Position measurement data

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communications are disclosed. In one aspect, a first communication node (e.g., a UE, a BS, etc.) obtains one or more measurements associated with one or more PRSs (e.g., an uplink PRS, a downlink PRS, etc.). The first communication node stores measurements in measurement fields of a report based on the one or more measurements. The first communication node identifies at least one unstored measurement field associated with the report and transmits a report associated with an indication of the at least one unstored measurement field to a second communication node. The second communication node (e.g., a UE, a BS, etc.) performs a position calculation function based on the report.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Cross - Reference to Related Applications This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 966,522, entitled "POSITIONING MEASUREMENT DATA," filed on January 27, 2020, and U.S. Non - Provisional Application No. 17 / 157,040, entitled "POSITIONING MEASUREMENT DATA," filed on January 25, 2021, both of which are assigned to the assignee of this application and are hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety.

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication.

Background Art

[0003] Wireless communication systems have evolved through various generations, including first - generation analog wireless telephone services (1G), second - generation (2G) digital wireless telephone services (including interim 2.5G networks), third - generation (3G) high - speed data, Internet - enabled wireless services, and fourth - generation (4G) services (e.g., LTE or WiMax). Currently, there are many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular systems and personal communication service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog advanced mobile phone system (AMPS) and digital cellular systems based on code - division multiple access (CDMA), frequency - division multiple access (FDMA), time - division multiple access (TDMA), and GSM variants for mobile access of TDMA.

[0004] The 5th generation (5G) wireless standard, called New Radio (NR), enables, among other improvements, higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage. The 5G standard is designed, according to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, and one gigabit per second to dozens of workers on an office floor. Hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported to enable large-scale wireless sensor deployments. Therefore, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly extended compared to current 4G standards. Further, signaling efficiency should be extended and latency should be significantly reduced compared to current standards.

Summary of the Invention

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary relating to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Accordingly, the following summary should not be considered an extensive overview relating to all contemplated aspects, nor should the following summary be considered to identify key or critical elements relating to all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope of any particular aspect. Accordingly, the sole purpose of the following summary is to present some concepts relating to one or more aspects relating to the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description that follows.

[0006] One aspect is directed to a method of operating a first communication node, comprising: obtaining one or more measurements related to one or more positioning reference signals (PRS); storing a set of measurements in a set of measurement fields of a report based on the one or more measurements; identifying at least one unpopulated measurement field related to the report; and transmitting a report related to the display of the at least one unpopulated measurement field to a second communication node.

[0007] Another aspect is directed to a method of operating a second communication node, comprising: receiving a report comprising a set of measurements stored in each set of measurement fields, wherein the set of measurements is based on one or more measurements related to one or more positioning reference signals (PRS); receiving a display of at least one unpopulated measurement field related to the report; and performing a position calculation function based on the report.

[0008] Another aspect is directed to a first communication node comprising a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: obtain one or more measurements related to one or more positioning reference signals (PRS); store a set of measurements in a set of measurement fields of a report based on the one or more measurements; identify at least one unpopulated measurement field related to the report; and transmit a report related to the display of the at least one unpopulated measurement field to a second communication node.

[0009] Another aspect is directed to a second communication node comprising a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive from a first communication node a report comprising a set of measurement values stored in respective sets of measurement fields, wherein the set of measurement values is based on one or more measurement values associated with one or more positioning reference signals (PRSs), to receive a display of at least one un-stored measurement field associated with the report, and to perform a position calculation function based on the report.

[0010] Another aspect is directed to a first communication node comprising means for obtaining one or more measurement values associated with one or more positioning reference signals (PRSs), means for storing a set of measurement values in a set of measurement fields of a report based on the one or more measurement values, means for identifying at least one un-stored measurement field associated with the report, and means for transmitting to a second communication node a report associated with a display of the at least one un-stored measurement field.

[0011] Another aspect is directed to a second communication node comprising means for receiving from a first communication node a report comprising a set of measurement values stored in respective sets of measurement fields, wherein the set of measurement values is based on one or more measurement values associated with one or more positioning reference signals (PRSs), means for receiving a display of at least one un-stored measurement field associated with the report, and means for performing a position calculation function based on the report.

[0012] Another aspect is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising at least one instruction to instruct a first communication node to obtain one or more measurements associated with one or more positioning reference signals (PRSs); at least one instruction to instruct the first communication node to store a set of measurements within a set of measurement fields of a report based on the one or more measurements; at least one instruction to instruct the first communication node to identify at least one un-stored measurement field associated with the report; and at least one instruction to instruct the first communication node to transmit a report associated with the display of the at least one un-stored measurement field to a second communication node.

[0013] Another aspect is directed to a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising at least one instruction to instruct a second communication node to receive a report comprising a set of measurements stored within each set of measurement fields, the set of measurements being based on one or more measurements associated with one or more positioning reference signals (PRSs); at least one instruction to instruct the second communication node to receive a display of at least one un-stored measurement field associated with the report; and at least one instruction to instruct the second communication node to perform a position calculation function based on the report.

[0014] Other objects and advantages related to the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and the detailed description of the embodiments for carrying out the invention.

[0015] The accompanying drawings are presented to assist in the description of various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided only for the purpose of describing the aspects and not for limiting them.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0016]

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0017] Aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and associated drawings directed to various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the present disclosure are not described in detail or are omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the present disclosure.

[0018] The terms "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" should not necessarily be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Similarly, the term "aspect of the present disclosure" does not necessarily require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the described features, advantages, or modes of operation.

[0019] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the following description may be represented, in part, depending on a particular application, in part on a desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc., by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0020] Furthermore, many aspects are described with respect to sequences of actions to be performed, for example, by elements of a computing device. It will be recognized that the various actions described herein may be performed by a particular circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by one or more processors executing program instructions, or by a combination of both. Additionally, the sequence of actions described herein may, at runtime, be fully embodied within any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that cause or instruct the relevant processor of the device to perform the functionality described herein. Accordingly, the various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in several different forms, all of which are intended to fall within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects described herein, a corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein, for example, as "logic configured to" perform the described action.

[0021] As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise specified. Generally, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, tracking device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch, smart glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. The UE may be mobile or (e.g., at some times) stationary and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). The term "UE" as used herein may be interchangeably referred to as "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or UT, "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variants thereof. Generally, a UE can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network, the UE can be connected to an external network such as the Internet and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to a core network and / or the Internet, such as via a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on IEEE802.11, etc.), are also possible for a UE.

[0022] The base station may operate according to one of several RATs with which the UE is communicating, depending on the network in which the UE is deployed. Alternatively, it may be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as gNB or g-node B), etc. In addition, in some systems, the base station may purely provide an edge node signaling function, while in other systems, the base station may provide additional control and / or network management functions. The communication link through which the UE can send signals to the base station is called the uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). The communication link through which the base station can send signals to the UE is called the downlink (DL) channel or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, forward traffic channel, etc.). The term traffic channel (TCH) as used herein can refer to either the UL / reverse traffic channel or the DL / forward traffic channel.

