Low-frequency uplink signal-based positioning

Abstract

A method for indicating resources for uplink-based positioning includes determining whether a UE is within a downlink coverage area of ​​a serving cell for a first frequency band and a transmit power of the serving cell and outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and a transmit power of the UE; identifying a second frequency band supported by the UE, the second frequency band including frequencies below a lowest frequency of the first frequency band; and providing at least one PRS indication indicating at least OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band for the UE based on a determination that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and a transmit power of the UE.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 217,534, filed March 30, 2021, entitled "LOW-FREQUENCY UPLINK SIGNAL BASED POSITIONING," which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. [Background technology]

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

[0003] Among other improvements, the fifth-generation (5G) mobile standard calls for higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage. According to the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, providing 1 gigabit per second per office floor with dozens of employees. To support large-scale sensor deployments, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. Therefore, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly increased compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, it should also increase signaling efficiency and significantly reduce latency compared to current standards. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] Obtaining the location of a mobile device accessing a wireless network can be useful for many applications, including, for example, emergency calling, personal navigation, asset tracking, locating friends or family, etc. Existing positioning methods include methods based on measuring radio signals transmitted from various devices or entities, including satellite vehicles (SVs) and terrestrial radio sources in the wireless network, such as base stations and access points. Standardization for 5G wireless networks is expected to include support for various positioning methods, which may use reference signals transmitted by base stations in a manner similar to how LTE wireless networks currently use positioning reference signals (PRS) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRS) for position determination.

[0005] An exemplary location server includes a transceiver, a memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the processor is configured to: determine whether a UE (User Equipment) is within a downlink coverage area of ​​a serving cell for a first frequency band and a transmit power of the serving cell and outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the UE's transmit power; identify a second frequency band supported by the UE, the second frequency band including a frequency below a lowest frequency of the first frequency band; and, based on a determination that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the UE's transmit power, provide, via the transceiver, at least one PRS indication indicating at least OFDM UL-PRS resources (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed Uplink Positioning Reference Signal Resources) in the second frequency band for the UE.

[0006] Implementations of such a location server may include one or more of the following features: The processor is configured to provide at least one PRS indication indicating OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and OFDM DL-RS resources (downlink reference signal resources) based on a determination that the UE is outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the UE's transmit power and based on a single-measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified for determining the UE's location. The uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE, and the processor is configured to provide at least one PRS indication indicating both the OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and the OFDM DL-RS resources in the first frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and the UE's second transmit power and the serving cell being synchronized with the companion cell. The processor is configured to provide at least one PRS indication indicating OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band. The uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, and the processor is configured to provide at least one PRS indication indicating both OFDM UL-PRS resources and OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE and the serving cell not being synchronized with the companion cell. The OFDM DL-RS resources correspond to one of a downlink PRS or an SSB (synchronization signal block) signal.

[0007] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a location server may include one or more of the following features. the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE, the OFDM UL-PRS resource is a first OFDM UL-PRS resource, and the processor is configured to provide at least one PRS indication indicating (1) the first OFDM UL-PRS resource in the first frequency band and the first OFDM DL-RS resource (downlink reference signal resource) in the first frequency band, and (2) the second OFDM UL-PRS resource in the second frequency band and the second OFDM DL-RS resource in the second frequency band, based on the UE being within the first uplink coverage area or within a fringe coverage limited area of ​​the serving cell, based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and the second transmit power of the UE, and based on a multi-measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the location of the UE. The processor is configured to determine that the UE is outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell based on a path loss between the serving cell and the UE exceeding a transmit power of the UE.

[0008] Another example location server includes means for determining whether a UE is within a downlink coverage area of ​​a serving cell for a first frequency band and a transmit power of the serving cell and outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the transmit power of the UE; means for identifying a second frequency band supported by the UE, the second frequency band including frequencies below a lowest frequency of the first frequency band; and means for providing at least one PRS indication indicating at least OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band for the UE based on a determination that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the transmit power of the UE.

[0009] Implementations of such a location server may include one or more of the following features: The means for providing at least one PRS indication includes means for providing at least one PRS indication indicating OFDM UL-PRS resources and OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band, based on a determination that the UE is outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and a transmit power of the UE, and based on a single measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the location of the UE. The uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE, and the means for providing at least one PRS indication includes means for providing at least one PRS indication indicating both OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and OFDM DL-RS resources in the first frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and the second transmit power of the UE and the serving cell being synchronized with the companion cell. The means for providing at least one PRS indication includes means for providing at least one PRS indication indicating the OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and the OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band. The uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, and the means for providing at least one PRS indication includes means for providing at least one PRS indication indicating both OFDM UL-PRS resources and OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for a second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE and the serving cell not being synchronized with the companion cell, the OFDM DL-RS resources corresponding to one of a downlink PRS or an SSB signal.

[0010] Also or alternatively, implementations of such a location server may include one or more of the following features. the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE, the OFDM UL-PRS resource is a first OFDM UL-PRS resource, and the means for providing at least one PRS indication includes means for providing at least one PRS indication indicating (1) a first OFDM UL-PRS resource in the first frequency band and a first OFDM DL-RS resource in the first frequency band, and (2) a second OFDM UL-PRS resource in the second frequency band and a second OFDM DL-RS resource in the second frequency band, based on the UE being within the first uplink coverage area or within a fringe coverage limited area of ​​the serving cell, based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for a second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE, and based on a multi-measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the location of the UE. The means for determining whether the UE is within a downlink coverage area of ​​a serving cell and outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell includes means for determining that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell based on a path loss between the serving cell and the UE exceeding a transmit power of the UE.

[0011] An example method for indicating resources for uplink-based positioning includes determining whether a UE is within a downlink coverage area of ​​a serving cell for a first frequency band and a transmit power of the serving cell and outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the transmit power of the UE; identifying a second frequency band supported by the UE, the second frequency band including frequencies below a lowest frequency of the first frequency band; and providing at least one PRS indication indicating at least OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band for the UE based on a determination that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the transmit power of the UE.

[0012] Implementations of such a method may include one or more of the following features: Providing the at least one PRS indication includes providing at least one PRS indication indicating OFDM UL-PRS resources and OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band based on a determination that the UE is outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and a transmit power of the UE, and based on a single measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the location of the UE. The uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE, and the providing at least one PRS indication includes providing at least one PRS indication indicating both OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and OFDM DL-RS resources in the first frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and the second transmit power of the UE and the serving cell being synchronized with the companion cell. The providing at least one PRS indication includes providing at least one PRS indication indicating the OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and the OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band. The uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, and the providing at least one PRS indication includes providing at least one PRS indication indicating both OFDM UL-PRS resources and OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for a second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE and the serving cell not being synchronized with the companion cell, wherein the OFDM DL-RS resources correspond to one of a downlink PRS or an SSB signal.

[0013] Also or alternatively, implementations of such methods may include one or more of the following features. the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE, the OFDM UL-PRS resource is a first OFDM UL-PRS resource, and the step of providing at least one PRS indication includes providing at least one PRS indication indicating (1) a first OFDM UL-PRS resource in the first frequency band and a first OFDM DL-RS resource in the first frequency band, and (2) a second OFDM UL-PRS resource in the second frequency band and a second OFDM DL-RS resource in the second frequency band, based on the UE being within the first uplink coverage area or within a fringe coverage limited area of ​​the serving cell, based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for a second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE, and based on a multi-measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the location of the UE. Determining whether the UE is within a downlink coverage area of ​​the serving cell and outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell includes determining that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell based on a path loss between the serving cell and the UE exceeding a transmit power of the UE.

[0014] An exemplary non-transitory processor-readable storage medium includes processor-readable instructions that cause a processor of a location server to: determine whether a UE is within a downlink coverage area of ​​a serving cell for a first frequency band and a transmit power of the serving cell and outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the transmit power of the UE, to indicate resources for uplink-based positioning; identify a second frequency band supported by the UE, the second frequency band including frequencies below a lowest frequency of the first frequency band; and provide at least one PRS indication indicating at least an OFDM UL-PRS in the second frequency band for the UE based on a determination that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the transmit power of the UE.

[0015] Implementations of such a storage medium may include one or more of the following features: The processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to provide at least one PRS indication include processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to provide at least one PRS indication indicating OFDM UL-PRS resources and OFDM DL-RS resources in a second frequency band based on a determination that the UE is outside an uplink coverage area of ​​a serving cell for the first frequency band and a transmit power of the UE, and based on a single-measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the location of the UE. The uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE, and the processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to provide at least one PRS indication include processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to provide at least one PRS indication indicating both OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and OFDM DL-RS resources in the first frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and the second transmit power of the UE and the serving cell being synchronized with the companion cell. The processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to provide at least one PRS indication include processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to provide at least one PRS indication indicating the OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and the OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band. The uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, and the processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to provide at least one PRS indication include processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to provide at least one PRS indication indicating both OFDM UL-PRS resources and OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for a second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE, and the serving cell not being synchronized with the companion cell.The OFDM DL-RS resource corresponds to one of the downlink PRS or SSB signals.

[0016] Also or alternatively, implementations of such storage media may include one or more of the following features. the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE, the OFDM UL-PRS resource is a first OFDM UL-PRS resource, and the processor-readable instructions for causing a processor to provide at least one PRS indication include: determining a PRS indication based on the UE being within the first uplink coverage area or within an edge coverage limited area of ​​the serving cell, based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for a second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE, and based on a multi-measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine a location of the UE, the instructions causing the processor to determine a PRS indication based on: (1) a first OFDM UL-PRS resource in the first frequency band and a first OFDM DL-RS resource in the first frequency band, and (2) a second OFDM UL-PRS resource in the second frequency band and a second OFDM DL-RS resource in the second frequency band The processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to provide at least one PRS indication indicating DL-RS resources include processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to determine whether the UE is within a downlink coverage area of ​​a serving cell and outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell based on a path loss between the serving cell and the UE exceeding a transmit power of the UE. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0017] [Figure 1] 1 is a simplified diagram of an example wireless communication system. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of the exemplary user equipment shown in FIG. 1. [Figure 3]FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of an exemplary transmit / receive point. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of components of an exemplary server in which various embodiments are illustrated in FIG. 1. [Figure 5A] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a base station, user equipment, and coverage area. [Figure 5B] FIG. 5B is a top view of the uplink and downlink coverage areas shown in FIG. 5A. [Figure 5C] 5B is a top view of the user equipment, base station, and uplink coverage area shown in FIG. 5A and another base station. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary user equipment. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an exemplary server. [Figure 8] 1 is a timing diagram of signaling and process flow for determining location information using one or more uplink positioning reference signals using a single cell positioning technique. [Figure 9] 10 is an example of an auxiliary uplink bandwidth capability message. [Figure 10] 10 is another example of an auxiliary uplink bandwidth capability message. [Figure 11] FIG. 10 is a timing diagram of another signaling and process flow for determining location information using one or more uplink positioning reference signals using a single cell positioning technique with synchronized cells. [Figure 12] 10 is a timing diagram of another signaling and process flow for determining location information using one or more uplink positioning reference signals using a multi-cell positioning technique. [Figure 13] FIG. 10 is a block flow diagram of a method illustrating resources for uplink-based positioning. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] Techniques for implementing uplink-based positioning techniques are discussed herein. For example, a supplemental uplink (SUL) band may be used to transmit an uplink (UL) positioning reference signal (PRS) from a mobile device. The UL-PRS and one or more downlink positioning signals may be sent over the SUL band to and from a companion cell for single-cell round trip time (RTT) positioning, where the serving cell (for the communication band) and the companion cell (for the SUL band) are not synchronized. A single-cell RTT may be referred to as a single-measurement RTT because a single RTT measurement may be obtained from downlink and uplink reference signal transmissions using one cell or a downlink reference signal transmission in one cell and an uplink reference signal transmission in another cell (as opposed to multi-RTT, in which multiple RTT measurements are obtained using multiple cells). For example, an UL-PRS may be sent from a UE (User Equipment) to a companion cell over the SUL band, and downlink positioning signals may be sent from a serving cell to a UE using a communications band for single-cell RTT positioning, where the serving and companion cells are synchronized. For multi-cell RTT, the SUL band may be used to transmit an UL-PRS and receive one or more downlink positioning signals to and from a companion cell (different from the serving cell) to obtain certain measurements, and a primary (communications) band may be used to transmit an UL-PRS and receive downlink positioning signals to and from the serving cell to obtain other measurements. These are examples, and other (UE and / or reference) examples may be implemented.

[0019] The items and / or techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned: Mobile device location may be determined using uplink signal-based techniques in situations where uplink data signals are power-limited. For example, uplink-based positioning techniques (e.g., RTT) in new wireless ultra-high bands in mid-cell and far-cell conditions may be enabled. Mobile device location determination accuracy may be increased, for example, enabling uplink signal-based techniques and / or enabling multi-cell techniques in situations where such techniques were not previously possible. Other capabilities may be provided, and every implementation according to the present disclosure need not provide any, much less all, of the discussed capabilities.

[0020] The descriptions refer to sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. The various actions described herein may be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. The sequences of actions described herein may be embodied in a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, cause an associated processor to perform the functions described herein. Accordingly, the various aspects described herein may be embodied in several different forms, all of which are within the scope of this disclosure, including claimed subject matter.

[0021] As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” are not specific to or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT) unless otherwise specified. Generally, such a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer asset tracking device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or may be stationary (e.g., at some times) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be referred to interchangeably as an “access terminal” or “AT,” “client device,” “wireless device,” “subscriber device,” “subscriber terminal,” “subscriber station,” “user terminal” or UT,” “mobile terminal,” “mobile station,” “mobile device,” or variations thereof. Generally, a UE can communicate with a core network via a RAN, through which the UE may be connected to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for a UE to connect to the core network and / or the Internet are possible, such as via a wired access network, a WiFi network (e.g., based on IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) 802.11, etc.), etc.

[0022] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs to communicate with UEs depending on the network it is deployed in. Examples of base stations include an access point (AP), a network node, a Node B, an evolved Node B (eNB), or a general Node B (gNode B, gNB). Furthermore, in some systems, a base station may provide purely edge node signaling functionality, while in other systems it may provide additional control and / or network management functionality.

