Lower Layer Radio Access Technology (RAT) Independent Measurement Report

Abstract

In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) receives, via a wireless communication network operating according to a first radio access technology (RAT), a configuration for providing at least one positioning status information (PSI) report, the first RAT being associated with at least one first positioning technology, the configuration being associated with at least one second RAT, the at least one second positioning technology, or both, to be used to estimate a location of the UE; obtains at least a first set of positioning measurements using the at least one second RAT, the at least one second positioning technology, or both; and transmits the at least one PSI report on physical resources allocated for a physical uplink or sidelink channel of the first RAT, the at least one PSI report including at least the first set of positioning measurements.

Description

Claim of Priority

[0001] Cross - Reference to Related Applications

[0001] This patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to Greek Patent Application No. 20200100118, filed on March 3, 2020, and Greek Patent Application No. 20200100221, filed on May 4, 2020, both entitled "LOW LAYER RADIO ACCESS TECHNOLOGY (RAT)-INDEPENDENT MEASUREMENT REPORTING", which have been assigned to the assignee of this application and are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

Technical Field

[0002]

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

Background Art

[0003]

[0003] Wireless communication systems have evolved through various generations, including the first - generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), the second - generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including intermediate 2.5G and 2.75G networks), the third - generation (3G) high - speed data, Internet - enabled wireless service, and the fourth - generation (4G) service (e.g., Long - Term Evolution (LTE®) or WiMax®). Currently, there are many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular and personal communication service (PCS) systems. Examples of well - known cellular systems include the Cellular Analog Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM®), etc.

[0004]

[0004] The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, called New Radio (NR), among other improvements, requires higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage. The 5G standard by the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users and data rates of one gigabit per second to tens of workers on an office floor. To support large sensor deployments, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. Thus, 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

[0005]

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary related to one or more aspects disclosed herein. Accordingly, the following summary should not be regarded as an extensive overview related to all contemplated aspects, nor should the following summary be regarded as identifying key or critical elements related to all contemplated aspects or as delimiting the scope related to a particular aspect. Thus, the following summary has the sole purpose of presenting in a simplified form, prior to the forms for carrying out the invention presented below, some concepts related to one or more aspects related to the mechanisms disclosed herein.

[0006]

[0006] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes receiving a configuration for providing at least one positioning state information (PSI) report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first radio access technology (RAT), the first RAT being associated with at least one first positioning technology, the configuration being associated with at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technology, or both, to be used for estimating the location of the UE, and obtaining at least a first set of positioning measurement values using at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technology, or both, and transmitting at least one PSI report on a physical resource allocated for a physical uplink channel or a sidelink channel of the first RAT, the at least one PSI report including at least the first set of positioning measurement values.

[0007]

[0007] In one aspect, a UE includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to receive, via the at least one transceiver, a configuration for providing at least one PSI report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first RAT, the first RAT being associated with at least one first positioning technology, the configuration being associated with at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technology, or both, to be used for estimating the location of the UE, and obtain at least a first set of positioning measurement values using at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technology, or both via the at least one transceiver, and cause the at least one transceiver to transmit at least one PSI report on a physical resource allocated for a physical uplink channel or a sidelink channel of the first RAT, the at least one PSI report including at least the first set of positioning measurement values.

[0008]

[0008] In one aspect, means for a UE to receive a configuration for providing at least one PSI report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first RAT, the first RAT being associated with at least one first positioning technique, the configuration being associated with at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technique, or both, to be used to estimate the location of the UE, and means for obtaining at least a first set of positioning measurements using at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technique, or both, and means for transmitting at least one PSI report on a physical resource allocated for a physical uplink channel or a sidelink channel of the first RAT, the at least one PSI report including at least the first set of positioning measurements.

[0009]

[0009] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions instructs a UE to receive a configuration for providing at least one PSI report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first RAT, the first RAT being associated with at least one first positioning technique, the configuration being associated with at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technique, or both, to be used to estimate the location of the UE, and instructs the UE to obtain at least a first set of positioning measurements using at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technique, or both, and instructs the UE to transmit at least one PSI report on a physical resource allocated for a physical uplink channel or a sidelink channel of the first RAT, the at least one PSI report including at least the first set of positioning measurements.

[0010]

[0010] Other objectives and advantages related to the aspects disclosed herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and the mode for carrying out the invention.

[0011]

[0011] The accompanying drawings are presented to assist in the description of various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided merely as examples of the aspects, not as limitations of the aspects.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0012]

Figure 1

[0012] A diagram showing an exemplary wireless communication system according to an aspect of the present disclosure.

Figure 2A

[0013] A diagram showing an exemplary wireless network structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure.

Figure 2B

Figure 3A

[0014] A simplified block diagram of some exemplary aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE) and configured to support the communications taught herein.

Figure 3B

Figure 3C

Figure 4A

[0015] A diagram showing a user plane and a control plane protocol stack according to an aspect of the present disclosure.

Figure 4B

Figure 5A

[0016] A diagram showing an exemplary frame structure and channels within the frame structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure.

Figure 5B

Figure 5C

Figure 5D

Figure 6

[0017] A diagram showing an exemplary Long-Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) reference source for positioning.

Figure 7

[0018] A diagram showing an exemplary downlink control information (DCI) trigger for PSI reporting according to an aspect of the present disclosure.

Figure 8

Figure 9

[0019] A diagram showing an exemplary method of wireless communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0013]

[0020] 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. Further, 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.

[0014]

[0021] The words “exemplary” and / or “example” are used herein to mean “serving as 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 require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the described features, advantages, or modes of operation.

[0015]

[0022] 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 referred to 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.

[0016]

[0023] Furthermore, many aspects are described with respect to a series 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 implemented by a particular circuit (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Further, the series of actions described herein may be considered to be implemented in their entirety within any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, cause the relevant processor of the device to perform or cause to be performed the functions described herein. Thus, the various aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented in several different forms all contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Further, for each of the aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein, for example, as "logic configured to" perform the described action.

[0017]

[0024] 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 can be any wireless communication device used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, commercially available tracking device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.). A UE can be mobile or (e.g., at some times) stationary and can 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 device", "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 external networks such as the Internet and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for a UE, such as via a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specifications, etc.).

[0018]

[0025] The base station may operate according to one of several RATs communicating with the UE, depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), new radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as gNB or g-node B), etc. The base station may be used to support wireless access by the UE, including primarily supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the supported UE. In some systems, the base station may provide purely an edge node signaling function, while in other systems, it 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) or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, forward traffic channel, etc.). The term traffic channel (TCH) as used herein may refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0019]

[0026] The term "base station" can 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, the physical TRP can be the antenna of the base station corresponding to the cell (or some cell sectors) of the base station. When the term "base station" refers to multiple collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRPs can 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, the physical TRPs can 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 TRPs can be the serving base station that receives measurement reports from the UE and a neighbor base station whose reference RF signal the UE is measuring. Since the TRP is the point from which the base station transmits and receives wireless signals, references in this specification to transmissions from the base station or receptions at the base station should be understood to refer to a particular TRP of the base station.

[0020]

[0027] In some implementations that support UE positioning, the base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but instead may transmit to the UE a reference signal to be measured by the UE and / or receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting a signal to the UE) and / or a location measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring a signal from the UE).

[0021]

[0028] An "RF signal" comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transports information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through a multipath channel, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between the transmitter and the receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal.

[0022]

[0029] FIG. 1 shows an exemplary wireless communication system 100. (Sometimes referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) The wireless communication system 100 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 and / or ng-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, etc.

[0023]

[0030] The base station 102 collectively forms a RAN, interfaces with the core network 170 (e.g., evolved packet core (EPC) or 5G core (5GC)) through the backhaul link 122, and can interface with one or more location servers 172 (which may be part of the core network 170 or external to the core network 170) through the core network 170. In addition to other functions, the base station 102 can 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, distribution 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 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC / 5GC) via a backhaul link 134, which can be wired or wireless.

[0024]

[0031] The base station 102 can wirelessly communicate with the 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 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., via some frequency resource such as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, etc.) and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., Physical Cell Identifier (PCI), Virtual Cell Identifier (VCI), Cell Global Identifier (CGI)) 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 specific base station, the term "cell" can, depending on the context, refer to either or both 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 (e.g., sector) of a base station as long as a carrier frequency is detected and can be used for communication within some portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0025]

[0032] The geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macro cell base stations 102 can partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), but some of the geographic coverage areas 110 can be significantly overlapped by a larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, the small cell base station 102' can have a geographic coverage area 110' that significantly overlaps with the geographic coverage areas 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macro cell base stations can be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network can also include a Home eNB (HeNB) that can provide services to a restricted group known as a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG).

[0026]

[0033] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink transmissions (also referred to as reverse links) from the UE 104 to the base station 102 and / or downlink transmissions (also referred to as forward links) 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 with respect to the downlink and the uplink (for example, more or fewer carriers may be allocated for the downlink than for the uplink).

[0027]

[0034] 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 (for example, 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) procedure or a listen before talk (LBT) procedure before communicating to determine whether the channel is available.

[0028]

[0035] The small cell base station 102’ can operate in the licensed and / or unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102’ can adopt LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as that used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102’ adopting LTE / 5G in the unlicensed frequency spectrum can boost the coverage to the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0029]

[0036] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a mmW base station 180 that can operate in millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies and / or near mmW frequencies and is communicating with the UE 182. Extremely High Frequency (EHF) is a part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Near mmW can extend downward to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The Super High Frequency (SHF) band, also referred to as centimeter waves, extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz. Communications using the mmW / near mmW radio frequency band have high path loss and a relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 can utilize beamforming (transmission and / or reception) via the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Further, in an alternative configuration, it will be understood that one or more base stations 102 can also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Therefore, it will be understood that the above description is merely an example and should not be construed as limiting the various aspects disclosed herein.

[0030]

[0037] 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, i.e., in all directions. In transmission beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (with respect to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby providing a faster and stronger RF signal (in terms of data rate) to the receiving device(s). To change the directionality 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 that are broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node can 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 point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. In particular, the RF current from the transmitter is supplied to the individual antennas with an appropriate phase relationship such that the radio waves from the separate antennas are added together to increase the radiation in the desired direction while canceling and suppressing the radiation in the undesired directions.

[0031]

[0038] The transmit beam can be quasi-collocated, which means that the transmit beam appears to have the same parameters to a receiver (e.g., UE) regardless of whether the transmit antennas of the network node are physically collocated. In NR, there are four types of quasi-collocation (QCL) relationships. In particular, a given type of QCL relationship means that some parameters regarding the target reference RF signal on the target beam can be derived from information regarding the source reference RF signal on the source beam. 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, mean delay, and delay spread of the target 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 target 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 mean delay of the target 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 target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0032]

[0039] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver can increase the gain setting of an array of antennas and / or adjust the phase setting in that direction to amplify RF signals received from a particular direction (e.g., increase its gain level). Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is high relative to the beam gains along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the highest 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 (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

[0033]

[0040] Receive beams can be spatially related. Spatial relationship means that the parameters for the transmit beam for a second reference signal can be derived from information about the receive beam for the first reference signal. For example, a UE can use a particular receive beam to receive one or more reference downlink reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signal (PRS), tracking reference signal (TRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), cell-specific reference signal (CRS), channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), synchronization signal block (SSB), etc.) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam for sending one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., uplink positioning reference signal (UL-PRS), sounding reference signal (SRS), demodulation reference signal (DMRS), PTRS, etc.) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0034]

[0041] Note that the "downlink" beam can be either a transmission beam or a reception beam depending on the entity forming 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, it is a reception beam for receiving the downlink reference signal. Similarly, the "uplink" beam can be either a transmission beam or a reception beam depending on the entity forming it. For example, when the base station forms an uplink beam, it is an uplink reception beam, and when the UE forms an uplink beam, it is an uplink transmission beam.

[0035]

[0042] 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, FR1 (from 450 to 6000 MHz), FR2 (from 24250 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 the carrier that operates on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by the UE 104 / 182 and the cell with which 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 carries all common and UE-specific control channels and can be a carrier within the authorized frequency (however, this is not always the case). The secondary carrier can be configured when the RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and is a carrier that operates on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) and can be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier can be a carrier within the unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only the necessary signaling information and signals. For example, since both the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are typically UE-specific, what is UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in the cell can have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for 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 distribute the load across different carriers.Regardless of whether it is a PCell or an SCell, since a "serving cell" corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier through which some base station communicates, terms such as "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency" can be used interchangeably.

[0036]

[0043] For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by macrocell base station 102 can be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and other frequencies utilized by macrocell base station 102 and / or mmW base station 180 can be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers enables UE104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or reception rate. For example, two aggregated 20 MHz carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically lead to a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to what can be achieved by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0037]

[0044] Wireless communication system 100 can further include UE164 that can communicate with macrocell base station 102 via communication link 120 and / or with mmW base station 180 via mmW communication link 184. For example, macrocell base station 102 can support a PCell and one or more SCells for UE164, and mmW base station 180 can support one or more SCells for UE164.