[0023] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmit-receive point (TRP), or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be collocated. For example, when the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, that physical TRP may be the base station's antenna corresponding to the base station's cell. When the term "base station" refers to multiple collocated physical TRPs, those physical TRPs may be an array of antennas of the base station (such as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or when the base station employs beamforming). When the term "base station" refers to multiple non-collocated physical TRPs, those physical TRPs may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium), or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-collocated physical TRP may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and an adjacent base station whose reference RF signal the UE is measuring. Since a TRP is the point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, references herein to transmissions from or receptions at a base station should be understood to refer to a particular TRP of the base station.

[0024] An "RF signal" comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transfers information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. A transmitter as used herein may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of the RF signal through a multipath channel. The same RF signal transmitted over different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal.

[0025] In accordance with various aspects, FIG. 1 shows an exemplary wireless communication system 100. The wireless communication system 100 (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one aspect, the macrocell base stations may include an eNB corresponding to the wireless communication system 100 being an LTE network, or a gNB corresponding to the wireless communication system 100 being an NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, and the like.

[0026] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a next generation core (NGC)) through a backhaul link 122 and, through the core network 170, with one or more location servers 172. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions related to one or more of transferring user data, wireless channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load distribution, delivery for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and device tracing, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC / NGC) via a backhaul link 134 that may be wired or wireless.

[0027] Base station 102 can wirelessly communicate with UE 104. Each of the base stations 102 can provide communication coverage to its respective geographic coverage area 110. In one aspect, one or more cells can be supported by the base stations 102 within each coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., via several frequency resources such as those referred to as carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, etc.), and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., physical cell identifier (PCI), virtual cell identifier (VCI)) for distinguishing cells operating via the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells can be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), extended mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that can provide access to different types of UEs. Since a cell is supported by a particular base station, the term "cell" can, depending on the context, refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it. In some cases, the term "cell" can also refer to the geographic coverage area of a base station (e.g., a sector) as long as carrier frequencies can be detected and used for communication within some parts of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0028] While adjacent to the macrocell base station 102, the geographical coverage area 110 may partially overlap (e.g., within a handover region), and some of the geographical coverage areas 110 may be significantly overlapped by a larger geographical coverage area 110. For example, the small cell base station 102' may have a coverage area 110' that significantly overlaps with the coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network including both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be referred to as a heterogeneous network. The heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB) that can provide services to a restricted group called a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0029] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include UL (also called reverse link) transmission from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink (DL) (also called forward link) transmission from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies. The carrier allocation may be asymmetric for DL and UL (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL).

[0030] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a WLAN access point (AP) 150 communicating with a WLAN station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may execute a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedure before communicating to determine whether the channel is available.

[0031] The small cell base station 102' can operate in the licensed frequency spectrum and / or the unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may adopt LTE or NR technology and may use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102' adopting LTE / 5G in the unlicensed frequency spectrum can expand the coverage of the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum is sometimes called NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum is sometimes called LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0032] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a mmW base station 180 that communicates with the UE 182 and can operate in the millimeter wave (mmW) frequency and / or the quasi-mmW frequency. The extremely high frequency (EHF) is a part of the RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and has a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. The radio waves in this band are sometimes called millimeter waves. Quasi-mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also called centimeter waves. Communication using the mmW / quasi-mmW radio frequency band has high path loss and a relatively short distance. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmission and / or reception) via the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short distance. Further, in an alternative configuration, it will be understood that one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or quasi-mmW and beamforming. Therefore, it will be understood that the above examples are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0033] Transmission beamforming is a technique for focusing RF signals in a specific direction. Conventionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal omnidirectionally in all directions. With transmission beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (with respect to the network node transmitting), and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing the receiving device with a faster and more powerful RF signal (in terms of data rate). To change the directivity of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node may use an array of antennas (referred to as a "phased array" or "antenna array") that can create a beam of RF waves that can be "steered" to points in different directions without actually moving the antennas. Specifically, RF currents from the transmitters are fed to the individual antennas with appropriate phase relationships such that the radio waves from the separate antennas are added together to increase the radiation in the desired direction while suppressing and removing radiation in undesired directions.

[0034] The transmitted beam can be pseudo-collocated, meaning that it appears to the receiver (e.g., UE) to have the same parameters regardless of whether the transmitting antenna of the network node itself is physically collocated. In NR, there are four types of quasi-collocation (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a given type of QCL relationship means that some parameters for a second reference RF signal on a second beam can be derived from information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is of QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is of QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is of QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is of QCL type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial reception parameters of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0035] In receive beamforming, the receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver can increase the gain setting of the antenna array and / or adjust the phase setting in that direction so as to amplify RF signals received from a particular direction (e.g., increase the gain level of such RF signals). Thus, when the receiver is said to beamform in several directions, this means that the beam gain in that direction is greater than the beam gains along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the maximum compared to the beam gains in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength of the RF signals received from that direction (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference + noise ratio (SINR), etc.).

[0036] Receive beams can have a spatial relationship. A spatial relationship means that parameters for a transmit beam for a second reference signal can be derived from information about a receive beam for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., a synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam for sending an uplink reference signal (e.g., a sounding reference signal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0037] Note that the "downlink" beam may be either a transmission beam or a reception beam, depending on the entity that forms it. For example, when the base station forms a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to the UE, the downlink beam is a transmission beam. However, when the UE forms a downlink beam, the downlink beam is a reception beam for receiving the downlink reference signal. Similarly, the "uplink" beam may be either a transmission beam or a reception beam, depending on the entity that forms it. For example, when the base station forms an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink reception beam, and when the UE forms an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink transmission beam.

[0038] In 5G, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base stations 102 / 180, UEs 104 / 182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges, namely, FR1 (from 450 MHz to 6000 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 MHz to 52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is called the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell", and the remaining carrier frequencies are called "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier that operates on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell, and the UE 104 / 182 either performs the initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or starts the RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier may carry all common control channels and UE-specific control channels and may be a carrier within the authorized frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier may be configured when an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and may be a carrier that operates on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) and is used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier within the unlicensed frequency. Since both the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are usually UE-specific, the secondary carrier may only contain the necessary signaling information and signals. For example, UE-specific signaling information and signals do not have to be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in the cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same applies to the uplink primary carrier. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers.Regardless of whether it is a PCell or an SCell, terms such as "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. can be used interchangeably because the "serving cell" corresponds to the carrier frequency / component carrier through which several base stations are communicating.

[0039] For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by macro cell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (i.e., "PCell"), and other frequencies utilized by macro cell base station 102 and / or mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCell"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables UE104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission rate and / or data reception rate. For example, two aggregated 20 MHz carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically result in a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to what can be achieved by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0040] Wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE190, that are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. In the example of FIG. 1, UE190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UE104s connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE190 can indirectly obtain cellular connectivity), and a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA152 connected to WLAN AP150 (through which UE190 can indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 can be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®.

