Phase Characteristics Capability Report for Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) Stitching

Abstract

A mobile device can report its capabilities regarding one or more phase characteristics between sounding resource signal (SRS) resources transmitted by the mobile device under one or more conditions to a network node, allowing the network to configure the mobile device accordingly. Such reporting can enable the network to process multiple SRS resources coherently, substantially increasing the bandwidth of the SRS resources and ultimately improving the accuracy of mobile device location determination. Various techniques are provided for reporting capabilities and determining applicable conditions.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Related Applications This application claims the benefit of Indian Patent Application No. 202041045124, titled "PHASE CHARACTERISTIC CAPABILITY REPORTING FOR SOUNDING REFERENCE SIGNAL (SRS) STITCHING", filed on October 16, 2020, which is assigned to the assignee of this application and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

[0002] The present invention generally relates to the field of wireless communication, and more specifically, to determining the position of a user equipment (UE) using high-frequency (RF) signals.

Background Art

[0003] In a 5th generation (5G) New Radio (NR) mobile communication network, a UE may transmit an uplink (UL) sounding reference signal (SRS) that can be received by a base station and / or other transmission / reception points (TRPs) to perform angle and / or distance measurements to determine the position of the UE using any of various network-based positioning methods. An increase in the bandwidth of the reference signal transmitted by the UE can result in an improvement in the accuracy of the determined location of the UE. The network may acquire the UE's capabilities related to the bandwidth to help ensure efficient use of the bandwidth.

Summary of the Invention

Means for Solving the Problems

[0004] A mobile device can report to a network node its capabilities regarding one or more phase characteristics between sounding resource signals (SRS) resources transmitted by the mobile device under one or more situations, enabling the network to configure the mobile device accordingly. Such reporting can enable the network to process multiple SRS resources coherently, substantially increase the bandwidth of the SRS resources, and ultimately improve the accuracy of mobile device positioning. Various techniques are provided for reporting capabilities and determining applicable conditions.

[0005] An exemplary method of wireless communication in a mobile device according to the present disclosure may include transmitting to a network node an indication of the mobile device's capabilities for maintaining a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS using a second CC, where the capabilities include being able to maintain the phase characteristic below a threshold, being able to maintain the phase characteristic at a constant value, or being unable to maintain the phase characteristic, or any combination thereof. The method may also include transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS.

[0006] An exemplary method of wireless communication in a network node according to the present disclosure may include receiving from a mobile device an indication of the mobile device's capabilities for maintaining a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) transmitted by the mobile device using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS transmitted by the mobile device using a second CC, where the capabilities include being able to maintain the phase characteristic below a threshold, being able to maintain the phase characteristic at a constant value, or being unable to maintain the phase characteristic, or any combination thereof. The method may also include transmitting to the mobile device a configuration for transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, where the configuration is at least partially based on the capabilities.

[0007] An exemplary mobile device for wireless communication according to the present disclosure may include a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, and the one or more processors are configured to transmit, to a network node, an indication of the mobile device's ability to maintain a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS using a second CC, and the ability includes being able to maintain the phase characteristic below a threshold value, being able to maintain the phase characteristic at a constant value, or being unable to maintain the phase characteristic, or any combination thereof. The one or more processors may further be configured to transmit, via the transceiver, the first SRS and the second SRS.

[0008] An exemplary network node for wireless communication according to the present disclosure may include a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, and the one or more processors are configured to receive, from a mobile device via the transceiver, an indication of the mobile device's ability to maintain a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) transmitted by the mobile device using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS transmitted by the mobile device using a second CC, and the ability includes being able to maintain the phase characteristic below a threshold value, being able to maintain the phase characteristic at a constant value, or being unable to maintain the phase characteristic, or any combination thereof. The one or more processors may further be configured to transmit, to the mobile device via the transceiver, a configuration for transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, and the configuration is at least partially based on the ability.

[0009] This summary is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used alone to determine the scope of the claimed subject matter. The subject matter should be understood by reference to the entire specification of this disclosure, any or all of the drawings, and the appropriate portions of each claim. The foregoing, together with other features and examples, will be described in more detail below in the following specification, claims, and accompanying drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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[0011] According to some exemplary implementations, like reference numerals in the various drawings indicate like elements. Additionally, multiple instances of an element may be indicated by following the first digit of that element with a letter or a hyphen and a second digit. For example, multiple instances of element 110 may be indicated as 110-1, 110-2, 110-3, etc., or as 110a, 110b, 110c, etc. When referring to such an element using only the first digit, it should be understood to be any instance of that element (e.g., element 110 in the previous example refers to elements 110-1, 110-2, and 110-3, or elements 110a, 110b, and 110c).

[0012] Here, with respect to the accompanying drawings that form a part of this specification, some exemplary embodiments are described. Although several embodiments in which one or more aspects of the present disclosure can be implemented are described below, other embodiments may be used and various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0013] The following description is directed to several implementations for the purpose of describing inventive aspects of various embodiments. However, those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the teachings of this specification can be applied in many different ways. The described implementations can be implemented in any device, system, or network capable of transmitting and receiving high-frequency (RF) signals according to any communication standard, such as those of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) IEEE802.11 standards (including those identified as Wi-Fi (registered trademark) technology), Bluetooth (registered trademark) standards, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), GSM / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE), Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Wideband CDMA (W-CDMA), Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO), 1xEV-DO, EV-DO Rev A, EV-DO Rev B, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), Evolved High Speed Packet Access (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), or any other known signals used for communication within a wireless network, cellular network, or internet of things (IoT) network, such as systems utilizing 3G technology, 4G technology, 5G technology, 6G technology, or further implementations thereof.

[0014] The UE may have some capabilities regarding the ability to transmit reference signals to one or more transmit / receive points (TRPs) using multiple component carriers (CCs). The use of multiple reference signals in multiple CCs can substantially increase the bandwidth of the reference signals for measurements performed to determine the position of the UE. More specifically, this increase in bandwidth is achieved by aggregating the reference signals (e.g., processing the reference signals together in the signal domain). The UE's capabilities for transmitting reference signals that can be aggregated (e.g., by the TRP) may be restricted by factors such as inter-channel spacing, timing offset, phase offset (or phase shift), frequency error, power imbalance, and other such factors between the reference signals of different CCs. Embodiments provided herein define a method such that the UE can provide a report to the network (e.g., a network node) along with an indication of its capabilities regarding maintaining one or more phase characteristics (e.g., phase offset, phase ramp, phase slope, and / or phase time drift) between the reference signals of different CCs. The network can respond by configuring the UE accordingly. Further details are provided herein.

[0015] As used herein, an "RF signal" comprises an electromagnetic wave that carries information through space between a transmitter (or transmitting device) and a receiver (or receiving device). 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 the RF signal through a multipath channel, a receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same RF signal transmitted over different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal.

[0016] In addition, unless otherwise specified, references to "reference signal", "positioning reference signal", "reference signal for positioning", etc. can be used to refer to signals used for positioning of a user equipment (UE). As will be described in more detail herein, such signals may comprise any of various signal types and may not necessarily be limited to positioning reference signals (PRS) as defined in the relevant wireless standards.

[0017] FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of a positioning system 100 in which components of a UE 105, a location server 160, and / or other components of the positioning system 100 can use the techniques provided herein to provide phase characteristic ability reports for SRS stitching, according to an embodiment. The techniques described herein can be implemented by one or more components of the positioning system 100. The positioning system 100 can include a UE 105, one or more satellites 110 (also referred to as space vehicles (SVs)) for a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), GLONASS, Galileo, or Beidou, a base station 120, an access point (AP) 130, a location server 160, a network 170, and an external client 180. Generally, the positioning system 100 can estimate the position of the UE 105 based on RF signals received by and / or transmitted from the UE 105 and the known positions of other components (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, base station 120, AP 130) that transmit and / or receive RF signals. Further details regarding specific position estimation techniques are discussed in more detail with respect to FIG. 2.

[0018] FIG. 1 provides only a generalized illustration of various components, and note that any or all of the components may be used as appropriate, and each of the components may be replicated as needed. Specifically, although only one UE 105 is shown, it will be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the positioning system 100. Similarly, the positioning system 100 may include more or fewer base stations 120 and / or APs 130 than shown in FIG. 1. The illustrated connections that connect the various components in the positioning system 100 may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks, with data and signaling connections. Further, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted, depending on the desired functionality. In some embodiments, for example, the external client 180 may be directly connected to the location server 160. Those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications to the illustrated components.

[0019] Depending on the desired function, network 170 may comprise any of a variety of wireless and / or wired networks. Network 170 can comprise any combination, for example, of a public network and / or a private network, a local area network and / or a wide area network. Further, network 170 may utilize one or more wired and / or wireless communication technologies. In some embodiments, network 170 may comprise, for example, a cellular or other mobile network, a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), and / or the Internet. Examples of network 170 include a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) wireless network, a fifth generation (5G) wireless network (also referred to as a New Radio (NR) wireless network or a 5G NR wireless network), a Wi-Fi WLAN, and the Internet. LTE, 5G, and NR are wireless technologies defined by, or being defined by, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP™). Network 170 may also include two or more networks and / or two or more types of networks.

[0020] Base station 120 and access point (AP) 130 can be communicatively coupled to network 170. In some embodiments, base station 120 may be owned, maintained, and / or operated by a cellular network provider and may utilize any of a variety of wireless technologies, as described hereinbelow. Depending on the technology of network 170, base station 120 may comprise, for example, a Node B, an Evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a base transceiver station (BTS), a radio base station (RBS), an NR NodeB (gNB), a next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), etc. Base station 120, which is a gNB or ng-eNB, may be part of a next-generation radio access network (NG-RAN) that can connect to a 5G core network (5GC) when network 170 is a 5G network. AP 130 may comprise, for example, a Wi-Fi AP or a Bluetooth® AP or an AP having cellular capabilities (e.g., 4G LTE and / or 5G NR). Thus, UE 105 can send and receive information with network-connected devices such as location server 160 by accessing network 170 via base station 120 using the first communication link 133. Additionally or alternatively, since AP 130 can also be communicatively coupled to network 170, UE 105 can communicate with network-connected devices and Internet-connected devices including location server 160 using the second communication link 135 or via one or more other UEs 145.

[0021] As used herein, the term "base station" generally may refer to a single physical transmission point that may be located at base station 120, or multiple co-located physical transmission points. A transmission and reception point (TRP) (also known as a transmit / receive point), which corresponds to this type of transmission point, may be used interchangeably herein with the terms "gNB", "ng-eNB", and "base station". In some cases, base station 120 may comprise multiple TRPs; for example, each TRP may be associated with a different antenna or different antenna array for base station 120. The physical transmission point may comprise an array of antennas of base station 120 (such as in the case of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system and / or when the base station utilizes beamforming). Additionally, the term "base station" may refer to physical transmission points that are not co-located, and the physical transmission points may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium), or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station).

[0022] As used herein, the term "cell" generally may refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with base station 120, and may be associated with an identifier (such as a physical cell identifier (PCID), virtual cell identifier (VCID)) for distinguishing neighboring cells operating via the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (such as Machine-Type Communication (MTC), Narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT), Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), etc.) that may provide access to different types of devices. In some cases, the term "cell" may refer to a portion of a geographic coverage area (such as a sector) over which the logical entity operates.

[0023] The location server 160 may comprise a server and / or other computing device configured to determine the estimated location of the UE 105 and / or provide data (e.g., "assistance data") to the UE 105 to facilitate location measurement and / or location determination by the UE 105. According to some embodiments, the location server 160 may comprise a Home Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (H-SLP), which can support the SUPL user plane (UP) location method defined by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) and support a location service for the UE 105 based on the subscription information about the UE 105 stored in the location server 160. In some embodiments, the location server 160 may comprise a Discovered SLP (D-SLP) or an Emergency SLP (E-SLP). The location server 160 may also comprise an Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) that supports location determination of the UE 105 using a control plane (CP) location method for LTE radio access by the UE 105. The location server 160 may further comprise a Location Management Function (LMF) that supports location determination of the UE 105 using a control plane (CP) location method for NR or LTE radio access by the UE 105.

