SRS transmission delay shift report

Abstract

The method for sending a sounding reference signal includes the steps of reporting delay shift information from a user equipment to a network entity, the delay shift information indicating that a second sounding reference signal has a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal; sending the first sounding reference signal from a first antenna of a plurality of antennas of the user equipment to the network entity; and sending the second sounding reference signal from a second antenna of the plurality of antennas of the user equipment to the network entity with the delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal.

Description

[Background technology]

[0001] Wireless communication systems have evolved through various generations, including first-generation analog wireless telephone services (1G), second-generation (2G) digital wireless telephone services (including provisional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, internet-enabled wireless services, and fourth-generation (4G) services (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE), or WiMAX), and fifth-generation (5G). Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular systems and personal communication service (PCS) systems. Known examples of cellular systems include cellular analog advanced mobile phone systems (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), and the Global System for Mobile Access (GSM) variant of TDMA.

[0002] The fifth-generation (5G) mobile standard demands improvements such as higher data transfer speeds, more 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, and 1 gigabit per second for every office floor where dozens of people work. Hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported to accommodate large-scale sensor deployments. Therefore, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly higher compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiency should be improved and latency significantly reduced compared to the current standard. [Overview of the project] [Means for solving the problem]

[0003] In one embodiment, user equipment configured for wireless communication includes a transceiver including a plurality of antennas, memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and memory, wherein the processor is configured to send a first sounding reference signal to a network entity via a first antenna among the plurality of antennas, a second sounding reference signal to a network entity via a second antenna among the plurality of antennas, the second sounding reference signal having a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal, and to send delay shift information to the network entity via the transceiver indicating that the second sounding reference signal has a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal.

[0004] Such user device implementations may include one or more of the following features: Delay shift information indicates that the second sounding reference signal has a non-zero delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal. To send delay shift information, the processor is configured to send a delay shift value indicating the amount of delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. The delay shift value indicates the maximum delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. The processor is further configured to determine the delay shift value based on the subcarrier interval between the first and second sounding reference signals. The processor is further configured to determine the delay shift value as a multiple of the step size,

[0005]

number

[0006] And Δf max This is the maximum subcarrier interval, N f k is the maximum Fast Fourier Transform size, and k is a constant based on the subcarrier spacing.

[0007] Similarly or alternatively, such user equipment implementations may include one or more of the following features: The processor is further configured to send delay-shift information in response to receiving a configuration message via a transceiver instructing the user equipment to operate in a codebook-based full-power transmit mode. The processor is further configured to send delay-shift information to a server using LPP (Long-Term Evolution Positioning Protocol) signaling or to a base station using RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling, at least one of the following: The processor is further configured to send delay-shift information in at least one of MAC-CE (Media Access Control-Control Element) commands or positioning reports. The processor is further configured to send delay-shift information in MAC-CE commands, the delay-shift information including a delay-shift value for a sounding reference signal resource set or a sounding reference signal resource.

[0008] Similarly or alternatively, such user equipment implementations may include one or more of the following features: The processor is configured to send the first and second sounding reference signals with a delay shift not greater than the duration of the first cyclic prefix of the first sounding reference signal or the second cyclic prefix of the second sounding reference signal. The first and second sounding reference signals have the same content. The delay shift information includes timing correction, timing offset, cyclic shift delay, or any combination thereof, and both the first and second sounding reference signals are positioning sounding reference signal resources, positioning sounding reference signal resource sets, or communication sounding reference signals.

[0009] In another embodiment, the user equipment includes means for sending a first sounding reference signal to a network entity via a first antenna among a plurality of antennas; means for sending a second sounding reference signal to the network entity via a second antenna among a plurality of antennas with a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal; and means for reporting delay shift information to the network entity, wherein the delay shift information indicates that the second sounding reference signal has a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal.

[0010] Such user device implementations may include one or more of the following features: Delay shift information indicates that the second sounding reference signal has a non-zero delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal. Means for reporting delay shift information include means for reporting a delay shift value indicating the amount of delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. The delay shift value indicates the maximum delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. The user device includes means for determining the delay shift value based on the subcarrier interval between the first and second sounding reference signals. The user device includes means for determining the delay shift value as a multiple of the step size.

[0011]

number

[0012] And Δf max This is the maximum subcarrier interval, N f k is the maximum Fast Fourier Transform size, and k is a constant based on the subcarrier spacing.

[0013] Similarly or alternatively, such user equipment implementations may include one or more of the following features: Means for reporting delay shift information include means for reporting delay shift information in response to receiving a configuration message instructing the user equipment to operate in a codebook-based full-power transmit mode. Means for reporting delay shift information include means for reporting delay shift information to a server using LPP (Long-Term Evolution Positioning Protocol) signaling or to a base station using RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling. Means for reporting delay shift information include means for reporting delay shift information in at least one of a MAC-CE (Media Access Control-Control Element) command or a positioning report. Means for reporting delay shift information include means for reporting delay shift information in a MAC-CE command, wherein the delay shift information includes a sounding reference signal resource set or a delay shift value for a sounding reference signal resource.

[0014] Similarly or alternatively, such a user device implementation may include one or more of the following features: The means for sending a first sounding reference signal and the means for sending a second sounding reference signal include means for sending the first and second sounding reference signals such that the delay shift does not exceed the duration of the first cyclic prefix of the first sounding reference signal or the second cyclic prefix of the second sounding reference signal. The first and second sounding reference signals have the same content.

[0015] In another embodiment, the method of sending a sounding reference signal includes reporting delay shift information from a user equipment to a network entity, where the delay shift information indicates that a second sounding reference signal has a delay shift relative to a first sounding reference signal; sending the first sounding reference signal from a first antenna among a plurality of antennas of the user equipment to the network entity; and sending the second sounding reference signal from a second antenna among the plurality of antennas of the user equipment to the network entity with a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal.

[0016] Implementations of such a method may include one or more of the following features. The delay shift information indicates that the second sounding reference signal has a non-zero delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal. The step of reporting the delay shift information includes reporting a delay shift value indicating the amount of the delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. The delay shift value indicates the maximum delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. The method includes determining the delay shift value based on the subcarrier spacing between the first sounding reference signal and the second sounding reference signal. The method includes determining the delay shift value as a multiple of a step size,

[0017]

Number

[0018] where Δf max is the maximum subcarrier spacing, N f is the maximum fast Fourier transform size, and k is a constant based on the subcarrier spacing.

[0019] Similarly or alternatively, an implementation of such a method may include one or more of the following features. The method includes receiving, at a user equipment, a configuration message instructing the user equipment to operate in a codebook-based full power transmission mode, and the delay shift information is reported in response to receiving the configuration message. The delay shift information is reported to at least one of a server using LPP (Long Term Evolution Positioning Protocol) signaling or a base station using RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling. The delay shift information is reported in at least one of a MAC-CE (Media Access Control - Control Element) command or a positioning report. The delay shift information is reported in a MAC-CE command, and the delay shift information includes a sounding reference signal resource set or a delay shift value for a sounding reference signal resource.

[0020] Similarly or alternatively, an implementation of such a method may include one or more of the following features. The first sounding reference signal and the second sounding reference signal are sent such that the delay shift does not exceed the duration of the first cyclic prefix of the first sounding reference signal or the second cyclic prefix of the second sounding reference signal. The first sounding reference signal and the second sounding reference signal have the same content. The delay shift information includes timing correction, timing offset, cyclic shift delay, or any combination thereof, and both the first sounding reference signal and the second sounding reference signal are positioning sounding reference signal resources, a positioning sounding reference signal resource set, or sounding reference signals for communication.

[0021] In another embodiment, the non-temporary processor-readable storage medium includes a processor-readable instruction that causes the processor of the user device to send a first sounding reference signal to a network entity via a first antenna among a plurality of antennas of the user device; send a second sounding reference signal to the network entity via a second antenna among a plurality of antennas of the user device, wherein the second sounding reference signal has a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal; and send delay shift information to the network entity indicating that the second sounding reference signal has a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal.

[0022] Such a storage medium implementation may include one or more of the following features: Delay shift information indicates that the second sounding reference signal has a non-zero delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal. A processor-readable instruction for causing the processor to send delay shift information includes a processor-readable instruction for causing the processor to send a delay shift value indicating the amount of delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. The delay shift value indicates the maximum delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. The storage medium includes a processor-readable instruction for causing the processor to determine the delay shift value based on the subcarrier interval between the first and second sounding reference signals. The storage medium includes a processor-readable instruction for causing the processor to determine the delay shift value as a multiple of the step size.

[0023]

number

[0024] And Δf max This is the maximum subcarrier interval, N f k is the maximum Fast Fourier Transform size, and k is a constant based on the subcarrier spacing.

[0025] Similarly or alternatively, such a storage medium implementation may include one or more of the following features: A processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to send delay-shift information includes a processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to send delay-shift information in response to receiving a configuration message instructing the user device to operate in a codebook-based full-power transmit mode. A processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to send delay-shift information includes a processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to send delay-shift information to a server using LPP (Long-Term Evolution Positioning Protocol) signaling or to a base station using RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling. A processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to send delay-shift information includes a processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to send delay-shift information in at least one of a MAC-CE (Media Access Control-Control Element) command or a positioning report. A processor-readable instruction for causing the processor to send delay shift information includes a processor-readable instruction for causing the processor to send delay shift information within a MAC-CE command, and the delay shift information includes a delay shift value for the sounding reference signal resource set or sounding reference signal resource.

[0026] Similarly or alternatively, such a storage medium implementation may include one or more of the following features: A processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to send a first sounding reference signal and a second sounding reference signal includes a processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to send a first sounding reference signal and a second sounding reference signal with a delay shift not greater than the duration of the first cyclic prefix of the first sounding reference signal or the second cyclic prefix of the second sounding reference signal. A processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to send a first sounding reference signal and a second sounding reference signal includes a processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to send a first sounding reference signal and a second sounding reference signal having the same content. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0027] [Figure 1] This is a simplified diagram of an example of a wireless communication system. [Figure 2] Figure 1 is a block diagram of the components of an exemplary user device. [Figure 3] This is a block diagram of the components of an exemplary transmit / receive point. [Figure 4] Figure 1 is a block diagram of the components of an exemplary server. [Figure 5] This is a schematic diagram illustrating the transmission of a signal with a relative delay shift. [Figure 6] This is a block diagram of a multi-input, multi-output system. [Figure 7] This is a block diagram of a resource set with three resources. [Figure 8] This is a block diagram of an exemplary user device. [Figure 9] This is a signaling and process flow for reporting delay shifts for signal transmission and for determining the location of user equipment. [Figure 10] This is a block flow diagram of a method for sending a sounding reference signal. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0028] This specification discusses techniques for reporting delay shifts in sounding reference signals. A UE may send a sounding reference signal with a relative delay shift. The delay shift provides transmit diversity that can help an entity receiving the sounding reference signal decode the signal. The UE may report to a network entity, such as a base station or server, that there is a delay shift in the sounding reference signal. The network entity may use the knowledge of the delay shift to help process the sounding reference signal in determining the UE's location. The UE may report the amount of the delay shift, and the network entity may use this information to help process the received signal in determining the UE's location. These are examples, and other examples may be implemented.

[0029] The items and / or techniques described herein may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned herein: Location determination based on signals transmitted using transmit diversity may be improved. Other capabilities may be provided, and not all implementations of this disclosure are required to provide any, much less, of the capabilities discussed.

