Timing advance allocation procedure for aligning sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS) reception at target user equipment (UE) or anchor (POS)-peer UE.

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems, methods, and devices for wireless communications that provide for managing transmission of sidelink positioning reference signals (PRS) with a timing advance (TA) offset from a sidelink node. In an aspect, a sidelink node (e.g., a target user equipment (UE) or an assisting UE) may receive transmissions from multiple nodes (e.g., a target UE or an assisting UE). The sidelink node obtains at least one TA to be used by a transmitting node of the multiple nodes to transmit a sidelink PRS to the sidelink node (e.g., to advance a sidelink PRS transmission to the sidelink node relative to a timing of a first transmission). The TA is an offset obtained by the sidelink node based on reception times of transmissions from the multiple nodes. The sidelink node may receive PRS transmissions from multiple nodes at the same symbol aligned within the same CP.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Cross - reference to Related Applications This application claims priority to Greek Patent Application No. 20210100414 (2103246GR1) filed on June 23, 2021, entitled "TIMING ADVANCE ASSIGNMENT PROCEDURES FOR ALIGNING SIDELINK POSITIONING REFERENCE SIGNAL (PRS) RECEPTIONS AT TARGET USER EQUIPMENTS (UES) OR ANCHOR (POS)-PEER UES", the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth below and for all applicable purposes.

[0002] Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to sidelink positioning reference signal (PRS)-based position estimation.

Background Art

[0003] Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless networks can be multi - access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing available network resources. Such networks can be multi - access networks that support communication for multiple users by sharing available network resources.

[0004] A wireless communication network may include several components. These components may include wireless communication devices, such as base stations (or node B), that can support communication for several user equipment (UEs). UEs can communicate with base stations via downlinks and uplinks. A downlink (or forward link) refers to the communication link from the base station to the UE, and an uplink (or reverse link) refers to the communication link from the UE to the base station.

[0005] A base station may transmit data and control information to a UE on the downlink, or receive data and control information from a UE on the uplink. On the downlink, transmissions from the base station may be subject to interference from transmissions from neighboring base stations or other wireless radio frequency (RF) transmitters. On the uplink, transmissions from a UE may be subject to interference from uplink transmissions of other UEs communicating with neighboring base stations or from other wireless RF transmitters. This interference may degrade performance on both the downlink and uplink.

[0006] As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, more users will access long-range wireless communication networks, and more short-range wireless systems will be deployed in communities, increasing the potential for interference and network congestion. Research and development to advance wireless technologies continue, not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but also to evolve and improve the user experience of mobile communications. [Overview of the project] [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The following summarizes several aspects of the disclosure to provide a basic understanding of the technology described. This summary is not a comprehensive overview of all intended features of the disclosure, nor does it identify the main or important elements of all aspects of the disclosure, nor does it define the scope of any or all aspects of the disclosure. Its sole purpose is to present, in summary form, some concepts of one or more aspects of the disclosure as a prelude to the more detailed explanations that will follow.

[0008] In one aspect of the present disclosure, a method of wireless communication performed by a user device (UE) includes the steps of: receiving a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, wherein each of the plurality of first transmissions is received by the UE from each of the plurality of nodes at each respective time; obtaining at least one timing advance (TA) configuration for a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission to be transmitted to the UE from at least one of the plurality of nodes based on each respective time at which the first transmission is received from each of the plurality of nodes; and transmitting at least one TA configuration to at least one of the plurality of nodes.

[0009] In additional aspects of the present disclosure, a method of wireless communication performed by a UE includes the steps of: the UE transmitting at least one transmission to at least one node, wherein each of the at least one transmission is transmitted by the UE to each of the at least one node at each transmission time; the UE obtaining at least one TA value which will be used by the UE to transmit an SL-PRS to one or more of the at least one node; and using each TA value to transmit an SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes. In aspects, using each TA value includes advancing the transmission of the SL-PRS to each node for a time period equal to the TA value.

[0010] In additional aspects of the present disclosure, the UE includes at least one processor and memory coupled to the at least one processor. The at least one processor stores processor-readable code, and when the processor-readable code is executed by the at least one processor, the UE is configured to perform operations including receiving a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, wherein each of the plurality of first transmissions is received by the UE from each of the plurality of nodes at each respective time; obtaining at least one TA configuration for an SL-PRS transmission that will be transmitted to the UE from at least one of the plurality of nodes based on each time the first transmission is received from each of the plurality of nodes; and transmitting at least one TA configuration to at least one of the plurality of nodes.

[0011] In additional aspects of the present disclosure, the UE includes at least one processor and memory coupled to the at least one processor. The at least one processor stores processor-readable code, and when the processor-readable code is executed by the at least one processor, the UE is configured to perform operations including sending at least one transmission to at least one node, wherein each of the at least one transmission is sent by the UE to each of the at least one node at its respective transmission time, obtaining at least one TA value which will be used by the UE to send an SL-PRS to one or more of the at least one node, and using each TA value to send an SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes. In aspects, using each TA value includes advancing the transmission of the SL-PRS to each node for a time period equal to the TA value.

[0012] In additional aspects of the present disclosure, a non-temporary computer-readable medium stores instructions and, when the instructions are executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform an operation. The operation includes the UE receiving a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, each of the plurality of first transmissions being received by the UE from each of the plurality of nodes at each respective time; obtaining at least one TA configuration for an SL-PRS transmission that will be transmitted to the UE from at least one of the plurality of nodes based on each time the first transmission is received from each of the plurality of nodes; and transmitting at least one TA configuration to at least one of the plurality of nodes.

[0013] In additional aspects of the present disclosure, a non-temporary computer-readable medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform an operation. The operation includes the UE sending at least one transmit to at least one node, each of the at least one transmit being sent by the UE to each of the at least one node at its respective transmit time, the UE obtaining at least one TA value which will be used by the UE to send an SL-PRS to one or more of the at least one node, and using each TA value to send an SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes. In aspects, using each TA value includes advancing the transmission of the SL-PRS to each node for a time period equal to the TA value.

[0014] In additional aspects of the present disclosure, the apparatus includes means for a UE to receive a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, wherein each of the plurality of first transmissions is received by the UE from each of the plurality of nodes at each respective time; means for obtaining at least one TA configuration for an SL-PRS transmission which will be transmitted to the UE from at least one of the plurality of nodes based on each time the first transmission is received from each of the plurality of nodes; and means for transmitting at least one TA configuration to at least one of the plurality of nodes.

[0015] In additional aspects of the present disclosure, the apparatus includes means for a UE to transmit at least one transmission to at least one node, wherein each of the at least one transmission is transmitted by the UE to each of the at least one node at its respective transmission time; means for the UE to obtain at least one TA value which will be used by the UE to transmit an SL-PRS to one or more of the at least one node; and means for using the respective TA values ​​to transmit an SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes. In aspects, the means for using the respective TA values ​​includes means for advancing the transmission of an SL-PRS to each node for a time period equal to the TA value.

[0016] Other embodiments, features, and implementations will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following description of a particular exemplary embodiment in conjunction with the attached figures. Features may be described in relation to some of the embodiments and figures below, but various embodiments may include one or more of the advantageous features described herein. In other words, one or more embodiments may be described as having several advantageous features, but one or more of such features may also be used according to various embodiments. Similarly, exemplary embodiments may be described below as device embodiments, system embodiments, or method embodiments, but exemplary embodiments may be implemented in various devices, systems, and methods.

[0017] Further understanding of the nature and merits of this disclosure can be achieved by referring to the following drawings. In the accompanying drawings, similar components or features may have the same reference label. Furthermore, various components of the same type may be distinguished by following the reference label with a dash and a second label that distinguishes similar components. Where only the first reference label is used herein, the description is applicable to any similar component having the same first reference label, notwithstanding the second reference label. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0018] [Figure 1] This block diagram shows details of one or more exemplary wireless communication systems. [Figure 2] This is a block diagram showing examples of base stations and user equipment (UEs) in one or more configurations. [Figure 3A] This diagram shows the round-trip time (RTT) procedure using sidelink-assisted positioning. [Figure 3B] This figure shows an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure that uses support user equipment (UE) and does not use an anchor base station. [Figure 3C]FIG. 0 is a diagram illustrating an example of a sidelink assisted positioning procedure that does not use an uplink with a base station using a plurality of assisting UEs. [Figure 3D] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a sidelink assisted positioning procedure that does not use an uplink with a base station using a single assisting UE. [Figure 4A] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a slot structure of a resource pool. [Figure 4B] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a PRS slot structure. [Figure 5] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a rate matching configuration of a sidelink resource pool. [Figure 6A] FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of inconsistent reception timing of PRS transmission due to distance difference. [Figure 6B] FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of inconsistent reception timing of PRS transmission due to different synchronization sources. [Figure 7] FIG. 21 is a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication system that supports managing transmission of sidelink PRS with timing advance offset from a sidelink node in a wireless communication system according to one or more aspects. [Figure 8A] FIG. 24 is a diagram showing a resource pool configuration implementing an example of a timing gap between PRS transmissions with different timing advance offsets according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 8B] FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a resource pool configuration implementing another example of a timing gap between PRS transmissions with different timing advance offsets according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 9] FIG. 30 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process that supports managing transmission of sidelink PRS with timing advance offset from a sidelink node according to one or more aspects. [Figure 10] FIG. 33 is a flowchart showing another exemplary process that supports managing transmission of sidelink PRS with timing advance offset from a sidelink node according to one or more aspects. [Figure 11] This is an exemplary block diagram of a UE that supports managing the transmission of sidelink PRS with timing advance offset from a sidelink node in one or more ways. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0019] Similar reference numbers and names in various drawings refer to the same elements.

