starting threshold value as described. Figure 11B is a diagram 1150 illustrating an example of performing initial beam scanning and then using the most promising candidate receive beams for further combining according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 11A and Figure 11B In , each vertical box labeled "PRS" represents a repetition of PRS resources, and each ellipse represents a receive (Rx) beam of a UE. Figure 11A and Figure 11B In the example, the UE can support up to four receive beams.

[0165] exist Figure 11AIn the example of , the UE uses the first beam (labeled as "1") to measure the first two repetitions of the PRS resource, uses the second beam (labeled as "2") to measure the next four repetitions of the PRS resource, and uses the third beam (labeled as "3") to measure the next two repetitions of the PRS resource. That is, two combined repetitions of the PRS resource are required to meet the upper threshold using the first receive beam, four combined repetitions of the PRS resource are required to meet the upper threshold using the second receive beam, and two combined repetitions of the PRS resource are required to meet the upper threshold using the third receive beam. The number of repetitions required for the receive beam to meet the stopping threshold is Figure 11A Indicated as "CN".

[0166] Although not shown, the UE may support a fourth receive beam. However, there are not enough repetitions for the UE to measure the PRS resources using the fourth receive beam. In addition, although Figure 10A Each of the three beams illustrated in FIG1 is able to meet the upper threshold (i.e., the stopping threshold), but this may not always be the case. Conversely, the beam may not meet the lower threshold (i.e., the starting threshold), in which case the UE switches to the next beam for the next repetition.

[0167] refer to Figure 11B , the UE supports four receive beams and performs beam scanning on the first four repetitions of the PRS resource using the four receive beams. Specifically, the UE uses the first beam (marked as "1") to measure the signal strength of the first repetition of the PRS resource, uses the second beam (marked as "2") to measure the signal strength of the second repetition of the PRS resource, uses the third beam (marked as "3") to measure the signal strength of the third repetition of the PRS resource, and uses the fourth beam (marked as "4") to measure the signal strength of the fourth repetition of the PRS resource.

[0168] exist Figure 11B In the example shown in FIG, based on the signal strength measurements of the PRS resource repetitions obtained during beam scanning, the UE determines that the second receive beam (labeled as "2") is the best candidate beam for measuring the PRS resource. Therefore, the UE uses the second receive beam to measure the remaining repetitions of the PRS resource. Alternatively, the UE can measure the remaining repetitions until a stopping threshold is met.

[0169] The coherence of carrier phases repeated across different PRS resources is important for obtaining meaningful positioning performance. Phase shift is the phase difference or phase difference between two waveforms. Phase shift can occur in both intra-band PRS and inter-band PRS (i.e., PRS on bandwidth intervals within the same component carrier or frequency band or PRS on bandwidth intervals within multiple component carriers or frequency bands). Phase shift is particularly noticeable when two signals (waveforms) are combined by a physical process (such as by the analog front end of the receiver). However, phase shift can be caused by the architecture of both the transmitter and the receiver. For example, any change in the transmit / receive RF chain can cause phase discontinuities in the transmitted / measured PRS.

[0170] In order to perform PRS resource aggregation, the UE needs to know whether the DL-PRS resources are phase-coherently transmitted. This is because the UE generally needs to know whether to perform coherent integration (where the repetitions are phase-coherently transmitted), incoherent integration (where the repetitions are not phase-coherently transmitted), or no integration for the PRS resources of the measurements repeated across different PRS resources.

[0171] However, there may be up to 32 repetitions with a minimum gap between repetitions of 32 time slots, which means that 32 repetitions will span 1024 time slots (i.e., 32*32=1024). It may be difficult for a base station (or other transmission point) to maintain phase coherence across all repetitions because the base station is likely to transmit other downlink traffic between repetitions. However, the base station may be able to maintain phase coherence across a subset of the repetitions of the PRS resources, referred to herein as the coherence window (CW). That is, the coherence window is the time period during which the phases of the PRS resource repetitions are continuous.

[0172] Figure 12 FIG1 is a diagram 1200 illustrating an example of multiple coherence windows for repetition of PRS resources according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 12 In FIG, each vertical box marked as "PRS" represents a repetition of a PRS resource, and there are 16 repetitions. Figure 12 As shown, the first coherence window (labeled as "CW1") includes the first four repetitions of the PRS resource, the second coherence window (labeled as "CW2") includes the next eight repetitions of the PRS resource, and the third coherence window (labeled as "CW3") includes the last four repetitions of the PRS resource. That is, the base station (or other transmission point) can phase-coherently transmit the first four repetitions of the PRS resource, then phase-coherently transmit the next eight repetitions of the PRS resource, and then phase-coherently transmit the last four repetitions of the PRS resource. Note that although Figure 12 Multiple coherence windows are illustrated, but as will be understood, all PRS resource repetitions may belong to the same coherence window.