[0023] A UE may be embodied by any of several types of devices, including, but not limited to, a printed circuit (PC) card, a compact flash device, an external or internal modem, a wireless or wired phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a consumer asset tracking device, an asset tag, etc. A communication link through which a UE can send signals to a RAN is called an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which a RAN can send signals to a UE is called a downlink channel or a forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0024] As used herein, the term "cell" corresponds to one of multiple cells of a base station. The term "cell" refers to a logical communication entity used for communication (e.g., on a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., physical cell identifier (PCID), virtual cell identifier (VCID)) to distinguish neighboring cells operating over the same or different carriers. A "cell" is thus a radiating entity (or combination of entities) that has a unique PCID for any given location, such that at any given location, only one cell is visible with a particular PCID. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communications (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or other) that may provide access for different types of devices.

[0025] 1 , an example communication system 100 includes a UE 105, a UE 106, a radio access network (RAN) 135, here a fifth-generation (5G) next-generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN), and a 5G core network (5GC) 140. The UE 105 and / or the UE 106 may be, for example, an IoT device, a location tracker device, a cellular phone, a vehicle (e.g., a car, truck, bus, boat, etc.), or other device. A 5G network may also be referred to as a new radio (NR) network, the NG-RAN 135 may also be referred to as a 5G RAN or as an NR RAN, and the 5GC 140 may also be referred to as an NG core network (NGC). Standardization of the NG-RAN and 5GC is underway in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®). Thus, the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may comply with current or future standards for 5G support from the 3GPP®. The NG-RAN 135 may be another type of RAN, e.g., a 3G RAN, a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) RAN, etc. The UE 106 may be configured to send and / or receive signals to / from similar other entities in the system 100 and may be similarly coupled to the UE 105, although such signaling is not shown in FIG. 1 for simplicity. Similarly, this discussion focuses on the UE 105 for brevity. The communications system 100 may use information from a constellation 185 of satellite vehicles (SVs) 190, 191, 192, 193 for a satellite positioning system (SPS) (e.g., a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)), such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, or Beidou or some other local or regional SPS, such as the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Additional components of the communications system 100 are described below. The communications system 100 may include additional or alternative components.

[0026] 1, the NG-RAN 135 includes NR NodeBs (gNBs) 110a, 110b, and a next-generation eNodeB (ng-eNB) 114, and the 5GC 140 includes an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, a Session Management Function (SMF) 117, a Location Management Function (LMF) 120, and a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and the ng-eNB 114 are communicatively coupled to each other and each configured to wirelessly communicate bidirectionally with the UE 105, and each communicatively coupled to and configured to communicate bidirectionally with the AMF 115. The gNBs 110a, 110b, and the ng-eNB 114 may be referred to as base stations (BSs). The AMF 115, SMF 117, LMF 120, and GMLC 125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the GMLC is communicatively coupled to an external client 130. The SMF 117 may serve as an initial point of contact for a service control function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and delete media sessions. Base stations such as the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114 may be macrocells (e.g., high-power cellular base stations), or small cells (e.g., low-power cellular base stations), or access points (e.g., short-range base stations configured to communicate with short-range technologies such as WiFi, WiFi-Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Zigbee, etc.). One or more of the base stations, e.g., one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114, may be configured to communicate with the UE 105 via multiple carriers. Each of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic area, e.g., a cell. Each cell may be partitioned into multiple sectors depending on the base station antennas.

[0027] FIG. 1 provides a generalized illustration of various components; any or all of the components may be used as needed, and each may be duplicated or omitted as needed. Specifically, while only one UE 105 is illustrated, many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may be used in communication system 100. Similarly, communication system 100 may include a greater (or lesser) number of SVs (i.e., more or less than the four SVs 190-193 illustrated), gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, external client 130, and / or other components. The illustrated connections connecting the various components in communication system 100 include data and signaling connections that may include additional (intermediary) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. Furthermore, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, substituted, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality.

[0028] 1 shows a 5G-based network, similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. Implementations described herein (whether for 5G technology and / or one or more other communication technologies and / or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) directional synchronization signals, receive and measure the directional signals at a UE (e.g., the UE 105), and / or provide location assistance to the UE 105 (via the GMLC 125 or other location server), and / or calculate a location for the UE 105 at a location-enabled device, such as the UE 105, gNBs 110a, 110b, or LMF 120, based on measurements received at the UE 105 for such directionally transmitted signals. The Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125, Location Management Function (LMF) 120, Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, SMF 117, ng-eNB (eNodeB) 114 and gNBs (gNodeBs) 110a, 110b are examples and may be replaced by or include various other location server and / or base station functionality in various embodiments, respectively.

[0029] System 100 is capable of wireless communication in that components of system 100 can communicate with each other (at least sometimes using wireless connections) directly or indirectly, e.g., via gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, and / or 5GC 140 (and / or one or more other devices, not shown, such as one or more other base transceiver stations). For indirect communication, the communication may be altered during transmission from one entity to another, e.g., by changing header information of data packets, by changing format, etc. The UE 105 may include multiple UEs and may be a mobile wireless communication device, but can communicate wirelessly and via a wired connection. The UE 105 may be any of a variety of devices, e.g., a smartphone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-based device, etc., although these are examples and the UE 105 is not required to be any of these configurations, and other UE configurations may be used. Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart jewelry, smart glasses, or headsets, etc.). Still other UEs, whether currently existing or developed in the future, may be used. Additionally, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) may be implemented within the system 100 and may communicate with each other and / or with the UE 105, the gNBs 110a, 110b, the ng-eNB 114, the 5GC 140, and / or the external client 130. For example, such other devices may include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and / or automation devices, etc. The 5GC 140 may communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., a computer system) to, for example, enable the external client 130 to request and / or receive location information regarding the UE 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125).

[0030] The UE 105 or other device may be configured to communicate in different networks and / or for different purposes and / or using different technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communications, multiple frequencies of Wi-Fi communications, satellite positioning, one or more types of communications (e.g., Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Long Term Evolution (LTE)), V2X (Vehicle-to-Vehicle-to-Roadside, e.g., Vehicle-to-Pedestrian (V2P), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V)), IEEE 802.11p, etc.). The V2X communications may be cellular (Cellular V2X (C-V2X)) and / or WiFi (e.g., DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Connection)). The system 100 supports operation over multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter can simultaneously transmit modulated signals on multiple carriers. Each modulated signal can be a code division multiple access (CDMA) signal, a time division multiple access (TDMA) signal, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) signal, a single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal can be sent on a different carrier and can carry pilot signals, overhead information, data, etc. UEs 105, 106 can communicate with each other through UE-to-UE sidelink (SL) communications by transmitting over one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink synchronization channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), or a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH).

[0031] The UE 105 may include and / or be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL)-enabled terminal (SET), or by some other name. Additionally, the UE 105 may correspond to a cell phone, a smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, a PDA, a consumer asset tracking device, a navigation device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an asset tracker, a health monitor, a security system, a smart city sensor, a smart meter, a wearable tracker, or some other portable or movable device. Typically, but not necessarily, the UE 105 may support wireless communication using one or more radio access technologies (RATs), such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 WiFi (also referred to as Wi-Fi), Bluetooth (BT), Globally Interoperable Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5G New Radio (NR) (e.g., with NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140), etc. The UE 105 may support wireless communication using, for example, a wireless local area network (WLAN), which may connect to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using a digital subscriber line (DSL) or packet cable. Using one or more of these RATs, the UE 105 may be able to communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., via elements of the 5GC 140, not shown in FIG. 1, or possibly via the GMLC 125), and / or the external client 130 may be able to receive location information regarding the UE 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125).

[0032] The UE 105 may comprise a single entity or may include multiple entities, for example, in a personal area network where a user may utilize audio, video, and / or data I / O (input / output) devices and / or body sensors and a separate wireline or wireless modem. An estimate of the UE 105's location may be referred to as a location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position, position estimate, or position fix and provides location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) for the UE 105 that may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., elevation, height or depth above ground, floor, or underground). Alternatively, the UE 105's location may be expressed as a civic location (e.g., as an address or designation of a point somewhere in a building or a small area, such as a particular room or floor). The UE 105's location may be expressed as an area or volume (defined either geographically or in terms of city shape) within which the UE 105 is expected to be located with some probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of the UE 105 may be expressed as a relative location, including, for example, distance and direction from a known location. The relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to some origin in the known location, which may be defined, for example, geographically, in terms of cities, or by reference to a point, area, or volume shown on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, use of the term location may include any of these variants unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of a UE, it is common to determine values ​​for the local x, y, and possibly z coordinates and then, if desired, convert the local coordinates to absolute coordinates (e.g., for latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level).

[0033] The UE 105 may be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of a variety of technologies. The UE 105 may be configured to indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. The D2D P2P links may be supported by any suitable D2D radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, etc. One or more of a group of UEs using D2D communication may be within a geographic coverage area of ​​a transmission / reception point (TRP), such as one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage area or may otherwise be unable to receive transmissions from the base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may use a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. A TRP may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be practiced between UEs without the involvement of a TRP. One or more of a group of UEs using D2D communication may be within the geographic coverage area of ​​a TRP. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage area or may otherwise not be able to receive transmissions from the base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may use a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. A TRP may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication may be practiced between UEs without the involvement of a TRP.

[0034] The base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 include NR Node Bs referred to as gNBs 110a and 110b. The pair of gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135 may be interconnected through one or more other gNBs. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UE 105 via wireless communication between the UE 105 and one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, which may provide wireless communication access to the 5G Central Grid 140 on behalf of the UE 105 using 5G. In FIG. 1, the serving gNB for the UE 105 is assumed to be gNB 110a, although another gNB (e.g., gNB 110b) may act as the serving gNB if the UE 105 moves to another location and may act as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to the UE 105.

[0035] 1 may include the ng-eNB 114, also referred to as a next generation evolved Node B. The ng-eNB 114 may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b in the NG-RAN 135, possibly via one or more other gNBs and / or one or more other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 114 may provide LTE wireless access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to the UE 105. One or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 may be configured to function as positioning-only beacons that may transmit signals to assist in determining the location of the UE 105 but may not receive signals from the UE 105 or from other UEs.

[0036] The gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 may each comprise one or more TRPs. For example, each sector in a BS's cell may comprise a TRP, but the multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., share a processor but have separate antennas). The system 100 may include only a macro TRP, or the system 100 may have different types of TRPs, such as macro, pico, and / or femto TRPs. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a few kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscriptions. A pico TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a pico cell) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscriptions. A femto or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a femto cell) and may allow restricted access by terminals associated with the femto cell (e.g., a user's terminal in a home).

[0037] As noted, while FIG. 1 illustrates nodes configured to communicate according to a 5G communication protocol, nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols, such as the LTE protocol or the IEEE 802.11x protocol, may be used. For example, in an Evolved Packet System (EPS) providing LTE wireless access to the UE 105, the RAN may include an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), which may include base stations including evolved Node Bs (eNBs). The core network for the EPS may include an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The EPS may include the E-UTRAN plus the EPC, where in FIG. 1 the E-UTRAN corresponds to the NG-RAN 135 and the EPC corresponds to the 5G Node B 140.

[0038] The gNBs 110a, 110b and the ng-eNB 114 may communicate with the AMF 115, which for positioning functionality communicates with the LMF 120. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UE 105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be responsible for supporting signaling connections to and possibly data and voice bearers for the UE 105. The LMF 120 may communicate with the UE 105 directly, e.g., through wireless communication, or directly with the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114. The LMF 120 may support positioning of the UE 105 when the UE 105 accesses the NG-RAN 135 and may support position procedures / methods such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) (e.g., downlink (DL) OTDOA or uplink (UL) OTDOA), Round Trip Time (RTT), Multi-cell RTT, Real Time Kinematic (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Extended Cell ID (E-CID), Angle of Arrival (AoA), Angle of Departure (AoD), and / or other position methods. The LMF 120 may process location service requests for the UE 105 received, for example, from the AMF 115 or from the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be connected to the AMF 115 and / or to the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be referred to by other names, such as a Location Manager (LM), Location Function (LF), Commercial LMF (CLMF), or Value-Added LMF (VLMF). A node / system implementing the LMF 120 may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location support modules, such as an Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).At least a portion of the positioning functionality (including derivation of the location of the UE 105) may be implemented in the UE 105 (e.g., using signal measurements taken by the UE 105 on signals transmitted by wireless nodes by the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB 114 and / or assistance data provided to the UE 105, for example, by the LMF 120). The AMF 115 may act as a control node that handles signaling between the UE 105 and the 5GC 140 and may provide QoS (Quality of Service) flow and session management. The AMF 115 may support the mobility of the UE 105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be responsible for supporting signaling connections to the UE 105.

[0039] The GMLC 125 may support location requests for the UE 105 received from the external client 130 and may forward such location requests to the AMF 115 for forwarding by the AMF 115 to the LMF 120, or may forward the location requests directly to the LMF 120. A location response from the LMF 120 (e.g., including a location estimate for the UE 105) may be returned to the GMLC 125 either directly or via the AMF 115, which may then return the location response (e.g., including the location estimate) to the external client 130. Although the GMLC 125 is shown connected to both the AMF 115 and the LMF 120, only one of these connections may be supported by the 5GC 140 in some implementations.

[0040] 1, the LMF 120 can communicate with the gNBs 110a, 110b and / or the ng-eNB 114 using the New Radio Location Protocol A (NPPa or NRPPa), which may be defined in 3GPP® Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of the LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa), which is defined in 3GPP® TS 36.455, and NRPPa messages are transferred between the gNB 110a (or gNB 110b) and the LMF 120 and / or between the ng-eNB 114 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115. As further shown in FIG. 1, the LMF 120 and the UE 105 can communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), which may be defined in 3GPP® TS 36.355. The LMF 120 and the UE 105 can also or instead communicate using a New Radio Positioning Protocol (which may be referred to as NPP or NRPP), which may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of LPP. Here, LPP and / or NPP messages may be transferred between the UE 105 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115 and the serving gNB 110a, 110b, or the serving ng-eNB 114 for the UE 105. For example, LPP and / or NPP messages may be transferred between the LMF 120 and the AMF 115 using a 5G Location Services Application Protocol (LCS AP) and between the AMF 115 and the UE 105 using a 5G Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol. The LPP and / or NPP protocols may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based location methods, such as A-GNSS, RTK, OTDOA, and / or E-CID.The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of the UE 105 using network-based location methods such as E-CID (e.g., when used in conjunction with measurements obtained by the gNB 110a, 110b, or ng-eNB 114) and / or may be used by the LMF 120 to obtain location-related information from the gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114, such as parameters defining directional SS (synchronization signal) or PRS transmissions from the gNB 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114. The LMF 120 may be co-located or integrated with the gNB or TRP, or may be located remotely from the gNB and / or TRP, and may be configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNB and / or TRP.

