Proximity-based prioritization of uplink and downlink positioning resources
By dynamically adjusting PRS bandwidth based on environmental conditions, the mechanism optimizes PRS and SRS resource allocation, addressing the efficiency and latency challenges in 5G wireless networks for large sensor deployments.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- JP2023521754
- Authority / Receiving Office
- JP · JP
- Patent Type
- Patents
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Priority Date
- 2020-10-15
- Filing Date
- 2021-10-08
- Publication Date
- 2025-11-18
- Estimated Expiration
- 2041-10-08
AI Technical Summary
The 5G wireless standard requires enhanced spectral efficiency and reduced latency for large sensor deployments and simultaneous connections, but existing systems struggle to optimize positioning reference signal (PRS) and sounding reference signal (SRS) resources effectively.
A mechanism is introduced to dynamically adjust the bandwidth of positioning reference signals (PRS) based on environmental conditions, allowing user equipment (UE) to indicate environmental conditions to the transmitting entity, which adjusts the PRS bandwidth accordingly.
This approach enhances the efficiency of UE Rx-Tx measurements by optimizing PRS and SRS resource allocation, improving spectral efficiency and reducing latency in 5G wireless networks.
Smart Images

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Abstract
Description
[Technical Field]
[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This patent application claims priority to Indian Patent Application No. 202021045013, entitled "PROXIMITY-BASED PRIORITIZATION OF UPLINK AND DOWNLINK POSITIONING RESOURCES," filed on October 15, 2020, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention and is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
[0002] FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless positioning. [Background technology]
[0003] Wireless communication systems have evolved through various generations, including first-generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second-generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including intermediate 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, Internet-enabled wireless service, and fourth-generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, there are many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular and personal communications services (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the Cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), etc.
[0004]
[0004] The fifth-generation (5G) wireless standard, called New Radio (NR), requires, among other improvements, higher data rates, a greater number of connections, and better coverage. The 5G standard from the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users and 1 gigabit per second to dozens of workers on an office floor. To support large sensor deployments, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. Therefore, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiency should be enhanced and latency should be significantly reduced compared to current standards. Summary of the Invention
[0005]
[0005] The following presents a simplified summary related to one or more aspects disclosed herein. As such, the following summary should not be considered an extensive overview related to all contemplated aspects, nor should it be considered to identify key or critical elements related to all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope related to particular aspects. As such, the following summary has the sole purpose of presenting some concepts related to one or more aspects related to the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form as a prelude to the detailed description presented below.
[0006]
[0006] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes receiving, from a network entity, first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources; receiving, from a base station, second information identifying sounding reference signal (SRS) resources; selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, PRS resources that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; and using the selected PRS resources to perform at least a UE Rx-Tx measurement.
[0007]
[0007] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a network entity includes transmitting first information to a user equipment (UE) that identifies positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, and transmitting second information to the UE that specifies a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0008]
[0008] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from a network entity; receive, via the at least one transceiver, second information identifying sounding reference signal (SRS) resources from a base station; select, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, PRS resources that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; and use the selected PRS resources to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0009]
[0009] In one aspect, a network entity includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to: transmit, via the at least one transceiver, to a user equipment (UE) first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources; and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, to the UE second information specifying a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0010]
[0010] Other objects and advantages associated with the embodiments disclosed herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description.
[0011]
[0011] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the explanation of examples of one or more aspects of the disclosed subject matter and are provided by way of illustration only, not limitation. [Brief explanation of the drawings]
[0012] [Figure 1]
[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system, in accordance with various aspects. [Figure 2A]
[0013] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network structure, in accordance with various aspects. [Figure 2B] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network structure, in accordance with various aspects. [Figure 3A]
[0014] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE) and configured to support communication as taught herein; [Figure 3B] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a base station and configured to support communication as taught herein; [Figure 3C] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a network entity and configured to support communications as taught herein; [Figure 4A]
[0015] FIG. 2 illustrates an example frame structure and channels within the frame structure, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 4B] FIG. 2 illustrates an example frame structure and channels within the frame structure, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 5]
[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates an example scenario in which a PRS occasion has a different duration than an SRS occasion. [Figure 6]
[0017] FIG. 1 illustrates an example method for proximity-based prioritization of UL and DL positioning resources, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7A]
[0018] 1 is a flowchart illustrating portions of an example process associated with proximity-based prioritization of uplink and downlink positioning resources, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7B] 10 is a flowchart illustrating portions of an example process associated with proximity-based prioritization of uplink and downlink positioning resources, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7C] 10 is a flowchart illustrating portions of an example process associated with proximity-based prioritization of uplink and downlink positioning resources, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7D] 10 is a flowchart illustrating portions of an example process associated with proximity-based prioritization of uplink and downlink positioning resources, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7E] 10 is a flowchart illustrating portions of an example process associated with proximity-based prioritization of uplink and downlink positioning resources, according to aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 8]
[0019] 10 is a flowchart of another example process related to proximity-based prioritization of uplink and downlink positioning resources, according to aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0013]
[0020] Aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings, directed to various examples provided for purposes of illustration. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the present disclosure.
[0014]
[0021] To overcome the technical shortcomings of the conventional systems and methods described above, a mechanism is presented whereby the bandwidth used by a user equipment (UE) for a positioning reference signal (PRS) may be dynamically adjusted, e.g., in response to environmental conditions. For example, a UE receiver may indicate to a transmitting entity the conditions of the environment in which the UE is operating, and in response, the transmitting entity may adjust the PRS bandwidth.
[0015]
[0022] The words "exemplary" and "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term "aspects of the present disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the described feature, advantage or mode of operation.
[0016]
[0023] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the following description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the particular application, in part on the desired design, in part on the corresponding technology, etc.
[0017]
[0024] Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that various actions described herein may be performed by particular circuitry (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or a combination of both. Furthermore, a sequence of actions described herein may be considered to be embodied as a whole in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, cause or instruct associated processors of a device to perform the functions described herein. Accordingly, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which are contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, for each aspect described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein as, for example, “logic configured to” perform the described actions.
[0018]
[0025] The terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station,” as used herein, are not intended to be specific to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT) unless otherwise specified. Generally, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a tracking device, a wearable (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or (e.g., at some times) stationary and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). The term “UE” as used herein may be referred to interchangeably as an “access terminal” or “AT,” “client device,” “wireless device,” “subscriber device,” “subscriber terminal,” “subscriber station,” “user terminal” (UT), “mobile device,” “mobile terminal,” “mobile station,” or variations thereof. Generally, a UE may communicate with a core network via a RAN, through which the UE may be connected to external networks such as the Internet and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network, to the Internet, or to both are possible for the UE, such as via a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on IEEE 802.11, etc.), etc.
[0019]
[0026] Depending on the network in which it is deployed, a base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next-generation eNB (ng-eNB), new radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as gNB or gNode B), etc. Base stations may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, signaling connections, or various combinations thereof for supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may provide purely edge node signaling functionality, while in other systems, it may provide additional control functions, network management functions, or both. A communication link through which a UE can send signals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which a base station can send signals to a UE is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term Traffic Channel (TCH) may refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.
[0020]
[0027] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmission-reception point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs, which may or may not be collocated. For example, when the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to the base station's cell (or several cell sectors). When the term "base station" refers to multiple collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an array of antennas of the base station (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or when the base station employs beamforming). When the term "base station" refers to multiple non-collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-collocated physical TRPs may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from a UE and a neighbor base station from which the UE is measuring its reference radio frequency (RF) signal (or simply "reference signal"). A TRP is a point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, and therefore, as used herein, references to transmission from or reception at a base station should be understood as referring to the particular TRP of the base station.
[0021]
[0028] In some implementations that support UE positioning, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., it may not support data, voice, signaling connections for the UE, or various combinations thereof), but instead may transmit reference signals to the UE to be measured by the UE, may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE, or both. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting signals to the UE), a location measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring signals from the UE), or both.
[0022]
[0029] An "RF signal" comprises electromagnetic waves of a given frequency that transport information through space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, the receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through a multipath channel. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver is sometimes referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply as a "signal" when it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.
[0023]
[0030] 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system 100 in accordance with various aspects. The wireless communication system 100 (sometimes referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations), small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations), or both. In one aspect, the macrocell base stations may include eNBs, ng-eNBs, or both, where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs, where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.
[0024]
[0031] The base stations 102 collectively form a Radio Access Network (RAN) and may interface with a core network 108 (e.g., Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or 5G Core (5GC)) through backhaul links 110, through which they may interface to one or more location servers 112 (which may be part of the core network 108 or external to the core network 108). In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions related to one or more of forwarding user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for Non-Access Stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracing, RAN Information Management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of alert messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC / 5GC) via backhaul links 114, which may be wired or wireless.
[0025]
[0032] The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 116. In one aspect, one or more cells may be supported by the base stations 102 in each geographic coverage area 116. A “cell” is a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., over some frequency resource, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, etc.) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI)) to distinguish between cells operating over the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access to different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a particular base station, the term “cell” may refer to either or both the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. Furthermore, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably, as a TRP is generally a physical transmission point of a cell. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to the geographic coverage area (e.g., sector) of a base station, so long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within some portion of the geographic coverage area 116.