[0173] The base station (or other transmission point) may send an indication of the coherence window used for the PRS resources to the location server. The information sent may indicate the number of coherence windows and which PRS resource repetitions are sent in which coherence window. The location server may then provide this information to the UE for UE-based positioning (where the UE calculates an estimate of its own position based on its own measurements and assistance data from the location server), or use itself for UE-assisted positioning (where the location server calculates an estimate of the UE's position based on measurements from the UE).

[0174] When measuring repetitions, the UE may assume that all PRS resource repetitions are sent coherently.When estimating the UE's position, the UE or location server may discard or reduce the weight of any positioning measurements obtained based on repetitions that were not sent coherently.

[0175] Figure 13 An example method 1300 of wireless communication in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In an aspect, the method 1300 may be performed by a UE (eg, any of the UEs described herein).

[0176] At 1310, the UE receives, from a location server, a PRS configuration for at least one PRS resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one TRP, wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions. In an aspect, operation 1310 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0177] At 1320, the UE aggregates first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using the first receive beam until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold, or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold. In an aspect, operation 1320 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0178] Figure 14 An example method 1400 of communicating in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In one aspect, the method 1400 may be performed by a location server (eg, LMF 270).

[0179] At 1410, a location server receives, from a TRP, a first PRS configuration for at least one PRS resource in at least one PRS resource set of the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted. In an aspect, operation 1410 may be performed by one or more network transceivers 390, one or more processors 394, memory 396, and / or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0180] At 1420, the location server transmits a second PRS configuration for at least one PRS resource in at least one PRS resource set to a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein), wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions. In an aspect, operation 1420 may be performed by one or more network transceivers 390, one or more processors 394, memory 396, and / or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0181] Figure 15 An example method 1500 of wireless communication in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In an aspect, the method 1500 may be performed by a UE (eg, any of the UEs described herein).

[0182] At 1510, the UE receives, from a location server, a PRS configuration for at least one PRS resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one TRP, wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions. In an aspect, operation 1510 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0183] At 1520, the UE receives an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted. In an aspect, operation 1520 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0184] At 1530, the UE obtains positioning measurements (e.g., ToA measurements) for a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, where the subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions. In an aspect, operation 1530 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more processors 332, memory 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered means for performing the operation.

[0185] As will be appreciated, technical advantages of method 1500 are power savings (e.g., the UE can measure fewer repetitions), improved positioning performance, and improved latency (e.g., in the case of beam switching, the UE will be able to quickly scan all receive beams).

[0186] In the above detailed description, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in each example. This disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than the features explicitly mentioned in each clause. On the contrary, the various aspects of the present disclosure may include less than all the features of the disclosed individual example clauses. Therefore, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated into the description accordingly, wherein each clause itself can be used as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination of a clause with one of the other clauses in a clause, the aspects of the dependent clause are not limited to a specific combination. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include a combination of the dependent clause aspects with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause or a combination of any feature with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations, unless explicitly 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.

[0187] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0188] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving from a location server a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; and aggregating first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using a first receive beam until a first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions satisfies an upper signal strength threshold, or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not satisfy a lower signal strength threshold.

[0189] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the plurality of repetitions are scheduled during measurement gaps.

[0190] Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein: the UE is not capable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and the method further comprises refraining from aggregating signal strength measurements of remaining repetitions of the plurality of repetitions based on the UE being not capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0191] Clause 4. A method according to clause 2, wherein: the UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and the method further includes aggregating at least a second signal strength measurement of at least a second subset of the repetitions of the multiple repetitions obtained using at least a second receive beam based on the UE being capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0192] Clause 5. The method of clause 4, wherein aggregating at least the second signal strength measurement comprises aggregating the second signal strength measurement until the second signal strength of the second subset of repetitions satisfies the upper signal strength threshold, or until the second signal strength of the second subset of repetitions does not satisfy the lower signal strength threshold.

