Securing Positioning Reference Signals (PRS) for User Equipment (UE) Positioning

Abstract

Reference signals used in estimating the location of user equipment (UE) in a wireless data network can be secured against man-in-the-middle attacks by withholding transmission parameters for decoding each portion of the reference signal from the transmitting device until those portions have been transmitted. Thus, the receiving device can buffer the received signal and process the buffered signal after receiving the transmission parameters. To further prevent an attacker device from attacking future reference signals, the transmission parameters can be made non-deterministic such that an attacker device that obtains the parameters over a period of time cannot use the decoded parameters to predict or determine subsequent transmission parameters.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates generally to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly to determining the location of user equipment (UE) using radio frequency (RF) signals. [Background technology]

[0002]

[0002] In wireless communication networks, such as fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) or other cellular networks, a location estimate for a user equipment (UE) (a mobile device in the network) may be determined by the UE transmitting and / or measuring reference signals. Although these reference signals are encoded, they may be vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attackers who decode an initial portion of the reference signal and mimic subsequent portions or repetitions of the reference signal. Such attacks may reduce the accuracy of the location estimate, which may reduce the value of providing the location estimate itself. Summary of the Invention

[0003]

[0003] Embodiments herein address these and other problems by preventing such attacks by withholding communication of transmission parameters for decoding each portion of the reference signal until those portions have been transmitted. Thus, the receiving device can buffer the received signal and process the buffered signal after receiving the transmission parameters. To further prevent an attacker device from attacking future reference signals, the transmission parameters can be made non-deterministic such that an attacker device that obtains the parameters over a period of time cannot use the decoded parameters to predict or determine subsequent transmission parameters.

[0004] An exemplary method for securing positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network according to the present disclosure includes sending first configuration data to the UE indicating a time period during which at least a portion of the PRS resources will be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. The sending of the first configuration data occurs before a transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmission / reception point (TRP) of the wireless communication network, and the first configuration data excludes at least one transmission parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. The method further comprises sending second configuration data to the UE indicating the at least one transmission parameter value, and the sending of the second configuration data occurs after the transmission of the portion of the PRS resources.

[0005]

[0005] An exemplary method of processing secured positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, according to the present disclosure, includes receiving, from a network entity, first configuration data indicating a time period during which at least a portion of a PRS resource is to be transmitted using one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols. The first configuration data is received prior to transmission of the portion of the PRS resource by a transmit / receive point (TRP) of the wireless communication network, the first configuration data excluding at least one transmission parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. The method further comprises buffering data from a signal received by the TRP during the time period. The method further comprises receiving, from the network entity, second configuration data indicating at least one transmission parameter value, the second configuration data being received subsequent to transmission of the portion of the PRS resource. The method further comprises processing the portion of the PRS resource using at least one transmission parameter value on at least a portion of the buffered data to generate a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols.

[0006]

[0006] An exemplary network entity for securing positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, according to the present disclosure, includes a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory. The one or more processing units are configured to send, via the transceiver to the UE, first configuration data indicating a time period during which at least a portion of the PRS resources will be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, the one or more processing units are configured to send the first configuration data prior to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmit / receive point (TRP) of the wireless communication network, the one or more processing units are configured to exclude from the first configuration data at least one transmission parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. Also, the one or more processing units are configured to send, via the transceiver to the UE, second configuration data indicating the at least one transmission parameter value, the sending of the second configuration data occurring subsequent to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources.

[0007]

[0007] An exemplary UE for processing secured positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network according to the present specification includes a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory. The one or more processing units are configured to receive first configuration data from a network entity via the transceiver indicating a time period during which at least a portion of the PRS resources will be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, the first configuration data being received prior to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmit / receive point (TRP) of the wireless communication network, the first configuration data excluding at least one transmission parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. The one or more processing units are also configured to buffer data from a signal received by the TRP during the time period. The one or more processing units are also configured to receive second configuration data from the network entity via the transceiver indicating at least one transmission parameter value, the second configuration data being received subsequent to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources. The one or more processing units are also configured to process the portion of the PRS resources using the at least one transmission parameter value on at least a portion of the buffered data to generate a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram of a positioning system, according to one embodiment. [Diagram 2]

[0009] FIG. 5 is a diagram of a fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR) positioning system illustrating one embodiment of a positioning system implemented within a 5G NR communication system (e.g., the positioning system of FIG. 1). [Diagram 3]

[0010] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a frame structure and associated terminology for NR. [Figure 4]

[0011] 1 illustrates an example of a radio frame sequence having a positioning reference signal (PRS) positioning occasion, according to one embodiment. [Diagram 5]

[0012] 1 is a diagram of a number of exemplary comb structures that may be used to communicate reference signals for positioning, according to one embodiment. [Figure 6]

[0013] 4 is a diagram of an example hierarchical structure of reference signal resources that can be used for positioning, according to one embodiment. [Figure 7]

[0014] 1 is a time diagram illustrating two different options for slot usage of a resource set according to one embodiment. [Figure 8A]

[0015] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of how a man-in-the-middle attack on a reference signal can be performed. [Figure 8B] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of how a man-in-the-middle attack on a reference signal can be performed. [Figure 9A]

[0016] 1 illustrates how an attack may be perceived by a receiving device from a timing perspective, according to one embodiment. [Figure 9B] 1 illustrates how an attack may be perceived by a receiving device from a timing perspective, according to one embodiment. [Figure 10]

[0017] A time diagram reproducing the continuous sweeping and interleaved sweeping examples of beam sweeping shown in FIG. 7 with an indication of when one or more transmission parameters for use in decoding resource 1 may be sent to a user equipment (UE) in accordance with some embodiments. [Figure 11]

[0018] 4 is a time diagram illustrating how a UE can buffer and process PRS resources according to an example. [Figure 12A]

[0019] 5 is a timing diagram illustrating different options for communicating one or more transmit parameter values ​​in accordance with various embodiments. [Figure 12B] 5 is a timing diagram illustrating different options for communicating one or more transmit parameter values ​​in accordance with various embodiments. [Figure 12C] 5 is a timing diagram illustrating different options for communicating one or more transmit parameter values ​​in accordance with various embodiments. [Figure 13]

[0020] 2 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for securing PRS resources for UE positioning in a wireless communication network, according to an embodiment. [Figure 14]

[0021] 1 illustrates a flow diagram of a method for processing secured PRS resources for UE positioning in a wireless communication network according to an embodiment. [Figure 15]

[0022] 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a UE that may be utilized in the embodiments described herein. [Figure 16]

[0023] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a transmission / reception point (TRP) that may be utilized in the embodiments described herein. [Figure 17]

[0024] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a computer system that may be utilized in the embodiments described herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009]

[0025] The same reference numbers in various figures refer to the same elements according to some exemplary implementations. In addition, multiple instances of an element may be indicated by a first number of the element followed by a letter or a hyphen and a second number. For example, multiple instances of element 110 may be indicated as 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, etc., or as 110a, 110b, 110c, etc. When referring to such an element using only the first number, it should be understood as any instance of the element (e.g., element 110 in the previous example would refer to elements 110-1, 110-2, and 110-3, or elements 110a, 110b, and 110c).

[0010]

[0026] The following description is directed to several implementations for the purpose of describing the inventive aspects of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the teachings herein may be applied in many different ways. The described implementations may be implemented in a variety of ways, including systems utilizing 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, or further implementations thereof, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) IEEE 802.11 standard (including those identified as Wi-Fi technology), Bluetooth standard, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GSM / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Terrestrial Based Radio (TETRA), Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO), 1xEV-DO, EV-DO Rev A, EV-DO Rev B, EV-DO Rev C, EV-DO Rev D ... B, may be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving radio frequency (RF) signals according to any communications standard, such as High Speed ​​Packet Data (HRPD), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed ​​Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed ​​Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), Evolved High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), or other known signals used to communicate within a wireless, cellular, or Internet of Things (IoT) network.

[0011]

[0027] As used herein, an "RF signal" comprises an electromagnetic wave that transports information through space between a transmitter (or transmitting device) and a receiver (or receiving device). 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 a multipath channel. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may also be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal.

[0012]

[0028] Additionally, as used herein, the term "transmission parameters" may refer to parameters used to decode an encoded RF signal by recreating the waveform of the RF signal. As described herein, the transmission parameters may vary and may include scrambling IDs, frequency domain parameters, comb patterns, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbol offsets, etc. The transmission parameters may refer to values ​​for these particular transmission parameter types.

[0013]

[0029] As indicated previously, in wireless communication networks such as fifth generation (5G) new radio (NR), or other cellular networks, a location estimate of a user equipment (UE) (a mobile device in the network) may be determined by the UE measuring reference signals transmitted by one or more transmission / reception points (TRPs). These reference signals, particularly positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, are coded. However, as stated, they may be vulnerable to an attacker decoding an initial portion of the reference signal and mimicking subsequent portions or repetitions of the reference signal. The embodiments described herein provide for securing such PRS resources from such attacks by withholding conveying transmission parameters for decoding each portion of the PRS resource until those portions of the PRS resource have been transmitted, thereby preventing the attack. Thus, the receiving device may buffer the received signal and process the buffered signal after receiving the transmission parameters. To further prevent an attacker device from attacking future reference signals, the transmission parameters may be non-deterministic such that an attacker device that obtains the parameters for a period of time cannot use the decoded parameters to predict or determine subsequent transmission parameters. A detailed description of these embodiments is provided following a description of the systems and techniques related to these embodiments.

[0014]

[0030] 1 is a simplified diagram of a positioning system 100 in which a UE 120, a location server 160, and / or other components of the positioning system 100 can use techniques provided herein to secure PRS resources for positioning of a UE in a wireless communication network, according to an embodiment. The techniques described herein may be implemented by one or more components of the positioning system 100. The positioning system 100 may include a UE 120, one or more satellites 110 (also referred to as space vehicles (SVs)) for a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), such as Global Positioning System (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, or Beidou, a base station 120, an access point (AP) 130, a location server 160, a network 170, and an external client 180. Generally speaking, the positioning system 100 can estimate the location of the UE 120 based on RF signals received by and / or sent from the UE 120 and known locations of other components (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, base stations 120, APs 130) that are transmitting and / or receiving the RF signals. Further details regarding specific location estimation techniques are discussed in more detail with respect to FIG.

[0015]

[0031] It should be noted that FIG. 1 provides only a generalized view of the various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each of which may be replicated as necessary. In particular, while only one UE 120 is shown, it will be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the positioning system 100. Similarly, the positioning system 100 may include a greater or lesser number of base stations 120 and / or APs 130 than those shown in FIG. 1. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the positioning system 100 comprise data and signaling connections that may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. Furthermore, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, substituted, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality. In some embodiments, for example, the external client 180 may be directly connected to the location server 160. Those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications to the illustrated components.

[0016]

[0032] Depending on the desired functionality, the network 170 may comprise any of a variety of wireless and / or wireline networks. The network 170 may comprise any combination of, for example, public and / or private networks, local and / or wide area networks, and the like. Additionally, the network 170 may utilize one or more wired and / or wireless communication technologies. In some embodiments, the network 170 may comprise, for example, a cellular or other mobile network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), and / or the Internet. Examples of the network 170 include a Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless network, a fifth generation (5G) wireless network (also referred to as a New Radio (NR) wireless network or a 5G NR wireless network), a Wi-Fi WLAN, and the Internet. LTE, 5G, and NR are wireless technologies defined or being defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The network 170 may also include two or more networks and / or two or more types of networks.

[0017]

[0033] The base stations 120 and access points (APs) 130 are communicatively coupled to the network 170. In some embodiments, the base stations 120s may be owned, maintained, and / or operated by a cellular network provider and may employ any of a variety of wireless technologies, as described herein below. Depending on the technology of the network 170, the base stations 120 may comprise a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNode B or eNB), a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station (RBS), an NR Node B (gNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), etc. A base station 120 that is a gNB or ng-eNB may be part of a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) that may connect to a 5G core network (5GC) if the network 170 is a 5G network. The APs 130 may comprise, for example, a Wi-Fi AP or a Bluetooth AP. Thus, the UE 120 may send and receive information to and from a network-connected device, such as the location server 160, by accessing the network 170 via the base station 120 using the first communication link 133. Additionally or alternatively, the AP 130 may also be communicatively coupled to a network 170 so that the UE 120 may use the second communications link 135 to communicate with network- and Internet-connected devices, including a location server 160 .

[0018]

[0034] The term "base station" as used herein may generally refer to a single physical transmission point or multiple co-located physical transmission points that may be located at a base station 120. A transmit / receive point (TRP) (also known as a transmit / receive point) corresponds to this type of transmission point, and the term "TRP" may be used interchangeably with the terms "gNB", "ng-eNB", and "base station" herein. In some cases, a base station 120 may comprise multiple TRPs, e.g., each TRP associated with a different antenna or different antenna array for the base station 120. A physical transmission point may comprise an array of antennas at the base station 120 (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system and / or when the base station employs beamforming). The term "base station" may further refer to multiple non-co-located physical transmission points, which 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).

[0019]

[0035] The term "cell" as used herein may generally refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with base station 120 and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., physical cell identifier (PCID), virtual cell identifier (VCID)) to distinguish neighboring cells operating over the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communications (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), etc.) that may provide access to different types of devices. In some cases, the term "cell" may refer to a portion (e.g., a sector) of a geographic coverage area over which a logical entity operates.