[0041] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a UE 164 that can communicate with a macro cell base station 102 via a communication link 120 and / or with a mmW base station 180 via a mmW communication link 184. For example, the macro cell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCell for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCell for the UE 164.

[0042] In accordance with various aspects, FIG. 2A shows an exemplary wireless network structure 200. For example, NGC210 (also referred to as “5GC”) can be functionally viewed as control plane functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data network, IP routing, etc.) that operate collaboratively to form a core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213 and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect gNB222 to NGC210, specifically to control plane functions 214 and user plane functions 212. In an additional configuration, eNB224 may also be connected to NGC210 via NG-C215 to control plane functions 214 and NG-U213 to user plane functions 212. Further, eNB224 can communicate directly with gNB222 via backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, New RAN (New RAN) 220 may have only one or more gNB222s, while other configurations include one or more of both eNB224 and gNB222. Either gNB222 or eNB224 can communicate with UE204 (e.g., any of the UEs shown in FIG. 1). Another optional aspect may include location server 230 that may be communicating with NGC210 to provide location assistance to UE204. Location server 230 can be implemented as a plurality of distinct servers (e.g., physically distinct servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. Location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for UE204 that can be connected to location server 230 via core network NGC210 and / or via the Internet (not shown). Further, location server 230 may be integrated within the components of the core network, or alternatively, may be external to the core network.

[0043] In accordance with various aspects, FIG. 2B shows another exemplary wireless network structure 250. For example, NGC260 (also referred to as "5GC") can be functionally viewed as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) / user plane function (UPF) 264 that operates collaboratively to form a core network (i.e., NGC260), and a user plane function provided by a session management function (SMF) 262. User plane interface 263 and control plane interface 265 connect eNB224 to NGC260, specifically to SMF262 and AMF / UPF264 respectively. In an additional configuration, gNB222 may also be connected to NGC260 via a control plane interface 265 to AMF / UPF264 and a user plane interface 263 to SMF262. Further, eNB224 may communicate directly with gNB222 via a backhaul connection 223, with or without gNB direct connectivity to NGC260. In some configurations, the new RAN220 may have only one or more gNB222s, while other configurations may include one or more of both eNB224 and gNB222. Either gNB222 or eNB224 can communicate with UE204 (e.g., any of the UEs shown in FIG. 1). The base stations of the new RAN220 communicate with the AMF side of AMF / UPF264 via the N2 interface and with the UPF side of AMF / UPF264 via the N3 interface.

[0044] The functions of the AMF include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between the UE 204 and the SMF 262, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and receives an intermediate key established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on a UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF retrieves security material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF also include security context management (SCM). SCM receives from the SEAF a key that SCM uses to derive an access network specific key. The functionality of the AMF also includes location service management for regulatory services, transport for location service messages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270, and between the new RAN 220 and the LMF 270, allocation of EPS bearer identifiers for interaction with the evolved packet system (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF also supports functionality for non-3GPP access networks (3GPP is a registered trademark).

[0045] The functions of the UPF include, when applicable, acting as an anchor point for in-RAT / inter-RAT mobility, acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), routing and forwarding packets, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., UL / DL rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in DL), UL traffic verification (mapping from service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow), transport-level packet marking in UL and DL, DL packet buffering and DL data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node.

[0046] The functions of the SMF 262 include session management, UE Internet protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering in the UPF for routing traffic to the appropriate destination, policy enforcement and control of the QoS part, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 262 communicates with the AMF side of the AMF / UPF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0047] Another optional aspect may include a LMF 270 that is communicating with the NGC 260 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The LMF 270 may be implemented as a plurality of distinct servers (e.g., physically distinct servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204 that can connect to the LMF 270 via the core network NGC 260 and / or via the Internet (not shown).

[0048] FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 3C show some exemplary components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated within a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including the location server 230 and the LMF 270) to support a file transfer operation as taught herein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different types of devices in different implementation forms (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated within other devices in the communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to the described components to provide similar functionality. Also, a given device may include one or more of the components. For example, the device may include a plurality of transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0049] UE 302 and base station 304 each include a wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceiver 310 and 350 configured to communicate via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, etc. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, to communicate with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNB, gNB), etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) on a target wireless communication medium (e.g., some sets of time / frequency resources within a specific frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, etc.) and, conversely, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, etc.) according to the designated RAT. Specifically, the transceivers 310 and 350 each include one or more transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358, and one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358.

[0050] UE 302 and base station 304 also each include, at least in some cases, wireless local area network (WLAN) transceivers 320 and 360. WLAN transceivers 320 and 360 are each connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366 to communicate with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated radio access technology (RAT) (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth®, etc.) on the target wireless communication medium. WLAN transceivers 320 and 360 may be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, displays, information, etc.) and, conversely, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, displays, information, pilots, etc.) according to the designated RAT. Specifically, transceivers 320 and 360 each include one or more transmitters 324 and 364 to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368, respectively, and one or more receivers 322 and 362 to receive and decode signals 328 and 368, respectively.

[0051] A transceiver circuit configuration including a transmitter and a receiver may, in some implementations, comprise an integrated device (e.g., embodied as the transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit of a single communication device), in some implementations, may comprise separate transmitter and receiver devices, or in other implementations, may be embodied in other ways. In one aspect, the transmitter may include, or be coupled to, a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 336, and 376), such as an antenna array that enables each device to perform transmission “beamforming” as described herein. Similarly, the receiver may include, or be coupled to, a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 336, and 376), such as an antenna array that enables each device to perform reception beamforming as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter and the receiver may share a plurality of the same antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 336, and 376) such that each device can only receive or transmit at a given time and not both at the same time. The wireless communication devices of devices 302 and / or 304 (e.g., one or both of transceivers 310 and 320 and / or 350 and 360) may also comprise, for example, a network listening module (NLM) for performing various measurements.

[0052] Devices 302 and 304 also include, at least optionally, satellite positioning system (SPS) receivers 330 and 370. SPS receivers 330 and 370 can be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, to receive SPS signals 338 and 378, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. SPS receivers 330 and 370 may each comprise any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing SPS signals 338 and 378. SPS receivers 330 and 370 appropriately request information and operations from other systems and perform the calculations necessary to determine the positions of devices 302 and 304 using the acquired measurements by any suitable SPS algorithm.

[0053] Base station 304 and network entity 306 each include at least one network interface 380 and 390 for communicating with other network entities. For example, network interfaces 380 and 390 (e.g., one or more network access ports) can be configured to communicate with one or more network entities via a wire-based or wireless backhaul connection. In some aspects, network interfaces 380 and 390 can be implemented as transceivers configured to support wire-based or wireless signal communication. This communication can be involved in, for example, sending and receiving messages, parameters, or other types of information.

