Unstable jamming signal detection

Abstract

To provide a communication method capable of coping with a fact that a received signal is jammed and the usefulness of the received signal is reduced.SOLUTION: A method for inhibiting jammed signal use includes: receiving a desired signal wirelessly at a receiver; receiving an undesired signal wirelessly at the receiver, the undesired signal varying in strength over time; and inhibiting measurement of the desired signal, or use of a measurement of the desired signal, based on a determination that the undesired signal is a jamming signal based on a variation of the undesired signal being indicative of jamming.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Cross - Reference to Related Applications This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 412,308, filed on August 26, 2021, entitled "UNSTABLE JAMMING SIGNAL DETECTION", which was assigned to the assignee of this application and the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

Background Art

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

[0003] The 5th generation (5G) mobile standard requires, among other improvements, higher data transfer speeds, a larger number of connections, and better coverage. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to tens of thousands of users and one gigabit per second to dozens of office floor workers. To support the large-scale deployment of sensors, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections must be supported. Therefore, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communication should be significantly increased compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiency should be increased and latency should be significantly reduced compared to the current standard.

[0004] Signals received by a mobile device, such as a 5G signal, a satellite vehicle signal, etc., may be interfered with, reducing the usefulness of the received signal. The signal may be intentionally interfered with by an entity that desires to suppress, for example, the communication and / or accurate positioning of the mobile device, and / or may be unintentionally interfered with, for example, by a repeater that retransmits the signal at a much higher power than the signal is received by other devices in the area, or by transmissions from a mobile device that receives a signal that induces in-band or out-of-band interference. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0005] In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a receiver configured to wirelessly receive one or more signals, a memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the receiver and the memory, the processor receiving a desired signal via the receiver and receiving an unwanted signal whose strength varies over time via the receiver, and suppressing the measurement of the desired signal or the use of the measurement value of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the variation of the unwanted signal indicating interference.

[0006] In one embodiment, a method for suppressing the use of an interfered signal includes wirelessly receiving a desired signal at a receiver, receiving an unwanted signal at the receiver whose strength varies over time, and suppressing the measurement of the desired signal or the use of the measurement value of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the variation of the unwanted signal indicating interference.

[0007] In one embodiment, an apparatus includes means for wirelessly receiving a desired signal, means for receiving an unwanted signal whose strength varies over time, and means for suppressing the measurement of the desired signal or the use of the measurement value of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the variation of the unwanted signal indicating interference.

[0008] In one embodiment, a non-transitory processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions that cause a processor of an apparatus to wirelessly receive a desired signal, receive an unwanted signal whose strength varies over time, and suppress the measurement of the desired signal or the use of the measurement value of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the variation of the unwanted signal indicating interference.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0009]

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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Techniques for detecting signal interference and taking one or more actions based on the detection of a jammed signal are discussed herein. For example, the signal strength of a received signal can be analyzed to determine whether the signal strength indicates that the signal is a jammer signal. If the signal strength exceeds a signal strength threshold (e.g., averaged over N samples) and the signal strength has a significant variation over time, the signal can be considered a jammer signal. In response to the detection of a jammer signal, any measurement of a signal that can be jammed by the jammer signal can be avoided (e.g., by turning off one or more components in the receive chain), and thus the measurement can be blocked, or the use of the measurement value of the signal that can be jammed can be suppressed, for example, by flagging the measurement value as unapproved or invalid.

[0011] The items and / or techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned. Negative consequences of using a jammed signal (e.g., power consumption for processing a jammed signal, communication problems due to the use of measurement values of a jammed communication signal, poor positioning accuracy and / or latency due to the use of measurement values of a jammed positioning signal, etc.) can be avoided or reduced, for example, by blocking, ignoring, or disregarding the measurement value of the jammed signal. Jammer signals that could not be detected by conventional techniques can be detected. Other capabilities may be provided, and not every implementation according to the present disclosure must provide any, let alone all, of the described capabilities.

[0012] Obtaining the location of a mobile device accessing a wireless network can be useful in many applications, such as, for example, emergency calls, personal navigation, consumer asset tracking, identifying the location of friends or family, etc. Existing positioning methods include methods based on measuring wireless 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, and such positioning methods can utilize reference signals transmitted by base stations in a similar manner as LTE wireless networks currently utilize positioning reference signals (PRS) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRS) for positioning.

[0013] This description may refer, for example, to a series of actions to be performed by elements of a computing device. The various actions described herein can be performed by a specific circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. The sequence of actions described herein can be embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, cause the associated processor to perform the functions described herein. Accordingly, the various aspects described herein may be embodied in several different forms, and all of them are within the scope of the present disclosure, including the claimed subject matter.

[0014] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not specific to or limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise specified. Generally, such a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset tracking device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate via a wireless communication network. The UE may be mobile or (e.g., at some times) stationary and may communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN). The term "UE" as used herein may be interchangeably referred to as "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 variants thereof. Generally, the UE can communicate with a core network via the RAN, and through the core network, the UE can be connected to an external network such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, the UE may have other mechanisms for connecting 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.).

[0015] The base station may operate according to one of several RATs with which it is communicating with the UE, depending on the network in which it is deployed. Examples of base stations include access points (APs), network nodes, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), or general Node Bs (g Node Bs, gNBs). Additionally, in some systems, the base station may provide only a pure edge node signaling function, while in other systems, the base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions.

[0016] The UE can be embodied by any of several types of devices including, but not limited to, a printed circuit (PC) card, a Compact Flash (registered trademark) device, an external or internal modem, a wireless or wired telephone, a smartphone, a tablet, a consumer asset tracking device, an asset tag, etc. A communication link through which the UE can send signals to the 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 the RAN can send signals to the 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.). The term traffic channel (TCH) as used herein can refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0017] As used herein, the terms "cell" or "sector" can, depending on the context, correspond to one of a plurality of cells of a base station or to the base station itself. The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., via a carrier), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) for distinguishing adjacent cells operating via the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier may support a plurality of 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 to different types of devices. In some examples, the term "cell" may refer to a portion (e.g., a sector) of a geographic coverage area over which the logical entity operates.

[0018] 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, a 5G core network (5GC) 140, and a server 150. 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 devices. The 5G network may also be referred to as a new radio (NR) network, the NG-RAN 135 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or an NR RAN, and the 5GC 140 may be referred to as an NG core network (NGC). The standardization of the NG-RAN and 5GC is in progress in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (registered trademark, the same hereinafter)). Thus, the NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140 may comply with the current and future standards from 3GPP for 5G support. The NG-RAN 135 may be another type of RAN, such as a 3G RAN, a 4G long term evolution (LTE) RAN, etc. The UE 106 is configured to send and / or receive signals to / from other similar entities in the system 100 and may be similarly coupled to the UE 105, but such signaling is not shown in FIG. 1 for simplicity of the figure. Similarly, this discussion focuses on the UE 105 for brevity. The communication system 100 may utilize information from a constellation 185 of satellite vehicles (SVs) 190, 191, 192, 193 for some other local or regional satellite positioning systems (SPSs), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, or Beidou (e.g., the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)), or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or the 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.

[0019] As shown in FIG. 1, the NG-RAN 135 includes NR Node B (gNB) 110a, 110b, and Next Generation eNode B (ng-eNB) 114, and the 5GC 140 includes Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, Session Management Function (SMF) 117, Location Management Function (LMF) 120, and Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNB 114 are communicatively coupled to each other and are configured to wirelessly communicate bidirectionally with the UE 105, and each is communicatively coupled to the AMF 115 and configured to communicate bidirectionally with the AMF 115. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNB 114 may be referred to as base stations (BSs). The AMF 115, SMF 117, LMF 120, and GMLC 125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the GMLC is communicatively coupled to an external client 130. The SMF 117 may function as an initial contact point for a Service Control Function (SCF) (not shown) for creating, controlling, and deleting media sessions. A base station such as the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or 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 short-range technologies such as WiFi, WiFi-Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, etc.). One or more BSs, e.g., one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114, may be configured to communicate with the UE 105 via multiple carriers. Each of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 may provide communication coverage for its respective geographical area, e.g., a cell. Each cell may be divided into a plurality of sectors depending on the base station antenna.

[0020] FIG. 1 provides a generalized view of various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each of which may be replicated or omitted as necessary. Specifically, one UE 105 is shown, but many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may be utilized in communication system 100. Similarly, communication system 100 may include more (or fewer) SVs (i.e., more or fewer than the four SVs 190-193 shown), gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, external client 130, and / or other components. The illustrated connections that connect the various components in communication system 100 may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks, including data and signaling connections. Further, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted as desired for the desired functionality.

[0021] FIG. 1 shows a 5G-based network, but similar network implementation forms and configurations may be used for other communication technologies such as 3G and Long-Term Evolution (LTE). The implementation forms described in this specification (whether they are for 5G technology or for one or more other communication technologies and / or protocols) transmit (or broadcast) a directional synchronization signal, receive and measure the directional signal at a UE (e.g., UE105), and / or provide location assistance to the UE105 (via GMLC125 or other location servers), and / or calculate the location of the UE105 in a location-corresponding device such as the UE105, gNB110a, 110b, or LMF120 based on the measured quantities received at the UE105 for such directionally transmitted signals. The Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125, Location Management Function (LMF) 120, Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, SMF117, ng-eNB (eNodeB) 114, and gNB (gNodeB) 110a, 110b are examples, and in various embodiments, they may each be replaced by or include various other location server functions and / or base station functions.

[0022] The components of system 100 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (using at least sometimes a wireless connection) via, for example, gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, and / or 5GC 140 (and / or one or more other devices not shown, such as one or more other base transceiver stations), so system 100 is capable of wireless communication. In the case of indirect communication, the communication can be modified during transmission from one entity to another, for example, to change the format in order to change the header information of data packets. UE 105 can include multiple UEs and can be a mobile wireless communication device, but can communicate wirelessly and via wired connections. UE 105 can be any of various devices, such as a smartphone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-based device, etc., but UE 105 does not have to be any of these configurations, so these are examples and UEs of other configurations can be used. Other UEs can include wearable devices (such as smartwatches, smart jewelry, smart glasses, or headsets, etc.). Whether currently existing or to be developed in the future, still other UEs can be used. Further, other wireless devices (regardless of whether mobile or not) can be implemented within system 100 and can communicate with each other and / or with UE 105, gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, 5GC 140, and / or external client 130. For example, such other devices can include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and / or automation devices, etc. 5GC 140 can communicate with an external client 130 (such as a computer system), for example, to enable the external client 130 to request and / or receive location information regarding UE 105 (for example, via GMLC 125).

[0023] UE105 or other devices can be configured to communicate in various networks, and / or for various purposes, and / or using various technologies (e.g., 5G, WiFi communication, multiple frequencies of Wi-Fi communication, satellite positioning, one or more types of communication (e.g., GSM (Global System for Mobiles), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long Term Evolution), V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything, e.g., V2P (Vehicle-to-Pedestrian), V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure), V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle), etc.), IEEE802.11p, etc.). V2X communication can be cellular (cellular V2X (C-V2X)) and / or WiFi (e.g., DSRC (Dedicated Short Range Communication)). System 100 can support operation on multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter can simultaneously transmit modulated signals on multiple carriers. 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 can be transmitted on a different carrier and can carry pilot, overhead information, data, etc. UE105, 106 can communicate with each other through UE-to-UE side link (SL) communication by transmitting on one or more side link channels such as the physical side link synchronization channel (PSSCH), the physical side link broadcast channel (PSBCH), or the physical side link control channel (PSCCH).

