Configuration Framework and Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) Association Mechanism and Triggering for Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS)-Aided Positioning and Object Detection

Abstract

Techniques for wireless positioning are disclosed. In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) engages in a positioning or sensing session and receives, from a network entity, assistance data for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point, the assistance data including a PRS resource location field indicating a geographic location of the transmission point, the assistance data further including reflecting point object (RPO) information for at least one RPO capable of reflecting a waveform associated with the at least one PRS resource, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This patent application claims the benefit of Greek Application No. 20210100241, entitled "CONFIGURATION FRAMEWORK AND POSITIONING REFERENCE SIGNAL (PRS) ASSOCIATION MECHANISMS AND TRIGGERING FOR RECONFIGURABLE INTELLIGENT SURFACE (RIS)-AIDED POSITIONING AND OBJECT SENSING," filed on April 8, 2021, which is assigned to the assignee of this application and is expressly incorporated by reference in its entirety into this specification.

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

[0003]

[0003] Wireless communication systems have evolved through various generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including intermediate 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high speed data, Internet-enabled wireless service, and fourth generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, there are many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular and personal communication service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include Cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the like.

[0004]

[0004] The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, called New Radio (NR), requires, among other improvements, higher data rates, a larger number of connections, and better coverage. The 5G standard by the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, and 1 gigabit per second to a few dozen workers on an office floor. To support large sensor deployments, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. Thus, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiency should be enhanced and latency should be significantly reduced compared to the current standard. Summary of the Invention

[0005]

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary related to one or more aspects disclosed herein. As such, the following summary is not intended to be an extensive overview related to all contemplated aspects, nor is it intended to identify key or critical elements related to all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope associated with any particular aspect. As such, the following summary has the sole purpose of presenting some concepts related to one or more aspects related to the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description presented below.

[0006]

[0006] In one aspect, a method of wireless positioning performed by a user equipment (UE) includes engaging in a positioning session or a sensing session and receiving, from a network entity, assistance data for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point, the assistance data including a PRS resource location field indicating a geographic location of the transmission point, the assistance data further including RPO information for at least one reflection point object (RPO) capable of reflecting a waveform associated with the at least one PRS resource, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO.

[0007]

[0007] In one aspect, a method of wireless positioning performed by a network entity includes engaging in a positioning session or sensing session with a user equipment (UE), determining RPO information for at least one reflecting point object (RPO) capable of reflecting a waveform, and transmitting the RPO information to the UE, the RPO information including, at least, location information for the at least one RPO.

[0008]

[0008] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: engage in a positioning session or a sensing session; receive, via the at least one transceiver, from a network entity, assistance data for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point; the assistance data includes a PRS resource location field indicating a geographical location of the transmission point, the assistance data further includes RPO information for at least one reflecting point object (RPO) capable of reflecting a waveform associated with the at least one PRS resource, and the RPO information includes location information for at least the at least one RPO.

[0009]

[0009] In one aspect, a network entity includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to engage in a positioning session or a sensing session with a user equipment (UE), determine RPO information for at least one reflecting point object (RPO) capable of reflecting a waveform, and cause the at least one transceiver to transmit the RPO information to the UE, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO.

[0010]

[0010] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes means for engaging in a positioning session or a sensing session, and means for receiving assistance data from a network entity for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point, wherein the assistance data includes a PRS resource location field indicating a geographical location of the transmission point, and the assistance data further includes RPO information for at least one reflecting point object (RPO) capable of reflecting a waveform associated with the at least one PRS resource, and the RPO information includes at least location information for the at least one RPO.

[0011]

[0011] In one aspect, a network entity includes means for engaging in a positioning session or a sensing session with a user equipment (UE), means for determining RPO information for at least one reflecting point object (RPO) capable of reflecting a waveform, and means for transmitting RPO information to the UE, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO.

[0012]

[0012] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to engage in a positioning session or a sensing session; and receive assistance data from a network entity for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point, the assistance data including a PRS resource location field indicating a geographic location of the transmission point, the assistance data further including RPO information for at least one reflecting point object (RPO) capable of reflecting a waveform associated with the at least one PRS resource, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO.

[0013]

[0013] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a network entity, cause the network entity to engage in a positioning session or a sensing session with a user equipment (UE), determine RPO information for at least one reflecting point object (RPO) capable of reflecting a waveform, and transmit the RPO information to the UE, the RPO information including, at least, location information for the at least one RPO.

[0014]

[0014] Other objects and advantages associated with the embodiments disclosed herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description.

[0015]

[0015] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the explanation of various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided merely to illustrate, not to limit, the aspects. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1]

[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 2A]

[0017] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network structure, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 2B] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network structure, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 3A]

[0018] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE) and configured to support communications as taught herein; [Figure 3B] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a base station and configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 3C]1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a network entity and configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 4A]

[0019] 1 illustrates an example frame structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 4B] 1 illustrates channels within an example frame structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5]

[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for wireless communication using a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 6]

[0021] FIG. 6 illustrates an example system for wireless communication using multiple RISs 610, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. [Figure 7]

[0022] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of how a RIS can be controlled via wireless downlink signaling, according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 8]

[0023] FIG. 2 illustrates two example scenarios for wireless positioning using a RIS, according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 9]

[0024] FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for wireless communication having multiple RISs, according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 10A]

[0025] FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for wireless communication using a RIS 1010, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. [Figure 10B] FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for wireless communication using a RIS 1010, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. [Figure 10C] FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for wireless communication using a RIS 1010, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. [Figure 11]

[0026] FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for wireless communication having multiple RISs 1110, in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. [Figure 12]

[0027] FIG. 1 illustrates an example method for wireless positioning according to an aspect of the disclosure. [Figure 13] FIG. 1 illustrates an example method for wireless positioning according to an aspect of the disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0017]

[0028] Aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and associated drawings, directed to various examples provided for illustration purposes. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the present disclosure.

[0018]

[0029] 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. Similarly, the term "aspects of the present disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the described feature, advantage or mode of operation.

[0019]

[0030] Those skilled 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 referred to throughout the following description 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.

[0020]

[0031] Furthermore, many aspects are described in terms of a sequence of actions to be performed, for example, by elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that the various actions described herein may be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Furthermore, a sequence of actions described herein may be considered to be embodied as a whole in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, will cause or instruct an associated processor of the device to perform the functions described herein. Thus, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which are contemplated to fall within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Moreover, for each of the aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein, for example, as "logic configured to" perform the described actions.

[0021]

[0032] The terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" as used herein are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT) unless otherwise stated. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset location device, a wearable (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or (e.g., at some times) stationary and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). The term "UE" as used herein may be referred to interchangeably as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variations thereof. In general, a UE may communicate with a core network via the RAN, through which the UE may be connected to external networks, such as the Internet, and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for a UE, such as via a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specifications, etc.).

[0022]

[0033] Depending on the network in which it is deployed, a base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with the UE and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next generation eNB (ng-eNB), new radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as gNB or gNode B), etc. A base station may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for 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 a UE may send signals to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). A communication link through which a base station may send signals to a UE is referred to as a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, forward traffic channel, etc.). The term Traffic Channel (TCH) as used herein may refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0023]

[0034] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit reception point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be collocated. For example, if 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. If the term "base station" refers to multiple collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an array of antennas of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or in cases where the base station employs beamforming). If the term "base station" refers to multiple non-collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-collocated physical TRP may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighbor base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signal the UE is measuring. A TRP is a point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, so that as used herein, references to transmission from or reception at a base station should be understood as referring to the particular TRP of the base station.

[0024]

[0035] In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but instead may transmit reference signals to the UE to be measured by the UE and / or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when it transmits signals to the UE) and / or a location measurement unit (e.g., when it receives and measures signals from the UE).

[0025]

[0036] An "RF signal" comprises electromagnetic waves of a given frequency that transport information through 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, a 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 a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal.

[0026]

[0037] 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system 100 according to an aspect of the disclosure. The wireless communication system 100 (sometimes referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 (labeled as "BS") and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macrocell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0027]

[0038] The base stations 102 collectively form the RAN and may interface with a core network 170 (e.g., Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or 5G Core (5GC)) through backhaul links 122 and to one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP)) through the core network 170. The location server(s) 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions related to one or more of the following: forwarding user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, 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, synchronization, RAN sharing, Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracing, RAN Information Management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of alert messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC / 5GC) via backhaul links 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0028]

[0039] The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage to a respective geographic coverage area 110. In an aspect, one or more cells may be supported by the base stations 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, called a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, etc.) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., physical cell identifier (PCI), virtual cell identifier (VCI), cell global identifier (CGI)) to distinguish cells operating over the same or different carrier frequencies. 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 to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a particular 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 some cases, the term “cell” may also refer to a geographic coverage area (e.g., a sector) of a base station, so long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within any portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0029]

[0040] The geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may overlap partially (e.g., in handover regions), but some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may be significantly overlapped by larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell (SC) base station 102' may have a geographic coverage area 110' that significantly overlaps with the geographic coverage area 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macrocell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home eNBs (HeNBs) that may serve restricted groups known as Closed Subscriber Groups (CSGs).

[0030]

[0041] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink transmissions (also referred to as reverse link) from the UE 104 to the base station 102, and / or downlink transmissions (also referred to as forward link) from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna techniques, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for the downlink than for the uplink).

[0031]

[0042] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 communicating with a WLAN station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) procedure or a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure before communicating to determine if a channel is available.

[0032]

[0043] The small cell base station 102' may operate in licensed and / or unlicensed frequency spectrums. 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 used by the WLAN AP 150. A small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in an unlicensed frequency spectrum may boost coverage to and / or increase capacity of an access network. NR in an 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.

