Reporting and scheduling for multi-technology cooperative positioning

Abstract

Disclosed are techniques for wireless communication. In an aspect, a server device (1102) may obtain connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices (1122), one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another communication device based on a second communication technology. The server device may select a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information (1124). The server device may receive measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices (1134); and may engage in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data (1140).

Description

Qualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 1 REPORTING AND SCHEDULING FOR MULTI-TECHNOLOGY COOPERATIVE POSITIONING BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE 1. Field of the Disclosure

[0001] Aspects of the disclosure relate generally to wireless communications. Description of the Related Art

[0002] Wireless communication systems have developed through various generations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service (1G), a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks), a third-generation (3G) high speed data, Internet-capable wireless service and a fourth-generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are presently many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular 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), the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), etc.

[0003] A fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, referred to as New Radio (NR), enables higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. The 5G standard, according to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, is designed to provide higher data rates as compared to previous standards, 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. These enhancements, as well as the use of higher frequency bands, advances in PRS processes and technology, and high-density deployments for 5G, enable highly accurate 5G-based positioning.

[0004] However, estimating the positions of multiple mobile devices has various issues, such as high overall power consumption of the mobile devices, poor uniformity of power consumption of the mobile devices, poor measurements obtained by some mobile devices being propagated to other mobile devices, and the like. 1 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 2 SUMMARY

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary relating to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Thus, the following summary should not be considered an extensive overview relating to all contemplated aspects, nor should the following summary be considered to identify key or critical elements relating to all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. Accordingly, the following summary has the sole purpose to present certain concepts relating to one or more aspects relating to the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form to precede the detailed description presented below.

[0006] In an aspect, a method of position estimation performed by a server device includes obtaining connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; selecting a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; receiving measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and engaging in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

[0007] In an aspect, a server device includes one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: obtain connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of 2 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 3 the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; select a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; receive, via the one or more transceivers, measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and engage in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

[0008] In an aspect, a server device includes means for obtaining connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; means for selecting a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub- cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; means for receiving measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and means for engaging in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

[0009] In an aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a server device, cause the server device to: obtain connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another 3 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 4 communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; select a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; receive measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and engage in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

[0010] 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

[0011] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the description of various aspects of the disclosure and are provided solely for illustration of the aspects and not limitation thereof.

[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communications system, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0013] FIGS.2A, 2B, and 2C illustrate example wireless network structures, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0014] FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C are simplified block diagrams 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.

[0015] FIG.4 illustrates examples of various positioning methods supported in New Radio (NR), according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0016] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating example ranging operations for, e.g., ultra-wideband (UWB) devices, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0017] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example ranging block structure for, e.g., UWB, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0018] FIG.7 is a timing diagram of an example measurement sounding phase of a non-trigger- based (non-TB) ranging procedure as defined in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11az standard. 4 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 5

[0019] FIG.8 is a timing diagram of an example measurement sounding phase of a trigger-based (TB) ranging procedure as defined in the IEEE 802.11az standard.

[0020] FIG.9 is a diagram illustrating an example scenario of multiple UWB devices performing cooperative positioning, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 10A is a diagram illustrating an example scenario of performing cooperative positioning for multiple communication devices, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0022] FIGS. 10B-10E are diagrams illustrating the cooperative positioning at different rounds, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0023] FIG. 11 is a process flow diagram illustrating an example of cooperative positioning based on a sub-cluster approach, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0024] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example scenario of performing cooperative positioning based on a sub-cluster approach, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0025] FIG.13 is a process flow diagram illustrating another example of cooperative positioning based on a sub-cluster approach, according to aspects of the disclosure.

[0026] FIG. 14 illustrates an example method of position estimation performed by a server device, according to aspects of the disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] Aspects of the disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings directed to various examples provided for illustration purposes. Alternate aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the disclosure.

[0028] Various aspects relate generally to scheduling and configuring cooperative positioning for determining estimated positions of a plurality of communication devices. Some aspects more specifically relate to cooperative positioning based on a sub-cluster approach. In some examples, not all communication devices that are capable of absolute positioning fix are selected or used as sub-cluster anchor nodes.

[0029] Particular aspects of the subject matter described in this disclosure can be implemented to realize one or more of the following potential advantages. In some examples, by balance between the positioning accuracy and uniformity of power consumption levels of the communication devices, the described techniques can be used to reduce the overall QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 6 power consumption level of the communication devices, reduce the costs of the cooperative positioning, and improve the uniformity of power consumption levels of the communication devices. Moreover, the positioning errors of a less accurate sub-cluster of devices may not be propagated to another, more accurate sub-cluster of devices. In other words, the positioning errors associated with the nodes that make poor measurements do not propagate to other nodes that have better measurements.

[0030] 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.

[0031] Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the description below may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the particular application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.

[0032] Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be recognized that various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuits (ASICs)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequence(s) of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of non- transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a corresponding set of computer instructions that, upon execution, would cause or instruct an associated processor of a device to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the disclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspects may be described herein as, for example, “logic configured to” perform the described action. 6 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 7

[0033] As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset locating device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communications network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g., at certain times) be stationary, and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be referred to interchangeably as an “access terminal” or “AT,” a “client device,” a “wireless device,” a “subscriber device,” a “subscriber terminal,” a “subscriber station,” a “user terminal” or “UT,” a “mobile device,” a “mobile terminal,” a “mobile station,” or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs can be connected with external networks such as the Internet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as over wired access networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specification, etc.) and so on.

[0034] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the supported UEs. In some systems a base station may provide purely edge node signaling functions while in other systems it may provide additional control and / or network management functions. A communication link through which UEs can send 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.). A communication link through which the base station can send signals to UEs 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 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 8 traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse or downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0035] The term “base station” may refer to a single physical transmission-reception point (TRP) or to multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term “base station” refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term “base station” refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be an array of antennas (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming) of the base station. Where the term “base station” refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRPs may be the serving base station receiving the measurement report from the UE and a neighbor base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signals the UE is measuring. Because a TRP is the point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references to transmission from or reception at a base station are to be understood as referring to a particular TRP of the base station.

[0036] In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base station may not support wireless access by UEs (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for UEs), but may instead transmit reference signals to UEs to be measured by the UEs, and / or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UEs. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting signals to UEs) and / or as a location measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring signals from UEs).

[0037] An “RF signal” comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transports 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, the receiver may receive multiple “RF signals” corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between the transmitter and receiver may be referred to as a “multipath” RF signal. As used herein, 8 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 9 an RF signal may also be referred to as a “wireless signal” or simply a “signal” where it is clear from the context that the term “signal” refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0038] FIG.1 illustrates an example wireless communications system 100, according to aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communications system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled “BS”) and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macro cell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs where the wireless communications system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communications system 100 corresponds to a NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0039] 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)) through backhaul links 122, and through the core network 170 to one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)). The location server(s) 172 may be part of core network 170 or may be external to core network 170. A location server 172 may be integrated with a base station 102. A UE 104 may communicate with a location server 172 directly or indirectly. For example, a UE 104 may communicate with a location server 172 via the base station 102 that is currently serving that UE 104. A UE 104 may also communicate with a location server 172 through 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), and so on. For signaling purposes, communication between a UE 104 and a location server 172 may be represented as an indirect connection (e.g., through the core network 170, etc.) or a direct connection (e.g., as shown via direct connection 128), with the intervening nodes (if any) omitted from a signaling diagram for clarity.

[0040] In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions that relate to one or more of transferring user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, 9 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 10 synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment trace, 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 backhaul links 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0041] The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. In an aspect, one or more cells may be supported by a base station 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A “cell” is a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., over some frequency resource, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, or the like), and may 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.) for distinguishing cells operating via the same or a different carrier frequency. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term “cell” may refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. In addition, because a 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 of a base station (e.g., a sector), insofar as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within some portion of geographic coverage areas 110.

[0042] While neighboring macro cell base station 102 geographic coverage areas 110 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by a 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 area 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macro cell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous 10 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 11 network may also include home eNBs (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0043] The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication links 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to downlink and uplink (e.g., more or less carriers may be allocated for downlink than for uplink).

[0044] The wireless communications system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication with WLAN stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STAs 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedure prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

[0045] The small cell base station 102' may operate in a licensed and / or an unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102', employing LTE / 5G in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and / or increase capacity of the access network. NR in unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in an unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), or MULTEFIRE®.

[0046] The wireless communications system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 that may operate in mmW frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies in communication with a UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 11 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 12 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW / near mmW radio frequency band have high path loss and a relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) over a mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Further, it will be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed to limit the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0047] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omni-directionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal for the receiving device(s). To change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, a network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters that are broadcasting the RF signal. For example, a network node may use an array of antennas (referred to as a “phased array” or an “antenna array”) that creates a beam of RF waves that can be “steered” to point in different directions, without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, the RF current from the transmitter is fed to the individual antennas with the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas add together to increase the radiation in a desired direction, while cancelling to suppress radiation in undesired directions.

[0048] Transmit beams may be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., a UE) as having the same parameters, regardless of whether or not the transmitting antennas of the network node themselves are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relations. Specifically, a QCL relation of a given type means that certain parameters about a second reference RF signal on a second beam can be derived from information about a source reference RF signal on a 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 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 13 RF signal is QCL Type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of a 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 a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial receive parameter of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0049] In receive beamforming, the receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver can increase the gain setting and / or adjust the phase setting of an array of antennas in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., to increase the gain level of) the RF signals received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in a certain direction, it means the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gain along other directions, or 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.) of the RF signals received from that direction.

[0050] Transmit and receive beams may be spatially related. A spatial relation means that parameters for a second beam (e.g., a transmit or receive beam) for a second reference signal can be derived from information about a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam for sending an uplink reference signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0051] Note that a “downlink” beam may be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station is forming the downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. If the UE is forming the downlink beam, however, it is a receive beam to receive the downlink reference signal. Similarly, an “uplink” beam may be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station is forming the QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 14 uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, and if a UE is forming the uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0052] The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided, based on frequency / wavelength, into various classes, bands, channels, etc. In 5G NR two initial operating bands have been identified as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz – 7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz – 52.6 GHz). It should be understood that although a portion of FR1 is greater than 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “Sub-6 GHz” band in various documents and articles. A similar nomenclature issue sometimes occurs with regard to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as a “millimeter wave” band in documents and articles, despite being different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz – 300 GHz) which is identified by the INTERNATIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION UNION® as a “millimeter wave” band.

[0053] The frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as mid-band frequencies. Recent 5G NR studies have identified an operating band for these mid-band frequencies as frequency range designation FR3 (7.125 GHz – 24.25 GHz). Frequency bands falling within FR3 may inherit FR1 characteristics and / or FR2 characteristics, and thus may effectively extend features of FR1 and / or FR2 into mid-band frequencies. In addition, 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 – 71 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz – 114.25 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz – 300 GHz). Each of these higher frequency bands falls within the EHF band.

[0054] With the above aspects in mind, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “sub-6 GHz” or the like if used herein may broadly represent frequencies that may be less than 6 GHz, may be within FR1, or may include mid-band frequencies. Further, unless specifically stated otherwise, it should be understood that the term “millimeter wave” or the like if used herein may broadly represent 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.

[0055] 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 14 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 15 serving cells” or “SCells.” In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by a UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 either performs the initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels, and may 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 may be configured once the RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and that may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, those that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier, since both primary uplink and downlink carriers are typically UE-specific. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carriers. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Because a “serving cell” (whether a PCell or an SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier over which some base station is communicating, the term “cell,” “serving cell,” “component carrier,” “carrier frequency,” and the like can be used interchangeably.

[0056] For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by the macro cell base stations 102 may be an anchor carrier (or “PCell”) and other frequencies utilized by the macro cell base stations 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers (“SCells”). The simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rates. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically lead to a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz), compared to that attained by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0057] The wireless communications system 100 may further include a UE 164 that may communicate with a macro cell base station 102 over a communication link 120 and / or the mmW base station 180 over a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macro cell 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. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 16

[0058] In some cases, the UE 164 and the UE 182 may be capable of sidelink communication. Sidelink-capable UEs (SL-UEs) may communicate with base stations 102 over communication links 120 using the Uu interface (i.e., the air interface between a UE and a base station). SL-UEs (e.g., UE 164, UE 182) may also communicate directly with each other over a wireless sidelink 160 using the PC5 interface (i.e., the air interface between sidelink-capable UEs). A wireless sidelink (or just “sidelink”) is an adaptation of the core cellular (e.g., LTE, NR) standard that allows direct communication between two or more UEs without the communication needing to go through a base station. Sidelink communication may be unicast or multicast, and may be used for device-to-device (D2D) media-sharing, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication (e.g., cellular V2X (cV2X) communication, enhanced V2X (eV2X) communication, etc.), emergency rescue applications, etc. One or more of a group of SL- UEs utilizing sidelink communications may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 102. Other SL-UEs in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 102 or be otherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station 102. In some cases, groups of SL-UEs communicating via sidelink communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each SL-UE transmits to every other SL-UE in the group. In some cases, a base station 102 facilitates the scheduling of resources for sidelink communications. In other cases, sidelink communications are carried out between SL-UEs without the involvement of a base station 102.