[0054] Devices 302, 304, and 306 also include other components that can be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302 includes a processor circuitry that implements a processing system 332 for providing, for example, functionality related to false base station (FBS) detection as disclosed herein and for providing other processing functionality. Base station 304 includes a processing system 384 for providing, for example, functionality related to FBS detection as disclosed herein and for providing other processing functionality. Network entity 306 includes a processing system 394 for providing, for example, functionality related to FBS detection as disclosed herein and for providing other processing functionality. In one aspect, the processing systems 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other programmable logic devices or processing circuitry.

[0055] Devices 302, 304, and 306 include memory circuitry that implements memory components 340, 386, and 396, respectively, for maintaining information (such as information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.), where each may include a memory device. In some cases, devices 302, 304, and 306 may each include PRS measurement modules 342 and 388. The PRS measurement modules 342 and 388 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the respective processing systems 332, 384, and 394 and that, when executed, cause the functionality described herein to be performed by devices 302, 304, and 306. Alternatively, the PRS measurement modules 342 and 388 may be memory modules (such as those shown in FIGS. 3A - 3C) stored in the respective memory components 340, 386, and 396 that, when executed by the processing systems 332, 384, and 394, cause the functionality described herein to be performed by devices 302, 304, and 306.

[0056] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to a processing system 332 to provide movement information and / or orientation information independent of movement data derived from signals received by the WWAN transceiver 310, the WLAN transceiver 320, and / or the GPS receiver 330. By way of example, the sensors 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of movement detection sensor. Moreover, the sensors 344 may include multiple different types of devices and may combine their outputs to provide movement information. For example, the sensors 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate a position in a 2D and / or 3D coordinate system.

[0057] In addition, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 for providing a display (e.g., an acoustic display and / or a visual display) to the user and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when a user operates a sensing device such as a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, etc.). Although not shown, the devices 304 and 306 may also include a user interface.

[0058] Looking at the processing system 384 in more detail, in the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 can be provided to the processing system 384. The processing system 384 can implement functionality for the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The processing system 384 is related to the RRC layer functionality for broadcasting system information (e.g., Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting, the PDCP layer functionality related to header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions, the RLC layer functionality related to transfer of upper layer packet data units (PDUs), error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs, and the MAC layer functionality related to mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0059] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement layer 1 functionality related to various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream is then mapped to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time domain and / or frequency domain, and then synthesized together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to generate a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM stream is spatially precoded to generate multiple spatial streams. The channel estimates from the channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimates may be derived from the reference signal transmitted by the UE 302 and / or channel condition feedback. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier using each spatial stream for transmission.

[0060] In UE 302, receiver 312 receives signals through its respective antennas 316. Receiver 312 recovers the information modulated on the RF carrier and provides the information to processing system 332. Transmitter 314 and receiver 312 implement layer 1 functionality related to various signal processing functions. Receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams directed to UE 302. Multiple spatial streams, if directed to UE 302, may be combined by receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. Receiver 312 then uses a fast Fourier transform (FFT) to convert the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain. The frequency domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signals, are recovered and demodulated by determining the signal constellation points most likely transmitted by base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted by base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to processing system 332 which implements layer 3 functionality and layer 2 functionality.

[0061] On the UL, processing system 332 performs demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, decoding, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. Processing system 332 is also responsible for error detection.

[0062] Similar to the functionality described for DL transmission by the base station 304, the processing system 332 provides RRC layer functionality related to system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting, PDCP layer functionality related to header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), RLC layer functionality related to transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs, and MAC layer functionality related to mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0063] Channel estimation values derived by a channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 can be used by the transmitter 314 to select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 can be provided to different antennas 316. The transmitter 314 can modulate RF carriers using the respective spatial streams for transmission.

[0064] UL transmission is processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described for the receiver functionality at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives signals through its respective antennas 356. The receiver 352 recovers the information modulated on the RF carrier and provides the information to the processing system 384.

[0065] In the UL, the processing system 384 demultiplexes between the transport channel and the logical channel, assembles packets, decodes, decompresses headers, and processes control signals to recover IP packets from the UE 302. The IP packets from the processing system 384 can be provided to the core network. The processing system 384 is also responsible for error detection.

[0066] For the sake of convenience, apparatuses 302, 304, and / or 306 are shown in FIGS. 3A - 3C as including various components that can be configured according to the various examples described herein. However, it will be understood that the illustrated blocks can have different functionality in different designs.

[0067] The various components of apparatuses 302, 304, and 306 may communicate with each other via data buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. The components of FIGS. 3A - 3C may be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of FIGS. 3A - 3C may be implemented within one or more circuits, such as one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 - 346 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of UE 302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 - 388 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of base station 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). Also, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390 - 396 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of network entity 306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor component). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE", "by the base station", "by the positioning entity", etc. However, as will be understood, such operations, acts, and / or functions may in fact be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE, base station, positioning entity, etc., such as processing systems 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memory components 340, 386, and 396, PRS measurement modules 342 and 388, etc.

[0068] FIG. 4A is a diagram 400 showing an example of a DL frame structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 4B is a diagram 430 showing an example of a channel within the DL frame structure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0069] LTE, and optionally NR, utilize OFDM on the downlink and single-carrier frequency-division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR has an option to also use OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into a plurality (K) of orthogonal subcarriers, also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Generally, modulated symbols are sent in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number (K) of subcarriers may depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing may be 15 kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be 12 subcarriers (i.e., 180 kHz). Thus, the nominal FFT size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048 for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0070] LTE supports a single numerology (such as subcarrier spacing, symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies. For example, subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, and 204 kHz or more may be available. Table 1 provided below lists some various parameters for different NR numerologies.

[0071]

Table 1

[0072] In the examples of FIGS. 4A and 4B, a 15 kHz numerology is used. Thus, in the time domain, a frame (e.g., 10 ms) is divided into 10 equal-sized subframes, each of 1 ms, and each subframe contains one time slot. In FIGS. 4A and 4B, time increases from left to right and is represented horizontally (e.g., on the X-axis), and frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top and is represented vertically (e.g., on the Y-axis).

[0073] A resource grid may be used to represent time slots, where each time slot includes one or more time-parallel resource blocks (RBs) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. In the numerology of FIGS. 4A and 4B, for the normal cyclic prefix case, an RB may include 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 7 consecutive symbols (OFDM symbols in the case of DL, SC-FDMA symbols in the case of UL) in the time domain to obtain a total of 84 REs. For the extended cyclic prefix case, an RB may include 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 6 consecutive symbols in the time domain to obtain a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0074] As shown in FIG. 4A, some of the REs carry DL reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS) for channel estimation at the UE. The DL-RS may include demodulation reference signals (DMRS) and channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), and an exemplary location thereof is labeled "R" in FIG. 4A.