[0020]

[0036] The location server 160 may comprise a server and / or other computing devices configured to determine an estimated location of the UE 120 and / or provide data (e.g., “assistance data”) to the UE 120 for facilitating location measurements and / or location determination by the UE 120. According to some embodiments, the location server 160 may comprise a Home SUPL Location Platform (H-SLP) that may support a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) User Plane (UP) location solution defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and may support location services for the UE 120 based on subscription information of the UE 120 stored in the location server 160. In some embodiments, the location server 160 may comprise a Discovery SLP (D-SLP) or an Emergency SLP (E-SLP). The location server 160 may also comprise an Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) that supports the location of the UE 120 using a Control Plane (CP) location solution for LTE radio access by the UE 120. The location server 160 may further comprise a location management function (LMF) that supports the location of the UE 120 using a control plane (CP) location solution for NR or LTE radio access by the UE 120.

[0021]

[0037] In a CP location solution, signaling for controlling and managing the location of UE 120 may be exchanged between elements of network 170 and with UE 120 using existing network interfaces and protocols, and as signaling from the perspective of network 170. In a UP location solution, signaling for controlling and managing the location of UE 120 may be exchanged between location server 160 and UE 120 as data from the perspective of network 170 (e.g., data transported using Internet Protocol (IP) and / or Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)).

[0022]

[0038] As mentioned above (and discussed in more detail below), the estimated location of the UE 120 may be based on measurements of RF signals sent from and / or received by the UE 120. In particular, these measurements may provide information regarding the relative distance and / or angle of the UE 120 from one or more components in the positioning system 100 (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, AP 130, base station 120). The estimated location of the UE 120 may be estimated geometrically (e.g., using multi-angulation and / or multi-lateration) based on the distance and / or angle measurements along with the known positions of the one or more components.

[0023]

[0039] Terrestrial components such as AP 130 and base station 120 may be fixed, although embodiments are not so limited. Mobile components may be used. For example, in some embodiments, the location of UE 120 may be estimated based at least in part on measurements of RF signals 140 communicated between UE 120 and one or more other UEs 145, which may be mobile or fixed. When one or more other UEs 145 are used in position determination of a particular UE 120, the UE 120 whose position is to be determined may be referred to as a "target UE" and each of the one or more other UEs 145 used may be referred to as an "anchor UE". For position determination of a target UE, the respective positions of the one or more anchor UEs may be known and / or may be determined together with the target UE. Direct communication between one or more other UEs 145 and UE 120 may comprise sidelink and / or similar device-to-device (D2D) communication techniques. Sidelink, as defined by 3GPP, is a form of D2D communication under cellular-based LTE and NR standards.

[0024]

[0040] The estimated location of UE 120 may be used in various applications, such as, for example, to assist a user of UE 120 in direction finding or navigation, or to assist another user (e.g., associated with external client 180) in locating UE 120. "Location" may also be referred to herein as a "location estimate," "estimated location," "location," "position," "position estimate," "position fix," "estimated position," "location fix," or "fix." The process of determining a location may be referred to as "positioning," "position determination," "location determination," or the like. The location of UE 120 may comprise an absolute location of UE 120 (e.g., latitude and longitude and possibly an altitude) or a relative location of UE 120 (e.g., a location expressed as a distance north or south, east or west, and possibly up or down from some other location, such as some other known fixed location, or the location of UE 120 at some known prior time). A location may be specified as a geodetic location with coordinates that may be absolute (e.g., latitude, longitude and possibly altitude), relative (e.g., relative to some known absolute location), or local (e.g., X, Y and possibly Z coordinates according to a coordinate system defined for a local area such as a factory, warehouse, university campus, shopping mall, sports stadium or convention center). A location may instead be a civic location, in which case it may comprise one or more of a street address (including, e.g., a country, state, county, city, road and / or street name or label, and / or road or street number), and / or a label or name of a place, building, part of a building, floor of a building, and / or room within a building, etc.The location may further include an uncertainty or error indication, such as the horizontal and possibly vertical distance by which the location is expected to be incorrect, or an indication of an area or volume (e.g., a circle or ellipse) within which UE 120 is expected to be located with some confidence level (e.g., 95% confidence).

[0025]

[0041] External client 180 may be a web server or remote application that may have some association with UE 120 (e.g., that may be accessed by a user of UE 120), or may be a server, application, or computer system that provides location services to some other user or users that may include obtaining and providing the location of UE 120 (e.g., to enable services such as friend or kin finder, asset tracking, or child or pet location). Additionally or alternatively, external client 180 may obtain and provide the location of UE 120 to an emergency service provider, a government agency, or the like.

[0026]

[0042] As previously mentioned, the exemplary positioning system 100 may be implemented using a wireless communication network, such as an LTE-based or 5G NR-based network. FIG. 2 illustrates a diagram of a 5G NR positioning system 200 illustrating one embodiment of a positioning system (e.g., the positioning system 100) implementing 5G NR. The 5G NR positioning system 200 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 120 using access nodes 210, 214, 216 (which may correspond to the base stations 120 and access points 130 of FIG. 1 ) and (optionally) an LMF 220 (which may correspond to the location server 160) to implement one or more positioning methods. Here, the 5G NR positioning system 200 comprises the UE 120 and components of a 5G NR network, including a Next Generation (NG) Radio Access Network (RAN) (NG-RAN) 235 and a 5G Core Network (5G CN) 240. The 5G network may be referred to as an NR network, the NG-RAN 235 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or NR RAN, and the 5G CN 240 may be referred to as an NG core network. The 5G NR positioning system 200 may further utilize information from GNSS satellites 110 from a GNSS system such as the Global Positioning System (GPS) or similar systems (e.g., GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS)). Additional components of the 5G NR positioning system 200 are described below. The 5G NR positioning system 200 may include additional or alternative components.

[0027]

[0043] It should be noted that FIG. 2 provides only a generalized view of the various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each of which may be duplicated or omitted as necessary. In particular, while only one UE 120 is shown, it will be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the 5G NR positioning system 200. Similarly, the 5G NR positioning system 200 may include a greater (or lesser) number of GNSS satellites 110, gNBs 210, ng-eNBs 214, wireless local area networks (WLANs) 216, access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 215, external clients 230, and / or other components. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the 5G NR positioning system 200 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. Additionally, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, substituted, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality.

[0028]

[0044] The UE 120 may comprise and / or be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a secure user plane location (SUPL)-enabled terminal (SET), or by some other name. Moreover, the UE 120 may correspond to a cell phone, a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tracking device, a navigation device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or some other portable or movable device. Typically, but not necessarily, the UE 120 may support wireless communications using one or more radio access technologies (RATs), such as using GSM, CDMA, W-CDMA, LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5G NR (e.g., using NG-RAN 235 and 5G CN 240), and the like. The UE 120 may also support wireless communications using a WLAN 216, which may connect to other networks, such as the Internet (as one or more RATs and as described above with respect to FIG. 1). Use of one or more of these RATs may enable the UE 120 to communicate with and / or receive location information regarding the UE 120 (e.g., via elements of the 5G CN 240 not shown in FIG. 2 or possibly via a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 225) external clients 230. The external clients 230 of FIG. 2 may correspond to the external clients 180 of FIG. 1 implemented in or communicatively coupled to a 5G NR network.

[0029]

[0045] UE 120 may include a single entity or multiple entities, such as in a personal area network, where a user may employ audio, video and / or data I / O devices and / or body sensors and a separate wireline or wireless modem. An estimate of the location of UE 120 may be referred to as a location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position, position estimate, or position fix, and may be geodetic and thus provide location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) of UE 120 that may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., height above sea level, height above or below ground level, floor level or basement level). Alternatively, the location of UE 120 may be expressed as a civic location (e.g., as a postal address or a designation of some point or small area in a building such as a particular room or floor). The location of the UE 120 may also be expressed as an area or volume (defined geodesically or in urban terms) within which the UE 120 is expected to be located with some probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of the UE 120 may further be a relative location with distance and direction or relative X, Y (and Z) coordinates defined relative to some origin in a known location, which may be defined, for example, geodesically, in urban terms, or by reference to a point, area, or volume shown on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, use of the term location may include any of these variations unless otherwise specified. When calculating the location of a UE, it is customary to solve for local X, Y, and possibly Z coordinates and then convert the local coordinates to absolute coordinates if necessary (e.g., for latitude, longitude, and altitude below or above mean sea level).

[0030]

[0046] The base stations in the NG-RAN 235 shown in FIG. 2 may correspond to the base stations 120 of FIG. 1 and may include NR NodeBs (gNBs) 210-1 and 210-2 (collectively and generically referred to herein as gNBs 210). Pairs of gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235 may be connected to one another (e.g., directly as shown in FIG. 2 or indirectly via other gNBs 210). The communication interface between the base stations (gNBs 210 and / or ng-eNBs 214) may be referred to as the Xn interface 237. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 120 via wireless communication between the UE 120 and one or more of the gNBs 210, which may provide wireless communication access to the 5G CN 240 for the UE 120 using 5G NR. The wireless interface between the base stations (gNBs 210 and / or ng-eNBs 214) and the UE 120 may be referred to as the Uu interface 239. 5G NR radio access may also be referred to as NR radio access or 5G radio access. In FIG. 2, it is assumed that the serving gNB for UE 120 is gNB 210-1, but other gNBs (e.g., gNB 210-2) may act as serving gNBs if UE 120 moves to another location or as secondary gNBs to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to UE 120.

[0031]

[0047] The base stations in the NG-RAN 235 shown in FIG. 2 may also or instead include a next generation evolved node B 214, also referred to as an ng-eNB. The ng-eNB 214 may be connected to one or more gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235, e.g., directly or indirectly via other gNBs 210 and / or other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 214 may provide LTE wireless access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to the UE 120. Some gNBs 210 (e.g., gNB 210-2) and / or ng-eNBs 214 in FIG. 2 may be configured to function as positioning-only beacons that may transmit signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) and / or broadcast assistance data to assist in positioning the UE 120, but may not receive signals from the UE 120 or other UEs. Note that while only one ng-eNB 214 is shown in FIG. 2, some embodiments may include multiple ng-eNBs 214. The base stations 210, 214 may communicate directly with each other via an Xn communication interface. Additionally or alternatively, the base stations 210, 214 may communicate directly or indirectly with other components of the 5G NR positioning system 200, such as the LMF 220 and the AMF 215.

[0032]

[0048] The 5G NR positioning system 200 may also include one or more WLANs 216 that may connect to a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF) 250 in the 5G CN 240 (e.g., in case of an untrusted WLAN 216). For example, the WLANs 216 may support IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi access for the UE 120 and may comprise one or more Wi-Fi APs (e.g., AP 130 of FIG. 1). Here, the N3IWF 250 may connect to other elements in the 5G CN 240, such as the AMF 215. In some embodiments, the WLANs 216 may support another RAT, such as Bluetooth. The N3IWF 250 may provide support for secure access by the UE 120 to other elements in the 5G CN 240 and / or support interworking of one or more protocols used by the WLANs 216 and the UE 120 to one or more protocols used by other elements of the 5G CN 240, such as the AMF 215. For example, the N3IWF 250 may support IPSec tunnel establishment with the UE 120, termination of IKEv2 / IPSec protocols with the UE 120, termination of the N2 and N3 interfaces to the 5G CN 240 for the control plane and user plane, respectively, relaying uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) control plane non-access stratum (NAS) signaling between the UE 120 and the AMF 215 via the N1 interface. In some other embodiments, the WLAN 216 may directly connect to an element in the 5G CN 240 (e.g., the AMF 215 as shown by the dashed line in FIG. 2) without going through the N3IWF 250. For example, the direct connection of the WLAN 216 to the 5G CN 240 may be made when the WLAN 216 is a trusted WLAN for the 5G CN 240 and may be enabled using a trusted WLAN interworking function (TWIF) (not shown in FIG. 2), which may be an element within the WLAN 216. It should be noted that although only one WLAN 216 is shown in FIG. 2, some embodiments may include multiple WLANs 216.

[0033]

[0049] An access node may comprise any of a variety of network entities that enable communication between the UE 120 and the AMF 215. This may include a gNB 210, an ng-eNB 214, a WLAN 216, and / or other types of cellular base stations. However, an access node providing the functionality described herein may additionally or alternatively include entities that enable communication to any of a variety of RATs not shown in FIG. 2, which may include non-cellular technologies. Thus, the term "access node" as used in the embodiments described herein below may include, but is not necessarily limited to, a gNB 210, an ng-eNB 214, or a WLAN 216.

[0034]

[0050] In some embodiments, an access node such as the gNB 210, the ng-eNB 214, and / or the WLAN 216 (alone or in combination with other components of the 5G NR positioning system 200) may be configured to obtain location measurements of uplink (UL) signals (received from the UE 120) and / or obtain downlink (DL) location measurements from the UE 120 for DL ​​signals received by the UE 120 from one or more access nodes in response to receiving a request for location information from the LMF 220. As mentioned, FIG. 2 illustrates access nodes 210, 214, and 216 configured to communicate according to 5G NR, LTE, and Wi-Fi communication protocols, respectively, although access nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols may be used, such as, for example, a Node B using a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) protocol for a Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), an eNB using an LTE protocol for an Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), or Bluetooth Beacons using a Bluetooth protocol for a WLAN. For example, in a 4G Evolved Packet System (EPS) providing LTE wireless access to the UE 120, the RAN may comprise an E-UTRAN, which may comprise a base station with an eNB supporting LTE wireless access. The core network of the EPS may comprise an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The EPS may then comprise an E-UTRAN+EPC, where the E-UTRAN corresponds to the NG-RAN 235 and the EPC corresponds to the 5GCN 240 of FIG. 2. The methods and techniques described herein for obtaining the urban location of a UE 120 may be applicable to such other networks.

