Method and apparatus for positioning measurement / reporting with multiple discontinuous reception groups - Patents.com

Abstract

The UE includes a transceiver, a memory, and a processor, wherein the processor is configured to: receive first and second discontinuous reception configurations for first and second discontinuous reception groups; receive first and second positioning signal configurations for first and second positioning signals associated with the first and second discontinuous reception groups, respectively; measure the first positioning signal during a first active time of the first discontinuous reception group; and measure the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or a variable third active time, wherein the fixed second active time has a fixed duration of the second discontinuous reception group and the variable third active time has a variable duration of the second discontinuous reception group.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for positioning measurement / reporting with multiple discontinuous reception groups. [Background technology]

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

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

[0004] An example user equipment (UE) includes a transceiver, a memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the processor is configured to: receive via the transceiver a first discontinuous reception configuration for a first discontinuous reception group and a second discontinuous reception configuration for a second discontinuous reception group; receive via the transceiver a first positioning signal configuration for a first positioning signal associated with the first discontinuous reception group and a second positioning signal configuration for a second positioning signal associated with the second discontinuous reception group; measure the first positioning signal during a first active time of the first discontinuous reception group; and measure the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or a variable third active time, wherein the fixed second active time has a fixed duration of the second discontinuous reception group and the variable third active time has a variable duration of the second discontinuous reception group.

[0005] Implementations of such a UE may include one or more of the following features: The variable third active time includes a fixed second active time. The variable third active time ends no later than an end of the first active time. The variable third active time includes multiple distinct time portions. The fixed second active time has a duration shorter than a duration of the first active time. The processor is configured to determine positioning information based on the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal. The positioning information includes at least one of a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, a position estimate, or a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement. The positioning information includes an RSTD measurement across multiple transmission / reception points, an RSTD measurement across multiple frequency layers, an RSTD measurement of positioning reference signal (PRS) resources of different frequency layers, or an RSTD measurement of PRS resource sets of different frequency layers. The positioning information includes RSRP measurements of multiple beams, RSRP measurements of multiple positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, or RSRP measurements across multiple transmission / reception points.

[0006] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a UE may include one or more of the following features: The processor is configured to determine a UE Rx-Tx based on at least one of the first or second positioning signals and a transmitted reference signal sent by the processor via the transceiver. The processor is configured to change from measuring the second positioning signals during a fixed second active time to measuring the second positioning signals during a variable third active time. The processor is configured to respond to the first and second positioning signal configurations indicating that the first and second positioning signals are scheduled for periodic transmission by causing the processor to measure the second positioning signals during the fixed second active time.

[0007] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a UE may include one or more of the following features: The processor is configured to determine whether to cause the processor to measure the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or during a variable third active time based on a timing of receipt of at least one of the first positioning signal or the positioning report request via the transceiver. The processor is configured to respond to receiving the aperiodic positioning report request by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time. The processor is configured to respond to receiving the first positioning signal aperiodically by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time. The processor is configured to respond to the first positioning signal configuration indicating aperiodic transmission or the second positioning signal configuration indicating aperiodic transmission by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time.

[0008] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a UE may include one or more of the following features: The first and second positioning signals each include one of a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource or PRS resource set, the first positioning signal being implicitly associated with a first discontinuous reception group, a first positioning signal having a first frequency that is part of a first component carrier band, a first band combination, or a first frequency range of the first discontinuous reception group, or the second positioning signal being implicitly associated with a second discontinuous reception group, a second positioning signal having a second frequency that is part of a second component carrier band, a second band combination, or a second frequency range of the second discontinuous reception group, or a combination thereof.

[0009] An example method for performing a positioning operation in a user equipment (UE) includes receiving, at the UE, a first discontinuous reception configuration for a first discontinuous reception group and a second discontinuous reception configuration for a second discontinuous reception group; receiving, at the UE, a first positioning signal configuration for a first positioning signal associated with the first discontinuous reception group and a second positioning signal configuration for a second positioning signal associated with the second discontinuous reception group; measuring, at the UE, the first positioning signal during a first active time of the first discontinuous reception group; and measuring the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or a variable third active time, where the fixed second active time has a fixed duration of the second discontinuous reception group and the variable third active time has a variable duration of the second discontinuous reception group.

[0010] Implementations of such a method may include one or more of the following features: The variable third active time includes a fixed second active time. The variable third active time ends no later than an end of the first active time. The variable third active time includes multiple distinct time portions. The fixed second active time has a duration that is shorter than a duration of the first active time. The method includes determining positioning information based on the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal. The positioning information includes at least one of a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, a position estimate, or a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement. The positioning information includes an RSTD measurement across multiple transmission / reception points, an RSTD measurement across multiple frequency layers, an RSTD measurement of positioning reference signal (PRS) resources of different frequency layers, or an RSTD measurement of PRS resource sets of different frequency layers. The positioning information includes RSRP measurements of multiple beams, RSRP measurements of multiple positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, or RSRP measurements across multiple transmission / reception points.

[0011] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a method may include one or more of the following features: The method includes transmitting a transmitted reference signal by the UE and determining a UE Rx-Tx based on at least one of the first or second positioning signals and the transmitted reference signal. The method includes changing from measuring the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time to measuring the second positioning signal during a variable third active time. The method includes measuring the second positioning signal during the fixed second active time in response to the first and second positioning signal configurations indicating periodic transmission of the first and second positioning signals, respectively.

[0012] Also or alternatively, implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features: The method includes determining whether to measure the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or during a variable third active time based on a timing of receipt of at least one of the first positioning signal or the positioning report request. The method includes responding to receiving the aperiodic positioning report request by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time. The method includes responding to receiving the first positioning signal aperiodically by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time. The method includes responding to the first positioning signal configuration indicating aperiodic transmission or the second positioning signal configuration indicating aperiodic transmission by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time.

[0013] Also or alternatively, implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features: The first and second positioning signals each include one of a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resource or a PRS resource set. The first and second positioning signals are from different frequency layers. The first and second positioning signals are from different transmitting / receiving points. The first and second positioning signal configurations each correspond to different frequency ranges.

[0014] An exemplary non-transitory processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions to cause a processor to receive, via the transceiver, a first discontinuous receiving configuration for a first discontinuous receiving group and a second discontinuous receiving configuration for a second discontinuous receiving group; receive, via the transceiver, a first positioning signal configuration for a first positioning signal associated with the first discontinuous receiving group and a second positioning signal configuration for a second positioning signal associated with the second discontinuous receiving group; measure the first positioning signal during a first active time of the first discontinuous receiving group; and measure the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or a variable third active time, where the fixed second active time has a fixed duration and the variable third active time has a variable duration.

[0015] Implementations of such a storage medium may include one or more of the following features: The variable third active time includes a fixed second active time; The variable third active time ends no later than an end of the first active time; The variable third active time includes multiple distinct time portions; The fixed second active time has a duration that is shorter than a duration of the first active time. The instructions are configured to cause the processor to determine positioning information based on the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal. The positioning information includes at least one of a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, a position estimate, or a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement. The positioning information includes an RSTD measurement across multiple transmission / reception points, an RSTD measurement across multiple frequency layers, an RSTD measurement of positioning reference signal (PRS) resources of different frequency layers, or an RSTD measurement of a PRS resource set of different frequency layers. The positioning information includes RSRP measurements of multiple beams, RSRP measurements of multiple positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, or RSRP measurements across multiple transmission / reception points.

[0016] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a storage medium may include one or more of the following features: The instructions include instructions for causing the processor to determine a UE Rx-Tx based on at least one of the first or second positioning signals and a transmitted reference signal sent by the processor via the transceiver. The instructions include instructions for causing the processor to change from measuring the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time to measuring the second positioning signal during a variable third active time. The instructions include instructions for causing the processor to respond to the first and second positioning signal configurations indicating that the first and second positioning signals are scheduled for periodic transmission by measuring the second positioning signal during the fixed second active time.

[0017] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a storage medium may include one or more of the following features: The instructions include instructions for causing the processor to determine whether to measure the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or during a variable third active time based on a timing of receipt of at least one of the first positioning signal or the positioning report request via the transceiver. The instructions include instructions for causing the processor to respond to receiving a non-periodic positioning report request by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time. The instructions include instructions for causing the processor to respond to receiving the first positioning signal aperiodically by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time. The instructions include instructions for causing the processor to respond to the first positioning signal configuration indicating a non-periodic transmission or the second positioning signal configuration indicating a non-periodic transmission by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time.

[0018] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a storage medium may include one or more of the following features: The first positioning signal and the second positioning signal each include one of a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resource or a PRS resource set.

[0019] An exemplary user equipment (UE) includes means for receiving a first discontinuous reception configuration for a first discontinuous reception group and a second discontinuous reception configuration for a second discontinuous reception group, means for receiving a first positioning signal configuration for a first positioning signal associated with the first discontinuous reception group and a second positioning signal configuration for a second positioning signal associated with the second discontinuous reception group, means for measuring the first positioning signal during a first active time of the first discontinuous reception group, and means for measuring the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or a variable third active time, where the fixed second active time has a fixed duration of the second discontinuous reception group and the variable third active time has a variable duration of the second discontinuous reception group.

[0020] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a UE may include one or more of the following features: The variable third active time includes a fixed second active time. The variable third active time ends no later than the end of the first active time. The variable third active time includes multiple distinct time portions. The fixed second active time has a duration shorter than a duration of the first active time. The UE includes means for determining positioning information based on the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal. The positioning information includes at least one of a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, a position estimate, or a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement. The positioning information includes an RSTD measurement across multiple transmission / reception points, an RSTD measurement across multiple frequency layers, an RSTD measurement of positioning reference signal (PRS) resources of different frequency layers, or an RSTD measurement of PRS resource sets of different frequency layers. The positioning information includes RSRP measurements of multiple beams, RSRP measurements of multiple positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, or RSRP measurements across multiple transmission / reception points.

[0021] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a UE may include one or more of the following features: The UE includes means for transmitting a transmitted reference signal by the UE and means for determining the UE Rx-Tx based on at least one of the first or second positioning signals and the transmitted reference signal. The UE includes means for changing from measuring the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time to measuring the second positioning signal during a variable third active time. The means for measuring the second positioning signal during the fixed second active time is for measuring the second positioning signal during the second active time in response to the first and second positioning signal configurations indicating periodic transmission of the first and second positioning signals, respectively.

[0022] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a UE may include one or more of the following features: The UE includes means for determining whether to measure the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or during a variable third active time based on a timing of receipt of at least one of the first positioning signal or the positioning report request. The means for measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time is for measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time in response to the UE receiving an aperiodic positioning report request. The means for measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time is for measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time in response to the UE receiving the first positioning signal aperiodically. The means for measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time is for measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time in response to the first positioning signal configuration indicating aperiodic transmission or the second positioning signal configuration indicating aperiodic transmission.

