UE Flight Route Report

Abstract

A method for obtaining flight path information includes receiving, at a network entity, a capability report indicating a capability of the UE to report the UE's flight path, and transmitting from the network entity a flight path report message requesting the UE to provide a partial route report by reporting first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the flight path, or a triggered report by reporting second flight path information in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential report by reporting third flight path information indicating a difference between the UE's current flight path and a previous flight path of the UE, or any combination thereof.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17 / 353,078, filed Jun. 21, 2021, entitled “UE FLIGHT PATH REPORTING,” which is assigned to the assignee of this application and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. [Background technology]

[0002] Wireless communication systems have evolved through various generations, including first generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third generation (3G) high speed data, Internet-enabled wireless service, fourth generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE), or WiMax), fifth generation (5G) service, and the like. Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular systems and personal communication service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include Cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Access (GSM) variants of TDMA, and the like.

[0003] The fifth generation (5G) mobile standard calls for higher data transfer speeds, a larger number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, providing one gigabit per second for each office floor where dozens of people work. To support large-scale sensor deployments, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. Thus, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly increased compared to the current 4G standard. In addition, it should increase signaling efficiency and significantly reduce latency compared to the current standard. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] An example method for obtaining flight path information includes receiving a capability report from a user equipment (UE) at a network entity indicating a capability of the UE to report a flight path of the UE to the network entity; and transmitting a flight path report message from the network entity to the UE, the message requesting the UE to provide a partial flight path report by reporting to the network entity first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the flight path, or a triggered flight path report by reporting to the network entity second flight path information in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report by reporting to the network entity third flight path information indicating a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE, or any combination thereof.

[0005] An example network entity comprises a transceiver, a memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the processor being configured to: receive a capability report from the UE indicating a capability of the UE to report a flight path of the UE to a network entity; and send a flight path report message to the UE, the flight path report message requesting the UE to provide a partial flight path report by reporting to the network entity first flight path information indicative of a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the flight path; or a triggered flight path report by reporting to the network entity second flight path information in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicative of at least a portion of the UE's flight path; or a differential flight path report by reporting to the network entity third flight path information indicative of a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE; or any combination thereof.

[0006] Another example network entity comprises means for receiving a capability report from the UE indicating a capability of the UE to report the UE's flight path to the network entity; and means for transmitting a flight path report message to the UE, the flight path report message requesting the UE to provide a partial flight path report by reporting to the network entity first flight path information indicative of a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the flight path, or a triggered flight path report by reporting to the network entity second flight path information in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicative of at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report by reporting to the network entity third flight path information indicative of a difference between the UE's current flight path and a previous flight path of the UE, or any combination thereof.

[0007] An exemplary non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprises processor-readable instructions to cause a processor of a network entity to receive a capability report from the UE indicating a capability of the UE to report a flight path of the UE to the network entity; and to send a flight path report message to the UE, the flight path report message requesting the UE to provide a partial flight path report by reporting to the network entity first flight path information indicative of a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the flight path, or a triggered flight path report by reporting to the network entity second flight path information in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicative of at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report by reporting to the network entity third flight path information indicative of a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE, or any combination thereof.

[0008] An example communication method related to user equipment flight path includes determining a flight path report at a user equipment (UE), the flight path report being a partial-route flight path report, where the flight path report includes first flight path information indicative of a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the UE's flight path, or a triggered flight path report, the method further includes determining second flight path information at the UE in response to occurrence of a trigger event for the flight path report, the second flight path information being a triggered flight path report indicative of at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report, where the flight path report includes third flight path information indicative of a difference between the UE's current flight path and a previous flight path of the UE, or any combination thereof; and transmitting the flight path report from the UE to a network entity.

[0009] An example UE comprises a transceiver, a memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the processor configured to: determine a flight path report, the flight path report being a partial-route flight path report, where the flight path report includes first flight path information indicative of a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the UE's flight path, or a triggered flight path report, where the processor is configured to determine second flight path information for the flight path report in response to occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information being to provide a triggered flight path report indicative of at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report, where the flight path report includes third flight path information indicative of a difference between the UE's current flight path and a previous flight path of the UE, or any combination thereof; and transmit the flight path report via the transceiver to a network entity.

[0010] Another example UE comprises means for determining a flight path report, where the flight path report is a partial-route flight path report, where the flight path report includes first flight path information indicative of a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the UE's flight path, or a triggered flight path report, where the means for determining the flight path report comprises means for determining, in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information for the flight path report, where the second flight path information is indicative of at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report, where the flight path report includes third flight path information indicative of a difference between the UE's current flight path and a previous flight path of the UE, or any combination thereof; and means for transmitting the flight path report to a network entity.

[0011] Another exemplary non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprises processor-readable instructions for causing a processor of the UE to determine a flight path report, the flight path report being a partial-route flight path report, where the flight path report includes first flight path information indicative of a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the UE's flight path, or a triggered flight path report, the processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to determine the flight path report include processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to determine, in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information for the flight path report, the second flight path information being to provide a triggered flight path report indicative of at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report, where the flight path report includes third flight path information indicative of a difference between the UE's current flight path and a previous flight path of the UE, or any combination thereof; and transmitting the flight path report to a network entity. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 is a simplified diagram of an example wireless communication system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of the exemplary user equipment shown in FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of an exemplary transmit / receive point. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of an exemplary server in which various embodiments are illustrated in FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary user equipment. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example network entity. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 illustrates a simplified example of a user device flight path with waypoints indicated by ellipsoids and polygons. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling and process flow for providing flight path information. [Figure 9]FIG. 2 illustrates another signaling and process flow for providing flight path information. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a block flow diagram of a method for obtaining flight path information. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 is a block flow diagram of a method for communicating with respect to a user equipment flight path. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Techniques for requesting and / or obtaining flight path information for a user equipment (UE) are discussed herein. For example, a UE may provide flight path information to one or more network entities, such as a server and / or a base station. The network entities may request the UE to provide the flight path information. The flight path information may include waypoints, each represented by an ellipsoid, polygon, or other shape. The UE may be requested to and may provide flight path information indicating a portion (less than the entire flight path) of the flight path, and / or to provide flight path information in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, and / or to provide flight path information as differential information relative to previous flight path information. For example, the UE may provide the differential flight path information as one or more waypoints, each with a respective identifier, and the network entity may add a waypoint to the previous flight path if the previous flight path lacks a corresponding identifier, or may modify the waypoint information of the previous flight path if a waypoint with a corresponding identifier is present in the previous flight path. As another example, the UE may provide a waypoint identifier and a deletion instruction as the difference information, and the network entity may delete the waypoint having that identifier from the previous flight path. These are examples, and other examples may be implemented.

[0014] Items and / or techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned: A server may be informed of the flight path from the UE, and the server may use the flight path information to improve positioning accuracy for the UE and / or reduce positioning latency for the UE. Communication traffic for providing flight path information may be regulated, for example, by avoiding reporting updated flight path information unless a significant change in the flight path occurs, by reporting updated flight path information at a frequency that does not exceed a threshold time between reports, and / or by reporting changes to the flight path rather than the entire flight path. Other capabilities may be provided, and not every implementation according to the present disclosure must provide any, much less all, of the capabilities discussed.

[0015] Obtaining the location of a mobile device accessing a wireless network can be useful for many applications including, for example, emergency calling, personal navigation, consumer asset tracking, locating friends or family, etc. Existing positioning methods include methods based on measurements of radio signals transmitted from various devices or entities, including satellite vehicles (SVs) and terrestrial radio sources in the wireless network, such as base stations and access points. Standardization for 5G wireless networks is expected to include support for various positioning methods, which may use reference signals transmitted by base stations in a manner similar to how LTE wireless networks currently use positioning reference signals (PRS) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRS) for position determination.

[0016] The description refers to sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. The various actions described herein may be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. The sequences of actions described herein may be embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, cause an associated processor to perform the functions described herein. Thus, the various aspects described herein may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which are within the scope of this disclosure, including the claimed subject matter.

[0017] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT) unless otherwise stated. Generally, such a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset tracking device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or may be stationary (e.g., at some times) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or UT, "mobile terminal", "mobile station", "mobile device", or variations thereof. Generally, a UE may communicate with a core network via a RAN, through which the UE may be connected to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms are possible for a UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet, such as via a wired access network, a WiFi network (e.g., based on IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11, etc.), etc.

[0018] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed. Examples of base stations include an Access Point (AP), a network node, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), or a general Node B (gNode B, gNB). Furthermore, in some systems the base station may provide purely edge node signaling functionality, while in other systems it may provide additional control and / or network management functionality.

[0019] A UE may be embodied by any of several types of devices including, but not limited to, a printed circuit (PC) card, a compact flash device, an external or internal modem, a wireless or wired phone, a smart phone, a tablet, a consumer asset tracking device, an asset tag, etc. A communication link through which a UE can send signals to a RAN is called an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which a RAN can send signals to a UE is called a downlink channel or a forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0020] The term "cell" or "sector" as used herein may correspond to one of multiple cells of a base station or to the base station itself, depending on the context. The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., on a carrier) 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 communication (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of devices. In some examples, the term "cell" may refer to a portion (e.g., sector) of a geographic coverage area over which a logical entity operates.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 1, an example of a communication system 100 includes a UE 105, a UE 106, a radio access network (RAN), here a fifth generation (5G) next generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN) 135, and a 5G core network (5GC) 140. The UE 105 and / or the UE 106 may be, for example, an IoT device, a location tracker device, a cellular phone, a vehicle (e.g., a car, a truck, a bus, a boat, etc.), or other device. The 5G network may also be referred to as a new radio (NR) network, the NG-RAN 135 may also be referred to as a 5G RAN or as an NR RAN, and the 5GC 140 may also be referred to as an NG core network (NGC). Standardization of the NG-RAN and 5GC is underway in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®). Thus, the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may comply with current or future standards for 5G support from the 3GPP®. The NG-RAN 135 may be another type of RAN, e.g., a 3G RAN, a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) RAN, etc. The UE 106 may be configured to send and / or receive signals to / from similar other entities in the system 100 and may be similarly coupled to the UE 105, although such signaling is not shown in FIG. 1 for ease of illustration. Similarly, this discussion focuses on the UE 105 for simplicity. The communication system 100 may use information from a constellation 185 of satellite vehicles (SVs) 190, 191, 192, 193 for a satellite positioning system (SPS) (e.g., a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, or Beidou or some other local or regional SPS, such as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Additional components of the communication system 100 are described below. The communication system 100 may include additional or alternative components.

[0022] As shown in FIG. 1, the NG-RAN 135 includes NR Node Bs (gNBs) 110a, 110b, and Next Generation eNode Bs (ng-eNBs) 114, and the 5GC 140 includes an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, a Session Management Function (SMF) 117, a Location Management Function (LMF) 120, and a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and the ng-eNB 114 are communicatively coupled to each other and each configured to wirelessly communicate bidirectionally with the UE 105, and each communicatively coupled to the AMF 115 and configured to communicate bidirectionally therewith. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and the ng-eNB 114 may be referred to as base stations (BSs). The AMF 115, the SMF 117, the LMF 120, and the GMLC 125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the GMLC is communicatively coupled to the external client 130. The SMF 117 may serve as an initial point of contact for a service control function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and delete media sessions. A base station, such as the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114, may be a macro cell (e.g., a high-power cellular base station), or a small cell (e.g., a low-power cellular base station), or an access point (e.g., a short-range base station configured to communicate with a short-range technology, such as WiFi, WiFi-Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, etc.). One or more base stations, e.g., one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114, may be configured to communicate with the UE 105 over multiple carriers. Each of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and the ng-eNB 114 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic area, e.g., a cell. Each cell may be partitioned into multiple sectors depending on the base station antennas.

[0023] FIG. 1 provides a generalized illustration of the various components, any or all of which may be used as desired, and each may be duplicated or omitted as desired. Specifically, while one UE 105 is illustrated, many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may be used in the communication system 100. Similarly, the communication system 100 may include a greater (or lesser) number of SVs (i.e., more or less than the four SVs 190-193 illustrated), gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, external client 130, and / or other components. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the communication system 100 include data and signaling connections that may include additional (intermediary) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. Additionally, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, substituted, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality.

[0024] 1 illustrates a 5G-based network, similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. Implementations described herein (whether for 5G technology and / or one or more other communication technologies and / or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) directional synchronization signals, receive and measure the directional signals at a UE (e.g., the UE 105), and / or provide location assistance to the UE 105 (via the GMLC 125 or other location server), and / or calculate a location for the UE 105 at a location enabled device, such as the UE 105, gNBs 110a, 110b, or LMF 120, based on measurements received at the UE 105 for such directionally transmitted signals. The Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125, Location Management Function (LMF) 120, Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, SMF 117, ng-eNB (eNodeB) 114 and gNBs (gNodeBs) 110a, 110b are examples and may be replaced by or include various other location server functionality and / or base station functionality, respectively, in various embodiments.

[0025] The system 100 is capable of wireless communication in that the components of the system 100 can communicate with each other (at least sometimes using wireless connections) directly or indirectly, e.g., via the gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNBs 114, and / or 5GCs 140 (and / or one or more other devices, not shown, such as one or more other base transceiver stations). For indirect communication, the communication may be altered during transmission from one entity to another, e.g., to change header information of the data packets, to change format, etc. The UE 105 may include multiple UEs and may be a mobile wireless communication device, but may communicate wirelessly and via wired connections. The UE 105 may be any of a variety of devices, e.g., a smartphone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-based device, etc., although these are examples and the UE 105 is not required to be any of these configurations and other configurations of UEs may be used. Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart jewelry, smart glasses or headsets, etc.). Still other UEs, whether currently existing or developed in the future, may be used. Additionally, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) may be implemented within the system 100 and may communicate with each other and / or with the UE 105, the gNBs 110a, 110b, the ng-eNB 114, the 5GC 140, and / or the external client 130. For example, such other devices may include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and / or automation devices, etc. The 5GC 140 may communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., a computer system) to, for example, enable the external client 130 to request and / or receive location information regarding the UE 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125).

[0026] The UE 105 or other devices may be configured to communicate in different networks and / or for different purposes and / or using different technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communications, multiple frequencies of Wi-Fi communications, satellite positioning, one or more types of communications (e.g., Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), V2X (vehicle-to-vehicle, e.g., V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian), V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure), V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle), etc.), IEEE 802.11p, etc.). The V2X communications may be cellular (Cellular V2X (C-V2X)) and / or WiFi (e.g., DSRC (dedicated short-range connection)). The system 100 supports operation over multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter can transmit modulated signals on multiple carriers simultaneously. Each modulated signal can be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) signal, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) signal, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signal, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal may be sent on a different carrier and may carry pilot signals, overhead information, data, etc. The UEs 105, 106 can communicate with each other through UE-to-UE sidelink (SL) communications by transmitting over one or more sidelink channels, such as a Physical Sidelink Synchronization Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), or a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH).