[0024] In the CP location method, the signaling for controlling and managing the location of UE 105 may be exchanged between the elements of network 170 and UE 105 using existing network interfaces and protocols and as signaling from the perspective of network 170. In the UP location method, the signaling for controlling and managing the location of UE 105 may be exchanged between location server 160 and UE 105 as data from the perspective of network 170 (e.g., data transported using Internet Protocol (IP) and / or Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)).

[0025] As described above (and as will be described in more detail below), the estimated location of UE 105 may be based on measurements of RF signals transmitted from and / or received by UE 105. Specifically, these measurements can provide information regarding the relative distance and / or angle of UE 105 from one or more components (e.g., GNSS satellites 110, AP 130, base stations 120) within positioning system 100. The estimated location of UE 105 can be geometrically estimated (e.g., using triangulation and / or multilateration) based on the measured results of distance and / or angle together with the known locations of one or more components.

[0026] Components on the ground such as AP130 and base station 120 may be fixed, but the embodiments are not limited thereto. Mobile components may be used. For example, in some embodiments, the position of UE105 may be estimated based at least in part on the measurement results of RF signal 140 communicated between UE105 and one or more other UEs 145 that may be mobile or fixed. When one or more other UEs 145 are used in the location determination of a particular UE105, the UE105 whose location is to be determined may be referred to as the "target UE", and each of the one or more other UEs 145 used may be referred to as an "anchor UE". For the location determination of the target UE, the location of each of the one or more anchor UEs may be known and / or determined together with the target UE. The direct communication between one or more other UEs 145 and UE105 may comprise sidelink and / or similar device-to-device (D2D) communication techniques. The sidelink defined by 3GPP (registered trademark) is a form of D2D communication under the cellular-based LTE standard and NR standard.

[0027] The estimated location of UE105 can be used for various purposes, such as to assist in direction detection or navigation for the user of UE105, or to assist another user (e.g., associated with external client 180) in locating UE105. "Location" is also referred to herein as "position estimation", "estimated position", "position", "place", "place estimation", "place fix", "estimated place", "position fix", or "fix". The process of determining a location may be referred to as "positioning", "place determination", "position determination", etc. The location of UE105 may be the absolute location of UE105 (e.g., latitude and longitude and possibly altitude), or the relative location of UE105 (e.g., from some other known fixed location (including the location of base station 120 or AP130), or from some other location such as the position of UE105 at some known previous time or the position of some other UE145 at some known previous time, represented as distances north-south, east-west, and possibly up-down). The location may be specified as a geodetic location with coordinates that can be absolute (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude), relative (e.g., relative to some known absolute location), or local (e.g., X, Y, and possibly Z coordinates according to a coordinate system defined with respect to a local area such as a factory, warehouse, university campus, shopping mall, sports stadium, or convention center). The location may alternatively be a civic location, in which case it may include a street address (e.g., including the name and signage of country, state, county, city, road and / or street, and / or road or street number), and / or one or more of signage or names such as a location, building, part of a building, floor of a building, and / or room inside a building. The location may further include an indication of uncertainty or error, such as horizontal and possibly vertical distances within which the error of the location is expected to be, or an indication of an area or volume (e.g., a circle or ellipse) within which UE105 is expected to be located with some level of confidence (e.g., 95% confidence).

[0028] The external client 180 may be a web server or a remote application that may have some association with the UE 105 (e.g., can be accessed by the user of the UE 105), or may be a server, application, or computer system that provides a location - specific service to some other user that may include obtaining and providing the location of the UE 105 (e.g., to enable services such as searching for friends or relatives, asset tracking, or locating children or pets). Additionally or alternatively, the external client 180 may obtain the location of the UE 105 and provide it to an emergency service provider, a government agency, etc.

[0029] As described above, the exemplary positioning system 100 can be implemented using a wireless communication network such as an LTE-based or 5G NR-based network. FIG. 2 shows a diagram of a 5G NR positioning system 200 that illustrates an embodiment of a positioning system (e.g., positioning system 100) that implements 5G NR. The 5G NR positioning system 200 may be configured to determine the location of UE 105 by using access nodes, which may include NR NodeBs (gNBs) 210-1 and 210-2 (collectively and generically referred to herein as gNB 210), ng-eNB 214, and / or WLAN 216 to implement one or more positioning methods. The gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214 may correspond to the base station 120 of FIG. 1, and the WLAN 216 may correspond to one or more access points 130 of FIG. 1. Optionally, the 5G NR positioning system 200 may also be configured to determine the location of UE 105 by using an LMF 220 (which may correspond to the location server 160) to implement one or more positioning methods. Here, the 5G NR positioning system 200 comprises the UE 105 and components of a 5G NR network comprising a Next Generation (NG) Radio Access Network (RAN) (NG-RAN) 235 and a 5G Core Network (5G CN) 240. The 5G network may also be referred to as an NR network, the NG-RAN 235 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or NR RAN, and the 5G CN 240 may be referred to as an NG core network. The 5G NR positioning system 200 may further utilize information from GNSS satellites 110 of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GPS) such as a GNSS system or a similar system (e.g., GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS)). Additional components of the 5G NR positioning system 200 are described below. The 5G NR positioning system 200 may include additional or alternative components.

[0030] FIG. 2 provides only a generalized description of various components, and it should be noted that any or all of the components may be utilized as appropriate, and each of the components may be replicated or omitted as needed. Specifically, although only one UE 105 is shown, it will be understood that many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may utilize the 5G NR positioning system 200. Similarly, the 5G NR positioning system 200 may include a greater (or fewer) number of GNSS satellites 110, gNBs 210, ng-eNBs 214, wireless local area networks (WLANs) 216, access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 215, external clients 230, and / or other components. The illustrated connections that connect the various components within the 5G NR positioning system 200 may include additional (intermediate) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks, including data and signaling connections. Further, the components may be rearranged, combined, separated, replaced, and / or omitted, depending on the desired functionality.

[0031] UE105 includes, and / or is called, or may be called by some other name, a device, mobile device, wireless device, mobile terminal, terminal, mobile station (MS), Secure User Plane Location (SUPL)-Enabled Terminal (SET). Further, UE105 may correspond to a cellular phone, smartphone, laptop, tablet, personal digital assistant (PDA), navigation device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, or some other portable or removable device. Although not required, typically, UE105 supports wireless communication using one or more radio access technologies (RATs) such as GSM, CDMA, W-CDMA, LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi®, Bluetooth, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX™), 5G NR (e.g., using NG-RAN235 and 5G CN240). UE105 may also support wireless communication using a WLAN216 (such as one or more RATs as previously described with respect to FIG. 1) that can connect to other networks such as the Internet. By using one or more of these RATs, it becomes possible for UE105 to communicate with an external client 230 (e.g., via elements of 5G CN240 not shown in FIG. 2 or, in some cases, via Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 225), and / or for the external client 230 to receive location information regarding UE105 (e.g., via GMLC225). Implemented in a 5G NR network or communicatively coupled to a 5G NR network, the external client 230 of FIG. 2 may correspond to the external client 180 of FIG. 1.

[0032] UE105 may include a single entity or multiple entities in a personal area network where a user can utilize audio, video, and / or data I / O devices, and / or body sensors and a separate wired or wireless modem. The estimation of the location of UE105 may be referred to as location, location estimation, location fix, fix, place, place estimation, or place fix, and may be geodesic, so it may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., elevation, ground, floor, or height or depth from underground), and provides the location coordinates of UE105 (e.g., latitude and longitude). Alternatively, the location of UE105 may be represented as a civic location (e.g., as the address or designation of some point or small area within a building, such as a particular room or floor). The location of UE105 may also be represented as an area or volume in which UE105 is expected to be located with some probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.) (defined either geodesically or in civic form). The location of UE105 may further be a relative location with distance and direction, or relative X, Y (and Z) coordinates defined with respect to some origin at a known location that can be defined, for example, geodesically, in civic form, or with reference to a point, area, or volume shown on a map, floor plan, or architectural plan. In the descriptions included herein, the use of the term location may, unless otherwise indicated, be with any of these variations. When calculating the location of the UE, it is common to determine the values of the local X, Y, and optionally Z coordinates and then, if necessary, convert the local coordinates to absolute coordinates (e.g., for latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level).

[0033] The base stations in the NG-RAN 235 shown in FIG. 2 may correspond to the base station 120 in FIG. 1 and may include the gNB 210. Pairs of gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235 may be connected to each other (e.g., directly as shown in FIG. 2 or indirectly via other gNBs 210). The communication interface between base stations (gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) may be referred to as the Xn interface 237. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 105 via wireless communication between the UE 105 and one or more of the gNBs 210, which may provide wireless communication access to the 5G CN 240 instead of the UE 105 using 5G NR. The wireless interface between the base stations (gNB 210 and / or ng-eNB 214) and the UE 105 may be referred to as the Uu interface 239. 5G NR wireless access may also be referred to as NR wireless access or 5G wireless access. In FIG. 2, it is assumed that the serving gNB for the UE 105 is the gNB 210-1, but other gNBs (e.g., gNB 210-2) may become the serving gNB if the UE 105 moves to another location or may become a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to the UE 105.

[0034] The base station in the NG-RAN 235 shown in FIG. 2 may further include, or alternatively include, a next-generation evolved Node B, also referred to as ng-eNB 214. The ng-eNB 214 may be connected to one or more gNBs 210 in the NG-RAN 235, for example, directly or indirectly via other gNBs 210 and / or other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 214 may provide LTE wireless access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to the UE 105. Some of the gNBs 210 in FIG. 2 (for example, gNB 210-2) and / or the ng-eNB 214 may be configured to function as positioning dedicated beacons, which may transmit signals (for example, positioning reference signals (PRS)) and / or broadcast assistance data to assist in the positioning of the UE 105, but may not receive signals from the UE 105 or other UEs. Some of the gNBs 210 (for example, gNB 210-2 and / or another gNB not shown) and / or the ng-eNB 214 that may be configured to function as detection-only nodes may scan signals, for example, including PRS data, assistance data, or other location data. Such detection-only nodes may not transmit signals or data to the UE, but may transmit signals or data (for example, related to PRS, assistance data, or other location data) to other network entities (for example, the 5G CN 240, the external client 230, or one or more components of the controller) that can receive, store, or use at least data for the positioning of the UE 105. Note that only one ng-eNB 214 is shown in FIG. 2, but some embodiments may include multiple ng-eNBs 214. The base stations (for example, gNBs 210 and / or ng-eNBs 214) may communicate directly with each other via the Xn communication interface. Additionally or alternatively, the base stations may communicate directly or indirectly with other components of the 5G NR positioning system 200, such as the LMF 220 and the AMF 215.

[0035] The 5G NR positioning system 200 may also include one or more WLANs 216 that can connect to a Non-3GPP InterWorking Function (N3IWF) 250 in the 5G CN 240 (e.g., in the case of an untrusted WLAN 216). For example, the WLAN 216 may support IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi access for the UE 105 and may include one or more Wi-Fi APs (e.g., AP 130 in FIG. 1). Here, the N3IWF 250 can connect to other elements in the 5G CN 240 such as the AMF 215. In some embodiments, the WLAN 216 may support another RAT such as Bluetooth. The N3IWF 250 may support secure access by the UE 105 to other elements in the 5G CN 240 and / or support the interworking of one or more protocols used by the WLAN 216 and the UE 105 to one or more protocols used by other elements in the 5G CN 240 such as the AMF 215. For example, the N3IWF 250 may support the establishment of an IPSec tunnel with the UE 105, the termination of the IKEv2 / IPSec protocol with the UE 105, the termination of the N2 interface and the N3 interface to the 5G CN 240 for the control plane and the user plane respectively, and the relay of the uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) control plane non-access stratum (NAS) signaling between the UE 105 and the AMF 215 over the N1 interface. In some other embodiments, the WLAN 216 may connect directly to an element in the 5G CN 240 (e.g., the AMF 215 shown by the dashed line in FIG. 2) without going through the N3IWF 250. For example, the direct connection of the WLAN 216 to the 5G CN 240 may be made when the WLAN 216 is a trusted WLAN for the 5G CN 240 and may be enabled using a Trusted WLAN Interworking Function (TWIF) that may be an element within the WLAN 216 (not shown in FIG. 2). Note that only one WLAN 216 is shown in FIG. 2, but some embodiments may include multiple WLANs 216.