[0035]

[0051] The gNB 210 and ng-eNB 214 may communicate with an AMF 215, which communicates with the LMF 220 for positioning functions. The AMF 215 may support mobility of the UE 120, including cell changes and handovers of the UE 120 from a first RAT access node 210, 214, or 216 to a second RAT access node 210, 214, or 216. The AMF 215 may also be responsible for supporting signaling connections to the UE 120 and possibly data and voice bearers for the UE 120. The LMF 220 may support positioning of the UE 120 using a CP location solution when the UE 120 accesses the NG-RAN 235 or the WLAN 216, and may support position procedures and methods including UE-assisted / UE-based and / or network-based procedures / methods, such as Aided GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (sometimes referred to as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) in NR), Real Time Kinematic (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhanced Cell ID (ECID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), WLAN positioning, Round Trip Signal Propagation Delay (RTT), Multi-cell RTT, and / or other positioning procedures and methods. The LMF 220 may also process location service requests for the UE 120, for example, received from the AMF 215 or the GMLC 225. The LMF 220 may be connected to the AMF 215 and / or the GMLC 225. In some embodiments, a network such as 5GCN 240 may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as an Evolved Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or a SUPL Location Platform (SLP). It should be noted that in some embodiments, at least a portion of the positioning functionality (including determining the location of UE 120) may be performed at UE 120 (e.g., by measuring downlink PRS (DL-PRS) signals transmitted by wireless nodes such as gNB 210, ng-eNB 214 and / or WLAN 216 and / or using assistance data provided to UE 120 by, for example, LMF 220).

[0036]

[0052] The gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 225 may support location requests for the UE 120 received from the external client 230 and may forward such location requests to the AMF 215 for forwarding by the AMF 215 to the LMF 220. A location response from the LMF 220 (e.g., including a location estimate for the UE 120) may similarly be returned to the GMLC 225 directly or via the AMF 215, which may then return a location response (e.g., including the location estimate) to the external client 230.

[0037]

[0053] A network exposure function (NEF) 245 may be included in the 5GCN 240. The NEF 245 may support secure exposure of capabilities and events related to the 5GCN 240 and the UE 120 to the external client 230, which may then be referred to as an access function (AF), and may enable secure provision of information from the external client 230 to the 5GCN 240. The NEF 245 may be connected to the AMF 215 and / or the GMLC 225 for the purposes of obtaining the location (e.g., a civic location) of the UE 120 and providing the location to the external client 230.

[0038]

[0054] As further shown in FIG. 2, the LMF 220 may communicate with the gNB 210 and / or the ng-eNB 214 using the NR Positioning Protocol A (NRPPa) defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.445. NRPPa messages may be transferred between the gNB 210 and the LMF 220 and / or between the ng-eNB 214 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215. As further shown in FIG. 2, the LMF 220 and the UE 120 may communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) defined in 3GPP TS 37.355. Here, LPP messages may be transferred between the UE 120 and the LMF 220 via the AMF 215 and the serving gNB 210-1 or the serving ng-eNB 214 for the UE 120. For example, LPP messages may be transferred between the LMF 220 and the AMF 215 using service-based operation messages (e.g., based on HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)) and between the AMF 215 and the UE 120 using 5G NAS protocols. The LPP protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 120 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based position methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, TDOA, multi-cell RTT, AoD, and / or ECID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 120 using network-based position methods such as ECID, AoA, Uplink TDOA (UL-TDOA), and / or may be used by the LMF 220 to obtain location related information from the gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214, such as parameters defining DL-PRS transmissions from the gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214.

[0039]

[0055] In the case of UE 120 access to WLAN 216, LMF 220 may use NRPPa and / or LPP to obtain the location of UE 120 in a similar manner as just described for UE 120 access to gNB 210 or ng-eNB 214. Thus, NRPPa messages may be forwarded between WLAN 216 and LMF 220 via AMF 215 and N3IWF 250 to support network-based positioning of UE 120 and / or forwarding of other location information from WLAN 216 to LMF 220. Alternatively, NRPPa messages may be forwarded between N3IWF 250 and LMF 220 via AMF 215 to support network-based positioning of UE 120 based on location-related information and / or location measurements known to or accessible to N3IWF 250 and forwarded from N3IWF 250 to LMF 220 using NRPPa. Similarly, LPP and / or LPP messages may be transferred between UE 120 and LMF 220 via AMF 215, N3IWF 250, and the serving WLAN 216 for UE 120 to support UE-assisted or UE-based positioning of UE 120 by LMF 220.

[0040]

[0056] In a 5G NR positioning system 200, positioning methods may be categorized as being "UE-assisted" or "UE-based". This may depend on where the request to determine the position of the UE 120 originates. For example, if the request originates at the UE (e.g., from an application, or "app," executed by the UE), the positioning method may be categorized as being UE-based. On the other hand, if the request originates from an external client or the AF 230, the LMF 220, or other devices or services in the 5G network, the positioning method may be categorized as being UE-assisted (or "network-based").

[0041]

[0057] With UE-assisted location methods, the UE 120 may obtain location measurements and send the measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 220) for calculation of a location estimate of the UE 120. In RAT-dependent location methods, the location measurements may include one or more of a received signal strength indicator (RSSI), a round-trip signal propagation time (RTT), a reference signal received power (RSRP), a reference signal received quality (RSRQ), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a time of arrival (ToA), an AoA, a received time-transmitted time difference (Rx-Tx), a differential AoA (DAoA), an AoD, or a timing advance (TA) of one or more access points for the gNB 210, the ng-eNB 214, and / or the WLAN 216. Additionally or alternatively, if the locations of other UEs are known, similar measurements of sidelink signals transmitted by these other UEs may be made, which may serve as anchor points for the positioning of the UE 120. The location measurements may also or alternatively include measurements of RAT-independent positioning methods, such as GNSS (e.g., GNSS pseudorange, GNSS code phase, and / or GNSS carrier phase of GNSS satellites 110), WLAN, etc.

[0042]

[0058] Using the UE-based location method, the UE 120 may obtain location measurements (which may, for example, be the same as or similar to the location measurements of the UE-assisted location method) and may further calculate the location of the UE 120 (e.g., with the help of assistance data received from a location server such as the LMF 220, an SLP, or broadcast by the gNB 210, the ng-eNB 214, or the WLAN 216).

[0043]

[0059] Using a network-based location method, one or more base TRPs (e.g., base stations gNB210 and / or ng-eNB214), one or more APs (e.g., in WLAN216), or N3IWF250 may obtain location measurements (e.g., RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, AoA, or ToA measurements) of signals transmitted by UE120 and / or receive measurements obtained by UE120 or, in the case of N3IWF250, by an AP in WLAN216, and may send the measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF220) for calculation of a location estimate for UE120.

[0044]

[0060] The positioning of the UE 120 may also be categorized as UL, DL, or DL-UL based depending on the type of signal used for positioning. For example, if the positioning is based only on signals received at the UE 120 (e.g., from the TRP or other UEs), the positioning may be categorized as DL based. On the other hand, if the positioning is based only on signals transmitted by the UE 120 (e.g., may be received by the TRP or other UEs), the positioning may be categorized as UL based. Positioning that is DL-UL based includes positioning that is based on signals both transmitted and received by the UE 120, such as RTT-based positioning. Sidelink (SL)-assisted positioning comprises signals communicated between the UE 120 and one or more other UEs. According to some embodiments, the UL, DL, or DL-UL positioning described herein may be capable of using SL signaling as a supplement or replacement of the SL, DL, or DL-UL signaling.

[0045]

[0061] Depending on the type of positioning (e.g., UL, DL, or DL-UL based), the type of reference signal used may vary. For example, in DL-based positioning, these signals may comprise PRS (e.g., DL-PRS transmitted by the TRP or SL-PRS transmitted by other UEs) that may be used for TDOA, AoD, and RTT measurements. Other reference signals that may be used for positioning (UL, DL, or DL-UL) may include Sounding Reference Signals (SRS), Channel State Information Reference Signals (CSI-RS), Synchronization Signals (e.g., Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) Synchronization Signals (SS)), Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), Demodulation Reference Signals (DMRS), etc. Moreover, reference signals may be transmitted in the Tx beam and / or received in the Rx beam (e.g., using beamforming techniques), which may affect angle measurements such as AoD and / or AoA.

[0046]

[0062] FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a frame structure and associated terminology for NR, which may serve as a basis for physical layer communication between a UE 120 and a base station, such as a serving gNB 210-1. Each of the downlink and uplink transmission timelines may be partitioned into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined duration (e.g., 10 ms) and may be partitioned into 10 subframes of 1 ms each, indexed 0-9. Each subframe may include a variable number of slots depending on the subcarrier spacing. Each slot may include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7 or 14 symbols) depending on the subcarrier spacing. The symbol periods in each slot may be assigned an index. A minislot may comprise a subslot structure (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 symbols). Additionally, a full OFDM of a subframe is also illustrated in FIG. 4, which shows how a subframe may be divided into multiple resource blocks (RBs) across both time and frequency. A single RB may comprise a grid of resource elements (REs) spanning 14 symbols and 12 subcarriers.

[0047]

[0063] Each symbol in a slot may indicate a link direction (e.g., downlink (DL), uplink (UL), or flexible), or data transmission and link direction per subframe may be dynamically switched. The link direction may be based on the slot format. Each slot may include DL / UL data as well as DL / UL control information. In NR, a synchronization signal (SS) block is transmitted. The SS block includes a primary SS (PSS), a secondary SS (SSS), and a two-symbol physical broadcast channel (PBCH). The SS block may be transmitted at a fixed slot location, such as symbols 0-3 as shown in FIG. 3. The PSS and SSS may be used by the UE for cell search and acquisition. The PSS may provide half-frame timing, and the SS may provide cyclic prefix (CP) length and frame timing. The PSS and SSS may provide cell identification. The PBCH carries some basic system information, such as downlink system bandwidth, timing information within a radio frame, SS burst set periodicity, and system frame number.

[0048]

[0064] FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a radio frame sequence 400 including a PRS positioning occasion. 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 referred to as a "PRS positioning occasion", a "PRS positioning instance", a "positioning occasion", a "positioning instance", a "positioning repetition", or simply an "occasion", an "instance", or an "repetition". The subframe sequence 400 may be applicable to broadcasting a PRS signal (DL-PRS signal) from a base station 120 in the positioning system 100. The radio frame sequence 400 may be used in 5G NR (e.g., in the 5G NR positioning system 200) and / or in LTE. As in FIG. 4, time is represented horizontally (e.g., on the X-axis) in FIG. 4, with time increasing from left to right. Frequency is represented vertically (eg, on the Y-axis) with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

[0049]

[0065] FIG. 4 illustrates how PRS positioning occasions 410-1, 410-2, and 410-3 (collectively and generically referred to herein as positioning occasions 410) are associated with a system frame number (SFN), a cell-specific subframe offset (Δ PRS )415, L PRS The subframe length or span and the PRS periodicity (T PRS ) 420. The cell-specific PRS subframe configuration is determined by a “PRS configuration index” I PRS The cell-specific subframe offset (Δ PRS ) 415 may be defined as the number of subframes transmitted from system frame number (SFN) 0 to the start of the first (subsequent) PRS positioning occasion.

[0050]

[0066] The PRS may be transmitted by a wireless node (e.g., a TRP) after proper configuration (e.g., by an operation and maintenance (O&M) server). The PRS may be transmitted in special positioning subframes or slots that are grouped into positioning occasions 410. For example, PRS positioning occasion 410-1 may be N PRS 1, the number of consecutive positioning subframes may be N PRS can be between 1 and 160 (e.g., can include values ​​1, 2, 4, and 6, as well as other values). The PRS occasions 410 can be grouped into one or more PRS occasion groups. As mentioned, the PRS positioning occasions 410 are divided into a number T PRS and may occur periodically at intervals of millisecond (or subframe) intervals denoted by T PRS may be equal to 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640, or 1280 (or any other suitable value). PRS may be measured in terms of the number of subframes between the start of successive positioning occasions.

[0051]

[0067] In some aspects, the UE 120 may include a PRS configuration index I in the assistance data for a particular cell (e.g., TRP). PRS Upon receiving the PRS periodicity T PRS 420 and cell-specific subframe offset (Δ PRS ) 415. The UE 120 may then determine the radio frame, subframe, and slot in which the PRS is scheduled in the cell. The assistance data may be determined, for example, by a location server (e.g., location server 160 of FIG. 1 and / or LMF 220 of FIG. 2) and includes assistance data for the reference cell and several neighboring cells supported by various wireless nodes.

[0052]

[0068] Typically, PRS occasions from all cells using the same frequency in a network are aligned in time and have a fixed, known time offset (e.g., a cell-specific subframe offset (Δ PRS ) 415). In an SFN synchronous network, all wireless nodes (e.g., TRP / base station 120) may be aligned on both frame boundaries and system frame numbers. Thus, in an SFN synchronous network, all cells supported by various wireless nodes may use the same PRS configuration index for any particular frequency of PRS transmission. On the other hand, in an SFN asynchronous network, various wireless nodes may be aligned on frame boundaries but not on system frame numbers. Thus, in an SFN asynchronous network, the PRS configuration index for each cell may be configured by the network separately such that the PRS occasions are aligned in time. If the UE 120 can obtain the cell timing (e.g., SFN or frame number) of at least one of the cells, e.g., a reference cell or a serving cell, the UE 120 may determine the timing of the PRS occasions 410 of the reference and neighbor cells for TDOA positioning. The timing of other cells may then be derived by the UE 120, e.g., based on the assumption that PRS occasions from different cells overlap.