[0026]
[0033] The geographic coverage areas 116 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may partially overlap (e.g., in handover regions), but some of the geographic coverage areas 116 may be significantly overlapped by larger geographic coverage areas 116. For example, a small cell base station 102' may have a coverage area 116' that significantly overlaps with the geographic coverage area 116 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network including both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home eNBs (HeNBs) that may serve restricted groups known as Closed Subscriber Groups (CSGs).
[0027]
[0034] The communication link 118 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink transmissions (also called a reverse link) from the UE 104 to the base station 102, downlink transmissions (also called a forward link) from the base station 102 to the UE 104, or both. The communication link 118 may use MIMO antenna techniques, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, transmit diversity, or various combinations thereof. The communication link 118 may be through one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for the downlink than for the uplink).
[0028]
[0035] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 120 communicating with a WLAN station (STA) 122 via a communication link 124 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STA 122, the WLAN AP 120, or various combinations thereof may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) procedure or a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure before communicating to determine whether a channel is available.
[0029]
[0036] The small cell base station 102' may operate in a licensed frequency spectrum, an unlicensed frequency spectrum, or both. When operating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum used by the WLAN AP 120. A small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in the unlicensed frequency spectrum may boost coverage to the access network, increase the capacity of the access network, or both. NR in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in the unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed-assisted access (LAA), or MultiFire.
[0030]
[0037] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 126 that may operate in millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies, near-mmW frequencies, or a combination thereof, in communication with the UE 128. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the RF portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band are sometimes referred to as millimeter waves. Near-mmW may extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz with wavelengths of 100 millimeters. The very high frequency (SHF) band, also referred to as centimeter wave, extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz. Communications using the mmW / near-mmW radio frequency bands have high path loss and relatively short range. The mmW base station 126 and the UE 128 may utilize beamforming (transmit, receive, or both) over the mmW communication link 130 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above description is by way of example only and should not be construed as limiting various aspects disclosed herein.
[0031]
[0038] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a particular direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that particular direction, thereby providing a faster (in terms of data rate) and stronger RF signal to the receiving device(s). To change the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node may use an array of antennas (called a “phased array” or “antenna array”) that creates beams of RF waves that can be “steered” to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. In particular, RF current from the transmitter is supplied to individual antennas with the proper phase relationship so that the waves from the separate antennas add together to increase radiation in desired directions while canceling and suppressing radiation in undesired directions.
[0032]
[0039] A transmit beam may be quasi-colocated, meaning that the transmit beam appears to a receiver (e.g., a UE) to have the same parameters regardless of whether the network node's transmit antennas themselves are physically colocated. In NR, there are four types of quasi-colocation (QCL) relationships. In particular, a given type of QCL relationship means that some parameters related to a second reference RF signal on a second beam can be derived from information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is QCL Type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, mean delay, and delay spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and mean delay of the second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.
[0033]
[0040] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses receive beams to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, to amplify (e.g., increase) an RF signal received from a particular direction, the receiver can increase the gain setting of an antenna array in that direction, adjust the phase setting, or a combination thereof. Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in a direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is higher relative to the beam gains along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is highest compared to the beam gains in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.
[0034]
[0041] The receive beams may be spatially related. The spatial relationship means that parameters for a transmit beam for a second reference signal may be derived from information about the receive beam for the first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receive one or more reference downlink reference signals (e.g., a positioning reference signal (PRS), a narrowband reference signal (NRS), a tracking reference signal (TRS), a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), a synchronization signal block (SSB), etc.) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam for sending one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., an uplink positioning reference signal (UL-PRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a demodulation reference signal (DMRS), a PTRS, etc.) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.
[0035]
[0042] Note that a "downlink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station forms a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE forms a downlink beam, it is a receive beam to receive the downlink reference signal. Similarly, an "uplink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if the base station forms an uplink beam, it is an uplink receive beam, and if the UE forms an uplink beam, it is an uplink transmit beam.
[0036]
[0043] In 5G, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base station 102 / 126, UE 104 / 128) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (450 to 6000 MHz), FR2 (24250 to 52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is called the “primary carrier” or “anchor carrier” or “primary serving cell” or “PCell,” and the remaining carrier frequencies are called “secondary carriers” or “secondary serving cells” or “SCells.” In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by the UE 104 / 128 and the cell in which the UE 104 / 128 either performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels and may be a carrier in licensed frequencies (although this is not always the case). The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier in unlicensed frequencies. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals; for example, since both the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are typically UE-specific, nothing UE-specific may be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 128 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carrier. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 128 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers.Since a "serving cell" (whether a PCell or an SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency / component carrier over which some base station is communicating, terms such as "cell," "serving cell," "component carrier," and "carrier frequency" may be used interchangeably.
[0037]
[0044] For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or “PCell”), and other frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102, the mmW base station 126, or a combination thereof may be secondary carriers (“SCells”). Simultaneous transmission, reception, or both of multiple carriers allows the UE 104 / 128 to significantly increase its data transmission rate, reception rate, or both. For example, two 20 MHz aggregated carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically lead to a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to that achieved by a single 20 MHz carrier.
[0038]
[0045] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as a UE 132, that indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “sidelinks”). In the example of FIG. 1, the UE 132 has a D2D P2P link 134 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (e.g., through which the UE 132 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 134 with a WLAN STA 122 connected to a WLAN AP 120 (through which the UE 132 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In one example, the D2D P2P link 134 and the D2D P2P link 136 may be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct® (WiFi®-D), Bluetooth®, etc.
[0039]
[0046] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a UE 138, which may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via communication link 118, with the mmW base station 126 via mmW communication link 130, or a combination thereof. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 138, and the mmW base station 126 may support one or more SCells for the UE 138.
[0040]
[0047] 2A illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure 200 in accordance with various aspects. For example, a 5GC 210 (also referred to as a Next Generation Core (NGC)) may be functionally considered to have control plane functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) that operate cooperatively to form a core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect a gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, specifically to the control plane function 214 and the user plane function 212. In an additional configuration, an ng-eNB 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. Additionally, the ng-eNB 224 may communicate directly with the gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the New RAN 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both the ng-eNB 224 and the gNB 222. Either the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 may be in communication with the UE 204 (e.g., any of the UEs shown in FIG. 1). Another optional aspect may include a location server 112, which may be in communication with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The location servers 112 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, may each correspond to a single server. The location server 112 may be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that can connect to the location server 112 via the core network, the 5GC 210, via the Internet (not shown), or both. Furthermore, the location server 112 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network.
[0041]
[0048] 2B illustrates another exemplary wireless network structure 250 according to various aspects. For example, a 5GC 260 may be considered functionally as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264 and a user plane function provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperatively to form a core network (i.e., the 5GC 260). A user plane interface 263 and a control plane interface 265 connect the ng-eNB 224 to the 5GC 260, specifically to the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively. In an additional configuration, the gNB 222 may also be connected to the 5GC 260 via the control plane interface 265 to the AMF 264 and the user plane interface 263 to the UPF 262. Additionally, the ng-eNB 224 may communicate directly with the gNB 222 via the backhaul connection 223, with or without gNB direct connectivity to the 5GC 260. In some configurations, the New RAN 220 may have only one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both the ng-eNB 224 and the gNB 222. Either the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 may communicate with the UE 204 (e.g., any of the UEs shown in FIG. 1). The base stations of the New RAN 220 communicate with the AMF 264 via an N2 interface and with the UPF 262 via an N3 interface.
[0042]
[0049] The AMF 264 functions include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful intercept, transport for session management (SM) messages between the UE 204 and a session management function (SMF) 266, a transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and a security anchor function (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204 to receive intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In the case of UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) subscriber identity module (USIM)-based authentication, the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. The AMF 264 functions also include security context management (SCM). The SCM receives keys from the SEAF that it uses to derive access network-specific keys. The AMF 264 functions also include location service management for barred services, transport for location service messages between the UE 204 and a location management function (LMF) 270 (acting as the location server 112), transport for location service messages between the New RAN 220 and the LMF 270, Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer identifier allocation for interworking with EPS, and UE 204 mobility event notification. Additionally, the AMF 264 also supports functions for non-3GPP access networks.
[0043]
[0050] The functions of the UPF 262 include acting as an anchor point for intra / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, Quality of Service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in downlink), uplink traffic validation (Service Data Flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support the transfer of location service messages over the user plane between the UE 204 and a location server, such as a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP) 272.
[0044]
[0051] The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering in the UPF 262 to route traffic to the appropriate destination, control of policy enforcement and parts of QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.
[0045]
[0052] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be in communication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The LMF 270 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, may each correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 may be configured to support one or more location services for UEs 204 that can connect to the LMF 270 via a core network, the 5GC 260, via the Internet (not shown), or both. The SLP 272 may support similar functions as the LMF 270, except that the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, the New RAN 220, and the UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data), and the SLP 272 may communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (not shown in FIG. 2B) on the user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).
