Frequency hopping mode between resources associated with location estimation session

Abstract

Techniques for communication are disclosed. In one aspect, a user equipment sends an indication of a reference signal (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for a RS-P configuration type for positioning, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association. The indication is received at a positioning estimation entity that sends an indication of at least one frequency hopping mode parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability. The indication of the at least one frequency hopping mode parameter is received by the UE.

Description

Background Art 1. Technical Field

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

[0003] 2. Description of Related Technologies

[0004] Wireless communication systems have evolved over many generations, including first-generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second-generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including transitional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, internet-enabled wireless services, and fourth-generation (4G) services (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular systems and Personal Communications Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the like.

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

[0006] The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects disclosed herein. Therefore, the following summary should 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.

[0007] In one aspect, a method of operating a user equipment (UE) includes sending an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and receiving an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0008] In an aspect, a method of operating a position estimation entity includes receiving an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and sending an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a position estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0009] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: a memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to: send an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and receive an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0010] In one aspect, a positioning estimation entity includes: a memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to: receive an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and send an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0011] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes: means for sending an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and means for receiving an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0012] In an aspect, a positioning estimation entity includes: means for receiving an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and means for sending an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0013] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), causes the UE to: send an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and receive an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0014] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a positioning estimation entity, causes the positioning estimation entity to: receive an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and send an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

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

[0016] 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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0023] Figure 7 is a diagram of an example of frequency-domain positioning reference signal (PRS) splicing according to aspects of the present disclosure.

[0024] Figure 8 A frequency hopping scheme according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0025] Figure 9 A frequency hopping scheme according to another aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0026] Figure 10 A frequency hopping scheme according to another aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0027] Figure 11 An exemplary process of communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

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

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

[0030] Figure 14 An exemplary process of communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0031] Figure 15 An exemplary process of communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0032] Figure 16 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figures 13 to 15 An example specific implementation of the process.

[0033] Figure 17 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figures 13 to 15 An example implementation of the process.

[0034] Figure 18 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figures 13 to 15 An example implementation of the process.

[0035] Figure 19 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figures 13 to 15 An example implementation of the process. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] The following description relates to certain specific examples to illustrate the innovative aspects of the present disclosure. However, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily appreciate that the teachings herein can be applied in a variety of different ways. Some or all of the examples described may be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in accordance with one or more of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards, the IEEE 802.15 standard, the Bluetooth® standard as defined by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), or the Long Term Evolution (LTE), 3G, 4G, or 5G (New Radio (NR)) standards issued by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The described examples may be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving RF signals in accordance with one or more of the following technologies or techniques: code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), spatial division multiple access (SDMA), rate split multiple access (RSMA), multi-user shared access (MUSA), single-user (SU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), and multi-user (MU) MIMO. The described examples may also be implemented using other wireless communication protocols or RF signals suitable for use in one or more of a wireless personal area network (WPAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), a wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), or an Internet of Things (IoT) network.

[0037] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to a UE capability indication indicating the frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association. Such aspects may provide various technical advantages, such as improved positioning estimation accuracy and / or latency, particularly for UE types such as reduced capability (RedCap) UEs.

[0038] Aspects of the present disclosure also relate to modifying frequency hopping parameters during a UE's position estimation session. For example, the UE or the network (or a combination thereof) may determine that more suitable frequency hopping parameters are available and may then take action to modify those frequency hopping parameters during the position estimation session. Such aspects may provide various technical advantages, such as improved position estimation accuracy and / or latency, particularly for UE types such as RedCap UEs.

[0039] Various aspects of the present disclosure are provided below in the description and related drawings of various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted to avoid making the relevant details of the present disclosure difficult to understand.

[0040] 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.

[0041] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of a variety of different techniques and methods may be used to represent the information and signals described below. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be mentioned throughout the following description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the specific application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, and so on.

[0042] 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 an associated processor of a device to perform the functionality described herein. Accordingly, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a variety of different forms, all of which are contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, for each of the various aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, "a logical component configured to perform the described actions."

[0043] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT). Generally speaking, a UE can be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet, laptop, consumer asset location device, wearable device (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., car, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE can be mobile or stationary (e.g., at certain times) and can communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" can be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT," "client device," "wireless device," "subscriber device," "subscriber terminal," "subscriber station," "user terminal" or "UT," "mobile device," "mobile terminal," "mobile station," or variations thereof. Generally speaking, a UE can communicate with a core network via the RAN, and through the core network, the UE can connect to external networks such as the Internet and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms are also possible for the UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet, such as through a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (eg, based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.).

[0044] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with UEs, depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), new radio (NR) Node B (also known as gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may primarily support wireless access for UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may only provide edge node signaling functions, while in other systems, a base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link through which a UE can transmit signals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). The communication link through which a base station can transmit signals to a UE is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term "traffic channel (TCH)" may refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0045] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to the cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an antenna array of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming). Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transmission medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRPs may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighboring base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. Because, as used herein, a TRP is the point at which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, references to transmitting from or receiving at a base station should be understood to refer to a specific TRP of a base station.

[0046] In some implementations that support UE positioning, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but may instead transmit a reference signal to the UE to be measured by the UE and / or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting a signal to the UE) and / or as a position measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring a signal from the UE).

[0047] 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.

[0048] 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.

[0049] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) via backhaul links 122. The base stations 102 may also interface with one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) via the core network 170. The location servers 172 may be part of the core network 170 or external to the core network 170. The location servers 172 may be integrated with the base stations 102. The UEs 104 may communicate with the location servers 172 directly or indirectly. For example, the UE 104 may communicate with the location servers 172 via the base station 102 currently serving the UE 104. The UE 104 may also communicate with the location servers 172 via another path, such as via an application server (not shown), via another network, such as via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) (e.g., AP 150 described below), 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.

[0050] Among other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions related to one or more of the following: delivering user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection establishment and release, load balancing, distribution of non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracking, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC / 5GC) over a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0051] Base stations 102 can communicate wirelessly with UEs 104. Each of base stations 102 can provide communication coverage for a corresponding geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells can be supported by base station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used for communicating with a base station (e.g., via a frequency resource, such as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, frequency band, etc.) and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) that distinguishes cells operating on the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells can be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other protocol types) that can provide access to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" can refer to either or both the logical communication entity and the base station supporting the logical communication entity, depending on the context. Furthermore, since the TRP is typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station, as long as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communications within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0052] While the geographic coverage areas 110 of adjacent macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover area), some areas of the geographic coverage areas 110 may substantially overlap with the larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a Home eNB (HeNB), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG).

[0053] 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).

[0054] 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.

[0055] The small cell base station 102' can operate in licensed and / or unlicensed spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed spectrum, the small cell base station 102' can employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. Small cell base stations 102' employing LTE / 5G in the unlicensed spectrum can improve the coverage and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum can be referred to as LTE-U, License Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0056] The wireless communication system 100 may also include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180, which can operate at mmW and / or near-mmW frequencies to communicate with UEs 182. Extremely high frequencies (EHF) are part of the RF portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, with wavelengths between 1 and 10 mm. Radio waves in this frequency band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near-mmW frequencies extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz, with wavelengths of 100 mm. Super high frequencies (SHF) frequency bands extend between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and are also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using mmW / near-mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short range. mmW base stations 180 and UEs 182 can utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) on mmW communication links 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Furthermore, it should be understood that, in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near-mmW frequencies and beamforming. Therefore, it should be understood that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0057] Transmit beamforming is a technique used to focus an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts it in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located relative to the transmitting network node and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing the receiving device with a faster and stronger RF signal (in terms of data rate). To alter the directionality of the RF signal during transmission, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node can use an array of antennas (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array"), which forms an RF beam that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF currents from the transmitters are fed to the individual antennas with the correct phase relationship, so that the radio waves from the individual antennas add together in the desired direction to increase radiation, while canceling out in undesired directions to suppress radiation.

[0058] Transmit beams can be quasi-co-located, meaning they appear to have the same parameters to a receiver (e.g., a UE), regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antenna is physically co-located. In NR, four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships exist. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that certain parameters about a second reference RF signal on a second beam can be derived based on information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0059] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses receive beams to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver may increase the gain setting of the antenna array in a particular direction and / or adjust the phase setting of the antenna array in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase the gain level of) the RF signals received from that direction. Therefore, when a receiver is said to be beamforming in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain in other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gain in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) for the RF signals received from that direction.

[0060] The transmit beam and receive beam can be spatially correlated. This spatial correlation means that the parameters of a second beam (e.g., a transmit beam or a receive beam) used for a second reference signal can be derived based on information about the first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE can use a specific receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam based on the receive beam parameters to transmit an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to the base station.

[0061] 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.

[0062] The electromagnetic spectrum is typically subdivided into various categories, bands, channels, etc., based on frequency / wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency ranges designated FR1 (410 MHz-7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz-52.6 GHz). It should be understood that, despite a portion of FR1 exceeding 6 GHz, FR1 is often (and interchangeably) referred to as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and articles. A similar naming issue sometimes arises with FR2, which is often (and interchangeably) referred to as the "millimeter wave" band in documents and articles, despite being distinct from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz to 300 GHz), which is designated as a "millimeter wave" band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

[0063] Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR research has identified the operating band for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz to 24.25 GHz). Frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, effectively extending the features of FR1 and / or FR2 to mid-band frequencies. Furthermore, higher frequency bands are currently being explored to extend 5G NR operation beyond 52.6 GHz. For example, three higher operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz to 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz to 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz to 300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0064] In view of the above aspects, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "sub-6 GHz" or the like is used herein, it can be broadly referred to as frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. In addition, unless otherwise specifically stated, it should be understood that if the term "millimeter wave" or the like is used herein, it can be broadly referred to as frequencies that may include mid-band frequencies, may be within FR2, FR4, FR4-a or FR4-1 and / or FR5, or may be within the EHF band.

[0065] In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell," and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells." In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that can be configured and used to provide additional radio resources once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals. For example, since the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are typically UE-specific, UE-specific signaling information and signals may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell can have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carrier. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency / component carrier through which a base station communicates, the terms "cell," "serving cell," "component carrier," "carrier frequency," etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0066] For example, still referring to Figure 1In the example, one of the frequencies used by macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies used by macrocell base station 102 and / or mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically double the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate achieved with a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0067] 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.

[0068] In some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 are capable of sidelink communication. Sidelink-capable UEs (SL-UEs) can communicate with base station 102 via communication link 120 using the Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between the UE and the base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) can also communicate directly with each other via wireless sidelink 160 using the PC5 interface (i.e., the air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or simply "sidelink") is an adaptation of the core cellular network standard (e.g., LTE, NR) that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without going through a base station. Sidelink communication can be unicast or multicast and can be used for device-to-device (D2D) media sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, etc.), emergency rescue applications, and more. One or more SL-UEs in a group of SL-UEs utilizing sidelink communication may be located within the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of the base station 102 or, for other reasons, unable to receive transmissions from the base station 102. In some cases, each group of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each SL-UE transmits to every other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, the base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for the sidelink communication. In other cases, the sidelink communication is performed between the SL-UEs without involving the base station 102.

[0069] In one aspect, sidelink 160 may operate over a wireless communication medium of interest, which may be shared with other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points, as well as other wireless communications between other RATs. A "medium" may include one or more time, frequency, and / or spatial communication resources associated with wireless communications between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs (e.g., encompassing one or more channels across one or more carriers). In one aspect, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed frequency band shared among various RATs. While various licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by government entities such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems (particularly those employing small cell access points) have recently expanded their operation into unlicensed frequency bands, such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies (most notably the IEEE 802.11x WLAN technology, commonly referred to as "Wi-Fi"). Example systems of this type include various variations of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and the like.