[0033]

[0044] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a mmW base station 180 that may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) and / or near-mmW frequencies in communication with the UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a portion of 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 millimeter waves. Near-mmW may extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz, with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The very high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also called centimeter waves. Communications using the mmW / near-mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) over the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Moreover, it will be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Thus, it will be appreciated that the above description is by way of example only and should not be construed as limiting various aspects disclosed herein.

[0034]

[0045] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a particular direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). In transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that particular direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device(s). To change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of the one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node may use an array of antennas (called a "phased array" or "antenna array") that creates beams of RF waves that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. In particular, RF current from the transmitter is fed to the individual antennas with the proper phase relationship so that the waves from the separate antennas add together to increase radiation in the desired direction while canceling and suppressing radiation in undesired directions.

[0035]

[0046] A transmit beam may be quasi-colocated, meaning that the transmit beam appears to a receiver (e.g., a UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the network node's transmit antennas themselves are physically colocated. In NR, there are four types of quasi-colocated (QCL) relationships. In particular, a QCL relationship of a given type means that some parameters for a target reference RF signal on a target beam may be derived from information about a source reference RF signal on a source beam. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver may use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the target 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 spatial reception parameters of a target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0036]

[0047] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses receive beams 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., increase its gain level) an RF signal received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in a direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gains along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is highest compared to the beam gains 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 signal received from that direction.

[0037]

[0048] The receive beams may be spatially related. The spatial relationship means that the parameters for the transmit beam for the second reference signal may be derived from information about the receive beam for the first reference signal. For example, the UE may use a particular receive beam to receive one or more reference downlink reference signals (e.g., Positioning Reference Signal (PRS), Tracking Reference Signal (TRS), Phase Tracking Reference Signal (PTRS), Cell-Specific Reference Signal (CRS), Channel State Information Reference Signal (CSI-RS), Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS), Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), etc.) from the base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for sending one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., Uplink Positioning Reference Signal (UL-PRS), Sounding Reference Signal (SRS), Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS), PTRS, etc.) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0038]

[0049] Note that a "downlink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if the base station forms a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to the UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE forms a downlink beam, it is a receive beam to receive the downlink reference signal. Similarly, an "uplink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if the base station forms an uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, and if the UE forms an uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0039]

[0050] In 5G, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base station 102 / 180, UE 104 / 182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (450 to 6000 MHz), FR2 (24250 to 52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In a multi-carrier system, such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is called the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell," and the remaining carrier frequencies are called the "secondary carrier" or "secondary serving cell" or "SCell." In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 either performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and may be a carrier in licensed frequencies (although this is not always the case). The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a secondary frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier in unlicensed frequencies. The secondary carrier may contain only the necessary signaling information and signals, e.g., nothing UE-specific may be present in the secondary carrier, since both the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier 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 carrier. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers.Since a "serving cell" (whether a PCell or an SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency / component carrier over which some base station is communicating, terms such as "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0040]

[0051] For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or “PCell”), and the other frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers (“SCells”). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers allows 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 doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to that achieved by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0041]

[0052] The wireless communications system 100 may further include a UE 164, which may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via communications link 120 and / or with the mmW base station 180 via an mmW communications link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0042]

[0053] In the example of FIG. 1, one or more Earth-orbiting Satellite Positioning System (SPS) Space Vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites) may be used as independent sources of location information for any of the illustrated UEs (shown in FIG. 1 as a single UE 104 for simplicity). The UE 104 may include one or more dedicated SPS receivers specially designed to receive SPS signals 124 to derive geolocation information from the SVs 112. An SPS generally includes a system of transmitters arranged to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine the location of the receiver on or above the Earth based at least in part on signals (e.g., SPS signals 124) received from a transmitter (e.g., SVs 112). Such transmitters typically transmit signals marked with a repetitive pseudorandom noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. Although generally located in the SVs 112, transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104.

[0043]

[0054] Use of the SPS signals 124 may be augmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS), which may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, the SBAS may include augmentation system(s) that provide integrity information, differential corrections, and the like, such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) Aided Geo Augmented Navigation or GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN), and the like. Thus, an SPS as used herein may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems and / or augmentation systems, and SPS signals 124 may include SPS signals, SPS-like signals, and / or other signals related to such one or more SPSs.

[0044]

[0055] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that indirectly connect 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, the 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 the UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150 (through which the UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In one example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported with any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct® (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, etc.

[0045]

[0056] 2A illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure 200. For example, a 5GC 210 (also referred to as Next Generation Core (NGC)) may be considered functionally as a control plane function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data network, IP routing, etc.) that operate cooperatively to form a core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect a gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, specifically to the control plane function 214 and the user plane function 212. In an additional configuration, a ng-eNB 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. Additionally, the ng-eNB 224 may communicate directly with the gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both the ng-eNBs 224 and the gNBs 222. Either the gNBs 222 or the ng-eNBs 224 may be in communication with the UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs shown in FIG. 1). Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which may be in communication with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance to the UEs 204. The location servers 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The location servers 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UEs 204 that may be connected to the location server 230 via a core network, the 5GC 210, and / or via the Internet (not shown). Furthermore, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network.

[0046]

[0057] 2B illustrates another exemplary wireless network structure 250. The 5GC 260 (which may correspond to the 5GC 210 in FIG. 2A) may be considered functionally as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264 and a user plane function provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperatively to form a core network (i.e., the 5GC 260). A user plane interface 263 and a control plane interface 265 connect the ng-eNB 224 to the 5GC 260, specifically to the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively. In an additional configuration, the gNB 222 may also be connected to the 5GC 260 via a control plane interface 265 to the AMF 264 and a user plane interface 263 to the UPF 262. Additionally, the ng-eNB 224 may communicate directly with the gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223, with or without gNB direct connectivity to the 5GC 260. In some configurations, the NG-RAN 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both the ng-eNB 224 and the gNB 222. Either the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 may communicate with the UE 204 (e.g., any of the UEs shown in FIG. 1). The base stations of the NG-RAN 220 communicate with the AMF 264 via an N2 interface and with the UPF 262 via an N3 interface.

[0047]

[0058] The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between the UE 204 and a session management function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and a security anchor function (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204 to receive intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In case of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) based authentication, the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 also include security context management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF that it uses to derive access network specific keys. The AMF 264 functions also include location service management for barred services, transport for location service messages between the UE 204 and the LMF 270 (acting as the location server 230), transport for location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifier allocation for interworking with EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notification. Additionally, the AMF 264 also supports functions for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0048]

[0059] The functions of the UPF 262 include serving as an anchor point for intra / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), serving as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, Quality of Service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic validation (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 one or more "termination markers" to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support the transfer of location service messages on the user plane between the UE 204 and a location server, such as the SLP 272.

[0049]

[0060] 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 in the UPF 262 to route traffic to the appropriate destination, control of policy enforcement and parts of QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0050]

[0061] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be in communication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The LMF 270 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.) or, alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204 that may be connected to the LMF 270 via a core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown). The SLP 272 may support similar functions as the LMF 270, except that the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, the NG-RAN 220, and the UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data), and the SLP 272 may communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (not shown in FIG. 2B) on the user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0051]

[0062] 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated in 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 perform any of the network functions described herein, including the location server 230 and the LMF 270) to support file transmission operations as taught herein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different types of devices (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.) in different implementations. The illustrated components may also be incorporated in other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include similar components as those described to provide similar functionality. Also, a given device may include one or more of the components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0052]

[0063] The UE 302 and base station 304 each include a wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceiver 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.) over one or more wireless communications networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, etc. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may 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., over at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communications 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, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.), and conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.), in accordance with a designated RAT. In particular, 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 include one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0053]

[0064] The UE 302 and base station 304 also, at least in some cases, include 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., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave, PC5, Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near field communications (NFC), 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, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.), and conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.), in accordance with a specified RAT. In particular, 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, and include one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth transceivers, Zigbee and / or Z-Wave transceivers, NFC transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0054]

[0065] A transceiver circuit including at least one transmitter and at least one receiver may in some implementations comprise an integrated device (e.g., implemented as a transmitter circuit and a receiver circuit of a single communication device), in some implementations comprise separate transmitter devices and separate receiver devices, or in other implementations may be implemented in other manners. In one aspect, the transmitter may include or be coupled to multiple antennas such as an antenna array (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) that enable each device to perform transmit "beamforming" as described herein. Similarly, the receiver may include or be coupled to multiple antennas such as an antenna array (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) that enable each device to perform receive beamforming as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter and receiver may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) so that each device can only receive or transmit at a given time, rather than both receive and transmit at the same time. The wireless communications device of the UE 302 and / or base station 304 (e.g., one or both of the transceivers 310 and 320 and / or 350 and 360) may also comprise a network listen module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

[0055]

[0066] The UE 302 and base station 304 also, in at least some cases, include satellite positioning system (SPS) receivers 330 and 370. The SPS receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide a means for receiving and / or measuring SPS signals 338 and 378, respectively, 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. The SPS receivers 330 and 370 may comprise any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing the SPS signals 338 and 378, respectively. The SPS receivers 330 and 370 request information and actions from other systems as appropriate, and perform the calculations necessary to determine the position of the UE 302 and base station 304 using measurements obtained by any suitable SPS algorithms.

[0056]

[0067] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include at least one network interface 380 and 390, respectively, providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) with other network entities. For example, the network interfaces 380 and 390 (e.g., one or more network access ports) may be configured to communicate with one or more network entities via a wire-based or wireless backhaul connection. In some aspects, the network interfaces 380 and 390 may be implemented as transceivers configured to support wire-based or wireless signal communication. This communication may involve, for example, sending and receiving messages, parameters, and / or other types of information.

