Conditional positioning sounding reference signal (SRS) transmission of preconfigured sounding reference signal (SRS) resources in radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communication are disclosed. In an aspect, a user equipment (UE) may receive configuration information for one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity region. The UE may select one or more downlink reference signals based on one or more signal strength measurements of the one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals with respect to a first cell of the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources of a set of SRS resources associated with the first cell and a subset. The UE may transmit a selected subset of the one or more SRS resources only from all SRS resources associated with the first cell while operating in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) unconnected state.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This patent application claims priority to Greek patent application No. 20230100109, filed on February 13, 2023, entitled "CONDITIONAL POSITIONING SOUNDING REFERENCE SIGNAL (SRS) TRANSMISSION OF PRE-CONFIGURED SRS RESOURCES INRADIO RESOURCE CONTROL (RRC) NOT-CONNECTED STATE (Conditional positioning SRS transmission of pre-configured sounding reference signal (SRS) resources in radio resource control (RRC) not-connected state)", which is assigned to the assignee of this application and is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Background Art 1. Technical Field

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

[0004] 2. Description of Related Technologies

[0005] Wireless communication systems have evolved over many generations, including first-generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second-generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, 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.

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

[0007] 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.

[0008] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes: receiving configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets including one or more SRS resources; selecting a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell in the one or more SRS resource sets; and sending the selected subset of the one or more SRS resources from only all SRS resources associated with the first cell when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0009] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a transmit receive point (TRP) includes: attempting to detect at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate SRS resources based on a priority of the candidate SRS resources; and measuring the at least one detected SRS resource.

[0010] 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, via the at least one transceiver, configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets including one or more SRS resources; select a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell; and send, via the at least one transceiver and when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state, only the selected subset of the one or more SRS resources from all SRS resources associated with the first cell.

[0011] In one aspect, a transmit receive point (TRP) 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: attempt to detect at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate SRS resources based on a priority of the candidate SRS resources; and measure the at least one detected SRS resource.

[0012] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: a component for receiving configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a sounding reference signal (SRS) validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets including one or more SRS resources; a component for selecting a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell; and a component for sending the selected subset of the one or more SRS resources only from all SRS resources associated with the first cell when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0013] In one aspect, a transmit receive point (TRP) includes: a component for attempting to detect at least one SRS resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate sounding reference signal (SRS) resources based on the priority of the candidate SRS resources; and a component for measuring the detected at least one SRS resource.

[0014] 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 configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets including one or more SRS resources; select a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell; and, when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state, send only the selected subset of the one or more SRS resources from all SRS resources associated with the first cell.

[0015] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a transmit receive point (TRP), cause the transmit receive point (TRP) to: attempt to detect at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate SRS resources based on a priority of the candidate SRS resources; and measure the at least one detected SRS resource.

[0016] 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

[0017] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in describing the various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided solely for illustration and not limitation of the various aspects.

[0018] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0019] Figure 2A 、 Figure 2B and Figure 2C Example wireless network structures according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0020] 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.

[0021] Figure 4 Different radio resource control (RRC) states available in New Radio (NR) according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0022] Figure 5 Examples of various positioning methods supported in New Radio (NR) according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated.

[0023] Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 7A and Figure 7B An example deferred mobile terminated location request (MT LR) procedure for a downlink and uplink based positioning method according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0025] Figure 8 is a diagram illustrating a positioning sounding reference signal (SRS) pre-configuration structure according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0026] Figure 9A and Figure 9B An example deferred MT LR procedure for a downlink and uplink based positioning method with positioning SRS pre-configuration according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0027] Figure 10 is a diagram illustrating example UE mobility scenarios through multiple areas according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0028] Figure 11 An example radio resource control (RRC) "SRS-PosRRC-Inactive" information element (IE) is illustrated in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0029] Figure 12A is a diagram illustrating an example region-to-SRS configuration scenario according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0030] Figure 12B is a diagram illustrating example SRS configurations according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0031] Figure 13 is a diagram illustrating an example UE mobility scenario through a network paging area in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0032] Figure 14An example method of wireless communication performed by a UE according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0033] Figure 15 Example methods of wireless communications performed by a transmit reception point (TRP) according to aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] 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.

[0035] 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.

[0036] 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.

[0037] 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. Accordingly, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which are contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. 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."

[0038] 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. In general, a UE can communicate with a core network via the RAN, and through the core network, the UE can connect to external networks such as the Internet and to 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.), etc.

[0039] 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 by 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 by 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.

[0040] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to the cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical 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.

[0041] In some implementations supporting UE positioning, a base station may not support wireless access for the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead 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).

[0042] An "RF signal" comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transmits information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply as a "signal" where the context clearly indicates that the term "signal" refers to either a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0043] 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.

[0044] 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.

[0045] 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.

[0046] Base stations 102 can communicate wirelessly with UEs 104. Each of base stations 102 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells can be supported by base stations 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used 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 it, depending on the context. Furthermore, because the TRP is typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station, as long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communications within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0047] 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 called a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG).

[0048] 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).

[0049] 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.

[0050] 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.

[0051] 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 alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near-mmW frequencies and beamforming. Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0052] 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 the one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node can use an array of antennas (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") 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.

[0053] The transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antennas are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about the second reference RF signal on the second beam can be derived based on information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. 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.

[0054] 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.

[0055] 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.

[0056] 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.

[0057] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc. based on frequency / wavelength. In 5GNR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz - 7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz - 52.6 GHz). It should be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often (interchangeably) referred to as the "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).

[0058] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are generally referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating band for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz - 24.25 GHz). The frequency bands falling within FR3 can inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, thus effectively extending the features of FR1 and / or FR2 to mid-band frequencies. In addition, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operation to more than 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz to 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz to 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz to 300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0059] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if used herein, the term "sub-6 GHz" or the like 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" or the like 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.

[0060] In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell 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 a carrier frequency / component carrier through which a base station communicates, the terms "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. can be used interchangeably.

[0061] 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 utilized 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.

[0062] 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.

[0063] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 are capable of sidelink communication. Sidelink-capable UEs (SL-UEs) can communicate with base station 102 via communication link 120 using a Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between the UE and the base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) can also communicate directly with each other via 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 can be unicast or multicast and can be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more SL-UEs in a group of SL-UEs 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 unable to receive transmissions from the base station 102 for other reasons. 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 the sidelink communication. In other cases, the sidelink communication is performed between the SL-UEs without involving the base station 102.

[0064] 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.

[0065] 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, while 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.

[0066] 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.

[0067] 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.

[0068] 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 outside the 5G network, such as Internet web servers and other user devices. Thus, instead of or in addition to communication signals from terrestrial base station 102, UE 104 can receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from SV 112.

[0069] 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 FIG1 , 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.

[0070] 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).

[0071] 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).

[0072] 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 the session management function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and the short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with the authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives 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 allocation of Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifiers for interoperation with EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notifications. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functionality for non-3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0073] 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.

[0074] 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.

[0075] 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 the 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 the user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0076] 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.

[0077] 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.

[0078] 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.

[0079] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G NR system) can be arranged with various components or parts in a variety of ways. In a 5G NR system or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of the 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 referred to as an independent base station or a monolithic base station) or a decomposed base station.

[0080] 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 between two or more units, such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs). In some aspects, 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).

[0081] 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 used in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (a network configuration such as that initiated by the O-RAN Alliance)), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). Decomposition 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.

[0082] 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.

[0083] 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 signals or transmit signals to one or more of the other units via a 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 signals or transmit signals to one or more of the other units, or both, via a wireless transmission medium.

[0084] 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.

[0085] 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.) at least in part according to a functional split, such as that defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). In some aspects, the DU 285 may further 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.

[0086] 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 plane 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).

[0087] 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 .

[0088] 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 (such as 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 (such as 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.

[0089] 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 by creating RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0090] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C 2. The diagram illustrates a network entity 306 that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any UE described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any base station described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any network function described herein, including location server 230 and LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent thereof). Figure 2A and Figure 2B Several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) in the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure (such as a dedicated network) depicted in the present disclosure are shown 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 the 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.

[0091] 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.

[0092] 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.

[0093] 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.

[0094] 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.

[0095] 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.

[0096] 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) will typically involve signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0097] 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.

[0098] 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.

[0099] 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.

[0100] 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.

[0101] 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.

[0102] 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 from 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.

[0103] 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.

[0104] 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.

[0105] 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.

[0106] 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.

[0107] 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.

[0108] 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.

[0109] 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.

[0110] 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).

[0111] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C The components of can be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3CThe components 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," "by a base station," "by a network entity," etc. 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.).

[0112] 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).

[0113] However, after the random access procedure, the UE is in the RRC connected state. The RRC protocol is used on the air interface between the UE and the base station. The main functions of the RRC protocol include connection establishment and release functions, broadcast of system information, radio bearer establishment, reconfiguration, release, RRC connection mobility procedures, paging notification and release, and outer loop power control. In LTE, the UE can be in one of two RRC states (connected or idle), but in NR, the UE can be in one of three RRC states (connected, idle or inactive). Different RRC states have different radio resources associated with these states, which the UE can use when it is in a given state. Note that, as above, the different RRC states are usually capitalized; however, this is not necessary, and the states can also be written in lowercase.

[0114] Figure 4 4 is a diagram illustrating different RRC states (also referred to as RRC modes) available in NR according to aspects of the present disclosure. When a UE is powered on, the UE is initially in an RRC disconnected / idle state 410. After a random access procedure, the UE moves to an RRC connected state 420. If there is no activity at the UE for a short period of time, the UE may suspend its session by moving to an RRC inactive state 430. The UE may resume its session by performing a random access procedure to transition back to the RRC connected state 420. Therefore, the UE needs to perform a random access procedure to transition to the RRC connected state 420 regardless of whether the UE is in the RRC idle state 410 or the RRC inactive state 430.

[0115] Operations performed in the RRC idle state 410 include public land mobile network (PLMN) selection, broadcast of system information, cell reselection mobility, paging for mobile terminated data (initiated and managed by 5GC), discontinuous reception (DRX) for core network paging (configured by non-access stratum (NAS)). Operations performed in the RRC connected state 420 include 5GC (e.g., 5GC 260) and NG-RAN (e.g., NG-RAN 220) connection establishment (both control plane and user plane), UE context storage at NG-RAN and UE, NG-RAN knowledge of the cell to which the UE belongs, delivery of unicast data to / from the UE, and network-controlled mobility. Operations performed in the RRC Inactive state 430 include broadcast of system information, cell reselection for mobility, paging (initiated by the NG-RAN), RAN-based Notification Area (RNA) management (performed by the NG-RAN), DRX for RAN paging (configured by the NG-RAN), 5GC and NG-RAN connection establishment for the UE (both control and user plane), storage of UE context in the NG-RAN and the UE, and NG-RAN knowledge of the RNA to which the UE belongs.

[0116] NR supports a variety of positioning technologies based on cellular networks, including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and downlink and uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include: Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, Downlink Time Difference of Arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and Downlink Angle of Departure (DL-AoD) in NR. Figure 5 Examples of various positioning methods according to various aspects of the present disclosure are illustrated. In the OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning process illustrated in scenario 510, the UE measures the difference between the arrival times (ToA) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from a base station pair (referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or arrival time difference (TDOA) measurements) and reports these differences to a positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each non-reference base station. Based on the known positions of the base stations involved and the RSTD measurements, a positioning entity (e.g., a UE for UE-based positioning or a location server for UE-assisted positioning) can estimate the position of the UE.