[0053]

[0069] With respect to the frame structure of FIG. 4, a collection of REs used for transmitting a PRS is called a "PRS resource." The collection of resource elements may span multiple RBs in the frequency domain and one or more consecutive symbols in a slot in the time domain, within which a pseudorandom quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) sequence is transmitted from an antenna port of a TRP. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, the PRS resources occupy consecutive RBs in the frequency domain. The transmission of PRS resources in a given RB has a certain comb size (also called "comb density"). The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) in each symbol of a PRS resource configuration, which uses every Nth subcarrier of some symbols of an RB. For example, for comb 4, for each of four symbols of the PRS resource configuration, the REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (e.g., subcarriers 0, 4, 8) are used for transmitting a PRS of the PRS resource. In a PRS, for example, comb sizes of comb 2, comb 4, comb 6, and comb 12 may be used. Examples of different comb sizes with different numbers of symbols are provided in FIG.

[0054]

[0070] A "PRS resource set" is a group of PRS resources used to transmit PRS signals, with each PRS resource having a PRS resource ID. In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a specific TRP (identified by a cell ID). In addition, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set may have the same periodicity, a common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor across slots. The periodicity is 2 m · It may have a length selected from {4,5,8,10,16,20,32,40,64,80,160,320,640,1280,2560,5120,10240} slots, μ=0,1,2,3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1,2,4,6,8,16,32} slots.

[0055]

[0071] A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set may be associated with a single beam (and / or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (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 "resource") may also be referred to as a "beam." Note that this does not have any implication regarding whether the TRP and the beam on which the PRS is transmitted are known to the UE.

[0056]

[0072] In the 5G NR positioning system 200 shown in FIG. 2, the TRPs (e.g., 210, 214, 216) may transmit frames or other physical layer signaling sequences supporting PRS signals (i.e., DL-PRS) according to the frame configurations previously described, which may be measured and used to determine the position of the UE 120. As mentioned, other types of wireless network nodes, including other UEs, may also be configured to transmit PRS signals configured in a similar (or the same) manner as described above. Because the transmission of the PRS by the wireless network node may be directed to all UEs within radio range, the wireless network node may be considered to transmit (or broadcast) the PRS.

[0057]

[0073] FIG. 6 is a diagram of a hierarchical structure of how PRS resources and PRS resource sets may be used by different TRPs of a given position frequency layer (PFL) as defined in 5G NR. With respect to the network (Uu) interface, the UE 120 may be configured with one or more DL-PRS resource sets from each of one or more TRPs. Each DL-PRS resource set includes K≧1 DL-PRS resources, which may correspond to the TRP's Tx beams as previously described. A DL-PRS PFL is defined as a collection of DL-PRS resource sets having the same subcarrier spacing (SCS) and cyclic prefix (CP) type, the same value of DL-PRS bandwidth, the same center frequency, and the same value of comb size. In the current version of the NR standard, the UE 120 may be configured with up to four DL-PRS PFLs.

[0058]

[0074] NR has multiple frequency bands spanning different frequency ranges (e.g., Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and Frequency Range 2 (FR2)). The PFLs may be on the same band or different bands. In some embodiments, they may even be in different frequency ranges. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 7, multiple TRPs (e.g., TRP1 and TR2) may be on the same PFL. Currently, under NR, each TRP can have up to two PRS resource sets, with each PRS resource set containing one or more PRS resources, as previously described.

[0059]

[0075] Different PRS resource sets may have different periodicities. For example, one PRS resource set may be used for tracking and another PRS resource set may be used for acquisition. Additionally or alternatively, one PRS resource set may have more beams and another PRS resource set may have fewer beams. Thus, different resource sets may be used by the wireless network for different purposes.

[0060]

[0076] FIG. 7 is a time diagram illustrating two different options for slot usage of a resource set, according to one embodiment. Each example repeats each resource four times, so the resource set is said to be 4-fold repeated. Continuous sweeping 710 comprises repeating a single resource (resource 1, resource 2, etc.) four times before proceeding to a subsequent resource. In this example, if each resource corresponds to a different beam of the TRP, the TRP repeats the beam for four consecutive slots before moving to the next beam. Since each resource is repeated in consecutive slots (e.g., resource 1 is repeated in slots n, n+1, n+2, etc.), the time gap is said to be one slot. On the other hand, for interleaved sweeping 720, the TRP may move from one beam to the next beam for each subsequent slot, cycling through the four beams for four rotations. Since each resource is repeated every four slots (e.g., resource 1 is repeated in slots n, n+4, n+8, etc.), the time gap is said to be one slot. Of course, embodiments are not so limited. Resource sets may comprise different amounts of resources and / or repetitions. Additionally, as noted above, each TRP may have multiple resource sets, multiple TRPs may utilize a single FL, and a UE may be able to measure PRS resources transmitted over multiple FLs.

[0061]

[0077] Thus, to obtain PRS measurements from TRPs in the network and / or PRS signals sent by the UE, the UE may be configured to observe PRS resources for a period of time called a measurement period. That is, to determine the location of the UE using the PRS signals, the UE and a location server (e.g., LMF 220 of FIG. 2) may initiate a location session during which the UE is given a period of time to observe the PRS resources and report the resulting PRS measurements to the location server. As described in more detail below, this measurement period may be determined based on the capabilities of the UE.

[0062]

[0078] During the measurement period, the UE may be configured to perform a measurement gap (MG) pattern to measure and process PRS resources. The UE may request a measurement gap from a serving TRP, for example, which may then provide the configuration to the UE (e.g., via a radio resource control (RRC) protocol).

[0063]

[0079] As previously mentioned, reference signals such as the PRS resources described and illustrated above with respect to Figures 4-7 may be vulnerable to attacks that may interfere with the position determination of UEs that measure these PRS resources. These attacks include "man-in-the-middle" attacks in which a device transmits a non-legitimate reference signal (referred to herein as an "attacker signal") that mimics a legitimate reference signal (also referred to herein simply as a "reference signal") received by the device. Additional details regarding these types of attacks are provided below with reference to Figures 8A-8B.

[0064]

[0080] 8A and 8B are diagrams illustrating examples of how, from a physical layer perspective, a man-in-the-middle attack (or "spoofing") of a reference signal can be performed by an attacking device on a reference signal for positioning of a UE in a wireless network. As in FIGS. 3-5 and 7, time is represented from left to right on the horizontal axis.

[0065]

[0081] As shown, the attack device's ability to perform a man-in-the-middle attack may cycle from a "listen" mode to an "operate" mode and then to an "attack" mode. In the listen mode, the attack device listens to a first portion of the reference signal and tunes one or more transceivers to capture each portion of the reference signal transmitted on an associated frequency. During the operation mode, the attack device may use brute force, or other algorithms, to decode the portion of the transmitted reference signal if the decoding information is not already known by the attack device. In the attack mode, the attack device may make one or more transmissions to mimic the second portion of the reference signal and / or subsequent reference signals.

[0066]

[0082] FIG. 8A illustrates an "across-symbol" attack, which is an attack at the symbol level of the reference signal. Here, the attacking device may attack by listening to one or more first symbols (e.g., symbol n) of the legitimate reference signal and mimicking one or more subsequent portions of the reference signal in one or more subsequent symbols (e.g., symbol n+k). The listening, operation, and attack mode of the attacking device may vary based on factors such as the algorithm used to decode the listened-to symbols, the processing capabilities of the attacking device, etc. In some attacks, there may be several symbols between symbol n and symbol n+k. In other attacks, the attack may be performed on the symbol immediately following the listened-to symbol (i.e., k=1). In an across-symbol attack, the attack may be performed within the same slot in which the reference signal is transmitted (i.e., symbol n and symbol n+k are in the same slot).

[0067]

[0083] FIG. 8B illustrates an "across-slot" attack, which is an attack at the slot level of the reference signal. Here, an attacking device may attack by listening to the first part of the regular reference signal in the first slot (slot n) and mimicking one or more subsequent parts of the reference signal in one or more subsequent slots (e.g., slot n+k). As with the inter-symbol attack, the listening, operation, and attack mode of the attacking device may vary. In some attacks, there may be several slots between slot n and slot n+k. In other attacks, the attack may be performed against the slot immediately following the listening slot (i.e., k=1). In a slot attack, the attack may be performed between the first repetition of the reference signal and a subsequent repetition of the reference signal.

[0068]

[0084] The manner in which a resource signal, such as DL-PRS, is encoded is often deterministic. That is, one or more transmission parameters used for encoding, such as a scrambling ID, are often generated using a (known) sequence generator. Thus, if an attacking device can determine an encoding parameter for a first symbol or slot, it may be able to use that encoding parameter in a sequence generator to generate encoding parameters for subsequent symbols or slots for the entire set of resource signal references. For example, a PRS resource is encoded with a scrambling ID that is generated using a pseudo-random sequence generator. After the attacking device successfully decodes at least a portion of a PRS resource, it may determine a scrambling ID for that resource and use the pseudo-random sequence generator to generate scrambling IDs for subsequent PRS resources in the sequence of PRS resources.

[0069]

[0085] 9A and 9B are diagrams illustrating how attacks may be perceived by a UE from a timing perspective. Attacks on reference signals measured by the UE may cause errors in measurements made by the UE, which may result in errors in the estimated location of the UE.

[0070]

[0086] 9A is a diagram of a reference signal 910-A received by a receiving device. More specifically, the reference signal 910-A may represent a correlation peak of an RF signal of a PRS resource transmitted during a symbol or slot, having a particular amplitude, and received at a particular time. In practice, there may be multiple additional peaks that may include noise, multipath, etc., and these additional peaks may be filtered out using time and / or amplitude filtering techniques.

[0071]

[0087] Figure 9B is a diagram of a reference signal 910-B similar to the reference signal 910-A of Figure 9A. However, here there is an additional aggressor signal 920 that precedes the reference signal 910-B in time. Also, although the aggressor signal 920 may not have an amplitude as large as the reference signal 910-B, a receiving device may interpret the aggressor signal 920 as the reference signal 910-B if the aggressor signal 920 exceeds a peak threshold 930 used to filter noise / multipath, etc.

[0072]

[0088] If misinterpreted as a reference signal 910-B by the receiving device, the aggressor signal 920 may cause errors in measurements made by the receiving device for positioning the UE. For example, the time difference 940 between the aggressor signal 920 and the legitimate reference signal 910-B may cause errors in timing measurements of the reference signal 910-B, for example, by basing the ToA measurements on the time the aggressor signal 920 is received instead of the time the reference signal 910-B is received (e.g., by setting a ToA index). Although sampling rates may vary, an aggressor signal 920 that precedes the reference signal 910-B by only a few samples may result in positioning errors of several meters. This may be very problematic in applications such as autonomous driving, where such errors in the estimated position of the vehicle may compromise the safety of passengers, pedestrians, etc.

[0073]

[0089] Embodiments herein help prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, including inter-symbol and inter-slot attacks, by refraining from providing the UE with one or more transmission parameters for decoding at least a portion of the PRS resources until at least a portion of the PRS has been transmitted. The UE may buffer the signal and process the buffered signal after the one or more transmission parameters have been provided. Furthermore, the transmission parameters may be non-deterministic such that an attacker device that obtains the parameters for a period of time (e.g., a symbol, slot, or repetition) cannot use the decoded parameters to predict or determine subsequent transmission parameters.

[0074]

[0090] Traditionally, for PRS resources, each resource has its own set of transmission parameters. Referring again to FIG. 7, for example, each resource or beam (e.g., resource 1-resource 4) would thus have its own set of unique transmission parameters. These transmission parameters may include, for example, resource ID, sequence ID, comb type, slot offset, symbol offset, and (optionally) quasi-colocation (QCL). The information is included in assistance data (which may be, for example, unicast, groupcast, or broadcast) provided to one or more UEs to enable the one or more UEs to decode the PRS resource. As mentioned, an attacker device - for example, a bad actor UE - attacks the PRS resource by transmitting a signal that mimics the signal characteristics of the PRS resource conveyed in the transmission parameters. Furthermore, since PRS resources transmitted by the TRP are often used for positioning by multiple UEs, a UE receiving unicast information about the PRS resource may perform an attack by mimicking a PRS resource that is likely to be used by other nearby UEs.

[0075]

[0091] As mentioned, embodiments can help prevent inter-symbol and / or inter-slot attacks by refraining from providing one or more of these transmission parameters used to decode at least a portion of the PRS resource until the PRS resource (or at least a portion thereof) has been transmitted. More specifically, the location server can refrain from providing the UE with these one or more transmission parameters in the assistance data until the portion of the PRS resource that uses these one or more parameters has been transmitted. Depending on the desired functionality, the one or more parameters that the location server refrains from providing may include a subset of the transmission parameters needed to decode the PRS resource. This may include a single transmission parameter (e.g., a scrambling ID), multiple transmission parameters, or all transmission parameters. FIG. 10 shows an example of when one or more transmission parameters may be sent.

[0076]

[0092] Figure 10 is a time diagram that reproduces the continuous 1010 and interleaved 1020 examples of beam sweeping shown in Figure 7. However, now different times (represented by arrows 1030, 1040, 1050, and 1060) are provided to show example times after which the location server may provide one or more transmission parameters for resource 1 to one or more receiving UEs.

[0077]

[0093] For the continuous sweeping 1010 example, for example, the location server may refrain from providing one or more transmission parameters for decoding resource 1 until after time 1030 after the last repetition of resource 1 is transmitted in slot n+3. Additionally or alternatively, the location server may refrain from providing one or more transmission parameters until after the entire sweep at time 1040.

[0078]

[0094] For the example interleaved sweeping 1020, the final repetition of resource 1 occurs in slot n+12, so that the location server may provide one or more transmission parameters for decoding resource 1 after time 1050. Again, according to some embodiments, the location server may refrain from providing one or more transmission parameters until after the entire sweep at time 1060.