[0038]

[0045] In the example of FIG. 1, one or more Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites) can be used as an independent source of location information for any of the illustrated UEs (shown in FIG. 1 as a single UE 104 for simplicity). UE 104 can include one or more dedicated GNSS receivers specially designed to receive GNSS signals 124 for deriving geolocation information from SV 112. A GNSS is generally a system of transmitters arranged to enable a receiver (e.g., UE 104) to determine its location on or above the Earth based at least in part on signals (e.g., GNSS signals 124) received from a transmitter (e.g., SV 112). Such transmitters generally transmit signals marked with a set number of chips of a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code. Although generally located in SV 112, the transmitter can sometimes be located on a ground-based control station, base station 102, and / or another UE 104.

[0039]

[0046] The use of the SPS signal 124 can be augmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBASs) that can be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, SBASs can include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS)-aided Geo Augmented Navigation or the GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN). Accordingly, as used herein, SPS can include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems and / or augmentation systems, and the SPS signal 124 can include SPS signals, SPS-like signals, and / or other signals related to such one or more SPSs.

[0040]

[0047] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that are indirectly connected to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as "sidelink"). In the example of FIG. 1, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of UE 104 connected to one of base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity), and a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (registered trademark) (WiFi (registered trademark)-D), Bluetooth (registered trademark).

[0041]

[0048] Figure 2A shows an exemplary wireless network structure 200. For example, 5GC 210 (also referred to as Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be functionally regarded as a control plane function 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and a user plane function 212 (e.g., UE gateway function, access to a data network, IP routing, etc.) that operate collaboratively to form a core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect gNB 222 to 5GC 210, particularly to the control plane function 214 and the user plane function 212. In an additional configuration, ng-eNB 224 can also be connected to 5GC 210 via NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. Further, ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the new RAN 220 can have only one or more gNB 222s, and other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNB 224 and gNB 222. Either gNB 222 or ng-eNB 224 can communicate with UE 204 (e.g., any of the UEs shown in FIG. 1). Another optional aspect can include a location server 230 that may be communicating with 5GC 210 to provide location assistance to UE 204. The 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, can correspond to each single server. The location server 230 can be configured to support one or more location services for UE 204 that can connect to the location server 230 via the core network, 5GC 210, and / or the Internet (not shown). Further, the location server 230 can be incorporated into a component of the core network or alternatively can be external to the core network.

[0042]

[0049] Figure 2B shows another exemplary wireless network structure 250. For example, 5GC 260 can be considered functionally as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264 that operates collaboratively to form a core network (i.e., 5GC 260), and a user plane function provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262. The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the ng-eNB 224 to the 5GC 260, particularly to the UPF 262 and the AMF 264 respectively. In an additional configuration, the gNB 222 can also be connected to the 5GC 260 via a control plane interface 265 to the AMF 264 and a user plane interface 263 to the UPF 262. Further, the ng-eNB 224 can communicate directly with the gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223, with or without using gNB direct connectivity to the 5GC 260. In some configurations, the new RAN 220 can have only one or more gNBs 222, and other configurations include one or more of both the ng-eNB 224 and the gNB 222. Either the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 can communicate with the UE 204 (e.g., any of the UEs shown in FIG. 1). The base stations of the new RAN 220 communicate with the AMF 264 via an N2 interface and with the UPF 262 via an N3 interface.

[0043]

[0050] The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between the UE 204 and the session management function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and a security anchor function (SEAF). The AMF 264 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 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF 264 also include security context management (SCM). SCM receives a key from the SEAF for use in deriving an access network specific key. The functions of the AMF 264 also include location service management for regulatory services, transport for location service messages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 acting as a location server 230, transport for location service messages between the new RAN 220 and the LMF 270, allocation of EPS bearer identifiers for interoperability with an evolved packet system (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. Further, the AMF 264 also supports functions for non-3GPP (Registered Trademark) (3rd Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0044]

[0051] The functions of the UPF 262 include, when applicable, acting as an anchor point for in / intra-RAT mobility, acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point of interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, 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., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more “end markers” to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support the transfer of user plane location service messages between the UE 204 and a location server such as the Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP) 272.

[0045]

[0052] The functions of the SMF 266 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 262 for routing traffic to appropriate destinations, policy enforcement and partial control of QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0046]

[0053] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270 that may communicate with the 5GC 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, may correspond to each 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, via the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown). The SLP 272 may support similar functions as the LMF 270, but the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, the new RAN 220, and the UE 204 via the control plane (using, for example, interfaces and protocols intended to convey signaling messages rather than voice or data), and the SLP 272 may communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (not shown in Figure 2B) via the user plane (using, for example, protocols intended to carry voice and / or data such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0047]

[0054] FIG. 3A, FIG. 3B, and FIG. 3C show some exemplary components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into 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 implement any of the network functions described herein, including location server 230 and LMF 270) to support the file transfer operations taught herein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different types of devices in different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other devices in the communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include similar components as those described to provide similar functionality. Also, a given device may include one or more of the components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate using different technologies.

[0048]

[0055] UE 302 and base station 304 each include a wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceiver 310 and 350 respectively, and provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, receiving, measuring, adjusting, refraining from transmitting, etc.) for communicating via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network. 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) via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) on the corresponding wireless communication medium (e.g., some set of time / frequency resources in a specific frequency spectrum). WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.) respectively according to the designated RAT, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.) respectively. In particular, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 each include one or more transmitters 314 and 354 respectively for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, and each include one or more receivers 312 and 352 respectively for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358.

[0049]

[0056] UE 302 and base station 304 also each include, in at least 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 and provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for adjusting, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) for communicating with other network nodes such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc. over the respective wireless communication medium via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth, etc.). WLAN transceivers 320 and 360 can be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.) according to the designated RAT and, conversely, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.). In particular, WLAN transceivers 320 and 360 each include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, and each include one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368.

[0050]

[0057] A transceiver circuit including at least one transmitter and at least one receiver may, in some implementations, comprise an integrated device (e.g., implemented as the transmitter circuit and the receiver circuit of a single communication device), in some implementations, may comprise a separate transmitter device and a separate receiver device, or in other implementations, may be implemented in other ways. In one aspect, the transmitter may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that enable 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, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that enable each device to perform reception beamforming as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter and the receiver may share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) such that each device can perform only reception or transmission at a given time, rather than both reception and transmission simultaneously. The wireless communication devices of UE302 and / or base station 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.

[0051]

[0058] UE 302 and base station 304 also include satellite positioning system (SPS) receivers 330 and 370 in at least some cases. SPS receivers 330 and 370 may be respectively connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, and may provide means for receiving and / or measuring SPS signals 338 and 378, such as signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo signals, Beidou signals, India's Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), and the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS). 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 UE 302 and base station 304 using measurements obtained by any suitable SPS algorithm.

[0052]

[0059] Base station 304 and network entity 306 each include at least one network interface 380 and 390 respectively, providing means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) for communicating with other network entities. For example, network interfaces 380 and 390 (e.g., one or more network access ports) may 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 may be implemented as transceivers configured to support wire-based or wireless signal communication. This communication may involve, for example, sending and receiving messages, parameters, and / or other types of information.

[0053]

[0060] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that can be used with the operations disclosed herein. UE 302 includes, for example, a processor circuit that implements a processing system 332 for providing functions related to wireless positioning and for providing other processing functions. Base station 304 includes, for example, a processing system 384 for providing functions related to wireless positioning disclosed herein and for providing other processing functions. Network entity 306 includes, for example, a processing system 394 for providing functions related to wireless positioning disclosed herein and for providing other processing functions. Processing systems 332, 384, and 394 can thus provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for instructing, and the like. In one aspect, processing systems 332, 384, and 394 can 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 circuits.

[0054]

[0061] UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include memory circuits that implement memory components 340, 386, and 396 (e.g., each including a memory device) respectively to maintain information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Memory components 340, 386, and 396 can thus provide means for storing, retrieving, maintaining, etc. In some cases, UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may each include positioning components 342, 388, and 398. Positioning components 342, 388, and 398, when executed, can be part of or coupled to the respective processing systems 332, 384, and 394 as hardware circuits that cause UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. In other aspects, positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be external to processing systems 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., integrated with another processing system that is part of a modem processing system, etc.). Alternatively, positioning components 342, 388, and 398 can be memory modules stored in the respective memory components 340, 386, and 396 that cause UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein when executed by processing systems 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.). FIG. 3A shows possible locations of positioning component 342, which can be part of WWAN transceiver 310, memory component 340, processing system 332, or any combination thereof, or can be a stand-alone component. FIG. 3B shows possible locations of positioning component 388, which can be part of WWAN transceiver 350, memory component 386, processing system 384, or any combination thereof, or can be a stand-alone component.FIG. 3C shows possible locations of a positioning component 398 that can be part of (one or more) network interfaces 390, memory components 396, processing systems 394, or any combination thereof, or can be a stand-alone component.

[0055]

[0062] UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to a processing system 332 to provide means for detecting or sensing movement and / or orientation information that is independent of movement data derived from signals received by a WWAN transceiver 310, a WLAN transceiver 320, and / or an SPS receiver 330. By way of example, the (one or more) sensors 344 can include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical systems (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 (one or more) sensors 344 can include multiple different types of devices and can combine their outputs to provide movement information. For example, the (one or more) sensors 344 can 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.

[0056]

[0063] Further, UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides means for providing an indication to the user (e.g., an audible and / or visual indication) and / or means for receiving user input (e.g., upon actuation of a sensing device such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, base station 304 and network entity 306 may also include a user interface.

[0057]

[0064] Looking more specifically at processing system 384, in the downlink, IP packets from network entity 306 can be provided to processing system 384. Processing system 384 can implement functions 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. Processing system 384 can perform RRC layer functions related to the broadcasting of 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 reports, header compression / decompression, and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; PDCP layer functions related to header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functions related to the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction via Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions related to the mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0058]

[0065] The transmitter 354 and the receiver 352 may implement layer 1 (L1) functions related to various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, includes 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 the 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), multi-value 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 to generate a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then synthesized with each other using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to generate a plurality of spatial streams. The channel estimation values from the channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation schemes, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimation values may be derived from the reference signals transmitted by the UE 302 and / or channel state feedback. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with each spatial stream for transmission.

[0059]

[0066] In UE 302, receiver 312 receives signals through its respective antenna(s) 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 functions related to various signal processing functions. Receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover the spatial stream destined for UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for UE 302, they 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 signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation points transmitted by base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on the channel estimate values calculated by the channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals initially 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 (L3) and layer 2 (L2) functions.

[0060]

[0067] On the uplink, processing system 332 provides demultiplexing, packet reassembly, decoding, header recovery, and control signal processing between the transport channel and the logical channel to recover IP packets from the core network. Processing system 332 is also responsible for error detection.

[0061]

[0068] Similar to the functions described for downlink transmission by base station 304, the processing system 332 includes RRC layer functions related to system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting, PDCP layer functions related to header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, rearrangement of RLC data PDUs, and RLC layer functions 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 via hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0062]

[0069] Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator from reference signals or feedback transmitted by base station 304 can be used by transmitter 314 to select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and to enable spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by transmitter 314 can be provided to one or more different antennas 316. Transmitter 314 can modulate an RF carrier with each spatial stream for transmission.

[0063]

[0070] Uplink transmission is processed at base station 304 in a manner similar to that described for the receiver function in UE 302. Receiver 352 receives signals through its respective one or more antennas 356. Receiver 352 recovers the information modulated on the RF carrier and provides that information to processing system 384.

[0064]

[0071] On the uplink, the processing system 384 provides demultiplexing between transport channels and logical channels, packet reassembly, decoding, header restoration, and control signal processing 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.

[0065]

[0072] For the sake of convenience, the UE 302, the base station 304, and / or the network entity 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 may have different functions in different designs.

[0066]

[0073] The various components of UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 can communicate with each other via data buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. The components of FIGS. 3A - 3C can be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of FIGS. 3A - 3C can be implemented in 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 uses at least one memory component to store information or executable code used by the circuit to provide this functionality and / or may incorporate it. For example, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 310 - 346 can be implemented by the processor of UE 302 and (one or more) memory components (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 350 - 388 can be implemented by the processor of base station 304 and (one or more) memory components (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Also, some or all of the functions represented by blocks 390 - 398 can be implemented by the processor of network entity 306 and (one or more) memory components (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE", "by the base station", "by the network entity", etc. However, as will be understood, such operations, actions, and / or functions are actually performed by specific components or combinations of components such as processing systems 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memory components 340, 386, and 396, positioning components 342, 388, and 398, etc. of UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc.

