Increased firing angle measurement particle size

Abstract

Techniques for wireless communication are disclosed. In one aspect, a receiving entity (RE), e.g., a user equipment or a base station, receives a positioning resource beam configuration that defines a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by a transmitting / receiving point (TRP) at different times using various beams, each of the various beams having a set of beam characteristics that differ from a set of beam characteristics of another beam of the various beams among at least one beam characteristic. The RE performs positioning measurements on the various beams at different times based at least on the set of beam characteristics and sends positioning information to the TRP, the positioning information comprising at least some of the values ​​of the positioning measurements, positioning estimates, or a combination thereof.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication.

Background Art

[0002] Wireless communication systems have evolved through various generations, including first-generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second-generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, Internet-capable wireless service, and fourth-generation (4G) service (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, there are many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular systems and Personal Communication Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the Cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), and the like.

[0003] The fifth-generation (5G) wireless standard, called New Radio (NR), among other improvements, is required to have higher data transfer speeds, a greater number of connections, and better coverage. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks 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 one gigabit per second to dozens of workers on an office floor. To support large-scale sensor deployment, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported. Thus, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communication should be significantly extended compared to current 4G standards. Further, signaling efficiency should be extended and latency should be significantly reduced compared to current standards.

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] The following provides a simplified overview relating to one or more embodiments disclosed herein. Therefore, this overview should not be considered a broad overview relating to all intended embodiments, nor should it be considered to identify any major or significant elements relating to all intended embodiments, or to define the scope relating to any particular embodiment. Accordingly, the following overview has the sole purpose of providing, in a simplified form, some concepts relating to one or more embodiments relating to the mechanisms disclosed herein, prior to the detailed description presented below.

[0005] In angle-based positioning, the angle of departure (AoD) measurement is based on a finite number of positioning signals, such as a positioning reference signal (PRS) or sounding reference signal (SRS), where the beams of the positioning signals are transmitted at different azimuth or elevation angles. As the distance from the device transmitting the positioning signals to the device measuring the PRS signals increases, the error in AoD measurement transforms into an increasingly large position error. To address this problem, several techniques have been proposed, involving transmitting the PRS beam multiple times and slightly varying the azimuth, elevation, beamwidth, other parameters, or some combination of the above in each iteration. This provides the measuring entity with additional data points that it can use to determine the AoD more accurately. Thus, there is a trade-off between latency (due to more iterations of the positioning signals, resulting in longer latency) and accuracy (due to the additional measurements performed by the measuring entity, resulting in better accuracy). [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In one embodiment, a wireless communication method performed by a receiving entity (RE) includes receiving a positioning resource beam configuration defining a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by a transmit / receive point (TRP) at different times using different beams, each of the different beams having a set of beam characteristics different from the set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, performing positioning measurements on the different beams at different times based at least on the set of beam characteristics, and sending positioning information to the TRP, the positioning information comprising at least some of the positioning measurements, positioning estimates, or a combination thereof.

[0007] In one embodiment, a method of wireless communication performed by a TRP includes sending a positioning resource beam configuration to a receiving entity that defines a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, each of the different beams having a set of beam characteristics different from the set of beam characteristics of other beams among the different beams, transmitting the set of positioning resources according to the positioning resource beam configuration, and receiving positioning information from the receiving entity, the positioning information comprising at least some measured values, positioning estimates, or combinations thereof of the positioning resources.

[0008] In one embodiment, the RE includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communically coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor receiving a positioning resource beam configuration defining a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, each of the different beams having a set of beam characteristics from at least one beam characteristics that is different from the set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, performing positioning measurements on the different beams at different times based at least on the set of beam characteristics, and sending positioning information to the TRP, the positioning information comprising at least some of the positioning measurements, positioning estimates, or a combination thereof.

[0009] In one embodiment, the TRP includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communically coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to send a positioning resource beam configuration defining a set of positioning resources to a receiving entity, each positioning resource being transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, each of the different beams having a set of beam characteristics from at least one beam characteristic that is different from the set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, to transmit the set of positioning resources according to the positioning resource beam configuration, and to receive positioning information from a receiving entity, the positioning information comprising at least some measurements, positioning estimates, or combinations thereof of the positioning resources.

[0010] In one embodiment, RE includes means for receiving a positioning resource beam configuration defining a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by TRP at different times using various beams, each of the various beams having a set of beam characteristics different from a set of beam characteristics of another beam among the various beams, at least one of beam characteristics; means for performing positioning measurements on the various beams at different times based at least on the set of beam characteristics; and means for sending positioning information to TRP, the positioning information comprising at least some of positioning measurements, positioning estimates, or a combination thereof.

[0011] In one embodiment, the TRP includes means for sending a positioning resource beam configuration defining a set of positioning resources to a receiving entity, wherein each positioning resource is transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, and each of the different beams has a set of beam characteristics different from a set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, among at least one beam characteristic; means for transmitting the set of positioning resources according to the positioning resource beam configuration; and means for receiving positioning information from a receiving entity, wherein the positioning information comprises at least some measured values, positioning estimates, or combinations thereof of the positioning resources.

[0012] In one embodiment, a non-temporary computer-readable medium for storing a set of instructions, the set of instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the RE, causes the RE to receive a positioning resource beam configuration defining a set of positioning resources, wherein each positioning resource is transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, and each of the different beams has a set of beam characteristics different from a set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, and performs positioning measurements on the different beams at different times based at least on the set of beam characteristics, and sends positioning information to the TRP, wherein the positioning information comprises at least some of the positioning measurements, positioning estimates, or a combination thereof.

[0013] In one embodiment, a non-temporary computer-readable medium for storing a set of instructions, the set of instructions comprising one or more instructions, when executed by one or more processors of the TRP, causing the TRP to send a positioning resource beam configuration defining a set of positioning resources to a receiving entity, wherein each positioning resource is transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, and each of the different beams has a set of beam characteristics different from the set of beam characteristics of other beams among the different beams, to transmit the set of positioning resources according to the positioning resource beam configuration, and to receive positioning information from a receiving entity, wherein the positioning information comprises at least some measured values, positioning estimates, or combinations thereof of the positioning resources.

[0014] Other purposes and advantages relating to the embodiments disclosed herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and embodiments for carrying out the invention.

[0015] The accompanying drawings are provided to aid in describing various aspects of this disclosure and are provided solely for the purpose of describing the aspects, not as an limitation of those aspects. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0016] [Figure 1] This figure shows an exemplary wireless communication system according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 2A] This figure shows an exemplary wireless network structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 2B] This figure shows an exemplary wireless network structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 3A] This is a simplified block diagram of some exemplary embodiments of a component that may be used in user equipment (UE) and may be configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 3B] This is a simplified block diagram of some exemplary embodiments of a component that may be used in a base station and may be configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 3C] This is a simplified block diagram of some exemplary embodiments of components that may be employed in a network entity and may be configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 4A] This figure shows an exemplary frame structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 4B] This figure shows an exemplary channel within a frame structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 4C] This figure shows an exemplary frame structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 4D] This figure shows an exemplary channel within a frame structure according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 5] This figure shows an exemplary base station communicating with an exemplary UE according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] This figure shows a conventional method of transmitting a positioning resource beam. [Figure 7] This figure shows an improved method for transmitting a positioning resource beam according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 8A]A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 8B] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 9A] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 9B] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 10A] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 10B] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 10C] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 11A] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 11B] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 11C] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 12A] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 12B] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 13] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 14] A diagram showing an improved method for positioning resource beam transmission according to some aspects of the present disclosure.

Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0017] The aspects of this disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings, which cover various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative embodiments may be devised without departing from the scope of this disclosure. In addition, well-known elements of this disclosure are not described in detail or are omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of this disclosure.

[0018] The terms “exemplary” and / or “example” are used herein to mean “acting as an example, case, or illustration.” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” and / or “example” should not necessarily be construed as being preferable or advantageous to any other aspect. Similarly, the term “aspects of the disclosure” does not require that all aspects of the disclosure include the features, advantages, or modes of operation described herein.

[0019] Those skilled in the art will understand that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the following description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, optical fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part with the specific application, in part with the desired design, in part with the corresponding technique.

[0020] Furthermore, many embodiments are described, for example, with respect to sequences of actions to be performed by elements of a computing device. It will be recognized that the various actions described herein may be performed by a particular circuit (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or a combination of both. In addition, sequences of actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-temporary computer-readable storage medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, at runtime, will cause or instruct the relevant processors of the device to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, various embodiments of this disclosure may be embodied in several different forms, all of which are intended to fall within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the embodiments described herein, any corresponding form of such embodiment may be described herein, for example, as “logic configured to perform” the actions described.

[0021] As used herein, the terms “User Equipment” (UE) and “Base Station” are not intended to be specific to, or otherwise limited to, any particular Radio Access Technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. Generally, a UE may be any wireless communication device used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset tracking device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch, smart glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., car, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.). 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 terms “UE” may be interchangeably referred to as “Access Terminal” or “AT,” “Client Device,” “Wireless Device,” “Subscriber Device,” “Subscriber Terminal,” “Subscriber Station,” “User Terminal” or “UT,” “Mobile Device,” “Mobile Terminal,” “Mobile Station,” or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicate with the core network via the RAN, and through the core network, UEs can connect to external networks such as the Internet and other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for UEs, such as via wired access networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks (for example, based on the IEEE 802.11 specification), etc.

[0022] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs (Network Address Terminals) through which it communicates with a UE, depending on the network in which the UE is deployed. These RATs may also be called access points (APs), network nodes, node Bs, advanced node Bs (eNBs), next-generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), or New Radio (NR) node Bs (also known as gNBs or g-node Bs). Base stations may be primarily used to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data connectivity, voice connectivity, and / or signaling connectivity for supported UEs. In some systems, base stations may provide purely edge node signaling functionality, while in others, they may provide additional control and / or network management functionality. A communication link through which a UE can send signals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). A communication link through which a base station can send signals to a UE is called a downlink (DL) channel or forward link channel (e.g., paging channel, control channel, broadcast channel, forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein, the term Traffic Channel (TCH) may refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0023] The term “base station” can refer to a single physical transmit / receive point (TRP), or to multiple physical TRPs, which may or may not be colocated. For example, when the term “base station” refers to a single physical TRP, that physical TRP may be the base station’s antennas corresponding to the base station’s cells (or several cell sectors). When the term “base station” refers to multiple colocated physical TRPs, those physical TRPs may be the base station’s antenna array (for example, in a multi-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, or when the base station employs beamforming). When the term “base station” refers to multiple uncolocated physical TRPs, those physical TRPs may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium), or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, an uncollocated physical TRP may be a serving base station that receives measurement reports from the UE and adjacent base stations from which the UE is measuring its reference radio frequency (RF) signal. Since a TRP is the point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, when used herein, references to transmission from a base station or reception at a base station should be understood as referring to a specific TRP of the base station.

[0024] In some implementations that support UE positioning, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (for example, it may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE), but instead may transmit a reference signal to the UE to be measured by the UE, and / or receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be called a positioning beacon (for example, when transmitting a signal to the UE) and / or a location measurement unit (for example, when receiving and measuring signals from the UE).

[0025] An "RF signal" comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transports information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. A transmitter used herein may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels, the receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal. The same RF signal transmitted along different paths between the transmitter and receiver is sometimes referred to as a "multipath" RF signal.