[0117] For DL-AoD positioning, as illustrated in scenario 520, the positioning entity uses measurement reports from the UE regarding received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmit beams to determine the angle between the UE and the transmitting base station. The positioning entity can then estimate the UE's position based on the determined angle and the known location of the transmitting base station.

[0118] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS)) sent by the UE to multiple base stations. Specifically, the UE sends one or more uplink reference signals, which are measured by a reference base station and multiple non-reference base stations. Each base station then reports the time of receipt of the reference signal (referred to as relative time of arrival (RTOA)) to a positioning entity (e.g., a location server) that knows the position and relative timing of the base stations involved. Based on the receive-to-receive (Rx-Rx) time difference between the reported RTOA of the reference base station and the reported RTOA of each non-reference base station, the known positions of the base stations, and their known timing offsets, the positioning entity can use TDOA to estimate the position of the UE.

[0119] For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from the UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angle of the receive beams to determine the angle between the UE and the base station. Based on the determined angle and the known location of the base station, the positioning entity can then estimate the UE's position.

[0120] Downlink and uplink-based positioning methods include enhanced cell ID (E-CID) positioning and multiple round-trip time (RTT) positioning (also known as "multi-cell RTT" and "multi-RTT"). In the RTT process, a first entity (e.g., a base station or UE) sends a first RTT-related signal (e.g., a PRS or SRS) to a second entity (e.g., a UE or base station), and the second entity sends a second RTT-related signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the first entity. Each entity measures the time difference between the arrival time (ToA) of the received RTT-related signal and the transmission time of the transmitted RTT-related signal. This time difference is called the received-to-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement can be performed or adjusted to include only the time difference between the nearest time slot boundary of the received signal and the transmitted signal. The two entities can then transmit their Rx-Tx time difference measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 270), which calculates the round-trip propagation time (i.e., RTT) between the two entities based on the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., as the sum of the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements). Alternatively, one entity can transmit its Rx-Tx time difference measurement to the other entity, which then calculates the RTT. The distance between the two entities can be determined based on the RTT and a known signal speed (e.g., the speed of light). For multi-RTT positioning, as illustrated in scenario 530, a first entity (e.g., a UE or base station) performs an RTT positioning procedure with multiple second entities (e.g., multiple base stations or UEs) to enable the first entity's position to be determined (e.g., using multilateration) based on the distances to the second entities and the known positions of the second entities. RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning techniques (such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD) to improve position accuracy, as illustrated in scenario 540.

[0121] The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, timing advance (TA), and the identifiers of detected neighboring base stations, estimated timing, and signal strength. The UE's position is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base stations.

[0122] To assist in positioning operations, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include: an identifier of the base station (or cell / TRP of the base station) from which the reference signal is measured, reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive time slots including PRS, the periodicity of consecutive time slots including PRS, a muting sequence, a frequency hopping sequence, a reference signal identifier, a reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to a particular positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base station itself (e.g., in a periodically broadcast overhead message, etc.). In some cases, the UE itself may be able to detect neighboring network nodes without the use of assistance data.

[0123] In the case of OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedures, the assistance data may also include an expected RSTD value and an associated uncertainty or search window around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the expected RSTD value range may be + / - 500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for positioning measurements are in FR1, the expected RSTD uncertainty value range may be + / - 32 μs. In other cases, when all resources used for positioning measurements are in FR2, the expected RSTD uncertainty value range may be + / - 8 μs.

[0124] A position estimate may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, a position, a position fix, a position fix, a fix, etc. A position estimate may be geodetic and include coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), or may be municipal and include a street address, a postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. The position estimate may be further defined relative to some other known location or defined in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). The position estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with some specified or default confidence level).

[0125] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (eg, base stations and UEs). Figure 6 FIG6 is a diagram 600 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.

[0126] 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 called frequency tones, frequency bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. In general, 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.

[0127] 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.

[0128] exist Figure 6 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 6 , 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.

[0129] 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 can correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. Figure 6In 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.

[0130] 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 6 Example locations of REs carrying reference signals (labeled "R") are illustrated.

[0131] On the one hand, Figure 6 The reference signals carried on the REs marked with an "R" in the figure may be SRSs. The SRSs transmitted by the UE can be used by the base station to obtain channel state information (CSI) for the transmitting UE. CSI describes how the RF signal propagates from the UE to the base station and represents the combined effects of scattering, attenuation, and power loss over distance. Systems use SRSs for resource scheduling, link adaptation, massive MIMO, beam management, and more.

[0132] The set of REs used for SRS transmission is called an "SRS resource" and can be identified by the parameter "SRS-ResourceId". The set of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and "N" (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbols within a time slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol, an SRS resource occupies one or more consecutive PRBs. An "SRS resource set" is a group of SRS resources used for transmission of an SRS signal and is identified by an SRS resource set ID ("SRS-ResourceSetId").

[0133] The transmission of the SRS resource within a given PRB has a specific comb size (also referred to as "comb density"). The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the SRS resource configuration. Specifically, for comb size "N", the SRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of one symbol of the PRB. For example, for comb-4, for each symbol of the SRS resource configuration, the REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, 8) are used to transmit the SRS of the SRS resource. Figure 6In the example of FIG, the illustrated SRS is comb-tooth-4 spanning four symbols. That is, the position of the shaded SRS RE indicates the SRS resource configuration of comb-tooth-4.

[0134] Currently, an SRS resource with a comb size of Comb-2, Comb-4, or Comb-8 can span 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot. The following are the symbol-by-symbol frequency offsets for the currently supported SRS comb patterns. 1 symbol Comb-2: {0}; 2 symbols Comb-2: {0,1}; 2 symbols Comb-4: {0,2}; 4 symbols Comb-2: {0,1,0,1}; 4 symbols Comb-4: {0,2,1,3} (as in Figure 6 ); 8-symbol comb-4: {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}; 12-symbol comb-4: {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}; 4-symbol comb-8: {0,4,2,6}; 8-symbol comb-8: {0,4,2,6,1,5,3,7}; and 12-symbol comb-8: {0,4,2,6,1,5,3,7,0,4,2,6}.

[0135] Generally speaking, as mentioned above, the UE sends the SRS so that the receiving base station (serving base station or neighboring base station) can measure the channel quality (i.e., CSI) between the UE and the base station. However, the SRS can also be specifically configured as an uplink positioning reference signal for uplink-based positioning processes, such as uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), round-trip time (RTT), uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA), etc. As used herein, the term "SRS" may refer to an SRS configured for channel quality measurement or an SRS configured for positioning purposes. When it is necessary to distinguish between two types of SRS, the former may be referred to herein as "SRS for communication" and / or the latter may be referred to as "SRS for positioning" or "positioning SRS".

[0136] Several enhancements to the previously defined SRS have been proposed for "SRS for positioning" (also known as "UL-PRS"), such as a new interleaving pattern within the SRS resource (in addition to a single symbol / comb-2), a new comb type for SRS, a new sequence for SRS, a larger number of SRS resource sets per component carrier, and a larger number of SRS resources per component carrier. In addition, the parameters "SpatialRelationInfo" and "PathLossReference" are to be configured based on the downlink reference signal or SSB from a neighboring TRP. Furthermore, one SRS resource may be sent outside the active BWP, and one SRS resource may span multiple component carriers. Moreover, the SRS may be configured in the RRC connected state and sent only within the active BWP. In addition, there may be no frequency hopping, no repetition factor, a single antenna port, and new lengths for the SRS (e.g., 8 and 12 symbols). There may also be open-loop power control and no closed-loop power control, and comb-8 (i.e., SRS transmitted every eighth subcarrier in the same symbol) may be used. Finally, a UE may transmit from multiple SRS resources through the same transmit beam for UL-AoA. All of these are features in addition to the current SRS framework, which is configured through RRC higher layer signaling (and potentially triggered or activated through MAC Control Element (MAC-CE) or Downlink Control Information (DCI).

[0137] Enhancements for the Low Power High Accuracy Positioning (LPHAP) use case were also discussed. For example, one enhancement to LPHAP implementation could include extending the extended DRX (eDRX) cycle to more than 10.24 seconds in the RRC inactive state to meet LPHAP's battery life requirements. Work on this goal could be coordinated with work on enhanced RedCap (eRedCap).

[0138] One of the enhancements to implementing LPHAP may include specifying SRS configuration enhancements based on an SRS positioning validity region for uplink-based and downlink-uplink-based positioning of UEs in an RRC-inactive state to avoid frequent RRC connections due to SRS (re)configuration. For example, positioning SRS configurations may be arranged for multiple cells in an SRS positioning validity region. Details regarding interference, timing advance, spatial relationship information, path loss reference, and common SRS parameters across multiple cells may be further discussed and / or considered. The specified SRS configuration may be a pre-configuration of one or more positioning SRS configurations. In some examples, the specified SRS configuration may be part of a positioning SRS activation or request process.

[0139] Furthermore, one of the enhancements for implementing LPHAP may include specifying a solution for DL ​​PRS measurements for UEs in RRC Idle state and reporting measurements in RRC Connected state. Furthermore, one of the enhancements for implementing LPHAP may include specifying a solution for alignment between eDRX and PRS configurations. Furthermore, one of the enhancements for implementing LPHAP may include specifying corresponding new core requirements and identifying and specifying impacts on existing communication standards, including, for example, RRM measurements and procedures.

[0140] Figure 7A and Figure 7B An example deferred mobile terminated location request (MT LR) procedure for downlink and uplink based positioning methods (e.g., multi-RTT) according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. The procedure consists of two event reports: Figure 7A The illustrated event report #1 (stage 3-10) for requesting / configuring SRS for positioning, and Figure 7B Illustrated event report #2 (stages 12-16) for reporting position measurements.

[0141] At stage 1, stages 1-21 of the deferred 5GC-MT-LR procedure for periodic or triggered location events specified in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 23.273, clause 6.3.1 (which is publicly available and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety) are performed. LMF 270 may perform one or more positioning procedures at stage 15 of the deferred 5GC-MT-LR procedure for periodic or triggered location events (e.g., specified in 3GPP TS 23.273, clause 6.3.1) to request and obtain UE 204 positioning capabilities or provide any necessary assistance data to the target device. A location service (LCS) periodic triggered location invocation at stage 16 of a deferred 5GC-MT-LR procedure for periodic or triggered location events (e.g., as specified in 3GPP TS 23.273, clause 6.3.1) may include an embedded LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) Request Location Information message indicating the allowed or required multi-RTT location measurements for each location event reported.

[0142] At some point, the last serving gNB releases the UE 204 from RRC Connected to RRC Inactive via “RRCRelease” with “SuspendConfig”.

[0143] At Phase 2 , UE 204 monitors for the occurrence of the trigger or periodic event requested during Phase 1 .