[0027] The UE 105 may include 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 some other name. Moreover, the UE 105 may correspond to a cell phone, a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, a PDA, a consumer asset tracking device, a navigation device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a health monitor, a security system, a smart city sensor, a smart meter, a wearable tracker, or some other portable or movable device. Typically, but not necessarily, the UE 105 may support wireless communications using one or more radio access technologies (RATs), such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 WiFi (also referred to as Wi-Fi), Bluetooth (BT), Global Interoperable Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5G New Radio (NR) (e.g., with NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140), etc. The UE 105 may support wireless communications using, for example, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), which may connect to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or packet cable. Using one or more of these RATs, the UE 105 may be able to communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., via elements of the 5GC 140, not shown in FIG. 1, or possibly via the GMLC 125) and / or the external client 130 may be able to receive location information regarding the UE 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125).

[0028] The UE 105 may comprise a single entity or may comprise multiple entities, for example in a personal area network where the user may utilize audio, video and / or data I / O (input / output) devices and / or body sensors and a separate wireline or wireless modem. An estimate of the location of the UE 105 may be referred to as a location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position, position estimate, or position fix, and provides location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) for the UE 105 that may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., elevation, height or depth above ground, floor, or basement). Alternatively, the location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a civic location (e.g., as an address or designation of a point or small area somewhere in a building, such as a particular room or floor). The location of the UE 105 may be expressed as an area or volume (defined either geographically or in the shape of a city) within which the UE 105 is expected to be located with some probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a relative location, including, for example, distance and direction from a known location. The relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to some origin in the known location, which may be defined, for example, geographically, in terms of cities, or by reference to a point, area, or volume shown, for example, on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, use of the term location may include any of these variants unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of a UE, it is common to determine values ​​for local x, y, and possibly z coordinates and then convert the local coordinates to absolute coordinates (e.g., for latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level) if desired.

[0029] The UE 105 may be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of a variety of technologies. The UE 105 may be configured to indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. The D2D P2P links may be supported in any suitable D2D radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, etc. One or more of a group of UEs using D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area of ​​a transmission / reception point (TRP), such as one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage area or may not otherwise be able to receive transmissions from the base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may use a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. A TRP may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be practiced between UEs without the involvement of a TRP. One or more of a group of UEs using D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area of ​​a TRP. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage area or may not otherwise be able to receive transmissions from a base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may use a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. A TRP may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be practiced between UEs without the involvement of a TRP.

[0030] The base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 include NR Node Bs referred to as gNBs 110a and 110b. The pair of gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 may be interconnected via one or more other gNBs. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 105 via wireless communication between the UE 105 and one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, which may provide wireless communication access to the 5G C 140 on behalf of the UE 105 using 5G. In FIG. 1, the serving gNB for the UE 105 is assumed to be gNB 110a, although another gNB (e.g., gNB 110b) may act as the serving gNB if the UE 105 moves to another location and may act as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to the UE 105.

[0031] 1 may include a ng-eNB 114, also referred to as a next generation evolved node B. The ng-eNB 114 may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135, possibly via one or more other gNBs and / or one or more other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 114 may provide LTE wireless access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to the UE 105. One or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 may be configured to function as a positioning-only beacon that may transmit signals to assist in determining a location of the UE 105, but may not receive signals from the UE 105 or from other UEs.

[0032] The gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNBs 114 may each comprise one or more TRPs. For example, each sector in a cell of a BS may comprise a TRP, but the multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., share a processor but have separate antennas). The system 100 may exclusively include a macro TRP, or the system 100 may have different types of TRPs, such as macro, pico, and / or femto TRPs. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals subscribing to the service. A pico TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a pico cell) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals subscribing to the service. A femto or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a femto cell) and may allow restricted access by terminals having an association with a femto cell (e.g., a terminal for a user in a home).

[0033] As noted, while FIG. 1 illustrates nodes configured to communicate according to a 5G communication protocol, nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols, such as, for example, an LTE protocol or an IEEE 802.11x protocol, may be used. For example, in an evolved packet system (EPS) providing LTE wireless access to the UE 105, the RAN may include an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), which may include base stations including evolved node Bs (eNBs). A core network for the EPS may include an evolved packet core (EPC). The EPS may include the E-UTRAN plus the EPC, where in FIG. 1, the E-UTRAN corresponds to the NG-RAN 135 and the EPC corresponds to the 5GC 140.

[0034] The gNBs 110a, 110b and ng-eNB 114 may communicate with the AMF 115, which for positioning functionality communicates with the LMF 120. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UE 105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be responsible for supporting signaling connections to the UE 105 and potentially data and voice bearers for the UE 105. The LMF 120 may communicate with the UE 105 directly, e.g., through wireless communication, or directly with the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. The LMF 120 may support positioning of the UE 105 when the UE 105 accesses the NG-RAN 135 and may support position procedures / methods such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (e.g., downlink (DL) OTDOA or uplink (UL) OTDOA), Round Trip Time (RTT), Multi-cell RTT, Real Time Kinematic (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Extended Cell ID (E-CID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), and / or other position methods. The LMF 120 may process location service requests for the UE 105, for example, received from the AMF 115 or from the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be connected to the AMF 115 and / or to the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be referred to by other names, such as a Location Manager (LM), Location Function (LF), Commercial LMF (CLMF), or Value Added LMF (VLMF). A node / system implementing the LMF 120 may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as an Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).At least a portion of the positioning functionality (including derivation of the location of the UE 105) may be implemented in the UE 105 (e.g., using signal measurements taken by the UE 105 on signals transmitted by wireless nodes by the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 and / or assistance data provided to the UE 105, for example, by the LMF 120). The AMF 115 may act as a control node that handles signaling between the UE 105 and the 5GC 140 and may provide QoS (Quality of Service) flow and session management. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UE 105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be responsible for supporting signaling connections to the UE 105.

[0035] The GMLC 125 may support location requests for the UE 105 received from the external client 130 and may forward such location requests to the AMF 115 for forwarding by the AMF 115 to the LMF 120 or may forward the location requests directly to the LMF 120. A location response (e.g., including a location estimate for the UE 105) from the LMF 120 may be returned either directly or via the AMF 115 to the GMLC 125, which may then return a location response (e.g., including the location estimate) to the external client 130. Although the GMLC 125 is shown connected to both the AMF 115 and the LMF 120, in some implementations it may not be connected to the AMF 115 or the LMF 120.

[0036] As further shown in FIG. 1, the LMF 120 can communicate with the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or the ng-eNB 114 using a New Radio Position Protocol A (which may be referred to as NPPa or NRPPa), which may be defined in 3GPP® Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of the LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa), which may be defined in 3GPP® TS 36.455, and NRPPa messages are transferred between the gNB 110a (or gNB 110b) and the LMF 120 and / or between the ng-eNB 114 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115. As further shown in FIG. 1, the LMF 120 and the UE 105 can communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), which may be defined in 3GPP® TS 36.355. The LMF 120 and the UE 105 may also or instead communicate using a New Radio Positioning Protocol (which may be referred to as NPP or NRPP), which may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of LPP. Here, LPP and / or NPP messages may be transferred between the UE 105 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115 and the serving gNB 110a, 110b or the serving ng-eNB 114 for the UE 105. For example, LPP and / or NPP messages may be transferred between the LMF 120 and the AMF 115 using a 5G Location Services Application Protocol (LCS AP), and between the AMF 115 and the UE 105 using a 5G Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol. The LPP and / or NPP protocols may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based location methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, OTDOA, and / or E-CID.The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using network-based location methods such as E-CID (e.g., when used in conjunction with measurements obtained by the gNBs 110a, 110b, or ng-eNB 114) and / or may be used by the LMF 120 to obtain location related information from the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114, such as parameters defining directional SS (synchronization signal) or PRS transmissions from the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. The LMF 120 may be co-located or integrated with the gNBs or TRPs, or may be located remotely from the gNBs and / or TRPs, and may be configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNBs and / or TRPs.

[0037] Using the UE-assisted location method, the UE 105 can obtain location measurements and send the measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) for calculation of a location estimate for the UE 105. For example, the location measurements may include one or more of a received signal strength indication (RSSI), a round trip signal propagation time (RTT), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), and / or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) for the gNBs 110a, 110b, the ng-eNB 114, and / or the WLAN APs. The location measurements may additionally or instead include measurements of GNSS pseudorange, code phase, and / or carrier phase for the SV190-193.

[0038] Using the UE-based location method, the UE 105 can obtain location measurements (e.g., which may be the same as or similar to the location measurements for the UE-assisted location method) and can calculate the location of the UE 105 (e.g., with the help of assistance data received from a location server such as the LMF 120 or broadcast by the gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, or other base station or AP).

[0039] With a network-based location method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) or APs may obtain location measurements (e.g., RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, or Time of Arrival (ToA) measurements for signals transmitted by the UE 105) and / or receive measurements obtained by the UE 105. The one or more base stations or APs may send the measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 120) for calculation of a location estimate for the UE 105.

[0040] The information provided to the LMF 120 by the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 using the NRPPa may include timing and configuration information for directional SS or PRS transmissions, and location coordinates. The LMF 120 may provide some or all of this information to the UE 105 via the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 as assistance data in LPP and / or NPP messages.

[0041] An LPP or NPP message sent from the LMF 120 to the UE 105 can instruct the UE 105 to do any of a variety of things depending on the desired functionality. For example, the LPP or NPP message may include instructions for the UE 105 to obtain measurements for GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and / or OTDOA (or some other location method). In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurements (e.g., beam ID, beam width, average angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements) of directional signals transmitted within a particular cell supported by one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 (or supported by some other type of base station, such as an eNB or WiFi AP). The UE 105 may send the measurement quantities back to the LMF 120 in an LPP or NPP message (e.g., in a 5G NAS message) via the serving gNB 110a (or serving ng-eNB 114) and the AMF 115.

[0042] As mentioned, although the communication system 100 is described in the context of 5G technology, the communication system 100 may be implemented to support other communication technologies (e.g., to implement voice, data, positioning, and other functionality), such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, etc., used to support and interact with mobile devices, such as the UE 105. In some such embodiments, the 5GC 140 may be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, the 5GC 140 may be connected to a WLAN using a non-3GPP inter-networking function (N3IWF, not shown in FIG. 1 ) in the 5GC 140. For example, the WLAN may support IEEE 802.11 WiFi access for the UE 105 and may comprise one or more WiFi APs. Here, the N3IWF may connect to the WLAN and to other elements in the 5GC 140, such as the AMF 115. In some embodiments, both the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may be replaced with one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in an EPS, the NG-RAN 135 may be replaced with an E-UTRAN including eNBs, and the 5GC 140 may be replaced with an EPC including a mobility management entity (MME) instead of the AMF 115, an E-SMLC instead of the LMF 120, and a GMLC that may be similar to the GMLC 125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC may use LPPa instead of NRPPa to send and receive location information to and from the eNBs in the E-UTRAN, and may use LPP to support positioning of the UE 105. In these other embodiments, positioning of the UE 105 using a directional PRS may be supported in a manner similar to that described herein for a 5G network, with the difference being that the functions and procedures described herein for the gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, and LMF 120 may apply instead to other network elements, such as eNBs, WiFi APs, MMEs, and E-SMLCs, in some cases.

[0043] As mentioned, in some embodiments, the positioning functionality may be implemented, at least in part, using directional SS or PRS beams sent by base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) that are within range of a UE (e.g., UE 105 of FIG. 1) whose position is to be determined. The UE may, in some instances, use directional SS or PRS beams from multiple base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, etc.) to calculate the UE's position.

[0044] 2, the UE 200 is an example of one of the UEs 105, 106 and comprises a computing platform including a processor 210, a memory 211 including software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for a transceiver 215 (including a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250), a user interface 216, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 217, a camera 218, and a position device (PD) 219. The processor 210, memory 211, sensors 213, transceiver interface 214, user interface 216, SPS receiver 217, camera 218, and position device 219 may be communicatively coupled to one another by a bus 220 (which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., camera 218, position device 219, and / or one or more of sensors 213, etc.) may be omitted from UE 200. Processor 210 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. Processor 210 may include multiple processors, including general purpose / application processor 230, digital signal processor (DSP) 231, modem processor 232, video processor 233, and / or sensor processor 234. One or more of processors 230-234 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, sensor processor 234 may comprise a processor for, e.g., RF (radio frequency) sensing (where one or more (cellular) wireless signals are transmitted and reflections are used to identify, map, and / or track objects), and / or ultrasound, etc. The modem processor 232 can support dual SIM / dual connectivity (or even more SIMs).For example, a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module or Subscriber Identification Module) may be used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and another SIM may be used by an end user of the UE 200 for connectivity. The memory 211 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 211 may store software 212, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code including instructions configured to cause the processor 210 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 212 may not be directly executable by the processor 210, but may be configured to cause the processor 210 to perform functions, for example, when compiled and executed. The description may refer to the processor 210 performing functions, but includes other implementations, such as the processor 210 executing software and / or firmware. The description may refer to the processor 210 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the processors 230-234 performing the function. The description may refer to the UE 200 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the suitable components of the UE 200 performing the function. The processor 210 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or instead of the memory 211. The functionality of the processor 210 is discussed more fully below.

[0045] The configuration of UE 200 shown in FIG. 2 is an example of the present disclosure including the claims, and is not limiting, and other configurations may be used. For example, an exemplary configuration of a UE includes one or more of processors 230-234 of processor 210, memory 211, and wireless transceiver 240. Other exemplary configurations include one or more of processors 230-234 of processor 210, memory 211, a wireless transceiver, one or more of sensors 213, a user interface 216, an SPS receiver 217, a camera 218, a PD 219, and / or a wired transceiver.

[0046] The UE 200 may include a modem processor 232 that may be capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and downconverted by the transceiver 215 and / or the SPS receiver 217. The modem processor 232 can perform baseband processing of signals to be upconverted for transmission by the transceiver 215. Also or alternatively, the baseband processing may be performed by the general purpose / application processor 230 and / or the DSP 231, although other configurations may be used to perform the baseband processing.