[0057]

[0068] The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. The UE 302 includes a processor circuit implementing a processing system 332, for example, for providing functionality related to wireless positioning and for providing other processing functions. The base station 304 includes a processing system 384, for example, for providing functionality related to wireless positioning and for providing other processing functions disclosed herein. The network entity 306 includes a processing system 394, for example, for providing functionality related to wireless positioning and for providing other processing functions disclosed herein. The processing systems 332, 384, and 394 may thus provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. In one aspect, the processing systems 332, 384, and 394 may include one or more processors, such as, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuitry, or various combinations thereof.

[0058]

[0069] The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memory components 340, 386, and 396, respectively (e.g., each including a memory device) to maintain information (e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). The memory components 340, 386, and 396 may thus provide a means for storing, a means for retrieving, a means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may include positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processing systems 332, 384, and 394, respectively, that, when executed, cause the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. In other aspects, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processing systems 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memory components 340, 386, and 396, respectively, that when executed by the processing systems 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 functions described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates possible locations of the positioning component 342, which may be part of the WWAN transceiver 310, the memory component 340, the processing system 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component. FIG. 3B illustrates possible locations of a positioning component 388, which may be part of the WWAN transceiver 350, the memory component 386, the processing system 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.FIG. 3C illustrates possible locations for a positioning component 398, which may be part of the network interface(s) 390, memory component 396, processing system 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.

[0059]

[0070] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the processing system 332 to provide a means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information that is independent of movement data derived from signals received by the WWAN transceiver 310, the short-range wireless transceiver 320, and / or the SPS receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of movement detection sensor. Moreover, the sensor(s) 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide movement information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate a position in a 2D and / or 3D coordinate system.

[0060]

[0071] Additionally, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides a means for providing instructions (e.g., audible and / or visual instructions) to a user and / or a means for receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device, such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.

[0061]

[0072] Referring more particularly to the processing system 384, on the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processing system 384. The processing system 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 processing system 384 may provide RRC layer functions associated with broadcasting system information (e.g., Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction via 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 functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0062]

[0073] The transmitter 354 and receiver 352 may implement Layer 1 (L1) functions associated with various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, 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), multi-level 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 with each other using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to generate a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol streams are spatially precoded to generate 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 estimates 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 the respective spatial stream for transmission.

[0063]

[0074] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives the signal through its respective antenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to the processing system 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover the 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 point transmitted by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signaling originally transmitted on the physical channel by the base station 304. The data and control signaling are then provided to a processing system 332 that implements Layer 3 (L3) and Layer 2 (L2) functions.

[0064]

[0075] In the uplink, the processing system 332 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header recovery, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The processing system 332 is also responsible for error detection.

[0065]

[0076] Similar to the functionality described with respect to downlink transmissions by the base station 304, the processing system 332 provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0066]

[0077] 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 an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and to enable 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 each spatial stream for transmission.

[0067]

[0078] Uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described with respect to the receiver function at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives signals through its respective antenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carrier and provides the information to a processing system 384.

[0068]

[0079] In the uplink, the processing system 384 provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header recovery, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 302. The IP packets from the processing system 384 may be provided to the core network. The processing system 384 is also responsible for error detection.

[0069]

[0080] For convenience, the UE 302, the base station 304, and / or the network entity 306 are illustrated in Figures 3A-3C as including various components that may be configured in accordance with various examples described herein, however, it will be appreciated that the illustrated blocks may have different functionality in different designs.

[0070]

[0081] The various components of the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may communicate with each other via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. The components of FIGS. 3A-3C may be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of FIGS. 3A-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 310-346 may be implemented by the processor and memory component(s) of the UE 302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350-388 may be implemented by the processor and memory component(s) of the base station 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Also, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390-398 may be implemented by a processor and memory component(s) of the network entity 306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE," "by the base station," "by the network entity," etc. However, it will be appreciated that 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 processing systems 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memory components 340, 386, and 396, positioning components 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0071]

[0082] NR supports several cellular network-based positioning techniques, including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and downlink and uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) in NR. In an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, the UE measures the difference between the times of arrival (ToA) of reference signals (e.g., PRS, TRS, CSI-RS, SSB, etc.) received from a pair of base stations, called reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives an identifier (ID) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in the 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 can estimate the location of the UE.

[0072]

[0083] For DL-AoD positioning, the positioning entity uses beam reports from the UE of received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmission beams to determine an 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).

[0073]

[0084] 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 an uplink reference signal (e.g., SRS) transmitted by the UE. For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from the UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angle(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.

[0074]

[0085] Downlink and uplink based positioning methods include Extended Cell ID (E-CID) positioning and Multi-Round Trip Time (RTT) positioning (also called "Multi-Cell RTT"). In the RTT procedure, an initiator (base station or UE) transmits an RTT measurement signal (e.g., PRS or SRS) to a responder (UE or base station), and the responder transmits an RTT response signal (e.g., SRS or PRS) back to the initiator. The RTT response signal includes the difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response signal, called the receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) time difference. The initiator calculates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the ToA of the RTT response signal, called the transmit-receive (Tx-Rx) time difference. The propagation time (also called "time of flight") between the initiator and the responder can be calculated from the Tx-Rx and Rx-Tx time differences. Based on the propagation time and the known speed of light, the distance between the initiator and the responder may be determined. For multi-RTT positioning, the UE performs RTT procedures with multiple base stations to allow its location to be determined based on the known locations of the base stations (e.g., using multilateration). The RTT and multi-RTT methods may be combined with other positioning techniques, such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD, to improve location accuracy.

[0075]

[0086] The E-CID positioning method is based on Radio Resource Management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, timing advance (TA), and the identities, 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 location of the base station(s).

[0076]

[0087] To assist the positioning operation, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include an identifier of the base station (or cell / TRP of the base station) from which to measure the reference signal, reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., number of consecutive positioning subframes, periodicity of the positioning subframes, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier, reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to a particular positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base station itself (e.g., in a periodically broadcasted overhead message, etc.). In some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighbor network nodes on its own without using the assistance data.

[0077]

[0088] In the case of an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, the assistance data may further include an expected RSTD value and associated uncertainty, or a search window around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the expected RSTD value range may be + / - 500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for the positioning measurements are in FR1, the expected RSTD uncertainty value range may be + / - 32 μs. In other cases, when all of the resources used for the positioning measurement(s) are in FR2, the expected RSTD uncertainty value range may be + / - 8 μs.

[0078]

[0089] A location estimate may be called by other names, such as a position estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, etc. 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 the location. A location estimate may further be defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A location estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume that the location is expected to cover with some specified or default confidence level).

[0079]

[0090] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). Figure 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of a downlink frame structure according to an aspect of the disclosure. Figure 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating an example of channels within a downlink frame structure according to an aspect of the disclosure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0080]

[0091] LTE, and possibly NR, utilizes OFDM on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR has the option to use OFDM on the uplink as well. OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing may be 15 kilohertz (kHz), and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Thus, the nominal FFT size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048 for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0081]

[0092] LTE supports a single numerology (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies (μ), e.g., subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz (μ=0), 30 kHz (μ=1), 60 kHz (μ=2), 120 kHz (μ=3), and 240 kHz (μ=4) or greater may be available. At each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For a 15 kHz SCS (μ=0), there is one slot per subframe, 10 slots per frame, the slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms), the symbol duration is 66.7 microseconds (μs), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 50. For a 30 kHz SCS (μ=1), there are two slots per subframe, 20 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.5 ms, the symbol duration is 33.3 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 100. For a 60 kHz SCS (μ=2), there are four slots per subframe, 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25 ms, the symbol duration is 16.7 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 200. For a 120 kHz SCS (μ=3), there are eight slots per subframe, 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125 ms, the symbol duration is 8.33 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240 kHz SCS (μ=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, 160 slots per frame, slot duration is 0.0625 ms, symbol duration is 4.17 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) is 800 with a 4K FFT size.

[0082]

[0093] In the example of Figures 4A and 4B, a numerology of 15 kHz is used. Thus, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes of 1 ms each, with each subframe containing one time slot. In Figures 4A and 4B, time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), with time increasing from left to right, and frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

[0083]

[0094] A resource grid may be used to represent a time slot, with each time slot including one or more (also called physical RB (PRB)) time-parallel resource blocks (RBs) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. In the numerology of Figures 4A and 4B, in the case of a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may include 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 7 consecutive symbols in the time domain for a total of 84 REs. In the case of an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may include 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 6 consecutive symbols in the time domain for a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0084]

[0095] Some of the REs carry downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS), which may include PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, etc. Figure 4A shows example locations of REs carrying PRS (labeled "R").

[0085]

[0096] A set of resource elements (REs) used for transmission of a PRS is called a "PRS resource." A set of resource elements may span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and may span "N" consecutive symbols (such as one or more) within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

[0086]

[0097] The transmission of PRS resources in a given PRB has a particular comb size (also called "comb density"). The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. In particular, for comb size "N", the PRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of the symbol of the PRB. For example, for Com 4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, the RE corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, 8) is used to transmit the PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, comb sizes of Com 2, Com 4, Com 6, and Com 12 are supported for DL-PRS. FIG. 4A shows an example PRS resource configuration for Com 6 (spanning six symbols). That is, the location of the shaded RE (labeled "R") indicates the Com 6 PRS resource configuration.