[0144] In Phase 3, upon detecting the event (or slightly earlier), UE 204 transmits an RRC UL Information Transfer message containing a UL NAS Transport message along with an RRC Resume Request via, for example, a Small Data Transmission (SDT). UE 204 includes an LCS Event Report in the payload container of the UL NAS Transport message, along with the Deferred Route Identifier received during Phase 1, in the additional information of the UL NAS Transport message. The LCS Event Report includes an embedded LPP Request Assistance Data message with the IE "NR-Multi-RTT-RequestAssistanceData" and "nr-AdType" set to "ul-srs" to request UL-SRS for multi-RTT positioning. Note that the receiving gNB of UE 204 when UE 204 performs Phase 3 may or may not be the same as the last serving gNB from which UE 204 was released to the RRC Inactive state.

[0145] At stage 4, the receiving gNB transmits an LCS event report with an LPP request assistance data message to the serving AMF 264 in a Next Generation Application Protocol (NGAP) uplink NAS transport message. The AMF 264 determines the LMF 270 based on the deferred routing identifier received in the additional information IE of the UL NAS transport message and forwards the LCS event report with the embedded LPP message to the LMF 270 via triggering a Namf_Communication_N1MessageNotify service operation. The AMF 264 also includes the payload container type and the associated identifier set to the deferred routing identifier. Note that if the anchor gNB does not change from the last serving gNB to the receiving gNB, the LCS event report can be forwarded from the receiving gNB to the last serving gNB via Xn Application Protocol (XnAP) message RRC delivery. Subsequent downlink / uplink messages can also be forwarded between the last serving gNB and the receiving gNB via XnAP message RRC delivery.

[0146] At stage 5, the LMF 270 transmits a New Radio Positioning Protocol Type A (NRPPa) Positioning Information Request message to the receiving gNB to request the UL-SRS for the target device (i.e., UE 204).

[0147] At stage 6, the receiving gNB determines the resources available for UL-SRS.

[0148] At stage 7, the receiving gNB provides the UL-SRS configuration information to the LMF 270 in the NRPPa Positioning Information Response message.

[0149] At stage 8, the LMF 270 transmits an NRPPa measurement request including the UL-SRS measurement configuration to the gNB group.

[0150] At stage 9a, the LMF 270 transmits a Supplementary Service (SS) LCS Event Report Acknowledgement to the receiving gNB. Then, at stage 9b, the receiving gNB provides the SS Event Report Acknowledgement to the UE 204 via a subsequent DL SDT.

[0151] At stage 10, the receiving gNB transmits an “RRCRelease” message with “suspendConfig” to keep the UE 204 in the RRC inactive state. The “RRCRelease” message includes the UL-SRS configuration.

[0152] At stage 11a, UE 204 performs DL-PRS measurements. At stage 11b, UL-SRS measurements are performed per configured TRP.

[0153] At stage 12, UE 204 transmits an RRC UL Information Transfer message containing a UL NAS transport message along with an RRC Resume Request via SDT. UE 204 includes the LCS Event Report and LPP Provide Location Information message in the payload container of the UL NAS transport message, and the Deferred Route Identifier received during stage 1 in the additional information of the UL NAS transport message.

[0154] At stage 13, the receiving gNB transmits an LCS Event Report with an LPP Provide Location Information message in an NGAP Uplink NAS Transport message to the serving AMF 264. The AMF 264 determines the LMF 270 based on the Deferred Route Identifier received in the Additional Information IE of the UL NAS Transport message and forwards the LCS Event Report with the embedded LPP message to the LMF 270 via triggering a Namf_Communication_N1MessageNotify service operation. The AMF 264 also includes the payload container type and the correlation identifier set to the Deferred Route Identifier.

[0155] At stage 14, after performing UL-SRS measurements, the gNB provides the UL measurements to the LMF 270 in an NRPPa Measurement Response message.

[0156] At stage 15a, when all LPP Provide Location Information messages have been received, LMF 270 transmits an SS LCS Event Report Ack to the receiving gNB. Then, at stage 15b, the receiving gNB provides an SS Event Report Ack to UE 204 via a subsequent DL SDT.

[0157] At stage 16, the receiving gNB transmits an "RRCRelease" message with "suspendConfig" to keep the UE 204 in the RRC inactive state.

[0158] At stage 17, stages 28-31 of the deferred 5GC-MT-LR procedure for periodic or triggered location events specified in TS 23.273, clause 6.3.1 are performed.

[0159] In the aforementioned process, whenever an event report is triggered (e.g., when a periodic timer expires), a new positioning SRS can be “negotiated” between the LMF and the serving / receiving gNB (e.g., Figure 7A This results in large signaling activity, e.g., for periodic events with relatively small periodicity (e.g., 15 to 30 seconds), and thus in additional latency and processing, which may also adversely affect power consumption at the target device.

[0160] In order to reduce the amount of SRS configuration signaling, it has been proposed to pre-configure positioning SRS. This assumes that the initialization phase of the MT-LR procedure can be postponed ( Figure 7A Phase 1) in the process provides a one-time positioning SRS configuration information, which can then be activated when needed. Figure 7A Instead of transmitting an event report to the LMF 270 at stages 3 and 4 in the UE 204 to request the LMF 270 for positioning SRS configuration, the UE 204 may potentially transmit a request to activate the pre-configured positioning SRS configuration directly to the NG-RAN 220 (receiving gNB) using lower layer signaling (e.g., MAC Control Element (CE) (MAC-CE)). In this case, the activation of the pre-configured positioning SRS configuration is not required or can be simplified. Figure 7A Stages 5-7 and 9a.

[0161] However, due to mobility, a UE may request "SRS activation" in a cell different from the one from which it received pre-configured positioning SRS configuration information. SRS used for positioning is typically UE- and location-specific. A positioning SRS configuration is currently only valid in the cell in which the UE received the SRS configuration. This is due to the fact that the SRS configuration includes parameters that (at least roughly) depend on the UE's location, such as spatial relationship information and path loss reference information (both of which are provided for neighboring cells, and neighboring cells are typically different for different serving cells), as well as information determined by the receiving / serving gNB, such as timing advance information. Currently, the UE will release the positioning SRS configuration when cell reselection occurs. However, since the positioning SRS configuration also includes parameters that can be valid for a larger part of the network (multiple cells), at least part of the SRS configuration can be pre-configured.

[0162] Therefore, in order to achieve pre-configuration of positioning SRS, the present disclosure further illustrates a technique for dividing positioning SRS parameters into two parts. The first part (referred to as "part (a)") is a parameter set that is valid for multiple cells. The area in which the parameter set is valid can be indicated by a list of cell IDs. The list of cell IDs can be considered as "area IDs" where the positioning SRS parameter set is applicable or valid. The second part (referred to as "part (b)") is a location / cell-specific parameter set. Part (a) of the SRS used for positioning configuration can be pre-configured, while part (b) will be provided in the SRS activation message.

[0163] Figure 8 FIG8 is a diagram illustrating a positioning SRS pre-configuration structure according to various aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 8 As shown, each pre-configured positioning SRS configuration (eg, part (a)) includes a configuration identifier.

[0164] The positioning SRS configuration for the RRC inactive state currently includes the following parameters as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 (which is publicly available and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). The "SRS-PosResourceSet" includes the "srs-PosResourceSetId", "srs-PosResourceIdList", "resourceType", "alpha", "p0", and "pathlossReferenceRS-Pos" parameters. The "srs-PosResourceSetId" parameter indicates the ID of the resource set. It is unique in the context of the BWP that defines the positioning SRS. The "srs-PosResourceIdList" parameter indicates the ID of the SRS used for positioning resources in this "SRS-PosResourceSet". The "resourceType" parameter defines the time domain behavior of the SRS resource configuration (e.g., periodic, semi-persistent, aperiodic). The "alpha" parameter indicates the value of the positioning SRS power control, which defines the fractional path loss compensation. The UE multiplies the alpha value with the path loss estimate. For full path loss compensation, alpha is equal to 1. The "p0" parameter indicates the value for positioning SRS power control, which can be described as the "desired received power" at the TRP. That is, the SRS used for positioning transmit power determination is based on p0 + alpha × PL, where PL is the path loss estimate. The "pathlossReferenceRS-Pos" parameter defines the reference DL signal to be used for path loss estimation. The DL reference signal can be an SSB or DL-PRS from the serving TRP or a neighboring TRP.

[0165] "SRS-PosResource" includes "srs-PosResourceId", "transmissionComb", "resourceMapping", "freqDomainShift", "freqHopping", "groupOrSequenceHopping", "resourceType", "sequenceId" and "spatialRelationInfoPos" parameters. The "srs-PosResourceId" parameter indicates the SRS used to locate the resource identity that defines a specific positioning SRS resource. The "transmissionComb" parameter defines the comb size N (e.g., N=2, 4, or 8) of the positioning SRS, the comb offset (0...N-1) of the first symbol of the positioning SRS resource, and the cyclic shift used to generate the reference sequence. "resourceMapping" (which includes "startPosition" and "nrofSymbols") defines the first OFDM symbol position of the positioning SRS resource in the time slot (e.g., 0, 1, 2,..., 13) and the number of symbols of the positioning SRS resource (e.g., 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12). The "freqDomainShift" parameter defines the frequency domain position of the positioning SRS resource. The "freqHopping" parameter (or "c-SRS") defines the bandwidth of the positioning SRS resource. The "groupOrSequenceHopping" parameter defines whether group hopping or sequence hopping is used. The hopping pattern is used to randomize the reuse of sequences in the system. The "resourceType" parameter defines the positioning SRS resource type (periodic, semi-persistent, aperiodic) and the periodicity of semi-persistent and periodic positioning SRS. The "sequenceId" parameter defines the sequence ID used to initialize pseudo-random group and sequence hopping. The "spatialRelationInfoPos" parameter defines the spatial relationship between the reference signal and the target SRS. The reference signal can be SSB, CSI-RS, DL-PRS or SRS.

[0166] Additional parameters include BWP information, which defines the BWP configuration of the SRS used for positioning, including the frequency domain location and the bandwidth, subcarrier spacing, and cyclic prefix of the bandwidth portion. The "inactivePosSRS-TimeAlignmentTimer" parameter indicates the timer value for the SRS sent for positioning. The "inactivePosSRS-RSRP-changeThreshold" parameter indicates the RSRP increase / decrease threshold for time alignment verification.

[0167] A possible set of part (a) parameters that may be valid for multiple cells may include: "SRS-PosResourceSet", "srs-PosResourceSetId", "srs-PosResourceIdList", "resourceType", "SRS-PosResource", "srs-PosResourceId", "transmissionComb", "resourceMapping" ("startPosition", "nrofSymbols"), "freqDomainShift", "freqHopping" ("c-SRS"), "groupOrSequenceHopping", "resourceType", and "sequenceId". A possible set of part (b) parameters that may be valid for a single (serving / receiving) cell may include: "alpha", "p0", "pathlossReferenceRS-Pos", "spatialRelationInfoPos", BWP information, time alignment timer (e.g., timing advance timer), and RSRP change threshold. However, specific implementations / deployments are free to divide the SRS used for positioning parameters into two sets (part (a) and part (b)) as needed. In special cases, all parameters may be eligible for "Part (a)" SRS, for example when no path loss reference or spatial relation etc. is required.

[0168] The pre-configuration will only include part (a) of the parameter set. The remaining parameters (part (b)) will be provided during the SRS activation process. In some aspects, Figure 7A and Figure 7B The process shown can then be Figure 9A and Figure 9B Modify as shown.