[0030] Obtaining the location of mobile devices accessing a wireless network can be useful for many applications, including, for example, emergency calls, personal navigation, consumer asset tracking, and locating friends or family. Existing positioning methods include those based on measuring radio signals transmitted from various devices or entities, including satellite vehicles (SVs) and terrestrial radio sources in a 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, similar to how LTE wireless networks currently use positioning reference signals (PRS) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRS) for location determination.

[0031] The description refers, for example, to a series of actions to be performed by elements of a computing device. Various actions described herein may be performed by a particular circuit (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) by the execution of program instructions by one or more processors, or a combination of both. A sequence of actions described herein may be embodied at runtime in a non-temporary computer-readable medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that cause the relevant processors to perform the functions described herein. Thus, various embodiments described herein can be embodied in several different forms, all of which are within the scope of this disclosure, including the claimed subject matter.

[0032] As used herein, the terms “User Equipment” (UE) and “Base Station” are not specific to any particular Radio Access Technology (RAT), and are not otherwise limited to such RAT, unless otherwise noted. Generally, such UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset tracking device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or (e.g., stationary for some time) and may communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be interchangeable with “Access Terminal” or “AT,” “Client Device,” “Wireless Device,” “Subscriber Device,” “Subscriber Terminal,” “Subscriber Station,” “User Terminal” or “UT,” “Mobile Terminal,” “Mobile Station,” or variations thereof. Generally, a UE may communicate with the core network over the RAN, and through the core network, a UE may be connected to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Naturally, the UE could also have other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the internet, such as via a wired access network or a Wi-Fi network (e.g., based on IEEE 802.11).

[0033] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs that communicate with the UE depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may be alternatively called an access point (AP), network node, node B, advanced node B (eNB), or general node B (g-node B, gNB). Furthermore, in some systems, the base station may provide purely edge node signaling functionality, while in others it may provide additional control and / or network management functionality.

[0034] A UE can be embodied by any of several types of devices, including, but not limited to, printed circuit (PC) cards, CompactFlash® devices, external or internal modems, wireless or wired telephones, smartphones, tablets, consumer asset tracking devices, and asset tags. The communication links on which a UE can send signals to the RAN are called uplink channels (e.g., reverse traffic channels, reverse control channels, access channels, etc.). The communication links on which the RAN can send signals to the UE are called downlink channels or forward link channels (e.g., paging channels, control channels, broadcast channels, forward traffic channels, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) may refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0035] As used herein, the terms “cell” or “sector” may, depending on the context, refer to one of several cells of a base station or the base station itself. The term “cell” may refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (for example, over a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) to distinguish neighboring cells operating over the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communications (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of devices. In some examples, the term “cell” may refer to a portion of the geographical coverage area (e.g., a sector) on which a logical entity operates.

[0036] Referring to Figure 1, an example of communication system 100 includes UE105, UE106, Radio Access Network (RAN) 135, here the fifth-generation (5G) next-generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN), and 5G core network (5GC) 140. UE105 and / or UE106 may be, for example, IoT devices, location tracking devices, cellular phones, vehicles (e.g., cars, trucks, buses, boats, etc.), or other devices. The 5G network may also be called the New Radio (NR) network, NG-RAN 135 may be called the 5G RAN or NR RAN, and 5GC 140 may be called the NG core network (NGC). Standardization of NG-RAN and 5GC is underway in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®, hereafter the same). Therefore, NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140 may comply with current or future standards from 3GPP for 5G support. RAN135 may be another type of RAN, such as a 3G RAN or a 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) RAN. UE106 may be configured to send and / or receive signals to and from other similar entities in System 100 and may be coupled to UE105, although such signaling is not shown in Figure 1 for the sake of simplicity. Similarly, this discussion focuses on UE105 for the sake of brevity. The communication system 100 can use information from the constellation 185 of satellite vehicles (SV) 190, 191, 192, 193 for any other local or regional satellite positioning system (SPS) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, Beidou, or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) (for example, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)). Additional components of the communication system 100 are described below. The communication system 100 may include additional or alternative components.

[0037] As shown in Figure 1, NG-RAN135 includes NR node B (gNB) 110a, 110b, and next-generation e node B (ng-eNB) 114, and 5GC140 includes access and mobility management function (AMF) 115, session management function (SMF) 117, location management function (LMF) 120, and gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 125. gNB110a, 110b, and ng-eNB114 are communicatively coupled to each other and configured to communicate wirelessly bidirectionally with UE105, and each is communicatively coupled to AMF115 and configured to communicate bidirectionally with it. gNB110a, 110b, and ng-eNB114 may be referred to as base stations (BS). AMF115, SMF117, LMF120, and GMLC125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and GMLC is communicatively coupled to an external client 130. SMF117 may act as the initial contact point for a Service Control Function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and erase media sessions. BS110a, 110b, and 114 may be macrocells (e.g., high-power cellular base stations), 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), and Zigbee. One or more of BS110a, 110b, and 114 may be configured to communicate with UE105 via multiple carriers. Each of BS110a, 110b, and 114 may provide communication coverage to its respective geographical area, e.g., a cell. Each cell may be divided into multiple sectors depending on the base station antenna.

[0038] Figure 1 provides a generalized diagram of various components, any or all of which may be used as needed, each of which may be duplicated or omitted as needed. Specifically, one UE 105 is illustrated, but many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may be used in the communication system 100. Similarly, the communication system 100 may include a larger (or smaller) number of SVs (i.e., more or fewer than the four SVs 190-193 illustrated), gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, external client 130, and / or other components. The illustrated connections that connect the various components in the communication system 100 include data and signaling connections, which 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.

[0039] Figure 1 shows a 5G-based network, but similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies such as 3G and Long-Term Evolution (LTE). The implementations described herein (whether for 5G technology and / or for one or more other communication technologies and / or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) a directional synchronization signal, receive and measure the directional signal at a UE (e.g., UE105), and / or provide location assistance to UE105 (via GMLC125 or other location servers), and / or calculate the location of UE105 in a location-enabled device such as UE105, gNB110a, 110b, or LMF120 based on the measurements received at UE105 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 (e-node B) 114, and gNB (g-node B) 110a, 110b are examples and may be replaced by or include, in various embodiments, other various location server and / or base station functionalities, respectively.

[0040] System 100 is wirelessly communicative in that its components can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (at least sometimes using wireless connections), for example, via BS110a, 110b, 114 and / or network 140 (and / or one or more other devices not shown, such as one or more other transmitting and receiving base stations). For indirect communication, the communication may be modified during transmission from one entity to another, for example, by changing the format, such as by changing the header information of a data packet. UE105 may include multiple UEs and may be a mobile wireless communication device, which can communicate wirelessly and via wired connections. UE105 may be any of various devices, such as a smartphone, tablet computer, or vehicle-based device, but these are examples, and UE105 is not required to be one of these configurations, and other configurations of UEs may be used. Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smartwatches, smart jewelry, smart glasses, or headsets). Other UEs may be used, whether they currently exist or will be developed in the future. Furthermore, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) may be implemented within System 100 and may communicate with each other, as well as with UE 105, BS 110a, 110b, 114, the core network 140, and / or external clients 130. For example, such other devices may include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and / or automation devices. The core network 140 may communicate with external clients 130 (e.g., computer systems) so that, for example, external clients 130 can request and / or receive location information about UE 105 (e.g., via GMLC 125).

[0041] UE105 or other devices may be configured to communicate in various networks and / or for various purposes and / or using various technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communication, multiple frequencies for Wi-Fi communication, satellite positioning, one or more types of communication (e.g., GSM (Mobile Global System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long-Term Evolution), V2X (vehicle-to-vehicle, e.g., V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian), V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure), V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle), etc.), IEEE 802.11p, etc.)). V2X communication may be cellular (cellular V2X (C-V2X)) and / or Wi-Fi (e.g., DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Connection)). System 100 may support operation on multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter can transmit a modulated signal simultaneously on multiple carriers. Each modulated signal may 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 may be transmitted on a different carrier and may carry pilot signals, overhead information, data, etc. UEs 105 and 106 can communicate with each other through inter-UE sidelink (SL) communication 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).

[0042] UE105 may include and / or be referred to as a device, mobile device, wireless device, mobile terminal, terminal, mobile station (MS), Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) enabled terminal (SET), or any other name. Furthermore, UE105 may be associated with cell phones, smartphones, laptops, tablets, PDAs, consumer asset tracking devices, navigation devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, health monitors, security systems, smart city sensors, smart meters, wearable trackers, or any other portable or mobile devices. Typically, but not always, the UE105 may support wireless communications 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 known as Wi-Fi), Bluetooth® (BT), Global Interoperability Microwave Access (WiMAX), and 5G New Radio (NR) (e.g., using NG-RAN135 and 5GC140). The UE105 may also support wireless communications using, for example, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that can connect to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or packet cable. The use of one or more of these RATs allows UE105 to communicate with an external client 130 (for example, via an element of 5GC140, not shown in Figure 1, or possibly via GMLC125), and / or the external client 130 may be able to receive location information about UE105 (for example, via GMLC125).

[0043] UE105 may include a single entity or multiple entities in a personal area network where, for example, a user may have access to audio, video and / or data I / O (input / output) devices and / or body sensors, and a separate wireline or wireless modem. The estimated location of UE105 may be called location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position, location estimate, or location fix, and may be geographical, and therefore may or may not include an elevation component (e.g., elevation, ground, floor, or height or depth from underground), and provide location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) for UE105. Alternatively, the location of UE105 may be represented as an urban location (e.g., as the address or designation of a point or narrow area somewhere in a building, such as a particular room or floor). The location of UE105 may be represented as an area or volume (defined either geographically or in the shape of a city) in which UE105 is expected to be located with some degree of probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of UE105 may be represented, for example, as a relative location including distance and direction from a known location. A relative location may be represented as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to some origin in a known location, which may be defined, for example, geographically, in urban terms, or by reference to a point, area, or volume shown in a map, blueprint, or architectural plan. In the descriptions contained herein, the use of the term location may include any of these variations unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of a UE, it is common to obtain values ​​for local x, y, and possibly z coordinates, and then, if desired, convert the local coordinates to absolute coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level).

[0044] UE105 may be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of various technologies. UE105 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. D2D P2P links may support any suitable D2D radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), or Bluetooth®. One or more of a group of UEs using D2D communication may be within the geographical coverage area of ​​a transmit / receive point (TRP), such as one or more of gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114. Other UEs within such a group may be outside such geographical coverage area or otherwise 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, where each UE can transmit to other UEs within the group. A TRP can facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication can be practiced between UEs without the involvement of a TRP. One or more of the groups of UEs using D2D communication may be within the geographical coverage area of ​​a TRP. Other UEs within such a group may be outside such geographical coverage area or otherwise 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 can transmit to other UEs within the group. A TRP can facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication can be practiced between UEs without the involvement of a TRP.

[0045] The base station (BS) in NG-RAN135 shown in Figure 1 includes NR node B, called gNB110a and 110b. The pair of gNB110a and 110b in NG-RAN135 may be interconnected via one or more other gNBs. Access to the 5G network is given to UE105 via wireless communication between UE105 and one or more of the gNB110a and 110b, and these gNBs may provide wireless communication with access to 5GC140 on behalf of UE105 using 5G. In Figure 1, it is assumed that the serving gNB for UE105 is gNB110a, but another gNB (e.g., gNB110b) may act as a serving gNB if UE105 moves to a different location, or as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to UE105.