[0041] Using the UE-assisted location method, the UE 105 can obtain location measurements and send the measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) for calculation of a location estimate for the UE 105. For example, the location measurements may include one or more of a received signal strength indication (RSSI), a round-trip signal propagation time (RTT), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signal received power (RSRP), and / or a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) for the gNBs 110a, 110b, the ng-eNB 114, and / or WLAN APs. The location measurements may additionally or instead include measurements of GNSS pseudorange, code phase, and / or carrier phase for SV190-193.

[0042] Using the UE-based location method, the UE 105 can obtain location measurements (e.g., which may be the same as or similar to the location measurements for the UE-assisted location method) and can calculate the location of the UE 105 (e.g., with the help of assistance data received from a location server such as the LMF 120 or broadcast by the gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, or other base station or AP).

[0043] With a network-based location method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) or APs may obtain location measurements (e.g., RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, or Time of Arrival (ToA) measurements for signals transmitted by the UE 105) and / or may receive measurements obtained by the UE 105. The one or more base stations or APs may send the measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF 120) for calculation of a location estimate for the UE 105.

[0044] Using the NRPPa, information provided by the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114 to the LMF 120 may include timing and configuration information for directional SS or PRS transmissions and location coordinates. The LMF 120 can provide some or all of this information to the UE 105 via the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 as assistance data in LPP and / or NPP messages.

[0045] An LPP or NPP message sent from the LMF 120 to the UE 105 can instruct the UE 105 to do any of a variety of things, depending on the desired functionality. For example, the LPP or NPP message may include instructions for the UE 105 to acquire measurements for GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and / or OTDOA (or some other location method). In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE 105 to acquire one or more measurements (e.g., beam ID, beam width, average angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements) of directional signals transmitted within a particular cell supported by one or more of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114 (or supported by some other type of base station, such as an eNB or WiFi AP). The UE 105 may send the measurement quantities back to the LMF 120 in an LPP or NPP message (e.g., in a 5G NAS message) via the serving gNB 110a (or serving ng-eNB 114) and the AMF 115.

[0046] As mentioned, although the communication system 100 is described in the context of 5G technology, the communication system 100 may be implemented to support other communication technologies (e.g., to implement voice, data, positioning, and other functionality) such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, etc., used to support and interact with mobile devices such as the UE 105. In some such embodiments, the 5GC 140 may be configured to control a different air interface. For example, the 5GC 140 may connect to a WLAN using a non-3GPP inter-network connectivity function (N3IWF, not shown in FIG. 1 ) in the 5GC 140. For example, the WLAN may support IEEE 802.11 WiFi access for the UE 105 and may comprise one or more WiFi APs. Here, the N3IWF may connect to the WLAN and to other elements in the 5GC 140, such as the AMF 115. In some embodiments, both the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may be replaced with one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in an EPS, the NG-RAN 135 may be replaced by an E-UTRAN including eNBs, and the 5GC 140 may be replaced by an EPC including a mobility management entity (MME) in place of the AMF 115, an E-SMLC in place of the LMF 120, and a GMLC that may be similar to the GMLC 125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC may use LPPa instead of NRPPa to send and receive location information to and from the eNBs in the E-UTRAN and may use LPP to support positioning of the UE 105. In these other embodiments, positioning of the UE 105 using directional PRS may be supported in a manner similar to that described herein for a 5G network, with the difference being that the functions and procedures described herein for the gNBs 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, and LMF 120 may, in some cases, apply to other network elements instead, such as eNBs, WiFi APs, MMEs, and E-SMLCs.

[0047] As mentioned, in some embodiments, the positioning functionality may be implemented, at least in part, using directional SS or PRS beams sent by base stations (such as the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114) that are within range of the UE whose position is to be determined (e.g., the UE 105 of FIG. 1). The UE may, in some instances, use directional SS or PRS beams from multiple base stations (such as the gNBs 110a, 110b, the ng-eNB 114, etc.) to calculate the UE's position.

[0048] 2, UE 200 is an example of one of UEs 105, 106 and comprises a computing platform including a processor 210, a memory 211 including software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for a transceiver 215 (including a wireless transceiver 240 and / or a wired transceiver 250), a user interface 216, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 217, a camera 218, and a position device (PD) 219. Processor 210, memory 211, sensors 213, transceiver interface 214, user interface 216, SPS receiver 217, camera 218, and position device 219 may be communicatively coupled to one another by bus 220 (which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., camera 218, position device 219, and / or one or more of sensors 213, etc.) may be omitted from UE 200. Processor 210 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. Processor 210 may include multiple processors, including general-purpose / application processor 230, digital signal processor (DSP) 231, modem processor 232, video processor 233, and / or sensor processor 234. One or more of processors 230-234 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, sensor processor 234 may comprise a processor for, e.g., RF (radio frequency) sensing (one or more (cellular) wireless signals are transmitted and reflections are used to identify, map, and / or track objects), ultrasound, etc. The modem processor 232 can support dual SIM / dual connectivity (or even more SIMs).For example, a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module or Subscriber Identification Module) may be used by an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), and another SIM may be used by an end user of UE 200 for connectivity. Memory 211 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. Memory 211 may store software 212, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code including instructions that, when executed, are configured to cause processor 210 to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, software 212 may not be directly executable by processor 210, but may be configured, for example, when compiled and executed, to cause processor 210 to perform functions. While this description may refer to processor 210 performing functions, other implementations are also included, such as processor 210 executing software and / or firmware. The description may refer to the processor 210 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the processors 230-234 performing the function. The description may refer to the UE 200 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the UE 200 performing the function. The processor 210 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or instead of the memory 211. The functionality of the processor 210 is discussed more fully below.

[0049] 2 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting, and other configurations may be used. For example, an exemplary configuration of a UE includes one or more of processors 230-234 of processor 210, memory 211, and wireless transceiver 240. Other exemplary configurations include one or more of processors 230-234 of processor 210, memory 211, wireless transceiver 240, one or more of sensors 213, user interface 216, SPS receiver 217, camera 218, PD 219, and / or wired transceiver 250.

[0050] The UE 200 may include a modem processor 232 that may be capable of performing baseband processing of signals received and downconverted by the transceiver 215 and / or SPS receiver 217. The modem processor 232 can perform baseband processing of the signals to be upconverted for transmission by the transceiver 215. Additionally or alternatively, the baseband processing may be performed by the general purpose / application processor 230 and / or the DSP 231, although other configurations may be used to perform the baseband processing.

[0051] The UE 200 may include sensors 213, which may include one or more of various types of sensors, such as, for example, one or more inertial sensors, one or more magnetometers, one or more environmental sensors, one or more optical sensors, one or more weight sensors, and / or one or more radio frequency (RF) sensors. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responsive to acceleration of the UE 200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes (e.g., 3-D gyroscopes). The sensors 213 may include, for example, one or more magnetometers (e.g., 3-D magnetometers) for determining orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), which may be used for any of a variety of purposes, such as, for example, to support one or more compass applications. The environmental sensors may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors, one or more barometric pressure sensors, one or more ambient light sensors, one or more camera imagers, and / or one or more microphones, etc. Sensors 213 may generate analog and / or digital signal indications that may be stored in memory 211 and processed by DSP 231 and / or general purpose / application processor 230 in support of one or more applications, such as, for example, applications directed to positioning and / or navigation operations.

[0052] The sensors 213 can be used in relative location measurement, relative location determination, motion determination, etc. Information detected by the sensors 213 can be used for motion detection, relative displacement, dead reckoning, sensor-based location determination, and / or sensor-assisted location determination. The sensors 213 can be useful in determining whether the UE 200 is fixed (stationary) or mobile and / or whether certain useful information regarding the mobility of the UE 200 should be reported to the LMF 120. For example, based on information acquired / measured by the sensors 213, the UE 200 may notify / report to the LMF 120 that the UE 200 has detected movement or that the UE 200 has moved, and report the relative displacement / distance (e.g., via dead reckoning, or sensor-based location determination, or sensor-assisted location determination enabled by the sensors 213). In another example, for relative positioning information, the sensors / IMUs can be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of other devices relative to the UE 200, etc.

[0053] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements of the direction and / or speed of movement of the UE 200, and the measurements may be used in relative location determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may detect the linear acceleration and speed of rotation of the UE 200, respectively. The linear acceleration and rotational speed measurements of the UE 200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction and displacement of the UE 200's movement. The instantaneous direction and displacement of movement may be integrated to track the location of the UE 200. For example, a reference location of the UE 200 may be determined for a certain moment, e.g., using the SPS receiver 217 (and / or by some other means), and measurements from the accelerometers and gyroscopes taken after this moment may be used in dead reckoning to determine the UE 200's current location based on the UE 200's movement (direction and distance) relative to the reference location.

[0054] The magnetometer can determine magnetic field strength in different directions, which can be used to determine the orientation of the UE 200. For example, the orientation can be used to provide the UE 200 with a digital compass. The magnetometer can include a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. Alternatively, the magnetometer can include a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and provide an indication of magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer can provide a means for sensing the magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field, for example, to the processor 210.

[0055] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250 configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a wireless transmitter 242 and a wireless receiver 244 coupled to an antenna 246 to transmit (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals 248 and convert signals from the wireless signals 248 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 248. The wireless transmitter 242 includes appropriate components (e.g., a power amplifier and a digital-to-analog converter). The wireless receiver 244 includes appropriate components (e.g., one or more amplifiers, one or more frequency filters, and an analog-to-digital converter). The wireless transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 244 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 240 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the TRP and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc. The new radio may use mm-wave and / or sub-6 GHz frequencies.The wired transceiver 250 may include a wired transmitter 252 and a wired receiver 254 configured for wired communication, e.g., a network interface that can be used to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send and receive communications to and from the NG-RAN 135. The wired transmitter 252 may include multiple transmitters, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 254 may include multiple receivers, which may be discrete components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communication, for example. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214 by, for example, optical and / or electrical connections. The transceiver interface 214 may be at least partially integrated with the transceiver 215. The wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244, and / or the antenna 246 may include multiple transmitters, multiple receivers, and / or multiple antennas, respectively, for sending and / or receiving appropriate signals, respectively.

[0056] The user interface 216 may include one or more of several devices, such as, for example, a speaker, a microphone, a display device, a vibrating device, a keyboard, a touchscreen, etc. The user interface 216 may include multiple of any of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to allow a user to interact with one or more applications housed by the UE 200. For example, the user interface 216 may store analog and / or digital signal indications in the memory 211 for processing by the DSP 231 and / or the general purpose / application processor 230 in response to actions from the user. Similarly, applications housed on the UE 200 may store analog and / or digital signal indications in the memory 211 for presenting output signals to the user. The user interface 216 may include audio input / output (I / O) devices, including, for example, a speaker, a microphone, digital-to-analog circuitry, analog-to-digital circuitry, amplifiers and / or gain control circuitry (including multiple of any of these devices). Other configurations of audio I / O devices may also be used. Also or alternatively, the user interface 216 may include one or more touch sensors that respond to contact and / or pressure, for example, on a keyboard and / or touchscreen of the user interface 216 .

[0057] The SPS receiver 217 (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring the SPS signals 260 via the SPS antenna 262. The SPS antenna 262 is configured to convert the SPS signals 260 from wireless signals to wired signals, e.g., electrical or optical signals, and may be integrated with the antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signals 260, in whole or in part, to estimate the location of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 by trilateration using the SPS signals 260. The general-purpose / application processor 230, the memory 211, the DSP 231, and / or one or more specialized processors (not shown), together with the SPS receiver 217, may be used to process the acquired SPS signals, in whole or in part, and / or to calculate the estimated location of the UE 200. The memory 211 may store indications (e.g., measurements) of the SPS signals 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals acquired from the wireless transceiver 240) for use in performing positioning operations. The general-purpose / application processor 230, the DSP 231, and / or one or more specialized processors, and / or the memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for use in processing the measurements to estimate the location of the UE 200.

[0058] The UE 200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still or video images. The camera 218 may comprise, for example, an imaging sensor (e.g., a charge-coupled device or a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide semiconductor) imager), a lens, analog-to-digital circuitry, a frame buffer, etc. Additional processing, conditioning, encoding, and / or compression of signals representing the captured images may be performed by the general-purpose / application processor 230 and / or the DSP 231. Also or alternatively, a video processor 233 may perform conditioning, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of signals representing the captured images. The video processor 233 can decode / decompress stored image data, for example, for display on a display device (not shown) of the user interface 216.

[0059] The position device (PD) 219 may be configured to determine the position of the UE 200, the movement of the UE 200, and / or the relative position of the UE 200, and / or time. For example, the PD 219 may communicate with and / or include part or all of the SPS receiver 217. The PD 219 may interface with the processor 210 and memory 211 as needed to implement at least a portion of one or more positioning methods, although descriptions herein may refer to the PD 219 being configured to or implementing in accordance with a positioning method. The PD 219 may also or alternatively be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 using terrestrial-based signals (e.g., at least some of the wireless signals 248) for trilateration, to assist in acquiring and using SPS signals 260, or both. The PD 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 based on another technique, such as a serving base station cell (e.g., cell center) and / or E-CID. The PD 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 using one or more images from the camera 218 and image recognition combined with known locations of landmarks (e.g., natural landmarks such as mountains and / or man-made landmarks such as buildings, bridges, roads, etc.). The PD 219 may be configured to use one or more other techniques for determining the location of the UE 200 (e.g., relying on the UE's self-reported location (e.g., part of the UE's location beacon)) and may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and terrestrial positioning signals) to determine the location of the UE 200. The PD 219 may include one or more of the sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, etc.) that can sense the orientation and / or movement of the UE 200 and provide an indication thereof that the processor 210 (e.g., the general purpose / application processor 230 and / or the DSP 231) can configure to use to determine the movement (e.g., velocity vector and / or acceleration vector) of the UE 200.The PD 219 may be configured to provide an indication of uncertainty and / or error in the determined position and / or movement. The functionality of the PD 219 may be provided in various ways and / or configurations, for example, by the general purpose / application processor 230, the transceiver 215, the SPS receiver 217, and / or another component of the UE 200, and may be provided by hardware, software, firmware, or various combinations thereof.