[0023] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a UE may include one or more of the following features: The first and second positioning signals each include one of a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resource or a PRS resource set. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0024] [Figure 1] 1 is a simplified diagram of an example wireless communication system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of the exemplary user equipment shown in FIG. 1. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of the exemplary transmit / receive point shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of the exemplary server shown in FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of an exemplary user equipment. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is an example timing diagram of positioning signals received during active and inactive times for a fixed active time mode discontinuous receive period. [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is an example timing diagram of a positioning signal received during an active time for a fixed active time mode discontinuous receive period. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is an example timing diagram of positioning signals received during active and inactive times for a variable active time mode discontinuous receive period. [Figure 9] FIG. 13 is an example timing diagram of positioning signals received during inactive time for a variable active time mode discontinuous receive period. [Figure 10] 11A-11C are example timing diagrams of positioning signals received during active time and report requests received during active time for a fixed active time mode or a variable active time mode discontinuous reception period. [Figure 11]FIG. 13 is an example timing diagram of positioning signals received during active time for fixed active time mode or variable active time mode discontinuous receive cycles, and report requests received during active time of one receive cycle and inactive time of another receive cycle. [Figure 12] FIG. 13 is an exemplary timing diagram of a fixed active time mode in which a positioning signal is received during an active time of a discontinuous receive period, another positioning signal is received during an inactive time of another discontinuous receive period, and a report request is received during an active time of the discontinuous receive period. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is an example timing diagram of a variable active time mode in which a positioning signal is received during an active time of a discontinuous reception period and a report request is received prior to receipt of another positioning signal scheduled for an inactive time of another discontinuous reception period and prior to receipt of another positioning signal during a variable active time of another discontinuous reception period. [Figure 14] FIG. 2 is a block flow diagram of a method for performing positioning operations in a user equipment. [Figure 15] 15 is an exemplary signal and process flow for implementing the method shown in FIG. 14. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0025] Techniques for interaction between multiple discontinuous reception (DRX) groups and positioning signal measurement and reporting are discussed herein. Multiple DRX groups may be established for one user equipment (UE), e.g., an active time of a first group is longer than an active time of a second group. Each DRX group may be associated with a particular frequency range (e.g., FR1, FR2, FR3, FR4), band, band combination, component carrier (CC), and the UE may be configured to operate in multiple such FRs, bands, band combinations, or CCs at the same time. The UE may operate to measure positioning signals according to different operation modes. For example, according to a first operation mode, the UE may measure positioning signals only during the active time of the respective DRX group. Also or alternatively, according to a second operation mode, the UE may measure positioning signals of the second DRX group outside a typical active time of the second DRX group (e.g., with a variable active time that may increase the typical active time, e.g., by extending the typical active time and / or activating a further active time portion). The UE may implement the second operating mode under various conditions, such as by being configured to do so as a default by receiving information that causes the UE to change its operating mode, which may include positioning signal configuration information (e.g., indicating that aperiodic positioning signal reception is possible), aperiodic (unscheduled) positioning signals, and / or aperiodic positioning information report requests, although other configurations may be used.

[0026] The items and / or techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned. For example, power for measuring positioning signals may be saved by implementing different discontinuous reception parameters for different frequency ranges. Multiple discontinuous reception groups may be implemented to facilitate data reception while reducing power consumption for multiple discontinuous reception groups with similar active times. Important positioning methods may be measured for discontinuous reception groups while keeping power consumption constant. Power consumption may be adjusted to take into account positioning signal measurements based on one or more further criteria, such as the importance of the positioning signal measurements and / or the timing of positioning signal reception. Other capabilities may be provided, and not every implementation according to the present disclosure must provide any, much less all, of the capabilities discussed.

[0027] Obtaining the location of a mobile device accessing a wireless network can be useful for many applications including, for example, emergency calling, personal navigation, asset tracking, locating friends or family, etc. Existing positioning methods include methods based on measuring radio signals transmitted from various devices including satellite vehicles (SVs) and terrestrial radio sources in the wireless network, such as base stations and access points. Standardization for 5G wireless networks is expected to include support for various positioning methods, which may use reference signals transmitted by base stations in a manner similar to how LTE wireless networks currently use positioning reference signals (PRS) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRS) for position determination.

[0028] The description refers to sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. The various actions described herein may be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. The sequences of actions described herein may be embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, cause an associated processor to perform the functions described herein. Thus, the various aspects described herein may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which are within the scope of this disclosure, including the claimed subject matter.

[0029] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT) unless otherwise stated. Generally, such a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset tracking device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or may be stationary (e.g., at some times) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be interchangeably referred to as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or UT, "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variations thereof. Generally, a UE may communicate with a core network via a RAN, through which the UE may be connected to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for a UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet are contemplated, such as via a wired access network, a WiFi network (eg, based on IEEE 802.11, etc.), etc.

[0030] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs with which it communicates with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), general Node B (gNode B, gNB), etc. Furthermore, in some systems the base station may provide purely edge node signaling functionality while in other systems it may provide additional control and / or network management functionality.

[0031] A UE may be embodied by any of several types of devices including, but not limited to, a printed circuit (PC) card, a compact flash device, an external or internal modem, a wireless or wired phone, a smart phone, a tablet, a consumer asset tracking device, an asset tag, etc. A communication link through which a UE can send signals to a RAN is called an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which a RAN can send signals to a UE is called a downlink channel or a forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0032] The term "cell" or "sector" as used herein may correspond to one of multiple cells of a base station or to the base station itself, depending on the context. The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., on a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., physical cell identifier (PCID), virtual cell identifier (VCID)) to distinguish neighboring cells operating over the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of devices. In some examples, the term "cell" may refer to a portion (e.g., sector) of a geographic coverage area over which a logical entity operates.

[0033] Referring to FIG. 1, an example of a communication system 100 includes a UE 105, a UE 106, a radio access network (RAN) 135, here a fifth generation (5G) next generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN), and a 5G core network (5GC) 140. The UE 105 and / or the UE 106 may be, for example, an IoT device, a location tracker device, a cellular phone, a vehicle (e.g., a car, a truck, a bus, a boat, etc.), or other device. The 5G network may also be referred to as a new radio (NR) network, the NG-RAN 135 may also be referred to as a 5G RAN or as an NR RAN, and the 5GC 140 may also be referred to as an NG core network (NGC). Standardization of the NG-RAN and 5GC is underway in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®). Thus, the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may comply with current or future standards for 5G support from the 3GPP. The RAN 135 may be another type of RAN, e.g., a 3G RAN, a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) RAN, etc. The UE 106 may be configured to send and / or receive signals to / from similar other entities in the system 100 and may be similarly coupled to the UE 105, although such signaling is not shown in FIG. 1 for ease of illustration. Similarly, this discussion focuses on the UE 105 for simplicity. The communication system 100 may use information from a constellation 185 of satellite vehicles (SVs) 190, 191, 192, 193 for a satellite positioning system (SPS) (e.g., a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, or Beidou or some other local or regional SPS, such as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Additional components of the communication system 100 are described below. The communication system 100 may include additional or alternative components.

[0034] As shown in FIG. 1, the NG-RAN 135 includes NR Node Bs (gNBs) 110a, 110b, and Next Generation eNode Bs (ng-eNBs) 114, and the 5GC 140 includes an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, a Session Management Function (SMF) 117, a Location Management Function (LMF) 120, and a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and the ng-eNB 114 are communicatively coupled to each other and each configured to wirelessly communicate bidirectionally with the UE 105, and each communicatively coupled to the AMF 115 and configured to communicate bidirectionally therewith. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and the ng-eNB 114 may be referred to as base stations (BSs). The AMF 115, the SMF 117, the LMF 120, and the GMLC 125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the GMLC is communicatively coupled to the external client 130. The SMF 117 may serve as an initial point of contact for a Service Control Function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and delete media sessions. The BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may be macrocells (e.g., high-power cellular base stations), or small cells (e.g., low-power cellular base stations), or access points (e.g., short-range base stations) configured to communicate with short-range technologies such as WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, etc. One or more of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may be configured to communicate with the UE 105 over multiple carriers. Each of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic region, e.g., a cell. Each cell may be partitioned into multiple sectors depending on the base station antennas.

[0035] FIG. 1 provides a generalized illustration of the various components, any or all of which may be used as desired, and each may be duplicated or omitted as desired. Specifically, while only one UE 105 is illustrated, many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may be used in the communication system 100. Similarly, the communication system 100 may include a greater (or lesser) number of SVs (i.e., more or less than the four SVs 190-193 illustrated), gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, external client 130, and / or other components. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in the communication system 100 include data and signaling connections that may include additional (intermediary) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. Additionally, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, substituted, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality.

[0036] 1 illustrates a 5G-based network, similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. Implementations described herein (whether for 5G technology and / or one or more other communication technologies and / or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) directional synchronization signals, receive and measure the directional signals at a UE (e.g., the UE 105), and / or provide location assistance to the UE 105 (via the GMLC 125 or other location server), and / or calculate a location for the UE 105 at a location enabled device, such as the UE 105, gNBs 110a, 110b, or LMF 120, based on measurements received at the UE 105 of such directionally transmitted signals. The Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125, Location Management Function (LMF) 120, Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, SMF 117, ng-eNB (eNodeB) 114 and gNBs (gNodeBs) 110a, 110b are examples and may be replaced by or include various other location server functionality and / or base station functionality, respectively, in various embodiments.

[0037] The system 100 is capable of wireless communication in that the components of the system 100 can communicate with each other (at least sometimes using wireless connections) directly or indirectly, e.g., via the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 and / or the network 140 (and / or one or more other devices, not shown, such as one or more other base transceiver stations). For indirect communication, the communication may be altered during transmission from one entity to another, e.g., to change header information of the data packets, to change format, etc. The UE 105 may include multiple UEs and may be a mobile wireless communication device, but may communicate wirelessly and via wired connections. The UE 105 may be any of a variety of devices, e.g., a smartphone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-based device, etc., although these are merely examples and the UE 105 is not required to be any of these configurations and other configurations of UEs may be used. Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart jewelry, smart glasses or headsets, etc.). Still other UEs, whether currently existing or developed in the future, may be used. Additionally, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) may be implemented within the system 100 and may communicate with each other and / or with the UE 105, the BSs 110a, 110b, 114, the core network 140, and / or the external clients 130. For example, such other devices may include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and / or automation devices, etc. The core network 140 may communicate with the external clients 130 (e.g., computer systems) to, for example, enable the external clients 130 to request and / or receive location information regarding the UE 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125).

[0038] The UE 105 or other devices may be configured to communicate in different networks and / or for different purposes and / or using different technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communications, multiple frequencies of Wi-Fi communications, satellite positioning, one or more types of communications (e.g., Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE), V2X (vehicle-to-vehicle, e.g., V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian), V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure), V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle), etc.), IEEE 802.11p, etc.). The V2X communications may be cellular (Cellular V2X (C-V2X)) and / or WiFi (e.g., DSRC (dedicated short-range connection)). The system 100 supports operation over multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter can transmit modulated signals on multiple carriers simultaneously. Each modulated signal can be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) signal, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) signal, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signal, a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal may be sent on a different carrier and may carry pilot signals, overhead information, data, etc. The UEs 105, 106 can communicate with each other through UE-to-UE sidelink (SL) communications by transmitting over one or more sidelink channels, such as a Physical Sidelink Synchronization Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), or a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH).

[0039] The UE 105 may include and / or be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a secure user plane location (SUPL) enabled terminal (SET), or some other name. Moreover, the UE 105 may correspond to a cell phone, a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, a PDA, a consumer asset tracking device, a navigation device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a health monitor, a security system, a smart city sensor, a smart meter, a wearable tracker, or some other portable or movable device. Typically, but not necessarily, the UE 105 may support wireless communications using one or more radio access technologies (RATs), such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 WiFi (also referred to as Wi-Fi), Bluetooth (BT), Global Interoperable Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5G New Radio (NR) (e.g., with NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140), etc. The UE 105 may support wireless communications using, for example, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), which may connect to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or packet cable. Using one or more of these RATs, the UE 105 may be able to communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., via elements of the 5GC 140, not shown in FIG. 1, or possibly via the GMLC 125) and / or the external client 130 may be able to receive location information regarding the UE 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125).

[0040] The UE 105 may comprise a single entity or may comprise multiple entities, for example in a personal area network where the user may utilize audio, video and / or data I / O (input / output) devices and / or body sensors and a separate wireline or wireless modem. An estimate of the location of the UE 105 may be referred to as a location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position, position estimate, or position fix, and provides location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) for the UE 105 that may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., elevation, height or depth above ground, floor, or basement). Alternatively, the location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a civic location (e.g., as an address or designation of a point or small area somewhere in a building, such as a particular room or floor). The location of the UE 105 may be expressed as an area or volume (defined either geographically or in the shape of a city) within which the UE 105 is expected to be located with some probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a relative location, including, for example, distance and direction from a known location. The relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to some origin in the known location, which may be defined, for example, geographically, in terms of cities, or by reference to a point, area, or volume shown, for example, on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, use of the term location may include any of these variants unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of a UE, it is common to determine values ​​for local x, y, and possibly z coordinates and then convert the local coordinates to absolute coordinates (e.g., for latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level) if desired.

[0041] The UE 105 may be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of a variety of technologies. The UE 105 may be configured to indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. The D2D P2P links may be supported in any suitable D2D radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, etc. One or more of a group of UEs using D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area of ​​a transmission / reception point (TRP), such as one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage area or may not otherwise be able to receive transmissions from the base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may use a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. A TRP may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be practiced between UEs without the involvement of a TRP. One or more of a group of UEs using D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area of ​​a TRP. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage area or may not otherwise be able to receive transmissions from a base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may use a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. A TRP may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be practiced between UEs without the involvement of a TRP.