[0193] Clause 6. The method according to Clause 5 further includes: for each remaining receive beam of the UE, when there are remaining repetitions in the multiple repetitions, aggregating signal strength measurements of a remaining subset of the multiple repetitions until the signal strength of the remaining subset of the repetitions meets the upper signal strength threshold, or until the signal strength of the remaining subset of the repetitions does not meet the lower signal strength threshold.

[0194] Clause 7. A method according to any one of clauses 2 to 6, the method further comprising: performing receive beam scanning on a first-occurring subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions of the at least one PRS resource to determine an optimal beam for receiving the at least one PRS resource, wherein the first receive beam is the optimal beam for receiving the at least one PRS resource, and wherein the first subset of repetitions follows the first-occurring subset of repetitions.

[0195] Clause 8. The method of any one of clauses 2 to 7, further comprising sending a capability message to the location server, the capability message indicating whether the UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0196] Clause 9. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 8, wherein: the first signal strength does not satisfy the lower signal strength threshold, and the first subset of repetitions consists of a single repetition of the plurality of repetitions.

[0197] Clause 10. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 8, wherein: the first signal strength satisfies the upper signal strength threshold, and the first subset of repetitions consists of less than all repetitions of the plurality of repetitions.

[0198] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 1 to 10, further comprising: receiving the upper signal strength threshold from the location server; receiving the lower signal strength threshold from the location server; or any combination thereof.

[0199] Clause 12. The method of any of clauses 1 to 11, further comprising receiving, from a network entity, an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are sent phase-coherently.

[0200] Clause 13. The method of clause 12, wherein: the first subset that is repeated is a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated, or the first subset that is repeated is a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated.

[0201] Clause 14. The method of any of clauses 12 to 13, wherein the network entity comprises: the location server or a base station.

[0202] Clause 15. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 14, further comprising obtaining repeated positioning measurements of the first subset.

[0203] Clause 16. A method of communication performed by a location server, the method comprising: receiving from a transmit receive point (TRP) a first PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set of the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted; and sending to a user equipment (UE) a second PRS configuration for the at least one PRS resource in the at least one PRS resource set, wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating the time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions.

[0204] Clause 17. The method of clause 16, further comprising receiving, from the UE, a measurement report comprising at least one positioning measurement of the at least one PRS resource, the at least one positioning measurement obtained based on a subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions.

[0205] Clause 18. The method of clause 17, further comprising sending an indication to the UE of the one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently sent.

[0206] Clause 19. The method of clause 18, wherein the measurement report further comprises an indication that the subset that is repeated is a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated, or that the subset that is repeated is a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated.

[0207] Clause 20. A method according to any one of clauses 17 to 19, the method further comprising: determining that the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; and estimating the position of the UE based at least in part on the at least one positioning measurement.

[0208] Clause 21. A method according to any one of clauses 17 to 19, the method further comprising: determining that the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions does not correspond to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; and discarding the at least one positioning measurement.

[0209] Clause 22. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving from a location server a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration comprises at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; receiving an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted; and obtaining positioning measurements for a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, wherein the subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions.

[0210] Clause 23. The method of clause 22, further comprising aggregating signal strength measurements of the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions obtained using the receive beam until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold, or until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold.

[0211] Clause 24. The method according to any one of clauses 22 to 23 further comprises: sending a measurement report to the location server, the measurement report comprising at least the positioning measurement and an indication that the repeated subset corresponds to the one of the one or more repeated subsets or the subset of the one of the one or more repeated subsets.

[0212] Clause 25. The method of any of clauses 22 to 24, wherein the indication of the one or more subsets of repetitions is received from: the location server or a base station.

[0213] Clause 26. The method of any of clauses 22 to 25, further comprising estimating a position of the UE based at least in part on the positioning measurements.

[0214] Clause 27. 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: receive, from a location server via the at least one transceiver, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; and aggregate first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using a first receive beam until a first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions satisfies an upper signal strength threshold, or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not satisfy a lower signal strength threshold.

[0215] Clause 28. The UE of clause 27, wherein the plurality of repetitions are scheduled during measurement gaps.

[0216] Clause 29. A UE according to clause 28, wherein: the UE is not capable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and the at least one processor is further configured to refrain from aggregating signal strength measurements of remaining repetitions of the plurality of repetitions based on the UE being not capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0217] Clause 30. A UE according to clause 28, wherein: the UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and the at least one processor is further configured to aggregate at least a second signal strength measurement of at least a second subset of the repetitions in the multiple repetitions obtained using at least a second receive beam based on the UE being capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0218] Clause 31. A UE according to clause 30, wherein the at least one processor is configured to aggregate at least the second signal strength measurement, comprising the at least one processor being configured to: aggregate the second signal strength measurement until the second signal strength of the second subset of repetitions satisfies the upper signal strength threshold, or until the second signal strength of the second subset of repetitions does not satisfy the lower signal strength threshold.