[0020] The detailed description below, in relation to the attached drawings, is intended to illustrate various configurations and is not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Rather, the detailed description includes specific details to give a complete understanding of the subject matter of the invention. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that these specific details are not necessary in all cases, and that in some instances, well-known structures and components are shown in the form of block diagrams for clarity of presentation.

[0021] Various aspects of this disclosure relate to techniques for providing a mechanism for managing the transmission of sidelink positioning reference signals (PRS) with timing advance offsets from sidelink nodes. In one aspect, a sidelink node (e.g., a target user equipment (UE) or a support UE) may receive transmissions from multiple nodes (e.g., a target UE or a support UE), where each transmission is transmitted at its respective transmission time and received at its respective reception time. In another aspect, the sidelink node may determine and / or obtain a timing advance offset that will be applied to the PRS transmission from each of the multiple sidelink nodes relative to the respective times when a previous transmission was transmitted and / or received from each sidelink node. In yet another aspect, the timing advance offset may be determined so that the PRS transmissions are aligned when the sidelink node receives PRS transmissions from multiple sidelink nodes. For example, the sidelink node may determine a first timing advance offset that will be applied to a PRS transmission to be transmitted by a first sidelink node among the multiple nodes. This first timing advance offset may be an offset relative to the time when the first sidelink node transmitted the previous transmission. The sidelink node may determine a second timing advance offset which will be applied to a PRS transmission that will be transmitted by a second sidelink node among a group of nodes. This second timing advance offset may be an offset relative to the time when the second sidelink node transmitted the previous transmission to the sidelink node. In some embodiments, the first timing advance offset may be different from the second timing advance offset. In embodiments, a sidelink node may request PRS transmissions from multiple nodes, and each request to each sidelink node may include an instruction for a timing advance offset which will be applied to the PRS transmission from each sidelink node. A sidelink node may receive PRS transmissions from multiple nodes, and reception may include receiving PRS transmissions in the same symbol aligned within the same CP.

[0022] This disclosure relates to providing or participating in authorized shared access between two or more wireless devices in one or more wireless communication systems, also commonly referred to as wireless communication networks. In various implementations, techniques and apparatus may be used for wireless communication networks such as code division multiple access (CDMA) networks, time division multiple access (TDMA) networks, frequency division multiple access (FDMA) networks, orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, LTE networks, GSM networks, fifth-generation (5G) or new radio (NR) networks (sometimes referred to as “5G NR” networks, systems, or devices), and other communication networks. The terms “network” and “system” as used herein may be used interchangeably.

[0023] For example, a CDMA network may implement wireless technologies such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) and cdma2000. UTRA includes wideband CDMA (W-CDMA) and low chip rate (LCR). CDMA2000 covers the IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards.

[0024] TDMA networks may implement radio technologies such as the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®) defines standards for GSM EDGE (GSM Evolutionary High-Speed ​​Data Rate) radio access networks (RANs), also known as GERAN. GERAN is a radio component of GSM / EDGE, along with the network that connects base stations (e.g., Ater interfaces and Abis interfaces) to base station controllers (e.g., A interfaces). The radio access network represents a component of the GSM network through which telephone calls and packet data are routed to and from the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and to and from the Internet, and to subscriber handsets, also known as user terminals or user equipment (UEs). A mobile phone operator's network may include one or more GERANs, such GERANs may be coupled with UTRANs in the case of UMTS / GSM networks. In addition, an operator's network may also include one or more LTE networks or one or more other networks. Various different network types may use different radio access technologies (RATs) and RANs.

[0025] OFDMA networks can implement wireless technologies such as Advanced UTRA (E-UTRA), IEEE 802.11, IEEE 802.16, IEEE 802.20, and Flash OFDM. UTRA, E-UTRA, and GSM are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). Specifically, Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a UMTS release that uses E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, GSM, UMTS, and LTE are described in documents provided by an organization called the "Third Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP®), and cdma2000 is described in documents from an organization called the "Third Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP® 2). These various wireless technologies and standards are known or under development. For example, 3GPP® is a collaborative effort between groups of telecommunications associations aimed at defining globally applicable third-generation (3G) mobile phone specifications. 3GPP® LTE is a 3GPP® project aimed at improving the UMTS mobile phone standard. 3GPP® may define specifications for next-generation mobile networks, mobile systems, and mobile devices. While this disclosure may describe several aspects with reference to LTE, 4G, or 5G NR technologies, the description is not intended to be limited to specific technologies or applications, and one or more aspects described with reference to one technology may be understood to be applicable to another technology. In addition, one or more aspects of this disclosure may relate to shared access to the wireless spectrum between networks using different radio access technologies or radio air interfaces.

[0026] 5G networks are intended to enable diverse deployments, diverse spectrums, and diverse services and devices, which can be implemented using an OFDM-based integrated air interface. To achieve these goals, in addition to developing new radio technologies for 5G NR networks, further extensions to LTE and LTE-A will be considered. 5G NR will (1) be ultra-high density (e.g., about 1 million nodes / km²). 2 (2) Mission-critical control involving users with or without wide mobility, with strong security, ultra-high reliability (e.g., about 99.9999% reliability), ultra-low latency (e.g., about 1 millisecond (ms)), and the ability to reach difficult locations, to the massive Internet of Things (IoT) with ultra-low complexity (e.g., about tens of bits / second), ultra-low energy (e.g., battery life of about 10 years or more), and to the ability to reach difficult locations, including mission-critical control with strong security, ultra-high reliability (e.g., about 99.9999% reliability), ultra-low latency (e.g., about 1 millisecond (ms)), and the ability to reach difficult locations, and to the massive Internet of Things (IoT) with ultra-low complexity (e.g., about tens of bits / second), ultra-low energy (e.g., battery life of about 10 years or more), and the ability to reach difficult locations, and with or without wide mobility, including mission-critical control to protect personal, financial, or confidential information requiring careful handling, and (3) ultra-high capacity (e.g., about 10 Tbps / km 2 ), it becomes possible to scale to provide coverage with enhanced mobile broadband, including ultra-high data rates (e.g., multi-Gbps rates, user experience rates of 100Mbps or more), and a deep awareness of advanced discovery and optimization.

[0027] Devices, networks, and systems can be configured to communicate over one or more parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum is often subdivided into various classes, bands, channels, etc., based on frequency or wavelength. In 5G NR, two initial operating bands are identified as frequency range names FR1 (410 MHz to 7.125 GHz) and FR2 (24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz). Frequencies between FR1 and FR2 are often referred to as midband frequencies. Although a portion of FR1 is above 6 GHz, FR1 is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "sub-6 GHz" band in various documents and papers. A similar nomenclature issue can arise with respect to FR2, which is often referred to (interchangeably) as the "mmWave" band in documents and papers, even though it is different from the extremely high frequency (EHF) band (30 GHz to 300 GHz) which is identified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as the "mmWave" band.

[0028] With the above aspects in mind, please understand that, unless otherwise specified, terms such as "sub-6GHz" used herein may broadly refer to frequencies that may be less than 6GHz, within FR1, or include midband frequencies. Furthermore, unless otherwise specified, please understand that terms such as "mmWave" used herein may broadly refer to frequencies that may include midband frequencies, within FR2, or within the EHF band.

[0029] 5G NR devices, networks, and systems can be implemented to use optimized OFDM-based waveform features. These features may include scalable numerology and transmit time interval (TTI), a common flexible framework for efficiently multiplexing services and features in dynamic low-latency time-division duplex (TDD) or frequency-division duplex (FDD) designs, as well as advanced wireless technologies such as massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), robust mmWave transmission, advanced channel coding, and device-centric mobility. Numerology scalability in 5G NR, with subcarrier spacing scaling, can efficiently address operating diverse services across diverse spectrums and deployments. For example, in various outdoor and macro-coverage deployments of sub-3GHz FDD or TDD implementations, subcarrier spacing may occur at 15kHz across bandwidths such as 1, 5, 10, and 20MHz. For various other outdoor and small cell coverage deployments of TDD above 3 GHz, the subcarrier spacing can be 30 kHz over an 80 / 100 MHz bandwidth. For various other indoor broadband implementations using TDD above the unlicensed portion of the 5 GHz band, the subcarrier spacing can be 60 kHz over a 160 MHz bandwidth. Finally, for various deployments transmitting with mmWave components in a 28 GHz TDD, the subcarrier spacing can be 120 kHz over a 500 MHz bandwidth.

[0030] 5G NR's scalable numerology facilitates scalable TTI for diverse latency and quality of service (QoS) requirements. For example, shorter TTIs may be used for lower latency and higher reliability, while longer TTIs may be used for higher spectral efficiency. Efficient multiplexing of long and short TTIs enables transmission to be initiated on symbol boundaries. 5G NR also envisions a self-contained, integrated subframe design where uplink or downlink scheduling information, data, and acknowledgments are contained within the same subframe. Self-contained, integrated subframes support communications in unlicensed or competition-based shared spectrum and adaptive uplinks or downlinks that can be flexibly configured per cell to dynamically switch between uplinks and downlinks to meet current traffic needs.

[0031] For clarity, some aspects of the apparatus and techniques may be described below with reference to or centered on 5G, and 5G terminology may be used as illustrative examples in parts of the following description, but the description is not intended to be limited to 5G applications.