[0036] The access node may comprise any of various network entities that enable communication between the UE 105 and the AMF 215. As described, this can include the gNB 210, the ng-eNB 214, the WLAN 216, and / or other types of cellular base stations. However, the access node that provides the functions described herein may alternatively or additionally include entities that enable communication for any of various RATs not shown in FIG. 2, which may include non-cellular technologies. Thus, the term "access node" as used in the embodiments described herein below may include, but is not necessarily limited to, the gNB 210, the ng-eNB 214, or the WLAN 216.

[0037] In some embodiments, access nodes such as gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and / or WLAN 216 may be configured to obtain location measurement results of uplink (UL) signals received from UE 105 and / or obtain downlink (DL) location measurement results obtained by UE 105 for DL signals received by UE 105 from one or more access nodes, in response to receiving a request for location information from LMF 220 (either alone or in combination with other components of the 5G NR positioning system 200). As described, FIG. 2 shows access nodes (gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and WLAN 216) configured to communicate according to 5G NR, LTE, and Wi-Fi communication protocols, respectively. However, access nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols may be used, such as Node B using the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA (registered trademark)) protocol for Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN), eNB using the LTE protocol for Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), or a Bluetooth beacon using the Bluetooth (registered trademark) protocol for WLAN. For example, in a 4G Evolved Packet System (EPS) that provides LTE wireless access to UE 105, the RAN may include a base station comprising an eNB that supports LTE wireless access, and may include E-UTRAN. The core network for EPS may include an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). In that case, EPS may include E-UTRAN plus EPC, and in FIG. 2, E-UTRAN corresponds to NG-RAN 235 and EPC corresponds to 5GCN 240. The methods and techniques described herein for obtaining the civic location of UE 105 may be applicable to such other networks as well.

[0038] gNB 210 and ng-eNB 214 can communicate with AMF 215, and AMF 215 communicates with LMF 220 for positioning functions. AMF 215 can support the mobility of UE 105, including cell changes and handovers of UE 105 from an access node of a first RAT (e.g., gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN 216) to an access node of a second RAT. AMF 215 may also be involved in supporting a signaling connection to UE 105 and, optionally, a data bearer and a voice bearer for UE 105. When UE 105 accesses NG-RAN 235 or WLAN 216, LMF 220 may support the positioning of UE 105 using a CP positioning method, including UE-assisted / UE-based and / or network-based procedures / methods such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) (sometimes called Time Difference Of Arrival (TDOA) in NR), Real Time Kinematic (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhance Cell ID (ECID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), WLAN positioning, Round-Trip Time (RTT), multi-cell RTT, and / or other positioning procedures and methods. LMF 220 may also process a positioning service request for UE 105 received, for example, from AMF 215 or GMLC 225. LMF 220 can be connected to AMF 215 and / or GMLC 225. In some embodiments, a network such as 5GCN 240 may implement other types of positioning support modules, such as Evolved Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or SUPL Location Platform (SLP), additionally or alternatively.Note that in some embodiments, at least a portion of the positioning function (including determination of the location of UE105) may be performed at UE105 (e.g., by measuring downlink PRS (DL-PRS) signals transmitted by wireless nodes such as gNB210, ng-eNB214, and / or WLAN216, and / or by using assistance data provided to UE105 by, e.g., LMF220).

[0039] Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 225 may support a location determination request for UE105 received from external client 230 and may forward such a location determination request to AMF215 for forwarding to LMF220 by AMF215. A location response from LMF220 (including, e.g., an estimated location of UE105) may be similarly returned to GMLC225 either directly or via AMF215, and GMLC225 may then return the location response (including, e.g., the estimated location) to external client 230.

[0040] Network Exposure Function (NEF) 245 may be included in 5GCN240. NEF245 may support secure exposure of capabilities and events related to 5GCN240 and UE105 to external client 230, which may then be referred to as an Access Function (AF) and may enable secure provision of information from external client 230 to 5GCN240. NEF245 may be connected to AMF215 and / or GMLC225 for the purpose of obtaining the location of UE105 (e.g., civic location) and providing the location to external client 230.

[0041] As further shown in Figure 2, the LMF220 can communicate with the gNB210 and / or the ng-eNB214 using the NR Positioning Protocol annex (NRPPa) as defined in 3GPP (Registered Trademark) Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. The NRPPa messages can be transferred between the gNB210 and the LMF220 and / or between the ng-eNB214 and the LMF220 via the AMF215. As further shown in Figure 2, the LMF220 and the UE105 can communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) as defined in 3GPP (Registered Trademark) TS37.355. Here, the LPP messages can be transferred between the UE105 and the LMF220 via the serving gNB210-1 or the serving ng-eNB214 for the AMF215 and the UE105. For example, the LPP messages may be transferred between the LMF220 and the AMF215 using messages for service-based operations (e.g., based on the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)), and may be transferred between the AMF215 and the UE105 using the 5G NAS protocol. The LPP protocol may be used to support the positioning of the UE105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, TDOA, multi-cell RTT, AoD, and / or ECID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support the positioning of the UE105 using network-based positioning methods such as ECID, AoA, uplink TDOA (UL-TDOA), and / or may be used by the LMF220 to obtain location-related information such as parameters defining DL-PRS transmissions from the gNB210 and / or the ng-eNB214 from the gNB210 and / or the ng-eNB214.

[0042] In the case of the access of UE 105 to WLAN 216, LMF 220 may obtain the location of UE 105 in a similar manner as described immediately above for the access of UE 105 to gNB 210 or ng-eNB 214, using NRPPa and / or LPP. Thus, NRPPa messages may be transferred between WLAN 216 and LMF 220 via AMF 215 and N3IWF 250 to support network-based positioning of UE 105 and / or transfer of other location information from WLAN 216 to LMF 220. Alternatively, NRPPa messages may be transferred between N3IWF 250 and LMF 220 via AMF 215 to support network-based positioning of UE 105, based on location-related information and / or location measurement results that are known to N3IWF 250 or accessible to N3IWF 250 and transferred from N3IWF 250 to LMF 220 using NRPPa. Similarly, LPP and / or LPP messages may be transferred between UE 105 and LMF 220 via AMF 215, N3IWF 250, and serving WLAN 216 to support UE-assisted or UE-based positioning of UE 105 by LMF 220.

[0043] In 5G NR positioning system 200, positioning methods may be classified as either "UE-assisted" or "UE-based". This may depend on where the request to determine the location of UE 105 originated. For example, if the request originated at the UE (e.g., from an application or "app" executed by the UE), the positioning method may be classified as UE-based. On the other hand, if the request originated from an external client or AF 230, LMF 220, or other device or service within the 5G network, the positioning method may be classified as UE-assisted (or "network-based").

[0044] In a positioning method assisted by a UE, the UE 105 may obtain a position measurement result and transmit the measurement result to a location server (e.g., the LMF 220) for calculating an estimation of the position of the UE 105. The position measurement result of a RAT-dependent positioning method may include one or more of Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Round Trip signal propagation Time (RTT), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD), Time of Arrival (TOA), AoA, Receive Time-Transmission Time Difference (Rx-Tx), Differential AoA (DAoA), AoD, or Timing Advance (TA) for one or more access points for the gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, and / or WLAN 216. Additionally or alternatively, similar measurement results may be made from sidelink signals transmitted by other UEs, and the other UEs may function as anchor points for the positioning of the UE 105 if the location of the other UEs is known. The position measurement result may also or instead include measurement results of a positioning method independent of RAT such as GNSS (e.g., GNSS pseudorange, GNSS code phase, and / or GNSS carrier phase of GNSS satellites 110), WLAN.

[0045] In a UE-based positioning method, the UE 105 may obtain a position measurement result (which may be the same as or similar to, for example, the position measurement result for a UE-assisted positioning method), and may further calculate the position of the UE 105 (with the aid of assistance data received from a location server such as the LMF 220, SLP, etc., or broadcast by the gNB 210, ng-eNB 214, or WLAN 216).

[0046] In a network-based positioning method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNB210 and / or ng-eNB214), one or more APs (e.g., in WLAN216), or N3IWF250 may obtain position measurement results (e.g., RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, AoA, or TOA measurement results) for signals transmitted by UE105, and / or, in the case of N3IWF250, may receive measurement results obtained by UE105 or an AP in WLAN216, and may transmit the measurement results to a location server (e.g., LMF220) for calculating the position estimation of UE105.

[0047] The positioning of UE105 may also be classified as UL-based, DL-based, or DL-UL-based depending on the type of signal used for positioning. For example, if the positioning is based only on signals received at UE105 (e.g., from a base station or another UE), the positioning may be classified as DL-based. On the other hand, if the positioning is based only on signals transmitted by UE105 (which can be received by a base station or another UE), the positioning may be classified as UL-based. DL-UL-based positioning includes positioning such as RTT-based positioning based on signals for which both transmission and reception are performed by UE105. Positioning assisted by sidelink (SL) comprises signals communicated between UE105 and one or more other UEs. According to some embodiments, UL, DL, or DL-UL positioning described herein may be able to use SL signaling as a supplement or replacement for SL, DL, or DL-UL signaling.

[0048] Depending on the type of positioning (e.g., UL-based, DL-based, or DL-UL-based), the type of reference signal used may vary. For example, in the case of DL-based positioning, these signals may include PRS (e.g., DL-PRS transmitted by a base station or SL-PRS transmitted by another UE) that can be used for TDOA, AoD, and RTT measurements. Other reference signals that can be used for positioning (UL, DL, or DL-UL) may include sounding reference signals (SRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), synchronization signals (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB), synchronization signal (SS)), physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), etc. Moreover, the reference signals may be transmitted in the Tx beam and / or received in the Rx beam (e.g., using beamforming techniques), which may affect the measurement results of angles such as AoD and / or AoA.

[0049] FIG. 3 shows an example of a frame structure and related terms for NR that can serve as the basis for physical layer communication between UE 105 and the base station / TRP. The transmission timeline for each of the downlink and uplink may be divided into units of radio frames. Each radio frame may have a predetermined time duration (e.g., 10 ms) and may be divided into 10 subframes each having an index of 0 to 9 and a duration of 1 ms. Each subframe may include a variable number of slots depending on the subcarrier spacing. Each slot may include a variable number of symbol periods (e.g., 7 or 14 symbols) depending on the subcarrier spacing. The symbol periods within each slot may be assigned an index. A mini-slot may have a sub-slot structure (e.g., 2, 3, or 4 symbols). Additionally, full orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) of the subframe is shown in FIG. 3, showing how the subframe can be divided into a plurality of resource blocks (RBs) both in time and frequency. A single RB can comprise a grid of resource elements (REs) spanning 14 symbols and 12 subcarriers.

[0050] Each symbol in the slot may indicate a link direction (e.g., downlink (DL), uplink (UL), or flexible) or data transmission, or the link direction of each subframe may be dynamically switched. The link direction may be based on the slot format. Each slot may include DL / UL data as well as DL / UL control information. In NR, a synchronization signal (SS) block is transmitted. The SS block includes a primary SS (PSS), a secondary SS (SSS), and a physical broadcast channel (PBCH) of two symbols. The SS block may be transmitted at a fixed slot position, such as symbols 0 to 3 as shown in FIG. 3. The PSS and SSS may be used by the UE for cell search and cell acquisition. The PSS may provide half-frame timing, and the SSS may provide the cyclic prefix (CP) length and frame timing. The PSS and SSS may provide cell identification information. The PBCH carries some basic system information, such as the downlink system bandwidth, timing information in the radio frame, the SS burst set period, and the system frame number.