[0059] In an aspect, the sidelink 160 may operate over a wireless communication medium of interest, which may be shared with other wireless communications between other vehicles and / or infrastructure access points, as well as other RATs. A “medium” may be composed of one or more time, frequency, and / or space communication resources (e.g., encompassing one or more channels across one or more carriers) associated with wireless communication between one or more transmitter / receiver pairs. In an aspect, the medium of interest may correspond to at least a portion of an unlicensed frequency band shared among various RATs. Although different licensed frequency bands have been reserved for certain communication systems (e.g., by a government entity such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States), these systems, in particular those employing small cell access points, have recently extended operation into 16 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 17 unlicensed frequency bands such as the Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band used by wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies, most notably IEEE 802.11x WLAN technologies generally referred to as “Wi-Fi.” Example systems of this type include different variants of CDMA systems, TDMA systems, FDMA systems, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) systems, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) systems, and so on.

[0060] Note that although FIG. 1 only illustrates two of the UEs as SL-UEs (i.e., UEs 164 and 182), any of the illustrated UEs may be SL-UEs. Further, although only UE 182 was described as being capable of beamforming, any of the illustrated UEs, including UE 164, may be capable of beamforming. Where SL-UEs are capable of beamforming, they may beamform towards each other (i.e., towards other SL-UEs), towards other UEs (e.g., UEs 104), towards base stations (e.g., base stations 102, 180, small cell 102’, access point 150), etc. Thus, in some cases, UEs 164 and 182 may utilize beamforming over sidelink 160.

[0061] In the example of FIG.1, any of the illustrated UEs (shown in FIG.1 as a single UE 104 for simplicity) may receive signals 124 from one or more Earth orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In an aspect, the SVs 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that a UE 104 can use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable receivers (e.g., UEs 104) to determine their location on or above the Earth based, at least in part, on positioning signals (e.g., signals 124) received from the transmitters. Such a transmitter typically transmits a signal marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. While typically located in SVs 112, transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. A UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive signals 124 for deriving geo location information from the SVs 112.

[0062] In a satellite positioning system, the use of signals 124 can be augmented 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 an SBAS may include an augmentation system(s) that provides integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multi- QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 18 functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) Aided Geo Augmented Navigation or GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN), and / or the like. 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.

[0063] In an aspect, SVs 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non- terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, an SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a terrestrial antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element would in turn provide 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. In that way, a UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signals 124) from an SV 112 instead of, or in addition to, communication signals from a terrestrial base station 102.

[0064] The wireless communications system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that connects indirectly to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “sidelinks”). In the example of FIG. 1, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to the WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In an example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported with any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WI-FI DIRECT®, BLUETOOTH®, and so on.

[0065] FIG.2A illustrates an example wireless network structure 200. For example, a 5GC 210 (also referred to as a Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be viewed functionally as 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 function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) which operate cooperatively to form the core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213 and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210 and specifically to the user plane functions 212 and control plane functions 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, an ng-eNB 18 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 19 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to the control plane functions 214 and NG-U 213 to user plane functions 212. Further, ng-eNB 224 may directly communicate with gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNBs 224 and gNBs 222. Either (or both) gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0066] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which may be in communication with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance for UE(s) 204. The location server 230 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server. The location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that can connect to the location server 230 via the core network, 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). Further, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network (e.g., a third party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or service server).

[0067] FIG.2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 240. A 5GC 260 (which may correspond to 5GC 210 in FIG. 2A) can be viewed functionally as control plane functions, provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264, and user plane functions, provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperatively 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, transport for 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 access authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and the short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204, and receives the intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE 204 authentication 19 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 20 process. In the case of authentication based on a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves the security material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 also include security context management (SCM). The SCM receives a key from the SEAF that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location services management for regulatory services, transport for location services messages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 (which acts as a location server 230), transport for location services messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, evolved packet system (EPS) bearer identifier allocation for interworking with the EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functionalities for non-3GPP® (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0068] Functions of the UPF 262 include acting as an anchor point for intra / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point of interconnect to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, 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 sending and forwarding of one or more “end markers” to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support transfer of location services messages over a user plane between the UE 204 and a location server, such as an SLP 272.

[0069] The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering at the UPF 262 to route traffic to the proper destination, control of part of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface over which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is referred to as the N11 interface.

[0070] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be in communication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance for UEs 204. The LMF 270 can be QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 21 implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 can be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that can connect to the LMF 270 via the core network, 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not illustrated). The SLP 272 may support similar functions to the LMF 270, but whereas the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, NG-RAN 220, and UEs 204 over a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to convey signaling messages and not voice or data), the SLP 272 may communicate with UEs 204 and external clients (e.g., third-party server 274) over a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data like the transmission control protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0071] Yet another optional aspect may include a third-party server 274, which may be in communication with the LMF 270, the SLP 272, the 5GC 260 (e.g., via the AMF 264 and / or the UPF 262), the NG-RAN 220, and / or the UE 204 to obtain location information (e.g., a location estimate) for the UE 204. As such, in some cases, the third-party server 274 may be referred to as a location services (LCS) client or an external client. The third- party server 274 can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server.

[0072] User plane interface 263 and 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 gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the “N2” interface, and the interface between gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the “N3” interface. The gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via backhaul connections 223, referred to as the “Xn-C” interface. One or more of gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 over a wireless interface, referred to as the “Uu” interface.

[0073] The functionality of a gNB 222 may 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. A gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes the base station functions QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 22 of transferring user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and the like, except for those functions allocated exclusively to the gNB-DU(s) 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 generally host the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. A gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that generally hosts the radio link control (RLC) and medium access control (MAC) layer of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and the one or more gNB-DUs 228 is referred to as the “F1” interface. The physical (PHY) layer functionality of a gNB 222 is generally hosted by one or more standalone gNB-RUs 229 that perform functions such as power amplification and signal transmission / reception. The interface between a gNB-DU 228 and a gNB-RU 229 is referred to as the “Fx” interface. Thus, a UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with a gNB-DU 228 via the RLC and MAC layers, and with a gNB-RU 229 via the PHY layer.

[0074] Deployment of communication systems, such as 5G NR systems, may be arranged in multiple manners with various components or constituent parts. In a 5G NR system, or network, a network node, a network entity, a mobility element of a network, a RAN node, a core network node, a network element, or a network equipment, such as a base station, or one or more units (or one or more components) performing base station functionality, may be implemented in an aggregated or disaggregated architecture. For example, a base station (such as a Node B (NB), evolved NB (eNB), NR base station, 5G NB, access point (AP), a transmit receive point (TRP), or a cell, etc.) may be implemented as an aggregated base station (also known as a standalone base station or a monolithic base station) or a disaggregated base station.

[0075] An aggregated 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 among 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 throughout one or QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 23 multiple other RAN nodes. The DUs may be implemented to communicate with one or more RUs. Each of the CU, DU and RU also can be implemented as virtual units, i.e., a virtual central unit (VCU), a virtual distributed unit (VDU), or a virtual radio unit (VRU).

[0076] Base station-type operation or network design may consider aggregation characteristics of base station functionality. For example, disaggregated base stations may be utilized in an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open radio access network (O-RAN (such as the network configuration sponsored 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 distributing functionality for at least one unit virtually, which can enable flexibility in network design. The various units of the disaggregated base station, or disaggregated RAN architecture, can be configured for wired or wireless communication with at least one other unit.

[0077] FIG. 2C illustrates an example disaggregated base station architecture 250, according to aspects of the disclosure. The disaggregated base station architecture 250 may include one or more central units (CUs) 280 (e.g., gNB-CU 226) that can communicate directly with a core network 267 (e.g., 5GC 210, 5GC 260) via a backhaul link, or indirectly with the core network 267 through one or more disaggregated base station units (such as a Near-Real Time (Near-RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 259 via an E2 link, or a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) RIC 257 associated with a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) Framework 255, or both). A CU 280 may communicate with one or more DUs 285 (e.g., gNB-DUs 228) via respective midhaul links, such as an F1 interface. The DUs 285 may communicate with one or more radio units (RUs) 287 (e.g., gNB-RUs 229) via respective fronthaul links. The RUs 287 may communicate with respective UEs 204 via one or more radio frequency (RF) access links. In some implementations, the UE 204 may be simultaneously served by multiple RUs 287.

[0078] Each of the units, i.e., the CUs 280, the DUs 285, the RUs 287, as well as the Near-RT RICs 259, the Non-RT RICs 257 and the SMO Framework 255, may include one or more interfaces or be coupled to one or more interfaces configured to receive or transmit signals, data, or information (collectively, signals) via a wired or wireless transmission medium. Each of the units, or an associated processor or controller providing instructions to the communication interfaces of the units, can be configured to communicate with one QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 24 or more of the other units via the transmission medium. For example, the units can include a wired interface configured to receive or transmit signals over a wired transmission medium to one or more of the other units. Additionally, the units can include a wireless interface, which may include a receiver, a transmitter or transceiver (such as a RF transceiver), configured to receive or transmit signals, or both, over a wireless transmission medium to one or more of the other units.

[0079] In some aspects, the CU 280 may host one or more higher layer control functions. Such control functions can include RRC, PDCP, service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), or the like. Each control function can be implemented with 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 can be logically split into one or more CU-UP units and one or more CU-CP units. The CU-UP unit can communicate bidirectionally with the CU-CP unit via an interface, such as the E1 interface when implemented in an O-RAN configuration. The CU 280 can be implemented to communicate with the DU 285, as necessary, for network control and signaling.

[0080] The DU 285 may correspond to a logical unit that includes one or more base station functions to control the operation of one or more RUs 287. In some aspects, the DU 285 may host one or more of a RLC layer, a MAC layer, and one or more high PHY layers (such as modules for forward error correction (FEC) encoding and decoding, scrambling, modulation and demodulation, or the like) depending, at least in part, on a functional split, such as those defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®). In some aspects, the DU 285 may further host one or more low PHY layers. Each layer (or module) can be implemented with an interface configured to communicate signals with other layers (and modules) hosted by the DU 285, or with the control functions hosted by the CU 280.

[0081] Lower-layer functionality can be implemented by one or more RUs 287. In some deployments, an RU 287, controlled by a DU 285, may correspond to a logical node that hosts RF processing functions, or low-PHY layer functions (such as performing fast Fourier transform (FFT), inverse FFT (iFFT), digital beamforming, physical random QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 25 access channel (PRACH) extraction and filtering, or the like), or both, based at least in part on the functional split, such as a lower layer functional split. In such an architecture, the RU(s) 287 can be implemented to handle over the air (OTA) communication with one or more UEs 204. In some implementations, real-time and non-real-time aspects of control and user plane communication with the RU(s) 287 can be controlled by the corresponding DU 285. In some scenarios, this configuration can enable the DU(s) 285 and the CU 280 to be implemented in a cloud-based RAN architecture, such as a vRAN architecture.

[0082] The SMO Framework 255 may be configured to support RAN deployment and provisioning of non-virtualized and virtualized network elements. For non-virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 255 may be configured to support the deployment of dedicated physical resources for RAN coverage requirements which may be managed via an operations and maintenance interface (such as an O1 interface). For virtualized network elements, the SMO Framework 255 may be configured to interact with a cloud computing platform (such as an open cloud (O-Cloud) 269) to perform network element life cycle management (such as to instantiate virtualized network elements) via a cloud computing platform interface (such as an O2 interface). Such virtualized network elements can include, but are not limited to, CUs 280, DUs 285, RUs 287 and Near-RT RICs 259. In some implementations, the SMO Framework 255 can communicate with a hardware aspect of a 4G RAN, such as an open eNB (O-eNB) 261, via an O1 interface. Additionally, in some implementations, the SMO Framework 255 can communicate directly with one or more RUs 287 via an O1 interface. The SMO Framework 255 also may include a Non-RT RIC 257 configured to support functionality of the SMO Framework 255.