[0026] Figure 1 shows an exemplary wireless communication system 100. The wireless communication system 100 (sometimes called a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In one embodiment, the macrocell base station may include an eNB and / or ng-eNB where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or a gNB where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base station may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0027] The base station 102 may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network 170 (e.g., an advanced packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC)) via a backhaul link 122, and with one or more location servers 172 (which may be part of the core network 170 or outside the core network 170) via the core network 170. In addition to other functions, the base station 102 may perform functions related to the transfer of user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, delivery for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracing, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (for example, via EPC / 5GC) via a backhaul link 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0028] Base station 102 can communicate wirelessly with UE 104. Each base station 102 can provide communication coverage to its respective geographical coverage area 110. In one embodiment, one or more cells may be supported by base stations 102 in each geographical coverage area 110. A “cell” is a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (over several frequency resources, such as carrier frequencies, component carriers, carriers, or bandwidths), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), or a cell global identifier (CGI)) to distinguish cells operating over the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communications (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access to different types of UEs. Since a cell is supported by a particular base station, the term “cell” may, depending on the context, refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it. In some cases, the term “cell” may also refer to the geographical coverage area (e.g., sector) of a base station, insofar as carrier frequencies can be detected and used for communication within some portion of the geographical coverage area 110.

[0029] While adjacent to macrocell base stations 102, geographical coverage areas 110 may partially overlap (for example, within handover areas), and some of the geographical coverage areas 110 may be significantly overlapped by larger geographical coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell (SC) base station 102' may have a geographical coverage area 110' that significantly overlaps with the geographical coverage areas 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations is sometimes called a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include a home eNB (HeNB) that can serve a restricted group called a closed subscriber group (CSG).

[0030] The communication link 120 between base station 102 and UE 104 may include uplink (also called reverse link) transmission from UE 104 to base station 102, and / or downlink (also called forward link) transmission from base station 102 to UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may operate through one or more carrier frequencies. Carrier allocation may be asymmetrical with respect to the downlink and uplink (for example, more or fewer carriers may be allocated to the downlink than to the uplink).

[0031] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a WLAN access point (AP) 150 communicating with a wireless local area network (WLAN) station (STA) 152 via a communication link 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) or listen before talk (LBT) procedure before communication to determine whether the channel is available.

[0032] Small cell base station 102' may operate in licensed frequency spectrum and / or unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in unlicensed frequency spectrum, small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or NR technology and may use the same 5GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum used by WLAN AP150. Small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in unlicensed frequency spectrum may expand coverage to the access network and / or increase the capacity of the access network. NR in unlicensed spectrum is sometimes referred to as NR-U. LTE in unlicensed spectrum is sometimes referred to as LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), or MulteFire.

[0033] The wireless communication system 100 communicates with UE 182 and may further include a mmW base station 180 that can operate in millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies and / or quasi-mmW frequencies. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the RF portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF ranges from 30 GHz to 300 GHz and has wavelengths between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band are sometimes called millimeter waves. Quasi-mmW may extend down to frequencies up to 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The very high frequency (SHF) band, also called centimeter waves, extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz. Communication using the mmW / quasi-mmW radio frequency bands has high path loss and relatively short distances. The mmW base station 180 and UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) via the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short distances. Furthermore, in alternative configurations, it will be understood that one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or quasi-mmW and beamforming. Therefore, it should be understood that the above examples are merely illustrative and should not be interpreted as limiting the various embodiments disclosed herein.

[0034] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing RF signals in a specific direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., a UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that specific direction, thereby bringing a faster and more powerful RF signal (in terms of data rate) to the receiving device. To change the directivity of an RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal in each of the one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node may use an array of antennas (called a "phased array" or "antenna array") that can create beams of RF waves that can be "steered" to points in different directions without actually moving the antennas. In detail, RF currents from the transmitters are fed to individual antennas with appropriate phase relationships so that the radio waves from separate antennas are added together to increase radiation in the desired direction, while suppressing radiation in undesirable directions.

[0035] A transmit beam can be quasi-co-located, meaning that to a receiver (e.g., a UE), the transmit beam appears to have the same parameters regardless of whether the transmit antenna of the network node itself is physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. In detail, a given type of QCL relationship means that several parameters about the target reference RF signal on the target beam can be derived from information about the source reference RF signal on the source beam. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, mean delay, and delay spread of the target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of the target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and mean delay of the target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the spatial reception parameters of the target reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0036] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a received beam to amplify an RF signal detected on a given channel. For example, a receiver can increase the gain setting and / or adjust the phase setting of an antenna array in a particular direction to amplify an RF signal received from that direction (for example, to increase the gain level of such an RF signal). Therefore, when a receiver is said to beamform in a certain direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is greater than the beam gain along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the maximum compared to the beam gain of all other receive beams available to the receiver in that direction. This results in a stronger received signal intensity (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference + noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signal received from that direction.

[0037] Received beams can have spatial relationships. Spatial relationships mean that parameters for a transmit beam for a second reference signal can be derived from information about the received beam for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a specific receive beam to receive one or more reference downlink reference signals from a base station (e.g., positioning reference signal (PRS), tracking reference signal (TRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), cell-specific reference signal (CRS), channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), primary synchronization signal (PSS), secondary synchronization signal (SSS), synchronization signal block (SSB), etc.). The UE can then form a transmit beam to send one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., uplink positioning reference signal (UL-PRS), sounding reference signal (SRS), demodulation reference signal (DMRS), PTRS, etc.) to its base station, based on the parameters of the received beam.

[0038] It should be noted that a “downlink” beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station forms a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to a UE, the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if a UE forms a downlink beam, the downlink beam is a receive beam to receive a downlink reference signal. Similarly, an “uplink” beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity forming it. For example, if a base station forms an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink receive beam, and if a UE forms an uplink beam, the uplink beam is an uplink transmit beam.

[0039] In 5G, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base stations 102 / 180, UE104 / 182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (450MHz to 6000MHz), FR2 (24250MHz to 52600MHz), FR3 (above 52600MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). In multi-carrier systems such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is called the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell," while the remaining carrier frequencies are called "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCell." In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) used by UE104 / 182 and the cell, and UE104 / 182 either performs the initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common control channels and UE-specific control channels and may be a carrier on licensed frequencies (although this is not always the case). The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE104 and the anchor carrier and may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier on unlicensed frequencies. Since both the primary uplink and primary downlink carriers are typically UE-specific, the secondary carrier may only contain the necessary signaling information and signals; for example, UE-specific signaling information and signals do not need to be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UE104 / 182s in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same applies to uplink primary carriers. The network can change the primary carrier of any UE104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers.Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to the carrier frequency / component carrier through which several base stations are communicating, terms such as "cell," "serving cell," "component carrier," and "carrier frequency" can be used interchangeably.

[0040] For example, still referring to Figure 1, one of the frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 may be the anchor carrier (i.e., "PCell"), and the other frequencies used by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be the secondary carriers ("SCell"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers allows UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission rate and / or data reception rate. For example, aggregated two 20MHz carriers in a multicarrier system would theoretically result in a doubling of the data rate (i.e., 40MHz) compared to what would be achieved with a single 20MHz carrier.

[0041] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a UE 164 capable of communicating with a macrocell base station 102 via a communication link 120 and / or with an mmW base station 180 via an mmW communication link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0042] In the example in Figure 1, one or more Earth-orbiting satellite positioning system (SPS) space vehicles (SV) 112 (e.g., satellites) may be used as an independent source of location information for any of the illustrated UEs (shown in Figure 1 as a single UE 104 for simplicity). UE 104 may include one or more dedicated SPS receivers specifically designed to receive SPS signals 124 for deriving geolocation information from SV 112. SPS typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SV 112) arranged to enable receivers (e.g., UE 104) to determine their locations on or above Earth, at least in part, based on signals (e.g., SPS signals 124) received from the transmitters. Such transmitters typically transmit signals marked with a set number of repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) codes. While usually located within SV 112, transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UE 104.

[0043] The use of the SPS signal 124 may be associated with use involving one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems, or may be otherwise enabled for such use, and may be augmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS). For example, an SBAS may include augmentation systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multifunction Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS)-assisted Geoaugmented Navigation, or the GPS and Geoaugmented Navigation System (GAGAN). Thus, the SPS used herein may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems and / or augmentation systems, and the SPS signal 124 may include the SPS, SPS-like signals, and / or other signals associated with one or more such SPS.

[0044] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE190, that indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more D2D peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as “sidelinks”). In the example in Figure 1, UE190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (through which UE190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity, for example), and a D2D P2P link 194 with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150 (through which UE190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based internet connectivity). In one example, D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), or Bluetooth®.

[0045] Figure 2A shows an exemplary wireless network structure 200. For example, 5GC210 (also called Next Generation Core (NGC)) may function as control plane functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.), working together to form the core network. User plane interface (NG-U) 213 and control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect gNB222 to 5GC210, and more specifically to control plane functions 214 and user plane functions 212. In an additional configuration, ng-eNB224 may also be connected to 5GC210 via NG-C215 to control plane functions 214 and NG-U213 to user plane functions 212. Furthermore, ng-eNB224 may communicate directly with gNB222 via backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the new RAN220 may have only one or more gNB222s, while other configurations may include one or more of both ng-eNB224s and gNB222s. Either a gNB222 or an ng-eNB224 may communicate with a UE204 (for example, one of the UEs shown in Figure 1). Another optional embodiment may include a location server 230 that may communicate with 5GC210 to provide location assistance to the UE204. The location server 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The location server 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for a UE204 that can connect to the location server 230 via the core network 5GC210 and / or via the internet (not shown). Furthermore, the location server 230 may be integrated into the core network components, or alternatively, it may be located outside the core network.

[0046] Figure 2B shows another exemplary wireless network structure 250. For example, 5GC260 may be functionally seen as control plane functions provided by the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 264 and user plane functions provided by the User Plane Function (UPF) 262, working together to form a core network (i.e., 5GC260). User plane interface 263 and control plane interface 265 connect ng-eNB224 to 5GC260, and more specifically to UPF262 and AMF264, respectively. In an additional configuration, gNB222 may also be connected to 5GC260 via the control plane interface 265 to AMF264 and the user plane interface 263 to UPF262. Furthermore, ng-eNB224 may communicate directly with gNB222 via backhaul connection 223, with or without gNB direct connectivity to 5GC260. In some configurations, the new RAN220 may have only one or more gNB222s, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNB224s and gNB222s. Either a gNB222 or an ng-eNB224 can communicate with a UE204 (for example, one of the UEs shown in Figure 1). The base station of the new RAN220 communicates with the AMF264 via the N2 interface and with the UPF262 via the N3 interface.

[0047] The functions of AMF264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between UE204 and Session Management Function (SMF)266, transparent proxy service for routing SM messages, access authentication and access permission, transport for Short Message Service (SMS) messages between UE204 and Short Message Service Function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). AMF264 also interacts with Authentication Server Function (AUSF) (not shown) and UE204 and receives intermediate keys established as a result of the UE204 authentication process. In the case of authentication based on UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Subscriber Identification Module (USIM), AMF264 retrieves security material from AUSF. The functions of AMF264 also include security context management (SCM). SCM receives keys from SEAF that SCM uses to derive access network-specific keys. The functionality of the AMF264 also includes location service management for regulatory services, transport for location service messages between the UE204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (acting as a location server 230), transport for location service messages between the new RAN 220 and the LMF270, EPS bearer identifier allocation for interacting with the Advanced Packet System (EPS), and UE204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF264 also supports functionality for non-3GPP® (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

[0048] The functions of UPF262 include (when applicable) acting as an anchor point for intra-RAT / inter-RAT mobility, acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to data networks (not shown), routing and forwarding packets, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) processing for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking on the downlink), uplink traffic verification (mapping service data flows (SDFs) to QoS flows), transport-level packet marking on the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more “end markers” to the source RAN node. UPF262 may also support the forwarding of location service messages over the user plane between UE204 and location servers such as Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP) 272.

[0049] The functions of the SMF266 ​​include session management, UE Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering in the UPF262 for routing traffic to appropriate destinations, control of policy enforcement and QoS portions, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF266 ​​communicates with the AMF264 is called the N11 interface.