[0046] The base station (BS) in NG-RAN135 shown in Figure 1 may include ng-eNB114, also known as next-generation advanced node B. ng-eNB114 may connect to one or more of the gNB110a, 110b in NG-RAN135, possibly via one or more other gNBs and / or one or more other ng-eNBs. ng-eNB114 may provide LTE wireless access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to UE105. One or more of the gNB110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB114 may transmit signals to help determine the location of UE105, but may be configured to function as a positioning-only beacon that does not need to receive signals from UE105 or other UEs.

[0047] BS110a, 110b, and 114 may each have one or more TRPs. For example, each sector within a BS cell may have a TRP, but multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., sharing a processor but having separate antennas). System 100 may exclusively include macro TRPs, or system 100 may have different types of TRPs, such as macro, pico, and / or femto TRPs. Macro TRPs may cover relatively large geographical areas (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may enable unrestricted access by terminals subscribing to the service. Pico TRPs may cover relatively small geographical areas (e.g., picocells) and may enable unrestricted access by terminals subscribing to the service. Femto or home TRPs may cover relatively small geographical areas (e.g., femtocells) and may enable limited access by terminals associated with femtocells (e.g., home user terminals).

[0048] As mentioned above, Figure 1 shows a node configured to communicate according to the 5G communication protocol, but 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 Advanced Packet System (EPS) providing LTE wireless access to UE105, the RAN may include an Advanced Universal Mobile Communications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) which may include base stations including Advanced Node B (eNB). The core network for the EPS may include an Advanced Packet Core (EPC). The EPS may include E-UTRAN plus EPC, where in Figure 1, E-UTRAN corresponds to NG-RAN135 and EPC corresponds to 5GC140.

[0049] The gNB110a, 110b, and ng-eNB114 can communicate with the AMF115, which in turn communicates with the LMF120 for positioning functionality. The AMF115 can support the mobility of the UE105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be involved in supporting signaling connections to the UE105 and, potentially, data and voice bearers for the UE105. The LMF120 can communicate directly with the UE105, for example, via wireless communication, or directly with the BS110a, 110b, and 114. The LMF120 can support the positioning of UE105 when UE105 accesses NG-RAN135, and can support positioning 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 kinematics (RTK), precise single positioning (PPP), differential GNSS (DGNSS), extended cell ID (E-CID), angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), and / or other positioning methods. The LMF120 can process location service requests for UE105 received, for example, from AMF115 or GMLC125. The LMF120 may be connected to AMF115 and / or GMLC125. The LMF120 may be referred to by other names, such as Location Manager (LM), Location Function (LF), Commercial LMF (CLMF), or Value-Added LMF (VLMF). Nodes / systems implementing the LMF120 may implement other types of location support modules as additions or alternatives, such as Extended Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP). At least part of the positioning functionality (including the derivation of location in UE105) is obtained in UE105 (for example, signal measurements acquired by UE105 for signals transmitted by wireless nodes by gNB110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB114, and / or LMF12 This may be carried out using the support data provided to UE105 by 0. AMF115 can act as a control node that handles signaling between UE105 and the core network 140, and may provide QoS (Quality of Service) flow and session management. AMF115 can support the mobility of UE105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be involved in supporting signaling connections to UE105.

[0050] The GMLC125 can support location requests for UE105 received from an external client 130, and such location requests can be forwarded to the AMF115 for forwarding to the LMF120 by the AMF115, or the location requests can be forwarded directly to the LMF120. The location response from the LMF120 (including, for example, a location estimate for UE105) may be returned to the GMLC125 either directly or via the AMF115, and the GMLC125 may then return the location response (including, for example, a location estimate) to the external client 130. Although the GMLC125 is shown connected to both the AMF115 and the LMF120, in some implementations it may not be connected to either the AMF115 or the LMF120.

[0051] As further shown in Figure 1, the LMF120 can communicate with gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114 using a new radio positioning protocol A (which may be called NPPa or NRPPa) as defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa may be the same as, similar to, or an extension thereof of LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa) as defined in 3GPP TS36.455, and NRPPa messages are transmitted via the AMF115 between gNB110a (or gNB110b) and the LMF120, and / or between ng-eNB114 and the LMF120. As further shown in Figure 1, the LMF120 and UE105 can communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) as defined in 3GPP TS36.355. The LMF120 and UE105 can further, or instead, communicate using a new radio positioning protocol (which may be called NPP or NRPP) which may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of LPP. Here, LPP and / or NPP messages may be forwarded to the UE105, between the UE105 and the LMF120 via the AMF115 and serving gNB110a, 110b, or serving ng-eNB114. For example, LPP and / or NPP messages may be forwarded between the LMF120 and the AMF115 using the 5G Location Services Application Protocol (LCS AP), and between the AMF115 and the UE105 using the 5G Non-Access Layer (NAS) protocol. The LPP and / or NPP protocols may be used to support positioning of the UE105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, OTDOA, and / or E-CID.The NRPPa protocol may be used to support the positioning of the UE105 using network-based positioning methods such as E-CID (for example, when used with measurements obtained by gNB110a, 110b, or ng-eNB114), and / or the LMF120 may be used to obtain location-related information from gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114, such as parameters defining directional SS transmissions from gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114. The LMF120 may be collateralized with or integrated with the gNB or TRP, or may be located separately from the gNB and / or TRP, and may be configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNB and / or TRP.

[0052] Using a UE-assisted positioning method, UE105 can acquire location measurements and send these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF120) for the calculation of a location estimate for UE105. For example, location measurements may include one or more of the following for gNB110a, 110b, ng-eNB114, and / or WLAN APs: Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Round-Trip Signal Propagation Time (RTT), Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), and / or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ). Location measurements may also include, or instead, GNSS pseudorange, code phase, and / or carrier phase measurements for SV190-193.

[0053] Using a UE-based positioning method, UE105 can acquire location measurements (which may be the same as or similar to location measurements for a UE-assisted positioning method, for example) and calculate its location (for example, with the help of support data received from a location server such as LMF120, or broadcast by gNB110a, 110b, ng-eNB114, or other base stations or APs).

[0054] Using a network-based location method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114) or APs can acquire and / or receive location measurements (e.g., RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, or Time of Arrival (ToA) measurements for signals transmitted by UE105). One or more base stations or APs can then send the measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF120) for the calculation of a location estimate for UE105.

[0055] Using NRPPa, the information provided to the LMF120 by gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114 may include timing and configuration information for directional SS transmissions, as well as location coordinates. The LMF120 may provide some or all of this information to the UE105 as supporting data in LPP and / or NPP messages via NG-RAN135 and 5GC140.

[0056] An LPP or NPP message sent from the LMF120 to the UE105 can instruct the UE105 to do one of a variety of things, depending on the desired functionality. For example, an LPP or NPP message may include an instruction for the UE105 to obtain measurements of GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and / or OTDOA (or some other positioning method). In the case of E-CID, an LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE105 to obtain one or more measurements of a directional signal transmitted within a particular cell supported by one or more of gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114 (or supported by some other type of base station, such as an eNB or WiFi AP) (e.g., beam ID, beamwidth, mean angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements). UE105 may send the measured quantity back to LMF120 via serving gNB110a (or serving ng-eNB114) and AMF115 in an LPP or NPP message (for example, in a 5G NAS message).

[0057] As stated, although the communication system 100 is described in relation to 5G technology, the communication system 100 may be implemented to support other communication technologies such as GSM, WCDMA, and LTE (for example, to implement voice, data, positioning, and other functionalities) used to support and interact with mobile devices such as UE105. In some such embodiments, 5GC140 may be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, 5GC140 may be connected to a WLAN using a non-3GPP inter-network connectivity function in 5GC140 (N3IWF, not shown in Figure 1). For example, the WLAN may support IEEE802.11 WiFi access for UE105 and may have one or more WiFi APs. Here, N3IWF may connect to the WLAN and other elements in 5GC140, such as AMF115. In some embodiments, both NG-RAN135 and 5GC140 may be replaced by one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in an EPS, NG-RAN135 may be replaced with an E-UTRAN including an eNB, and 5GC140 may be replaced with an EPC including a Mobility Management Entity (MME) instead of AMF115, an E-SMLC instead of LMF120, and a GMLC which may be similar to GMLC125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC may use LPPa instead of NRPPa to send and receive location information to and from the eNB in ​​the E-UTRAN, and LPP may be used to support the positioning of UE105. In these other embodiments, the positioning of UE105 using a directional PRS may be supported in a manner similar to that described herein for 5G networks, the difference being that the functions and procedures described herein for gNB110a, 110b, ng-eNB114, AMF115, and LMF120 may, in some cases, apply instead to other network elements such as eNBs, WiFi APs, MMEs, and E-SMLCs.

[0058] As described above, in some embodiments, positioning functionality can be implemented, at least in part, using directional SS beams transmitted by base stations (such as gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114) within range of the UE whose location is to be determined (e.g., UE105 in Figure 1). In some cases, the UE can use directional SS beams from multiple base stations (such as gNB110a, 110b, ng-eNB114, etc.) to calculate its position.

[0059] See also Figure 2, UE200 is an example of one of UE105, 106, and comprises a computing platform including a processor 210, memory 211 containing software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for transceivers 215 (including a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250), a user interface 216, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 217, a camera 218, and a position device (PD) 219. The 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 a bus 220 (which may be configured for optical and / or telecommunications, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., one or more of the camera 218, positioning device 219, and / or sensors 213, etc.) may be omitted from the UE200. The processor 210 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 210 may include multiple processors, including a general-purpose / application processor 230, a digital signal processor (DSP) 231, a modem processor 232, a video processor 233, and / or a sensor processor 234. One or more of the processors 230-234 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, the sensor processor 234 may include a processor for RF (radio frequency) sensing (one or more cellular wireless signals are transmitted and reflected, used to identify, map, and / or track objects), and / or 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 the end user of the UE200 for connectivity. Memory 211 is a non-temporary storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM). Memory 211 may store software 212, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code containing instructions configured to cause the processor 210 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, software 212 may not be directly executable by the processor 210, but may be configured to cause the processor 210 to perform functions when compiled and executed, for example. This description may refer to the processor 210 performing functions, but also includes other implementations, such as the processor 210 executing software and / or firmware. This description may refer to processor 210 performing a function as a simplification to the fact that one or more of processors 230-234 perform the function. This description may refer to UE200 performing a function as a simplification to the fact that one or more of the appropriate components of UE200 perform the function. Processor 210 may include, and / or alternatively, memory with stored instructions in addition to memory 211. The functionality of processor 210 will be discussed in more detail below.

[0060] The configuration of the UE200 shown in Figure 2 is an example of the present disclosure as defined in the claims, and is not limiting; other configurations may be used. For example, an exemplary configuration of the UE includes one or more processors 230-234 of the processor 210, memory 211, and a wireless transceiver 240. Other exemplary configurations include one or more processors 230-234 of the processor 210, memory 211, a wireless transceiver, one or more sensors 213, a user interface 216, an SPS receiver 217, a camera 218, a PD 219, and / or a wired transceiver.

[0061] The UE200 may include a modem processor 232 capable of performing baseband processing on signals received and downconverted by the transceiver 215 and / or the SPS receiver 217. The modem processor 232 can perform baseband processing on signals so that they are upconverted for transmission by the transceiver 215. Alternatively, baseband processing may be performed by a processor 230 and / or a DSP 231, although other configurations may be used to perform baseband processing.

[0062] The UE200 may include a sensor 213 which may include one or more of various types of sensors, such as 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. The inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responding to the acceleration of the UE200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes (e.g., 3D gyroscopes). The sensor 213 may include one or more magnetometers (e.g., 3D magnetometers) for determining orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), which can be used for any of a variety of purposes, such as supporting one or more compass applications. 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 imaging devices, and / or one or more microphones. Sensor 213 can generate analog and / or digital signal indications that are stored in memory 211 and can be processed by DSP 231 and / or processor 230, for example, to support one or more applications, such as applications targeting positioning and / or navigation operations.