[0083] The Non-RT RIC 257 may be configured to include a logical function that enables non- real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources, artificial intelligence / machine learning (AI / ML) workflows including model training and updates, or policy-based guidance of applications / features in the Near-RT RIC 259. The Non-RT RIC 257 may be coupled to or communicate with (such as via an A1 interface) the Near- RT RIC 259. The Near-RT RIC 259 may be configured to include a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via data collection and actions over an interface (such as via an E2 interface) connecting one or QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 26 more CUs 280, one or more DUs 285, or both, as well as an O-eNB, with the Near-RT RIC 259.

[0084] In some implementations, to generate AI / ML models to be deployed in the Near-RT RIC 259, the Non-RT RIC 257 may receive parameters or external enrichment information from external servers. Such information may be utilized by the Near-RT RIC 259 and may be received at the SMO Framework 255 or the Non-RT RIC 257 from non-network data sources or from network functions. 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 for performance and employ AI / ML models to perform corrective actions through the SMO Framework 255 (such as reconfiguration via O1) or via creation of RAN management policies (such as A1 policies).

[0085] FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including the location server 230 and the LMF 270, or alternatively may be independent from the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, such as a private network) to support the operations described herein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different types of apparatuses in different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other apparatuses in a communication system. For example, other apparatuses in a system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. Also, a given apparatus may contain one or more of the components. For example, an apparatus may include multiple transceiver components that enable the apparatus to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0086] The UE 302 and the base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, and / or QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 27 the like. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may 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., some set of time / frequency resources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on), respectively, and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively, and one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0087] The UE 302 and the base station 304 each also include, at least in some cases, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., Wi-Fi, LTE Direct, BLUETOOTH®, ZIGBEE®, Z-WAVE®, PC5, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), ultra- wideband (UWB), etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest. The short- range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on), respectively, and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be Wi-Fi transceivers, QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 28 BLUETOOTH® transceivers, ZIGBEE® and / or Z-WAVE® transceivers, NFC transceivers, UWB transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to- everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0088] The UE 302 and the base station 304 also include, at least in some cases, satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. Where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals such as global positioning system (GPS) signals, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS®) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. Where the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may comprise any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and operations as appropriate from the other systems, and, at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine locations of the UE 302 and the base station 304, respectively, using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm.

[0089] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ the one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ the one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base station 304 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or with other network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 29

[0090] A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). A transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., embodying transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry in a single device) in some implementations, may comprise separate transmitter circuitry and separate receiver circuitry in some implementations, or may be embodied in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may 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 a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that permits the respective apparatus (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 a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that permits the respective apparatus (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In an aspect, the transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry may share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that the respective apparatus can only receive or transmit at a given time, not both at the same time. A wireless transceiver (e.g., WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include a network listen module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

[0091] As used herein, the various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may generally be characterized as “a transceiver,” “at least one transceiver,” or “one or more transceivers.” As such, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred from the type of communication performed. For example, backhaul communication between network devices or servers will generally relate to signaling via a wired transceiver, whereas wireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) will generally relate to signaling via a wireless transceiver. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 30

[0092] The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations as disclosed herein. The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, for providing functionality relating to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. The processors 332, 384, and 394 may therefore provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. In an aspect, the processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuitry, or various combinations thereof.

[0093] The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device), respectively, for maintaining information (e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, and so on). The memories 340, 386, and 396 may therefore provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may include positioning component 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The positioning component 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, that, when executed, cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the positioning component 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioning component 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, that, when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates possible locations of the positioning component 342, which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the memory 340, the one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. FIG.3B illustrates possible locations of the QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 31 positioning component 388, which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers 350, the memory 386, the one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. FIG.3C illustrates possible locations of the positioning component 398, which may be, for example, part of the one or more network transceivers 390, the memory 396, the one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component.

[0094] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the one or more processors 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information that is independent of motion data derived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or the satellite signal receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric pressure altimeter), and / or any other type of movement detection sensor. Moreover, the sensor(s) 344 may include a plurality of different types of devices and combine their outputs in order to provide motion information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and orientation sensors to provide the ability to compute positions in two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems.

[0095] In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 providing means for providing indications (e.g., audible and / or visual indications) to a user and / or for receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device such a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, and so on). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.

[0096] Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, in the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The one or more processors 384 may provide RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information blocks (SIBs)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 32 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 the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0097] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement Layer-1 (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer-1, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together 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 precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimate may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0098] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives a signal through its respective antenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 33 information to the one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement Layer-1 functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined by the receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and de-interleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to the one or more processors 332, which implements Layer-3 (L3) and Layer-2 (L2) functionality.

[0099] In the downlink, the one or more processors 332 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0100] Similar to the functionality described in connection with the downlink transmission by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 34

[0101] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antenna(s) 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0102] The uplink transmission is processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives a signal through its respective antenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors 384.

[0103] In the uplink, the one or more processors 384 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 302. IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may be provided to the core network. The one or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0104] For convenience, the UE 302, the base station 304, and / or the network entity 306 are shown in FIGS.3A, 3B, and 3C as including various components that may be configured according to the various examples described herein. It will be appreciated, however, that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. In particular, various components in FIGS. 3A to 3C are optional in alternative configurations and the various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, costs, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in case of FIG.3A, a particular implementation of UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or personal computer (PC) or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or BLUETOOTH® capability without cellular capability), or may omit the short- range wireless transceiver(s) 320 (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 330, or may omit the sensor(s) 344, and so on. In another example, in case of FIG. 3B, a particular implementation of the base station 304 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi “hotspot” access point without cellular capability), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 360 (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 370, and so on. For brevity, illustration of the various QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 35 alternative configurations is not provided herein, but would be readily understandable to one skilled in the art.

[0105] The various components of the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to each other over data buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may form, or be part of, a communication interface of the UE 302, the base station 304, and the 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 communication between them.

[0106] The components of FIGS.3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in one or more circuits such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the UE 302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the base station 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Also, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 to 398 may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the network entity 306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of processor components). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and / or functions are described herein as being performed “by a UE,” “by a base station,” “by a network entity,” etc. However, as will be appreciated, such operations, acts, and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as the processors 332, 384, 394, the transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, the memories 340, 386, and 396, the positioning component 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0107] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be distinct from a network QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 36 operator or operation of 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 private network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently from the base station 304 (e.g., over a non-cellular communication link, such as Wi-Fi).

[0108] NR supports a number of cellular network-based positioning technologies, including downlink-based, uplink-based, and downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) in NR. FIG. 4 illustrates examples of various positioning methods, according to aspects of the disclosure. In an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, illustrated by scenario 410, a UE measures the differences between the times of arrival (ToAs) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from pairs of base stations, referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives the identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each of the non-reference base stations. Based on the known locations of the involved base stations and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity (e.g., the UE for UE-based positioning or a location server for UE-assisted positioning) can estimate the UE’s location.

[0109] For DL-AoD positioning, illustrated by scenario 420, the positioning entity uses a measurement report from the UE of received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmit beams to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the transmitting base station(s). The positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE based on the determined angle(s) and the known location(s) of the transmitting base station(s).

[0110] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS)) transmitted by the UE to multiple base stations. Specifically, a UE transmits one or more uplink reference signals that are measured by a reference base station and a plurality of non-reference base stations. Each base station then reports the reception time (referred to as the relative time QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 37 of arrival (RTOA)) of the reference signal(s) to a positioning entity (e.g., a location server) that knows the locations and relative timing of the involved base stations. Based on the reception-to-reception (Rx-Rx) time difference between the reported RTOA of the reference base station and the reported RTOA of each non-reference base station, the known locations of the base stations, and their known timing offsets, the positioning entity can estimate the location of the UE using TDOA.

[0111] For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from a UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angle(s) of the receive beam(s) to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the base station(s). Based on the determined angle(s) and the known location(s) of the base station(s), the positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE.

[0112] Downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods include enhanced cell-ID (E-CID) positioning and multi-round-trip-time (RTT) positioning (also referred to as “multi-cell RTT” and “multi-RTT”). In an RTT procedure, a first entity (e.g., a base station or a UE) transmits a first RTT-related signal (e.g., a PRS or SRS) to a second entity (e.g., a UE or base station), which transmits a second RTT-related signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the first entity. Each entity measures the time difference between the time of arrival (ToA) of the received RTT-related signal and the transmission time of the transmitted RTT-related signal. This time difference is referred to as a reception-to-transmission (Rx- Tx) time difference. The Rx-Tx time difference measurement may be made, or may be adjusted, to include only a time difference between nearest slot boundaries for the received and transmitted signals. Both entities may then send their Rx-Tx time difference measurement to a location server (e.g., an LMF 270), which calculates the round trip propagation time (i.e., RTT) between the two entities from the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements (e.g., as the sum of the two Rx-Tx time difference measurements). Alternatively, one entity may send its Rx-Tx time difference measurement to the other entity, which then calculates the RTT. The distance between the two entities can be determined from the RTT and the known signal speed (e.g., the speed of light). For multi- RTT positioning, illustrated by scenario 430, a first entity (e.g., a UE or base station) performs an RTT positioning procedure with multiple second entities (e.g., multiple base stations or UEs) to enable the location of the first entity to be determined (e.g., using QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 38 multilateration) based on distances to, and the known locations of, the second entities. RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning techniques, such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD, to improve location accuracy, as illustrated by scenario 440.

[0113] The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, the timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strength of detected neighbor base stations. The location of the UE is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base station(s).

[0114] To assist positioning operations, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include identifiers of the base stations (or the cells / TRPs of the base stations) from which to measure reference signals, the reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive slots including PRS, periodicity of the consecutive slots including PRS, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier, reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to the particular positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base stations themselves (e.g., in periodically broadcasted overhead messages, etc.). In some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighbor network nodes itself without the use of assistance data.

[0115] In the case of an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, the assistance data may further include an expected RSTD value and an associated uncertainty, or search window, around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the value range of the expected RSTD may be + / - 500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for the positioning measurement are in FR1, the value range for the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / - 32 μs. In other cases, when all of the resources used for the positioning measurement(s) are in FR2, the value range for the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / - 8 μs.

[0116] A location estimate may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, or the like. A location estimate may be geodetic and comprise coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may be civic and comprise a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of a location. A location estimate may further be defined relative to some other known location or defined in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A location QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 39 estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with some specified or default level of confidence).

[0117] UWB uses a very low energy level for short-range, high-bandwidth communications over a large portion of the radio spectrum. UWB has traditionally been used for non- cooperative radar imaging, and more recently, for sensor data collection, precision locating, and tracking applications. UWB uses time of flight (ToF) to determine the distance between two or more enhanced ranging devices (ERDEVs). ToF is the propagation time that it takes for an RF signal to travel from the transmitter to the receiver. The distance between the transmitter and receiver can be calculated by multiplying the ToF by the speed of light. Where a target device performs ranging procedures with multiple anchor devices (devices with known locations or capable of determining their absolute positions, such as based on NR measurements, as their known locations) used as anchor nodes, the location of the target device can be determined based on the calculated distances between the target device and the anchor nodes and the known locations of the anchor nodes. The location of the target device may be determined by a positioning entity, which may be the target device itself, one of the anchor devices (e.g., the target device’s serving access point), or a location server.

[0118] FIG. 5 is a diagram 500 illustrating example ranging operations for, e.g., UWB devices, according to aspects of the disclosure. The following nomenclature is used for ERDEVs. Controller: An ERDEV that controls the ranging and defines the ranging parameters by sending a ranging control message (RCM). Controlee: An ERDEV that utilizes the ranging parameters received from the controller in the RCM. Initiator: An ERDEV that, following the RCM, initiates a ranging exchange by sending the first message of the exchange, the ranging initiation message (RIM). A controller or a controlee can be an initiator. Responder: An ERDEV that responds to the ranging initiation message received from the initiator, with a ranging response message (RRM).

[0119] For time-scheduled or contention-free ranging in UWB, a UWB session between two devices comprises consecutive ranging blocks. FIG. 6 is a diagram 600 illustrating an example ranging block structure for, e.g., UWB, according to aspects of the disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, each ranging block consists of ranging rounds, which in turn have several ranging slots. Within a ranging block, the responder can transmit a message only QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 40 within a single round. The round index is either statically configured by the controller or selected as per a hopping pattern. The slots within the chosen round are used sequentially to perform either ranging or time-difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning procedures. Each round consists of a single slot for the control phase, followed by the ranging and measurement reporting phases.