[0046]
[0053] In one aspect, the LMF 270, the SLP 272, or both may be integrated into a base station, such as a gNB 222 or an ng-eNB 224. When integrated into a gNB 222 or an ng-eNB 224, the LMF 270 or the SLP 272 may be referred to as a location management component (LMC). However, as used herein, references to the LMF 270 and the SLP 272 include both cases where the LMF 270 and the SLP 272 are components of a core network (e.g., the 5GC 260) and cases where the LMF 270 and the SLP 272 are components of a base station.
[0047]
[0054] 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated in a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or perform any of the network functions described herein, including a location server 230 and an LMF 270, or alternatively, may be unrelated to the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, such as a private network) to support file transmission operations taught herein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different types of devices (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.) in different implementations. The illustrated components may also be incorporated in other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include similar components to those described to provide similar functionality. Also, a given device may include one or more of the components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.
[0048]
[0055] The UE 302 and the base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, and provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for adjusting, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) over one or more wireless communications networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, etc. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc., over at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communications medium of interest (e.g., some set of time / frequency resources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.), and conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.) in accordance with a designated RAT. In particular, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, and one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358, respectively.
[0049]
[0056] The UE 302 and the base station 304 also each, in at least some cases, include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and may provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for adjusting, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave, PC5, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near field communications (NFC), etc.) over the wireless communications medium of interest. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.), and conversely, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.) in accordance with a designated RAT. In particular, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, and include one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368. As particular examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth transceivers, Zigbee and / or Z-Wave transceivers, NFC transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceivers.
[0050]
[0057] The UE 302 and the base station 304 also, in at least some cases, include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. If the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, BeiDou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. If the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial based network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may comprise any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and action from other systems as appropriate and, in at least some cases, perform calculations to determine the locations of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively, using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithms.
[0051]
[0058] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, to provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links or to communicate with other network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.
[0052]
[0059] A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. The transceiver (whether a wired or wireless transceiver) includes a transmitter circuit (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and a receiver circuit (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). The transmitter may be an integrated device in some implementations (e.g., implemented as a transmitter circuit and a receiver circuit in a single device), may comprise separate transmitter circuitry and separate receiver circuitry in some implementations, or may be implemented in other manners in other implementations. The transmitter and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., in some implementations, network transceivers 380 and 390) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array, that enable the respective device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit “beamforming,” as described herein. Similarly, the wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antenna arrays), that enable the respective device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter and receiver circuitry may share the same multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), so that the respective device can only receive or transmit at a given time, rather than both receive and transmit simultaneously. The wireless transceivers (eg, WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include a network listen module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.
[0053]
[0060] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., in some implementations, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390) and wired transceivers (e.g., in some implementations, network transceivers 380 and 390) may be generally characterized as a “transceiver,” “at least one transceiver,” or “one or more transceivers.” Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred from the type of communication being implemented. For example, backhaul communication between network devices or servers generally involves signaling via wired transceivers, while wireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) generally involves signaling via wireless transceivers.
[0054]
[0061] The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 each include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, for example, to provide functionality related to wireless communications and to provide other processing functions. The processors 332, 384, and 394 may therefore provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, and means for directing. In one aspect, the processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuits, or various combinations thereof.
[0055]
[0062] The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). The memories 340, 386, and 396 may therefore provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may include positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, that, when executed, cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. In other aspects, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in the memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, that, when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. Figure 3A illustrates possible locations of the positioning component 342, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 310, memory 340, one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. FIG. 3B shows possible locations of a positioning component 388, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.FIG. 3C shows possible locations of a positioning component 398, which may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.
[0056]
[0063] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to one or more processors 332 to provide a means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information that is independent of movement data derived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or satellite signal receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a microelectromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of movement detection sensor. Moreover, the sensor(s) 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide movement information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate position in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.
[0057]
[0064] Additionally, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides means for providing instructions (e.g., audible and / or visual instructions) to a user and / or for receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device such as a keypad, touchscreen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.
[0058]
[0065] Referring more particularly to the one or more processors 384, on the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The one or more processors 384 may provide RRC layer functions related to broadcasting of system information (e.g., Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions related to header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functions related to transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction via Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions related to mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.
[0059]
[0066] The transmitter 354 and receiver 352 may implement Layer 1 (L1) functions related to various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), multi-level quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined with each other using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to generate a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol streams are spatially precoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine coding and modulation schemes and for spatial processing. The channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with each spatial stream for transmission.
[0060]
[0067] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives signals through its respective antenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers information modulated onto RF carriers and provides the information to one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and receiver 312 implement Layer 1 functionality related to various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined into a single OFDM symbol stream by the receiver 312. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency-domain signal comprises a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier and the reference signal are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point transmitted by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted by the base station 304 on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332 that implement Layer 3 (L3) and Layer 2 (L2) functions.
[0061]
[0068] In the uplink, one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header recovery, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.
[0062]
[0069] Similar to the functions described with respect to downlink transmission by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 provide RRC layer functions related to system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions related to header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functions related to transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions related to mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.
[0063]
[0070] Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and to enable spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antenna(s) 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with each spatial stream for transmission.
[0064]
[0071] Uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described with respect to the receiver function at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives signals through its respective antenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 384.
[0065]
[0072] In the uplink, one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header recovery, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 302. The IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may be provided to the core network. The one or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.
[0066]
[0073] For convenience, the UE 302, base station 304, and / or network entity 306 are illustrated in FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C as including various components that may be configured in accordance with various examples described herein. However, it will be appreciated that the illustrated components may have different functions in different designs. In particular, various components in FIGS. 3A-3C are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, cost, device use, or other considerations. For example, in FIG. 3A, a particular implementation of the UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver 330, or may omit the sensor(s) 344, etc. 3B, a particular implementation of base station 304 may omit WWAN transceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi “hotspot” access point without cellular capability), or may omit short-range wireless transceiver(s) 360 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit satellite signal receiver 370, etc. For brevity, a description of various alternative configurations is not provided herein but would be readily apparent to one skilled in the art.
[0067]
[0074] The various components of the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data buses 334, 382, and 392, respectively. In one aspect, the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may form or be part of communication interfaces of the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306, respectively. For example, when different logical entities are implemented in the same device (e.g., gNB functionality and location server functionality incorporated in the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, and 392 may provide communication therebetween.
[0068]
[0075] The components of Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors), where each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide its functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310-346 may be implemented by a processor and memory component(s) of the UE 302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350-388 may be implemented by a processor and memory component(s) of the base station 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Additionally, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390-398 may be implemented by a processor and memory component(s) of the network entity 306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE," "by the base station," "by the network entity," etc. However, it will be appreciated that such operations, acts, and / or functions may actually be performed by particular components or combinations of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memories 340, 386, and 396, positioning components 342, 388, and 398, etc.
[0069]
[0076] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be separate from the network operator or operation of the cellular network infrastructure (e.g., the NG RAN 220 and / or the 5GC 210 / 260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a private network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 through the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).
[0070]
[0077] NR supports several cellular network-based positioning techniques, including downlink-based positioning methods, uplink-based positioning methods, and downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle of departure (DL-AoD) in NR. In an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, a UE measures the difference between the times of arrival (ToA) of reference signals (e.g., PRS, TRS, narrowband reference signal (NRS), CSI-RS, SSB, etc.) received from a pair of base stations, called reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives identifiers of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each of the non-reference base stations. Based on the known locations of the involved base stations and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity can estimate the location of the UE. For DL-AoD positioning, the base station measures the angle of the downlink transmit beam used to communicate with the UE and other channel properties (e.g., signal strength) to estimate the UE's location.
[0071]
[0078] Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on an uplink reference signal (e.g., SRS) transmitted by the UE. For UL-AoA positioning, the base station measures the angle of the uplink receive beam and other channel properties (e.g., gain level) used to communicate with the UE to estimate the UE's location.
[0072]
[0079] Downlink and uplink-based positioning methods include extended cell ID (E-CID) positioning and multi-round trip time (RTT) positioning (also called "multi-cell RTT"). In the RTT procedure, an initiator (base station or UE) transmits an RTT measurement signal (e.g., PRS or SRS) to a responder (UE or base station), and the responder transmits an RTT response signal (e.g., SRS or PRS) back to the initiator. The RTT response signal includes the difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response signal, called a receive-transmit (Rx-Tx) measurement. The initiator calculates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the ToA of the RTT response signal, called a "Tx-Rx" measurement. The propagation time (also called "time of flight") between the initiator and the responder can be calculated from the Tx-Rx and Rx-Tx measurements. Based on the propagation time and the known speed of light, the distance between the initiator and responder can be determined. For multi-RTT positioning, the UE performs RTT procedures with multiple base stations to allow its location to be triangulated based on the known locations of the base stations. RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning techniques, such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD, to improve location accuracy.
[0073]
[0080] The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, timing advance (TA), and the identities, estimated timing, and signal strength of detected neighbor base stations. The UE's location is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base stations.
[0074]
[0081] To assist positioning operations, a location server (e.g., location server 112, LMF 270, SLP 272) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include identifiers of base stations (or base station cells / TRPs) from which to measure reference signals, reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., number of consecutive positioning slots, periodicity of positioning slots, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier (ID), reference signal bandwidth, slot offset, etc.), other parameters applicable to a particular positioning method, or a combination thereof. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base station itself (e.g., in periodically broadcast overhead messages, etc.). In some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighbor network nodes on its own without using assistance data.