[0079]

[0095] As mentioned, each UE that is to process a PRS resource can buffer the RF signal transmitted in the symbol / slot used to convey the PRS resource and then process the PRS resource from the buffered RF signal after receiving one or more reserved transmission parameters. Figure 11 provides an example timeline of how this can be done.

[0080]

[0096] FIG. 11 is a time diagram illustrating how a UE can buffer and process PRS resources, according to an example. Here, repetition of PRS positioning occasions 1110 is shown similar to FIG. 3. Thus, each PRS positioning occasion 1110 may represent a full beam sweep of multiple PRS beams / resources (e.g., as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 10). As mentioned, L PRS The length of the subframe span (length of the PRS positioning occasion 1110) and / or the PRS periodicity (T PRS ) 1120 may vary. By way of example, each positioning occasion 1110 may span 6 ms and the PRS periodicity may be 160 ms. However, as previously mentioned, the length of either or both of these periods may vary.

[0081]

[0097] To buffer and process the PRS resource, the UE waits for the location server to provide one or more transmission parameters required to decode the PRS resource. PRS10, this may be done during or after the positioning occasion 1110-1. However, as further shown in FIG. 11, there may be a delay 1130 after the positioning occasion 1110-1 before the one or more transmission parameters are provided (at time 1140). This delay 1130 may allow some additional flexibility in timing for the network when providing the one or more transmission parameters (e.g., to handle dropped packets, etc.). However, implementations may set the delay 1130 to 0 ms in cases where the one or more transmission parameters may be provided immediately after the positioning occasion 1110.

[0082]

[0098] The relevant specifications may specify a maximum delay 1130 for providing one or more transmission parameters. Conventional specification requirements allow a UE to buffer up to 50 ms, so a positioning occasion 1010-1 on the order of a few milliseconds to 10 ms or more followed by a delay of a few milliseconds (e.g., 3 ms) should be easily accommodated by existing UEs, for example. According to some embodiments, the delay 1130 may be up to 10 ms, 20 ms, or more, if necessary. The assistance data provided by the location server prior to the positioning occasion 1010 may comprise frequency, bandwidth, periodicity, and / or other basic information to enable the UE to buffer the relevant symbols / subcarriers.

[0083]

[0099] The processing period 1160 is a period during which the UE processes the buffered information using the one or more transmission parameters provided at time 1140 to determine measurements (e.g., ToA measurements) of one or more PRS resources transmitted in the previous PRS occasion 1110-1. According to an embodiment, the processing period 1160 may not necessarily extend the entire period between the time 1140 at which the one or more parameters are provided and the beginning of the next PRS occasion 1110-2. However, the relevant specifications may reflect the delay 1130, for example, by extending the period during which the UE may process the PRS information and / or delaying the time at which the processing period 1160 begins until time 1140. Additionally or alternatively, if the one or more transmission parameters are conveyed to the UE via a medium access control-control element (MAC-CE) message, the starting point for processing may correspond to a delay period after the slot conveying the ACK / NAK reply.

[0084]

[0100] In addition to withholding at least one transmission parameter until at least a portion of a PRS resource has been transmitted in order to decode (e.g., generate a waveform for) the PRS resource, embodiments may use one or more additional features to help ensure that the PRS resource is secure.

[0085]

[0101] First, as indicated previously, the value of at least one transmission parameter may vary from resource to resource or symbol to symbol. That is, even if an attacker device is able to determine a value for at least one transmission parameter using brute force techniques or other algorithms, the value may not be the same for the next symbol / resource. However, as noted above, some transmission parameters may be deterministic, allowing an attacker device to generate successive transmission parameter values ​​upon determining a first transmission parameter value. This leads to a second manner in which embodiments may secure PRS resources.

[0086]

[0102] Second, the value of at least one transmission parameter may be independent or non-deterministic from successive transmission parameter values. That is, the transmission parameter value for any given symbol / resource may not be indicative of the transmission parameter value for successive parameter values ​​during the positioning session. For example, as described above, the scrambling ID values ​​for PRS resources used within the positioning session may be generated using a known pseudo-random scrambling ID generator. Thus, if a value for the scrambling ID of a first PRS resource is determined by an attacker device, the attacker device may use a scrambling ID generator to generate scrambling IDs for at least some successive PRS resources in a sequence of PRS resources. However, according to an embodiment, PRS symbols or resources may be given different and unrelated scrambling IDs (and / or other parameter values), which may help ensure that brute force decoding of the first portion of a PRS resource does not allow the attacker to decode any subsequent portions.

[0087]

[0103] It should be noted that the granularity of the transmission parameter value change may be different from the granularity of the independent / non-deterministic nature of the transmission parameter values. That is, the first embodiment may have different transmission parameter values ​​for each symbol, each value being independent / non-deterministic from the values ​​for the transmission parameters of the subsequent symbols, while the second embodiment, in which the different transmission parameter values ​​also change for each symbol, may have some determinism, and symbols in the same slot, same repetition, or same resource may be related (e.g., values ​​are determined using the same value generator). However, in the second embodiment, the transmission parameter values ​​in one PRS resource may be independent / non-deterministic from the transmission parameter values ​​of another PRS resource in the set of PRS resources used in the positioning session for the UE.

[0088]

[0104] Depending on the desired functionality, the transmission parameters that are reserved by the location server until after transmission of at least a portion of the PRS resources may vary, which may include scrambling IDs, frequency domain parameters, comb patterns, OFDM symbol offsets, slot offsets, or combinations thereof.

[0089]

[0105] According to some embodiments, a value generator for different transmission parameters may be provided. For example, in embodiments where multiple transmission parameter values ​​that vary from symbol to symbol are reserved, providing this information may result in a large amount of overhead. To reduce the overhead, the location server may simply provide a generator (e.g., a formula or algorithm) that the receiving UE can use to generate unique values ​​for the parameters for every symbol. However, unlike the scrambling ID generator, this generator, provided by the location server in this case, may not be already known. That is, this generator may be specific to the sequence of symbols used in a particular case. However, the generator may be selected from several predefined generators that may be pre-determined and indexed, thereby saving even more overhead by allowing the location server to simply identify the generator (e.g., by an index number) to use to generate values ​​for the various transmission parameters.

[0090]

[0106] The manner in which the one or more transmission parameter values ​​are communicated to the UE may vary depending on the desired functionality. The information may be communicated, for example, using a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message or a MAC-CE message, which may be encrypted. According to some embodiments, the information may be provided using a broadcasted message such as a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) (e.g., a group-common PDCCH) or a Positioning System Information Block (posSIB). Additionally or alternatively, the information may be provided using an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message. The information may come from a location server and be relayed to the UE via the UE's serving TRP. According to some embodiments, to enable easier scheduling, the location server may provide the transmission parameter information to the TRP, which can decide when to relay the transmission parameter information to the UE.

[0091]

[0107] The parameter transmission information can be transmitted as a periodic data transmission, which may comprise a configured or scheduled grant. The periodic data transmission may be separate from the PRS resource itself, but may be sent periodically, which may correspond to the periodicity of the PRS occasion (e.g., every 160 ms).

[0092]

[0108] Alternatively, the parameter information may comprise PRS resources (eg, via a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)). An example of this type of parameter information transmission is described below with respect to Figures 12A-12C.

[0093]

[0109] 12A-12C are timing diagrams illustrating different options for communicating one or more transmit parameter values, according to various embodiments.

[0094]

[0110] 12A illustrates a first embodiment in which PRS information (PRS occasions) is transmitted on a first frequency band and transmission parameter information is transmitted within a PDSCH on a second frequency band, where the PDSCH overlaps with the PRS such that a portion of the PRS (e.g., the last symbol of the PRS occasion) is transmitted simultaneously with the PDSCH.

[0095]

[0111] FIG. 12B illustrates a second embodiment that provides an alternative to the simultaneous transmission approach of FIG. 12A. In particular, since in some circumstances it may not be desirable to transmit the PDSCH on a separate frequency band, some embodiments may allow for transmitting the PDSCH with transmission parameter information after the PRS. As illustrated, the information may be attached to the PRS (e.g., in the symbol immediately following the PRS). Additionally or alternatively, as previously discussed, there may be some delay between the end of the PRS and the transmission of the PDSCH. If the information is attached to the PRS, the PDSCH may not technically be part of the PRS channel, but may be part of a configured grant PDSCH that is attached to the PRS.

[0096]

[0112] Figure 12C shows a third embodiment. This embodiment is somewhat similar to the embodiment shown in Figure 12B, in which the transmission parameter information is attached to the PRS. However, unlike the embodiment in Figure 12B, the information is provided as part of the PRS itself, rather than a separate PDSCH. Thus, the information can be considered as part of the data channel of the PRS, which can be separate from the signal channel of the PRS used for positioning.

[0097]

[0113] Figure 13 is a flow diagram of a method 1300 of securing PRS resources for positioning of a UE in a wireless communication network according to one embodiment. Means for performing the functions illustrated in one or more of the blocks illustrated in Figure 13 may be implemented by hardware and / or software components of a network entity such as a location server or a serving TRP of the UE. Example components of a computer system that may comprise a location server are illustrated in Figure 17 and example components of a TRP are illustrated in Figure 16, both of which are described in more detail below.

[0098]

[0114] In block 1310, the function comprises sending first configuration data to the UE indicating a time period during which at least a portion of the PRS resources will be transmitted using one or more OFDM symbols, the sending of the first configuration data occurring prior to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a TRP of the wireless communications network, the first configuration data excluding at least one transmission parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. In some embodiments, the at least one OFDM symbol includes a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a unique transmission parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols. As stated, assistance data may be provided to the UE omitting the at least one transmission parameter value for decoding at least a portion of the PRS resources. More specifically, assistance data may be provided to the UE prior to transmission of at least a portion of the PRS resources to enable the UE to buffer related signal information for later processing after the at least one transmission parameter value has been included. Again, embodiments may vary with respect to when the omitted at least one transmission parameter value is provided. According to some embodiments, for example, the one or more OFDM symbols are within the same OFDM slot or the same repetition of the PRS resource. The omitted at least one parameter value may also vary. Depending on the desired functionality, the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a scrambling ID, a frequency domain parameter, a comb pattern, an OFDM symbol offset, a slot offset, or a combination thereof.

[0099]

[0115] Additionally or alternatively, the first configuration data may include information regarding the timing of when the omitted at least one transmission parameter is to be provided. For example, according to some embodiments, the first configuration data includes an indication of a maximum time delay between the transmission of at least the portion of the PRS resources and the time the second configuration data is received by the UE.

[0100]

[0116] The means for performing the functions in block 1310 may comprise, for example, a bus 1705, a processing unit 1710, a communication subsystem 1730, a working memory 1735, and / or other components of a computer system 1700, as shown in FIG. 17. Alternatively, the means for performing the functions in block 1310 may comprise, for example, a bus 1605, a processing unit 1610, a digital signal processor (DSP) 1620, a wireless communication interface 1630, a memory 1660, and / or other components of a TRP 1600, as shown in FIG.

[0101]

[0117] In block 1320, the function comprises sending second configuration data to the UE indicating at least one transmission parameter value, where the sending of the second configuration data occurs subsequent to transmission of the portion of the PRS resource, and the second configuration data does not include information for generating a waveform for OFDM symbols of a subsequent portion of the PRS resource, or for subsequent PRS resources in the PRS resource set of the PRS resource. As mentioned, in the above described embodiments, the second configuration data may be provided in a DCI message, a MAC-CE message, an LPP message, an RRC message, a group-common PDCCH message, a posSIB, or a combination thereof. Additionally or alternatively, the second configuration data comprises a secure sequence generator that may be used to generate the at least one transmission parameter value. Sending the second configuration data may comprise sending the second configuration data on a separate frequency from the PRS resource during a period of the last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource, as mentioned in FIG. 12A. Additionally or alternatively, sending the second configuration data may comprise sending the second configuration data within a PDSCH at the end of the PRS resources or as embedded data at the end of the PRS resources, as shown in FIGS. 12B and 12C.

[0102]

[0118] The means for performing the functions in block 1320 may comprise, for example, the bus 1705, the processing unit 1710, the communication subsystem 1730, the working memory 1735, and / or other components of the computer system 1700, as shown in FIG. 17. Alternatively, the means for performing the functions in block 1320 may comprise, for example, the bus 1605, the processing unit 1610, the DSP 1620, the wireless communication interface 1630, the memory 1660, and / or other components of the TRP 1600, as shown in FIG.

[0103]

[0119] Figure 14 is a flow diagram of a method 1400 for processing secured PRS resources for UE positioning in a wireless communication network according to one embodiment. Means for performing the functions illustrated in one or more of the blocks illustrated in Figure 14 may be implemented by hardware and / or software components of the UE. Exemplary components of the UE are illustrated in Figure 15, which are described in more detail below.

[0104]

[0120] In block 1410, the function comprises receiving first configuration data from a network entity indicating a time period during which at least a portion of a PRS resource is to be transmitted using one or more OFDM symbols, the first configuration data being received prior to transmission of said portion of the PRS resource by a TRP of the wireless communications network, the first configuration data excluding at least one transmission parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. Again, in some embodiments, the at least one OFDM symbol includes a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a unique transmission parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols. Again, the one or more OFDM symbols may be within a same OFDM slot or same repetition of the PRS resource. Additionally or alternatively, the at least one transmission parameter value may comprise a value scrambling ID, a frequency domain parameter, a comb pattern, an OFDM symbol offset, a slot offset, or a combination thereof. The network entity may comprise a location server, or a serving TRP of the UE. According to some embodiments, the first configuration data may include an indication of a maximum time delay between transmission of at least said portion of the PRS resources and the time the second configuration data is received by the UE.