[0047] The UE 200 may include sensors 213, which may include one or more of various types of sensors, such as, for example, one or more inertial sensors, one or more magnetometers, one or more environmental sensors, one or more optical sensors, one or more weight sensors, and / or one or more radio frequency (RF) sensors. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responsive to acceleration of the UE 200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes (e.g., three-dimensional gyroscopes). The sensors 213 may include one or more magnetometers (e.g., three-dimensional magnetometers) for determining an orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), which may be used for any of a variety of purposes, such as, for example, to support one or more compass applications. The environmental sensors may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors, one or more barometric pressure sensors, one or more ambient light sensors, one or more camera imagers, and / or one or more microphones, etc. The sensors 213 may generate analog and / or digital signal indications in support of one or more applications, such as, for example, applications directed to positioning and / or navigation operations, that may be stored in memory 211 and processed by the DSP 231 and / or general purpose / applications processor 230.

[0048] The sensors 213 can be used in relative location measurement, relative location determination, motion determination, etc. Information detected by the sensors 213 can be used for motion detection, relative movement, dead reckoning, sensor-based location determination, and / or sensor-assisted location determination. The sensors 213 can be useful in determining whether the UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or mobile and / or whether certain useful information regarding the mobility of the UE 200 should be reported to the LMF 120. For example, based on information acquired / measured by the sensors 213, the UE 200 may notify / report to the LMF 120 that the UE 200 has detected movement or that the UE 200 has moved, and report the relative movement / distance (e.g., via dead reckoning, or sensor-based location determination, or sensor-assisted location determination enabled by the sensors 213). In another example, for relative positioning information, the sensors / IMUs can be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of other devices relative to the UE 200, etc.

[0049] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements on the direction of motion and / or speed of motion of the UE 200, which may be used in the relative location determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may detect the linear acceleration and speed of rotation of the UE 200, respectively. The linear acceleration and rotational speed measurements of the UE 200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction of motion and movement of the UE 200. The instantaneous direction of motion and movement may be integrated to track the location of the UE 200. For example, a reference location of the UE 200 may be determined for a moment in time, e.g., using the SPS receiver 217 (and / or by some other means), and measurements from the accelerometers and gyroscopes taken after this moment in time may be used in dead reckoning to determine the current location of the UE 200 based on the motion (direction and distance) of the UE 200 relative to the reference location.

[0050] The magnetometer can determine magnetic field strength in different directions, which can be used to determine the orientation of the UE 200. For example, the orientation can be used to provide a digital compass for the UE 200. The magnetometer can include a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer can include a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer can provide a means for sensing the magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field, for example, to the processor 210.

[0051] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250 configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a wireless transmitter 242 and a wireless receiver 244 coupled to an antenna 246 to transmit (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals 248 and convert signals from the wireless signals 248 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 248. The wireless transmitter 242 includes appropriate components (e.g., a power amplifier and a digital-to-analog converter). The wireless receiver 244 includes appropriate components (e.g., one or more amplifiers, one or more frequency filters, and an analog-to-digital converter). The wireless transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 244 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 240 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the TRP and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc. The new radio may use mm-wave and / or sub-6 GHz frequencies.The wired transceiver 250 may include a wired transmitter 252 and a wired receiver 254 configured for wired communication, e.g., a network interface that can be used to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send and receive communications to and from the NG-RAN 135. The wired transmitter 252 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 254 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication, for example. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214, e.g., by optical and / or electrical connections. The transceiver interface 214 may be integrated, at least in part, with the transceiver 215. The wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244, and / or the antenna 246 may include multiple transmitters, multiple receivers, and / or multiple antennas, respectively, for sending and / or receiving appropriate signals, respectively.

[0052] The user interface 216 may include one or more of several devices, such as, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a display device, a vibrating device, a keyboard, a touch screen, and the like. The user interface 216 may include a plurality of any of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to allow a user to interact with one or more applications housed by the UE 200. For example, the user interface 216 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 for processing by the DSP 231 and / or the general purpose / application processor 230 in response to an action from the user. Similarly, an application housed on the UE 200 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 for presenting output signals to the user. The user interface 216 may include audio input / output (I / O) devices, including, for example, a speaker, a microphone, digital-to-analog circuitry, analog-to-digital circuitry, amplifiers and / or gain control circuitry (including a plurality of any of these devices). Other configurations of audio I / O devices may be used. Also or alternatively, the user interface 216 may include one or more touch sensors that respond to contact and / or pressure, for example, on a keyboard and / or a touch screen of the user interface 216 .

[0053] The SPS receiver 217 (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring the SPS signals 260 via the SPS antenna 262. The SPS antenna 262 is configured to convert the SPS signals 260 from wireless signals to wired signals, e.g., electrical or optical signals, and may be integrated with the antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signals 260, in whole or in part, to estimate the location of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to use the SPS signals 260 to determine the location of the UE 200 by trilateration. The general purpose / application processor 230, the memory 211, the DSP 231, and / or one or more specialized processors (not shown), together with the SPS receiver 217, may be used to process the acquired SPS signals, in whole or in part, and / or to calculate the estimated location of the UE 200. The memory 211 may store indications (e.g., measurements) of the SPS signals 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals acquired from the wireless transceiver 240) for use in performing positioning operations. The general purpose / application processor 230, the DSP 231, and / or one or more specialized processors, and / or the memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for use in processing the measurements to estimate the location of the UE 200.

[0054] The UE 200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still or video images. The camera 218 may comprise, for example, an imaging sensor (e.g., a charge-coupled device or a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) imager), a lens, analog-to-digital circuitry, a frame buffer, etc. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of signals representing the captured images may be performed by the general-purpose / application processor 230 and / or the DSP 231. Also or alternatively, a video processor 233 may perform conditioning, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of signals representing the captured images. The video processor 233 may decode / decompress stored image data, for example, for display on a display device (not shown) of the user interface 216.

[0055] The position device (PD) 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200, the movement of the UE 200, and / or the relative location of the UE 200, and / or time. For example, the PD 219 may be in communication with and / or include a portion or all of the SPS receiver 217. The PD 219 may interface with the processor 210 and memory 211 as necessary to perform at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, but the description herein may refer to the PD 219 being configured to perform or performing according to a positioning method. The PD 219 may also or alternatively be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 using terrestrial-based signals (e.g., at least some of the wireless signals 248) for trilateration, to assist in acquiring and using the SPS signals 260, or both. The PD 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 based on another technique, such as a serving base station cell (e.g., cell center) and / or E-CID. The PD 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 using one or more images from the camera 218 and image recognition combined with known locations of landmarks (e.g., natural landmarks such as mountains and / or man-made landmarks such as buildings, bridges, roads, etc.). The PD 219 may be configured to use one or more other techniques to determine the location of the UE 200 (e.g., relying on the UE's self-reported location (e.g., as part of the UE's location beacon)) and may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and terrestrial positioning signals) to determine the location of the UE 200. The PD 219 may include one or more of the sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, etc.) that may sense the orientation and / or movement of the UE 200 and provide an indication thereof that the processor 210 (e.g., general purpose / application processor 230 and / or DSP 231) may be configured to use to determine the movement (e.g., velocity vector and / or acceleration vector) of the UE 200.The PD 219 may be configured to provide an indication of uncertainty and / or error in a determined position and / or movement. The functionality of the PD 219 may be provided in various manners and / or configurations, for example, by the general purpose / application processor 230, the transceiver 215, the SPS receiver 217, and / or another component of the UE 200, and may be provided by hardware, software, firmware, or various combinations thereof.

[0056] 3, an example of a TRP 300 of the gNB 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 comprises a computing platform including a processor 310, a memory 311 including software (SW) 312, and a transceiver 315. The processor 310, the memory 311, and the transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 320 (e.g., may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless transceiver) may be omitted from the TRP 300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 310 may include multiple processors (e.g., including a general purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, as shown in FIG. 2). The memory 311 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 311 may store software 312, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code including instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause the processor 310 to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured, for example, when compiled and executed, to cause the processor 310 to perform functions.

[0057] The description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function, but includes other implementations, such as when the processor 310 executes software and / or firmware. The description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the processors included in the processor 310 performing a function. The description may refer to the TRP 300 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more suitable components (e.g., the processor 310 and the memory 311) of the TRP 300 (and thus one of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) performing a function. The processor 310 may include a memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or instead of the memory 311. The functionality of the processor 310 is discussed more fully below.

[0058] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and / or a wired transceiver 350 configured to communicate with other devices over wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a wireless transmitter 342 and a wireless receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 to transmit (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 348 and convert signals from the wireless signals 348 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 348. Thus, the wireless transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 344 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) in accordance with various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, and so on.The wired transceiver 350 may include a wired transmitter 352 and a wired receiver 354 configured for wired communications, e.g., a network interface, and / or one or more other network entities that may be used to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send communications to and receive communications from the LMF 120. The wired transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 354 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example.

[0059] 3 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting, and other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein discusses that the TRP 300 is configured to or performs certain functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the LMF 120 and / or the UE 200 (i.e., the LMF 120 and / or the UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0060] 4, a server 400, of which the LMF 120 is an example, comprises a computing platform including a processor 410, a memory 411 including software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. The processor 410, the memory 411, and the transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 420 (which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless transceiver) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 410 may include multiple processors (e.g., including a general purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, as shown in FIG. 2). The memory 411 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a disk memory, and / or a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 can store software 412, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code that includes instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured, for example, when compiled and executed, to cause the processor 410 to perform a function. The description may refer to the processor 410 performing a function, but includes other implementations, such as the processor 410 executing software and / or firmware. The description may refer to the processor 410 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the processors included in the processor 410 performing the function. The description may refer to the server 400 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the server 400 performing the function.The processor 410 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or in place of the memory 411. The functionality of the processor 410 is discussed more fully below.

[0061] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and / or a wired transceiver 450 configured to communicate with other devices over wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a wireless transmitter 442 and a wireless receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 to transmit (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 448 and convert signals from the wireless signals 448 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 448. Thus, the wireless transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 444 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) in accordance with various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, and so on. The wired transceiver 450 may include a wired transmitter 452 and a wired receiver 454 configured for wired communications, e.g., a network interface, and / or one or more other network entities that may be used to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send communications to and receive communications from the TRP 300.The wired transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 454 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example.

[0062] The description herein may refer to the processor 410 performing a function, but includes other implementations, such as the processor 410 executing software (stored in memory 411) and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the server 400 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the suitable components of the server 400 (e.g., the processor 410 and the memory 411) performing the function.

[0063] The configuration of the server 400 shown in FIG. 4 is an example and not a limitation of the present disclosure including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Also or alternatively, the description herein discusses the server 400 being configured to or performing certain functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the TRP 300 and / or the UE 200 (i.e., the TRP 300 and / or the UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0064] Positioning Technique For terrestrial positioning of UEs in cellular networks, techniques such as Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) and Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) often operate in a "UE-assisted" mode, in which measurements of reference signals (e.g., PRS, CRS, etc.) transmitted by base stations are taken by the UE and then provided to a location server. The location server then calculates the UE's position based on the measurements and the known locations of the base stations. Because these techniques use a location server, rather than the UE itself, to calculate the UE's position, these positioning techniques are not frequently used in applications such as car or cell phone navigation, which instead typically rely on satellite-based positioning.

[0065] UEs can use Satellite Positioning Systems (SPS) (Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)) for high-precision positioning using Precise Point Positioning (PPP) or Real Time Kinematic (RTK) techniques. These techniques use assistance data, such as measurements from ground stations. With LTE Release 15, the data is encrypted so that UEs that have subscribed to the service can read the information exclusively. Such assistance data changes over time. Thus, UEs that have subscribed to the service cannot easily "break the encryption" for other UEs by passing the data to them that have not paid for the subscription. This passing needs to be repeated every time the assistance data changes.

[0066] In UE-assisted positioning, the UE sends measurements (e.g., TDOA, Angle of Arrival (AoA), etc.) to a positioning server (e.g., LMF / eSMLC). The positioning server has a Base Station Almanac (BSA) that contains multiple "entries" or "records", one record for each cell, each record including the geographic cell location but may also include other data. An identifier for a "record" among the multiple "records" in the BSA may be referenced. The measurements from the BSA and the UE may be used to calculate the position of the UE.

[0067] In traditional UE-based positioning, the UE calculates its own position and thus avoids sending measurements to the network (e.g., a location server), which improves latency and scalability. The UE uses relevant BSA record information from the network (e.g., the location of the gNB (or more broadly, base station)). The BSA information may be encrypted. However, since the BSA information changes much less frequently than, for example, the previously described PPP or RTK assistance data, it may be easier to make the BSA information available (compared to PPP or RTK information) to UEs that have not subscribed and paid for a decryption key. The transmission of reference signals by the gNBs makes the BSA information potentially accessible for crowdsourcing or wardriving, essentially allowing the BSA information to be generated based on local and / or over-the-top observations.

[0068] Positioning techniques may be characterized and / or evaluated based on one or more criteria, such as position determination accuracy and / or latency. Latency is the time elapsed between an event that triggers the determination of location-related data and the data being available at a positioning system interface, e.g., the interface of the LMF 120. At the initialization of the positioning system, the latency for location-related data to become available is called the time-to-first-fix (TTFF) and is greater than the latency after the TTFF. The inverse of the time elapsed between two successive location-related data availability states is called the update rate, i.e., the rate at which location-related data is generated after the first fix. Latency may depend, for example, on the processing capabilities of the UE. For example, the UE may report its processing capabilities as the duration of DL PRS symbols in time (e.g., milliseconds) that the UE can process per amount of time T (e.g., T ms) assuming a 272 PRB (Physical Resource Block) allocation. Other examples of capabilities that may affect latency are the number of TRPs from which the UE can process PRSs, the number of PRSs the UE can process, and the bandwidth of the UE.

[0069] One or more of many different positioning techniques (also referred to as positioning methods) may be used to determine the location of an entity, such as one of the UEs 105, 106. For example, known position determination techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also referred to as TDOA, including UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), Extended Cell Identification (E-CID), DL-AoD, UL-AoA, etc. RTT uses the time for a signal to travel from one entity to another and vice versa to determine the range between the two entities. The range, as well as the known location of a first one of the entities and the angle (e.g., azimuth) between the two entities may be used to determine the location of a second one of the entities. In multi-RTT (also referred to as multi-cell RTT), multiple ranges from one entity (e.g., UE) to another entity (e.g., TRP) and the known location of the other entity may be used to determine the location of an entity. In TDOA techniques, the difference in travel time between one entity and another may be used to determine the relative range from the other entity, and combined with the known location of the other entity may be used to determine the location of the one entity. The angles of arrival and / or departure may be used to help determine the location of the entities. For example, the angle of arrival or departure of a signal (determined using the signal, e.g., the travel time of the signal, the received power of the signal, etc.) combined with the range between the devices and the known location of one of the devices may be used to determine the location of the other device. The angle of arrival or departure may be an azimuth angle relative to a reference direction such as due north. The angle of arrival or departure may be a zenith angle directly upward from the entity (i.e., radiating outward from the center of the Earth).E-CID uses the identity of the serving cell, the timing advance (i.e., the difference between the receive time and transmit time at the UE), the estimated timing and power of detected neighbor cell signals, and possibly the angle of arrival (e.g., of the signal at the UE from the base station, or vice versa) to determine the location of the UE. In TDOA, the difference in the arrival times at a receiving device of signals from different sources, along with the known locations of the sources and known offsets in the transmit times from the sources, are used to determine the location of the receiving device.