[0051] FIGS. 4 to 7 are provided to provide some background regarding PRS transmission for positioning within a wireless communication network. It should be noted that the embodiments described with respect to FIGS. 4 to 7 frequently refer to DL-PRS, but aspects such as the comb type, resource repetition, etc. equally apply to uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS / UL-PRS).

[0052] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a radio frame sequence 400 along with PRS positioning opportunities. A "PRS instance" or "PRS opportunity" is one instance of a periodically repeated time frame (e.g., a group of one or more consecutive slots) in which a PRS resource (described in more detail below) is expected to be transmitted. A PRS opportunity may also be referred to as a "PRS positioning opportunity", "PRS positioning instance", "positioning opportunity", "positioning instance", or simply "opportunity" or "instance". The subframe sequence 400 may be applicable to the broadcast of PRS (DL-PRS signal) from the base station 120 in the positioning system 100. The radio frame sequence 400 may be used in 5G NR (e.g., 5G NR positioning system 200) and / or LTE. Similar to FIG. 3, time is represented horizontally in FIG. 4 (e.g., on the X-axis), and time increases from left to right. Frequency is represented vertically (e.g., on the Y-axis), and frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top.

[0053] FIG. 4 shows how PRS positioning opportunities 410-1, 410-2, and 410-3 (collectively and inclusively referred to as positioning opportunities 410 herein) are determined by the system frame number (SFN), the cell-specific subframe offset (Δ PRS ) 415, the length or span of L PRS subframes, and the PRS period (T PRS ) 420. The cell-specific PRS subframe configuration may be defined by a "PRS configuration index" I PRS included in the assistance data (e.g., TDOA assistance data), which may be defined by the 3GPP (registered trademark) standard to which it conforms. The cell-specific subframe offset Δ PRS 415 may be defined with respect to the number of subframes transmitted from system frame number (SFN) 0 to the first (subsequent) PRS positioning opportunity.

[0054] The PRS can be transmitted by a wireless node (e.g., base station 120 or other UE) after appropriate configuration, (e.g., by an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) server). The PRS can be transmitted in special positioning subframes or slots that are grouped into positioning opportunities 410. For example, the PRS positioning opportunity 410-1 can comprise N PRS consecutive positioning subframes, where the number N PRS can be between 1 and 160 (e.g., can include values 1, 2, 4, and 6 as well as other values). The PRS opportunities 410 can be grouped into one or more PRS opportunity groups. As described, the PRS positioning opportunities 410 can regularly occur at intervals of milliseconds (or subframes) indicated by a number T PRS , where T PRS can be equal to 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, 160, 320, 640, or 1280 (or any other appropriate value). In some embodiments, T PRS can be measured with respect to the number of subframes between the starts of consecutive positioning opportunities.

[0055] In some embodiments, when the UE105 receives a PRS configuration index I PRS in the assistance data for a particular cell (e.g., base station), the UE105 can use the stored indexed data to determine the PRS period T PRS 420 and the cell-specific subframe offset (Δ PRS ) 415. The UE105 can then determine the radio frames, subframes, and slots when the PRS is scheduled in the cell. The assistance data can be determined, for example, by a location server (e.g., location server 160 of FIG. 1 and / or LMF220 of FIG. 2), and includes assistance data for a reference cell and several neighboring cells supported by various wireless nodes.

[0056] Typically, the PRS opportunities from all cells in a network using the same frequency are time-aligned, and have a fixed, known time offset (e.g., a cell-specific subframe offset (Δ PRS ) 415) relative to other cells in a network using different frequencies. In an SFN-synchronized network, all wireless nodes (e.g., base station 120) may be aligned with respect to both the frame boundary and the system frame number. Thus, in an SFN-synchronized network, all cells supported by the various wireless nodes may use the same PRS configuration index for any particular frequency of PRS transmission. On the other hand, in an SFN-asynchronous network, the various wireless nodes may be aligned with respect to the frame boundary, but may not be aligned with respect to the system frame number. Thus, in an SFN-asynchronous network, the PRS configuration index for each cell may be configured separately by the network such that the PRS opportunities are time-aligned. If UE 105 can obtain the timing of at least one of the cells, e.g., a reference cell or a serving cell, such as the SFN or frame number, UE 105 may determine the timing of the PRS opportunities 410 of the reference cell and neighboring cells for TDOA positioning. Then, based on the assumption that, for example, the PRS opportunities from different cells overlap, the timing of the other cells may be derived by UE 105.

[0057] Regarding the frame structure of FIG. 3, the set of REs used for PRS transmission is called a "PRS resource". The set of resource elements can span multiple RBs in the frequency domain and one or more consecutive symbols within a slot in the time domain, within which a pseudo-random four-phase shift keying (QPSK) sequence is transmitted from the antenna port of the TRP. Within a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, the PRS resource occupies consecutive RBs in the frequency domain. The transmission of the PRS resource within a given RB has a specific combination, or "comb" size. (The comb size can also be referred to as "comb density".) The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, and the configuration uses every Nth subcarrier of a symbol of an RB. For example, in the case of comb-4, for each of the four symbols of the PRS resource configuration, the REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (e.g., subcarrier 0, 4, 8) are used to transmit the PRS of the PRS resource. For example, comb sizes such as comb-2, comb-4, comb-6, and comb-12 can be used in PRS. Examples of different comb sizes using different numbers of symbols are provided in FIG. 5.

[0058] A "PRS resource set" comprises a group of PRS resources used for the transmission of a PRS signal, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. In addition, the PRS resources within 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 cell ID). A "PRS resource repetition" is the repetition of PRS resources during a PRS opportunity / instance. The number of repetitions of the PRS resources can be defined by the "repetition factor" of the PRS resources. In addition, the PRS resources within a PRS resource set can have the same period, common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor across slots. The period is 2 m· It may have a length selected from {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 may have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} slots.

[0059] The PRS resource ID in the PRS resource set may be associated with a single beam (and / or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (when the TRP can transmit one or more beams). That is, each PRS resource in the PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam, and thus, a "PRS resource" (or simply "resource") may sometimes be referred to as a "beam". It should be noted that this has no meaning in terms of whether the TRP and the beam on which the PRS is transmitted are known to the UE.

[0060] In the 5G NR positioning system 200 shown in FIG. 2, the TRP (gNB210, ng-eNB214, and / or WLAN216) may transmit a frame or other physical layer signaling sequence that supports a PRS signal (i.e., DL-PRS) according to the frame configuration as described previously, and these may be measured and used for the location determination of UE105. As described, other types of wireless network nodes, including other UEs, may also be configured to transmit PRS signals configured in a similar (or the same) manner as those described above. Since the transmission of PRS by a wireless network node can be directed to all UEs within the wireless range, the wireless network node may be considered to transmit (or broadcast) the PRS.

[0061] Figure 6 is a hierarchical diagram of how PRS resources and PRS resource sets, as defined in 5G NR, can be used by different TRPs of a given positioning frequency layer (PFL). With respect to the network (Uu) interface, UE105 can be configured using one or more DL-PRS resource sets from each of one or more TRPs. Each DL-PRS resource set contains K≥1 DL-PRS resources, which, as described previously, can correspond to the Tx beams of a TRP. The DL-PRS PFL is defined as a collection of DL-PRS resource sets having the same subcarrier spacing (SCS) and cyclic prefix (CP) type, the same value of DL-PRS bandwidth, the same center frequency, and the same value of comb size. In the current version of the NR standard, UE105 can be configured using up to 4 DL-PRS PFLs.

[0062] NR has multiple frequency bands spanning different frequency ranges (e.g., frequency range 1 (FR1) and frequency range 2 (FR2)). The PFLs can be in the same band or different bands. In some embodiments, they may be in different frequency ranges. Additionally, as shown in Figure 6, multiple TRPs (e.g., TRP1 and TRP2) may be on the same PFL. As described previously, in current NR, each TRP can have up to 2 PRS resource sets, each of which is associated with one or more PRS resources.

[0063] Different PRS resource sets can have different periods. For example, one PRS resource set may be used for tracking, and another PRS resource can be used for acquisition. Additionally or alternatively, one PRS resource set may have a larger number of beams, and another PRS resource may have a smaller number of beams. Thus, different resource sets can be used by the wireless network for different purposes. Exemplary repetition and beam sweeping options for the resource sets are shown in Figure 7.

[0064] FIG. 7 is a timing diagram showing two different options for slot usage of a resource set according to an embodiment. Since each example repeats each resource four times, the resource set is said to have a repetition factor of four. The continuous sweep 710 comprises repeating a single resource (such as resource 1, resource 2, etc.) four times before proceeding to the subsequent resource. In this example, if each resource corresponds to a different beam of the TRP, the TRP repeats the beam for four slots in the row before moving to the next beam. Since each resource is repeated in consecutive slots (for example, resource 1 is repeated in slots n, n+1, n+2, etc.), the time gap is said to be one slot. On the other hand, in the interleaved sweep 720, the TRP may move from one beam to the next for each subsequent slot, circulating through four beams in four rounds. Since each resource is repeated every four slots (for example, resource 1 is repeated in slots n, n+4, n+8, etc.), the time gap is said to be one slot. Of course, the embodiments are not so limited. The resource set may comprise different amounts of resources and / or repetitions. Moreover, as described above, each TRP may have multiple resource sets, multiple TRPs may utilize a single PFL, and the UE may be capable of measuring PRS resources transmitted via multiple FLs.

[0065] Accordingly, to obtain PRS measurement results from PRS signals transmitted by the TRP and / or UE in the network, the UE may be configured to observe the PRS resources during a period called the measurement period. That is, to determine the location of the UE using the PRS signal, the UE and a location server (such as the LMF 220 in FIG. 2) may initiate a positioning session, and in the positioning session, the UE is given a period for reporting the PRS measurement results obtained by observing the PRS resources to the location server. As will be described in more detail below, this measurement period may be determined based on the capabilities of the UE.

[0066] To obtain measurement results based on SRS, similar functions can be implemented. That is, for the network to obtain SRS measurement results using one or more TRPs (and / or other UEs) from the SRS resources transmitted by UE105, the network can configure UE105 to transmit SRS resources over a certain period. UE105 can be configured to transmit multiple SRS resources using multiple CCs so that UE105 can be configured to measure DL-PRS resources of multiple PFLs. Thus, the network can configure UE105 to use some CC to transmit multiple SRS resources. As described above, the SRS resources may be separated in frequency and / or time, and the TRP may aggregate multiple SRS resources under certain conditions (e.g., when the SRS resources are associated through phase offset and phase slope), and process them together rather than independently. This can substantially increase the bandwidth of the SRS resources and improve the accuracy of the measurements (e.g., TOA measurements) performed by the TRP. Since the resolution of location determination is inversely proportional to the increase in bandwidth, this can ultimately improve the accuracy of the determined location of UE105 based on the measurement results.

[0067] Aggregation of SRS resources among different CCs (also referred to herein as "reference signal aggregation" and "SRS aggregation") can be done, for example, by processing the resources together by synthesizing the resources in the signal region. In this specification, this type of SRS aggregation is referred to as "coherent" processing of SRS resources / reference signals, or "stitching" them together. Conversely, if the SRS resources are not synthesized in this way, it is called "incoherent" processing. Also, coherent processing of SRS resources can be done when the SRS resources are separated in frequency and / or time and are associated through phase offsets and phase slopes. As will be described in more detail below, not only can SRS resources from different CCs be stitched together, but the CCs can also be in different frequency bands and / or frequency ranges (FRs).

[0068] Since the coherent processing of SRS resources from different CCs can depend on the phase relationship or characteristics between the SRS resources, embodiments of this specification define the reporting of UE capabilities for maintaining the phase characteristics between SRS resources. That is, according to some embodiments, the UE105 can report its capabilities regarding the UE's capabilities for maintaining phase characteristics between SRS resources under one or more situations, enabling the network to configure the UE105 accordingly. According to some embodiments, the UE105 may report its capabilities regarding an exhaustive set of conditions, and the network can determine the set of conditions that apply, or will apply, to a certain scenario in which the SRS resources are transmitted. Alternatively, according to some embodiments, the UE may report its capabilities regarding a default set of conditions, and the network can interpret how these reported capabilities apply to an additional set of conditions based on the standards to which it conforms or other agreed-upon protocols.