[0050] Another optional embodiment may include an LMF270 that may communicate with 5GC260 to provide location assistance to UE204. LMF270 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. LMF270 may be configured to support one or more location services for UE204 that can connect to LMF270 via the core network 5GC260 and / or via the internet (not shown). The SLP272 may support similar functionality to the LMF270, while the LMF270 may communicate with the AMF264, New RAN220, and UE204 via the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to transmit signaling messages rather than voice or data), while the SLP272 may communicate with the UE204 and external clients (not shown in Figure 2B) via the user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0051] Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C show some exemplary components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including a location server 230 and an LMF 270) to support file transmission operations as taught herein. It will be understood that these components may be implemented in different types of devices in different implementation forms (e.g., in an ASIC, a system-on-a-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other devices in the communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. Also, a given device may include one or more of the components. For example, a device may include multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0052] UE 302 and base station 304 each include wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, which provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) for communicating over one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, or a GSM network. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), over at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a target wireless communication medium (e.g., several sets of time / frequency resources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be configured in various ways, respectively, to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.) according to a specified RAT, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.). In detail, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 each include one or more transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 318 and 358, and one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 318 and 358.

[0053] UE 302 and base station 304 also include, at least in some cases, one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and may provide means (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) for communicating with other network nodes such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Z-Wave®, PC5, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), etc.) on the wireless communication medium of interest. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be configured in various ways, respectively, to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.) according to a specified RAT, and conversely, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368 (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.). In detail, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 each include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals 328 and 368, and one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals 328 and 368. For example, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth® transceivers, Zigbee® and / or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and / or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0054] A transceiver circuit configuration including at least one transmitter and at least one receiver may, in some implementations, comprise an integrated device (e.g., embodied as transmitter and receiver circuits of a single communication device), in some implementations comprise separate transmitter and receiver devices, or in other implementations, be embodied in other ways. In one embodiment, the transmitter may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array that enables each device to perform transmit "beamforming" as described herein. Similarly, the receiver may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array that enables each device to perform receive beamforming as described herein. In one embodiment, the transmitter and receiver may share a plurality of the same antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such that each device can either receive or transmit only at a given time, and not both at the same time. The wireless communication devices of UE302 and / or base station 304 (for example, transceivers 310 and 320 and / or one or both of 350 and 360) may also include a network listening module (NLM) for performing various measurements.

[0055] UE302 and base station 304 also include, at least in some cases, satellite positioning system (SPS) receivers 330 and 370. SPS receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and / or measuring SPS signals 338 and 378, respectively, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), and Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS). SPS receivers 330 and 370 may each have any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing SPS signals 338 and 378. SPS receivers 330 and 370 may, as appropriate, request information and operations from other systems and perform calculations necessary to determine the positions of UE302 and base station 304 using the acquired measurements by any suitable SPS algorithm.

[0056] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include at least one network interface 380 and 390, respectively, which provide means for communicating with other network entities (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.). For example, the network interfaces 380 and 390 (e.g., one or more network access ports) may be configured to communicate with one or more network entities via wire-based or wireless backhaul connections. In some embodiments, the network interfaces 380 and 390 may be implemented as transceivers configured to support wire-based or wireless signaling communications. This communication may involve, for example, sending and receiving messages, parameters, and / or other types of information.

[0057] UE302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations disclosed herein. UE302 includes a processor circuit configuration that implements a processing system 332 for, for example, providing functionality related to wireless positioning and other processing functionality. Base station 304 includes a processing system 384 for, for example, providing functionality related to wireless positioning and other processing functionality as disclosed herein. Network entity 306 includes a processing system 394 for, for example, providing functionality related to wireless positioning and other processing functionality as disclosed herein. Thus, processing systems 332, 384, and 394 may provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, and means for indicating. In one embodiment, the processing systems 332, 384, and 394 may include one or more processors, such as one or more general-purpose processors, multicore processors, ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuit configurations, or various combinations thereof.

[0058] UE302, base station 304, and network entity 306 include a memory circuit configuration that implements memory components 340, 386, and 396, respectively (each including a memory device), for maintaining information (e.g., information indicating reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, memory components 340, 386, and 396 may provide means for storing, retrieving, holding, etc. In some cases, UE302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may include positioning components 342, 388, and 398, respectively. Positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits, which, when executed, cause UE302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. In other embodiments, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processing systems 332, 384, and 394 (for example, they may be part of a modem processing system or integrated with another processing system). Alternatively, the positioning components 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in memory components 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which, when executed by the processing systems 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 to perform the functionality described herein. Figure 3A shows possible locations for the positioning component 342, which may be part of the WWAN transceiver 310, memory component 340, processing system 332, or any combination thereof, or which may be a standalone component. Figure 3B shows possible locations for the positioning component 388, which may be part of the WWAN transceiver 350, the memory component 386, the processing system 384, or any combination thereof, or it may be a standalone component.Figure 3C shows possible locations for the positioning component 398, which may be part of the network interface 390, the memory component 396, the processing system 394, or any combination thereof, or it may be a standalone component.

[0059] UE302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the processing system 332 to provide means for sensing or detecting motion information and / or orientation information independent of motion data derived from signals received by the WWAN transceiver 310, the short-range wireless transceiver 320, and / or the SPS receiver 330. For example, the sensors 344 may include accelerometers (e.g., microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices), gyroscopes, geomagnetic sensors (e.g., compasses), altimeters (e.g., barometric altimeters), and / or any other type of motion detection sensor. Furthermore, the sensors 344 may include multiple different types of devices and their outputs may be combined to provide motion information. For example, the sensors 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate position in 2D and / or 3D coordinate systems.

[0060] In addition, UE302 includes a user interface 346 that provides means for providing instructions to the user (e.g., acoustic and / or visual instructions) and / or for receiving user input (e.g., when a user activates a sensing device such as a keypad, touchscreen, or microphone). Although not shown, base stations 304 and network entities 306 may also include user interfaces.

[0061] Referring more closely to the processing system 384, in the downlink, IP packets from network entity 306 may be provided to the processing system 384. The processing system 384 may implement functionality for the RRC layer, Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The processing system 384 may provide RRC layer functionality related to broadcasting system information (e.g., Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality related to header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality related to the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic retransmission requests (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and sorting of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality related to mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority processing, and logical channel prioritization.

[0062] The transmitter 354 and receiver 352 may implement Layer 1 (L1) functionality related to various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) coding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles mapping to a signal constellation based on various modulation schemes (e.g., 2-phase shift keying (BPSK), 4-phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-phase quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., a pilot) in the time domain and / or frequency domain, and then synthesized together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to generate a physical channel that carries a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. Channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by UE302. Each spatial stream may then be supplied to one or more different antennas 356. Transmitter 354 may modulate RF carriers using each spatial stream for transmission.

[0063] In UE302, the receiver 312 receives signals through its respective antenna 316. The receiver 312 reconstructs the information modulated on the RF carrier and provides this information to the processing system 332. The transmitter 314 and receiver 312 perform Layer 1 functionality related to various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to reconstruct any spatial stream directed to UE302. Multiple spatial streams, if directed to UE302, can be combined by the receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 then uses a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to convert the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain. The frequency domain signal has a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, and the reference signal, are reconstructed and demodulated by determining the signal constellation point most likely to have been transmitted by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decision then decodes and deinterleaves the data and control signals initially transmitted by base station 304 on the physical channel to recover them. The data and control signals are then provided to processing system 332, which implements Layer 3 (L3) and Layer 2 (L2) functionality.

[0064] In the uplink, processing system 332 demultiplexes between the transport channel and logical channel, reassembles packets, decodes them, decompresses the headers, and processes control signals to reconstruct IP packets from the core network. Processing system 332 is also responsible for error detection.

[0065] Similar to the functionality described for downlink transmission by base station 304, processing system 332 provides RRC layer functionality related to system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality related to header compression / decompression and security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality related to the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and sorting of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality related to mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via hybrid automatic retransmission requests (HARQs), priority processing, and logical channel prioritization.

[0066] The channel estimate derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by base station 304 may be used by transmitter 314 to select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by transmitter 314 may be supplied to different antennas 316. Transmitter 314 may modulate the RF carrier using each spatial stream for transmission.

[0067] Uplink transmissions are processed at base station 304 in a manner similar to that described for receiver functions in UE302. Receiver 352 receives the signal through its respective antenna 356. Receiver 352 reconstructs the information modulated on the RF carrier and provides this information to processing system 384.

[0068] On the uplink, processing system 384 demultiplexes between the transport channel and the logical channel, reassembles packets, decodes them, decompresses the headers, and processes control signals to reconstruct the IP packets from UE302. The IP packets from processing system 384 can then be provided to the core network. Processing system 384 is also responsible for error detection.

[0069] For convenience, the UE302, base station 304, and / or network entity 306 are shown in Figures 3A to 3C as including various components that may be configured according to the various examples described herein. However, it should be understood that the illustrated blocks may have different functionalities in different designs.

[0070] Various components of UE302, base station 304, and network entity 306 can communicate with each other via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. The components in Figures 3A to 3C can be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components in Figures 3A to 3C can be implemented in one or more circuits, such as one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310 to 346 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of UE302 (for example, by the execution of appropriate code and / or by the appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350 to 388 may be implemented by the processor and memory components of base station 304 (for example, by the execution of appropriate code and / or by the appropriate configuration of the processor components). Furthermore, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390-398 may be performed by the processor and memory components of the network entity 306 (for example, by the execution of appropriate code and / or by the appropriate configuration of processor components). For simplicity, various operations, actions, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE," "by the base station," "by the network entity," etc. However, as will be understood, such operations, actions, and / or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components such as the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, including processing systems 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memory components 340, 386, and 396, and positioning components 342, 388, and 398.

[0071] Various frame structures can be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs).

[0072] Figure 4A is Figure 400, showing an example of a downlink frame structure according to an aspect of this disclosure. Figure 4B is Figure 430, showing an example of a channel within a downlink frame structure according to an aspect of this disclosure. Figure 4C is Figure 450, showing an example of an uplink frame structure according to an aspect of this disclosure. Figure 4D is Figure 470, showing an example of a channel within an uplink frame structure according to an aspect of this disclosure. Other wireless communication technologies may have different frame structures and / or different channels.

[0073] LTE, and sometimes NR, utilize OFDM on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. However, unlike LTE, NR also has the option of using OFDM on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM divide the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, usually also called tones or bins. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. Generally, the modulation symbol is transmitted in the frequency domain using OFDM and in the time domain using SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may depend on the system bandwidth. For example, the subcarrier spacing may be 15 kilohertz (kHz), and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be 12 subcarriers (i.e., 180 kHz). Therefore, the nominal FFT sizes may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048 for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be divided into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz, respectively.

[0074] LTE supports a single numerology (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies (μ), for example, subcarrier spacings of 15kHz (μ=0), 30kHz (μ=1), 60kHz (μ=2), 120kHz (μ=3), and 240kHz (μ=4), or greater, may be available. Within each subcarrier spacing, there are 14 symbols per slot. For a 15kHz SCS (μ=0), there is one slot per subframe, i.e., 10 slots per frame, with a slot duration of 1 millisecond (ms), a symbol duration of 66.7 microseconds (μs), and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 50 with an FFT size of 4K. For a 30kHz SCS (μ=1), there are 2 slots per subframe, i.e., 20 slots per frame, with a slot duration of 0.5ms, a symbol duration of 33.3μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 100 for an FFT size of 4K. For a 60kHz SCS (μ=2), there are 4 slots per subframe, i.e., 40 slots per frame, with a slot duration of 0.25ms, a symbol duration of 16.7μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 200 for an FFT size of 4K. For a 120kHz SCS (μ=3), there are 8 slots per subframe, i.e., 80 slots per frame, with a slot duration of 0.125ms, a symbol duration of 8.33μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 400 for an FFT size of 4K. For a 240kHz SCS (μ=4), there are 16 slots per subframe, i.e., 160 slots per frame, with a slot duration of 0.0625ms, a symbol duration of 4.17μs, and a maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) of 800 for an FFT size of 4K.