[0070] In network-centric RTT estimation, the serving base station instructs the UE to scan / receive RTT measurement signals (e.g., PRS) on serving cells of two or more neighboring base stations (and typically the serving base station, since at least three base stations are required). One or more base stations transmit the RTT measurement signals on low reuse resources (e.g., resources used by the base station to transmit system information) allocated by the network (e.g., a location server such as the LMF 120). The UE records the arrival time (also called receive time, reception time, time of reception, or ToA) of each RTT measurement signal relative to the UE's current downlink timing (e.g., derived by the UE from the DL signal received from its serving base station), transmits a common or individual RTT response message (e.g., SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) for positioning, i.e., UL-PRS) to one or more base stations (e.g., when commanded by its serving base station), and records the time difference T between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message. Rx→Tx (i.e., UE T Rx-Tx or UE Rx-Tx ) in the payload of each RTT response message. The RTT response message will contain a reference signal from which the base station can infer the ToA of the RTT response. The difference T between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal from the base station and the ToA of the RTT response at the base stationTx→Rx The time difference T Rx→Tx By comparing it with , the base station can infer the propagation time between the base station and the UE, from which the base station can determine the distance between the UE and the base station by assuming the speed of light during this propagation time.

[0071] The UE-centric RTT estimation is similar to the network-based method, except that the UE transmits an uplink RTT measurement signal (e.g., when instructed by the serving base station), which is received by multiple base stations in the vicinity of the UE. Each participating base station responds with a downlink RTT response message, which may include in the RTT response message payload the time difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal at the base station and the transmission time of the RTT response message from the base station.

[0072] For both network-centric and UE-centric procedures, the party performing the RTT calculation (network or UE) typically (but not always) sends a first message or signal (e.g., an RTT measurement signal) and the other side responds with one or more RTT response messages or signals that may include the difference between the ToA of the first message or signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message or signal.

[0073] Multi-RTT techniques may be used to determine location. For example, a first entity (e.g., a UE) may send out one or more signals (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast from a base station), and multiple second entities (e.g., other TSPs, such as base stations and / or UEs) may receive signals from the first entity and respond to the received signals. The first entity receives responses from the multiple second entities. The first entity (or another entity, such as an LMF) may use the responses from the second entities to determine a range to the second entity, and may use the multiple ranges and the known location of the second entities to determine the location of the first entity by trilateration.

[0074] In some examples, additional information may be obtained in the form of a linear direction (e.g., which may be in the horizontal plane or in three dimensions), or possibly an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of departure (AoD), which defines a range of directions (e.g., from the base station's position to the UE). The intersection of the two directions may provide another estimate of the location for the UE.

[0075] For positioning techniques using PRS (positioning reference signal) signals (e.g., TDOA and RTT), PRS signals sent by multiple TRPs are measured, and the arrival time of the signal, the known time of transmission, and the known location of the TRPs are used to determine the range from the UE to the TRP. For example, a reference signal time difference (RSTD) may be determined for PRS signals received from multiple TRPs and used in TDOA techniques to determine the location of the UE. This positioning reference signal may be referred to as a PRS or a PRS signal. PRS signals are typically sent using the same power, and PRS signals with the same signal characteristics (e.g., the same frequency shift) may interfere with each other, such that a PRS signal from a more distant TRP may be overwhelmed by a PRS signal from a closer TRP, such that the signal from the more distant TRP cannot be detected. PRS muting may be used to help reduce interference by muting some PRS signals (reducing the power of the PRS signal, e.g., to zero, and thus not transmitting the PRS signal). In this way, weaker PRS signals (at the UE) may be more easily detected by the UE without stronger PRS signals interfering with the weaker PRS signals. The term RS, and its variants (e.g., PRS, SRS, CSI-RS (Channel State Information-Reference Signal)), may refer to one reference signal or multiple reference signals.

[0076] Positioning reference signals (PRS) include downlink PRS (DL PRS, often simply referred to as PRS) and uplink PRS (UL PRS), which may be referred to as SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) for positioning. The PRS may include a PN code (pseudorandom code) or may be generated using a PN code (e.g., by modulating a carrier signal with the PN code) so that the source of the PRS may act as a pseudolite. The PN code may be unique for the PRS source (at least within a designated area so that identical PRS from different PRS sources do not overlap). The PRS may include PRS resources and / or PRS resource sets of a frequency layer. A DL PRS positioning frequency layer (or simply frequency layer) is a collection of DL PRS resource sets from one or more TRPs with PRS resources having common parameters configured by higher layer parameters DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer, DL-PRS-ResourceSet, and DL-PRS-Resource. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS resource set in the frequency layer and a DL PRS subcarrier spacing (SCS) for the DL PRS resources. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS resource set in the frequency layer and a DL PRS cyclic prefix (CP) for the DL PRS resources. In 5G, a resource block occupies 12 consecutive subcarriers and a specified number of symbols. A common resource block is a set of resource blocks that occupy a channel bandwidth. A bandwidth part (BWP) is a set of consecutive common resource blocks, which may include all common resource blocks in the channel bandwidth or a subset of common resource blocks. Also, a DL PRS point A parameter defines the frequency of the reference resource block (and the lowest subcarrier of the resource block), and the DL PRS resources belong to the same DL PRS resource set with the same point A, and all DL PRS resource sets belong to the same frequency layer with the same point A.The frequency layers also have the same DL PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same value of comb size (i.e., the frequency of PRS resource elements per symbol, such that for comb N, every Nth resource element is a PRS resource element). A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and may be associated with a particular TRP (identified by a cell ID) transmitted by an antenna panel of a base station. A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set may be associated with an omnidirectional signal and / or a single beam (and / or beam ID) transmitted from a single base station (a base station may transmit one or multiple beams). Each PRS resource in a PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam, and thus a "PRS resource" (or simply a "resource") may also be referred to as a "beam". This does not have any implication on whether the base station and the beam on which the PRS is transmitted are known to the UE.

[0077] The TRP may be configured to send the DL PRS per schedule, for example, by instructions received from a server and / or by software in the TRP. According to the schedule, the TRP may send the DL PRS intermittently, for example, periodically at regular intervals from the initial transmission. The TRP may be configured to send one or more PRS resource sets. A resource set is a collection of PRS resources across one TRP, where the resources have the same periodicity, common muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across a slot. Each of the PRS resource sets includes multiple PRS resources, and each PRS resource includes multiple OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) resource elements (REs) that may be within multiple resource blocks (RBs) within N (one or more) consecutive symbols in a slot. PRS resources (or reference signal (RS) resources in general) may be referred to as OFDM PRS resources (or OFDM RS resources). An RB is a collection of REs over an amount of one or more consecutive symbols in the time domain and an amount of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain (12 for 5G RBs). Each PRS resource is configured with an RE offset, a slot offset, a symbol offset within the slot, and a number of consecutive symbols that the PRS resource may occupy within the slot. The RE offset defines the starting RE offset of the first symbol in the DL PRS resource in frequency. The relative RE offsets of the remaining symbols in the DL PRS resource are defined based on the initial offset. The slot offset is the starting slot of the DL PRS resource relative to the corresponding resource set slot offset. The symbol offset determines the starting symbol of the DL PRS resource within the starting slot. The transmitted RE may be repeated across the slot, and each transmission is called a repetition, such that there may be multiple repetitions in the PRS resource. The DL PRS resources in a DL PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP, and each DL PRS resource has a DL PRS resource ID.A DL PRS resource ID in a DL PRS resource set is associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (although a TRP may transmit one or multiple beams).

[0078] The PRS resources may also be defined by quasi-co-location and start PRB parameters. The quasi-co-location (QCL) parameter may define any quasi-co-location information of DL PRS resources with other reference signals. The DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type D with DL PRS or SS / PBCH (synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel) blocks from a serving or non-serving cell. The DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type C with SS / PBCH blocks from a serving or non-serving cell. The start PRB parameter defines the start PRB index of the DL PRS resources relative to reference point A. The start PRB index has a granularity of one PRB and may have a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 2176 PRBs.

[0079] A PRS resource set is a collection of PRS resources with the same periodicity, the same muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across slots. Any time when all repetitions of all PRS resources of a PRS resource set are configured to be transmitted is called an "instance." Thus, an "instance" of a PRS resource set is a specified number of repetitions for each PRS resource, and a specified number of PRS resources in a PRS resource set, such that an instance is complete when a specified number of repetitions for each of the specified number of PRS resources have been transmitted. An instance may also be referred to as an "opportunity." A DL PRS configuration, including a DL PRS transmission schedule, may be provided to the UE to facilitate (or even enable) the UE to measure the DL PRS.

[0080] Multiple frequency layers of a PRS may be aggregated to provide an effective bandwidth larger than any of the layer bandwidths individually. Multiple frequency layers that meet criteria such as component carriers (which may be contiguous and / or distinct) and quasi-colocated (QCL) and have the same antenna ports may be stitched to provide a larger effective PRS bandwidth (for DL ​​PRS and UL PRS), increasing time-of-arrival measurement accuracy. Stitching involves combining PRS measurements across individual bandwidth fragments into an integrated one, such that the stitched PRS can be treated as if taken from a single measurement. When QCL'd, the different frequency layers behave similarly, allowing stitching of PRSs to provide a larger effective bandwidth. The larger effective bandwidth may be referred to as the aggregate PRS bandwidth or the aggregate PRS frequency bandwidth, and provides better time-domain resolution (e.g., of TDOA). An aggregated PRS includes a collection of PRS resources, where each PRS resource of the aggregated PRS may be referred to as a PRS component, and each PRS component may be transmitted on a different component carrier, band, or frequency layer, or on a different portion of the same band.

[0081] RTT positioning is an active positioning technique in that the RTT uses positioning signals sent by the TRP to the UE and by the UE (involved in RTT positioning) to the TRP. The TRP can send DL-PRS signals that are received by the UE, and the UE can send SRS (sounding reference signal) signals that are received by multiple TRPs. The sounding reference signal may be called SRS or SRS signal. In 5G multi-RTT, cooperative positioning may be used with the UE sending a single UL-SRS for positioning that is received by multiple TRPs, rather than sending a separate UL-SRS for positioning for each TRP. A TRP involved in multi-RTT typically searches for UEs currently camped on that TRP (served UEs, where the TRP is the serving TRP) and UEs camped on nearby TRPs (neighbor UEs). The neighbor TRPs may be TRPs of a single BTS (base transceiver station) (e.g., gNB), or a TRP of one BTS and a TRP of a separate BTS. For RTT positioning, including multi-RTT positioning, the DL-PRS signal and the UL-SRS signal in the positioning PRS / SRS signal pair used to determine the RTT (and thus the range between the UE and the TRP) may occur close in time to each other such that errors due to UE movement and / or UE clock drift and / or TRP clock drift are within acceptable limits. For example, the signals in the positioning PRS / SRS signal pair may be transmitted within about 10 ms of each other from the TRP and the UE, respectively. Because the positioning SRS is sent by the UE, and because the positioning PRS and SRS are conveyed close in time to each other, it has been found that radio frequency (RF) signal congestion (which may cause excessive noise, etc.) may occur, especially if many UEs are attempting positioning simultaneously, and / or computational congestion may occur at the TRP attempting to measure many UEs simultaneously.

[0082] RTT positioning may be UE-based or UE-assisted. In UE-based RTT, the UE 200 determines the RTT and corresponding range to each of the TRPs 300 and the location of the UE 200 based on the range to the TRPs 300 and the known location of the TRPs 300. In UE-assisted RTT, the UE 200 measures positioning signals and provides the measurement information to the TRPs 300, which determines the RTT and range. The TRPs 300 provide ranges to a location server, e.g., server 400, which determines the location of the UE 200, e.g., based on the range to the different TRPs 300. The RTT and / or range may be determined by the TRP 300 receiving the signal from the UE 200, by a combination of the TRP 300 and one or more other devices, e.g., one or more other TRPs 300 and / or server 400, or by one or more devices other than the TRP 300 receiving the signal from the UE 200.

[0083] Various positioning techniques are supported in 5G NR. NR-specific positioning methods supported in 5G NR include DL-only, UL-only, and DL+UL positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include DL-TDOA and DL-AoD. Uplink-based positioning methods include UL-TDOA and UL-AoA. Combined DL+UL-based positioning methods include RTT with one base station and RTT with multiple base stations (multi-RTT).

[0084] A position estimate (e.g., for a UE) may be called by other names such as a location estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, etc. A position estimate may be geodetic and include coordinates (latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may be city-related and include a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. A position estimate may further be defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A position estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume that is expected to include the location with some specified or default confidence).

[0085] The configuration of the server 400 shown in FIG. 4 is an example and not a limitation of the present disclosure including the claims, and other configurations may be used. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Also or alternatively, the description herein discusses the server 400 being configured to or performing certain functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the TRP 300 and / or the UE 200 (i.e., the TRP 300 and / or the UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0086] Flight Route Report 5, the UE 500 includes a processor 510, a transceiver 520, and a memory 530 communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 540. The UE 500 may include the components shown in FIG. 5. The UE 500 may include one or more other components, such as any of those shown in FIG. 2, such that the UE 200 may be an example of the UE 500. For example, the processor 510 may include one or more of the components of the processor 210. The transceiver 520 may include one or more of the components of the transceiver 215, such as the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246, or the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246, or the wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244, and the antenna 246. Also or alternatively, the transceiver 520 may include a wired transmitter 252 and / or a wired receiver 254. Memory 530 may be configured similarly to memory 211 and includes, for example, software with processor-readable instructions configured to cause processor 510 to perform functions.

[0087] The description herein may refer to the processor 510 performing functions, but includes other implementations, such as the processor 510 executing software (stored in memory 530) and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the UE 500 performing functions as shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the UE 500 (e.g., the processor 510 and memory 530) performing functions. The processor 510 (possibly along with the memory 530 and, optionally, the transceiver 520) may include a flight path reporting unit 550. The flight path reporting unit 550 is discussed further below, and the description may refer to the processor 510 generally, or to the UE 500 generally, as performing any of the functions of the flight path reporting unit 550, which the UE 500 is configured to perform.