[0075] Figure 4B shows an example of various channels within the DL subframe of a frame. The Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) carries DL control information (DCI) within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE containing 9 resource element groups (REGs), and each REG containing 4 consecutive resource elements within an OFDM symbol. The DCI carries information about (persistent and non-persistent) UL resource allocations and a description of the DL data to be transmitted to the UE. Multiple (e.g., up to 8) DCIs can be configured within the PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of multiple formats. For example, there are various DCI formats for UL scheduling, non-MIMO DL scheduling, MIMO DL scheduling, and UL power control.

[0076] To determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identification information, the Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) is used by the UE. To determine the physical layer cell identification information group number and radio frame timing, the Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS) is used by the UE. Based on the physical layer identification information and the physical layer cell identification information group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the DL-RS described above. The Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) that carries the MIB may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also called SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs within the DL system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages.

[0077] In some cases, the DL RS shown in FIG. 4A may be a positioning reference signal (PRS). FIG. 5 shows an exemplary PRS configuration 500 for a cell supported by a wireless node (such as base station 102). FIG. 5 shows how a PRS positioning occasion is determined by a system frame number (SFN), a cell-specific subframe offset (Δ PRS ) 552, and a PRS periodicity (T PRS ) 520. Typically, the cell-specific PRS subframe configuration is defined by a “PRS configuration index” I PRS included in the observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) assistance data. The PRS periodicity (T PRS ) 520 and the cell-specific subframe offset (Δ PRS ) are defined based on the PRS configuration index I PRS as shown in Table 2 below.

[0078]

Table 2

[0079] The PRS configuration is defined with respect to the SFN of the cell transmitting the PRS. The PRS instance for the first subframe of the N PRS downlink subframes with the first PRS positioning occasion may satisfy the following.

[0080]

Equation

[0081] where n f is 0 ≦ n f ≦ 1023 and is the SFN, n s is 0 ≦ n s ≦ 19 and is the slot number within the radio frame defined by n f , T PRS is the PRS periodicity 520, and Δ PRS is the cell-specific subframe offset 552.

[0082] As shown in FIG. 5, the cell-specific subframe offset Δ PRS 552 can be defined with respect to the number of subframes transmitted from system frame number 0 (slot “number 0” marked as slot 550) until the start of the first (subsequent) PRS positioning occasion. In the example of FIG. 5, the number of positioning subframes (N PRS ) in each of the consecutive PRS positioning occasions 518a, 518b, and 518c is equal to 4. That is, each shaded block representing a PRS positioning occasion 518a, 518b, and 518c represents four subframes.

[0083] In some aspects, when the UE receives the PRS configuration index I PRS in the OTDOA assistance data for a particular cell, the UE may use Table 2 to determine the PRS periodicity T PRS 520 and the PRS subframe offset Δ PRS . The UE may then determine the radio frame, subframe, and slot when PRS is scheduled in the cell (e.g., using Equation (1)). The OTDOA assistance data may be determined, for example, by a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270) and includes assistance data for a reference cell and several neighboring cells supported by various base stations.

[0084] Typically, PRS occasions from all cells in a network that use the same frequency are time-aligned and may have a known fixed time offset (e.g., cell-specific subframe offset 552) with respect to other cells in the network that use different frequencies. In an SFN-synchronized network, all wireless nodes (e.g., base station 102) can be aligned both in terms of frame boundary and system frame number. Thus, in an SFN-synchronized network, all cells supported by various wireless nodes may use the same PRS configuration index for any particular frequency of PRS transmission. On the other hand, in an SFN-asynchronous network, various wireless nodes may be aligned at the frame boundary but may not be aligned in terms of system frame number. Thus, in an SFN-asynchronous network, the per-cell PRS configuration index may be configured separately by the network such that PRS occasions are time-aligned.

[0085] If the UE can obtain the cell timing (e.g., SFN) of at least one of the cells, such as a reference cell or a serving cell, the UE may determine the timing of PRS occasions of the reference cell and adjacent cells for OTDOA positioning. The timing of other cells can then be derived by the UE, for example, based on the assumption that PRS occasions from different cells overlap.

[0086] 3GPP (Registered Trademark) Rel.16 introduced various NR positioning modes aimed at enhancing the location accuracy of positioning methods involving measurements related to one or more UL PRS or DL PRS (for example, larger bandwidth (BW), FR2 beam sweeping, angle-based measurements such as angle of arrival (AoA) measurement and angle of departure (AoD) measurement, multi-cell round-trip time (RTT) measurement, etc.). When latency reduction is a priority, UE-based positioning techniques (for example, DL-only techniques without UL location measurement reports) are typically used. However, when latency is not a significant issue, UE-assisted positioning techniques can be used, whereby data measured by the UE is reported to network entities (for example, location server 230, LMF 270, etc.). The latency associated with UE-assisted positioning techniques can be somewhat reduced by implementing the LMF within the RAN.

[0087] Layer 3 (L3) signaling (for example, RRC or location positioning protocol (LPP)) is typically used to transport reports containing location-based data associated with UE-assisted positioning techniques. L3 signaling is associated with relatively high latency (for example, exceeding 100 ms) compared to layer 1 (L1, i.e., the PHY layer) signaling or layer 2 (L2, i.e., the MAC layer) signaling. In some cases, a smaller latency (for example, less than 100 ms, less than 10 ms, etc.) between the UE and the RAN for location-based reports may be desired. In such cases, L3 signaling may not be able to reach these smaller latency levels.

[0088] Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to location reporting modes that promote over-the-air transport efficiency. The various location reporting modes described below may be utilized with respect to L1, L2, or L3 signaling.

[0089] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary process 600 of wireless communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure. In one aspect, process 600 may be executed by a first communication node. In some implementations, the first communication may correspond to a UE (e.g., in a scenario where the UE measures and reports DL PRS to the base station), or a BS (e.g., in a scenario where the BS measures and reports UL PRS to the UE).

[0090] At 610, the first communication node obtains one or more measurement values related to one or more PRSs (e.g., one or more UL PRSs, one or more DL PRSs, etc.). As will be described in more detail below, the one or more measurement values may be obtained directly (e.g., via direct measurement at the first communication node) or indirectly (e.g., via an external entity that performs the measurement and then relays the measurement data to the first communication node). In one aspect, operation 610 may be executed by receiver 312, WWAN transceiver 310, processing system 332, memory 340, PRS measurement module 342, sensor 344, receiver 352, WWAN transceiver 350, processing system 384, memory 386, PRS measurement module 388, etc.

[0091] At 620, the first communication node stores a set of measurement values into a set of reporting measurement fields based on the one or more measurement values. In one example, the set of measurement values stored into the set of measurement fields may be based on various factors such as measurement-specific quality (e.g., if a particular measurement value reaches a threshold reliability or accuracy, store that measurement value in the corresponding field of the report), and / or may be selected based on one or more sub-report concatenation rules described in more detail below. In one aspect, operation 620 may be executed by processing system 332, memory 340, PRS measurement module 342, processing system 384, memory 386, PRS measurement module 388, etc.