[0120] In some aspects, after the ranging phase, ERDEVs may be scheduled in the measurement report phase to send the requested information (such as RTT, AoA measurements). This information may be sent as a data packet between the initiator and a given responder.

[0121] The various Wi-Fi standards also support various Wi-Fi-based positioning techniques. For example, IEEE 802.11az standard (which is based on the IEEE 802.11ax standard) introduces enhancements for Wi-Fi-based ranging. A Wi-Fi-based ranging procedure is a type of RTT procedure, and is based on the transmit and receive times of null data packet (NDP) frames at an initiating STA (ISTA) and a responding STA (RSTA). In a Wi-Fi- based ranging procedure, the ISTA is typically a UE, such as a user device, asset tag, or the like; and the RSTA is typically a Wi-Fi AP. An NDP frame is a ranging frame, and comprises the preamble along with some PHY headers – it does not include a payload. An NDP transmitted by the RSTA to an ISTA is denoted as an “R2I NDP” and an NDP transmitted by an ISTA to an RSTA is denoted as an “I2R NDP.”

[0122] FIG. 7 is a timing diagram 700 of an example measurement sounding phase of a non- trigger-based (non-TB) ranging procedure as defined in the IEEE 802.11az. In a non-TB ranging procedure, the RSTA broadcasts a beacon (not shown) to inform ISTAs which channel(s) are available for non-TB ranging. An ISTA then initiates the ranging session on one of the channels using carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA). As shown in FIG.7, an ISTA initiates the ranging session by transmitting an NDP announcement to notify the RSTA that it will be transmitting an I2R NDP for which the RSTA should monitor. After the NDP announcement frame is transmitted successfully, the involved STAs can retain the channel since the gap between the subsequent packets is no longer than the shortest interframe spacing (SIFS) defined for Wi-Fi communication.

[0123] During the measurement sounding phase, each STA transmits an NDP frame to the other STA, as illustrated in FIG. 7. The ISTA measures the transmission time, or time-of- departure (ToD), of the I2R NDP transmitted to the ISTA (denoted “t1”) and the reception 40 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 41 time, or time-of-arrival (ToA), of the R2I NDP received from the ISTA (denoted “t4”). The RSTA measures the reception time / ToA of the I2R NDP received from the ISTA (denoted “t2”) and the transmission time / ToD of the R2I NDP transmitted to the ISTA (denoted “t3”).

[0124] After the measurement sounding phase, the RSTA transmits a location measurement report (LMR) to the ISTA during a measurement reporting phase. The LMR includes the reception time / ToA of the I2R NDP (“t2”) and the transmission time / ToD of the R2I NDP (“t3”). If available, the RSTA may also include the angle of arrival (AoA) of the I2R NDP and / or the angle-of-departure (AoD) of the R2I NDP. The LMR may also include the geographic location of the RSTA, if known. Based on the timing measurements from the RSTA and its own timing measurements (“t1” and “t4”), the ISTA can determine the time-of-flight (ToF) between itself and the RSTA, and therefore the range / distance between itself and the RSTA.

[0125] An ISTA may perform a ranging procedure with one or more RSTAs. For RSTAs having zero or inaccurate knowledge of their location, the ranging procedure yields an inter-STA range (distance) between the involved STAs. For RSTAs having accurate knowledge of their location, the range can yield an absolute position if at least three involved RSTAs have known locations, or angle-based information (e.g., AoA / AoD) for at least one RSTA is available (note that the ISTA may also be able to determine AoA and / or AoD measurements that can further be used to enhance the position estimate).

[0126] FIG.8 is a timing diagram 800 of an example measurement sounding phase of a trigger- based (TB) ranging procedure as defined in the IEEE 802.11az. An RSTA triggers ranging message transmissions from each of the ISTAs that are taking part in the ranging session (denoted “ISTA 1” and “ISTA 2” in FIG.8) by broadcasting a trigger frame (TF) ranging poll. ISTAs join the session by transmitting an acknowledgment (ACK) during the polling phase (illustrated as a clear-to-send (CTS)-to-self message).

[0127] During the measurement sounding phase, the RSTA transmits a TF ranging sounding to each participating ISTA. In response, each ISTA transmits an I2R NDP frame. Each ISTA transmits the I2R NDP on the same spatial stream (SS). The RSTA then broadcasts its own R2I NDP frame to the involved ISTAs on different spatial streams. For two ISTAs, this approach has lower overhead / latency than the non-TB-based approach, but that reduction is only achieved if the ISTAs are scheduled jointly. 41 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 42

[0128] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example scenario 900 of multiple UWB devices performing cooperative positioning, according to aspects of the disclosure. In the scenario 900, there are three NR gNBs 912, 914, and 916 and a cluster 920 of pallets 922, 924, 925, 926, 927, and 928. In this example, the pallets 922, 924, 925, 926, 927, and 928 may be placed in an indoor environment (e.g., inside a warehouse or a retail store) and may include a device that is configured to communicate with one another based on UWB.

[0129] As shown in FIG.9, the pallet 922 (through a communication device included therein) is configured to communicate with the NR gNB 912 based on NR (as indicated by double- arrow line 932), with the NR gNB 914 based on NR (as indicated by double-arrow line 934), and with the NR gNB 916 based on NR (as indicated by double-arrow line 936). The pallet 924 (through a communication device included therein) is configured to communicate with the NR gNB 914 based on NR (as indicated by double-arrow line 937), and with the NR gNB 916 based on NR (as indicated by double-arrow line 939).

[0130] Also, each pair of the following listed pairs of pallets (through respective communication devices included therein) may be configured to communicate with each other based on UWB, including: the pallet 922 and the pallet 925 (as indicated by double-arrow line 941); the pallet 924 and the pallet 927 (as indicated by double-arrow line 942); the pallet 924 and the pallet 928 (as indicated by double-arrow line 943); the pallet 925 and the pallet 928 (as indicated by double-arrow line 944); the pallet 925 and the pallet 927 (as indicated by double-arrow line 945); and the pallet 926 and the pallet 927 (as indicated by double-arrow line 946).

[0131] In some aspects, the NR gNBs 912, 914, and 916 are depicted merely as a non-limiting example. In some aspects, some or all of the NR gNBs may be other types of base stations based on other RATs (e.g., 4G, LTE, etc.). In some aspects, the pallets 922, 924, 925, 926, 927, and 928 are depicted merely as a non-limiting example. In some aspects, some or all of the pallets may be packages or package movers equipped with communication devices, or users holding communication devices (e.g., UEs), where the communication devices may be configured to communicate with one another based on UWB or other communication technology (e.g., Wi-Fi or the IEEE 802.11az).

[0132] In some aspects, devices in the same vicinity can exchange measurements with each other to perform cooperative positioning. The cooperative positioning may be performed based QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 43 on inter-devices measurements to determine relative positions with respect to one another, and may be performed in conjunction with absolute positioning measurements (e.g., based on NR, GNSS, etc.) such that the absolute positions of some of the communication devices may be estimated. By combining the measurements between NR gNB and UWB devices and the inter-device measurements between different UWB devices, overall position estimation accuracy can be greatly enhanced.

[0133] FIG. 10A is a diagram illustrating an example scenario 1000 of performing cooperative positioning for multiple communication devices, according to aspects of the disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10A, the example scenario 1000 includes three base stations 1012, 1014, and 1016 and three communication devices 1022, 1024, and 1026.

[0134] The communication device 1022 is configured to communicate with the base station 1012, the base station 1014, and the base station 1016 (as indicated by double-arrow lines 1032, 1034, and 1036) based on a first communication technology (e.g. NR). The communication device 1024 is configured to communicate with the base station 1016 (as indicated by double-arrow line 1046) based on the first communication technology. The communication device 1026 is configured to communicate with the base station 1012 and the base station 1014 (as indicated by double-arrow lines 1042 and 1044) based on the first communication technology. Also, communication links may be established for each of the listed pairs of the communication devices 1022 and 1026 (as indicated by double- arrow line 1052), the communication devices 1022 and 1024 (as indicated by double- arrow line 1054), and the communication devices 1024 and 1026 (as indicated by double- arrow line 1056) based on a second communication technology (e.g., UWB).

[0135] In some aspects, the cooperative positioning may be considered as a systematic sequential approach extension of the one-shot baseline scenario (e.g., obtaining an estimated position based on performing Uu positioning and / or SL positioning once without iterations). In some aspects, the cooperative positioning may incorporate or reuse various positioning algorithms such as RTT, multi-RTT, TDOA, AoA, AoD, and / or ToF.

[0136] In general, an algorithm for the cooperative positioning may be summarized as follows:QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 44

[0137] In some aspects, the cooperative positioning may begin with an initialization process to initialize or prepare the List U and List L. In some aspects, the cooperative positioning may further select a current target device. In some aspects according to a first option, the cooperative positioning may start with selecting any of the communication devices 1022, 1024, and 1026 in the scenario 1000 as a first current target device. In some aspects according to a second option, the cooperative positioning may start with selecting the communication device among the communication devices 1022, 1024, and 1026 in the scenario 1000 that has the most different Uu connections as the first current target device. In some aspects according to a third option, the cooperative positioning may start with selecting the communication device among the communication devices 1022, 1024, and 1026 in the scenario 1000 that has the best expected positioning accuracy as the first current target device. In some aspects according to a fourth option, the cooperative positioning may start with selecting the communication device among the communication devices 1022, 1024, and 1026 in the scenario 1000 that has the most different SL connections as the first current target device.

[0138] FIG. 10B is a diagram of a portion of the example scenario 1000 illustrating the cooperative positioning at Round I, according to aspects of the disclosure. In some aspects, the Round I is the first processing round of a first iteration. As shown in FIG. 10B, the communication device 1022 is selected to be processed first. According to Action 1 and Action 2 of the algorithm for the cooperative positioning, an estimated position of the communication device 1022 may be determined using the base stations 1012, 1014, and 1016 as anchor nodes based on Uu RTT (corresponding to the connections indicated by double-arrow lines 1032, 1034, and 1036). 44 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 45

[0139] Afterwards, Action 3 of the algorithm for the cooperative positioning may be performed to add the communication device 1022 to the List L. Also, Action 4 of the algorithm for the cooperative positioning may be performed to return to Action 1 in order to select the next target device of the first iteration.

[0140] In some aspects according to a first option, the cooperative positioning may select the next target device among the communication devices 1024 and 1026 that has the most SL connections with other communication devices in the List L. In some aspects according to a second option, the cooperative positioning may select the next target device among the communication devices 1024 and 1026 that is closest to the target device of the previous round. In some aspects according to a third option, the cooperative positioning may select the next target device among the communication devices 1024 and 1026 that is closest to another communication device that has the most different Uu connections. In some aspects according to a fourth option, the cooperative positioning may select the next target device among the communication devices 1024 and 1026 that has the best expected positioning accuracy as the first current target device.

[0141] FIG. 10C is a diagram of a portion of the example scenario 1000 illustrating the cooperative positioning at Round II, according to aspects of the disclosure. In some aspects, the Round II is the second processing round of the first iteration. As show in FIG.10C, the communication device 1026 is selected to be processed after the estimated position of the communication device 1022 has been determined at Round I. According to Action 1 and Action 2 of the algorithm for the cooperative positioning, an estimated position of the communication device 1026 may be determined using the base stations 1012, 1014, and 1016 as anchor nodes based on Uu RTT (corresponding to the connections indicated by double-arrow lines 1042 and 1044) and SL RTT (corresponding to the connection indicated by double-arrow line 1052), together with the estimated position of the communication device 1024. Afterwards, Action 3 of the algorithm for the cooperative positioning may be performed to add the communication device 1026 to the List L; and Action 4 of the algorithm for the cooperative positioning may be performed to return to Action 1 in order to select the next target device of the first iteration.