[0075]
[0082] A location estimate may be called a position estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, or other names. A location estimate may be geodetic and comprise coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may be civic and comprise a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of the location. A location estimate may also be defined relative to some other known location or in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A location estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume that the location is expected to cover with some specified or default confidence level).
[0076]
[0083] Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (eg, base stations and UEs).
[0077]
[0084] FIG. 4A is a diagram 400 illustrating an example of a downlink frame structure, according to an aspect.
[0078]
[0085] 4B is a diagram 430 illustrating an example of channels within a downlink frame structure, according to an aspect. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures, different channels, or both.
[0079]
[0086] LTE, and possibly NR, utilizes OFDM on the downlink and single-carrier frequency-division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR has the option to use OFDM on the uplink as well. OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Generally, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing may be 15 kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Thus, the nominal FFT size may be equal to 128, 256, 504, 1024, or 2048 for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.8 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for a system bandwidth of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.
[0080]
[0087] LTE supports a single numerology (subcarrier spacing, symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies (μ); for example, subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, and 240 kHz or greater may be available. Table 1, provided below, lists some various parameters for different NR numerologies.
[0081] [Table 1]
[0082]
[0088] In the example of Figures 4A and 4B, a 15 kHz numerology is used. Thus, in the time domain, a 10 millisecond (ms) frame is divided into 10 equally sized subframes of 1 ms each, with each subframe containing one time slot. In Figures 4A and 4B, time is represented horizontally (e.g., on the X-axis), with time increasing from left to right, and frequency is represented vertically (e.g., on the Y-axis), with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.
[0083]
[0089] A resource grid may be used to represent a time slot, with each time slot including one or more time-parallel resource blocks (RBs) (also called physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. In NR, a subframe has a duration of 1 ms, a slot is 14 symbols in the time domain, and an RB includes 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 14 consecutive symbols in the time domain. Thus, in NR, there is one RB per slot. Depending on the SCS, an NR subframe may have 14 symbols, 28 symbols, or more, and therefore may have one slot, two slots, or more. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.
[0084]
[0090] Some of the REs carry downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS), which may include PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, etc. Figure 4A shows example locations of REs carrying PRS (labeled "R").
[0085]
[0091] A "PRS instance" or "PRS occasion" is one instance of a periodically repeating time window (e.g., a group of one or more contiguous slots) during which a PRS is expected to be transmitted. A PRS occasion may also be referred to as a "PRS positioning occasion," "PRS positioning instance," "positioning occasion," "positioning instance," "positioning repetition," or simply an "occasion," "instance," or "repetition."
[0086]
[0092] A set of resource elements (REs) used for transmitting a PRS is called a "PRS resource." A set of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and can span "N" (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbols within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, a PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.
[0087]
[0093] The transmission of PRS resources within a given PRB has a particular comb size (also called "comb density"). The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for comb size "N," a PRS is transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of the symbol of the PRB. For example, for Com 4, for each fourth symbol of the PRS resource configuration, the RE corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (e.g., subcarriers 0, 4, and 8) is used to transmit the PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, comb sizes of Com 2, Com 4, Com 6, and Com 12 are supported for DL-PRS. Figure 4A shows an example PRS resource configuration for Com 6 (spanning six symbols). That is, the location of the shaded RE (labeled "R") indicates the Com 6 PRS resource configuration.
[0088]
[0094] A "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources used for transmitting PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. Furthermore, PRS resources in a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and associated with a specific TRP (identified by a TRP ID). Furthermore, PRS resources in a PRS resource set have the same periodicity, a common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (e.g., PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor) across slots. The periodicity is the time from the first repetition of a first PRS resource in a first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource in the next PRS instance. The periodicity is 2 μ The repetition factor may have a length selected from {4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5040, 10240} slots, with μ=0, 1, 2, 3. The repetition factor may have a length selected from {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} slots.
[0089]
[0095] A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP may transmit one or multiple beams). That is, each PRS resource in a PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam, and thus a "PRS resource" or simply a "resource" may also be referred to as a "beam." Note that this does not have any implications regarding whether the TRP and the beam on which the PRS is transmitted are known to the UE.
[0090]
[0096] A "positioning frequency layer" (also simply referred to as a "frequency layer") is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets across one or more TRPs with the same values for several parameters. Specifically, the collection of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing (SCS) and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning that all numerologies supported for PDSCH are also supported for PRS), the same Point A, the same value of downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The Point A parameter takes the value of the parameter ARFCN-ValueNR ("ARFCN" stands for "absolute radio frequency channel number"), which is an identifier / code that specifies the pair of physical radio channels used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of four PRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers are defined, and up to two PRS resource sets can be configured per TRP per frequency layer.
[0091]
[0097] The concept of frequency layers is somewhat similar to that of component carriers and bandwidth portions (BWPs), except that component carriers and BWPs are used by one base station (or macrocell base station and small cell base station) to transmit data channels, and frequency layers are used by several (usually three or more) base stations to transmit PRSs. A UE may indicate the number of frequency layers it can support when sending its positioning capabilities to the network, such as during an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) session. For example, a UE may indicate whether it can support one or four positioning frequency layers.
[0092]
[0098] Figure 4B shows an example of various channels within a downlink slot of a radio frame. In NR, the channel bandwidth or system bandwidth is divided into multiple BWPs. A BWP is a contiguous set of PRBs selected from a contiguous subset of common RBs for a given numerology on a given carrier. Generally, up to four BWPs can be specified on the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can be configured with up to four BWPs on the downlink and up to four BWPs on the uplink. At a given time, only one BWP (uplink or downlink) can be active, meaning that a UE can receive or transmit on only one BWP at a time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be equal to or greater than the bandwidth of an SSB, but it may or may not include the SSB.
[0093]
[0099] Referring to FIG. 4B, a primary synchronization signal (PSS) is used by a UE to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identity. A secondary synchronization signal (SSS) is used by a UE to determine a physical layer cell identity group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identity and the physical layer cell identity group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the DL-RS mentioned above. A physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying an MIB can be logically grouped using the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also referred to as SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). A physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted over the PBCH, such as system information blocks (SIBs), and paging messages.
[0094]
[0100] The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) in one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each of which contains one or more RE group (REG) bundles (which may span multiple symbols in the time domain). Each REG bundle contains one or more REGs, and each REG corresponds to 12 resource elements (one resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The set of physical resources used to carry the PDCCH / DCI is called a control resource set (CORESET) in NR. In NR, the PDCCH is limited to a single CORESET and transmitted with its own DMRS. This enables UE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.
[0095]
[0101] In the example of Figure 4B, there is one CORESET per BWP, and the CORESET spans three symbols in the time domain (although it could be only one or two symbols). Unlike the LTE control channel, which occupies the entire system bandwidth, in NR, the PDCCH channel is localized to a unique region (i.e., the CORESET) in the frequency domain. Therefore, the frequency components of the PDCCH shown in Figure 4B are shown as being smaller than a single BWP in the frequency domain. Note that although the illustrated CORESET is contiguous in the frequency domain, it does not have to be contiguous. Furthermore, the CORESET can span fewer than three symbols in the time domain.
[0096]
[0102] The DCI in the PDCCH carries information about uplink resource allocation (persistent and non-persistent) and a description of the downlink data to be transmitted to the UE. Multiple (e.g., up to eight) DCIs may be configured in the PDCCH, and these DCIs may have one of multiple formats. For example, there are different DCI formats for uplink scheduling, for non-MIMO downlink scheduling, for MIMO downlink scheduling, and for uplink power control. The PDCCH may be transported by one, two, four, eight, or 16 CCEs to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.
[0097]
[0103] Positioning reference signals are defined for NR positioning to enable the UE to detect and measure more neighbor TRPs. Several configurations are supported to enable various deployments, such as indoor, outdoor, sub-6, and millimeter wave (mmW) deployments. Both UE-assisted and UE-based position calculations are supported.
[0098] [Table 2]
[0099] In conventional systems, a UE reports its ability to process PRS resources in a capability update and then receives assistance data (AD) from a network entity (e.g., from a location server) that lists DL-PRS resources sorted in decreasing order of measurement priority. Because the AD typically lists more PRS resources than the UE has the processing capability to handle, by agreement, the UE then selects the first N PRS resources from the list to process, where N is the number of PRS resources the UE can handle. For example, the AD may list 20 DL-PRS resources, but the UE can only process five of them. Per the agreement, the UE selects the first five PRS resources for processing. The AD prioritizes PRS resources based entirely on PRS measurements.
[0100]
[0104] However, to perform Rx-Tx measurements, the UE must perform both PRS measurements and SRS transmissions, and to obtain accurate Rx-Tx measurements, the PRS and SRS must be close in time to minimize errors due to possible clock drift between the UE and the base station, for example. Current standards state that the PRS and SRS must be no more than 25 milliseconds (msec) apart in time, although other proximity requirements are contemplated, such as 20 msec, 80 msec, 160 msec, etc.