[0063] Sensor 213 can be used for relative location measurement, relative location determination, motion determination, etc. Information detected by sensor 213 can be used for motion detection, relative displacement, dead reckoning, sensor-based location determination, and / or sensor-assisted location determination. Sensor 213 may be useful in determining whether UE200 is stationary or mobile, and / or whether specific useful information regarding UE200's mobility should be reported to LMF120. For example, based on information acquired / measured by sensor 213, UE200 may notify / report to LMF120 that UE200 has detected movement or has moved, and report relative displacement / distance (e.g., by dead reckoning, sensor-based location determination, or sensor-assisted location determination enabled by sensor 213). In another example, for relative positioning information, the sensor / IMU may be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of other devices relative to UE200, etc.

[0064] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements of the direction and / or speed of motion of the UE200, which 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 UE200, respectively. The linear acceleration and rotational speed measurements of the UE200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction and displacement of motion of the UE200. The instantaneous direction and displacement of motion may be integrated to track the location of the UE200. For example, the reference location of the UE200 may be determined for a given moment, for example, 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 current location of the UE200 based on the motion (direction and distance) of the UE200 relative to the reference location.

[0065] The magnetometer can determine the magnetic field strength in different directions, which can be used to determine the orientation of the UE200. For example, the orientation can be used to provide the UE200 with a digital compass. The magnetometer may include a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and indicate the magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer may include a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and indicate the magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer may provide means for detecting the magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field to, for example, a processor 210.

[0066] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250, respectively, configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a wireless transmitter 242 and a wireless receiver 244 coupled to one or more antennas 246 to transmit (e.g., over one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) and / or receive (e.g., over one or more downlink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) a wireless signal 248, and to convert the signal from the wireless signal 248 to a wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal, and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal to the wireless signal 248. Thus, the wireless transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 244 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wired transceiver 240 may be configured to communicate signals (for example, with the TRP and / or one or more other devices) in accordance with various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Mobile Global System), UMTS (Universal Mobile Communication 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 frequencies and / or sub-6GHz frequencies. The wired transceiver 250 may include a network interface that can be used to communicate with a wired transmitter 252 and a wired receiver 254 configured for wired communication, for example, a network 135, to send communications to and receive communications from there.The wired transmitter 252 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 254 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured, for example, for optical and / or telecommunications. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to the transceiver interface 214, for example, by optical and / or electrical connections. The transceiver interface 214 may be integrated with the transceiver 215, at least in part.

[0067] The user interface 216 may include one or more of several devices, such as speakers, microphones, display devices, vibration devices, keyboards, and touchscreens. The user interface 216 may include several of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to allow the 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 instructions in memory 211 so that they are processed by the DSP 231 and / or general-purpose processor 230 in response to user actions. Similarly, an application housed on the UE 200 may store analog and / or digital signal instructions in memory 211 to present output signals to the user. The user interface 216 may include audio input / output (I / O) devices, such as speakers, microphones, digital-analog circuit configurations, analog-digital circuit configurations, amplifiers, and / or gain control circuit configurations (including several of these devices). Other configurations of audio I / O devices may be used. Alternatively, the user interface 216 may include, for example, one or more touch sensors that respond to touch and / or pressure on the keyboard and / or touchscreen of the user interface 216.

[0068] An SPS receiver 217 (for example, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring an SPS signal 260 via an SPS antenna 262. Antenna 262 may be configured to convert the wireless SPS signal 260 into a wired signal, such as an electrical or optical signal, and may be integrated with antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signal 260 whole or partially in order to estimate the location of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to use the SPS signal 260 to determine the location of the UE 200 by trilateration. A general-purpose processor 230, memory 211, DSP 231, and / or one or more specialized processors (not shown) may be used together with the SPS receiver 217 to process the acquired SPS signal whole or partially and / or to calculate the estimated location of the UE 200. Memory 211 can store instructions (e.g., measurements) of the SPS signal 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals obtained from the wireless transceiver 240) for use when performing positioning operations. The general-purpose processor 230, DSP 231, and / or one or more specialized processors, and / or memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for use when processing measurements to estimate the location of the UE200.

[0069] The UE200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still images or video. The camera 218 may include, for example, an image sensor (e.g., a charge-coupled element or a CMOS imager), a lens, an analog-digital circuit configuration, a frame buffer, and the like. Additional processing, adjustment, encoding, and / or compression of the signal representing the captured image may be performed by a general-purpose processor 230 and / or DSP 231. Similarly or alternatively, a video processor 233 may perform adjustment, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of the signal representing the captured image. The video processor 233 can decode / decompress the stored image data for display, for example, on a display device (not shown) of the user interface 216.

[0070] 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 the time. For example, the PD 219 may communicate with and / or include part or all of the SPS receiver 217. The PD 219 may, as necessary, work with the processor 210 and memory 211 to implement at least part of one or more positioning methods, but the description herein may refer to the PD 219 being configured to implement, or to implement, 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 signals 248) to help acquire and use the SPS signal 260 for trilateration, or both. PD219 may be configured to use one or more other techniques for determining the location of UE200 (e.g., relying on the UE's self-reporting location (e.g., part of the UE's location beacon)), or a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and ground positioning signals) for determining the location of UE200. PD219 may include one or more sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, etc.) that can detect the orientation and / or motion of UE200 and provide indications thereof, which can be configured for use by the processor 210 (e.g., processor 230 and / or DSP231) to determine the motion of UE200 (e.g., velocity vector and / or acceleration vector). PD219 may be configured to provide indications of uncertainty and / or error in the determined position and / or motion. The functionality of the PD219 may be provided in various ways and / or configurations, for example, by other components of the general-purpose / application processor 230, transceiver 215, SPS receiver 217, and / or UE200, and may be provided by hardware, software, firmware, or various combinations thereof.

[0071] See also Figure 3, the TRP300 examples of BS110a, 110b, and 114 include a computing platform comprising a processor 310, memory 311 containing software (SW) 312, and transceiver 315. The processor 310, memory 311, and transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to one another by a bus 320 (which may be configured, for example, for optical and / or telecommunications). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless interface) may be omitted from the TRP300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The processor 310 may include multiple processors (for example, a general-purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, as shown in Figure 2). Memory 311 is a non-temporary storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM). Memory 311 can store software 312, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code containing instructions configured to cause the processor 310 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 312 does not have to be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured to cause the processor 310 to perform functions when compiled and executed, for example.

[0072] This description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function, but also includes other implementations, such as the processor 310 running software and / or firmware. This description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function as a simplification of the fact that one or more of the processors contained within the processor 310 perform a function. This description may refer to the TRP300 performing a function as a simplification of the fact that one or more suitable components of the TRP300 (and therefore one of the BS110a, 110b, and 114) (e.g., the processor 310 and memory 311) perform a function. The processor 310 may include, and / or instead of, memory with stored instructions in addition to memory 311. The functionality of the processor 310 will be discussed in more detail below.

[0073] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and / or a wired transceiver 350, respectively, configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections. 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., over one or more uplink channels and / or one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., over one or more downlink channels and / or one or more uplink channels) a wireless signal 348, and to convert the signal from the wireless signal 348 to a wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal, and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal to the wireless signal 348. Thus, the wireless transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 344 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The Wireless Transceiver 340 can be configured to communicate signals (for example, with UE200, 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 (Mobile Global System), UMTS (Universal Mobile Communication 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 communication, for example, a network interface and / or one or more other network entities that can be used to communicate with the network 135 to send communications to and receive communications from the LMF 120. The wired transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 354 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured for optical and / or telecommunications, for example.

[0074] The configuration of the TRP300 shown in Figure 3 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting; other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein states that the TRP300 is configured to perform, or will perform, several functions, one or more of which may be performed by the LMF120 and / or UE200 (i.e., the LMF120 and / or UE200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0075] See also Figure 4, a server 400, an example of the LMF120, comprises a computing platform including a processor 410, memory 411 containing software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. The processor 410, memory 411, and transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to one another by a bus 420 (which may be configured, for example, for optical and / or telecommunications). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless interface) 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 (for example, including a general-purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, as shown in Figure 2). The memory 411 is a non-temporary storage medium, which may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. Memory 411 may store software 412, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code containing instructions configured to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured, for example, to cause the processor 410 to perform functions when compiled and executed. This description may refer to the processor 410 performing functions, but also to other implementations, such as the processor 410 executing software and / or firmware. This description may refer to the processor 410 performing functions as a simplification of one or more processors contained within the processor 410 performing functions. This description may refer to the server 400 performing functions as a simplification of one or more appropriate components of the server 400 performing functions.The processor 410 may include, in addition to and / or alternatively, memory containing stored instructions, in addition to memory 411. The functionality of the processor 410 will be discussed in more detail below.

[0076] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and / or a wired transceiver 450, respectively, configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections. 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., over one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., over one or more uplink channels) a wireless signal 448, and to convert the signal from the wireless signal 448 to a wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal, and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal to the wireless signal 448. Thus, the wireless transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 444 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The Wireless Transceiver 440 can be configured to communicate signals (for example, with UE200, 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 (Mobile Global System), UMTS (Universal Mobile Communication 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, for example, a network interface and / or one or more other network entities, which can be used to communicate with the network 135 to send communications to and receive communications from a wired transmitter 452 and a wired receiver 454 configured for wired communication, such as a TRP300.The wired transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 454 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 may be configured, for example, for optical communications and / or telecommunications.

[0077] The descriptions herein may refer to the processor 410 that performs the function, but also include other implementations, such as the processor 410 running software (stored in memory 411) and / or firmware. The descriptions herein may refer to the server 400 performing the function as a simplification of the fact that one or more of the appropriate components of the server 400 (e.g., the processor 410 and memory 411) perform the function.

[0078] The configuration of the server 400 shown in Figure 4 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting; other configurations may be used. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Similarly, or alternatively, while the description herein states that the server 400 is configured to perform or performs several functions, one or more of these functions may be performed by the TRP 300 and / or UE 200 (i.e., the TRP 300 and / or UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0079] Positioning techniques For ground positioning of UEs in cellular networks, techniques such as Altitude Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) and Observation Time of Arrival Difference (OTDOA) often operate in "UE-assisted" mode, in which the UE takes measurements of a reference signal (e.g., PRS, CRS, etc.) transmitted by a base station and then provides these measurements to a location server. The location server then calculates the UE's position based on these measurements and the known locations of the base stations. Because these techniques use the 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.

[0080] UEs can use satellite positioning systems (SPS) (Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)) for high-precision positioning using Precision Single-Person Positioning (PPP) or Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) techniques. These techniques use supporting data such as measurements from ground stations. With LTE Release 15, data is encrypted so that only UEs subscribed to the service can read the information exclusively. Such supporting data changes over time. Therefore, UEs subscribed to the service cannot easily "break the encryption" for other UEs by passing the data to other UEs that have not paid for their subscription. This transfer must be repeated each time the supporting data changes.

[0081] In UE-assisted positioning, the UE sends measured values ​​(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) containing multiple “entries” or “records,” i.e., one record per cell, each record containing geographic cell location but may also contain other data. Identifiers of “records” within the multiple “records” in the BSA may be referenced. The measured values ​​from the BSA and the UE may be used to calculate the UE’s position.