[0087]

[0098] Currently, DL-PRS resources may span 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols in a slot with a fully frequency-domain staggered pattern. DL-PRS resources may be configured in any upper layer configured downlink or flexible (FL) symbol of a slot. There may be a constant energy per resource element (EPRE) for all REs of a given DL-PRS resource. Below are the frequency offsets between symbols for comb sizes 2, 4, 6, and 12 across 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. Com2 with 2 symbols: {0,1}, Com2 with 4 symbols: {0,1,0,1}, Com2 with 6 symbols: {0,1,0,1,0,1}, Com2 with 12 symbols: {0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1}, Com4 with 4 symbols: {0,2,1,3}, Com4 with 12 symbols: {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}, Com6 with 6 symbols: {0,3,1,4,2,5}, Com6 with 12 symbols: {0,3,1,4,2,5,03,1,4,2,5}, and Com12 with 12 symbols: {0,6,3,9,1,7,4,10,2,8,5,11}.

[0088]

[0099] A "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources used for transmission of a PRS signal, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. Furthermore, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a particular TRP (identified by a TRP ID). Furthermore, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the same periodicity, a common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (e.g., "PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor") across slots. The periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource of a first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource of the next PRS instance. The periodicity may have a length selected from 2^μ*{4,5,8,10,16,20,32,40,64,80,160,320,640,1280,2560,5120,10240} slots, with μ=0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1,2,4,6,8,16,32} slots.

[0089]

[0100] A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP may transmit one or multiple beams). That is, each PRS resource in a PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam, and thus a "PRS resource" or simply a "resource" may also be referred to as a "beam." Note that this does not have any implication as to whether the TRP and the beam on which the PRS is transmitted are known to the UE.

[0090]

[0101] A "PRS instance" or "PRS occasion" is one instance of a periodically repeating time window (e.g., a group of one or more contiguous slots) during which a PRS is expected to be transmitted. A PRS occasion may also be called a "PRS positioning occasion", "PRS positioning instance", "positioning occasion", "positioning instance", "positioning repetition", or simply an "occasion", "instance", or "repetition".

[0091]

[0102] A "positioning frequency layer" (also simply called a "frequency layer") is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets across one or more TRPs with the same values ​​for some parameters. In particular, the collection of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning that all numerologies supported for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) are also supported for the PRS), the same point A, the same value of the downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The point A parameter takes the value of the parameter "ARFCN-ValueNR" ("ARFCN" stands for "Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number"), which is an identifier / code that specifies the pair of physical radio channels used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of four PRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers are defined, and up to two PRS resource sets may be configured per TRP per frequency layer.

[0092]

[0103] The concept of frequency layers is somewhat like that of component carriers and bandwidth portions (BWPs), except that component carriers and BWPs are used by one base station (or macrocell base station and small cell base station) to transmit data channels, and frequency layers are used by several (usually three or more) base stations to transmit PRSs. When a UE sends its positioning capabilities to the network, such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session, it may indicate the number of frequency layers it can support. For example, a UE may indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

[0093]

[0104] FIG. 4B shows an example of various channels in a downlink slot of a radio frame. In NR, the channel bandwidth or system bandwidth is divided into multiple BWPs. A BWP is a contiguous set of PRBs selected from a contiguous subset of common RBs for a given numerology on a given carrier. In general, up to four BWPs can be specified in the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can be configured with up to four BWPs on the downlink and up to four BWPs on the uplink. At a given time, only one BWP (uplink or downlink) can be active, which means that a UE can only receive or transmit on one BWP at a time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater than the bandwidth of an SSB, but it may or may not include the SSB.

[0094]

[0105] Referring to FIG. 4B, a primary synchronization signal (PSS) is used by the UE to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identity. A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) is used by the UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the aforementioned DL-RS. A physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the MIB can be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also called SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The PDSCH carries user data and broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH, such as system information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages.

[0095]

[0106] The Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) in one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE containing one or more RE group (REG) bundles (which may span multiple symbols in the time domain), each REG bundle containing one or more REGs, each REG corresponding to 12 resource elements (one resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The set of physical resources used to carry the PDCCH / DCI is called a control resource set (CORESET) in NR. In NR, the PDCCH is limited to a single CORESET and transmitted with its own DMRS. This allows UE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

[0096]

[0107] In the example of FIG. 4B, there is one CORESET per BWP, and the CORESET spans three symbols in the time domain (although it could be only one or two symbols). Unlike the LTE control channel, which occupies the entire system bandwidth, in NR, the PDCCH channel is localized to a unique region (i.e., the CORESET) in the frequency domain. Thus, the frequency components of the PDCCH shown in FIG. 4B are shown as smaller than a single BWP in the frequency domain. Note that although the illustrated CORESET is contiguous in the frequency domain, it does not have to be contiguous. Additionally, the CORESET may span fewer than three symbols in the time domain.

[0097]

[0108] The DCI in the PDCCH carries information about uplink resource allocation (persistent and non-persistent), called uplink grant and downlink grant, respectively, and a description about the downlink data to be transmitted to the UE. More specifically, the DCI indicates the resources scheduled for the downlink data channel (e.g., PDSCH) and the uplink data channel (e.g., PUSCH). Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIs may be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs may have one of multiple formats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplink scheduling, for downlink scheduling, for uplink transmit power control (TPC), etc. The PDCCH may be transported by one, two, four, eight, or sixteen CCEs to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

[0098]

[0109] FIG. 5 illustrates an example system 500 for wireless communication using a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) 510 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The RIS (e.g., RIS 510) is a two-dimensional surface comprising a large number of low-cost, low-power, nearly passive reflective elements whose characteristics are not static but reconfigurable (by software). For example, by carefully tuning the phase shifts of the reflective elements (using software), the scattering, absorption, reflection, and diffraction properties of the RIS can be altered over time. In that way, the electromagnetic (EM) properties of the RIS can be designed to collect wireless signals from a transmitter (e.g., a base station, a UE, etc.) and passively beamform the wireless signals toward a target receiver (e.g., another base station, another UE, etc.). In the example of FIG. 5, a first base station 502-1 controls the reflective properties of the RIS 510 to communicate with a first UE 504-1.

[0099]

[0110] The goal of RIS technology is to create a smart wireless environment where wireless propagation conditions are co-engineered with physical layer signaling. The enhanced features of system 500 can provide technical benefits in several scenarios.

[0100]

[0111] 5, in a first exemplary scenario, a first base station 502-1 (e.g., any of the base stations described herein) is attempting to transmit downlink wireless signals to a first UE 504-1 and a second UE 504-2 (e.g., any two of the UEs described herein, collectively UEs 504) on multiple downlink transmit beams labeled "0," "1," "2," and "3." However, unlike the second UE 504-2, the first UE 504-1 is behind an obstacle 520 (e.g., a building, a hill, or another type of obstacle), so the first UE 504-1 is unable to receive wireless signals on what would otherwise be a line-of-sight (LOS) beam from the first base station 502-1, i.e., the downlink transmit beam labeled "2." In this scenario, the first base station 502-1 may instead transmit wireless signals to the RIS 510 using a downlink transmit beam labeled "1" and configure the RIS 510 to reflect / beamform the incident wireless signal toward the first UE 504-1, thereby enabling the first base station 502-1 to transmit wireless signals around the obstacle 520.

[0101]

[0112] It should be noted that the first base station 502-1 may also configure the RIS 510 for use by the first UE 504-1 in the uplink. In that case, the first base station 502-1 may configure the RIS 510 to reflect uplink signals from the first UE 504-1 back to the first base station 502-1, thereby enabling the first UE 504-1 to transmit uplink signals around the obstacle 520.

[0102]

[0113] As another example scenario in which the system 500 may provide a technical advantage, the first base station 502-1 may realize that an obstacle 520 may create a "dead zone," i.e., a geographic area where a downlink wireless signal from the first base station 502-1 is too attenuated to be reliably detected by UEs (e.g., the first UE 504-1) in that area. In this scenario, the first base station 502-1 configures the RIS 510 to reflect the downlink wireless signal into the dead zone to provide coverage to UEs that may be located in the dead zone, including UEs that the first base station 502-1 is unaware of.

[0103]

[0114] A RIS (e.g., RIS 510) may be designed to operate in either a first mode (called “Mode 1”) in which the RIS operates as a reconfigurable mirror, or a second mode (called “Mode 2”) in which the RIS operates as a receiver and a transmitter (similar to the amplify and forward function of a relay node). Some RIS may be designed to be capable of operating in either Mode 1 or M-Mode 2, while other RIS may be designed to operate only in either Mode 1 or M-Mode 2. Mode 1 RIS is assumed to have negligible hardware group delay, while Mode 2 RIS, by being equipped with baseband processing capabilities, have non-negligible hardware group delay. Due to the greater processing capabilities of Mode 2 RIS compared to Mode 1 RIS, Mode 2 RIS may in some cases be capable of calculating and reporting their receive-transmit (Tx-Rx) time difference measurements (i.e., the difference between the time a signal is forwarded to the UE and the time the signal is received back from the UE). In the example of FIG. 5, RIS 510 may be either a Mode 1 RIS or a Mode 2 RIS.

[0104]

[0115] FIG. 5 also illustrates a second base station 502-2, which may transmit downlink wireless signals to one or both of the UEs 504. As an example, the first base station 502-1 may be a serving base station for the UEs 504, and the second base station 502-2 may be a neighboring base station. The second base station 502-2 may transmit downlink positioning reference signals to one or both of the UEs 504 as part of a positioning procedure involving the UE(s) 504. Alternatively or additionally, the second base station 502-2 may be a secondary cell for one or both of the UEs 504. In some cases, the second base station 502-2 may also be capable of reconfiguring the RIS 510, provided that the RIS 510 is not currently controlled by the first base station 502-1.

[0105]

[0116] 5 shows one RIS 510 and one base station (i.e., the first base station 502-1) controlling the RIS 510, it should be noted that the first base station 502-1 may control multiple RIS 510. Additionally, the RIS 510 may be controlled by multiple base stations 502 (e.g., both the first base station 502-1 and the second base station 502-2, and possibly more).