[0067]

[0074] Figure 4A shows a user plane protocol stack according to an aspect of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 4A, a UE 404 and a base station 402 (which may each correspond to either a UE or a base station as described herein) implement a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer 410, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer 415, a radio link control (RLC) layer 420, a media access control (MAC) layer 425, and a physical (PHY) layer 430 from the topmost layer to the bottommost layer. A particular instance of a protocol layer is referred to as a protocol "entity". Thus, the terms "protocol layer" and "protocol entity" may be used interchangeably.

[0068]

[0075] As shown by the double-arrow lines in Figure 4A, each layer of the protocol stack implemented by the UE 404 communicates with the same layer of the base station 402, and vice versa. Two corresponding protocol layers / entities of the UE 404 and the base station 402 are referred to as "peers", "peer entities", etc. Collectively, the SDAP layer 410, the PDCP layer 415, the RLC layer 420, and the MAC layer 425 are referred to as "layer 2" or "L2". The PHY layer 430 is referred to as "layer 1" or "L1".

[0069]

[0076] Figure 4B shows a control plane protocol stack according to an aspect of the present disclosure. In addition to the PDCP layer 415, the RLC layer 420, the MAC layer 425, and the PHY layer 430, the UE 404 and the base station 402 also implement a radio resource control (RRC) layer 445. Further, the UE 404 and the AMF 406 implement a non-access stratum (NAS) layer 440.

[0070]

[0077] The RLC layer 420 supports three transmission modes for packets, namely, the transparent mode (TM), the unacknowledged mode (UM), and the acknowledged mode (AM). In the TM mode, there is no RLC header, no segmentation / reassembly, and no feedback (i.e., no acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK)). Further, there is buffering only at the transmitter. In the UM mode, there is an RLC header, buffering at both the transmitter and the receiver, and segmentation / reassembly, but no feedback (i.e., data transmission does not require a reception response (e.g., ACK / NACK) from the receiver). In the AM mode, there is an RLC header, buffering at both the transmitter and the receiver, segmentation / reassembly, and feedback (i.e., data transmission requires a reception response (e.g., ACK / NACK) from the receiver). Each of these modes can be used for both sending data and receiving data. In the TM mode and the UM mode, separate RLC entities are used for transmission and reception, but in the AM mode, a single RLC entity performs both transmission and reception. Note that each logical channel uses a specific RLC mode. That is, the RLC configuration is per logical channel without dependence on numerology and / or transmission time interval (TTI) duration (i.e., the duration of transmission on the radio link). In particular, the broadcast control channel (BCCH), the paging control channel (PCCH), and the common control channel (CCCH) use only the TM mode, the dedicated control channel (DCCH) uses only the AM mode, and the dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) uses either the UM mode or the AM mode. Whether the DTCH uses UM or AM is determined by RRC messaging.

[0071]

[0078] The main services and functions of the RLC layer 420 depend on the transmission mode, and include the transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), sequence numbering independent of sequence numbering in the PDCP layer 415, error correction via automatic repeat request (ARQ), segmentation and reassembly, service data unit (SDU) reassembly, RLC SDU discard, and RLC reestablishment. The ARQ function provides error correction in the AM mode and has the following characteristics: ARQ retransmission of RLC PDUs or RLC PDU segments based on RLC status reports, polling for RLC status reports when required by the RLC, and RLC receiver triggering of RLC status reports after detection of missing RLC PDUs or RLC PDU segments.

[0072]

[0079] The main services and functions of the PDCP layer 415 for the user plane include sequence numbering, header compression and decompression (for robust header compression (ROHC)), transfer of user data, reordering and duplicate detection (when in-order delivery to the layer above the PDCP layer 415 is required), PDCP PDU routing (in the case of split bearers), retransmission of PDCP SDUs, encryption and decryption, PDCP SDU discard, PDCP reestablishment and data recovery for RLC AM, and duplication of PDCP PDUs. The main services and functions of the PDCP layer 415 for the control plane include encryption, decryption, and integrity protection, transfer of control plane data, and duplication of PDCP PDUs.

[0073]

[0080] The SDAP layer 410 is an access stratum (AS) layer, and its main services and functions include mapping between quality of service (QoS) flows and data radio bearers, and marking QoS flow identifiers in both downlink and uplink packets. A single protocol entity of the SDAP is configured for each individual PDU session.

[0074]

[0081] The main services and functions of the RRC layer 445 include the broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS, paging initiated by 5GC (e.g., NGC210 or 260) or RAN (e.g., new RAN220), the establishment, maintenance, and release of the RRC connection between the UE and the RAN, security functions including key management, establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of signaling radio bearers (SRBs) and data radio bearers (DRBs), mobility functions (including handover, UE cell selection and reselection and control of cell selection and reselection, and context transfer in handover), QoS management functions, UE measurement reporting and control of reporting, and NAS message transfer from / to the UE to / from NAS.

[0075]

[0082] The NAS layer 440 is the top layer of the control plane between the UE 404 and the AMF 406 in the radio interface. The main functions of the protocol that is part of the NAS layer 440 are to support the mobility of the UE 404 and to support session management procedures for establishing and maintaining Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity between the UE 404 and the packet data network (PDN). The NAS layer 440 performs evolved packet system (EPS) bearer management, authentication, EPS connection management (ECM)-IDLE mobility handling, paging origination in ECM-IDLE, and security control.

[0076]

[0083] To support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs), various frame structures can be used. FIG. 5A is a diagram 500 showing an example of a downlink frame structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 5B is a diagram 530 showing an example of channels within the downlink frame structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 5C is a diagram 550 showing an example of an uplink frame structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 5D is a diagram 570 showing an example of channels within the uplink frame structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0077]

[0084] 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 use OFDM on the uplink as well. 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 can be modulated with data. Generally, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain in OFDM and in the time domain in SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers can be fixed, and the total number (K) of subcarriers can depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing can be 15 kilohertz (kHz), and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) can be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Thus, the nominal FFT size can 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 can also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband can cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there can be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0078]

[0085] LTE supports a single numerology (such as subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR can support multiple numerologies (μ), for example, subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz (μ = 0), 30 kHz (μ = 1), 60 kHz (μ = 2), 120 kHz (μ = 3), and 240 kHz (μ = 4), or larger, may be available. At each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For 15 kHz SCS (μ = 0), there is 1 slot per subframe and 10 slots per frame, the slot duration is 1 millisecond (ms), the symbol duration is 66.7 microseconds (μs), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth in MHz with a 4K FFT size is 50. For 30 kHz SCS (μ = 1), there are 2 slots per subframe and 20 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.5 ms, the symbol duration is 33.3 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth in MHz with a 4K FFT size is 100. For 60 kHz SCS (μ = 2), there are 4 slots per subframe and 40 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.25 ms, the symbol duration is 16.7 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth in MHz with a 4K FFT size is 200. For 120 kHz SCS (μ = 3), there are 8 slots per subframe and 80 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.125 ms, the symbol duration is 8.33 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth in MHz with a 4K FFT size is 400. For 240 kHz SCS (μ = 4), there are 16 slots per subframe and 160 slots per frame, the slot duration is 0.0625 ms, the symbol duration is 4.17 μs, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth in MHz with a 4K FFT size is 800.

[0079]

[0086] In the example of FIGS. 5A to 5D, a numerology of 15 kHz is used. Thus, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame is divided into 10 equal-sized sub-frames of 1 ms each, and each sub-frame contains one time slot. In FIGS. 5A to 5D, time is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), time increases from left to right, frequency is represented vertically (on the Y-axis), and frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top.

[0080]

[0087] A resource grid can be used to represent time slots, and each time slot contains one or more time-parallel resource blocks (RBs) (also called physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into a plurality of resource elements (REs). An RE can correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one sub-carrier in the frequency domain. In the numerology of FIGS. 5A to 5D, for the normal cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive sub-carriers in the frequency domain for a total of 84 REs and may contain 7 consecutive symbols in the time domain. For the extended cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive sub-carriers in the frequency domain for a total of 72 REs and may contain 6 consecutive symbols in the time domain. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0081]

[0088] Some of the REs carry downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS). The DL-RS can include PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, etc. FIG. 5A shows an exemplary location of the REs carrying the PRS (labeled "R").

[0082]

[0089] The set of resource elements (REs) used for the transmission of PRS is referred to as a "PRS resource". The set of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and can span (one or more, etc.) "N" consecutive symbols within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, the PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

[0083]

[0090] The transmission of the PRS resource within a given PRB has a specific (also referred to as "comb density") comb size. The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. Specifically, in the case of comb size "N", the PRS is transmitted among every Nth subcarrier of the symbol of the PRB. For example, in the case of comb 4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, the REs corresponding to every 4th subcarrier (such as subcarriers 0, 4, 8, etc.) are used to transmit the PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, comb sizes of comb 2, comb 4, comb 6, and comb 12 are supported for DL-PRS. Figure 5A shows an exemplary PRS resource configuration for comb 6 (spanning 6 symbols). That is, the location of the shaded REs (labeled "R") indicates the comb 6 PRS resource configuration.

[0084]

[0091] Currently, the DL-PRS resource can span two, four, six, or twelve consecutive symbols within a slot with a full frequency domain staggered pattern. The DL-PRS resource can be configured in any upper layer configured downlink or flexible (FL) symbol of the slot. There can be a constant resource element unit energy (EPRE) for all REs of a given DL-PRS resource. The following are the frequency offsets between symbols for comb sizes 2, 4, 6, and 12 spanning two, four, six, and twelve symbols. Comb 2 of 2 symbols: {0,1}, Comb 2 of 4 symbols: {0,1,0,1}, Comb 2 of 6 symbols: {0,1,0,1,0,1}, Comb 2 of 12 symbols: {0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1,0,1}, Comb 4 of 4 symbols: {0,2,1,3}, Comb 4 of 12 symbols: {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}, Comb 6 of 6 symbols: {0,3,1,4,2,5}, Comb 6 of 12 symbols: {0,3,1,4,2,5,0,3,1,4,2,5}, and Comb 12 of 12 symbols: {0,6,3,9,1,7,4,10,2,8,5,11}.

[0085]

[0092] A "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources used for the transmission of PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. Further, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. The PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and is associated with a specific TRP (identified by the TRP ID). Further, the PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the same periodicity, common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as "PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor") across slots. The periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource of the first PRS instance to the first repetition of the same first PRS resource of the next PRS instance. The periodicity can have a length selected from 2^μ*{4,5,8,10,16,20,32,40,64,80,160,320,640,1280,2560,5120,10240} slots, where μ = 0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor can have a length selected from {1,2,4,6,8,16,32} slots.

[0086]

[0093] The PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where the TRP can transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource of a PRS resource set can be transmitted on a different beam, and thus, a "PRS resource" or simply a "resource" may be referred to as a "beam". It should be noted that this has no implication regarding whether the TRP and the beam on which the PRS is transmitted are known to the UE.

[0087]

[0094] A "PRS instance" or "PRS occasion" is one instance of a periodically repeating time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive slots) in which PRS is expected to be transmitted. A PRS occasion may also be referred to as a "PRS positioning occasion", "PRS positioning instance", "positioning occasion", "positioning instance", "positioning repetition", or simply "occasion", "instance", or "repetition".

[0088]

[0095] A "positioning frequency layer" (also simply called "frequency layer") is a set of one or more PRS resource sets across one or more TRPs having the same values for several parameters. Specifically, the set of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning that all numerologies supported for PDSCH are also supported for PRS), the same point A, the same value of the downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The point A parameter takes the value of the parameter "ARFCN-ValueNR" (where "ARFCN" represents "absolute radio frequency channel number") and is an identifier / code that specifies a pair of physical radio channels used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of 4 PRBs, is at least 24 PRBs, and at most 272 PRBs. Currently, up to 4 frequency layers are defined, and up to 2 PRS resource sets can be configured per TRP per frequency layer.

[0089]

[0096] The concept of frequency layer is somewhat similar to the concepts of component carrier and bandwidth part (BWP), but different in that component carrier and BWP are used by one base station (or macro cell base station and small cell base station) to transmit data channels, while frequency layer is used by several (usually three or more) base stations to transmit PRS. The UE may indicate the number of frequency layers it can support when sending its positioning capabilities to the network, such as during an LTE positioning protocol (LPP) session. For example, the UE may indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.

[0090]

[0097] Figure 5B shows an example of various channels within the downlink slot of a radio frame. In NR, the channel bandwidth or system bandwidth is divided into multiple BWPs. A BWP is a contiguous set of PRBs selected from a contiguous subset of common RBs for a given numerology on a given carrier. Generally, up to four BWPs can be specified for both downlink and uplink. That is, the UE may be composed of up to four BWPs on the downlink and up to four BWPs on the uplink. At a given time, only one BWP (either uplink or downlink) can be active, which means that the UE can only receive or transmit on one BWP at a time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or larger than the bandwidth of the SSB, which may or may not include the SSB.