[0082] In conventional UE-based positioning, the UE calculates its own position and thus avoids sending measurements to a network (e.g., a location server), thereby improving latency and scalability. The UE uses relevant BSA record information from the network (e.g., the location of gNBs (or more broadly, base stations)). The BSA information may be encrypted. However, since the BSA information does not change as frequently as, for example, the previously described PPP or RTK-assisted data, it may be easier (compared to PPP or RTK information) to make the BSA information available to UEs that have joined and not paid for the decryption key. The transmission of reference signals by gNBs makes the BSA information potentially accessible to crowdsourcing or ward driving, essentially allowing the BSA information to be generated based on local and / or beyond-limit observations.

[0083] 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 state in which that data becomes available at the positioning system interface, e.g., the LMF120 interface. In the initialization of the positioning system, the latency for location-related data to become available is called the time to first position (TTFF), and is greater than the latency after the TTFF. The inverse of the time elapsed between two consecutive states of location-related data availability is called the update rate, i.e., the rate at which location-related data is generated after the first position. Latency may depend, for example, on the processing capacity of the UE. For example, the UE may report its processing capacity as the duration of DL PRS symbols in units of time (e.g., milliseconds) that the UE can process for every amount of time T (e.g., T ms) assuming a 272 PRB (Physical Resource Block) allocation. Other examples of factors that can affect latency include the number of TRPs that the UE can process from, the number of PRSs that the UE can process, and the UE's bandwidth.

[0084] 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 UE105 or UE106. For example, known positioning techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also known as TDOA, including UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), Extended Cell Identification (E-CID), DL-AoD, and UL-AoA. RTT uses the time it takes for a signal to travel from one entity to another and vice versa to determine the range between two entities. The range, as well as the known location of the first entity and the angle between the two entities (e.g., azimuth), may be used to determine the location of the second entity. In multi-RTT (also known as 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 a given entity. In the TDOA technique, the difference in travel time between one entity and another may be used to determine the relative range from the other entity, and this, combined with the known location of the other entity, may be used to determine the location of the entity. The angles of arrival and / or departure may be used to help determine the location of an 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 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 true north. The angle of arrival or departure may be a zenith angle relative to the direction directly upward from the entity (i.e., relative to the direction 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 reception time and the transmission time at the UE), the estimated timing and power of the detected neighbor cell signals, and possibly the angle of arrival (e.g., from the base station to the signal at the UE or vice versa) to determine the location of the UE. In TDOA, the difference in the arrival time at the receiving device of signals from different sources, together with the known location of the sources and the known offset of the transmission time from the sources, is used to determine the location of the receiving device.

[0085] In network-centric RTT estimation, the serving base station commands the UE to scan / receive RTT measurement signals (e.g., PRS) on the serving cells of two or more neighboring base stations (and usually the serving base station as at least three base stations are required). One or more base stations transmit RTT measurement signals on low-reuse resources (e.g., the resources used by the base station to transmit system information) allocated by the network (e.g., a location server such as LMF120). The UE records the arrival time (also called 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 signals received from its serving base station), and 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 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 include 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 reported by UE Rx→Tx By comparing this, the base station can infer the propagation time between the base station and the UE, and from there, the base station can determine the distance between the UE and the base station by assuming the speed of light during this propagation time.

[0086] UE-centered RTT estimation is similar to network-based methods, except that the UE transmits an uplink RTT measurement signal (for example, when commanded by a serving base station), which is received by multiple base stations in the UE's vicinity. Each participating base station responds with a downlink RTT response message, which may include in its 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.

[0087] 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 party responds with one or more RTT response messages or signals, which may include the difference between the ToA of the first message or signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message or signal.

[0088] A multi-RTT technique can 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 several second entities (e.g., other TSPs such as base stations and / or UEs) may receive signals from the first entity and respond to these received signals. The first entity receives responses from several second entities. The first entity (or another entity such as an LMF) may use the responses from the second entities to determine the range to the second entities, and use several ranges and known locations of the second entities to determine the location of the first entity by trilateration.

[0089] In some cases, additional information may be obtained in the form of an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of departure (AoD) that defines a directional range (e.g., in a linear direction, or in three dimensions) or, in some cases, a range of directions (e.g., from the base station location to the UE). The intersection of the two directions can give another estimate of the UE's location.

[0090] For positioning techniques that use a PRS (Positioning Reference Signal) signal (e.g., TDOA and RTT), PRS signals sent by multiple TRPs are measured, and the signal arrival time, known transmission time, and known location of the TRP are used to determine the range from the UE to the TRP. For example, the RSTD (Reference Signal Time Difference) may be determined for PRS signals received from multiple TRPs and used in the TDOA technique to determine the UE's location. This positioning reference signal is sometimes called a PRS or PRS signal. PRS signals are usually transmitted using the same power and have the same signal characteristics (e.g., the same frequency deviation), and may interfere with each other, so that PRS signals from more distant TRPs may be overwhelmed by PRS signals from closer TRPs, making it impossible to detect signals from more distant TRPs. PRS muting may be used to help reduce interference by muting some PRS signals (reducing the power of the PRS signals, for example, to zero, and therefore not transmitting the PRS signals). In this way, weaker PRS signals can be more easily detected by the UE (in the UE) without stronger PRS signals interfering with weaker PRS signals. The term RS, and its variations (e.g., PRS, SRS), can refer to one or more reference signals.

[0091] The positioning reference signal (PRS) includes a downlink PRS (DL PRS, often simply called PRS) and an uplink PRS (UL PRS) (which may be called an SRS (sounding reference signal) for positioning purposes). The PRS may include a PN code (pseudorandom code) or may be generated using a PN code (for example, by scrambling the PN code with another signal) so that the PRS source can act as a pseudo-satellite. The PN code may be unique to the PRS source (at least within a specified area so that identical PRSs from different PRS sources do not overlap). The PRS may include frequency layer PRS resources or sets of PRS resources. A DL PRS positioning frequency layer (or simply frequency layer) is a collection of DL PRS resource sets from one or more TRPs having PRS resources with common parameters composed of higher-layer parameters DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer, DL-PRS-ResourceSet, and DL-PRS-Resource. Each frequency layer has DL PRS resource sets and DL PRS subcarrier spacing (SCS) for DL ​​PRS resources within the frequency layer. Each frequency layer also has DL PRS resource sets and DL PRS cyclic prefixes (CP) for DL ​​PRS resources within the frequency layer. In 5G, a resource block occupies 12 consecutive subcarriers and a specified number of symbols. The DL PRS point A parameter defines the frequency of a reference resource block (and the lowest subcarrier of the resource block), DL PRS resources belong to the same DL PRS resource set having the same point A, and all DL PRS resource sets belong to the same frequency layer having the same point A. Frequency layers also have the same DL PRS bandwidth, the same start PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size (i.e., the frequency of PRS resource elements per symbol such that every N resource elements in a comb N are PRS resource elements).A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and may be associated with a specific TRP transmitted by the base station's 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 more beams). Each PRS resource in a PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam, and therefore, "PRS resource" or simply "resource" may also be referred to as "beam." This does not imply whether the base station and PRS know the beam transmitted on it to the UE.

[0092] A TRP may be configured to send DL PRSs on a schedule, for example, by instructions received from a server and / or by software within the TRP. According to the schedule, the TRP may send DL PRSs intermittently, for example, periodically at regular intervals from the initial transmission. A TRP may be configured to send one or more PRS resource sets. A resource set is a collection of PRS resources across a single TRP, where resources have the same periodicity, common muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across slots. Each PRS resource set contains multiple PRS resources, each PRS resource containing multiple resource elements (REs) which may be in multiple resource blocks (RBs) within N (one or more) consecutive symbols in a slot. An RB is a collection of REs across a quantity of one or more consecutive symbols in the time domain and a quantity of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain (12 for 5G RBs). Each PRS resource is configured to have an RE offset, a slot offset, a symbol offset in the slot, and several consecutive symbols that the PRS resource may occupy in the slot. The RE offset defines the starting RE offset of the first symbol in the DL PRS resource at a given 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. Transmitted REs may be repeated across slots, and each transmission is called a repeat, as there may be multiple repeats within 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).

[0093] PRS resources can also be defined by pseudo-collocation and start PRB parameters. Pseudo-collocation (QCL) parameters can define any pseudo-collocation information for DL ​​PRS resources with other reference signals. 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 cell or non-serving cell. DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type C with SS / PBCH blocks from a serving cell or non-serving cell. The start PRB parameter defines the start PRB index of the DL PRS resource relative to reference point A. The start PRB index has a granularity of one PRB and can have a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 2176 PRBs.

[0094] A PRS resource set is a collection of PRS resources that span slots and have the same periodicity, the same muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor. Any time when all repetitions of all PRS resources in a PRS resource set are configured to be sent is called an "instance." Therefore, an "instance" of a PRS resource set is a specified number of repetitions for each PRS resource and a specified number of PRS resources in the PRS resource set, and by this means that an instance is complete when a specified number of repetitions have been sent for each of the specified number of PRS resources. An instance may also be called 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 DL PRS.

[0095] Multiple frequency layers of a PRS can be aggregated so that each provides an effective bandwidth greater than any of the layer's bandwidths. Multiple frequency layers with the same antenna port, meeting criteria such as component carriers (which may be consecutive and / or separate) and being quasi-collocated (QCL), may be stitched together to provide a larger effective PRS bandwidth (for DL ​​PRS and UL PRS), increasing arrival time measurement accuracy. When QCLed, different frequency layers behave similarly, allowing the PRS to be stitched together to yield a larger effective bandwidth. The larger effective bandwidth may be referred to as the aggregated PRS bandwidth or aggregated PRS frequency bandwidth, resulting in better time-domain resolution (e.g., TDOA). An aggregated PRS comprises a collection of PRS resources, each PRS resource in the aggregated PRS may be referred to as a PRS component, each PRS component may be transmitted on different component carriers, bandwidths, or frequency layers, or on different portions of the same bandwidth.

[0096] RTT positioning is an active positioning technique in which the RTT uses positioning signals sent by the TRP to the UE and by the UE (involved in RTT positioning) to the TRP. The TRP can send a DL-PRS signal that is received by the UE, and the UE can send an SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) signal that is received by multiple TRPs. The Sounding Reference Signal is sometimes called an SRS or SRS signal. In 5G multi-RTT, cooperative positioning may be used in conjunction with the UE sending a single UL-SRS for positioning that is received by multiple TRPs, rather than sending separate UL-SRS for positioning to each TRP. TRPs involved in multi-RTT typically look up UEs currently camped on that TRP (serviced UEs, where the TRP is the serving TRP) and UEs camped on neighboring TRPs (neighbor UEs). A neighbor TRP may be a TRP of a single BTS (e.g., gNB), or a TRP of one BTS and a TRP of another BTS. For RTT positioning, including multi-RTT positioning, the DL-PRS signal and the UL-SRS signal in the positioning PRS / SRS signal pair used to determine RTT (and therefore the range between the UE and the TRP) may occur close together in time so that errors due to the movement of the UE and / or the clock drift of the UE and / or the clock drift of the TRP are within acceptable limits. For example, the signals in the 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 signal is transmitted by the UE, and because the positioning PRS and SRS signals are transmitted close together in time, it is known that radio frequency (RF) signal congestion (which can cause excessive noise, etc.) may occur, especially when many UEs attempt positioning simultaneously, and / or computational congestion may occur at the TRP attempting to measure many UEs simultaneously.