[0219] Clause 32. A UE according to clause 31, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: for each remaining receive beam of the UE, when there are remaining repetitions in the multiple repetitions, aggregate the signal strength measurements of the remaining subset of the multiple repetitions until the signal strength of the remaining subset of the repetitions meets the upper signal strength threshold, or until the signal strength of the remaining subset of the repetitions does not meet the lower signal strength threshold.

[0220] Clause 33. A UE according to any one of clauses 28 to 32, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: perform receive beam scanning on a first-occurring subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions of the at least one PRS resource to determine the best beam for receiving the at least one PRS resource, wherein the first receive beam is the best beam for receiving the at least one PRS resource, and wherein the first subset of repetitions follows the first-occurring subset of repetitions.

[0221] Clause 34. A UE according to any one of clauses 33, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send a capability message to the location server via the at least one transceiver, the capability message indicating whether the UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0222] Clause 35. A UE as described in any of clauses 27 to 34, wherein: the first signal strength does not satisfy the lower signal strength threshold, and the first subset of repetitions consists of a single repetition of the plurality of repetitions.

[0223] Clause 36. A UE as described in any of clauses 27 to 34, wherein: the first signal strength satisfies the upper signal strength threshold, and the first subset of repetitions consists of less than all repetitions in the plurality of repetitions.

[0224] Clause 37. A UE according to any one of clauses 27 to 36, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive the upper signal strength threshold from the location server via the at least one transceiver; receive the lower signal strength threshold from the location server via the at least one transceiver; or any combination thereof.

[0225] Clause 38. A UE according to any one of clauses 27 to 37, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, an indication of one or more subsets of the multiple repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are sent phase-coherently.

[0226] Clause 39. The UE of clause 38, wherein: the first subset that is repeated is a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated, or the first subset that is repeated is a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated.

[0227] Clause 40. The UE of any of clauses 38 to 39, wherein the network entity comprises: the location server or a base station.

[0228] Clause 41. The UE of any of clauses 27 to 40, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to obtain repeated positioning measurements of the first subset.

[0229] Clause 42. A location server, the location server comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor, the at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: receive, from a transmit receive point (TRP) via the at least one transceiver, a first PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set of the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted; and transmit, to a user equipment (UE) via the at least one transceiver, a second PRS configuration for the at least one PRS resource in the at least one PRS resource set, wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating the time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions.

[0230] Clause 43. A location server according to clause 42, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: receive a measurement report comprising at least one positioning measurement of the at least one PRS resource from the UE via the at least one transceiver, the at least one positioning measurement being obtained based on a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions.

[0231] Clause 44. The location server of clause 43, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to send, via the at least one transceiver, to the UE an indication of the one or more subsets of the multiple repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are sent phase-coherently.

[0232] Clause 45. A location server according to clause 44, wherein the measurement report further includes an indication that the repeated subset is a subset of the repeated one or more subsets, or that the repeated subset is a subset of a subset of the repeated one or more subsets.

[0233] Clause 46. A location server according to any one of clauses 43 to 45, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine that the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; and estimate the position of the UE based at least in part on the at least one positioning measurement.

[0234] Clause 47. A location server according to any one of clauses 43 to 45, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine that the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions does not correspond to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; and discard the at least one positioning measurement.

[0235] Clause 48. 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 communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: receive, from a location server via the at least one transceiver, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration comprises at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; receive, via the at least one transceiver, an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted; and obtain positioning measurements for a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, wherein the subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions.

[0236] Clause 49. A UE according to clause 48, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: aggregate signal strength measurements of the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions obtained using the receive beam until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold, or until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold.

[0237] Clause 50. A UE according to any one of clauses 48 to 49, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send a measurement report to the location server via the at least one transceiver, the measurement report including at least the positioning measurement and an indication that the repeated subset corresponds to the one of the one or more repeated subsets or the subset of the one of the one or more repeated subsets.

[0238] Clause 51. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 48 to 50, wherein the indication of the one or more subsets of repetitions is received from: the location server or a base station.