[0024] UE105 may include, and / or be referred to as, a device, mobile device, wireless device, mobile terminal, terminal, mobile station (MS), secure user plane location (SUPL) enabled terminal (SET), or be called by some other name. Additionally, UE105 may correspond to a cell phone, smartphone, laptop, tablet, PDA, consumer asset tracking device, navigation device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, health monitor, security system, smart city sensor, smart meter, wearable tracker, or some other portable or mobile device. Generally, but not necessarily, UE105 supports wireless communication using one or more radio access technologies (RATs) such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA (registered trademark, the same hereinafter)), LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE802.11WiFi (also called Wi-Fi), Bluetooth (registered trademark) (BT), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5G New Radio (NR) (e.g., using NG-RAN135 and 5GC140). UE105 may support wireless communication using a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that can connect to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using, for example, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or packet cable. Use of one or more of these RATs enables UE105 to communicate with an external client 130 (e.g., via elements of 5GC140 not shown in FIG. 1 or, in some cases, via GMLC125) and / or enables the external client 130 to receive location information regarding UE105 (e.g., via GMLC125).

[0025] UE105 may include a single entity or multiple entities in a personal area network where a user may employ audio, video, and / or data I / O (input / output) devices and / or body sensors and a separate wireline or wireless modem. The estimation of the location of UE105 may be referred to as location, location estimation, location fix, fix, position, position estimation, or position fix, and may be geographical, and thus may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., elevation, ground, floor, or height or depth from underground), providing the location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) of UE105. Alternatively, the location of UE105 may be represented as an urban location (e.g., as a postal address or as the designation of a destination or small area within a building such as a particular room or floor). The location of UE105 may be represented as an area or volume in which UE105 is expected to be located with some probability or level of confidence (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.) (defined either geographically or in urban form). The location of UE105 may be represented as a relative location, for example, including distance and direction from a known location. The relative location may be defined, for example, as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) with respect to some origin in a known location that can be defined by reference to a point, area, or volume shown on a map, floor plan, or building plan, either geographically or from an urban perspective. In the descriptions contained herein, the use of the term location may include any of these variations unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of a UE, it is common to determine local x, y, and optionally z coordinates and then, if desired, convert the local coordinates to absolute coordinates (e.g., for latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level).

[0026] UE105 may be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of various techniques. UE105 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 link may be supported using any suitable D2D radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®. One or more of the groups of UEs utilizing D2D communication may be within the geographic coverage area of a transmit / receive point (TRP), such as one or more of gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114. Other UEs in such a group may be outside of such a geographic coverage area or may otherwise not be able to receive transmissions from the base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system where each UE can transmit to other UEs within the group. The TRP may facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be performed between UEs without the involvement of the TRP. One or more of the groups of UEs utilizing D2D communication may be within the geographic coverage area of a TRP. Other UEs in such a group may be outside of such a geographic coverage area or may otherwise not be able to receive transmissions from the base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system where each UE can transmit to other UEs within the group. The TRP may facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be performed between UEs without the involvement of the TRP.

[0027] The base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 include NR node Bs called gNB 110a and 110b. The pair of gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 can be connected to each other 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, and these gNBs can provide wireless communication access to the 5GC 140 instead of the UE 105 using 5G. In FIG. 1, it is assumed that the serving gNB for the UE 105 is the gNB 110a, but another gNB (e.g., gNB 110b) may act as the serving gNB if the UE 105 moves to another location, or may act as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to the UE 105.

[0028] The base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 may include an ng-eNB 114, also referred to as a next-generation evolved node B. The ng-eNB 114 can be connected to one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135, optionally via one or more other gNBs and / or one or more other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 114 can 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 the ng-eNB 114 can be configured to function as a positioning-only beacon that transmits signals to assist in determining the location of the UE 105, but cannot receive signals from the UE 105 or from other UEs.

[0029] gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 may each include one or more TRPs. For example, each sector within a cell of the BS may include a TRP, or multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., share a processor but have separate antennas). System 100 may include only macro TRPs, or system 100 may have different types of TRPs, such as macro, pico, and / or femto TRPs. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographical area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may enable unrestricted access by terminals subscribed to the service. A pico TRP may cover a relatively small geographical area (e.g., a pico cell) and may enable unrestricted access by terminals subscribed to the service. A femto TRP or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographical area (e.g., a femto cell) and may enable restricted access by terminals associated with the femto cell (e.g., a terminal for a user in a home).

[0030] Each of gNB110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB114 may include a Radio Unit (RU), a Distributed Unit (DU), and a Central Unit (CU). For example, gNB110b includes RU111, DU112, and CU113. RU111, DU112, and CU113 divide the functionality of gNB110b. Although gNB110b is shown with a single RU, a single DU, and a single CU, a gNB may include one or more RUs, one or more DUs, and / or one or more CUs. The interface between CU113 and DU112 is called the F1 interface. RU111 is configured to perform digital front-end (DFE) functions (e.g., analog-to-digital conversion, filtering, power amplification, transmission / reception) and digital beamforming, and includes a part of the physical (PHY) layer. RU111 can perform DFE using massive multiple-input / multiple-output (MIMO) and may be integrated with one or more antennas of gNB110b. DU112 hosts the radio link control (RLC), media access control (MAC), and physical layer of gNB110b. One DU can support one or more cells, and each cell is supported by a single DU. The operation of DU112 is controlled by CU113. CU113 is configured to perform functions for transferring user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, etc., although some functions are exclusively allocated to DU112. CU113 hosts the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocols of gNB110b. UE105 may communicate with CU113 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, with DU112 via the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers, and with RU111 via the PHY layer.

[0031] As described, FIG. 1 shows a node configured to communicate according to a 5G communication protocol. However, nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols, such as, for example, the LTE protocol or the IEEE 802.11x protocol, may be used. For example, in an Evolved Packet System (EPS) that provides LTE wireless access to UE 105, the RAN may include an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) that may include a base station including an evolved Node B (eNB). The core network for EPS may comprise an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). EPS may include adding an EPC to an E-UTRAN, and in FIG. 1, the E-UTRAN corresponds to NG-RAN 135 and the EPC corresponds to 5GC 140.

[0032] gNBs 110a, 110b, and ng-eNB 114 may communicate with AMF 115, and AMF 115 communicates with LMF 120 for positioning functions. AMF 115 can support the mobility of UE 105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be involved in supporting signaling connections to UE 105 and, optionally, data and voice bearers for UE 105. LMF 120 can communicate directly with UE 105, for example, through wireless communication, or directly with gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. LMF 120 can support the positioning of UE 105 when UE 105 accesses NG-RAN 135 and can support positioning 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), Enhanced Cell ID (E-CID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), and / or other positioning methods. LMF 120 can process location service requests for UE 105 received, for example, from AMF 115 or GMLC 125. LMF 120 can be connected to AMF 115 and / or GMLC 125. LMF 120 may be referred to by other names, such as Location Manager (LM), Location Function (LF), Commercial LMF (CLMF), or Value-Added LMF (VLMF). The node / system implementing LMF 120 may implement other types of location support modules, such as Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP), as an addition or alternative.(Including the derivation of the location of UE105) At least a part of the positioning function can be executed in UE105 (for example, using signal measurement values obtained by UE105 for signals transmitted by wireless nodes such as gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114, and / or assistance data provided to UE105 by, for example, LMF120). AMF115 can act as a control node that processes signaling between UE105 and 5GC140 and can provide QoS (Quality of Service) flow and session management. AMF115 can support the mobility of UE105, including cell change and handover, and can participate in supporting the signaling connection to UE105.

[0033] Server 150, for example, a cloud server, is configured to obtain the location estimate of UE105 and provide it to the external client 130. Server 150 may be configured to operate a microservice / service that obtains the location estimate of UE105, for example. Server 150 may pull the location estimate from, for example, one or more of UE105, gNB110a, 110b (for example, via RU111, DU112, and CU113) and / or ng-eNB114 and / or LMF120 (for example, by sending a location request to them). As another example, one or more of UE105, gNB110a, 110b (for example, via RU111, DU112, and CU113) and / or LMF120 may push the location estimate of UE105 to server 150.

[0034] The GMLC 125 may support a location request for the UE 105 received from the external client 130 via the server 150 and may forward such a location request to the AMF 115 for forwarding to the LMF 120 by the AMF 115, or may directly forward the location request to the LMF 120. (For example, it includes a location estimate for the UE 105.) The location response from the LMF 120 may be returned to the GMLC 125 either directly or via the AMF 115, and the GMLC 125 may then return the location response (for example, including a location estimate) to the external client 130 via the server 150. The GMLC 125 is shown connected to both the AMF 115 and the LMF 120, but in some implementations, it may not be connected to the AMF 115 or the LMF 120.

[0035] 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 Positioning Protocol A (which may be referred to as NPPa or NRPPa) that can 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) 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) that can be defined in 3GPP TS 36.355. The LMF 120 and the UE 105 can also or alternatively communicate using a New Radio Positioning Protocol (which may be referred to as NPP or NRPP) that may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of LPP. Here, the LPP and / or NPP messages can be transferred between the UE 105 and the LMF 120 via the serving gNBs 110a, 110b or the serving ng-eNB 114 for the AMF 115 and the UE 105. For example, the LPP and / or NPP messages may be transferred between the LMF 120 and the AMF 115 using the 5G Location Service Application Protocol (LCS AP), and may be transferred between the AMF 115 and the UE 105 using the 5G Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol. The LPP and / or NPP protocols can be used to support the positioning of the UE 105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, OTDOA, and / or E-CID.The NRPPa protocol may be used to support the positioning of UE 105 using network-based positioning methods such as E-CID (e.g., when used with measurements obtained by gNB 110a, 110b, or ng-eNB 114), and / or may be used by LMF 120 to obtain location-related information such as parameters that define the directional SS (synchronization signal) or PRS transmissions from gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. LMF 120 may be collocated or integrated with a gNB or TRP, or may be remotely located from a gNB and / or TRP, and may be configured to communicate directly or indirectly with a gNB and / or TRP.

[0036] When using UE-assisted positioning methods, UE 105 can obtain location measurements and send the measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 120) for calculating a location estimate for UE 105. For example, the location measurements may include one or more of received signal strength indication (RSSI), round-trip signal propagation time (RTT), reference signal time difference (RSTD), reference signal received power (RSRP), and / or reference signal received quality (RSRQ) for gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, and / or a WLAN AP. The location measurement results may also or alternatively include measurement results of GNSS pseudorange, code phase, and / or carrier phase with respect to SVs 190-193.

[0037] When using UE-based positioning methods, UE 105 can obtain location measurements (e.g., which may be the same as or similar to the location measurements of UE-assisted positioning methods), and can calculate the location of UE 105 (e.g., using assistance data received from a location server such as LMF 120 or broadcast by gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, or other base stations or APs).

[0038] In a network-based positioning method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) or APs may obtain location measurement values (e.g., RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, or arrival time (ToA) measurements for signals transmitted by UE 105), and / or may receive measurement values obtained by UE 105. One or more base stations or APs may send the measurement values to a location server (e.g., LMF 120) for calculating a location estimate for UE 105.

[0039] The information provided by gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 to LMF 120 using NRPPa may include timing and configuration information for directional SS or PRS transmission, as well as location coordinates. LMF 120 may provide some or all of this information to UE 105 as assistance data in LPP and / or NPP messages via NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140.

[0040] The LPP or NPP messages sent from the LMF120 to the UE105 can instruct the UE105 to perform any one of various things according to the desired function. For example, the LPP or NPP message may include instructions for the UE105 to obtain measurement values for GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and / or OTDOA (or some other positioning method). In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message can instruct the UE105 to obtain one or more measurement quantities (e.g., beam ID, beam width, average angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurement values) of the directional signals transmitted within a specific cell supported by one or more of gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114 (or supported by some other type of base station such as an eNB or a WiFi AP). The UE105 may send the measurement quantities back to the LMF120 within the LPP or NPP message (e.g., inside the 5G NAS message) via the serving gNB110a (or serving ng-eNB114) and the AMF115.