[0075] In the examples in Figures 4A to 4D, a 15kHz numerology is used. Therefore, in the time domain, a 10ms frame is divided into 10 subframes of equal size, each 1ms long, with each subframe containing one time slot. In Figures 4A to 4D, time increases from left to right and is represented horizontally (on the X-axis), while frequency increases (or decreases) from bottom to top and is represented vertically (on the Y-axis).

[0076] A resource grid may be used to represent time slots, each time slot containing one or more time-parallel resource blocks (RBs) (also called physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. In the numerology of Figures 4A to 4D, for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 7 consecutive symbols in the time domain to obtain a total of 84 REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may contain 12 consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and 6 consecutive symbols in the time domain to obtain a total of 72 REs. The number of bits carried by each RE depends on the modulation scheme.

[0077] Some REs carry downlink reference (pilot) signals (DL-RS). DL-RS may include PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, etc. Figure 4A shows an exemplary location (labeled "R") of an RE carrying a PRS.

[0078] The set of resource elements (REs) used for PRS transmission is called a "PRS resource." This resource set can extend across multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and across "N" (or more, such as one) consecutive symbols within a slot in the time domain. Within a given OFDM symbol in the time domain, the PRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs in the frequency domain.

[0079] The transmission of a PRS resource within a given PRB has a specific comb size (also called "comb density"). The comb size "N" represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency / tone spacing) within each symbol of the PRS resource configuration. Specifically, for a comb size "N", the PRS is transmitted within every N subcarriers of the symbols in the PRB. For example, for comb 4, for each symbol of the PRS resource configuration, REs corresponding to every four subcarriers (subcarriers 0, 4, 8, etc.) are used to transmit the PRS of the PRS resource. Currently, comb sizes comb 2, comb 4, comb 6, and comb 12 are supported for DL-PRS. Figure 4A shows an exemplary PRS resource configuration for comb 6 (spread across 6 symbols). That is, the location of the shaded RE (labeled "R") indicates the comb 6 PRS resource configuration.

[0080] Currently, DL-PRS resources can spread across 2, 4, 6, or 12 consecutive symbols in a slot, with a staggered pattern across the entire frequency domain. DL-PRS resources can be configured within any downlink or flexible (FL) symbols configured by the upper layer in the slot. For all REs of a given DL-PRS resource, there can be a constant energy per resource element (EPRE). The following are the symbol-to-symbol frequency offsets for comb sizes 2, 4, 6, and 12 across 2, 4, 6, and 12 symbols. 2 Symbol Com 2: {0, 1}, 4 Symbol Com 2: {0, 1, 0, 1}, 6 Symbol Com 2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}, 12 Symbol Com 2: {0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1}, 4 Symbol Com 4: {0, 2, 1, 3}, 12 Symbol Com 4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}, 6 Symbol Com 6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}, 12 Symbol Com 6: {0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5, 0, 3, 1, 4, 2, 5}, and 12 Symbol Com 12: {0, 6, 3, 9, 1, 7, 4, 10, 2, 8, 5, 11.

[0081] A "PRS resource set" is a set of PRS resources used for transmitting PRS signals, where each PRS resource has a PRS resource ID. In addition, PRS resources within a PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP. A PRS resource set is identified by its PRS resource set ID and associated with a specific TRP (identified by its TRP ID). In addition, PRS resources within a PRS resource set have the same periodicity, common muting pattern configuration, and the same repetition factor (such as "PRS-ResourceRepetitionFactor") across slots. Periodicity is the time from the first repetition of the first PRS resource in the first PRS instance to the same first repetition of the same first PRS resource in the next PRS instance. The periodicity may have a length selected from the 2^μ*{4, 5, 8, 10, 16, 20, 32, 40, 64, 80, 160, 320, 640, 1280, 2560, 5120, 10240} slots, where μ = 0, 1, 2, 3. The iteration coefficient may have a length selected from the {1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32} slots.

[0082] A PRS resource ID within a PRS resource set is associated with a single beam (or beam ID) transmitted from a single TRP (where a TRP may transmit one or more beams). That is, 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." Note that this does not imply in any way whether the TRP and the beam transmitted on it by the PRS are known to the UE.

[0083] A "PRS instance" or "PRS occasion" is one instance of a periodically repeating time window (such as a group of one or more consecutive slots) in which PRS is expected to be transmitted. A PRS occasion may also be called a "PRS positioning occasion," "PRS positioning instance," "positioning occasion," "positioning instance," "positioning iteration," or simply "occasion," "instance," or "iteration."

[0084] A "positioning frequency layer" (also simply called a "frequency layer") is a collection of one or more PRS resource sets spanning one or more TRPs that have the same values ​​for several parameters. In detail, the collection of PRS resource sets has the same subcarrier spacing and cyclic prefix (CP) type (meaning all numerologies supported for PDSCH are also supported for PRS), the same Point A, the same downlink PRS bandwidth, the same starting PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size. The Point A parameter takes the value of the parameter "ARFCN-ValueNR" (where "ARFCN" stands for "Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number") and is an identifier / code that specifies a pair of physical radio channels used for transmission and reception. The downlink PRS bandwidth may have a granularity of four PRBs, with a minimum of 24 PRBs and a maximum of 272 PRBs. Currently, up to four frequency layers are defined, and up to two PRS resource sets per TRP may be configured for each frequency layer.

[0085] The concept of frequency layers is somewhat similar to the concepts of component carriers and bandwidth portions (BWPs), but differs in that component carriers and BWPs are used by one base station (or macrocell and smallcell base stations) to transmit data channels, while frequency layers are used by several (usually three or more) base stations to transmit PRSs. A UE may indicate the number of frequency layers it can support when it transmits its positioning capabilities to the network, such as during an LTE positioning protocol (LPP) session. For example, a UE may indicate whether it can support one positioning frequency layer or four positioning frequency layers.

[0086] Figure 4B shows examples of various channels within a downlink slot of a radio frame. In NR, the channel bandwidth or system bandwidth is divided into multiple BWPs. A BWP is a sequence of PRBs selected from a sequence of common RBs for a given numerology on a given carrier. Generally, up to four BWPs can be specified in the downlink and uplink. That is, a UE can be configured with up to four BWPs on the downlink and up to four BWPs on the uplink. Only one BWP (uplink or downlink) may be active at a given time, meaning that the UE can only receive or transmit through one BWP at a time. On the downlink, the bandwidth of each BWP should be greater than or equal to the SSB bandwidth, but each BWP may or may not include the SSB.

[0087] Referring to Figure 4B, the UE uses a primary synchronization signal (PSS) to determine subframe / symbol timing and physical layer identification information. The UE uses a secondary synchronization signal (SSS) to determine the physical layer cell identification information group number and radio frame timing. Based on the physical layer identification information and physical layer cell identification information group number, the UE can determine the PCI. Based on the PCI, the UE can determine the location of the DL-RS described above. The physical broadcast channel (PBCH) carrying the MIB may be logically grouped with the PSS and SSS to form an SSB (also called SS / PBCH). The MIB provides the number of RBs in the downlink system bandwidth and the system frame number (SFN). The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) carries user data, broadcast system information not transmitted through the PBCH such as system information blocks (SIB), and paging messages.

[0088] A physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) carries downlink control information (DCI) within one or more control channel elements (CCEs), each CCE containing one or more RE group (REG) bundles (which may span multiple symbols in the time domain), each REG bundle containing one or more REGs, each REG corresponding to 12 resource elements (one resource block) in the frequency domain and one OFDM symbol in the time domain. The set of physical resources used to carry the PDCCH / DCI is called the control resource set (core set) in NR. In NR, the PDCCH is confined to a single core set and transmitted with its own DMRS. This allows for UE-specific beamforming for the PDCCH.

[0089] In the example in Figure 4B, there is one core set per BWP, and the core set extends to three symbols in the time domain (which may be as few as one or two symbols). Unlike the LTE control channel, which occupies the entire system bandwidth, in NR, the PDCCH channel is localized to a specific region in the frequency domain (i.e., a core set). Therefore, the frequency components of the PDCCH shown in Figure 4B are illustrated as smaller than a single BWP in the frequency domain. Note that the illustrated core sets are contiguous in the frequency domain, but do not have to be. In addition, the core sets may extend to less than three symbols in the time domain.

[0090] Within a PDCCH, DCIs carry information about (persistent and non-persistent) uplink resource allocation, called uplink authorization and downlink authorization, and descriptions of downlink data to be sent to the UE, respectively. More specifically, DCIs indicate resources scheduled for downlink data channels (e.g., PDSCH) and uplink data channels (e.g., PUSCH). Multiple (e.g., up to 8) DCIs can be configured within a PDCCH, and these DCIs can have one of several formats. For example, there are various DCI formats for uplink scheduling, downlink scheduling, uplink transmit power control (TPC), etc. A PDCCH can be transported by 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 CCEs to accommodate different DCI payload sizes or coding rates.

[0091] Figure 4C shows an example of various reference signals (RS) within a downlink slot of a radio frame. As shown in Figure 4C, some of the REs (labeled "R") carry DMRS for channel estimation at the receiver (e.g., base station, another UE). The UE may also transmit an SRS, for example, in the last symbol of the slot. The SRS may have a comb structure, and the UE may transmit the SRS in one of the combs. In the example in Figure 4C, the illustrated SRS is comb 2 across one symbol. The SRS may be used by the base station to obtain channel status information (CSI) per UE. The CSI describes how the RF signal propagates from the UE to the base station and represents the combined effects of scattering, fading, and power attenuation with distance. Systems use the SRS for resource scheduling, link adaptation, massive MIMO, beam management, etc.

[0092] Currently, SRS resources can span 1, 2, 4, 8, or 12 consecutive symbols within a comb size of comb 2, comb 4, or comb 8. The following are the symbol-to-symbol frequency offsets for currently supported SRS comb patterns. 1 symbol com 2: {0}, 2 symbol com 2: {0, 1}, 4 symbol com 2: {0, 1, 0, 1}, 4 symbol com 4: {0, 2, 1, 3}, 8 symbol com 4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}, 12 symbol com 4: {0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3, 0, 2, 1, 3}, 4 symbol com 8: {0, 4, 2, 6}, 8 symbol com 8: {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7}, and 12 symbol com 8: {0, 4, 2, 6, 1, 5, 3, 7, 0, 4, 2, 6}.

[0093] A set of resource elements used for SRS transmission is called an "SRS resource" and can be identified by the parameter "SRS-ResourceId". A set of resource elements can extend across multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and across N consecutive symbols (e.g., one or more) within a slot in the time domain. Within a given OFDM symbol, an SRS resource occupies consecutive PRBs. An "SRS resource set" is a set of SRS resources used for transmitting an SRS signal and is identified by an SRS resource set ID ("SRS-ResourceSetId").

[0094] Generally, UEs transmit SRS to enable receiving base stations (either serving base stations or neighboring base stations) to measure channel quality between the UE and the base station. However, SRS can also be used as an uplink positioning reference signal for uplink positioning procedures such as UL-TDOA, multi-RTT, and DL-AoA.