[0060] 3, an example TRP 300 of the gNB 110a, 110b, and / or the ng-eNB 114 comprises a computing platform including a processor 310, a memory 311 including software (SW) 312, and a transceiver 315. The processor 310, the memory 311, and the transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 320 (e.g., which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless transceiver) may be omitted from the TRP 300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 310 may include multiple processors (e.g., including a general-purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, as shown in FIG. 2). The memory 311 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 311 may store software 312, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code that includes instructions configured, when executed, to cause the processor 310 to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 312 may not be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured, for example, when compiled and executed, to cause the processor 310 to perform a function. The description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function, but also includes other implementations, such as when the processor 310 executes software and / or firmware. The description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the processors included in the processor 310 performing the function.The description may refer to the TRP 300 performing a function as shorthand for one or more appropriate components (e.g., the processor 310 and the memory 311) of the TRP 300 (and thus of one of the gNBs 110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB 114) performing the function. The processor 310 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or instead of the memory 311. The functionality of the processor 310 is discussed more fully below.

[0061] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and / or a wired transceiver 350 configured to communicate with other devices over wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a wireless transmitter 342 and a wireless receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 to transmit (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and / or one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and / or one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 348 and convert signals from the wireless signals 348 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 348. Thus, the wireless transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 344 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 340 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) in accordance with various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc.The wired transceiver 350 may include a wired transmitter 352 and a wired receiver 354 configured for wired communications, e.g., a network interface, and / or one or more other network entities that may be used to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send communications to and receive communications from the LMF 120. The wired transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 354 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured for optical communications and / or electrical communications, for example.

[0062] 3 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting, and other configurations may be used. For example, although the description herein discusses the TRP 300 being configured to or performing certain functions, one or more of these functions may be performed by the LMF 120 and / or the UE 200 (i.e., the LMF 120 and / or the UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0063] Referring also to FIG. 4, a server 400, of which the LMF 120 is an example, comprises a computing platform including a processor 410, a memory 411 including software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. The processor 410, the memory 411, and the transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to one another by a bus 420 (which may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless transceiver) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 410 may include multiple processors (e.g., including a general-purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, as shown in FIG. 2). The memory 411 is a non-transitory storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. The memory 411 may store software 412, which may be processor-readable, processor-executable software code including instructions configured, when executed, to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured, for example, when compiled and executed, to cause the processor 410 to perform a function. The description may refer to the processor 410 performing a function, but includes other implementations, such as the processor 410 executing software and / or firmware. The description may refer to the processor 410 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the processors included in the processor 410 performing the function. The description may refer to the server 400 performing a function as a shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the server 400 performing the function.Processor 410 may include memory with stored instructions in addition to and / or in place of memory 411. The functionality of processor 410 is discussed more fully below.

[0064] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and / or a wired transceiver 450 configured to communicate with other devices over wireless and wired connections, respectively. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a wireless transmitter 442 and a wireless receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 to transmit (e.g., on one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., on one or more uplink channels) wireless signals 448 and convert signals from the wireless signals 448 to wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signals to the wireless signals 448. Thus, the wireless transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 444 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wireless transceiver 440 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with the UE 200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) according to various radio access technologies (RATs), such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Zigbee, etc. The wired transceiver 450 may include a wired transmitter 452 and a wired receiver 454 configured for wired communication, e.g., a network interface, and / or one or more other entities that may be used to communicate with the NG-RAN 135 to send communications to and receive communications from the TRP 300.The wired transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 454 may include multiple receivers, which may be separate components or combined / integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 may be configured for optical and / or electrical communications, for example.

[0065] The description herein may refer to the processor 410 performing a function, but also includes other implementations, such as the processor 410 executing software (stored in memory 411) and / or firmware. The description herein may refer to the server 400 performing a function as shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the server 400 (e.g., the processor 410 and the memory 411) performing the function.

[0066] 4 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting, and other configurations may be used. For example, wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Also or alternatively, although the description herein discusses server 400 being configured to or performing certain functions, one or more of these functions may be performed by TRP 300 and / or UE 200 (i.e., TRP 300 and / or UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0067] Positioning Technique For terrestrial positioning of UEs in cellular networks, techniques such as Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) and Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) often operate in a "UE-assisted" mode, in which measurements of reference signals (e.g., PRS, CRS, etc.) transmitted by base stations are taken by the UE and then provided to a location server. The location server then calculates the UE's position based on the measurements and the known locations of the base stations. Because these techniques use a location server rather than the UE itself to calculate the UE's position, these positioning techniques are not frequently used in applications such as car or cell phone navigation, which instead typically rely on satellite-based positioning.

[0068] UEs can use satellite positioning systems (SPS) (also known as global navigation satellite systems (GNSS)) for high-precision positioning using precise point positioning (PPP) or real-time kinematic (RTK) techniques. These techniques use assistance data, such as measurements from ground stations. With LTE Release 15, the data is encrypted so that only UEs that have subscribed to the service can read the information. Such assistance data changes over time. Therefore, UEs that have subscribed to the service cannot easily "break the encryption" for other UEs by passing the data to them, even if they have not paid for a subscription. This passing must be repeated each time the assistance data changes.

[0069] In UE-assisted positioning, the UE sends measurements (e.g., TDOA, angle of arrival (AoA), etc.) to a positioning server (e.g., LMF / eSMLC). The positioning server has a Base Station Almanac (BSA) that contains multiple "entries" or "records," one record per cell, each of which includes the geographic cell location but may also include other data. An identifier for a "record" among the multiple "records" in the BSA may be referenced. The measurements from the BSA and the UE may be used to calculate the UE's position.

[0070] In traditional UE-based positioning, the UE calculates its own position and thus avoids sending measurements to the network (e.g., a location server), thereby improving latency and scalability. The UE uses relevant BSA record information (e.g., the location of gNBs (or base stations more broadly)) from the network. The BSA information may be encrypted. However, because BSA information changes much less frequently than, for example, the previously described PPP or RTK assistance data, it may be easier (compared to PPP or RTK information) to make BSA information available to UEs that have not subscribed and paid for a decryption key. Transmission of reference signals by gNBs makes BSA information potentially accessible for crowdsourcing or wardriving, essentially allowing BSA information to be generated based on local and / or transboundary observations.

[0071] Positioning techniques may be characterized and / or evaluated based on one or more criteria, such as position determination accuracy and / or latency. Latency is the time elapsed between an event that triggers the determination of location-related data and the data becoming available at a positioning system interface, e.g., the interface of the LMF 120. At the initialization of the positioning system, the latency for location-related data to become available is referred to as the time-to-first-fix (TTFF) and is greater than the latency after the TTFF. The inverse of the time elapsed between two consecutive location-related data availability states is referred to as the update rate, i.e., the rate at which location-related data is generated after the first fix. Latency may depend, for example, on the processing capability of the UE. For example, a UE may report its processing capability as the duration of a DL PRS symbol in time (e.g., milliseconds) that the UE can process every amount of time T (e.g., T ms) assuming a 272 PRB (Physical Resource Block) allocation. Other examples of capabilities that may affect latency are the number of TRPs from which the UE can process PRSs, the number of PRSs the UE can process, and the bandwidth of the UE.

[0072] One or more of many different positioning techniques (also called positioning methods) may be used to determine the location of an entity, such as one of the UEs 105, 106. For example, known position determination techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also called TDOA, including UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), Extended Cell Identity (E-CID), DL-AoD, UL-AoA, etc. RTT uses the time it takes a signal to travel from one entity to another and vice versa to determine the range between the two entities. The range, plus the known location of a first one of the entities and the angle (e.g., azimuth) between the two entities, may be used to determine the location of a second one of the entities. In multi-RTT (also called multi-cell RTT), multiple ranges from one entity (e.g., UE) to another entity (e.g., TRP) and the known locations of the other entities may be used to determine the location of an entity. In TDOA techniques, the difference in travel time between one entity and another may be used to determine the relative range from the other entity, which, combined with the known location of the other entity, may be used to determine the location of the entity. The angle of arrival and / or departure may be used to help determine the location of the entity. For example, the angle of arrival or departure of a signal (determined using the signal, e.g., the signal's travel time, the signal's received power, etc.) combined with the range between the devices and the known location of one of the devices may be used to determine the location of the other device. The angle of arrival or departure may be an azimuth angle relative to a reference direction, such as due north. The angle of arrival or departure may be a zenith angle, directly upward from the entity (i.e., radiating outward from the center of the Earth).E-CID uses the identity of the serving cell, the timing advance (i.e., the difference between the receive time and the transmit time at the UE), the estimated timing and power of detected neighbor cell signals, and possibly the angle of arrival (e.g., of the signal at the UE from the base station, or vice versa) to determine the location of the UE. In TDOA, the difference in the arrival times at a receiving device of signals from different sources, along with the known locations of the sources and known offsets in the transmit times from the sources, are used to determine the location of the receiving device.

[0073] In network-centric RTT estimation, the serving base station instructs the UE to scan / receive RTT measurement signals (e.g., PRS) on the serving cells of two or more neighboring base stations (and typically the serving base station, since at least three base stations are required). One or more base stations transmit the RTT measurement signals on low reuse resources (e.g., resources used by base stations to transmit system information) allocated by the network (e.g., a location server such as the LMF 120). The UE records the arrival time (also referred to as receive time, reception time, time of reception, or ToA) of each RTT measurement signal relative to the UE's current downlink timing (e.g., derived by the UE from the DL signal received from its serving base station), transmits a common or individual RTT response message (e.g., SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) for positioning, i.e., UL-PRS) to one or more base stations (e.g., when commanded by its serving base station), and records the time difference T between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message. Rx→Tx (i.e., UE T Rx-Tx or UE Rx-Tx ) can be included in the payload of each RTT response message. The RTT response message will contain a reference signal from which the base station can infer the ToA of the RTT response. The difference T between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal from the base station and the ToA of the RTT response at the base stationTx→Rx , the time difference T Rx→Tx By comparing this with the propagation time between the base station and the UE, the base station can infer the propagation time between the base station and the UE, from which the base station can determine the distance between the UE and the base station by assuming the speed of light during this propagation time.

[0074] UE-centric RTT estimation is similar to the network-based method, except that the UE transmits an uplink RTT measurement signal (e.g., when instructed by the serving base station), which is received by multiple base stations in the UE's neighborhood. Each participating base station responds with a downlink RTT response message, which may include in the RTT response message payload the time difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal at the base station and the transmission time of the RTT response message from the base station.

[0075] For both network-centric and UE-centric procedures, the party performing the RTT calculation (network or UE) typically (but not always) sends a first message or signal (e.g., an RTT measurement signal), and the other side responds with one or more RTT response messages or signals that may include the difference between the ToA of the first message or signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message or signal.

[0076] Multi-RTT techniques may be used to determine location. For example, a first entity (e.g., a UE) may send one or more signals (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast from a base station), and multiple second entities (e.g., base stations and / or other TSPs, such as UEs) may receive the signals from the first entity and respond to the received signals. The first entity receives responses from the multiple second entities. The first entity (or another entity, such as an LMF) may use the responses from the second entities to determine a range to the second entity, and may use the multiple ranges and the known location of the second entities to determine the location of the first entity by trilateration.

[0077] In some examples, additional information may be obtained in the form of a linear direction (e.g., which may be in the horizontal plane or in three dimensions), or possibly an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of departure (AoD), which defines a range of directions (e.g., from the base station's location to the UE). The intersection of the two directions may provide another estimate of the location for the UE.

[0078] For positioning techniques (e.g., TDOA and RTT) that use PRS (positioning reference signal) signals, PRS signals sent by multiple TRPs are measured, and the signal arrival times, known transmission times, and known locations of the TRPs are used to determine the range from the UE to the TRPs. For example, a reference signal time difference (RSTD) may be determined for PRS signals received from multiple TRPs and used in TDOA techniques to determine the location of the UE. This positioning reference signal may be referred to as a PRS or PRS signal. PRS signals are typically sent using the same power, and PRS signals with the same signal characteristics (e.g., the same frequency shift) may interfere with each other, causing PRS signals from more distant TRPs to be overwhelmed by PRS signals from closer TRPs so that the signals from the more distant TRPs cannot be detected. PRS muting may be used to help reduce interference by muting some PRS signals (e.g., reducing the power of the PRS signal to zero, thus not transmitting the PRS signal). In this way, weaker PRS signals (at the UE) can be more easily detected by the UE without stronger PRS signals interfering with the weaker PRS signals. The term RS, and its variants (e.g., PRS, SRS, CSI-RS (Channel State Information - Reference Signal)), can refer to one reference signal or multiple reference signals.

[0079] Positioning reference signals (PRS) include downlink PRS (DL PRS, often simply referred to as PRS) and uplink PRS (UL PRS), which may be referred to as SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) for positioning. The PRS may include a PN code (pseudorandom code) or may be generated using a PN code (e.g., by scrambling the PN code with another signal) so that the source of the PRS can act as a pseudolite. The PN code may be unique for the PRS source (at least within a designated area so that identical PRSs from different PRS sources do not overlap). The PRS may include PRS resources and / or PRS resource sets of a frequency layer. A DL PRS positioning frequency layer (or simply frequency layer) is a collection of DL PRS resource sets from one or more TRPs with PRS resources having common parameters configured by higher layer parameters DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer, DL-PRS-ResourceSet, and DL-PRS-Resource. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS resource set in the frequency layer and a DL PRS subcarrier spacing (SCS) for the DL PRS resources. Each frequency layer has a DL PRS resource set in the frequency layer and a DL PRS cyclic prefix (CP) for the DL PRS resources. In 5G, a resource block occupies 12 consecutive subcarriers and a specified number of symbols. A common resource block is a set of resource blocks that occupy the channel bandwidth. A bandwidth part (BWP) is a set of consecutive common resource blocks, which may include all common resource blocks or a subset of common resource blocks in the channel bandwidth. In addition, the DL PRS point A parameter defines the frequency of the reference resource block (and the lowest subcarrier of the resource block), and DL PRS resources belong to the same DL PRS resource set with the same point A, and all DL PRS resource sets belong to the same frequency layer with the same point A.The frequency layers also have the same DL PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size (i.e., the frequency of PRS resource elements per symbol, such that for comb N, every Nth resource element is a PRS resource element). A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and may be associated with a particular TRP transmitted by a base station antenna panel (identified by a cell ID). A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set may be associated with an omnidirectional signal and / or a single beam (and / or beam ID) transmitted from a single base station (a base station may transmit one or multiple beams). 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." This does not have any implications on whether the base station and the beam on which the PRS is transmitted are known to the UE.