[0042] The base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 include NR Node Bs referred to as gNBs 110a and 110b. The pair of gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 may be interconnected via one or more other gNBs. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 105 via wireless communication between the UE 105 and one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, which may provide wireless communication access to the 5G C 140 on behalf of the UE 105 using 5G. In FIG. 1, the serving gNB for the UE 105 is assumed to be gNB 110a, although another gNB (e.g., gNB 110b) may act as the serving gNB if the UE 105 moves to another location and may act as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to the UE 105.

[0043] 1 may include a ng-eNB 114, also referred to as a next generation evolved node B. The ng-eNB 114 may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135, possibly via one or more other gNBs and / or one or more other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 114 may provide LTE wireless access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to the UE 105. One or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 may be configured to function as a positioning-only beacon that may transmit signals to assist in determining a location of the UE 105, but may not receive signals from the UE 105 or from other UEs.

[0044] Each of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114 may comprise one or more TRPs. For example, each sector in a cell of the BS may comprise a TRP, but the multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., share a processor but have separate antennas). The system 100 may include only a macro TRP, or the system 100 may have different types of TRPs, such as macro, pico, and / or femto TRPs. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals subscribing to the service. A pico TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a pico cell) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals subscribing to the service. A femto or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a femto cell) and may allow restricted access by terminals having an association with the femto cell (e.g., a terminal for a user in a home).

[0045] As noted, while FIG. 1 illustrates nodes configured to communicate according to a 5G communication protocol, nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols, such as, for example, an LTE protocol or an IEEE 802.11x protocol, may be used. For example, in an evolved packet system (EPS) providing LTE wireless access to the UE 105, the RAN may include an evolved universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN), which may include base stations including evolved node Bs (eNBs). A core network for the EPS may include an evolved packet core (EPC). The EPS may include the E-UTRAN plus the EPC, where in FIG. 1, the E-UTRAN corresponds to the NG-RAN 135 and the EPC corresponds to the 5GC 140.

[0046] The gNBs 110a, 110b and ng-eNBs 114 may communicate with the AMF 115, which for positioning functionality communicates with the LMF 120. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UE 105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be responsible for supporting signaling connections to the UE 105 and potentially data and voice bearers for the UE 105. The LMF 120 may communicate with the UE 105 directly, e.g., through wireless communication, or with the BSs 110a, 110b, 114. The LMF 120 may support positioning of the UE 105 when the UE 105 accesses the NG-RAN 135 and may support position procedures / methods such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (e.g., downlink (DL) OTDOA or uplink (UL) OTDOA), Round Trip Time (RTT), Multi-cell RTT, Real Time Kinematics (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Extended Cell ID (E-CID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), and / or other position methods. The LMF 120 may process location service requests for the UE 105, for example, received from the AMF 115 or from the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be connected to the AMF 115 and / or to the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be referred to by other names, such as a Location Manager (LM), Location Function (LF), Commercial LMF (CLMF), or Value Added LMF (VLMF). A node / system implementing the LMF 120 may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as an Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).At least a portion of the positioning functionality (including derivation of the location of the UE 105) may be implemented in the UE 105 (e.g., using signal measurements obtained by the UE 105 for signals transmitted by wireless nodes by the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 and / or assistance data provided to the UE 105, for example, by the LMF 120). The AMF 115 may act as a control node that handles signaling between the UE 105 and the core network 140 and may provide QoS (Quality of Service) flow and session management. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UE 105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be involved in supporting signaling connections to the UE 105.

[0047] The GMLC 125 may support location requests for the UE 105 received from the external client 130 and may forward such location requests to the AMF 115 for forwarding by the AMF 115 to the LMF 120 or may forward the location requests directly to the LMF 120. A location response (e.g., including a location estimate for the UE 105) from the LMF 120 may be returned either directly or via the AMF 115 to the GMLC 125, which may then return a location response (e.g., including the location estimate) to the external client 130. Although the GMLC 125 is shown connected to both the AMF 115 and the LMF 120, only one of these connections may be supported by the 5GC 140 in some implementations.

[0048] As further shown in FIG. 1, the LMF 120 can communicate with the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or the ng-eNB 114 using a New Radio Position Protocol A (which may be referred to as NPPa or NRPPa), which may be defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of the LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa), which may be defined in 3GPP TS 36.455, and NRPPa messages are transferred between the gNB 110a (or gNB 110b) and the LMF 120 and / or between the ng-eNB 114 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115. As further shown in FIG. 1, the LMF 120 and the UE 105 can communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), which may be defined in 3GPP TS 36.355. The LMF 120 and the UE 105 may also or instead communicate using a New Radio Positioning Protocol (which may be referred to as NPP or NRPP), which may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of LPP. Here, LPP and / or NPP messages may be transferred between the UE 105 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115 and the serving gNB 110a, 110b or the serving ng-eNB 114 for the UE 105. For example, LPP and / or NPP messages may be transferred between the LMF 120 and the AMF 115 using a 5G Location Services Application Protocol (LCS AP), and between the AMF 115 and the UE 105 using a 5G Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol. The LPP and / or NPP protocols may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based location methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, OTDOA, and / or E-CID.The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using network-based location methods such as E-CID (e.g., when used in conjunction with measurements obtained by the gNBs 110a, 110b, or ng-eNB 114) and / or may be used by the LMF 120 to obtain location related information from the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114, such as parameters defining directional SS transmissions from the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. The LMF 120 may be co-located or integrated with the gNBs or TRPs, or may be located remotely from the gNBs and / or TRPs, and may be configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNBs and / or TRPs.

[0049] Using the UE-assisted location method, the UE 105 can obtain location measurements and send the measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) for calculation of a location estimate for the UE 105. For example, the location measurements may include one or more of a received signal strength indication (RSSI), a round trip signal propagation time (RTT), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), and / or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) for the gNBs 110a, 110b, the ng-eNB 114, and / or the WLAN APs. The location measurements may additionally or instead include measurements of GNSS pseudorange, code phase, and / or carrier phase for the SV190-193.

[0050] Using the UE-based location method, the UE 105 can obtain location measurements (which may, e.g., be the same as or similar to the location measurements for the UE-assisted location method) and can calculate the location of the UE 105 (e.g., with the help of assistance data received from a location server such as the LMF 120 or broadcast by the gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, or other base station or AP).

[0051] With a network-based location method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) or APs may obtain location measurements (e.g., RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, or Time of Arrival (ToA) measurements for signals transmitted by the UE 105) and / or receive measurements obtained by the UE 105. The one or more base stations or APs may send the measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 120) for calculation of a location estimate for the UE 105.

[0052] The information provided by the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 to the LMF 120 using the NRPPa may include timing and configuration information for directional SS transmissions, and location coordinates. The LMF 120 may provide some or all of this information to the UE 105 via the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 as assistance data in LPP and / or NPP messages.

[0053] An LPP or NPP message sent from the LMF 120 to the UE 105 can instruct the UE 105 to do any of a variety of things depending on the desired functionality. For example, the LPP or NPP message may include instructions for the UE 105 to obtain measurements for GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and / or OTDOA (or some other location method). In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE 105 to obtain one or more measurements (e.g., beam ID, beam width, average angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements) of directional signals transmitted within a particular cell supported by one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 (or supported by some other type of base station, such as an eNB or WiFi AP). The UE 105 may send the measurement quantities back to the LMF 120 in an LPP or NPP message (e.g., in a 5G NAS message) via the serving gNB 110a (or serving ng-eNB 114) and the AMF 115.

[0054] As mentioned, although the communication system 100 is described in the context of 5G technology, the communication system 100 may be implemented to support other communication technologies (e.g., to implement voice, data, positioning, and other functionality), such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, etc., used to support and interact with mobile devices, such as the UE 105. In some such embodiments, the 5GC 140 may be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, the 5GC 140 may be connected to a WLAN using a non-3GPP inter-network connectivity function (N3IWF, not shown in FIG. 1 ) in the 5GC 140. For example, the WLAN may support IEEE 802.11 WiFi access for the UE 105 and may comprise one or more WiFi APs. Here, the N3IWF may connect to the WLAN and to other elements in the 5GC 140, such as the AMF 115. In some embodiments, both the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may be replaced with one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in an EPS, the NG-RAN 135 may be replaced with an E-UTRAN including eNBs, and the 5GC 140 may be replaced with an EPC including a mobility management entity (MME) instead of the AMF 115, an E-SMLC instead of the LMF 120, and a GMLC that may be similar to the GMLC 125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC may use LPPa instead of NRPPa to send and receive location information to and from the eNBs in the E-UTRAN, and may use LPP to support positioning of the UE 105. In these other embodiments, positioning of the UE 105 using a directional PRS may be supported in a manner similar to that described herein for a 5G network, with the difference being that the functions and procedures described herein for the gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, and LMF 120 may apply instead to other network elements, such as eNBs, WiFi APs, MMEs, and E-SMLCs, in some cases.

[0055] As mentioned, in some embodiments, the positioning functionality may be implemented, at least in part, using directional SS beams sent by base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) that are within range of a UE (e.g., UE 105 of FIG. 1) whose position is to be determined. The UE may, in some instances, use directional SS beams from multiple base stations (such as gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, etc.) to calculate the UE's position.

[0056] 2, the UE 200 is an example of one of the UEs 105, 106 and comprises a computing platform including a processor 210, a memory 211 including software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for a transceiver 215 (including a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250), a user interface 216, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 217, a camera 218, and a position device (PD) 219. The processor 210, memory 211, sensors 213, transceiver interface 214, user interface 216, SPS receiver 217, camera 218, and position device 219 may be communicatively coupled to one another by a bus 220 (which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., camera 218, position device 219, and / or one or more of sensors 213, etc.) may be omitted from UE 200. Processor 210 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. Processor 210 may include multiple processors, including general purpose / application processor 230, digital signal processor (DSP) 231, modem processor 232, video processor 233, and / or sensor processor 234. One or more of processors 230-234 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, sensor processor 234 may include a processor for, e.g., radar, ultrasonic, and / or lidar, etc. Modem processor 232 may support dual SIM / dual connectivity (or even more SIMs). For example, a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module or Subscriber Identification Module) may be used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and another SIM may be used by an end user of the UE 200 for connectivity.The memory 211 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 211 may store software 212, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code that includes instructions configured to cause the processor 210 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 212 may not be directly executable by the processor 210, but may be configured to cause the processor 210 to perform functions when compiled and executed, for example. The description may only refer to the processor 210 performing functions, but includes other implementations, such as the processor 210 executing software and / or firmware. The description may refer to the processor 210 performing functions as a shorthand for one or more of the processors 230-234 performing functions. The description may refer to the UE 200 performing functions as a shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the UE 200 performing functions. Processor 210 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or in place of memory 211. The functionality of processor 210 is discussed more fully below.

[0057] 2 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting, and other configurations may be used. For example, an exemplary configuration of a UE includes one or more of processors 230-234 of processor 210, memory 211, and wireless transceiver 240. Other exemplary configurations include one or more of processors 230-234 of processor 210, memory 211, wireless transceiver 240, one or more of sensors 213, user interface 216, SPS receiver 217, camera 218, PD 219, and / or wired transceiver 250.

[0058] The UE 200 may include a modem processor 232 that may be capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and downconverted by the transceiver 215 and / or the SPS receiver 217. The modem processor 232 can perform baseband processing of signals to be upconverted for transmission by the transceiver 215. Additionally or alternatively, the baseband processing may be performed by the processor 230 and / or the DSP 231, although other configurations may be used to perform the baseband processing.

[0059] The UE 200 may include sensors 213, which may include one or more of various types of sensors, such as, for example, one or more inertial sensors, one or more magnetometers, one or more environmental sensors, one or more optical sensors, one or more weight sensors, and / or one or more radio frequency (RF) sensors. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responsive to acceleration of the UE 200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes (e.g., three-dimensional gyroscopes). The sensors 213 may include one or more magnetometers (e.g., three-dimensional magnetometers) for determining an orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), which may be used for any of a variety of purposes, such as, for example, to support one or more compass applications. The environmental sensors may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors, one or more barometric pressure sensors, one or more ambient light sensors, one or more camera imagers, and / or one or more microphones, etc. The sensors 213 may generate analog and / or digital signal indications in support of one or more applications, such as, for example, applications directed to positioning and / or navigation operations, that may be stored in memory 211 and processed by DSP 231 and / or processor 230.