[0041] As described above, although the communication system 100 has been described with respect to 5G technology, the communication system 100 can be implemented to support and interact with mobile devices such as UE105 (e.g., to implement voice, data, positioning, and other functions) and support other communication technologies such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE. In some such embodiments, the 5GC140 can be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, the 5GC140 can be connected to a WLAN using a non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF, not shown in FIG. 1) in the 5GC140. For example, the WLAN can support IEEE802.11 WiFi access for the UE105 and can include one or more WiFi APs. Here, the N3IWF can connect to the WLAN and to other elements in the 5GC140 such as the AMF115. In some embodiments, both the NG-RAN135 and the 5GC140 can be replaced by one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in EPS, the NG-RAN135 can be replaced by an E-UTRAN including eNBs, and the 5GC140 can be replaced by an EPC including a mobility management entity (MME) instead of the AMF115, an E-SMLC instead of the LMF120, and a GMLC similar to the GMLC125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC may use LPPa instead of NRPPa to send and receive location information to and from the eNB within the E-UTRAN, and may use LPP to support the positioning of the UE105. In these other embodiments, the positioning of the UE105 using the directional PRS may be supported in a manner similar to the methods described herein for the 5G network, the difference being that the functions and procedures described herein for the gNB110a, 110b, ng-eNB114, AMF115, and LMF120 may, in some cases, instead be applied to other network elements such as eNBs, WiFi APs, MMEs, and E-SMLCs.

[0042] As described, in some embodiments, the positioning function may be implemented using directive SS or PRS beams sent by base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) that are within the range of the UE (e.g., UE 105 of FIG. 1) whose position is to be determined. The UE may, in some cases, use directive SS beams from multiple base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, etc.) to calculate its position.

[0043] Referring also to FIG. 2, UE200 is an example of one of UE105, 106 and comprises a computing platform including a processor 210, a memory 211 containing 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 each other by a bus 220 (e.g., configured for optical and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., one or more of camera 218, position device 219, and / or sensors 213, etc.) may be omitted from UE200. The processor 210 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 210 may comprise a plurality of processors including a general purpose / application processor 230, a digital signal processor (DSP) 231, a modem processor 232, a video processor 233, and / or a sensor processor 234. One or more of processors 230 - 234 may comprise a plurality of devices (e.g., a plurality of processors). For example, the sensor processor 234 may comprise a processor for RF (radio frequency) sensing (e.g., using one or more (cellular) wireless signals transmitted and reflections used to identify, map, and / or track objects), and / or for ultrasonic, etc. The modem processor 232 may support dual SIM / dual connection (or even more SIMs).For example, a certain SIM (Subscriber Identification Module or Subscriber Identity Module) may be used by a partner brand manufacturing company (OEM), and another SIM may be used by the end user of the UE200 for connection. The memory 211 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include, for example, a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a disk memory, and / or a read-only memory (ROM). The memory 211 stores software 212, and the software 212 may be processor-readable processor-executable software code including instructions, and the instructions are 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 when compiled and executed, for example. This description may refer to the processor 210 performing functions, which includes other implementation forms such as when the processor 210 executes software and / or firmware. This description may refer to the processor 210 performing functions as an abbreviation for one or more of the processors 230 to 234 performing functions. This description may refer to the UE200 performing functions as an abbreviation for one or more appropriate components of the UE200 performing functions. In addition to and / or instead of the memory 211, the processor 210 may include a memory having stored instructions. The functions of the processor 210 will be discussed more fully below.

[0044] The configuration of UE200 shown in FIG. 2 is an example of the present disclosure including the claims and is not a limitation, and other configurations may be used. For example, an exemplary configuration of the UE includes one or more of processors 230 to 234 of processor 210, memory 211, and wireless transceiver 240. Another exemplary configuration includes one or more of processors 230 to 234 of processor 210, memory 211, wireless transceiver, and one or more of (one or more) sensors 213, user interface 216, SPS receiver 217, camera 218, PD 219, and / or wired transceiver.

[0045] UE200 may include a modem processor 232 that may be capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and downconverted by transceiver 215 and / or SPS receiver 217. The modem processor 232 may perform baseband processing of the signals to be upconverted for transmission by transceiver 215. Also or alternatively, the baseband processing may be performed by general-purpose / application processor 230 and / or DSP 231. However, other configurations may be used to perform the baseband processing.

[0046] UE 200 may include sensor 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. The inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responsive to the acceleration of UE 200 in three dimensions), and / or one or more gyroscopes (e.g., a three-dimensional gyroscope). Sensor 213 may include, for example, one or more magnetometers (e.g., a three-dimensional magnetometer) for determining an orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north) that can be used for any of various 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. Sensor 213 may generate analog and / or digital signals, and the signal indications may be stored in memory 211 and processed by DSP 231 and / or general-purpose / application processor 230 to support one or more applications, such as, for example, applications directed to positioning operations and / or navigation operations.

[0047] Sensor 213 may be used in relative position measurement, relative positioning, movement determination, etc. The information detected by sensor 213 may be used for movement detection, relative displacement, dead reckoning, sensor-based positioning, and / or sensor-assisted positioning. Sensor 213 may be useful in determining whether UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or mobile and / or whether any useful information regarding the mobility of UE 200 should be reported to LMF 120. For example, based on the information acquired / measured by sensor 213, UE 200 may notify / report to LMF 120 that UE 200 has detected movement or that UE 200 has moved, and may report relative displacement / distance (e.g., via dead reckoning, or sensor-based positioning, or sensor-assisted positioning enabled by sensor 213). In another example, for relative positioning information, the sensor / IMU may be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of other devices with respect to UE 200, etc.

[0048] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements regarding the direction and / or speed of movement of UE 200 that can be used in relative positioning. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may each detect the linear acceleration and rotational speed of UE 200. Measurements of the linear acceleration and rotational speed of UE 200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction of movement as well as the displacement of UE 200. To track the position of UE 200, the instantaneous direction of movement and displacement may be integrated. For example, the reference position of UE 200 may be determined at a moment (e.g., using SPS receiver 217 and / or by some other means), and the measurement results from the accelerometers and gyroscopes obtained after this moment may be used in dead reckoning to determine the current position of UE 200 based on the movement (direction and distance) of UE 200 compared to the reference position.

[0049] The magnetometer can determine the magnetic field strength in different directions and can be used to determine the orientation of the UE200. For example, the orientation can be used to provide a digital compass for the UE200. The magnetometer can include a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect the magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions and give an indication thereof. The magnetometer can include a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect the magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions and give an indication thereof. The magnetometer can provide means for detecting the magnetic field and giving an indication of the magnetic field to, for example, the processor 210.

[0050] Transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250, each configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 transmits a wireless signal 248 (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) and / or receives (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels), and may include a wireless transmitter 242 and a wireless receiver 244 coupled to an antenna 246 for converting from the wireless signal 248 to a wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal to the wireless signal 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 a plurality of transmitters that may be individual components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 244 may include a plurality of receivers that may be individual components or combined / integrated components.The wireless transceiver 240 can be configured to communicate signals according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobiles), 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. (e.g., with a TRP and / or one or more other devices). The New Radio can use mmWave frequencies and / or sub-6 GHz frequencies. The wired transceiver 250 includes a wired transmitter 252 and a wired receiver 254 configured for wired communication, e.g., a network interface that can be utilized to communicate with and send communications to and receive communications from the NG-RAN 135. The wired transmitter 252 may include a plurality of transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 254 may include a plurality of receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 can be configured for, e.g., optical and / or electrical communication. The transceiver 215 can be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214, e.g., by an optical connection and / or an electrical connection. The transceiver interface 214 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 215. The wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244, and / or the antenna 246 may each include a plurality of transmitters, a plurality of receivers, and / or a plurality of antennas, respectively, for sending and / or receiving appropriate signals.

[0051] The user interface 216 may comprise one or more of several devices, such as, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a display device, a vibration device, a keyboard, a touch screen, etc. The user interface 216 may include two or more of any of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to enable a user to interact with one or more applications hosted by the UE200. For example, the user interface 216 may store instructions of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 to be processed by the DSP231 and / or the general-purpose / application processor 230 in response to an action from the user. Similarly, an application hosted on the UE200 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 to present output signals to the user. The user interface 216 may include, for example, an audio input / output (I / O) device comprising a speaker, a microphone, a digital-to-analog circuit, an analog-to-digital circuit, an amplifier, and / or a gain control circuit (including two or more of any of these devices). Other configurations of the audio I / O device may be used. Also or alternatively, the user interface 216 may include one or more touch sensors that respond to contact and / or pressure on the keyboard and / or touch screen of the user interface 216, for example.

[0052] The SPS receiver 217 (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring an SPS signal 260 via an SPS antenna 262. The SPS antenna 262 may be configured to convert the SPS signal 260 from a wireless signal to a wired signal, such as an electrical signal or an optical signal, and may be integrated with the antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signal 260, either wholly or in part, to estimate the location of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 by trilateration using the SPS signal 260. The general-purpose / application processor 230, the memory 211, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors (not shown) may be utilized with the SPS receiver 217 to process the acquired SPS signal, either wholly or in part, and / or to calculate the estimated location of the UE 200. The memory 211 may store indicia (e.g., measurement results) of the SPS signal 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals acquired from the wireless transceiver 240) for use in performing a positioning operation. The general-purpose / application processor 230, the DSP 231, and / or one or more dedicated processors, and / or the memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for use in processing measurements to estimate the location of the UE 200.

[0053] UE200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still or moving 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-digital circuitry, a frame buffer, and the like. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of the signal representing the captured image 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 the signal representing the captured image. The video processor 233 may, for example, decode / decompress stored image data for presentation on a display device (not shown) of the user interface 216.

[0054] The positioning device (PD) 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200, the movement of the UE 200, and / or the relative position of the UE 200, and / or time. For example, the PD 219 may communicate with and / or include some or all of the SPS receiver 217. The PD 219 may operate in cooperation with the processor 210 and the memory 211 as appropriate to implement at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, although the description herein may refer to the PD 219 being configured to implement according to (one or more) positioning methods or implementing according to (one or more) positioning methods. The PD 219 may also or alternatively be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 using the SPS signal 260, to assist in using it, or both, for trilateration, and using terrestrial-based signals (e.g., at least some of the signals 248). The PD 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 based on another technique, such as the cell of the serving base station (e.g., the cell center) and / or E-CID. The PD 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 using image recognition combined with one or more images from the camera 218 and the known locations of landmarks (e.g., natural landmarks such as mountains and / or artificial landmarks such as buildings, bridges, roads, etc.). The PD 219 may be configured to use one or more other techniques for determining the location of the UE 200 (e.g., relying on the self-reported location of the UE (e.g., 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.PD219 may include one or more of sensors 213 (e.g., one or more gyroscopes, one or more accelerometers, one or more magnetometers, etc.) that can detect the orientation and / or movement of UE200 and provide its display, and a processor 210 (e.g., a general-purpose / application processor 230 and / or a DSP 231) may be configured to use its display to determine the movement (e.g., velocity vector and / or acceleration vector) of UE200. PD219 may be configured to give an indication of uncertainty and / or error in the determined position and / or movement. The functions of PD219 may be provided in various manners and / or configurations, for example, by a general-purpose / application processor 230, a transceiver 215, an SPS receiver 217, and / or another component of UE200, and may be provided by hardware, software, firmware, or various combinations thereof.

[0055] Referring also to FIG. 3, an example of the TRP 300 of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 includes a computing platform comprising 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 (which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., wireless transceivers) may be omitted from the TRP 300. The processor 310 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 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 stores software 312, and the software 312 may be processor-readable processor-executable software code including instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause the processor 310 to perform the various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured to cause the processor 310 to perform functions when compiled and executed, for example.

[0056] This description may refer to the processor 310 performing functions, which includes other implementations such as when the processor 310 executes software and / or firmware. This 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 that function. This description may refer to the TRP 300 (and thus one of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114) performing a function as a shorthand for one or more appropriate components (e.g., the processor 310 and the memory 311) of the TRP 300 performing that function. The processor 310 may include a memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or instead of the memory 311. The functions of the processor 310 are discussed more fully below.