[0239] Clause 52. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 48 to 51, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to estimate a position of the UE based at least in part on the positioning measurements.

[0240] Clause 53. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: a component for receiving a PRS configuration of at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP) from a location server, wherein the PRS configuration comprises at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; and a component for aggregating first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using a first receive beam until a first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions satisfies an upper signal strength threshold or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not satisfy a lower signal strength threshold.

[0241] Clause 54. The UE of clause 53, wherein the plurality of repetitions are scheduled during measurement gaps.

[0242] Clause 55. A UE according to clause 54, wherein: the UE is not capable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and the UE further includes a component for refraining from aggregating signal strength measurements of remaining repetitions of the plurality of repetitions based on the UE being not capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0243] Clause 56. A UE according to clause 54, wherein: the UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and the UE further includes a component for aggregating at least a second signal strength measurement of at least a second subset of the repetitions in the multiple repetitions obtained using at least a second receive beam based on the UE being capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0244] Clause 57. A UE according to clause 56, wherein the means for aggregating at least the second signal strength measurement comprises: means for aggregating the second signal strength measurement until the second signal strength of the second subset of repetitions meets the upper signal strength threshold or until the second signal strength of the second subset of repetitions does not meet the lower signal strength threshold.

[0245] Clause 58. A UE according to clause 57, wherein the UE further comprises: for each remaining receive beam of the UE, when there are remaining repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, a component for aggregating signal strength measurements of a remaining subset of the plurality of repetitions until the signal strength of the remaining subset of the repetitions meets the upper signal strength threshold or until the signal strength of the remaining subset of the repetitions does not meet the lower signal strength threshold.

[0246] Clause 59. A UE according to any one of clauses 54 to 58, the UE further comprising: a component for performing receive beam scanning on a first-occurring subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions of the at least one PRS resource to determine an optimal beam for receiving the at least one PRS resource, wherein the first receive beam is the optimal beam for receiving the at least one PRS resource, and wherein the first subset of repetitions follows the first-occurring subset of repetitions.

[0247] Clause 60. A UE as described in any of clauses 54 to 59, the UE further comprising: means for sending a capability message to the location server, the capability message indicating whether the UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0248] Clause 61. A UE as described in any of clauses 53 to 60, wherein: the first signal strength does not satisfy the lower signal strength threshold, and the first subset of repetitions consists of a single repetition of the plurality of repetitions.

[0249] Clause 62. A UE as described in any of clauses 53 to 60, wherein: the first signal strength satisfies the upper signal strength threshold, and the first subset of repetitions consists of less than all repetitions in the plurality of repetitions.

[0250] Clause 63. A UE as described in any of clauses 53 to 62, the UE further comprising: means for receiving the upper signal strength threshold from the location server; means for receiving the lower signal strength threshold from the location server; or any combination thereof.

[0251] Clause 64. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 53 to 63, the UE further comprising means for receiving, from a network entity, an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are sent phase-coherently.

[0252] Clause 65. The UE of clause 64, wherein: the first subset that is repeated is a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated, or the first subset that is repeated is a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated.

[0253] Clause 66. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 64 to 65, wherein the network entity comprises: the location server or a base station.

[0254] Clause 67. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 53 to 66, the UE further comprising means for obtaining repeated positioning measurements of the first subset.

[0255] Clause 68. A location server, the location server comprising: means for receiving, from a transmit receive point (TRP), a first positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for at least one PRS resource in at least one PRS resource set of the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted; and means for sending, to a user equipment (UE), a second PRS configuration for the at least one PRS resource in the at least one PRS resource set, wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating the time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions.

[0256] Clause 69. The location server of clause 68, further comprising: means for receiving a measurement report from the UE comprising at least one positioning measurement of the at least one PRS resource, the at least one positioning measurement being obtained based on a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions.

[0257] Clause 70. The location server of clause 69, further comprising means for sending an indication of the one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently sent to the UE.

[0258] Clause 71. A location server according to clause 70, wherein the measurement report further includes an indication that the repeated subset is a subset of the repeated one or more subsets, or the repeated subset is a subset of a subset of the repeated one or more subsets.

[0259] Clause 72. A location server according to any one of clauses 69 to 71, wherein the location server further comprises: a component for determining that the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; and a component for estimating the position of the UE based at least in part on the at least one positioning measurement.

[0260] Clause 73. A location server according to any one of clauses 69 to 71, wherein the location server further comprises: a component for determining that the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions does not correspond to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; and a component for discarding the at least one positioning measurement.