[0088] 6, the network entity 600 includes a processor 610, a transceiver 620, and a memory 630 communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 640. The network entity 600 may include the components shown in FIG. 6. The network entity 600 may include one or more other components, such as any of those shown in FIG. 3 and / or FIG. 4, such that the TRP 300 and / or the server 400 may be examples of the network entity 600. For example, the processor 610 may include one or more of the components of the processor 310 and / or the processor 410. The transceiver 620 may include one or more of the components of the transceiver 315 and / or the transceiver 415. The memory 630 may be configured similarly to the memory 311 and / or the memory 411, and includes, for example, software with processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 610 to perform functions.

[0089] The description herein may refer to the processor 610 performing functions, but includes other implementations, such as the processor 610 executing software (stored in memory 630) and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the network entity 600 performing functions as shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the network entity 600 (e.g., the processor 610 and the memory 630) performing functions. The processor 610 (possibly along with the memory 630 and, where appropriate, the transceiver 620) may include a flight path request unit 650 and a flight path creation unit 660. Although the flight path request unit 650 and the flight path creation unit 660 are discussed further herein, the description may refer to the processor 610 generally, or the network entity 600 generally, as performing any of the functions of the flight path request unit 650 and / or the flight path creation unit 660, which the network entity 600 is configured to perform.

[0090] 7, an example of a UE 500, in this example a UE 700 that is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which may also be referred to as a drone, has a flight path 710 that includes waypoints 721, 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727. The flight path 710 may be an actual flight path taken by the UE 700 or a scheduled flight path expected to be taken by the UE 700. The flight path 710 is a non-limiting example. The flight path may be formed, for example, by curve fitting with lines (straight or non-straight, e.g., curved) connecting adjacent waypoints, rather than all adjacent waypoints being connected by straight lines as shown in the example flight path 710. Although the waypoints 721-727 are shown as point locations, the waypoints may be described in one or more of a variety of ways, such as point locations, two-dimensional areas, and / or three-dimensional shapes (e.g., ellipsoids (e.g., ellipsoids 731, 732, etc.), polygons (e.g., polygon 740, etc.)). For example, the flight path reporting unit 550 of the UE 700 may be configured to provide flight path information according to the following pseudocode: FlightPathInfoReport-r15::=SEQUENCE{ flightPath-r15 SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxWayPoint-r15))OF WayPointflightpath-r15 OPTIONAL, nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE{}OPTIONAL } WayPointflightpath-r15::=SEQUENCE{ wayPointflightpath-r15 flightpathInfo-r10, timeStamp-r15 AbsoluteTimeInfo-r10 OPTIONAL } flightpathInfo-r10::=SEQUENCE{ flightpathCoordinates-r10 CHOICE{ ellipsoid-Point-r10 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING Ellipsoid-Point), ellipsoidPointWithAltitude-r10 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING EllipsoidPointWithAltitude), ..., ellipsoidPointWithUncertaintyCircle-r11 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING Ellipsoid-PointWithUncertaintyCircle), ellipsoidPointWithUncertaintyEllipse-r11 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING EllipsoidPointWithUncertaintyEllipse), ellipsoidPointWithAltitudeAndUncertaintyEllipsoid-r11 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING EllipsoidPointWithAltitudeAndUncertaintyEllipsoid), ellipsoidArc-r11 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING EllipsoidArc), polygon-r11 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING Polygon) }, horizontalVelocity-r10 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING HorizontalVelocity)OPTIONAL, gnss-TOD-msec-r10 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING Gnss-TOD-msec)OPTIONAL, ... } Additionally, as discussed above, each waypoint has an associated timestamp. The UE 700 may send flight path information, e.g., a description of the waypoints, to the server 400 via the base station 750 that comprises one or more of the TRPs 300. The server 400 may use the flight path information for precise positioning of the UE 700. For example, the server 400 may use the flight path information as an input to a filter (e.g., a Kalman filter) used to determine a location estimate of the UE 700 to help improve the accuracy of the location estimate.

[0091] With reference to FIG. 8 and further with reference to FIGS. 1-7, a signaling and process flow 800 for network-initiated provision of flight path information from a target UE 801 to a network entity 802 includes the stages shown. The target UE 801 is a UE for which one or more location estimates are to be determined, which in this example is UE 700. Flow 800 is an example and stages may be added, reordered, and / or removed. For example, if non-differential flight path reporting is used, stage 850 may be omitted. Flow 800 includes flight path information capability transfer, flight path information request, flight path information transfer, and flight path edit.

[0092] At stage 810, the target UE 801 transmits a capability report 812 to the network entity 802 (e.g., network entity 600). The flight path reporting unit 550 of the target UE 801 may transmit the capability report 812 to the network entity 802 indicating that the target UE 801 supports reporting flight path information to the network entity 802. The capability report 812 may indicate that the target UE 801 supports partial flight path reporting, triggered flight path reporting, and / or differential flight path reporting. The target UE 801 may be configured to transmit the capability report 812 in response to receiving a request for capabilities from the network entity 802 or without receiving a request for capabilities from the network entity 802. For example, flight path related capabilities may be requested in an information element (IE) CommonIEsRequestCapabilities or added as a non-critical extension of that information element, and / or flight path related capabilities may be provided in an information element CommonIEsProvideCapabilities or added as a non-critical extension of that information element.

[0093] In stage 820, the network entity 802 sends a flight path information request 822, denoted here as an IE called RequestFlightPathInformation. If the network entity 802 is a server, the request 822 may be an LPP message. If the network entity 802 is a TRP, the request 822 may be an RRC (Radio Resource Control) message. The flight path information request 822 may, for example, configure the target UE 801 with one or more of a variety of manners for reporting flight path information for the flight path 710. The target UE 801 may be statically configured (e.g., manufactured) to support one or more of a variety of manners for reporting flight path information, and the flight path information request 822 may indicate one or more of such manners to implement and may provide one or more parameters for implementing the indicated manner. The flight path information request 822 may thus dynamically configure the target UE 801 to implement one or more supported static configurations. Also or alternatively, the flight path information request may dynamically configure the target UE 801 to implement flight path information reporting in a non-statically configured manner, for example, by providing processor-readable instructions for the processor 510 to execute. The flight path information request 822 may request, for example, that the target UE 801 report the entire flight path 710, or implement partial flight path reporting by reporting a portion of the flight path 710 that is less than the entire flight path 710. As another example, the flight path information request 822 may request that the target UE 801 implement triggered flight path reporting to report flight path information in response to the occurrence of a trigger event. As another example, the flight path information request 822 may request that the target UE 801 implement differential reporting to report the difference between a current flight path and a previous flight path, i.e., one or more changes to the previous flight path.The current flight path includes a flight path based on the current and previous locations of the target UE 801 and may include an updated projected path between the current location of the target UE 801 and the destination of the target UE 801. The flight path information request 822 may request that the target UE 801 implement a combination of these approaches, for example, partial flight path reporting and differential flight path reporting, partial flight path reporting and triggered flight path reporting, triggered flight path reporting and differential flight path reporting, or partial flight path reporting, triggered flight path reporting, and differential flight path reporting.

[0094] As an example of configuring the target UE 801 for partial flight path reporting, the network entity 802, e.g., the flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to provide one or more spatial and temporal offsets. For example, using Cartesian coordinates, the request 822 may indicate the x, y, and z coordinates of a reference location, indicate an x ​​offset Δx, a y offset Δy, and / or a z offset Δz, indicate a reference time t, and indicate a temporal offset Δt. The offsets may instruct the target UE 801 to exclude any waypoints defined by x+ / -Δx, y+ / -Δy, and z+ / -Δz about the reference location in the flight path 710 whose locations are outside the volume, or timestamps beyond t+ / -Δt. Alternatively, the temporal offset Δt may instruct the target UE 801 to exclude any waypoints whose timestamps exceed t+Δt, and thus exclude any waypoints whose timestamps are before the indicated time t. The time t may be the current timestamp or another timestamp, e.g., a future time or a past time. As another alternative, a different value of Δt may be used to indicate on either side of the time t, e.g., to exclude any intermediate points whose timestamps are outside t-Δt1 and t+Δt2, where t1≠t2. Still other examples are possible. For example, the volume may be defined in other ways (e.g., other coordinate systems), the volume may be defined irregularly (e.g., x+Δx1, x-Δx2 (where Δx1≠Δx2), etc.).

[0095] As another example of configuring the target UE 801 for partial flight path reporting, the network entity 802, e.g., the flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to provide the amount and time offset of waypoints that should not be exceeded. For example, the request 822 may indicate an amount M and a time offset Δt that instructs the target UE 801 to report no more than M waypoints in the flight path 710 with corresponding timestamps indicating times within t+ / -Δt. Alternatively, the time offset Δt may instruct the target UE 801 to exclude any waypoints whose timestamps exceed t+Δt, and thus exclude any waypoints whose timestamps are before the indicated time t. The time t may be the current timestamp or another timestamp, e.g., a future time or a past time. As another alternative, a different value of Δt may be used to indicate exclusion of any waypoints on either side of the time t, e.g., whose timestamps are outside t-Δt1 and t+Δt2, where t1≠t2. Still other examples are possible.

[0096] As another example of configuring target UE 801 for partial flight path reporting, network entity 802, e.g., flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to provide an amount of waypoints that should not be exceeded without indicating a time offset. For example, request 822 may indicate an amount M that instructs target UE 801 to report no more than M waypoints in flight path 710, regardless of the timestamps corresponding to the waypoints.

[0097] As another example of configuring the target UE 801 for partial flight path reporting, the network entity 802, e.g., the flight path request unit 650, may make a request 822 to provide a reference time and a time offset. For example, the request 822 may indicate a time t and a time offset Δt, instructing the target UE 801 not to report any further waypoints whose timestamps are within t+ / -Δt, regardless of how many waypoints are included. Alternatively, the time offset Δt may indicate the target UE 801 to exclude any waypoints whose timestamps are greater than t+Δt, and thus exclude any waypoints whose timestamps are before the indicated time t. The time t may be the current timestamp or another timestamp, e.g., a future time or a past time. As another alternative, a different value of Δt may be used to indicate to exclude any waypoints on either side of the time t, e.g., whose timestamps are outside t-Δt1 and t+Δt2, where t1≠t2. Still other examples are possible.

[0098] The target UE 801 may be configured to implement more than one of these examples, and the request 822 may provide a coded indication of which example to implement. For example, partial flight path reporting with spatial and time constraints may be a first option, partial flight path reporting with waypoint volume and time constraints may be a second option, partial flight path reporting with waypoint volume may be a third option, and partial flight path reporting with time constraints may be a fourth option. In this case, the request may include a two-bit indication of which of the four options the target UE 801 should implement. The request 822, or another message, will include the respective parameter values ​​for the indicated (e.g., selected) option of partial flight path reporting, unless the parameter values ​​have already been agreed upon (e.g., fixed and preprogrammed into the target UE 801).

[0099] The network entity 802 may request the target UE 801 to report partial flight paths for one or more of a variety of reasons. For example, the network entity 802 may know one or more mobility limitations (e.g., maximum speed, turning capability, etc.) of the target UE 801 and may therefore limit flight path reporting to waypoints possible within a time window. As another example, the network entity 802 may want to focus efforts for positioning the target UE 801 on an area of ​​interest (which may be a volume), which may reduce processing by the network entity 802 to determine one or more location estimates for the target UE 801, saving energy and / or time and / or allowing more detailed processing by the network entity 802. This, in turn, may reduce latency and / or improve positioning accuracy. As another example, the network entity 802 may limit the flight paths reported to waypoints suitable for a particular application, for example, to limit the waypoints to areas suitable for local businesses to advertise.

[0100] As an example of configuring the target UE 801 for triggered flight path reporting, the network entity 802, e.g., the flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to provide one or more parameters that define an event for triggering a flight path report. For example, the flight path request unit 650 may define a difference between a previous flight path (e.g., a flight path previously reported by the target UE 801) and a current flight path (e.g., an actual flight path to be followed or a determined expected flight path), which triggers the target UE 801 to report flight path information. The previous (old) flight path, i.e., fp old Let,be a sequence of P waypoints (optionally including timestamps), fp old = {(x1(i),y1(i),z1(i),t1(i))}, where i = 1,2,...,P (1) and the current (new) flight path, i.e., fp new as a sequence of N waypoints (optionally including timestamps), fp new = {(x2(i),y2(i),z2(i),t2(i))}, where i = 1,2,...,N (2) may be defined as: The spatial and temporal differences between the old and new flight paths are

[0101]

number

[0102] In the above formula, w x , w y , and w z is a weighting factor provided by the flight path request unit 650 of the network entity 802. The weighting factor may be used, for example, to weight altitude deviations between flight paths more heavily than horizontal deviations. diff pos (fp1,fp1)>Δ position (5) or diff time (fp1,fp1)>Δ time (6) A trigger event may be defined as: The network entity 802 determines the threshold diff pos , diff time Other trigger events may be defined. For example, a trigger event may be defined for the difference between the individual waypoints. As another example, a trigger event may be defined as a deviation in only one direction (e.g., altitude). Trigger events may include deviations and / or anomalies from expectations. Trigger events may indicate avoidance behaviors such as avoiding obstacles, avoiding a reference location, etc.

[0103] The flight path information request 822 may indicate one or more limitations on triggered flight path reporting by the target UE 801. For example, the request 822 may indicate an expiration time after which the target UE 801 should terminate triggered flight path reporting or a duration after which flight path reporting should terminate. The request 822 may indicate no expiration for triggered flight path reporting, e.g., indicating a value of 0 for the duration. The target UE 801 may be statically configured to implement a default time window for triggered flight path reporting, e.g., to initiate triggered flight path reporting upon receiving the flight path information request 822 and terminate triggered flight path reporting after a default duration has elapsed since initiating the triggered flight path reporting. As another example, the flight path information request 822 may indicate a report prohibit timer that indicates a threshold amount of time after flight path information is reported by the target UE 801 before the target UE 801 can report flight path information again. Implementing this threshold time between flight path information reports can reduce communication overhead and processing by both the target UE 801 and the network entity 802, resulting in energy savings.

[0104] As an example of configuring the target UE 801 for differential flight path reporting, the network entity 802, e.g., the flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to request or enable the target UE 801 to perform differential flight path reporting. In differential reporting, the difference between a previous flight path (e.g., a previously reported or otherwise previously determined flight path) and a current flight path is reported, but the entire current flight path is not reported. In this manner, communication overhead may be saved (relative to transmitting the entire current flight path) and latency may be reduced (by not processing the entire flight path to use the flight path for positioning the target UE 801). The previous flight path may be a predicted flight path of the target UE 801, e.g., the predicted flight path was reported / stored before the target UE 801 departed. This flight path may be updated due to deviations from the predicted flight path or verified based on the target UE 801 being at a predicted waypoint at a corresponding predicted time.