[0069] FIG. 8 is a signal flow diagram showing how a mobile device 805 can communicate to a network regarding the phase characteristics between SRS resources according to an embodiment. FIG. 8 shows the communication exchange between the mobile device 805 and the network node 810. Here, the mobile device 805 may correspond to the UE 105 as previously described with respect to FIGS. 1-7. The network node 810 may comprise, for example, a TRP (e.g., serving gNB 210-1 in FIG. 2) or a location server (e.g., LMF 220 in FIG. 2). Thus, in some embodiments, it may be an intervening component that serves to relay the communication (shown as arrows in FIG. 8) between the mobile device 805 and the network node 810.

[0070] The communication exchange of FIG. 8 may be performed using different protocols and / or within different communication sessions depending on the type of the network node 810. For example, in the network node 810 comprising the LMF 220, the communication exchange of FIG. 8 may be performed using the LPP protocol during or prior to the positioning session between the mobile device 805 and the LMF 220. Alternatively, when the network node 810 comprises the serving gNB 210-1, the communication exchange of FIG. 8 may be performed during the RRC connection using the RRC protocol.

[0071] This process may start at arrow 820 in FIG. 8, where the network node 810 sends a capability request to the mobile device 805. The dashed lines in FIG. 8 indicate optional functions. In other words, some embodiments may not include the network node 810 that explicitly provides the capability request to the mobile device 805.

[0072] The content of the capability requirement may vary according to the desired function. According to some embodiments, for example, the capability requirement 820 may claim the capability of the mobile device 805 to maintain phase characteristics among SRS resources under all conditions. Alternatively, the capability requirement 820 may claim the capability under a limited number of conditions based on various options available for transmitting the SRS resource (e.g., CC, frequency band, time slot, etc.).

[0073] In action 830, the mobile device provides a capability report to the network node 810. As described, this may be in response to the capability requirement 820 or may be provided to the network node 810 without a request. That is, the capability report 830 provides the network with an indication of the mobile device's capability to maintain the phase relationship between the first SRS and the second SRS. This can enable the network to determine whether to stitch the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource together. The phase relationship can be described as a phase characteristic such as a phase offset, a phase ramp, a phase slope, or a phase time drift.

[0074] Regarding the phase ramp, the phase ramp can be a phase ramp over time, over frequency, or over both. A phase ramp over frequency corresponds, for example, to a case where the first CC and the second CC corresponding to the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource have a time drift. A phase ramp over time corresponds, for example, to a case where there is a carrier frequency offset (CFO) or different Doppler shifts between the CCs.

[0075] The capability of the mobile device to maintain the phase relationship between the first SRS and the second SRS can be conveyed in any of various ways. Three such capabilities are discussed in the following examples. Capability #1: The mobile device can maintain the phase characteristics between the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource below a threshold. For example, for the phase offset between the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource given by θ = ε, the mobile device 805 may have the ability to maintain the phase offset below the threshold θ = εth for a given set of conditions. The phase characteristics of the phase ramp, phase slope, and phase drift may have similar thresholds. Capability #2: The mobile device can maintain the phase characteristics between the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource at a constant value. That is, although the values of the phase offset, ramp, slope, etc. between the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource may be unknown, the mobile device 805 may be able to maintain the values constant for a given set of conditions. Capability 3: The mobile device cannot maintain the phase characteristics. In other words, the mobile device 805 may not be able to maintain the phase relationship between the first SRS resource and the second SRS resource under a given set of conditions. In such cases, the network can then configure the mobile device 805 without assuming that stitching of the SRS resources is possible under those conditions. This feature (without stitching) is basically a legacy behavior.

[0076] Given these capabilities, the network node 810 can provide the SRS configuration to the mobile device 805 at arrow 840. The SRS configuration can be made to accommodate the capabilities of the mobile device considering the available network resources. Additionally or alternatively, the network node 810 can similarly configure the TRP to receive SRS transmissions from the mobile device 805 considering the capabilities of the mobile device (e.g., indicate to the TRP whether to process the SRS resources coherently).

[0077] In block 850, the mobile device 805 then transmits SRS transmissions according to the SRS configuration received at arrow 840. Since the network node 810 may comprise a TRP, the network node 810 may receive SRS transmissions from the mobile device 805, as indicated by arrow 860. As described, the SRS transmissions 850 may be received by additional or alternative TRPs. In embodiments where the network node 810 comprises an LMF220, the measurement results of the SRS transmissions 850 performed by one or more TRPs may be transferred to the LMF220 to determine the location of the mobile device 805.

[0078] As described, the capabilities of the mobile device 805 (e.g., the above capabilities #1 to #3) may vary according to various conditions. These conditions may include, for example, whether the CCs are in the same band or different bands, whether there is complete overlap / partial overlap / no temporal overlap between SRS resources, whether the SRS resources have the same bandwidth or different bandwidths, and / or whether the comb types of the SRS resources are the same or different. Additionally, the capabilities may be affected by the time mask (also known as the "transition period" or "guard period") between one or both of the SRS resources and an adjacent channel in one of the CCs. Examples of various conditions are given in FIGS. 9 to 13.

[0079] FIG. 9 is a diagram 900 showing an example of a first set of conditions according to an embodiment. Diagram 900 plots SRS resources, SRS1 and SRS2, over time in terms of frequency (e.g., subcarrier blocks) and shows the time and frequency relationships relative to each other. Similar to the PRS resources described previously, the SRS resources may occupy different symbols within a slot (e.g., according to the comb structure shown in FIG. 5), may span one or more slots, and may be repeated (e.g., as shown in FIG. 7).

[0080] The set of conditions of FIG. 9 may represent the most preferred set of conditions for maintaining phase characteristics between SRS1 and SRS2. Specifically, there is complete temporal overlap between SRS1 and SRS2 (i.e., they start and end simultaneously). Further, there is no overlap between any SRS resource and the time mask 910 resulting from the adjacent channel transmission 920. Additionally, the bandwidth 930 of SRS1 is the same as the bandwidth 940 of SRS2. Although not shown, the comb type may also be the same between SRS1 and SRS2.

[0081] As described, according to some embodiments, the mobile device 805 may report its capabilities regarding a default set of conditions such as those shown in FIG. 9. In such a case, the network node 810 may be able to determine the capabilities of the mobile device under other conditions. For example, capability #1 may represent the capabilities of the mobile device under preferred conditions, capability #2 may represent the capabilities of the mobile device under less preferred conditions, and capability #3 may represent the capabilities of the mobile device under the least preferred conditions. If that is the case and the mobile device 805 reports capability #3 under default (preferred) conditions such as those shown in FIG. 9, the network node 810 may then determine that the mobile device 805 has capability #3 under all other conditions. Alternatively, if the mobile device 805 reports capability #2 or capability #1 under default conditions, the network node 810 may use a set of rules (e.g., as described by a compliance standard or protocol) to determine what capabilities the mobile device 805 has under different sets of conditions based on the capabilities reported by the mobile device 805. According to other embodiments, the mobile device 805 may provide capabilities under different sets of conditions.

[0082] FIG. 10 is a diagram 1000 showing another set of conditions according to an embodiment. Here, CC1 and CC2 are located in different frequency bands, namely band 1 and band 2, respectively. In addition, the time mask 1010 from the adjacent channel transmission 1020 overlaps with SRS1 and SRS2 for the overlapping period 1030. Furthermore, the bandwidth 1040 of SRS1 is different from the bandwidth 1050 of SRS2. Each of these differences from the conditions of FIG. 9 can affect the ability of the mobile device 805 to maintain phase characteristics between SRS1 and SRS2. For example, a mobile device 805 having ability #1 under the conditions shown in FIG. 9 may have ability #2 and / or #3 for a different set of conditions within FIG. 10.

[0083] The time mask 1010 is a specified period to enable the mobile device to transition from transmitting something on an adjacent channel to transmitting an SRS. The length of the time mask 1010 can be defined in microseconds (e.g., by the compliant standard or protocol). Moreover, its length can vary according to the frequency band or frequency range. (For example, the time mask 1010 can be set to 5 μs for FR1 and 15 μs for FR2.) Furthermore, as shown, the adjacent channel transmission 1020 can include a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or another SRS resource.

[0084] The time mask 1010 can be applied to SRSs on the same CC (e.g., SRS1) as the adjacent channel transmission 1020 and also to SRSs on other CCs within the same frequency band. This is because CCs within the same frequency band often use the same power amplifier (PA), and the adjacent channel transmission 1020 can cause frequency-selective phase scrambling on SRSs within the same frequency band for the length of the time mask 1010. That is, as shown in FIG. 10, the time mask 1010 can also be applied to SRSs in a different band (e.g., SRS2) when the same PA is used for both frequency bands.

[0085] The impact of the repetition period 1030 can be varied. For example, according to some embodiments, the mobile device 805 may have a first capability during the repetition period 1030 and a second capability during the non - repetition period 1060. These capabilities may be assumed by the network (based on the default capabilities reported by the UE805 and the set of applicable rules for applying the default capabilities to the repetition of the time mask), or may be explicitly provided by the mobile device 805. Alternatively, the mobile device 805 may have a single capability for the entire duration of SRS1 and SRS2, which may be partly based on the overlap with the time mask 1010. For example, if the mobile device 805 can otherwise have a capability #1 for the duration of SRS1 and SRS2 due to the overlap with the time mask 1010, it may instead have a capability #2 for the entire duration of SRS1 and SRS2.

[0086] FIG. 11 is a diagram 1100 showing yet another set of conditions according to an embodiment. Here, diagram 1100 shows three adjacent CCs in the same band. SRS1 and SRS2 are transmitted in CC1 and CC3 respectively, and the adjacent CC transmission 1110 (PUSCH) is performed in CC2 between SRS1 and SRS2. This results in a repetition period 1120 sandwiched between a first non - repetition period 1130 and a second non - repetition period 1140. According to some embodiments, this can result in different phase offsets between SRS1 and SRS2 for each of these periods. However, if the phase offset remains below a threshold, the capability #1 still applies to the entire duration of SRS1 and SRS2. Alternatively, the adjacent CC transmission 1110 can result in different capabilities for different periods.

[0087] It can be noted that for different phase characteristics, different capabilities can be applied to the mobile device 805. For example, as described above, the UE may be able to maintain a phase offset lower than each of the thresholds of periods 1120, 1130, and 1140. Thus, the UE may have capability #1 with respect to the phase offset for each of these periods 1120, 1130, and 1140. However, the conditions of FIG. 11 may affect the phase offset or phase ramp differently. For example, due to the adjacent CC transmission 1110, the UE may come to have capability #2 and / or #3 for one or more of periods 1120, 1130, and 1140. Noting this, according to some embodiments, the UE 805 may report (and / or the network node 810 may determine) different capabilities with respect to different phase characteristics.

[0088] FIG. 12 is a diagram 1200 showing yet another set of conditions according to an embodiment. Here, SRS1 and SRS2 only partially overlap in time. The overlapping portion 1210 may span a set of symbols or one or more slots. Under other conditions (not shown), SRS1 and SRS2 may not overlap at all. However, in the example of FIG. 12, there are an overlapping portion 1210 as well as two non-overlapping portions 1220 and 1230. Depending on the function of the UE 805, there may be a difference in the capabilities of the UE 805 between the overlapping portion 1210 and one or both of the non-overlapping portions 1220 and 1230. Again, depending on the desired function, these capabilities may be determined by the network either through an explicit report from the UE 805 or through derivation from a compliance standard considering default capabilities. For example, the UE 805 may report capabilities with respect to the default condition where SRS1 and SRS2 completely overlap. The network node 810 may apply this capability to the overlapping portion 1210 and further extrapolate the capabilities for the non-overlapping portions 1220 and 1230 based on the reported capabilities by the UE 805 and the rules for determining non-overlapping portions as defined in the compliance standard or protocol.