[0261] Clause 74. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: means for receiving, from a location server, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration comprises at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; means for receiving an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted; and means for obtaining positioning measurements for a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, wherein the subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions.

[0262] Clause 75. The UE according to clause 74 further comprises: a component for aggregating signal strength measurements of the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions obtained using the receive beam until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold or until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold.

[0263] Clause 76. A UE according to any one of clauses 74 to 75, wherein the UE further comprises: a component for sending a measurement report to the location server, the measurement report comprising at least the positioning measurement and an indication that the repeated subset corresponds to the one of the one or more repeated subsets or the subset of the one of the one or more repeated subsets.

[0264] Clause 77. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 74 to 76, wherein the indication of the one or more subsets of repetitions is received from: the location server or a base station.

[0265] Clause 78. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 74 to 77, the UE further comprising means for estimating a position of the UE based at least in part on the positioning measurements.

[0266] Clause 79. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive from a location server a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; and aggregate first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using a first receive beam until a first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions satisfies an upper signal strength threshold, or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not satisfy a lower signal strength threshold.

[0267] Clause 80. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 79, wherein the plurality of repetitions are scheduled during measurement gaps.

[0268] Clause 81. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 80, wherein: the UE is not capable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to perform the following operations: suppress aggregating signal strength measurements of remaining repetitions of the multiple repetitions based on the UE being not capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0269] Clause 82. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 80, wherein: the UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to perform the following operations: aggregating at least a second signal strength measurement of at least a second subset of the repetitions of the multiple repetitions obtained using at least a second receive beam based on the UE being capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0270] Clause 83. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 82, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to aggregate at least the second signal strength measurement include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to perform the following operations: aggregating the second signal strength measurement until the second signal strength of the second subset of repetitions meets the upper signal strength threshold, or until the second signal strength of the second subset of repetitions does not meet the lower signal strength threshold.

[0271] Clause 84. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 83, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to perform the following operations: for each remaining receive beam of the UE, when there are remaining repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, aggregate signal strength measurements of a remaining subset of the plurality of repetitions until the signal strength of the remaining subset of the repetitions satisfies the upper signal strength threshold, or until the signal strength of the remaining subset of the repetitions does not satisfy the lower signal strength threshold.

[0272] Clause 85. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 80 to 84, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to perform the following operations: perform receive beam scanning on a first-occurring subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions of the at least one PRS resource to determine an optimal beam for receiving the at least one PRS resource, wherein the first receive beam is the optimal beam for receiving the at least one PRS resource, and wherein the first subset of repetitions follows the first-occurring subset of repetitions.

[0273] Clause 86. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 80 to 85, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to perform the following operations: sending a capability message to the location server, wherein the capability message indicates whether the UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

[0274] Clause 87. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 79 to 86, wherein: the first signal strength does not satisfy the lower signal strength threshold, and the first subset of repetitions consists of a single repetition of the plurality of repetitions.

[0275] Clause 88. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 79 to 86, wherein: the first signal strength satisfies the upper signal strength threshold, and the first subset of repetitions consists of less than all of the plurality of repetitions.

[0276] Clause 89. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 79 to 88, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: receive the upper signal strength threshold from the location server; receive the lower signal strength threshold from the location server; or any combination thereof.

[0277] Clause 90. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 79 to 89, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: receive from a network entity an indication of one or more subsets of the multiple repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are transmitted phase-coherently.

[0278] Clause 91. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 90, wherein: the first subset that is repeated is a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated, or the first subset that is repeated is a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated.

[0279] Clause 92. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 90 to 91, wherein the network entity comprises: the location server or a base station.

[0280] Clause 93. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 79 to 92, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to obtain repeated positioning measurements of the first subset.

[0281] Clause 94. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a location server, cause the location server to: receive from a transmit receive point (TRP) a first PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted; and transmit to a user equipment (UE) a second PRS configuration for the at least one PRS resource in the at least one PRS resource set, wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating the time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions.

[0282] Clause 95. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 94, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the location server, cause the location server to perform the following operations: receive a measurement report from the UE comprising at least one positioning measurement of the at least one PRS resource, wherein the at least one positioning measurement is obtained based on a subset of the repetitions in the multiple repetitions.

[0283] Clause 96. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 95, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the location server, cause the location server to perform the following operations: sending an indication to the UE of the one or more subsets of the multiple repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are sent phase-coherently.