[0105] In stage 830, the target UE 801, e.g., the flight path reporting unit 550, transmits flight path information 832 to the network entity 802. The flight path reporting unit 550 of the target UE 801 is configured to report flight path information about the flight path 710 based on a directed reporting manner, e.g., indicated in the flight path information request 822, and using respective parameters provided by the network entity 802 for the directed manner. For example, for triggered flight path reporting, the target UE 801 may monitor a triggering event at a time span directed by the flight path information request 822, thereby enabling triggered flight path reporting at the directed time span. The flight path information 832 may be transmitted in a ProvideFlightPathInformation IE. The flight path information 832 may include one or more waypoints (e.g., all waypoints, a portion of waypoints defined by the flight path information request 822, waypoints that constitute a difference between a current and a previous flight path, etc.). The flight path information 832 transferred may match or be a subset of the flight path information requested by the flight path information request 822, but the network entity 802 may have additional flight path information transferred, which may be transferred in stage 840. If stage 840 does not occur, the flight path information 832 may end the flight path information transfer, for example, by setting an endTransaction IE to TRUE.

[0106] At stage 840, if requested by the flight path information request 822, the target UE 801 sends further flight path information 842, e.g., in another ProvideFlightPathInformation IE. The further flight path information 842 may match or be a subset of the flight path information requested by the flight path information request 822, unless the network entity 802 allows the additional flight path information that the network entity 802 may use to confirm the location of the target UE 801 and / or to improve a location estimate for the target UE 801. For example, the additional information may include uncertainties associated with waypoints and / or UE speeds associated with the waypoints (e.g., predicted and / or actual speeds at the waypoints). The final message of further flight path information 842 terminates the flight path information transfer, e.g., by including an endTransaction IE set to TRUE.

[0107] The flight path information 832, 842 may be sent by the target UE 801 in response to the flight path information request 822 from the network entity 802. If the network entity 802 is a server, the flight path information 832, 842 may be sent as an LPP message. For example, since the network entity 802 is a server, upon receiving the RequestFlightPathInformation message, the target UE 801 may (1) include the requested information in a ProvideFlightPathInformation message if the requested information matches the capabilities and configuration of the target UE 801, set the LPP-TransactionID IE in the response to the same value as the LPP-TransactionID in the received message, and deliver the ProvideFlightPathInformation message to a lower layer (than where the flight path information is determined) for transmission, and (2) handle the signaling content due to LPP error detection if it does not match. If the network entity 802 is a TRP, the flight path information 832, 842 may be transmitted, for example, as an RRC message, similar to the LPP messages discussed.

[0108] The flight path information 832, 842 may be transmitted by the target UE 801 in response to the occurrence of a triggering event. For example, when triggered to transmit a ProvideFlightPathInformation message, the target UE 801 may set a corresponding IE to include the available flight path information and deliver the response to a lower layer (below where the flight path information is determined) for transmission.

[0109] At stage 850, the network entity 802 may edit the flight path. The network entity 802, e.g., the flight path creation unit 660, may generate a new flight path using received waypoint information for a flight path not previously created or received, and may edit an existing flight path by adding one or more new waypoints, reviewing information for one or more waypoints, and / or deleting one or more waypoints based on information in the flight path information 832, 842. Editing a flight path is discussed further below.

[0110] 9, a signaling and process flow 900 for UE-initiated provision of flight path information from a target UE 901 to a network entity 902 includes the stages shown. Flow 900 includes similar stages to flow 800. In stage 910, the target UE 901 may send a capability report 912 to the network entity 902 without being requested by the network entity 902 to provide the capabilities of the target UE 901. In stages 920, 930, the target UE 901 may provide flight path information 922, 932 similar to the flight path information 832, 842, but is not requested by the network entity 902 to provide the flight path information. For example, the target UE 901 may provide partial route flight path information according to one or more parameters stored by the target UE 901 and / or provide a triggered flight path report according to one or more parameters (e.g., defining a trigger event) stored by the target UE 901. In stage 940, network entity 902 may compile flight path information, similar to network entity 802 in stage 850.

[0111] The target UEs 801, 901 (e.g., respective flight path reporting units 550) may be configured to provide the flight path information 832, 922 in various formats. For example, the target UEs 801, 901 may be configured to provide the flight path information 832, 922 according to the pseudocode discussed above with respect to FIG. 7. As another example, for differential flight path reporting, the target UEs 801, 901 may be configured to provide the flight path information 832, 922 according to the following pseudocode: ProvideFlightPathInformation::=SEQUENCE{ flightpathinforeport FlightPathInfoReport-r15 ... } Here, FlightPathInfoReport may be defined as follows: FlightPathInfoReport-rXX::=SEQUENCE{ flightPath SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxWayPoint-rXX))OF WayPointFlightPath-rXX OPTIONAL, flightPathToAddModList SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxWayPoint-rXX))OF WayPointflightpath-rXX OPTIONAL, flightPathToReleaseList SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxWayPoint-rXX))OF WayPointflightpath-rXX-Id OPTIONAL, } and WayPointFlightPath-rXX::=SEQUENCE{ wayPointFlightPathID-rxx, wayPointflightpath-r15 LocationInfo-r10, timeStamp-r15 AbsoluteTimeInfo-r10 OPTIONAL } WayPointFlightPathID-rxx::=INTEGER(1..maxWayPointFlightPathID-rxx) Thus, the flight path information 832, 922 may include a complete or partial flight path including one or more waypoints, each including a waypoint ID, a location, and a timestamp. The waypoint ID provides a unique identity for a particular waypoint of a particular flight path. The flight path information 832, 922 may also or alternatively include one or more waypoints to be added (if not already present), one or more waypoints to be modified (if already present in the flight path), and / or one or more waypoint IDs of one or more waypoints to be removed from a flight path stored by the network entity 802, 902 (e.g., as an array of waypoint IDs and waypoint information (e.g., location, ellipsoid, polygon, etc.)). If included, flightPathToAddModList includes one or more waypoints. For each waypoint in flightPathToAddModList, if the waypoint ID exists in the flight path stored by the network entity 802, 902, the network entity 802, 902 (e.g., flight path creation unit 660) modifies the waypoint information for the waypoint for which the waypoint information is provided in the flight path information 832, 922. For each waypoint in flightPathToAddModList, if the waypoint ID does not exist in the flight path stored by the network entity 802, 902, the network entity 802, 902 (e.g., flight path creation unit 660) adds the waypoint information in the flight path information 832, 922 to the flight path. flightPathToReleaseList, if included, includes one or more waypoint IDs. For each waypoint ID in flightPathToReleaseList, the network entity 802, 902 (e.g., flight path creation unit 660) removes the waypoint information for that waypoint ID (if present) from the flight path stored by the network entity 802, 902.

[0112] Referring again to stages 850, 940, the network entity 802, 902, e.g., the flight path creation unit 660, may be configured to create a flight path based on whether the flight path information 832, 922 includes a publishing instruction or a modification / add instruction. The flight path creation unit 660 may be configured to respond to a publishing instruction, e.g., flight path information 832, 922 including flightPathToReleaseList, by publishing each waypoint that is in the current flight path and whose waypoint ID is included in flightPathToReleaseList, thus deleting the waypoint from the flight path. The flight path creation unit 660 may also be configured to respond to an add / modify instruction, e.g., flightPathToAddModList, flight path information 832, 922, including flightPathToAddModList, by adding each waypoint whose waypoint ID is included in flightPathToAddModList, if present, but that is not in the current flight path, thus modifying the current flight path to include the waypoint that was not in the flight path but was in the add / modify instruction. The flight path creation unit 660 may also be configured to respond to flight path information 832, 922 including add / modify instructions by modifying each waypoint whose waypoint ID is included in the flightPathToAddModList and is in the current flight path, if present, and thus reconfiguring the current flight path to include waypoint information, if present, that corresponds to a waypoint in the current flight path that was not in the flight path but is in the add / modify instructions.

[0113] 1-9, a method 1000 for obtaining flight path information includes the steps shown. However, method 1000 is by way of example and not limitation. Method 1000 may be modified, for example, by having steps added, removed, reordered, combined, or performed simultaneously, and / or by dividing a single step into multiple steps.

[0114] At stage 1010, the method 1000 includes receiving a capability report from a user equipment (UE) at a network entity indicating a capability of the UE to report a flight path of the UE to the network entity. For example, the network entity 802 receives the capability report 812 from the target UE 801. The processor 610 may comprise means for receiving the capability report in combination with the transceiver 620 (e.g., the wireless receiver 344 and antenna 346, or the wired receiver 354, or the wireless receiver 444 and antenna 446, or the wired receiver 454), possibly in combination with the memory 630.

[0115] At stage 1020, method 1000 includes transmitting a flight path report message from a network entity to the UE, the message requesting the UE to provide a partial-route flight path report by reporting to the network entity first flight path information indicative of a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the flight path, or a triggered flight path report by reporting to the network entity second flight path information in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicative of at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential report by reporting to the network entity third flight path information indicative of a difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or any combination thereof. For example, network entity 802 transmits a flight path information request 822 to target UE 801 requesting a partial-route flight path report, a triggered flight path report, and / or a differential flight path report. The processor 610, possibly in combination with the memory 630, may comprise means for transmitting a flight path report message in combination with the transceiver 620 (e.g., wireless transmitter 342 and antenna 346, or wired transmitter 352, or wireless transmitter 442 and antenna 446, or wired transmitter 452).

[0116] Implementations of the method 1000 may include one or more of the following features. In one example implementation, the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a partial route flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for a waypoint of the portion of the flight path. For example, the flight path information request 822 may indicate one or more parameters to be met for the partial route flight path report. In another example implementation, the at least one criterion includes a first time window and one or more location ranges, or a second time window and a first limit amount of waypoints of the portion of the flight path, or a second limit amount of waypoints of the portion of the flight path. The one or more parameters to be met may include a time span (e.g., a reference time and a time window relative to the reference time) and one or more spatial constraints (e.g., one or more coordinate constraints relative to one or more reference coordinates) that the waypoints must meet to be reported. Alternatively, the one or more parameters to be met may include a time span and a limit on the number of waypoints to be reported. Alternatively, the one or more parameters to be satisfied may include, for example, a limit on the number of waypoints to be reported, without a timespan parameter (and possibly without any other constraints).

[0117] Also or alternatively, implementations of method 1000 may include one or more of the following features: In one example implementation, the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a triggered flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for a trigger event. For example, the flight path information request 822 may indicate one or more event parameters to be satisfied for a triggered flight path report. In another example implementation, the at least one criterion for the trigger event includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events occurring for the UE to report second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof. For example, the one or more event parameters may define a time when triggered flight path reporting is enabled and / or an amount of time between a triggered report being sent and another triggered report may be sent. In another example implementation, the at least one criterion includes one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of the UE's previous flight path and a second waypoint of the UE's current flight path, or a distance difference threshold for a sum of distance differences between the first and second waypoints, or a time difference threshold for a sum of time differences between the first and second waypoints, or any combination thereof. For example, the one or more event parameters may define one or more spatial weights for coordinate system coordinate differences between waypoints in the previous and current flight path, spatial thresholds for spatial differences between the flight paths, and / or time thresholds for time differences between the flight paths, e.g., as described above with respect to Equations (1)-(6).

[0118] Also or alternatively, implementations of method 1000 may include one or more of the following features: In one example implementation, the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a differential report, and the method further includes receiving, by the network entity, third flight path information from the UE, and storing, by the network entity, the first waypoint information from the third flight path information to the stored flight path based on the third flight path information including the first waypoint information and the first waypoint identity, or deleting, by the network entity, the second waypoint information from the stored flight path based on the third flight path information indicating to publish a second waypoint identity present in the stored flight path, where the second waypoint information corresponds to the second waypoint identity. For example, the network entity 802 (e.g., flight path creation unit 660) may store (e.g., add a waypoint to a flight path or modify a waypoint of a flight path) based on the flight path information 832 instructing to add or modify a previous flight path with the provided waypoint information, and / or the network entity 802 may delete a waypoint from a previous flight path based on the flight path information 832 instructing to publish a waypoint with a waypoint ID provided in the flight path information 832. The flight path information 832 may include one or more instructions for adding a waypoint, one or more instructions for modifying a waypoint, and / or one or more instructions for publishing a waypoint. The processor 610, in combination with the memory 630, may comprise a means for storing the first waypoint information and / or a means for deleting the second waypoint information.

[0119] 11 and further with reference to FIGS. 1-9, a method 1100 of communicating regarding a user equipment flight path includes the steps shown. However, method 1100 is by way of example and not by way of limitation. Method 1100 may be modified, for example, by having steps added, removed, reordered, combined, performed simultaneously, and / or by splitting a single step into multiple steps.

[0120] At stage 1110, the method 1100 includes determining, at a user equipment (UE), a flight path report, the flight path report being a partial route flight path report, where the flight path report includes first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the UE's flight path, a partial route flight path report, or a triggered flight path report, the method further includes determining, in response to occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information for the flight path report at the UE, where the second flight path information is a triggered flight path report indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report, where the flight path report includes third flight path information indicating a difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or any combination thereof. For example, the target UE 801, 901 (e.g., flight path reporting unit 550) determines flight path information 832, 922 (e.g., partial or complete flight path), possibly in response to the occurrence of a trigger event and / or by differential flight path information (e.g., between a previous (e.g., previously reported) flight path and a current flight path). The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 530, may comprise means for determining a flight path report.

[0121] At stage 1120, the method 1100 includes transmitting the flight path report from the UE to a network entity. For example, the target UE 801, 901 transmits the flight path information 832, 922 to the network entity 802, 902 (e.g., the TRP 300 and / or the server 400). The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 530, in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 346), may comprise means for transmitting the flight path report.

[0122] Implementations of the method 1100 may include one or more of the following features. In one example implementation, the flight path report provides a partial route flight path report, where the flight path report includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint of the UE's flight path that satisfies at least one partial route criterion. For example, the flight path information 832 includes a portion of the flight path, e.g., the flight path 710, based on one or more parameters (e.g., received from the network entity 802 (e.g., in the flight path information request 822) or stored in the target UE 801, 901). In another example implementation, the at least one partial route criterion includes a first time window and one or more location ranges, or a second time window and a first waypoint limit amount of the portion of the flight path, or a second waypoint limit amount of the portion of the flight path. For example, one or more parameters may limit partial route flight path reporting to reporting waypoints with locations within one or more spatial boundaries and timestamps within a temporal boundary, or to reporting a threshold number or fewer waypoints each with a timestamp within the temporal boundary, or to reporting a threshold number of waypoints (e.g., regardless of timestamp).