[0101]
[0105] 5 illustrates an exemplary scenario in which PRS occasions (PRS0, PRS1, and PRS2) have different durations than SRS occasions (SRS0 and SRS1). As a result, some PRS-SRS pairs do not meet the proximity requirement. In FIG. 5, for example, pairs {PRS0, SRS0} and {PRS2, SRS1} meet the proximity requirement, but pairs {PRS1, SRS0} and {PRS1, SRS1} do not.
[0102]
[0106] One problem is that PRS resources are provided to the UE by a location server, but SRS configurations are provided to the UE by a serving base station, for example, via a radio resource control (RRC) message. The location server is unaware of SRS scheduling and prioritizes PRS resources for PRS measurements only, without considering SRS. As a result, when the UE selects the first N PRS resources defined in the AD according to the arrangement described above, some of the selected PRS resources may not meet the PRS-SRS proximity requirement. In FIG. 5, for example, PRS1 may be included in the first N PRS resources defined in the AD, but PRS1 does not meet the proximity requirement and therefore should not be used for Rx-Tx measurements.
[0103]
[0107] Several approaches to this problem have been considered. One approach being considered is to apply the proximity timing requirement only if any SRS transmission is within 25 ms of at least one DL PRS resource of each of the TRPs in the assistance data. Another approach being considered is to apply the proximity timing requirement only if there is at least one SRS transmission within the measurement period. Yet another approach being considered is to always apply the proximity timing requirement regardless of the time separation between the PRS and SRS, but require the UE to compensate for the difference in the receive timing of the radio frame containing the PRS and the subframe used to transmit the SRS.
[0104]
[0108] There are drawbacks associated with each of these approaches: the first two approaches refrain from enforcing a proximity requirement that simply cannot be satisfied, essentially rendering it meaningless, and the third approach places an additional burden on the UE to track and compensate for timing differences between the received PRS and the transmitted SRS.
[0105]
[0109] To overcome these drawbacks, an improved method of performing Rx-Tx measurements is presented herein, in which the PRS resources from the AD are selected based on PRS-SRS proximity rather than simply selecting the top N PRS resources from a list provided by the AD.
[0106]
[0110] FIG. 6 shows an exemplary method 600 of proximity-based prioritization based on proximity of UL positioning resources and DL positioning resources, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. FIG. 6 is a signal message diagram showing the interaction between UE 302, base station (BS) 304, and network entity (NE) 306, where network entity 306 may be a location server (e.g., location server 112, LMF 270, or SLP 272). At 602, network entity 306 requests capability information from UE 302, and at 604, the UE provides the capability information to network entity 306. At 606, the UE requests assistance data from the network entity, and at 608, the network entity provides the assistance data to UE 302. In some aspects, the assistance data includes information identifying a first set of N PRS resources and also includes parameter M < N. Examples of PRS resources include, but are not limited to, positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, PRS resource sets, PRS frequency layers, transmit / receive points (TRPs), cells, or combinations thereof. At 610, the UE receives information from the base station 304 identifying a second set including at least one SRS resource. This information may be in the form of an SRS configuration and may be received via RRC. It is noted that the order of the signal messages at 602, 604, 606, 608, and 610 is exemplary and not limiting; i.e., the specific order of the elements in FIG. 6 may vary. For example, the UE 302 may receive PRS configuration information after receiving the SRS configuration, or vice versa. Similarly, the UE 302 may receive information in response to a specific request for that information, or may receive the information unidirectionally, i.e., without making a specific request for it.
[0107]
[0111] At 612, the UE 302 selects PRS resources based on the proximity of each PRS resource to the SRS resource. In some aspects, the UE 302 selects PRS resources that are within a maximum allowed distance—e.g., within a proximity threshold—from the SRS resources that the UE 302 can determine based on the PRS and SRS information received from the network entity 306 and base station 304, respectively. At 614, the UE 302 receives the PRS, and at 616, the UE 302 sends the SRS. In the example shown in FIG. 6, the PRS and SRS are within the proximity threshold, so at 618, the UE 302 calculates Rx-Tx and reports the value of Rx-Tx to the base station 304, the network entity 306, or both at 620.
[0108]
[0112] 7A, 7B, 7C, 7D, and 7E are flowcharts illustrating portions of an example process 700 related to proximity-based prioritization of uplink and downlink positioning resources in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIGS. 7A-7E may be performed by a user equipment (UE) (e.g., UE 104). In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIGS. 7A-7E may be performed by another device or group of devices separate from or including the UE. Additionally or alternatively, one or more process blocks of Figures 7A-7E may be performed by one or more components of UE 302, such as processor(s) 332, memory 340, WWAN transceiver(s) 310, short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320, satellite signal receiver 330, sensor(s) 344, user interface 346, and positioning component(s) 342, any or all of which may be means for performing the operations of process 700.
[0109]
[0113] 7A, process 700 may include receiving first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from a network entity (block 702). Means for performing the operations of block 702 may include processor(s) 332, memory 340, or WWAN transceiver(s) 310 of the UE 302. For example, the UE 302 may receive the first information identifying the positioning reference signal (PRS) resources using a transceiver such as transmitter(s) 314 or transmitter(s) 324. In some aspects, the network entity comprises a location server. In some aspects, the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
[0110]
[0114] 7A, the process 700 may include receiving, from a base station, second information identifying sounding reference signal (SRS) resources (block 704). Means for performing the operations of block 704 may include the processor(s) 332, the memory 340, or the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 of the UE 302. For example, the UE 302 may receive the second information identifying the sounding reference signal (SRS) resources using a transceiver such as the transmitter(s) 314 or the transmitter(s) 324. In some aspects, the base station comprises a gNodeB (gNB).
[0111]
[0115] 7A , the process 700 may include selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, PRS resources that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information (block 706). Means for performing the operations of block 706 may include the processor(s) 332, the memory 340, or the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 of the UE 302. For example, the UE 302 may select, based on information stored in the memory 340, using the processor(s) 332 or the positioning component(s) 342, for example, the PRS resources that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement for the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information. In some aspects, selecting a PRS resource that satisfies a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one of the SRS resources identified by the second information comprises selecting a PRS resource that has a time difference between receiving the PRS and transmitting the SRS that does not exceed a maximum time difference threshold.
[0112]
[0116] 7A , the process 700 may include using the selected PRS resources to perform at least the UE Rx-Tx measurements (block 708). Means for performing the operations of block 708 may include the processor(s) 332, the memory 340, or the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 of the UE 302. For example, the UE 302 may use the selected PRS resources when performing the UE Rx-Tx measurements using signals received by the receiver(s) 312 or the receiver(s) 322 and signals transmitted by the transmitter(s) 314 or the transmitter(s) 324. In some aspects, the process 700 includes reporting results of the Rx-Tx measurements to a base station, a network entity, or both.
[0113]
[0117] As shown in FIG. 7B, in some aspects, selecting PRS resources that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one SRS resource identified by the second information (block 706) comprises selecting a subset of PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to a priority (block 710) and selecting a PRS resource from the subset of PRS resources based on a proximity in time to the SRS resource identified by the second information (block 712).
[0114]
[0118] As shown in FIG. 7C , in some aspects, selecting a subset of PRS resources according to priority (block 710) comprises determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined interval of time (block 714) and selecting M highest priority PRS resources as the subset of PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information (block 716).
[0115]
[0119] As shown in FIG. 7D , in some aspects, selecting PRS resources that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one of the SRS resources identified by the second information (block 706) comprises identifying, as a first set, PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that will be considered for use for the Rx-Tx measurement (block 718); identifying, as a second set, one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement (block 720); identifying, as a third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set (block 722); and selecting some or all of the PRS resources in the third set (block 724).
[0116]
[0120] As shown in FIG. 7E, in some aspects, selecting some or all of the PRS resources in the third set (block 724) comprises determining whether a maximum number (M) of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval is less than the number (N) of PRS resources in the third set (block 726).
[0117]
[0121] If the UE can process more PRS resources during a predefined time interval than are within the third set (i.e., M > N), then all of the PRS resources within the third set are selected (block 728), and additional PRS resources are selected from the first set until M PRS resources are selected (block 730).
[0118]
[0122] If the third set contains more PRS resources than the UE can process during a predefined time interval (i.e., M < N), then in some embodiments, for example, based on PRS-SRS proximity, PRS priority, etc., the PRS-SRS resource pairs within the second set are prioritized (block 732), and then the PRS resources from the first M PRS-SRS pairs within the second set are selected (block 734).
[0119]
[0123] Process 700 may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations related to one or more other processes described below and / or elsewhere in this specification. FIG. 7 shows exemplary blocks of process 700, but in some implementations, process 700 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or blocks arranged differently than those shown in FIG. 7. Further, or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 700 may be performed in parallel.
[0120]
[0124] FIG. 8 is a flowchart 800 of an example process related to proximity-based prioritization of uplink and downlink positioning resources according to aspects of the disclosure. In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIG. 8 may be performed by a network entity (e.g., location server 112, location server 230, LMF 270, SLP 272). In some implementations, one or more process blocks of FIG. 8 may be performed by another device or group of devices separate from or including the network entity. Additionally or alternatively, one or more process blocks of FIG. 8 may be performed by one or more components of the network entity 306, such as processor(s) 394, memory 396, network transceiver(s) 390, and positioning component(s) 398, any or all of which may be means for performing the operations of process 800.