[0105]

[0121] Means for performing the functions in block 1410 may comprise, for example, a bus 1505, a processing unit 1510, a DSP 1520, a wireless communication interface 1530, a memory 1560, and / or other components of the UE 1500, as shown in FIG. 15.

[0106]

[0122] The function in block 1420 comprises buffering data from the signal received by the TRP during the period. As mentioned, the buffering may be based on assistance data received by the location server serving the TRP indicating various parameters applicable to the buffering. These parameters may include, for example, periodicity and / or length of PRS occurrences, applicable frequency bands, frequency and / or timing offsets, symbols used for PRS resources, etc.

[0107]

[0123] Means for performing the functions in block 1420 may comprise, for example, a bus 1505, a processing unit 1510, a DSP 1520, a memory 1560, and / or other components of the UE 1500 as shown in FIG.

[0108]

[0124] In block 1430, the function comprises receiving second configuration data from a network entity indicating at least one transmission parameter value, the second configuration data being received subsequent to transmission of at least a portion of the PRS resources. According to some embodiments, the second configuration data does not include information for generating a waveform for OFDM symbols of a subsequent portion of the PRS resources or for subsequent PRS resources in a PRS resource set of the PRS resources. Again, the second configuration data may be provided in a DCI message, a MAC-CE message, an LPP message, an RCC message, a group- and PDCCH message, a posSIB, or a combination thereof. According to some embodiments, the second configuration data may comprise a secure sequence generator, in which case processing the portion of the PRS resources may further comprise, for each of the one or more OFDM symbols, using the secure sequence generator to generate at least one transmission parameter value for the respective OFDM symbol. Again, the second configuration data may be received in any of the manners illustrated in, for example, FIG. 12A-C. Thus, according to some embodiments, receiving the second configuration data may comprise receiving the second configuration data on a separate frequency from the PRS resource during a last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource. Additionally or alternatively, receiving the second configuration data comprises receiving the second configuration data in a PDSCH at the end of the PRS resource or as embedded data at the end of the PRS resource.

[0109]

[0125] Means for performing the functions in block 1430 may comprise, for example, a bus 1505, a processing unit 1510, a DSP 1520, a wireless communication interface 1530, a memory 1560, and / or other components of the UE 1500 as shown in FIG. 15.

[0110]

[0126] In block 1440, the function comprises processing the portion of the PRS resources using at least one transmit parameter value on at least a portion of the buffered data to generate a waveform for each of one or more OFDM symbols. Means for performing the function in block 1440 may comprise, for example, a bus 1505, a processing unit 1510, a DSP 1520, a memory 1560, and / or other components of the UE 1500 as shown in FIG.

[0111]

[0127] FIG. 15 illustrates an embodiment of a UE 1500 that may be utilized as described herein above. For example, the UE 1500 may correspond to a UE and / or mobile device described in FIGS. 1-14 and may perform one or more of the functions of the method illustrated in FIG. 14. It should be noted that FIG. 15 is intended only to provide a generalized view of various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. It may be noted that in some instances, the components illustrated by FIG. 15 may be localized in a single physical device and / or distributed among various networked devices. Additionally, as previously discussed, the functionality of the UE discussed in the previously described embodiments may be performed by one or more of the hardware and / or software components illustrated in FIG. 15.

[0112]

[0128] The UE 1500 is shown with hardware elements that may be electrically coupled (or in other communication, as appropriate) via a bus 1505. The hardware elements may include a processing unit 1510, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (DSP chips, graphics acceleration processors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.), and / or other processing structures or means. As shown in FIG. 15, some embodiments may have a separate DSP 1520 depending on the desired functionality. Location determination and / or other determinations based on wireless communication may be provided in the processing unit 1510 and / or the wireless communication interface 1530 (discussed below). The UE 1500 may also include one or more input devices 1570, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more keyboards, touch screens, touch pads, microphones, buttons, dials, switches, etc., and one or more output devices 1515, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more displays (e.g., touch screens), light emitting diodes (LEDs), speakers, etc.

[0113]

[0129] The UE 1500 may also include a wireless communication interface 1530, which may comprise, but is not limited to, a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a chipset (such as a Bluetooth device, an IEEE 802.11 device, an IEEE 802.15.4 device, a Wi-Fi device, a WiMAX device, a WAN device, and / or various cellular devices), etc., that may enable the UE 1500 to communicate with other devices as described in the above embodiments. The wireless communication interface 1530 may enable data and signaling to be communicated (e.g., transmitted and received) with the TRP of the network, for example, via eNBs, gNBs, ng-eNBs, access points, various base stations and / or other access node types, and / or other network components, computer systems, and / or any other electronic devices communicatively coupled to the TRP, as described herein. The communication may occur via one or more wireless communication antennas 1532 that send and / or receive wireless signals 1534. According to some embodiments, the wireless communication antenna 1532 may comprise multiple individual antennas, an antenna array, or any combination thereof. The antenna 1532 may be capable of transmitting and receiving wireless signals using beams (e.g., Tx beams and Rx beams). Beamforming may be performed using digital and / or analog beamforming techniques with respective digital and / or analog circuitry. The wireless communication interface 1530 may include such circuitry.

[0114]

[0130] Depending on the desired functionality, the wireless communication interface 1530 may comprise separate receivers and transmitters, or any combination of transceivers, transmitters, and / or receivers, for communicating with TRPs / base stations (e.g., ng-eNBs and gNBs) and other terrestrial transceivers such as wireless devices and access points. The UE 1500 may communicate with various data networks, which may comprise various network types. For example, a wireless wide area network (WWAN) may be a CDMA network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) network, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) network, a WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) network, etc. The CDMA network may implement one or more RATs, such as CDMA2000, WCDMA, etc. CDMA2000 includes IS-95, IS-2000, and / or IS-856 standards. The TDMA network may implement GSM, Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS), or some other RAT. The OFDMA network may employ LTE, LTE Advanced, 5G NR, etc. 5G NR, LTE, LTE Advanced, GSM, and WCDMA are described in documents from 3GPP. CDMA2000 is described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 4" (3GPP2). 3GPP and 3GPP2 documents are publicly available. The wireless local area network (WLAN) may also be an IEEE 802.11x network, and the wireless personal area network (WPAN) may be a Bluetooth network, an IEEE 802.15x, or some other type of network. The techniques described herein may also be used for any combination of WWAN, WLAN, and / or WPAN.

[0115]

[0131] The UE 1500 may further include sensors 1540. The sensors 1540 may comprise, without limitation, one or more inertial sensors and / or other sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, cameras, magnetometers, altimeters, microphones, proximity sensors, light sensors, barometers, etc.), some of which may be used to obtain location relationship measurements and / or other information.

[0116]

[0132] An embodiment of the UE 1500 may also include a GNSS receiver 1580 capable of receiving signals 1584 from one or more Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) satellites using an antenna 1582 (which may be similar to the antenna 1532). Positioning based on GNSS signal measurements may be utilized to supplement and / or incorporate the techniques described herein. The GNSS receiver 1580 may extract a position of the UE 1500 using conventional techniques from GNSS satellites 110 of a GNSS system, such as Global Positioning System (GPS), Galileo, GLONASS, Japanese Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), Indian IRNSS, Chinese Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS), etc. Moreover, the GNSS receiver 1580 may be used with various augmentation systems (e.g., Satellite-Based Augmentation Systems (SBAS)) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems, such as, for example, Wide Area Augmentation Systems (WAAS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), Multifunction Satellite Augmentation Systems (MSAS), and Geo-Augmented Navigation Systems (GAGAN).

[0117]

[0133] It may be noted that although the GNSS receiver 1580 is shown as a separate component in FIG. 15, the embodiments are not so limited. The term “GNSS receiver” as used herein may comprise hardware and / or software components configured to obtain GNSS measurements (measurements from GNSS satellites). In some embodiments, the GNSS receiver may thus comprise a measurement engine executed (as software) by one or more processing units, such as the processing unit 1510, the DSP 1520, and / or a processing unit (e.g., in a modem) within the wireless communication interface 1530. The GNSS receiver may also include a positioning engine, which in some cases may use the GNSS measurements from the measurement engine to determine the position of the GNSS receiver using an extended Kalman filter (EKF), weighted least squares (WLS), a hatch filter, a particle filter, etc. The positioning engine may also be executed by one or more processing units, such as the processing unit 1510 or the DSP 1520.

[0118]

[0134] The UE 1500 may further include and / or be in communication with memory 1560. The memory 1560 may include local and / or network accessible storage, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices, such as, but not limited to, random access memory (RAM) and / or read-only memory (ROM), which may be programmable, flash updatable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data store, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, etc.

[0119]

[0135] The memory 1560 of the UE 1500 may also comprise software elements (not shown in FIG. 15 ) including an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more application programs that may comprise computer programs provided by various embodiments and / or that may be designed to implement methods and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments as described herein. By way of example only, one or more procedures described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions in the memory 1560 executable by the UE 1500 (and / or the processing unit 1510 or DSP 1520 within the UE 1500). In one aspect, such code and / or instructions may then be used to configure and / or adapt a general-purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations in accordance with the described methods.

[0120]

[0136] Figure 16 illustrates an embodiment of a TRP 1600 that may be utilized as described herein above. For example, the TRP 1600 may correspond to a TRP and / or base station (e.g., gNB, eNB, ng-eNB, etc.) described above with reference to Figures 1-14 and may perform one or more of the functions of the method illustrated in Figure 13. It should be noted that Figure 16 is intended to provide only a generalized illustration of various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate.

[0121]

[0137] The TRP 1600 is shown as comprising hardware elements that may be electrically coupled (or in communication otherwise, as appropriate) via a bus 1605. The hardware elements may include a processing unit 1610, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more special-purpose processors (such as DSP chips, graphics acceleration processors, ASICs, and / or others), and / or other processing structures or means. As shown in FIG. 16, some embodiments may have a separate DSP 1620, depending on the desired functionality. Location determination and / or other determinations based on wireless communication may be provided in the processing unit 1610 and / or the wireless communication interface 1630 (discussed below), according to some embodiments. The TRP 1600 may also include one or more input devices, which may include, but are not limited to, a keyboard, a display, a mouse, a microphone, buttons, dials, switches, and / or others, and one or more output devices, which may include, but are not limited to, a display, a light-emitting diode (LED), a speaker, and / or others.

[0122]

[0138] The TRP 1600 may also include a wireless communication interface 1630, which may comprise, but is not limited to, a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a chipset (such as a Bluetooth device, an IEEE 802.11 device, an IEEE 802.15.4 device, a Wi-Fi device, a WiMAX device, a cellular communication facility, etc.), and / or the like, which may enable the TRP 1600 to communicate as described herein. The wireless communication interface 1630 may enable data and signaling to be communicated (e.g., transmitted and received) to a UE, other base stations / TRPs (e.g., eNBs, gNBs, and ng-eNBs), and / or other network components, computer systems, and / or any other electronic device described herein. Communication may occur via one or more wireless communication antennas 1632 that transmit and / or receive wireless signals 1634.

[0123]

[0139] The TRP 1600 may also include a network interface 1680, which may include support for wireline communication technologies. The network interface 1680 may include a modem, a network card, a chipset, and / or the like. The network interface 1680 may include one or more input and / or output communication interfaces to allow data to be exchanged with a network, a communication network server, a computer system, and / or any other electronic device described herein.

[0124]

[0140] In many embodiments, the TRP 1600 may further comprise a memory 1660. The memory 1660 may include, but is not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid-state storage devices such as RAM and / or ROM that may be programmable and flash updatable, and / or the like. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data store, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, and / or the like.

[0125]

[0141] The memory 1660 of the TRP 1600 may also comprise software elements (not shown in FIG. 16 ) including an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more application programs that may comprise computer programs provided by various embodiments and / or may be designed to implement methods and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments as described herein. By way of example only, one or more procedures described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions in the memory 1660 executable by the TRP 1600 (and / or the processing unit 1610 or DSP 1620 within the TRP 1600). In one aspect, such code and / or instructions may then be used to configure and / or adapt a general-purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations in accordance with the methods described.

[0126]

[0142] FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system 1700 that may be used in whole or in part to provide the functionality of one or more network components described in the embodiments herein, such as a location server. Thus, the computer system may perform one or more of the functions of the method illustrated in FIG. 13. It should be noted that FIG. 17 is intended only to provide a generalized view of the various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate. FIG. 17 thus broadly illustrates how individual system elements may be implemented in a relatively separated or more relatively integrated manner. In addition, it may be noted that the components illustrated by FIG. 17 may be localized in a single device and / or distributed among various networked devices that may be disposed in different geographic locations.

[0127]

[0143] A computer system 1700 is shown comprising hardware elements that may be electrically coupled (or in other suitable communication) via a bus 1705. The hardware elements may include a processing unit 1710, which may comprise, but is not limited to, one or more general purpose processors, one or more special purpose processors (digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration processors, etc.), and / or other processing structures that may be configured to perform one or more of the methods described herein. The computer system 1700 may also comprise one or more input devices 1715, which may comprise, but is not limited to, a mouse, keyboard, camera, microphone, etc., and one or more output devices 1720, which may comprise, but is not limited to, a display device, printer, etc.

[0128]

[0144] Computer system 1700 may further include (and / or be in communication with) one or more non-transitory storage devices 1725, which may comprise, but are not limited to, local and / or network accessible storage and / or solid-state storage devices, such as, but not limited to, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, RAM and / or ROM, which may be programmable, flash updatable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data store, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, etc. Such data stores may include databases and / or other data structures used to store and manage messages and / or other information to be sent to one or more devices via the hub, as described herein.