[0060] The sensors 213 can be used in relative location measurement, relative location determination, motion determination, etc. Information detected by the sensors 213 can be used for motion detection, relative displacement, dead reckoning, sensor-based location determination, and / or sensor-assisted location determination. The sensors 213 can be useful in determining whether the UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or mobile and / or whether certain useful information regarding the mobility of the UE 200 should be reported to the LMF 120. For example, based on information acquired / measured by the sensors 213, the UE 200 may notify / report to the LMF 120 that the UE 200 has detected movement or that the UE 200 has moved, and report the relative displacement / distance (e.g., via dead reckoning, or sensor-based location determination, or sensor-assisted location determination enabled by the sensors 213). In another example, for relative positioning information, the sensors / IMUs can be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of other devices relative to the UE 200, etc.

[0061] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements on the direction of motion and / or speed of motion of the UE 200, and the measurements may be used in the relative location determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may detect the linear acceleration and speed of rotation of the UE 200, respectively. The linear acceleration and rotational speed measurements of the UE 200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction and displacement of the UE 200's motion. The instantaneous direction and displacement of the motion may be integrated to track the location of the UE 200. For example, a reference location of the UE 200 may be determined for a moment in time, for example, using the SPS receiver 217 (and / or by some other means), and measurements from the accelerometers and gyroscopes taken after this moment in time may be used in dead reckoning to determine the current location of the UE 200 based on the motion (direction and distance) of the UE 200 relative to the reference location.

[0062] The magnetometer can determine magnetic field strength in different directions, which can be used to determine the orientation of the UE 200. For example, the orientation can be used to provide a digital compass for the UE 200. The magnetometer can include a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer can include a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer can provide a means for sensing the magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field, for example, to the processor 210.

[0063] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250 configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a wireless transmitter 242 and a wireless receiver 244 coupled to one or more antennas 246 to transmit (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals 248 and convert signals from the wireless signals 248 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 248. Thus, the wireless transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 244 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 240 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the TRP and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc. The new radio may use mm-wave frequencies and / or sub-6 GHz frequencies. The wired transceiver 250 may include, for example, a wired transmitter 252 and a wired receiver 254 configured for wired communication with the network 135.The wired transmitter 252 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 254 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication, for example. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214, for example, by optical and / or electrical connections. The transceiver interface 214 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 215.

[0064] The user interface 216 may include one or more of several devices, such as, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a display device, a vibrating device, a keyboard, a touch screen, and the like. The user interface 216 may include a plurality of any of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to allow a user to interact with one or more applications housed by the UE 200. For example, the user interface 216 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 for processing by the DSP 231 and / or the general purpose processor 230 in response to an action from the user. Similarly, an application housed on the UE 200 may store indications of analog and / or digital signals in the memory 211 for presenting output signals to the user. The user interface 216 may include audio input / output (I / O) devices, including, for example, a speaker, a microphone, digital-to-analog circuitry, analog-to-digital circuitry, amplifiers and / or gain control circuitry (including a plurality of any of these devices). Other configurations of audio I / O devices may be used. Also or alternatively, the user interface 216 may include one or more touch sensors that respond to contact and / or pressure, for example, on a keyboard and / or a touch screen of the user interface 216 .

[0065] The SPS receiver 217 (e.g., a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring the SPS signals 260 via the SPS antenna 262. The antenna 262 is configured to convert the wireless signals 260 into wired signals, e.g., electrical or optical signals, and may be integrated with the antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signals 260, in whole or in part, to estimate the location of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to use the SPS signals 260 to determine the location of the UE 200 by trilateration. The general-purpose processor 230, the memory 211, the DSP 231, and / or one or more specialized processors (not shown), together with the SPS receiver 217, may be used to process the acquired SPS signals, in whole or in part, and / or to calculate the estimated location of the UE 200. The memory 211 may store indications (e.g., measurements) of the SPS signals 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals acquired from the wireless transceiver 240) for use in performing positioning operations. The general purpose processor 230, the DSP 231, and / or one or more specialized processors, and / or the memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for use in processing the measurements to estimate the location of the UE 200.

[0066] The UE 200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still or video images. The camera 218 may comprise, for example, an imaging sensor (e.g., a charge-coupled device or CMOS imager), a lens, analog-to-digital circuitry, a frame buffer, etc. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of signals representing the captured images may be performed by the general-purpose processor 230 and / or the DSP 231. Also or alternatively, a video processor 233 may perform conditioning, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of signals representing the captured images. The video processor 233 may decode / decompress stored image data, for example, for display on a display device (not shown) of the user interface 216.

[0067] The position device (PD) 219 may be configured to determine the position 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 be in communication with and / or include a portion or all of the SPS receiver 217. The PD 219 may interface with the processor 210 and memory 211 as necessary to perform at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, but the description herein may only refer to the PD 219 being configured to perform or performing according to a positioning method. The PD 219 may also or alternatively be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 using terrestrial-based signals (e.g., at least some of the signals 248) for trilateration, to assist in acquiring and using the SPS signals 260, or both. 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 UE's self-reported location (e.g., as part of the UE's location beacon)) or may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and terrestrial positioning signals) to determine the location of the UE 200. The PD 219 may include one or more of the sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscopes, accelerometers, magnetometers, etc.) that may sense the orientation and / or movement of the UE 200 and provide an indication thereof that the processor 210 (e.g., processor 230 and / or DSP 231) may be configured to use to determine the movement (e.g., velocity vector and / or acceleration vector) of the UE 200. The PD 219 may be configured to provide an indication of uncertainty and / or error in the determined position and / or movement. The functionality of PD219 may be provided in various ways and / or configurations, for example, by the general purpose / application processor 230, the transceiver 215, the SPS receiver 217, and / or other components of the UE200, and may be provided by hardware, software, firmware, or various combinations thereof.

[0068] 3, an example of a TRP 300 of the BS 110a, 110b, 114 comprises a computing platform including a processor 310, a memory 311 including software (SW) 312, and a transceiver 315. The processor 310, the memory 311, and the transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 320 (e.g., may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless interface) 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 may store software 312, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code including instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause the processor 310 to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured, for example, when compiled and executed, to cause the processor 310 to perform functions.

[0069] The description may refer only to the processor 310 performing a function, but includes other implementations, such as when the processor 310 executes software and / or firmware. The description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the processors included in the processor 310 performing a function. The description may refer to the TRP 300 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more suitable components (e.g., the processor 310 and the memory 311) of the TRP 300 (and thus one of the BSs 110a, 110b, 114) performing a function. The processor 310 may include a memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or instead of the memory 311. The functionality of the processor 310 is discussed more fully below.

[0070] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and / or a wired transceiver 350 configured to communicate with other devices over wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a wireless transmitter 342 and a wireless receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 to transmit (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 348 and convert signals from the wireless signals 348 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 348. Thus, the wireless transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 344 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc.The wired transceiver 350 may include a wired transmitter 352 and a wired receiver 354 configured for wired communications, e.g., a network interface, and / or one or more other network entities that may be used to communicate with the network 135 to send communications to and receive communications from the LMF 120. The wired transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 354 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example.

[0071] 3 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting, and other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein discusses that the TRP 300 is configured to or performs certain functions, but one or more of these functions may be performed by the LMF 120 and / or the UE 200 (i.e., the LMF 120 and / or the UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0072] 4, a server 400, an example of the LMF 120, 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 one another by a bus 420 (which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless interface) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 410 may include multiple processors (e.g., including a general-purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, as shown in FIG. 2). The memory 411 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a disk memory, and / or a read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 can store software 412, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code that includes instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured, for example, when compiled and executed, to cause the processor 410 to perform a function. The description may refer only to the processor 410 performing a function, but includes other implementations, such as the processor 410 executing software and / or firmware. The description may refer to the processor 410 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the processors included in the processor 410 performing the function. The description may refer to the server 400 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the server 400 performing the function.The processor 410 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or in place of the memory 411. The functionality of the processor 410 is discussed more fully below.

[0073] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and / or a wired transceiver 450 configured to communicate with other devices over wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a wireless transmitter 442 and a wireless receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 to transmit (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 448 and convert signals from the wireless signals 448 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 448. Thus, the wireless transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 444 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, and so on. The wired transceiver 450 may include a wired transmitter 452 and a wired receiver 454 configured for wired communication, e.g., a network interface, and / or one or more other entities that may be used to communicate with the network 135 to send communications to and receive communications from the TRP 300.The wired transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 454 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example.

[0074] The description herein may refer solely to the processor 410 performing a function, but includes other implementations, such as the processor 410 executing software (stored in memory 411) and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the server 400 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the suitable components of the server 400 (e.g., the processor 410 and the memory 411) performing the function.

[0075] Positioning Technique For terrestrial positioning of UEs in cellular networks, techniques such as Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) and Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) often operate in a "UE-assisted" mode, in which measurements of reference signals (e.g., PRS, CRS, etc.) transmitted by base stations are taken by the UE and then provided to a location server. The location server then calculates the UE's position based on the measurements and the known locations of the base stations. Because these techniques use a location server, rather than the UE itself, to calculate the UE's position, these positioning techniques are not frequently used in applications such as car or cell phone navigation, which instead typically rely on satellite-based positioning.

[0076] A UE can use a Satellite Positioning System (SPS) (Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)) for high-precision positioning using Precise Point Positioning (PPP) or Real Time Kinematic (RTK) techniques. These techniques use assistance data, such as measurements from ground stations. With LTE Release 15, the data is encrypted so that only UEs that have subscribed to the service can read the information. Such assistance data changes over time. Thus, a UE that has subscribed to the service cannot easily "break the encryption" for other UEs by passing the data to them that have not paid for a subscription. This passing needs to be repeated every time the assistance data changes.

[0077] In UE-assisted positioning, the UE sends measurements (e.g., TDOA, Angle of Arrival (AoA), etc.) to a positioning server (e.g., LMF / eSMLC). The positioning server has a Base Station Almanac (BSA) that contains multiple "entries" or "records", one record for each cell, each record including the geographic cell location but may also include other data. An identifier for a "record" among the multiple "records" in the BSA may be referenced. The measurements from the BSA and the UE may be used to calculate the position of the UE.

[0078] In traditional UE-based positioning, the UE calculates its own position and thus avoids sending measurements to the network (e.g., a location server), which improves latency and scalability. The UE uses relevant BSA record information from the network (e.g., the location of the gNB (or more broadly, the base station)). The BSA information may be encrypted. However, since the BSA information changes much less frequently than, for example, the previously described PPP or RTK assistance data, it may be easier to make the BSA information available (compared to PPP or RTK information) to UEs that have not subscribed and paid for a decryption key. The transmission of reference signals by the gNBs makes the BSA information potentially accessible for crowdsourcing or wardriving, essentially allowing the BSA information to be generated based on local and / or over-the-top observations.

[0079] Positioning techniques may be characterized and / or evaluated based on one or more criteria, such as position determination accuracy and / or latency. Latency is the time elapsed between an event that triggers the determination of location-related data and the data being available at a positioning system interface, e.g., the interface of the LMF 120. At the initialization of the positioning system, the latency for location-related data to become available is called the time-to-first-fix (TTFF) and is greater than the latency after the TTFF. The inverse of the time elapsed between two successive location-related data availability states is called the update rate, i.e., the rate at which location-related data is generated after the first fix. Latency may depend, for example, on the processing capabilities of the UE. For example, the UE may report its processing capabilities as the duration of DL PRS symbols in time (e.g., milliseconds) that the UE can process per amount of time T (e.g., T ms) assuming a 272 PRB (Physical Resource Block) allocation. Other examples of capabilities that may affect latency are the number of TRPs from which the UE can process PRSs, the number of PRSs the UE can process, and the bandwidth of the UE.