[0123] Also or alternatively, implementations of the method 1100 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, the flight path report provides a triggered flight path report, and the method further includes, at the UE, acquiring at least one event criterion for a trigger event. For example, the target UE 801 may receive from the network entity 802 (e.g., in the flight path information request 822) one or more event parameters defining a triggering event for reporting the flight path information, and / or may read the one or more event parameters from the memory 530 of the target UE 801. As another example, the target UE 901 may read the one or more event parameters from the memory 530 of the target UE 901. The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 530, possibly in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246), may comprise means for acquiring the at least one event criterion. In another example implementation, the at least one event criterion for the trigger event includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events occurring for the UE to report the second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof. For example, the one or more event parameters may define a time window in which triggered flight path reporting is enabled and / or a threshold time between successive trigger events for triggering a triggered flight path report. A threshold time for the separation between successive triggered flight path reports (i.e., when a triggered flight path report is reported) may be provided.In another example implementation, the at least one event criterion for the trigger event includes one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of the UE's previous flight path and a second waypoint of the UE's current flight path, or a distance difference threshold for a sum of distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint, or a time difference threshold for a sum of time differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint, or any combination thereof. For example, the one or more event parameters may include one or more of the weighting factors and / or spatial thresholds and / or time thresholds described above with respect to Equations (1)-(6).

[0124] Also or alternatively, implementations of method 1100 may include one or more of the following features. In one example implementation, the flight path report provides differential flight path reporting, and the third flight path information includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint, and the waypoint information for each of the at least one waypoint includes a waypoint identity. For example, the flight path information 832, 922 may include one or more waypoint IDs corresponding to the respective waypoint information (e.g., location, volume definition (e.g., ellipsoid, polygon, etc.). In another example implementation, the flight path report includes waypoint information for each of at least one waypoint of the flight path of the UE, and for each of the at least one waypoint, the waypoint information includes an ellipsoid indication, or a polygon indication, or a combination thereof. In another example implementation, the method 1100 includes providing a capabilities report to the UE indicating a capability of the UE to provide at least one of partial route flight path reporting, triggered flight path reporting, or differential flight path reporting. to a network entity. For example, the target UE 801 (e.g., flight path reporting unit 550) may transmit a capability report 812 indicating that the target UE 801 can provide partial route flight path reporting and / or indicating that the target UE 801 can provide triggered flight path reporting and / or that the target UE 801 can provide differential flight path reporting. The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 530, possibly in combination with the transceiver 520 (e.g., wireless transmitter 242 and antenna 246), may comprise means for transmitting the capability report.

[0125] Example implementation Example implementations are given in the numbered clauses below.

[0126] Clause 1. A method for obtaining flight route information, comprising: receiving, at a network entity from a user equipment (UE), a capability report indicating a capability of the UE to report a flight path of the UE to the network entity; sending a flight path report message from the network entity to the UE, the flight path report message including: partial route flight path reporting by reporting first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path, less than all of the flight path, to a network entity; or a triggered flight path reporting by reporting second flight path information to a network entity in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE; or a differential flight path reporting by reporting to the network entity third flight path information indicating a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE; or and requesting that any combination thereof be provided.

[0127] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a partial route flight path report, the flight path report message including at least one reference for a waypoint of the portion of the flight path.

[0128] Article 3. At least one criterion shall be: a first time window and one or more location ranges; or a first limit amount for a second time window and a midpoint of the portion of the flight path; or The method of clause 2, including a second limit at an intermediate point of a segment of the flight route.

[0129] Clause 4. The method of clause 1, wherein the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a triggered flight path report, the flight path report message including at least one criterion for a trigger event.

[0130] Clause 5. The method of clause 4, wherein the at least one criterion for the trigger event includes a time window during which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events that occurs for the UE to report second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0131] Article 6. At least one criterion shall be: one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of a previous flight path of the UE and a second waypoint of a current flight path of the UE; or a distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint; or a time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first and second waypoints; or The methods of clause 4, including any combination thereof.

[0132] Clause 7. A flight path report message requests a UE to provide a differential flight path report, the method comprising: receiving, by a network entity, from the UE, third flight path information; storing, by the network entity, the first waypoint information from the third flight path information to the stored flight path based on the third flight path information including the first waypoint information and the first waypoint identity; or and at least one of the steps of: deleting, by the network entity, the second waypoint information from the stored flight path based on the third flight path information indicating to publish a second waypoint identity present in the stored flight path, the second waypoint information corresponding to the second waypoint identity.

[0133] Article 8. A transceiver; Memory, A network entity comprising: a processor communicatively coupled to a transceiver and a memory, the processor comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a capability report indicating an ability of the UE to report a flight path of the UE to a network entity; Sending a flight path report message to the UE, the flight path report message comprising: partial route flight path reporting by reporting first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path, less than all of the flight path, to a network entity; or a triggered flight path reporting by reporting second flight path information to a network entity in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE; or a differential flight path reporting by reporting to the network entity third flight path information indicating a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE; or and requesting the UE to provide any combination thereof.

[0134] Clause 9. The network entity of clause 8, wherein the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a partial route flight path report, the flight path report message including at least one reference for a waypoint of the portion of the flight path.

[0135] Article 10. At least one criterion shall be: a first time window and one or more location ranges; or a first limit amount for a second time window and a midpoint of the portion of the flight path; or The network entities of clause 9, including the second limit quantity of intermediate points of the flight route segments.

[0136] Clause 11. The network entity of clause 8, wherein the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a triggered flight path report, the flight path report message including at least one criterion for a trigger event.

[0137] Clause 12. The network entity of clause 11, wherein the at least one criterion for the trigger event includes a time window during which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events occurring for the UE to report the second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0138] Article 13. At least one criterion shall be: one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of a previous flight path of the UE and a second waypoint of a current flight path of the UE; or a distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint; or a time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first and second waypoints; or 11 network entities, including any combination thereof.

[0139] Clause 14. A flight path report message requests the UE to provide a differential flight path report, the processor: receiving, by a network entity from the UE, third flight path information; storing first waypoint information from the third flight path information to the stored flight path based on the third flight path information including the first waypoint information and the first waypoint identity; or and deleting the second waypoint information from the stored flight path based on the third flight path information indicating to publish a second waypoint identity present in the stored flight path, the second waypoint information corresponding to the second waypoint identity.

[0140] Clause 15. A network entity, means for receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a capability report indicating a capability of the UE to report a flight path of the UE to a network entity; A means for transmitting a flight path report message to a UE, the flight path report message comprising: partial route flight path reporting by reporting first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path, less than all of the flight path, to a network entity; or a triggered flight path reporting by reporting second flight path information to a network entity in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE; or a differential flight path reporting by reporting to the network entity third flight path information indicating a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE; or and means for requesting the UE to provide any combination thereof.

[0141] Clause 16. The network entity of clause 15, wherein the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a partial route flight path report, the flight path report message including at least one reference for a waypoint of the portion of the flight path.

[0142] Article 17 At least one criterion shall be: a first time window and one or more location ranges; or a first limit amount for a second time window and a midpoint of the portion of the flight path; or The network entities of Article 16, including the second limit of intermediate points of the flight route segments.

[0143] Clause 18. The network entity of clause 15, wherein the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a triggered flight path report, the flight path report message including at least one criterion for a trigger event.

[0144] Clause 19. The network entity of clause 18, wherein the at least one criterion for the trigger event includes a time window during which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events occurring for the UE to report the second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0145] Article 20 At least one criterion shall be: one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of a previous flight path of the UE and a second waypoint of a current flight path of the UE; or a distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint; or a time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first and second waypoints; or 18 network entities, including any combination thereof.

[0146] Clause 21. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a differential flight path report, and the network entity: means for receiving, from the UE, third flight path information; means for storing first waypoint information from the third flight path information to the stored flight path based on the third flight path information including the first waypoint information and the first waypoint identity; or and at least one of: means for deleting the second waypoint information from the stored flight path based on the third flight path information indicating to publish a second waypoint identity present in the stored flight path, the second waypoint information corresponding to the second waypoint identity.

[0147] Clause 22. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions, the processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor of a network entity to: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a capability report indicating an ability of the UE to report a flight path of the UE to a network entity; Sending a flight path report message to the UE, the flight path report message comprising: partial route flight path reporting by reporting first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path, less than all of the flight path, to a network entity; or a triggered flight path reporting by reporting second flight path information to a network entity in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE; or a differential flight path reporting by reporting to the network entity third flight path information indicating a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE; or and requesting the UE to provide any combination thereof.

[0148] Clause 23. The storage medium of clause 22, wherein the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a partial route flight path report, the flight path report message including at least one reference for a waypoint of the portion of the flight path.

[0149] Article 24 At least one criterion shall be: a first time window and one or more location ranges; or a first limit amount for a second time window and a midpoint of the portion of the flight path; or The storage medium of clause 23, including the second limit quantity of intermediate points of the portion of the flight path.

[0150] Clause 25. The storage medium of clause 22, wherein the flight path report message requests the UE to provide a triggered flight path report, the flight path report message including at least one criterion for a trigger event.

[0151] Clause 26. The storage medium of clause 25, wherein the at least one criterion for the trigger event includes a time window during which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events that occurs for the UE to report the second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0152] Article 27 At least one criterion shall be: one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of a previous flight path of the UE and a second waypoint of a current flight path of the UE; or a distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint; or a time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first and second waypoints; or (c) storage media as defined in clause 25, including any combination thereof;

[0153] Clause 28. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a differential flight path report, and the storage medium causes the processor to: receiving third flight path information from the UE; storing first waypoint information from the third flight path information to the stored flight path based on the third flight path information including the first waypoint information and the first waypoint identity; or and deleting the second waypoint information from the stored flight path based on the third flight path information indicating publishing a second waypoint identity present in the stored flight path, the second waypoint information corresponding to the second waypoint identity.

[0154] Clause 29. A method for communicating about a user equipment flight path, comprising: determining, at a user equipment (UE), a flight path report, the flight path report comprising: a partial route flight path report, the flight path report including first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the UE's flight path; or a triggered flight path reporting, the method further comprising: determining, in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, at the UE, second flight path information for a flight path report, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE; or a differential flight path report, the flight path report including third flight path information indicating a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE; or and providing any combination thereof. and transmitting the flight path report from the UE to a network entity.

[0155] Article 30. Flight Path Reporting provides partial route flight path reporting, 29. The method of claim 29, wherein the flight path report includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint of the UE's flight path that satisfies at least one partial route criterion.

[0156] Clause 31. At least one partial path criterion is a first time window and one or more location ranges; or a first waypoint limit amount for a second time window and portion of the flight path; or The method of clause 30, including the second waypoint limit quantity for a portion of the flight route.

[0157] Clause 32. The method of clause 29, wherein the flight path report provides triggered flight path reporting, the method further comprising obtaining, at the UE, at least one event criterion for the trigger event.

[0158] Clause 33. The method of clause 32, wherein the at least one event criterion for the trigger event includes a time window during which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events that occurs for the UE to report second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0159] Clause 34. At least one event criterion for a trigger event is: one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of a previous flight path of the UE and a second waypoint of a current flight path of the UE; or a distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint; or a time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first and second waypoints; or The methods of clause 32, including any combination thereof.

[0160] Clause 35. The method of clause 29, wherein the flight path report provides a differential flight path report, and the third flight path information includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint, and the waypoint information includes, for each of the at least one waypoint, a waypoint identity.

[0161] Clause 36. The method of clause 29, wherein the flight path report includes waypoint information for each of at least one waypoint of the UE's flight path, and for each of the at least one waypoint, the waypoint information includes an ellipsoid indication, or a polygon indication, or a combination thereof.

[0162] Clause 37. The method of clause 29, further comprising transmitting, from the UE to a network entity, a capability report indicating a capability of the UE to provide at least one of partial route trajectory reporting, triggered trajectory reporting, or differential trajectory reporting.

[0163] Article 38. A transceiver; Memory, A user equipment (UE) comprising: a processor communicatively coupled to a transceiver and a memory, the processor comprising: a partial route flight path report, the flight path report including first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the UE's flight path; or a triggered flight path report, wherein the processor is configured to determine, in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information for the flight path report, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE; or a differential flight path report, the flight path report including third flight path information indicating a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE; or determining a flight path report to provide any combination thereof; and transmitting the flight path report to a network entity via the transceiver.

[0164] Article 39. the processor is configured to determine a flight path report for providing a partial route flight path report; 38. The UE of clause 38, wherein the flight path report includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint of the UE's flight path that satisfies at least one partial route criterion.

[0165] Clause 40. At least one partial path criterion is a first time window and one or more location ranges; or a first waypoint limit amount for a second time window and portion of the flight path; or UE of Article 39, including the second waypoint limit quantity of the portion of the flight route.

[0166] Clause 41. The UE of clause 38, wherein the processor is configured to determine a flight path report for providing a triggered flight path report, the processor further configured to obtain at least one event criterion for a trigger event.

[0167] Clause 42. The UE of clause 41, wherein at least one event criterion for the trigger event includes a time window within which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events occurring for the UE to report second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0168] Clause 43. At least one event criterion for a trigger event is: one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of a previous flight path of the UE and a second waypoint of a current flight path of the UE; or a distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint; or a time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first and second waypoints; or UE of Clause 41, including any combination thereof.

[0169] Clause 44. The UE of clause 38, wherein the processor is configured to determine a flight path report for providing differential flight path reporting, the third flight path information including waypoint information for at least one waypoint, the waypoint information including, for each of the at least one waypoint, a waypoint identity.

[0170] Clause 45. The UE of clause 38, wherein the flight path report includes waypoint information for each of at least one waypoint of the UE's flight path, and for each of the at least one waypoint, the waypoint information includes an ellipsoid indication, or a polygon indication, or a combination thereof.

[0171] Clause 46. The UE of clause 38, further comprising means for transmitting a capability report to a network entity indicating a capability of the UE to provide at least one of partial route trajectory reporting, triggered trajectory reporting, or differential trajectory reporting.

[0172] Clause 47. A user equipment (UE), A means for determining a flight path report, the flight path report comprising: a partial route flight path report, the flight path report including first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the UE's flight path; or a triggered flight path report, wherein the means for determining a flight path report comprises means for determining, in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information for the flight path report, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE; or a differential flight path report, the flight path report including third flight path information indicating a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE; or and any combination thereof. and means for transmitting the flight path report to a network entity.