[0070] It should be noted 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 could be SL-UEs. Furthermore, while only UE 182 is depicted as capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs (including UE 164) could be capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are beamforming capable, they can beamform toward each other (i.e., toward other SL-UEs), toward other UEs (e.g., UE 104), toward a base station (e.g., base station 102, base station 180, small cell 102′, access point 150), and so on. Thus, in some cases, UE 164 and UE 182 could utilize beamforming via sidelink 160.

[0071] exist Figure 1 In the example of FIG, the UE illustrated (for simplicity, Figure 1Any UE (shown as a single UE 104 in the figure) can receive signal 124 from one or more Earth-orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, SV 112 can be part of a satellite positioning system that UE 104 can use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SV 112) positioned to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine its position on or above the Earth based, at least in part, on positioning signals (e.g., signal 124) received from the transmitters. Such transmitters typically transmit a signal with a repeating pseudorandom noise (PN) code marked with a set number of chips. While typically located in SV 112, the transmitter can sometimes be located in a ground-based control station, base station 102, and / or other UEs 104. UE 104 can include one or more specialized receivers specifically designed to receive signal 124 in order to derive geographic location information from SV 112.

[0072] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signal 124 may be enhanced by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, and the like, such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS)-Assisted Geo-Augmented Navigation, or the GPS and Geo-Augmented Navigation System (GAGAN). Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

[0073] In one aspect, SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, SV 112 connects to an earth station (also known as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn connects to elements in the 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a terrestrial antenna) or a network node in a 5G cellular network (5GC). This element, in turn, provides access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities external to the 5G network, such as internet web servers and other user devices. Thus, UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from SV 112, either instead of or in addition to communication signals from terrestrial base station 102.

[0074] The wireless communication system 100 may also include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as "side links"). Figure 1 In the example shown in 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 via 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 via the D2D P2P link). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, etc.

[0075] Figure 2A An example wireless network architecture 200 is illustrated. For example, 5GC 210 (also known as the Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally considered to include control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), which operate in conjunction to form the core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect gNBs 222 to 5GC 210, specifically to user plane functions 212 and control plane functions 214, respectively. In additional configurations, ng-eNBs 224 can also connect to 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to control plane functions 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. Furthermore, ng-eNBs 224 can communicate directly with gNBs 222 via backhaul connections 223. In some configurations, the next generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either (or both) the gNBs 222 or the ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0076] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230 that can communicate with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The location server 230 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each can correspond to a single server. The location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204 that can connect to the location server 230 via the core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). In addition, the location server 230 can be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively can be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0077] Figure 2B Another example wireless network structure 240 is illustrated. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to Figure 2AThe 5GC 210 in the 5GC 210 can be functionally considered to include control plane functions provided by the access and mobility management function (AMF) 264 and user plane functions provided by the user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate in conjunction to form the core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transmission of session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, access authentication and authorization, transmission of short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM)-based authentication, the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The AMF 264's functionality also includes Security Context Management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF, which it uses to derive access network-specific keys. The AMF 264's functionality also includes location service management for regulated services, transport of location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (which acts as the location server 230), transport of location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, allocation of Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifiers for interoperability with EPS, and notification of UE 204 mobility events. Furthermore, the AMF 264 supports functionality for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0078] The UPF 262 functions include serving as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), serving as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, user plane quality of service (QoS) handling (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport-level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and transmitting and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support the delivery of location service messages between the UE 204 and a location server (such as the SLP 272) on the user plane.

[0079] The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, traffic steering configuration at the UPF 262 for routing traffic to the correct destination, partial control of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0080] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that can communicate with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for the UE 204. The LMF 270 can be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each can correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which can connect to the LMF 270 via the core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown). The SLP 272 may support similar functionality as the LMF 270, but whereas the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, the NG-RAN 220, and the UE 204 on a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data), the SLP 272 may communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (e.g., third-party servers 274) on a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0081] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274 that can communicate with the LMF 270, SLP 272, 5GC 260 (e.g., via the AMF 264 and / or UPF 262), NG-RAN 220, and / or UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., a location estimate) of the UE 204. Thus, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a location service (LCS) client or external client. The third-party servers 274 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules distributed across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server.

[0082] 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.

[0083] The functionality of a gNB 222 can be divided between a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226, one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DUs) 228, and one or more gNB Radio Units (gNB-RUs) 229. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions, including delivery of user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and more, in addition to those functions specifically assigned to the gNB-DU 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 typically hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols for the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that typically hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers for the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and a cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the "F1" interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of the gNB 222 is typically hosted by one or more independent gNB-RUs 229, which perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between the gNB-DU 228 and the gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the "Fx" interface. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC and MAC layers, and with the gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0084] The deployment of a communication system (such as a 5G NR system) can be arranged in a variety of ways using various components or parts. In a 5G NR system or network, network nodes, network entities, network mobility elements, RAN nodes, core network nodes, network elements, or network equipment (such as a base station or one or more units (or one or more components) that perform base station functionality) can be implemented in a converged or disaggregated architecture. For example, a base station (such as a Node B (NB), an evolved NB (eNB), a NR base station, a 5G NR base station, an access point (AP), a transmit / receive point (TRP), or a cell) can be implemented as a converged base station (also known as a standalone base station or a single-chip base station) or a disaggregated base station.

[0085] A converged base station may be configured to utilize a radio protocol stack that is physically or logically integrated within a single RAN node. A disaggregated base station may be configured to utilize a protocol stack that is physically or logically distributed across two or more units, such as one or more central or centralized units (CUs), one or more distributed units (DUs), or one or more radio units (RUs). In some aspects, a CU may be implemented within a RAN node, and one or more DUs may be co-located with the CU, or alternatively, may be geographically or virtually distributed across one or more other RAN nodes. A DU may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CU, DU, and RU may also be implemented as a virtual unit, namely a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0086] Base station type operation or network design may take into account the aggregated nature of base station functionality. For example, a disaggregated base station may be utilized in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN, such as the network configuration initiated by the O-RAN Alliance), or a virtualized radio access network (vRAN, also known as a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)). Disaggregation may include distributing functionality across two or more units at various physical locations, as well as virtually distributing the functionality of at least one unit, which enables flexibility in network design. The various units of a disaggregated base station or disaggregated RAN architecture may be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0087] Figure 2C An example disaggregated base station architecture 250 according to aspects of the present disclosure is illustrated. Disaggregated base station architecture 250 may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CUs 226), which may communicate directly with a core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via backhaul links, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more disaggregated base station units, such as a near real-time (near-RT) RAN intelligent controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link, a non-real-time (non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a service management and orchestration (SMO) framework 255, or both. CUs 280 may communicate with one or more distributed units (DUs) 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via corresponding midhaul links, such as the F1 interface. DUs 285 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 287 (e.g., gNB-RUs 229) via corresponding fronthaul links. The RUs 287 can communicate with corresponding UEs 204 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, a UE 204 can be served by multiple RUs 287 simultaneously.

[0088] 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 controller that provides instructions to the unit's communication interface, may be configured to communicate with one or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units may include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals to one or more of the other units via the wired transmission medium. Additionally, the units may include a wireless interface that may include a receiver, transmitter, or transceiver (such as a radio frequency (RF) transceiver) configured to receive or transmit signals, or both, to one or more of the other units via the wireless transmission medium.

[0089] In some aspects, the CU 280 may host one or more higher-layer control functions. Such control functions may include radio resource control (RRC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), etc. Each control function may be implemented using an interface configured to communicate signals with other control functions hosted by the CU 280. The CU 280 may be configured to handle user plane functionality (i.e., central unit-user plane (CU-UP)), control plane functionality (i.e., central unit-control plane (CU-CP)), or a combination thereof. In some implementations, the CU 280 may be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. When implemented in an O-RAN configuration, the CU-UP units may communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP units via an interface (such as an E1 interface). As needed, the CU 280 may be implemented to communicate with the DU 285 for network control and signaling.

[0090] The DU 285 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions for controlling the operation of one or more RUs 287. In some aspects, the DU 285 may host one or more of a radio link control (RLC) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and one or more higher physical (PHY) layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, etc.), depending at least in part on a functional split (such as that defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)). In some aspects, the DU 285 may also host one or more lower PHY layers. Each layer (or module) may be implemented using an interface configured for signal communication with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 285 or with control functions hosted by the CU 280.

[0091] 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 Transforms (FFTs), Inverse FFTs (iFFTs), digital beamforming, Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering), or both, based at least in part on a functional split (such as a lower layer functional split). In such an architecture, the RU 287 may be implemented to handle over-the-air (OTA) communications with one or more UEs 204. In some implementations, both real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communications with the RU 287 may be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration may enable the implementation of the DU 285 and CU 280 in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.

[0092] The SMO framework 255 can be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of both non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 255 can be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements, which can be managed via an operations and maintenance interface (such as the O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO framework 255 can be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as Open Cloud (O-Cloud) 269) to perform network element lifecycle management (such as instantiating virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as the O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements may include, but are not limited to, the CU 280, DU 285, RU 287, and near-RT RIC 259. In some implementations, the SMO framework 255 can communicate with hardware aspects of the 4G RAN (such as the Open eNB (O-eNB) 261) via the O1 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO framework 255 can communicate directly with one or more RUs 287 via the O1 interface. The SMO framework 255 may also include a non-RT RIC 257 configured to support the functionality of the SMO framework 255 .

[0093] The non-RT RIC 257 can be configured to include logic that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updating, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the near-RT RIC 259. The non-RT RIC 257 can be coupled to or in communication with the near-RT RIC 259 (e.g., via an A1 interface). The near-RT RIC 259 can be configured to include logic that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources through data collection and actions over an interface (e.g., via an E2 interface) that connects one or more CUs 280, one or more DUs 285, or both, and the O-eNB with the near-RT RIC 259.

[0094] In some implementations, the non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from an external server to generate AI / ML models to be deployed in the near-RT RIC 259. This information may be utilized by the near-RT RIC 259 and may be received from non-network data sources or from network functions at the SMO framework 255 or the non-RT RIC 257. In some examples, the non-RT RIC 257 or the near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to tune RAN behavior or performance. For example, the non-RT RIC 257 may monitor long-term trends and patterns in performance and employ AI / ML models to execute corrective actions through the SMO framework 255 (such as via reconfiguration of O1) or by creating RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0095] 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 the location server 230 and the LMF 270), or alternatively may be independent thereof. Figure 2A and Figure 2B Several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) within the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure (such as a dedicated network) depicted in the present disclosure are illustrated to support operations as described herein. It should be understood that these components may be implemented in different types of devices with different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described as providing similar functionality. Furthermore, a given device may include one or more of these components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0096] UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for preventing transmission, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as NR networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, etc. WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc.) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., a certain set of time / frequency resources in a particular spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be configured in different ways to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) according to a designated RAT, and conversely, receive and decode the signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.), respectively. Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354 for transmitting and encoding the signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352 for receiving and decoding the signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0097] In at least 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 means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for preventing transmission, etc.) for communicating with other network nodes (such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc.) over the wireless communication medium of interest via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Z-Wave®, PC5, Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC), Wireless Access for Vehicular Environments (WAVE), Near Field Communication (NFC), Ultra-Wideband (UWB), etc.). Short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be configured in various ways to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.), respectively, and conversely, receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.), respectively, according to a designated RAT. Specifically, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, and one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368. As specific examples, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 can be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth® transceivers, Zigbee® and / or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, UWB transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0098] 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 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may 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 may be Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, BeiDou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), and the like. If satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals originating from a 5G network (e.g., carrying control and / or user data). Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may include any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and operations from other systems as appropriate and, at least in some cases, perform calculations using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm to determine the positions of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively.