[0080] One or more of many different positioning techniques (also referred to as positioning methods) may be used to determine the location of an entity, such as one of the UEs 105, 106. For example, known position determination techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also referred to as TDOA, including UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), Extended Cell Identification (E-CID), DL-AoD, UL-AoA, etc. RTT uses the time for a signal to travel from one entity to another and vice versa to determine the range between the two entities. The range, as well as the known location of a first one of the entities and the angle (e.g., azimuth) between the two entities may be used to determine the location of a second one of the entities. In multi-RTT (also referred to as multi-cell RTT), multiple ranges from one entity (e.g., UE) to another entity (e.g., TRP) and the known location of the other entity may be used to determine the location of an entity. In TDOA techniques, the difference in travel time between one entity and another entity may be used to determine the relative range from the other entity, and combined with the known location of the other entity may be used to determine the location of the one entity. The angles of arrival and / or departure may be used to help determine the location of the entities. For example, the angle of arrival or departure of a signal (determined using the signal, e.g., the travel time of the signal, the received power of the signal, etc.) combined with the range between the devices and the known location of one of the devices may be used to determine the location of the other device. The angle of arrival or departure may be an azimuth angle relative to a reference direction such as due north. The angle of arrival or departure may be a zenith angle directly upward from the entity (i.e., radiating outward from the center of the Earth). The E-CID provides the identity of the serving cell, the timing advance (i.e., the difference between the receive time at the UE and the transmit time), the estimated timing and power of the detected neighbor cell signal, and possibly the angle of arrival (e.g., from the base station, of the signal at the UE, or vice versa), to aid in the location of the UE. In TDOA, the difference in the arrival times of signals from different sources at a receiving device, along with the known locations of the sources and known offsets in the transmission times from the sources, are used to determine the location of the receiving device.

[0081] In network-centric RTT estimation, the serving base station instructs the UE to scan / receive RTT measurement signals (e.g., PRS) on serving cells of two or more neighboring base stations (and typically the serving base station, since at least three base stations are required). One or more base stations transmit the RTT measurement signals on low reuse resources (e.g., resources used by the base station to transmit system information) allocated by the network (e.g., a location server such as the LMF 120). The UE records the arrival time (also called receive time, reception time, time of reception, or ToA) of each RTT measurement signal relative to the UE's current downlink timing (e.g., derived by the UE from a DL signal received from its serving base station), transmits a common or individual RTT response message (e.g., a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) for positioning, i.e., UL-PRS) to one or more base stations (e.g., when commanded by its serving base station), and records the time difference T between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message. Rx→Tx (i.e., UE T Rx-Tx or UE Rx-Tx ) in the payload of each RTT response message. The RTT response message will contain a reference signal from which the base station can infer the ToA of the RTT response. The difference T between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal from the base station and the ToA of the RTT response at the base station Tx→Rx The time difference T Rx→TxBy comparing it with , the base station can infer the propagation time between the base station and the UE, from which the base station can determine the distance between the UE and the base station by assuming the speed of light during this propagation time.

[0082] The UE-centric RTT estimation is similar to the network-based method, except that the UE transmits an uplink RTT measurement signal (e.g., when instructed by the serving base station), which is received by multiple base stations in the vicinity of the UE. Each participating base station responds with a downlink RTT response message, which may include in the RTT response message payload the time difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal at the base station and the transmission time of the RTT response message from the base station.

[0083] For both network-centric and UE-centric procedures, the party performing the RTT calculation (network or UE) typically (but not always) sends a first message or signal (e.g., an RTT measurement signal) and the other side responds with one or more RTT response messages or signals that may include the difference between the ToA of the first message or signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message or signal.

[0084] Multi-RTT techniques may be used to determine location. For example, a first entity (e.g., a UE) may send out one or more signals (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast from a base station), and multiple second entities (e.g., other TSPs, such as base stations and / or UEs) may receive signals from the first entity and respond to the received signals. The first entity receives responses from the multiple second entities. The first entity (or another entity, such as an LMF) may use the responses from the second entities to determine a range to the second entity, and may use the multiple ranges and the known location of the second entities to determine the location of the first entity by trilateration.

[0085] In some examples, additional information may be obtained in the form of a linear direction (e.g., which may be in the horizontal plane or in three dimensions), or possibly an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of departure (AoD), which defines a range of directions (e.g., from the base station's position to the UE). The intersection of the two directions may provide another estimate of the location for the UE.

[0086] For positioning techniques using PRS (positioning reference signal) signals (e.g., TDOA and RTT), PRS signals sent by multiple TRPs are measured, and the arrival time of the signal, the known time of transmission, and the known location of the TRPs are used to determine the range from the UE to the TRP. For example, a reference signal time difference (RSTD) may be determined for PRS signals received from multiple TRPs and used in TDOA techniques to determine the location of the UE. This positioning reference signal may be referred to as a PRS or a PRS signal. PRS signals are typically sent using the same power, and PRS signals with the same signal characteristics (e.g., the same frequency shift) may interfere with each other, such that a PRS signal from a more distant TRP may be overwhelmed by a PRS signal from a closer TRP, such that the signal from the more distant TRP cannot be detected. PRS muting may be used to help reduce interference by muting some PRS signals (reducing the power of the PRS signal, e.g., to zero, and thus not transmitting the PRS signal). In this way, weaker PRS signals (at the UE) may be more easily detected by the UE without stronger PRS signals interfering with the weaker PRS signals. The term RS, and its variants (e.g., PRS, SRS), may refer to one reference signal or multiple reference signals.

[0087] Positioning reference signals (PRS) include downlink PRS (DL PRS) and uplink PRS (UL PRS), which may be called SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) for positioning. PRS may include PRS resources or PRS resource sets of a frequency layer. A DL PRS positioning frequency layer (or simply frequency layer) is a collection of DL PRS resource sets from one or more TRPs with common parameters configured by higher layer parameters DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer, DL-PRS-ResourceSet, and DL-PRS-Resource. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS resource set in the frequency layer and a DL PRS subcarrier spacing (SCS) for the DL PRS resources. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS resource set in the frequency layer and a DL PRS cyclic prefix (CP) for the DL PRS resources. In 5G, a resource block occupies 12 consecutive subcarriers and a specified number of symbols. Also, the DL PRS Point A parameters define the frequency of the reference resource block (and the lowest subcarrier of the resource block), and the DL PRS resources belong to the same DL PRS resource set with the same point A, and all DL PRS resource sets belong to the same frequency layer with the same point A. The frequency layer also has the same DL PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same value of the comb size (i.e., the frequency of PRS resource elements per symbol, such that for comb N, every Nth resource element is a PRS resource element).

[0088] The TRP may be configured to send the DL PRS per schedule, for example, by instructions received from a server and / or by software in the TRP. According to the schedule, the TRP may send the DL PRS intermittently, for example, periodically at regular intervals from the initial transmission. The TRP may be configured to send one or more PRS resource sets. A resource set is a collection of PRS resources across one TRP, where the resources have the same periodicity, common muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across a slot. Each of the PRS resource sets includes multiple PRS resources, where each PRS resource includes multiple resource elements (REs) that may be in multiple resource blocks (RBs) in N (one or more) consecutive symbols in a slot. An RB is a collection of REs across an amount of one or more consecutive symbols in the time domain and an amount of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain (12 for 5G RBs). Each PRS resource is configured with an RE offset, a slot offset, a symbol offset within the slot, and a number of consecutive symbols that the PRS resource may occupy in the slot. The RE offset defines the starting RE offset of the first symbol in the DL PRS resource in frequency. The relative RE offsets of the remaining symbols in the DL PRS resource are defined based on the initial offset. The slot offset is the starting slot of the DL PRS resource relative to the corresponding resource set slot offset. The symbol offset determines the starting symbol of the DL PRS resource in the starting slot. The transmitted RE may repeat across the slot, and each transmission is called a repetition, as there may be multiple repetitions in the PRS resource. The DL PRS resources in a DL PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP, and each DL PRS resource has a DL PRS resource ID. The DL PRS resource ID in a DL PRS resource set is associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (although a TRP may transmit one or multiple beams).

[0089] The PRS resources may also be defined by quasi-co-location and start PRB parameters. The quasi-co-location (QCL) parameter may define any quasi-co-location information of DL PRS resources with other reference signals. The DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type D with DL PRS or SS / PBCH (synchronization signal / physical broadcast channel) blocks from a serving or non-serving cell. The DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type C with SS / PBCH blocks from a serving or non-serving cell. The start PRB parameter defines the start PRB index of the DL PRS resources relative to reference point A. The start PRB index has a granularity of one PRB and may have a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 2176 PRBs.

[0090] A PRS resource set is a collection of PRS resources with the same periodicity, the same muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across slots. Any time when all repetitions of all PRS resources of a PRS resource set are configured to be transmitted is called an "instance." Thus, an "instance" of a PRS resource set is a specified number of repetitions for each PRS resource, and a specified number of PRS resources in a PRS resource set, such that an instance is complete when a specified number of repetitions for each of the specified number of PRS resources have been transmitted. An instance may also be referred to as an "opportunity." A DL PRS configuration, including a DL PRS transmission schedule, may be provided to the UE to facilitate (or even enable) the UE to measure the DL PRS.

[0091] Multiple frequency layers of a PRS may be aggregated to provide an effective bandwidth larger than any of the layer bandwidths individually. Multiple frequency layers that meet criteria such as component carriers (which may be contiguous and / or distinct) and quasi-colocated (QCL) and have the same antenna ports may be stitched together to provide a larger effective PRS bandwidth (for DL ​​and UL PRS), increasing time-of-arrival measurement accuracy. When QCL'd, different frequency layers behave similarly, allowing stitching of PRSs to provide a larger effective bandwidth. The larger effective bandwidth may be referred to as the aggregated PRS bandwidth or the aggregated PRS frequency bandwidth, and provides better time-domain resolution (e.g., of TDOA). An aggregated PRS includes a collection of PRS resources, each PRS resource of the aggregated PRS may be referred to as a PRS component, and each PRS component may be transmitted on a different component carrier, band, or frequency layer, or on a different part of the same band.

[0092] RTT positioning is an active positioning technique in that the RTT uses positioning signals sent by the TRP to the UE and by the UE (involved in RTT positioning) to the TRP. The TRP can send DL-PRS signals that are received by the UE, and the UE can send SRS (sounding reference signal) signals that are received by multiple TRPs. Sounding reference signals are sometimes called SRS or SRS signals. In 5G multi-RTT, cooperative positioning can be used with the UE sending a single UL-SRS for positioning that is received by multiple TRPs, rather than sending separate UL-SRS for positioning for each TRP. A TRP involved in multi-RTT typically searches for UEs currently camped on that TRP (served UEs, where the TRP is the serving TRP) and also UEs camped on nearby TRPs (neighbor UEs). The neighbor TRPs may be TRPs of a single BTS (e.g., gNB), or TRPs of one BTS and TRPs of separate BTSs. For RTT positioning, including multi-RTT positioning, the DL-PRS signal and the UL-SRS signal in the positioning PRS / SRS signal pair used to determine the RTT (and thus the range between the UE and the TRP) may occur close in time to each other such that errors due to UE movement and / or UE clock drift and / or TRP clock drift are within acceptable limits. For example, the signals in the positioning PRS / SRS signal pair may be transmitted within about 10 ms of each other from the TRP and the UE, respectively. Because the positioning SRS signal is sent by the UE, and because the positioning PRS and SRS signals are transmitted close in time to each other, it has been found that radio frequency (RF) signal congestion (which may cause excessive noise, etc.) may occur, especially if many UEs attempt positioning simultaneously, and / or computational congestion may occur at the TRP attempting to measure many UEs simultaneously.

[0093] RTT positioning may be UE-based or UE-assisted. In UE-based RTT, the UE 200 determines the RTT and corresponding range to each of the TRPs 300 and the location of the UE 200 based on the range to the TRPs 300 and the known location of the TRPs 300. In UE-assisted RTT, the UE 200 measures positioning signals and provides the measurement information to the TRPs 300, which determines the RTT and range. The TRPs 300 provide ranges to a location server, e.g., server 400, which determines the location of the UE 200, e.g., based on the range to the different TRPs 300. The RTT and / or range may be determined by the TRP 300 receiving the signal from the UE 200, by a combination of the TRP 300 and one or more other devices, e.g., one or more other TRPs 300 and / or server 400, or by one or more devices other than the TRP 300 receiving the signal from the UE 200.

[0094] Various positioning techniques are supported in 5G NR. NR-specific positioning methods supported in 5G NR include DL-only, UL-only, and DL+UL positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include DL-TDOA and DL-AoD. Uplink-based positioning methods include UL-TDOA and UL-AoA. Combined DL+UL-based positioning methods include RTT with one base station and RTT with multiple base stations (multi-RTT).