[0091]

[0098] Referring to FIG. 5B, the primary synchronization signal (PSS) is used by the UE to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identification information. The secondary synchronization signal (SSS) is used by the UE to determine the physical layer cell identification information group number and radio frame timing. 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 above-mentioned DL-RS. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the MIB can be logically grouped using the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also called SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the downlink 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 the system information block (SIB), and paging messages.

[0092]

[0099] The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE contains one or more resource element group (REG) bundles (which can span multiple symbols in the time domain), each REG bundle contains one or more REGs, and each REG corresponds to 12 resource elements (one resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The set of physical resources used to carry PDCCH / DCI is called a control resource set (CORESET) in NR. In NR, the PDCCH is limited to a single CORESET and is transmitted together with its own DMRS. This enables UE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

[0093]

[0100] In the example of FIG. 5B, there is one CORESET per BWP, and the CORESET spans three symbols (although there may be only one or two symbols) in the time domain. Unlike the LTE control channel that occupies the entire system bandwidth, in NR, the PDCCH channel is localized in a specific region (i.e., CORESET) in the frequency domain. Therefore, the frequency components of the PDCCH shown in FIG. 5B are shown as being smaller than a single BWP in the frequency domain. It should be noted that the illustrated CORESET is continuous in the frequency domain, but it does not have to be continuous. Furthermore, the CORESET can span less than three symbols in the time domain.

[0094]

[0101] Each DCI in the PDCCH carries information regarding uplink resource allocation (persistent and non-persistent), called uplink grant and downlink grant respectively, and an indication of the downlink data to be transmitted to the UE. More specifically, the DCI indicates the resources scheduled for the downlink data channel (e.g., PDSCH) and the uplink data channel (e.g., PUSCH). Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIs can be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of multiple formats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplink scheduling, for downlink scheduling, for uplink transmit power control (TPC), etc. The PDCCH can be transported by one, two, four, eight, or sixteen CCEs to adapt to different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

[0095]

[0102] The following are the currently supported DCI formats. Format 0-0: Fallback for PUSCH scheduling, Format 0-1: Non-fallback for PUSCH scheduling, Format 1-0: Fallback for PDSCH scheduling, Format 1-1: Non-fallback for PDSCH scheduling, Format 2-0: Notify the UE group of the slot format, Format 2-1: Notify the UE group that the UE may assume that the transmission is not targeted at the UE for (one or more) PRBs and (one or more) OFDM symbols, Format 2-2: Transmission of TPC commands for PUCCH and PUSCH, and Format 2-3: Transmission of a group of SRS requests and TPC commands for SRS transmission. Note that the fallback format is the default scheduling option that has non-configurable fields and supports basic NR operation. In contrast, the non-fallback format is flexible to adapt to NR features.

[0096]

[0103] As will be appreciated, the UE needs to be able to demodulate (also referred to as "decode") the PDCCH to read the DCI, thereby obtaining the scheduling of the resources allocated to the UE on the PDSCH and PUSCH. If the UE cannot demodulate the PDCCH, the UE does not know the location of the PDSCH resources, and the UE continues to attempt to demodulate the PDCCH using a different set of PDCCH candidates in subsequent PDCCH monitoring occasions. If the UE cannot demodulate the PDCCH after a number of attempts, the UE declares a radio link failure (RLF). To overcome PDCCH demodulation problems, the search space is configured for efficient PDCCH detection and demodulation.

[0097]

[0104] Generally, the UE does not attempt to demodulate each and every PDCCH candidate that may be scheduled within a slot. To reduce the restrictions on the PDCCH scheduler and at the same time reduce the number of blind demodulation attempts by the UE, a search space is configured. The search space is indicated by a set of consecutive CCEs for which it is assumed that the UE monitors the scheduling assignments / permissions related to a certain component carrier. There are two types of search spaces used for PDCCH to control each component carrier, the common search space (CSS), and the UE-specific search space (USS).

[0098]

[0105] The common search space is shared across all UEs, and the UE-specific search space is used per UE (i.e., the UE-specific search space is specific to a particular UE). In the case of the common search space, the DCI cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is scrambled using a system information radio network temporary identifier (SI-RNTI), a random access RNTI (RA-RNTI), a temporary cell RNTI (TC-RNTI), a paging RNTI (P-RNTI), an interruption RNTI (INT-RNTI), a slot format indication RNTI (SFI-RNTI), a TPC-PUCCH-RNTI, a TPC-PUSCH-RNTI, a TPC-SRS-RNTI, a cell RNTI (C-RNTI), or a configured scheduling RNTI (CS-RNTI) for all common procedures. In the case of the UE-specific search space, since the C-RNTI or CS-RNTI specifically targets an individual UE, the DCI CRC is scrambled using these.

[0099]

[0106] The UE demodulates the PDCCH using four UE-specific search space aggregation levels (1, 2, 4, and 8) and two common search space aggregation levels (4 and 8). Specifically, for the UE-specific search space, the aggregation level "1" has six PDCCH candidates per slot and the size of six CCEs. The aggregation level "2" has six PDCCH candidates per slot and the size of twelve CCEs. The aggregation level "4" has two PDCCH candidates per slot and the size of eight CCEs. The aggregation level "8" has two PDCCH candidates per slot and the size of sixteen CCEs. For the common search space, the aggregation level "4" has four PDCCH candidates per slot and the size of sixteen CCEs. The aggregation level "8" has two PDCCH candidates per slot and the size of sixteen CCEs.

[0100]

[0107] Each search space comprises a group of consecutive CCEs that can be allocated to the PDCCH, called PDCCH candidates. The UE demodulates all of the PDCCH candidates in these two search spaces (USS and CSS) to discover the DCI for that UE. For example, the UE may demodulate the DCI to obtain the scheduled uplink grant information on the PUSCH and the downlink resources on the PDSCH. Note that the aggregation level is the number of REs of the CORESET that carries the PDCCH DCI message, expressed in terms of CCEs. There is a one-to-one mapping between the aggregation level and the number of CCEs per aggregation level. That is, for the aggregation level "4", there are four CCEs. Thus, as shown above, when the aggregation level is "4" and the number of PDCCH candidates in the slot is "2", the size of the search space is "8" (i.e., 4 × 2 = 8).

[0101]

[0108] As shown in FIG. 5C, some of the REs (labeled as “R”) carry DMRS for channel estimation at a receiver (e.g., a base station, another UE, etc.). The UE may further transmit SRS, for example, in the last symbol of a slot. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may transmit the SRS on one of the combs. In the example of FIG. 5C, the illustrated SRS is a comb 2 over one symbol. The SRS may be used by the base station to obtain channel state information (CSI) for each UE. The CSI describes how an RF signal propagates from the UE to the base station and represents the combined effects of scattering, fading, and power attenuation due to distance. The system uses the SRS for resource scheduling, link adaptation, massive MIMO, beam management, etc.

[0102]

[0109] Currently, the SRS resources can span one, two, four, eight, or twelve consecutive symbols within a slot having a comb size of comb 2, comb 4, or comb 8. The following are the frequency offsets between symbols for the currently supported SRS comb patterns. Comb 2 of 1 symbol: {0}, Comb 2 of 2 symbols: {0,1}, Comb 2 of 4 symbols: {0,1,0,1}, Comb 4 of 4 symbols: {0,2,1,3}, Comb 4 of 8 symbols: {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}, Comb 4 of 12 symbols: {0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3,0,2,1,3}, Comb 8 of 4 symbols: {0,4,2,6}, Comb 8 of 8 symbols: {0,4,2,6,1,5,3,7}, and Comb 8 of 12 symbols: {0,4,2,6,1,5,3,7,0,4,2,6}.

[0103]

[0110] The set of resource elements used for SRS transmission is called an "SRS resource" and can be identified by the parameter "SRS-ResourceId". The set of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and can span N (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbols within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol, the SRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs. An "SRS resource set" is a set of SRS resources used for SRS signal transmission and is identified by an SRS resource set ID ("SRS-ResourceSetId").

[0104]

[0111] Generally, a UE transmits SRS to enable a receiving base station (either a serving base station or a neighboring base station) to measure the channel quality between the UE and the base station. However, SRS can also be used as an uplink positioning reference signal for uplink positioning procedures such as UL-TDOA, multi-RTT, DL-AoA, etc.

[0105]

[0112] Several extensions over the previous definition of SRS, such as a new staggered pattern within the SRS resource (excluding single symbol / COM2), a new COM type for SRS, a new sequence for SRS, a higher number of SRS resource sets per component carrier, and a higher number of SRS resources per component carrier, are proposed for SRS-for-positioning (also referred to as "UL-PRS"). Further, the parameters "SpatialRelationInfo" and "PathLossReference" should be configured based on the downlink reference signal or SSB from neighboring TRPs. Furthermore, one SRS resource can be transmitted outside the active BWP, and one SRS resource can span over multiple component carriers. Also, SRS is configured in the RRC connected state and can be transmitted only within the active BWP. Additionally, there can be frequency hopping, no repetition factor, a single antenna port, and new lengths for SRS (e.g., 8 and 12 symbols). Also, there can be open-loop power control and no closed-loop power control, and COM8 (i.e., SRS transmitted in every 8th subcarrier within the same symbol) can be used. Finally, the UE can transmit through the same transmit beam from multiple SRS resources for UL-AoA. All of these are features added to the current SRS framework and they are configured through RRC upper layer signaling (and potentially triggered or activated through MAC control element (CE) or DCI).

[0106]

[0113] FIG. 5D shows an example of various channels within an uplink slot of a frame according to an aspect of the present disclosure. The random access channel (RACH), also referred to as the physical random access channel (PRACH), can be in one or more slots within a frame based on the PRACH configuration. The PRACH can include six consecutive RB pairs within a slot. The PRACH enables a UE to perform an initial system access and achieve uplink synchronization. The physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) can be located on the edge of the uplink system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI) such as scheduling requests, CSI reports, channel quality indicator (CQI), precoding matrix indicator (PMI), rank indicator (RI), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. The physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) carries data and can be further used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and / or UCI.

[0107]

[0114] Note that the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" can generally refer to the specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" as used herein can also refer to any type of reference signal that can be used for positioning, including but not limited to PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, UL-PRS, etc., defined in LTE and NR. Further, the terms "positioning reference signal" and "PRS" can refer to downlink or uplink positioning reference signals, unless otherwise specified by the context. When it is necessary to further distinguish the types of PRS, the downlink positioning reference signal may be referred to as "DL-PRS", and the uplink positioning reference signal (e.g., SRS, PTRS for positioning) may be referred to as "UL-PRS". Further, in the case of signals that can be transmitted in both uplink and downlink (e.g., DMRS, PTRS), those signals can be prefixed with "UL" or "DL" to distinguish the direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" can be distinguished from "DL-DMRS".

[0108]

[0115] NR supports several cellular network-based positioning techniques, including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and downlink and uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) in NR. In the positioning procedure of OTDOA or DL-TDOA, the UE measures the difference in the time of arrival (ToA) of reference signals (e.g., PRS, TRS, CSI-RS, SSB, etc.) received from a pair of base stations, which is called reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement, and reports them to the positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives the identifiers (IDs) of the reference base station (e.g., serving base station) and a plurality of non-reference base stations in the assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between each of the reference base station and the non-reference base stations. Based on the known locations of the involved base stations and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity can estimate the location of the UE. In the case of DL-AoD positioning, the base station measures the angle of the downlink transmission beam and other channel properties (e.g., signal strength) used for communicating with the UE to estimate the location of the UE.

[0109]

[0116] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) transmitted by the UE. In the case of UL-AoA positioning, the base station measures the angle of the uplink reception beam and other channel properties (e.g., gain level) used for communicating with the UE to estimate the location of the UE.

[0110]

[0117] Downlink and uplink base positioning methods include enhanced cell ID (E-CID) positioning and multi-round trip time (RTT) positioning (also called "multi-cell RTT"). In the RTT procedure, an initiator (base station or UE) sends an RTT measurement signal (e.g., PRS or SRS) to a responder (UE or base station), and the responder returns an RTT response signal (e.g., SRS or PRS) to the initiator. The RTT response signal includes the difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response signal, which is called the receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) measurement. The initiator calculates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the ToA of the RTT response signal, which is called the "Tx-Rx" measurement. The propagation time (also called the "time of flight") between the initiator and the responder can be calculated from the Tx-Rx and Rx-Tx measurements. Based on the propagation time and the known speed of light, the distance between the initiator and the responder can be determined. In the case of multi-RTT positioning, the UE performs the RTT procedure with multiple base stations to enable its location to be triangulated based on the known locations of the base stations. The RTT method and the multi-RTT method can be combined with other positioning techniques, such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD, to improve location accuracy.