[0092] At 630, the first communication node identifies at least one un-stored measurement field related to the report. In one example, at least one un-stored measurement field may be "blanked" (e.g., filled with dummy data or a predetermined bit sequence recognized by the second communication node as an implicit un-stored status for that field). In an alternative example, at least one un-stored measurement field may be completely omitted (rather than being filled with non-measurement bits). In some designs, the identification of at least one un-stored measurement field may be based on various factors such as measurement-specific quality (e.g., if a threshold reliability or accuracy is not reached for a particular measurement value, leaving the corresponding field for that measurement value un-stored in the report), and / or based on one or more sub-report linking rules described in more detail below. In one aspect, operation 630 may be performed by processing system 332, memory 340, PRS measurement module 342, processing system 384, memory 386, PRS measurement module 388, etc.

[0093] At 640, the first communication node transmits a report related to the indication of at least one un-stored measurement field to the second communication node. In some designs, the report itself is configured to provide the indication (e.g., by setting a particular report field to a predetermined bit configuration that conveys, through the bit configuration of the report, the specification of a particular report format, or that measurement data is not stored in those fields, i.e., "blanking" them). In other designs, the indication of at least one un-stored measurement field may be transmitted separately from the report. In one aspect, operation 640 may be performed by transmitter 314, WWAN transceiver 310, processing system 332, memory 340, PRS measurement module 342, transmitter 354, WWAN transceiver 350, processing system 384, memory 386, PRS measurement module 388, etc.

[0094] FIG. 7 shows an exemplary process 700 of wireless communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure. In one aspect, process 700 may be performed by a second communication node. In some implementations, the second communication may correspond to a UE (e.g., in a scenario where the BS measures the UL PRS and reports it to the UE, or in a sidelink (SL) UE scenario where the UE measures the DL PRS and performs a positioning function on behalf of the UE and reports it), or a BS (e.g., in a scenario where the UE measures the DL PRS and reports it to the BS).

[0095] At 710, the second communication node receives from the first communication node a report comprising a set of measurement values stored in each set of measurement fields, the set of measurement values being based on one or more measurement values related to one or more PRSs. For example, operation 710 may correspond to the reception of the report transmitted in operation 640 as described above with respect to FIG. 6. In one aspect, operation 710 may be performed by receiver 312, WWAN transceiver 310, processing system 332, memory 340, PRS measurement module 342, receiver 352, WWAN transceiver 350, processing system 384, memory 386, PRS measurement module 388, etc.

[0096] At 720, the second communication node receives a display of at least one un-stored measurement field related to the report. As described above with respect to operation 640, in some designs, the report itself is configured to provide the display (e.g., by setting a particular report field to a predetermined bit configuration that conveys, via a bit configuration or index that specifies a particular report format for the report, or by indicating that measurement data is not stored in those fields, i.e., "blanking" them). In other designs, the display of at least one un-stored measurement field may be received separately from the report. In one aspect, operation 720 may be performed by receiver 312, WWAN transceiver 310, processing system 332, memory 340, PRS measurement module 342, receiver 352, WWAN transceiver 350, processing system 384, memory 386, PRS measurement module 388, and the like.

[0097] At 730, the second communication node executes a position calculation function (e.g., LMF) based on the report. In one aspect, operation 730 may be performed by processing system 332, memory 340, processing system 384, memory 386, and the like.

[0098] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, in some designs, the reports at 640 and 710 may correspond to L1 signaling (e.g., uplink control information (UCI) communication or downlink control information (DCI) communication), L2 signaling (e.g., MAC control element (CE)), or L3 signaling (e.g., RRC / LPP signaling as used in some current systems to transport PRS-related reports).

[0099] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, a set of measurement values may be related to one or more of time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement values, reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement values, angle of arrival (AoA) measurement values, angle of departure (AoD) measurement values, motion state measurement values, trajectory measurement values, a reporting quality indication, receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) measurement values (e.g., to facilitate round trip time (RTT) calculations), or any combination thereof.

[0100] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, in some designs, the reports at 640 and 710 may be generated as a concatenation of measurement information from a plurality of sub-reports according to at least one sub-report concatenation rule. In one example, the at least one sub-report concatenation rule comprises one or more of the following. · Concatenating measurement information from a plurality of sub-reports per cell (or per TRP) (e.g., RSRP measurement information), · Concatenating measurement information from a plurality of sub-reports that are common across a plurality of cells associated with the same transmit receive point (TRP) (e.g., a single TOA measurement value using a PRS that spans cells), · Concatenating measurement information from a plurality of sub-reports associated with a plurality of PRSs (e.g., from different cells or TRPs, such as from the same cell or TRP), · Concatenating measurement information from a plurality of sub-reports associated with different measurement types (e.g., TDOA, AoA, etc.), · Concatenating measurement information from a plurality of sub-reports associated with different TRPs, · Concatenating measurement information from a plurality of sub-reports associated with different reporting transmission triggers (e.g., different periodicities such as aperiodic (A) sub-reports, semi-persistent (SP) reports, periodic (P) reports, etc.), · Concatenating UE local measurement information (e.g., motion state, trajectory, mobility information, etc.), · Concatenating measurement information from a plurality of sub-reports according to a concatenation order based on one or more criteria (e.g., measurement information with higher priority is placed earlier in the report compared to measurement information with lower priority), · Combining measurement information from multiple sub-reports based on a measurement type (e.g., only RSRP, only AoA, etc.) such that only measurement information from one measurement type is concatenated in the report. · Combining measurement information from multiple sub-reports based on measurement type grouping (e.g., only RSRP and AoA, any measurement type except RSRP, etc.) such that only measurement information from one measurement type group is concatenated in the report, or · Any combination thereof.

[0101] As an example, the processing of at least one sub-report concatenation rule may correspond to operations 620 - 630 such that the measurement information concatenated in the report corresponds to a set of measurement values stored in a set of measurement fields, while the measurement information excluded from the concatenation in the report corresponds to at least one un-stored measurement field.

[0102] Referring to FIGS. 6 - 7, in some designs, the multiple sub-reports contributing to the measurement information concatenated in the reports at 640 and 710 may comprise measurement information related to a single cell, measurement information related to multiple cells, measurement information related to at least one sidelink, or any combination thereof.

[0103] Referring to FIGS. 6 - 7, in some designs, the reports at 640 and 710 may comprise measurement information related to two or more measurement types (e.g., RSRP and AoA, etc.). In some designs, some portions of the measurement information from one or more measurements are omitted from the report related to at least one cell (e.g., measurement information that is redundant with other measurement data in the report and / or measurement information related to a low reliability level or low accuracy).