[0095] A position estimate (e.g., for a UE) may be called by other names such as a location estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, etc. A position estimate may be geodetic and include coordinates (latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may be city-related and include a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. A position estimate may further be defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A position estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume that is expected to include the location with some specified or default confidence).

[0096] Discontinuous Reception Discontinuous reception (DRX) is a mechanism by which a UE operates intermittently in sleep and active modes. The UE can enter sleep mode from active mode and remain in sleep mode for a predefined time, but the time in sleep mode can be changed, for example, before entering sleep mode or while in sleep mode. The sleep mode time can be changed dynamically or in a predefined manner (e.g., according to a schedule of different sleep times). The UE can enter active mode by waking up from sleep mode. In "normal" or non-DRX operation, the UE is always in active mode and monitors the PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) during every subframe or slot or monitoring instance when the UE is not aware when the network transmits data for the UE. This non-DRX operation does not consume more power than desired, which may, for example, cause the UE to require more charging than desired or lack the power to operate one or more desired functions.

[0097] The DRX active time is the time during which the UE monitors the PDCCH. The active time includes the time during which the ON duration timer is running, the time during which the DRX inactivity timer is running, the time during which the DRX retransmission timer is running, the time during which the MAC (medium access control) contention resolution timer is running, the time during which a scheduling request is sent on the PUCCH (physical uplink control channel) and is pending, the time during which an uplink grant for a pending HARQ (hybrid automatic repeat request) retransmission can occur and there is data in the corresponding HARQ buffer, the time during which the PDCCH (communication) indicates that no new transmissions have been received addressed to the UE's C-RNTI (cell radio network temporary identity) after successful reception of a RAR (random access response) for a preamble not selected by the UE, and, in a non-contention based RA (routing area), the time until a PDCCH is received indicating a new transmission to the UE's C-RNTI.

[0098] A UE typically receives a DRX configuration from its serving cell or serving TRP. The DRX configuration may include the following parameters: DRX period, DRX ON duration timer, DRX inactivity timer, DRX retransmission timer, short DRX period, and DRX short cycle timer. The DRX period parameter indicates the duration of one ON time (active time, i.e., time in active mode) and one OFF time (sleep time, i.e., time in sleep mode). The DRX period may be calculated from the subframe or slot time and the long DRX period start offset, rather than being specified in a radio resource control (RRC) signal. The DRX ON duration timer indicates the duration of the ON time in one DRX period. The DRX inactivity timer indicates how long the UE should stay ON after receiving a PDCCH communication. This may extend the UE ON period to the time the UE will be OFF if the UE did not receive a PDCCH communication. The DRX retransmission timer indicates the maximum number of consecutive PDCCH subframes or slots or monitoring instances that the UE should remain active (ON) for waiting for incoming retransmissions after the first available retransmission time. The short DRX cycle is a DRX cycle that can be implemented within the OFF time of a long DRX cycle. The short DRX cycle timer indicates the consecutive number of subframes or slots that follow the short DRX cycle after the DRX inactivity timer expires.

[0099] Discontinuous reception may affect reference signal measurements. For NR, if the UE is configured with DRX, the UE may not measure CSI-RS (Channel State Information Reference Signal) resources other than during active time based on CSI-RS resource mobility. Furthermore, if the DRX period is longer than 80 ms, the UE may not expect CSI-RS resources to be available other than during active time based on CSI-RS resource mobility. Otherwise, the UE may assume that CSI-RS is available for measurement based on CSI-RS resource mobility. For NR, with DRX configured for CSI acquisition and feedback, the UE may report a CSI report only if the UE receives at least one CSI-RS transmission opportunity for channel measurement and a CSI-RS and / or CSI-IM (CSI interference measurement) opportunity during active time no later than the CSI reference resource, and may drop the report otherwise. A more recent CSI measurement opportunity occurs during the DRX active time for the CSI to be reported. For LTE, the UE is expected to measure outside active DRX times, for example to meet the requirements of LPP (LTE Positioning Protocol) requests.

[0100] Multiple DRX Groups Multiple DRX groups may be configured for a single UE. Different DRX groups may have one or more different parameters. For example, different DRX groups may correspond to the same or different frequency ranges, may have different DRX inactivity timers, and / or may have different DRX ON duration timers. For example, by having a shorter DRX ON duration for a higher frequency band, e.g., mm-wave band, as opposed to a sub-6 GHz band, less power may be consumed for the higher frequency band. Since the sleep time of the higher frequency band saves power, it may be desirable to receive data using a lower frequency band, which may have a longer DRX ON duration and a shorter sleep duration. If the UE's environment is very data demanding, the higher frequency band may be used to receive data and the sleep time for the higher frequency band may be reduced. A lower frequency band, e.g., a sub-6 GHz band, may be used, for example, as a primary band for cellular communications, and a higher frequency band, e.g., an mm-wave band, may be used, for example, as a secondary band for receiving data but not transmitting data.

[0101] The UE may be configured with one or more DL PRS resource set configurations, indicated by the higher layer parameters DL-PRS-ResourceSet and DL-PRS-Resource. Each DL PRS resource set includes one or more DL PRS resources, each having an associated spatial transmit filter. The UE may be configured with one or more DL PRS positioning frequency layer configurations, indicated by the higher layer parameter DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer.

[0102] Unreal Engine Mode The UE may be configured to operate according to one or more of a plurality of operating modes for measuring positioning signals (e.g., PRS resources and / or PRS resource sets) and reporting positioning information based on the positioning signal measurements. The positioning signal information may include one or more positioning signal measurements and / or information derived from the one or more positioning signal measurements, e.g., the location of the UE. With reference to FIG. 5 and further with reference to FIG. 2, the UE 500 includes a processor 510, a memory 511, and a transceiver 515, all communicatively coupled to one another by a bus 520. 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 a UE 500. The description herein refers to the processor 510 (or UE) being configured to perform various functions, including the processor 510 interfacing with the memory 511 and / or the transceiver 515 as necessary to perform the functions. The processor 510 includes a first DRX group unit 530 configured to measure the PRS of a first DRX group, here referred to as DRX1, and a second DRX group unit 540 configured to measure the PRS of a second DRX group, here referred to as DRX2. The processor 510 is configured to operate in at least one of a plurality of UE operation modes, here a fixed active time mode and / or a variable active time mode, and the second DRX group unit 540 is configured to include a fixed time unit 542 configured to measure the PRS of the second DRX group DRX2 only within the fixed active time, e.g., during the active time of the second DRX group, and / or to include a variable time unit 544 configured to implement a variable active time that may be adjusted to measure the PRS of the second DRX group DRX2 as needed (e.g., as discussed further herein). The first DRX group DRX1 has a longer default active time than the second DRX group DRX2.The first DRX group DRX1 may be in a lower or higher frequency range than the second DRX group DRX2, may be in the same or a different frequency layer, etc. In the example discussed, there are two DRX groups, but more than two DRX groups may be implemented by the UE 500.

[0103] In fixed active time mode, the UE 500 is configured to measure the PRS received during the active time of the DRX group. Thus, referring also to Figure 6, the UE 500 is configured to measure the PRS of DRX1 during active times 610, 611 (other active times not shown) and to measure the PRS of DRX2 during active times 620, 621 (further active times not shown). Although the active times 610, 611 are shown starting at the same time as the active times 620, 621, the active times of different DRX groups need not start at the same time. In this example, DRX1 is in a first frequency range (e.g., FR1 from 663 MHz to 5.0 GHz) and a first frequency layer (FL1), DRX2 is in a second frequency range (e.g., FR2 from 24.25 GHz to 40.0 GHz) and a second frequency layer (FL2), and the active time 610, 611 is longer than the active time 620, 621, but other parameters of the DRX group may be variable (e.g., which frequency range is higher, what parameter values ​​are in the frequency layer, etc.). PRS 612, 613 from a first TRP, called TRP1, is scheduled for periodic transmission and is received by the UE 500 during the active time 610, 611 of the first DRX group DRX1. In Figures 6-13, the downward arrow indicates a signal incoming to the UE (received by the UE) and the upward arrow indicates a signal originating from the UE (sent from the UE). The processor 510 measures (listens to, receives, and determines one or more characteristics of the PRS, e.g., received power, time of arrival, angle of arrival, etc.) the PRS from TRP1. The PRS 622, 623 from a second TRP, called TRP2, is received outside of the active time 620, 621 (during the inactive time 624, 625 of the second DRX group DRX2). In this example, the UE 500 does not report RSTD measurements for TRP1 and TRP2 because the UE 500 is in a fixed active time mode, the TRP2 PRS 622, 623 is received during the inactive time 624, 625, and the processor 510 does not determine a time of arrival for the TRP2 PRS.The processor 510 may be configured to report to the server 400 (e.g., LMF) that the PRS resource or PRS resource set arrives or is scheduled to arrive outside the active time of the second DRX group and / or that the frequency layers FL1, FL2 are different (e.g., the second frequency layer FL2 is on a different DRX group than the first frequency layer FL1). The server 400 may be configured to respond to such an indication from the UE 500 by reconfiguring the PRS, e.g., to a different frequency layer, a different time, a different frequency, etc., such that the UE 500 measures the PRS from both TRPs and reports RSTD. For example, the server 400 may reconfigure the PRS 622, 623 from TRP2, e.g., to a different time relative to the active time of DRX2, such that the PRS from both DRX groups are measured.

[0104] 7, in fixed active time mode, the UE 500 is configured and expected to report positioning information (e.g., PRS measurements such as RSTD measurements, UE position, etc.) if both (in this example, with two DRX groups) are received during the active times of the respective DRX groups. In this example, PRS 712, 713 from TRP1 arrive at the UE 500 within the active times 710, 711 of the first DRX group, respectively, and PRS 722, 723 from TRP2 arrive at the UE 500 within the active times 720, 721 of the second DRX group, respectively. The processor 510 is configured to determine the arrival times of PRS 712, 713, 722, 723 and provide RSTD for TRP1, TRP2 based on the measurements of PRS 712, 713, 722, 723.

[0105] 8, in the variable active time mode, the UE 500 is configured and expected to report positioning information if at least one PRS is received within the respective active time. As shown, PRSs 812, 813 from TRP1 arrive during respective active times 810, 811, and the UE 500 (e.g., processor 510) is configured to measure the PRSs 812, 813. As further shown, PRSs 822, 823 from TRP2 arrive after the expiration of the active times 820, 821 (i.e., after the terminations 826, 827), respectively. The processor 510 may be aware of the expected arrival times of the PRSs 822, 823 once the arrival times (or at least the transmission times of the PRSs 822, 823) are scheduled and known by the UE 500, e.g., from one or more PRS configuration messages provided by the server 400. In the variable active time mode, the processor 510 is configured to (i.e., can adjust) the active time for measuring the positioning signals, being aware that the PRS 812, 813 arrive within the active time 810, 811 of the first DRX group DRX1. The processor 510 may put the UE 500 in an active mode (e.g., to be active during one or more times when the UE 500 is inactive in a default state) during one or more times that are outside the active time 820, 821. The UE 500, and in particular the unit 544, implements a variable active time mode in which the active time for measuring the positioning signals (e.g., PRS) in the second DRX group is variable. The variable active time includes the active times 820, 821 and may include further times that may be adjacent to the active times 820, 821, e.g., extending the active times 820, 821 to active times 830, 831 that include the arrival times of the PRSs 822, 823 so that the processor 510 can measure the PRSs 822, 823. The processor 510 extends the active times 820, 821 to the end of the active times 810, 811 of the first DRX group, e.g., end time t 1 , t 2However, the end time t 1 PRS 850 arriving after is not measured. The variable time may be discontinuous and include a combination of multiple individual (discrete) active time portions (see, e.g., FIG. 13 and related discussion), with the variable active time of the second DRX group ending no later than the end of the active time for the first DRX group. The processor 510 may enter a sleep mode (inactive mode) when PRS 822, 823 is received, exit active mode in response to receiving PRS 822, 823, or schedule the length of the extended active time based on the expected (e.g., scheduled) arrival time of PRS 822, 823 (e.g., transmission time plus some travel time and possibly a safety margin in time). The processor 510 may measure PRS 812, 813, 822, 823 and provide positioning information, e.g., measurement information such as arrival time, processed measurement information such as RSTD or UE position, etc.