[0129]

[0145] The computer system 1700 may also include a communication subsystem 1730, which may comprise wireless communication technologies managed and controlled by a wireless communication interface 1733, as well as wired technologies (Ethernet, coaxial communication, Universal Serial Bus (USB), etc.). The wireless communication interface 1733 may comprise one or more wireless transceivers that may send and receive wireless signals 1755 (e.g., signals according to 5GNR or LTE) via a wireless antenna 1750. Thus, the communication subsystem 1730 may comprise a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a chipset, etc., that may enable the computer system 1700 to communicate over any or all of the communication networks described herein to any device on the respective network, including user equipment (UE), base stations and / or other TRPs, and / or any other electronic device described herein. Thus, the communication subsystem 1730 may be used to receive and transmit data as described in the embodiments herein.

[0130]

[0146] In many embodiments, computer system 1700 further comprises working memory 1735, which may comprise a RAM or ROM device, as described above. The software elements shown as being located within working memory 1735 may comprise computer programs provided by various embodiments, as described herein, and / or may comprise other code, such as an operating system 1740, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or one or more applications 1745, which may be designed to implement methods and / or configure systems provided by other embodiments. By way of example only, one or more procedures described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions executable by a computer (and / or a processing unit within a computer), in one aspect, where such code and / or instructions may be used to configure and / or adapt a general-purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations in accordance with the methods described.

[0131]

[0147] A set of these instructions and / or code may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, such as storage device 1725 described above. In some cases, the storage medium may be incorporated within a computer system, such as computer system 1700. In other embodiments, the storage medium may be separate from the computer system (e.g., a removable medium such as an optical disk) and / or may be provided in an installation package such that the storage medium may be used to program, configure, and / or adapt a general-purpose computer with the instructions / code stored thereon. These instructions may take the form of executable code that is executable by computer system 1700 and / or may take the form of source code and / or installable code that takes the form of executable code when compiled and / or installed on computer system 1700 (e.g., using any of a variety of commonly available compilers, installation programs, compression / decompression utilities, etc.).

[0132]

[0148] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantial variations may be made according to particular requirements. For example, customized hardware may be used and / or particular elements may be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software such as applets), or both. Furthermore, connection to other computing devices, such as network I / O devices, may be employed.

[0133]

[0149] With respect to the accompanying figures, components that may include memory may include non-transitory machine-readable media. As used herein, the terms "machine-readable media" and "computer-readable media" refer to any storage medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a specific manner. In the embodiments provided above, various machine-readable media may participate in providing instructions / code to a processing unit and / or other devices for execution. Additionally or alternatively, machine-readable media may be used to store and / or transport such instructions / code. In many implementations, computer-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media, and volatile media. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, magnetic and / or optical media, any other physical media with a pattern of holes, RAM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), flash EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read instructions and / or code.

[0134]

[0150] The methods, systems, and devices discussed herein are examples. Various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, features described with respect to some embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Various aspects and elements of the embodiments may be combined in a similar manner. Various components of the diagrams provided herein may be implemented in hardware and / or software. Also, because technology evolves, many of the elements are examples that do not limit the scope of the disclosure to those particular examples.

[0135]

[0151] It has proven convenient at times, primarily for reasons of common usage, to refer to such signals as bits, information, values, elements, symbols, characters, variables, terms, numbers, numerals, or the like. It should be understood, however, that all of these or similar terms are to be associated with appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless otherwise indicated, and as is clear from the above discussion, it should be appreciated that throughout this specification discussions utilizing terms such as "processing," "calculating," "calculating," "determining," "ascertaining," "identifying," "associating," "measuring," "performing," and the like refer to acts or processes of a particular apparatus, such as a special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic computing device. In the context of this specification, therefore, a special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic computing device is capable of manipulating or transforming signals that are commonly represented as physical electronic, electrical, or magnetic quantities within memories, registers, or other information storage, transmission, or display devices of the special purpose computer or similar special purpose electronic computing device.

[0136]

[0152] The terms "and" and "or" as used herein may include a variety of meanings that are also expected to depend, at least in part, on the context in which such terms are used. In general, "or," when used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to mean A, B, and C, used herein in an inclusive sense, as well as A, B, or C, used herein in an exclusive sense. In addition, the term "one or more" as used herein may be used to describe any feature, structure, or characteristic in the singular, or may be used to describe any combination of features, structures, or characteristics. However, it should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example, and claimed subject matter is not limited to this example. Furthermore, the term "at least one of," when used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, may be interpreted to mean any combination of A, B, and / or C, such as A, AB, AA, AAB, AABBCCC, etc.

[0137]

[0153] Although several embodiments have been described, various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the above elements may only be components of a larger system, where other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the various embodiments. Also, some steps may be performed before, during, or after the above elements are considered. Thus, the above description does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0138]

[0154] In view of this specification, embodiments may include various combinations of features. Example implementations are described in the following numbered clauses.

[0139] Clause 1. A method of securing positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communications network, the method being performed by a network entity and comprising: sending first configuration data to the UE indicating a time period during which at least a portion of the PRS resources are to be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein the sending of the first configuration data occurs prior to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmit / receive point (TRP) of the wireless communications network, the first configuration data excluding at least one transmit parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols; sending second configuration data to the UE indicating at least one transmit parameter value, wherein the sending of the second configuration data occurs subsequent to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources.

[0140] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the second configuration data does not include information for generating a waveform for an OFDM symbol of a subsequent portion of the PRS resource, or for a subsequent PRS resource within a PRS resource set of the PRS resource.

[0141] Clause 3. The method of any of clauses 1-2, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols include a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a unique transmission parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols.

[0142] Clause 4. A method according to any of clauses 1 to 3, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols are within the same OFDM slot or same repetition of the PRS resource.

[0143] Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1-4, wherein the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a value of a scrambling ID, a frequency domain parameter, a comb pattern, an OFDM symbol offset, a slot offset, or a combination thereof.

[0144] Clause 6. The method of any of clauses 1-5, wherein sending the second configuration data comprises sending the second configuration data via a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE) message, a LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, a group-common Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) message, a Positioning System Information Block (posSIB), or a combination thereof.

[0145] Clause 7. The method of any one of clauses 1 to 6, wherein the network entity comprises a location server or a serving TRP for the UE.

[0146] Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, wherein the second configuration data comprises a secure sequence generator.

[0147] Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 1-8, wherein the first configuration data includes an indication of a maximum time delay between transmission of the portion of PRS resources and the time the second configuration data is received by the UE.

[0148] Clause 10. The method of any of clauses 1-9, wherein sending the second configuration data comprises sending the second configuration data on a separate frequency from the PRS resource during a last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource.

[0149] Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 1-9, wherein sending the second configuration data comprises sending the second configuration data within a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at the end of the PRS resources or as embedded data at the end of the PRS resources.

[0150] Clause 12. A method of processing secured positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, the method being performed by a UE and comprising: receiving from a network entity first configuration data indicating a time period during which at least a portion of PRS resources are to be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, where the first configuration data is received prior to transmission of said portion of PRS resources by a transmit / receive point (TRP) of the wireless communication network, the first configuration data excluding at least one transmit parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols; buffering data from signals received by the TRP during said time period; receiving from the network entity second configuration data indicating at least one transmit parameter value; where the second configuration data processing said portion of PRS resources using at least one transmit parameter value on at least a portion of the buffered data to generate a waveform for each of one or more OFDM symbols received subsequent to transmission of said portion of PRS resources.

[0151] Clause 13. The method of clause 12, wherein the second configuration data does not include information for generating a waveform for an OFDM symbol of a subsequent portion of the PRS resource, or for a subsequent PRS resource within a PRS resource set of the PRS resource.

[0152] Clause 14. The method of any of clauses 12-13, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols include a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a unique transmission parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols.

[0153] Clause 15. A method according to any of clauses 12 to 14, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols are within the same OFDM slot or same repetition of the PRS resource.

[0154] Clause 16. The method of any of clauses 12-15, wherein the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a value of a scrambling ID, a frequency domain parameter, a comb pattern, an OFDM symbol offset, a slot offset, or a combination thereof.

[0155] Clause 17. The method of any of clauses 12 to 16, wherein the second configuration data is provided within a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE) message, a LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, a group-common Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) message, a Positioning System Information Block (posSIB), or a combination thereof.

[0156] Clause 18. The method of any of clauses 12 to 17, wherein the network entity comprises a location server or a serving TRP for the UE.

[0157] Clause 19. The method of any of clauses 12-18, wherein the second configuration data comprises a secure sequence generator, and wherein processing the PRS resources further comprises using the secure sequence generator to generate, for each of the one or more OFDM symbols, at least one transmission parameter value for the respective OFDM symbol.

[0158] Clause 20. The method of any of clauses 12 to 19, wherein the first configuration data includes an indication of a maximum time delay between transmission of at least the portion of the PRS resources and the time the second configuration data is received by the UE.

[0159] Clause 21. The method of any of clauses 12-20, wherein receiving the second configuration data comprises receiving the second configuration data on a frequency separate from the PRS resource during a last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource.

[0160] Clause 22. The method of any of clauses 12-20, wherein receiving the second configuration data comprises receiving the second configuration data in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at the end of the PRS resource or as embedded data at the end of the PRS resource.

[0161] Clause 23. A network entity for securing positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, comprising: a transceiver; a memory; and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the one or more processing units configured to: send, via the transceiver to the UE, first configuration data indicating a time period during which at least a portion of the PRS resources will be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to send the first configuration data prior to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmit / receive point (TRP) of the wireless communication network, the one or more processing units being configured to exclude from the first configuration data at least one transmission parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols; and send, via the transceiver to the UE, second configuration data indicating at least one transmission parameter value, wherein the sending of the second configuration data occurs subsequent to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources.

[0162] Clause 24. The network entity of clause 23, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to send the second configuration data such that the second configuration data does not contain information for generating a waveform for an OFDM symbol of a subsequent part of the PRS resource, or for a subsequent PRS resource within a PRS resource set of the PRS resource.

[0163] Clause 25. The network entity of any of clauses 23-24, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols include a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a unique transmission parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols.

[0164] Clause 26. A network entity according to any of clauses 23 to 25, wherein one or more OFDM symbols are within the same OFDM slot or the same repetition of a PRS resource.

[0165] Clause 27. The network entity of any of clauses 23 to 26, wherein the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a value of a scrambling ID, a frequency domain parameter, a comb pattern, an OFDM symbol offset, a slot offset, or a combination thereof.

[0166] Clause 28. The network entity of any of clauses 23 to 27, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to send the second configuration data via a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE) message, a LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, a Group Common Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) message, a Positioning System Information Block (posSIB), or a combination thereof.

[0167] Clause 29. A network entity according to any of clauses 23 to 28 comprising a location server or a serving TRP for the UE.

[0168] Clause 30. The network entity of any of clauses 23 to 29, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to include, in the second configuration data, a secure sequence generator.

[0169] Clause 31. The network entity of any of clauses 23 to 30, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to include, in the first configuration data, an indication of a maximum time delay between transmission of said portion of the PRS resource and the time at which the second configuration data is received by the UE.

[0170] Clause 32. The network entity of any of clauses 23 to 31, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to send second configuration data on a frequency separate from the PRS resource during a period of the last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource.

[0171] Clause 33. The network entity of any of clauses 23 to 31, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to send the second configuration data within a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at the end of the PRS resource or as embedded data at the end of the PRS resource.

[0172] Clause 34. A UE for processing secured positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, comprising: a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the one or more processing units receiving first configuration data from a network entity via the transceiver indicating a time period during which at least a portion of the PRS resources are to be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein the first configuration data is received prior to transmission of said portion of the PRS resources by a transmit / receive point (TRP) of the wireless communication network. the UE is configured to: buffer data from the signal received by the TRP during the period, the first configuration data excluding at least one transmit parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols; receive second configuration data from a network entity via a transceiver, the second configuration data indicating the at least one transmit parameter value; and process the portion of the PRS resource using the at least one transmit parameter value on at least a portion of the buffered data to generate a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols received subsequent to transmission of the portion of the PRS resource.

[0173] Clause 35. The UE of clause 34, wherein the second configuration data does not include information for generating a waveform for an OFDM symbol of a subsequent part of the PRS resource or for a subsequent PRS resource within a PRS resource set of the PRS resource.

[0174] Clause 36. The UE of any of clauses 34-35, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols include a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a unique transmission parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols.

[0175] Clause 37. The UE of any of clauses 34 to 36, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols are within the same OFDM slot or same repetition of the PRS resource.

[0176] Clause 38. The UE of any of clauses 34 to 37, wherein the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a value of a scrambling ID, a frequency domain parameter, a comb pattern, an OFDM symbol offset, a slot offset, or a combination thereof.

[0177] Clause 39. The UE of any of clauses 34 to 38, wherein the second configuration data is provided within a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE) message, a LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, a group-common Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) message, a Positioning System Information Block (posSIB), or a combination thereof.

[0178] Clause 40. A UE according to any of clauses 34 to 39, wherein the network entity comprises a location server or a serving TRP for the UE.

[0179] Clause 41. The UE of any of clauses 34 to 40, wherein the second configuration data comprises a secure sequence generator, and wherein, for processing the PRS resources, the one or more processing units are configured to use the secure sequence generator to generate, for each of the one or more OFDM symbols, at least one transmission parameter value for the respective OFDM symbol.

[0180] Clause 42. The UE of any of clauses 34 to 41, wherein the first configuration data includes an indication of a maximum time delay between transmission of at least said portion of the PRS resources and the time the second configuration data is received by the UE.