[0142] FIG. 10D is a diagram of a portion of the example scenario 1000 illustrating the cooperative positioning at Round III, according to aspects of the disclosure. In some QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 46 aspects, the Round III is the third processing round of the first iteration. As show in FIG. 10D, the communication device 1024 is selected to be processed after the estimated positions of the communication devices 1022 and 1026 have been determined at previous rounds. According to Action 1 and Action 2 of the algorithm for the cooperative positioning, an estimated position of the communication device 1024 may be determined using the base station 1016 as an anchor node based on Uu RTT (corresponding to the connection indicated by double-arrow line 1046) and SL RTT (corresponding to the connections indicated by double-arrow lines 1054 and 1056), together with the estimated positions of the communication devices 1022 and 1026. Afterwards, Action 3 of the algorithm for the cooperative positioning may be performed to add the communication device 1024 to the List L; and Action 4 of the algorithm for the cooperative positioning may be performed to return to Action 1 in order to select the next target device.

[0143] Also, at Action 4 of each round, the cooperative positioning may check if a termination condition is met. In some aspects according to a first option, the termination condition may correspond to the length of the sequences (e.g., the number of rounds processed or the number of iteration processed) exceeding a threshold. In some aspects according to a second option, the termination condition may correspond to all communication devices being moved to the List L (e.g., all have their estimated positions determined and recorded in the List L). In some aspects according to a third option, the termination condition may correspond to no neighboring communication devices may be found based on the previous target device.

[0144] FIG. 10E is a diagram of a portion of the example scenario 1000 illustrating the cooperative positioning at Round IV, according to aspects of the disclosure. In some aspects, the Round IV is the first processing round of a second iteration. As show in FIG. 10E, the communication device 1022 is selected to be processed after the estimated positions of the communication devices 1022, 1024, and 1026 have been determined at a previous iteration as shown in FIGS.10B-10D. In some aspects, based on the termination condition being determined as not yet met after Round III, the cooperative positioning may start a new iteration to refine the estimated positions of the communication devices 1022, 1024, and 1026. In some aspects according to a first option, the next iteration may be performed based on the same processing sequence of a previous iteration for a predetermined number (or all) of subsequent iteration(s). In some aspects according to a 46 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 47 second option, the next iteration may be performed based a shuffled sequence for a predetermined number (or all) of subsequent iteration(s).

[0145] As shown in FIG. 10E, at Round IV, an estimated position of the communication device 1022 may be determined using the base stations 1012, 1014, and 1016 as anchor nodes based on Uu RTT (corresponding to the connections indicated by double-arrow lines 1032, 1034, and 1036) and SL RTT (corresponding to the connections indicated by double-arrow lines 1052 and 1054), together with the estimated positions of the communication devices 1024 and 1026 from the previous iteration.

[0146] Moreover, according to the present disclosure, the cooperative positioning may be performed based on a sub-cluster approach, where the communication devices may be grouped into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order, and the estimated positions may be determined one sub-cluster after another sub-cluster according to the hierarchical order based on sequential cooperative positioning as illustrated with reference to FIGS.10A-10E for each sub-cluster, as well as the estimated positions from the previous sub-cluster(s), if available. In some aspects, a location server, such as an LMF, may be configured to coordinate a cooperative session, and to configure the parameters of the cooperative session. In some aspects, the inter-device measurements between the communication devices may be scheduled for sequential cooperative positioning. In some aspects, the positioning reference signals with base stations (e.g., PRS and / or SRS) and the inter-device reference signals may be aligned in the time domain. In some aspects, not all devices capable of being anchor nodes (e.g., a device capable of performing NR measurements to determine their positions) for a first sub- cluster need to be actually selected as anchor nodes for the cooperative positioning in order to conserve power, reduce costs, and / or ensure uniform power consumption. In some aspects, a subset of the devices may be selected as anchor nodes for the first sub- cluster (also referred to as a “sub-cluster anchor node” in this disclosure) based on a set of decision-making criteria. In some aspects, as per the position estimation accuracy that is required (or inferred by the location server), the parameters of the cooperative session can be periodically updated over time by the server.

[0147] FIG.11 is a process flow diagram 1100 illustrating an example of cooperative positioning based on a sub-cluster approach, according to aspects of the disclosure. In this example, an LMF 1102 may coordinate with a plurality of communication devices to determine the QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 48 estimated positions of the plurality of communication devices. The plurality of communication devices include one or more first communication devices 1104 (labeled as “First Comm. Devices”) and one or more second communication devices 1106 (labeled as “Second Comm. Devices”). In some aspects, the LMF 1102 may correspond to the location server 172 or the LMF 270 described in this disclosure. In some aspects, the one or more first communication devices 1104 and the one or more second communication devices 1106 may correspond to any UEs described in this disclosure.

[0148] In some aspects, the one or more first communication devices 1104 may be configured to communicate with the LMF 1102 based on a first communication technology, such as a WWAN-based communication technology (e.g., NR, through gNB and / or NR core network; or other communication technology such as 4G, LTE, etc.). The positioning measurements based on the first communication technology may be used to estimate absolute positions of the one or more first communication devices 1104.

[0149] In some aspects, the one or more first communication devices 1104 and the one or more second communication devices 1106 may be configured to communicate with one another based on a second communication technology, such as a SL communication technology or a WLAN-based communication technology including UWB, Wi-Fi, and / or BLUETOOTH®. The inter-device positioning measurements based on the second communication technology may be used to estimate relative positions of the plurality of communication devices 1104 and 1106.

[0150] In this example, NR and UWB are used as non-limiting examples of the first communication technology and the second communication technology. Moreover, in some aspects, the one or more first communication devices 1104 may be included in the one or more second communication devices 1106. In some aspects, the one or more first communication devices 1104 may be the one or more second communication devices 1106.

[0151] At Stage 1112, the LMF 1102 can specify a reporting criteria for reporting connectivity information of the plurality of communication devices and transmit the reporting criteria to the one or more first communication devices 1104.

[0152] In some aspects, the cooperative positioning according to the process flow diagram 1100 may be performed as triggered by the LMF 1102. In some aspects, the triggering information may be provided at Stage 1112 with the reporting criteria. In some aspects, 48 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 49 the cooperative positioning according to the process flow diagram 1100 may be performed on a periodic basis. In some aspects, the periodicity information for the cooperative positioning may be specified and provided by the LMF 1102.

[0153] At Stage 1114, the one or more first communication devices 1104 may engage in a discovery process in order to detect the presence of other communication devices in the vicinity and / or collect device information regarding the detected communication devices. At Stage 1116, the LMF 1102 may receive the connectivity information from the one or more first communication devices 1104. In some aspects, the connectivity information may be received from the one or more first communication devices based on the reporting criteria.

[0154] In some aspects, the connectivity information may include device capability of a reported device that is one of the one or more second communication devices; device identifier (e.g., the MAC address or a proprietary identifier) of the reported device; availability of an initial position of the reported device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; or a combination thereof.

[0155] In some aspects, the reported device capability may include the type of technologies that are supported by the reported device, additional details regarding a given supported technology, and / or other chipset-related parameters. In some aspects, the additional details for a given supported technology may include the channels that are supported, the bandwidth that is supported, and / or the types of positioning measurements that are supported. In some aspects, the chipset-related parameters may include the number of transmitting and / or receiving antennas, a transmission power, a maximum effective isotropic radiated power (EIRP), and / or a noise figure of the reported device.

[0156] In some aspects, the reporting criteria may include a degree of separation between a reporting device and a reported device being less than a first threshold (e.g., only a certain number of hops away), the reporting device being one of the one or more first communication device, and the reported device being one of the one or more second communication devices; a signal strength or a signal quality between the reporting device and the reported device being greater than a second threshold; other quality metric, or a combination thereof. 49 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 50

[0157] In some aspects, during the discovery process at Stage 1114, the plurality of communication devices may transmit or receive beacon frames (which may be broadcasted) based on a proprietary discovery process. In some aspects, the broadcast packets can contain identifying information, such that the communication devices may recognize one another that are part of the same ecosystem. In some aspects, the broadcast packets may be transmitted over in-band UWB or out-of-band (OOB) over other communication technology (e.g., BLUETOOTH®).

[0158] At Stage 1122, the LMF 1102 can obtain the connectivity relationship information of the plurality of communication devices based on the received connectivity information. In some aspects, the LMF 1102 can create a connectivity map as the connectivity relationship information based on the received connectivity information. At Stage 1124, the LMF 1102 can select a subset of the one or more first communication devices 1104 as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria. In some aspects, even if all the communication devices are configured to communicate with the base stations based on the first communication technology (e.g., all having NR radios), it may be inefficient to perform measurements based on the first communication technology (e.g., NR measurements) using all the communication devices. This is due to power consumption and latency considerations.

[0159] In some aspects, the one or more first selection criteria may include available battery levels of the one or more first communication devices, uniformity of power consumption levels of the one or more first communication devices, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, the one or more first selection criteria may further include availability of a first initial position of a member device of the one or more first communication devices determined based on the first communication technology, a quality level or a confidence level of the first initial position; availability of a second initial position of the member device determined based on a positioning technology (e.g., GNSS) different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology, a quality level or a confidence level of the second initial position, a level of geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) introduced by the member device, communication capability of the member device, computational ability of the member device, storage or memory availability of the member device, or a combination thereof. In some aspects, some of the one or more first 50 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 51 communication devices may be prioritized over the others, to not only perform NR measurements as sub-cluster anchor nodes but also serve as UWB initiator devices.

[0160] At Stage 1126, the LMF 1102 may determine parameters for configuring the cooperative positioning session. In some aspects, the parameters for configuring the cooperative positioning session may be determined based at least on the connectivity relationship information. At Stage 1128, the LMF 1102 may transmit the parameters for configuring the cooperative positioning session to at least one (or all) of one or more initiator devices among the one or more first communication devices.

[0161] In some aspects, the parameters may include a list of devices that are NR capable communication devices whose initial positions can be estimated using NR. In some aspects, the parameters may include a list of devices that are also NR capable communication devices and serve as UWB initiator devices for the UWB measurement procedure. In some aspects, the parameters may include, for a given UWB initiator device, a list of corresponding UWB responder devices.

[0162] At Stage 1132, the one or more initiator devices among the one or more first communication devices 1104 may coordinate with the non-initiator devices (if any) among the one or more first communication devices 1104 and the one or more second communication devices 1106 to perform measurements for positioning to obtain measurement data based on the parameters for configuring the cooperative positioning session. In some aspects, the measurement data may include RTT, multi-RTT, TDOA, AoA, AoD, and / or ToF measurements between a device of the one or more first communication devices 1104 and a base station (e.g., based on NR measurements). In some aspects, the measurement data may include RTT, multi-RTT, TDOA, AoA, AoD, and / or ToF measurements between two devices of the plurality of communication devices (e.g., inter-device measurements based on UWB).

[0163] In some aspects, during the measurement procedure at Stage 1132, the LMF 1102 may provide the schedule and types of measurements that need to be performed over UWB. In some aspects, the measurement scheduling information may be deliverable only to a subset of the communication devices that are also NR enabled devices (or have switched on their NR radio for the current session). In some aspects, the subset of the communication devices having the measurement scheduling information may function as initiator devices that coordinate the measurement procedure amongst the communication 51 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 52 devices. As such, the subset of the communication devices may serve as UWB initiator devices that are responsible for coordinating inter-device measurements based on UWB. The other communication devices may be referred to as UWB responder devices. Therefore, in some aspects, the LMF 1102 may direct one or more of the first communication devices to serve as the one or more initiator devices, and provide a corresponding list of the responder devices, so that bidirectional measurements may be exchanged.

[0164] At Stage 1134, the one or more initiator devices among the one or more first communication devices 1104 may collect the measurement data and transmit the measurement data to the LMF 1102.

[0165] At Stage 1140, the LMF 1102 may engage in the cooperative positioning session based on a sub-cluster approach and based on the received measurement data in order to determine the estimated positions of the plurality of communication devices.

[0166] In some aspects, the LMF 1102 may group the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more second selection criteria. In some aspects, the grouping of the sub-clusters of devices may be performed by the LMF 1102 as part of Stage 1124 or Stage 1126 prior to Stage 1140, or as part of Stage 1140. In some aspects, a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes. In some aspects, the one or more second selection criteria may include a signal quality of a signal from a member device of the one or more second communication devices, an estimated positioning uncertainty associated with the member device, or a combination thereof.