[0099] Base station 304 and network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) for communicating with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. For another example, network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 via one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or with other network entities 306 via one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0100] A transceiver can be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired or wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). In some implementations, a transceiver can be an integrated device (e.g., implementing transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry in a single device), in some implementations can include separate transmitter circuitry and separate receiver circuitry, or in other implementations can be implemented in other ways. The transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) can be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. Wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, that allow a corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming," as described herein. Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as antenna arrays, that allow a corresponding device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter circuitry and the receiver circuitry may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), so that 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 (eg, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 , short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 ) may also include a network listening module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

[0101] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360 in some implementations, and network transceivers 380 and 390) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be generally referred to as a "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver can be inferred based on the type of communication being performed. For example, backhaul communications between network devices or servers typically involve signaling via a wired transceiver, while wireless communications between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) typically involve signaling via a wireless transceiver.

[0102] 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.

[0103] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively, include memory circuitry implementing memory 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, memories 340, 386, and 396 may provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may include frequency hopping components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. Frequency hopping components 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, and that, when executed, cause UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the frequency hopping components 342, 388, and 398 can be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., as part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the frequency hopping 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 for the frequency hopping component 342 are illustrated, and the frequency hopping component 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 3BPossible locations for the frequency hopping component 388 are illustrated, and the frequency hopping component 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 for the frequency hopping component 398 are illustrated and may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component.

[0104] UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to one or more processors 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information independent of motion data derived from signals received by one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or satellite signal receiver 330. By way of example, sensors 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. Furthermore, sensors 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide motion information. For example, sensors 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate a position in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0105] 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.

[0106] Referring in more detail to the one or more processors 384, in a 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.

[0107] Transmitter 354 and receiver 352 implement Layer 1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. Transmitter 354 handles the mapping to the signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), and M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM). The coded and modulated symbols are then separated into parallel streams. Each stream is then mapped to orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers, multiplexed with reference signals (e.g., pilots) in the time and / or frequency domains, and then combined using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially pre-decoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator can be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. The channel estimates can be derived from a reference signal and / or channel state feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream can then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 can modulate an RF carrier with the corresponding spatial stream for transmission.

[0108] At UE 302, receiver 312 receives the signal via its corresponding antenna 316. Receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides this information to one or more processors 332. Transmitter 314 and receiver 312 implement Layer 1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Receiver 312 can perform spatial processing on this information to recover any spatial streams destined for UE 302. If there are multiple spatial streams destined for UE 302, they can be combined by receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. Receiver 312 then uses a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to convert the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain. The frequency-domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, along with the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point transmitted by base station 304. These soft decisions can be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted by base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332, which implement layer 3 (L3) and layer 2 (L2) functionality.

[0109] 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.

[0110] Similar to the functionality described in conjunction with downlink transmissions by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 provide: RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with delivery of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0111] 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.

[0112] 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.

[0113] 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. The one or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0114] For convenience, UE 302, base station 304 and / or network entity 306 Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C 1 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. For another example, in Figure 3B In certain cases, specific implementations 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.

[0115] Various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may form or be part of communication interfaces for the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively. For example, where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may provide for communication between the different logical entities.

[0116] Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C The components of can be implemented in various ways. In some specific implementations, Figure 3A 、 Figure 3B and Figure 3C The components of the present invention may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Each circuit may utilize and / or incorporate at least one memory component to store information or executable code used by the circuit to provide the functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 through 346 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of UE 302 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 through 388 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of base station 304 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Furthermore, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 through 398 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of network entity 306 (e.g., by executing appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions may be described herein as being performed "by a UE," "by a base station," "by a network entity," and the like. However, as will be appreciated, such operations, actions and / or functions may actually be performed by a specific component or combination 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, frequency hopping components 342, 388 and 398, etc.).

[0117] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be operated by a different network operator than the 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).

[0118] Please note that Figure 3A The UE 302 illustrated in FIG3 may represent a “low-level” UE or an “advanced” UE. As further described below, although low-level UEs and advanced UEs may have the same types of components (e.g., both may have a WWAN transceiver 310, a processing system 332, a memory component 340, etc.), these components may have different levels of functionality (e.g., increased or decreased performance, more or less capabilities, etc.), depending on whether the UE 302 corresponds to a low-level UE or an advanced UE.

[0119] UEs can be categorized into low-level UEs (e.g., wearable devices such as smart watches, glasses, bracelets, rings, etc.) and high-level UEs (e.g., smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc.). Low-level UEs are alternatively referred to as capability-limited NR UEs, capability-limited UEs, NR-light UEs, light UEs, NR-ultra-light UEs, or ultra-light UEs. High-level UEs are alternatively referred to as full-capability UEs or simply UEs. Compared to advanced UEs, low-tier UEs typically have lower baseband processing capabilities, fewer antennas (e.g., one receiver antenna as a baseline in FR1 or FR2, with two receiver antennas optional), lower operating bandwidth capabilities (e.g., 20 MHz for FR1 without supplemental uplink or carrier aggregation, or 50 MHz or 100 MHz for FR2), only half-duplex frequency division duplex (HD-FDD) capability, a smaller HARQ buffer, reduced physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring, restricted modulation (e.g., 64 QAM for downlink and 16 QAM for uplink), relaxed processing timeline requirements, and / or lower uplink transmit power. Different UE classes can be distinguished by UE category and / or UE capabilities. For example, certain UE types may be assigned a "low-tier" category (e.g., by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM), the applicable wireless communication standard, etc.), while other UE types may be assigned a "high-tier" category. Certain UE classes may also report their category (e.g., "low-tier" or "high-tier") to the network. Additionally, certain resources and / or channels may be dedicated to certain types of UEs.

[0120] As will be appreciated, the accuracy of low-level UE positioning may be limited. For example, low-level UEs may operate on reduced bandwidths, such as 5 MHz to 20 MHz for wearable devices and "relaxed" IoT devices (i.e., IoT devices with relaxed or lower capability parameters (such as lower throughput, relaxed latency requirements, lower energy consumption, etc.)), which results in lower positioning accuracy. As another example, the receive processing capabilities of the low-level UEs may be limited due to their lower cost RF / baseband. As a result, the reliability of the measurements and positioning calculations may be reduced. In addition, such low-level UEs may not be able to receive multiple PRSs from multiple TRPs, further reducing positioning accuracy. As yet another example, the transmit power of the low-level UE can be reduced, which means that there will be lower quality uplink measurements for low-level UE positioning.

[0121] Advanced UEs typically have larger form factors and are more expensive than lower-tier UEs, and they also have more features and capabilities than lower-tier UEs. For example, for positioning, advanced UEs can operate over the full PRS bandwidth (such as 100 MHz) and measure PRS from more TRPs than lower-tier UEs, both of which result in higher positioning accuracy. As another example, the receive processing capabilities of advanced UEs may be higher (e.g., faster) due to their higher-capability RF / baseband. Furthermore, the transmit power of advanced UEs can be higher than that of lower-tier UEs, thereby increasing the reliability of measurements and positioning calculations.

[0122] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (eg, base stations and UEs). Figure 4 FIG4 is a diagram illustrating an example frame structure according to aspects of the present disclosure. The frame structure may be a downlink or uplink frame structure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0123] LTE (and in some cases NR) utilizes orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option of using OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, often referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier can be modulated with data. Generally speaking, modulation symbols are transmitted in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing can be 15 kilohertz (kHz), while the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Therefore, for a system bandwidth of 1.25 megahertz (MHz), 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, the nominal fast Fourier transform (FFT) size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048, respectively. The system bandwidth may also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for a system bandwidth of 1.25 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0124] LTE supports a single parameter set (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR supports multiple parameter sets (µ). For example, subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz (µ=0), 30 kHz (µ=1), 60 kHz (µ=2), 120 kHz (µ=3), and 240 kHz (µ=4) or larger may be available. In each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For a 15 kHz SCS (µ=0), there is one slot per subframe, 10 slots per frame, a slot duration of 1 millisecond (ms), a symbol duration of 66.7 microseconds (µs), and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 50 with a 4K FFT size. For a 30 kHz SCS (µ=1), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, a slot duration of 0.5 ms, a symbol duration of 33.3 µs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 100 with a 4K FFT size. For 60kHz SCS (µ=2), there are four slots per subframe, 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25ms, the symbol duration is 16.7µs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120kHz SCS (µ=3), there are eight slots per subframe, 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125ms, the symbol duration is 8.33µs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240kHz SCS (µ=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, 160 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.0625ms, the symbol duration is 4.17µs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 800.

[0125] exist Figure 4 In the example, a 15 kHz parameter set is used. Therefore, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes, each 1 ms, and each subframe includes one time slot. Figure 4 , time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), where time increases from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), where frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top.

[0126] A resource grid can be used to represent a time slot, each of which includes one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also called physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. Figure 4In the parameter set for cyclic prefixes, for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0127] Some of the REs may carry reference (pilot) signals (RS). These reference signals may include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), and sounding reference signals (SRS), depending on whether the illustrated frame structure is used for uplink or downlink communication. Figure 4 Example locations of REs carrying reference signals (labeled “R”) are illustrated.

[0128] Figure 5 FIGURE 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating various downlink channels within an example downlink time slot. Figure 5 In , time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), where time increases from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), where frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top. Figure 5 In the example of , a 15 kHz parameter set is used. Therefore, in the time domain, the illustrated time slot length is one millisecond (ms), divided into 14 symbols.

[0129] In NR, the channel bandwidth, or system bandwidth, is divided into multiple bandwidth parts (BWPs). A BWP is a set of contiguous RBs selected from a contiguous subset of common RBs for a given set of parameters on a given carrier. Generally, a maximum of four BWPs can be specified in the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can be configured with up to four BWPs on the downlink and up to four BWPs on the uplink. Only one BWP (uplink or downlink) can be active at a given time, meaning the UE can only receive or transmit on one BWP at a time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater than the bandwidth of an SSB, but may or may not contain an SSB.

[0130] refer to Figure 5, the primary synchronization signal (PSS) is used by the UE to determine the subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identification. The secondary synchronization signal (SSS) is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the position of the aforementioned DL-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the master information block (MIB) can be logically grouped together with the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also referred to as SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not sent through the PBCH (such as the system information block (SIB)), and paging messages.

[0131] The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) within one or more control channel elements (CCEs). Each CCE consists of one or more resource element group (REG) bundles (which can span multiple symbols in the time domain). Each REG bundle consists of one or more REGs, each corresponding to 12 resource elements (a resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The set of physical resources used to carry the PDCCH / DCI is called a control resource set (CORESET) in NR. In NR, the PDCCH is confined to a single CORESET and transmitted with its own DMRS. This enables UE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

[0132] exist Figure 5 In the example shown in Figure 2, there is one CORESET per BWP, and the CORESET spans three symbols in the time domain (although it could be just one symbol or two symbols). Unlike LTE control channels that occupy the entire system bandwidth, in NR, PDCCH channels are localized to a specific region (i.e., CORESET) in the frequency domain. Therefore, Figure 5 The frequency components of the PDCCH shown in FIG are illustrated as less than a single BWP in the frequency domain. Note that although the illustrated CORESETs are continuous in the frequency domain, they do not need to be continuous. Furthermore, a CORESET may span less than three symbols in the time domain.

[0133] The DCI within the PDCCH carries information about uplink resource allocations (persistent and non-persistent) and a description of the downlink data sent to the UE (referred to as an uplink grant and a downlink grant, respectively). More specifically, the DCI indicates the resources scheduled for downlink data channels (e.g., the PDSCH) and uplink data channels (e.g., the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)). Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIs can be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of a variety of formats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplink scheduling, downlink scheduling, uplink transmit power control (TPC), etc. The PDCCH can be transmitted using 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

[0134] The set of resource elements (REs) used for transmitting PRSs is called a "PRS resource." A set of resource elements may span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and "N" (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbols within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

[0135] The PRS resource within a given PRB is transmitted with a specific comb size (also referred to as "comb density"). The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for comb size "N," the PRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of one symbol of the PRB. For example, for comb size 4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, the REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, and 8) are used to transmit the PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, for DL-PRS, comb sizes of comb size 2, comb size 4, comb size 6, and comb size 12 are supported. Figure 4 An example PRS resource configuration for comb-4 (which spans four symbols) is illustrated. That is, the positions of the shaded REs (labeled "R") indicate a comb-4 PRS resource configuration.