[0104] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, in some designs, the reports at 640 and 710 may have a fixed size. In other designs, the reports at 640 and 710 may have a variable size that depends on (e.g., scales with) the amount of measurement information concatenated in the report. In some designs, different sets of lower-level report types may be concatenated separately from each other, such that each set of lower-level report types is encoded differently. For example, the first lower-level report type concatenation group may comprise TDOA lower-level reports, and the second lower-level report type concatenation group may comprise RSRP lower-level reports. In one example, a particular grouping of lower-level report types concatenated together for common encoding can be based on one or more of the lower-level report concatenation rules described above. In one example, the first lower-level report type concatenation group may have a pre-configured size (e.g., similar to CSI part 1), and the second lower-level report type concatenation group may have a variable or dynamic size (e.g., similar to CSI part 2).

[0105] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, as described above, the encoding and concatenation of the reports may be performed in any order. In one example, the encoding may be after all concatenation. In a specific example of L1, the lower-level reports can be grouped, then concatenated and sent to separate encoders, and the encoded output can then be multiplexed on the L1 channel.

[0106] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, as described above, the un-stored measurement fields may be included in the report but may be "blanked" (e.g., filled with dummy data or a predetermined bit sequence recognized by the second communication node as an implicit un-stored status for that field). For example, the dummy data may be a sequence of 0s, a sequence of 1s, or some other bit sequence configured to be recognized as not corresponding to actual measurement data for the associated measurement field. As an alternative, at least one un-stored measurement field may be completely omitted (rather than being filled with non-measurement bits).

[0107] In some designs, a first un-stored measurement field associated with a report may be blanked out and a second un-stored measurement field associated with the report may be omitted. In some designs, the decision of whether to blank out or omit an un-stored measurement field from a report can be based on the size of the un-stored measurement field (e.g., blank out an un-stored measurement field that is less than a size threshold and omit an un-stored measurement field that is greater than or equal to the size threshold).

[0108] In some designs, the displays in operations 640 and 720 may clearly identify at least one un-stored measurement field. For example, a clear display may correspond to at least one un-stored measurement field being set to a default bit configuration (e.g., blanked out) within the report. In another example, the display identifies one of a plurality of report formats each associated with a different combination of measurement fields, where the identified report format is associated with at least one un-stored measurement field. Thus, an index value identifying a field not stored in the report may be transmitted (i.e., a clear display of such a field). In some designs, two or more of the plurality of report formats are associated with different report sizes (e.g., specifically, a report format with fewer stored measurement fields is generally smaller than a report format with more stored measurement fields, provided there is no significant difference in field size).

[0109] In other designs, the display at operations 640 and 720 may implicitly identify at least one un-stored measurement field. For example, the implicit display may identify one of a plurality of reporting formats each associated with a different combination of measurement fields, where the identified reporting format is associated with a set of stored measurement fields. Accordingly, an index value identifying the fields stored in the report may be communicated (i.e., the implicit display of the un-stored fields). In some designs, two or more of the plurality of reporting formats are associated with different report sizes (e.g., specifically, a reporting format with fewer stored measurement fields is generally smaller than a reporting format with more stored measurement fields, provided there is no significant difference in field size).

[0110] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, in some designs, the reports at 640 and 710 may include stand-alone measurements for at least one specific measurement value. As used herein, a stand-alone measurement is an absolute or independent value that is not related to another measurement value. In some designs, for at least one specific measurement value, the reports at 640 and 710 may include differential measurements that relate to stand-alone measurements included in that report or in a different report. For example, a particular measurement type may be performed on multiple cells. In this case, as an example, one stand-alone measurement for one of the multiple cells may be paired in the same report with differential measurements for one or more of the other cells among the multiple cells. In another example, a particular measurement type (e.g., a trajectory) may be tracked over time. In this case, as an example, the differential measurements may relate (e.g., directly or indirectly through one or more “intermediate” differential measurements) to a stand-alone measurement taken earlier in time. Despite the stand-alone measurement being earlier in time than the differential measurement, the earlier stand-alone measurement may be part of an earlier report, or even part of the same report at 640 and 710. In another example, the differential measurements may relate to stand-alone measurements of the same type in the same report (e.g., one stand-alone RSRP measurement with one or more differential RSRP measurements that relate to the stand-alone RSRP measurement, regardless of whether the RSRP measurements relate to the same signal, the same time, etc.).

[0111] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, in some designs, in the context of a differential reporting scheme, the stand-alone measurement value(s) to which one or more differential measurement values relate may correspond to a maximum or minimum value (e.g., earliest delay, strongest path, etc.). Moreover, when multiple measurement values are reported for the same measurement type, in some designs, the multiple measurement values may be sorted within the report according to a defined sort order. For example, if multiple differential measurement values are sorted together within the report, the multiple differential measurement values may implicitly relate to the same reference stand-alone measurement value. Alternatively, the stand-alone measurement value may be implicitly indicated by the structure of the report. Alternatively, the stand-alone measurement value related to the differential measurement value may be explicitly indicated within the report.

[0112] Some examples of reports at 640 and 710 are provided with reference to L1-specific aspects, although the reports at 640 and 710 may also be carried out via L2 signaling (e.g., MAC-CE) or L3 signaling (e.g., RRC / LLP signaling) as described above. In L2 (MAC-CE), there is no separate encoding similar to the L1 case (e.g., CSI part 1-2). However, there is still a code block (CB) / code block group (CBG) segmentation that may be regarded as a form of separate encoding (e.g., the segmentation is separated from the information content of the associated packet). In this case, an indication specifying which CBG carries which specific MAC-CE may be utilized to transport the reports at 640 and 710. In L3 (e.g., RRL / LLP), the RRC / LPP signaling may be configured in the same manner as existing standards, except that an indication of at least one ungathered measurement field is transmitted to increase the transport efficiency of the RRC / LPP signaling and / or to control which measurement data is transmitted via such signaling (e.g., via blanking, etc.).

[0113] Some examples of reports at 640 and 710 are provided where the first communication node corresponds to a UE and the second communication node corresponds to a BS. However, in other designs, the first communication node may correspond to a BS and the second communication node may correspond to a UE. For example, UE-based positioning methods can be extended such that the BS (or RAN) conveys measurement information to the UE via the reports at 640 and 710 (e.g., the eNB reports Rx-Tx to the UE to enable the UE to calculate its RTT-based position). Such reports may also include measurement information related to multiple cells and / or sidelink UEs (e.g., the serving cell collects measurements and / or calculated positions from these external devices and then relays this information to the UE via the reports at 640 and 710). In a specific example of L1, a new DCI format may be defined to transport the reports at 640 and 710, and as a result, this report may be monitored via an existing RNTI or a new positioning-specific RNTI (which may be defined in the specification, for example). In a scenario where the BS is the first communication node, a "separate coding" scheme (e.g., different concatenated lower-layer report groups are coded differently) need not be applied (e.g., in the case of MAC-CE, CBG may be used for DL MAC-CE similar to UL MAC-CE as described above, and in the case of DCI, a multi-stage DCI technique may be used).

[0114] Referring to FIG. 6, in some designs, the second communication node may correspond to an SL UE that acts as a relay to the base station.