[0089] FIG. 13 is FIG. 1300 showing yet another set of conditions according to an embodiment. Illustration 1300 and FIG. 13 show extreme cases with multiple sets of conditions for different periods. These periods include 1310 (the period when SRS1 overlaps with the time mask), 1315 (the period when only SRS1 is transmitted), 1320 (the period when SRS1 and SRS2 overlap), 1325 (the period when both SRS1 and SRS2 overlap with the time mask), 1330 (the period when both SRS1 and SRS2 overlap with the time mask and PUSCH), 1335 (the period when both SRS1 and SRS2 overlap with PUSCH), and 1340 (the period when only SRS2 is transmitted). The conditions in each of these periods can be considered to determine the ability of the mobile device 805 regarding maintaining phase characteristics between SRS1 and SRS2.

[0090] It can be further noted that according to some embodiments, temporal considerations may be made. As previously described, the overlap of the SRS with the time mask may affect the ability not only during the period of overlap between the SRS and the time mask but also with respect to the overall duration of the SRS. More generally, different capabilities may be applied to a given set of conditions based on one or more sets of conditions preceding the given set of conditions.

[0091] FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a method 1400 for wireless communication in a mobile device according to an embodiment. Method 1400 defines a specific report of the phase characteristic ability of the mobile device in the manner shown in the previously described embodiments. The means for performing the functions illustrated in the blocks shown in FIG. 14 can be executed by the hardware and / or software components of the UE. Exemplary components of the UE are shown in FIG. 16 and will be described in more detail below.

[0092] In block 1410, the function comprises transmitting to a network node an indication of the capabilities of a mobile device to maintain a phase relationship between a first SRS using a first CC and a second SRS using a second CC. The capabilities may include being able to maintain the phase characteristic below a threshold, being able to maintain the phase characteristic at a constant value, or being unable to maintain the phase characteristic, or any combination thereof. As discussed in the above embodiments, the phase characteristic may include a phase offset, time, frequency, or a phase ramp, phase slope, or phase time drift over both, or any combination thereof. Moreover, there are various conditions for the UE's capabilities to maintain the phase characteristic between the first SRS and the second SRS. Thus, the capabilities in block 1410 may depend on conditions, where the conditions include whether the first CC and the second CC are in the same frequency band or different frequency bands, whether the first SRS and the second SRS completely overlap in time or partially overlap, whether the first SRS and the second SRS have the same bandwidth or different bandwidths, or whether the first SRS and the second SRS have the same comm type or different comm types, or any combination thereof. According to some embodiments, method 1400 may further comprise transmitting an indication of the conditions to the network node.

[0093] According to some embodiments, additional conditions may apply. For example, the capabilities may depend on whether a time mask between a channel in the first CC and the first SRS overlaps with the first SRS. The channel may comprise a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or another SRS resource.

[0094] Means for performing the function in block 1410 may comprise a wireless communication interface 1630, a bus 1605, a digital signal processor (DSP) 1620, a processor 1610, a memory 1660, and / or other components of the UE 105 as shown in FIG. 16.

[0095] The functions in block 1420 include transmitting a first SRS and a second SRS. As previously shown, the network node may comprise a TRP (e.g., serving gNB) or a location server (LMF). According to some embodiments, the indication of capabilities is transmitted via the radio resource control (RRC) protocol. The means for performing the functions in block 1420 may comprise a wireless communication interface 1630, a bus 1605, a digital signal processor (DSP) 1620, a processor 1610, a memory 1660, and / or other components of the UE 105, as shown in FIG. 16.

[0096] As previously explained and shown in FIG. 8, transmitting an indication of the capabilities of the mobile device and transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS may be part of a larger communication exchange with the network node and / or the TRP. For example, the indication of capabilities may be transmitted in response to a capability request from the network node. Additionally or alternatively, method 1400 may include receiving, from the network node, a configuration for transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS following the transmission of the indication of capabilities. Transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS may then comprise transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS according to the configuration.

[0097] FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a method 1500 for wireless communication at a network node according to an embodiment. Method 1500 defines receiving, from a mobile device, a capability report for maintaining a phase relationship in the manner shown in the previously described embodiments. The means for performing the functions illustrated in the blocks shown in FIG. 15 may be executed by hardware and / or software components of a TRP (e.g., serving gNB) or a location server (e.g., LMF). Exemplary components of the TRP are shown in FIGS. 17 and 18 respectively, which are described in more detail below.

[0098] The function in block 1510 comprises receiving an indication of the capabilities of the mobile device from the mobile device for maintaining the phase relationship between a first SRS transmitted by the mobile device using a first CC and a second SRS transmitted by the mobile device using a second CC. The capabilities comprise being able to maintain the phase characteristic below a threshold, being able to maintain the phase characteristic at a constant value, or being unable to maintain the phase characteristic, or any combination thereof. Also, the phase characteristic may comprise a phase offset, time, frequency, or a phase ramp, phase slope, or phase time drift over both, or any combination thereof. The indication of the capabilities may be received via the RRC protocol.

[0099] As described in the embodiments above, the network node may further determine the capabilities of the mobile device based on additional considerations in addition to the indication of the capabilities provided by the mobile device. Thus, according to some embodiments, method 1500 may further comprise determining a second capability based on the received capability and a determination that a time mask between a channel and a first SRS in a first CC overlaps with the first SRS. The second capability may be determined for the entire duration of the first SRS. Alternatively, the second capability may be determined only for the duration of the time that the first SRS overlaps with the time mask. According to some embodiments, method 1500 may further comprise determining conditions for the transmission of the first SRS and the second SRS. As described, the indication of this condition may be explicitly provided to the network node by the mobile device or may be otherwise obtained by the network node. The configuration may be further based on the condition. According to some embodiments, the condition may be whether the first CC and the second CC are in the same frequency band or different frequency bands, whether the first SRS and the second SRS overlap completely or partially in time, whether the first SRS and the second SRS have the same bandwidth or different bandwidths, or whether the first SRS and the second SRS have the same comm type or different comm types, or any combination thereof.

[0100] Means for performing the functions in block 1510 may comprise a wireless communication interface 1730, a bus 1705, a digital signal processor (DSP) 1720, a processor 1710, a memory 1760, and / or other components of the TRP 1700, as shown in FIG. 17, or a wireless communication interface 1833, a bus 1805, a processor 1810, a memory 1835, and / or other components of the computer system 1800, as shown in FIG. 18.

[0101] The function in block 1520 comprises the step of transmitting, to a mobile device, a configuration for transmitting a first SRS and a second SRS, the configuration being at least partially based on capabilities. The means for performing the function in block 1520 may comprise a wireless communication interface 1730, a bus 1705, a digital signal processor (DSP) 1720, a processor 1710, a memory 1760, and / or other components of the TRP 1700, as shown in FIG. 17, or a wireless communication interface 1833, a bus 1805, a processor 1810, a memory 1835, and / or other components of the computer system 1800, as shown in FIG. 18.

[0102] FIG. 16 shows an embodiment of the UE 105 that may be utilized as described above herein (e.g., in relation to FIGS. 1 - 14). For example, the UE 105 may execute one or more of the functions of the method shown in FIG. 14. It should be noted that FIG. 16 is only intended to provide a generalized illustration of various components, and any or all of those components may be utilized as appropriate. In some cases, it can be noted that the components shown by FIG. 16 may be located in a single physical device and / or may be distributed among various networked devices disposed at different physical locations. Further, as described above, the functions of the UE discussed in the previously described embodiments may be executed by one or more of the hardware and / or software components shown in FIG. 16.

[0103] UE105 is shown that includes hardware elements that can be electrically coupled via bus 1605 (or may optionally communicate as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processor 1610, which may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more dedicated processors (such as DSP chips, graphics acceleration processors, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.), and / or other processing structures or means. As shown in FIG. 16, some embodiments may have a separate DSP 1620 depending on the desired functionality. Positioning and / or other determinations based on wireless communication may be performed in processor 1610 and / or the wireless communication interface 1630 (discussed below). UE105 may also include one or more input devices 1670 that can include, but are not limited to, one or more keyboards, touchscreens, touch pads, microphones, buttons, dials, switches, etc., and one or more output devices 1615 that can include, but are not limited to, one or more displays (such as touchscreens), light-emitting diodes (LEDs), speakers, etc.

[0104] UE 105 may also include, but is not limited to, a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a wireless communication interface 1630 that may include a chipset such as (but not limited to) a Bluetooth® device, an IEEE 802.11 device, an IEEE 802.15.4 device, a Wi-Fi device, a WiMAX device, a WAN device, and / or various cellular devices, etc., which may enable UE 105 to communicate with other devices as described above in this embodiment. Thus, the wireless communication interface 1630 may include an RF circuit that can be tuned between a valid BWP and an additional band having one or more FLs used for PRS signals, as described herein. As described herein, the wireless communication interface 1630 may enable data and signaling to be communicated (e.g., transmitted and received) to and from a TRP of a network via, for example, an eNB, a gNB, an ng-eNB, an access point, various base stations, and / or other access node types, and / or other network components, a computer system, and / or any other electronic device communicatively coupled to the TRP. The communication may be performed via one or more wireless communication antennas 1632 that transmit and / or receive wireless signals 1634. According to some embodiments, the wireless communication antennas 1632 may comprise a plurality of individual antennas, an antenna array, or any combination thereof.

[0105] Depending on the desired functionality, the wireless communication interface 1630 may include separate receivers and transmitters, or any combination of transceivers, transmitters, and / or receivers to communicate with base stations (e.g., ng-eNB and gNB) and other terrestrial transceivers such as wireless devices and access points. The UE 105 may communicate with different data networks that may include various network types. For example, a wireless wide area network (WWAN) may be a CDMA network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a frequency division multiple access (FDMA) network, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) network, a single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) network, a WiMAX (IEEE 802.16) network, etc. The CDMA network may implement one or more radio access technologies (RATs) such as CDMA2000, WCDMA (registered trademark), etc. CDMA2000 includes the IS-95 standard, the IS-2000 standard, and / or the IS-856 standard. The TDMA network may implement GSM, Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS), or some other RAT. The OFDMA network may utilize LTE, LTE Advanced, 5G NR, etc. 5G NR, LTE, LTE Advanced, GSM, and WCDMA (registered trademark) are described in documents from the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) (registered trademark). Cdma2000 is described in documents from a group named the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP2). 3GPP (registered trademark) documents and 3GPP2 documents are publicly available. The WLAN may also be an IEEE 802.11x network, and the wireless personal area network (WPAN) may be a Bluetooth network, IEEE 802.15x, or some other type of network. The techniques described herein may also be used for any combination of WWAN, WLAN, and / or WPAN.

[0106] UE105 may further include sensor 1640. Sensor 1640 may include, but is not limited to, one or more inertial sensors and / or other sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, cameras, magnetometers, altimeters, microphones, proximity sensors, optical sensors, barometers, etc.), some of which may be used to obtain location-related measurements and / or other information.

[0107] Embodiments of UE105 may also include a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver 1680 that is capable of receiving signals 1684 from one or more GNSS satellites using an antenna 1682 (which may be the same as antenna 1632). Positioning based on GNSS signal measurements may be utilized to supplement and / or incorporate the techniques described herein. GNSS receiver 1680 may use conventional techniques to extract the location of UE105 from GNSS satellites 110 of GNSS systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), Galileo, GLONASS, the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) over Japan, the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) over India, and the Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) over China. Additionally, GNSS receiver 1680 may be associated with or used in conjunction with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), and the Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN), or may be used with various augmentation systems (e.g., the Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS)) that may be enabled in some cases.

[0108] Although GNSS receiver 1680 is shown as a separate component in FIG. 16, it should be noted that the embodiments are not so limited. The term "GNSS receiver" as used herein may comprise hardware and / or software components configured to acquire GNSS measurements (measurements from GNSS satellites). In some embodiments, therefore, the GNSS receiver may comprise a measurement engine (as software) executed by one or more processors, such as a processor within processor 1610, DSP 1620, and / or wireless communication interface 1630 (e.g., within a modem). The GNSS receiver may optionally also include a positioning engine, which can use the GNSS measurement results from the measurement engine to determine the location of the GNSS receiver, using, for example, an Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), Weighted Least Squares (WLS), Hatch filter, particle filter, etc. The positioning engine may also be executed by one or more processors such as processor 1610 or DSP 1620.