[0181] Clause 43. The UE of any of clauses 34 to 42, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to receive second configuration data on a frequency separate from the PRS resource during a period of the last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource.

[0182] Clause 44. The UE of any of clauses 34 to 42, wherein the one or more processing units are configured to receive the second configuration data in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at the end of the PRS resource or as embedded data at the end of the PRS resource.

[0183] Clause 45. An apparatus for securing positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communications network, comprising: means for sending first configuration data to the UE indicating a time period during which at least a portion of the PRS resources are to be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein the sending of the first configuration data occurs prior to transmission of said portion of the PRS resources by a transmit / receive point (TRP) of the wireless communications network, the configuration first data excluding at least one transmit parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols, means for sending second configuration data to the UE indicating at least one transmit parameter value, wherein the sending of the second configuration data occurs subsequent to transmission of said portion of the PRS resources.

[0184] Clause 46. The apparatus of clause 45, wherein the second configuration data does not include information for generating a waveform for an OFDM symbol of a subsequent portion of the PRS resource, or for a subsequent PRS resource within a PRS resource set of the PRS resource.

[0185] Clause 47. The apparatus of any of clauses 45-46, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols include a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a unique transmission parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols.

[0186] Clause 48. The apparatus of any of clauses 45 to 47, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols are within the same OFDM slot or same repetition of the PRS resource.

[0187] Clause 49. The apparatus of any of clauses 45-48, wherein the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a value of a scrambling ID, a frequency domain parameter, a comb pattern, an OFDM symbol offset, a slot offset, or a combination thereof.

[0188] Clause 50. The apparatus of any of clauses 45 to 49, wherein the second configuration data is provided within a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE) message, a LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, a group-common Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) message, a Positioning System Information Block (posSIB), or a combination thereof.

[0189] Clause 51. The device according to any one of clauses 45 to 50, wherein the network entity comprises a location server or a serving TRP for the UE.

[0190] Clause 52. The apparatus of any of clauses 45 to 51, wherein the second configuration data comprises a secure sequence generator.

[0191] Clause 53. The apparatus of any of clauses 45-52, wherein the first configuration data includes an indication of a maximum time delay between transmission of said portion of PRS resources and the time that the second configuration data is received by the UE.

[0192] Clause 54. The apparatus of any of clauses 45 to 53, wherein the means for sending the second configuration data comprises means for sending the second configuration data on a frequency separate from the PRS resource during a last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource.

[0193] Clause 55. The apparatus of any of clauses 45 to 53, wherein the means for sending the second configuration data comprises means for sending the second configuration data within a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at the end of the PRS resources or as embedded data at the end of the PRS resources.

[0194] Clause 56. An apparatus for processing secured positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communications network, comprising: means for receiving, from a network entity, first configuration data indicating a time period during which at least a portion of PRS resources are to be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, where the first configuration data is received prior to transmission of said portion of PRS resources by a Transmit / Receive Point (TRP) of the wireless communications network, the first configuration data excluding at least one transmit parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols, means for buffering data from signals received by the TRP during said time period; means for receiving, from the network entity, second configuration data indicating at least one transmit parameter value, where the second configuration data is received subsequent to transmission of said portion of PRS resources, means for processing said portion of PRS resources, where the processing comprises using the at least one transmit parameter value on at least a portion of the buffered data to generate a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols.

[0195] Clause 57. The apparatus of clause 56, wherein the second configuration data does not include information for generating a waveform for an OFDM symbol of a subsequent portion of the PRS resource, or for a subsequent PRS resource within a PRS resource set of the PRS resource.

[0196] Clause 58. The apparatus of any of clauses 56-57, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols include a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmit parameter value comprises a unique transmit parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols.

[0197] Clause 59. The apparatus of any of clauses 56 to 58, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols are within the same OFDM slot or same repetition of the PRS resource.

[0198] Clause 60. The apparatus of any of clauses 56-59, wherein the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a value of a scrambling ID, a frequency domain parameter, a comb pattern, an OFDM symbol offset, a slot offset, or a combination thereof.

[0199] Clause 61. The apparatus of any of clauses 56 to 60, wherein the second configuration data is provided within a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE) message, a LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, a group-common Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) message, a Positioning System Information Block (posSIB), or a combination thereof.

[0200] Clause 62. The device of any one of clauses 56 to 61, wherein the network entity comprises a location server or a serving TRP for the UE.

[0201] Clause 63. The apparatus of any of clauses 56-62, wherein the second configuration data comprises a secure sequence generator, and wherein the means for processing the PRS resources further comprises means for using the secure sequence generator to generate, for each of the one or more OFDM symbols, at least one transmission parameter value for the respective OFDM symbol.

[0202] Clause 64. The apparatus of any of clauses 56-63, wherein the first configuration data includes an indication of a maximum time delay between transmission of said portion of PRS resources and the time that the second configuration data is received by the UE.

[0203] Clause 65. The apparatus of any of clauses 56-64, wherein the means for receiving the second configuration data comprises means for receiving the second configuration data on a frequency separate from the PRS resource during a last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource.

[0204] Clause 66. The apparatus of any of clauses 56 to 64, wherein the means for receiving the second configuration data comprises means for receiving the second configuration data in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at the end of the PRS resources or as embedded data at the end of the PRS resources.

[0205] Clause 67. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions for securing positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communications network, the set of instructions comprising: code for sending first configuration data to the UE indicating a time period during which at least a portion of the PRS resources will be transmitted using one or more orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, where the sending of the first configuration data occurs prior to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmit / receive point (TRP) of the wireless communications network, the first configuration data excluding at least one transmit parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols; and sending second configuration data to the UE indicating at least one transmit parameter value, where the sending of the second configuration data occurs subsequent to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources.

[0206] Clause 68. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of clause 67, wherein the second configuration data does not include information for generating a waveform for an OFDM symbol of a subsequent portion of the PRS resource, or for a subsequent PRS resource within a PRS resource set of the PRS resource.

[0207] Clause 69. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 67-68, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols include a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a unique transmission parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols.

[0208] Clause 70. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 67 to 69, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols are within the same OFDM slot or same repetition of the PRS resource.

[0209] Clause 71. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 67-70, wherein the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a value of a scrambling ID, a frequency domain parameter, a comb pattern, an OFDM symbol offset, a slot offset, or a combination thereof.

[0210] Clause 72. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 67 to 71, wherein the second configuration data is provided within a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE) message, a LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, a Group Common Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) message, a Positioning System Information Block (posSIB), or a combination thereof.

[0211] Clause 73. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 67 to 72, wherein the network entity comprises a location server or a serving TRP for the UE.

[0212] Clause 74. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 67 to 73, wherein the second configuration data comprises a secure sequence generator.

[0213] Clause 75. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 67-74, wherein the first configuration data includes an indication of a maximum time delay between transmission of said portion of the PRS resource and a time at which the second configuration data is received by the UE.

[0214] Clause 76. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 67-75, wherein the code for sending the second configuration data comprises code for the second configuration data on a frequency separate from the PRS resource during a last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource.

[0215] Clause 77. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 67-75, wherein the code for sending the second configuration data comprises code for sending the second configuration data in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at the end of the PRS resources or as embedded data at the end of the PRS resources.

[0216] Clause 78. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions for processing secured positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, the set of instructions comprising: receiving, from a network entity, first configuration data indicating a time period during which at least a portion of the PRS resources are to be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols, wherein the first configuration data is received prior to transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmitting / receiving point (TRP) of the wireless communication network, and the first configuration data indicates a wave length for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. a signal processing unit configured to process the PRS resources during the period of time that includes a plurality of PRS resources, the plurality of PRS resources including a plurality of PRS resources having ...

[0217] Clause 79. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of clause 78, wherein the second configuration data does not include information for generating a waveform for an OFDM symbol of a subsequent portion of the PRS resource, or for a subsequent PRS resource within a PRS resource set of the PRS resource.

[0218] Clause 80. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 78-79, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols include a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a unique transmission parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols.

[0219] Clause 81. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 78 to 80, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols are within the same OFDM slot or same repetition of the PRS resource.

[0220] Clause 82. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 78-81, wherein the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a value of a scrambling ID, a frequency domain parameter, a comb pattern, an OFDM symbol offset, a slot offset, or a combination thereof.

[0221] Clause 83. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 78 to 82, wherein the second configuration data is provided within a Downlink Control Information (DCI) message, a Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE) message, a LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) message, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) message, a Group Common Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) message, a Positioning System Information Block (posSIB), or a combination thereof.

[0222] Clause 84. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 78 to 83, wherein the network entity comprises a location server or a serving TRP for the UE.

[0223] Clause 85. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 78-84, wherein the second configuration data comprises a secure sequence generator, and wherein processing the PRS resources further comprises using the secure sequence generator to generate, for each of the one or more OFDM symbols, at least one transmission parameter value for the respective OFDM symbol.

[0224] Clause 86. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 78 to 85, wherein the first configuration data includes an indication of a maximum time delay between transmission of at least the portion of the PRS resources and a time at which the second configuration data is received by the UE.

[0225] Clause 87. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 78-86, wherein the code for receiving the second configuration data comprises code for receiving the second configuration data on a frequency separate from the PRS resource during a period of the last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource.

[0226] Clause 88. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of any of clauses 78-86, wherein the code for receiving the second configuration data comprises code for receiving the second configuration data in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at an end of the PRS resource or as embedded data at an end of the PRS resource.

Claims

1. 1. A method of securing Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, the method being performed by a network entity, the method comprising: sending first configuration data to the UE indicating a time period during which at least a portion of a PRS resource is to be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols; sending the first configuration data before a transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmission / reception point (TRP) of the wireless communication network; the first configuration data excluding at least one transmit parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. sending second configuration data to the UE indicating the at least one transmission parameter value, wherein sending the second configuration data occurs subsequent to the transmission of the portion of the PRS resources. A method for providing the above.

2. The second configuration data is OFDM symbols of a subsequent portion of the PRS resource; or A subsequent PRS resource in the PRS resource set of the PRS resource The method of claim 1 , wherein the method does not include information for generating a waveform for

3. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more OFDM symbols comprises a plurality of OFDM symbols, and the at least one transmission parameter value comprises a unique transmission parameter value for each of the plurality of OFDM symbols.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more OFDM symbols are within a same OFDM slot or same repetition of the PRS resource.

5. The at least one transmission parameter value is Scrambling ID, frequency domain parameters, Comb pattern, OFDM symbol offset, Slot offset, or Combinations of these The method of claim 1 , comprising the value of

6. Sending the second configuration data comprises: Downlink Control Information (DCI) messages; Medium Access Control - Control Element (MAC-CE) messages; LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) messages; Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages; A group common physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) message; Positioning System Information Block (posSIB), or Combinations of these 2. The method of claim 1, comprising sending the second configuration data via.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network entity comprises a location server or a serving TRP of the UE.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second configuration data comprises a secure sequence generator.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first configuration data includes an indication of a maximum time delay between the transmission of the portion of the PRS resource and the time the second configuration data is received by the UE.

10. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the second configuration data comprises sending the second configuration data on a separate frequency from the PRS resource during a last OFDM symbol of the PRS resource.

11. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the second configuration data comprises sending the second configuration data in a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) at an end of the PRS resource or as embedded data at an end of the PRS resource.

12. 1. A method for processing secured positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, the method being performed by the UE, comprising: receiving first configuration data from a network entity indicating a time period during which at least a portion of a PRS resource is to be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols; The first configuration data is received prior to a transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmission / reception point (TRP) of the wireless communication network; the first configuration data excluding at least one transmit parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. buffering data from signals received by said TRP during said period; receiving second configuration data from the network entity indicating the at least one transmission parameter value, wherein the second configuration data is received subsequent to the transmission of the portion of the PRS resources. processing the portion of the PRS resource using the at least one transmission parameter value on at least a portion of the buffered data to generate a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols; A method for providing the above.

13. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second configuration data comprises a secure sequence generator, and processing the PRS resource further comprises using the secure sequence generator to generate, for each of the one or more OFDM symbols, the at least one transmission parameter value for a respective OFDM symbol.

14. 1. A network entity for securing Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources for positioning of a User Equipment (UE) in a wireless communication network, comprising: A transceiver; Memory, and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the one or more processing units comprising: sending, via the transceiver, to the UE, first configuration data indicating a time period during which at least a portion of a PRS resource is to be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols; the one or more processing units are configured to send the first configuration data prior to a transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmission / reception point (TRP) of the wireless communication network; the one or more processing units are configured to exclude from the first configuration data at least one transmission parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. sending second configuration data indicative of the at least one transmission parameter value to the UE via the transceiver, wherein sending the second configuration data occurs subsequent to the transmission of the portion of the PRS resources. A network entity configured to:

15. 1. A user equipment (UE) for processing secured positioning reference signal (PRS) resources for UE positioning in a wireless communication network, comprising: A transceiver; Memory, and one or more processing units communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the one or more processing units comprising: receiving first configuration data from a network entity via the transceiver indicating a time period during which at least a portion of a PRS resource is to be transmitted using one or more Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols; The first configuration data is received prior to a transmission of the portion of the PRS resources by a transmission / reception point (TRP) of the wireless communication network; the first configuration data excluding at least one transmit parameter value for generating a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols. buffering data from signals received by said TRP during said period; receiving second configuration data from a network entity via the transceiver, the second configuration data being indicative of the at least one transmission parameter value, wherein the second configuration data is received subsequent to the transmission of the portion of the PRS resources. processing the portion of the PRS resources using the at least one transmission parameter value on at least a portion of the buffered data to generate a waveform for each of the one or more OFDM symbols; The UE is configured to:

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