[0057] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and / or a wired transceiver 350, each configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may 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) a wireless signal 348, and include a wireless transmitter 342 and a wireless receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 for converting signals from the wireless signal 348 to a wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal to the wireless signal 348. Thus, the wireless transmitter 342 may include a plurality of transmitters, which may be individual components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 344 may include a plurality of receivers, which may be individual components 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) according to various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobiles), 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 wired transceiver 350 may include a wired transmitter 352 and a wired receiver 354 configured for wired communication, e.g., to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 and transmit and receive communications to, e.g., the LMF 120, and / or one or more other network entities. The wired transmitter 352 may include a plurality of transmitters that may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 354 may include a plurality of receivers that may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured for, e.g., optical and / or electrical communication.

[0058] The configuration of the TRP 300 shown in FIG. 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 how some functions are configured or performed by the TRP 300, 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).

[0059] Referring also to FIG. 4, a server 400, of which the LMF120 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 (for example, 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 comprise a plurality of processors (for example, 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 random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 stores software 412, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code including instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause the processor 410 to perform the various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured to cause the processor 410 to perform functions when compiled and executed, for example. This description may refer to the processor 410 performing functions, which includes other implementations such as when the processor 410 executes software and / or firmware. This 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 that function. This description may refer to the server 400 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more suitable components of the server 400 performing that function.In addition to and / or instead of memory 411, processor 410 may include a memory having stored instructions. The functionality of processor 410 is discussed more fully below.

[0060] Transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and / or a wired transceiver 450, each configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may transmit (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) a wireless signal 448, and convert signals from the wireless signal 448 to a wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal to the wireless signal 448, and may include a wireless transmitter 442 and a wireless receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446. Thus, the wireless transmitter 442 may include a plurality of transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 444 may include a plurality of receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with UE200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobiles), 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 wired transceiver 450 may include a wired transmitter 452 and a wired receiver 454 configured for wired communication, e.g., communicating with the NG-RAN 135 to transmit and receive communications to, e.g., the TRP 300, and / or one or more other network entities, and may include a network interface that can be utilized for this purpose. The wired transmitter 452 may include a plurality of transmitters that may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 454 may include a plurality of receivers that may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 can be configured for, e.g., optical communication and / or electrical communication.

[0061] Although the description herein may refer to the processor 410 implementing a function, other implementations are included, such as the processor 410 executing software (stored in the memory 411) and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the server 400 implementing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the server 400 (e.g., the processor 410 and the memory 411) implementing the function.

[0062] The configuration of the server 400 shown in FIG. 4 is an example of the present disclosure including the claims and is not limiting, and other configurations may be used. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Also or alternatively, although the description herein describes some functions as being configured or performed by the server 400, 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).

[0063] Signal interference detection and response thereto The UE can receive various types of signals, and any one of them may be subject to intentional and / or unintentional interference. A first signal (e.g., a positioning signal (satellite-based or terrestrial-based), a communication signal, etc.) is interfered with by a second signal when the second signal has sufficient power to make the measurement of the first signal unreliable compared to the first signal when the second signal is received (e.g., prevent accurate measurements for timing, decoding, etc.). The determination that a received signal is likely to be an interfering signal can facilitate mitigation of the impact of the interfering signal, for example, trigger one or more actions to avoid using the interfered signal for positioning, communication, etc.

[0064] Referring to FIG. 5 and further to FIGS. 1 to 4, the UE 500 includes a processor 510, an interface 520, and a memory 530 that are communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 540. The UE 500 may include some or all of the components shown in FIG. 5 and 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. The processor 510 may include one or more components of the processor 210. The interface 520 may include one or more of the components of the transceiver 215, for example, a wireless transmitter 242 and an antenna 246, or a wireless receiver 244 and an antenna 246, or a wireless transmitter 242, a wireless receiver 244, and an antenna 246. Also or alternatively, the interface 520 may include a wired transmitter 252 and / or a wired receiver 254. The interface 520 may include an SPS receiver 217 and an antenna 262. The memory 530 may be configured similarly to the memory 211 and includes, for example, software having processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 510 to perform functions.

[0065] Although the description herein may refer to a processor 510 that implements functions, other implementations are also included, such as the processor 510 executing software (stored in the memory 530) and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the UE 500 implementing functions as a shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the UE 500 (e.g., the processor 510 and the memory 530) implementing the functions. The processor 510 (optionally together with the memory 530 and, if necessary, the interface 520) includes a jamming signal detection unit 560 and a jamming impact mitigation unit 570. The jamming signal detection unit 560 is configured to determine whether a received signal is a jamming signal, for example, by determining whether the received signal is unacceptably unstable. The jamming impact mitigation unit 570 is configured to perform one or more functions to mitigate (e.g., reduce or avoid) one or more impacts of the jamming signal on the operation of the UE 500, such as accurate signal measurements (e.g., positioning signals, communication signals, etc.). For example, the jamming impact mitigation unit 570 can be configured to control the activation status of different signal reception chains of the UE 500 for measuring signals. A signal reception chain can include an RF path (radio frequency path) (e.g., components from the antenna to the ADC, but not including the ADC) and one or more additional components. Although the jamming signal detection unit 560 and the jamming impact mitigation unit 570 are discussed further below, the description may refer generally to the processor 510 or generally to the UE 500 configured to implement their functions as implementing any of the functions of the jamming signal detection unit 560 and the jamming impact mitigation unit 570.

[0066] Referring also to FIG. 6, in a navigation environment 600, a UE 500 can be associated with (e.g., held thereby) a user 620, can receive satellite signals 611, 612 from satellites 190, 192, can receive a communication signal 631 from a base station 630, and can receive one or more other signals from one or more other sources, such as satellites 191, 193, one or more other base stations, one or more other UEs, etc. The UE 500 also receives a jamming signal 641 from a jammer 640. The jammer 640 can generate the jamming signal 641 to intentionally jam one or more of the signals 611, 612, 631, or the jamming signal 641 may unintentionally jam one or more of the signals 611, 612, 631. For example, it has been found that a terrestrial-based satellite signal repeater can unintentionally jam satellite signals received by a UE. As another example, the jamming signal 641 may be a white noise signal, an intentional jamming signal, etc. Further, the jamming signal may be in-band with the signal being jammed or out-of-band of the signal being jammed. Strong out-of-band (OOB) jamming may, for example, result in an observed reduction in the in-band signal power metric due to gain compression effects within the receive chain.

[0067] Referring also to FIGS. 7 and 8, the interference signal detection unit 560 of the UE 500 is configured to process one or more signal strength metrics received from the analog / digital front end 710 to determine whether the corresponding signal is an interference signal. The analog / digital front end 710 is configured to receive and process signals to generate one or more signal strength metrics and provide the signal strength metrics to the interference signal detection unit 560, particularly the signal strength metric fluctuation detector 720. The signal strength metrics may also be provided to the jammer detector 730 in some configurations. The signal strength metric fluctuation detector 720 is configured to measure fluctuations in the signal strength metrics, generate one or more fluctuation metrics, and provide the fluctuation metrics to the jammer detector 730. The jammer detector 730 uses one or more of the fluctuation metrics and / or one or more of the signal strength metrics to determine whether the signal corresponding to the signal strength metric and / or the fluctuation metric is an interference signal, and is configured to provide an interference indication in response to a determination that the signal corresponding to the signal strength metric and / or the fluctuation metric is an interference signal.

[0068] Referring also to FIG. 8, a UE800, which is an example of the UE500, includes a processor 810, a memory 830, an antenna 840, and an analog / digital front end 850 that are communicatively coupled to each other. The processor 810 is an example of the processor 510, and the memory 830 is an example of the memory 530. The processor 810 is configured to control components of the analog / digital front end 850, such as an activation status (whether a component (including a part of a component) is active (e.g., powered on and / or otherwise enabled for operation) or inactive (e.g., not powered on and / or otherwise disabled from operation)). The antenna 840 includes one or more antennas and is configured to receive one or more types of signals, such as satellite signals, terrestrial wave-based communication signals, terrestrial wave-based positioning signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)), and the like. The analog / digital front end 850 of this example is configured to receive signals in different frequency bands and process different signals in different receive chains 860, 870.

[0069] The analog / digital front end 850 includes, for example, a plurality of receive chains 860, 870 for measuring satellite signals in different frequency bands. Although two receive chains are shown in FIG. 8, the UE800 may include more than two receive chains to measure signals having frequencies in more than two different frequency bands (e.g., different sub-bands), for example. The receive chains 860, 870 can be configured to measure satellite signals in the L1 band and in the L2 / L5 band, respectively, for example, but either or both of the receive chains 860, 870 may be configured to measure signals in other frequency bands, and / or other receive chains may be included in the UE800, so this is an example and does not limit the present disclosure.

[0070] The receiving chains 860 and 870 each include respective components for measuring signals in different frequency bands. The receiving chain 860 includes a BPF861 (band-pass filter), an LNA862 (low-noise amplifier), an RFA863 (radio frequency / analog processing block) for down-conversion, signal conditioning / filtering, and amplification, an ADC864 (analog-to-digital converter), a baseband block 865, and a calculation block 867. The RFA863 may be referred to as a programmable gain amplifier (PGA). The BPF861 is configured to pass signals of frequencies within a desired frequency band (e.g., the L1 band) with little or no attenuation, and to significantly attenuate signals of frequencies outside the desired frequency band of the BPF861. The LNA862 is configured to amplify the signal that has passed through the BPF861. The RFA863 is configured to down-convert the analog amplified signal output by the LNA862 to a baseband frequency in order to perform signal conditioning and / or filtering (e.g., anti-aliasing filtering) and additional amplification added to the amplification by the LNA862. Here, the ADC864, which is part of the RFIC880 (radio frequency integrated circuit), is configured to convert the analog signal output by the RFA863 into a digital signal. The baseband block 865 is configured to perform signal processing on the digital signal output by the ADC864. For example, the digital signal output by the ADC864 is integrated (e.g., over 1 millisecond), and the integrated signal is dumped, and then correlated with respective reference pseudo-random signals (e.g., Gold codes) to further process to determine whether the correlation result has sufficient energy to indicate a true signal. Here, the calculation block 867, which is part of the CPU890 (central processing unit), can be configured to perform one or more calculations on the signal output by the baseband block 865 to determine one or more measurement values (such as signal strength (e.g., signal amplitude or signal power)).The calculation block 867, that is, constitutes a part of the CPU 890 for performing measurement calculations corresponding to signals within the desired frequency band of the BPF 861 for the reception chain 860. Thus, the calculation block 867 is shown as being for the calculation of frequency band 1 (FB1). The CPU 890 may be a part of the processor 510. The reception chain 870 includes a BPF 871, an LNA 872, an RFA 873, an ADC 874, a baseband block 875, and a calculation block 877. The BPF 871 is configured to pass signals of frequencies within the desired frequency band, for example, within the L2 / L5 band, with little or no attenuation, and to significantly attenuate signals of frequencies outside the desired frequency band of the BPF 871. The LNA 872, RFA 873, ADC 874, baseband block 875, and calculation block 877 are configured in the same manner as the LNA 862, RFA 863, ADC 864, baseband block 865, and calculation block 867, but are appropriately configured to process signals corresponding to the signals of the desired frequency of the BPF 871. Thus, the calculation block 877 is shown as being for the calculation of frequency band N (FBN) since there may be N (an integer of 2 or more) reception chains.

[0071] The receiving chains 860, 870 are separate and can be independently activated / deactivated by the processor 810. For example, one or more respective components of one or both of the receiving chains 860, 870 are powered off to deactivate the corresponding receiving chains 860, 870. RFA 863, 873 and ADC 864, 874 are components of the RFIC 880, but RFA 863 and ADC 864 can form a part of the RFIC 880, and RFA 873 and ADC 874 can form different parts of the RFIC 880. For example, RFA 863 and ADC 864 can be enabled / disabled independently of the enabling / disabling of RFA 873 and ADC 874. Similarly, the computing blocks 867, 877 can be independently enabled / disabled, so that the computing block 867 can form a part of the CPU 890, and the computing block 877 can form a different part of the CPU 890. For example, while the processing by the computing block 877 can be avoided, the processing by the computing block 867 can be executed, thus saving the power that would be used to execute the computation by the computing block 877. Each of the receiving chains 860, 870 can be controlled by the processor 810 to become active, for example, with BPF 861, LNA 862, RFA 863, ADC 864, the baseband block 865, and the computing block 867 powered on, and / or with BPF 871, LNA 872, RFA 873, ADC 874, the baseband block 875, and the computing block 877 powered on.Similarly, each of the receive chains 860, 870 can be controlled by the processor 810 to become inactive, for example, when one or more of BPF 861, LNA 862, RFA 863, ADC 864, baseband block 865, and calculation block 867 are not powered or otherwise not used (e.g., no data to process is provided to the calculation block 867), and / or when one or more of BPF 871, LNA 872, RFA 873, ADC 874, baseband block 875, and calculation block 877 are not powered or otherwise not used.