[0080] The TRP may be configured to send the DL PRS per schedule, for example, by instructions received from a server and / or by software in the TRP. According to the schedule, the TRP may send the DL PRS intermittently, for example, periodically at regular intervals from the initial transmission. The TRP may be configured to send one or more PRS resource sets. A resource set is a collection of PRS resources across one TRP, where the resources have the same periodicity, common muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across slots. Each PRS resource set includes multiple PRS resources, and each PRS resource includes multiple OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) resource elements (REs) that may be located within multiple resource blocks (RBs) within N (one or more) consecutive symbols within a slot. PRS resources (or reference signal (RS) resources in general) may be referred to as OFDM PRS resources (or OFDM RS resources). An RB is a collection of REs spanning one or more consecutive symbol quantities in the time domain and a consecutive subcarrier quantity in the frequency domain (12 for 5G RBs). Each PRS resource is configured with an RE offset, a slot offset, a symbol offset within the slot, and a number of consecutive symbols the PRS resource may occupy within the slot. The RE offset defines the starting RE offset of the first symbol in the DL PRS resource in frequency. The relative RE offsets of the remaining symbols in the DL PRS resource are defined based on the initial offset. The slot offset is the starting slot of the DL PRS resource relative to the corresponding resource set slot offset. The symbol offset determines the starting symbol of the DL PRS resource within the starting slot. The transmitted RE may be repeated across slots, and each transmission is called a repetition, as there may be multiple repetitions in the PRS resource. DL PRS resources in a DL PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP, and each DL PRS resource has a DL PRS resource ID.A DL PRS resource ID in a DL PRS resource set is associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (although a TRP may transmit one or more beams).

[0081] PRS resources may also be defined by quasi-co-location and start PRB parameters. The quasi-co-location (QCL) parameter may define any quasi-co-location information of DL PRS resources with other reference signals. A DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type D with DL PRS or SS / PBCH (Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel) blocks from a serving or non-serving cell. A DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type C with SS / PBCH blocks from a serving or non-serving cell. The start PRB parameter defines the starting PRB index of the DL PRS resource relative to reference point A. The start PRB index has a granularity of one PRB and may have a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 2176 PRBs.

[0082] A PRS resource set is a collection of PRS resources with the same periodicity, the same muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across slots. Any time when all repetitions of all PRS resources in a PRS resource set are configured to be transmitted is called an "instance." Thus, an "instance" of a PRS resource set is a specified number of repetitions for each PRS resource and a specified number of PRS resources within the PRS resource set, whereby an instance is complete when the specified number of repetitions for each of the specified number of PRS resources have been transmitted. An instance may also be referred to as an "opportunity." A DL PRS configuration, including a DL PRS transmission schedule, may be provided to the UE to facilitate (or even enable) the UE to measure the DL PRS.

[0083] Multiple frequency layers of a PRS can be aggregated to provide an effective bandwidth larger than any one of the layer bandwidths individually. Multiple frequency layers of component carriers (which may be contiguous and / or distinct) that meet criteria such as being quasi-colocated (QCL) and have the same antenna ports can be stitched to provide a larger effective PRS bandwidth (for DL ​​PRS and UL PRS), increasing time-of-arrival measurement accuracy. Stitching involves combining PRS measurements across individual bandwidth fragments so that the stitched PRS can be treated as if it were taken from a single measurement. When QCL'd, different frequency layers behave similarly, allowing for stitching of PRSs to provide a larger effective bandwidth. The larger effective bandwidth may be referred to as the aggregated PRS bandwidth or the aggregated PRS frequency bandwidth, and provides better time-domain resolution (e.g., of TDOA). An aggregated PRS includes a collection of PRS resources, where each PRS resource of the aggregated PRS may be referred to as a PRS component, and each PRS component may be transmitted on a different component carrier, band, or frequency layer, or on a different portion of the same band.

[0084] RTT positioning is an active positioning technique in that the RTT uses positioning signals sent by the TRP to the UE and by the UE (involved in the RTT positioning) to the TRP. The TRP can send DL-PRS signals that are received by the UE, and the UE can send SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) signals that are received by multiple TRPs. The sounding reference signal is sometimes called an SRS or SRS signal. In 5G multi-RTT, cooperative positioning can be used with the UE sending a single UL-SRS for positioning that is received by multiple TRPs, rather than sending a separate UL-SRS for positioning for each TRP. A TRP involved in multi-RTT typically searches for UEs currently camped on that TRP (served UEs, where the TRP is the serving TRP) and UEs camped on neighboring TRPs (neighbor UEs). The neighbor TRPs may be TRPs of a single BTS (Base Transceiver Station) (e.g., gNB), or a TRP of one BTS and a TRP of a separate BTS. For RTT positioning, including multi-RTT positioning, the DL-PRS signal and the UL-SRS signal in a positioning PRS / SRS signal pair used to determine the RTT (and thus the range between the UE and the TRP) may occur close in time to each other so that errors due to UE movement and / or UE clock drift and / or TRP clock drift are within acceptable limits. For example, signals in a positioning PRS / SRS signal pair may be transmitted from the TRP and the UE, respectively, within approximately 10 ms of each other. Because the positioning SRS is sent by the UE, and because the positioning PRS and SRS are transmitted close in time to each other, it has been found that radio frequency (RF) signal congestion (which may cause excessive noise, etc.) can occur, particularly when many UEs attempt positioning simultaneously, and / or computational congestion can occur at the TRP attempting to measure many UEs simultaneously.

[0085] RTT positioning may be UE-based or UE-assisted. In UE-based RTT, the UE 200 determines the RTT and corresponding range to each TRP 300 and its location based on the range to the TRP 300 and the known location of the TRP 300. In UE-assisted RTT, the UE 200 measures positioning signals and provides the measurement information to the TRP 300, which determines the RTT and range. The TRP 300 provides the range to a location server, e.g., server 400, which determines the location of the UE 200, e.g., based on the range to different TRPs 300. The RTT and / or range may be determined by the TRP 300 receiving a signal from the UE 200, by a combination of the TRP 300 and one or more other devices, e.g., one or more other TRPs 300 and / or server 400, or by one or more devices other than the TRP 300 receiving a signal from the UE 200.

[0086] Various positioning techniques are supported in 5G NR. NR-specific positioning methods supported in 5G NR include DL-only positioning methods, UL-only positioning methods, and DL+UL positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include DL-TDOA and DL-AoD. Uplink-based positioning methods include UL-TDOA and UL-AoA. Combined DL+UL-based positioning methods include RTT with one base station and RTT with multiple base stations (multi-RTT).

[0087] Auxiliary uplink signal based positioning 5A, an UL-based positioning method relies on UL signals received / measured by, for example, a base station 510 from a UE 520. Because the base station 510 is typically connected to grid power and the UE 520 typically uses battery power, the available transmit power for DL ​​signals from the base station 510 is typically greater than the available transmit power for UL signals from the UE 520. Therefore, the UL coverage area 530 is typically smaller than the DL coverage area 540 that uses new NR frequency bands, e.g., in UHB (ultra-high band) frequencies above 3 GHz, such as n77 (3.3 GHz to 4.2 GHz), n78 (3.3 GHz to 3.8 GHz), or n79 (4.4 GHz to 5.0 GHz). The UL coverage area 530 is an area from which the serving cell of the base station 510 can receive / measure UL signals in a primary band (e.g., the UHB band) from the UE 520 without having to combine multiple instances of the UL signal from the UE 520. The peripheral coverage limited area 550 (in this example, a ring region) just outside the UL coverage area 530 extends slightly (e.g., about 10%) beyond the UL coverage area 530 but is an area from which the base station 510 can receive / measure UL signals in the UHB band from the UE 520 by combining (e.g., integrating) multiple instances of the UL signal from the UE 520. The peripheral coverage limited area 550 is at the edge of the UL coverage area 530 and extends beyond the UL coverage area 530 (from its outer edge 532), but does not reach the limit of the DL coverage area 540 (i.e., does not extend to the outer edge 542 of the DL coverage area 540). If the UE 520 is beyond the peripheral coverage limited area 550, the base station 510 will not be able to measure the UHB UL signal from the UE 520, even by combining multiple instances of the UL signal.A coverage-limited area 580 is an area within which the UE 520 may receive and measure DL signals from the base station 510, but from which the base station 510 cannot properly receive UL signals from the UE 520, e.g., with sufficient energy and / or quality to be measured using a single instance of the signal, or possibly with sufficient energy and / or quality to be measured at all (e.g., by combining (e.g., integrating) multiple instances). The base station 510 may not be able to measure UL signals from the UE 520 within the coverage-limited area 580 due to transmit power limitations. For example, the coverage-limited area 580 may be an area in which the desired transmit power for the UL signal (e.g., as determined by a power control equation) is higher than the available / allowed transmit power of the UE 520. According to the power control equation, the desired transmit power is the UL path loss between the UE 520 and the base station 510 (e.g., the UL path loss is estimated to be equal to the measured DL path loss) plus the received power of the UL signal, for which the base station 510 measures the UL signal with one or more desired characteristics (e.g., with a desired measurement quality with a single instance). If the available transmit power is less than the desired transmit power and the difference between the desired transmit power and the available / allowed transmit power is greater than a first threshold but less than a second threshold, the UE 520 is considered to be within the peripheral coverage-limited area 550. If the difference between the desired transmit power and the available / allowed transmit power is greater than the second threshold, the UE 520 is considered to be within the complete coverage-limited area (outside the peripheral coverage-limited area 550). The coverage-limited area 580 occupies an area within the DL coverage area 540 (including the peripheral coverage-limited area 550) that is outside the UL coverage area 530.

[0088] However, one or more supplemental uplink (SUL) bands may be used to send UL PRS from a UE, e.g., UE 520, to a companion cell of base station 510 and / or DL ​​PRS from a companion cell of base station 510 to a UE, e.g., UE 520. The companion cell is configured to transmit and / or receive signals in the SUL band and is typically configured in a TRP separate from the TRP of the serving cell, although the serving cell and companion cell may be located in the same base station, e.g., base station 510. The SUL band has frequencies below 3 GHz and may therefore provide a larger coverage area for the same transmit power as signals having frequencies above 3 GHz. For example, SUL coverage area 560 may be about the same size as (or larger than) DL coverage area 540, with both the companion cell and serving cell located at base station 510. The SUL bands include n80 (1.71 GHz to 1.785 GHz), n81 (880 MHz to 915 MHz), n82 (832 MHz to 862 MHz), n83 (703 MHz to 748 MHz), n84 (1.92 GHz to 1.98 GHz), n86 (1.71 GHz to 1.78 GHz), and n89 (824 MHz to 849 MHz). Referring also to FIG. 5B, the SUL bands may be used by UE 520 to send UL PRS to improve UL-based positioning performance, for example, to enable UL-based positioning techniques (e.g., UL-TDOA, RTT) with UE 520 within DL coverage area 540 but outside UL coverage area 530 (or even outside fringe coverage limited area 550). Referring also to FIG. 5C, as another example, the SUL band may be used by the UE 520 to send UL PRS to enable multi-RTT with the UE 520 within the UL coverage area 530 of the serving cell of the base station 510, the UHB band is used to transmit the UL PRS by the serving cell to the UE 520, and the SUL band is used to transmit the UL PRS to the companion cell, here of the base station 570.The UE 520 may use the SUL for carrier aggregation between frequency division duplex (FDD) and / or time division duplex (TDD) signals and / or for ENDC (Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) (E-UTRA) New Radio Dual Connectivity). The UE 520 may be configured to perform Tx switching to dynamically switch transmissions using different bands, e.g., between the use of an SUL band carrier and a carrier in a primary band (e.g., the UHB band), and to share transmit chains for the two bands.

[0089] 6 and further with reference to FIGS. 1-4, the UE 600 includes a processor 610, an interface 620, and a memory 630 communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 640. The UE 600 may include the components shown in FIG. 6 and may include one or more other components, such as any of those shown in FIG. 2, such that the UE 200 may be an example of the UE 600. For example, the processor 610 may include one or more of the components of the processor 210. The interface 620 may include one or more of the components of the transceiver 215, such as the wireless transmitter 242 and the antenna 246, or the wireless receiver 244 and the antenna 246, or the wireless transmitter 242, the wireless receiver 244, and the antenna 246. Also or alternatively, the interface 620 may include the wired transmitter 252 and / or the wired receiver 254. Memory 630 may be configured similarly to memory 211 and includes, for example, software with processor-readable instructions configured to cause processor 610 to perform functions.

[0090] While descriptions herein may refer to the processor 610 performing functions, they also include other implementations, such as the processor 610 executing software (stored in memory 630) and / or firmware. Descriptions herein may refer to the UE 600 performing functions as shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the UE 600 (e.g., the processor 610 and the memory 630) performing the functions. The processor 610 (possibly together with the memory 630 and, where appropriate, the interface 620) includes an SUL unit 650 configured to provide one or more indications of the SUL capabilities of the UE 600, determine whether to use the SUL band for UL PRS transmission, transmit the UL PRS using allocated resources in the SUL band, determine whether to use the SUL band for DL ​​PRS reception, and measure the DL PRS in the SUL band (e.g., including tuning the antenna for SUL band reception during measurement gaps). The SUL unit 650 is discussed further below, and the description may refer generally to the processor 610 or generally to the UE 600 as performing any of the functions of the SUL unit 650, where the UE 600 is configured to perform the functions of the SUL unit 650.

[0091] 7, server 700 includes a processor 710, an interface 720, and a memory 730 communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 740. Server 700 may include the components shown in FIG. 7 and may include one or more other components, such as any of those shown in FIG. 4, such that server 400 may be an example of server 700. For example, interface 720 may include one or more of the components of transceiver 415, e.g., wireless transmitter 442 and antenna 446 and / or wireless receiver 444 and antenna 446. Also or alternatively, interface 720 may include wired transmitter 452 and / or wired receiver 454. Memory 730 may be configured similarly to memory 411 and includes, for example, software with processor-readable instructions configured to cause processor 710 to perform functions.

[0092] While descriptions herein may refer to the processor 710 performing functions, they also include other implementations, such as the processor 710 executing software (stored in memory 730) and / or firmware. Descriptions herein may refer to the server 700 performing functions as shorthand for one or more of the appropriate components of the server 700 (e.g., the processor 710 and memory 730) performing the functions. The processor 710 (possibly along with the memory 730 and, if necessary, the interface 720) includes a positioning signal unit 750. The positioning signal unit 750 is configured to coordinate with one or more appropriate entities (e.g., cells) to allocate and / or schedule PRS resources, e.g., DL PRS resources and UL PRS resources. The auxiliary signal may be separate from the DL PRS or may be part of the DL PRS (e.g., tones of multiple PRSs with overlapping frequencies among the multiple PRSs). The positioning signal unit 750 may schedule and transmit the PRS and auxiliary signals based on one or more indicated capabilities of the UE 600 for processing multiple PRSs in combination with the assistance of the auxiliary signals. The positioning signal unit 750 is discussed further herein, and the description may refer generally to the processor 710 or generally to the server 700 as performing any of the functions of the positioning signal unit 750, where the server 700 is configured to perform the functions of the positioning signal unit 750.