[0111]

[0118] The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strengths of detected neighbor base stations. Then, based on this information and the known locations of the base stations, the location of the UE is estimated.

[0112]

[0119] To assist in the positioning operation, a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include identifiers of base stations (or cells / TRPs of base stations) from which reference signals should be measured, reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive positioning subframes, the periodicity of positioning subframes, muting sequences, frequency hopping sequences, reference signal identifiers, reference signal bandwidths, etc.), and / or other parameters applicable to a specific positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may be transmitted directly from the base station itself (e.g., in an overhead message broadcast periodically). In some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighboring network nodes on its own without using the assistance data.

[0113]

[0120] In the case of the positioning procedure of OTDOA or DL-TDOA, the assistance data may further include the expected RSTD value and related uncertainty, or a search window around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the value range of the expected RSTD may be + / - 500 microseconds (μs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for positioning measurements are in FR1, the value range of the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / - 32 μs. In other cases, when all of the resources used for (one or more) positioning measurements are in FR2, the value range of the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be + / - 8 μs.

[0114]

[0121] A location estimate may be referred to by other names such as a position estimate, location, position, location fix, fix, etc. A location estimate may be geodetic and have coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and optionally altitude), or it may be civic and have a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. A location estimate may further be defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and optionally altitude). A location estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included at some specified or default level of confidence).

[0115]

[0122] In LTE and, at least in some cases, in NR, positioning measurements are reported via upper layer signaling, in particular, through the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) and / or RRC. LPP is used point-to-point between a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) and a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) to position the UE using location-related measurements obtained from one or more reference sources. FIG. 6 is a diagram 600 showing exemplary LPP reference sources for positioning. In the example of FIG. 6, a target device, in particular a UE 604 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein), is involved in an LPP session with a location server 630 (labeled as "E-SMLC / SLP" in the specific example of FIG. 6). UE 604 is also receiving / measuring wireless positioning signals from a first reference source, in particular one or more base stations 602 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein and are labeled as "eNodeB" in the specific example of FIG. 6), and a second reference source, in particular one or more SPS satellites 620 (which may correspond to SV 112 in FIG. 1).

[0116]

[0123] An LPP session is used between a location server 630 and a UE 604 to obtain location-related measurements or location estimates, or to transfer assistance data. A single LPP session is used to support a single location request (e.g., for a single Mobile Terminated Location Request (MT-LR), Mobile Originated Location Request (MO-LR), or Network Initiated Location Request (NI-LR)). Multiple LPP sessions can be used between the same endpoints to support multiple different location requests. Each LPP session comprises one or more LPP transactions, and each LPP transaction performs a single operation (e.g., capability exchange, assistance data transfer, location information transfer). An LPP transaction is referred to as an LPP procedure. The initiating side of an LPP session initiates the first LPP transaction, but subsequent transactions can be initiated by either endpoint. The LPP transactions within a session can be performed serially or in parallel. LPP transactions are indicated at the LPP protocol level using a transaction identifier to associate messages (e.g., requests and responses) with each other. Messages within a transaction are linked by a common transaction identifier.

[0117]

[0124] The LPP positioning method and related signaling content are defined in the 3GPP LPP standard (3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 36.355, which is publicly available and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). LPP signaling can be used to request and report measurements related to the following positioning methods, namely, Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA), Downlink Time Difference of Arrival (DL-TDOA), Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS), LTE Extended Cell Identification (E-CID), NR E-CID, sensors, Terrestrial Broadcast Beacon System (TBS), WLAN, Bluetooth, Downlink Angle of Departure (DL-AoD), Uplink Angle of Arrival (UL-AoA), and Multi-Round Trip Time (RTT). Currently, LPP measurement reports may include the following measurements: (1) one or more Time of Arrival (ToA), Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD), or Receive-Transmit (Rx-Tx) measurements; (2) one or more Angle of Arrival (AoA) and / or Angle of Departure (AoD) measurements (for base stations only, currently for reporting UL-AoA and DL-AoD to the location server 630); (3) one or more multipath measurements (ToA per path, Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), AoA / AoD); (4) one or more motion states (e.g., walking, driving, etc.) and trajectories (currently for UE604 only); and (5) one or more reporting quality indicators. In the present disclosure, positioning measurement values such as the listed exemplary measurement values may collectively be referred to as positioning state information (PSI) regardless of the positioning technology.

[0118]

[0125] UE 604 and / or location server 630 may derive location information from one or more reference sources, as shown in the example of FIG. 6 as one or more SPS satellites 620 and one or more base stations 602. Each reference source may be used to calculate an independent estimate of the location of UE 604 using a relevant positioning technique. In the example of FIG. 6, UE 604 measures characteristics of positioning signals (e.g., ToA, RSRP, RSTD, etc.) received from one or more base stations 602 to calculate an estimate of the location of UE 604 or to assist location server 630 in calculating it, using one or more cellular network-based positioning methods (e.g., multi-RTT, OTDOA, DL-TDOA, DL-AoD, E-CID, etc.). Similarly, UE 604 measures characteristics of GNSS signals (e.g., ToA) received from SPS satellites 620 to triangulate its location in two or three dimensions, depending on the number of SPS satellites 620 measured. In some cases, UE 604 or location server 630 may synthesize location solutions derived from each of different positioning techniques to improve the accuracy of the final location estimate.

[0119]

[0126] As described above, the UE 604 uses LPP to report location-related measurements obtained from different reference sources (e.g., base station 602, Bluetooth beacon, SPS satellite 620, WLAN access point, motion sensor, etc.). As an example, in the case of GNSS-based positioning, the UE 604 uses the LPP information element (IE) "A-GNSS-ProvideLocationInformation" to provide location measurements (e.g., pseudo-range, location estimate, speed, etc.) to the location server 630 along with time information. It can also be used to provide GNSS positioning-specific error reasons. The "A-GNSS-ProvideLocationInformation" IE includes IEs such as "GNSS-SignalMeasurementInformation", "GNSS-LocationInformation", "GNSS-MeasurementList", and "GNSS-Error". The UE 604 includes the "GNSS-LocationInformation" IE when it provides location and optionally speed information derived using GNSS or hybrid GNSS and other measurements to the location server 630. The UE 604 uses the "GNSS-SignalMeasurementInformation" IE to provide GNSS signal measurement information to the location server 630 and, if requested by the location server 630, to provide GNSS network time association. This information includes measurements of code phase, Doppler, C / No, and optionally integrated carrier phase, also known as accumulated delta range (ADR), which enables the UE-assisted GNSS method where the location is calculated at the location server 630. The UE 604 uses the "GNSS-MeasurementList" IE to provide measurements of code phase, Doppler, C / No, and optionally integrated carrier phase (or ADR).

[0120]

[0127] As another example, in the case of motion sensor-based positioning, the currently supported positioning methods use a barometric pressure sensor and a motion sensor, as described in 3GPP TS36.305 (which is publicly available and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). The UE604 uses the LPP IE "Sensor-ProvideLocationInformation" to provide location information about the sensor-based method to the location server 630. It can also be used to provide sensor-specific error reasons. The UE604 uses the "Sensor-MeasurementInformation" IE to provide sensor measurements (e.g., barometric pressure readings) to the location server 630. The UE604 uses "Sensor-MotionInformation" to provide motion information to the location server 630. The motion information may comprise an ordered series of points. This information can be obtained by the UE604 using one or more motion sensors (e.g., accelerometer, barometer, magnetometer, etc.).

[0121]

[0128] As yet another example, in the case of Bluetooth-based positioning, the UE604 uses the "BT-ProvideLocationInformation" IE to provide measurements of one or more Bluetooth beacons to the location server 630. This IE can also be used to provide Bluetooth positioning-specific error reasons.

[0122]

[0129] NR positioning techniques enable high-precision positioning by, for example, using large bandwidth positioning signals, beam sweeping in the mmW frequency range, AoA and / or AoD measurements and reporting, and multi-cell RTT. However, NR positioning techniques do not particularly address the low latency requirements of commercial use cases (e.g., industrial IoT (IIoT)).

[0123]

[0130] Some NR positioning techniques provide lower latency than others. For example, UE-based positioning techniques (which are currently only implemented on the downlink), and identifying the location of the LMF in the RAN (for UE-assisted positioning techniques), provide lower latency. However, all measurement reports still go through LPP and / or RRC (e.g., RRC layer 445) using a mechanism similar to that in LTE, and there is no low-latency reporting mechanism. Therefore, it would be beneficial to provide a (more) low-latency reporting mechanism for existing positioning techniques. For example, in some cases of IIoT, it would be beneficial to provide latency of 100 ms or even less than 10 ms.

[0124]

[0131] To achieve such latency targets, it would be beneficial to report positioning measurements in L1 (e.g., PHY layer 430) and / or L2 (e.g., SDAP layer 410, PDCP layer 415, RLC layer 420, and MAC layer 425). Note that L1 / L2 reporting reduces the latency between the UE and the serving base station, and the latency between the serving base station and the location server can be addressed by identifying the location of the location server in the RAN (e.g., as a component of the serving base station).

[0125]

[0132] In the physical layer, the UE is configured to transmit CSI reports at regular intervals or when triggered by a network (e.g., serving base station, location server). The CSI report contains information indicating the quality of a given channel at a specific time. As described in 3GPP TS38.212 (which is publicly available and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety), the CSI report consists of a set of fields in a pre-specified order. Specifically, the CSI report can include the following parameters: namely, CQI, PMI, CSI-RS resource indicator (CRI), SS / PBCH resource block indicator (SSBRI), RI and / or layer 1 reference signal received power (L1-RSRP), and layer indicator (LI).

[0126]

[0133] The reported parameters of the CSI report are encoded in the UCI and mapped to the PUSCH or PUCCH, and the encoding format used depends on both the physical channel used for the CSI report and the frequency granularity and is different. The reason for the different encoding schemes is that the payload size of the CSI report generally varies depending on the UE's selection of CRI and RI. That is, the codebook size for PMI reports is different for different RIs, especially for type II CSI reports and sub-band PMI reports in general, and it can vary significantly. Similarly, since one codeword is used for up to rank 4 and two codewords are used for higher ranks, the number of CQI parameters (given per codeword) included in the CSI report will vary depending on the rank selection.

[0127]

[0134] In the case of PUCCH-based CSI reports with wideband frequency granularity, the variation of the PMI / CQI payload (depending on the selected rank) is not too large, and thus, single packet encoding of all CSI parameters in the UCI is used. Since the base station needs to know the payload size (length) of the UCI to decode the transmission, the UCI is padded with some dummy bits (e.g., "0") corresponding to the difference between the maximum UCI payload size (i.e., the one corresponding to the RI that results in the maximum PMI / CQI overhead) and the actual payload size of the CSI report. This ensures that the payload size is fixed regardless of the UE's RI selection. If this approach were not taken, the base station would have to blindly detect the UCI payload size and attempt to decode for all possible UCI payload sizes, which is not feasible.

[0128]

[0135] However, in the case of PUCCH-based CSI with sub-band frequency granularity, as well as PUSCH-based CSI reports, always padding the CSI report up to the worst-case UCI payload size would result in too large an overhead. For these cases, the CSI content / report is instead split into two CSI parts, part 1 and part 2. CSI part 1 has a fixed payload size (and thus can be decoded by the base station without prior information), and CSI part 2 has a variable payload size. Information about the payload size of CSI part 2 can be derived from the CSI parameters in CSI part 1. That is, the base station first decodes CSI part 1 to obtain a subset of the CSI parameters, and then, based on these CSI parameters, the base station can infer the payload size of CSI part 2. The base station can then decode CSI part 2 to obtain the rest of the CSI parameters.

[0129]

[0136] The UE may be configured with CSI reporting settings in RRC signaling, and the CSI reporting settings may include a parameter (e.g., "ReportQuantity") for indicating one or more CSI-related quantities, in which component carrier (e.g., CRI, RI, PMI, CQI, L1-RSRP, etc.), and on which uplink channel (e.g., PUSCH or PUCCH) should be used to carry the CSI-related quantity to be reported.

[0130]

[0137] The CSI reporting settings may also specify a reference signal resource setting. Each resource setting includes a BWP index and a tag indicating whether the CSI-RS resource is aperiodic (A), periodic (P), or semi-persistent (SP). Each resource setting includes one or more CSI-RS / SSB resource sets. Specifically, for L1-RSRP, there is only one CSI-RS / SSB resource set, but for CSI estimation, there may be two or three CSI-RS resource sets, one for channel measurement and the rest for interference measurement.

[0131]

[0138] Each CSI-RS resource set may include one or more CSI-RS resources. Each CSI-RS resource may include one or more antenna ports (specific time and frequency resources) through which the UE is expected to perform (one or more) channel estimation measurements. If the resource set has multiple CSI-RS resources, the UE may also report the CRI of the best CSI-RS resource in the set.