[0032] Furthermore, it should be understood that during operation, a wireless communication network adapted according to the concepts herein may operate on any combination of licensed or unlicensed spectra depending on the load and availability. Therefore, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the systems, apparatus, and methods described herein may be applicable to communication systems and applications other than the specific examples provided.

[0033] While this application illustrates several examples of embodiments and implementations, those skilled in the art will understand that additional implementations and use cases may arise in many different configurations and scenarios. The innovations described herein can be implemented across many different platform types, devices, systems, forms, sizes, and packaging configurations. For example, implementations or applications may arise through integrated chip implementations or other non-modular component-based devices (e.g., end-user devices, vehicles, communication devices, computing devices, industrial equipment, retail or purchasing devices, medical devices, AI-enabled devices, etc.). Some examples may or may not specifically address use cases or applications, but a wide range of applicability of the innovations described may arise. Implementations can range from chip-level or modular components to non-modular, non-chip-level implementations, and further to aggregated, distributed, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devices or systems incorporating one or more of the embodiments described. In some practical settings, devices incorporating the embodiments and features described may also necessarily include additional components and features for the implementation and practice of the claims and embodiments described. The innovations described herein can be implemented in a wide variety of implementation forms, including large-scale or small-scale devices of various sizes, shapes, and structures, chip-level components, multi-component systems (e.g., radio frequency (RF) chains, communication interfaces, processors), distributed configurations, and end-user devices.

[0034] Figure 1 is a block diagram showing details of an exemplary wireless communication system in one or more embodiments. The wireless communication system may include a wireless network 100. The wireless network 100 may include, for example, a 5G wireless network. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the components shown in Figure 1 are likely to have related corresponding parts, including other network configurations, such as cellular and non-cellular network configurations (e.g., device-to-device, peer-to-peer, or ad-hoc network configurations).

[0035] The wireless network 100 shown in Figure 1 includes several base stations 105 and other network entities. A base station may also be a station communicating with a UE, and may be referred to as an advanced node B (eNB), next-generation eNB (gNB), access point, etc. Each base station 105 may provide communication coverage to a specific geographic area. In 3GPP®, the term “cell” may refer to this specific geographic coverage area of ​​a base station or base station subsystem serving a coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In the implementations of the wireless network 100 described herein, base stations 105 may be associated with the same operator or different operators (for example, the wireless network 100 may include multiple operator wireless networks). In addition, in the implementations of the wireless network 100 described herein, base stations 105 may provide wireless communication using one or more of the same frequencies as adjacent cells (for example, one or more frequency bands in the licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination thereof). In some examples, individual base stations 105 or UE 115 may be operated by two or more network operating entities. In some other examples, each base station 105 and UE115 may be operated by a single network operations entity.

[0036] Base stations can provide communication coverage to macrocells, or small cells such as picocells or femtocells, or other types of cells. Macrocells generally cover relatively large geographical areas (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and can enable unrestricted access by UEs (Users) subscribed to a network provider's service. Small cells, such as picocells, generally cover relatively small geographical areas and can enable unrestricted access by UEs subscribed to a network provider's service. Small cells, such as femtocells, also generally cover relatively small geographical areas (e.g., a home) and, in addition to unrestricted access, can also provide limited access by UEs associated with the femtocell (e.g., UEs in a limited subscriber group (CSG), or UEs of users in a home). Base stations for macrocells are sometimes called macro base stations. Base stations for small cells are sometimes called small cell base stations, pico base stations, femto base stations, or home base stations. In the example shown in Figure 1, base stations 105d and 105e are standard macro base stations, while base stations 105a–105c are macro base stations enabled with one of the following: 3D MIMO, full-dimension (FD) MIMO, or massive MIMO. Base stations 105a–105c utilize their higher-dimensional MIMO capabilities to leverage 3D beamforming in both high beamforming and azimuth beamforming to increase coverage and capacity. Base station 105f is a small cell base station that can be a home node or a portable access point. A base station may support one or more (e.g., two, three, four, etc.) cells.

[0037] The wireless network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. In synchronous operation, base stations may have similar frame timings, and transmissions from different base stations may be approximately synchronized in time. In asynchronous operation, base stations may have different frame timings, and transmissions from different base stations may not be synchronized in time. In some scenarios, the network may be enabled or configured to handle dynamic switching between synchronous and asynchronous operation.

[0038] UE115 is distributed throughout the entire wireless network 100, and each UE may be fixed or mobile. Mobile devices are generally referred to as UEs in the standards and specifications published by 3GPP®, but it should be noted that such devices may be referred to by those skilled in the art, in addition or otherwise, as mobile stations (MS), subscriber stations, mobile units, subscriber units, wireless units, remote units, mobile devices, wireless devices, wireless communication devices, remote devices, mobile subscriber stations, access terminals (ATs), mobile terminals, wireless terminals, remote terminals, handsets, terminals, user agents, mobile clients, clients, gaming devices, augmented reality devices, vehicle components, vehicle devices, or vehicle modules, or any other appropriate terminology. For the purposes of this document, a “mobile” device or UE does not necessarily have to be mobile and may be fixed. Some non-exclusive examples of mobile devices that may include one or more implementations of UE115 include mobile phones, cellular phones, smartphones, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, laptops, personal computers (PCs), notebooks, netbooks, smartbooks, tablets, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).Mobile devices may also include automobiles or other transport vehicles, satellite radios, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) devices, logistics controllers, drones, multicopters, quadcopters, smart energy or security devices, solar panels or solar arrays, urban lighting, water, or other infrastructure IoT or "Internet of Everything" (IoE) devices, industrial automation and enterprise devices, eyewear, wearable cameras, smartwatches, health or fitness trackers, mammalian implantable devices, gesture tracking devices, medical devices, consumer and wearable devices such as digital audio players (e.g., MP3 players), cameras, and game consoles, as well as digital home or smart home devices such as home audio, video, and multimedia devices, appliances, sensors, vending machines, intelligent lighting, home security systems, and smart meters. In one embodiment, a UE may be a device including a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC). In another embodiment, a UE may be a device not including a UICC. In some embodiments, a UICC-free UE may also be referred to as an IoE device. The UE115a-115d implementations shown in Figure 1 are examples of mobile smartphone-type devices accessing the wireless network 100. The UE can also be a machine specifically configured for connected communications, including machine-type communications (MTC), enhanced MTC (eMTC), and narrowband IoT (NB-IoT). The UE115e-115k shown in Figure 1 are examples of various machines configured for communications accessing the wireless network 100.

[0039] Mobile devices such as the UE115 may be able to communicate with any type of base station, whether it is a macro base station, pico base station, femto base station, relay, etc. In Figure 1, the communication links (represented as lightning bolts) show wireless transmissions between the UE and a serving base station, which is a base station designated to service the UE on the downlink or uplink, or desired transmissions between base stations, and backhaul transmissions between base stations. In some scenarios, the UE may act as a base station or other network node. Backhaul communication between base stations in wireless network 100 may be performed using wired or wireless communication links.

[0040] In operation within the wireless network 100, base stations 105a–105c serve UEs 115a and 115b using coordinated spatial techniques such as 3D beamforming and coordinated multipoint (CoMP) or multi-connectivity. Macro base station 105d performs backhaul communication with base stations 105a–105c, as well as small cell base station 105f. Macro base station 105d also transmits multicast services that UEs 115c and 115d subscribe to and receive. Such multicast services may include mobile television or stream video, or other services to provide community information, such as weather emergencies or alerts such as amber alerts or gray alerts.

[0041] The implemented wireless network 100 supports mission-critical communications with highly reliable and redundant links for mission-critical devices such as the UE115e drone. Redundant communication links with the UE115e include those from macro base stations 105d and 105e, as well as from small cell base station 105f. Other machine-type devices such as the UE115f (thermometer), UE115g (smart meter), and UE115h (wearable device) can communicate through the wireless network 100 either directly with base stations such as the small cell base station 105f and macro base station 105e, or in a multi-hop configuration by communicating with another user device that relays the information to the network, such as when the UE115f communicates temperature measurement information to the smart meter UE115g, and then that information is reported to the network via the small cell base station 105f. The wireless network 100 can also provide further network efficiency through dynamic low-latency TDD communication or low-latency FDD communication, such as in a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) mesh network between UE115i~115k communicating with macro base stations 105e.

[0042] Figure 2 is a block diagram showing examples of base stations 105 and UEs 115 in one or more embodiments. Base stations 105 and UEs 115 may be any of the base stations and one of the UEs in Figure 1. In the restricted association scenario (as described above), base station 105 may be the small cell base station 105f in Figure 1, and UE 115 may be a UE 115c or 115d operating in the service area of ​​base station 105f, and UE 115c or 115d will be included in the list of accessible UEs for small cell base station 105f in order to access small cell base station 105f. Base station 105 may also be any other type of base station. As shown in Figure 2, base station 105 may be equipped with antennas 234a-234t, and UE 115 may be equipped with antennas 252a-252r to facilitate wireless communication.