[0106]

[0117] FIG. 6 illustrates an example system 600 for wireless communication using multiple RISs 610 according to an aspect of the disclosure. In the example of FIG. 6, instead of having one or a few larger RISs (as in the example system 500 of FIG. 5 with one RIS 510), there may be a larger number of distributed RISs, possibly with smaller form factors. For example, the larger RISs may be 5×5 meters or integrated into the side of a building, while the smaller RISs may be 2×2 meters or 1×2 meters, similar to the size of a MIMO antenna. FIG. 6 illustrates four RISs 610 (specifically, RISs 610-1, RISs 610-2, RISs 610-3, RISs 610-4) distributed around a single base station 602 (e.g., any of the base stations described herein). The base station 602 may be serving three UEs 604 (specifically, UEs 604-1, UEs 604-2, and UEs 604-3), which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein.

[0107]

[0118] The base station 602 may control the reflective properties of the RIS 610 to communicate with the UE 604. For example, the base station 602 may communicate with the UE 604-3 only through the RIS 610-3. Similarly, the base station 602 may communicate with the UE 604-2 through one or both of the RIS 610-2 and the RIS 610-4. In contrast, the base station 602 may communicate with the UE 604-1 directly and / or through the RIS 610-1. Also, as shown in FIG. 6, the UE 604 may be associated with one or more RISs 610. For example, the UE 604-2 may communicate with the base station 602 through one or both of the RIS 610-2 and the RIS 610-4.

[0108]

[0119] As can be appreciated, a system with more (smaller) distributed RIS (as in FIG. 6) provides better spatial transmit / receive diversity from the UE's perspective compared to having one or a few larger RIS (as in FIG. 5). However, such a system may also create a noisier environment.

[0109]

[0120] FIG. 6 shows three UEs 604 and four RISs 610 in communication with the base station 602, however, it will be appreciated that there may be more or less UEs 604 and RISs 610 than the three and four shown, respectively.

[0110]

[0121] The RIS may be controlled via a wired or wireless interface. FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 illustrating an example of how the RIS may be controlled via wireless downlink signaling according to an embodiment of the disclosure. In the example of FIG. 7, time is represented horizontally, with each block representing a slot. In the example of FIG. 7, the base station transmits a PDCCH in slot n to serve two purposes: (1) to configure the phase for each RIS element (i.e., each reflection element) of the RIS, and (2) to schedule a downlink grant (PDSCH) for a particular UE for slot n+k. Between slot n and slot n+k, the RIS is configured to serve a particular UE. That is, the phase of its reflection element is configured to reflect downlink signals from the base station to the UE, and possibly uplink signals from the UE to the base station. If k is large, all of the time / frequency RIS resources between the PDCCH and the PDSCH are wasted.

[0111]

[0122] It would be preferable for RIS-assisted positioning to be supported in a UE-transparent manner. Figure 8 illustrates two example scenarios for wireless positioning using a RIS 810, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In Figure 8, a base station 802 (e.g., any of the base stations described herein) is controlling a RIS 810 (e.g., any of the RISs described herein) and is transmitting a PRS to a UE 804 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0112]

[0123] FIG. 8 illustrates two scenarios for the transmission of PRS resources from a base station 802 to a UE 804. In scenario 800, the RIS 810 is "on" (i.e., reflecting PRS resources toward the UE 804), and the UE 804 will receive two main paths for PRS transmission from the base station 802. In particular, the UE 804 will receive PRS resources directly from the base station 802 on path 812 and will receive reflected PRS resources from the RIS 810 on path 814. In scenario 850, the RIS 810 is "off" (i.e., not reflecting PRS resources toward the UE 804), and the UE will therefore receive a single main path for PRS transmission from the base station 802. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the earliest ToA is the same in both scenarios. In particular, the earliest ToA in both scenarios 800 and 850 is the ToA of path 812 at the peak 822.

[0113]

[0124] 8, the peak 822 for path 812 (represented by the shorter vertical line) is weaker than the peak 824 for path 814 (represented by the longer vertical line). This may be due to some obstruction between the UE 804 and the base station 802 or due to a greater distance between the UE 804 and the base station 802.

[0114]

[0125] As a first approach to support RIS-assisted positioning in a UE-transparent manner, a single PRS ID may be associated with a single PRS resource. Thus, in scenario 800, a PRS resource received on path 812 directly from base station 802 will have the same PRS ID as a PRS resource received on path 814 reflected from RIS 810. In this approach, UE 804 will report information related to multipath and timestamp for PRS resource without knowing if one path (path 814) is a reflection from RIS 810. However, the network will know when RIS 810 was "on" and therefore can associate UE 804's multipath reporting with RIS 810's on / off channel profile. That is, the network (e.g., location server, serving base station) can determine whether the RIS 810 was "on" when the UE 804 was measuring the PRS resources, and if the RIS 810 was "on," determine that one of the reported multipaths (path 814) is from the RIS 810.

[0115]

[0126] This approach has various drawbacks. For example, UE-based positioning (where the UE 804 uses information from the network to calculate the location of the UE 804) is not inherently supported since each PRS resource is associated with a single geographic transmission point (there is no support for a single PRS resource to be associated with two transmitter locations). Furthermore, since the UE 804 does not know the on / off status of the RIS 810, it cannot consistently exploit large-scale statistics across measurements, resulting in suboptimal peak detection. Furthermore, the UE 804 does not receive assistance data with multiple expected search windows to aid the UE 804 in its detection of both peak 822 and peak 824.

[0116]

[0127] In a second approach to support RIS-assisted positioning in a UE-transparent manner, a single PRS ID may be associated with two PRS resources. The base station 802 may transmit a first PRS resource when the RIS 810 is "on" and a second PRS resource when the RIS 810 is "off". As in the first approach, the UE 804 reports information related to multipath and timestamp for the received PRS resource (whether first or second). The network will know which PRS resource corresponds to which RIS state and can associate the UE 804 multipath report with the RIS 810 on / off channel profile.

[0117]

[0128] This approach also has various drawbacks. For example, the received power delay profile (PDP) of two PRS resources will have a strong correlation (as long as the earliest ToA will be the same between them), and currently there is no signaling to provide this association to the UE 804. Furthermore, in the case of UE-based positioning, currently supported assistance data already allows the network to configure a separate location for each PRS resource (e.g., each PRS resource can be associated with a different TRP). However, this does not help in this approach (compared to a distributed antenna system (DAS) scenario) since the RIS "on" PRS resource still has the same earliest ToA and therefore the same transmission point as the RIS "off" PRS resource.

[0118]

[0129] The present disclosure provides techniques for improving positioning assistance data signaling to take into account the presence of a RIS. As a first technique, a PRS resource may be associated with multiple antenna point locations (as described above, a PRS resource is currently associated with a single transmission point). That is, each PRS resource configuration in the assistance data (e.g., from a location server) for a positioning session may include an association between a PRS resource and multiple transmission point locations, including the location of the TRP that actually transmits the PRS resource. More specifically, in addition to the location of the TRP that transmits the PRS resource (as currently supported), the signaling framework may be generic enough to allow associating a PRS resource with a controllable or non-controllable reflection location, and / or a reflection with a known or unknown location.

[0119]

[0130] When referring to controllable or non-controllable reflection locations, these may be known locations of the RIS or other reflectors identified in the environment (e.g., mirrors, windows, steel walls, etc.). With respect to the RIS, the network may or may not be able to control the reflection direction of the RIS, either because the RIS is static or because the network cannot control that particular RIS for some reason (e.g., because that particular RIS belongs to a different network). In either case, the location of the RIS is known to the network and may be included in the assistance data. With respect to other reflectors, these may not be controlled by the network and may have been identified in the environment via crowdsourcing. When referring to reflectors with unknown locations, these may be RISs with unknown locations (e.g., by being associated with a different network) or other mappable reflections whose locations are not known but that have been identified in the environment (e.g., via crowdsourcing).

[0120]

[0131] One such generic signaling framework may be enabled by providing a list of Reflecting Point Objects (RPOs) in the assistance data for each PRS resource. Each RPO may be associated with an RPO-ID and a point location (i.e., the geographic location of the reflecting point, if known). Thus, for a PRS resource location in the positioning assistance data, in addition to an Antenna Reference Point (ARP) location field for the geographic location of the TRP transmitting the PRS resource, there will be one or more ARP reflection location fields for the known geographic location(s) of the reflector(s) in the UE's environment (e.g., a RIS or other reflectors identified in the environment).

[0121]

[0132] FIG. 9 illustrates an example system 900 for wireless communication having multiple RISs 910, according to an aspect of the disclosure. In particular, FIG. 9 illustrates two RISs 910, a first RIS 910-1 (labeled "RIS1") and a second RIS 910-2 (labeled "RIS2"). FIG. 9 also illustrates a base station 902 (e.g., any of the base stations described herein) serving a UE 904 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein). In the example of FIG. 9, the base station 902 is capable of controlling the reflective properties of the RIS 910 to communicate with the UE 904. Additionally, the location of the RIS 910 is known to the network.

[0122]

[0133] As shown in FIG. 9, both RIS 910 are “on”. Thus, the PRS transmitted by base station 902 is reflected by RIS 910 towards UE 904. In this scenario, for the above technique, the positioning assistance data (e.g., from a location server or base station 902) would include an ARP location field for the location of base station 902, a first ARP reflection location field for the location of RIS 910-1, and a second ARP reflection location field for the location of RIS 910-2. Note that even if the reflection directions of RIS 910 were not controllable by the network (e.g., base station 902), the assistance data would still include their locations in the ARP reflection location field since their locations are known.