[0132]

[0139] The present disclosure describes techniques for reporting RAT-independent (i.e., non-NR) PSI using a RAT-dependent (NR) lower layer (e.g., L1 / L2). More specifically, a UE may be configured to provide a PSI report including measurements derived using RAT-independent techniques on a lower layer (e.g., PHY or MAC-CE) channel of an NR RAT. The PSI report may use the same framework as a CSI report (e.g., having a fixed-size part 1 and a variable-size part 2 configured by, e.g., "ReportQuantity"), except that it includes PSI instead of CSI. Further, the UE may transmit the PSI report on a PUSCH or PUCCH as it does for CSI reporting. Alternatively, the UE may transmit the PSI report to another UE via a sidelink (i.e., a wireless communication link between two UEs configured according to a cellular RAT such as NR).

[0133]

[0140] The PSI report may include RAT-dependent measurements, i.e., measurements based on NR reference signals (e.g., DL / UL-PRS, CSI-RS, TRS, SSB, etc.), or RAT-independent measurements, i.e., measurements or other information derived from reference sources other than NR reference sources (e.g., Bluetooth, barometric sensors, motion sensors, GNSS, OTDOA based on LTE PHY signals, and E-CID based on LTE PHY signals). For both RAT-dependent and RAT-independent PSI reports, the information that will need to be conveyed in the PSI report will be the same as what is currently reported via LPP, such as the information conveyed by the "A-GNSS-ProvideLocationInformation" IE, the "Sensor-ProvideLocationInformation" IE, and the "BT-ProvideLocationInformation" IE. For each type of positioning method, whether RAT-dependent or RAT-independent, the UE can report in its capability information whether the UE supports PSI reporting for that positioning method.

[0134]

[0141] In one aspect, each PSI report may be related to measurements from one positioning technology. Thus, for example, NR-based measurements may be reported in one PSI report, Bluetooth-based measurements may be reported in another PSI report, GNSS-based measurements may be reported in another PSI report, and so on. The configuration of each PSI report may include the configuration parameters necessary to enable the corresponding PSI report. For example, the configuration for an A-GNSS PSI report may include assistance data for A-GNSS, which will be different from the assistance data for OTDOA and different from the assistance data for Bluetooth, and so on. Thus, the list of quantities (measurements) in the PSI report will depend on the positioning technology configured to be reported. Note that there will be no associated RAT-dependent resources provided in the PSI report. That is, since the PSI report is related to a RAT-independent positioning method, there will be no reference signal explicitly related to that report.

[0135]

[0142] When each PSI report is related to one positioning technology, in the fixed-size part 1 of the PSI report, the UE can report the size (e.g., the number of measurements) of each measurement vector and also the type of the measurement vector, which is reported in the variable-size part 2 of the PSI report. For example, the UE may use an "X"-bit bit string to report the type of the measurement vector, where each bit corresponds to a specific type of measurement (e.g., RSTD, RSRP, Rx-Tx, etc.). Then, "X" numbers are reported in part 1, each indicating the size of one of the "X" measurement vectors reported in part 2.

[0136]

[0143] For example, if the UE is to report three measurement vectors (X = 3) for three different types of measurements, the bit string will have a length of 3 bits. The first bit may indicate the first type of measurement (e.g., RSTD), the second bit may indicate the second type of measurement (e.g., ToA), and the third bit may indicate the third type of measurement (e.g., RSRP). The PSI part 1 will, in that case, include three additional numbers, one for each measurement vector and representing the number of measurements in the measurement vector. The first number indicates the size of the measurement vector for the first type of measurement, the second number indicates the size of the measurement vector for the second type of measurement, and the third number indicates the size of the measurement vector for the third type of measurement.

[0137]

[0144] FIG. 7 is a diagram 700 showing an exemplary DCI trigger for PSI reporting according to an aspect of the present disclosure. Specifically, FIG. 7 provides an example of aperiodic PSI reporting triggering in which different code points in the DCI trigger one or more PSI reports of the same technology. As shown in FIG. 7, there are 64 DCI code points 710, some or all of which may be mapped to different PSI reporting configurations 720. That is, when the UE receives a particular code point, it can look up the corresponding configuration information for the (one or more) triggered PSI reports.

[0138]

[0145] For example, the first code point 710 (labeled as "1") identifies the first positioning technology (labeled as "Selected positioning technology #1"), specifies that the UE will send two PSI reports (labeled as "PSI report #1" and "PSI report #2"), and is mapped to a configuration parameter that includes or points to assistance data (labeled as "Assistance data #1") for the specified positioning technology. As shown, the assistance data is provided only once. As another example, the second code point 710 (labeled as "2") identifies the second positioning technology (labeled as "Selected positioning technology #2"), specifies that the UE will send one PSI report (labeled as "PSI report #4"), and is mapped to a configuration parameter that includes or points to assistance data (labeled as "Assistance data #2") for the specified positioning technology. As yet another example, the third code point 710 (labeled as "3") identifies the third positioning technology (labeled as "Selected positioning technology #3"), specifies that the UE will send two PSI reports (labeled as "PSI report #7" and "PSI report #8"), and is mapped to a configuration parameter that includes or points to assistance data (labeled as "Assistance data #3") for the specified positioning technology.

[0139]

[0146] In one aspect, the same PSI report may be configured to carry measurements for multiple positioning techniques. In this case, the PSI report configuration / trigger should include assistance data (or a link / indicator to the assistance data) for each positioning technique that is configured to be reported. The UE may include in part 1 of the PSI report which positioning techniques are included in the PSI report. In part 2, the UE reports the actual measurements for each positioning technique in a specified ordering of sub-parts. The UE may select the ordering to be used within the part 2 report and indicate that ordering in the part 1 report. Thus, if the PSI report is configured for reporting of multiple techniques, the PSI report may be split into multiple parts and sub-parts. Specifically, part 1 will indicate which sub-parts (one or more for each positioning technique) are included in part 2. Part 2 will be split into sub-parts, with each sub-part containing measurements for one technique. Each additional sub-part of part 2 may be carried on a separate PUSCH or PUCCH.

[0140]

[0147] FIG. 8 is a diagram 800 showing an exemplary DCI trigger for a PSI report according to an aspect of the present disclosure. Specifically, FIG. 8 provides an example of aperiodic PSI report triggering where different code points in the DCI trigger one or more PSI reports for different positioning techniques. As shown in FIG. 8, there are 64 DCI code points 810, some or all of which may be mapped to different PSI report configurations 820. That is, when the UE receives a particular code point, it can look up the corresponding configuration information for the triggered PSI report(s).

[0141]

[0148] For example, a first code point 810 (labeled as "1") identifies a first positioning technique (labeled as "selected positioning technique #1") and a second positioning technique (labeled as "selected positioning technique #2"), and specifies that the UE will send two PSI reports (labeled as "PSI report #1" and "PSI report #2"), one for each positioning technique, and is mapped to a configuration parameter that includes or points to assistance data for each specified positioning technique (labeled as "assistance data #1" and "assistance data #2"). As another example, a second code point 810 (labeled as "2") identifies the second positioning technique (labeled as "selected positioning technique #2"), specifies that the UE will send one PSI report (labeled as "PSI report #4"), and is mapped to a configuration parameter that includes or points to assistance data (labeled as "assistance data #2") for the specified positioning technique. As yet another example, a third code point 810 (labeled as "3") identifies the third positioning technique (labeled as "selected positioning technique #3"), specifies that the UE will send two PSI reports (labeled as "PSI report #7" and "PSI report #8"), and is mapped to a configuration parameter that includes or points to assistance data (labeled as "assistance data #3") for the specified positioning technique. Thus, as will be appreciated, in this aspect, not every code point needs to be mapped to multiple positioning techniques; there is only an option to do so. Also, as shown, the assistance data can be provided only once.

[0142]

[0149] For aperiodic PSI reports, an additional bit field may be configured in the DCI, which can be used for RAT-independent positioning measurement reports. In the case of UE-based positioning, the UE may be configured to provide a PSI report that either (1) has separate positioning fixes, speeds, and / or orientations derived using a single positioning technique, or (2) has joint positioning fixes, speeds, and / or orientations derived using a set of positioning techniques. In the second option, the UE may report which positioning technique was used for the joint positioning fix. In one aspect, the UE may be composed of positioning techniques that it can use for the joint positioning fix. For example, if the UE opens three positioning sessions, one for UE-based DL-TDOA, another for UE-assisted OTDOA, and another for UE-based GNSS, and the UE is configured to report one positioning fix, the UE may report which of the two UE-based methods was used for the derived positioning fix.

[0143]

[0150] In one aspect, multiple PSI reports are configured to be transmitted on the same uplink channel, and if it is not possible to fit them into a scheduled lower-layer container (e.g., CSI report, MAC-CE), priority rules depending on the techniques used for the measurements may be applied. For example, GNSS measurements may have a higher priority than NR measurements, NR measurements may have a higher priority than LTE measurements, LTE measurements may have a higher priority than sensor measurements, and sensor measurements may have a higher priority than Bluetooth measurements. In one aspect, the selected ordering may be configured by the location server. Alternatively, the selected ordering may follow the time when the corresponding positioning session started. For example, the first-started positioning session may have the highest priority, the last-started positioning session may have the lowest, or vice versa.

[0144]

[0151] In some cases, some parts of the lowest priority PSI reports may have to be dropped by sending PSI reports based on their respective priorities (or, in some cases, one or more of the lowest priority PSI reports may have to be dropped and some parts of the low priority PSI reports may have to be dropped). For example, the UE may attempt to send a low priority PSI report having multiple parts (e.g., "Part 1", "Part 2", "Part 3") carrying RAT-independent measurements (e.g., GNSS measurements, LTE measurements, Bluetooth measurements, etc.). If a portion of the bits of a particular part (e.g., "Part 3") only fits within a scheduled lower layer container (e.g., a PHY layer container or a MAC layer container), the entire part (e.g., all of "Part 3") is dropped.

[0145]

[0152] Thus, when a RAT-independent positioning report (i.e., a PSI report including measurements for a particular RAT) is configured to be reported in a lower layer container (which may also be configured to include one or more other RAT-independent positioning reports), and one or more parts of that positioning report are to be dropped / omitted, the UE may be configured to report certain information through upper layer signaling (e.g., LPP signaling). As a first option, the UE may report, through upper layer signaling, the parts dropped / omitted from the lower layer container, but may not report the parts transmitted in the lower layer container. As a second option, the UE may report the entire RAT-independent report through upper layer signaling. It should be noted that the reports / parts to be dropped / omitted may not be based on having a lower priority than other positioning techniques, but instead may be based on other factors for sending some reports / parts earlier than others.

[0146]

[0153] In one aspect, the UE may also report an error message or warning message identifying which report or which (one or more) parts of the report were dropped / omitted and instead reported through higher layer signaling. The error / warning message may be reported through higher layer signaling or as bits in a lower layer container. Since there will likely be an ongoing LPP session between the UE and a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272) to obtain the UE's location, it may be beneficial to report the above information via the LPP session.

[0147]

[0154] In one aspect, the UE may recommend a maximum size for each part of the report. The recommendation may be based on the type of RAT-independent measurement to be reported, the wireless link quality, the type of lower layer container, and / or the UE's capabilities. The recommendation may be provided via higher layer signaling (e.g., LPP signaling), such as during the UE's negotiation with the network for reporting RAT-independent measurements via a lower layer container.

[0148]

[0155] FIG. 9 shows an exemplary method 900 of wireless communication according to an aspect of the present disclosure. In one aspect, method 900 may be performed by a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0149]

[0156] At 910, the UE receives a configuration for providing at least one PSI report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first RAT, where the first RAT is associated with at least one first positioning technique and the configuration is associated with at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technique, or both to be used to estimate the UE's location. In one aspect, operation 910 may be performed by WWAN transceiver 310, processing system 332, memory component 340, and / or positioning component 342, any or all of which may be regarded as means for performing this operation.

[0150]

[0157] At 920, the UE obtains at least a first set of positioning measurements using at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technique, or both. In one aspect, operation 920 may be performed by the WWAN transceiver 310, the WLAN transceiver 320, the (one or more) sensors 344, the processing system 332, the memory component 340, and / or the positioning component 342, any or all of which may be regarded as means for performing this operation.

[0151]

[0158] At 930, the UE transmits at least one PSI report on the physical resources allocated for the physical uplink channel or the sidelink channel of the first RAT, and the at least one PSI report includes at least the first set of positioning measurements. In one aspect, operation 930 may be performed by the WWAN transceiver 310, the processing system 332, the memory component 340, and / or the positioning component 342, any or all of which may be regarded as means for performing this operation.

[0152]

[0159] It is understood that the technical advantage of method 900 is (more) low-latency reporting (e.g., measurements, location estimates) for existing positioning techniques.