[0109] UE 105 may further include and / or communicate with memory 1660. Memory 1660 may include, but is not limited to, solid state storage devices such as random access memory (RAM) and / or read only memory (ROM) that may be local storage and / or network accessible storage, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, programmable, flash updatable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data store, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, etc.

[0110] The memory 1660 of UE105 can also include software elements (not shown in FIG. 16) such as an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more application programs, which may comprise computer programs provided by various embodiments as described herein, and / or may implement methods provided by other embodiments and / or may be designed to configure a system. By way of mere example, one or more of the procedures described above with respect to the methods may be implemented as code and / or instructions in the memory 1660 that are executable by UE105 (and / or a processor 1610 or DSP 1620 within UE105). In one aspect, such code and / or instructions may then be used to configure and / or adapt a general-purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations in accordance with the described methods.

[0111] FIG. 17 shows an embodiment of a TRP1700 that can be utilized as described above herein (e.g., in connection with FIGS. 1 - 15) and may perform one or more of the functions of the blocks shown in FIG. 15. It should be noted that FIG. 17 is only intended to provide a generalized illustration of various components, and any or all of those components may be utilized as appropriate.

[0112] Shown is a TRP1700 that includes hardware elements that can be electrically coupled via bus 1705 (or otherwise communicate as appropriate). The hardware elements can include, without limitation, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more dedicated processors (such as DSP chips, graphics acceleration processors, ASICs, etc.), and / or other processing structures or means, including processor 1710. As shown in FIG. 17, some embodiments can have a separate DSP 1720 depending on the desired functionality. According to some implementations, positioning and / or other determinations based on wireless communication can be performed in processor 1710 and / or wireless communication interface 1730 (discussed below). The TRP1700 can also include one or more input devices that can include, without limitation, keyboards, displays, mice, microphones, buttons, dials, switches, etc., and one or more output devices that can include, without limitation, displays, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), speakers, etc.

[0113] TRP1700 may also include a wireless communication interface 1730, which may include, but is not limited to, a modem, a network card, an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a chipset (such as a Bluetooth (registered trademark) device, an IEEE 802.11 device, an IEEE 802.15.4 device, a Wi-Fi device, a WiMAX device, cellular communication equipment, etc.), which may enable TRP1700 to communicate as described herein. The wireless communication interface 1730 may enable data and signaling to be communicated (e.g., transmitted and received) to a UE, other base stations / TRPs (e.g., eNB, gNB, and ng-eNB), and / or other network components, computer systems, and / or any other electronic devices described herein. The communication may be performed via one or more wireless communication antennas 1732 that transmit and / or receive wireless signals 1734.

[0114] TRP1700 may also include a network interface 1780, which may include support for wired communication technologies. The network interface 1780 may include a modem, a network card, a chipset, etc. The network interface 1780 may include one or more input and / or output communication interfaces to enable data to be exchanged with a network, a communication network server, a computer system, and / or any other electronic device described herein.

[0115] In many embodiments, the TRP1700 may further include a memory 1760. The memory 1760 can include, but is not limited to, local storage and / or network-accessible storage, disk drives, drive arrays, optical storage devices, solid state memory devices such as RAM and / or ROM that can be programmable, flash updatable, etc. Such memory devices may be configured to implement any suitable data store, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, and the like.

[0116] The memory 1760 of the TRP1700 may also include software elements (not shown in FIG. 17) including an operating system, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more application programs, which may comprise computer programs provided by various embodiments as described herein, and / or may be designed to implement methods provided by other embodiments and / or configure a system. By way of mere example, one or more of the procedures described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions in the memory 1760 executable by the TRP1700 (and / or a processor 1710 or DSP 1720 within the TRP1700). In one aspect, such code and / or instructions may then be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations in accordance with the described methods.

[0117] FIG. 18 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computer system 1800 that may be used in whole or in part to implement the functionality of one or more network components (e.g., location server 160 of FIG. 1, LMF 220 of FIG. 2) as described in the embodiments of this specification. It should be noted that FIG. 18 is only intended to provide a generalized illustration of various components, and any or all of those components may be used as appropriate. Thus, FIG. 18 broadly shows how individual system elements may be implemented in a relatively separated or relatively more integrated manner. Additionally, it can be noted that the components shown in FIG. 18 may be localized in a single device and / or distributed among various networked devices located at different physical or geographical locations.

[0118] A computer system 1800 is shown that includes hardware elements that may be electrically coupled via bus 1805 (or otherwise communicate as appropriate). The hardware elements may include a processor 1810 that may include, but is not limited to, one or more general-purpose processors, one or more dedicated processors (such as digital signal processing chips, graphics acceleration processors, etc.), and / or other processing structures that may be configured to execute one or more of the methods described herein. The computer system 1800 may also include one or more input devices 1815 that may include, but are not limited to, a mouse, keyboard, camera, microphone, etc., and one or more output devices 1820 that may include, but are not limited to, a display device, printer, etc.

[0119] The computer system 1800 may further include, but is not limited to, local storage and / or network-accessible storage, and / or may include one or more non-transitory storage devices 1825, which may include, but are not limited to, solid-state storage devices such as RAM and / or ROM, which may be a disk drive, an array of drives, an optical storage device, programmable, flash updatable, etc. Such storage devices may be configured to implement any suitable data store, including, but not limited to, various file systems, database structures, etc. Such a data store may include a database and / or other data structures for storing and managing messages and / or other information to be sent to one or more devices via a hub, as described herein.

[0120] The computer system 1800 may also include a communication subsystem 1830, which may include wireless communication technologies managed and controlled by a wireless communication interface 1833, as well as wired technologies (such as Ethernet, coaxial communication, Universal Serial Bus (USB), etc.). The wireless communication interface 1833 may transmit and receive wireless signals 1855 (e.g., signals via 5G NR or LTE) via a wireless antenna 1850. Thus, the communication subsystem 1830 may include a modem, a network card (wireless or wired), an infrared communication device, a wireless communication device, and / or a chipset, etc., which may enable the computer system 1800 to communicate with any or all of the communication networks described herein, with any device on each network, including user equipment (UE), base stations, and / or other TRPs, and / or any other electronic device described herein. Thus, the communication subsystem 1830 may be used to receive and transmit data as described in the embodiments herein.

[0121] In many embodiments, computer system 1800 may further include a working memory 1835 that may include a RAM device or a ROM device, as described above. Software elements shown as being located within working memory 1835 may include an operating system 1840, device drivers, executable libraries, and / or other code such as one or more applications 1845, which may include computer programs provided by various embodiments as described herein, and / or may implement methods provided by other embodiments and / or may be designed to configure a system. By way of mere example, one or more of the procedures described with respect to the methods discussed above may be implemented as code and / or instructions executable by a computer (and / or a processor within the computer), and in some aspects, such code and / or instructions may then be used to configure and / or adapt a general purpose computer (or other device) to perform one or more operations in accordance with the described methods.

[0122] These sets of instructions and / or code may be stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium such as the storage device 1825 described above. In some cases, the storage medium may be incorporated within a computer system such as computer system 1800. In other embodiments, the storage medium may be separate from the computer system (e.g., a removable medium such as an optical disk) and / or provided within an installation package so that it can be used to program, configure, and / or adapt a general-purpose computer using the instructions / code stored thereon. These instructions may take the form of executable code executable by computer system 1800 and / or may take the form of source and / or installable code, which takes the form of executable code when compiled and / or installed on computer system 1800 (e.g., using any of various commonly available compilers, installation programs, compression / decompression utilities, etc.).

[0123] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that substantial variations may be made in accordance with specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may also be used and / or certain elements may be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software such as applets), or both. Additionally, connections to other computing devices such as network input / output devices may be utilized.

[0124] Referring to the accompanying drawings, a component that may include memory may include a non-transitory machine-readable medium. As used herein, the terms "machine-readable medium" and "computer-readable medium" refer to any storage medium involved in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a particular manner. In the embodiments provided above, various machine-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / code to a processor and / or other devices for execution. Additionally or alternatively, a machine-readable medium may be used to store and / or carry such instructions / code. In many implementations, a computer-readable medium is a physical and / or tangible storage medium. Such a medium may take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, magnetic and / or optical media, any other physical media having a pattern of holes, RAM, programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave as described below, or any other medium from which a computer can read instructions and / or code.

[0125] The methods, systems, and devices described herein are examples. Various embodiments may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, features described with respect to some embodiments may be combined in various other embodiments. Different aspects and elements of the present embodiments may also be combined. The various components of the figures provided herein may be embodied in hardware and / or software. Also, technology evolves, and thus many of the elements are examples that do not limit the scope of the present disclosure to their specific examples.

[0126] It has been found that, mainly for reasons of common usage, it is sometimes convenient to refer to such signals as bits, information, values, elements, symbols, characters, variables, terms, numbers, numerical values, etc. However, it should be understood that all of these terms or similar terms should be associated with appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient ways of referring. Unless otherwise specified, as is apparent from the above description, throughout this specification, descriptions using terms such as "process", "calculate", "compute", "determine", "ascertain", "identify", "associate", "measure", "execute", etc., are understood to refer to actions or processes of a particular apparatus, such as a dedicated computer or similar dedicated electronic computing device. Thus, in the context of this specification, a dedicated computer or similar dedicated electronic computing device is capable of operating on or transforming signals that are typically represented as physical electronic, electrical, or magnetic quantities in the memory, registers, or other information storage devices, transmission devices, or display devices of the dedicated computer or similar dedicated electronic computing device.

[0127] The terms "and" and "or" as used in this specification may include various meanings that are also expected to depend at least in part on the context in which such terms are used. Generally, "or" is intended to mean, when used to associate an enumeration such as A, B, or C, A, B, and C where used in an inclusive sense here, as well as A, B, or C where used in an exclusive sense here. In addition, the term "one or more" as used in this specification may be used to describe any feature, structure, or property in the singular or to describe any combination of features, structures, or properties. However, it should be noted that this is merely an illustrative example for the purpose of explanation and the claimed subject matter is not limited to this example. Further, the term "at least one of" may be interpreted to mean any combination of A, B, and / or C, such as A, AB, AA, AAB, AABBCCC, etc., when used to associate an enumeration such as A, B, or C.

[0128] Although some embodiments have been described, various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of the present disclosure. For example, the above elements may simply be components of a larger system, other rules may take precedence over the application examples of various embodiments, or the application examples of various embodiments may be modified differently. Also, some steps may be taken before, during, or after the above elements are considered. Therefore, the above description does not limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0129] In view of this specification, embodiments may include various combinations of features. Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses.

[0130] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication in a mobile device, the method comprising: transmitting, to a network node, an indication of the capabilities of the mobile device for maintaining a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS using a second CC, the capabilities comprising being able to maintain a phase characteristic below a threshold value, being able to maintain a phase characteristic at a constant value, or being unable to maintain a phase characteristic, or any combination thereof; and transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS.

[0131] Clause 2. The method of Clause 1, wherein the phase characteristic comprises a phase offset, time, frequency, or a phase ramp, phase slope, or phase time drift over both, or any combination thereof.

[0132] Clause 3. The method according to any of Clauses 1 to 2, wherein the ability depends on conditions, and the conditions are whether the first CC and the second CC are in the same frequency band or different frequency bands, whether the first SRS and the second SRS completely overlap in time or partially overlap, whether the first SRS and the second SRS have the same bandwidth or different bandwidths, or whether the first SRS and the second SRS have the same comb type or different comb types, or any combination thereof.

[0133] Clause 4. The method according to Clause 3, further comprising the step of transmitting an indication of the conditions to a network node.

[0134] Clause 5. The method according to any of Clauses 1 to 4, further comprising the step of receiving, from a network node, a configuration for transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS following the transmission of an indication of the ability, and transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS comprises transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS according to the configuration.