[0169] Figure 9A and Figure 9B An example deferred MT LR procedure for a downlink and uplink-based positioning method (e.g., multi-RTT) with positioning SRS pre-configuration according to various aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. At stage 1, stages 1-21 of the deferred 5G C-MT-LR procedure for periodic or triggered location events specified in 3GPP TS 23.273, clause 6.3.1 are performed. Stages 1a, 1b, and 1c may be performed during the deferred MT-LR configuration stage of the deferred 5G C-MT-LR procedure for periodic or triggered location events (e.g., during stage 15 of the deferred 5G C-MT-LR procedure for periodic or triggered location events specified in 3GPP TS 23.273, clause 6.3.1).

[0170] At phase 1a, the LMF 270 transmits an NRPPa Positioning Information Request message to the serving gNB 222, including a request for pre-configured positioning SRS configuration information. The request may include one or more "Requested SRS Transmission Characteristics" IEs, each defining the desired positioning SRS configuration. The LMF 270 may include path loss reference, spatial relationship, and SSB information for each gNB in ​​the area. This "assistance information" may be used by the serving / receiving gNB 222 to compile part (b) parameters that are valid for the current UE location at a later time. For example, for each considered cell ID, the assistance information may include a list of neighboring cells with SSB or DL-PRS information that can be used as a path loss reference or spatial relationship for the positioning SRS.

[0171] At stage 1b, the serving gNB 222 determines one or more positioning SRS configurations and provides these configurations to the target device (UE 204) for the target device to send positioning SRS at a later time (i.e., the target device does not send any positioning SRS when pre-configured). Each positioning SRS configuration has the following characteristics: Figure 8 Each positioning SRS may have a validity period and / or a validity region. A "validity region" may be defined by a list of cell IDs that define where the SRS configuration is applicable / valid.

[0172] At stage 1c, the serving gNB 222 provides a set of pre-configured positioning SRS configuration information to the LMF 270 (e.g., one or more “SRS Configuration” IEs, where each positioning SRS has Figure 8 The associated ID shown).

[0173] At Phase 2 , UE 204 monitors for the occurrence of the trigger or periodic event requested during Phase 1 .

[0174] At stage 3, after detecting the event (or shortly thereafter), the UE 204 transmits an SRS activation request message along with an RRC recovery request to the receiving gNB 222. The SRS activation request message may include identifiers of the desired pre-configured SRS configurations (e.g., in priority order) to be activated.

[0175] In Phase 4a and Phase 4b, the receiving gNB 222 uses the inactive radio network temporary identifier (I-RNTI) to identify the last serving gNB 222 and retrieves the UE context (including the pre-configured positioning SRS information) using the Xn-AP Retrieve UE Context procedure. The receiving gNB 222 determines the positioning SRS configuration based on the pre-configuration during Phase 1. The receiving gNB 222 may determine part (b) parameters, such as path loss reference information (e.g., "alpha," "p0," "pathlossReferenceRS-Pos") or spatial relationship information (e.g., "spatialRelationInfoPos") for the positioning SRS valid for the receiving gNB 222. The receiving gNB 222 may also determine the time alignment timer and RSRP change threshold (e.g., "inactivePosSRS-TimeAlignmentTimer," "inactivePosSRS-RSRP-changeThreshold"). The receiving gNB 222 may use the assistance information received from the LMF 270 in Phase 1a to determine the above-mentioned SRS parameter sets.

[0176] At stage 5, the receiving gNB 222 may then transmit an SRS activation message to the UE 204, which includes the ID of the pre-configured SRS configuration to be activated and partial (b) SRS information (e.g., path loss reference, spatial relationship, timing advance (TA) timer, and RSRP change threshold). The SRS activation message may be an RRC message, a MAC-CE, or a DCI. The UE 204 then begins sending positioning SRS according to the activated configuration.

[0177] At stage 6, the receiving gNB 222 transmits an NRPPa positioning information update message including the ID of the activated positioning SRS to the LMF 270.

[0178] At stage 7, the LMF 270 transmits an NRPPa measurement request message including the positioning SRS measurement configuration (i.e., based on the ID received at stage 6) to the gNB / TRP group.

[0179] At stage 8, the receiving gNB 222 transmits an RRC release message to the UE 204 to keep the UE 204 in the RRC inactive state. If stage 5 does not occur, the RRC release message may include an SRS activation message. After stage 8, the various network entities then perform Figure 7B Illustrated stages 11-17.

[0180] and Figure 7A and Figure 7B Compared to the process shown in Figure 9A and Figure 9B In the process of , there is no need for signaling for SRS configuration (e.g., Figure 7A 5, 6, 7 and 9 in the SRS configuration), thereby reducing the delay of the SRS configuration and thus reducing power consumption (i.e., omitting the Figure 7A UE "wake-up time" between phase 3 and phase 10 in

[15] .

[0181] In some cases, the network may provide pre-configured positioning SRS configuration information to the UE. In some aspects, the pre-configured positioning SRS configuration information may be provided to the UE as part of an LPP request or a positioning SIB broadcast (which is obtained when the UE first attaches to the associated cell). In some aspects, the pre-configured positioning SRS configuration information may be provided to the UE in an RRC message.

[0182] The pre-configured positioning SRS configuration information may include multiple positioning SRS configurations, wherein each configuration of the positioning SRS configuration information may be applicable to different areas within the network. More specifically, each positioning SRS configuration may be associated with an SRS validity area corresponding to an area identifier (ID). The area ID may correspond to a list of cells on which the UE may reside or to which the UE may be connected. The applicable area ID at the UE location is selected based on the cell on which the UE resides / is connected. If the UE resides on or is connected to one of the cells indicated in the list of cells in the area ID, the positioning SRS configuration included in the pre-configured positioning SRS configuration information may be valid / selected.

[0183] Figure 10 FIG1 is a diagram 1000 illustrating an example UE mobility scenario through multiple areas according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 10 In the example shown in FIG, there are six area IDs (labeled as "AreaID1" to "AreaID6"), each of which includes multiple cells (labeled as "PCI1" to "PCI16"). Figure 10 A single cell / PCI per physical cell site is illustrated, but this is for simplicity and as will be understood, a cell site may support multiple cells. Figure 10 In the example of , some cells may belong to more than one area ID. For example, PCI4 may belong to both AreaID1 and AreaID2. Similarly, PCI7 may belong to both AreaID3 and AreaID4.

[0184] In order to achieve greater network control over the transmission of positioning SRS (or SRS for positioning) after cell reselection, the LPP "Area-ID-CellList" information element (IE) may be introduced for (pre-)configuration of positioning SRS configuration information. In some aspects, the "Area-ID-CellList" IE for positioning SRS may be UE-specific. If the UE resides on a cell whose ID is included in the "Area-ID-CellList" IE, the UE will be allowed to continue (associated) positioning SRS transmission in the new cell after cell reselection. That is, if the UE participates in an uplink-based or downlink and uplink-based positioning procedure, in which the UE transmits a positioning SRS and hands over / reattaches to a different cell, the UE may continue to transmit the same positioning SRS as long as the cell is included in the "Area-ID-CellList" IE.

[0185] Therefore, for positioning SRS, refer to Figure 10 , there may be a corresponding pre-configured SRS configuration for each AreaID in AreaID1 to AreaID6 or for each validity area within AreaID1 to AreaID6. If the UE is camped on or connected to one of the cells associated with AreaID4 (e.g., PCI3, PCI7, PCI11, PCI15), and the cell is included in the UE's "Area-ID-CellList" IE, then the pre-configured SRS configuration associated with the cell is valid.

[0186] Figure 11 An example RRC "SRS-PosRRC-Inactive" IE 1100 is illustrated in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure. This IE specifies pre-configured positioning SRS configuration information that configures the UE with one or more positioning SRS configurations for use when in the RRC inactive state 430. Specifically, the "SRS-PosRRC-Inactive" IE provides a set of up to "maxPreConfig" positioning SRS configurations, each of which may be identified by an "srs-PosID" field. The "srs-ValidityArea" field provides a list of cell IDs in which the SRS configuration is valid. If the UE reselects to a cell included in the LPP "Area-ID-CellList" IE, the UE is allowed to continue SRS transmission during and after cell reselection. Note that the "Area-ID-CellList" IE may not necessarily coincide with the RNA, but may be a dedicated, UE-specific uplink positioning area.

[0187] The RRC "SRS-PosRRC-Inactive" IE avoids interruption of SRS transmission upon cell reselection, which reduces the amount of SRS configuration signaling required, reduces the latency of the positioning session, and therefore reduces power consumption at the target device.

[0188] As reference Figures 8 to 11 As discussed, a subset of SRS configuration parameters may be common across multiple cells in a region (eg, an SRS validity region). Thus, it is feasible to at least partially preconfigure at least a portion of the SRS configuration parameters across multiple cells in a region. Figure 12A FIG1 is a diagram 1200 illustrating an example region-to-SRS configuration scenario according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 12A As shown, each cell (labeled "PCI1" to "PCI4") is associated with a unique SRS configuration (labeled "SRS1" and "SRS2"). For example, if a UE is located in one of cells PCI1 or PCI2 (in Area 1), the UE will use SRS configuration SRS1. Furthermore, if another UE is located in one of cells PCI3 or PCI4 (in Area 2), the other UE will use SRS configuration SRS2. Therefore, in this scenario, there is no ambiguity as to which SRS configuration to use, and the UE will be able to transmit SRS without any problems.

[0189] Figure 12B is a diagram illustrating an example SRS configuration (eg, SRS1) according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 12BAs shown, SRS configuration SRS1 may include SRS resources SRS_Resource_1 and SRS_Resource_2. SRS configuration SRS1 may include an SRS resource set associated with cell PCI1 (including resource parameters 1212 and resource parameters 1214) and an SRS resource set associated with cell PCI2 (including resource parameters 1222 and resource parameters 1224). In some aspects, resource parameter 1212 may specify that SRS resource SRS_Resource_1 is transmitted based on downlink reference signal DL-RS1 associated with cell PCI1; and resource parameter 1214 may specify that SRS resource SRS_Resource_1 is transmitted based on downlink reference signal DL-RS2 associated with cell PCI1. In some aspects, resource parameter 1222 may specify that SRS resource SRS_Resource_2 is transmitted based on downlink reference signal DL-RS3 associated with cell PCI2; and resource parameter 1224 may specify that SRS resource SRS_Resource_2 is transmitted based on downlink reference signal DL-RS4 associated with cell PCI2. In some aspects, each of downlink reference signals DL-RS1, DL-RS2, DL-RS3, and DL-RS4 may be an SSB, CSI-RS, TRS, or PRS.

[0190] In some aspects, when a UE (e.g., any UE described in the present disclosure) camps on a given PCI in an area (e.g., cell PCI1 in area Area1), the network may pre-configure a plurality of SRS resources associated with the PCI to the UE (such as pre-configuring resources SRS_Resource_1 and SRS_Resource_2 for cell PCI1 based on resource parameters 1212 and 1214). The UE may be expected to transmit a subset (but possibly not all) of those pre-configured SRS resources based on a set of criteria (e.g., including a transmission condition or a signal strength threshold).

[0191] For example, a UE may receive configuration information for one or more SRS resource sets associated with one or more cells in an SRS validity area, and each of the one or more SRS resource sets may include one or more SRS resources. The UE may select a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in an SRS resource set associated with the first cell in the one or more SRS resource sets. When operating in an RRC unconnected state (e.g., an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state), the UE may send only the selected subset of the one or more SRS resources from all SRS resources associated with the first cell. In some aspects, the configuration information may be included in an RRC message. In some aspects, the association information may indicate that each of the one or more downlink reference signals is used to measure path loss relative to the first cell or to measure a spatial relationship relative to the first cell.