[0095] Several extensions beyond the previous definition of SRS have been proposed for positioning SRS (also known as "UL-PRS"), including new staggered patterns within SRS resources (except for single symbol / comb 2), new comb types for SRS, new sequences for SRS, more SRS resource sets per component carrier, and more SRS resources per component carrier. In addition, the parameters "SpatialRelationInfo" and "PathLossReference" will be configured based on a downlink reference signal or SSB from an adjacent TRP. Still, one SRS resource may be transmitted outside of an active BWP, and one SRS resource may be spread across multiple component carriers. Also, SRS may be configured in an RRC-connected state and may only be transmitted within an active BWP. Furthermore, frequency hopping may be absent, repetition coefficients may be absent, there may be a single antenna port, and there may be new lengths for SRS (e.g., 8 and 12 symbols). Furthermore, open-loop power control may be used instead of closed-loop power control, and Com 8 (i.e., SRS is transmitted for every 8 subcarriers within the same symbol) may be used. Finally, the UE may transmit from multiple SRS resources through the same transmit beam for UL-AoA. All of these are features added to the current SRS framework, configured through RRC upper-layer signaling (and potentially triggered or activated through MAC control elements (CE) or DCI).

[0096] Figure 4D shows an example of various channels within an uplink slot of a frame according to an aspect of this disclosure. Random access channels (RACHs), also called physical random access channels (PRACHs), may be present in one or more slots within a frame based on a PRACH configuration. A PRACH may contain six consecutive RB pairs within a slot. The PRACH enables the UE to perform initial system access and achieve uplink synchronization. A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) may be located on the edge of the uplink system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, CSI reports, channel quality indicators (CQIs), precoding matrix indicators (PMIs), rank indicators (RIs), and HARQ ACK / NACK feedback. A physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) carries data and may additionally carry buffer status reports (BSRs), power headroom reports (PHRs), and / or UCIs.

[0097] It should be noted that the terms “positioning reference signal” and “PRS” generally refer to specific reference signals used for positioning in NR and LTE systems. However, as used herein, the terms “positioning reference signal” and “PRS” may also refer to any type of reference signal that may be used for positioning, such as PRS, TRS, PTRS, CRS, CSI-RS, DMRS, PSS, SSS, SSB, SRS, and UL-PRS as defined in LTE and NR, but are not limited to these. In addition, the terms “positioning reference signal” and “PRS” may refer to either a downlink positioning reference signal or an uplink positioning reference signal unless otherwise specified by the context. Where necessary to further distinguish between types of PRS, a downlink positioning reference signal may be called “DL-PRS,” and an uplink positioning reference signal (e.g., positioning SRS, PTRS) may be called “UL-PRS.” In addition, for signals that can be transmitted on both uplink and downlink (e.g., DMRS, PTRS), "UL" or "DL" may be prepended to the signal to distinguish the direction. For example, "UL-DMRS" may be distinguished from "DL-DMRS".

[0098] Figure 5 is a diagram showing a base station (BS) 502 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein) communicating with a UE 504 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein). Referring to Figure 5, base station 502 may transmit beamformed signals to UE 504 on one or more transmit beams 502a, 502b, 502c, 502d, 502e, 502f, 502g, each having a beam identifier that can be used by UE 504 to identify each beam. If base station 502 is beamforming toward UE 504 using a single array of antennas (e.g., a single TRP / cell), base station 502 may perform a "beam sweep" by transmitting the first beam 502a, then beam 502b, and so on, until finally transmitting beam 502g. Alternatively, base station 502 may transmit beams 502a–502g in several patterns, such as beam 502a, then beam 502g, then beam 502b, then beam 502f, and so on. If base station 502 is beamforming toward UE 504 using multiple antenna arrays (e.g., multiple TRP / cells), each antenna array may perform a beam sweep of a subset of beams 502a–502g. Alternatively, each of beams 502a–502g may correspond to a single antenna or antenna array.

[0099] Figure 5 further illustrates the paths 512c, 512d, 512e, 512f, and 512g followed by beamformed signals transmitted on beams 502c, 502d, 502e, 502f, and 502g, respectively. Each path 512c, 512d, 512e, 512f, and 512g may correspond to a single “multipath” or, due to the propagation characteristics of radio frequency (RF) signals through the environment, may consist of multiple “multipaths” (clusters of multipaths). Only paths for beams 502c–502g are shown, for simplicity's sake; note that signals transmitted on each of beams 502a–502g may follow several paths. In the illustrated example, paths 512c, 512d, 512e, and 512f are linear, while path 512g is reflected from an obstacle 520 (e.g., a building, vehicle, terrain feature).

[0100] UE504 may receive beamformed signals from base station 502 on one or more received beams 504a, 504b, 504c, 504d. For simplicity, note that the beams shown in Figure 5 represent either the transmitting beam or the receiving beam, depending on whether base station 502 or UE504 is transmitting or receiving. Therefore, UE504 may also transmit beamformed signals to base station 502 on one or more of beams 504a to 504d, and base station 502 may receive beamformed signals from UE504 on one or more of beams 502a to 502g.

[0101] In one embodiment, base station 502 and UE 504 may perform beam training to align the transmit and receive beams of base station 502 and UE 504. For example, depending on environmental conditions and other factors, base station 502 and UE 504 may determine that the best transmit and receive beams are 502d and 504b, or beams 502e and 504c, respectively. The direction of the best transmit beam relative to base station 502 may or may not be the same as the direction of the best receive beam, and similarly, the direction of the best receive beam relative to UE 504 may or may not be the same as the direction of the best transmit beam. However, it should be noted that aligning the transmit and receive beams is not necessary to perform downlink angle of emission (DL-AoD) or uplink angle of arrival (UL-AoA) positioning procedures.

[0102] To perform the DL-AoD positioning procedure, base station 502 may transmit a reference signal (e.g., PRS, CRS, TRS, CSI-RS, PSS, SSS, etc.) to UE 504 in one or more of the beams 502a-502g, each having a different transmission angle. The different transmission angles of the beams result in different received signal strengths at UE 504 (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc.). Specifically, the received signal strength is lower for the transmission beams 502a-502g that are further from the line-of-sight (LOS) path 510 between base station 502 and UE 504 than for the transmission beams 502a-502g that are closer to the LOS path 510.

[0103] In the example in Figure 5, when base station 502 transmits a reference signal to UE 504 on beams 502c, 502d, 502e, 502f, and 502g, transmitting beam 502e is best aligned with LOS path 510, but transmitting beams 502c, 502d, 502f, and 502g are not. Therefore, beam 502e may have a higher received signal intensity at UE 504 than beams 502c, 502d, 502f, and 502g. Note that reference signals transmitted on some beams (e.g., beams 502c and / or 502f) may not reach UE 504, or the energy reaching UE 504 from these beams may be too low, resulting in undetectable or at least negligible energy.

[0104] UE504 can report to base station 502 the received signal strength of each measured transmit beam 502c-502g, and optionally the associated measurement quality, or alternatively, identification information of the transmit beam with the greatest received signal strength (beam 502e in the example in Figure 5). Alternatively or additionally, if UE504 is also involved in round-trip time (RTT) or time-difference of arrival (TDOA) positioning sessions with at least one or more base stations 502, UE504 can report reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx) or reference signal time difference (RSTD) measurements (and optionally the associated measurement quality), respectively, to serving base station 502 or other positioning entities. In either case, a positioning entity (e.g., base station 502, location server, third-party client, UE504, etc.) can estimate the angle from base station 502 to UE504 as the AoD of the transmit beam with the greatest received signal strength at UE504, in this case, the transmit beam 502e.

[0105] In one embodiment of DL-AoD-based positioning involving only one base station 502, the base station 502 and UE 504 can perform a round-trip time (RTT) procedure to determine the distance between base station 502 and UE 504. Thus, the positioning entity can determine both the direction to UE 504 (using DL-AoD positioning) and the distance to UE 504 (using RTT positioning) in order to estimate the location of UE 504. It should be noted that the AoD of the transmit beam with the greatest received signal strength is not necessarily along the LOS path 510, as shown in Figure 5. However, for DL-AoD-based positioning purposes, this is assumed.

[0106] In another aspect of DL-AoD-based positioning, where multiple base stations 502 are involved, each base station 502 can report the determined AoD from base station 502 to UE 504 to the positioning entity. The positioning entity receives multiple such AoDs for UE 504 from the multiple base stations 502 (or other geographically separated transmission points) involved. Using this information and knowledge of the geographical locations of the base stations 502, the positioning entity can estimate the location of UE 504 as the intersection of the received AoDs. For a two-dimensional (2D) location solution, there should be at least two base stations 502 involved, but as you can imagine, the more base stations 502 involved in the positioning procedure, the more accurate the estimated location of UE 504 becomes. In the case of UE-assisted positioning, a serving base station reports RSRP measurements to the positioning entity (e.g., a location server). The AoD is not determined or reported by each base station.

[0107] To perform the UL-AoA positioning procedure, UE504 transmits an uplink reference signal (e.g., UL-PRS, SRS, DMRS, etc.) to base station 502 in one or more of the uplink transmit beams 504a-504d. Base station 502 receives the uplink reference signal in one or more of the uplink receive beams 502a-502g. Base station 502 determines the angle of the best receive beam 502a-502g used to receive one or more reference signals from UE504 as the AoA from UE504 to base station 502. In detail, each of the receive beams 502a-502g results in a different received signal intensity (e.g., RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, etc.) of one or more reference signals at base station 502. Furthermore, the channel impulse response of one or more reference signals is smaller for received beams 502a-502g that are further from the actual LOS path between base station 502 and UE 504 than for received beams 502a-502g that are closer to the LOS path. Similarly, the received signal strength is smaller for received beams 502a-502g that are further from the LOS path than for received beams 502a-502g that are closer to the LOS path than for received beams 502a-502g. Therefore, base station 502 identifies the received beams 502a-502g that yield the maximum received signal strength, and optionally the strongest channel impulse response, and estimates the angle from itself to UE 504 as the AoA of those received beams 502a-502g. Note that, as with DL-AoD-based positioning, the AoA of the received beams 502a-502g that yield the maximum received signal strength (and the strongest channel impulse response, if measured) is not necessarily aligned with the LOS path 510. However, for UL-AoA-based positioning purposes, this can be assumed in FR2. In the case of FR1, AoA estimation can be performed using digital beam scanning. For example, UE504 may estimate AoA as the AoA with the fastest path having power greater than several thresholds.

[0108] While the UE504 is presented as beamforming-capable, it should be noted that this is not essential for DL-AoD and UL-AoA positioning procedures. Rather, the UE504 may receive and transmit using an omnidirectional antenna.

[0109] If UE504 is estimating its location (i.e., UE is a positioning entity), it needs to obtain the geographic location of base station 502. UE504 may obtain the location from, for example, base station 502 itself or from a location server (e.g., location server 230, LMF270, SLP272). Using the distance to base station 502 (based on RTT or timing advance), the angle between base station 502 and UE504 (based on UL-AoA of the best received beams 502a-502g), and knowledge of the known geographic location of base station 502, UE504 can estimate its location.

[0110] Alternatively, if a positioning entity such as base station 502 or a location server is estimating the location of UE 504, base station 502 may report the maximum received signal intensity (and optionally, the strongest channel impulse response) of the reference signal received from UE 504, or the AoA of the received beams 502a-502g that yield all received signal intensity and channel impulse responses for all received beams 502a-502g (this allows the positioning entity to determine the best received beam 502a-502g). In addition, base station 502 may report the Rx-Tx time difference to UE 504. The positioning entity can then estimate the location of UE 504 based on the distance of UE 504 to base station 502, the AoA of the identified received beams 502a-502g, and the known geographical location of base station 502.