[0153]

[0160] In the foregoing detailed description, it can be seen that different features are grouped by way of example. This style of disclosure should not be understood as intending that the exemplary clauses have more features than those explicitly recited in each clause. Rather, the various aspects of the present disclosure may include fewer than all of the features of the individual exemplary clauses disclosed. Accordingly, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated herein, and each clause can exist as a separate example by itself. Each dependent clause can refer, in the clause, to a particular combination with one of the other clauses, but the (one or more) aspects of that dependent clause are not limited to the particular combination. It will be understood that other exemplary clauses can also include combinations of (one or more) dependent clause aspects with the subject matter of any other dependent or independent clause, or combinations of any features with other dependent and independent clauses. The various aspects disclosed herein do not explicitly include these combinations unless it is explicitly stated or can be readily inferred that a particular combination (such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor, etc., conflicting aspects) is not intended. Further, it is also intended that aspects of a clause can be included in any other independent clause, even if that clause is not directly dependent on that independent clause.

[0154]

[0161] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses.

[0155]

[0162] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a configuration for providing at least one positioning state information (PSI) report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first RAT is associated with at least one first positioning technology, and the configuration is associated with at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technology, or both, to be used for estimating the location of the UE; obtaining at least a first set of positioning measurement values using at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technology, or both; transmitting at least one PSI report on a physical resource allocated for a physical uplink channel or a sidelink channel of the first RAT, wherein the at least one PSI report includes at least the first set of positioning measurement values.

[0156]

[0163] Clause 2. The method according to Clause 1, wherein the first RAT comprises a New Radio (NR) RAT, and at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technology, or both comprise a non-NR RAT, a non-NR positioning technology.

[0157]

[0164] Clause 3. The method according to Clause 2, wherein the non-NR positioning technology comprises Bluetooth positioning technology, barometric pressure sensor positioning technology, motion sensor positioning technology, Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS) positioning technology, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) positioning technology, Terrestrial Broadcast Beacon System (TBS) positioning technology, or any combination thereof.

[0158]

[0165] Clause 4. The method according to Clause 2, wherein the non-NR RAT comprises Long Term Evolution (LTE), and at least one second positioning technology comprises Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) positioning technology based on LTE physical layer reference signals, Extended Cell Identifier (E-CID) positioning technology based on LTE physical layer reference signals, or any combination thereof.

[0159]

[0166] Clause 5. The method according to any one of Clauses 2 to 4, wherein at least one first positioning technique comprises a downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) positioning technique based on NR physical layer reference signals, an E-CID positioning technique based on NR physical layer reference signals, a downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) positioning technique, an uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA) positioning technique, a multi-round trip time (multi-RTT) positioning technique, or any combination thereof.

[0160]

[0167] Clause 6. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 5, wherein at least one second positioning technique comprises at least two different positioning techniques.

[0161]

[0168] Clause 7. The method according to Clause 6, further comprising transmitting capability information for instructing the UE's capabilities for providing a PSI report for each of at least two different positioning techniques.

[0162]

[0169] Clause 8. The method according to any one of Clauses 6 to 7, wherein at least one PSI report comprises at least two PSI reports, one PSI report for each of at least two different positioning techniques.

[0163]

[0170] Clause 9. The method according to Clause 8, wherein each of at least two PSI reports includes a plurality of parts, and at least one part of the plurality of parts of at least one second PSI report among at least two PSI reports cannot be transmitted on resources allocated for the physical uplink channel or sidelink channel of the first RAT.

[0164]

[0171] Clause 10. The method according to Clause 9, further comprising transmitting at least one part of the plurality of parts of at least one second PSI report via upper layer signaling, or transmitting at least one second PSI report via upper layer signaling.

[0165]

[0172] Clause 11. The method according to clause 10, wherein the upper layer signaling comprises Long Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) signaling.

[0166]

[0173] Clause 12. The method according to clause 6, wherein at least one PSI report comprises a single PSI report for two or more of at least two different positioning techniques.

[0167]

[0174] Clause 13. The method according to clause 12, wherein a first part of a single PSI report identifies two or more of at least two different positioning techniques, and a second part of the single PSI report comprises measurements obtained using two or more of at least two different positioning techniques.

[0168]

[0175] Clause 14. The method according to clause 13, wherein the UE determines an ordering of measurements obtained using two or more of at least two different positioning techniques in a second part of a single PSI report.

[0169]

[0176] Clause 15. The method according to any one of clauses 13 to 14, wherein the second part is split into at least two sub - parts, one sub - part for each of two or more of at least two different positioning techniques.

[0170]

[0177] Clause 16. The method according to clause 15, wherein the at least two sub - parts are transmitted on different physical uplink channels or sidelink channels.

[0171]

[0178] Clause 17. The method according to any one of clauses 6 to 16, wherein each of at least two positioning techniques is associated with a priority, and a PSI report carrying measurements obtained using one of the at least two positioning techniques having a higher priority than other positioning techniques among the at least two positioning techniques is reported before, or instead of, a PSI report carrying measurements obtained using the other positioning techniques.

[0172]

[0179] Clause 18. The method according to clause 17, wherein the priority is set by the location server.

[0173]

[0180] Clause 19. The method according to clause 17, wherein the priority is based on when the UE starts a positioning session for at least two positioning technologies.

[0174]

[0181] Clause 20. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 19, wherein the configuration is a downlink control information (DCI) code point mapped to a specific PSI reporting configuration.

[0175]

[0182] Clause 21. The method according to clause 20, wherein the PSI reporting configuration triggers a plurality of PSI reports including at least one PSI report for at least one second positioning technology.

[0176]

[0183] Clause 22. The method according to clause 21, wherein the PSI reporting configuration is related to assistance data for enabling the UE to obtain one or more measurement values, and the assistance data is related to only the first PSI report among the plurality of PSI reports.

[0177]

[0184] Clause 23. The method according to clause 20, wherein the PSI reporting configuration triggers a single PSI report, the single PSI report is at least one PSI report, and the single PSI report is related to a plurality of different positioning technologies including at least one second positioning technology.

[0178]

[0185] Clause 24. The method according to any one of clauses 20 to 23, wherein at least one PSI report is an aperiodic PSI report, and the DCI includes a single bit indicating that at least one PSI report is for a non-NR positioning technology.

[0179]

[0186] Clause 25. The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 24, wherein at least one second positioning technology comprises a UE-based positioning technology.

[0180]

[0187] Clause 26. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 25, wherein at least one PSI report includes a separate positioning fix, velocity, and / or orientation for each of at least one positioning technique.

[0181]

[0188] Clause 27. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 25, wherein at least one PSI report includes a combined positioning fix, velocity, and / or orientation based on a combination of at least one positioning technique.

[0182]

[0189] Clause 28. The method according to Clause 27, wherein the UE indicates which of at least one positioning technique was used to calculate the combined positioning fix, velocity, and / or orientation.

[0183]

[0190] Clause 29. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 28, wherein the configuration is received via LTE positioning protocol (LPP) signaling.

[0184]

[0191] Clause 30. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 29, wherein the physical uplink channel comprises a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), and the sidelink channel comprises a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH).

[0185]

[0192] Clause 31. The method according to any one of Clauses 1 to 30, wherein the UE transmits at least one PSI report to a positioning entity via a physical uplink channel.

[0186]

[0193] Clause 32. The method according to Clause 31, wherein the positioning entity is the serving base station of the UE.

[0187]

[0194] Clause 33. The method according to Clause 31, wherein the positioning entity is a location server incorporated in a base station.

[0188]

[0195] The method according to any one of clauses 1 to 30, wherein the UE transmits at least one PSI report to a second UE via a sidelink channel.

[0189]

[0196] An apparatus comprising a memory and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the memory and the at least one processor being configured to perform the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 34.

[0190]

[0197] An apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 34.

[0191]

[0198] A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable comprising at least one instruction for causing a computer or a processor to perform the method according to any one of clauses 1 to 34.

[0192]

[0199] Those skilled in the art will understand that information and signals can 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 referred to 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.

[0193]

[0200] 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 a combination 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 implementations should not be construed as departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0194]

[0201] The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein can be implemented or performed 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.

[0195]

[0202] The methods, sequences and / or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented directly in hardware, in software modules executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software modules may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM (registered trademark)), registers, hard disk, removable disk, 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. Alternatively, 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., UE). Alternatively, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

[0196]

[0203] In one or more exemplary aspects, the described functionality may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functionality may be stored on or transmitted via 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 can facilitate 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 media 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, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc, where disk generally magnetically reproduces data and disc optically reproduces data with a laser. The above combinations should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0197]