[0093] Referring to Figure 8, and with further reference to Figures 1-7, a signaling and process flow 800 for determining location information using UL PRS (SRS for positioning) over the SUL band includes the steps shown. The location information is determined using one or more UL-based positioning techniques. Flow 800 is an example, and steps may be added, reordered, and / or removed.

[0094] In step 810, the UE 600 sends an SUL band capability message 812 to the server 700. For example, the SUL unit 650 may be configured to send an indication of the UE 600's capability to use the supplemental uplink band and may be configured to send the indication during a session start (e.g., the start of a positioning session between the UE 600 and the server 700). The SUL band capability message 812 may indicate the UE 600's capability to send UL PRS over one or more indicated SUL bands. The SUL band capability message may indicate the UE 600's capability to receive DL PRS over one or more indicated SUL bands. The SUL unit 650 may be configured to generate and send the SUL band capability message 812 to indicate one or more band combinations supported by the UE 600, where each band combination indicates a UHB band and an SUL band and indicates which bands can be used by the UE 600 to receive and transmit PRS. 9, an exemplary SUL band capability message 900 includes a band combination field 910, a band field 920, a UL band field 930, and a DL band field 940. The UL band field 930 and the DL band field 940 each include a lower frequency subfield and an upper frequency subfield in this example. The message 900 includes two entries 950, 960 that indicate respective combinations of one UHB band and one SUL band supported by the UE 600 in this example, with the entries 950, 960 including subentries for the separate bands. In the example message 900, frequencies are shown in MHz, and the message 900 indicates that for the band combination n78-n80 (entry 950), the UE 600 is configured to support UL and DL in UHB band n78 and UL only in SUL band n80, and for the band combination n79-n81 (entry 960), the UE 600 is configured to support UL and DL in UHB band n78 and SUL band n81. The UE 600 may use the UHB bands to communicate with the server 700, e.g., via the serving cell 801, for data and / or PRS.

[0095] Configurations of SUL band capability messages other than SUL band capability message 900 may be used. For example, one or more of the indications shown in message 900 may be omitted and are implied by a coding indication, e.g., an indication in a format whose location in the format corresponds to the respective information (e.g., respective UL bands, respective DL bands, etc.). Referring also to Figure 10, exemplary SUL band capability message 1000 includes a first UL band indication 1010, a first DL band indication 1020, a second UL band indication 1030, and a second DL band indication 1040. The locations of the indications 1010, 1020, 1030, and 1040 correspond to the meanings of the indications 1010, 1020, 1030, and 1040, respectively. In this example, the SUL band capability message 1000 indicates that the UE 600 is configured to support UL band n78, DL band n78, UL band n81, and DL band n81, where band n78 (3300 MHz to 3800 MHz) is the UHB band and band n81 (880 MHz to 915 MHz) is the SUL band. The values ​​of the indications 1010, 1020, 1030, 1040 may be coded indications given frequency band labels, as in this example, corresponding to known frequency ranges.

[0096] The UE 600 may also send a metrics message 814 to the server 700. The metrics message 814 may include an indication of the transmit power used by the UE 600 to send signals, e.g., UL data, UL PRS, etc. The metrics message 814 may include an indication of the path loss between the UE 600 and the serving cell 801. The UE 600 may be configured to send the metrics message 814 and the SUL band capabilities message 812 using LPP. The UE 600 may send the message 812 and / or the message 814 to the server 700 directly and / or via the serving cell 801 using the primary band (communications band) while the serving cell 801 is within the UL range of the UE 600 (within the UL coverage area of ​​the serving cell 801).

[0097] In step 820, the server 700 determines to use a single-measurement positioning technique to determine the location of the UE 600. The server 700 may determine whether to use a single-measurement or a multi-measurement technique. In flow 800, the server 700 determines to use a single-measurement technique, and in flow 1200 shown in FIG. 12 and discussed below, the server 700 determines to use a multi-measurement technique. The server 700 may, for example, determine whether a single-measurement or a multi-measurement technique is requested. As another example, the server 700 may determine whether a single-measurement or a multi-measurement technique is required and / or superior to meet one or more criteria, e.g., location accuracy, latency, etc. A single-measurement positioning technique may involve multiple cells to determine measurements; for example, a single-measurement RTT technique may involve the serving cell 801 transmitting DL signals to the UE 600 using a primary band and the UE 600 transmitting UL signals to the companion cell 802 using a supplemental band. The DL-RS and UL-RS measurements are processed to determine a single RTT measurement.

[0098] At stage 830, the server 700 determines whether the UE 600 is coverage-limited. For example, the server 700 may receive (e.g., directly and / or from the serving cell 801) an indication of the received signal strength of a downlink signal at the UE 600 currently being used to communicate with the serving cell 801 and compare it to one or more thresholds. If the received power is below the threshold, the server 700 may conclude that the UE 600 is coverage-limited. The threshold may be statically configured by the manufacturer of the UE 600 and / or dynamically configurable, for example, by received information (which may override the statically configured threshold). As another example, if the serving cell 801 indicates that multiple instances of the UL signal from the UE 600 are required to measure the UL signal, the server 700 may conclude that the UE 600 is within a fringe coverage-limited area of ​​the serving cell 801. As another example, if server 700 determines from a location estimate of UE 600 (e.g., determined by E-CID) that UE 600 is disposed within the DL coverage area of ​​serving cell 801, but the serving cell 801 does not provide any indication of measurements of UL signals from UE 600, server 700 may conclude that UE 600 is disposed outside the UL coverage area and outside the fringe coverage-limited area for serving cell 801. As another example, server 700 may determine outer edge 532 of UL coverage area 530 and outer edge 554 of fringe coverage-limited area 550 based on transmit power and determine whether UE 600 is within UL coverage area 530 or fringe coverage-limited area 550 based on the location estimate. As another example, the server 700 may receive (e.g., directly from the UE 600, from the serving cell 801, and / or from another entity) an indication of the transmit power currently being used by the UE 600 to transmit UL signals, and may receive an indication of the path loss between the serving cell 801 and the UE 600, e.g., via the serving cell 801 if the UE 600 is not coverage-limited, or via another cell if the UE 600 is coverage-limited with respect to the serving cell 801.The processor 710 may be configured to determine that the UE 600 is coverage-limited if the transmit power minus the path loss is below a threshold. As another example, the processor 710 may be configured to determine that the UE 600 is coverage-limited if the received power of a signal transmitted by the UE 600 is below a threshold power. As another example, the processor 710 may be configured to determine that the UE 600 is coverage-limited if the path loss exceeds the transmit power, and therefore that the UE 600 is within the coverage-limited area 580 (inside a DL coverage area, e.g., DL coverage area 540, but outside a UL coverage area, e.g., UL coverage area 530), as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5B. For example, the processor 710 may be configured to determine that the UE 600 is outside the UL coverage area if the serving cell 801 can receive and measure an UL signal from the UE 600 only by combining multiple instances of the UL signal (e.g., integrating instances over time). Processor 710 may be configured to determine whether UE 600 is outside a peripheral coverage limited area, e.g., peripheral coverage limited area 550. Processor 710 may be configured to determine that UE 600 is within peripheral coverage limited area 550, for example, based on the current transmit power limit of UE 600 being less than the desired transmit power by more than a first threshold amount but less than a second threshold amount, and that UE 600 is outside peripheral coverage limited area 550 based on the current transmit power being less than the desired transmit power by more than the second threshold amount, the desired transmit power being determined by a power control equation (which depends on the path loss, and thus the location estimate for UE 600 (e.g., using E-CID)).

[0099] At stage 835, the serving cell 801 may determine whether the UE is coverage-limited. For example, the serving cell 801 may obtain the transmit power of the UE 600 and the path loss between the UE 600 and the serving cell 801, e.g., calculate the path loss based on the received signal power at the UE 600 and the transmit power at the serving cell 801, or receive an indication of the path loss from the UE 600. The serving cell 801 may determine whether the UE 600 is coverage-limited and provide a coverage message 836 to the server 700 regarding whether the UE 600 is coverage-limited, and the server 700 may determine that the UE is coverage-limited by receiving and reading the coverage message 836. For example, the processor 310 may send an indication (e.g., a Boolean indication) indicating that the UE 600 is outside the UL coverage area 530, outside the fringe coverage-restricted area 550, or inside the UL coverage area 530. The server 700 may determine whether the UE is coverage-limited in stage 830 using (e.g., reading) this indication from the serving cell 801 or independently of this indication (e.g., if a coverage message 836 is not sent by the serving cell 801).

[0100] In stage 840, the server 700 determines whether the serving cell 801 and the companion cell 802 are synchronized. For example, the server 700 may determine whether the serving cell 801 and the companion cell 802 are synchronized, and the companion cell 802 is within range of the UE 600 (e.g., uses at least the SUL band) (e.g., based on a coarse location estimate of the UE 600, or based on the serving cell 801 and the companion cell 802 being located in close proximity, e.g., being part of the same base station). The cells 801, 802 are synchronized if their clocks are synchronized or if the offset between their clocks is known. The serving cell 801 and the companion cell 802 may be physically located in a single base station or may be located in physically separate base stations. The server 700 determines that the cells 801, 802 are not synchronized in flow 800, and determines that the cells 801, 802 are synchronized in flow 1100, shown in FIG. 11 and discussed below.

[0101] At stage 850, the server 700 indicates a positioning signal configuration based on the fact that the UE 600 is in a coverage-limited area, that a single measurement positioning technique should be used, and that the serving cell 801 and the companion cell 802 are not synchronized (or simply that the serving cell 801 is not desired to be used). The server 700, in coordination with the companion cell 802, determines resources to be used for the DL-RS and the UL-RS. For example, the positioning signal unit 750 may be configured to determine a SUL band that is a companion band to the band used between the UE 600 and the serving cell 801 for communication. The positioning signal unit 750 may know the bands used by the UE 600 and the serving TRP for communication, and may analyze the message 900 to find the bands used by the UE 600 and the serving cell 801 for communication, and may find the corresponding SUL bands supported by the UE 600, i.e., the SUL bands in the band combination that includes the bands used by the UE 600 and the serving cell 801 for communication. For example, if the UE 600 and the serving cell 801 are using band n79 for communication, the positioning signal unit 750 may determine from the message 900 that band n81 is a companion band supported by the UE 600 for SUL transmission. The positioning signal unit 750 coordinates with the companion cell 802 to determine UL-PRS resources, e.g., OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) UL-PRS resources, in the companion SUL band, and coordinates with the serving cell 801 to determine DL-RS resources, e.g., OFDM DL-PRS resources and / or OFDM DL-SSB resources, in the companion SUL band. The positioning signal unit 750 may coordinate with the companion cell 802 directly or indirectly via the serving cell 801. Both UL-PRS resources and DL-RS resources are allocated in the SUL, given that the serving cell 801 and companion cell 802 are not synchronized (or even if the cells 801, 802 are synchronized, the SUL band is selected for the DL-RS and UL-RS).The server 700 transmits positioning signal configuration (PSC) messages 852, 854, 856 indicating the determined UL-PRS resource configuration and the determined DL-RS resource configuration to the serving cell 801, the UE 600, and the companion cell 802, respectively. For example, message 852 may indicate the DL-RS resource configuration or may be an acknowledgment of the DL-RS resource configuration provided by the serving cell 801 to the server 700. Message 854 may be assistance data indicating the DL-RS resource configuration and the UL-PRS resource configuration, although this information may come from the serving cell 801 and the companion cell 802, respectively. Message 856 may be transmitted to the companion cell 802 directly or via the serving cell 801 to the companion cell 802 and may indicate the UL-PRS resource configuration or may be an acknowledgment of the UL-PRS resource configuration provided by the companion cell 802 to the server 700. The server 700 may send message 854 to the UE 600 via the serving cell 801. Message 856 may be considered part of an exchange between the server 700 and the companion cell 802 to determine UL-PRS resources, message 854 may be considered an indication from the serving cell 801 of the determined resources between the companion cell 802 and the server 700 to be used for the DL-RS and UL-RS, and message 852 may be considered part of an exchange between the server 700 and the serving cell 801 to determine the DL-RS resources. Rather than coordinating with cells 801, 802 to allocate and indicate both UL-PRS and DL-RS resources in the SUL band, server 700 may coordinate to allocate and indicate UL-PRS resources in the SUL band and DL-RS resources in the communications band (as discussed below with respect to step 1150 of FIG. 11 ), but the lack of synchronization between cells 801, 802 may result in positioning errors.

[0102] In step 860, the companion cell 802 and the UE 600 exchange positioning signals according to the indicated resources. The serving companion cell 802 sends one or more DL-RSs 862 to the UE 600 in the companion SUL band. The companion cell 802 receives the positioning signal configuration message 856 from the server 700 and then configures the UE 600 to transmit UL-PRSs by sending one or more Tx switch messages 864 to the UE 600. The Tx switch messages 864 may include a DCI (downlink control information) indicator and indicate to the UE 600 to switch transmission to the SUL band (from another band, such as the communication band) based on the UL-PRS schedule determined in step 850. The UE 600, e.g., the SUL unit 650, sends one or more UL-PRSs 866 to the serving companion cell 802 in the companion SUL band. Thus, the UE 600 and the companion cell 802 may perform RTT measurements on the SUL band, for example, through Tx switching, and the companion cell 802 and the UE 600 coordinate the transmission of positioning signals using the SUL band.

[0103] In step 870, positioning signals are measured. In sub-step 872, the UE 600, e.g., the SUL unit 650, measures the DL positioning signals 862 (e.g., DL-PRS and / or SSB). In sub-step 874, the companion cell 802 measures the UL-PRS 866. The measurements may yield various information, such as received power, received power relative to a reference power, time of arrival, time of arrival relative to a reference signal, etc.