[0043] At base station 105, the transmitting processor 220 may receive data from data source 212 and control information from controller 240, such as a processor. The control information may be for the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH), Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), Physical Hybrid-ARQ (Automatic Retransmission Request) Indicator Channel (PHICH), Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), Extended Physical Downlink Control Channel (EPDCCH), MTC Physical Downlink Control Channel (MPDCCH), etc. The data may be for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), etc. In addition, the transmitting processor 220 may process the data and control information (e.g., encoding and symbol mapping) to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The transmitting processor 220 may also generate reference symbols for, for example, the Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) and the Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS), as well as the Cell-Specific Reference Signal. The transmit (TX) MIMO processor 230 can, where applicable, perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​data symbols, control symbols, or reference symbols and provide the output symbol stream to modulators (MODs) 232a-232t. For example, spatial processing performed on data symbols, control symbols, or reference symbols may include precoding. Each modulator 232 may process its respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM) to obtain an output sample stream. Each modulator 232 may, additionally or alternatively, process the output sample stream (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from modulators 232a-232t may be transmitted via antennas 234a-234t, respectively.

[0044] In UE115, antennas 252a-252r can receive downlink signals from base station 105 and, each, can provide the received signals to demodulators (DEMOD) 254a-254r. Each demodulator 254 can adjust its respective received signal (e.g., filtering, amplification, downconversion, and digitization) to obtain an input sample. Each demodulator 254 can further process the input sample (e.g., for OFDM) to obtain a received symbol. MIMO detector 256 can obtain the received symbol from demodulators 254a-254r and, where applicable, perform MIMO detection on the received symbol and provide the detected symbol. The receiving processor 258 can process the detected symbol (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) and provide the decoded data for UE115 to the data sink 260 and the decoded control information to a controller 280 such as a processor.

[0045] On the uplink, at UE115, the transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from data source 262 (for example, for a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)) and control information from controller 280 (for example, for a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). In addition, the transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for reference signals. The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may, if applicable, be precoded by the TX MIMO processor 266, further processed by modulators 254a-254r (for example, for SC-FDM), and transmitted to base station 105. At base station 105, the uplink signal from UE115 may be received by antenna 234, processed by demodulator 232, detected by MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by receive processor 238 to obtain the decoded data and control information sent by UE115. The receiving processor 238 may provide the decoded data to the data sink 239 and the decoded control information to the controller 240.

[0046] Controllers 240 and 280 may each direct the operation of base station 105 and UE 115. Other processors and modules in controller 240 or base station 105, or in controller 280 or UE 115, may perform or direct various processes for the techniques described herein, such as performing or directing the execution shown in Figures 9 and 10 or other processes for the techniques described herein. Memories 242 and 282 may each store data and program code for base station 105 and UE 115. Scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on downlink or uplink.

[0047] In some cases, the UE 115 and base station 105 may operate within a shared radio frequency spectrum band, which may include licensed or unlicensed (e.g., competition-based) frequency spectra. In the unlicensed frequency portion of the shared radio frequency spectrum band, the UE 115 or base station 105 may conventionally perform medium detection procedures for competition to access the frequency spectrum. For example, the UE 115 or base station 105 may perform a listen-before-talk (LBT) or listen-before-transmitting (LBT) procedure, such as a clear channel assessment (CCA), before communication to determine whether a shared channel is available. In some implementations, the CCA may include energy detection procedures to determine whether there are any other active transmissions. For example, a device may infer that a change in the received signal strength indicator (RSSI) on a power meter indicates that the channel is occupied. Specifically, signal power concentrated in a certain bandwidth and exceeding a given noise floor may indicate another wireless transmitter. The CCA may also include detecting a specific sequence indicating channel use. For example, another device may send a specific preamble before sending a data sequence. In some cases, the LBT procedure may include a wireless node adjusting its own backoff window based on the amount of energy detected on the channel or acknowledgment / negation (ACK / NACK) feedback to its own transmitted packets, acting as a proxy for collisions.

[0048] Existing wireless communication systems rely on the location of user equipment (UEs) within the network when providing communication services. The location of UEs within the network can be determined using various techniques. In some implementations, a positioning reference signal (PRS) may be used to facilitate the estimation of a device's location. In some implementations, the PRS may include one of the following: PRS, cell-specific reference signal (CRS), sounding reference signal (SRS), demodulated reference signal (DMRS), etc.

[0049] In one exemplary positioning technique, sometimes called the multi-cell round-trip time (RTT) technique, the location of a UE may be determined based on the difference in RTT of the PRS between the UE and several base stations. In this RTT technique, the difference between the RTT from the UE to a first base station and the RTT from the UE to a second base station may be used to determine the UE's location. In some examples, the RTT timing difference may be reported to a specific network entity (e.g., a Location Management Function (LMF)), which may then determine the UE's location based on the reported timing difference.

[0050] Another positioning technique, called the Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) technique, can use the time difference between PRSs received from multiple base stations to determine the location of a UE. In this TDOA technique, PRSs can be received by the UE from each of multiple base stations, or from each transmit and receive point (TRP) of a cell. The UE measures the time offset between the arrivals of each PRS from different base stations. The time offset represents the TDOA for each PRS. This TDOA for each PRS, along with the known location of the base station transmitting the PRS, can be used to determine the location of the UE. In some examples, timing measurements (e.g., the difference in arrivals for different PRSs) may be reported to an LMF network entity, which can then determine the location of the UE and report the UE's location to the UE.

[0051] Another positioning technique that may be used is Uplink TDOA. In Uplink TDOA, a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) may enable each base station to measure the relative time of arrival (RTOA) on uplink transmissions from the UE, the base station may report the measurement to an LMF network entity, the LMF network entity may determine the location of the UE and then report the UE's location to the UE.

[0052] Another technique that may be used may involve the Downlink Departure Angle (AoD). In Downlink AoD, the UE measures the beam-by-beam Downlink Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) for each base station. The UE may then report the measurements to the LMF network entity, and the measurements may be used to determine the AoD based on the UE beam location for each base station. The LMF network entity may then determine the location of the UE based on the determined AoD and report the UE's location to the UE.

[0053] Another technique that can be used to determine the location of an UE is the uplink angle of arrival (AoA). In uplink AoA, the base station measures the AoA based on the beam on which the UE is located. The base station then reports the measurement to the LMF network entity, which may determine the location of the UE and then report the UE's location to the UE.

[0054] In current wireless communication systems, it has been proposed to implement UE-initiated and / or network-initiated on-demand downlink PRS techniques. In these cases, a downlink PRS may be requested and used in conjunction with one of the above techniques to determine the UE's location. In addition, other proposals include performing UE positioning based on the UE's Radio Resource Control (RRC) status. For example, for a UE in RRC inactive status, downlink-only, uplink-only, or uplink+downlink positioning may be performed. In some other proposals, an access point may be used to transmit a downlink PRS to the UE, and the downlink PRS may be used for UE positioning determination. In addition, aggregation of downlink PRS signals across frequencies may be used.

[0055] In certain implementations, the use of sidelink positioning techniques may improve any legacy and / or conventional positioning techniques. In these cases, a supporting UE (e.g., an anchor UE or relay UE) may be used to provide assistance in determining the location of a target UE (e.g., based on PRS transmissions on a sidelink). It should be noted that the target UE used herein may be a UE for which position estimation will be performed or determined. Furthermore, a supporting UE used herein may be a UE whose location is known (or may be known) to the supporting UE and which may have a sidelink connection with the target UE (or, optionally, a sidelink connection with another supporting UE that has a sidelink connection with the target UE). In some embodiments, the supporting UE may be an anchor or relay UE which may have a direct uplink to a base station. Furthermore, the positioning service used herein may include facilitating position estimation by transmitting and / or receiving PRS, and / or measurements on PRS to facilitate position estimation.

[0056] One specific scenario in which sidelink positioning may be used may include a situation in which a supporting UE may provide an additional anchor for the target UE on the sidelink. For example, if the target UE is within the UL and DL coverage of at least one base station and is therefore capable of receiving and transmitting PRS to at least one base station, the target UE may be able to receive positioning services from the base station (for example, if the base station can act as an anchor point for determining the target UE's location according to one of the techniques described above), and may also be able to utilize the supporting UE as an additional anchor point for transmitting and receiving PRS for even more accurate position estimation.

[0057] An example scenario in which a support UE may provide an additional anchor for the target UE on a sidelink is shown in Figure 3A. Figure 3A is a diagram illustrating an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure using a support UE as an additional anchor. In detail, Figure 3A shows an RTT procedure using sidelink-assisted positioning. As shown in Figure 3A, the target UE 115x may receive positioning services (e.g., PRS transmission / reception) from base stations 105a-c and may be in sidelink communication with support UE 115a. In this example, support UE 115a may act as an additional anchor point for the target UE 115x. In this case, as shown, the target UE 115x may receive a PRS transmission 310 from base station 105a (but the same procedure may apply to any of the other anchor base stations, and the target UE 115x may receive a PRS from any of the other anchor base stations). The target UE115x may perform a measurement 330 based on the PRS transmission 310 and send a measurement report 320 based on the measurement 330 to the base station 105a. The base station 105a may receive the RTT measurement, which may be used to estimate the location of the target UE115x. In this example, the support UE115a may be used as an additional anchor point, and the target UE115x may send a PRS transmission 312 to the support UE115a. The support UE115a may perform a measurement 332 based on the PRS transmission 312 and send a measurement report 322 based on the measurement 332 to the target UE115x. The measurement report 322 may be used, for example, to estimate the location of the target UE115x based on measurements 330 and 332 in addition to the measurement report 320. In this way, additional RTT measurements from the support UE115a may be used as additional measurements to estimate the location of the target UE115x.