[0136] Currently, DL-PRS resources can span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols within a slot using a full frequency domain staggered pattern. DL-PRS resources can be configured in any downlink or flexible (FL) symbol in a slot that is configured by higher layers. There may be a constant energy per resource element (EPRE) for all REs of a given DL-PRS resource. The following are the symbol-by-symbol frequency offsets for comb sizes of 2, 4, 6, and 12 over 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. 2-symbol Comb-2: {0, 1}; 4-symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1}; 6-symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}; 12-symbol Comb-2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1,0, 1, 0, 1}; 4-symbol Comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3} (as in Figure 4 ); 12-symbol comb-4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}; 6-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; 12-symbol comb-6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}; and 12-symbol comb-12: {0, 6, 3, 9, 1, 7, 4,10, 2, 8, 5, 11}.

[0137] A "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources used to transmit a PRS signal, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a specific TRP (identified by the TRP ID). In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the same periodicity, a common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as "PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor") across time slots. The periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource of the first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource of the next PRS instance. The periodicity may have a length selected from: 2^µ {4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32,40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240} time slots, where µ = 0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} time slots.

[0138] The PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (one TRP can transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in a PRS resource set can be transmitted on a different beam, and therefore, a "PRS resource" (or simply "resource") may also be referred to as a "beam." Note that this does not imply whether the UE knows the TRP and beam on which the PRS is transmitted.

[0139] A "PRS instance" or "PRS opportunity" is an instance of a periodically recurring time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive time slots) in which a PRS is expected to be transmitted. A PRS opportunity may also be referred to as a "PRS positioning opportunity," "PRS positioning instance," "positioning opportunity," "positioning instance," "positioning repetition," or simply "occasion," "instance," or "repetition."

[0140] A "positioning frequency layer" (also referred to simply as a "frequency layer") is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets with identical values ​​for certain parameters across one or more transmission timeframes (TRPs). Specifically, the set of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (implying that all parameter sets supported for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) are also supported for PRS), the same point A, the same value for the downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The point A parameter takes the value of the parameter "ARFCN-ValueNR" (where "ARFCN" stands for "Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number") and is an identifier / code that specifies a pair of physical radio channels for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth can have a granularity of four PRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers have been defined, and up to two PRS resource sets can be configured per frequency layer per TRP.

[0141] The concept of frequency layers is somewhat similar to that of component carriers and bandwidth parts (BWPs), but differs in that component carriers and BWPs are used by a single base station (or a macrocell base station and a small cell base station) to transmit data channels, whereas frequency layers are used by several (typically three or more) base stations to transmit PRSs. A UE can indicate the number of frequency layers it supports when communicating its positioning capabilities to the network (such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session). For example, a UE can indicate whether it supports one or four positioning frequency layers.

[0142] It should be noted that the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, such as, but not limited to, PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, and the like, as defined in LTE and NR. Furthermore, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" may refer to downlink positioning reference signals, uplink positioning reference signals, or sidelink positioning reference signals, unless the context indicates otherwise. If further distinction is needed between the types of PRSs, downlink positioning reference signals may be referred to as "DL-PRS," uplink positioning reference signals (e.g., SRS for positioning, i.e., PTRS) may be referred to as "UL-PRS," and sidelink positioning reference signals may be referred to as "SL-PRS." In addition, for signals that can be sent in the downlink, uplink, and / or sidelink (e.g., DMRS), these signals may be prefixed with "DL," "UL," or "SL" to distinguish the direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" may be different from "DL-DMRS."

[0143] Figure 6 FIGURE 6 is a diagram illustrating various uplink channels within an example uplink time slot. Figure 6 In , time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), where time increases from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), where frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top. Figure 6 In the example of , a 15 kHz parameter set is used. Therefore, in the time domain, the illustrated time slot length is one millisecond (ms), divided into 14 symbols.

[0144] The Random Access Channel (RACH), also known as the Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), may be within one or more slots within a frame based on the PRACH configuration. The PRACH may include six consecutive RB pairs within a slot. The PRACH allows a UE to perform initial system access and achieve uplink synchronization. The Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) may be located at the edge of the uplink system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, CSI reports, channel quality indicators (CQI), precoding matrix indicators (PMI), rank indicators (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) carries data and may additionally be used to carry buffer status reports (BSRs), power headroom reports (PHRs), and / or UCI.

[0145] NR positioning technology is expected to provide high accuracy (horizontal and vertical), low latency, network efficiency (scalability, reference signal overhead, etc.), and device efficiency (power consumption, complexity, etc.), especially for commercial positioning use cases (including general commercial use cases and (I)IoT use cases in particular). Reference accuracy is expected to determine the accuracy of the position estimate based on the accuracy of the positioning measurements (e.g., ToA, RSTD, Rx-Tx, etc.) of the received PRS, and the larger the bandwidth of the measured PRS, the more accurate the positioning measurement.

[0146] One technique for increasing PRS bandwidth is to aggregate PRSs across the frequency domain (referred to as "frequency-domain splicing") and / or across the time domain (referred to as "time-domain splicing"). In frequency-domain PRS splicing, PRSs are transmitted (by a base station or UE) across multiple (preferably contiguous) bandwidth intervals (e.g., positioning frequency layers, bandwidth parts (BWPs), or groups of contiguous PRBs, etc.) within one or more component carriers, a frequency band, or other bandwidth portion, and the receiver (UE or base station) measures the PRSs across the (contiguous) bandwidth intervals. By spanning multiple bandwidth intervals, the effective bandwidth of the PRSs is increased, resulting in improved positioning measurement accuracy. In time-domain PRS splicing, the multiple bandwidth intervals also span multiple (preferably contiguous) time intervals (e.g., groups of consecutive symbols, time slots, subframes, etc.). When implementing time-domain and / or frequency-domain PRS splicing, PRSs should preferably be transmitted across multiple bandwidth intervals and / or time intervals so that the receiver can make certain assumptions (e.g., QCL type, identical antenna port, etc.) about the PRSs transmitted within multiple time slots and / or positioning frequency layers.

[0147] Figure 7 FIG7 is a diagram illustrating an example of frequency domain PRS splicing according to aspects of the present disclosure. Figure 7 As shown, PRSs 710-1, 710-2, and 710-3 (labeled "PRS1," "PRS2," and "PRS3," respectively) are transmitted on correspondingly located frequency layers (labeled "PFL1," "PFL2," and "PFL3," respectively) within a given frequency band (labeled "B1"). Frequency band "B1" may be a frequency band in either FR1 or FR2. PRS 710 may be a DL-PRS transmitted by a base station to one or more UEs, a UL-PRS transmitted by a UE to one or more base stations, or a sidelink PRS transmitted by a UE to one or more other UEs.

[0148] exist Figure 7 In , time is represented horizontally and frequency is represented vertically. Figure 7 In the example of , the three positioning frequency layers are continuous in the frequency domain. Figure 7A single frequency band "B1" is illustrated, but the positioning frequency layer may alternatively span multiple frequency bands (possibly in both FR1 and FR2), with or without guard bands between the different frequency bands. Furthermore, the positioning frequency layer may span one or more component carriers within one or more frequency bands. Additionally, while Figure 7 The PRS 710 is illustrated as being transmitted on three positioning frequency layers, but it should be understood that the PRS 710 may be transmitted on only two positioning frequency layers or on more than three positioning frequency layers.

[0149] In the time domain, a PRS 710 may be a PRS opportunity, a PRS resource, a time slot containing a PRS, etc. PRSs 710 should generally be identical to one another except that they are sent on different positioning frequency layers. Figure 7 The PRSs 710 in are illustrated as starting and ending at the same time, but this is not always the case, and some PRSs 710 may start or end or have a different length than other PRSs 710.

[0150] Transmitting and receiving PRSs 710 using different localized frequency layers (particularly those across different component carriers or frequency bands) introduces the issue of phase shifts between the waveforms carrying different PRSs 710. A phase shift is the phase difference or offset between two waveforms. Thus, for example, the phase of the waveform of PRS 710-2 may be slightly different from the phase of the waveform of PRS 710-1. Mathematically, the channel over which the first PRS (e.g., PRS 710-1) is transmitted can be represented as h(f, t1), where f represents frequency, t1 represents time, and h represents the channel as a function of frequency f and time t1. The channel over which a related PRS (e.g., a PRS to be concatenated with the first PRS, such as PRS 710-2) is transmitted can be represented as h(f, t1)·e^jθ, where e^jθ represents the phase shift or offset between the channel over which the first PRS is transmitted and the channel over which the related PRS is transmitted.

[0151] Phase shifts can occur in both intra-band PRS and inter-band PRS (i.e., PRS on positioning frequency layers within the same component carrier or frequency band or PRS on positioning frequency layers within multiple component carriers or frequency bands). Phase shifts are particularly noticeable when the two signals (waveforms) are combined by a physical process (such as by the analog front end of a receiver). However, phase shifts can also be caused by the architecture of both the transmitter and receiver. For example, any changes in the transmit / receive RF chain can cause phase discontinuities in PRS 710. Phase shifts between the waveforms of PRSs transmitted on multiple positioning frequency layers can cause additional measurement errors in the measurement estimation process (e.g., the ToA estimation process), which reduces positioning accuracy.

[0152] To facilitate positioning estimation for low-layer UEs such as RedCap UEs, PRS and / or SRS frequency hopping may be supported. For example, various parameters may be defined specifically for RedCap UEs, such as:

[0153] ● UL SRS used for positioning to implement Tx frequency hopping, including but not limited to the partial overlap between hops, hopping bandwidth, and time gap between hops.

[0154] ● DL PRS for implementing Tx or Rx frequency hopping, including but not limited to the impact on processing capacity, hopping bandwidth in the positioning frequency layer, time gap between frequency hops, measurement period, and partial overlap between hops.

[0155] ● TX / RX frequency hopping for positioning of RedCap UE, the value of the gap between two consecutive hops is at least included from 100us to 5ms.

[0156] ●TX / RX frequency hopping for positioning of redcap UE, the values ​​of UE speed include, for example, 3km / h, 30km / h, 60km / h.

[0157] ●From the perspective of RAN1, for the positioning of RedCap UE, PRS frequency hopping and SRS frequency hopping are supported.

[0158] ● Maximum tolerable phase error, timing gap, and timing error between transitions

[0159] Parameters specific to IIoT, commercial, public safety, and V2X scenarios, as well as UE capabilities

[0160] ●Tx or Rx hopping pattern, including frequency overlap between hops, if supported.

[0161] • RRM requirements for positioning, including RRM measurements and procedures for both RedCap UEs with and without frequency hopping [RAN4].

[0162] Figure 8 A frequency hopping scheme 800 according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 8 In , the RS used for positioning (eg, DLPRS or UL SRS) is processed (eg, measured or transmitted) at the RedCap UE via a series of M hops. Figure 8 Two of the M hops are illustrated in FIG, where the first hop 805 is followed by the second hop 810. Figure 8In the example, overlapping bandwidth (BW) 815 (e.g., guard tones, etc.) is configured between resources associated with the first hop frequency 805 and the second hop frequency 810. Accurate phase offset estimation can be performed using overlapping tones with simple and low complexity. Algorithm parameter estimation is more difficult, but compressed sensing methods can be used.