[0111] The UE may be provided with supporting data to enable it to perform UE-based downlink positioning. One such information element (IE) is the NR-PositionCalculationAssistance IE shown below.

number

number

[0112] Figure 6 illustrates a conventional PRS transmission with eight PRS resources, namely a set of eight PRS transmit beams with azimuth angles of 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105, and 120 degrees. Each of the eight PRS transmit beams has its own spatial transmit (TX) filter that specifies spatial transmit characteristics such as azimuth, elevation, and beamwidth. However, for clarity, Figure 6 only shows five of the eight PRS beams, namely PRS1, PRS2 (45 degrees), PRS3 (60 degrees), PRS4 (75 degrees), and PRS5 (90 degrees), which are transmitted using an azimuth angle of 30 degrees. Figure 6 shows the perceived power of each PRS transmit beam at various azimuth angles relative to the TRP during transmission of PRS1-PRS5. For example, the received power of PRS1 is maximum for UE at a 30-degree angle from TRP, the received power of PRS2 is maximum for UE at a 60-degree angle from TRP, and so on.

[0113] In the example shown in Figure 6, the UE is positioned at an azimuth of 65 degrees to the TRP from which PRS1-PRS5 are transmitting. The graph on the left shows the relative power (e.g., RSRP) of each PRS transmit beam as seen by the UE, with PRS3 having the highest RSRP, PRS4 the next highest, PRS2 the next highest, PRS5 the second lowest, and PRS1 the lowest. The graph on the right plots these measured RSRP values ​​on the Y-axis and the angle of the RSRP being transmitted at that time on the X-axis. Of the five RSRP measurements, the UE determines that PRS3 has the highest RSRP value and therefore estimates that its position is 60 degrees from the TRP, i.e., at the azimuth of the PRS angle from which the highest RSRP was measured. However, this estimation is completely inaccurate because the PRS being transmitted at the closest azimuth angle to the UE, i.e., PRS3 at 60 degrees, would have produced a larger RSRP value if it had been transmitted at 65 degrees instead, but the UE does not have enough information to know this fact. From the UE's perspective, it detects that the maximum RSRP it has measured was produced by PRS3 at an azimuth of 60 degrees, and the UE has no indication that the RSRP could have been larger. Using the conventional method shown in Figure 6, the azimuth error is 5 degrees.

[0114] Figure 7 shows an improved method of PRS transmission in one embodiment. In Figure 7, the same set of eight PRS transmit beams as in Figure 6 are transmitted, but during the next transmission of those eight PRS transmit beams, the transmit azimuth angle is shifted by 7.5 degrees. In some embodiments, each of the eight PRS transmit beams operates according to a new spatial TX filter. Alternatively, an existing spatial TX filter for each beam may be modified or updated to shift the azimuth angle by an offset amount, for example (7.5 degrees in this example). The shifted PRS transmit means are labeled PRS1' to PRS5'. During these next transmissions, the UE again performs RSRP measurements of the PRS transmit beams, and because the azimuth angles of the PRS transmit beams have been shifted, the additional beams provide RSRP data with higher resolution. As shown on the right side of Figure 7, the UE has twice as many points to plot, which allows the UE to determine an estimated azimuth angle with better resolution. In the example shown in Figure 7, the UE determines that the highest RSRP value was detected at 67.5 degrees, which is an azimuth error of only 2.5 degrees, or half the azimuth error of the conventional method in Figure 6. Moreover, the UE now has more data points to attempt to fit the curve using, meaning that the UE can calculate that the highest point on the RSRP curve shown on the right side of Figure 7 is at an azimuth angle slightly smaller than 67.5 degrees, i.e., 65 degrees, which is the true location of the UE.

[0115] Figures 8A and 8B illustrate improved methods of PRS transmission in several embodiments, showing top views of the PRS beam locations for a first set of transmissions (Figure 8A) and a subsequent set of transmissions (Figure 8B). Figure 8B shows the locations of the first set of transmissions (labeled 1 to 8) for the locations of a second shifted set of transmissions (labeled 1 to 8). Greater angular resolution can be achieved by interleaving the two sets of transmissions. In some embodiments, this is achieved by using two sets of spatial TX filters, for example, a first set for the beam directions shown in Figure 8A and a second set for the beam directions shown in Figure 8B. Alternatively, this may be achieved, for example, by providing one set of spatial TX filters for the beam directions shown in Figure 8A, as well as a set of parameters that specify how many iterations will be performed and the azimuth offset to be applied to each iteration.

[0116] Figures 9A and 9B illustrate an improved method of PRS transmission in a different embodiment, showing top views of the PRS beam locations for a first set of transmissions (Figure 9A) and subsequent sets of transmissions (Figure 9B). Figures 9A and 9B illustrate the point that the same concept can be extended to two or more subsequent sets of PRS transmissions. Figure 9B shows the locations for the first set of transmissions (labeled 1-4), the second set of transmissions (labeled 1'-4'), and the third set of transmissions (labeled 1''-4''). By interleaving multiple sets of transmissions, greater angular resolution can be achieved even with fewer PRS transmission beams. The example shown in Figures 9A and 9B can, for example, achieve the same angular resolution as the example shown in Figures 8A and 8B while using half the number of PRS transmission beams.

[0117] Figures 10A–10C illustrate an improved method of PRS transmission in another embodiment, showing top views of the PRS beam locations for a first set of transmissions (Figure 10A) and subsequent sets of transmissions (Figures 10B and 10C). In the example shown in Figures 10A–10C, instead of spacing the eight PRS transmissions across the entire 120-degree sector angle, the eight PRS transmission beams are transmitted within a small portion of the sector size, i.e., one-third of the sector in this example. Thus, in Figure 10A, all eight PRS transmission beams occupy only 40 degrees of the 120-degree sector, for example, the first 40 degrees of the sector. In Figure 10B, the next iteration of the eight PRS transmission beams occupies only the next 40 degrees of the sector. In Figure 10C, the third iteration of the eight PRS transmission beams occupies the last 40 degrees of the sector. In this way, a triple improvement in angular resolution, surpassing conventional methods, can be achieved using the same number of PRS transmit beams as conventional methods.

[0118] Figures 11A–11C also illustrate an improved method of PRS transmission in another embodiment, showing top views of the PRS beam locations for a first set of transmissions (Figure 11A) and subsequent sets of transmissions (Figures 11B and 11C). Figures 11A–11C illustrate the point that PRS offsets can also be used for the purpose of rotating the PRS transmit beam into other sectors. Thus, the PRS beam configuration may be defined for one sector and replicated in other sectors using a larger PRS offset. For example, in Figure 11A, eight PRS transmit beams (labeled 1-8) occupy one 120-degree sector; then in Figure 11B, the eight PRS transmit beams are offset so that in the next iteration, eight PRS transmit beams (labeled 1'-8') occupy a second sector; and in Figure 11C, the eight PRS transmit beams are offset again so that eight PRS transmit beams (labeled 1''-8'') occupy a third sector. The eight PRS transmit beams may then be offset again so that they occupy the first sector again, and so on. Note that multiple offsets may be specified, such as a first offset being used to produce the patterns seen in Figures 7, 8A-8B, 9A-9B, and 10A-10C, and a second offset being used to replicate those patterns in each sector as shown in Figures 11A-11C.

[0119] In the examples disclosed above, the azimuth angle changes for a particular PRS transmit beam from one transmit of that beam to subsequent transmits of that beam, but the same concept may be applied to any parameter of the PRS transmit beam, including, but not limited to, elevation angle, beamwidth, and transmit power. For example, Figures 12A and 12B show the modification of the width of a PRS transmit beam.

[0120] Figures 12A and 12B also illustrate an improved method of PRS transmission in another embodiment, showing top views of the PRS beam locations for a first set of transmissions (Figure 12A) and a subsequent set of transmissions (Figure 12B). As seen in Figure 12A, during the first set of transmissions, the PRS transmit beams (labeled 1-9) have a first width. As seen in Figure 12B, during the second set of transmissions, the PRS transmit beams (labeled 1'-9') have a second width that is narrower than the first width. The second set of beams provides the UE with additional data from which the UE can determine its azimuth angle relative to the TRP.

[0121] Any of the techniques described herein may be performed alone or in combination with other techniques. In some embodiments, each PRS resource may be transmitted multiple times, and during each transmission, the azimuth, elevation, and / or beamwidth of the PRS resource may be modified.

[0122] For example, in one embodiment, the TRP may iterate through sending a set of PRS resources using a set of azimuth offsets and a set of altitude offsets. In one embodiment, the TRP may perform a first set of iterations using the azimuth offset while keeping the elevation constant, then apply an offset to the elevation, perform a second set of iterations using the azimuth offset while keeping the elevation constant to a new value, apply another offset to the elevation, and repeat the process until all combinations of azimuth and elevation have been used. Alternatively, the altitude offset may be swept while maintaining the same azimuth, then the altitude offset may be swept using a new azimuth until all combinations of azimuth and elevation have been used, and so on. In yet another embodiment, each azimuth offset may be paired with a corresponding altitude offset so that a nth azimuth offset and a nth elevation offset are used during the Nth iteration.

[0123] Those skilled in the art will understand that the behavior described herein can be achieved by providing a complete set of spatial TX filters for each PRS transmission iteration, or by providing a basic set of spatial TX filters for a first PRS transmission iteration, and a set of parameters indicating how one or more properties of the spatial TX filter, such as azimuth offset, elevation offset, width offset, etc., should change for each iteration.

[0124] PRS transmission has been described so far from the TRP's perspective, but it will be understood that in order to utilize the techniques described above, the UE should be aware of how the TRP attempts to transmit the PRS signals and how the TRP attempts to modify those PRS signals with each iteration. Therefore, in some embodiments, this information is provided to the UE. In some embodiments, the following supporting data may be provided to the UE, with changes from conventional supporting data indicated in underlined bold font.

number

[0125] Alternatively, a single DL-PRS-BeamInfoElement may be provided, but with additional information representing one or more offset parameters to be applied in each iteration. In one embodiment, N offsets may be provided, i.e., one for each of the N iterations. In one embodiment, if a single offset (e.g., a 15-degree azimuth offset) is provided, it is assumed that in the Nth iteration, (N-1)* offsets will be applied to the associated PRS resources (e.g., no offset for the first transmission, a 15-degree offset for the second transmission, a 30-degree offset for the third transmission, and so on). In one embodiment, if there is a single offset associated with a set of PRS resources, the same offset will be applied to all PRS resources in that set, for example, all PRS transmit beams will be offset by an additional 15 degrees in the next iteration. If two offsets are provided (for example, one for azimuth and one for altitude), in one embodiment the transmitter retains one offset while sweeping the other, and in another embodiment, in the Nth transmission, the transmitter uses the Nth value of one offset and the Nth value of the other offset for the same transmission. In some embodiments, a single offset may be specified for one parameter, and a set of offsets may be specified for another parameter.

[0126] While the above example relates to DL PRS, the same concept may be applied to UL PRS (for example, using multiple repetitions of a sounding reference signal (SRS)) and SL PRS, for example, UE to UE or BS to BS.

[0127] Figure 13 is a flowchart of an exemplary process 1300 related to increased firing angle measurement granularity in several embodiments. In some implementations, one or more process blocks in Figure 13 may be executed by a receiving entity (RE), for example, BS102 in Figure 1 or UE104 in Figure 1. In some implementations, one or more process blocks in Figure 13 may be executed by another device or group of devices separate from or including the RE. Additionally or alternatively, one or more process blocks in Figure 13 may be executed by one or more components of device 302 or device 304, such as processing system 332 or processing system 384, memory 340 or memory 386, WWAN transceiver 310 or WWAN transceiver 350, transceiver 320 or transceiver 360, user interface 346 or network interface 380.

[0128] As shown in Figure 13, process 1300 may include receiving a positioning resource beam configuration that defines a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, and each of the different beams having a set of beam characteristics different from the set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, of which at least one beam characteristic (block 1310). The beam characteristics different for each beam may be the transmission azimuth angle, transmission elevation angle, relative transmission power, power half-power angle, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of a positioning reference signal (PRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS). In some embodiments, the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of a downlink (DL) positioning resource, an uplink (UL) positioning resource, or a sidelink (SL) positioning resource.