[0192] In some aspects, the signal strength threshold may correspond to conditional transmission of SRS resources based on RSRP or SINR of a downlink reference signal that can be measured by the UE. In some aspects, the downlink reference signal may be an SSB, CSI-RS, TRS, or PRS that can be transmitted for path loss measurement operations or spatial relationship measurement operations. In one example, a plurality of SRS resources may be configured for each potential cell on which the UE resides in an area operating in a frequency band (e.g., FR2) (e.g., resources SRS_Resource_1 and SRS_Resource_2 are configured for cell PCI1 based on resource parameters 1212 and 1214). The UE can determine which downlink reference signal among the downlink reference signals associated with a specific cell (e.g., DL-RS1 or DL-RS2 transmitted in cell PCI1) is well received, and the UE can use a Tx beam derived based on the well-received downlink reference signal to transmit SRS resources (e.g., when the downlink reference signal DL-RS1 associated with cell PCI1 meets the signal strength threshold and the downlink reference signal DL-RS2 associated with cell PCI1 does not meet the signal strength threshold, transmit resource SRS_Resource_1).

[0193] In some aspects, the one or more signal strength measurements of the one or more downlink reference signals may include RSRP or SINR of the one or more downlink reference signals that can be measured by the UE. In some aspects, the subset of one or more SRS resources may include a selected SRS resource, the selected SRS resource being selected based on: a signal strength measurement associated with the selected SRS resource from the one or more signal strength measurements being a maximum signal strength measurement from the one or more signal strength measurements. In some aspects, the subset of one or more SRS resources may be selected based on: a subset of the one or more signal strength measurements associated with the subset of one or more SRS resources being greater than a threshold.

[0194] In some aspects, a new threshold value (e.g., a new RSRP threshold value or a new SINR threshold value) associated with a region, cell ID, SRS resource set, or SRS resource may be configured for the UE. In some aspects, a threshold value applicable to an SRS resource set associated with a cell in an SRS validity region may be applicable to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity region. The threshold value may be used to determine which of the preconfigured SRS resources should be transmitted. In some aspects, the UE may be expected to perform a Layer 3 (L3) RSRP measurement or a L3 SINR measurement using the configured downlink reference signal (e.g., SSB or CSI-RS) associated with a given SRS resource. If the measurement has an RSRP or SINR above a threshold value, the UE may be expected to transmit the associated SRS resource. Otherwise, the UE may ignore or discard the transmission of the associated SRS resource.

[0195] In some aspects, if the RSRP or SINR measurements change, the UE may update its decision on whether to transmit future SRS instances. In some aspects, the SRS transmission may be the transmission of a positioning SRS when the UE is operating in an RRC non-connected state (e.g., an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state) and is pre-configured with candidate SRS resources and corresponding transmission conditions (e.g., a signal strength threshold).

[0196] In some aspects, the threshold value may be indicated in configuration information received by the UE. In some aspects, if no threshold value is configured, it may be assumed that the UE is always expected to transmit all SRS resources for which the UE is configured. Thus, in some aspects, if no threshold value is indicated in the configuration information, a UE in a cell may transmit all SRS resources of an SRS resource set associated with the cell.

[0197] For example, the UE may reside on cell PCI1. Figure 12BIn the SRS configuration shown, the UE may be configured with two SRS resources, SRS_Resource_1 and SRS_Resource_2. SRS resource SRS_Resource_1 may be associated with downlink reference signal DL-RS1, and SRS resource SRS_Resource_2 may be associated with downlink reference signal DL-RS2. The UE may measure downlink reference signals DL-RS1 and DL-RS2. In one scenario, if the UE determines that the signal strength of downlink reference signal DL-RS1 is below a threshold, the UE may not transmit SRS resource SRS_Resource_1.

[0198] In some aspects, the downlink reference signal DL-RS1 (e.g., SSB, CSI-RS, TRS, or PRS) associated with the cell PCI1 and the SRS resource SRS_Resource_1 used for conditional SRS transmission may not necessarily be a downlink reference signal transmitted by PCI1. In some aspects, the downlink reference signal DL-RS1 may be an SSB used to determine the spatial relationship based on which the transmission of the SRS resource SRS_Resource_1 may be based when the UE is camped on the cell PCI1. Therefore, in some aspects, the downlink reference signal DL-RS1 may be transmitted from the cell PCI1, or may be transmitted by any other neighboring TRP or cell.

[0199] In some aspects, the UE may receive explicit signaling enabling or disabling the conditional SRS transmission feature. In some aspects, the UE may transmit all SRS resources in an SRS resource set associated with the cell based on an indicator included in the configuration information, wherein the indicator specifies whether the conditional SRS transmission feature is disabled.

[0200] In some aspects, it may be contemplated that the UE may implement or enable a conditional SRS transmission feature for the SRS (or PCI or TRP) associated with the reselected cell. For example, after the UE has moved and camped on a cell, the UE may begin using the conditional SRS transmission feature to reduce interference. Thus, in some aspects, the subset of SRS resources may be selected after the UE has camped on the associated cell according to the cell reselection process.

[0201] Figure 13 FIG1 is a diagram 1300 illustrating an example UE mobility scenario through a network paging area 1310 (eg, a RAN paging area) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 13 In the example of , there are four TRPs 1322, 1324, 1326, and 1328. In some aspects, for simplicity, as a non-limiting example, Figure 13 Each TRP in may correspond to a single cell / PCI instance per TRP. Figure 13 In the example, UE 1330 may be camped on a cell of TRP 1322 and is moving along path 1340.

[0202] In some aspects, UE 1330 may be preconfigured to transmit first SRS resources when the UE is camped on a first cell supported by TRP 1322, and may be preconfigured to transmit second SRS resources when the UE is camped on a second cell supported by TRP 1324. In some aspects, the UE may transmit the first SRS resources or the second SRS resources while the UE is operating in an RRC non-connected state. In some aspects, the RRC non-connected state includes an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0203] exist Figure 13 In the example shown, because the first cell and the second cell are in the same network paging area 1310, the network may not know whether UE 1330 is camped on the first cell or the second cell. Therefore, from the network's perspective, both the first cell and the second cell may need to measure, check, or detect whether UE 1330 is transmitting the first SRS resource and / or the second SRS resource. In one scenario, assuming there are ten TRPs within the network paging area, there may be ten potential SRS resources that UE 1330 may transmit. Configuring each TRP to search for all possible SRS resources that UE 1330 may transmit may be inefficient.

[0204] In some aspects, in order to more efficiently determine which SRS resource is being transmitted from a network perspective, according to a first method, the TRP may use the SRS configurations of the UE's previously known TRP and / or neighboring TRPs near the previously known TRP to determine the most likely SRS resource to detect. The rationale may be that if the TRP is very far from the previously known TRP, then the likelihood that the UE will transmit an SRS associated with the distant TRP is quite small.

[0205] In some aspects, according to the second method, a TRP may prioritize SRS configurations associated with its own PCI. In some aspects, according to the third method, a TRP may prioritize SRS configurations associated with its own PCI and its neighboring TRPs.

[0206] In some aspects, the TRPs in the network paging area 1310 may prioritize SRS resources based on the first method, the second method, the third method, or any combination thereof. In some aspects, if a TRP detects SRS resources transmitted by the UE 1330, the TRP may signal information about the detected SRS resources of the UE 1330 to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area (e.g., including a neighboring TRP of the detecting TRP). In some aspects, one or more other TRPs in the network paging area may terminate or modify their detection process based on the confirmed SRS detection result.

[0207] Figure 14 An example method 1400 of wireless communication performed by a UE according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In some aspects, the UE in method 1400 can be any UE described in the present disclosure. In one aspect, method 1400 can 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 can be considered as means for performing one or more of the following operations of method 1400.

[0208] At operation 1410, the UE may receive configuration information for one or more SRS resource sets associated with one or more cells in an SRS validity area, each of the one or more SRS resource sets including one or more SRS resources. In some aspects, the configuration information may be included in an RRC message. In some aspects, operation 1410 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 operation 1410.

[0209] At operation 1420, the UE may select a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell of a plurality of cells and one or more SRS resources in an SRS resource set associated with the first cell in one or more SRS resource sets. The UE may send only the selected subset of the one or more SRS resources from all SRS resources associated with the first cell when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state. In some aspects, the RRC unconnected state may include an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state. In some aspects, operation 1420 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 as means for performing operation 1420.

[0210] In some aspects, the association information indicates that each of the one or more downlink reference signals can be used to measure path loss relative to the first cell or to measure a spatial relationship relative to the first cell. In some aspects, the one or more SRS resource sets may include at least a first SRS resource set associated with the first cell in the SRS validity area and a second SRS resource set associated with the second cell in the SRS validity area. The first SRS resource set associated with the first cell may include a first SRS resource associated with the first downlink reference signal and a second SRS resource associated with the second downlink reference signal. The second SRS resource set associated with the second cell may include a first SRS resource associated with the third downlink reference signal and a second SRS resource associated with the fourth downlink reference signal. In some aspects, each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal, and the fourth downlink reference signal may be an SSB, a CSI-RS, a TRS, or a PRS.

[0211] In some aspects, the one or more signal strength measurements of the one or more downlink reference signals may include RSRP or SINR of the one or more downlink reference signals that can be measured by the UE. In some aspects, the subset of one or more SRS resources may include a selected SRS resource, the selected SRS resource being selected based on: a signal strength measurement associated with the selected SRS resource from the one or more signal strength measurements being a maximum signal strength measurement from the one or more signal strength measurements. In some aspects, the subset of one or more SRS resources may be selected based on: a subset of the one or more signal strength measurements associated with the subset of one or more SRS resources being greater than a threshold.

[0212] In some aspects, the threshold may be indicated in the configuration information.In some aspects, the threshold may apply to a set of SRS resources associated with the first cell, or to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity region.

[0213] In some aspects, if no threshold is indicated in the configuration information, the UE may transmit all SRS resources in one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell. In some aspects, the UE may transmit all SRS resources in one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell based on an indicator included in the configuration information. In some aspects, the subset of one or more SRS resources may be selected after the UE has camped on the first cell according to a cell reselection procedure.

[0214] As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of method 1400 is that it conditionally positions SRS transmission, such that although a UE may be pre-configured with multiple possible SRS resources in an SRS validity region, a UE in an RRC unconnected state may select a subset of pre-configured SRS resources based on certain transmission conditions or signal strength thresholds. Thus, the UE may transmit the most appropriate SRS resource to minimize potential interference while also reducing signaling overhead.

[0215] Figure 15 An example method 1500 of wireless communication performed by a TRP according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. In some aspects, the TRP in method 1500 can be a base station (e.g., any base station or TRP described herein). In one aspect, method 1500 can be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 350, network transceivers 380, one or more processors 384, memory 386, and / or positioning component 388, any or all of which can be considered as means for performing one or more of the following operations of method 1500.

[0216] At operation 1510, the TRP may attempt to detect at least one SRS resource transmitted by the UE from a plurality of candidate SRS resources based on a priority of the candidate SRS resources. In some aspects, the UE may transmit the at least one SRS resource while the UE is operating in an RRC unconnected state. In some aspects, the RRC unconnected state may include an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state. In some aspects, the plurality of candidate SRS resources may be associated with a network paging area.