[0058] In another scenario where sidelink positioning may be used, the target UE may not be within the UL and DL coverage of at least one base station, and therefore may not be able to receive or transmit PRS to or from at least one base station, but may be within the sidelink coverage of one or more assisting UEs. In this case, the target UE may only be able to receive positioning services (e.g., PRS) from the assisting UEs because there are no base stations within the coverage for receiving positioning services. This scenario is illustrated in Figure 3B. Figure 3B shows an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure using assisting UEs and without an anchor base station. In detail, Figure 3B shows an RTT procedure using sidelink-assisted positioning. As shown in Figure 3B, the target UE 115x may not be within the uplink or downlink coverage of base station 105. However, the target UE 115x may be within the sidelink coverage of assisting UEs 115a-c. In this case, even though the target UE 115x may not be able to transmit / receive PRS to / from the base station 105, the target UE 115x may receive positioning services (e.g., PRS transmission / reception) from any of the support UEs 115a-c. As shown in Figure 3B, the support UEs 115a-c may be communicating with the base station 105. In this example, any of the support UEs 115a-c may act as a positioning anchor point for the target UE 115x. In this case, as shown, the target UE 115x may receive a PRS transmission 314 from the support UE 115a on the sidelink between the target UE 115x and the support UE 115a. Based on the PRS transmission 314, the target UE 115x may perform a measurement 334 and send a measurement report 324 based on the measurement 334 to the support UE 115a. The support UE 115a may receive an RTT measurement, which may be used to estimate the position of the target UE 115x. In this example, the target UE115x may also send a PRS transmission 316 to the support UE115b over the sidelink between the target UE115x and the support UE115b.The support UE 115b may perform a measurement 336 based on the PRS transmission 316 and transmit a measurement report 326 to the target UE 115x based on the measurement 336. The measurement report 326 may be used, for example, to estimate the location of the target UE 115x based on measurements 334 and 336, in addition to the measurement report 324. In this way, the location of the target UE 115x can be estimated even if the target UE 115x is not within the base station's coverage.

[0059] In another scenario where sidelink positioning may be used, the target UE may be within the DL coverage of at least one base station, but not within the UL coverage of at least one base station. In this case, the target UE may be able to receive PRS from at least one base station, but not be able to transmit PRS to at least one base station. In this case, the target UE may be within the sidelink coverage of at least one support UE. The support UE may assist in estimating the target UE's location by acting as a relay (e.g., to relay uplink PRS) and / or by acting as a positioning anchor on the sidelink. This scenario is illustrated in Figures 3C and 3D.

[0060] Figure 3C shows an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure using multiple support UEs, without using an uplink to a base station. In detail, as shown in Figure 3C, target UE 115x may have a downlink connection to base station 105 but may not have an uplink, and may be in sidelink communication with support UEs 115a and 115b. In this example, the position of target UE 115x can be estimated using measurements of downlink PRS transmissions from base station 105a to target UE 115x, and measurements of sidelink PRS transmissions from target UE 115x to support UEs 115a and 115b, as well as sidelink PRS transmissions from support UEs 115a and 115b to target UE 115x. In this case, SRS transmissions from base station to UE 115x may not be required.

[0061] Figure 3D shows an example of a sidelink-assisted positioning procedure using a single support UE and without an uplink to a base station. More specifically, as shown in Figure 3D, target UE 115x may have a downlink connection to base station 105 but may not have an uplink and may be in sidelink communication with a single support UE 115a. In this example, the position of target UE 115x can be estimated using measurements of downlink PRS transmissions from base station 105a to target UE 115x, and measurements of sidelink PRS transmissions from target UE 115x to support UE 115a, and from support UE 115a to target UE 115x. In this case, two additional measurements may be provided in addition to the multiple support UE scenarios shown in Figure 3C. One of the additional measurements may be the time difference between receiving the downlink reference signal from base station 105 and transmitting the sidelink reference signal to support UE 115a. Another of the additional measurements could be the time difference between the reception of the downlink reference signal from base station 105 and the reception of the sidelink reference signal from support UE 115a.

[0062] The transmission of a reference signal (e.g., PRS) on a sidelink between a target UE and a support UE may occur in a transmit or receive resource pool. In fact, sidelink transmissions can generally be performed on these transmit or receive resource pools. In some implementations, the smallest resource allocation unit includes a subchannel in the frequency domain and one slot in the time domain. A resource pool may contain several resource allocation units. In some implementations, some slots in the resource pool may not be available for sidelink transmissions, and some slots may contain feedback resources. In some implementations, the resource pool may be configured by an RRC configuration, based on a preconfiguration (e.g., the UE may store the preconfiguration), or based on instructions from a base station (e.g., the UE's resource pool configuration may be received and / or signaled by the base station).

[0063] Figure 4A shows the slot structure 400 of the resource pool. As can be seen, the slot structure of the resource pool can generally contain 14 OFDM symbols. In some implementations, sidelink communications within a slot may be configured to occupy fewer than 14 symbols (e.g., by pre-configuration). In some implementations, physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) transmissions may occupy a portion of the slot symbols, and physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) transmissions may occupy another portion of the slot symbols. In some cases, the first symbol 410 may be repeated on a preceding symbol for automatic gain control (AGC) setting. In some cases, a gap symbol 420 may be provided after the PSSCH symbol. The subchannel size may be configured (e.g., by pre-configuration) to a value from a set containing {10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, 100} physical resource blocks (PRBs). PSCCH and PSSCH may always be transmitted within the same slot.

[0064] As described above, sidelink PRS can be transmitted over a sidelink in a resource pool. Figure 4B shows a PRS slot structure 450. In detail, a sidelink UE can transmit and / or receive a sidelink PRS 460 in a PRS slot of a resource pool for positioning (RP-P). In the RP-P, the PRS 460 may contain resources for PRS transmissions from various sidelink UEs. In implementations, a sidelink PRS may be transmitted using a comb-based pattern for fast Fourier transform (FFT) based processing at the receiving UE. A sidelink PRS can also be an unstaggered downlink PRS or a partially staggered PRS due to small range / TOA uncertainty, thereby allowing use with loose synchronization and reducing collisions between different sidelink transmissions. A sidelink PRS can also be a symbol-based resource pool specific sidelink PRS to enable broadband and periodic opportunities for sidelink PRS transmission and reception across multiple UEs separated from PSSCH / CSI-RS allocation. Sidelink PRS can also be implemented using in-slot iterations to couple gains when needed and to perform receiver sweeps (such as in FR2). Sidelink PRS can also be implemented using RP-P inter-UE coordination so that dynamic PRS and data multiplexing can be implemented while minimizing sidelink PRS collisions.

[0065] In some embodiments, resource pool-specific sidelink PRSs can be implemented. For example, a network device (e.g., a base station and / or UE) may assign one or more configurations of an RP-P to another device. In these cases, the configuration for each RP-P may specify an offset, periodicity, the number of consecutive symbols in a slot (e.g., the size of one symbol), the bandwidth within a component carrier (CC) (or bandwidth across multiple CCs), etc. Each RP-P may be associated with a zone or distance from a reference location. In some cases, a UE (e.g., a target UE and / or support UE) may request one or more RP-P configurations, and in the request, the UE may include one or more of the following: location or zone ID, periodicity, bandwidth, offset, number of symbols, and an indication of whether a configuration with "low interference" is required (e.g., this may be indicated and / or determined based on the assigned quality of service (QoS) or priority).

[0066] Network devices (e.g., base stations and / or UEs) may configure a rate-matching resource or RP-P for rate-matching / muting to a sidelink UE, such that when a collision exists between an allocated resource and another resource pool containing data / control (e.g., DMRS or CSI-RS data), the sidelink UE can be expected to rate-match / mute / puncture data / DMRS / CSI-RS within the conflicting resource. In some embodiments, this may enable orthogonalization between positioning and data transmission for increased coverage of PRS signals. Figure 5 shows an example of a rate-matching configuration for a sidelink resource pool. In detail, configuration 500 may specify configurations for RP-P 520 and resource pool 510. As can be seen, RP-P 520 and resource pool 510 may collide over the duration of RP-P. In this case, configuration 500 may specify a data / control area 530 to which data / control may be transmitted, and due to a conflict between resource pool 510 and RP-P520, data / control may not be transmitted over any of the symbols of RP-P520.

[0067] In sidelink positioning implementations, when a sidelink UE (either a support UE or a target UE) receives a sidelink PRS transmission that includes PRSs from multiple UEs that are multiplexed together (e.g., FDM-multiplexed), the reception timing of the sidelink PRSs from the multiple UEs may not be aligned. For example, if sidelink PRSs from multiple UEs are composed of the same symbol, the symbols received from the multiple UEs may not be in the same cyclic prefix (CP). In this case, this situation can cause inter-symbol interference, which can lead to performance degradation. Misalignment of the reception timing of sidelink PRSs from multiple UEs can occur when the receiving UE is far from the first transmitting UE and very close to the second transmitting UE. In this case, the (FDM-multiplexed) sidelink PRSs received from the first and second support UEs may be misaligned. In another scenario, timing mismatches in receiving sidelink PRS from multiple UEs can occur when the receiving UE is synchronized with a first source (e.g., a base station, sidelink UE, GNSS, etc.) and the transmitting UE is synchronized with a second source different from the first source. In this case, the sidelink PRS received from the transmitting UE may be timing-inconsistent with that of the receiving UE.

[0068] Figure 6A shows an example of inconsistent reception timing of PRS transmissions due to distance differences. In detail, the support UE 115a may be very close to the target UE 115x, while the support UE 115c is far away, and the support UE 115b is even further away. In this scenario, if PRS transmissions from support UEs 115a-c (or any subset thereof) are multiplexed together, the reception of the PRS transmissions at the target UE 115x may be inconsistent as described above. The same problem can occur if UE 115x is the support UE and UEs 115a-c are the target UEs. In this case, the target UEs 115a-c may transmit PRSs, which may be multiplexed together and received at the support UE 115x, but the reception timing of the multiplexed PRSs may be inconsistent as described above.