[0123]

[0134] It should be noted that the terms "reflective point object" and "RPO" can refer to a physical reflector or RPO information about a physical reflector.

[0124]

[0135] As a second technique for improving positioning assistance data signaling to take into account the presence of RIS (and other reflectors), the positioning assistance data may include a set of reflecting point objects (RPOs), where each RPO would include the following parameters: RPO-ID (which may be an index value in this technique), geographic location, and optionally a specific frequency band and / or frequency range of applicability. In this scenario, the ARP field of the PRS resource may include (or may otherwise be associated with) one or more RPO-IDs that point to the associated RPOs (and the RPO-IDs may be associated with one or more PRS resources). The RPO information (without association to a PRS resource, a PRS resource set, a positioning frequency layer, and / or a TRP) may be sent to the UE in a separate signaling. For example, the base station may broadcast the RPO in one or more positioning SIBs (posSIBs). Alternatively, the base station may transmit the RPO information to the UE in one or more RRC or MAC control element (MAC-CE) messages. As another alternative, the location server may send the RPO information to the UE in one or more LPP messages.

[0125]

[0136] Referring again to FIG. 9, for the above technique, the UE 904 will receive RPO information at some point before or during a positioning session. The RPO information will include a first RPO for the RIS 910-1 and a second RPO for the RIS 910-2. Each RPO will include an RPO-ID (e.g., index value) for the respective RIS 910, a geographic location, and optionally a particular frequency band and / or frequency range of applicability. For example, the RIS 910-1 may operate in FR1 and the RIS 910-2 may operate in FR2.

[0126]

[0137] Still referring to FIG. 9, the positioning assistance data (e.g., from a location server or base station 902) would include an ARP location field for the location of base station 902, a first ARP reflection location field for the RPO of RIS 910-1, and a second ARP reflection location field for the RPO of RIS 910-2. That is, instead of each ARP reflection location field including the geographic location of the respective RIS 910, as in the first technique, each ARP reflection location field would include the RPO-ID of the respective RIS 910. Note that even if the reflection directions of the RIS 910 were not controllable by the network (e.g., base station 902), the RPO information would still include their locations, since their locations are known.

[0127]

[0138] As explained above, the network may be able to configure / control the reflection direction of the RIS. This should be taken into account in the positioning assistance data. As a first option, multiple RPOs may be defined, each of which will have a different RPO-ID but the same geographic location and operating band / frequency range. Each different RPO-ID will be associated with a different reflection direction of the RIS.

[0128]

[0139] 10A-10C illustrate an example system for wireless communication using a RIS 1010, according to an aspect of the disclosure. In particular, FIG. 10A-10C illustrates a base station 1002 (e.g., any of the base stations described herein) serving a UE 1004 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and controlling a RIS 1010 (e.g., any of the RISs described herein). That is, the base station 1002 can control the reflective properties of the RIS 1010 to communicate with the UE 1004. Furthermore, the location of the RIS 1010 is known to the network.

[0129]

[0140] In diagram 1000 of FIG. 10A, the base station 1002 transmits PRS resources (labeled "PRS Resource 1") toward the UE 1004 and the RIS 1010, and further configures the RIS 1010 to reflect the PRS resources in a first direction on a first beam 1020-1 (labeled "Beam 1"). In diagram 1030 of FIG. 10B, the base station 1002 transmits PRS resources toward the UE 1004 and the RIS 1010, and further configures the RIS 1010 to reflect the PRS resources in a second direction on a second beam 1020-2 (labeled "Beam 2"). In diagram 1050 of FIG. 10C, the base station 1002 transmits PRS resources toward the UE 1004 and the RIS 1010, and further configures the RIS 1010 to reflect the PRS resources in a third direction on a third beam 1020-3 (labeled “Beam 3”).

[0130]

[0141] In the example of FIG. 10A, for the first option described herein (labeled "Option 1"), the RPO-ID for the RIS 1010 when reflecting on beam 1020-1 is "0". In the example of FIG. 10B, the RPO-ID for the RIS 1010 when reflecting on beam 1020-2 is "1". In the example of FIG. 10C, the RPO-ID for the RIS 1010 when reflecting on beam 1020-3 is "2". The rest of the information associated with each RPO-ID will be the same. That is, the geographic location and operating frequency band / frequency range for each of RPO-IDs "0", "1", and "2" will be the same since each RPO-ID refers to a different beam of the same RIS 1010.

[0131]

[0142] It should be noted that the base station 1002 may be the entity that configures the reflection direction of the RIS 1010, but the base station 1002 does not have to be that entity. The network simply needs to know the different reflection directions of the RIS 1010 that can be configured to provide the RPO information to the UE 1004.

[0132]

[0143] As a second option to consider the configurability of the reflection direction of the RIS, each RPO can be associated with an RPO-ID and an RPO-beam-set. The RPO-beam-set can include a list of RPO-beam-IDs (e.g., index values) that each correspond to a different transmit filter (or receive / transmit filter) or transmit beam of the controllable RIS. The combination of the RPO-ID and the RPO-beam-ID will thus correspond to a unique controllable reflection direction with a unique transmit spatial filter (or transmit / receive spatial filter) or transmit beam. If the RPO is not controllable (i.e., the direction of the RIS reflection cannot be controlled or the RPO is not a RIS), the RPO will not include an RPO-beam-ID and will be characterized entirely by the RPO-ID and the associated location.

[0133]

[0144] Referring again to FIGS. 10A-10C, for the second option (labeled "Option 2"), the RPO-ID for the RIS 1010 is "0". In the example of FIG. 10A, the RPO-beam-ID for beam 1020-1 is "0". In the example of FIG. 10B, the RPO-beam-ID for beam 1020-2 is "1". In the example of FIG. 10C, the RPO-beam-ID for beam 1020-3 is "2". Different RPO-beam-IDs will constitute an RPO-beam-set when RPO-ID=0. The RPO-ID will also include the geographic location and operating frequency band / range for the RIS 1010.

[0134]

[0145] For an RPO with an unknown location, location estimate information may be included in the RPO configuration, which may be based on crowd-sourcing information from multiple UEs detecting reflections from the RPO.

[0135]

[0146] In an aspect, there may be flexible and dynamic association between PRS-ID and RPO-ID. More specifically, there may be static (re)association (e.g., via LPP Provide Assistance Data message at the beginning of a positioning session), semi-static (re)association (e.g., via RRC and / or LPP signaling), or dynamic (re)association (e.g., via MAC-CE and / or DCI) between PRS-ID, PRS resource ID, PRS resource set ID, TRP ID, and / or positioning frequency layer and one or more RPO-ID or RPO-beam-ID. Thus, depending on whether the association is static, semi-static, or dynamic, the association may be changed / reconfigured before or during a positioning session. The UE may receive a (re)association command from a serving base station or a location server (e.g., a location server associated with a RIS controller server).

[0136]

[0147] FIG. 11 illustrates an example system for wireless communication having multiple RISs 1110, according to an aspect of the disclosure. In particular, FIG. 11 illustrates two RISs 1110, a first RIS 1110-1 (labeled as "RIS1") and a second RIS 1110-2 (labeled as "RIS2"). FIG. 11 also illustrates a base station 1102 (e.g., any of the base stations described herein) serving a UE 1104 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein). In the example of FIG. 11, the base station 1102 can control the reflective properties of the RIS 1110 to transmit a PRS resource (labeled as "PRS resource 1") to the UE 1104. Additionally, the location of the RIS 1110 is known to the network.

[0137]

[0148] As shown in diagram 1100, both RISs 1110 are "on." Thus, the location information for the PRS resource (labeled "PRS Resource 1-Location") includes an ARP location field for the PRS resource (labeled "TRP Location," giving the location of the base station 1102), an RPO-ID and an RPO-Beam-ID for the first RIS 1110-1 (labeled "RPO1-ID" and "RPO-Beam 1-ID," respectively), and an RPO-ID and an RPO-Beam-ID for the second RIS 1110-2 (labeled "RPO2-ID" and "RPO-Beam 2-ID," respectively).

[0138]

[0149] As shown in FIG. 1130, the RIS 1110-1 is turned "off" or is otherwise not transmitting to or detectable by the UE 1104. Thus, the PRS resource location field is updated to include the RPO-ID ("RPO2-ID") and RPO-beam-ID ("RPO-Beam2-ID") for only the second RIS 1110-2. The PRS resource location field may be updated by transmitting the entire new PRS resource location field (e.g., "PRS Resource 1-Location"), only the updated portion (e.g., "RPO2-ID" and "RPO-Beam2-ID"), an instruction to ignore the RPO information for the first RIS 1110-1, an instruction that only the RPO information for the second RIS 1110-2 is valid, etc.

[0139]

[0150] As shown in FIG. 1150, the RIS 1110-1 is turned back "on" and the RIS 1110-2 is turned "off" or is otherwise not transmitting to or detectable by the UE 1104. Thus, the PRS resource location field is updated to include the RPO-ID ("RPO1-ID") and RPO-beam-ID ("RPO-BEAM1-ID") for only the first RIS 1110-1. The PRS resource location field may be updated in the same manner as it is updated for the RIS 1110-1 being turned "off" and the RIS 1110-2 being turned "on" (FIG. 1130).

[0140]

[0151] 12 illustrates an example method 1200 of wireless positioning according to an aspect of the disclosure. In one aspect, the method 1200 may be performed by a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0141]

[0152] At 1210, the UE engages in a positioning or sensing session. The UE may request positioning assistance data to perform the positioning session. In an aspect, the operation 1210 may be performed by the WWAN transceiver 310, the processing system 332, the memory component 340, and / or the positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered a means for performing this operation.