[0072] The calculation blocks 867, 877 are configured to determine one or more signal strength metrics as a function of the signal strength of the received signal (e.g., signal amplitude and / or signal power). The signal strength of the received signal can be measured at a desired point within the receive chain 860 (and / or receive chain 870). For example, the signal amplitude may be output by the ADC 864, the gain of the RFA 863 may be determined, and / or the gain of the baseband block 865 may be determined, the output signal power of the baseband block 865 may be determined, and the overall baseband signal power metric is based on the baseband output power, the RFA gain, and the gain of the baseband block. Since the known gain applied to the signal before measurement can be subtracted, the signal strength metric can be given by the following equation. S metric =10·log 10 (signal power) - total gain (1) where S metricis a signal strength metric, and the total gain is in dB. If all gains are known and removed, the signal strength metric represents the absolute signal strength. If there are one or more unknown gains, the signal strength metric represents the relative signal strength and the reference noise level (RNL) can be used for comparison. The RNL represents the expected signal strength when there is no interfering signal. The analog / digital front end 850 (e.g., one or both of the computational blocks 867, 877 (and / or one or more of any other computational blocks)) can provide the signal strength metric to the processor 810, particularly to the interfering signal detection unit 560.

[0073] In particular, referring again to FIG. 7, the signal strength metric fluctuation detector 720 is configured to measure the variation of the signal strength metric over time. Any of various options for measuring the variation of the signal strength metric can be used. For example, the standard deviation of N consecutive observations of the signal strength metric can be determined as the variation metric. That is, V metric (N)=std(S metric (1:N)) (2) where V metric (N) is the current variation metric (corresponding to observation N), and S metric (1:N) is a set of signal strength metrics for the latest N observations. Various values of N can be used, such as 10 or 30 with respect to the ADC amplitude and the baseband output signal power. Consecutive observations can be temporally separated, for example, by 1 second. As another example, the variation metric may be the range of signal strength metric values over N observations. That is, V metric (N)=max(S metric (1:N))-min(S metric (1:N)) (3)

[0074] As another example, the variation metric may be the maximum absolute difference between the current observation and the previous observation, for example, the previous N - 1 measurements, and thus, V metric (N)=max(abs(S metric (N)-S metric (1:N-1))) (4)

[0075] These are examples, and other methods of determining the signal strength metric may be used that adapt the variation metric to the temporal variation of the signal strength metric (depend on the variation metric value).

[0076] The jammer detector 730 can determine whether a signal is a jamming signal by evaluating one or more variation metrics received from the signal strength metric variation detector 720 and / or one or more signal strength metrics received from, for example, the analog / digital front end 710. For example, the jammer detector 730 can determine that a signal corresponding to a variation metric is a jamming signal based only on the variation metric. For example, if the variation metric corresponding to a signal indicates that the variation of the signal is unacceptably high, for example, the stability metric exceeds the stability threshold and the signal is unacceptably unstable (for example, the stability of the signal is unacceptably low or the instability of the signal is unacceptably high), the signal can be determined to be a jamming signal. For example, if the variation metric indicates the amount of variation of the signal strength metric and a higher value of the variation metric corresponds to a higher level of variation, the jammer detector 730 can be configured to detect a jamming signal as follows. V metric >V thresh If so, set the jammer indicator positive (5) Here, V threshis a variable threshold, and a positive jammer indicator indicates that the signal is a jamming signal. The variable threshold may be a rate of change, for example, an amount of change per amount of time, or an amount of change per number of observations. As another example, the jammer detector 730 can be configured to determine that a signal is a jamming signal based on either a variability metric for the signal or a signal strength metric for the signal. For example, if the variability metric corresponding to the signal indicates that the variability of the signal is unacceptably high, or if the signal strength metric of the signal indicates that the signal strength is high enough to consider the signal a jamming signal, for example, indicating a low likelihood of not being a jamming signal, the signal can be determined to be a jamming signal. In this case, the jammer detector 730 can be configured to detect a jamming signal as follows. (V metric >V thresh or S metric >S thresh ) then set the jammer indicator to positive (6) Here, S thresh is a signal strength threshold. As another example, the jammer detector 730 can be configured to determine that a signal is a jamming signal based on a combination of a variability metric for the signal and a signal strength metric for the signal. For example, the jammer detector can be configured to detect a jamming signal according to the following formula. (S metric (1:N - 1) of either >S thresh and V metric >V thresh ) then set the jammer indicator to positive (7)

[0077] In this way, the variable metric introduces hysteresis in the interference signal detection. In this configuration, when the interference detector 730 detects that the variable metric exceeds the variable threshold, the interference indicator continues to be set positively as long as the variable metric continues to exceed the variable threshold and the signal strength of at least one of the previous N - 1 observations exceeds the signal strength threshold. That is, the interference detector 730 continues to determine that the received signal is an interference signal as long as any recent signal strength exceeds the signal strength threshold and the variable metric indicates an unacceptable variation of the signal. Thus, when an interference is detected, the interference detector 730 continues to indicate interference as long as the signal has an unacceptable variation over the previous amount of time or observations, so that the determination result of the interference is not cancelled immediately after the signal strength drops below the signal strength threshold. This can help to avoid measuring the interfered signal and / or using the measurement values of the interfered signals that were considered non - interfered when using conventional techniques.

[0078] Other evaluations than the if - then logics (5) - (7) may be used to detect the interference signal. For example, the interference detector 730 can be configured to determine that the signal is an interference signal based on the current signal strength exceeding the signal strength threshold as in the if - then logic (7) or as follows. (S metric (N)>S thresh Or (S metric (1:N - 1) of either >S thresh And V metric >V thresh )) If so, set the interference indicator positively (8)

[0079] Still other evaluations are possible for detecting the interference signal.

[0080] The signal strength metric variation detector 720 can be configured to determine a signal strength threshold. For example, the signal strength threshold can be set to a value obtained by adding a constant representing the level of receiver performance degradation, which is considered to be interfered with in the RNL and thus triggers the setting of the interference indicator to positive, to the RNL. Thus, for example, the signal strength metric variation detector 720 can be configured to determine the signal strength threshold as follows.

[0081] S thresh =RNL + C (10) Here, C is a constant and can be set to a certain value, for example 10 dB, based on the desired performance degradation considered to be interference. In the case of a receiver that supports operation in multiple frequency bands (for example, the receive chains 860, 870 of the UE 800), the signal strength threshold for one frequency band can be set dynamically based on the signal strength indicator for another frequency band. For example, the signal strength threshold (S thres1 ) for the first frequency band may be set dynamically based on the signal strength metric (S metric2 ) for the second frequency band. The signal strength threshold for the first frequency band can be determined according to the following formula. S thres1 =RNL 1 +C+(S metric2 -RNL 2 ) (11) Here, RNL 1 is the reference noise level for the first frequency band, and RNL 2is the reference noise level for the second frequency band. Setting the signal strength threshold for the first frequency band based on the signal strength metric of the second frequency band helps prevent switching to the second frequency band that is being interfered with to the same extent as, or more than, the first frequency band that is being interfered with. When setting the signal strength threshold of one band based on the signal strength metric of another band, the signal strength metric fluctuation detector 720 can be configured to apply a lower limit (the lowest possible value) to the determined signal strength threshold. The lower limit can be used to prevent the signal strength metric of the second band from reducing the signal strength threshold for the first band below the signal strength threshold for the first band when not considering the signal strength metric of the second band. Thus, for example, the signal strength metric fluctuation detector 720 can be configured to determine the signal strength threshold according to the following equation. S thres1 =RNL 1 +C+max(0,S metric2 -RNL 2 ) (12)

[0082] The interference mitigation unit 570 can be configured to respond to a determination that an interference signal is present (e.g., the interference indicator is set to positive) by taking one or more actions. For example, the interference mitigation unit 570 can be configured not to recommend one or more outputs corresponding to a signal determined to be interfered with (e.g., within the band along with the interference signal, affected by OOB interference, etc.). The interference mitigation unit 570 can provide some level of disapproval and / or warning indication, for example, for an output corresponding to a signal that may have been interfered with, such as a pseudo range, signal timing, signal amplitude, and / or a position estimate derived from the signal that may have been interfered with. The indication can indicate, for example, disapproval, lack of approval, and / or discouragement of the use of the output. The recipient of the output and the non-recommendation indication can decide whether to use the output. For example, if the positioning entity does not have sufficient measurements to determine a position estimate without the non-recommended measurements, the positioning entity can use the non-recommended measurements, and if the positioning entity has a sufficient amount of non-non-recommended measurements to determine a position estimate, the non-recommended measurements can be ignored. As another example, the positioning entity can de-emphasize the non-recommended measurements to determine a position estimate. As another example, the recipient of the non-recommended measurement can trigger fraud detection. The non-recommendation indication can help prevent poor positioning accuracy due to the use of an interfered signal and can help determine the position estimate (although in some cases it may be less accurate than desired) when the position estimate is not determined when the output is blocked instead of not being recommended.

[0083] Similarly or alternatively, the interference mitigation unit 570 can be configured to respond to a determination that an interference signal is present by taking one or more other actions. For example, the interference mitigation unit 570 can be configured to respond to a determination that a signal is being interfered with by blocking one or more outputs corresponding to the interfered signal so that the one or more outputs do not reach the receiving side and are not used by the receiving side. This can help ensure good positioning accuracy. As another example, the interference mitigation unit 570 can be configured to invalidate one or more outputs corresponding to a signal determined to be interfered with. The interference mitigation unit 570 can provide an invalidation indication along with the one or more outputs. This can help prevent the use of inaccurate measurement values and thus improve positioning accuracy, and can provide information that can be used for other purposes (e.g., to trigger fraud detection). As another example, the interference mitigation unit 570 can shift resources from an interfered frequency band to another frequency band that is not interfered with or is at least less interfered with than the interfered frequency band. For example, based on the fact that the frequency band of the receiving chain 860 is interfered with and the receiving chain 870 is powered on, the interference mitigation unit 570 can power off one or more components (e.g., LNA 862, RFA 863, computing block 867, etc.) of the receiving chain 860. This can help conserve power while maintaining or improving positioning accuracy. The interference mitigation unit 570 can also power on one or more components of the receiving chain 860 sometimes (e.g., periodically) for a while to enable the update of the interference status.

[0084] Output related to interference can be aggregated and distributed with a non-recommended and / or invalidation instruction. Thus, interference and lack of interference can be cloud-referenced using a map of interference / no interference regions provided to the device for use in determining whether to take one or more actions, such as whether to make one or more measurements, whether to take one or more preventive measures (e.g., ignore a signal), whether to report one or more measurements, etc.

[0085] The reference noise level (RNL) is used to compensate for an unknown gain in the signal strength metric. The RNL can vary from device to device, for example, due to component-to-component differences and / or manufacturing differences, and can vary over time, for example, due to aging of the components. The RNL can be set in any of a variety of ways. For example, the RNL value can be determined, based on the device design, in some cases using one or more device measurements (e.g., the average of measurements using samples of the device), and can be statically configured, for example, programmed into the memory 530 during manufacturing. As another example, each device during manufacturing can be tested to determine the RNL for that device, and this RNL can be statically configured, for example, programmed into the memory 530 during manufacturing.