[0097] RTT positioning may be UE-based or UE-assisted. In UE-based RTT, UE200 determines the RTT and corresponding range to each TRP300, and the position of UE200 based on the range to TRP300 and the known location of TRP300. In UE-assisted RTT, UE200 measures a positioning signal and provides the measurement information to TRP300, which determines the RTT and range. TRP300 provides a range to a location server, for example, server 400, and the server determines the location of UE200, for example, based on the range to a different TRP300. The RTT and / or range may be determined by a TRP300 that receives a signal from UE200, by this TRP300 and one or more other devices, for example, one or more other TRP300s and / or server 400, or by one or more devices other than TRP300 that receive a signal from UE200.

[0098] Various positioning techniques are supported in 5G NR. NR-specific positioning methods supported in 5G NR include DL-only positioning, UL-only positioning, 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 a single base station and RTT with multiple base stations (multi-RTT).

[0099] Location estimation (for example, for a UE) may be referred to by other names such as location estimate, location, position, position fix, or fix. Location estimation is geodetic and may include coordinates (latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may relate to a city and include a place address, mailing address, or any other wording of the location. Location estimation may further be defined against some other known location or defined in absolute terms (for example, using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). Location estimation may include expected error or uncertainty (for example, by including an area or volume that is expected to contain that location with some specified or default confidence).

[0100] Multi-antenna transmission Uplink and / or downlink signals may be transmitted and / or received by multiple antennas. For example, the same signal (e.g., the same content, the same frequency, the same resource) may be transmitted from multiple antennas. Antennas may have transmit diversity, such as spatial diversity and / or delay diversity. Transmit diversity can help a receiver decode a signal, for example, by receiving two versions of a signal that may be subject to different channel states, thus improving the receiver's ability to decode the signal accurately and quickly. Transmit diversity provides multiple-path transmission, which can aid in reception / decoding but can hinder position determination due to fading.

[0101] Cyclic delay diversity (CDD), such as minute delay CDD (S-CDD), is a type of transmit diversity. The CDD type of transmit diversity may be implemented by applying a different phase delay (cyclic phase delay) for each OFDM subcarrier. CDD transmit diversity may be used in spatial multiplexing to increase diversity between two spatial paths. For example, referring to Figure 5, the CDD system 500 includes a transmitter (XMTR) 510, a receiver (RCVR) 520, transmitting antennas 511, 512, receiving antenna 521, and a delay shifter 513. Antennas 511, 512 are shown separately from the transmitter 510, and antenna 521 is shown separately from the receiver 520, but antennas 511, 512, and 521 may be considered as parts of the transmitter 510 and receiver 520, respectively. In system 500, transmitter 510 sends the symbol 514 of the signal to antenna 511 without delay shift, then sends the symbol 514 to delay shifter 513, which introduces a delay shift to the symbol 514 and gives the corresponding delay-shifted symbol to antenna 512. Symbol 514 is shown with half of the symbol shaded to help indicate the delay shifting introduced by delay shifter 513. Antenna 511 sends signal 530 containing the symbol 514 and cyclic prefix 531. Antenna 512 sends signal 540 containing the delay-shifted symbol 541 and cyclic prefix 542. Antenna 511 transmits the original version of the data, i.e., symbol 514, and antenna 512 transmits the cyclically shifted version of the original data.

[0102] System 500 includes two transmitting antennas and one receiving antenna, but other systems with multiple transmitting and receiving antennas may be used. For example, referring also to Figure 6, a multi-input multiple-output (MIMO) system 600 includes a transmitter 610, a receiver 620, transmitting antennas 611, 612, 613, 614, and receiving antennas 621, 622, 623, 624. Each of the transmitting antennas 611-614 sends its own signal, which can be received by each of the receiving antennas 621-624, but to help reduce the complexity of the figure, only signals from transmitting antennas 611 and 614 are shown in Figure 6. Different data streams (e.g., different content, i.e., different logical sequences of modulated (e.g., QPSK (four-phase shift keying)) information) may be transmitted by different ones of the antennas 611-614. System 600 has four transmitting antennas 611-614 and four receiving antennas 621-624, but other quantities of transmitting and / or receiving antennas may be used. Also, the transmitter 610 may be a transceiver and may include receiving capabilities, and the receiver 620 may be a transceiver and may include transmitting capabilities.

[0103] The number of data streams (ports or layers) corresponds to the transmission rank. For example, if four different data streams are transmitted by transmitter 610 through transmitting antennas 611-614, the rank is 4, i.e., rank 4 or full rank. If two different data streams are each transmitted through a pair of transmitting antennas 611-614, this is rank 2, and if one data stream is transmitted through all four transmitting antennas 611-614, this is rank 1. A rank lower than the number of transmitting antennas is called a non-full rank, and the corresponding transmission mode is called a non-full rank transmission mode. In general, the rank of a MIMO system 600 is limited by the smaller of the number of transmitting antennas or the number of receiving antennas. In addition, other considerations, such as the channel status in transmitter 610 and the available resources in receiver 620, can also affect the transmission rank. For example, the rank (and therefore the number of data streams) assigned to a particular UE on the downlink may be determined based on a rank indicator (RI) transmitted from the UE to the base station. The Radio Index (RI) can be determined based on the antenna configuration (e.g., the number of transmitting and receiving antennas), as well as the measured signal-to-noise ratio (SINR) at each of the receiving antennas. The RI may indicate, for example, the number of layers that can be supported under the current channel state. A base station may use the RI, along with resource information (e.g., available resources and the amount of data to be scheduled for the UE), to assign a transmit rank to a UE.

[0104] 3GPP Release 15 allows UEs with multiple SRS ports to transmit at full power (i.e., the maximum power to which the UE is rated) using a non-coherent / partially coherent (non-full-rank) precoder on a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) in MIMO mode. In Release 15, the transmit scaling factor of the number of non-zero ports is divided by the maximum number of configured SRS ports to control the maximum transmit power.

[0105] To improve cell edge coverage, a transmit mode has been introduced that allows the UE to transmit full power (the total amount of power to which the UE is rated) for pushes with non-full ranks, such as rank 1. In transmit mode 1 (TM1) and transmit mode 2 (TM2), the power amplifier on each transmit chain is rated for less power than the UE's power rating. While providing the same functionality, TM1 and TM2 use different methodologies to support full power transmission. The UE only needs to report its ability to support which modes it supports, and the network entity just needs to configure the UE to operate in the selected mode (for example, by sending one or more instructions to the UE). The network may select the UE transmit mode through RRC (Radio Resource Control) signaling using the higher-level parameter ULFPTxModes.

[0106] Transmit Mode 1 supports full-power transmission by allowing non-coherent / partially coherent UEs to use a fully coherent precoder in a transparent S-CDD implementation. This implementation is transparent in that the UE does not inform the network of the resulting delay shift. The fully coherent precoder allows all ports to transmit using the same time and frequency resources. In TM1, the UE may consist of one or two SRS resources with the same number of SRS ports in the SRS resource set and a usage configuration parameter set in “codebook”, which includes a limited set of predefined beamforming (precoder) vectors, each precoder vector configured to attempt to transform the transmit symbol vector so that it reaches the receiver in a desired manner (e.g., maximizing receive power, maximizing power over interference, maximizing throughput / capacity, and / or maximizing outage metrics).

[0107] Transmit mode 2 supports full power transmission and ensures that the SRS resource set (for codebook-based PUSCH) contains up to four SRS resources, each having a different number of SRS ports. Thus, the UE may consist of one or more SRS resources having the same or different number of SRS ports in the SRS resource set and the usage configuration parameter set to “codebook”. Up to two different spatial relationships may be configured for SRS resources with the usage parameter set to “codebook”. Up to four SRS resources may be supported for an SRS resource set with the usage parameter set to “codebook”. See also Figure 7, an example of an SRS resource set 700 transmitted by the UE in TM2 includes three resources 710, 720, and 730, each with a different number of ports. In this example, SRS resource 710 includes four ports, each mapped to a respective output connected to a respective antenna (not shown); SRS resource 720 includes two ports, each mapped to a respective pair of outputs (and therefore, a respective pair of antennas); and SRS resource 730 includes a single port mapped to all four outputs (and therefore, all four antennas). In transmit mode 2, port virtualization / precoding may include implementing CDD by, for example, applying delays between outputs from a common port. For example, a signal at output 722 may be delayed relative to (or vice versa) a signal at output 721, and a signal at output 724 may be delayed relative to (or vice versa) a signal at output 723. Similarly, signals at outputs 731, 732, 733, and 734 may have different delays. For example, the signal at output 731 may have zero delay, the signal at output 732 may be delayed by a shift delay D relative to the signal at output 731, the signal at output 732 may be delayed by twice the shift delay relative to the signal at output 731, i.e., 2D, and the signal at output 733 may be delayed by three times the shift delay relative to the signal at output 731, i.e., 3D.

[0108] Delayed shift report When the same SRS resource is shared across multiple use cases (e.g., positioning SRS, communication SRS, codebook-based, non-codebook-based, antenna switching, channel estimation, etc.), the precoding / antenna virtualization for each use case may differ. Antenna virtualization uses precoding to map a data stream to multiple physical antennas so as to form a virtual antenna (e.g., so as to form a radiation pattern that appears to originate from a single antenna). Precoding may select one or more ports and apply one or more appropriate delay shifts. Delay shifts may include timing corrections, timing offsets, and / or cyclic shift delays, such as time delays (in the time domain) or phase shifts (in the frequency domain). Precoding / antenna virtualization may affect the location (in time) of one or more peaks of the received signal. Techniques for reporting delay shift information (e.g., timing corrections / offsets) of SRS resources due to virtualization / precoding are discussed herein.

[0109] Referring to Figure 8, and further to Figures 1-4, the UE800 includes a processor 810, a transceiver 820, and a memory 830, which are communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 840. The UE800 may include the components shown in Figure 8, and may include one or more other components, such as any of those shown in Figure 2, for example, the UE200 may be an example of the UE800. The transceiver 820 may include one or more components of the transceiver 215, for example, a wireless transmitter 242 and an antenna 246, or a wireless receiver 244 and an antenna 246, or a wireless transmitter 242, a wireless receiver 244, and an antenna 246. The antenna 246 includes multiple antennas. Similarly or alternatively, the transceiver 820 may include a wired transmitter 252 and / or a wired receiver 254. The transceiver 820 includes multiple antennas 822 (e.g., two antennas, four antennas) which may be implemented by physically separated antennas, parts of a single physical antenna, or a combination thereof. The transceiver 820 may include a delay shifter 824 configured to introduce a delay shift to each appropriate signal to be transmitted by each antenna of the antennas 822. The delay shifter 824 may be configured to apply each delay shift based on instructions from the processor 810. The delay shifter 824 may be configured to apply a delay shift to the signals for all of the antennas 822 so as to affect one or more desired delay shifts between the signals transmitted by the antennas 822. The memory 830 may be configured similarly to the memory 211 and include, for example, software with processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 810 to perform a function. While the descriptions herein may refer only to the processor 810 performing the function, other implementations are also included, such as the processor 810 executing software (stored in memory 830) and / or firmware. In this specification, descriptions may refer to the UE800 performing a function as a simplification of the fact that one or more of the appropriate components of the UE800 (for example, the processor 810 and the memory 830) perform the function.The processor 810 (possibly together with the memory 830) includes a delay shift reporting unit 850 configured to report delay shifts (e.g., those to be and / or already been) that are introduced to (e.g., will be introduced in the future) and / or have already been introduced to one or more signals transmitted by the UE 800 via the transceiver 820. The reported delay shifts are used, for example, for RTOA (Relative Time of Arrival) and Rx-Tx correction (UE) for positioning. Rx-Tx or TRP Rx-Tx (For example, gNB) Rx-Tx It may be used for ). The delayed shift reporting unit 850 will be discussed further below, and the description may generally refer to the processor 810, or generally to the UE800, as performing any of the functions of the delayed shift reporting unit 850.