[0142]

[0153] At 1220, the UE receives, from a network entity (e.g., a location server, a serving base station), assistance data for at least one PRS resource transmitted by a transmission point (e.g., a TRP, a base station, a beacon transmitter, etc.), where the assistance data includes a PRS resource location field indicating a geographic location of the transmission point, where the assistance data further includes RPO information for at least one RPO that may reflect a waveform associated with the at least one PRS resource, where the RPO information includes at least location information for the at least one RPO. In an aspect, operation 1220 may be performed by the WWAN transceiver 310, the processing system 332, the memory component 340, and / or the positioning component 342, any or all of which may be considered as a means for performing this operation.

[0143]

[0154] Within a "sensing" session, the location information for at least one RPO may include an approximate location or target "search space" for the UE to start the sensing process. This may be provided as uncertainty-region information. Within a positioning session, the location information for at least one RPO may include the actual location of the RPO (and possibly shape information, if the RPO is not a "point reflector"). Thus, the location may be in longitude and latitude format, or possibly in (x,y,z) coordinate format relative to a reference point. The reference point may be the location of the transmission point, or the reference point may be configured together with assistance data including all RPOs. If the location information includes shape information, this may be, for example, the (x,y,z) coordinates of the corners of the shape and a shape identifier (e.g., a plane).

[0144]

[0155] 13 illustrates an example method 1300 of wireless positioning according to an aspect of the disclosure. In one aspect, the method 1300 may be performed by a network entity (e.g., any of the base stations, location servers 230, LMFs 270, and SLPs 272 described herein).

[0145]

[0156] At 1310, the network entity engages in a positioning or sensing session with a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein). In one aspect, if the network entity is a base station, the operation 1310 may be performed by the WWAN transceiver 350, the processing system 384, the memory component 386, and / or the positioning component 388, any or all of which may be considered as a means for performing this operation. If the network entity is a location server, the operation 1310 may be performed by the network interface 390, the processing system 394, the memory component 396, and / or the positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered as a means for performing this operation.

[0146]

[0157] At 1320, the network entity determines RPO information for at least one RPO that is capable of reflecting the waveform, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO. In an aspect, if the network entity is a base station, the operation 1320 may be performed by the WWAN transceiver 350, the processing system 384, the memory component 386, and / or the positioning component 388, any or all of which may be considered as a means for performing this operation. If the network entity is a location server, the operation 1320 may be performed by the network interface 390, the processing system 394, the memory component 396, and / or the positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered as a means for performing this operation.

[0147]

[0158] At 1330, the network entity transmits the RPO information to the UE. In an aspect, if the network entity is a base station, the operation 1330 may be performed by the WWAN transceiver 350, the processing system 384, the memory component 386, and / or the positioning component 388, any or all of which may be considered as a means for performing this operation. If the network entity is a location server, the operation 1330 may be performed by the network interface 390, the processing system 394, the memory component 396, and / or the positioning component 398, any or all of which may be considered as a means for performing this operation.

[0148]

[0159] As will be appreciated, technical advantages of the method 1200 include enabling the use of a RIS for UE-based positioning and more accurate and robust estimation of earliest ToA and multipath components for UE-assisted positioning.

[0149]

[0160] In the above detailed description, it may be seen that different features are grouped together in examples. This mode of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the exemplary clauses have more features than those expressly stated in each clause. Rather, various aspects of the present disclosure may include fewer than all features of each exemplary clause disclosed. Thus, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated herein, and each clause can exist as a separate example by itself. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination with one of the other clauses in the clause, the aspect(s) of that dependent clause are not limited to a specific combination. It will be appreciated that other exemplary clauses may also include combinations of the dependent clause aspect(s) with any other dependent clause or independent clause subject matter, or combinations of any features with other dependent and independent clauses. Various aspects disclosed herein expressly include certain combinations (e.g., inconsistent aspects, such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor) unless these combinations are expressly expressed or can be easily inferred to be not intended. Moreover, it is also contemplated that aspects of a clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if that clause is not directly dependent on that independent clause.

[0150]

[0161] Example implementations are described in the following numbered clauses.

[0151]

[0162] Clause 1. A method of wireless positioning implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising: engaging in a positioning session or a sensing session; and receiving, from a network entity, assistance data for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point, wherein the assistance data includes a PRS resource location field indicating a geographic location of the transmission point, and wherein the assistance data further includes RPO information for at least one reflecting point object (RPO) capable of reflecting a waveform associated with the at least one PRS resource, and wherein the RPO information includes at least location information for the at least one RPO.

[0152]

[0163] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the direction of reflection from at least one RPO is controllable.

[0153]

[0164] Clause 3. The method of clause 2, wherein at least one RPO is a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) connected to a wireless access network to which the network entity belongs.

[0154]

[0165] Clause 4. The method of clause 1, wherein the direction of reflection from at least one RPO is not controllable.

[0155]

[0166] Clause 5. The method of clause 4, wherein at least one RPO is a RIS, mirror, glass, metal, or other reflective object that is not connected to the wireless access network to which the network entity belongs.

[0156]

[0167] Clause 6. The method of any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein the location information for the at least one RPO is a geographic location of the at least one RPO.

[0157]

[0168] Clause 7. The method of any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein a geographic location of the at least one RPO is unknown to the network entity, and the location information for the at least one RPO is an estimated location of the at least one RPO.

[0158]

[0169] Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, wherein the PRS resource location field includes a geographic location of the transmission point and location information for at least one RPO.

[0159]

[0170] Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 1 to 8, wherein the RPO information further includes an RPO identifier, and the PRS resource location field includes the geographic location of the transmission point and the RPO identifier.

[0160]

[0171] Clause 10. The method of clause 9, wherein the RPO information further includes a frequency band, a frequency range, or both in which the at least one RPO operates.

[0161]

[0172] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 1 to 10, further comprising receiving the RPO information in broadcast information from a base station.

[0162]

[0173] Clause 12. The method of clause 11, wherein the broadcast information comprises a Positioning System Information Block (PosSIB).

[0163]

[0174] Clause 13. The method of any of clauses 1 to 10, further comprising receiving the RPO information in unicast information from a serving base station.

[0164]

[0175] Clause 14. The method of any of clauses 1 to 13, further comprising sending a request for RPO information to a network entity.

[0165]

[0176] Clause 15. The method of any of clauses 1 to 14, wherein the RPO is a RIS, and the RIS is associated with a plurality of RPO identifiers, each of the plurality of RPO identifiers being associated with a different direction of reflection from the RIS.

[0166]

[0177] Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 1 to 14, wherein the RPO is a RIS, and the RIS is associated with a single RPO identifier and multiple RPO beam identifiers, each of the multiple RPO beam identifiers being associated with a different direction of reflection from the RIS.

[0167]

[0178] Clause 17. The method of any of clauses 1 to 16, wherein the association of an RPO identifier of at least one RPO to at least one PRS resource is statically configured.

[0168]

[0179] Clause 18. The method of clause 17, wherein the statically configuring of an association of an RPO identifier of at least one RPO to at least one PRS resource comprises receiving assistance data via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) Provide Assistance Data message.

[0169]

[0180] Clause 19. The method of any of clauses 1 to 16, wherein the association of an RPO identifier of at least one RPO to at least one PRS resource is semi-statically configured.

[0170]

[0181] Clause 20. The method of clause 19, wherein the semi-statically configuring of the association of the RPO identifier of the at least one RPO to the at least one PRS resource comprises receiving assistance data via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, LPP signaling, or both signaling.

[0171]

[0182] Clause 21. The method of any of clauses 1 to 16, wherein the association of an RPO identifier of at least one RPO to at least one PRS resource is dynamically configured.

[0172]

[0183] Clause 22. The method of clause 21, wherein dynamically configuring the association of an RPO identifier of at least one RPO to at least one PRS resource comprises receiving assistance data via a medium access control control element (MAC-CE), downlink control information (DCI), or both.

[0173]

[0184] Clause 23. A method of wireless positioning performed by a network entity, the method comprising: engaging in a positioning or sensing session with a user equipment (UE); determining Reflecting Point Object (RPO) information for at least one RPO capable of reflecting a waveform; and transmitting the RPO information to the UE, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO.

[0174]

[0185] Clause 24. The method of clause 23, wherein at least one RPO is a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) connected to a wireless access network to which the network entity belongs.

[0175]

[0186] Clause 25. The method of clause 23, wherein at least one RPO is a RIS, mirror, glass, metal, or other reflective object that is not connected to the wireless access network to which the network entity belongs.

[0176]

[0187] Clause 26. The method of any of clauses 23 to 25, wherein the location information for the at least one RPO is a geographic location of the at least one RPO.

[0177]

[0188] Clause 27. The method of any of clauses 23 to 25, wherein a geographic location of the at least one RPO is unknown to the network entity, and the location information for the at least one RPO is an estimated location of the at least one RPO.

[0178]

[0189] Clause 28. The method of any of clauses 23 to 27, wherein the RPO information further includes an RPO identifier, and the PRS resource location field includes the geographic location of the transmission point and the RPO identifier.

[0179]

[0190] Clause 29. A user equipment (UE) comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the processor configured to: engage in a positioning session or a sensing session; and receive, via the transceiver, from a network entity, assistance data for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point, the assistance data including a PRS resource location field indicating a geographic location of the transmission point, the assistance data further including RPO information for at least one reflecting point object (RPO) capable of reflecting a waveform associated with the at least one PRS resource, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO.

[0180]

[0191] Clause 30. The UE of clause 29, wherein a direction of reflection from at least one RPO is controllable.

[0181]

[0192] Clause 31. The UE according to clause 30, wherein at least one RPO is a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) connected to a wireless access network to which the network entity belongs.