[0173] Article 48. The means for determining a flight path report comprises means for determining a flight path report to provide a partial route flight path report; The UE of clause 47, wherein the flight path report includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint of the UE's flight path that satisfies at least one partial route criterion.

[0174] Clause 49. At least one partial path criterion is a first time window and one or more location ranges; or a first waypoint limit amount for a second time window and portion of the flight path; or UE of Article 48, including the second waypoint limit quantity of the portion of the flight route.

[0175] Clause 50. The UE of clause 47, wherein the means for determining a flight path report comprises means for determining a flight path report for providing a triggered flight path report, the UE further comprising means for obtaining at least one event criterion for a trigger event.

[0176] Clause 51. The UE of clause 50, wherein at least one event criterion for the trigger event includes a time window within which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events occurring for the UE to report second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0177] Clause 52. At least one event criterion for a trigger event is: one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of a previous flight path of the UE and a second waypoint of a current flight path of the UE; or a distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint; or a time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first and second waypoints; or UE of clause 50, including any combination thereof.

[0178] Clause 53. The UE of clause 47, wherein the means for determining a flight path report comprises means for determining a flight path report to provide a differential flight path report, the third flight path information including waypoint information for at least one waypoint, the waypoint information including, for each of the at least one waypoint, a waypoint identity.

[0179] Clause 54. The UE of clause 47, wherein the flight path report includes waypoint information for each of at least one waypoint of the UE's flight path, and for each of the at least one waypoint, the waypoint information includes an ellipsoid indication, or a polygon indication, or a combination thereof.

[0180] Clause 55. The UE of clause 47, further comprising means for transmitting a capability report to a network entity indicating a capability of the UE to provide at least one of partial route trajectory reporting, triggered trajectory reporting, or differential trajectory reporting.

[0181] Clause 56. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions, the processor-readable instructions causing a processor of a user equipment (UE) to: determining a flight path report, the flight path report comprising: a partial route flight path report, the flight path report including first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the UE's flight path; or a triggered flight path report, the processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to determine a flight path report comprising processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to determine, in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information for the flight path report, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE; or a differential flight path report, the flight path report including third flight path information indicating a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE; or To provide any combination thereof; and and transmitting the flight path report to a network entity.

[0182] Article 57. The processor readable instructions for causing a processor to determine a flight path report comprise processor readable instructions for causing a processor to determine a flight path report to provide a partial route flight path report; The storage medium of clause 56, wherein the flight path report includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint of the UE's flight path that satisfies at least one partial route criterion.

[0183] Clause 58. At least one partial path criterion is a first time window and one or more location ranges; or a first waypoint limit amount for a second time window and portion of the flight path; or A storage medium according to clause 57, including a second waypoint limit quantity for a portion of the flight path.

[0184] Clause 59. The storage medium of clause 56, wherein the processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to determine a flight path report include processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to determine a flight path report for providing a triggered flight path report, and the storage medium further comprises processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to obtain at least one event criterion for a trigger event.

[0185] Clause 60. The storage medium of clause 59, wherein the at least one event criterion for the trigger event includes a time window during which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events that occurs for the UE to report the second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0186] Clause 61. At least one event criterion for a trigger event is: one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of a previous flight path of the UE and a second waypoint of a current flight path of the UE; or a distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint; or a time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first and second waypoints; or 59 storage media, including any combination thereof.

[0187] Clause 62. The storage medium of clause 56, wherein the processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to determine a flight path report include processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to determine a flight path report to provide a differential flight path report, the third flight path information including waypoint information for at least one waypoint, the waypoint information including, for each of the at least one waypoint, a waypoint identity.

[0188] Clause 63. The storage medium of clause 56, wherein the flight path report includes waypoint information for each of at least one waypoint of the UE's flight path, and for each of the at least one waypoint, the waypoint information includes an ellipsoid indication, or a polygon indication, or a combination thereof.

[0189] Clause 64. The storage medium of clause 56, further comprising processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to transmit, to a network entity, a capability report indicating a capability of the UE to provide at least one of a partial route trajectory report, a triggered trajectory report, or a differential trajectory report.

[0190] Other considerations Other examples and implementations are within the scope of this disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software and computers, the functions described above may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination of these. Features implementing the functions may also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed such that portions of the functions are implemented in various physical locations.

[0191] As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms "comprises," "comprising," "including," and / or "comprising," as used herein, specify the presence of referenced features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0192] As used herein, the term RS (Reference Signal) may refer to one or more reference signals and may refer to any form of the term RS, e.g., PRS, SRS, CSI-RS, etc., as appropriate.

[0193] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, a statement that a function or action is "based on" an item or condition means that the function or action is based on the stated item or condition, and may be based on one or more items and / or conditions in addition to the stated item or condition.

[0194] Also, as used herein, "or" in a list of items (which may begin with "at least one of" or "one or more of") indicates a disjunctive list, such as a list "at least one of A, B, or C" or a list "one or more of A, B, or C" or a list "A or B or C" meaning A, or B, or C, or AB (A and B), or AC (A and C), or BC (B and C), or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or a combination of two or more elements (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Thus, a recitation that an item, e.g., a processor, is configured to perform a function with respect to at least one of A or B, or that an item is configured to perform function A or function B means that the item may be configured to perform the function with respect to A, or the function with respect to B, or the function with respect to A and B. For example, the phrases "a processor configured to measure at least one of A or B" or "a processor configured to measure A or measure B" mean that the processor may be configured to measure A (and may or may not be configured to measure B), or may be configured to measure B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or may be configured to measure A and measure B (and may be configured to select for measuring either A and B, or both). Similarly, recitation of a means for measuring at least one of A or B includes a means for measuring A (which may or may not be capable of measuring B), or a means for measuring B (which may or may not be configured to measure A), or a means for measuring A and B (which may be capable of selecting for measuring either A and B, or both).As another example, a recitation that an item, e.g., a processor, is configured to at least one of perform a function X or perform a function Y means that the item may be configured to perform function X, or may be configured to perform function Y, or may be configured to perform function X and to perform function Y. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to at least one of measuring X or measuring Y" means that the processor may be configured to measure X (and may or may not be configured to measure Y), or may be configured to measure Y (and may or may not be configured to measure X), or may be configured to measure X and measure Y (and may be configured to select between measuring either X and Y, or both).

[0195] Substantial variations may be made according to specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may be used and / or certain elements may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor (including portable software such as applets), or both. Additionally, connections to other computing devices, such as network input / output devices, may be utilized. Functional or other components shown in the figures and / or discussed herein in connection with or in communication with each other are communicatively coupled unless otherwise noted. That is, the components may be directly or indirectly connected to enable communication therebetween.

[0196] The systems and devices described above are examples. Various configurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, features described with respect to some configurations can be combined into various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of the configurations can be combined in a similar manner. Also, technology evolves, and thus many of the elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the disclosure or claims.

[0197] A wireless communication system is one in which communications are conveyed wirelessly, i.e., by electromagnetic and / or acoustic waves propagating through atmospheric space rather than through wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not have all communications transmitted wirelessly, but is configured to have at least some communications transmitted wirelessly. Furthermore, the term "wireless communication device" or similar terminology does not require that the functionality of the device is exclusively, or even primarily, for communication, or that communications using a wireless communication device are exclusively, or even primarily, wireless, or that the device is a mobile device, but indicates that the device includes wireless communication capabilities (unidirectional or bidirectional), e.g., at least one radio for wireless communication (each radio being part of a transmitter, receiver, or transceiver).

[0198] In the description, specific details are given to provide a thorough understanding of the example configurations (including implementations). However, the configurations may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail to avoid obscuring the configurations. This description provides an example configuration and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of the configurations provides a description for implementing the described techniques. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements.

[0199] As used herein, the terms "processor-readable medium," "machine-readable medium," and "computer-readable medium" refer to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a specific manner. With a computing platform, various processor-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / code to the processor for execution and / or be used to store and / or carry such instructions / code (e.g., signals). In many implementations, the processor-readable medium is a physical and / or tangible storage medium. Such media may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, but are not limited to, dynamic memory.

[0200] Although some example configurations have been described, various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, in which other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the present disclosure. Also, some operations may be performed before, during, or after the above elements are considered. Thus, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0201] Unless otherwise specified, "about" and / or "approximately" as used herein when referring to a measurable value such as an amount, duration, etc., encompasses a variation of ±20% or ±10%, ±5%, or ±0.1% from the specified value, when such variation is appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein. Unless otherwise specified, "substantially" as used herein when referring to a measurable value such as an amount, duration, physical attribute (such as frequency), etc., also encompasses a variation of ±20% or ±10%, ±5%, or +0.1% from the specified value, when such variation is appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein.

[0202] A statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or above) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value meets or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is a value that is higher than the first threshold at the resolution of the computing system. A statement that a value is less than (or is within or below) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is a value that is lower than the first threshold at the resolution of the computing system. [Explanation of symbols]

[0203] 100 Communication system, system 105UE 106UE 110a NR Node B (gNB), gNB (g Node B), gNB 110b NR Node B (gNB), gNB (g Node B), gNB 114 Next Generation eNodeB (ng-eNB), ng-eNB (eNodeB), ng-eNB 115 Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 117 Session Management Facility (SMF) 120 Location Management Function (LMF) 125 Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 130 External Clients 135 Next Generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN) 140 5G Core Network (5GC) 185 Constellation 190 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 191 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 192 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 193 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 200UE 210 Processor 211 Memory 212 Software (SW) 213 Sensor 214 Transceiver Interface 215 Transceiver 216 User Interface 217 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) Receiver 218 Camera 219 Position Device (PD) 220 Bus 230 General Purpose / Application Processors, Processors 231 Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Processor 232 Modem Processor 233 Video Processor 234 Sensor Processor, Processor 240 Wireless Transceiver 242 Wireless Transmitter 244 Wireless Receiver 246 Antenna 250 Wired Transceiver 252 Wired Transmitter 254 Wired Receiver 262 SPS Antenna 300 TRP 310 Processor 311 Memory 312 Software (SW) 315 Transceiver 320 Bus 340 Wireless Transceiver 342 Wireless Transmitter 344 Wireless Receiver 346 Antenna 350 Wired Transceiver 352 Wired Transmitter 354 Wired Receiver 400 Servers 410 Processor 411 Memory 412 Software (SW) 415 Transceiver 420 Bus 440 Wireless Transceiver 442 Wireless Transmitter 444 Wireless Receiver 446 Antenna 450 Wired Transceiver 452 Wired Transmitter 454 Wired Receiver 500UE 510 Processor 520 Transceiver 530 Memory 540 Bus 550 Flight Route Reporting Unit 600 Network Entities 610 Processor 620 Transceiver 630 Memory 640 Bus 650 Flight Route Request Unit 660 Flight Path Planning Unit 700UE 750 base station 801 Target UE 802 Network Entities 901 Target UE 902 Network Entities

Claims

1. A method for communicating about a user equipment flight path, comprising: determining, at a user equipment (UE), a flight path report for providing triggered flight path reporting, The method further includes determining, in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information at the UE for the flight path report, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE, and the trigger event including a deviation from a previous flight path; transmitting the flight path report from the UE to a network entity.

2. the flight path report providing a partial route flight path report; the flight path report includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint of the flight path of the UE that satisfies at least one partial route criterion; Optionally, the at least one partial path criterion comprises: a first time window and one or more location ranges; or a second time window and a first waypoint limit amount for the portion of the flight path; or a second waypoint limit amount for the portion of the flight path; The method of claim 1.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flight path report provides the triggered flight path report, the method further comprising obtaining, at the UE, at least one event criterion for the trigger event.

4. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the at least one event criterion for the trigger event includes a time window during which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between the multiple trigger events occurring for the UE to report the second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

5. The at least one event criterion for the trigger event comprises: one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of the previous flight path of the UE and a second waypoint of the current flight path of the UE; or a distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint; or a time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first midpoint and the second midpoint; or The method of claim 3 including any combination thereof.

6. 2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flight path report provides a differential flight path report, and wherein the third flight path information is information indicating a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE and includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint, the waypoint information including, for each of the at least one waypoint, a waypoint identity.

7. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the flight path report includes waypoint information for each of at least one waypoint of the flight path of the UE, and for each of the at least one waypoint, the waypoint information includes an ellipsoid indication, or a polygon indication, or a combination thereof.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting a capability report from the UE to the network entity indicating the capability of the UE to provide at least one of a partial route flight path report, the triggered flight path report, or a differential flight path report.

9. A transceiver; Memory, a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the processor comprising: determining a flight path report to provide a triggered flight path report, determining, in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information for the flight path report, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE, and the trigger event including a deviation from a previous flight path; and transmitting the flight path report to a network entity via the transceiver.

10. the processor is configured to determine the flight path report to provide a partial route flight path report; the flight path report includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint of the flight path of the UE that satisfies at least one partial route criterion; Optionally, the at least one partial path criterion comprises: a first time window and one or more location ranges; or a second time window and a first waypoint limit amount for the portion of the flight path; or a second waypoint limit amount for the portion of the flight path; The UE of claim 9.

11. 10. The UE of claim 9, wherein the processor is configured to determine the flight path report to provide the triggered flight path report, the processor further configured to obtain at least one event criterion for the trigger event.

12. 12. The UE of claim 11, wherein the at least one event criterion for the trigger event includes a time window during which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between the multiple trigger events occurring for the UE to report the second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

13. The at least one event criterion for the trigger event comprises: one or more differential distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in respective coordinate system values ​​between a first waypoint of the previous flight path of the UE and a second waypoint of the current flight path of the UE; or a distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first waypoint and the second waypoint; or a time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first midpoint and the second midpoint; or The UE of claim 11 including any combination thereof.

14. The processor is configured to determine the flight path report to provide a differential flight path report, wherein third flight path information is information indicative of a difference between a current flight path of the UE and a previous flight path of the UE, and includes waypoint information for at least one waypoint, the waypoint information including a waypoint identity for each of the at least one waypoint; or the flight path report includes waypoint information for each of at least one waypoint of the flight path of the UE, and for each of the at least one waypoint, the waypoint information includes an ellipsoid indication, or a polygon indication, or a combination thereof; or and means for transmitting a capability report to the network entity indicating a capability of the UE to provide at least one of a partial route trajectory report, the triggered trajectory report, or the differential trajectory report. The UE of claim 9.

15. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions, the processor-readable instructions causing a processor of a user equipment (UE) to: determining a flight path report to provide a triggered flight path report, The processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to determine the flight path report comprise processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to determine, in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information for the flight path report, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of a flight path of the UE, and the trigger event including a deviation from a previous flight path; and transmitting the flight path report to a network entity.

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