[0110] Referring to Figure 9, and further to Figures 2-4 and 8, the signaling and process flow 900 for reporting the delay shift for signal transmission from UE800 and for determining the UE location includes the illustrated steps. However, flow 900 is merely an example, and steps may be added, rearranged, and / or deleted.

[0111] In step 910, UE800 is configured to transmit SRS (i.e., one or more SRS signals). For example, server 400 sends a positioning session configuration message 912 to UE800 to configure UE800 to transmit SRS (e.g., positioning SRS resources / sets and / or communication SRS which should also be used for positioning) and any other positioning information. Message 912 may include a higher-layer parameter ULFPTxModes indicating to UE800 which transmission mode, e.g., TM1 or TM2, should be used to transmit SRS. Alternatively, TRP300 may send a positioning session configuration message 914 (using RRC signaling) to configure UE800 to transmit SRS and any other positioning information.

[0112] In step 920, the UE800 (for example, the delay shift reporting unit 850) determines one or more delay shift amounts to be applied to each of the one or more SRS resources or one or more SRS resource sets. The delay shift reporting unit 850 may determine the delay shift based on being configured to operate in, for example, TM1 or TM2, in response to being configured to operate in transmit mode 1 or transmit mode 2. The delay shift reporting unit 850 does not have to determine the delay shift immediately upon receiving configuration messages 912 or 914 for operating in TM1 or TM2, but may use the configuration for operating in TM1 or TM2 as a condition for determining the delay shift. The delay shift reporting unit 850 may determine the delay shift based on the sampling rate / SCS used for the associated SRS resource or SRS resource set. For example, the delay shift reporting unit 850 may be configured to determine the delay shift value as a multiple of the step size, where,

[0113]

number

[0114] And in the above equation, Δf max This is the maximum subcarrier interval, N fk is the maximum Fast Fourier Transform size, where k is a constant based on the subcarrier spacing (SCS), and k has values ​​of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 for SCSs of 480, 240, 120, 60, 30, or 15 kHz, respectively. The step size gives the granularity or resolution to the delay shifts that the UE800 can implement. The delay shift reporting unit 850 may be configured to determine delay shifts within a range of delay shifts based on the symbol length (and therefore the SCS) or the cyclic prefix (CP) length. That is, the delay shift reporting unit 850 may be configured to determine delay shifts with minimum and maximum delay shifts based on the symbol length or CP length. As three non-exclusive examples, the delay shift reporting unit 850 may be configured to use half the CP length, the CP length, or twice the CP length as the range of possible delay shifts. For example, the range of possible delay shifts may be [0, CP / 2], [-CP / 2, CP / 2], [0, CP], or [-CP, CP]. The delay shift is a relative measure and may be negative to indicate that the corresponding signal is delayed less relative to another signal, for example, not delayed while the other signal is delayed by a certain positive amount.

[0115] In step 930, UE800 sends delay shift instructions to network entities, for example, TRP300 and / or server400. For example, delay shift reporting unit 850 may send delay shift instruction message 932 to TRP300 and / or delay shift instruction message 934 to server400. Delay shift reporting unit 850 may report delay shifts (also known as timing corrections, timing offsets, and / or cyclic shift delays) in response to being configured to operate in transmit mode 1 or transmit mode 2, for example, based on being configured to operate in TM1 or TM2. Delay shift reporting unit 850 does not have to report a delay shift immediately upon receiving configuration messages 912 or 914 for operating in TM1 or TM2, but may use the configuration for operating in TM1 or TM2 as a condition for reporting a delay shift. Delay shift instructions may be expressed, for example, as time shifts or phase offsets. The UE800 may send a delay shift instruction based on the fact that the UE800 has been informed that the receiving entity will use SRS to determine the UE location, or it may send a delay shift instruction regardless of the expected use of SRS.

[0116] A delay shift instruction may or may not include the value of the delay shift applied by the UE800. A delay shift instruction may indicate that a delay shift has already been applied or will be applied by the UE800 without specifying how much delay shift has already been applied or will be applied. The receiver of a delay shift instruction may use the information that a non-specific delay shift has already been applied to process the received signal, for example, to determine that a difference in the received signal (e.g., the timing of the received signal) is due to a delay shift and not multiplexed transmission. The receiver of a delay shift instruction may be able to determine the amount of the delay shift based on the received signal. The delay shift reporting unit 850 may be configured to indicate the amount (i.e., its value) of the delay shift applied (e.g., to be applied) by the UE800 in delay shift instruction messages 932, 934. For example, the delay shift may be a phase offset applied to each consecutive subcarrier, such that the second subcarrier is offset by a phase offset relative to the first subcarrier, and the third subcarrier is offset by a phase offset relative to the second subcarrier, and so on. This linear increase in the phase offset relative to the first subcarrier gives each subcarrier a phase ramp of the phase offset.

[0117] The value of the delay shift may be indicated by a bit representing a number that is a multiplier of the step size, for example, determined according to equations (1) and (2). Thus, the delay shift value is the step size multiplied by a number corresponding to the set of binary bits. The indicated value of the delay shift does not have to correspond exactly to the applied delay shift, for example, if the possible reported value based on the reported resolution (for example, based on the range of available bits and reportable delay shift) differs from the possible delay shift value.

[0118] Delay shift instruction messages 932 and 934 may be reported by the UE800 in various ways and / or as part of various communications. For example, the delay shift reporting unit 850 may send delay shift instruction message 932 to the TRP300 using an RRC signal, and delay shift instruction message 934 to the server 400 (e.g., LMF) using higher-level LPP (Long-Term Evolution Positioning Protocol) signaling. Either delay shift instruction message 932 or 934 may be part of a UL MAC-CE (Uplink Medium Access Control - Control Element) command in which the delay shift value is reported for each SRS resource or set of SRS resources. Either delay shift instruction message 932 or 934 may include a timestamp, e.g., a sequence frame number (SFN) and a slot offset. As another example, either delay shift instruction message 932 or 934 may be part of a positioning report in higher-level communications, or MAC-CE commands, or UCI (Uplink Control Information) communications.

[0119] Delay shift instruction messages 932 and 934 may be reported repeatedly. UE800 may send messages 932 and 934 intermittently, for example, periodically. UE800 may send messages 932 and 934 in response to delay shift changes. Delay shift changes may correspond to one or more SRSs, for example, all SRSs, until a new delay shift instruction message is sent by UE800 and received by a network entity such as TRP300 or server 400.

[0120] In step 940, UE800 sends SRS signals with different relative delay shifts. For example, UE800 may send SRS message 942 to TRP300 and / or SRS message 944 to server 400. SRS messages 942 and 944 each contain multiple signal transmissions. Within each of SRS message 942 or SRS message 944, an SRS signal is sent by UE800 with one or more relative delay shifts. For example, the same SRS signal (same content and resources) may be sent through antenna 822 with different delays (e.g., through one of antenna 822 with no delay and through another one of antenna 822 with some delay, or through one of antenna 822 with no delay and through three other antennas 822, each with different delays, or through multiple antennas 822 (e.g., two or four) with different delays). The applied delay shifts do not need to be known to the SRS receiver. If the SRS resource set in SRS message 944 includes multiple SRS resources, and UE800 reports that at least some (one or more) of the resources have had a delay shift applied, the receiver (e.g., TRP300 or server 400) may assume that at least one of the SRS resources has not had a delay shift applied. For example, the SRS receiver (e.g., TRP300 or server 400) may assume that no delay shift is applied to any resource whose ports are mapped one-to-one to an antenna. For example, in transmit mode 2, the resource set may have two resources, one with two ports and the other with a single port. If UE800 reports that an unknown delay shift has been applied to this resource set (or one of the resources), the receiver (e.g., server 400 or TRP300) may use the first received resource to identify the arrival time and use the difference in arrival times to estimate the applied delay shift between the two resources.

[0121] In step 950, UE800 may send positioning information to server 400. UE800 may send positioning information other than SRS to server 400 in positioning information message 952. UE800 may send positioning information message 952 to server 400 via TRP300. Positioning information message 952 may contain measurement information and timing information (e.g., DL PRS arrival time, i.e., UE) that may be useful to server 400 in determining the location of UE800. Rx-Tx ) may include, etc.

[0122] In stage 960, server 400 may determine the UE location. Server 400 may use SRS measurements from stage 940 and other positioning information received in message 952 (depending on the positioning technique and information availability) to determine the location of UE 800. Server 400 may use the delay shift instruction received in stage 930 to help determine the location of UE 800. The receiver of the SRS signal to which the delay shift instruction and delay shift are applied, for example server 400, may use the delay shift value to process the received signal. By knowing that a delay shift is applied and potentially by how much delay shift is applied, for example from delay shift instruction messages 932, 934, the receiver (e.g. server 400) may mitigate the adverse effects on positioning (e.g., fading) caused by multiple SRS signal transmissions, while simultaneously enabling the signal decoding benefits of transmission diversity from multiple SRS signal transmissions.

[0123] operation Referring to Figure 10, and further to Figures 1-9, the method 1000 for sending a sounding reference signal includes the illustrated steps. However, method 1000 is merely an example and not limiting. Method 1000 may be modified, for example, by adding, removing, rearranging, combining, and performing steps simultaneously, and / or splitting a single step into multiple steps. For example, step 1010 may be performed before or after step 1020 or step 1030.

[0124] In step 1010, method 1000 includes the step of reporting delay shift information from the UE to a network entity, the delay shift information indicating that a second sounding reference signal has a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal. For example, the delay shift reporting unit 850 may send the delay shift information to the TRP 300 (e.g., using RRC signaling) in a delay shift instruction message 932 and / or to the server 400 (e.g., using LPP signaling) in a delay shift instruction message 934. The delay shift information may be reported in a MAC-CE command and / or in a positioning report. For example, the delay shift information may be reported in a MAC-CE command and may include a delay shift value for a sounding reference signal resource set or a sounding reference signal resource. The delay shift information may include an indication that a delay shift has been applied to or will be applied to at least one of the sounding reference signals. Delay shift information may be a notification that a delay shift is expected to exist, but the amount of the delay shift may be unspecified (for example, delay shift information may indicate that the second sounding reference signal has an unspecified non-zero delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal). Delay shift information may include a delay shift value indicating the amount of delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. The delay shift value may indicate the maximum delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal (for example, the maximum delay shift that can be applied between the two sounding reference signals). The delay shift value does not have to correspond precisely to the delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. Delay shift reporting may be performed before and / or after sending the first sounding reference signal and / or the second sounding reference signal. The processor 810, memory 830, and transceiver 820 may be provided with means for reporting delay shift information.

[0125] In step 1020, method 1000 includes the step of sending a first sounding reference signal from a first antenna of a plurality of antennas of the user equipment to a network entity. For example, UE800 may transmit the first SRS through one of the antennas 822. UE800 may transmit the first SRS with or without a delay shift. One of the antennas of the processor 810, memory 830, and transceiver 820 may be provided with means for sending the first SRS to the network entity.

[0126] In step 1030, method 1000 includes the step of sending a second sounding reference signal from a second antenna among a plurality of antennas of the user equipment to a network entity with a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal. For example, UE800 may send the second SRS via an antenna 822 different from the one used to transmit the first SRS. UE800 sends the second SRS with a delay shift relative to the first SRS (whether or not the first SRS had a delay shift applied). The delay shift may be achieved by the processor 810 sending each signal to the transceiver 820 at different times, and / or by a delay shifter 824 introducing one or more delay shifts to achieve a relative delay shift between the first and second sounding reference signals. The processor 810, memory 830, and one of the antennas of the transceiver 820 may be provided with means for sending the second SRS to the network entity.