[0135] Clause 6. The method according to any of Clauses 1 to 5, wherein the network node comprises a serving transmission / reception point (TRP) or a location server.

[0136] Clause 7. The method according to any of Clauses 1 to 6, wherein the indication of the ability is transmitted via a radio resource control (RRC) protocol.

[0137] Clause 8. The method according to any of Clauses 1 to 7, wherein the ability depends on whether a time mask between a channel in the first CC and the first SRS overlaps with the first SRS.

[0138] Clause 9. The method according to Clause 8, wherein the channel comprises a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or another SRS resource.

[0139] Clause 10. Any of the methods of Clauses 1 to 9, wherein an indication of capabilities is transmitted in response to a capabilities request from a network node.

[0140] Clause 11. A method of wireless communication in a network node, the method comprising: receiving, from a mobile device, an indication of the capabilities of the mobile device for maintaining a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) transmitted by the mobile device using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS transmitted by the mobile device using a second CC, the capabilities comprising being able to maintain a phase characteristic below a threshold, being able to maintain a phase characteristic at a constant value, or being unable to maintain a phase characteristic, or any combination thereof; and transmitting, to the mobile device, a configuration for transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, the configuration being at least partially based on the capabilities.

[0141] Clause 12. The method of Clause 11, wherein the phase characteristic comprises a phase offset, time, frequency, or a phase ramp, phase slope, or phase time drift over both, or any combination thereof.

[0142] Clause 13. The method of any of Clauses 11 to 12, further comprising receiving, from the mobile device, an indication of a condition, the configuration being further based on the condition.

[0143] Clause 14. The method of any of Clauses 11 to 13, wherein the network node comprises a serving transmission / reception point (TRP) or a location server.

[0144] Clause 15. The method of any of Clauses 11 to 14, wherein the indication of capabilities is received via a radio resource control (RRC) protocol.

[0145] The method according to any one of clauses 11 to 15, further comprising the step of determining a second capability based on the indication of the capability, the time mask between the channel in the first CC and the first SRS, and the determination that the first SRS overlaps.

[0146] Clause 17. The method of clause 16, wherein the second capability is determined with respect to the entire duration of the first SRS.

[0147] Clause 18. The method of clause 16, wherein the second capability is determined only with respect to the duration of the time when the first SRS overlaps with the time mask.

[0148] Clause 19. A mobile device for wireless communication, comprising a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the one or more processors transmitting to a network node an indication of the capabilities of the mobile device for maintaining a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS using a second CC, the capabilities including being able to maintain phase characteristics below a threshold, being able to maintain phase characteristics at a constant value, or being unable to maintain phase characteristics, or any combination thereof, and being configured to transmit the first SRS and the second SRS via the transceiver.

[0149] Clause 20. The mobile device of clause 19, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to transmit to the network node an indication of conditions, the conditions including whether the first CC and the second CC are in the same frequency band or different frequency bands, whether the first SRS and the second SRS completely overlap in time or partially overlap in time, whether the first SRS and the second SRS have the same bandwidth or different bandwidths, or whether the first SRS and the second SRS have the same comm type or different comm types, or any combination thereof.

[0150] Clause 21. A mobile device according to any of clauses 19 to 20, wherein one or more processors are further configured to receive, from a network node, a configuration for transmitting a first SRS and a second SRS following transmission of an indication of capabilities, and wherein, to transmit the first SRS and the second SRS, one or more processors are configured to transmit the first SRS and the second SRS according to the configuration.

[0151] Clause 22. A mobile device according to any of clauses 19 to 21, wherein the network node comprises a serving transmission / reception point (TRP) or a location server.

[0152] Clause 23. A mobile device according to any of clauses 19 to 22, wherein one or more processors are configured to transmit an indication of capabilities via a radio resource control (RRC) protocol.

[0153] Clause 24. A mobile device according to any of clauses 19 to 23, wherein the capabilities depend on whether a time mask between a channel in a first CC and a first SRS overlaps with the first SRS.

[0154] Clause 25. A mobile device according to any of clauses 19 to 24, wherein one or more processors are configured to transmit an indication of capabilities in response to a capabilities request from a network node.

[0155] Clause 26. A network node for wireless communication, comprising a transceiver, a memory, and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the one or more processors receiving an indication of the capabilities of a mobile device for maintaining a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) transmitted by the mobile device using a first component carrier (CC) via the transceiver and a second SRS transmitted by the mobile device using a second CC, the capabilities comprising being able to maintain phase characteristics below a threshold, being able to maintain phase characteristics at a constant value, or being unable to maintain phase characteristics, or any combination thereof, and being configured to transmit, via the transceiver to the mobile device, a configuration for transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, the configuration being at least partially based on the capabilities.

[0156] Clause 27. The network node of Clause 26, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive an indication of conditions from the mobile device, and the configuration is further based on the conditions.

[0157] Clause 28. The network node according to any one of Clauses 26 to 27, wherein the network node comprises a serving transmit / receive point (TRP) or a location server.

[0158] Clause 29. The network node according to any one of Clauses 26 to 28, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine a second capability based on the indication of capabilities and a determination that a time mask between a channel in the first CC and the first SRS overlaps with the first SRS.

[0159] Clause 30. The network node of Clause 29, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine the second capability (i) over the entire duration of the first SRS or (ii) only over the duration of the time during which the first SRS overlaps with the time mask.

[0160] Apparatus having means for performing any one of the methods of clauses 1 to 18.

[0161] Non - transitory computer - readable medium storing instructions comprising code for performing any one of the methods of clauses 1 to 18.

Explanation of Signs

[0162] 100 Positioning system 105 User Equipment (UE) 110 Element 120 Base station 130 Access point 133 First communication link 135 Second communication link 140 RF signal 145 Other UE 160 Location server 170 Network 180 External client 200 5G NR positioning system 210 NR NodeB (gNB) 214 Next - generation eNB (ng - eNB) 215 Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 216 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) 220 LMF 225 Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 230 External client, Access Function (AF) 235 Next - generation (NG) Radio Access Network (RAN) (NG - RAN) 237 Xn interface 239 Uu interface 240 5G core network, 5G CN 245 Network Exposure Function (NEF) 250 Non-3GPP InterWorking Function (N3IWF) 400 Radio Frame Sequence, Sub-Frame Sequence 410 PRS Positioning Opportunity 415 Cell-Specific Sub-Frame Offset Δ PRS 420 PRS Period T PRS 710 Continuous Scanning 720 Interleaved Scanning 805 Mobile Device 810 Network Node 820 Capability Requirements 830 Behavior, Capability Report 850 SRS Transmission 910 Time Mask 920 Adjacent Channel Transmission 930 Bandwidth 940 Bandwidth 1010 Time Mask 1020 Adjacent Channel Transmission 1030 Repetition Period 1040 Bandwidth 1050 Bandwidth 1060 Non-Repetition Period 1110 Adjacent CC Transmission 1120 Repetition Period 1130 First Non-Repetition Period 1140 Second Non-Repetition Period 1210 Repetition Portion 1220 Non-Repetition Portion 1230 Non-Repetition Portion 1310 Period When SRS1 Overlaps with Time Mask 1315 Period When Only SRS1 is Transmitted 1320 Period When SRS1 and SRS2 Overlap 1325 Period When Both SRS1 and SRS2 Overlap with Time Mask 1330 Period When Both SRS1 and SRS2 Overlap with Time Mask and PUSCH 1335 Period When Both SRS1 and SRS2 Overlap with PUSCH Period during which only 1340 SRS2 is transmitted 1605 Bus 1610 Processor 1615 Output device 1620 Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 1630 Wireless communication interface 1632 Wireless communication antenna 1634 Wireless signal 1640 Sensor 1660 Memory 1670 Input device 1680 Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver 1682 Antenna 1684 Signal 1700 TRP 1705 Bus 1710 Processor 1720 Digital Signal Processor (DSP) 1730 Wireless communication interface 1732 Wireless communication antenna 1734 Wireless signal 1760 Memory 1780 Network interface 1800 Computer system 1805 Bus 1810 Processor 1815 Input device 1820 Output device 1825 Non - volatile memory device 1830 Communication subsystem 1833 Wireless communication interface 1835 Working memory 1840 Operating system 1845 Application 1850 Wireless antenna 1855 Wireless signal

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication in a mobile device, comprising: transmitting, to a network node, an indication of the capabilities of the mobile device for maintaining a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS using a second CC, wherein the capabilities include: being able to maintain phase characteristics below a threshold, being able to maintain the phase characteristics at a constant value, or not being able to maintain the phase characteristics, or any combination thereof ; and transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the phase characteristics include: a phase offset, a phase ramp over time, frequency, or both, a phase slope, or a phase time drift, or any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the capabilities are dependent on conditions, the conditions including: whether the first CC and the second CC are in the same frequency band or different frequency bands, whether the first SRS and the second SRS are fully temporally overlapping or partially overlapping,whether the first SRS and the second SRS have the same bandwidth or different bandwidths, or whether the first SRS and the second SRS have the same comm type or different comm types, or any combination thereof, and the method further comprises transmitting an indication of the conditions to the network node.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, subsequent to transmitting the indication of the capabilities, receiving, from the network node, a configuration for transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, and transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS in accordance with the configuration.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the network node comprises a serving transmission / reception point (TRP) or a location server, or the indication of the capabilities is transmitted via a radio resource control (RRC) protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the capabilities are dependent on whether a time mask between a channel in the first CC and the first SRS overlaps with the first SRS, or ​ The channel comprises a Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH), or another SRS resource, or The method according to claim 1, wherein the indication of the ability is transmitted in response to an ability request from the network node.

7. A method of wireless communication in a network node, comprising: Receiving, from a mobile device, an indication of the mobile device's ability to maintain a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) transmitted by the mobile device using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS transmitted by the mobile device using a second CC, wherein the ability comprises: Being able to maintain the phase characteristic below a threshold, Being able to maintain the phase characteristic at a constant value, or Not being able to maintain the phase characteristic, or Any combination thereof ; and Transmitting to the mobile device a configuration for transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, the configuration being at least partially based on the ability.

8. The phase characteristic comprises: A phase offset, A phase ramp over time, frequency, or both, A phase slope, or A phase time drift, or Any combination thereof, according to the method of claim 7.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising receiving, from the mobile device, an indication of a condition, the configuration being further based on the condition.

10. The network node comprises a serving transmission / reception point (TRP) or a location server, or The indication of the ability is received via a Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol, according to the method of claim 7.

11. The method according to claim 7, further comprising determining a second ability based on the indication of the ability, a time mask between a channel in the first CC and the first SRS, and a determination that the first SRS overlaps.

12. The second ability is determined for the entire duration of the first SRS, or The second ability is determined only for the duration of time during which the first SRS overlaps with the time mask, according to the method of claim 11.

13. A mobile device for wireless communication, comprising: A transceiver, a memory, one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the one or more processors transmitting, to a network node, an indication of the capabilities of the mobile device to maintain a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS using a second CC, the capabilities being able to maintain phase characteristics below a threshold, able to maintain the phase characteristics at a constant value, or unable to maintain the phase characteristics, or any combination thereof and configured to transmit, via the transceiver, the first SRS and the second SRS A mobile device.

14. A network node for wireless communication, a transceiver, a memory, one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, the one or more processors receiving, from a mobile device via the transceiver, an indication of the capabilities of the mobile device to maintain a phase relationship between a first sounding reference signal (SRS) transmitted by the mobile device using a first component carrier (CC) and a second SRS transmitted by the mobile device using a second CC, the capabilities being able to maintain phase characteristics below a threshold, able to maintain the phase characteristics at a constant value, or unable to maintain the phase characteristics, or any combination thereof and configured to transmit, to the mobile device via the transceiver, a configuration for transmitting the first SRS and the second SRS, the configuration being at least partially based on the capabilities A network node.

15. The mobile device according to claim 13, further configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, or the network node according to claim 14, further configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 8 to 12.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions comprising code for causing a mobile device to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, or for causing a network node to perform the method according to any one of claims 7 to 12.

Images