[0163] Figure 9 9. A frequency hopping scheme 900 is illustrated in accordance with another aspect of the present disclosure. The frequency hopping scheme 900 is similar to the frequency hopping scheme 800, except that each respective hop frequency (hop frequencies 905 and 910) is depicted in greater detail with respect to its comb pattern. Figure 9 , overlapping BW 915 (eg, guard tones, etc.) is configured between resources associated with the first hop frequency 905 and the second hop frequency 910. A switching gap 920 (or hopping interval) 920 is also depicted.

[0164] When the UE is in the RRC Connected state, the UL SRS (or SRS for positioning (SRS-P)) can be configured in various ways within the active bandwidth part (BWP). In a first example, a UL-BWP switching method can be utilized. In some designs, the UL-BWP switching method may be associated with a large switching time and may only support up to four BWPs. In a second example, an SRS-P associated with a CC rather than an active BWP can be defined. In some designs, SRS hopping using the "SRS switching time for SRS carrier switching" can be the starting point, e.g., {0us, 30us, 100us, 140us, 200us, 300us, 500us, 900us}. In other designs, SRS hopping uses the switching time of SRS transmission in RRC inactivity, e.g., {100us, 140us, 200us, 300us, 500us}.

[0165] In some designs, the phase-locked loop (PLL) has a settling time of approximately 100 microseconds. However, in some designs, a fast frequency hopping (FFH) feature may be supported, in which case retuning can be even faster. In one example, a coarse tuning framework can be utilized similar to SRS carrier switching, where the phase-locked loop (PLL) is pre-tuned to each of the frequency blocks (hops) and the PLL tuning code is stored in the SDR WXE memory. During switching, the PLL tuning code is restored for faster switching.

[0166] Figure 10 A frequency hopping scheme 1000 according to another aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 10In FIG, 20 MHz hops 1005-1025 are depicted, where each successive hop partially overlaps the previous hop in the frequency domain. In some designs, a retuning time of 70 microseconds may allow for five hops within a time slot, such as Figure 10 For example, a 100 MHz sounding within a UL slot can support 5 single-symbol SRS + 2 symbol retuning time (70 microseconds).

[0167] In some designs, the SRS frequency resource configuration may depend on whether frequency hopping is enabled / disabled. For example, the frequency hopping of SRS may be determined by the parameter ∈ {0,1,2,3}, which is given by the field b-hop contained in the high-level parameter freqHopping (if configured), otherwise If enabled Frequency Hopping, otherwise if , frequency hopping is disabled.

[0168] In some designs, when SRS is transmitted on a given SRS resource, each OFDM symbol of the SRS resource and the sequence of each antenna port in the antenna port Should be scaled with the amplitude scaling factor Multiply them so that they match Each antenna port in the antenna port is specified in the sequence at the beginning and mapped to the antenna port according to the following formula Resource elements in the time slot Transmit power:

[0169]

[0170] In some designs, the length of the sounding reference signal sequence is given by:

[0171]

[0172] in Given by selected rows of Table 1 (below), ,in Given by the b-SRS field contained in the higher-layer parameter freqHopping (if configured), otherwise The rows of this table are indexed by the field c-SRS contained in the high-level parameter freqHopping. Selected number Given by the high-level parameter FreqScalingFactor (if configured), otherwise When FreqScalingFactor is configured, the UE expects the length of the SRS sequence to be a multiple of 6.

[0173] In some designs, the frequency domain starts at It is defined by the following formula:

[0174]

[0175] in

[0176]

[0177]

[0178]

[0179]

[0180] as well as

[0181] - Given by the high-level parameter StartRBIndex (if configured), otherwise ;

[0182] - Given in Table 1 (below),

[0183]

[0184]

[0185] If the high-level parameter EnableStartRBHopping is configured, otherwise .

[0186] In some designs, if ,but The reference point is subcarrier 0 in common resource block 0, otherwise the reference point is the lowest subcarrier of the BWP.

[0187] In some designs, the frequency domain shift value Adjusts the SRS allocation relative to the reference point grid and is contained in the higher layer parameter freqDomainShift in the SRS-Resource IE or SRS-PosResource IE. Send Comb Shift Contained in the higher-layer parameter transmissionComb in the SRS-Resource IE or SRS-PosResource IE, and is the frequency position index.

[0188] In some designs, the frequency hopping of the sounding reference signal is determined by the parameter Configuration, the parameter is given by the field b-hop contained in the high-level parameter freqHopping (if configured), otherwise .

[0189] In some designs, if , then frequency hopping is disabled and the frequency position index remains constant (unless reconfigured) and is defined by:

[0190]

[0191] This applies to all SRS resources. OFDM symbols. Given by the high-level parameter freqDomainPosition (if configured), otherwise ,and of and The values ​​of are given in Table 1 (below) and The configuration values ​​corresponding to the selected row are given.

[0192] In some designs, if , then frequency hopping is enabled and the frequency position index It is defined by the following formula:

[0193]

[0194] in Given in Table 1 (below),

[0195]

[0196] And among them ,in spite of What is the value of . Counts the number of SRS transmissions. For the case where the SRS resource is configured as aperiodic by the high-level parameter resourceType, the SRS resource is sent by Symbol SRS resource time slot Given. Number is the repetition factor given by the field repetitionFactor (if configured), otherwise .

[0197] For the case where the SRS resource is configured as periodic or semi-persistent by the higher-level parameter resourceType, the SRS counter is given by:

[0198]

[0199] This is aimed at satisfying The periodicity in the time slot and time slot offset May be defined in relevant standards.

[0200]

[0201]

[0202] Table 1

[0203] A measurement gap (MG) provides an opportunity for the UE to perform measurements on downlink signals. During a MG, the UE cannot perform inter-frequency or inter-RAT measurements while transmitting or receiving. Even for intra-frequency measurements, a 5G UE may require a measurement gap if such measurements are to be performed outside the UE's currently active bandwidth part (BWP). The network configures the measurement gap for the UE via RRC signaling. The network configures the MG so that it does not coincide with UE transmission or reception. MG can be periodic. A UE can be configured with multiple MGs. In some designs, the UE RRC notifies Layer 1 of the MG. In some designs, collected measurements are reported to the network at Layer 1 or RRC. In some designs, PRS processing without measurement gaps (also known as "no measurement gap" PRS processing or "no MG" PRS processing) allows PRS measurements to be made outside of the measurement gap within the PRS processing window (PPW), depending on UE capabilities.

[0204] Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to UE capability indication indicating the frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for RS-P configuration types including measurement gap association or RS-P processing window association. Such aspects may provide various technical advantages, such as improved positioning estimation accuracy and / or latency, particularly for UE types such as RedCap UEs.

[0205] Figure 11 An exemplary process 1100 for communications according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 11 The process 1100 is performed by a UE such as UE 302.

[0206] refer to Figure 11 At 1110, the UE 302 (e.g., transmitter 314 or 324, etc.) sends an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association.

[0207] refer to Figure 11At 1120, the UE 302 (eg, receiver 312 or 322, etc.) receives an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having an RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on an RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0208] Figure 12 An exemplary process 1200 of communicating according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 12 Process 1200 is performed by a positioning estimation entity. In some designs, the positioning estimation entity may correspond to a network component (e.g., a LMF integrated at the gNB / BS 304 or O-RAN component, or a remote location search such as the network entity 306). In other designs, the positioning estimation entity may correspond to another UE (e.g., a sidelink anchor UE) or the target UE itself (e.g., for UE-based positioning estimation, in which case any Rx / Tx operations between the UE and the positioning estimation entity may correspond to information transfer between different logical components of the UE over a data bus, etc.).

[0209] refer to Figure 12 At 1210, a positioning estimation entity (e.g., receiver 312 or 322 or 352 or 362, network transceiver 380 or 390, data bus 334, etc.) receives an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association.

[0210] refer to Figure 12 At 1220, the positioning estimation entity (e.g., transmitter 314 or 324 or 354 or 364, network transceiver 380 or 390, data bus 334, etc.) sends an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having an RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on an RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0211] refer to Figures 11 to 12 ,In some designs, the RS-P configuration type indicates support for an RS-P processing window and lack of support for a measurement gap, and at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) during the RS-P processing window.

[0212] refer to Figures 11 to 12 In some designs, the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps.

[0213] refer to Figures 11 to 12 In some designs, the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

[0214] refer to Figures 11 to 12 In some designs, the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and at least one hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow return within one or more RS-P processing windows.

[0215] refer to Figures 11 to 12 In some designs, at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between consecutively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

[0216] refer to Figures 11 to 12 In some designs, the RS-P configuration type includes a measurement gap, or the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gap, or the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or the RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

[0217] refer to Figures 11 to 12 In some designs, RS-P frequency hopping capabilities include:

[0218] The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping frequencies supported by the UE, or

[0219] The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping frequencies supported by the UE per frequency band (e.g., FR1 or FR2 or both, etc.),

[0220] The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping frequencies supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL),

[0221] The maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE within a specific duration, or

[0222] the maximum time, minimum time, or both that the UE supports between two hop frequencies (e.g., in the case of DL PRS, a new (N, k) parameter may be defined such that the UE supports a maximum number of k PRS hops within a duration of N milliseconds), or

[0223] ●Or any combination thereof.

[0224] refer to Figures 11 to 12 In some designs, the RS-P hopping capability includes the number of RS-P resources that the UE can process in parallel.

[0225] refer to Figures 11 to 12In some designs, the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE can support RS-P hopping to (e.g., only) adjacent RS-P frequencies, or the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE can support RS-P hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE can support RS-P hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies (e.g., any distance between two hopping frequencies), or any combination thereof.

[0226] refer to Figures 11 to 12 In some designs, an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is received or sent via assistance data (AD). In some designs, at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a transmit receive point (TRP), or at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource set, or at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource.

[0227] refer to Figures 11 to 12 In some designs, the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is received in association with an initial frequency hopping pattern configuration, or the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter includes a change to one or more frequency hopping pattern parameters of a current frequency hopping pattern configuration.

[0228] refer to Figures 11 to 12 In some designs, the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability and the RS-P is a PRS, or the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability and the RS-P is an SRS.

[0229] Aspects of the present disclosure also relate to modifying frequency hopping parameters during a UE's position estimation session. For example, the UE or the network (or a combination thereof) may determine that more suitable frequency hopping parameters are available and may then take action to modify those frequency hopping parameters during the position estimation session. Such aspects may provide various technical advantages, such as improved position estimation accuracy and / or latency, particularly for UE types such as RedCap UEs.

[0230] Figure 13 An exemplary process 1300 for communications according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 13 The process 1300 is performed by a UE such as UE 302.

[0231] refer to Figure 13At 1310, the UE 302 (e.g., receiver 312 or 314, etc.) receives a first indication of a frequency hopping pattern associated with a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) configuration for a positioning estimation session for the UE. For example, the first indication may be received as part of an initial RS-P configuration (e.g., from an LMF, a gNB, etc.), or may alternatively be an indication of a modified RS-P configuration (e.g., the initial RS-P configuration was configured and then modified via the first indication, or the first indication may modify another modified RS-P configuration).

[0232] refer to Figure 13 At 1320, the UE 302 (e.g., the processor 332, the frequency hopping component 342, etc.) determines to modify frequency hopping pattern parameters associated with the frequency hopping pattern during the position estimation session. As will be described in more detail below, the determination at 1320 can be in response to instructions and / or recommendations from a network component such as the LMF, or can be made independently of such instructions / recommendations.

[0233] refer to Figure 13 At 1330, the UE 302 (eg, the processor 332, the frequency hopping component 342, the receiver 312 or 322, the transmitter 314 or 324, etc.) performs at least one action to modify a frequency hopping pattern parameter based on the determination.