[0217] In some aspects, the priority of candidate SRS resources may be determined based on: a first subset of candidate SRS resources associated with cells of a previously resided TRP on which the UE resides, a second subset of candidate SRS resources associated with cells of neighboring TRPs of the previously resided TRP, a third subset of candidate SRS resources associated with cells of the TRP, a fourth subset of candidate SRS resources associated with cells of neighboring TRPs of the TRP, or any combination thereof.

[0218] In some aspects, operation 1510 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 350 , network transceiver 380 , one or more processors 384 , memory 386 , and / or positioning component 388 , any or all of which may be considered means for performing operation 1510 .

[0219] At operation 1520, the TRP may measure the detected at least one SRS resource. In some aspects, the TRP associated with the network paging area may signal information about the detected at least one SRS resource to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area. In some aspects, the one or more other TRPs may include a neighboring TRP of the TRP.

[0220] In some aspects, operation 1520 may be performed by one or more WWAN transceivers 350 , network transceiver 380 , one or more processors 384 , memory 386 , and / or positioning component 388 , any or all of which may be considered means for performing operation 1520 .

[0221] As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of method 1500 is that when a UE is pre-configured with multiple possible SRS resources, possible SRS resources to be sent by the UE in the network paging area are prioritized. Thus, the TRP can detect SRS resources sent by a UE in an RRC unconnected state based on the prioritization of SRS resources, so as to more efficiently detect the sent SRS resources while also reducing signaling overhead.

[0222] 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 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.

[0223] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0224] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets including one or more SRS resources; and sending a subset of the one or more SRS resources when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state based on a signal strength of a downlink reference signal associated with a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell in the one or more SRS resource sets satisfying a signal strength threshold.

[0225] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0226] Clause 3. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 2, wherein the one or more SRS resource sets include at least: a first SRS resource set, the first SRS resource set being associated with the first cell and including: a first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a first downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource being associated with a second downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource set being associated with a second cell in the SRS validity area and including: the first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a third downlink reference signal; and the second SRS resource, the second SRS resource being associated with a fourth downlink reference signal.

[0227] Clause 4. A method according to clause 3, wherein each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal and the fourth downlink reference signal is: a synchronization signal block (SSB), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a tracking reference signal (TRS) or a positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0228] Clause 5. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 4, wherein: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources corresponds to a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the downlink reference signal that can be measured by the UE.

[0229] Clause 6. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the signal strength satisfies the signal strength threshold, comprising: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources is the maximum signal strength among the signal strengths of all downlink reference signals associated with the one or more SRS resources.

[0230] Clause 7. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the signal strength satisfying the signal strength threshold comprises: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources being greater than a threshold.

[0231] Clause 8. The method of clause 7, wherein the threshold is indicated in the configuration information.

[0232] Clause 9. A method as described in any of clauses 7 to 8, wherein the threshold applies to the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell, or to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity area.

[0233] Clause 10. A method according to any one of clauses 7 to 9, further comprising: sending all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell if the threshold is not indicated in the configuration information.

[0234] Clause 11. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 10, further comprising transmitting all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell based on an indicator included in the configuration information.

[0235] Clause 12. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 11, wherein: the subset of the one or more SRS resources is sent based on the signal strength of the downlink reference signal meeting the signal strength threshold after the UE has camped on the first cell according to a cell reselection procedure.

[0236] Clause 13. A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 12, wherein the configuration information is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0237] Clause 14. A method of wireless communication performed by a transmit receive point (TRP), the method comprising: attempting to detect at least one SRS resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate sounding reference signal (SRS) resources based on the priority of the candidate SRS resources; and measuring the at least one detected SRS resource.

[0238] Clause 15. A method according to clause 14, wherein the priority of the candidate SRS resources can be determined based on: giving priority to a first subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with the cell of the previously resided TRP on which the UE resides, giving priority to a second subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with the cell of the adjacent TRP of the previously resided TRP, giving priority to a third subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with the cell of the TRP, giving priority to a fourth subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with the cell of the adjacent TRP of the TRP, or any combination thereof.

[0239] Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 14 to 15, wherein the plurality of candidate SRS resources are associated with a network paging area.

[0240] Clause 17. The method of clause 16, further comprising signaling information of the detected at least one SRS resource to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area.

[0241] Clause 18. The method of clause 17, wherein the one or more other TRPs include a neighboring TRP of the TRP.

[0242] Clause 19. A method as set forth in any of clauses 14 to 18, wherein the at least one SRS resource is sent by the UE while the UE is operating in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0243] Clause 20. The method of clause 19, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0244] Clause 21. 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, via the at least one transceiver, configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets comprising one or more SRS resources; and send, via the at least one transceiver when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state, a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on a signal strength of a downlink reference signal associated with a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell in the one or more SRS resource sets satisfying a signal strength threshold.

[0245] Clause 22. The UE of clause 21, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0246] Clause 23. A UE according to any one of clauses 21 to 22, wherein the one or more SRS resource sets include at least: a first SRS resource set, the first SRS resource set being associated with the first cell and including: a first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a first downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource being associated with a second downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource set being associated with a second cell in the SRS validity area and including: the first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a third downlink reference signal; and the second SRS resource being associated with a fourth downlink reference signal.

[0247] Clause 24. A UE according to clause 23, wherein each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal and the fourth downlink reference signal is: a synchronization signal block (SSB), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a tracking reference signal (TRS) or a positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0248] Clause 25. A UE according to any one of clauses 21 to 24, wherein: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources corresponds to a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the downlink reference signal that can be measured by the UE.

[0249] Clause 26. A UE according to any one of clauses 21 to 25, wherein the signal strength satisfies the signal strength threshold, comprising: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources is the maximum signal strength among the signal strengths of all downlink reference signals associated with the one or more SRS resources.

[0250] Clause 27. The UE of any of clauses 21 to 25, wherein the signal strength satisfying the signal strength threshold comprises: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources being greater than a threshold.

[0251] Clause 28. The UE of clause 27, wherein the threshold is indicated in the configuration information.

[0252] Clause 29. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 27 to 28, wherein the threshold applies to the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell, or to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity area.

[0253] Clause 30. A UE according to any one of clauses 27 to 29, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell via the at least one transceiver if the threshold is not indicated in the configuration information.

[0254] Clause 31. A UE according to any one of clauses 21 to 30, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell via the at least one transceiver based on an indicator included in the configuration information.

[0255] Clause 32. A UE according to any one of clauses 21 to 31, wherein: the subset of the one or more SRS resources is sent based on the signal strength of the downlink reference signal meeting the signal strength threshold after the UE has camped on the first cell according to a cell reselection procedure.

[0256] Clause 33. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 21 to 32, wherein the configuration information is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0257] Clause 34. A transmit receive point (TRP), 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: attempt to detect at least one SRS resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate sounding reference signal (SRS) resources based on the priority of the candidate SRS resources; and measure the at least one detected SRS resource.

[0258] Clause 35. A TRP according to clause 34, wherein the priority of the candidate SRS resources is capable of being determined based on: giving priority to a first subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a previously resided TRP on which the UE resides, giving priority to a second subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the previously resided TRP, giving priority to a third subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of the TRP, giving priority to a fourth subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the TRP, or any combination thereof.

[0259] Clause 36. A TRP as described in any of clauses 34 to 35, wherein the plurality of candidate SRS resources are associated with a network paging area.

[0260] Clause 37. The TRP of clause 36, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to signal information of the detected at least one SRS resource to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area.

[0261] Clause 38. A TRP according to clause 37, wherein the one or more other TRPs include a neighboring TRP of the TRP.

[0262] Clause 39. A TRP according to any of clauses 34 to 38, wherein the at least one SRS resource is sent by the UE when the UE is operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0263] Clause 40. A TRP according to clause 39, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0264] Clause 41. A user equipment (UE), comprising: a component for receiving configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets including one or more SRS resources; and a component for sending a subset of the one or more SRS resources when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state based on a signal strength of a downlink reference signal associated with a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell in the one or more SRS resource sets satisfying a signal strength threshold.

[0265] Clause 42. The UE of clause 41, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0266] Clause 43. A UE according to any one of clauses 41 to 42, wherein the one or more SRS resource sets include at least: a first SRS resource set, the first SRS resource set being associated with the first cell and including: a first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a first downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource being associated with a second downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource set being associated with a second cell in the SRS validity area and including: the first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a third downlink reference signal; and the second SRS resource being associated with a fourth downlink reference signal.

[0267] Clause 44. A UE according to clause 43, wherein each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal and the fourth downlink reference signal is: a synchronization signal block (SSB), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a tracking reference signal (TRS) or a positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0268] Clause 45. A UE according to any one of clauses 41 to 44, wherein: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources corresponds to a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the downlink reference signal that can be measured by the UE.

[0269] Clause 46. A UE according to any one of clauses 41 to 45, wherein the signal strength satisfies the signal strength threshold, comprising: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources is the maximum signal strength among the signal strengths of all downlink reference signals associated with the one or more SRS resources.

[0270] Clause 47. A UE as described in any of clauses 41 to 45, wherein the signal strength satisfies the signal strength threshold comprises: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources is greater than a threshold.

[0271] Clause 48. The UE of clause 47, wherein the threshold is indicated in the configuration information.

[0272] Clause 49. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 47 to 48, wherein the threshold applies to the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell, or to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity area.

[0273] Clause 50. A UE according to any of clauses 47 to 49, the UE further comprising: means for transmitting all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell if the threshold is not indicated in the configuration information.

[0274] Clause 51. A UE according to any of clauses 41 to 50, the UE further comprising means for transmitting all of the one or more SRS resources in the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell based on an indicator included in the configuration information.

[0275] Clause 52. A UE according to any one of clauses 41 to 51, wherein: the subset of the one or more SRS resources is sent based on the signal strength of the downlink reference signal meeting the signal strength threshold after the UE has camped on the first cell according to a cell reselection procedure.

[0276] Clause 53. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 41 to 52, wherein the configuration information is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0277] Clause 54. A transmit receive point (TRP), comprising: a component for attempting to detect at least one SRS resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate sounding reference signal (SRS) resources based on the priority of the candidate SRS resources; and a component for measuring the at least one detected SRS resource.

[0278] Clause 55. A TRP according to clause 54, wherein the priority of the candidate SRS resources is capable of being determined based on: giving priority to a first subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a previously resided TRP on which the UE resides, giving priority to a second subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the previously resided TRP, giving priority to a third subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of the TRP, giving priority to a fourth subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the TRP, or any combination thereof.

[0279] Clause 56. A TRP as described in any of clauses 54 to 55, wherein the plurality of candidate SRS resources are associated with a network paging area.

[0280] Clause 57. The TRP of clause 56, further comprising means for signaling information of the detected at least one SRS resource to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area.

[0281] Clause 58. A TRP according to clause 57, wherein the one or more other TRPs include a neighboring TRP of the TRP.