[0086] As another example of RNL calibration, the RNL can be dynamically configured and updated as appropriate by the UE500 during use. For example, the interference signal detection unit 560 can be configured to intermittently measure the signal strength metric, for example, at the start of each session in the UE500, for example, each communication session or each positioning session. The interference signal detection unit 560 can be configured to set the RNL to the signal strength metric determined at the start of each session. As another example, the interference signal detection unit 560 can be configured to dynamically calibrate the RNL during the operation of the UE500. For example, the interference signal detection unit 560, based on the currently measured signal metric, (the old RNL value RNL old becomes) the RNL value can be replaced with a new RNL value RNL new by, for example, adding the difference between the currently measured signal strength metric and the old RNL value to the old RNL value according to the following equation. RNL new =RNL old +(S metric -RNL old )(13)

[0087] The interference signal detection unit 560 can hold the calibrated RNL value across sessions, for example, by storing the most recently calibrated RNL value in the memory 530 at the start of a new session (for example, each time the RNL is determined) before the end of the session and retrieving the stored RNL value from the memory 530. Before the first receiver session of the UE500, the initial RNL value can be statically configured as discussed above (for example, set based on the design of the UE500 or measured and set during the manufacture of the UE500). The interference signal detection unit 560 can calibrate the RNL independently for different frequency bands.

[0088] The interference signal detection unit 560 can be configured to help avoid calibration failures or incorrect calibrations of the RNL. For example, the interference signal detection unit 560 can be configured to help avoid calibrating the RNL for a frequency band while that frequency band is being interfered with at the UE 500. The interference signal detection unit 560 can be configured, for example, not to calibrate the RNL for a frequency band while an interferer indicator for that frequency band is set (i.e., set to positive). As another example, the interference signal detection unit 560 can be configured to limit the calibration of the RNL when the receiver performance meets or exceeds the desired performance, as indicated by one or more performance metrics that at least meet one or more performance metric thresholds, or a combination of metrics that meet a combination criterion. For example, calibration can be limited when the bit error rate (BER) is below a threshold error rate, or the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) is above an SNR threshold, or the estimated position error (such as for a GNSS receiver), such as the HEPE (estimated horizontal position error), is below a threshold position error. In the case of a combination of metrics, one or more of the metrics may not meet the thresholds for individual determinations of performance, but the combination of metric values meets the combination of thresholds (for example, the SNR threshold for evaluating only the SNR may be higher than the SNR threshold for determining acceptable performance and the SNR threshold for evaluating the bit error rate).

[0089] To calibrate the RNL, the interference signal detection unit 560 can be configured to adjust the old value of the RNL to the new value of the RNL by different amounts (resulting in a faster or slower adjustment of the RNL) depending on whether the new value (current value) of the RNL is higher or lower than the old value (previous value) of the RNL. Since the true RNL should be the lowest signal level observed by the receiver, the interference signal detection unit 560 can adjust the RNL faster when the RNL is decreasing than when the RNL is increasing. When the RNL is increasing, the corresponding desired signal may be interfered with, and thus, increasing the RNL slowly helps prevent the RNL from rising to a level where the interfered signal appears not to be interfered with and can be used by a receiver, such as the UE500. An example of calibration filtering logic can be represented by the following equation. S metric >RNL old If so, RNL new =RNL old +(S metric -RNL old ) / RNL coef1 Otherwise, RNL new =RNL old +(S metric -RNL old ) / RNL coef2 (14) Here, RNL coef1 >RNL coef2 If so, (RNL old +(S metric -RNL old ) / RNL coef1 )<(RNL new =RNL old +(S metric -RNL old ) / RNL coef2 ) Therefore, if S metric >RNL old If so, RNL old will be such that S new ≦RNL metric old ​is incremented by more (by a greater amount).

[0090] The interference signal detection unit 560 can be configured to take into account whether there is out-of-band (OOB) interference when determining at what rate (e.g., by what increment amount) to adjust the RNL for calibration. The interference is OOB of the desired signal (e.g., PRS) to be measured, but may occur at frequencies within the band of the circuitry (e.g., receive chain 860 or receive chain 870, e.g., ADC864 or ADC874) used to detect the desired signal. OOB interference may cause gain compression such that the perceived gain of the desired signal is lower in the presence of OOB interference. Automatic gain control by the RFA may reduce the signal metric level below the true RNL, which may reduce the dynamically determined RNL value below the desired level unless the interference signal detection unit 560 guards against the RNL value dropping below what is desired. To detect OOB interference, the implied signal power component of the RNL can be compared to a threshold as follows.

[0091] If (RNL + total gain < signal power threshold), then the OOB interferer is detected Since OOB interference unnaturally reduces the RNL, the interference signal detection unit 560 can be configured to adjust the old RNL value by a greater amount when the RNL is increasing and OOB interference is detected than when OOB interference is not detected. For example, the interference signal detection unit 560 can implement RNL calibration logic as follows. S metric > RNL old and no OOB interferer is detected, then RNL new = RNL old +(S metric - RNL old ) / RNL coef1 Otherwise, RNL new = RNL old +(S metric - RNLold ) / RNL coef2 (15) Here, RNL coef1 >RNL coef2 is true.

[0092] Referring to FIG. 9 while further referring to FIGS. 1 - 8, a method 900 for suppressing the use of an interfered signal includes the illustrated steps. However, method 900 is an example and not limiting. Method 900 may be modified, for example, by adding steps, deleting steps, rearranging steps, combining steps, performing steps simultaneously, and / or splitting a single step into multiple steps. Examples for receiving L1 and L5 signals are presented below, but the present disclosure is not limited to these frequency bands and is not limited to receiving (or measuring) satellite signals (also referred to as SV signals). Further, although the description of method 900 focuses on detecting interference of positioning signals, method 900 is applicable to other types of signals (e.g., communication signals).

[0093] At step 910, method 900 includes wirelessly receiving a desired signal at a receiver. For example, receive chain 860 receives SV signal 611 from satellite 190 via antenna 840, and the first SV signal has a first frequency, e.g., one or more frequencies within a frequency band, e.g., within the L1 band or the L5 band. As another example, receive chain 860 receives communication signal 631 from base station 630. Interface 520, e.g., receive chain 860 or a portion thereof (e.g., BPF 861), and antenna 840 can comprise means for receiving a desired signal. Other components of receive chain 860 may or may not comprise a portion of the means for receiving a desired signal. For example, components downstream of non - active components may not comprise a portion of the means for receiving the first satellite signal.

[0094] At stage 920, method 900 includes wirelessly receiving at a receiver an unwanted signal whose strength varies over time. For example, receive chain 860 receives interference signal 641 from jammer 640 via antenna 840, and the unwanted signal is either in-band (overlapping in frequency with the desired signal) or out-of-band (not overlapping in frequency with the desired signal but within the frequency band in which receive chain 860 is designed to receive and process signals). Interface 520, such as receive chain 860 or a portion thereof (e.g., BPF 861), and antenna 840 can comprise means for receiving the unwanted signal. Similar to the description of stage 910, other components of receive chain 860 may or may not comprise portions of means for receiving the unwanted signal.

[0095] In stage 930, method 900 includes suppressing the measurement of the desired signal or the use of the measured value of the desired signal based on a determination that fluctuations in the unwanted signal indicate interference. For example, processor 810 (e.g., processor 510) can control receive chain 860 (and / or one or more other receive chains such as receive chain 870) to become inactive (at least one component becomes inactive, e.g., powered off (e.g., not receiving power)) so that the received signal is not fully processed by receive chain 860 and the desired signal is not measured. This can reduce power consumption, improve positioning accuracy, or at least help prevent degradation of positioning accuracy by avoiding measuring the interfered signal and avoiding using the measured value of the interfered signal to determine position. If the interfered signal is not measured, it is not used for positioning or other desired uses (e.g., communication). As another example, interference mitigation unit 570 can suppress the use of the measured value of the desired signal by not blocking the measurement of the desired signal but by not recommending or invalidating the measured value. Interference mitigation unit 570 can internally, using one or more internal notifications, and / or externally, by transmitting one or more non-recommended / invalid messages, e.g., via interface 520 (e.g., via a transceiver including antenna 840), not recommend or invalidate the measured value. This can reduce power consumption, improve positioning accuracy, or at least help prevent degradation of positioning accuracy by avoiding using the measured value of the interfered signal to determine position. Processor 510 can be provided with means for suppressing the measurement of the desired signal or the use of the measured value of the desired signal, optionally in combination with memory 530 and optionally in combination with interface 520 (e.g., receive chain 860 and / or receive chain 870, and / or optionally wireless transmitter 244 and antenna 246).

[0096] Implementations of method 900 can include one or more of the following features. In an exemplary implementation, method 900 determines a plurality of first values of a signal strength metric for one or more first signals wirelessly received at a receiver, each corresponding to a different time, determines a second value of a variation metric based on the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric, and determines that an unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the second value of the variation metric indicating that the variation of the unwanted signal exceeds a threshold variation. For example, an interference signal detection unit 560 (implemented, for example, by a processor 510 and optionally a memory 530) can determine a signal strength metric S according to equation (1). metric can be determined. The interference signal detection unit 560 can use, for example, any of equations (2)-(4), or another technique (e.g., a combination of two or more of equations (2)-(4)) for calculating V metric (N) to determine a variation metric V metric(N) values can be determined. The interference signal detection unit 560 can determine that an unwanted signal is an interference signal based on the variation metric according to any of the if-then logics (5)-(8) or another technique for determining that signal metric variation indicates an interference signal. The processor 510 can include, optionally in combination with the memory 530, means for determining a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric, means for determining the value of the variation metric, and means for determining that an unwanted signal is an interference signal. In a further exemplary implementation, determining that an unwanted signal is an interference signal is further based on at least one of the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric exceeding a signal strength threshold. For example, the interference signal detection unit 560 can determine that an unwanted signal is an interference signal based on the variation metric according to any of the if-then logics (6)-(8) or another technique for determining that signal metric variation indicates an interference signal and includes a signal strength metric exceeding the signal strength threshold. In a further exemplary implementation, determining the signal strength threshold is based on a first predicted value of the signal strength metric for the desired signal when no interference signal is present. For example, the interference signal detection unit 560 can determine the signal strength threshold according to Equation (10) or another equation including the RNL value. The processor 510 can include, optionally in combination with the memory 530, means for determining the signal strength threshold. In a further exemplary implementation, the signal strength threshold is a first signal strength threshold, the desired signal is a signal of a first frequency within a first frequency band, and method 900 includes receiving a second signal within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band and further determining the first signal strength threshold based on a third value of the signal strength metric for the second signal. For example, the interference signal detection unit 560 can determine the signal strength threshold for the first frequency band according to either Equation (11) or Equation (12).Processor 510 can, in some cases in combination with memory 530 and in some cases in combination with interface 520 (e.g., wireless receiver 244 and antenna 246), include means for receiving a second signal, and processor 510 can, in some cases in combination with memory 530, include means for determining a first signal strength threshold based on a value of a signal strength metric for the second signal. In a further exemplary implementation, the interference signal is a first interference signal within a first frequency band, and determining the first signal strength threshold is further based on a difference between a second value of the signal strength metric for the second signal and a second predicted value of the signal strength metric for the second signal in the absence of a second interference signal within a second frequency band. For example, interference signal detection unit 560 can determine a signal strength threshold for the first frequency band according to equation (12). In another exemplary implementation, method 900 includes dynamically determining a first predicted value of the signal strength metric. For example, interference signal detection unit 560 can dynamically determine RNL by setting and / or adjusting the RNL value based on one or more signal measurement values determined in the ongoing method. Processor 510 can, in some cases in combination with memory 530 and in some cases in combination with interface 520 (e.g., antenna 840 and receive chain 860), include means for determining a first predicted value of the signal strength metric. In a further exemplary implementation, determining the first predicted value of the signal strength metric includes determining a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric based on a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric and a difference between one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric and the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric. For example, interference signal detection unit 560 can determine RNL according to equation (13) or according to if-then-else logic (14) or if-then-else logic (15). newValues can be calculated. In a further exemplary implementation, method 900 adjusts the value preceding the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount when one of the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric exceeds the value preceding the first predicted value of the signal strength metric than when one of the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric is less than the value preceding the first predicted value of the signal strength metric to determine the current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric. For example, the interference signal detection unit 560, according to the if-then-else logic (14) or if-then-else logic (15), RNL new Values can be calculated. In another exemplary implementation, determining the first predicted value of the signal strength metric includes changing the value preceding the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount when there is no out-of-band interference than when there is out-of-band interference to determine the current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric. For example, the interference signal detection unit 560, according to the if-then-else logic (15), RNL new Values can be calculated.