[0284] Clause 97. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 96, wherein the measurement report further includes an indication that the repeated subset is a subset of the one or more repeated subsets, or that the repeated subset is a subset of a subset of the one or more repeated subsets.

[0285] Clause 98. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 95 to 97, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the location server, cause the location server to: determine that the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; and estimate the position of the UE based at least in part on the at least one positioning measurement.

[0286] Clause 99. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 95 to 97, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the location server, cause the location server to: determine that the subset of the repetitions in the multiple repetitions does not correspond to a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions; and discard at least one positioning measurement.

[0287] Clause 100. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive, from a location server, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration comprises at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; receive an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted; and obtain positioning measurements for a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, wherein the subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of the repetitions.

[0288] Clause 101. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 100, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to perform the following operations: aggregating signal strength measurements of the subset of repetitions in the multiple repetitions obtained using the receive beam until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold, or until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold.

[0289] Clause 102. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 100 to 101, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to perform the following operations: send a measurement report to the location server, the measurement report comprising at least the positioning measurement and an indication that the repeated subset corresponds to the one of the one or more repeated subsets or the subset of the one of the one or more repeated subsets.

[0290] Clause 103. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 100 to 102, wherein the indication of the one or more subsets of repetitions is received from: the location server or a base station.

[0291] Clause 104. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 100 to 103, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: estimate the position of the UE based at least in part on the positioning measurements.

[0292] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, light fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0293] In addition, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the various illustrative 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 of the two. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative 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 imposed on the entire system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in different ways for each specific application, but such specific implementation decisions should not be interpreted as resulting in a departure from the scope of this disclosure.

[0294] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, 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.

[0295] 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 so that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In an alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in the user terminal as discrete components.

[0296] In one or more example aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium or sent via a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, which include any media that facilitate the transfer of computer programs from one place to another. Storage media 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 devices, magnetic disk storage devices, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Moreover, any connection is appropriately referred to as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is sent from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves, 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.

[0297] 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. Furthermore, 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 explicitly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving, from a location server, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit reception point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration comprises at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; as well as Aggregating first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using a first receive beam until a first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of repetitions are scheduled during measurement gaps.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The UE is incapable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and the method further includes refraining from aggregating signal strength measurements of remaining repetitions of the plurality of repetitions based on the UE being incapable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein: The UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and The method also includes aggregating at least a second signal strength measurement of at least a second subset of repetitions of the plurality of repetitions obtained using at least a second receive beam based on the UE being capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein aggregating at least the second signal strength measurement comprises: The second signal strength measurements are aggregated until the second signal strength of the second subset of repetitions satisfies the upper signal strength threshold or until the second signal strength of the second subset of repetitions does not satisfy the lower signal strength threshold.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising: For each remaining receive beam of the UE, when there are remaining repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, aggregating signal strength measurements of a remaining subset of the plurality of repetitions until the signal strength of the remaining subset of the repetitions meets the upper signal strength threshold, or until the signal strength of the remaining subset of the repetitions does not meet the lower signal strength threshold.

7. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: Perform receive beam scanning on a first-occurring subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource to determine a best beam for receiving the at least one PRS resource, wherein the first receive beam is the best beam for receiving the at least one PRS resource, and wherein the first subset of repetitions follows the first-occurring subset of repetitions.

8. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: A capability message is sent to the location server, where the capability message indicates whether the UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first signal strength does not meet the lower signal strength threshold, and The first subset of repetitions consists of a single repetition of the plurality of repetitions.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The first signal strength satisfies the upper signal strength threshold, and The first subset of repetitions consists of less than all of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions.

11. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: receiving the upper signal strength threshold from the location server; receiving the lower signal strength threshold from the location server; or Any combination of them.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: An indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently sent is received from a network entity.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein: said first subset of repetitions is a subset of said one or more subsets of repetitions, or The first subset of repetitions is a subset of one of the one or more subsets of repetitions.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the network entity comprises: the location server, or Base station.

15. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: Positioning measurements for the first subset of repetitions are obtained.

16. A method of communication performed by a location server, the method comprising: receiving, from a transmit-receive point (TRP), a first positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for at least one PRS resource in at least one PRS resource set of the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted; as well as A second PRS configuration for the at least one PRS resource in the at least one PRS resource set is transmitted to a user equipment (UE), wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating the time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions.