[0069] Figure 6B shows an example of inconsistent reception timing of PRS transmissions due to different synchronization sources. In detail, the support UE 115a may be synchronized based on base station 105a, while the support UE 115b may be synchronized based on base station 105b, which may be different from base station 105a. In this case, if PRS transmissions from support UEs 115a and 115b are multiplexed together, the reception may be inconsistent when the PRS transmissions are received at the target UE 115x, as described above. The same problem can occur when a support UE receives a multiplexed PRS transmission from a target UE synchronized from a different synchronization source. In this case, the support UE may receive a multiplexed PRS transmission with timing inconsistencies.

[0070] Various aspects of this disclosure relate to techniques for providing a mechanism for managing sidelink PRS transmissions with timing advance offsets from sidelink nodes. In one aspect, a sidelink node (e.g., a target UE or a support UE) may receive transmissions from multiple nodes (e.g., target UEs or support UEs), where each transmission is transmitted at its respective transmission time and received at its respective reception time. In another aspect, the sidelink node may determine and / or obtain a timing advance offset that will be applied to PRS transmissions from each of the multiple sidelink nodes relative to the respective times when previous transmissions were transmitted and / or received from each sidelink node. In yet another aspect, the timing advance offset may be determined so that the PRS transmissions are aligned when the sidelink node receives PRS transmissions from multiple sidelink nodes. For example, the sidelink node may determine a first timing advance offset that will be applied to PRS transmissions to be transmitted by a first sidelink node among the multiple nodes. This first timing advance offset may be an offset relative to the time when the first sidelink node transmitted the previous transmission. In this example, a sidelink node may determine a second timing advance offset that will be applied to a PRS transmission to be sent by a second sidelink node among several nodes. This second timing advance offset may be an offset relative to the time when the second sidelink node sent the previous transmission to the sidelink node. In some embodiments, the first timing advance offset may be different from the second timing advance offset. In some embodiments, a sidelink node may request PRS transmissions from multiple nodes, and each request to a sidelink node may include an instruction for a timing advance offset that will be applied to the PRS transmission from that sidelink node. A sidelink node may receive PRS transmissions from multiple nodes, and reception may include receiving PRS transmissions in the same symbol aligned within the same CP.

[0071] Figure 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary wireless communication system 700 that supports managing the transmission of sidelink PRS with timing advance offset from a sidelink node in a wireless communication system in one or more embodiments. In some examples, the wireless communication system 700 may implement an embodiment of wireless network 100. The wireless communication system 700 includes UE115x and UE115a. In embodiments, UE115x and UE115a may be communicating over a sidelink. Either UE115x and / or UE115a may also be communicating with a base station (not shown). In the following description, UE115x may be described as a target UE and UE115a as a supporting UE, in which context the PRS transmission between UEs may be for estimating the location of UE115x. In addition, UE115x may be described as a UE that requests and / or receives a PRS transmission from UE115a with timing advance offset according to embodiments of this disclosure. However, it should be noted that the techniques for requesting and / or sending PRS transmissions with timing advance offsets may be equally applicable when UE115a is a node requesting and / or receiving PRS transmissions from UE115x. Therefore, the description herein should not be construed as limiting in any way. Furthermore, it should be noted that the description of system 700 as including two UEs is for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be limiting in any way. Thus, wireless communication system 700 may generally include three or more UE115s.

[0072] The UE115x may include various components (structural components, hardware components, etc.) used to perform one or more functions described herein. For example, these components may include one or more processors 702 (collectively referred to as "processors 702"), one or more memory devices 704 (collectively referred to as "memories 704"), one or more transmitters 716 (collectively referred to as "transmitters 716"), and one or more receivers 718 (collectively referred to as "receivers 718"). The processors 702 may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memories 704 in order to perform the operations described herein. In some implementations, the processors 702 include or correspond to one or more of the receiving processor 258, the transmitting processor 264, and the controller 280, and the memories 704 include or correspond to the memory 282.

[0073] Memory 704 includes or is configured to store a timing advance offset manager 705. In one embodiment, the timing advance offset manager 705 may be configured to perform an operation to obtain and / or determine a timing advance offset that will be used in a sidelink PRS transmission from a sidelink UE to the UE115x. Thus, each timing advance offset may be associated with a sidelink UE. In one embodiment, the timing advance offset may be determined relative to the timing of a previous transmission received by the UE115x from the sidelink UE associated with the timing advance offset.

[0074] The transmitter 716 is configured to transmit reference signals, control information, and data to one or more other devices, and the receiver 718 is configured to receive reference signals, synchronization signals, control information, and data from one or more other devices. For example, the transmitter 716 may transmit signaling, control information, and data to the base station 105, and the receiver 718 may receive signaling, control information, and data from the base station 105. In some implementations, the transmitter 716 and the receiver 718 may be integrated into one or more transceivers. As an addition or alternative, the transmitter 716 or the receiver 718 may include or correspond to one or more components of the UE 115 described with reference to Figure 2.

[0075] UE115a may also include various components (structural components, hardware components, etc.) used to perform one or more functions described herein. For example, these components may include one or more processors 722 (collectively referred to as "processors 722"), one or more memory devices 724 (collectively referred to as "memories 724"), one or more transmitters 726 (collectively referred to as "transmitters 726"), and one or more receivers 728 (collectively referred to as "receivers 728"). Processors 722 may be configured to execute instructions stored in memories 724 in order to perform the operations described herein. In some implementations, processors 722 include or correspond to one or more of the receiving processor 258, transmitting processor 264, and controller 280, and memories 724 include or correspond to memory 282.

[0076] Memory 724 may contain or be configured to store the PRS manager 725. In one embodiment, the PRS manager 725 may be configured to use a timing advance offset received from the UE115x to perform actions to configure, generate, and / or manage PRS transmissions to the UE115x. As described above, the timing advance offset received from the UE115x may be an offset relative to the timing of a previous transmission sent to the UE115x by the UE115a.

[0077] The transmitter 726 is configured to transmit reference signals, control information, and data to one or more other devices, and the receiver 728 is configured to receive reference signals, synchronization signals, control information, and data from one or more other devices. For example, the transmitter 726 may transmit signaling, control information, and data to the base station 105, and the receiver 728 may receive signaling, control information, and data from the base station 105. In some implementations, the transmitter 726 and the receiver 728 may be integrated into one or more transceivers. As an addition or alternative, the transmitter 726 or the receiver 728 may include or correspond to one or more components of the UE 115 described with reference to Figure 2.

[0078] In some implementations, the wireless communication system 700 implements a 5G NR network. For example, the wireless communication system 700 may include multiple 5G-enabled UEs 115 and multiple 5G-enabled base stations 105, such as UEs and base stations configured to operate in accordance with 5G NR network protocols, such as those defined by 3GPP®.

[0079] During the operation of the wireless communication system 700, UE115a transmits a first transmission 770 to UE115x. In some embodiments, the first transmission 770 may be an access-related message, such as a discovery message or response, or an SL-SSB. UE115a may transmit the first transmission 770 at a first transmission time. During the operation of the wireless communication system 700, UE115x receives the first transmission 770 at a first reception time. In some embodiments, UE115x may also receive the first transmission from another sidelink UE (not shown). The first transmission from the other sidelink UE may also be an access-related message, such as a discovery message or response, or an SL-SSB. In some embodiments, the first transmission from UE115a and / or from other sidelink UEs may be transmitted in response to a request from UE115x for UE115a and / or other sidelink UEs to send the first transmission.

[0080] In some embodiments, UE115x may determine or acquire a timing advance offset to match the PRS transmission from UE115a based on the first transmission 770. The timing advance offset may be a timing offset that UE115a can apply to the PRS transmission to be sent to UE115x and that advances the PRS transmission relative to the transmission time associated with the first transmission 770 from UE115a. In some embodiments, UE115a may add a timing advance offset to the PRS transmission compared to the timing used for the first transmission 770 from UE115a.

[0081] In some embodiments, UE115x may determine a timing offset for UE115a based on a first transmission 770 received from UE115a and / or a first transmission received from another sidelink UE. In these cases, UE115x may determine that there is a significant difference in the reception of the first transmission from UE115a and the first transmission from the other sidelink UE, and if the PRS transmission is received by UE115x, and the PRS transmissions from UE115a and the other sidelink UE are configured to transmit on the same symbol, then UE115x may determine a timing advance offset for each of UE115a and the other sidelink UE to ensure that the PRS transmission is received such that the symbol transmitted from each of UE115a and the other sidelink UE is received within the same CP. In some embodiments, the timing advance offset may differ between the sidelink UEs.