[0097] Also or alternatively, implementations of method 900 can include one or more of the following features. In an exemplary implementation, the desired signal is the first desired signal at the first frequency within the first frequency band, and method 900 includes enabling the receiver to measure the second desired signal at the second frequency within the second frequency band different from the first frequency band. For example, the interference mitigation unit 570 can deactivate one or more components of the receive chain 860 to enable accurate measurement of the non-interfered signal while another signal within a different frequency band is being interfered with, and activate the receive chain 870 (for example, when the receive chain 870 is not being interfered with). This can help improve the positioning accuracy in the presence of interference by avoiding measuring or using the measurement value of the interfered signal while measuring and using the measurement value of the non-interfered signal.

[0098] Implementation Example In the following numbered clauses, implementation examples are given.

[0099] Clause 1 A receiver configured to wirelessly receive one or more signals, A memory, A processor communicatively coupled to the receiver and the memory A device comprising, wherein the processor is configured to: Receive a desired signal via the receiver, Receive an unwanted signal whose strength varies over time via the receiver, Suppress the measurement of the desired signal or the use of the measured value of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the determination that the variation of the unwanted signal indicates interference.

[0100] Clause 2 The processor is further configured to: Determine a plurality of first values of a signal strength metric for one or more first signals received via the receiver, each corresponding to a different time, Determine a second value of a variation metric based on the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric, The device according to clause 1, further configured to determine that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the second value of the variation metric indicating that the variation of the unwanted signal exceeds a threshold variation.

[0101] Clause 3 The processor is further configured to determine that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal further based on at least one of the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric exceeding a signal strength threshold, the device according to clause 2.

[0102] Clause 4 The processor is further configured to determine a signal strength threshold based on a first predicted value of a signal strength metric for the desired signal in the absence of an interfering signal, the device according to clause 3.

[0103] Clause 5 The signal strength threshold is a first signal strength threshold, The desired signal is a signal of a first frequency within a first frequency band, The receiver is configured to receive, via the receiver, a second signal within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band, The processor is further configured to determine the first signal strength threshold further based on a third value of the signal strength metric for the second signal, the apparatus according to clause 4.

[0104] Clause 6 The interfering signal is a first interfering signal within the first frequency band, and the processor is further configured to determine the first signal strength threshold further based on a difference between a second value of the signal strength metric for the second signal and a second predicted value of the signal strength metric for the second signal when there is no second interfering signal within the second frequency band, the apparatus according to clause 5.

[0105] Clause 7 The processor is further configured to dynamically determine a first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the apparatus according to clause 4.

[0106] Clause 8 To determine the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the processor is further configured to determine the current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric based on a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric and a difference between one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric and the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the apparatus according to clause 7.

[0107] Clause 9 When one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric exceeds the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the processor adjusts the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a larger amount than when one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric is smaller than the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric to determine the current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the apparatus according to clause 8.

[0108] Clause 10 The apparatus according to clause 7, wherein the processor is further configured to change a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount when there is no out-of-band interference than when there is out-of-band interference to determine a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

[0109] Clause 11 The desired signal is a first desired signal at a first frequency within a first frequency band, and the apparatus according to clause 1, wherein the processor is further configured to enable measurement by the apparatus of a second desired signal at a second frequency within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band.

[0110] Clause 12 A method for suppressing the use of an interfered signal, comprising: wirelessly receiving a desired signal at a receiver; wirelessly receiving an unwanted signal at the receiver, the intensity of which varies over time; suppressing the measurement of the desired signal or the use of the measured value of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the determination that the variation of the unwanted signal indicates interference; and a method comprising.

[0111] Clause 13 determining a plurality of first values of a signal strength metric for one or more first signals wirelessly received at a receiver, each corresponding to a different time; determining a second value of a variation metric based on the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric; determining that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the second value of the variation metric indicating that the variation of the unwanted signal exceeds a threshold variation; The method for suppressing the use of an interfered signal according to clause 12, further comprising.

[0112] Clause 14. A method for suppressing the use of a blocked signal according to Clause 13, wherein determining that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal is further based on at least one of a plurality of first values of a signal strength metric exceeding a signal strength threshold.

[0113] Clause 15. A method for suppressing the use of a blocked signal according to Clause 14, further comprising determining a signal strength threshold based on a first predicted value of a signal strength metric for a desired signal when no interfering signal is present.

[0114] Clause 16 The signal strength threshold is a first signal strength threshold, The desired signal is a signal of a first frequency within a first frequency band, A method for suppressing the use of a blocked signal is Receiving a second signal within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band, Determining the first signal strength threshold further based on a third value of a signal strength metric for the second signal, A method for suppressing the use of a blocked signal according to Clause 15, further comprising the above.

[0115] Clause 17. The interfering signal is a first interfering signal within a first frequency band, and determining the first signal strength threshold is further based on the difference between a second value of a signal strength metric for the second signal and a second predicted value of a signal strength metric for the second signal when no second interfering signal within the second frequency band is present. A method for suppressing the use of a blocked signal according to Clause 16.

[0116] Clause 18. A method for suppressing the use of a blocked signal according to Clause 15, further comprising dynamically determining the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

[0117] Clause 19. A method for suppressing the use of an interfered signal as described in Clause 18, wherein determining a first predicted value of a signal strength metric includes determining a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric based on a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric and a difference between one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric and the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

[0118] Clause 20. A method for suppressing the use of an interfered signal as described in Clause 19, further including adjusting a previous value of a first predicted value of a signal strength metric by a greater amount when one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric exceeds the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric than when one of the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric is less than the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, to determine a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

[0119] Clause 21. A method for suppressing the use of an interfered signal as described in Clause 18, wherein determining a first predicted value of a signal strength metric includes changing a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount when there is no out-of-band interference than when there is out-of-band interference, to determine a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

[0120] Clause 22. The desired signal is a first desired signal at a first frequency within a first frequency band, and the method for suppressing the use of an interfered signal further includes enabling measurement by a receiver of a second desired signal at a second frequency within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band, the method for suppressing the use of an interfered signal as described in Clause 12.

[0121] Clause 23 means for wirelessly receiving a desired signal, means for wirelessly receiving an unwanted signal whose strength varies over time, means for suppressing measurement of or use of a measurement value of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the variation of the unwanted signal indicating interference An apparatus comprising

[0122] Clause 24 Means for determining a plurality of first values of a signal strength metric for one or more first signals received wirelessly in the apparatus, each corresponding to a different time Means for determining a second value of a variation metric based on the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric Means for determining that an unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the second value of the variation metric indicating that the variation of the unwanted signal exceeds a threshold variation The apparatus according to clause 23, further comprising

[0123] Clause 25 The means for determining that an unwanted signal is an interfering signal further comprises means for determining that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on at least one of the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric exceeding a signal strength threshold. The apparatus according to clause 24

[0124] Clause 26 The apparatus according to clause 25, further comprising means for determining a signal strength threshold based on a first predicted value of a signal strength metric for a desired signal when no interfering signal is present

[0125] Clause 27 The signal strength threshold is a first signal strength threshold The desired signal is a signal of a first frequency within a first frequency band The apparatus Means for receiving a second signal within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band Means for determining the first signal strength threshold further based on a third value of a signal strength metric for the second signal The apparatus according to clause 26, further comprising

[0126] Clause 28 The interfering signal is a first interfering signal within a first frequency band, and the means for determining the first signal strength threshold further comprises means for determining the first signal strength threshold based further on a second value of the signal strength metric for the second signal and a second predicted value of the signal strength metric for the second signal when there is no second interfering signal within the second frequency band, the apparatus according to clause 27.

[0127] Clause 29 The apparatus according to clause 26, further comprising means for dynamically determining a first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

[0128] Clause 30 The means for determining the first predicted value of the signal strength metric comprises means for determining the current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric based on a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric and a difference between one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric and the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the apparatus according to clause 29.

[0129] Clause 31 When one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric exceeds the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the means for determining the current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric further comprises means for adjusting the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount than when one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric is less than the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the apparatus according to clause 30.

[0130] Clause 32 The means for determining the first predicted value of the signal strength metric comprises means for changing the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount when there is no out-of-band interference than when there is out-of-band interference to determine the current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the apparatus according to clause 29.

[0131] Clause 33 The desired signal is a first desired signal at a first frequency within a first frequency band, and the apparatus further comprises means for enabling the apparatus to measure a second desired signal at a second frequency within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band, the apparatus according to clause 23.

[0132] Clause 34 A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions, the processor-readable instructions causing a processor of the apparatus to wirelessly receive a desired signal, wirelessly receive an unwanted signal whose strength varies over time, suppress the measurement of or the use of the measured value of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the variation of the unwanted signal indicating interference, the storage medium.

[0133] Clause 35 The processor is caused to determine a plurality of first values of a signal strength metric for one or more first signals wirelessly received in the apparatus, each corresponding to a different time, determine a second value of a variation metric based on the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric, determine that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal based on the second value of the variation metric indicating that the variation of the unwanted signal exceeds a threshold variation, the storage medium according to clause 34 further comprising processor-readable instructions.

[0134] Clause 36 The processor-readable instructions causing the processor to determine that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal further comprise processor-readable instructions causing the processor to determine that the unwanted signal is an interfering signal further based on at least one of the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric exceeding a signal strength threshold, the storage medium according to clause 35.

[0135] Clause 37 The storage medium according to clause 36 further comprises processor-readable instructions causing the processor to determine a signal strength threshold based on a first predicted value of a signal strength metric for the desired signal when no interfering signal is present.

[0136] Article 38 The signal strength threshold is the first signal strength threshold, and the desired signal is a signal of a first frequency within a first frequency band, and the storage medium causes the processor to receive a second signal within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band, and further comprises processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to determine the first signal strength threshold further based on a third value of a signal strength metric for the second signal, the storage medium according to Article 37.

[0137] Article 39 The interfering signal is a first interfering signal within the first frequency band, and the processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to determine the first signal strength threshold cause the processor to further determine the first signal strength threshold based on a difference between a second value of a signal strength metric for the second signal and a second predicted value of the signal strength metric for the second signal when there is no second interfering signal within the second frequency band, the storage medium according to Article 38.

[0138] Article 40 The storage medium according to Article 37 further comprises processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to dynamically determine a first predicted value of a signal strength metric.

[0139] Article 41 The processor-readable instructions that cause the processor to determine a first predicted value of a signal strength metric cause the processor to determine a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric based on a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric and a difference between one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric and the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the storage medium according to Article 40.

[0140] Clause 42. The storage medium according to Clause 41, further comprising processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to adjust a previous value of a first predicted value of a signal strength metric by a greater amount when one of a plurality of first values of the signal strength metric exceeds the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric than when one of the plurality of first values of the signal strength metric is less than the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, to determine a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

[0141] Clause 43. The processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to determine a first predicted value of a signal strength metric comprise processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to change a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount when there is no out-of-band interference than when there is out-of-band interference, to determine a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, in the storage medium according to Clause 40.

[0142] Clause 44. The desired signal is a first desired signal at a first frequency within a first frequency band, and the storage medium according to Clause 34 further comprises processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to enable measurement by the apparatus of a second desired signal at a second frequency within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band.

[0143] Other Considerations Other examples and implementations are within the scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to software and computer nature, the functions described above may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof executed by a processor. The functional units implementing the functions may also be physically located in various places, including being distributed such that parts of the functions are implemented at different physical locations.