[0115] Referring to FIGS. 6-7, in some designs, the first communication node may be a UE attempting to determine its location, and the second communication node may correspond to an SL UE that performs a positioning function on behalf of a UE (e.g., where the BS or WWAN does not need to be part of the location fix). In this scenario, in one example, (instead of the UL L1 approach described above) MAC-CE or (instead of DCI) DL L1 sidelink control information (SCI) may be used for the reporting at 640 and 710. For example, such an approach can help avoid a new decoder implementation for the "UCI-over-PUSCH / PUCCH" transmission type in the SL UE. A similar approach was also adopted for CSI reporting in the SL for 3GPP (registered trademark) Rel. 16 V2X (using MAC-CE).

[0116] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0117] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0118] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented or executed using a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gates or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0119] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed in this specification may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., a UE). In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside in the user terminal as discrete components.

[0120] In one or more exemplary embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. A computer-readable medium includes both a computer storage medium and a communication medium including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable medium can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc, where disk typically magnetically reproduces data and disc optically reproduces data using lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0121] The above disclosure shows exemplary aspects of the present disclosure, but it should be noted that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps, and / or actions of the method claims according to the aspects of the present disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Further, elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, but the plural is contemplated unless explicitly stated to be limited to the singular.

Explanation of Signs

[0122] 100 Wireless communication system 102 Base station 104 User equipment (UE) 110 Coverage area 120 Communication link 122, 134 Backhaul link 150 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) 152 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Station (STA) 154 Communication link 164 User equipment (UE) 170 Core network 172 Location server 180 Millimeter Wave (mmW) Base Station 182 User equipment (UE) 184 Millimeter Wave (mmW) Communication link 190 User equipment (UE) 192, 194 Device-to-Device (D2D) Peer-to-Peer (P2P) link 200 Wireless network structure 204 User equipment (UE) 210 Next Generation Core (NGC) 212 User plane function 213 User plane interface (NG-U) 214 Control plane function 215 Control plane interface (NG-C) 220 New RAN 222 gNB 223 Backhaul connection 224 eNB 230 Location server 250 Wireless network structure 260 Next-generation core (NGC) 262 Session management function (SMF) 263 User plane interface 264 Access and mobility management function (AMF) / User plane function (UPF) 265 Control plane interface 270 Location management function (LMF) 302 User equipment (UE) 304 Base station 306 Network entity 310 Wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceiver 312 Receiver 314 Transmitter 316 Antenna 318 Signal 320 Wireless local area network (WLAN) transceiver 322 Receiver 324 Transmitter 326 Antenna 328 Signal 330 Satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 332 Processing system 334 Data bus 336 Antenna 338 Satellite positioning system (SPS) signal 340 Memory component 342 PRS measurement module 344 Sensor 346 User interface 350 Wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceiver 352 Receiver 354 Transmitter 356 Antenna 358 Signal 360 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Transceiver 362 Receiver 364 Transmitter 366 Antenna 368 Signal 370 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) Receiver 376 Antenna 378 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) Signal 380 Network Interface 382 Data Bus 384 Processing System 386 Memory Component 388 PRS Measurement Module 390 Network Interface 392 Data Bus 394 Processing System 396 Memory Component 500 PRS Configuration 518 PRS Positioning Occasion 520 PRS Periodicity 552 Cell-Specific Subframe Offset

Claims

1. A method for operating a first communication node, comprising: obtaining one or more measurements related to one or more positioning reference signals (PRS); storing a set of measurements in a set of measurement fields of a report based on the one or more measurements; identifying at least one un-stored measurement field related to the report; transmitting the report related to the display of the at least one un-stored measurement field to a second communication node; wherein the display corresponds to the at least one un-stored measurement field being set to a predefined bit configuration within the report. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one un-stored measurement field is left blank in the report or completely omitted from the report.

2. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display clearly identifies the at least one un-stored measurement field.

3. A method, as claimed in claim 3, wherein the display corresponds to the at least one un-stored measurement field being set to the predefined bit configuration within the report.

4. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display implicitly identifies the at least one un-stored measurement field.

5. A method, as claimed in claim 1, wherein the display identifies one of a plurality of report formats, each related to a different combination of measurement fields.

6. A method, as claimed in claim 6, wherein two or more of the plurality of report formats are related to different report sizes.

7. A method, as claimed in claim 8, wherein the set of measurements is related to a single cell or

8. the set of measurements is related to a plurality of cells, The method according to claim 1, wherein the set of measurement values relates to a plurality of cells. **Claim 9**: The method according to claim 1, wherein the display identifies one of a plurality of reporting formats each associated with a different combination of measurement fields, and the identified reporting format is associated with the at least one un-stored measurement field. **Claim 10** A method of operating a second communication node, comprising: receiving from a first communication node a report comprising a set of measurement values stored in respective sets of measurement fields, the set of measurement values being based on one or more measurement values related to one or more positioning reference signals (PRS); receiving a display of at least one un-stored measurement field associated with the report; performing a position calculation function based on the report; wherein the display corresponds to the at least one un-stored measurement field being set to a predefined bit configuration within the report. **Claim 11** The method according to claim 10, wherein the at least one un-stored measurement field is blanked out in the report or completely omitted from the report. **Claim 12** The method according to claim 10, wherein the display clearly identifies the at least one un-stored measurement field. **Claim 13** The method according to claim 10, wherein the display corresponds to the at least one un-stored measurement field being set to the predefined bit configuration within the report. **Claim 14**: The method according to claim 10, wherein the display identifies one of a plurality of reporting formats each associated with a different combination of measurement fields, and the identified reporting format is associated with the at least one un-stored measurement field. **Claim 15** A first communication node, a memory, at least one transceiver, at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver and wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain one or more measurements related to one or more positioning reference signals (PRSs), store a set of measurements in a set of measurement fields of a report based on the one or more measurements, identify at least one un-stored measurement field related to the report, and transmit the report related to the display of the at least one un-stored measurement field to a second communication node and wherein the display corresponds to the at least one un-stored measurement field being set to a predefined bit configuration within the report, a first communication node.

16. The first communication node according to claim 15, wherein the display identifies one of a plurality of report formats each associated with a different combination of measurement fields, and the identified report format is related to the at least one un-stored measurement field.

17. A second communication node, comprising a memory, at least one transceiver, at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver and wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive from the first communication node a report comprising a set of measurements stored in each set of measurement fields, wherein the set of measurements is based on one or more measurements related to one or more positioning reference signals (PRSs), receive a display of at least one un-stored measurement field related to the report, Execute a position calculation function based on the said report and configured to perform, the said display corresponds to the setting of the at least one un-stored measurement field to a predetermined bit configuration within the said report, a second communication node. **Claim 18**: The said display identifies one of a plurality of report formats each associated with different combinations of measurement fields, and the identified report format is related to the at least one un-stored measurement field, the second communication node according to claim 17. **Claim 19** A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing computer-executable instructions, wherein when the computer-executable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium.

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