[0129] In some embodiments, the positioning resource beam configuration defines a set of beam characteristics for each beam, for each positioning resource. In some embodiments, the positioning resource beam configuration defines a first set of beam characteristics for one beam among various beams, and at least one offset to be applied to at least one characteristic in the first set of beam characteristics, for each positioning resource, in order to compute a second set of beam characteristics for another beam among various beams. In some embodiments, the at least one offset is the same for each positioning resource in the set of positioning resources. In some embodiments, the at least one offset for one positioning resource in the set of positioning resources is different from the at least one offset for another positioning resource in the set of positioning resources.

[0130] In some embodiments, at least one offset comprises one offset. In some embodiments, for multiple iterations, in the i-th iteration, the value of (i-1)*(offset) is applied to at least one characteristic in a first set of beam characteristics in order to calculate at least one characteristic in a set of beam characteristics for the i-th beam. In some embodiments, at least one offset comprises two offsets, i.e., one offset for each of two characteristics. In some embodiments, the transmitter keeps one offset constant while correcting the other offset for each successive beam transmission. In some embodiments, the transmitter corrects both offsets for each successive beam transmission. In some embodiments, the two offsets comprise an azimuth offset and an elevation offset.

[0131] As further shown in Figure 13, process 1300 may include performing positioning measurements on various beams at different times based at least on a set of beam characteristics (block 1320).

[0132] As further shown in Figure 13, process 1300 may include sending positioning information to the TRP, the positioning information comprising at least some of positioning measurements, positioning estimates, or a combination thereof (block 1330). In some embodiments, the positioning information comprises at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, time of arrival (ToA) measurement, quality of service (QoS) measurement, or angle of departure (AoD).

[0133] In some embodiments, the receiving entity comprises user equipment (UE) or base station (BS). In some embodiments, the TRP comprises user equipment (UE) or base station (BS).

[0134] Figure 13 shows an exemplary block of process 1300, but in some implementations, process 1300 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently configured blocks in addition to the block shown in Figure 13. Additionally or alternatively, two or more blocks of process 1300 may be executed in parallel.

[0135] Figure 14 is a flowchart of an exemplary process 1400 related to increased firing angle measurement granularity. In some implementations, one or more process blocks in Figure 14 may be executed by a TRP, for example, BS102 in Figure 1 or UE104 in Figure 1. In some implementations, one or more process blocks in Figure 14 may be executed by a separate device or group of devices, either separate from or including the RE. As an addition or alternative, one or more process blocks in Figure 14 may be executed by one or more components of device 302 or device 304, such as processing system 332 or processing system 384, memory 340 or memory 386, WWAN transceiver 310 or WWAN transceiver 350, transceiver 320 or transceiver 360, user interface 346 or network interface 380.

[0136] As shown in Figure 14, process 1400 may include sending a positioning resource beam configuration to a receiving entity that defines a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, and each of the different beams having a set of beam characteristics different from the set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, of which at least one beam characteristic (block 1410). The beam characteristics different for each beam may be the transmission azimuth angle, transmission elevation angle, relative transmission power, power half-power angle, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of a positioning reference signal (PRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS). In some embodiments, the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of a downlink (DL) positioning resource, an uplink (UL) positioning resource, or a sidelink (SL) positioning resource.

[0137] In some embodiments, the positioning resource beam configuration defines a set of beam characteristics for each beam, for each positioning resource. In some embodiments, the positioning resource beam configuration defines a first set of beam characteristics for one beam among various beams, and at least one offset to be applied to at least one characteristic in the first set of beam characteristics, for each positioning resource, in order to compute a second set of beam characteristics for another beam among various beams. In some embodiments, the at least one offset is the same for each positioning resource in the set of positioning resources. In some embodiments, the at least one offset for one positioning resource in the set of positioning resources is different from the at least one offset for another positioning resource in the set of positioning resources.

[0138] In some embodiments, at least one offset comprises one offset. In some embodiments, for multiple iterations, in the i-th iteration, the value of (i-1)*(offset) is applied to at least one characteristic in a first set of beam characteristics in order to calculate at least one characteristic in a set of beam characteristics for the i-th beam. In some embodiments, at least one offset comprises two offsets, i.e., one offset for each of two characteristics. In some embodiments, the transmitter keeps one offset constant while correcting the other offset for each successive beam transmission. In some embodiments, the transmitter corrects both offsets for each successive beam transmission. In some embodiments, the two offsets comprise an azimuth offset and an elevation offset.

[0139] As further shown in Figure 14, process 1400 may include transmitting a set of positioning resources according to a positioning resource beam configuration (block 1420).

[0140] As further shown in Figure 14, process 1400 may include receiving positioning information from a receiving entity, the positioning information comprising at least some measurements, positioning estimates, or combinations thereof of positioning resources (block 1430). For example, a transmit / receive point (TRP) may receive positioning information from a receiving entity as described above, the positioning information comprising at least some measurements, positioning estimates, or combinations thereof of positioning resources. In some embodiments, the positioning information comprises at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, time of arrival (ToA) measurement, quality of service (QoS) measurement, or angle of departure (AoD).

[0141] In some embodiments, the TRP comprises user equipment (UE) or base station (BS). In some embodiments, the receiving entity comprises user equipment (UE) or base station (BS).

[0142] Figure 14 shows an exemplary block of process 1400, but in some implementations, process 1400 may include additional blocks, fewer blocks, different blocks, or differently configured blocks in addition to the block shown in Figure 14. Additionally or alternatively, two or more blocks of process 1400 may be executed in parallel.

[0143] In embodiments for carrying out the above invention, it can be understood that various features are grouped together in the examples. This manner of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the exemplary clauses have more features than are explicitly stated in each clause. Rather, the various embodiments of this disclosure may contain fewer features than all features of the individual exemplary clauses disclosed. Accordingly, the following clauses should be considered by this specification as being incorporated into this description, and each clause may be valid on its own as a separate example. Each dependent clause may refer in itself to a specific combination with one of the other clauses, but the embodiments of that dependent clause are not limited to that specific combination. It will be understood that the other exemplary clauses may also include combinations of dependent clause embodiments with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause, or any combination of features with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. The various embodiments disclosed herein explicitly include these combinations unless it is explicitly stated or easily inferred that a particular combination is not intended (for example, in contradictory embodiments such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor). Furthermore, even if a clause is not directly subordinate to an independent clause, it is intended that the form of the clause may be included in any other independent clause.

[0144] Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses.

[0145] Clause 1. A method of wireless communication performed by a receiving entity, the method comprising receiving a positioning resource beam configuration defining a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by a Transmitting / Receiving Point (TRP) at different times using different beams, each of the different beams having a set of beam characteristics different from the set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, performing positioning measurements on the different beams at different times based at least on the set of beam characteristics, and sending positioning information to the TRP, the positioning information comprising at least some of positioning measurements, positioning estimates, or a combination thereof.

[0146] Clause 2. The method of Clause 1, wherein each of the various beams has a set of beam characteristics different from the set of beam characteristics of another beam among the various beams, the at least one beam characteristic comprising an azimuth, an elevation, relative transmit power, power half-power angle, or a combination thereof.

[0147] Clause 3. Any method of Clauses 1 to 2, wherein the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of the following: positioning reference signal (PRS), sounding reference signal (SRS), channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), or demodulation reference signal (DMRS).

[0148] Clause 4. Any method of Clauses 1 to 3, wherein the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of downlink (DL) positioning resources, uplink (UL) positioning resources, or sidelink (SL) positioning resources.

[0149] Clause 5. The positioning resource beam configuration, by any method of Clauses 1 to 4, defines a set of beam characteristics for each beam for each positioning resource.

[0150] Clause 6. The positioning resource beam configuration, in any of the methods of Clauses 1 to 5, specifies a first set of beam characteristics for one beam among various beams, and at least one offset to be applied to at least one characteristic in the first set of beam characteristics, in order to calculate a second set of beam characteristics for another beam among various beams for each positioning resource.

[0151] Clause 7. The method of Clause 6, wherein at least one offset is the same for each positioning resource in the set of positioning resources.

[0152] Clause 8. By any of the methods in Clauses 6-7, at least one offset for one positioning resource in the set of positioning resources is different from at least one offset for another positioning resource in the set of positioning resources.

[0153] Clause 9. Any method of Clauses 6 to 8, wherein at least one offset comprises one offset.

[0154] Clause 10. The method of Clause 9, wherein for multiple iterations, in the i-th iteration, a value of (i-1)*(offset) is applied to at least one characteristic in a first set of beam characteristics in order to calculate at least one characteristic in a set of beam characteristics for the i-th beam.

[0155] Clause 11. Any method of Clauses 6 to 10, wherein at least one offset comprises two offsets, i.e., one offset for each of the two characteristics.

[0156] Clause 12. In any of the methods described in Clauses 10 to 11, the transmitter maintains one offset constant while correcting the other offset for each successive beam transmission.

[0157] Clause 13. The transmitter corrects both offsets for each consecutive beam transmission using any method from Clauses 10 to 12.

[0158] Clause 14. Any method of Clauses 10 to 13, wherein the two offsets comprise an azimuth offset and an elevation offset.

[0159] Clause 15. A method among Clauses 1 to 14 wherein the positioning information comprises at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, time to arrival (ToA) measurement, quality of service (QoS) measurement, or angle of departure (AoD).

[0160] Clause 16. The method according to claim 1, wherein the receiving entity comprises user equipment (UE) or base station (BS).

[0161] Clause 17. The method according to claim 1, wherein the TRP comprises user equipment (UE) or base station (BS).

[0162] Clause 18. A method of wireless communication performed by a Transmitting / Receiving Point (TRP), the method comprising sending a positioning resource beam configuration to a receiving entity that defines a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, each of the different beams having a set of beam characteristics different from the set of beam characteristics of other beams among the different beams, transmitting the set of positioning resources according to the positioning resource beam configuration, and receiving positioning information from the receiving entity, the positioning information comprising at least some measurements, positioning estimates, or combinations thereof of the positioning resources.

[0163] Clause 19. The method of Clause 18, wherein each of the various beams has a set of beam characteristics different from the set of beam characteristics of another beam among the various beams, the at least one beam characteristic comprising an azimuth, an elevation, relative transmit power, power half-power angle, or a combination thereof.

[0164] Clause 20. Any method of Clauses 18-19, wherein the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of the following: positioning reference signals (PRS), sounding reference signals (SRS), channel status information reference signals (CSI-RS), or demodulation reference signals (DMRS).

[0165] Clause 21. By any of the methods described in Clauses 18-20, the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of downlink (DL) positioning resources, uplink (UL) positioning resources, or sidelink (SL) positioning resources.

[0166] Clause 22. The positioning resource beam configuration, by any method of Clauses 18 to 21, specifies a set of beam characteristics for each beam for each positioning resource.

[0167] Clause 23. The positioning resource beam configuration, in any of the methods of Clauses 18 to 22, specifies a first set of beam characteristics for one beam among various beams, and at least one offset to be applied to at least one characteristic in the first set of beam characteristics, in order to calculate a second set of beam characteristics for another beam among various beams for each positioning resource.

[0168] Clause 24. In any of the methods described in Clauses 18-23, at least one offset is the same for each positioning resource in the set of positioning resources.

[0169] Clause 25. In any of the methods described in Clauses 18-24, at least one offset for one positioning resource in the set of positioning resources is different from at least one offset for another positioning resource in the set of positioning resources.

[0170] Clause 26. Any method of Clauses 18-25, wherein at least one offset comprises one offset.

[0171] Clause 27. The method of Clause 26, wherein for multiple iterations, in the i-th iteration, a value of (i-1)*(offset) is applied to at least one characteristic in a first set of beam characteristics in order to calculate at least one characteristic in a set of beam characteristics for the i-th beam.