[0234] refer to Figure 13 In some designs, the frequency hopping pattern includes hopping from a first RS-P resource to a second RS-P resource, and the first RS-P resource and the second RS-P resource partially overlap in bandwidth (BW). In yet another aspect, the UE may receive a second indication to change the partial overlap in BW from a first number of RB units or tone units to a second number of RB units or tone units, wherein the determination of modifying the frequency hopping pattern parameters at 1320 is based on the second indication. In some designs, the first number of RB units or tone units is higher than the second number of RB units or tone units. In other designs, the first number of RB units or tone units is lower than the second number of RB units or tone units. In some designs, the first indication is received via L3 signaling, and the second indication is received via L1 or L2 signaling. In some designs, the RS-P configuration is a positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration, and the first RS-P resource and the second RS-P resource are PRS resources, or the RS-P configuration is a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration, and the first RS-P resource and the second RS-P resource are SRS resources. In some designs, the second indication is a modification suggestion (eg, the network transmits the modification suggestion without assuming that the modification suggestion will be followed) or a modification instruction (eg, the network transmits the modification suggestion with an assumption that the modification suggestion will be followed).

[0235] refer to Figure 13 In some designs, the RS-P configuration is a positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration, and the at least one action includes unilaterally modifying a frequency hopping pattern parameter at the UE without network instruction. In another aspect, the UE may send a report to the positioning estimation entity indicating the unilaterally modified frequency hopping pattern parameter.

[0236] refer to Figure 13 In some designs, the determination to modify the frequency hopping pattern parameters at 1320 is based on a modification suggestion received from the positioning estimation entity (e.g., the network transmits the modification suggestion without assuming that the modification suggestion will be followed). In some designs, the UE may also send a report indicating whether the modification suggestion is followed.

[0237] refer to Figure 13 In some designs, the RS-P configuration is a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration, and the at least one action includes sending a request to the positioning estimation entity to modify a frequency hopping pattern parameter. In another aspect, in some designs, the UE may receive a grant to the request and may modify the frequency hopping pattern parameter in response to the grant.

[0238] refer to Figure 13 In some designs, the frequency hopping pattern parameters include an amount of overlapping bandwidth (BW) between RS-P resource hops. In yet another aspect, the determination to increase the amount of overlapping BW is based on tracking that a phase difference across RS-P hops is below a first quality threshold, or the determination to decrease the amount of overlapping BW is based on tracking that a phase difference across RS-P hops is above a second quality threshold.

[0239] Figure 14 An exemplary process 1400 for communicating according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. In one aspect, the process 1400 may correspond to Figure 13 The network-side process is performed in parallel with the process 1300, which is specific to the scenario where the RS-P configuration is a PRS (ie, DL PRS) configuration for a DL-based (or DL+UL-based) positioning estimation session. Figure 14 The process 1400 is performed by a positioning estimation entity. In some designs, the positioning estimation entity may correspond to a network component (e.g., a LMF integrated at the gNB / BS 304 or O-RAN component, or a remote location search such as the network entity 306). In other designs, the positioning estimation entity may correspond to another UE (e.g., a sidelink anchor UE) or the target UE itself (e.g., for UE-based positioning estimation, in which case any Rx / Tx operations between the UE and the positioning estimation entity may correspond to information transfer between different logical components of the UE over a data bus, etc.).

[0240] refer to Figure 14At 1410, a positioning estimation entity (e.g., transmitter 314 or 324 or 354 or 364, network transceiver 380 or 390, data bus 334, etc.) sends a first indication of a frequency hopping pattern associated with a positioning reference signal (PRS) configuration for a positioning estimation session for a user equipment (UE).

[0241] refer to Figure 14 At 1420, the positioning estimation entity (e.g., receiver 312 or 322 or 352 or 362, network transceiver 380 or 390, data bus 334, etc.) receives a report indicating that the UE unilaterally modified at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter during the positioning estimation session without network instructions.

[0242] refer to Figure 14 In some designs, the positioning estimation entity may further send a modification suggestion to the UE, wherein the unilaterally modified at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is based in part on the modification suggestion. In some designs, the frequency hopping pattern includes frequency hopping from a first PRS resource to a second PRS resource, the first PRS resource and the second PRS resource partially overlapping in a bandwidth (BW), the modification suggestion includes a second indication to change the partial overlap in the BW from a first number of RB units or tone units to a second number of RB units or tone units, and the unilaterally modified at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is based in part on the second indication. In some designs, the first indication is sent via L3 signaling, and the second indication is sent via L1 or L2 signaling.

[0243] refer to Figure 14 In some designs, the frequency hopping pattern parameters include an amount of overlapping bandwidth (BW) between PRS resource hops. In some designs, the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter unilaterally modified by the UE increases the amount of overlapping BW based on tracking that a phase difference across PRS hops is below a first quality threshold, or the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter unilaterally modified by the UE decreases the amount of overlapping BW based on tracking that a phase difference across PRS hops is above a second quality threshold.

[0244] Figure 15 An exemplary process 1500 for communicating according to an aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. In one aspect, process 1500 may correspond to Figure 13 The network-side process is performed in parallel with the process 1300, which is specific to the scenario where the RS-P configuration is an SRS (ie, UL SRS or SRS-P) configuration for a UL-based (or DL+UL-based) positioning estimation session. Figure 15Process 1500 is performed by a positioning estimation entity. In some designs, the positioning estimation entity may correspond to a network component (e.g., a LMF integrated at the gNB / BS 304 or O-RAN component, or a remote location search such as the network entity 306). In other designs, the positioning estimation entity may correspond to another UE (e.g., a sidelink anchor UE) or the target UE itself (e.g., for UE-based positioning estimation, in which case any Rx / Tx operations between the UE and the positioning estimation entity may correspond to information transfer between different logical components of the UE over a data bus, etc.).

[0245] refer to Figure 15 At 1510, a positioning estimation entity (e.g., transmitter 314 or 324 or 354 or 364, network transceiver 380 or 390, data bus 334, etc.) sends a first indication of a frequency hopping pattern associated with a sounding reference signal (SRS) configuration for a positioning estimation session for a user equipment (UE).

[0246] refer to Figure 15 At 1520, a positioning estimation entity (eg, receiver 312 or 322 or 352 or 362, network transceiver 380 or 390, data bus 334, etc.) receives a request to modify frequency hopping pattern parameters from a UE during a positioning estimation session.

[0247] refer to Figure 15 At 1530 , the position estimation entity (eg, transmitter 314 or 324 or 354 or 364 , network transceiver 380 or 390 , data bus 334 , etc.) sends a grant to the request to modify the frequency hopping pattern parameters.

[0248] refer to Figure 15 In some designs, the frequency hopping pattern includes hopping from a first SRS resource to a second SRS resource, the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource partially overlapping in a bandwidth (BW), and the grant includes a second indication to change the partial overlap in the BW from a first number of RB units or tone units to a second number of RB units or tone units. In some designs, the first indication is sent via L3 signaling, and the second indication is sent via L1 or L2 signaling.

[0249] refer to Figure 15 In some designs, the frequency hopping pattern parameters include an amount of overlapping bandwidth (BW) between SRS resource hops. In some designs, the frequency hopping pattern parameters are modified to increase the amount of overlapping BW based on tracking that a phase difference across SRS hops is below a first quality threshold, or the frequency hopping pattern parameters are modified to decrease the amount of overlapping BW based on tracking that a phase difference across SRS hops is above a second quality threshold.

[0250] Figure 16 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figures 13 to 15 An example implementation of the processes 1300 to 1500 is 1600. Specifically, Figure 16 A frequency hopping scheme 1600 is illustrated with frequency hopping 1605 to 1610 including overlapping BW 1615 and a switching gap 1620 (or hopping interval). In some designs, the overlapping BW 1615 is defined in terms of tones, while in other designs, the overlapping BW 1615 may be defined in terms of RBs. In some designs, the overlapping BW 1615 may cover half or one-quarter of the BW overlap. In the case of DLPRS BW, the RBs associated with each frequency hopping 1605 to 1610 may have a step size of 4 RBs, depending on the relevant standards.

[0251] refer to Figures 13 to 15 In some designs of DL PRS implementation, the LMF may deliver PRS frequency hopping parameters to the UE as part of AD, for example (in order of least signaling to most signaling):

[0252] PFL-level hopping (e.g., all TRPs / resource sets / PRSs will follow a similar PRS hopping pattern within the PFL), or

[0253] TRP-level hopping (e.g., all resource sets / PRSs will follow a similar PRS hopping pattern within a TRP), or

[0254] PRS resource set level hopping (e.g., all PRS resources will follow a similar PRS hopping pattern within a PRS resource set), or

[0255] PRS resource level hopping (e.g., each PRS resource can be configured with a different PRS hopping configuration)

[0256] refer to Figures 13 to 15 In some designs of DL PRS implementation, PFL-level hopping may have the least signaling, while PRS resource-level hopping may have the most signaling. The LMF may provide signaling details for all corresponding options configured. In some designs, all signaling changes may be part of the AD structure (e.g., IE NR-DL-PRS-AssistanceData).

[0257] refer to Figures 13 to 15 In some designs of UL SRS implementation, the gNB may deliver the SRS frequency hopping parameters to the UE as part of the RRC message, for example (in order of least signaling to most signaling):

[0258] PFL-level hopping (e.g., all TRPs / resource sets / SRSs will follow a similar SRS hopping pattern within the PFL), or

[0259] TRP-level hopping (e.g., all resource sets / SRSs will follow a similar SRS hopping pattern within a TRP), or

[0260] ● SRS resource set level hopping (e.g., all SRS resources will follow a similar SRS hopping pattern within an SRS resource set), or

[0261] ● SRS resource level hopping (eg, each SRS resource may be configured with a different SRS hopping configuration).

[0262] refer to Figures 13 to 15 In some designs of UL SRS implementation, PFL-level hopping may have the least signaling, while SRS resource-level hopping may have the largest signaling. In some designs, the gNB may provide signaling details for all corresponding options configured.

[0263] refer to Figures 13 to 15 In some designs of UL SRS implementation, like preconfigured SRS, the gNB should configure a preconfigured hopping pattern for the preconfigured SRS. In some designs, each preconfigured hopping pattern is associated with a hopping ID that can be activated by the gNB. In some designs, the UE may also select any hopping ID among the configured IDs and provide this detail to the gNB.

[0264] refer to Figures 13 to 15 In some designs of DL PRS implementation, the LMF may deliver PRS hopping parameters to the UE, which may be static in nature, and may implement a mechanism to change the PRS hopping configuration (e.g., more hopping, less hopping, disabling hopping on some PFLs / TRPs / PRS resource sets / PRS resources, etc.) if anything needs to be changed on the fly based on UE measurements and other network metrics. In some designs, lower layer signaling may be used to change the PRS hopping configuration (e.g., L2 configuration change as part of a MAC CE, L1 configuration change as part of a DL DCI, etc.).

[0265] refer to Figures 13 to 15In some designs of UL SRS implementation, the SRS hopping parameters configured / preconfigured by the gNB to the UE may be static in nature, and if anything needs to be changed on the fly based on UE measurements and other network metrics, a mechanism may be implemented to change the SRS hopping configuration (e.g., more hopping, less hopping, disabling hopping on some SRS resource sets / SRS resources, etc.). In some designs, lower layer signaling may be used to change the SRS hopping configuration (e.g., L2 configuration change as part of a MAC CE, L1 configuration change as part of a DL DCI, activation and deactivation of any preconfigured SRS hopping IDs, etc.).

[0266] Figure 17 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figures 13 to 15 An example implementation of the processes 1300 to 1500 is 1700. Figure 17 , only one RS-P (e.g., DL PRS) resource is processed per hop (in this case, RS-P 1) across five (5) hops 1705, 1710, 1715, 1720, and 1725. After completing one RS-P (e.g., DL PRS) resource, the UE moves to the next RS-P (e.g., DL-PRS instance).