[0167] In some aspects, the LMF 1102 may engage in the cooperative positioning session by performing a respective sequential positioning procedure for each sub-cluster of the sub- clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order to determine estimated positions of devices of the corresponding sub-cluster. In some aspects, the sequential positioning procedure for a current sub-cluster is performed based on available measurement data related to the current sub-cluster and based on the estimated positions of one or more prior sub-clusters in the hierarchical order in a case that the current sub-cluster is not the first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 53

[0168] In some aspects, the LMF 1102 may determine an accuracy requirement for a sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on an estimated area or an estimated mobility status of the sub-cluster, and may determine at Stage 1126 the parameters for configuring the cooperative positioning session based at least on the determined accuracy requirement. In such scenarios, the grouping of the sub-clusters of devices may be performed by the LMF 1102 as part of Stage 1124 or Stage 1126. In some aspects, the LMF 1102 may be able to determine whether a communication device is located outdoors or indoors within a building. Accordingly, the LMF 1102 may adapt the cooperative session parameters, so that a balance is found between power consumption (latency, computations) and the estimation accuracy. The accuracy requirement may be tightened when a communication device is within a warehouse, or an urban canyon / dense urban scenario. Alternatively, it may be relaxed when the communication device is on the highway or a rural area.

[0169] In some aspects, the LMF 1102 may rely upon the coarse location of the communication devices to decide the estimation accuracy requirement. For example, the initial coarse positions of the communication devices may be determined using NR and / or the connection information. With prior knowledge of the region, the LMF 1102 can determine where the communication devices are roughly located and set the accuracy requirement accordingly. In some aspects, the LMF 1102 may rely upon the mobility information of the communication devices to decide the estimation accuracy requirement. For example, if a communication device is moving fast, the communication device is likely outside city limits where a released accuracy requirement may be sufficient. In some aspects, the LMF 1102 may set the accuracy requirement to a first accuracy level based on the estimated area being indoor or the estimated mobility status being stationary or moving at a speed less than a value. Also, the LMF 1102 may set the accuracy requirement to a second accuracy level lower than the first accuracy level based on the estimated area being outdoor or the estimated mobility status being moving at a speed greater than the value.

[0170] In some aspects, the LMF 1102 may rely upon cameras or visual inputs regarding the communication devices to decide the estimation accuracy requirement. In some aspects, the cameras or visual inputs may be onboard the communication devices or external to the communication devices. The camera or visual information may be used to determine QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 54 whether a communication device is within a building or outside, and the accuracy requirement may be set accordingly.

[0171] In some aspects, based on the accuracy requirement, the LMF 1102 may then direct the cooperative session to be more aggressive (more sub-cluster anchor nodes may be selected, more measurements may be performed, measurements may be performed more frequently), so that the accuracy may be improved. Alternatively, the LMF 1102 may relax the cooperative session and trigger just a few or even a single communication device as a sub-cluster anchor node, when a relaxed accuracy for the communication devices can be tolerated.

[0172] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example scenario 1200 of performing cooperative positioning based on a sub-cluster approach, according to aspects of the disclosure. The scenario 1200 may illustrate additional details regarding the operations at Stage 1140 in FIG.11.

[0173] In some aspects, a cooperative sequential positioning is performed within each sub- cluster, stepping through the sub-clusters of devices one-by-one. In some aspects, the communication devices can be ranked in an order of the number of established links with the anchor devices (or other communication devices with an NR-based estimated positions), and then by a quality criterion such as the SNR.

[0174] As shown in FIG. 12, in this example scenario, the communication devices may be divided into two sub-clusters: Device #1 and Device #3 are selected as sub-cluster anchor nodes and belong to a first sub-cluster of devices; and Device #2, Device #4, and Device #5 are responder devices and belong to a second sub-cluster of devices.

[0175] In some aspects, as a first round, the first sub-cluster of devices may be sequentially positioned (based on measurements with other base stations and / or inter-device measurements) as illustrated with reference to FIGS.10A-10E. Next, as a second round, the second sub-cluster of devices may be sequentially positioned based on inter-device measurements with the first sub-cluster of devices and the second sub-cluster of devices, as well as the estimated positions of the first sub-cluster of devices as fixed position information for the positioning of the second sub-cluster of devices.

[0176] More generally, the communication devices could be grouped into N sub-clusters of devices. In some aspects, the first sub-cluster of devices may include the devices whose absolute position can be found and may be used as sub-cluster anchor nodes. In some 54 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 55 aspects, the remaining (N-1) sub-clusters of devices may be formed and ranked on the basis of a quality metric, such as confidence and / or uncertainty of the estimated positions. Each sub-cluster of devices may be processed based on the estimated positions from prior sub-cluster(s), if available.

[0177] In some aspects, the operations of the first and second rounds in the example scenario 1200 may be repeated in iterations until a termination condition is met. In some aspects, the termination condition may correspond to the relative average change in the estimated positions of all the devices not exceeding a threshold (e.g., 10 centimeters) over a number of consecutive iterations (e.g., three iterations). In some aspects, the termination condition may correspond to a maximum number of iterations being reached (e.g., 100 iterations).

[0178] FIG. 13 is a process flow diagram 1300 illustrating another example of cooperative positioning based on a sub-cluster approach, according to aspects of the disclosure. In this example, a server 1302 may coordinate with a plurality of communication devices 1304 (labeled as “Comm. Devices”) to determine the estimated positions of the plurality of communication devices.

[0179] In some aspects, the process flow diagram 1300 may be a generalization of the process flow diagram 1100. Therefore, the Stages 1312, 1314, 1316, 1322, 1324, 1326, 1328, 1332, 1334, and 1340 in the process flow diagram 1300 are the same or similar to the Stages 1112, 1114, 1116, 1122, 1124, 1126, 1128, 1132, 1134, and 1140 the process flow diagram 1100, and detailed description thereof may be simplified or omitted.

[0180] In some aspects, the server 1302 may be an LMF like in the process flow diagram 1100 or any other location server or server, such as a private server or a connected intelligent edge (CIE) that can employ proprietary schemes to perform cooperative positioning across technologies. In some aspects, the communication devices 1304 may be configured to support NR / UWB like in the process flow diagram 1100 or any other communication technology. In some aspects, the communication devices 1304 may support the cooperative positioning based on UWB, BLUETOOTH®, or Wi-Fi. Also, compared with the process flow diagram 1100, the communication devices 1304 in the process flow diagram 1300 may be capable of communicating with the server as well as interacting with one another. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 56

[0181] For example, at Stage 1334, the measurement data may include measurements that provide some of the communication devices with an absolute position fix (e.g., using NR, GNSS, Wi-Fi, etc.). Also, the measurement data may include inter-device measurements that provide a relative position fix. In some aspects, at Stage 1332, Wi-Fi APs or GNSS radios can provide an absolute fix for the sub-cluster anchor nodes, while the communication devices themselves may perform measurements with each other based on UWB, Ad Hoc Wi-Fi, or BLUETOOTH®.

[0182] FIG.14 illustrates an example method 1400 of position estimation performed by a server device, according to aspects of the disclosure. In an aspect, method 1400 may be performed by a server device, such as the location server 230, LMF 270, network entity 306, LMF 1102, or server 1302. In an aspect, method 1400 may be performed by the one or more network transceivers 390, the one or more processors 394, memory 396, and / or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing one or more of the following operations of method 1400.

[0183] At operation 1410, the server device (e.g., the LMF 1102) can obtain connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices. In some aspects, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices (e.g., the one or more first communication devices 1104) may be configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices (e.g., the one or more second communication devices 1106) may be configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology. In some aspects, operation 1410 may be performed by the one or more network transceivers 390, the one or more processors 394, memory 396, and / or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing operation 1410.

[0184] In some aspects, the one or more first communication devices may be included in the one or more second communication devices. In some aspects, the one or more first communication devices may be the one or more second communication devices. In some aspects, the first communication technology may be a WWAN-based communication technology, and the second communication technology may be a WLAN-based communication technology. In some aspects, the first communication technology 56 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 57 comprises Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR), and the second communication technology comprises Wi-Fi or ultra-wideband (UWB).

[0185] At operation 1420, the server device can select a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria. In some aspects, operation 1420 may be performed by the one or more network transceivers 390, the one or more processors 394, memory 396, and / or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing operation 1420.

[0186] In some aspects, the one or more first selection criteria may include available battery levels of the one or more first communication devices; uniformity of power consumption levels of the one or more first communication devices; or a combination thereof. In some aspects, the one or more first selection criteria may further include availability of a first initial position of a member device of the one or more first communication devices determined based on the first communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the first initial position; availability of a second initial position of the member device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the second initial position; a level of geometric dilution of precision introduced by the member device; communication capability of the member device; computational ability of the member device; storage or memory availability of the member device; or a combination thereof.

[0187] At operation 1430, the server device can receive measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices. In some aspects, the measurement data may include other measurements for the at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes. In some aspects, operation 1430 may be performed by the one or more network transceivers 390, the one or more processors 394, memory 396, and / or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing operation 1430. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 58

[0188] At operation 1440, the server device can engage in said positioning session (e.g., a cooperative positioning session) for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data. In some aspects, the engaging in the cooperative positioning session may include determining a respective estimated position for each one of the one or more second communication devices based on the measurement data. In some aspects, operation 1440 may be performed by the one or more network transceivers 390, the one or more processors 394, memory 396, and / or positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered means for performing operation 1440.

[0189] In some aspects, the method 1400 may further include grouping the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more second selection criteria, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes. In some aspects, the engaging in the cooperative positioning session may include performing a respective sequential positioning procedure for each sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order to determine estimated positions of devices of the corresponding sub- cluster, wherein the sequential positioning procedure for a current sub-cluster is performed based on available measurement data related to the current sub-cluster and based on the estimated positions of one or more prior sub-clusters in the hierarchical order in a case that the current sub-cluster is not the first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order. In some aspects, the one or more second selection criteria may include a signal quality of a signal from a member device of the one or more second communication devices; an estimated positioning uncertainty associated with the member device; or a combination thereof.

[0190] In some aspects, the method 1400 may further include transmitting reporting criteria to the one or more first communication devices, and then receiving connectivity information from the one or more first communication devices, where the connectivity information may be received from the one or more first communication devices based on the reporting criteria. In some aspects, the connectivity information may include device capability of a reported device that is one of the one or more second communication devices; device identifier of the reported device; availability of an initial position of the reported device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication 58 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 59 technology and the second communication technology; or a combination thereof. In some aspects, the reporting criteria may include a degree of separation between a reporting device and a reported device being greater than a first threshold, the reporting device being one of the one or more first communication device, and the reported device being one of the one or more second communication devices; a signal strength or a signal quality between the reporting device and the reported device being greater than a second threshold; or a combination thereof.

[0191] In some aspects, the method 1400 may include creating a connectivity map as the connectivity relationship information based on the received connectivity information.

[0192] In some aspects, the method 1400 may include transmitting parameters for configuring the cooperative positioning session to at least one initiator device within the one or more first communication devices. In some aspects, the parameters for configuring the cooperative positioning session may be determined based at least on the connectivity relationship information. In some aspects, the measurement data may be based on the parameters for configuring the cooperative positioning session.

[0193] In some aspects, the method 1400 may further include determining an accuracy requirement for a sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on an estimated area or an estimated mobility status of the sub-cluster; and determining the parameters for configuring the cooperative positioning session based at least on the determined accuracy requirement. In some aspects, the determining the accuracy requirement may include setting the accuracy requirement to a first accuracy level based on the estimated area being indoor or the estimated mobility status being stationary or moving at a speed less than a value; and setting the accuracy requirement to a second accuracy level lower than the first accuracy level based on the estimated area being outdoor or the estimated mobility status being moving at a speed greater than the value.

[0194] As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of the method 1400 is to perform cooperative positioning based on a sub-cluster approach, with selecting sub-cluster anchor nodes in order to balance between the positioning accuracy and uniformity of power consumption levels of the communication devices. As a result, the overall power consumption level of the communication devices may be reduced, the costs of the cooperative positioning may be reduced, and the uniformity of power consumption levels of the communication devices may be improved. Moreover, the positioning errors of a 59 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 60 less accurate sub-cluster of devices may not be propagated to another, more accurate sub- cluster of devices. In other words, the positioning errors associated with the nodes that make poor measurements do not propagate to other nodes that have better measurements.

[0195] In the detailed description above it can be seen that different features are grouped together in examples. This manner of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the example clauses have more features than are explicitly mentioned in each clause. Rather, the various aspects of the disclosure may include fewer than all features of an individual example clause disclosed. Therefore, the following clauses should hereby be deemed to be incorporated in the description, wherein each clause by itself can stand as a separate example. Although each dependent clause can refer in the clauses to a specific combination with one of the other clauses, the aspect(s) of that dependent clause are not limited to the specific combination. It will be appreciated that other example clauses can also include a combination of the dependent clause aspect(s) with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause or a combination of any feature with other dependent and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein expressly include these combinations, unless it is explicitly expressed or can be readily inferred that a specific combination is not intended (e.g., contradictory aspects, such as defining an element as both an electrical insulator and an electrical conductor). Furthermore, it is also intended that aspects of a clause can be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.