[0282] Clause 59. A TRP according to any of clauses 54 to 58, wherein the at least one SRS resource is sent by the UE when the UE is operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0283] Clause 60. A TRP according to clause 59, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0284] Clause 61. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity area, each of the one or more SRS resource sets comprising one or more SRS resources; and send a subset of the one or more SRS resources when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state based on a signal strength of a downlink reference signal associated with a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell in the one or more SRS resource sets satisfying a signal strength threshold.

[0285] Clause 62. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 61, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0286] Clause 63. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 61 to 62, wherein the one or more SRS resource sets include at least: a first SRS resource set, the first SRS resource set being associated with the first cell and including: a first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a first downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource being associated with a second downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource set being associated with a second cell in the SRS validity area and including: the first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a third downlink reference signal; and the second SRS resource being associated with a fourth downlink reference signal.

[0287] Clause 64. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 63, wherein each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal and the fourth downlink reference signal is: a synchronization signal block (SSB), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a tracking reference signal (TRS) or a positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0288] Clause 65. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 61 to 64, wherein: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources corresponds to a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the downlink reference signal that can be measured by the UE.

[0289] Clause 66. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 61 to 65, wherein the signal strength satisfies the signal strength threshold comprising: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources is the maximum signal strength among the signal strengths of all downlink reference signals associated with the one or more SRS resources.

[0290] Clause 67. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 61 to 65, wherein the signal strength satisfies the signal strength threshold comprises: the signal strength of the downlink reference signal associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources is greater than a threshold.

[0291] Clause 68. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of Clause 67, wherein the threshold is indicated in the configuration information.

[0292] Clause 69. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 67 to 68, wherein the threshold applies to the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell, or to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity area.

[0293] Clause 70. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 67 to 69, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: send all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell if the threshold is not indicated in the configuration information.

[0294] Clause 71. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 61 to 70, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: send all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell based on an indicator included in the configuration information.

[0295] Clause 72. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 61 to 71, wherein: the subset of the one or more SRS resources is sent after the UE has camped on the first cell according to a cell reselection process based on the signal strength of the downlink reference signal meeting the signal strength threshold.

[0296] Clause 73. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 61 to 72, wherein the configuration information is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0297] Clause 74. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a transmit receive point (TRP), cause the TRP to: attempt to detect at least one SRS resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate sounding reference signal (SRS) resources based on the priority of the candidate SRS resources; and measure at least one detected SRS resource.

[0298] Clause 75. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 74, wherein the priority of the candidate SRS resources is capable of being determined based on: giving priority to a first subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a previously resided TRP on which the UE resides, giving priority to a second subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the previously resided TRP, giving priority to a third subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of the TRP, giving priority to a fourth subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the TRP, or any combination thereof.

[0299] Clause 76. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 74 to 75, wherein the plurality of candidate SRS resources are associated with a network paging area.

[0300] Clause 77. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 76, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the TRP, cause the TRP to: signal information of at least one detected SRS resource to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area.

[0301] Clause 78. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 77, wherein the one or more other TRPs include a neighboring TRP of the TRP.

[0302] Clause 79. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 74 to 78, wherein the at least one SRS resource is sent by the UE when the UE operates in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0303] Clause 80. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 79, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0304] Clause 81. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets comprising one or more SRS resources; selecting a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell in the one or more SRS resource sets; and sending the selected subset of the one or more SRS resources from only all SRS resources associated with the first cell when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0305] Clause 82. The method of clause 81, wherein the association information indicates that each of the one or more downlink reference signals is used for: measuring path loss relative to the first cell, or measuring a spatial relationship relative to the first cell.

[0306] Clause 83. A method as described in any of clauses 81 to 82, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0307] Clause 84. A method according to any one of clauses 81 to 83, wherein the one or more SRS resource sets include at least: a first SRS resource set, the first SRS resource set being associated with the first cell and including: a first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a first downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource being associated with a second downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource set being associated with a second cell in the SRS validity area and including: the first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a third downlink reference signal; and the second SRS resource being associated with a fourth downlink reference signal.

[0308] Clause 85. A method according to clause 84, wherein each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal and the fourth downlink reference signal is: a synchronization signal block (SSB), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a tracking reference signal (TRS) or a positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0309] Clause 86. A method according to any one of clauses 81 to 88, wherein: the one or more signal strength measurements of the one or more downlink reference signals include a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the one or more downlink reference signals that can be measured by the UE.

[0310] Clause 87. A method according to any one of clauses 81 to 86, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources includes selected SRS resources, and the selected SRS resources are selected based on the following: the signal strength measurement associated with the selected SRS resource among the one or more signal strength measurements is the maximum signal strength measurement among the one or more signal strength measurements.

[0311] Clause 88. The method of any one of clauses 81 to 86, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected based on a subset of the one or more signal strength measurements associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources being greater than a threshold.

[0312] Clause 89. The method of clause 88, wherein the threshold is indicated in the configuration information.

[0313] Clause 90. The method of any of clauses 88 to 89, wherein the threshold applies to the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell, or to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity area.

[0314] Clause 91. A method according to any one of clauses 88 to 90, further comprising sending all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell based on the threshold not being indicated in the configuration information.

[0315] Clause 92. The method of clause 81, further comprising transmitting all of the one or more SRS resources in the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell based on an indicator included in the configuration information.

[0316] Clause 93. A method as described in any of clauses 81 to 92, wherein: the subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected after the UE has camped on the first cell according to a cell reselection procedure.

[0317] Clause 94. A method as set forth in any one of clauses 81 to 93, wherein the configuration information is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0318] Clause 95. A method of wireless communication performed by a transmit receive point (TRP), the method comprising: attempting to detect at least one SRS resource sent by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate sounding reference signal (SRS) resources based on the priority of the candidate SRS resources; and measuring the at least one detected SRS resource.

[0319] Clause 96. A method according to clause 95, wherein the priority of the candidate SRS resources can be determined based on: giving priority to a first subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a previously resided TRP on which the UE resides, giving priority to a second subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the previously resided TRP, giving priority to a third subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of the TRP, giving priority to a fourth subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the TRP, or any combination thereof.

[0320] Clause 97. The method of any of clauses 95 to 96, wherein the plurality of candidate SRS resources are associated with a network paging area.

[0321] Clause 98. The method of clause 97, further comprising signaling information of the detected at least one SRS resource to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area.

[0322] Clause 99. The method of clause 98, wherein the one or more other TRPs include a neighboring TRP of the TRP.

[0323] Clause 100. A method as set forth in any of clauses 95 to 99, wherein the at least one SRS resource is sent by the UE when the UE is operating in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0324] Clause 101. The method of clause 100, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0325] Clause 102. A 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, via the at least one transceiver, configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets comprising one or more SRS resources; select a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell; and send, via the at least one transceiver and when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state, only the selected subset of the one or more SRS resources from all SRS resources associated with the first cell.

[0326] Clause 103. A UE according to clause 102, wherein the association information indicates that each of the one or more downlink reference signals is used for: measuring path loss relative to the first cell, or measuring a spatial relationship relative to the first cell.

[0327] Clause 104. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 102 to 103, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0328] Clause 105. A UE according to any one of clauses 102 to 104, wherein the one or more SRS resource sets include at least: a first SRS resource set, the first SRS resource set being associated with the first cell and including: a first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a first downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource being associated with a second downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource set being associated with a second cell in the SRS validity area and including: the first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a third downlink reference signal; and the second SRS resource being associated with a fourth downlink reference signal.

[0329] Clause 106. A UE according to clause 105, wherein each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal and the fourth downlink reference signal is: a synchronization signal block (SSB), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a tracking reference signal (TRS) or a positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0330] Clause 107. A UE according to any one of clauses 102 to 106, wherein: the one or more signal strength measurements of the one or more downlink reference signals include a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the one or more downlink reference signals that can be measured by the UE.

[0331] Clause 108. A UE according to any one of clauses 102 to 107, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources includes selected SRS resources, and the selected SRS resources are selected based on the following: the signal strength measurement associated with the selected SRS resource in the one or more signal strength measurements is the maximum signal strength measurement in the one or more signal strength measurements.

[0332] Clause 109. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 102 to 107, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected based on a subset of the one or more signal strength measurements associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources being greater than a threshold.

[0333] Clause 110. The UE of clause 109, wherein the threshold is indicated in the configuration information.

[0334] Clause 111. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 109 to 110, wherein the threshold applies to the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell, or to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity area.

[0335] Clause 112. A UE according to any one of clauses 109 to 111, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: send all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell via the at least one transceiver based on the threshold not being indicated in the configuration information.

[0336] Clause 113. A UE according to clause 102, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: transmit, via the at least one transceiver, all of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell based on an indicator included in the configuration information.

[0337] Clause 114. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 102 to 113, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected after the UE has camped on the first cell in accordance with a cell reselection procedure.

[0338] Clause 115. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 102 to 114, wherein the configuration information is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0339] Clause 116. A transmit receive point (TRP), 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: attempt to detect at least one SRS resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate sounding reference signal (SRS) resources based on a priority of the candidate SRS resources; and measure the at least one detected SRS resource.

[0340] Clause 117. A transmit receive point (TRP) according to clause 116, wherein the priority of the candidate SRS resources is capable of being determined based on: giving priority to a first subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a previously resided TRP on which the UE resides, giving priority to a second subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the previously resided TRP, giving priority to a third subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of the TRP, giving priority to a fourth subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the TRP, or any combination thereof.

[0341] Clause 118. A transmission reception point (TRP) as recited in any of clauses 116 to 117, wherein the plurality of candidate SRS resources are associated with a network paging area.

[0342] Clause 119. A transmit reception point (TRP) as described in clause 118, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: signal information of the detected at least one SRS resource to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area.

[0343] Clause 120. A transmit reception point (TRP) as described in clause 119, wherein the one or more other TRPs include a neighboring TRP of the TRP.

[0344] Clause 121. A transmission reception point (TRP) as described in any of clauses 116 to 120, wherein the at least one SRS resource is sent by the UE when the UE is operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0345] Clause 122. A transmit reception point (TRP) as described in clause 121, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0346] Clause 123. A user equipment (UE), comprising: a component for receiving configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a sounding reference signal (SRS) validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets comprising one or more SRS resources; a component for selecting a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell in the one or more SRS resource sets; and a component for sending the selected subset of the one or more SRS resources only from all SRS resources associated with the first cell when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0347] Clause 124. A UE according to clause 123, wherein the association information indicates that each of the one or more downlink reference signals is used for: measuring path loss relative to the first cell, or measuring a spatial relationship relative to the first cell.

[0348] Clause 125. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 123 to 124, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0349] Clause 126. A UE according to any one of clauses 123 to 125, wherein the one or more SRS resource sets include at least: a first SRS resource set, the first SRS resource set being associated with the first cell and including: a first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a first downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource being associated with a second downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource set being associated with a second cell in the SRS validity area and including: the first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a third downlink reference signal; and the second SRS resource being associated with a fourth downlink reference signal.

[0350] Clause 127. A UE according to clause 126, wherein each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal and the fourth downlink reference signal is: a synchronization signal block (SSB), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a tracking reference signal (TRS) or a positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0351] Clause 128. A UE according to any one of clauses 123 to 127, wherein: the one or more signal strength measurements of the one or more downlink reference signals include a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the one or more downlink reference signals that can be measured by the UE.