[0121]
[0125] 8, process 800 may include transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources (block 802). Means for performing the operations of block 802 may include processor(s) 394, memory 396, or network transceiver(s) 390 of the network entity 306. For example, the network entity 306 may transmit the first information using the network transceiver(s) 390.
[0122]
[0126] 8, process 800 may include transmitting, to the UE, second information specifying a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements (block 804). Means for performing the operations of block 804 may include processor(s) 394, memory 396, or network transceiver(s) 390 of the network entity 306. For example, the network entity 306 may transmit the second information using the network transceiver(s) 390.
[0123]
[0127] Process 800 may include additional implementations, such as any single implementation or any combination of implementations in connection with one or more other processes described below and / or elsewhere herein. While Figure 8 shows example blocks of process 800, in some implementations, process 800 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or blocks ordered differently than those shown in Figure 8. Additionally or alternatively, two or more of the blocks of process 800 may be performed in parallel.
[0124]
[0128] In the above detailed description, it can be seen that different features are grouped together in examples. This mode of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the exemplary clauses have more features than are expressly set forth in each clause. Rather, various embodiments of the present disclosure may include fewer than all features of each disclosed exemplary clause. Accordingly, the following clauses should be considered incorporated herein, with each clause standing as a separate example by itself. While each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination with one of the other clauses in the clause, the aspect(s) of that dependent clause are not limited to that specific combination. It will be appreciated that other exemplary clauses may also include combinations of the dependent clause(s) aspect(s) with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause, or any combination of features with other dependent and independent clauses. The various embodiments disclosed herein expressly include combinations of specific combinations (e.g., inconsistent aspects, such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor) unless these combinations are expressly expressed or can be readily inferred to be unintended. Furthermore, it is also contemplated that aspects of a clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if that clause is not directly dependent on that independent clause.
[0125]
[0129] Example implementations are described in the following numbered clauses.
[0126]
[0130] Clause 1. A method of wireless communications implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving, from a network entity, first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources; receiving, from a base station, second information identifying sounding reference signal (SRS) resources; selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, PRS resources that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; and using the selected PRS resources to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0127]
[0131] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein selecting PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to at least one of the SRS resources identified by the second information comprises selecting PRS resources having a time difference between receiving the PRS and transmitting the SRS that does not exceed a maximum time difference threshold.
[0128]
[0132] Clause 3. The method of clause 1 or 2, wherein selecting PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to at least one SRS resource identified by the second information comprises: selecting a subset of the PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to a priority; and selecting a PRS resource from the subset of PRS resources based on its temporal proximity to the SRS resource identified by the second information.
[0129]
[0133] Clause 4. The method of clause 3, wherein selecting a subset of PRS resources according to priority from the PRS resources identified by the first information comprises determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined interval of time, and selecting the M highest priority PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information as the subset of PRS resources.
[0130]
[0134] Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1 to 4, further comprising reporting results of the Rx-Tx measurements to a base station, to a network entity, or both.
[0131]
[0135] Clause 6. The method of any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein selecting PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to at least one of the SRS resources identified by the second information comprises identifying, as a first set, PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information to be considered for use for Rx-Tx measurements, identifying, as a second set, one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement, and identifying, as a third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set.
[0132]
[0136] Clause 7. The method of clause 6, wherein identifying as a second set one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement further comprises prioritizing the PRS-SRS resource pairs in the second set according to priority, wherein identifying as a third set PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set comprises: determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval; and, if determining that the third set includes a number L of PRS resources that is less than M, selecting the first M PRS resources in the third set; and, if determining that the third set includes a number L of PRS resources that is less than M, selecting the PRS resources in the third set and using an additional M L PRS resources from the first set.
[0133]
[0137] Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1 to 7, wherein the network entity comprises a location server.
[0134]
[0138] Clause 9. The method of clause 8, wherein the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
[0135]
[0139] Clause 10. The method of any of clauses 1 to 9, wherein the base station comprises a gNodeB (gNB).
[0136]
[0140] Clause 11. A method of wireless communications performed by a network entity, comprising: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources; and transmitting, to the UE, second information specifying a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE for performing at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0137]
[0141] Clause 12. The method of clause 11, wherein the network entity comprises a location server.
[0138]
[0142] Clause 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
[0139]
[0143] Clause 14. A user equipment (UE) comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: receive, via the at least one transceiver, first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources from a network entity; receive, via the at least one transceiver, second information identifying sounding reference signal (SRS) resources from a base station; select, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, PRS resources that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; and use the selected PRS resources to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0140]
[0144] Clause 15. The UE of clause 14, wherein to select a PRS resource from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfies a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one of the SRS resources identified by the second information, the at least one processor is configured to select a PRS resource having a time difference between receiving the PRS and transmitting the SRS that does not exceed a maximum time difference threshold.
[0141]
[0145] Clause 16. The UE of clause 14 or 15, wherein to select PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one SRS resource identified by the second information, the at least one processor is configured to: select a subset of PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to a priority; and select PRS resources from the subset of PRS resources based on their temporal proximity to the SRS resource identified by the second information.
[0142]
[0146] Clause 17. The UE of clause 16, wherein selecting a subset of PRS resources according to priority from the PRS resources identified by the first information comprises determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval, and selecting the M highest priority PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information as the subset of PRS resources.
[0143]
[0147] Clause 18. The UE of any of clauses 14 to 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to report results of the Rx-Tx measurements to a base station, to a network entity, or both.
[0144]
[0148] Clause 19. The UE of any of clauses 14 to 18, wherein to select PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one of the SRS resources identified by the second information, the at least one processor is configured to: identify, as a first set, PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information to be considered for use for Rx-Tx measurements; identify, as a second set, one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement; and identify, as a third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set.
[0145]
[0149] Clause 20. The UE of clause 19, wherein to identify as a second set one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement, the at least one processor is configured to prioritize the PRS-SRS resource pairs in the second set according to proximity, wherein to identify as a third set PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set, the at least one processor is configured to: determine a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval; select the first M PRS resources in the third set if determining that the third set includes a number L of PRS resources that is less than M; and select the PRS resources in the third set and use an additional M L PRS resources from the first set if determining that the third set includes a number L of PRS resources that is less than M.
[0146]
[0150] Clause 21. The UE of any of clauses 14 to 20, wherein the network entity comprises a location server.
[0147]
[0151] Clause 22. The UE of clause 21, wherein the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
[0148]
[0152] Clause 23. The UE of any of clauses 14 to 22, wherein the base station comprises a gNodeB (gNB).
[0149]
[0153] Clause 24. A network entity comprising: a memory; at least one transceiver; and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: transmit, via the at least one transceiver, to a user equipment (UE), first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources; and transmit, via the at least one transceiver, to the UE, second information specifying a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE for performing at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0150]
[0154] Clause 25. The network entity of clause 24, wherein the network entity comprises a location server.
[0151]
[0155] Clause 26. The location server is a network entity according to clause 25, comprising a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
[0152]
[0156] Clause 27. A user equipment (UE), comprising: means for receiving, from a network entity, first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources; means for receiving, from a base station, second information identifying sounding reference signal (SRS) resources; means for selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, PRS resources that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; and means for using the selected PRS resources to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0153]
[0157] Clause 28. The UE of clause 27, wherein the means for selecting PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one of the SRS resources identified by the second information comprises means for selecting PRS resources having a time difference between receiving the PRS and transmitting the SRS that does not exceed a maximum time difference threshold.
[0154]
[0158] Clause 29. The method of clause 27 or 28, wherein the means for selecting PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to at least one SRS resource identified by the second information comprises means for selecting a subset of PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to a priority, and means for selecting PRS resources from the subset of PRS resources based on their temporal proximity to the SRS resource identified by the second information.
[0155]
[0159] Clause 30. The UE of clause 29, wherein the means for selecting a subset of PRS resources according to priority from the PRS resources identified by the first information comprises means for determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval, and means for selecting the M highest priority PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information as the subset of PRS resources.
[0156]
[0160] Clause 31. The UE of any of clauses 27 to 30, further comprising reporting results of the Rx-Tx measurements to a base station, to a network entity, or both.
[0157]
[0161] Clause 32. The UE of any of clauses 27 to 31, wherein the means for selecting PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one of the SRS resources identified by the second information comprises means for identifying, as a first set, PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information to be considered for use for the Rx-Tx measurement, means for identifying, as a second set, one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement, and means for identifying, as a third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set.
[0158]
[0162] Clause 33. The UE of clause 32, wherein the means for identifying as a second set one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement further comprises means for prioritizing the PRS-SRS resource pairs in the second set according to proximity, wherein the means for identifying as a third set PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set comprises means for determining a maximum number M of PRS resources the UE can process during a predefined time interval, means for selecting the first M PRS resources in the third set upon determining that the third set includes a number L of PRS resources that is less than M, and means for selecting the PRS resources in the third set and using an additional M L PRS resources from the first set upon determining that the third set includes a number L of PRS resources that is less than M.