[0144] As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The terms "comprising", "comprises", "including", and / or "includes" as used herein specify the presence of the stated feature, integer, step, operation, element, and / or component, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0145] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, a description that a function or operation is "based on" an item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the stated item or condition and may also be based on one or more other items and / or conditions in addition to the stated item or condition.

[0146] Also, as used herein, the "or" used in the listing of items (which may begin with "at least one of" or "one or more of") indicates a disjunctive listing such that, for example, the listing "at least one of A, B, or C" or the listing "one or more of A, B, or C" or the listing "A or B or C" means 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 combinations of two or more features (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Thus, a statement that an item, for example a processor, is configured to perform a function for 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 for A, or may be configured to perform the function for B, or may be configured to perform the functions for A and B. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to measure at least one of A or B" or "a processor configured to measure A or measure B" means that the processor may be configured to measure A (and optionally also configured to measure B), or may be configured to measure B (and optionally also configured to measure A), or may be configured to measure A and measure B (and optionally also configured to select which of A and B to measure or to select to measure both A and B). Similarly, a statement of means for measuring at least one of A or B includes means for measuring A (which may or may not be able to measure B), or means for measuring B (which may or may not be configured to measure A), or means for measuring A and B (which may or may not be able to select which of A and B to measure or to select to measure both A and B).As another example, a recitation that an item, such as a processor, is configured to perform at least one of performing function X or performing 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 then perform function Y. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to perform at least one of measuring X or measuring Y" means that the processor may be configured to measure X (and optionally also be configured to measure Y), or may be configured to measure Y (and optionally also be configured to measure X), or may be configured to measure X and then measure Y (and optionally also be configured to select which of X and Y to measure, or to select to measure both X and Y).

[0147] Significant variations may be made in accordance with particular requirements. For example, customized hardware may also be used, and / or certain elements may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor (including portable software such as applets), or both. Further, connections to other computing devices such as network input / output devices may be employed. Functional or other components shown in the figures and / or discussed herein as being connected to or communicating with each other are communicatively coupled, unless otherwise stated. That is, the components may be directly or indirectly connected in such a way as to enable communication between them.

[0148] The systems and devices described above are examples. Various configurations may appropriately omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components. For example, features described with respect to some configurations may be combined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of the configurations may likewise be combined. Also, technology evolves, and thus many of the elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the present disclosure or the claims.

[0149] A wireless communication system is a communication system in which communication between wireless communication devices (also called wireless communication devices) is transmitted wirelessly, that is, by electromagnetic waves and / or sound waves that propagate through the atmosphere rather than through wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication system (also called a wireless communication system, a wireless communication network, or a wireless communication network) does not have to transmit all communications wirelessly, but is configured to transmit at least some communications wirelessly. Further, the term "wireless communication device" or similar terms do not require that the functionality of the device be exclusively or even primarily for communication, or that the communication using the wireless communication device be exclusively or even primarily wireless, or that the device be a mobile device, but that the device include wireless communication capabilities (unidirectional or bidirectional), for example, include at least one wireless for wireless communication (each wireless being part of a transmitter, a receiver, or a transceiver).

[0150] For a complete understanding of the exemplary configurations (including implementations), specific details are provided in the description. However, the configurations may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques are shown without unnecessary detail to avoid obscuring the configurations. This description provides exemplary configurations and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configurations of the claims. Rather, the foregoing description of the configurations provides an explanation for implementing the described techniques. Various changes may be made in the functionality and arrangement of the elements.

[0151] 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 particular fashion. Using a computing platform, various processor-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / codes to a processor for execution and / or may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / codes (e.g., signals). In many implementations, the processor-readable medium is a physical and / or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical disks and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media includes, but is not limited to, dynamic memory.

[0152] Although some exemplary 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, where other rules may take precedence over the application examples of this disclosure or the application examples of this disclosure may be modified otherwise. Also, some operations may be performed before, during, or after the above elements are considered. Accordingly, the above description does not limit the claims.

[0153] Unless otherwise specified, as used herein, "about" and / or "substantially" when referring to measurable values such as amounts, durations, etc., include variations of ±20%, ±10%, ±5%, or ±0.1% from the specified value, such variations being appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein. Unless otherwise specified, as used herein, "substantially" when referring to measurable values such as amounts, durations, physical attributes (such as frequencies), etc., also includes variations of ±20%, ±10%, ±5%, or ±0.1% from the specified value, such variations being appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein.

[0154] The description that the value exceeds the first threshold (i.e., is greater than or equal to it) is equivalent to the description that the value meets or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold. For example, the second threshold is a value higher than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system. The description that the value is less than the first threshold (i.e., is within or below it) is equivalent to the description that the value is below a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold. For example, the second threshold is a value lower than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system.

Claims

1. a receiver configured to wirelessly receive one or more signals; Memory, a processor communicatively coupled to the receiver and the memory; an apparatus comprising: receiving a desired signal via the receiver; receiving an unwanted signal, the intensity of which varies over time, via the receiver; 11. An apparatus configured to: inhibit measurement of the desired signal or use of measurements of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is a jamming signal based on variations in the unwanted signal being indicative of jamming.

2. The processor, determining a plurality of first values ​​of a signal strength metric for one or more first signals received via the receiver, each first value corresponding to a different time; determining a second value of a variability metric based on the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric; The apparatus of claim 1 , further configured to determine that the unwanted signal is the jamming signal based on the second value of the fluctuation metric indicating that the fluctuation of the unwanted signal exceeds a threshold fluctuation.

3. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the processor is further configured to determine that the unwanted signal is the jamming signal further based on at least one of the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric exceeding a signal strength threshold.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine the signal strength threshold based on a first expected value of the signal strength metric for the desired signal in the absence of the jamming signal.

5. the signal strength threshold is a first signal strength threshold; the desired signal is a signal at a first frequency within a first frequency band; the receiver is configured to receive, via the receiver, a second signal in a second frequency band different from the first frequency band; The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine the first signal strength threshold further based on a third value of the signal strength metric for the second signal.

6. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the jamming signal is a first jamming signal in the first frequency band, and the processor is further configured to determine the first signal strength threshold further based on a difference between the second value of the signal strength metric for the second signal and a second expected value of the signal strength metric for the second signal in the absence of a second jamming signal in the second frequency band.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to dynamically determine the first expected value of the signal strength metric.

8. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein to determine the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the processor is further configured to determine a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric based on a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric and a difference between one of the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric and the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

9. 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to: determine the current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by adjusting the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount when the one of the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric exceeds the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric than when the one of the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric is less than the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

10. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein to determine the first predicted value of the signal strength metric, the processor is further configured to: modify a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount in the absence of an out-of-band jammer than in the presence of the out-of-band jammer to determine a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

11. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the desired signal is a first desired signal at a first frequency within a first frequency band, and the processor is further configured to enable measurement by the apparatus of a second desired signal at a second frequency within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band.

12. 1. A method for inhibiting use of a jammed signal, comprising: wirelessly receiving a desired signal at a receiver; wirelessly receiving an unwanted signal at the receiver, the unwanted signal having a time-varying intensity; and suppressing measurements of the desired signal or use of measurements of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is a jamming signal based on variations in the unwanted signal being indicative of jamming.

13. determining a plurality of first values ​​of a signal strength metric for one or more first signals wirelessly received at the receiver, each first value corresponding to a different time; determining a second value of a variability metric based on the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric; determining that the unwanted signal is the jamming signal based on the second value of the variance metric indicating that the variance of the unwanted signal exceeds a threshold variance; 13. The method for suppressing use of a jammed signal of claim 12, further comprising:

14. 14. The method for suppressing the use of jammed signals of claim 13, wherein determining that the unwanted signal is the jamming signal is further based on at least one of the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric exceeding a signal strength threshold.

15. 15. The method for suppressing use of a jammed signal of claim 14, further comprising determining the signal strength threshold based on a first expected value of the signal strength metric for the desired signal in the absence of the jamming signal.

16. the signal strength threshold is a first signal strength threshold; the desired signal is a signal at a first frequency within a first frequency band; The method for inhibiting use of a jammed signal comprises: receiving a second signal in a second frequency band different from the first frequency band; determining the first signal strength threshold further based on a third value of the signal strength metric for the second signal; 20. The method for suppressing use of a jammed signal of claim 15, further comprising:

17. 17. The method for suppressing the use of jammed signals of claim 16, wherein the jamming signal is a first jamming signal in the first frequency band, and determining the first signal strength threshold is further based on a difference between the second value of the signal strength metric for the second signal and a second expected value of the signal strength metric for the second signal in the absence of a second jamming signal in the second frequency band.

18. 20. The method for suppressing use of a jammed signal of claim 15, further comprising dynamically determining the first expected value of the signal strength metric.

19. 20. The method for suppressing use of a jammed signal as described in claim 18, wherein determining the first predicted value of the signal strength metric includes determining a current value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric based on a previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric and a difference between one of the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric and the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

20. 20. The method for suppressing use of a jammed signal of claim 19, further comprising: adjusting the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount when the one of the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric exceeds the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric than when the one of the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric is less than the previous value of the first predicted value of the signal strength metric.

21. 20. The method for suppressing use of a jammed signal of claim 18, wherein determining the first expected value of the signal strength metric includes determining a current value of the first expected value of the signal strength metric by modifying a previous value of the first expected value of the signal strength metric by a greater amount when no out-of-band jammer is present than when the out-of-band jammer is present.

22. 13. The method for suppressing the use of jammed signals of claim 12, wherein the desired signal is a first desired signal at a first frequency within a first frequency band, and the method for suppressing the use of jammed signals further comprises enabling measurement by the receiver of a second desired signal at a second frequency within a second frequency band different from the first frequency band.

23. means for wirelessly receiving a desired signal; means for wirelessly receiving unwanted signals whose strength varies over time; and means for suppressing measurement of the desired signal or use of measurements of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is a jamming signal based on variations in the unwanted signal being indicative of jamming.

24. means for determining a plurality of first values ​​of a signal strength metric for one or more first signals wirelessly received at the apparatus, each first value corresponding to a different time; means for determining a second value of a variance metric based on the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric; means for determining that the unwanted signal is the jamming signal based on the second value of the variance metric indicating that the variance of the unwanted signal exceeds a threshold variance; 24. The apparatus of claim 23, further comprising:

25. 25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the means for determining that the unwanted signal is the jamming signal comprises means for determining that the unwanted signal is the jamming signal further based on at least one of the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric exceeding a signal strength threshold.

26. 26. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising: means for determining the signal strength threshold based on a first expected value of the signal strength metric for the desired signal in the absence of the jamming signal.

27. the signal strength threshold is a first signal strength threshold; the desired signal is a signal at a first frequency within a first frequency band; The apparatus comprises: means for receiving a second signal in a second frequency band different from the first frequency band; means for determining the first signal strength threshold further based on a third value of the signal strength metric for the second signal; 27. The apparatus of claim 26, further comprising:

28. 28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the jamming signal is a first jamming signal in the first frequency band, and the means for determining the first signal strength threshold comprises means for determining the first signal strength threshold further based on a difference between the second value of the signal strength metric for the second signal and a second expected value of the signal strength metric for the second signal in the absence of a second jamming signal in the second frequency band.

29. 1. A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium comprising processor-readable instructions, the processor-readable instructions configured to cause a processor of an apparatus to: Receive the desired signal wirelessly, Unwanted signals whose strength varies over time are wirelessly received, a storage medium for suppressing measurements of the desired signal or use of measurements of the desired signal based on a determination that the unwanted signal is a jamming signal based on variations in the unwanted signal being indicative of jamming.

30. The processor, determining a plurality of first values ​​of a signal strength metric for one or more first signals wirelessly received at the device, each first value corresponding to a different time; determining a second value of a variability metric based on the plurality of first values ​​of the signal strength metric; 30. The storage medium of claim 29, further comprising processor readable instructions for causing the unwanted signal to be determined to be the jamming signal based on the second value of the variation metric indicating that the variation of the unwanted signal exceeds a threshold variation.

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