[0172] Clause 28. Any method of Clauses 18 to 27, wherein at least one offset comprises two offsets, i.e., one offset for each of the two characteristics.

[0173] Article 29. The method of Article 28, wherein the transmitter maintains one offset constant while correcting the other offset for each successive beam transmission.

[0174] Clause 30. The transmitter corrects both offsets for each consecutive beam transmission using any of the methods described in Clauses 28-29.

[0175] Clause 31. Any method of Clauses 28-30, wherein the two offsets comprise an azimuth offset and an elevation offset.

[0176] Clause 32. A method among Clauses 18 to 31, wherein the positioning information comprises at least one of the following: reference signal received power (RSRP) measurement, time to arrival (ToA) measurement, quality of service (QoS) measurement, or angle of departure (AoD).

[0177] Clause 33. The method according to claim 18, wherein the TRP comprises user equipment (UE) or base station (BS).

[0178] Clause 34. The method according to claim 18, wherein the receiving entity comprises user equipment (UE) or base station (BS).

[0179] Clause 35. An apparatus comprising memory and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the memory and at least one processor are configured to perform any method according to Clauses 1 to 34.

[0180] Clause 36. An apparatus comprising means for carrying out any of the methods prescribed in Clauses 1 to 34.

[0181] Clause 37. A non-temporary computer-readable medium for storing computer-executable instructions, wherein the computer-executable instructions comprise at least one instruction causing a computer or processor to perform any of the methods described in Clauses 1 to 34.

[0182] Those skilled in the art will understand that information and signals can be represented using any of a variety of different techniques and methods. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips, which may be referenced throughout the above description, can be represented by voltage, electric current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0183] Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic steps described in relation to the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly demonstrate this hardware and software compatibility, various exemplary components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps are described above in general terms with respect to their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or as software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in various ways for each specific application, but such implementation decisions should not be construed as causing a departure from the scope of this disclosure.

[0184] The various exemplary logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in relation to the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or run using general-purpose processors, DSPs, ASICs, FPGAs or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. The processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors working with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0185] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in relation to the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in hardware directly, in software modules executed by a processor, or in a combination of both. The software modules may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disks, removable disks, CD-ROMs, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor so that the processor can read information from and write information to the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integrated with the processor. The processor and storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., a UE). Alternatively, the processor and storage medium may reside in the user terminal as separate components.

[0186] In one or more exemplary embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted via computer-readable media as one or more instructions or codes. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, including any media that facilitate the transfer of computer programs from one location to another. Storage media may be any available media accessible by a computer. Such computer-readable media may include, but are not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other media that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Any connection is also appropriately referred to as computer-readable media. For example, if software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of a medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, include compact disc (CD), laserdisc (disc), optical disc, digital versatile disc (disc) (DVD), floppy disk (disk), and Blu-ray (disc), where a disk typically reproduces data magnetically and a disc optically reproduces data using a laser. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0187] While the above disclosures illustrate exemplary aspects of the Disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications can be made herein without departing from the scope of the Disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps, and / or actions of the method claims in the aspects of the Disclosure described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, while elements of the Disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is intended unless explicitly stated to limit them to the singular. [Explanation of symbols]

[0188] 100 Wireless Communication Systems 102 Base station 104 User Equipment (UE) 110 coverage area 112 Space Vehicles (SV) 120 Communication Links 122 Backhaul Link 124 SPS signals 134 Backhaul Link 150 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) 152 Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Station (STA) 154 Communication Links 164 User Equipment (UE) 170 Core Network 172 Location Server 180 mmW base station 182 User Equipment (UE) 184 mmW communication link 190 User Equipment (UE) 192, 194 Device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links 200 Wireless Network Structures 204 User Equipment (UE) 210 5G Core (5GC) 212 User Plane Features 213 User Plane Interface (NG-U) 214 Control Plane Functions 215 Control Plane Interface (NG-C) 220 New RAN 222 gNB 223 Backhaul connection 224 ng-eNB 230 Location Servers 250 Wireless Network Structures 260 5G cores (5GC) 262 User Plane Function (UPF) 263 User Plane Interface 264 Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 265 Control Plane Interface 266 Session Management Function (SMF) 270 Location Management Function (LMF) 272 Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP) 302 User Equipment (UE) 304 base station 306 Network Entity 310 Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) Transceiver 312 Receiver 314 Transmitter 316 Antenna 318 Signal 320 Short-distance wire restaurant Seaba 322 Receiver 324 Transmitter 326 Antenna 328 signal 330 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) receiver 332 Processing System 334 Data Bus 336 Antenna 338 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) signals 340 memory components 342 Positioning Components 344 Sensors 346 User Interface 350 Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) Transceivers 352 Receiver 354 Transmitter 356 Antenna 358 Signal 360 Short-distance wire restaurant Seaba 362 Receiver 364 Transmitter 366 Antenna 368 signals 370 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) receiver 376 Antenna 378 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) signals 380 network interfaces 382 Databus 384 Processing Systems 386 memory components 388 Positioning Components 390 Network Interfaces 392 Data Bus 394 processing system 396 memory components 398 Positioning Components 502 Base Station (BS) 502a, 502b, 502c, 502d, 502e, 502f, 502g Transmit beam 504 User Equipment (UE) 504a, 504b, 504c, 504d Received beam 510 Line of Sight (LOS) Route Routes 512c, 512d, 512e, 512f, and 512g 520 Obstacles

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a receiving entity, A step of receiving a positioning resource beam configuration that defines a set of positioning resources, wherein each positioning resource is transmitted by a transmit / receive point (TRP) at different times using different beams, and each of the different beams has a set of beam characteristics that differs in at least one beam characteristic from a set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, and the positioning resource beam configuration also includes, for each positioning resource in the set of positioning resources, an azimuth offset that specifies how the azimuth of the positioning resource changes between the initial transmission of the positioning resource and subsequent transmissions of the positioning resource; A step of performing positioning measurements on the various beams at different times based at least on the set of beam characteristics, A step of sending positioning information to the TRP, wherein the positioning information comprises at least some of the positioning measurement values, positioning estimates, or a combination thereof. A method for providing this.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the various beams has a set of beam characteristics among at least one beam characteristic that is different from the set of beam characteristics of another beam among the various beams, and the at least one beam characteristic comprises a firing azimuth angle, a firing elevation angle, relative transmission power, power half-width angle, or a combination thereof.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of a positioning reference signal (PRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS).

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of downlink (DL) positioning resources, uplink (UL) positioning resources, or sidelink (SL) positioning resources.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the positioning resource beam configuration defines the set of beam characteristics for each beam for each positioning resource.

6. A method of wireless communication performed by a transmit / receive point (TRP), A step of sending a positioning resource beam configuration to a receiving entity, wherein each positioning resource is transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, and each of the different beams has a set of beam characteristics that differs in at least one beam characteristic from a set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, and the positioning resource beam configuration also includes, for each positioning resource in the set of positioning resources, an azimuth offset that specifies how the azimuth of the positioning resource changes between the initial transmission of the positioning resource and subsequent transmissions of the positioning resource; The steps include transmitting the set of positioning resources according to the positioning resource beam configuration, A step of receiving positioning information from the receiving entity, wherein the positioning information comprises at least some measured values, positioning estimates, or combinations thereof from the positioning resources. A method for providing this.

7. Receiving entity (RE), Memory and At least one transceiver, The system comprises the memory and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is Receiving a positioning resource beam configuration that defines a set of positioning resources, wherein each positioning resource is transmitted by a transmit / receive point (TRP) at different times using various beams, and each of the various beams has a set of beam characteristics that differs in at least one beam characteristic from a set of beam characteristics of another beam among the various beams, and the receiving positioning resource beam configuration also includes, for each positioning resource in the set of positioning resources, an azimuth offset that specifies how the azimuth of the positioning resource changes between the initial transmission of the positioning resource and subsequent transmissions of the positioning resource. Performing positioning measurements on the various beams at different times based at least on the set of beam characteristics, The system is configured to send positioning information to the TRP, wherein the positioning information comprises at least some of the positioning measurement values, positioning estimates, or a combination thereof. Receiving entity.

8. The receiving entity according to claim 7, wherein each of the various beams has a set of beam characteristics among at least one beam characteristic that is different from the set of beam characteristics of another beam among the various beams, the at least one beam characteristic comprising a transmission azimuth angle, a transmission elevation angle, relative transmission power, power half-power angle, or a combination thereof.

9. The receiving entity according to claim 7, wherein the set of positioning resources comprises at least one of a positioning reference signal (PRS), a sounding reference signal (SRS), a channel status information reference signal (CSI-RS), or a demodulation reference signal (DMRS).

10. The receiving entity according to claim 7, wherein the set of positioning resources comprises downlink (DL) positioning resources.

11. The receiving entity according to claim 7, wherein the positioning resource beam configuration defines the set of beam characteristics for each beam for each positioning resource.

12. The receiving entity according to claim 7, wherein the positioning resource beam configuration defines a first set of beam characteristics for one of the various beams, and at least one offset to be applied to at least one characteristic in the first set of beam characteristics, for each positioning resource, in order to calculate a second set of beam characteristics for another beam among the various beams.

13. A transmit / receive point (TRP), Memory and At least one transceiver, The system comprises the memory and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is Sending a positioning resource beam configuration to a receiving entity that defines a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, each of the different beams having a set of beam characteristics that differs in at least one beam characteristic from a set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, and the positioning resource beam configuration also includes, for each positioning resource in the set of positioning resources, an azimuth offset specifying how the azimuth of the positioning resource changes between the initial transmission of the positioning resource and subsequent transmissions of the positioning resource. Transmitting the set of positioning resources according to the positioning resource beam configuration, The system is configured to receive positioning information from the receiving entity, wherein the positioning information comprises at least some measured values, positioning estimates, or combinations thereof from the positioning resources. Transmit / Receive Point (TRP).

14. A computer program comprising a set of instructions, wherein when the set of instructions is executed by one or more processors of a receiving entity (RE), the RE receives: Receiving a positioning resource beam configuration that defines a set of positioning resources, wherein each positioning resource is transmitted by a transmit / receive point (TRP) at different times using various beams, and each of the various beams has a set of beam characteristics that differs in at least one beam characteristic from a set of beam characteristics of another beam among the various beams, and the receiving positioning resource beam configuration also includes, for each positioning resource in the set of positioning resources, an azimuth offset that specifies how the azimuth of the positioning resource changes between the initial transmission of the positioning resource and subsequent transmissions of the positioning resource. Performing positioning measurements on the various beams at different times based at least on the set of beam characteristics, Sending positioning information to the TRP, wherein the positioning information comprises at least some of the positioning measurement values, positioning estimates, or a combination thereof, and includes one or more commands to cause the sending of positioning information. Computer program.

15. A computer program comprising a set of instructions, wherein when the set of instructions is executed by one or more processors at a transmit / receive point (TRP), the TRP receives: Sending a positioning resource beam configuration to a receiving entity that defines a set of positioning resources, each positioning resource being transmitted by the TRP at different times using different beams, each of the different beams having a set of beam characteristics that differs in at least one beam characteristic from a set of beam characteristics of another beam among the different beams, and the positioning resource beam configuration also includes, for each positioning resource in the set of positioning resources, an azimuth offset specifying how the azimuth of the positioning resource changes between the initial transmission of the positioning resource and subsequent transmissions of the positioning resource. Transmitting the set of positioning resources according to the positioning resource beam configuration, Receiving positioning information from the receiving entity, wherein the positioning information comprises at least some measured values, positioning estimates, or combinations thereof from the positioning resources, and includes one or more commands to cause the receiving entity to receive such information. Computer program.

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