[0196] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

[0197] Clause 1. A method of position estimation performed by a server device, comprising: obtaining connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; selecting a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; receiving measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the 60 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 61 measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and engaging in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

[0198] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the one or more first selection criteria comprise: available battery levels of the one or more first communication devices; uniformity of power consumption levels of the one or more first communication devices; or a combination thereof.

[0199] Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein the one or more first selection criteria further comprise: availability of a first initial position of a member device of the one or more first communication devices determined based on the first communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the first initial position; availability of a second initial position of the member device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the second initial position; a level of geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) introduced by the member device; communication capability of the member device; computational ability of the member device; storage or memory availability of the member device; or a combination thereof.

[0200] Clause 4. The method of any of clauses 1 to 3, further comprising: transmitting reporting criteria to the one or more first communication devices; and receiving connectivity information from the one or more first communication devices, the connectivity information being received from the one or more first communication devices based on the reporting criteria.

[0201] Clause 5. The method of clause 4, wherein the connectivity information comprises: device capability of a reported device that is one of the one or more second communication devices; device identifier of the reported device; availability of an initial position of the reported device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; or a combination thereof.

[0202] Clause 6. The method of any of clauses 4 to 5, wherein the reporting criteria comprises: a degree of separation between a reporting device and a reported device being less than a first threshold, the reporting device being one of the one or more first communication 61 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 62 device, and the reported device being one of the one or more second communication devices; a signal strength or a signal quality between the reporting device and the reported device being greater than a second threshold; or a combination thereof.

[0203] Clause 7. The method of any of clauses 4 to 6, further comprising: creating a connectivity map as the connectivity relationship information based on the received connectivity information.

[0204] Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, further comprising: transmitting parameters for configuring the positioning session to at least one initiator device within the one or more first communication devices, wherein the parameters for configuring the positioning session are determined based at least on the connectivity relationship information, and wherein the measurement data are based on the parameters for configuring the positioning session.

[0205] Clause 9. The method of clause 8, further comprising: grouping the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes; determining an accuracy requirement for a sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on an estimated area or an estimated mobility status of the sub-cluster; and determining the parameters for configuring the positioning session based at least on the determined accuracy requirement.

[0206] Clause 10. The method of clause 9, wherein determining the accuracy requirement comprises: setting the accuracy requirement to a first accuracy level based on the estimated area being indoor or the estimated mobility status being stationary or moving at a speed less than a value; and setting the accuracy requirement to a second accuracy level lower than the first accuracy level based on the estimated area being outdoor or the estimated mobility status being moving at a speed greater than the value.

[0207] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 1 to 10, wherein: the measurement data include other measurements for the at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes.

[0208] Clause 12. The method of any of clauses 1 to 11, wherein the engaging in the positioning session comprises: determining a respective estimated position for each one of the one or more second communication devices based on the measurement data. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 63

[0209] Clause 13. The method of any of clauses 1 to 12, further comprising: grouping the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more second selection criteria, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes, wherein the engaging in the positioning session comprises: performing a respective sequential positioning procedure for each sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order to determine estimated positions of devices of the corresponding sub-cluster, wherein the sequential positioning procedure for a current sub-cluster is performed based on available measurement data related to the current sub-cluster and based on the estimated positions of one or more prior sub-clusters in the hierarchical order in a case that the current sub- cluster is not the first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order.

[0210] Clause 14. The method of clause 13, wherein the one or more second selection criteria comprise: a signal quality of a signal from a member device of the one or more second communication devices; an estimated positioning uncertainty associated with the member device; or a combination thereof.

[0211] Clause 15. The method of any of clauses 1 to 14, wherein: the one or more first communication devices are included in the one or more second communication devices; or the one or more first communication devices are the one or more second communication devices.

[0212] Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 1 to 15, wherein: the first communication technology is a WWAN-based communication technology, and the second communication technology is a WLAN-based communication technology.

[0213] Clause 17. The method of clause 16, wherein: the first communication technology comprises Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR), and the second communication technology comprises Wi-Fi or ultra-wideband (UWB).

[0214] Clause 18. A server device, comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: obtain connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 64 on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; select a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; receive, via the one or more transceivers, measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and engage in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

[0215] Clause 19. The server device of clause 18, wherein the one or more first selection criteria comprise: available battery levels of the one or more first communication devices; uniformity of power consumption levels of the one or more first communication devices; or a combination thereof.

[0216] Clause 20. The server device of clause 19, wherein the one or more first selection criteria further comprise: availability of a first initial position of a member device of the one or more first communication devices determined based on the first communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the first initial position; availability of a second initial position of the member device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the second initial position; a level of geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) introduced by the member device; communication capability of the member device; computational ability of the member device; storage or memory availability of the member device; or a combination thereof.

[0217] Clause 21. The server device of any of clauses 18 to 20, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers, reporting criteria to the one or more first communication devices; and receive, via the one or more transceivers, connectivity information from the one or more first communication devices, the connectivity information being received from the one or more first communication devices based on the reporting criteria. 64 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 65

[0218] Clause 22. The server device of clause 21, wherein the connectivity information comprises: device capability of a reported device that is one of the one or more second communication devices; device identifier of the reported device; availability of an initial position of the reported device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; or a combination thereof.

[0219] Clause 23. The server device of any of clauses 21 to 22, wherein the reporting criteria comprises: a degree of separation between a reporting device and a reported device being less than a first threshold, the reporting device being one of the one or more first communication device, and the reported device being one of the one or more second communication devices; a signal strength or a signal quality between the reporting device and the reported device being greater than a second threshold; or a combination thereof.

[0220] Clause 24. The server device of any of clauses 21 to 23, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: create a connectivity map as the connectivity relationship information based on the received connectivity information.

[0221] Clause 25. The server device of any of clauses 18 to 24, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers, parameters for configuring the positioning session to at least one initiator device within the one or more first communication devices, wherein the parameters for configuring the positioning session are determined based at least on the connectivity relationship information, and wherein the measurement data are based on the parameters for configuring the positioning session.

[0222] Clause 26. The server device of clause 25, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: group the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes; determine an accuracy requirement for a sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on an estimated area or an estimated mobility status of the sub-cluster; and determine the parameters for configuring the positioning session based at least on the determined accuracy requirement. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 66

[0223] Clause 27. The server device of clause 26, wherein the one or more processors configured to determine the accuracy requirement are, either alone or in combination, further configured to: set the accuracy requirement to a first accuracy level based on the estimated area being indoor or the estimated mobility status being stationary or moving at a speed less than a value; and set the accuracy requirement to a second accuracy level lower than the first accuracy level based on the estimated area being outdoor or the estimated mobility status being moving at a speed greater than the value.

[0224] Clause 28. The server device of any of clauses 18 to 27, wherein: the measurement data include other measurements for the at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes.

[0225] Clause 29. The server device of any of clauses 18 to 28, wherein the one or more processors configured to engage in the positioning session are, either alone or in combination further configured to: determine a respective estimated position for each one of the one or more second communication devices based on the measurement data.

[0226] Clause 30. The server device of any of clauses 18 to 29, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: group the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more second selection criteria, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes, wherein the one or more processors configured to engage in the positioning session are, either alone or in combination further configured to: perform a respective sequential positioning procedure for each sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order to determine estimated positions of devices of the corresponding sub-cluster, wherein the sequential positioning procedure for a current sub-cluster is performed based on available measurement data related to the current sub-cluster and based on the estimated positions of one or more prior sub-clusters in the hierarchical order in a case that the current sub-cluster is not the first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order.

[0227] Clause 31. The server device of clause 30, wherein the one or more second selection criteria comprise: a signal quality of a signal from a member device of the one or more second communication devices; an estimated positioning uncertainty associated with the member device; or a combination thereof. 66 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 67

[0228] Clause 32. The server device of any of clauses 18 to 31, wherein: the one or more first communication devices are included in the one or more second communication devices; or the one or more first communication devices are the one or more second communication devices.

[0229] Clause 33. The server device of any of clauses 18 to 32, wherein: the first communication technology is a WWAN-based communication technology, and the second communication technology is a WLAN-based communication technology.

[0230] Clause 34. The server device of clause 33, wherein: the first communication technology comprises Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR), and the second communication technology comprises Wi-Fi or ultra-wideband (UWB).

[0231] Clause 35. A server device, comprising: means for obtaining connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; means for selecting a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub- cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; means for receiving measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and means for engaging in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

[0232] Clause 36. The server device of clause 35, wherein the one or more first selection criteria comprise: available battery levels of the one or more first communication devices; uniformity of power consumption levels of the one or more first communication devices; or a combination thereof.

[0233] Clause 37. The server device of clause 36, wherein the one or more first selection criteria further comprise: availability of a first initial position of a member device of the one or more first communication devices determined based on the first communication QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 68 technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the first initial position; availability of a second initial position of the member device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the second initial position; a level of geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) introduced by the member device; communication capability of the member device; computational ability of the member device; storage or memory availability of the member device; or a combination thereof.

[0234] Clause 38. The server device of any of clauses 35 to 37, further comprising: means for transmitting reporting criteria to the one or more first communication devices; and means for receiving connectivity information from the one or more first communication devices, the connectivity information being received from the one or more first communication devices based on the reporting criteria.

[0235] Clause 39. The server device of clause 38, wherein the connectivity information comprises: device capability of a reported device that is one of the one or more second communication devices; device identifier of the reported device; availability of an initial position of the reported device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; or a combination thereof.

[0236] Clause 40. The server device of any of clauses 38 to 39, wherein the reporting criteria comprises: a degree of separation between a reporting device and a reported device being less than a first threshold, the reporting device being one of the one or more first communication device, and the reported device being one of the one or more second communication devices; a signal strength or a signal quality between the reporting device and the reported device being greater than a second threshold; or a combination thereof.

[0237] Clause 41. The server device of any of clauses 38 to 40, further comprising: means for creating a connectivity map as the connectivity relationship information based on the received connectivity information.

[0238] Clause 42. The server device of any of clauses 35 to 41, further comprising: means for transmitting parameters for configuring the positioning session to at least one initiator device within the one or more first communication devices, wherein the parameters for configuring the positioning session are determined based at least on the connectivity 68 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 69 relationship information, and wherein the measurement data are based on the parameters for configuring the positioning session.

[0239] Clause 43. The server device of clause 42, further comprising: means for grouping the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information, wherein a first one of the sub- clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes; means for determining an accuracy requirement for a sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on an estimated area or an estimated mobility status of the sub-cluster; and means for determining the parameters for configuring the positioning session based at least on the determined accuracy requirement.

[0240] Clause 44. The server device of clause 43, wherein the means for determining the accuracy requirement comprises: means for setting the accuracy requirement to a first accuracy level based on the estimated area being indoor or the estimated mobility status being stationary or moving at a speed less than a value; and means for setting the accuracy requirement to a second accuracy level lower than the first accuracy level based on the estimated area being outdoor or the estimated mobility status being moving at a speed greater than the value.

[0241] Clause 45. The server device of any of clauses 35 to 44, wherein: the measurement data include other measurements for the at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes.

[0242] Clause 46. The server device of any of clauses 35 to 45, wherein the means for engaging in the positioning session comprises: means for determining a respective estimated position for each one of the one or more second communication devices based on the measurement data.

[0243] Clause 47. The server device of any of clauses 35 to 46, further comprising: means for grouping the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more second selection criteria, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes, wherein the means for engaging in the positioning session comprises: means for performing a respective sequential positioning procedure for each sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order to determine estimated positions of devices of the corresponding 69 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 70 sub-cluster, wherein the sequential positioning procedure for a current sub-cluster is performed based on available measurement data related to the current sub-cluster and based on the estimated positions of one or more prior sub-clusters in the hierarchical order in a case that the current sub-cluster is not the first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order.

[0244] Clause 48. The server device of clause 47, wherein the one or more second selection criteria comprise: a signal quality of a signal from a member device of the one or more second communication devices; an estimated positioning uncertainty associated with the member device; or a combination thereof.

[0245] Clause 49. The server device of any of clauses 35 to 48, wherein: the one or more first communication devices are included in the one or more second communication devices; or the one or more first communication devices are the one or more second communication devices.