[0267] Figure 18 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figures 13 to 15 An example embodiment of the processes 1300 to 1500 is implemented in 1800. Figure 18 , a comb of 2 symbols and 2 types of RS-P (e.g., DL PRS) resource processing per hop is implemented across five (5) hops 1805, 1810, 1815, 1820, and 1825. In this case, the UE will process 2 RS-P (e.g., DLPRS) resources per hop. After completing one RS-P (e.g., DL PRS) resource, the UE will move to the next RS-P (e.g., DLPRS) resource.

[0268] Figure 19 The various aspects of the present disclosure are respectively illustrated Figures 13 to 15 An example embodiment of the processes 1300 to 1500 is implemented in 1900. Figure 19 In the example, a comb 4-symbol 4-type P (e.g., DL PRS) resource processing is performed across each of the five (5) hops 1905, 1910, 1915, 1920, and 1925. In this case, the UE will process 4 P (e.g., DL PRS) resources per hop. After completing one P (e.g., DL PRS) resource, the UE will move to the next P (e.g., DL PRS) resource.

[0269] refer to Figure 17In some designs of DL PRS implementation, assume that the UE is instructed to implement five frequency hops per PRS resource. During the measurement process, the UE determines that all frequency hops are not required (e.g., due to better-than-expected signal quality, high error between PRS resource hops, etc.). In this case, the UE may decide to reduce the PRS frequency hopping. In some designs, the UE may be allowed to unilaterally select a lower PRS frequency hop count (e.g., without network instruction). In other designs, the LMF may provide new signaling to the UE to report the number of frequency hops used for PRS resources and / or which hops are used for PRS measurements. In some designs, a combination of feedback from the UE itself and network components (e.g., gNB or LMF) may be used to determine which and / or how many PRS resources to measure.

[0270] refer to Figure 17 In some designs of UL PRS implementation, assume that the UE is instructed to implement 5 frequency hops per SRS transmission. During the measurement process, the UE determines that all frequency hops are not required (e.g., due to better-than-expected signal quality, high error between SRS resource hops, etc.). In this case, the UE may decide to reduce the SRS frequency hops (e.g., optionally based on feedback from the gNB / LMF). In some designs, the UE may be allowed to unilaterally select a lower SRS frequency hop count (e.g., without network instruction). In other designs, the gNB may provide new signaling to the UE to report the number of hops used for SRS resources and / or which hops are used for SRS transmission. In some designs, a combination of feedback from the UE itself and network components (e.g., the gNB or LMF) may be used to determine which and / or how many SRS resources to transmit on.

[0271] refer to Figure 17 In some designs of DL PRS implementation, assume that the UE is instructed to implement five frequency hops per PRS resource. During the measurement process, the UE (or gNB) determines that the frequency hop overlap is insufficient to track the phase difference across the hops. In this case, the UE may be able to suggest increasing and decreasing the PRS frequency overlap per SRS resource, PRS resource set, and / or TRP, or the LMF / gNB may be able to suggest increasing and decreasing the SRS frequency overlap per SRS resource, SRS resource set, and / or TRP. In either case, new signaling may be utilized to convey the suggestions via L1 / L2 signaling (e.g., in a MAC CE or DL / UL DCI framework).

[0272] refer to Figure 17In some designs of UL SRS implementation, assume that the UE is instructed to implement five frequency hops per SRS transmission. During the measurement process, the UE (or gNB) determines that the frequency hop overlap is insufficient to track the phase difference across the frequency hops. In this case, the UE may be able to suggest increasing or decreasing the SRS frequency overlap per SRS resource and / or SRS resource set, or the LMF / gNB may be able to suggest increasing or decreasing the SRS frequency overlap per SRS resource or resource set. In either case, new signaling may be utilized to convey the above suggestions via L1 / L2 signaling (e.g., in a MAC CE or DL / UL DCI framework).

[0273] In the detailed description above, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in the examples. This disclosure should not be interpreted as an intention that the example clauses have more features than those explicitly mentioned in each clause. On the contrary, the various aspects of the present disclosure may include fewer than all the features of the individual example clauses disclosed. Therefore, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated into the description accordingly, with each clause itself serving as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination with one of the other clauses in the clause, the aspects of the dependent clause are not limited to specific combinations. It should be understood that other example clauses may also include combinations of aspects of the dependent clause with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause or combinations of any features with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations unless it is expressly expressed or can be easily inferred that a specific combination is not intended to be used (for example, contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor). In addition, it is also expected that various aspects of a clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

[0274] Specific implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0275] Clause 1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: sending an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type comprising a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and receiving an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0276] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for an RS-P processing window and lack of support for measurement gaps, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) during the RS-P processing window.

[0277] Clause 3. A method according to any of clauses 1 to 2, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps.

[0278] Clause 4. The method of any of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

[0279] Clause 5. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow return within one or more RS-P processing windows.

[0280] Clause 6. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between consecutively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

[0281] Clause 7. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 6, wherein the RS-P configuration type includes a measurement gap, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gap, or wherein the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

[0282] Clause 8. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 7, wherein the RS-P hopping capability includes: the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE, or the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per frequency band, the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL), the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE in a specific duration, or the maximum time, minimum time, or both, or any combination thereof, supported by the UE between two frequency hops.

[0283] Clause 9. A method as described in any of clauses 1 to 8, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises a number of RS-P resources that the UE can process in parallel.

[0284] Clause 10. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to adjacent RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies, or any combination thereof.

[0285] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 1 to 10, wherein the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is received via assistance data (AD).

[0286] Clause 12. A method according to clause 11, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a transmit receive point (TRP), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource set, or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource.

[0287] Clause 13. A method according to any one of clauses 1 to 12, wherein the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter is received in association with an initial hopping pattern configuration, or the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter includes a change to one or more hopping pattern parameters of a current hopping pattern configuration.

[0288] Clause 14. A method according to any of clauses 1 to 13, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability and the RS-P is a PRS, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability and the RS-P is an SRS.

[0289] Clause 15. A method of operating a positioning estimation entity, the method comprising: receiving an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type comprising a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and sending an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0290] Clause 16. The method of clause 15, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for an RS-P processing window and lack of support for measurement gaps, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) during the RS-P processing window.

[0291] Clause 17. A method according to any of clauses 15 to 16, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps.

[0292] Clause 18. The method of any of clauses 15 to 17, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

[0293] Clause 19. A method according to any of clauses 15 to 18, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and wherein the at least one hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow return within one or more RS-P processing windows.

[0294] Clause 20. A method according to any one of clauses 15 to 19, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between successively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

[0295] Clause 21. A method according to any one of clauses 15 to 20, wherein the RS-P configuration type includes a measurement gap, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gap, or wherein the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

[0296] Clause 22. A method according to any one of clauses 15 to 21, wherein the RS-P hopping capability includes: the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE, or the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per frequency band, the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL), the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE in a specific duration, or the maximum time, minimum time, or both, or any combination thereof, supported by the UE between two frequency hops.

[0297] Clause 23. A method as described in any of clauses 15 to 22, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises a number of RS-P resources that the UE is capable of processing in parallel.

[0298] Clause 24. A method according to any one of clauses 15 to 23, wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to adjacent RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies, or any combination thereof.

[0299] Clause 25. The method of any of clauses 15 to 24, wherein the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is sent via assistance data (AD).

[0300] Clause 26. A method according to clause 25, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a transmit receive point (TRP), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource set, or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource.

[0301] Clause 27. A method according to any one of clauses 15 to 26, wherein the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter is sent in association with an initial hopping pattern configuration, or the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter includes a change to one or more hopping pattern parameters of a current hopping pattern configuration.

[0302] Clause 28. A method according to any of clauses 15 to 27, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability and the RS-P is a PRS, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability and the RS-P is an SRS.

[0303] Clause 29. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: a memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to: send an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type comprising a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and receive an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0304] Clause 30. The UE of clause 29, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for an RS-P processing window and lack of support for measurement gaps, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) during the RS-P processing window.

[0305] Clause 31. A UE according to any of clauses 29 to 30, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps.

[0306] Clause 32. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 29 to 31, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

[0307] Clause 33. A UE according to any of clauses 29 to 32, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and wherein the at least one hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow return within one or more RS-P processing windows.

[0308] Clause 34. A UE according to any of clauses 29 to 33, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between consecutively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

[0309] Clause 35. A UE according to any of clauses 29 to 34, wherein the RS-P configuration type includes measurement gaps, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gaps, or wherein the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

[0310] Clause 36. A UE according to any one of clauses 29 to 35, wherein the RS-P hopping capability includes: the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE, or the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per frequency band, the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL), the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE in a specific duration, or the maximum time, minimum time, or both, or any combination thereof, supported by the UE between two frequency hops.

[0311] Clause 37. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 29 to 36, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises a number of RS-P resources that the UE is capable of processing in parallel.

[0312] Clause 38. A UE according to any one of clauses 29 to 37, wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to adjacent RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies, or any combination thereof.

[0313] Clause 39. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 29 to 38, wherein the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is received via assistance data (AD).

[0314] Clause 40. A UE according to clause 39, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a transmit reception point (TRP), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource set, or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource.

[0315] Clause 41. A UE according to any of clauses 29 to 40, wherein the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter is received in association with an initial hopping pattern configuration, or the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter comprises a change to one or more hopping pattern parameters of a current hopping pattern configuration.

[0316] Clause 42. A UE according to any of clauses 29 to 41, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability and the RS-P is a PRS, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability and the RS-P is an SRS.

[0317] Clause 43. A positioning estimation entity, comprising: a memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to: receive an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type comprising a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and send an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0318] Clause 44. A position estimation entity according to clause 43, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for RS-P processing windows and lack of support for measurement gaps, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) during the RS-P processing window.

[0319] Clause 45. A position estimation entity according to any of clauses 43 to 44, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps.

[0320] Clause 46. The positioning estimation entity of any of clauses 43 to 45, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

[0321] Clause 47. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 43 to 46, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow return within one or more RS-P processing windows.

[0322] Clause 48. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 43 to 47, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between consecutively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

[0323] Clause 49. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 43 to 48, wherein the RS-P configuration type includes measurement gaps, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gaps, or wherein the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

[0324] Clause 50. A positioning estimation entity according to any one of clauses 43 to 49, wherein the RS-P hopping capability includes: the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE, or the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per frequency band, the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL), the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE in a specific duration, or the maximum time, minimum time, or both, or any combination thereof, supported by the UE between two frequency hops.

[0325] Clause 51. A positioning estimation entity as described in any of clauses 43 to 50, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises a number of RS-P resources that the UE is capable of processing in parallel.

[0326] Clause 52. A positioning estimation entity according to any one of clauses 43 to 51, wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to adjacent RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies, or any combination thereof.

[0327] Clause 53. The positioning estimation entity of any of clauses 43 to 52, wherein the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is sent via assistance data (AD).

[0328] Clause 54. A positioning estimation entity according to clause 53, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a transmit receive point (TRP), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource set, or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource.

[0329] Clause 55. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 43 to 54, wherein the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter is sent in association with an initial hopping pattern configuration, or the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter includes a change to one or more hopping pattern parameters of a current hopping pattern configuration.

[0330] Clause 56. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 43 to 55, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability and the RS-P is a PRS, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability and the RS-P is an SRS.

[0331] Clause 57. A user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: means for sending an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type comprising a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and means for receiving an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0332] Clause 58. The UE of clause 57, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for an RS-P processing window and lack of support for measurement gaps, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) during the RS-P processing window.

[0333] Clause 59. A UE according to any of clauses 57 to 58, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps.

[0334] Clause 60. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 57 to 59, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

[0335] Clause 61. A UE according to any of clauses 57 to 60, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow return within one or more RS-P processing windows.