[0082] For example, referring back to Figure 6A, target UE115x may receive a first transmission (e.g., a discovery message or response, SL-SSB, etc.) from each of the supporting UE115a-c. In this example, UE115x may determine that there is a significant difference in the reception times of first transmissions from different supporting UEs, and this difference may be due in this case to a difference in the distance of the supporting UEs from target UE115x. For example, a first transmission from UE115c may be received by UE115x 200ms after the first transmission from UE115a was received by UE115x. In this same example, a first transmission from UE115b may be received by UE115x 500ms after the first transmission from UE115a was received by UE115x (or 300ms after the first transmission from UE115c was received by UE115x). Therefore, there is a difference in the transmission timing of the support UEs 115a-c to the target UE 115x. If each of the support UEs 115a-c transmits a PRS to the UE 115x that is configured to be transmitted on the same symbol (e.g., a PRS transmission that is FDM-transmitted on the same symbol), the reception of the PRS transmission may be inconsistent at the UE 115x as described above (e.g., symbols may not be received within the same CP). In this case, according to an aspect of the disclosure, the target UE 115x may determine a timing advance offset for each (or at least a subset) of the support UEs 115a-c. In an aspect, the timing advance offset for each of the support UEs 115a-c may be configured to compensate for differences in the transmission timing from different support UEs so that the reception of the PRS transmission at the UE 115x is consistent (e.g., symbols from different support UEs are received within the same CP).

[0083] In another example, referring back to Figure 6A, the target UE115x may receive a first transmission (e.g., a discovery message or response, SL-SSB, etc.) from each of the supporting UEs 115a and 115b. In this example, UE115x may determine that there is a significant difference in the reception times of the first transmissions from different supporting UEs to UE115x, and this difference may be due to the synchronization of the different supporting UEs in this case. For example, supporting UE115a may be synchronized from base station 105a, and supporting UE115b may be synchronized from a different base station 105b. In this case, the first transmission from UE115a may be received by UE115x at a significantly different time than the first transmission from UE115b. Thus, there is a difference in the transmission timing of supporting UEs 115a and 115b to the target UE115x. If each of the supporting UEs 115a and 115b transmits a PRS (e.g., a PRS transmission that is FDM-transmitted in the same symbol) to the UE 115x, the reception of the PRS transmission may be inconsistent at the UE 115x as described above (e.g., symbols may not be received within the same CP). In this case, according to an aspect of the disclosure, the target UE 115x may determine a timing advance offset for each (or at least a subset) of the supporting UEs 115a and 115b. In an aspect, the timing advance offset for each of the supporting UEs 115a and 115b may be configured to compensate for the synchronization differences of the different supporting UEs so that the reception of the PRS transmission at the UE 115x is consistent (e.g., symbols from different supporting UEs are received within the same CP).

[0084] Referring back to Figure 7, during the operation of the wireless communication system 700, UE115x transmits a PRS request 775 to UE115a. In some embodiments, the PRS request 775 may be a request for UE115a to transmit a PRS over the sidelink with a timing advance offset indicated in the PRS request 775. The indicated timing advance offset may be a timing advance offset determined according to the above description. In some embodiments, UE115x may also transmit a PRS request to other sidelink nodes, including a timing advance offset applicable to each of the other sidelink nodes. In some embodiments, the request for a PRS transmission with a timing advance offset may be transmitted to UE115a in response to a decision that the PRS transmission from UE115a will be multiplexed (e.g., FDM) with other PRS transmissions.

[0085] In some embodiments, the timing advance offset may include a range or tolerance for the timing advance offset. In these embodiments, the timing advance may be provided as a value, a positive range or tolerance, or only as a range. For example, PRS request 775 may specify the timing advance offset for UE115a as a range of TA values. In this case, UE115a may select a value from the range of values ​​and apply that value to the PRS transmission that will be sent to UE115x.

[0086] In some embodiments, instead of sending a PRS request to UE115a, UE115x may send a PRS request with a timing advance offset to another network node (e.g., a base station or LMF network entity). In this case, the network node may send a request to UE115a for UE115x to send a PRS with a timing advance offset. In some embodiments, the network node may select a timing advance offset from a range of timing advance offsets, or may even decide to request a different timing offset that will be used by UE115a.

[0087] During the operation of the wireless communication system 700, UE115a may receive a PRS request 775 that includes a timing advance offset to be used to transmit a PRS to UE115x. In some embodiments, UE115a may simply apply the timing advance offset indicated in the PRS request 775 and transmit a PRS 780 to UE115x. In some embodiments, as described above, the timing advance offset may be indicated as a range or tolerance, in which case UE115a may select a value from the indicated range and apply the value to the PRS 780 before transmission. In some embodiments, UE115a may actually decide to transmit the PRS 780 using a different timing offset than the timing advance offset indicated by UE115x in the PRS request 775. For example, UE115a may receive other PRS requests from other sidelink UEs indicating a different timing advance offset to be used when transmitting a PRS. In these cases, UE115a may determine the timing advance offset based on the timing advance offset indicated in PRS request 775 from UE115x and on the timing advance offset indicated in other PRS requests from other sidelink UEs. For example, in some cases, the timing advance offset range indicated by UE115x may intersect with the timing advance offset range indicated by another sidelink UE. In this case, UE115a may decide to use the timing advance offset based on the range intersection. In some embodiments, when there is no range intersection, UE115a may abort the positioning session.

[0088] In some embodiments, UE115a may report the selected and / or used timing advance offset to a network node (e.g., a base station or LMF network entity) if, for example, the position estimation of UE115x is performed at a network node. In some embodiments, UE115a may report the selected timing advance offset to UE115x if, for example, the position estimation of UE115x is performed at UE115x.

[0089] In some embodiments, system 700 may be implemented with an on-demand timing advance offset update function. In these embodiments, a sidelink UE (and even a network node such as a base station or LMF network entity) may request that the timing advance offset used by the sidelink UE transmitting the PRS be updated. For example, UE 115a may receive an unrequested transmission request to update the timing advance offset used to send the PRS 780 to UE 115x. In some embodiments, this update request may be received by UE 115a after the positioning / distancing session has started. In some embodiments, a sidelink UE receiving the PRS may transmit a request to update the timing advance offset used by the sending sidelink UE.

[0090] In some embodiments, the timing advance offset may be associated with a sidelink PRS configuration or with the entire RP-P configuration. For example, a resource pool may contain more than what is shown in the PRS configuration. In these cases, different UEs may transmit their respective PRSs on different resources (e.g., slots and / or subchannels) of the resource pool. In these embodiments, each timing advance offset may be associated in detail with each PRS configuration. In other embodiments, the timing advance offset may be associated with the entire RP-P configuration. In some embodiments, the timing advance offset may be shown and / or reported along with the resource pool ID. Different timing advances may be used for different resource pools. In some cases, the same UE may have different positioning sessions with different clusters of network devices. Therefore, in some embodiments, the alignment may differ for different clusters.

[0091] In some embodiments, it may be assumed that within a resource pool, sidelink PRS transmissions within the resource pool are transmitted using a single timing advance offset. In other embodiments, the resource pool may be configured to include PRS transmissions using different timing advance offsets. In this case, gaps may be configured between PRS transmissions using different timing advance offsets, as shown above. In some embodiments, rather than transmitting PRS transmissions using different timing advance offsets within the same resource pool, PRS transmissions using different timing advance offsets may be transmitted in different resource pools, and gaps may already be configured at the end of each slot, as shown above.

[0092] In one embodiment, when a transmitting sidelink UE (for example, a sidelink UE that transmits a PRS to another sidelink UE on the sidelink) receives a request to transmit a PRS on the sidelink using different timing advance offsets (for example, transmitting a first PRS using a first timing advance offset and transmitting a second PRS using a second timing advance offset), a timing gap may be used between different sidelink PRS transmissions in RP-P. Figure 8A shows a resource pool configuration 800 that implements an example of a timing gap between PRS transmissions with different timing advance offsets according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In detail, a data control 830 may be transmitted within the resource pool 810. A sidelink PRS 840 may be transmitted after the data control 830. The data control 830 may be transmitted with a timing advance offset different from the timing advance offset used for the side link PRS840, or the data control 830 may be transmitted without a timing advance offset, so that a gap 860 can be configured between the data control 830 and the side link PRS840. Note that the gap 870 is a conventionally configured gap at the end of the slot.

[0093] Figure 8B shows a resource pool configuration 850 that implements another example of a timing gap between PRS transmissions with different timing advance offsets according to an aspect of the present disclosure. More specifically, a gap may be established between sidelink PRS using different timing advance offsets when the timing advance offset is specific to a sidelink PRS and different sidelink PRS will be transmitted in consecutive symbols. For example, the timing advance offset may be specific to sidelink PRS2, which may be transmitted in 842 and 844. In this example, the different timing advance offset may be specific to sidelink PRS1, which may be transmitted in 840. In this case, since sidelink PRS1 and sidelink PRS2 may be transmitted using different timing advance offsets, a gap 860 may be established between the two different configurations.

[0094] In some embodiments, a sidelink UE may operate in different positioning sessions with different sidelink UEs. For example, a sidelink UE may operate in a first positioning session with a first cluster of sidelink devices and in a second positioning session with a second cluster of sidelink devices. In these embodiments, the different clusters may have different associated timing advance offsets. According to embodiments of this disclosure, a sidelink UE may be configured to handle different clusters of sidelink UEs using different configurations of the sidelink resource pool. In detail, as shown in Figure 8B, a sidelink UE 115a may operate in a first positioning session with a first cluster 870 and in a second positioning session with a second cluster 872. In one embodiment, cluster 870 may be associated with a first timing advance offset (e.g., a timing advance offset for sidelink PRS2), and cluster 872 may be associated with a second timing advance offset different from the first timing advance offset (e.g., a timing advance offset for sidelink PRS1). In another embodiment, both cluster 870 and cluster 872 may be configured to transmit PRSs in the same resource pool 820. As described above, in this case, PRSs for sidelink UEs in both cluster 870 and cluster 872 may be transmitted in resource pool 820, but a gap may be established between PRS transmissions from cluster 870 and cluster 872 because the timing advance offsets for the two clusters are different.