[0104] At stage 880, the UE 600 and / or the companion cell 802 transmit location information. For example, the companion cell 802 may send one or more measurements and / or one or more processed measurements (e.g., estimated UE location, pseudorange, offset, etc.) based on processing of the one or more measurements to the server 700 in a Location Information message 882. The companion cell 802 may also or alternatively send the one or more measurements and / or one or more processed measurements to the UE 600 in a Location Information message 884, for example, for UE-based positioning. The UE 600 may send the one or more measurements and / or one or more processed measurements to the server 700 in a Location Information message 886, for example, for UE-assisted positioning (and / or UE-based positioning if the message 886 includes the estimated UE location).

[0105] At stage 890, the server 700 may determine location information. The server 700 may collect the location information from one or more of the location information messages 882, 886 and may perform one or more positioning techniques to determine further location information for the UE 600, e.g., its location, and / or provide the information to another entity for calculation of the location information. The server 700 may use the location information from the messages 882, 886 to update previously determined location information for the UE 600.

[0106] At stage 892, the UE 600 may determine location information. The UE 600 may collect the location information from the location information message 884 and perform one or more positioning techniques to determine further location information for the UE 600, e.g., its location, and / or may provide the information to another entity, e.g., the server 700, for calculation of the location information. The UE 600 may use the location information from the message 884 to update previously determined location information for the UE 600. The UE 600 may send a location information message 894 to the server 700 with the location information determined by the UE 600 at stage 892.

[0107] Referring to FIG. 11 and with further reference to FIGS. 3-8, a signaling and process flow 1100 for determining location information using UL PRS (SRS for positioning) over the SUL band includes the steps shown. The location information is determined using one or more UL-based positioning techniques. Flow 1100 is an example, and steps may be added, reordered, and / or removed. In flow 1100, steps 1110, 1120, 1130, and 1135 may be the same as steps 810, 820, 830, and 835 discussed above.

[0108] In step 1140, the server 700 determines whether the serving cell 801 and the companion cell 802 are synchronized, for example, similar to step 840. In step 1140, contrary to step 840, the server 700 determines that the serving cell 801 and the companion cell 802 are synchronized.

[0109] At stage 1150, the server 700 indicates a positioning signal configuration based on the UE 600 being in a coverage-limited area, that a single-measurement positioning technique should be used, and that the available cells are synchronized. The positioning signal unit 750 may coordinate and indicate positioning signal resources in a manner similar to that discussed with respect to stage 850, or may coordinate and indicate positioning signal resources for interaction between the UE 600 and the cells 801, 802 in light of the cells 801, 802 being synchronized. For example, the positioning signal unit 750 may be configured to determine, based on a desired (e.g., required) positioning accuracy, whether to coordinate allocation of positioning signal resources for only the serving cell 801 or for the serving cell 801 and the companion cell 802, e.g., to coordinate resources for the cells 801, 802 based on a positioning accuracy higher than a threshold accuracy (e.g., a positioning error below an error threshold). The server 700 may send positioning signal configuration (PSC) messages 1152, 1154, 1156 to the serving cell 801, the UE 600, and the companion cell 802 (directly or indirectly via the serving cell 801), respectively. The messages 1152, 1154, 1156 indicate (e.g., provide or acknowledge receipt of) OFDM DL-RS resources on the communications band (UHB) and OFDM UL-PRS resources on the SUL band. The serving cell 801 and the companion cell 802 may be physically located within a single base station or physically separate base stations, although the serving cell 801 uses ultra-high frequencies and the companion cell 802 uses low frequencies, and the cells 801, 802 are typically not co-located.

[0110] In step 1160, the serving cell 801, the companion cell 802, and the UE 600 exchange positioning signals according to the indicated resources. The serving cell 801 sends one or more DL-RSs 1162 to the UE 600 in the communication band. The serving cell 801 sends one or more Tx switch commands 1163, for example, in one or more DCI indications, for the UE 600 to switch the SUL band to send UL-PRSs. The UE 600, for example, the SUL unit 650, responds to the Tx switch commands 1163 by sending one or more UL-PRSs 1164 to the companion cell 802 in the companion SUL band.

[0111] In stage 1170, positioning signals are measured. In sub-stage 1172, the UE 600, e.g., the SUL unit 650, measures the DL-RS 1162 (e.g., DL-PRS and / or SSB). In sub-stage 1174, the companion cell 802 measures the UL-PRS 1164. The measurements may yield various information, such as received power, received power relative to a reference power, time of arrival, time of arrival relative to a reference signal, etc.

[0112] At stage 1180, the UE 600 and / or the companion cell 802 send location information. For example, the companion cell 802 may send one or more measurements and / or one or more processed measurements of the DL-RS 1162 based on processing of the one or more measurements (e.g., estimated UE location, pseudorange, offset, etc.) to the server 700 in a Location Information message 1181. The companion cell 802 may also or alternatively send one or more measurements and / or one or more processed measurements of the UL-PRS 1164 to the UE 600, for example, in a Location Information message 1182 for UE-based positioning. The UE 600 may send the one or more measurements and / or one or more processed measurements to the server 700, for example, in a Location Information message 1183 for UE-assisted positioning (or UE-based positioning with a message 1183 containing a location estimate).

[0113] At steps 1190, 1192, the server 700 and / or the UE 600 may determine location information from the measured signals and / or location information received at step 1180, similar to the discussion of steps 890, 892. The server 700 and / or the UE 600 use the signal measurements from the UE 600 and the companion cell 802 to determine a single RTT measurement.

[0114] Referring to FIG. 12, and with further reference to FIGS. 3-8, a signaling and process flow 1200 for determining location information using UL PRS (SRS for positioning) over the SUL band includes the steps shown. The location information is determined using one or more UL-based positioning techniques. Flow 1200 is an example, and steps may be added, reordered, and / or deleted. In flow 1200, step 1210 may be the same as step 810 discussed above. Flow 1200 provides an example for multi-RTT positioning, particularly with respect to steps 1260 and 1270, although the techniques discussed may apply to other positioning techniques.

[0115] At step 1220, the server 700 determines to use a multi-measurement positioning technique, e.g., multi-RTT, to determine the position of the UE 600. The server 700 may determine whether to use a single measurement or a multi-measurement technique as discussed with respect to FIG. 8 and step 820. In this example, the server 700 determines that a multi-measurement positioning technique should be used, e.g., is suitable to provide the required or requested positioning accuracy.

[0116] In step 1230 and / or step 1235, the server 700 and / or the serving cell 801 determine whether the UE 600 is coverage-limited. For example, in step 1230, the server 700 may determine that the UE 600 is not in a coverage-limited area (e.g., coverage-limited area 580), i.e., is in a UL coverage area (e.g., UL coverage area 530) or in an edge coverage-limited area (e.g., edge coverage-limited area 550). For example, the server 700 may determine that the transmit power of the UE 600 is less than the path loss between the serving cell 801 and the UE 600, or that the serving cell 801 can measure the signal received from the UE 600 using only one instance of the signal. The server 700 may determine that the UE 600 is in a fringe coverage-limited area based on the UE 600's transmit power exceeding the path loss between the UE 600 and the serving cell 801, but the serving cell 801 being able to measure a signal from the UE 600 by combining multiple instances of the signal. As another example, the server 700 may determine that the UE 600 is in a fringe coverage-limited area based on the path loss exceeding the UE's transmit power by less than a threshold amount. The determination may be made by the serving cell 801 in step 1235, and a coverage indication 1236 may be provided to the server 700. The server 700 may make the coverage determination in step 1230 with or without the coverage indication 1236.

[0117] In step 1250, the server 700 indicates a positioning signal configuration based on a multi-cell positioning technique (e.g., multi-RTT) to be used and based on whether the UE 600 is in a non-coverage-limited or fringe-coverage-limited area. Step 1250 may be similar to step 850, except that in step 1250, the server 700 determines a companion SUL band and coordinates the allocation of OFDM resources for the communications band (e.g., UHB) for the UL and DL, as well as the OFDM resources for the SUL band for the UL and DL. For example, the server 700, e.g., the positioning signal unit 750, may coordinate (with the serving cell 801) the allocation of OFDM resources for the UL and DL on the communications band between the serving cell 801 and the UE 600, and coordinate (with the companion cell 802) the OFDM resources for the UL and DL on the SUL band between the companion cell 802 and the UE 600. All allocations may be included in positioning signal configuration messages 1252, 1254, 1256, each indicating the configuration (e.g., including the configuration or acknowledging the configuration). Alternatively, message 1252 may indicate an allocation for the communications band but not for the SUL band, and message 1256 may indicate an allocation for the SUL band but not for the communications band. The serving cell 801 and companion cell 802 may be physically located within a single base station or physically located within separate base stations. The configuration message 1256 may be sent from the server 400 directly to the companion cell 802 or indirectly via the serving cell 801.

[0118] In step 1260, the serving cell 801, the companion cell 802, and the UE 600 exchange positioning signals according to the indicated resources. The serving cell 801 sends one or more DL-RSs 1262 to the UE 600 in the communication band, and the UE 600 sends a UL-PRS 1264 to the serving cell 801 in the communication band. The serving cell 801 sends one or more Tx switch commands 1265, for example, in a DCI indication (based on the received positioning signal configuration message 1252), for the UE 600 to switch to the SUL band for sending the UL-PRS. The companion cell 802 sends one or more DL-RSs 1266, and the UE 600, e.g., the SUL unit 650, responds to the Tx switch command 1265 by sending one or more UL-PRSs 1268 to the companion cell 802 in the companion SUL band.

[0119] In step 1270, positioning signals are measured. In substep 1272, the UE 600 measures DL-RS 1262 (e.g., DL-PRS and / or SSB) from the serving cell 801 and from the companion cell 802. The UE 600 may use a legacy measurement gap (MG) configuration to detune from the communications band, autonomously tune to the SUL band, and measure the DL-RS 1266 in the SUL band. In substep 1274, the serving cell 801 measures the UL-PRS 1264. In substep 1276, the companion cell 802 measures the UL-PRS 1268. The measurements may yield various information, such as received power, received power relative to a reference power, arrival time, arrival time relative to a reference signal, etc. The measurements may be RTT measurements to support multi-RTT positioning techniques.

[0120] At stage 1280, similar to stage 1180 discussed above, UE 600 and / or serving cell 801 and / or companion cell 802 send location information to UE 600 and / or server 700, respectively. For example, serving cell 801 and companion cell 802 may send UL-PRS measurements to UE 600 for UE-based positioning. As another example, UE 600 may send DL-RS measurements and serving cell 801 and companion cell 802 may send UL-PRS measurements to server 700 for UE-assisted positioning.

[0121] In steps 1290, 1292, the server 700 and / or the UE 600 may determine location information from the measured signals and / or the location information received in step 1280, similar to the discussion of steps 890, 892.

[0122] 1-12, a method 1300 for indicating resources for uplink-based positioning includes the steps shown. However, method 1300 is by way of example and not limitation. Method 1300 may be modified, for example, by adding, removing, reordering, combining, or simultaneously performing steps, and / or dividing a single step into multiple steps.

[0123] At stage 1310, method 1300 includes determining whether the UE is within a downlink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for a first frequency band and a transmit power of the serving cell and outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and a transmit power of the UE. For example, the server 700 may receive a metrics message 814 from the serving cell 801 with an indication of the transmit power of the UE 600, an indication of a path loss between the UE 600 and the serving cell 801, and / or an indication of whether the UE 600 is within a coverage-restricted area. The processor 710, possibly in combination with the memory 730, the interface 720 (e.g., the wireless receiver 444 and antenna 446, and / or the wired receiver 454), may comprise means for receiving one or more inputs from the TRP. The processor 710 may use the transmit power of the UE 600 and the path loss between the UE 600 and the serving cell 801 to determine whether the UE 600 is within a coverage-limited area, e.g., coverage-limited area 580 (outside the UL coverage area 530, which may include the fringe coverage-limited area 550). As another example, the processor 710 may determine whether the UE 600 is within a coverage-limited area by reading an indication from the serving cell 801 of whether the UE 600 is within a coverage-limited area. As another example, the processor may determine whether the UE 600 is within a coverage-limited area based on a location estimate of the UE 600 (e.g., using E-CID) and the UE's available transmit power relative to one or more thresholds. The processor 710, possibly in combination with the memory 730, and possibly in combination with the interface 720 (e.g., a transceiver 415 such as a wired receiver 454 and / or a wireless receiver 444 and an antenna 446), may comprise means for determining whether the UE is within a downlink coverage area and outside an uplink coverage area.

[0124] At stage 1320, method 1300 includes identifying a second frequency band supported by the UE, the second frequency band including a frequency below the lowest frequency of the first frequency band. For example, processor 710 may identify an SUL band indicated by an SUL band capability message, such as SUL band capability message 900 or SUL band capability message 1000, to identify the SUL band supported by UE 600 along with the communications band used by UE 600 and serving cell 801. Processor 710 may locate the communications band used by UE 600 and serving cell 801 (first frequency band), determine the SUL band indicated in a band combination including the communications band, and identify the SUL band as the second frequency band. Processor 710, possibly in combination with memory 730, may comprise means for identifying the second frequency band.

[0125] At stage 1330, method 1300 includes providing at least one PRS indication indicating at least OFDM UL-PRS resources in a second frequency band for the UE based on a determination that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the UE's transmit power. The processor 710, e.g., the positioning signal unit 750, may transmit a PSC message 856, 1156, 1256 indicating (e.g., including or acknowledging the configuration of) OFDM UL-PRS resources in the SUL band. Doing so may enable the UE 600 to use the SUL band to convey the UL-PRS, which may enable UL-based positioning techniques with the UE 600 in NR UHB mid- and far-cell conditions that were not previously possible. The processor 710, possibly in combination with the memory 730, in combination with the interface 720 (e.g., the wireless transmitter 442 and antenna 446, and / or the wired transmitter 452), may comprise means for providing at least one PRS indication indicating OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band.