17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising: A measurement report is received from the UE including at least one positioning measurement of the at least one PRS resource, the at least one positioning measurement being obtained based on a subset of the plurality of repetitions.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: An indication of the one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted is sent to the UE.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the measurement report further includes an indication of: The subset that is repeated is a subset of the one or more subsets that are repeated, or The subset that is repeated is a subset of one of the one or more subsets that are repeated.

20. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: determining that the subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; as well as A position of the UE is estimated based at least in part on the at least one positioning measurement.

21. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: determining that the subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions does not correspond to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; as well as The at least one positioning measurement is discarded.

22. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving, from a location server, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit reception point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration comprises at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; receiving an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted; as well as Positioning measurements are obtained for a subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, wherein the subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising: Signal strength measurements of the subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using receive beams are aggregated until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold or until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold.

24. The method according to claim 22, further comprising: A measurement report is sent to the location server, the measurement report including at least the positioning measurement and an indication that the repeated subset corresponds to the one of the one or more repeated subsets or the subset of the one of the one or more repeated subsets.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the indication of the one or more subsets of repetitions is received from: the location server, or Base station.

26. The method according to claim 22, further comprising: A position of the UE is estimated based at least in part on the positioning measurements.

27. 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: receiving, from a location server via the at least one transceiver, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration comprises at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; as well as Aggregating first signal strength measurements of a first subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using a first receive beam until a first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold or until the first signal strength of the first subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold.

28. The UE of claim 27, wherein the plurality of repetitions are scheduled during measurement gaps.

29. The UE according to claim 28, wherein: The UE is incapable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and the at least one processor is further configured to refrain from aggregating signal strength measurements of remaining repetitions of the plurality of repetitions based on the UE being incapable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

30. The UE according to claim 28, wherein: The UE is capable of beam switching during the measurement gap, and The at least one processor is further configured to aggregate at least second signal strength measurements of at least a second subset of repetitions of the plurality of repetitions obtained using at least a second receive beam based on the UE being capable of beam switching during the measurement gap.

31. A location server, 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, from a transmit-receive point (TRP), via the at least one transceiver, a first positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for at least one PRS resource in at least one PRS resource set of the TRP, wherein the first PRS configuration indicates a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions, and wherein the first PRS configuration further indicates one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions that are phase-coherently transmitted; as well as and transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, to a user equipment (UE), a second PRS configuration for the at least one PRS resource in the at least one PRS resource set, wherein the second PRS configuration includes at least a first parameter indicating the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource and a second parameter indicating the time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions.

32. The location server of claim 31 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: A measurement report is received from the UE via the at least one transceiver, comprising at least one positioning measurement of the at least one PRS resource, the at least one positioning measurement being obtained based on a subset of the repetitions in the plurality of repetitions.

33. The location server of claim 32, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: An indication of the one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted is sent to the UE via the at least one transceiver.

34. The location server of claim 32, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determining that the subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; and A position of the UE is estimated based at least in part on the at least one positioning measurement.

35. The location server of claim 32, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determining that the subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions does not correspond to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions; and The at least one positioning measurement is discarded.

36. 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: receiving, from a location server via the at least one transceiver, a PRS configuration for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource in at least one PRS resource set for at least one transmit receive point (TRP), wherein the PRS configuration comprises at least a first parameter indicating a plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource within an instance of the at least one PRS resource set and a second parameter indicating a time offset between each of the plurality of repetitions; receiving, via the at least one transceiver, an indication of one or more subsets of the plurality of repetitions of the at least one PRS resource that are phase-coherently transmitted; as well as Positioning measurements are obtained for a subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions, wherein the subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions corresponds to a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions or a subset of a subset of the one or more subsets of repetitions.

37. The UE of claim 36, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: Signal strength measurements of the subset of repetitions in the plurality of repetitions obtained using receive beams are aggregated until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions meets an upper signal strength threshold or until the signal strength of the subset of repetitions does not meet a lower signal strength threshold.

38. The UE of claim 36, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: A measurement report is sent to the location server via the at least one transceiver, the measurement report including at least the positioning measurement and an indication that the repeated subset corresponds to the one of the one or more repeated subsets or the subset of the one of the one or more repeated subsets.

39. The UE of claim 36, wherein the indication of the one or more subsets of repetitions is received from: the location server, or Base station.

40. The UE of claim 36, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: A position of the UE is estimated based at least in part on the positioning measurements.

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