[0246] Clause 50. The server device of any of clauses 35 to 49, wherein: the first communication technology is a WWAN-based communication technology, and the second communication technology is a WLAN-based communication technology.

[0247] Clause 51. The server device of clause 50, wherein: the first communication technology comprises Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR), and the second communication technology comprises Wi-Fi or ultra-wideband (UWB).

[0248] Clause 52. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a server device, cause the server device to: obtain connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; select a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; receive measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 71 anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and engage in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

[0249] Clause 53. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 52, wherein the one or more first selection criteria comprise: available battery levels of the one or more first communication devices; uniformity of power consumption levels of the one or more first communication devices; or a combination thereof.

[0250] Clause 54. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 53, wherein the one or more first selection criteria further comprise: availability of a first initial position of a member device of the one or more first communication devices determined based on the first communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the first initial position; availability of a second initial position of the member device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the second initial position; a level of geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) introduced by the member device; communication capability of the member device; computational ability of the member device; storage or memory availability of the member device; or a combination thereof.

[0251] Clause 55. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 52 to 54, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to: transmit reporting criteria to the one or more first communication devices; and receive connectivity information from the one or more first communication devices, the connectivity information being received from the one or more first communication devices based on the reporting criteria.

[0252] Clause 56. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 55, wherein the connectivity information comprises: device capability of a reported device that is one of the one or more second communication devices; device identifier of the reported device; availability of an initial position of the reported device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; or a combination thereof.

[0253] Clause 57. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 55 to 56, wherein the reporting criteria comprises: a degree of separation between a reporting QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 72 device and a reported device being less than a first threshold, the reporting device being one of the one or more first communication device, and the reported device being one of the one or more second communication devices; a signal strength or a signal quality between the reporting device and the reported device being greater than a second threshold; or a combination thereof.

[0254] Clause 58. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 55 to 57, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to: create a connectivity map as the connectivity relationship information based on the received connectivity information.

[0255] Clause 59. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 52 to 58, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to: transmit parameters for configuring the positioning session to at least one initiator device within the one or more first communication devices, wherein the parameters for configuring the positioning session are determined based at least on the connectivity relationship information, and wherein the measurement data are based on the parameters for configuring the positioning session.

[0256] Clause 60. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 59, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to: group the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes; determine an accuracy requirement for a sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on an estimated area or an estimated mobility status of the sub-cluster; and determine the parameters for configuring the positioning session based at least on the determined accuracy requirement.

[0257] Clause 61. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 60, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to determine the accuracy requirement comprise computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to: set the accuracy requirement to a first accuracy level based on the estimated area being indoor or the estimated mobility status being stationary or moving at a speed less than a value; QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 73 and set the accuracy requirement to a second accuracy level lower than the first accuracy level based on the estimated area being outdoor or the estimated mobility status being moving at a speed greater than the value.

[0258] Clause 62. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 52 to 61, wherein: the measurement data include other measurements for the at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes.

[0259] Clause 63. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 52 to 62, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to engage in the positioning session comprises computer- executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to: determine a respective estimated position for each one of the one or more second communication devices based on the measurement data.

[0260] Clause 64. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 52 to 63, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to: group the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more second selection criteria, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub- cluster anchor nodes, wherein the computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to engage in the positioning session comprises computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the server device, cause the server device to: perform a respective sequential positioning procedure for each sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order to determine estimated positions of devices of the corresponding sub-cluster, wherein the sequential positioning procedure for a current sub-cluster is performed based on available measurement data related to the current sub-cluster and based on the estimated positions of one or more prior sub-clusters in the hierarchical order in a case that the current sub- cluster is not the first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order.

[0261] Clause 65. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 64, wherein the one or more second selection criteria comprise: a signal quality of a signal from a member device of the one or more second communication devices; an estimated positioning uncertainty associated with the member device; or a combination thereof. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 74

[0262] Clause 66. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 52 to 65, wherein: the one or more first communication devices are included in the one or more second communication devices; or the one or more first communication devices are the one or more second communication devices.

[0263] Clause 67. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of any of clauses 52 to 66, wherein: the first communication technology is a WWAN-based communication technology, and the second communication technology is a WLAN-based communication technology.

[0264] Clause 68. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of clause 67, wherein: the first communication technology comprises Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR), and the second communication technology comprises Wi-Fi or ultra-wideband (UWB).

[0265] Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0266] Further, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0267] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 75 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, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0268] The methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A 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, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

[0269] In one or more example aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 76 twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where 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.

[0270] While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of the disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications could be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and / or actions of the method claims in accordance with the aspects of the disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated. QC2303131WO

Claims

Qualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 77 CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A method of position estimation performed by a server device, comprising: obtaining connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; selecting a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; receiving measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and engaging in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more first selection criteria comprise: available battery levels of the one or more first communication devices; uniformity of power consumption levels of the one or more first communication devices; or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more first selection criteria further comprise: availability of a first initial position of a member device of the one or more first communication devices determined based on the first communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the first initial position; 77 QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 78 availability of a second initial position of the member device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the second initial position; a level of geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) introduced by the member device; communication capability of the member device; computational ability of the member device; storage or memory availability of the member device; or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting reporting criteria to the one or more first communication devices; and receiving connectivity information from the one or more first communication devices, the connectivity information being received from the one or more first communication devices based on the reporting criteria.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the connectivity information comprises: device capability of a reported device that is one of the one or more second communication devices; device identifier of the reported device; availability of an initial position of the reported device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the reporting criteria comprises: a degree of separation between a reporting device and a reported device being less than a first threshold, the reporting device being one of the one or more first communication device, and the reported device being one of the one or more second communication devices; QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 79 a signal strength or a signal quality between the reporting device and the reported device being greater than a second threshold; or a combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising: creating a connectivity map as the connectivity relationship information based on the received connectivity information.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting parameters for configuring the positioning session to at least one initiator device within the one or more first communication devices, wherein the parameters for configuring the positioning session are determined based at least on the connectivity relationship information, and wherein the measurement data are based on the parameters for configuring the positioning session.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: grouping the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes; determining an accuracy requirement for a sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on an estimated area or an estimated mobility status of the sub-cluster; and determining the parameters for configuring the positioning session based at least on the determined accuracy requirement.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the accuracy requirement comprises: setting the accuracy requirement to a first accuracy level based on the estimated area being indoor or the estimated mobility status being stationary or moving at a speed less than a value; and QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 80 setting the accuracy requirement to a second accuracy level lower than the first accuracy level based on the estimated area being outdoor or the estimated mobility status being moving at a speed greater than the value.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein: the measurement data include other measurements for the at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the engaging in the positioning session comprises: determining a respective estimated position for each one of the one or more second communication devices based on the measurement data.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: grouping the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more second selection criteria, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes, wherein the engaging in the positioning session comprises: performing a respective sequential positioning procedure for each sub- cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order to determine estimated positions of devices of the corresponding sub-cluster, wherein the sequential positioning procedure for a current sub-cluster is performed based on available measurement data related to the current sub-cluster and based on the estimated positions of one or more prior sub-clusters in the hierarchical order in a case that the current sub-cluster is not the first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more second selection criteria comprise: a signal quality of a signal from a member device of the one or more second communication devices; QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 81 an estimated positioning uncertainty associated with the member device; or a combination thereof.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein: the one or more first communication devices are included in the one or more second communication devices; or the one or more first communication devices are the one or more second communication devices.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein: the first communication technology is a WWAN-based communication technology, and the second communication technology is a WLAN-based communication technology.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein: the first communication technology comprises Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR), and the second communication technology comprises Wi-Fi or ultra-wideband (UWB).

18. A server device, comprising: one or more memories; one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more memories and the one or more transceivers, the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, configured to: obtain connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 82 configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; select a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; receive, via the one or more transceivers, measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and engage in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

19. The server device of claim 18, wherein the one or more first selection criteria comprise: available battery levels of the one or more first communication devices; uniformity of power consumption levels of the one or more first communication devices; or a combination thereof.

20. The server device of claim 19, wherein the one or more first selection criteria further comprise: availability of a first initial position of a member device of the one or more first communication devices determined based on the first communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the first initial position; availability of a second initial position of the member device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; a quality level or a confidence level of the second initial position; a level of geometric dilution of precision (GDOP) introduced by the member device; communication capability of the member device; QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 83 computational ability of the member device; storage or memory availability of the member device; or a combination thereof.

21. The server device of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers, reporting criteria to the one or more first communication devices; and receive, via the one or more transceivers, connectivity information from the one or more first communication devices, the connectivity information being received from the one or more first communication devices based on the reporting criteria.

22. The server device of claim 21, wherein the connectivity information comprises: device capability of a reported device that is one of the one or more second communication devices; device identifier of the reported device; availability of an initial position of the reported device determined based on a positioning technology different from the first communication technology and the second communication technology; or a combination thereof.

23. The server device of claim 21, wherein the reporting criteria comprises: a degree of separation between a reporting device and a reported device being less than a first threshold, the reporting device being one of the one or more first communication device, and the reported device being one of the one or more second communication devices; a signal strength or a signal quality between the reporting device and the reported device being greater than a second threshold; or a combination thereof.

24. The server device of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 84 create a connectivity map as the connectivity relationship information based on the received connectivity information.

25. The server device of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: transmit, via the one or more transceivers, parameters for configuring the positioning session to at least one initiator device within the one or more first communication devices, wherein the parameters for configuring the positioning session are determined based at least on the connectivity relationship information, and wherein the measurement data are based on the parameters for configuring the positioning session.

26. The server device of claim 25, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: group the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes; determine an accuracy requirement for a sub-cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on an estimated area or an estimated mobility status of the sub-cluster; and determine the parameters for configuring the positioning session based at least on the determined accuracy requirement.

27. The server device of claim 26, wherein the one or more processors configured to determine the accuracy requirement are, either alone or in combination, further configured to: set the accuracy requirement to a first accuracy level based on the estimated area being indoor or the estimated mobility status being stationary or moving at a speed less than a value; and QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 85 set the accuracy requirement to a second accuracy level lower than the first accuracy level based on the estimated area being outdoor or the estimated mobility status being moving at a speed greater than the value.

28. The server device of claim 18, wherein: the measurement data include other measurements for the at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes.

29. The server device of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors configured to engage in the positioning session are, either alone or in combination further configured to: determine a respective estimated position for each one of the one or more second communication devices based on the measurement data.

30. The server device of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors, either alone or in combination, are further configured to: group the plurality of communication devices into multiple sub-clusters of devices in a hierarchical order based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more second selection criteria, wherein a first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order includes the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes, wherein the one or more processors configured to engage in the positioning session are, either alone or in combination further configured to: perform a respective sequential positioning procedure for each sub- cluster of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order to determine estimated positions of devices of the corresponding sub-cluster, wherein the sequential positioning procedure for a current sub-cluster is performed based on available measurement data related to the current sub-cluster and based on the estimated positions of one or more prior sub-clusters in the hierarchical order in a case that the current sub-cluster is not the first one of the sub-clusters of devices based on the hierarchical order. QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 86 31. The server device of claim 30, wherein the one or more second selection criteria comprise: a signal quality of a signal from a member device of the one or more second communication devices; an estimated positioning uncertainty associated with the member device; or a combination thereof.

32. The server device of claim 18, wherein: the one or more first communication devices are included in the one or more second communication devices; or the one or more first communication devices are the one or more second communication devices.

33. The server device of claim 18, wherein: the first communication technology is a WWAN-based communication technology, and the second communication technology is a WLAN-based communication technology.

34. The server device of claim 33, wherein: the first communication technology comprises Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR), and the second communication technology comprises Wi-Fi or ultra-wideband (UWB).

35. A server device, comprising: means for obtaining connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at QC2303131WOQualcomm Ref. No.2303131WO 87 least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; means for selecting a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; means for receiving measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and means for engaging in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data.

36. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a server device, cause the server device to: obtain connectivity relationship information of a plurality of communication devices, one or more first communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with the server device based on a first communication technology, and one or more second communication devices of the plurality of communication devices being configured to communicate with at least another communication device of the plurality of communication devices based on a second communication technology; select a subset of the one or more first communication devices as one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes for a positioning session based on the connectivity relationship information and one or more first selection criteria; receive measurement data from at least one of the one or more first communication devices, the measurement data including measurements for at least one of the one or more sub-cluster anchor nodes and at least one of the one or more second communication devices; and engage in said positioning session for said plurality of communication devices based at least on the received measurement data. QC2303131WO

Images