[0106] Various types of positioning information may be determined and provided by the UE 500 based on one or more measured positioning signals, here PRS (e.g., PRS resources, PRS resource sets). For example, the processor 510 may be configured to determine an RSTD across multiple (e.g., two) TRPs, an RSTD across multiple frequency layers, an RSTD across PRS resources on different frequency layers, and / or an RSTD across PRS resource sets on different frequency layers. As another example, the processor 510 may be configured to determine a position estimate for the UE 500 (using one or more known positioning techniques, such as those discussed above) based on the positioning signal measurements. As another example, the processor 510 may be configured to determine a reference signal received power (RSRP) across multiple beams (e.g., power of received PRS), an RSRP across multiple PRS resources, and / or an RSRP across multiple TRPs. As another example, the processor 510 may be configured to determine a UE Rx-Tx, which is the time difference between the time of arrival (ToA) and the time of transmission (time of launch, or ToD) of a signal (e.g., PRS) of a response message (e.g., SRS for positioning). The UE Rx-Tx may be used as part of an RTT calculation to determine the location of the UE 500.

[0107] 9, in the variable active time mode, the UE 500 is configured and expected to not report positioning information if no PRS is received within the respective active time of any (in this example, either) DRX mode (i.e., all PRS arrive outside the respective active time). As shown, PRS 912, 913 from TRP1 and PRS 922, 923 from TRP2 arrive outside the active times 910, 911, 920, 921, respectively. In this case, the UE 500 does not measure the PRS 912, 913, 922, 923, nor does it report positioning information based on the measurements of the PRS 912, 913, 922, 923.

[0108] In which mode the UE 500 operates may be determined based on one or more factors. For example, the UE behavior may be based on the time behavior of one or more positioning signals and / or positioning reports. For example, the operation mode of the UE 500 may be based on the time behavior of PRS resources and / or PRS measurement reports. For example, if the UE 500 expects aperiodic (unscheduled) triggering of positioning information reporting or is triggered aperiodically by DCI (Downlink Control Information) to report positioning information, the UE 500 may be expected to operate according to a variable active time mode. The UE 500 may be configured to expect aperiodic triggering to report positioning information, for example, according to configuration information received from the server 400. The possibility of aperiodic triggering of positioning information reporting indicates that the positioning information is important. Also or alternatively, the UE 500 may be triggered aperiodically to report positioning information even if the UE 500 did not expect aperiodic triggering, and an aperiodic report request in the first DRX group indicates that the UE 500 expects to receive positioning signals in the second DRX group. Thus, the UE 500, e.g., the processor 510, may be configured to change from a fixed active time mode to a variable active time mode in response to receiving an aperiodic request to report positioning information. This may mean changing from a sleep (inactive) mode to an active mode, i.e., starting a new, unplanned, active time for measuring positioning signals. Also or alternatively, the UE 500 (e.g., the processor 510) may be configured to be triggered aperiodically by positioning signals. The processor 510 may be configured to respond to aperiodic reception of positioning signals (at unscheduled times) by implementing (e.g., changing to) the variable active time mode. Thus, if positioning signals are received aperiodically by the first DRX group during its active time, the processor 510 may implement the variable active time mode and change to this mode as necessary.

[0109] With reference to Figures 10-13 and further with reference to Figures 1-5, various scenarios with aperiodic report requests are shown. These scenarios are based on the timing of the aperiodic positioning triggers (here and A-PRS requests) on the component carriers of DRX1, the PRS measurement occasions on the component carriers of DRX2, and the timing of the triggers relative to the active time of DRX2. In Figure 10, the aperiodic report request 1000 and PRS 1002 are received during the active time 1010 of DRX1, the PRS 1022 is received during the active time 1020 of DRX2, and the aperiodic report request 1000 is also received during the active time 1020 of DRX2. In either the fixed active time mode or the variable active time mode, the UE 500 will measure the PRS 1002, 1022 and will therefore respond to the report request 1000 by sending a positioning information report, here a PRS report 1030 (e.g., to the server 400 via the TRP 300). In FIG. 11, the aperiodic report request 1100 and PRS 1102 are received during the active time 1110 of DRX1, PRS 1122 is received during the active time 1120 of DRX2, and the aperiodic report request 1100 is received after the active time 1120 of DRX2. In either the fixed active time mode or the variable active time mode, the UE 500 will measure the PRS 1102, 1122 and will therefore respond to the report request 1100 by sending a positioning information report, here a PRS report 1130 (e.g., to the server 400 via the TRP 300). In FIG. 12, the aperiodic report request 1200 and PRS 1202 are received during the active time 1210 of DRX1, PRS 1222 is received after the active time 1220 of DRX2 has expired, and the aperiodic report request 1200 is received during the active time 1220 of DRX2. In fixed active time mode, as shown in FIG. 12, the UE 500 does not measure the PRS 1222 and therefore does not respond to the report request 1200 by sending a positioning information report, here a PRS report 1230 (e.g., to the server 400 via the TRP 300).That is, as shown, the UE 500 does not send the PRS report 1230. In FIG. 13, the PRS and aperiodic reporting requests are received with similar timing (with respect to the active times of DRX1 and DRX2) as in FIG. 12, but the UE 500 is either in or changing to a variable active time mode. As shown in FIG. 13, the aperiodic reporting request 1300 and the PRS 1302 are received during the active time 1310 of DRX1, the PRS 1322 is received after the active time 1320 of DRX2 has expired, and the aperiodic reporting request 1300 is received after the active time 1320 of DRX2 has expired. The UE 500 (e.g., the processor 510) is configured, in response to receiving the aperiodic reporting request 1300, to change to the variable active time mode and thus initiate another active time portion 1324 during which the UE 500 measures the PRS 1322. In this case, the UE 500 effectively extends the active time 1320 by starting the active time portion 1324, and the active time 1320 and active time portion 1324 each, combined, comprise an active time portion that includes an active time for measuring the second positioning signal. The UE 500 will thus respond to the report request 1300 by sending (e.g., via the TRP 300 to the server 400) a positioning information report, here a PRS report 1330. The PRS report 1330 may be sent by a UE 500 that is closer (or further away) in time relative to the reception and measurement of the PRS 1322 than would be implied by the separate PRS 1322 and PRS report 1330 shown in FIG.

[0110] operation With reference to FIG. 14 and further with reference to FIGS. 1-13 and 15, a method 1400 of performing a positioning operation in a UE includes the illustrated stages, and a signal and process flow 1500 (FIG. 15) shows communication between a UE 500 (e.g., UE 200), a server 400 (e.g., LMF), and two TRPs 300-1, 300-2, and processing by the UE 500 to implement the method 1400. However, the method 1400 is by way of example only and is not limiting. The method 1400 may be modified, for example, by adding, deleting, reordering, combining, performing simultaneously stages, and / or splitting a single stage into multiple stages.

[0111] At stage 1410, the method 1400 includes receiving, at the UE, a first discontinuous reception (DRX) configuration for a first DRX receiving group and a second DRX configuration for a second DRX receiving group. For example, the TRP 300-1 is a serving TRP for the UE 500 and sends DRX configuration information to the UE 200 in message 1510. The DRX configuration information may include, for example, a DRX period, a DRX ON duration timer, a DRX inactivity timer, a DRX retransmission timer, a short DRX period, and a DRX short cycle timer for each of two frequency ranges for reception of PRS from the TRPs 300-1, 300-2. Thus, the processor 510 may comprise means for receiving the DRX configuration in combination with the transceiver 515 (e.g., the wireless receiver 244) and possibly in combination with the memory 511 (e.g., the software 212).

[0112] At stage 1412, the method 1400 includes receiving, at the UE, a first positioning signal configuration for a first positioning signal associated with a first DRX group and a second positioning signal configuration for a second positioning signal associated with a second DRX group. The positioning signals may be explicitly or implicitly associated with the respective DRX groups. For example, the positioning signals may be implicitly associated with the DRX groups by having the positioning signals carry a frequency, band combination, or frequency range of the DRX group (e.g., assigned to the DRX group) that is part of a component carrier band, or both the first and second positioning signals may be implicitly associated with the respective DRX groups. For example, the server 400 may send PRS configuration information to the UE 500 in message 1512. The PRS configuration information may be sent from the server 400 to the UE 500 directly or via one or more intermediaries, such as the TRP 300-1. The PRS configuration information may include, for example, scheduled timing of a periodic PRS, periodicity, slot offset, bandwidth offset, number of ports, repetition factor, number of PRS symbols in a slot, and / or whether to expect a non-periodic PRS and / or a non-periodic report request. The processor 510, in combination with the transceiver 515 (e.g., wireless receiver 244), and possibly in combination with the memory 511 (e.g., software 212), may comprise means for receiving a PRS configuration.

[0113] At stage 1414, the method 1400 includes measuring a first positioning signal during a first active time of the first DRX group. For example, at processing stage 1516, the UE 200 may measure a PRS 1517, e.g., TRP1 PRS 712 as shown in FIG. 7, from a TRP, such as TRP 300-1, during the active time 710 of the DRX period (FIG. 15). The positioning signal may be a PRS resource, a PRS resource set, etc. The processor 510 may determine one or more characteristics of the received positioning signal, such as a time of arrival, an angle of arrival, a received signal strength, etc. The processor 510 may comprise means for measuring the first positioning signal in combination with the transceiver 515 (e.g., wireless receiver 244) and possibly in combination with the memory 511 (e.g., software 212).

[0114] In step 1416, the method 1400 includes measuring the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or a variable third active time, the fixed second active time having a fixed duration of the second DRX group and the variable third active time having a variable duration of the second DRX group. For example, the UE 500 may operate according to a fixed active time mode or a variable active time mode to measure the second positioning signal in step 1518 to measure a PRS 1519, e.g., TRP2 PRS 722, as shown in FIG. 7, from a TRP, e.g., TRP300-2 (FIG. 15). The UE 500 may determine which mode to operate in and may determine the mode before measuring the positioning signal and / or after one or more positioning signals are measured. The UE 500 may change from one mode to the other and thus may measure (attempt to) the second positioning signals for some time only during a fixed second active time (e.g., active times 620, 720, 820) and at other times during a variable third active time (e.g., active time 830 and active time portions 1320, 1324). For example, the UE 500 may be configured to default to a fixed active time mode and to determine whether to enter a variable active time mode (thus, the method 1400 may include determining a mode in which the UE 500 should operate). For example, the UE 500 may determine to enter the variable active time mode based on configuration information received from the server 400 (e.g., an indication that aperiodic report requests and / or aperiodic positioning signals may be received) and / or based on timing of receipt of a positioning signal or a report request, for example, in response to receiving an aperiodic positioning signal and / or an aperiodic request for a positioning report. In FIG. 15, an optional stage 1520 is shown in which the UE 500 determines an operating mode for measuring the second positioning signal.In the illustrated example, the UE 500 (e.g., processor 510) may use the PRS configuration information in message 1512, and / or the aperiodic report request 1521, and / or the aperiodic PRS 1522 to determine an operation mode, possibly involving changing operation modes, although the timing of step 1520 is an example and the decision of which operation mode to use may be made by the UE 500 at one or more other times (e.g., before step 1518 and / or before step 1516) in addition to and / or instead of the time of the illustrated step 1520. The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 511 (e.g., software 212), may comprise means for measuring a second positioning signal.

[0115] The method 1400 may include one or more of the following features. For example, the method 1400 may include determining positioning information based on the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal. The processor 510, possibly in combination with the memory 511 (e.g., the software 212), may comprise means for determining the positioning information. The positioning signal may include at least one of a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, a position estimate, or a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement. The positioning information may include at least one of an RSTD measurement across multiple transmit / receive points, an RSTD measurement across multiple frequency layers, an RSTD measurement of positioning reference signal (PRS) resources of different frequency layers, or an RSTD measurement of PRS resource sets of different frequency layers. The positioning information may include an RSRP measurement of multiple beams, an RSRP measurement of multiple positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, or an RSRP measurement across multiple transmit / receive points. The UE 500 may provide the positioning information 1524 to the server 400 (e.g., via a serving TRP, such as TRP 300-2), for example, in response to a request to report the positioning information. The UE 500 may provide at least a portion of the positioning information 1524 over an LPP and / or NRPPa (New Radio Positioning Protocol A). The UE 500 may provide at least a portion of the positioning information over another interface, such as a non-TRP interface (e.g., if the measurement was with a non-TRP rather than the serving TRP) or another TRP (e.g., if there is a handoff to another TRP).