[0126] Implementations of method 1300 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, providing at least one PRS indication includes providing at least one PRS indication indicating OFDM UL-PRS resources and OFDM DL-RS resources based on a determination that the UE is outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the UE's transmit power, and based on a single-measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the UE's location. For example, as discussed with respect to Figures 11 and 12, the server 700 (e.g., the positioning signal unit 750) may transmit a PSC message 1152, 1252 to indicate DL-RS resources (in either the SUL band or the communications band) based on (e.g., in view of) that the UE 600 is coverage-limited and that a single-measurement RTT positioning technique should be used (e.g., requested and / or selected for use) to determine the UE 600's location. In another example implementation, the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE, and providing the at least one PRS indication includes providing the at least one PRS indication indicating both OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and OFDM DL-RS resources in the first frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and the second transmit power of the UE and the serving cell being synchronized with the companion cell. For example, as discussed with respect to FIG. 11 , the server 700 may transmit the PSC message 1156 to indicate the UL-PRS resources in the SUL band and the PSC message 1152 to indicate the DL-RS resources in the communications band based on (e.g., in view of) the companion cell 802 within range of the UE 600 that uses the SUL band being synchronized with the serving cell 801. The first and second transmit powers of the UE may be the same.In another example implementation, providing at least one PRS indication includes providing at least one PRS indication indicating OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band. In another example implementation, the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, and providing at least one PRS indication includes providing at least one PRS indication indicating both OFDM UL-PRS resources and OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE, and the serving cell not being synchronized with the companion cell. 8, the server 700 may transmit PSC messages 856, 852 to indicate UL-PRS resources and DL-RS resources in the SUL band based on the fact that a companion cell 802 within range of the UE 600 that uses the SUL band is not synchronized with the serving cell 801. The first and second transmit powers of the UE may be the same. In another example implementation, the OFDM DL-RS resource corresponds to one of a DL-PRS or an SSB signal.

[0127] Also or alternatively, implementations of method 1300 may include one or more of the following features. In an example implementation, the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area, the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE, the OFDM UL-PRS resource is a first OFDM UL-PRS resource, and the providing at least one PRS indication includes providing at least one PRS indication based on the UE being within the first uplink coverage area or within an edge coverage limited area of ​​the serving cell, based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for a second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE, and based on a multi-measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the location of the UE, the providing at least one PRS indication including: (1) a first OFDM UL-PRS resource in the first frequency band and a first OFDM DL-RS resource in the first frequency band, and (2) a second OFDM UL-PRS resource in the second frequency band and a second OFDM DL-RS resource in the second frequency band. The step of providing at least one PRS indication indicating DL-RS resources includes providing at least one PRS indication indicating DL-RS resources. The positioning signal unit 750 may indicate downlink and uplink reference signal resources in both the SUL band and the communications band, for example, to facilitate multi-cell RTT. The first and second transmit powers of the UE may be the same. In another example implementation, determining whether the UE is within the downlink coverage area of ​​the serving cell and outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell includes determining that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell based on a path loss between the serving cell and the UE exceeding the transmit power of the UE. For example, the server 700 may determine that the UE 600 is coverage-limited if the available transmit power of the UE 600 is less than the path loss between the serving cell 801 and the UE 600.

[0128] Other Considerations Other examples and implementations are within the scope of this disclosure and the appended claims. For example, due to the nature of software and computers, the functions described above may be implemented using software executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof. The features that implement the functions may also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed such that portions of the functions are implemented in various physical locations.

[0129] As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include the plural forms unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The terms "comprises," "comprising," "includes," and / or "comprising," as used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0130] As used herein, the term RS (Reference Signal) may refer to one or more reference signals and may refer to any form of the term RS, e.g., PRS, SRS, CSI-RS, etc., as appropriate.

[0131] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, a statement that a function or action is "based on" an item or condition means that the function or action is based on the stated item or condition, and may be based on one or more items and / or conditions in addition to the stated item or condition.

[0132] Also, as used herein, "or" in a list of items (which may be preceded by "at least one of" or "one or more of") indicates a disjunctive list, such as a list "at least one of A, B, or C" or a list "one or more of A, B, or C" or a list "A or B or C" meaning A, or B, or C, or AB (A and B), or AC (A and C), or BC (B and C), or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or a combination of two or more elements (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Thus, a statement that an item, e.g., a processor, is configured to perform a function with respect to at least one of A or B, or that an item is configured to perform function A or function B, means that the item may be configured to perform the function with respect to A, or the function with respect to B, or the function with respect to A and B. For example, the phrases "a processor configured to measure at least one of A or B" or "a processor configured to measure A or measure B" mean that the processor may be configured to measure A (and may or may not be configured to measure B), or may be configured to measure B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or may be configured to measure A and measure B (and may be configured to select for measuring either A and / or B). Similarly, a recitation of a means for measuring at least one of A or B includes a means for measuring A (which may or may not be capable of measuring B), or a means for measuring B (which may or may not be configured to measure A), or a means for measuring A and B (which may be capable of selecting for measuring either A and / or B).As another example, a statement that an item, e.g., a processor, is configured to at least one of perform a function X or perform a function Y means that the item may be configured to perform function X, or may be configured to perform function Y, or may be configured to perform function X and function Y. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to perform at least one of measuring X or measuring Y" means that the processor may be configured to measure X (and may or may not be configured to measure Y), or may be configured to measure Y (and may or may not be configured to measure X), or may be configured to measure X and measure Y (and may be configured to select between measuring either X and Y, or both).

[0133] Significant variations may be made according to particular requirements. For example, customized hardware might be used, and / or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software executed by a processor (including portable software such as applets), or both. Additionally, connections to other computing devices, such as network input / output devices, may be utilized. Functional or other components shown in the figures and / or discussed herein as connected to or in communication with each other are communicatively coupled unless otherwise noted. That is, components may be connected directly or indirectly to enable communication therebetween.

[0134] The systems and devices described above are examples. Various configurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, features described with respect to some configurations can be combined in various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of the configurations can be similarly combined. Also, technology evolves, and thus many of the elements are examples and do not limit the scope of the disclosure or claims.

[0135] A wireless communication system is one in which communications are conveyed wirelessly, i.e., by electromagnetic and / or acoustic waves propagating through atmospheric space rather than through wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not have all communications transmitted wirelessly, but is configured to have at least some communications transmitted wirelessly. Furthermore, the term "wireless communication device" or similar terms does not require that the functionality of the device be exclusively, or even primarily, for communication, or that communication using a wireless communication device be exclusively, or even primarily, wireless, or that the device be a mobile device, but indicates that the device includes wireless communication capabilities (unidirectional or bidirectional), e.g., at least one radio for wireless communication (each radio being part of a transmitter, receiver, or transceiver).

[0136] In the description, specific details are provided to provide a thorough understanding of example configurations (including implementations). However, the configurations may be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques are shown without unnecessary detail to avoid obscuring the configurations. This description provides an example configuration and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the claims. Rather, the foregoing description of the configurations provides a description for implementing the described techniques. Various changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elements.

[0137] As used herein, the terms "processor-readable medium," "machine-readable medium," and "computer-readable medium" refer to any medium that participates in providing data that causes a machine to operate in a specific fashion. With a computing platform, various processor-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / code to the processor for execution and / or be used for storing and / or carrying such instructions / code (e.g., signals). In many implementations, processor-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media may take many forms, including, but not limited to, non-volatile media and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, but are not limited to, dynamic memory.

[0138] While several example configurations have been described, various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used. For example, the above elements may be components of a larger system, in which other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the present disclosure. Also, some actions may occur before, during, or after the above elements are considered. Therefore, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0139] Unless otherwise specified, "about" and / or "approximately," as used herein when referring to a measurable value such as an amount, duration, etc., encompasses a variation of ±20%, or ±10%, or ±5%, or ±0.1% from the specified value, when such variation is appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein. Unless otherwise specified, "substantially," as used herein when referring to a measurable value such as an amount, duration, physical attribute (such as frequency), etc., also encompasses a variation of ±20%, or ±10%, or ±5%, or ±0.1% from the specified value, when such variation is appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein.

[0140] A statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or exceeds) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value meets or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is a value that is higher than the first threshold at the resolution of the computing system. A statement that a value is less than (or is within or below) a first threshold is equivalent to a statement that the value is equal to or less than a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold, e.g., the second threshold is a value that is lower than the first threshold at the resolution of the computing system. [Explanation of symbols]

[0141] 100 Communication system, system 105 UE 106 UE 110a NR Node B (gNB), gNB (g Node B), gNB 110b NR Node B (gNB), gNB (g Node B), gNB 114 Next Generation eNodeB (ng-eNB), ng-eNB (eNodeB), ng-eNB 115 Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 117 Session Management Facility (SMF) 120 Location Management Function (LMF) 125 Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 130 external clients 135 Next Generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN) 140 5G Core Network (5GC) 150 servers 185 Constellation 190 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 191 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 192 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 193 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 200 UE 210 processor 211 memory 212 Software (SW) 213 Sensor 214 Transceiver Interface 215 Transceiver 216 User Interface 217 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) Receiver 218 Camera 219 Position Device (PD) 220 Bus 230 General Purpose / Application Processors, Processors 231 Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Processor 232 modem processor 233 Video Processor 234 Sensor Processor, Processor 240 Wireless Transceiver 242 Wireless Transmitter 244 Wireless Receiver 246 Antenna 250 Wired Transceiver 252 Wired Transmitter 254 Wired Receiver 262 SPS Antenna 300 TRP 310 processor 311 memory 312 Software (SW) 315 Transceiver 320 Bus 340 Wireless Transceiver 342 Wireless Transmitter 344 Wireless Receiver 346 Antenna 350 Wired Transceiver 352 Wired Transmitter 354 Wired Receiver 400 servers 410 processor 411 memory 412 Software (SW) 415 Transceiver 420 Bus 440 Wireless Transceiver 442 Wireless Transmitter 444 Wireless Receiver 446 Antenna 450 Wired Transceiver 452 Wired Transmitter 454 Wired Receiver 510 base station 520 UE 570 base station 600 UE 610 processor 620 Interface 630 memory 640 Bus 650 SUL unit 700 servers 710 processor 720 Interface 730 memory 740 Bus 750 Positioning Signal Unit 801 serving cells

Claims

1. A transceiver; Memory and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory; a location server comprising: determining whether a user equipment (UE) is within a downlink coverage area of ​​a serving cell for a first frequency band and a transmit power of the serving cell, and whether the UE is outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and a transmit power of the UE; identifying a second frequency band supported by the UE, the second frequency band including a frequency below a lowest frequency of the first frequency band; providing, via the transceiver, at least one positioning reference signal (PRS) indication indicating at least orthogonal frequency division multiplexing uplink positioning reference signal (OFDM UL-PRS) resources in the second frequency band for the UE based on determining that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the transmit power of the UE; a location server configured to:

2. The processor:

10. The location server of claim 1, further comprising: a location server configured to provide the at least one PRS indication indicating the OFDM UL-PRS resources and orthogonal frequency division multiplexing downlink reference signal (OFDM DL-RS) resources in the second frequency band based on the determination that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the transmit power of the UE, and based on a single measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the location of the UE.

3. the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area; the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE; The processor:

3. The location server of claim 2, configured to provide the at least one PRS indication indicating both the OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and the OFDM DL-RS resources in the first frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE and the serving cell being synchronized with the companion cell.

4. The processor:

3. The location server of claim 2, configured to provide the at least one PRS indication indicating the OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and the OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band.

5. the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area; The processor:

5. The location server of claim 4, further configured to provide the at least one PRS indication indicating both the OFDM UL-PRS resources and the OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE and the serving cell not being synchronized with the companion cell.

6. 3. The location server of claim 2, wherein the OFDM DL-RS resource corresponds to one of a downlink PRS or a synchronization signal block (SSB) signal.

7. the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area; the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE; the OFDM UL-PRS resource is a first OFDM UL-PRS resource; The processor: based on the UE being within the first uplink coverage area or within a fringe coverage limited area of ​​the serving cell, based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE, and based on a multi-measurement round trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the location of the UE; 1) the first OFDM UL-PRS resource in the first frequency band and a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexed downlink reference signal (OFDM DL-RS) resource in the first frequency band; and 2) the location server of claim 1, configured to provide the at least one PRS indication indicating a second OFDM UL-PRS resource in the second frequency band and a second OFDM DL-RS resource in the second frequency band.

8. The processor:

2. The location server of claim 1, configured to determine that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell based on a path loss between the serving cell and the UE exceeding the transmit power of the UE.

9. A method for indicating resources for uplink-based positioning performed by a location server, comprising: determining whether a user equipment (UE) is within a downlink coverage area of ​​a serving cell for a first frequency band and a transmit power of the serving cell, and whether the UE is outside an uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and a transmit power of the UE; identifying a second frequency band supported by the UE, the second frequency band including frequencies below a lowest frequency of the first frequency band; providing at least one PRS indication indicating at least Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexed Uplink Positioning Reference Signal (OFDM UL-PRS) resources in the second frequency band for the UE based on a determination that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the transmit power of the UE; A method comprising:

10. The step of providing at least one PRS indication comprises:

10. The method of claim 9, comprising providing the at least one PRS indication indicating the OFDM UL-PRS resources and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Downlink Reference Signal (OFDM DL-RS) resources in the second frequency band based on the determination that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell for the first frequency band and the transmit power of the UE, and based on a single measurement round-trip time positioning technique being specified to determine a location of the UE.

11. the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area; the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE; The step of providing at least one PRS indication comprises:

10. The method of claim 9, comprising providing the at least one PRS indication indicating both the OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and the OFDM DL-RS resources in the first frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE, and the serving cell being synchronized with the companion cell.

12. The step of providing at least one PRS indication comprises:

10. The method of claim 9, comprising providing the at least one PRS indication indicating the OFDM UL-PRS resources in the second frequency band and the OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band.

13. the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area; The step of providing at least one PRS indication comprises:

13. The method of claim 12, comprising providing the at least one PRS indication indicating both the OFDM UL-PRS resources and the OFDM DL-RS resources in the second frequency band based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE and the serving cell not being synchronized with the companion cell.

14. the uplink coverage area is a first uplink coverage area; the transmit power of the UE is a first transmit power of the UE; the OFDM UL-PRS resource is a first OFDM UL-PRS resource; The step of providing at least one PRS indication comprises: based on the UE being within the first uplink coverage area or within a fringe coverage limited area of ​​the serving cell, based on the UE being within a second uplink coverage area of ​​a companion cell for the UE for the second frequency band and a second transmit power of the UE, and based on a multi-measurement round trip time positioning technique being specified to determine the location of the UE; 1) the first OFDM UL-PRS resource in the first frequency band and a first orthogonal frequency division multiplexed downlink reference signal (OFDM DL-RS) resource in the first frequency band; and 2) providing the at least one PRS indication indicating a second OFDM UL-PRS resource in the second frequency band and a second OFDM DL-RS resource in the second frequency band.

15. The step of determining whether the UE is within the downlink coverage area of ​​the serving cell and whether it is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell includes:

10. The method of claim 9, comprising determining that the UE is outside the uplink coverage area of ​​the serving cell based on a path loss between the serving cell and the UE exceeding the transmit power of the UE.

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