[0127] Implementations of Method 1000 may include one or more of the following features. In one exemplary implementation, Method 1000 may include the step of determining a delay shift value based on the subcarrier interval between a first sounding reference signal and a second sounding reference signal. The processor 810 and memory 830 may have means for determining the delay shift value. In another exemplary implementation, the delay shift reporting unit 850 may determine the delay shift value as a multiple of the step size, which may be determined according to equations (1) and (2). In another exemplary implementation, Method 1000 may include the step of receiving a configuration message instructing the UE to operate in a codebook-based full-power transmission mode, and the delay shift information is reported in response to the receipt of the configuration message. For example, UE 800 may receive an instruction to operate in TM1 or TM2 in a positioning session configuration message 912. The delay shift reporting unit 850 may, for example, report (or determine) a delay shift in response to receiving message 912 as a condition for reporting a delay shift.

[0128] Similarly or alternatively, implementations of Method 1000 may include one or more of the following features: In one exemplary implementation, the first and second sounding reference signals may be transmitted such that the delay shift is not greater than the duration of the first cyclic prefix of the first sounding reference signal or the second cyclic prefix of the second sounding reference signal. For example, the processor 810 may transmit the first and second SRSs via the transceiver 820 with a delay shift applied to one or both of the SRSs such that the relative delay shift between the first and second SRSs is less than or equal to the length of the CP of the first SRS or the length of the CP of the second SRS. The length (in time) of the CP of the first SRS and the length of the CP of the second SRS may be the same. In another exemplary implementation, the first and second sounding reference signals may have the same content. The processor 810 may send the same SRS to multiple (e.g., two or four) antennas, but with different delay shifts (and therefore with different CP contents). In another exemplary implementation, the delay shift information may include timing correction, timing offset, cyclic shift delay, or any combination thereof, and both the first and second sounding reference signals are positioning sounding reference signal resources, positioning sounding reference signal resource sets, or communication sounding reference signals. For example, the second sounding reference signal is the first sounding reference signal with a delay shift, and the sounding reference signal may include positioning SRS resources, positioning SRS resource sets, or communication SRS that can also be used for positioning.

[0129] Other considerations Other examples and implementations are within the scope and spirit of this disclosure and the accompanying claims. For example, depending on the nature of the software and the computer, the functions described above may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof, executed by a processor. Features implementing the functions may also be physically located in various locations, including being distributed so that parts of the functions are implemented in various physical locations.

[0130] As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” also include the plural forms unless the context otherwise explicitly indicates. The terms “equip,” “equip,” “include,” and / or “contain,” as used herein, express the presence of the features, completes, steps, operations, elements, and / or components being referred to, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, completes, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0131] Furthermore, as used herein, "or" in lists of items beginning with "at least one of" or "one or more of" indicates a disjunctive list where, for example, the list "at least one of A, B, or C" or the list "one or more of A, B, or C" means 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, for example, a processor, is configured to perform a function relating to at least one of A or B means that the item may be configured to perform a function relating to A, or may be configured to perform a function relating to B, or may be configured to perform a function relating to both A and B. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to measure at least one of A or B" means 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 both A and B (and may be configured to select either A or B, or both). Similarly, a description of means for measuring at least one of A or B includes means for measuring A (and may or may not be able to measure B), or means for measuring B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or means for measuring both A and B (and may be able to select either A or B, or both).

[0132] Significant modifications may be made to meet specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may be used, and / or certain elements may be implemented in hardware, software executed by the processor (including portable software such as applets), or both. Furthermore, connectivity to other computing devices, such as network input / output devices, may be utilized.

[0133] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, any statement that a function or operation is "based on" an item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the item or condition described, and may be based on one or more additional items and / or conditions.

[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 for some configurations can be combined with various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of configurations can be combined in the same way. Furthermore, technology is evolving, and therefore many of the elements are examples and do not limit the scope of this disclosure or claims.

[0135] A wireless communication system is one in which communication is transmitted wirelessly, that is, by electromagnetic and / or acoustic waves that propagate through the atmosphere rather than through wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not have all communications transmitted wirelessly, but it may be 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 is exclusively, or equally, primarily for communication, or that the device is a mobile device, but indicates that the device includes, for example, at least one radio for wireless communication (each radio being part of a transmitter, receiver, or transceiver), which includes wireless communication capabilities (unidirectional or bidirectional).

[0136] The description provides specific details to give a complete understanding of exemplary configurations (including implementations). However, the configurations can be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques are shown without unnecessary details to avoid obscuring the configurations. This description provides exemplary configurations only and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configurations of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of the configurations provides instructions for implementing the described techniques. Various modifications can be made to the function and configuration of the elements without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure.

[0137] As used herein, the terms “processor-readable medium,” “machine-readable medium,” and “computer-readable medium” refer to any medium involved in providing data that enables a machine to operate in a particular manner. In computing platforms, various processor-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / code to a processor for execution and / or used to store and / or carry such instructions / code (e.g., signals). In many implementations, processor-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media can take numerous forms, including, but are not limited to, non-volatile and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical disks and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, but are not limited to, dynamic memory.

[0138] While several exemplary configurations have been described, various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used without departing from the spirit of this disclosure. For example, the elements described above may be components of a larger system, where other rules may take precedence over or otherwise modify the application of the present invention. Also, several actions may be performed before, during, or after the consideration of the elements described above. Therefore, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0139] The statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or above) a first threshold is equivalent to the statement that a value satisfies or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, for example, the second threshold being a single value higher than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system. The statement that a value is less than (or is within or below) a first threshold is equivalent to the statement that a value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold, for example, the second threshold being a single value lower than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0140] 100 Communication systems, systems 105 UE 106 UE 110 BS 110a NR node B (gNB), BS, g node B 110b NR node B (gNB), BS, g node B 114 Next-generation e-node B (ng-eNB), BS, e-node B 115 Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 117 Session Management Function (SMF) 120 Location Management Function (LMF) 125 Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 130 External Clients 135 Wireless Access Network (RAN), Next Generation (NG)RAN (NG-RAN), Network 140 5G Core Network (5GC), Network, Core Network 185 Constellations 190 Satellite Vehicles (SV) 191 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 192 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 193 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 200 UE 210 processors 211 memory 212 Software (SW) 213 Sensors 214 Transceiver Interface 215 Transceiver 216 User Interface 217 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) receiver 218 Cameras 219 Location Devices (PD) 220 bus 230 General-Purpose / Application Processors, Processors 231 Digital signal processor (DSP), processor 232 Modem Processors 233 Video Processors 234 sensor processor, processor 240 Wire Restaurant Seaba 242 Wireless Transmitter 244 Wireless Receiver 246 Antenna 250 Wired Transceiver 252 Wired Transmitter 254 Wired Receiver 262 SPS antenna, antenna 300 TRP 310 Processor 311 memory 312 Software (SW) 315 Transceiver 320 bus 340 Wire Restaurant Seaba 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 Wire Restaurant Seaba 442 Wireless Transmitter 444 Wireless Receiver 446 Antenna 450 Wired Transceiver 452 Wired Transmitter 454 Wired Receiver 500 CDD system, system 510 Transmitter (XMTR) 511 Transmitting antenna, antenna 512 Transmitting antenna, antenna 513 Delay Shifter 520 Receiver (RCVR) 521 Receiving antenna, antenna 600 Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) System, System 610 Transmitter 611 Transmitting antenna, antenna 612 Transmitting antenna, antenna 613 Transmitting antenna, antenna 614 Transmitting antenna, antenna 620 Receiver 621 Receiving Antenna 622 Receiving Antenna 623 Receiving antenna 624 Receiving Antenna 800 UE 810 processor 820 Transceiver 822 Antenna 824 Delay Shifter 830 memory 840 bus 850 Delay Shift Reporting Unit

Claims

1. User equipment configured for wireless communication, A transceiver including multiple antennas, Memory and The system comprises a transceiver and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor Sending a first sounding reference signal to a network entity via the first antenna among the plurality of antennas, The method involves sending a second sounding reference signal to the network entity via a second antenna among the plurality of antennas, wherein the second sounding reference signal has a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal. In response to receiving a configuration message instructing the user device to operate in a codebook-based full-power transmission mode, delay shift information is sent via the transceiver to the network entity indicating that the second sounding reference signal has the delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal. It is configured to do the following: In order to send the delay shift information, the processor sends a delay shift value indicating the amount of the delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal, The aforementioned delay shift value is determined to be a multiple of the step size, It is configured to do the following: The delay shift information indicates that the second sounding reference signal has a non-zero delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal, according to the user equipment.

2. The user device according to claim 1, wherein the delay shift value indicates the maximum delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal.

3. The user device according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the delay shift value based on the subcarrier interval between the first sounding reference signal and the second sounding reference signal.

4. The aforementioned step size = T c 2 k And, [Math 1] And, Δf max This is the maximum subcarrier interval, N f The user device according to claim 3, wherein k is the maximum fast Fourier transform size, and k is a constant based on the subcarrier spacing.

5. A method for sending a sounding reference signal, Steps include: reporting delay shift information from the user device to a network entity in response to receiving a configuration message instructing the user device to operate in a codebook-based full-power transmission mode, wherein the delay shift information indicates that a second sounding reference signal has a delay shift relative to a first sounding reference signal; The steps include sending the first sounding reference signal from a first antenna among the multiple antennas of the user equipment to the network entity, The steps include sending the second sounding reference signal from a second antenna among the plurality of antennas of the user equipment to the network entity with the delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal, The step of reporting the delay shift information includes reporting a delay shift value that indicates the amount of the delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal, The aforementioned method, The process further includes determining that the delay shift value is a multiple of the step size, A method in which the delay shift information indicates that the second sounding reference signal has a non-zero delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the delay shift value indicates the maximum delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal.

7. The method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of determining the delay shift value based on the subcarrier interval between the first sounding reference signal and the second sounding reference signal.

8. Step size = T c 2 k And, [Math 2] And, Δf max This is the maximum subcarrier interval, N f The method according to claim 7, wherein k is the maximum fast Fourier transform size, and k is a constant based on the subcarrier spacing.

9. A non-temporary processor-readable storage medium containing processor-readable instructions, wherein the processor-readable instructions are transmitted to the processor of the user device. Sending a first sounding reference signal to a network entity via a first antenna among the multiple antennas of the user device, Sending a second sounding reference signal to the network entity via a second antenna among the plurality of antennas of the user equipment, wherein the second sounding reference signal has a delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal. In response to the user device receiving a configuration message instructing it to operate in a codebook-based full-power transmission mode, the user device sends delay shift information to the network entity indicating that the second sounding reference signal has the delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal. In order to send the aforementioned delay shift information, the processor-readable instruction causes the processor to send a delay shift value indicating the amount of the delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal. The aforementioned delay shift value is determined to be a multiple of the step size. A storage medium in which the delay shift information indicates that the second sounding reference signal has a non-zero delay shift relative to the first sounding reference signal.

10. The storage medium according to claim 9, wherein the delay shift value indicates the maximum delay shift of the second sounding reference signal relative to the first sounding reference signal.

11. The storage medium according to claim 9, further comprising a processor-readable instruction for causing the processor to determine the delay shift value based on the subcarrier interval between the first sounding reference signal and the second sounding reference signal.

12. Step size = T c 2 k and [Math 3] And, Δf max This is the maximum subcarrier interval, N f The storage medium according to claim 11, wherein k is the maximum fast Fourier transform size, and k is a constant based on the subcarrier interval.

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