[0116] Also or alternatively, the method 1400 may include one or more of the following features. The method 1400 may include transmitting a transmitted reference signal by the UE and determining a UE Rx-Tx based on at least one of the first or second positioning signals and the transmitted reference signal. For example, the processor 510 may determine a time difference between receiving the PRS and transmitting a response SRS. The processor 510 may comprise means for transmitting a reference signal and means for determining a UE Rx-Tx in combination with the transceiver 515 (e.g., the wireless transmitter 242) and possibly in combination with the memory 511 (e.g., the software 212). The method 1400 may include changing from measuring the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time to measuring the second positioning signal during a variable third active time. The processor 510, in combination with the transceiver 515 (e.g., wireless transmitter 242) and possibly in combination with the memory 511 (e.g., software 212), may comprise a means for this change. Measuring the second positioning signal (only) during the fixed second active time may be responsive to the first and second positioning signal configurations indicating periodic transmission of the first and second positioning signals. The first and second positioning signals may each include a PRS resource or a PRS resource set. The first and second positioning signals may correspond to different frequency layers. The first and second positioning signals may be from different TRPs. The first and second positioning signal configurations may correspond to different frequency ranges.

[0117] Other considerations Other examples and implementations are within the scope of this disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software and computers, the functions described above may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination of these. Features implementing the functions may also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed such that portions of the functions are implemented in various physical locations. Functional or other components shown in the figures and / or discussed herein as being connected or in communication with each other are communicatively coupled unless otherwise stated. That is, the components may be directly or indirectly connected to enable communication between them.

[0118] As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The terms "comprises," "comprising," "including," and / or "comprising," as used herein, specify the presence of referenced features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0119] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, a statement that a feature or action is "based on" an item or condition means that the feature or action is based on the stated item or condition, and may be based on one or more items and / or conditions in addition to the stated item or condition.

[0120] Also, as used herein, "or" in a list of items preceded by "at least one of" or "one or more of" indicates a disjunctive list, such as, for example, a list "at least one of A, B, or C" or a list "one or more of A, B, or C" meaning A, or B, or C, or AB (A and B), or AC (A and C), or BC (B and C), or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or a combination of two or more elements (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Thus, a recitation that an item, e.g., a processor, is configured to perform a function with respect to at least one of A or B means that the item may be configured to perform a function with respect to A, or may be configured to perform a function with respect to B, or may be configured to perform a function with respect to A and B. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to measure at least one of A or B" means that the processor may be configured to measure A (and may or may not be configured to measure B), or may be configured to measure B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or may be configured to measure A and B (and may be configured to select for measuring either A and / or B). Similarly, recitation of a means for measuring at least one of A or B includes a means for measuring A (which may or may not be capable of measuring B), or a means for measuring B (which may or may not be configured to measure A), or a means for measuring A and B (which may be capable of selecting for measuring either A and / or B).

[0121] Significant variations may be made according to particular requirements. For example, customized hardware may be used and / or particular elements may be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor (including portable software such as applets), or both. Furthermore, connection to other computing devices, such as network input / output devices, may be utilized.

[0122] The systems and devices described above are examples. Various configurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, features described with respect to some configurations can be combined into various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of the configurations can be combined in a similar manner. Also, technology evolves, and thus many of the elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the disclosure or claims.

[0123] A wireless communication system is one in which communications are conveyed wirelessly, i.e., by electromagnetic and / or acoustic waves propagating through atmospheric space rather than through wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not have all communications transmitted wirelessly, but is configured to have at least some communications transmitted wirelessly. Furthermore, the term "wireless communication device," or similar terms, does not require that the functionality of the device be exclusively, or even primarily, for communication, or that the device be a mobile device, but indicates that the device includes wireless communication capabilities (unidirectional or bidirectional), e.g., at least one radio for wireless communication (each radio being part of a transmitter, receiver, or transceiver).

[0124] In the description, specific details are given to provide a thorough understanding of the example configurations (including implementations). However, the configurations may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques have been shown without unnecessary detail to avoid obscuring the configurations. This description only provides an example configuration and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of the configurations provides a description for implementing the described techniques. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements.

[0125] As used herein, the terms "processor-readable medium," "machine-readable medium," and "computer-readable medium" refer to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a specific manner. With a computing platform, various processor-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / code to the processor for execution and / or be used to store and / or carry such instructions / code (e.g., signals). In many implementations, the processor-readable medium is a physical and / or tangible storage medium. Such media may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, but are not limited to, dynamic memory.

[0126] Although several example configurations have been described, various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, in which other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the invention. Also, some operations may be performed before, during, or after the above elements are considered. Thus, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0127] A statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or above) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value meets or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is a value that is higher than the first threshold at the resolution of the computing system. A statement that a value is less than (or is within or below) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is a value that is lower than the first threshold at the resolution of the computing system. [Explanation of symbols]

[0128] 100 Communication system, system 105UE 106UE 110a NR Node B (gNB), BS, g Node B 110b NR Node B (gNB), BS, g Node B 114 Next Generation eNodeB (ng-eNB), BS, eNodeB 115 Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 117 Session Management Facility (SMF) 120 Location Management Function (LMF) 125 Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 130 External Clients 135 Radio Access Network (RAN), Next Generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN), Network 140 5G Core Network (5GC), Network, Core Network 185 Constellation 190 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 191 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 192 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 193 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 200UE 210 Processor 211 Memory 212 Software (SW) 213 Sensor 214 Transceiver Interface 215 Transceiver 216 User Interface 217 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) Receiver 218 Camera 219 Position Device (PD) 220 Bus 230 General Purpose / Application Processors, Processors 231 Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Processor 232 modem processor, processor 233 Video Processor, Processor 234 Sensor Processor, Processor 240 Wireless Transceiver 242 Wireless Transmitter 244 Wireless Receiver 246 Antenna 250 Wired Transceiver 252 Wired Transmitter 254 Wired Receiver 262 SPS Antenna, Antenna 300 TRP 310 Processor 311 Memory 312 Software (SW) 315 Transceiver 320 Bus 340 Wireless Transceiver 342 Wireless Transmitter 344 Wireless Receiver 346 Antenna 350 Wired Transceiver 400 Servers 410 Processor 411 Memory 412 Software (SW) 415 Transceiver 420 Bus 440 Wireless Transceiver 442 Wireless Transmitter 444 Wireless Receiver 446 Antenna 450 Wired Transceiver 452 Wired Transmitter 454 Wired Receiver 500UE 510 Processor 511 Memory 515 Transceiver 520 Bus 530 1st DRX Group Unit 540 2nd DRX Group Unit 542 Fixed Time Units 544 Variable Time Units, Units

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE), A transceiver; Memory, a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory; wherein the processor: receiving, via the transceiver, a first discontinuous receiving configuration for a first discontinuous receiving group and a second discontinuous receiving configuration for a second discontinuous receiving group; receiving, via the transceiver, a first positioning signal configuration for a first positioning signal associated with the first discontinuous reception group and a second positioning signal configuration for a second positioning signal associated with the second discontinuous reception group; measuring the first positioning signal during a first active time of the first discontinuous receiving group; measuring the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or during a variable third active time, wherein the fixed second active time has a fixed duration of the second discontinuous receiving group and the variable third active time has a variable duration of the second discontinuous receiving group.

2. the variable third active time includes the fixed second active time. the variable third active time ends no later than the end of the first active time; the variable third active time includes a plurality of distinct time portions; and / or The UE of claim 1 , wherein the fixed second active time has a duration that is shorter than a duration of the first active time.

3. the processor is configured to determine positioning information based on the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal; the positioning information includes at least one of a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, a position estimate, or a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement; The positioning information is including RSTD measurements across multiple transmit / receive points, RSTD measurements across multiple frequency layers, RSTD measurements of Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources on different frequency layers, or RSTD measurements of PRS resource sets on different frequency layers; or The UE of claim 1 , comprising RSRP measurements for multiple beams, RSRP measurements for multiple PRS resources, or RSRP measurements across multiple transmission / reception points.

4. The processor, and determining a UE Rx-Tx based on at least one of the first positioning signal or the second positioning signal and a transmitted reference signal sent by the processor via the transceiver. or configured to change from measuring the second positioning signal during the fixed second active time to measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time; or 2. The UE of claim 1, configured to respond to the first and second positioning signal configurations indicating that the first and second positioning signals are scheduled for periodic transmission by causing the processor to measure the second positioning signal during the fixed second active time.

5. 2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether to cause the processor to measure the second positioning signal during the fixed second active time or the variable third active time based on a timing of receipt of at least one of the first positioning signal or a positioning report request via the transceiver.

6. The processor, and configured to respond to receiving an aperiodic positioning report request by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time. or configured to respond to receiving the first or second positioning signal aperiodically by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time; or 6. The UE of claim 5, configured to respond to the first positioning signal configuration indicating aperiodic transmission or the second positioning signal configuration indicating aperiodic transmission by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time.

7. the first positioning signal is implicitly associated with the first discontinuous reception group, the first positioning signal having a first frequency that is part of a first component carrier band, a first band combination, or a first frequency range of the first discontinuous reception group; or the second positioning signal is implicitly associated with the second discontinuous reception group, the second positioning signal having a second frequency that is part of a second component carrier band, a second band combination, or a second frequency range of the second discontinuous reception group; or The UE of claim 1 which is a combination thereof.

8. 1. A method for performing a positioning operation in a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, at the UE, a first discontinuous reception configuration for a first discontinuous reception group and a second discontinuous reception configuration for a second discontinuous reception group; receiving, at the UE, a first positioning signal configuration for a first positioning signal associated with the first discontinuous reception group and a second positioning signal configuration for a second positioning signal associated with the second discontinuous reception group; measuring, at the UE, the first positioning signal during a first active time of the first discontinuous receiving group; measuring the second positioning signal during a fixed second active time or during a variable third active time, the fixed second active time having a fixed duration of the second discontinuous receiving group and the variable third active time having a variable duration of the second discontinuous receiving group.

9. the variable third active time includes the fixed second active time. the variable third active time ends no later than the end of the first active time; the variable third active time includes a plurality of distinct time portions; and / or The method of claim 8 , wherein the fixed second active time has a duration that is shorter than a duration of the first active time.

10. determining positioning information based on the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal; the positioning information includes at least one of a received signal time difference (RSTD) measurement, a position estimate, or a reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement; The positioning information is including RSTD measurements across multiple transmit / receive points, RSTD measurements across multiple frequency layers, RSTD measurements of Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) resources on different frequency layers, or RSTD measurements of PRS resource sets on different frequency layers; or The method of claim 8, comprising RSRP measurements of multiple beams, RSRP measurements of multiple PRS resources, or RSRP measurements across multiple transmitting / receiving points.

11. The method further comprising: transmitting a transmitted reference signal by the UE; and determining UE Rx-Tx based on at least one of the first positioning signal or the second positioning signal and the transmitted reference signal. or changing from measuring the second positioning signal during the fixed second active time to measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising measuring the second positioning signal during the fixed second active time in response to the first positioning signal configuration and the second positioning signal configuration indicating periodic transmission of the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal, respectively.

12. determining whether to measure the second positioning signal during the fixed second active time or the variable third active time based on a timing of receipt of at least one of the first positioning signal or a positioning report request; The method further comprising: and further comprising: responding to receiving an aperiodic positioning report request by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time. or, further comprising: responding to receiving the first or second positioning signal non-periodically by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time; or 9. The method of claim 8, further comprising: responding to the first positioning signal configuration indicating aperiodic transmission or the second positioning signal configuration indicating aperiodic transmission by measuring the second positioning signal during the variable third active time.

13. the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal each include one of a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource or a PRS resource set; The method of claim 8 , wherein the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal are from different frequency layers.

14. the first positioning signal and the second positioning signal are from different transmission / reception points; and / or The method of claim 8 , wherein the first and second positioning signal configurations each correspond to a different frequency range.

15. A processor readable storage medium comprising processor readable instructions, the processor readable instructions causing a processor to perform a method according to any one of claims 8 to 14.

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