[0204] 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 a particular order. Further, elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, but the plural is contemplated unless expressly stated to be limited to the singular. The invention described in the claims of the present application at the time of filing is appended below. [C1] A method of wireless communication implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a configuration for providing at least one positioning state information (PSI) report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first RAT is associated with at least one first positioning technology, and the configuration is related to at least one second RAT and / or at least one second positioning technology, or both, to be used for estimating the location of the UE; obtaining at least a first set of positioning measurement values using the at least one second RAT, the at least one second positioning technology, or both; and transmitting the at least one PSI report on a physical resource allocated for a physical uplink channel or a sidelink channel of the first RAT, wherein the at least one PSI report includes at least the first set of positioning measurement values. [C2] The method according to C1, wherein the first RAT comprises a New Radio (NR) RAT, and the at least one second RAT, the at least one second positioning technology, or both comprise a non-NR RAT, a non-NR positioning technology, or both. [C3] The method according to C2, wherein the non-NR positioning technology comprises Bluetooth (registered trademark) positioning technology, barometric pressure sensor positioning technology, motion sensor positioning technology, Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS) positioning technology, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) positioning technology, Terrestrial Broadcast Beacon System (TBS) positioning technology, or any combination thereof. [C4] The method according to C2, wherein the non-NR RAT comprises Long Term Evolution (LTE), and the at least one second positioning technology comprises Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) positioning technology based on LTE physical layer reference signals, Extended Cell Identifier (E-CID) positioning technology based on LTE physical layer reference signals, or any combination thereof. [C5] The method according to C2. ​ ​ ​ ​ [C5] The method according to C2, wherein the at least one first positioning technology comprises a downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) positioning technology based on NR physical layer reference signals, an E-CID positioning technology based on NR physical layer reference signals, a downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) positioning technology, an uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA) positioning technology, a multi-round trip time (multi-RTT) positioning technology, or any combination thereof. [C6] The method according to C1, wherein the at least one second positioning technology comprises at least two different positioning technologies. [C7] Transmitting capability information indicating the capability of the UE to provide a positioning service information (PSI) report for each of the at least two different positioning technologies. The method according to C6, further comprising the above. [C8] The method according to C6, wherein the at least one PSI report comprises at least two PSI reports, one PSI report for each of the at least two different positioning technologies. [C9] Each of the at least two PSI reports includes a plurality of parts. At least one part of the plurality of parts of at least one second PSI report among the at least two PSI reports cannot be transmitted on the resources allocated for the physical uplink channel or the sidelink channel of the first radio access technology (RAT). The method according to C8. [C10] Transmitting, via upper layer signaling, at least one part of the plurality of parts of the at least one second PSI report, or Transmitting, via the upper layer signaling, the at least one second PSI report. The method according to C9, further comprising the above. [C11] The method according to C10, wherein the upper layer signaling comprises long term evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) signaling. [C12] The method according to C6, wherein the at least one PSI report comprises a single PSI report for two or more of the at least two different positioning technologies. [C13] The first part of the single PSI report identifies two or more of the at least two different positioning technologies. The second part of the single PSI report includes measurement values obtained using two or more of the at least two different positioning technologies. The method according to C12. [C14] The method according to C13, wherein the UE determines an ordering of the measurements obtained using two or more of the at least two different positioning techniques in the second part of the single PSI report. [C15] The method according to C13, wherein the second part is split into at least two sub-parts, each sub-part for one of the two or more of the at least two different positioning techniques. [C16] The method according to C15, wherein the at least two sub-parts are transmitted on different physical uplink channels or sidelink channels. [C17] Each of the at least two positioning techniques is associated with a priority, and a PSI report carrying a measurement obtained using one of the at least two positioning techniques having a higher priority than other positioning techniques among the at least two positioning techniques is reported before or instead of a PSI report carrying a measurement obtained using the other positioning techniques. The method according to C6. [C18] The method according to C17, wherein the priority is set by a location server. [C19] The method according to C17, wherein the priority is based on when the UE started a positioning session for the at least two positioning techniques. [C20] The method according to C1, wherein the configuration is a downlink control information (DCI) code point mapped to a specific PSI report configuration. [C21] The method according to C20, wherein the PSI report configuration triggers a plurality of PSI reports including the at least one PSI report for the at least one second positioning technique. [C22] The method according to C21, wherein the PSI report configuration is related to assistance data for enabling the UE to obtain the one or more measurements, and the assistance data is related to only a first PSI report among the plurality of PSI reports. [C23] The PSI report configuration triggers a single PSI report, the single PSI report is the at least one PSI report, and the single PSI report is related to a plurality of different positioning techniques including the at least one second positioning technique. The method according to C20. [C24] The at least one PSI report is an aperiodic PSI report, The DCI includes a single bit indicating that the at least one PSI report is for a non-NR positioning technique. The method according to C20. [C25] The method according to C1, wherein the at least one second positioning technique comprises a UE-based positioning technique. [C26] The method according to C1, wherein the at least one PSI report includes separate positioning fixes, speeds, and / or orientations for each of the at least one positioning technique. [C27] The method according to C1, wherein the at least one PSI report includes combined positioning fixes, speeds, and / or orientations based on a combination of the at least one positioning technique. [C28] The method according to C27, wherein the UE indicates which of the at least one positioning technique was used to calculate the combined positioning fix, speed, and / or orientation. [C29] The method according to C1, wherein the configuration is received via LTE positioning protocol (LPP) signaling. [C30] The physical uplink channel comprises a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH). The sidelink channel comprises a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The method according to C1. [C31] The method according to C1, wherein the UE transmits the at least one PSI report to a positioning entity via the physical uplink channel. [C32] The method according to C31, wherein the positioning entity is the serving base station of the UE. [C33] The method according to C31, wherein the positioning entity is a location server incorporated in a base station. [C34] The method according to C1, wherein the UE transmits the at least one PSI report to a second UE via the sidelink channel. [C35] A memory, at least one transceiver, at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, A user equipment (UE) comprising, wherein the at least one processor is Receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a configuration for providing at least one positioning state information (PSI) report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first RAT is associated with at least one first positioning technology, and the configuration is associated with at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technology, or both to be used for estimating the location of the UE, Acquiring, via the at least one transceiver, at least a first set of positioning measurements using the at least one second RAT, the at least one second positioning technology, or both, Causing the at least one transceiver to transmit the at least one PSI report on a physical resource allocated for a physical uplink channel or a side link channel of the first RAT, wherein the at least one PSI report includes at least the first set of positioning measurements, A user equipment (UE) configured to perform the above. [C36] The first RAT comprises a New Radio (NR) RAT, The at least one second RAT, the at least one second positioning technology, or both comprise a non-NR RAT, a non-NR positioning technology, or both, The UE according to C35. [C37] The non-NR positioning technology comprises a Bluetooth positioning technology, a barometric pressure sensor positioning technology, a motion sensor positioning technology, an Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS) positioning technology, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) positioning technology, a Terrestrial Broadcast Beacon System (TBS) positioning technology, or any combination thereof, for the UE according to C36. [C38] The non-NR RAT comprises Long Term Evolution (LTE), The at least one second positioning technology comprises an Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) positioning technology based on an LTE physical layer reference signal, an Enhanced Cell Identifier (E-CID) positioning technology based on an LTE physical layer reference signal, or any combination thereof, The UE according to C36. [C39] The UE according to C36, wherein the at least one first positioning technique comprises a downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) positioning technique based on NR physical layer reference signals, an E-CID positioning technique based on NR physical layer reference signals, a downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) positioning technique, an uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA) positioning technique, a multi-round trip time (multi-RTT) positioning technique, or any combination thereof. [C40] The UE according to C35, wherein the at least one second positioning technique comprises at least two different positioning techniques. [C41] The at least one processor is configured to further cause the at least one transceiver to transmit capability information for instructing the UE's capability to provide a positioning service information (PSI) report for each of the at least two different positioning techniques. The UE according to C40, further configured to perform the above. [C42] The UE according to C40, wherein the at least one PSI report comprises at least two PSI reports, one PSI report for each of the at least two different positioning techniques. [C43] Each of the at least two PSI reports includes a plurality of parts, and at least one part of the plurality of parts of at least one second PSI report among the at least two PSI reports cannot be transmitted on the resources allocated for the physical uplink channel or the sidelink channel of the first radio access technology (RAT). The UE according to C42. [C44] The at least one processor is configured to further cause the at least one transceiver to transmit, via upper layer signaling, at least one part of the plurality of parts of the at least one second PSI report, or configured to further cause the at least one transceiver to transmit, via upper layer signaling, the at least one second PSI report. The UE according to C43, further configured to perform the above. [C45] The UE according to C44, wherein the upper layer signaling comprises long term evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) signaling. [C46] The UE according to C40, wherein the at least one PSI report comprises a single PSI report for two or more of the at least two different positioning techniques. [C47] The first part of the single PSI report identifies the two or more of the at least two different positioning technologies, The second part of the single PSI report includes measurements obtained using the two or more of the at least two different positioning technologies, The UE according to C46. [C48] The UE according to C47, wherein the at least one processor determines an ordering of the measurements obtained using the two or more of the at least two different positioning technologies in the second part of the single PSI report. [C49] The UE according to C47, wherein the second part is split into at least two sub-parts, one sub-part for each of the two or more of the at least two different positioning technologies. [C50] The UE according to C49, wherein the at least two sub-parts are transmitted on different physical uplink channels or sidelink channels. [C51] Each of the at least two positioning technologies is associated with a priority, A PSI report carrying measurements obtained using one of the at least two positioning technologies having a higher priority than the other positioning technologies among the at least two positioning technologies is reported before or instead of a PSI report carrying measurements obtained using the other positioning technologies. The UE according to C40. [C52] The UE according to C51, wherein the priority is set by a location server. [C53] The UE according to C51, wherein the priority is based on when the UE started a positioning session for the at least two positioning technologies. [C54] The UE according to C35, wherein the configuration is a downlink control information (DCI) code point mapped to a specific PSI report configuration. [C55] The UE according to C54, wherein the PSI report configuration triggers a plurality of PSI reports including the at least one PSI report for the at least one second positioning technology. [C56] The UE according to C55, wherein the PSI report configuration is related to assistance data for enabling the UE to obtain the one or more measurements, and the assistance data is related to only the first PSI report among the plurality of PSI reports. [C57] The PSI report configuration triggers a single PSI report, said single PSI report being said at least one PSI report, said single PSI report being related to a plurality of different positioning technologies including said at least one second positioning technology, The UE according to C54. [C58] said at least one PSI report being an aperiodic PSI report, said DCI including a single bit indicating that said at least one PSI report is for a non-NR positioning technology, The UE according to C54. [C59] The UE according to C35, wherein said at least one second positioning technology comprises a UE-based positioning technology. [C60] The UE according to C35, wherein said at least one PSI report includes separate positioning fixes, speeds, and / or orientations for each of said at least one positioning technology. [C61] The UE according to C35, wherein said at least one PSI report includes combined positioning fixes, speeds, and / or orientations based on a combination of said at least one positioning technology. [C62] The UE according to C61, wherein the UE indicates which of said at least one positioning technology was used to calculate said combined positioning fix, speed, and / or orientation. [C63] The UE according to C35, wherein said configuration is received via LTE positioning protocol (LPP) signaling. [C64] said physical uplink channel comprising a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), said sidelink channel comprising a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH), The UE according to C35. [C65] The UE according to C35, wherein the UE transmits said at least one PSI report to a positioning entity via said physical uplink channel. [C66] The UE according to C65, wherein said positioning entity is the serving base station of the UE. [C67] The UE according to C65, wherein said positioning entity is a location server incorporated in a base station. [C68] The UE according to C35, wherein the UE transmits said at least one PSI report to a second UE via said sidelink channel. [C69] A user equipment (UE), Means for receiving a configuration for providing at least one positioning state information (PSI) report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first RAT is associated with at least one first positioning technology, and the configuration is associated with at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technology, or both to be used for estimating the location of the UE, means for obtaining at least a first set of positioning measurements using the at least one second RAT, the at least one second positioning technology, or both; means for transmitting the at least one PSI report on a physical resource allocated for a physical uplink channel or a sidelink channel of the first RAT, wherein the at least one PSI report includes at least the first set of positioning measurements, A user equipment (UE) comprising the above. [C70] A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising: at least one instruction instructing a user equipment (UE) to receive a configuration for providing at least one positioning state information (PSI) report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first RAT is associated with at least one first positioning technology, and the configuration is associated with at least one second RAT, at least one second positioning technology, or both to be used for estimating the location of the UE, at least one instruction instructing the UE to obtain at least a first set of positioning measurements using the at least one second RAT, the at least one second positioning technology, or both, at least one instruction instructing the UE to transmit the at least one PSI report on a physical resource allocated for a physical uplink channel or a sidelink channel of the first RAT, wherein the at least one PSI report includes at least the first set of positioning measurements, A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising the above.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a configuration for providing at least one positioning state information (PSI) report via a wireless communication network operating according to a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the first RAT is associated with a first positioning technology, and the configuration is related to at least one second RAT and / or at least one second positioning technology, or both, to be used for estimating the location of the UE; using the at least one second RAT, the at least one second positioning technology, or both, to obtain at least a first set of positioning measurement values; transmitting the at least one PSI report on a physical resource allocated for a physical uplink channel or a sidelink channel of the first RAT, wherein the at least one PSI report includes at least the first set of positioning measurement values; wherein the first RAT is a new radio (NR) RAT, the at least one second RAT is a non-NR RAT, and the at least one second positioning technology is a non-NR positioning technology; the configuration is a downlink control information (DCI) code point mapped to one of different PSI report configurations; the DCI code point triggers one or more PSI reports of the at least one second positioning technology corresponding to the PSI report configuration mapped to the DCI code point.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the non-NR RAT comprises long term evolution (LTE); the at least one second positioning technology comprises an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) positioning technology based on an LTE physical layer reference signal, an enhanced cell identifier (E-CID) positioning technology based on an LTE physical layer reference signal, or any combination thereof. The method according to claim 1.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one second positioning technology comprises at least two different positioning technologies.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising transmitting capability information indicating the UE's capability to provide PSI reports for each of the at least two different positioning technologies. The method according to claim 3.

5. The at least one PSI report comprises at least two PSI reports, one PSI report for each of the at least two different positioning techniques, and optionally, each of the at least two PSI reports includes a plurality of parts, and at least one part of the plurality of parts of at least one second PSI report of the at least two PSI reports cannot be transmitted on the physical resources allocated for the physical uplink channel or the sidelink channel of the first RAT, The method according to claim 3.

6. Transmitting, via upper layer signaling, the at least one part of the plurality of parts of the at least one second PSI report, or Transmitting, via the upper layer signaling, the at least one second PSI report, further comprising, The method according to claim 5, wherein the upper layer signaling comprises Long Term Evolution (LTE) positioning protocol (LPP) signaling.

7. The at least one PSI report comprises a single PSI report for two or more of the at least two different positioning techniques, and optionally, a first part of the single PSI report identifies two or more of the at least two different positioning techniques, and a second part of the single PSI report includes measurement values obtained using two or more of the at least two different positioning techniques, The method according to claim 3.

8. The UE determines the ordering of the measurement values obtained using two or more of the at least two different positioning techniques in the second part of the single PSI report, and / or the second part is split into at least two sub-parts, one sub-part for each of two or more of the at least two different positioning techniques, and optionally, the at least two sub-parts are transmitted on different physical uplink channels or sidelink channels, The method according to claim 7.

9. each of the at least two different positioning techniques is associated with a priority, A PSI report carrying a measurement value obtained using one of the at least two different positioning technologies having a higher priority than the other positioning technologies among the at least two different positioning technologies is reported before or instead of a PSI report carrying a measurement value obtained using the other positioning technology, and optionally, the priority is set by a location server, or the priority is based on when the UE started a positioning session for the at least two positioning technologies, The method according to claim 3.

10. The PSI report configuration triggers a plurality of PSI reports including the at least one PSI report for the at least one second positioning technology, The PSI report configuration is related to assistance data for enabling the UE to obtain one or more measurement values, and the assistance data is related to only the first PSI report among the plurality of PSI reports, The method according to claim 1.

11. The PSI report configuration triggers a single PSI report, The single PSI report is the at least one PSI report, The single PSI report is related to a plurality of different positioning technologies including the at least one second positioning technology, or the at least one PSI report is an aperiodic PSI report, The DCI includes a single bit indicating that the at least one PSI report is for a non-NR positioning technology, The method according to claim 10.

12. The at least one PSI report includes separate positioning fixes, speeds, and / or orientations for each of the at least one second positioning technology, or the at least one PSI report includes combined positioning fixes, speeds, and / or orientations based on a combination of the at least one second positioning technology, and optionally, the UE indicates which of the at least one second positioning technologies was used to calculate the combined positioning fix, speed, and / or orientation, The method according to claim 1.

13. The configuration is received via LTE positioning protocol (LPP) signaling, and / or The physical uplink channel comprises a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) or a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), The sidelink channel comprises a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) or a physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH). The method according to claim 1.

14. A memory, At least one transceiver, At least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, A user equipment (UE) comprising, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising instructions for instructing a user equipment (UE) to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 13.

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