[0182]

[0193] Clause 32. The UE of clause 29, wherein a direction of reflection from at least one RPO is not controllable.

[0183]

[0194] Clause 33. The UE according to clause 32, wherein at least one RPO is a RIS, a mirror, glass, metal, or other reflective object that is not connected to a wireless access network to which the network entity belongs.

[0184]

[0195] Clause 34. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 33, wherein the location information for the at least one RPO is a geographical location of the at least one RPO.

[0185]

[0196] Clause 35. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 33, wherein a geographical location of the at least one RPO is unknown to the network entity, and the location information for the at least one RPO is an estimated location of the at least one RPO.

[0186]

[0197] Clause 36. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 35, wherein the PRS resource location field includes a geographical location of the transmission point and location information for at least one RPO.

[0187]

[0198] Clause 37. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 36, wherein the RPO information further includes an RPO identifier, and the PRS resource location field includes the geographical location of the transmission point and the RPO identifier.

[0188]

[0199] Clause 38. The UE of clause 37, wherein the RPO information further includes a frequency band, a frequency range, or both in which the at least one RPO operates.

[0189]

[0200] Clause 39. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 38, wherein the processor is further configured to receive, via the transceiver, the RPO information in broadcast information from the base station.

[0190]

[0201] Clause 40. The UE of clause 39, wherein the broadcast information comprises a Positioning System Information Block (PosSIB).

[0191]

[0202] Clause 41. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 38, wherein the processor is further configured to receive, via the transceiver, the RPO information in unicast information from the serving base station.

[0192]

[0203] Clause 42. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 41, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the transceiver to send a request for the RPO information to the network entity.

[0193]

[0204] Clause 43. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 42, wherein the RPO is a RIS, and the RIS is associated with a plurality of RPO identifiers, each of the plurality of RPO identifiers being associated with a different direction of reflection from the RIS.

[0194]

[0205] Clause 44. A UE as described in any of clauses 29 to 42, wherein the RPO is a RIS, and the RIS is associated with a single RPO identifier and multiple RPO beam identifiers, each of the multiple RPO beam identifiers being associated with a different direction of reflection from the RIS.

[0195]

[0206] Clause 45. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 44, wherein an association of an RPO identifier of at least one RPO to at least one PRS resource is statically configured.

[0196]

[0207] Clause 46. The UE of clause 45, wherein the statically configured association of an RPO identifier of at least one RPO to at least one PRS resource comprises the assistance data being received via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) Provide Assistance Data message.

[0197]

[0208] Clause 47. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 44, wherein an association of an RPO identifier of at least one RPO to at least one PRS resource is semi-statically configured.

[0198]

[0209] Clause 48. The UE of clause 47, wherein the semi-statically configured association of an RPO identifier of the at least one RPO to the at least one PRS resource comprises the assistance data being received via radio resource control (RRC) signaling, LPP signaling, or both signaling.

[0199]

[0210] Clause 49. The UE of any of clauses 29 to 44, wherein an association of an RPO identifier of at least one RPO to at least one PRS resource is dynamically configured.

[0200]

[0211] Clause 50. The UE of clause 49, wherein the dynamically configured association of an RPO identifier of the at least one RPO to the at least one PRS resource comprises the assistance data being received via a medium access control control element (MAC-CE), a downlink control information (DCI), or both.

[0201]

[0212] Clause 51. A network entity comprising a memory, a transceiver, and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the transceiver, the processor configured to: engage in a positioning or sensing session with a user equipment (UE); determine reflecting point object (RPO) information for at least one RPO capable of reflecting a waveform; and cause the transceiver to transmit the RPO information to the UE, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO.

[0202]

[0213] Clause 52. The network entity according to clause 51, wherein at least one RPO is a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) connected to a wireless access network to which the network entity belongs.

[0203]

[0214] Clause 53. The network entity according to clause 51, wherein at least one RPO is a RIS, mirror, glass, metal, or other reflective object that is not connected to the wireless access network to which the network entity belongs.

[0204]

[0215] Clause 54. The network entity of any of clauses 51 to 53, wherein the location information for the at least one RPO is a geographic location of the at least one RPO.

[0205]

[0216] Clause 55. The network entity of any of clauses 51 to 53, wherein a geographic location of the at least one RPO is unknown to the network entity, and the location information for the at least one RPO is an estimated location of the at least one RPO.

[0206]

[0217] Clause 56. The network entity of any of clauses 51 to 55, wherein the RPO information further includes an RPO identifier, and the PRS resource location field includes at least one geographic location of the RPO and the RPO identifier.

[0207]

[0218] Clause 57. Apparatus comprising means for carrying out the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 28.

[0208]

[0219] Clause 58. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions including at least one instruction for causing a computer or processor to perform a method according to any one of clauses 1 to 28.

[0209]

[0220] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0210]

[0221] Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary 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 on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art 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.

[0211]

[0222] The various example logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0212]

[0223] The methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software modules may reside in a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Alternatively, 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). Alternatively, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

[0213]

[0224] In one or more exemplary 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 a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and computer communication media, including any medium that enables transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may 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 coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of the medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically and discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0214]

[0225] Although the above disclosure illustrates exemplary aspects of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and / or actions of the method claims according to the aspects of the present disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.

Claims

1. 1. A method of wireless positioning implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising: engaging in a positioning or sensing session; receiving, from a network entity, assistance data for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point, the assistance data including a PRS resource location field indicating a geographic location of the transmission point, the assistance data further including reflecting point object (RPO) information for at least one RPO capable of reflecting a waveform associated with the at least one PRS resource, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO; Here, The RPO information further includes an RPO identifier; the PRS resource location field includes the geographic location of the transmission point and the RPO identifier; the RPO information further includes a frequency band, a frequency range, or both in which the at least one RPO operates; A method comprising:

2. a direction of reflection from the at least one RPO is controllable; 2. The method of claim 1, wherein optionally, the at least one RPO is a Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) connected to a Wireless Access Network to which the network entity belongs.

3. the direction of reflection from the at least one RPO is not controllable; The method of claim 1 , wherein optionally, the at least one RPO is a RIS, mirror, glass, metal, or other reflective object that is not connected to a wireless access network to which the network entity belongs.

4. receiving said RPO information in broadcast information from a base station; 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: optionally, the broadcast information comprises a Positioning System Information Block (PosSIB).

5. receiving the RPO information in unicast information from a serving base station; The method of claim 1 further comprising:

6. Sending a request for the RPO information to the network entity. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

7. the RPO is RIS, the RIS is associated with a plurality of RPO identifiers, each of the plurality of RPO identifiers being associated with a different direction of reflection from the RIS; The method of claim 1.

8. the RPO is RIS, the RIS is associated with a single RPO identifier and a plurality of RPO beam identifiers, each of the plurality of RPO beam identifiers being associated with a different direction of reflection from the RIS; The method of claim 1.

9. An association of an RPO identifier of the at least one RPO to the at least one PRS resource is statically configured; 2. The method of claim 1, optionally wherein the association of the RPO identifier of the at least one RPO to the at least one PRS resource is statically configured comprises the assistance data being received via a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) Provide Assistance Data message.

10. An association of an RPO identifier of the at least one RPO to the at least one PRS resource is semi-statically configured; 2. The method of claim 1, optionally wherein the association of the RPO identifier of the at least one RPO to the at least one PRS resource is semi-statically configured comprising receiving the assistance data via Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling, LPP signaling, or both.

11. An association of an RPO identifier of the at least one RPO to the at least one PRS resource is dynamically configured; 2. The method of claim 1, optionally wherein the dynamically configuring of the association of the RPO identifier of the at least one RPO to the at least one PRS resource comprises the assistance data being received via a Medium Access Control Control Element (MAC-CE), a Downlink Control Information (DCI), or both.

12. 1. A method of wireless positioning implemented by a network entity, comprising: engaging in a positioning or sensing session with a user equipment (UE); determining reflecting point object (RPO) information for at least one RPO capable of reflecting the waveform, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO; transmitting to the UE assistance data for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point, the assistance data including a PRS resource location field indicating a geographic location of the transmission point, the assistance data further including the RPO information; Here, The RPO information further includes an RPO identifier; the PRS resource location field includes the geographic location of the transmission point and the RPO identifier; the RPO information further includes a frequency band, a frequency range, or both in which the at least one RPO operates; A method comprising:

13. Memory, At least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and to the at least one transceiver; 11. A user equipment (UE) comprising: engaging in a positioning or sensing session; receiving, from a network entity via the at least one transceiver, assistance data for at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point, the assistance data including a PRS resource location field indicating a geographic location of the transmission point, the assistance data further including reflecting point object (RPO) information for at least one RPO capable of reflecting a waveform associated with the at least one PRS resource, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO; Here, The RPO information further includes an RPO identifier; the PRS resource location field includes the geographic location of the transmission point and the RPO identifier; the RPO information further includes a frequency band, a frequency range, or both in which the at least one RPO operates; A user equipment (UE) configured to:

14. Memory, At least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and to the at least one transceiver; 11. A network entity comprising: engaging in a positioning or sensing session with a user equipment (UE); determining reflecting point object (RPO) information for at least one RPO capable of reflecting the waveform, the RPO information including at least location information for the at least one RPO; causing the at least one transceiver to transmit, to the UE, assistance data for at least one Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resource transmitted by a transmission point, the assistance data including a PRS resource location field indicating a geographic location of the transmission point, the assistance data further including the RPO information; Here, The RPO information further includes an RPO identifier; the PRS resource location field includes the geographic location of the transmission point and the RPO identifier; the RPO information further includes a frequency band, a frequency range, or both in which the at least one RPO operates; 4. A network entity configured to:

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising at least one instruction for causing a computer or processor to perform a method according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

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