[0336] Clause 62. A UE according to any of clauses 57 to 61, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between consecutively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

[0337] Clause 63. A UE according to any of clauses 57 to 62, wherein the RS-P configuration type includes measurement gaps, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gaps, or wherein the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

[0338] Clause 64. A UE according to any one of clauses 57 to 63, wherein the RS-P hopping capability includes: the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE, or the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per frequency band, the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL), the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE in a specific duration, or the maximum time, minimum time, or both, or any combination thereof, supported by the UE between two frequency hops.

[0339] Clause 65. A UE as set forth in any of clauses 57 to 64, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises a number of RS-P resources that the UE is capable of processing in parallel.

[0340] Clause 66. A UE according to any one of clauses 57 to 65, wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to adjacent RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies, or any combination thereof.

[0341] Clause 67. The UE of any of clauses 57 to 66, wherein the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is received via assistance data (AD).

[0342] Clause 68. A UE according to clause 67, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a transmit reception point (TRP), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource set, or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource.

[0343] Clause 69. A UE according to any of clauses 57 to 68, wherein the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter is received in association with an initial hopping pattern configuration, or the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter comprises a change to one or more hopping pattern parameters of a current hopping pattern configuration.

[0344] Clause 70. A UE according to any of clauses 57 to 69, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability and the RS-P is a PRS, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability and the RS-P is an SRS.

[0345] Clause 71. A positioning estimation entity, the positioning estimation entity comprising: means for receiving an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type comprising a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and means for sending an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0346] Clause 72. A position estimation entity according to clause 71, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for RS-P processing windows and lack of support for measurement gaps, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) during the RS-P processing window.

[0347] Clause 73. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 71 to 72, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps.

[0348] Clause 74. The positioning estimation entity of any of clauses 71 to 73, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

[0349] Clause 75. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 71 to 74, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow return within one or more RS-P processing windows.

[0350] Clause 76. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 71 to 75, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between consecutively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

[0351] Clause 77. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 71 to 76, wherein the RS-P configuration type includes measurement gaps, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gaps, or wherein the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

[0352] Clause 78. A positioning estimation entity according to any one of clauses 71 to 77, wherein the RS-P hopping capability includes: the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE, or the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per frequency band, the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL), the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE in a specific duration, or the maximum time, minimum time, or both, or any combination thereof, supported by the UE between two frequency hops.

[0353] Clause 79. A positioning estimation entity as described in any of clauses 71 to 78, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises a number of RS-P resources that the UE is capable of processing in parallel.

[0354] Clause 80. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 71 to 79, wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to adjacent RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies, or any combination thereof.

[0355] Clause 81. The positioning estimation entity of any of clauses 71 to 80, wherein the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is sent via assistance data (AD).

[0356] Clause 82. A positioning estimation entity according to clause 81, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to a transmit receive point (TRP), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to an RS-P resource set, or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to an RS-P resource.

[0357] Clause 83. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 71 to 82, wherein the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter is sent in association with an initial hopping pattern configuration, or the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter includes a change to one or more hopping pattern parameters of a current hopping pattern configuration.

[0358] Clause 84. A positioning estimation entity according to any of clauses 71 to 83, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability and the RS-P is a PRS, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability and the RS-P is an SRS.

[0359] Clause 85. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: send an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type comprising a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and receive an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0360] Clause 86. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in clause 85, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for RS-P processing windows and lack of support for measurement gaps, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) during the RS-P processing window.

[0361] Clause 87. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 85 to 86, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps.

[0362] Clause 88. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 85 to 87, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

[0363] Clause 89. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 85 to 88, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow returns within one or more RS-P processing windows.

[0364] Clause 90. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 85 to 89, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between consecutively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

[0365] Clause 91. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 85 to 90, wherein the RS-P configuration type includes a measurement gap, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gap, or wherein the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

[0366] Clause 92. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 85 to 91, wherein the RS-P hopping capability includes: the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE, or the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per frequency band, the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL), the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE in a specific duration, or the maximum time, minimum time, or both, or any combination thereof, supported by the UE between two frequency hops.

[0367] Clause 93. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 85 to 92, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises a number of RS-P resources that the UE is capable of processing in parallel.

[0368] Clause 94. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 85 to 93, wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to adjacent RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies, or any combination thereof.

[0369] Clause 95. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 85 to 94, wherein the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is received via assistance data (AD).

[0370] Clause 96. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to clause 95, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a transmit receive point (TRP), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource set, or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource.

[0371] Clause 97. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 85 to 96, wherein the indication of the at least one hopping mode parameter is received in association with an initial hopping mode configuration, or the indication of the at least one hopping mode parameter includes a change to one or more hopping mode parameters of a current hopping mode configuration.

[0372] Clause 98. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 85 to 97, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability and the RS-P is a PRS, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability and the RS-P is an SRS.

[0373] Clause 99. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a positioning estimation entity, cause the positioning estimation entity to: receive an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type comprising a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; and send an indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability.

[0374] Clause 100. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in clause 99, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for an RS-P processing window and lack of support for measurement gaps, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) during the RS-P processing window.

[0375] Clause 101. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 99 to 100, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps.

[0376] Clause 102. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any one of clauses 99 to 101, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

[0377] Clause 103. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 99 to 102, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow returns within one or more RS-P processing windows.

[0378] Clause 104. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 99 to 103, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between consecutively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

[0379] Clause 105. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 99 to 104, wherein the RS-P configuration type includes a measurement gap, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gap, or wherein the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

[0380] Clause 106. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 99 to 105, wherein the RS-P hopping capability includes: the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE, or the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per frequency band, the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL), the maximum number of RS-P frequency hops supported by the UE in a specific duration, or the maximum time, minimum time, or both, or any combination thereof, supported by the UE between two frequency hops.

[0381] Clause 107. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 99 to 106, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises a number of RS-P resources that the UE is capable of processing in parallel.

[0382] Clause 108. A non-transitory computer-readable medium according to any one of clauses 99 to 107, wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to adjacent RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies, or any combination thereof.

[0383] Clause 109. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 99 to 108, wherein the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is sent via assistance data (AD).

[0384] Clause 110. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in clause 109, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to a transmit receive point (TRP), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource set, or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter applies to an RS-P resource.

[0385] Clause 111. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 99 to 110, wherein the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter is sent in association with an initial hopping pattern configuration, or the indication of the at least one hopping pattern parameter includes a change to one or more hopping pattern parameters of a current hopping pattern configuration.

[0386] Clause 112. A non-transitory computer-readable medium as described in any of clauses 99 to 111, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability and the RS-P is a PRS, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability and the RS-P is an SRS.

[0387] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, light fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0388] In addition, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic steps described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination thereof. In order to clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been generally described above in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints proposed for the entire system. Those skilled in the art can implement the described functions in different ways for each specific application, but such specific implementation decisions should not be interpreted as resulting in departure from the scope of this disclosure.

[0389] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or executed using a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic 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, a combination of one or more microprocessors and a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0390] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in conjunction with the various aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. In an alternative embodiment, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., a UE). In an alternative embodiment, the processor and storage medium may reside in the user terminal as discrete components.

[0391] In one or more exemplary aspects, the described functions may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates the transfer of a computer program from one location to another. A storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Furthermore, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwaves are included within 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.

[0392] Although the foregoing disclosure illustrates exemplary aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. In addition, the functions, steps, and / or actions of the method claims according to the various aspects of the present disclosure described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, plural forms are also contemplated unless expressly stated to be limited to the singular.

Claims

1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: sending an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; as well as An indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability is received.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for RS-P processing windows and lack of support for measurement gaps, and The at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more consecutive bandwidth parts (BWPs) during an RS-P processing window.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and The at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and The at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow return within one or more RS-P processing windows.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between successively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

7. The method according to claim 1, Wherein the RS-P configuration type includes a measurement gap, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gaps, or Wherein the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or The RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises: The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping supported by the UE, or The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping supported by the UE per frequency band, The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL), The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping supported by the UE within a specific duration, or The maximum time, minimum time, or both supported by the UE between two frequency hoppings, or or any combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises the number of RS-P resources that the UE can process in parallel.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability indicates that the UE can support RS-P frequency hopping to adjacent RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability indicates that the UE can support RS-P frequency hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P frequency hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies, or Any combination of them.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is received via assistance data (AD).

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to a transmit receive point (TRP), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to an RS-P resource set, or The at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to RS-P resources.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein said indication of said at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is received in association with an initial frequency hopping pattern configuration, or The indication of the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter includes a change to one or more frequency hopping pattern parameters of a current frequency hopping pattern configuration.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability, and the RS-P is a PRS, or The RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability, and the RS-P is an SRS.

15. A method of operating a location estimation entity, the method comprising: receiving an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; as well as An indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability is sent.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for RS-P processing windows and lack of support for measurement gaps, and The at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across two or more consecutive bandwidth parts (BWPs) during an RS-P processing window.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps and lack of support for RS-P processing windows, and The at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is used to perform frequency hopping across contiguous or non-contiguous bandwidth parts (BWPs) and via the same or different positioning frequency layers (PFLs) during one or more measurement gaps.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for both measurement gaps and RS-P processing windows.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the RS-P configuration type indicates support for at least an RS-P processing window, and The at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is configured to allow return within one or more RS-P processing windows.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter specifies a degree of overlap between successively hopped RS-P frequencies, the degree of overlap being based on whether the RS-P configuration type indicates support for measurement gaps or RS-P processing windows or both.

21. The method according to claim 15, Wherein the RS-P configuration type includes a measurement gap, or wherein the RS-P configuration type does not include any measurement gaps, or Wherein the RS-P configuration type includes an RS-P processing window, or The RS-P configuration type does not include any RS-P processing window.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises: The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping supported by the UE, or The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping supported by the UE per frequency band, The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping supported by the UE per positioning frequency layer (PFL), The maximum number of RS-P frequency hopping supported by the UE within a specific duration, or The maximum time, minimum time, or both supported by the UE between two frequency hoppings, or or any combination thereof.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability comprises the number of RS-P resources that the UE can process in parallel.

24. The method according to claim 15, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability indicates that the UE can support RS-P frequency hopping to adjacent RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability indicates that the UE can support RS-P frequency hopping to partially overlapping RS-P frequencies, or wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability indicates that the UE is capable of supporting RS-P frequency hopping to non-overlapping and non-adjacent RS-P frequencies, or Any combination of them.

25. The method of claim 15, wherein the indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is sent via assistance data (AD).

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to a positioning frequency layer (PFL), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to a transmit receive point (TRP), or wherein the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to an RS-P resource set, or The at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is applicable to RS-P resources.

27. The method according to claim 15, wherein said indication of said at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter is sent in association with an initial frequency hopping pattern configuration, or The indication of the at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter includes a change to one or more frequency hopping pattern parameters of a current frequency hopping pattern configuration.

28. The method according to claim 15, wherein the RS-P frequency hopping capability is a positioning reference signal (PRS) capability, and the RS-P is a PRS, or The RS-P frequency hopping capability is a sounding reference signal (SRS) capability, and the RS-P is an SRS.

29. A user equipment (UE), comprising: Memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to: sending an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by the UE for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; as well as An indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session for the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability is received.

30. A positioning estimation entity, comprising: Memory; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the at least one processor configured to: receiving an indication of a reference signal for positioning (RS-P) frequency hopping capability supported by a user equipment (UE) for an RS-P configuration type, the RS-P configuration type including a measurement gap association or an RS-P processing window association; as well as An indication of at least one frequency hopping pattern parameter associated with an RS-P configuration having the RS-P configuration type for a positioning estimation session of the UE and based on the RS-P frequency hopping capability is sent.

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