[0352] Clause 129. A UE according to any one of clauses 123 to 128, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources includes selected SRS resources, and the selected SRS resources are selected based on the following: the signal strength measurement associated with the selected SRS resource in the one or more signal strength measurements is the maximum signal strength measurement in the one or more signal strength measurements.

[0353] Clause 130. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 123 to 128, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected based on a subset of the one or more signal strength measurements associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources being greater than a threshold.

[0354] Clause 131. The UE of clause 130, wherein the threshold is indicated in the configuration information.

[0355] Clause 132. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 130 to 131, wherein the threshold applies to the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell, or to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity area.

[0356] Clause 133. A UE according to any of clauses 130 to 132, the UE further comprising: means for transmitting all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell based on the threshold not being indicated in the configuration information.

[0357] Clause 134. The UE of clause 123, further comprising means for transmitting all of the one or more SRS resources in the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell based on an indicator included in the configuration information.

[0358] Clause 135. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 123 to 134, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected after the UE has camped on the first cell in accordance with a cell reselection procedure.

[0359] Clause 136. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 123 to 135, wherein the configuration information is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0360] Clause 137. A transmit receive point (TRP), comprising: a component for attempting to detect at least one SRS resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate sounding reference signal (SRS) resources based on the priority of the candidate SRS resources; and a component for measuring the at least one detected SRS resource.

[0361] Clause 138. A transmit receive point (TRP) according to clause 137, wherein the priority of the candidate SRS resources is capable of being determined based on: giving priority to a first subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a previously resided TRP on which the UE resides, giving priority to a second subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the previously resided TRP, giving priority to a third subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of the TRP, giving priority to a fourth subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the TRP, or any combination thereof.

[0362] Clause 139. A transmission reception point (TRP) as recited in any of clauses 137 to 138, wherein the plurality of candidate SRS resources are associated with a network paging area.

[0363] Clause 140. The transmission reception point (TRP) of clause 139, further comprising a component for signaling information of at least one detected SRS resource to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area.

[0364] Clause 141. A transmit reception point (TRP) as described in clause 140, wherein the one or more other TRPs include a neighboring TRP of the TRP.

[0365] Clause 142. A transmit reception point (TRP) as described in any of clauses 137 to 141, wherein the at least one SRS resource is sent by the UE when the UE is operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0366] Clause 143. A Transmission Reception Point (TRP) as described in clause 142, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0367] Clause 144. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a SRS validity area, each SRS resource set in the one or more SRS resource sets comprising one or more SRS resources; select a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell in the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell in the one or more SRS resource sets; and, when operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state, send only the selected subset of the one or more SRS resources from all SRS resources associated with the first cell.

[0368] Clause 145. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 144, wherein the association information indicates that each of the one or more downlink reference signals is used to: measure path loss relative to the first cell, or measure a spatial relationship relative to the first cell.

[0369] Clause 146. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 144 to 145, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0370] Clause 147. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 144 to 146, wherein the one or more SRS resource sets include at least: a first SRS resource set, the first SRS resource set being associated with the first cell and including: a first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a first downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource being associated with a second downlink reference signal; and a second SRS resource set, the second SRS resource set being associated with a second cell in the SRS validity area and including: the first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a third downlink reference signal; and the second SRS resource being associated with a fourth downlink reference signal.

[0371] Clause 148. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 147, wherein each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal and the fourth downlink reference signal is: a synchronization signal block (SSB), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a tracking reference signal (TRS) or a positioning reference signal (PRS).

[0372] Clause 149. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 144 to 148, wherein: the one or more signal strength measurements of the one or more downlink reference signals include a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the one or more downlink reference signals that can be measured by the UE.

[0373] Clause 150. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 144 to 149, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources includes a selected SRS resource, and the selected SRS resource is selected based on the following: the signal strength measurement associated with the selected SRS resource in the one or more signal strength measurements is the maximum signal strength measurement in the one or more signal strength measurements.

[0374] Clause 151. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 144 to 149, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected based on the following: a subset of the one or more signal strength measurements associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources is greater than a threshold.

[0375] Clause 152. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 151, wherein the threshold is indicated in the configuration information.

[0376] Clause 153. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 151 to 152, wherein the threshold applies to the set of SRS resources associated with the first cell, or to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity area.

[0377] Clause 154. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 151 to 153, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: send all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell based on the threshold not being indicated in the configuration information.

[0378] Clause 155. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 144, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the UE, cause the UE to: send all SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell based on an indicator included in the configuration information.

[0379] Clause 156. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 144 to 155, wherein: the subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected after the UE has camped on the first cell according to a cell reselection procedure.

[0380] Clause 157. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 144 to 156, wherein the configuration information is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0381] Clause 158. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a transmit receive point (TRP), cause the transmit receive point (TRP) to: attempt to detect at least one SRS resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate sounding reference signal (SRS) resources based on the priority of the candidate SRS resources; and measure at least one detected SRS resource.

[0382] Clause 159. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 158, wherein the priority of the candidate SRS resources is capable of being determined based on: giving priority to a first subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a previously resided TRP on which the UE resides, giving priority to a second subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the previously resided TRP, giving priority to a third subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of the TRP, giving priority to a fourth subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a neighboring TRP of the TRP, or any combination thereof.

[0383] Clause 160. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 158 to 159, wherein the plurality of candidate SRS resources are associated with a network paging area.

[0384] Clause 161. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 160, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium further comprises computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the transmit-receive point (TRP), cause the transmit-receive point (TRP) to: signal information of at least one detected SRS resource to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area.

[0385] Clause 162. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 161, wherein the one or more other TRPs include a neighboring TRP of the TRP.

[0386] Clause 163. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 158 to 162, wherein the at least one SRS resource is sent by the UE when the UE operates in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state.

[0387] Clause 164. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 163, wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

[0388] 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.

[0389] 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.

[0390] 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 components, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in 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, one or more microprocessors in combination with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0391] 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.

[0392] 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, disk storage, or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. In addition, 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.

[0393] 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 expressly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving configuration information for one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a sounding reference signal (SRS) validity area, each of the one or more SRS resource sets including one or more SRS resources; selecting a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell of the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in an SRS resource set associated with the first cell of the one or more SRS resource sets; as well as While operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state, only a selected subset of the one or more SRS resources is transmitted from among all SRS resources associated with the first cell.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the association information indicates that each of the one or more downlink reference signals is used for: measuring the path loss relative to the first cell, or A spatial relationship relative to the first cell is measured. 3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more SRS resource sets include at least: A first SRS resource set is associated with the first cell and includes: a first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a first downlink reference signal, and a second SRS resource associated with a second downlink reference signal; and A second SRS resource set is associated with a second cell in the SRS validity area and includes: the first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a third downlink reference signal, and The second SRS resource is associated with a fourth downlink reference signal.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal, and the fourth downlink reference signal is: Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Tracking Reference Signal (TRS), or Positioning Reference Signal (PRS).

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more signal strength measurements of the one or more downlink reference signals include a reference signal received power (RSRP) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the one or more downlink reference signals that can be measured by the UE.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources comprises selected SRS resources, the selected SRS resources being selected based on: The signal strength measurement of the one or more signal strength measurements associated with the selected SRS resource is a maximum signal strength measurement of the one or more signal strength measurements.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected based on: A subset of the one or more signal strength measurements associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources is greater than a threshold. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the threshold value is indicated in the configuration information.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the threshold is applicable to the SRS resource set associated with the first cell, or to all SRS resources associated with the SRS validity area.

11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: All SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell are sent based on the threshold not being indicated in the configuration information.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: All SRS resources of the one or more SRS resources in the SRS resource set associated with the first cell are sent based on the indicator included in the configuration information.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein: The subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected after the UE has camped on the first cell according to a cell reselection procedure.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information is included in a radio resource control (RRC) message.

15. A method of wireless communication performed by a Transmit Receiving Point (TRP), the method comprising: attempting to detect at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate SRS resources based on priorities of the candidate SRS resources; as well as The detected at least one SRS resource is measured.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the priority of the candidate SRS resources can be determined based on: prioritizing a first subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a previously camped TRP on which the UE is camped, giving priority to a second subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with cells of neighboring TRPs of the previously resided TRP, giving priority to a third subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with the cell of the TRP, giving priority to a fourth subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with cells of neighboring TRPs of the TRP, or Any combination of them. The method of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of candidate SRS resources are associated with a network paging area.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising: Information of the detected at least one SRS resource is signaled to one or more other TRPs associated with the network paging area.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the one or more other TRPs include adjacent TRPs to the TRP.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one SRS resource is sent by the UE when the UE operates in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state. The method according to claim 20 , wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

22. A user equipment (UE), comprising: 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: receiving, via the at least one transceiver, configuration information of one or more sounding reference signal (SRS) resource sets associated with one or more cells in a sounding reference signal (SRS) validity area, each of the one or more SRS resource sets comprising one or more SRS resources; selecting a subset of the one or more SRS resources based on one or more signal strength measurements of one or more downlink reference signals and association information of the one or more downlink reference signals relative to a first cell of the one or more cells and one or more SRS resources in an SRS resource set associated with the first cell of the one or more SRS resource sets; as well as When operating in a radio resource control (RRC) unconnected state via the at least one transceiver, only all SRS associated with the first cell The selected subset of the one or more SRS resources is sent in the resource.

23. The UE according to claim 22, wherein the association information indicates that each of the one or more downlink reference signals is used for: measuring the path loss relative to the first cell, or A spatial relationship relative to the first cell is measured. The UE according to claim 22 , wherein the RRC unconnected state comprises an RRC inactive state or an RRC idle state.

25. The UE according to claim 22, wherein the one or more SRS resource sets include at least: A first SRS resource set is associated with the first cell and includes: a first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a first downlink reference signal, and a second SRS resource associated with a second downlink reference signal; and A second SRS resource set is associated with a second cell in the SRS validity area and includes: the first SRS resource, the first SRS resource being associated with a third downlink reference signal, and The second SRS resource is associated with a fourth downlink reference signal.

26. The UE of claim 25, wherein each of the first downlink reference signal, the second downlink reference signal, the third downlink reference signal, and the fourth downlink reference signal is: Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Tracking Reference Signal (TRS), or Positioning Reference Signal (PRS).

27. The UE of claim 22, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources comprises selected SRS resources, the selected SRS resources being selected based on: The signal strength measurement of the one or more signal strength measurements associated with the selected SRS resource is a maximum signal strength measurement of the one or more signal strength measurements.

28. The UE of claim 22, wherein the subset of the one or more SRS resources is selected based on: A subset of the one or more signal strength measurements associated with the subset of the one or more SRS resources is greater than a threshold.

29. A Transmission Reception Point (TRP), comprising: 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: attempting to detect at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resource transmitted by a user equipment (UE) from a plurality of candidate SRS resources based on priorities of the candidate SRS resources; as well as The detected at least one SRS resource is measured.

30. The TRP of claim 29, wherein the priority of the candidate SRS resources can be determined based on: prioritizing a first subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with a cell of a previously camped TRP on which the UE is camped, giving priority to a second subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with cells of neighboring TRPs of the previously resided TRP, giving priority to a third subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with the cell of the TRP, giving priority to a fourth subset of the candidate SRS resources associated with cells of neighboring TRPs of the TRP, or Any combination of them.

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