[0159]
[0163] Clause 34. The UE of any of clauses 27 to 33, wherein the network entity comprises a location server.
[0160]
[0164] Clause 35. The UE of clause 34, wherein the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
[0161]
[0165] Clause 36. The UE of any of clauses 27 to 35, wherein the base station comprises a gNodeB (gNB).
[0162]
[0166] Clause 37. A network entity comprising: means for transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources; and means for transmitting, to the UE, second information specifying a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE for performing at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0163]
[0167] Clause 38. The network entity of clause 37, wherein the network entity comprises a location server.
[0164]
[0168] Clause 39. The location server is a network entity according to clause 38, comprising a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
[0165]
[0169] Clause 40. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to: receive, from a network entity, first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources; receive, from a base station, second information identifying sounding reference signal (SRS) resources; select, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, PRS resources that satisfy a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; and use the selected PRS resources to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0166]
[0170] Clause 41. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a network entity, cause the network entity to transmit, to a user equipment (UE), first information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources and to transmit, to the UE, second information specifying a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE for performing at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0167]
[0171] Clause 42. An apparatus comprising: a memory; a transceiver; and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the transceiver, wherein the memory, the transceiver, and the processor are configured to perform the method of any of clauses 1 to 13.
[0168]
[0172] Clause 43. Apparatus comprising means for carrying out the method according to any of clauses 1 to 13.
[0169]
[0173] Clause 44. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions, the computer-executable instructions comprising at least one instruction for causing a computer or processor to perform a method according to any of clauses 1 to 13.
[0170]
[0174] Other aspects include, but are not limited to, the following.
[0171]
[0175] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a user equipment (UE) includes receiving, from a network entity, information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources; receiving, from a base station, information identifying sounding reference signal (SRS) resources; selecting a PRS resource based on temporal proximity to the SRS resource; and using the selected PRS resource to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0172]
[0176] In some aspects, reporting the results of the Rx-Tx measurements to a base station, to a network entity, or both.
[0173]
[0177] In some aspects, the method comprises receiving information identifying PRS resources, which includes receiving information identifying a first set of N positioning reference signal (PRS) resources and a parameter M < N, receiving information identifying SRS resources, which includes receiving information identifying a second set of at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, selecting PRS resources based on proximity to the SRS resources, which includes identifying a third set of L PRS-SRS resource pairs that meet the PRS-SRS proximity requirement from the first and second sets, defining a fourth set of M PRS resources to be considered for use in Rx-Tx measurements from the first set of N PRS resources, identifying a PRS-SRS pair from the third set where the PRS resource is a member of the fourth set as a fifth set, and using the selected PRS resources for at least UE Rx-Tx measurements, which includes using the fifth set for Rx-Tx measurements.
[0174]
[0178] In some aspects, the PRS-SRS proximity requirement comprises a maximum time difference between reception of the PRS and transmission of the SRS.
[0175]
[0179] In some aspects, the maximum time difference is + / - 25 milliseconds.
[0176]
[0180] In some aspects, the PRS-SRS pairs within the fifth set are prioritized according to proximity. [[ID=十六]]
[0177]
[0181] In some aspects, using the fifth set for Rx-Tx measurements comprises comparing the size K of the fifth set with the UE's PRS processing ability J, using the first J PRS-SRS in the fifth set when the determination is K ≧ J, and using the PRS-SRS pairs in the fifth set and using J - K additional PRS resources from the first set when the determination is K < J.
[0178]
[0182] In some aspects, J indicates the maximum number of PRS resources that a UE can process at one time.
[0179]
[0183] In some aspects, the network entity comprises a location server.
[0180]
[0184] In some aspects, the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
[0181]
[0185] In some aspects, the base station comprises a g-node B (gNB).
[0182]
[0186] In one aspect, a method of wireless communication performed by a network entity comprises transmitting to a user equipment (UE) information identifying a first set of N positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, and transmitting to the UE a parameter M < N that specifies the number of PRS resources to be used by the UE to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0183]
[0187] In some aspects, the network entity comprises a location server.
[0184]
[0188] In some aspects, the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
[0185]
[0189] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to receive information identifying a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource from a network entity, receive information identifying a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource from a base station, select a PRS resource based on the temporal proximity to the SRS resource, and use the selected PRS resource to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0186]
[0190] In some aspects, the at least one processor is further configured to report the results of the Rx-Tx measurements to the base station, to the network entity, or to both.
[0187]
[0191] In some aspects, the method includes receiving information identifying a PRS resource comprising receiving information identifying a first set of N positioning reference signal (PRS) resources and a parameter M < N, receiving information identifying an SRS resource comprising receiving information identifying a second set of at least one sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, selecting a PRS resource based on proximity to the SRS resource comprising identifying a third set of L PRS-SRS resource pairs that meet the PRS-SRS proximity requirement from the first and second sets, defining a fourth set of M PRS resources to be considered for use in Rx-Tx measurements from the first set of N PRS resources, identifying a PRS-SRS pair from the third set where the PRS resource is a member of the fourth set as a fifth set, and using the selected PRS resource for Rx-Tx measurements comprising using the fifth set for Rx-Tx measurements.
[0188]
[0192] In some aspects, the PRS-SRS proximity requirement comprises a maximum time difference between the reception of the PRS and the transmission of the SRS.
[0189]
[0193] In some aspects, the maximum time difference is + / - 25 milliseconds.
[0190]
[0194] In some aspects, the PRS-SRS pairs within the fifth set are prioritized according to proximity.
[0191]
[0195] In some aspects, using the fifth set for Rx-Tx measurements involves comparing the size K of the fifth set with the UE's PRS processing capability J, and when the determination is K≧J, using the first J PRS-SRS of the pairs within the fifth set, and when the determination is K<J, using the PRS-SRS pairs within the fifth set and using J-K additional PRS resources from the first set.
[0192]
[0196] In some aspects, J indicates the maximum number of PRS resources that the UE can process at one time.
[0193]
[0197] In some aspects, the network entity comprises a location server.
[0194]
[0198] In some aspects, the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).
[0195]
[0199] In some aspects, the base station comprises a gNode B (gNB).
[0196]
[0200] In one aspect, a network entity includes a memory, at least one network interface, at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one network interface, and the at least one processor is configured to cause the at least one network interface to transmit to a user equipment (UE) information identifying a first set of N positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, and cause the at least one network interface to transmit to the UE a parameter M<N specifying the number of PRS resources to be used by the UE to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0197]
[0201] In some aspects, the network entity comprises a location server.
[0198]
[0202] In some aspects, the location server comprises a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP).
[0199]
[0203] In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) includes means for receiving from a network entity information identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, means for receiving from a base station information identifying sounding reference signal (SRS) resources, means for selecting PRS resources based on the temporal proximity to the SRS resources, and means for using the selected PRS resources to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0200]
[0204] In one aspect, a network entity includes means for transmitting to a user equipment (UE) information identifying a first set of N positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, and means for transmitting to the UE a parameter M<N specifying the number of PRS resources to be used by the UE to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements.
[0201]
[0205] In one aspect, a non - transitory computer - readable medium storing computer - executable instructions includes at least one instruction to instruct a user equipment (UE) to receive information identifying a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource from a network entity, at least one instruction to instruct the UE to receive information identifying a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource from a base station, at least one instruction to instruct the UE to select a PRS resource based on the temporal proximity to the SRS resource, and at least one instruction to instruct the UE to use the selected PRS resource to perform at least UE Rx - Tx measurements.
[0202]
[0206] In one aspect, a non - transitory computer - readable medium storing computer - executable instructions includes at least one instruction to instruct a network entity to transmit to a user equipment (UE) information identifying a first set of N positioning reference signal (PRS) resources, and at least one instruction to instruct the network entity to transmit to the UE a parameter M < N that specifies the number of PRS resources to be used by the UE to perform at least UE Rx - Tx measurements.
[0203]
[0207] Those skilled in the art will understand that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.
[0204]
[0208] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.
[0205]
[0209] The various example logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed using general-purpose processors, DSPs, ASICs, FPGAs, or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
[0206]
[0210] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in software modules executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software modules may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, removable disk, CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). Alternatively, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in the user terminal.
[0207]
[0211] In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media, including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included within the definition of medium. As used herein, disk and disc include compact discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs (DVDs), floppy discs, and Blu-ray discs, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically and discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.
[0208]
[0212] While the above disclosure sets forth exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and / or actions of the method claims in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the present disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated. The inventions described in the claims of the present application as originally filed are set forth below. [C1] 1. A method of wireless communication implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving first information from a network entity that identifies a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource; receiving second information from the base station identifying a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource; selecting a PRS resource from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfies a PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; using the selected PRS resources to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements; A method comprising: [C2] 10. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a PRS resource from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfies the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information comprises selecting a PRS resource having a time difference between receiving a PRS and transmitting an SRS that does not exceed a maximum time difference threshold. [C3] selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, the PRS resource that satisfies the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; selecting a subset of PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to a priority; selecting a PRS resource from the subset of PRS resources based on its temporal proximity to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; The method of claim C1, comprising: [C4] selecting a subset of the PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to the priority; determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval; selecting M highest priority PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information as the subset of PRS resources; The method of C3, comprising: [C5] The method of C1, further comprising reporting results of Rx-Tx measurements to the base station, to the network entity, or both. [C6] selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, the PRS resource that satisfies the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; identifying, as a first set, PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that are to be considered for use for Rx-Tx measurements; identifying, as a second set, one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement; identifying, as a third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set; The method of claim C1, comprising: [C7] identifying as the second set the one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information further comprises prioritizing PRS-SRS resource pairs in the second set according to proximity; wherein identifying, as the third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of the at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set; determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval; upon determining that the third set includes a number of PRS resources greater than or equal to M, selecting the first M PRS resources in the third set; upon determining that the third set includes a number L of PRS resources that is less than M, selecting the PRS resources in the third set and using an additional ML number of PRS resources from the first set. The method of C6, comprising: [C8] The method of C1, wherein the network entity comprises a location server. [C9] The method of C8, wherein the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP). [C10] The method of C1, wherein the base station comprises a gNodeB (gNB). [C11] 1. A method of wireless communication implemented by a network entity, comprising: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), first information identifying a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource; transmitting, to the UE, second information specifying a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE for performing at least UE Rx-Tx measurements; A method comprising: [C12] The method of C11, wherein the network entity comprises a location server. [C13] The method of C12, wherein the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP). [C14] A user equipment (UE), Memory and at least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver; and the at least one processor: receiving, via the at least one transceiver, first information from a network entity identifying a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource; receiving, via the at least one transceiver, second information from a base station identifying a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource; selecting a PRS resource from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfies a PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; using the selected PRS resources to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements; configured to: A UE equipped with: [C15] UE according to C14, wherein, to select the PRS resource from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfies the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information, the at least one processor is configured to select a PRS resource having a time difference between receiving a PRS and transmitting an SRS that does not exceed a maximum time difference threshold. [C16] To select the PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information, the at least one processor: selects a subset of PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to a priority; selecting a PRS resource from the subset of PRS resources based on its temporal proximity to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; The UE according to C14, configured to perform the following: [C17] selecting a subset of the PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to the priority; determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval; selecting M highest priority PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information as the subset of PRS resources; The UE of C16, comprising: [C18] The UE of C14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to report results of Rx-Tx measurements to the base station, to the network entity, or both. [C19] to select, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, the PRS resources that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information, the at least one processor: identifying, from the PRS resources identified by the first information as a first set, PRS resources to be considered for use for Rx-Tx measurements; identifying, as a second set, one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement; identifying, as a third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set; The UE according to C14, configured to perform the following: [C20] to identify, as the second set, the one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information, the at least one processor configured to prioritize the one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs in the second set according to proximity; wherein to identify the PRS resources from the first set that are part of the at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set as the third set, the at least one processor: determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval; upon determining that the third set includes a number of PRS resources greater than or equal to M, selecting the first M PRS resources in the third set; upon determining that the third set includes a number L of PRS resources that is less than M, selecting the PRS resources in the third set and using an additional ML number of PRS resources from the first set. The UE of C19, configured to perform the following: [C21] The UE of C14, wherein the network entity comprises a location server. [C22] The UE of C21, wherein the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP). [C23] The UE of C14, wherein the base station comprises a gNodeB (gNB). [C24] Memory and at least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver; and the at least one processor: transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, to a user equipment (UE), first information identifying a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource; transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, to the UE, second information specifying a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE for performing at least UE Rx-Tx measurements; 1. A network entity comprising: [C25] The network entity of C24, wherein the network entity comprises a location server. [C26] The network entity of C25, wherein the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP). [C27] A user equipment (UE), means for receiving, from a network entity, first information identifying a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource; means for receiving second information from the base station, the second information identifying a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource; means for selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, a PRS resource that satisfies a PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; means for using the selected PRS resources to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements; A UE equipped with: [C28] UE according to C27, wherein the means for selecting from the PRS resources identified by the first information, the PRS resource that satisfies the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information, comprises means for selecting a PRS resource having a time difference between reception of a PRS and transmission of an SRS that does not exceed a maximum time difference threshold. [C29] means for selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, the PRS resource that satisfies the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information, means for selecting a subset of PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to a priority; means for selecting a PRS resource from the subset of PRS resources based on its temporal proximity to the SRS resource identified by the second information; 20. The UE of claim 19, further comprising: [C30] The means for selecting a subset of the PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to the priority, means for determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval; means for selecting M highest priority PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information as the subset of PRS resources; 20. The UE of claim 19, comprising: [C31] The UE of C27, further comprising reporting results of Rx-Tx measurements to the base station, to the network entity, or both. [C32] means for selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, the PRS resource that satisfies the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information, means for identifying, as a first set, PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that are to be considered for use for Rx-Tx measurements; means for identifying, as a second set, one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement; means for identifying, as a third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set; 20. The UE of claim 19, further comprising: [C33] the means for identifying as the second set one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information further comprises means for prioritizing PRS-SRS resource pairs in the second set according to proximity; wherein the means for identifying, as the third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of the at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set comprises: means for determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval; means for selecting a first M PRS resources in the third set upon determining that the third set includes a number of PRS resources greater than or equal to M; means for selecting the PRS resources in the third set and using an additional ML PRS resources from the first set upon determining that the third set includes a number L of PRS resources that is less than M; 3. The UE of claim 2, further comprising: [C34] The UE of C27, wherein the network entity comprises a location server. [C35] The UE of C34, wherein the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP). [C36] The UE of C27, wherein the base station comprises a gNodeB (gNB). [C37] means for transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), first information identifying a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource; means for transmitting, to the UE, second information specifying a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE for performing at least UE Rx-Tx measurements; A network entity comprising: [C38] The network entity of C37, wherein the network entity comprises a location server. [C39] The network entity of C38, wherein the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP). [C40] When executed by a user equipment (UE), the UE: receiving first information from a network entity that identifies a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource; receiving second information from the base station identifying a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource; selecting a PRS resource from the PRS resources identified by the first information that satisfies a PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; using the selected PRS resources to perform at least UE Rx-Tx measurements; A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a [C41] When executed by a network entity, the network entity: transmitting, to a user equipment (UE), first information identifying a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource; transmitting, to the UE, second information specifying a number of PRS resources to be used by the UE for performing at least UE Rx-Tx measurements; A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for causing a
Claims
1. 1. A method of wireless communication implemented by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving first information from a network entity that identifies a positioning reference signal (PRS) resource; receiving second information from a base station identifying a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource; selecting a subset of PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to a priority; selecting, from the subset of PRS resources, a PRS resource that satisfies a PRS-SRS proximity requirement for the at least one SRS resource based on its temporal proximity to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; using the selected PRS resources for performing at least UE Rx-Tx measurements; A method comprising:
2. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, the PRS resource that satisfies the PRS-SRS proximity requirement for the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information comprises selecting a PRS resource having a time difference between reception of a PRS and transmission of an SRS that does not exceed a maximum time difference threshold.
3. selecting a subset of the PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information according to the priority; determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval; selecting M highest priority PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information as a subset of the PRS resources; The method of claim 1 , comprising:
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising reporting results of Rx-Tx measurements to the base station, to the network entity, or both.
5. selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, the PRS resource that satisfies the PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; identifying, as a first set, PRS resources from the PRS resources identified by the first information that are to be considered for use for Rx-Tx measurements; identifying, as a second set, one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement; and identifying, as a third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set; The method of claim 1 , comprising:
6. identifying as the second set the one or more PRS-SRS resource pairs that satisfy the PRS-SRS proximity requirement for the at least one SRS resource identified by the second information further comprises prioritizing PRS-SRS resource pairs in the second set according to proximity; wherein identifying, as the third set, PRS resources from the first set that are part of the at least one PRS-SRS resource pair in the second set comprises: determining a maximum number M of PRS resources that the UE can process during a predefined time interval; upon determining that the third set includes a number of PRS resources greater than or equal to M, selecting the first M PRS resources in the third set; upon determining that the third set includes a number L of PRS resources that is less than M, selecting the PRS resources in the third set and using an additional M-L PRS resources from the first set. The method of claim 5 , comprising:
7. the network entity comprises a location server; the location server comprises a Location Management Function (LMF) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP); and / or 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the base station comprises a gNodeB (gNB).
8. A user equipment (UE), Memory and at least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver; and the at least one processor: receiving, via the at least one transceiver, first information from a network entity identifying positioning reference signal (PRS) resources; receiving, via the at least one transceiver, second information from a base station identifying a sounding reference signal (SRS) resource; selecting, from the PRS resources identified by the first information, a PRS resource that satisfies a PRS-SRS proximity requirement with respect to at least one SRS resource identified by the second information; using the selected PRS resources for performing at least UE Rx-Tx measurements; configured to: A UE comprising:
9. 9. The UE of claim 8, further configured to perform the method of any one of claims 2 to 7.
10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a user equipment (UE), cause the UE to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 7.
Citation Information
Patent Citations
Method and apparatus for directionally sending positioning reference signal
WO2020164339A1