[0095] In other embodiments, cluster 870 may be associated with a first timing advance offset (e.g., a timing advance offset for sidelink PRS2), and cluster 872 may be associated with a second timing advance offset different from the first timing advance offset (e.g., a timing advance offset for sidelink PRS1). However, in these embodiments, instead of sending PRSs from the sidelink UEs of clusters 870 and 872 in the same resource pool 820, clusters 870 and 872 may be configured to send PRSs in different resource pools. In this case, the resource pools for cluster 870 and 872 may be multiplexed (e.g., FDM), so that consistency may not be required between UEs belonging to different clusters.

[0096] Figure 9 is a flowchart showing an exemplary process 900 that provides a mechanism for managing sidelink PRS transmissions with timing advance offsets from sidelink nodes in a wireless communication system, in one or more embodiments. The operation of process 900 may be performed by a UE, such as the target UE115x described above with reference to Figures 1 to 7, or the UE1100 described with reference to Figure 11. For example, an exemplary operation of process 900 (also called a “block”) may enable the UE115 to support managing sidelink PRS transmissions with timing advance offsets from sidelink nodes. Figure 11 is a block diagram of the UE1100 configured according to an embodiment of this disclosure. The UE1100 includes structures, hardware, and components as shown with respect to the UE115 in Figure 2. For example, the UE1100 includes a controller / processor 280, which controls the components of the UE1100 that provide the features and functions of the UE1100, and operates to execute logic or computer instructions stored in memory 282. The UE1100 transmits and receives signals via wireless radios 1101a-r and antennas 252a-r under the control of the controller / processor 280. The wireless radios 1101a-r include various components and hardware as shown in Figure 2 with respect to the UE1100, including modulators / demodulators 254a-r, MIMO detector 256, receiving processor 258, transmitting processor 264, and TX MIMO processor 266.

[0097] In block 902 of process 900, the UE (e.g., UE1100) receives multiple first transmissions from multiple nodes, and each first transmission of the multiple first transmissions is received by the UE from each of the multiple nodes at each respective time. For example, UE1100 may receive multiple first transmissions from multiple nodes via wireless radios 1101a-r and antennas 252a-r. In some embodiments, the first transmissions in the multiple first transmissions may include access-related messages such as discovery messages or responses, SL-SSB, etc. In some embodiments, the first transmissions in the multiple first transmissions may be transmitted from the multiple nodes in response to a request from UE1100 to the multiple nodes for sending the multiple first transmissions.

[0098] In block 904, the UE 1100 obtains at least one timing advance configuration for a sidelink PRS transmission that will be sent to the UE from at least one of the multiple nodes, based on the respective times when the first transmission is received from each of the multiple nodes. To implement the functionality for such operation, the UE executes a timing advance offset manager 1102 stored in memory 282 under the control of the controller / processor 280. The functionality implemented through the execution environment of the timing advance offset manager 1102 enables the UE to perform operations to obtain at least one timing advance configuration for a sidelink PRS transmission that will be sent to the UE from at least one of the multiple nodes, as described herein in various aspects.

[0099] In one embodiment, the timing advance configuration may specify a timing advance offset that a support node (for example, one of several nodes) will use when sending an SL-PRS to the UE1100 in order to advance the SL-PRS transmission relative to the transmission time of the first transmission on which the UE1100 acquires the timing advance offset. In another embodiment, the support node may add a timing advance offset to the SL-PRS transmission compared to the timing used for the first transmission from the support node to the UE1100.

[0100] In some embodiments, the UE1100 may determine a timing advance offset for a sidelink PRS transmission to be transmitted from a particular node, based on a first transmission received from a particular node and first transmissions received from other sidelink nodes in a plurality of nodes. In these cases, the UE1100 may determine that there is a significant difference in the reception time of the first transmission from the particular node and the first transmissions from other sidelink nodes, and if the sidelink PRS transmissions from the particular node and the other sidelink nodes are configured to transmit on the same symbol when the sidelink PRS transmission is received by the UE1100, the UE1100 may determine a timing advance offset for each of the particular node and the other sidelink nodes to ensure that the PRS transmission is received such that the symbol transmitted from each of the PRS transmissions from the particular node and the other sidelink nodes is received within the same CP. In some embodiments, the timing advance offset may differ from sidelink node to sidelink node.

[0101] In some embodiments, the timing advance offset determined by the UE1100 for nodes in a plurality of nodes may include a range of timing advance offset values. For example, when the UE1100 determines a timing advance offset to apply to a PRS transmission to the UE1100, it may determine a range of timing advance offset values ​​from which a supporting node (or another network node such as a base station or LMF) may select. In some embodiments, the range of timing advance offset values ​​may include a plurality of timing advance offset values.

[0102] In block 906, UE 1100 transmits at least one timing advance configuration to at least one of a plurality of nodes. For example, UE 1100 may transmit one timing advance configuration to at least one node via wireless radios 1101a-r and antennas 252a-r. In one embodiment, at least one node (e.g., a support node) may apply a timing advance offset in at least one timing advance configuration to a sidelink PRS transmission transmitted to UE 1100. In one embodiment, when at least one timing advance configuration includes a range of timing advance offsets, the support node may select a timing advance offset from the range of timing advance offsets (or may be indicated to the support node by the base station or LMF network entity), and the selected timing advance offset may be applied to the sidelink PRS transmission.

[0103] In one embodiment, the UE1100 may transmit at least one timing advance configuration to a network node (e.g., a base station or LMF network entity), in which case the network node may be configured to determine a timing advance offset that the support node will use when transmitting a sidelink PRS transmission to the UE1100. In another embodiment, the network node may transmit the determined timing advance offset to at least one node (e.g., a support node).

[0104] In one embodiment, the UE1100 may determine that a timing advance configuration update condition has occurred and, in response, update the timing advance configuration for sidelink PRS transmissions from at least one node. In another embodiment, a network node (e.g., a base station or LMF network entity) may determine whether a timing advance configuration update condition has occurred and, in response to the determination that a timing advance configuration update condition has occurred, update the timing advance configuration for sidelink PRS transmissions from at least one node. In another embodiment, the updated timing advance configuration may be transmitted (e.g., from the UE1100 or from the network node) to at least one node (e.g., a support node).

[0105] In some embodiments, the timing advance configuration update conditions may include one or more of the following: determining that the location of UE1100 has changed; determining that the reception of SL-PRS transmissions from one or more of the nodes is inconsistent; indicating that the location of one or more of the nodes has changed; or indicating that sidelink PRS transmissions from one or more of the nodes are inconsistent with respect to UE1100.

[0106] Figure 10 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process 1000 that provides a mechanism for managing sidelink PRS transmissions with timing advance offsets from sidelink nodes in a wireless communication system, in one or more embodiments. The operation of process 1000 may be performed by a UE, such as the support UE 115a described above with reference to Figures 1 to 7, or the UE 1100 described with reference to Figure 11. For example, an exemplary operation of process 1000 (also called a “block”) may enable UE 115 to support managing sidelink PRS transmissions with timing advance offsets from sidelink nodes.

[0107] In block 1002 of process 1000, the UE (e.g., UE1100) sends at least one transmission to at least one node (e.g., a target node), and each of the at least one transmissions is transmitted by the UE to each of the at least one nodes at its respective transmission time. For example, the UE1100 may send at least one transmission to at least one node via wireless radios 1101a-r and antennas 252a-r. In some embodiments, the at least one transmission may include an access-related message, such as a discovery message or response, or an SL-SSB. In some embodiments, the at least one transmission may be sent to at least one node in response to a request from at least one node for the UE1100 to send at least one transmission.

[0108] In block 1004, the UE 1100 obtains at least one timing advance value which will be used by the UE 1100 to transmit a sidelink PRS to one or more of the at least one node. To implement the functionality for such operation, the UE executes the PRS manager 1103 stored in memory 282 under the control of the controller / processor 280. The functionality implemented through the execution environment of the PRS manager 1103 enables the UE to perform the operation of obtaining at least one timing advance value which will be used by the UE to transmit a sidelink PRS to one or more of the at least one node, according to various aspects of this specification.

[0109] In one embodiment, the UE1100 may receive a timing advance value from a sidelink node of at least one node (e.g., a target UE), where the sidelink node may determine the timing advance value based on at least one transmission from the UE1100 and other transmissions received from other sidelink nodes. In another embodiment, the timing advance value may be determined by a network node (e.g., a base station or LMF network entity), which may then transmit the timing advance value to the UE1100.

[0110] In block 1006, UE1100 transmits a sidelink PRS to each of one or more nodes using its respective timing advance value. For example, UE1100 may transmit a sidelink PRS to each of one or more nodes using its respective timing advance value via wireless radios 1101a-r and antennas 252a-r. In some embodiments, using each TA value may include advancing the transmission of the sidelink PRS to each node for a time period equal to the TA value. In some embodiments, transmitting a sidelink PRS to each of one or more nodes using a respective timing advance value may include transmitting a sidelink PRS to a first node using a first timing advance value, wherein using the first timing advance value includes advancing the transmission of the sidelink PRS to the first node for a time period equal to the first timing advance value, and transmitting a sidelink PRS to a second node using a second timing advance value, wherein using the second timing advance value includes advancing the transmission of an SL-PRS to the second node for a time period equal to the second timing advance value.

[0111] In one embodiment, the timing advance value received from at least one node may include a range of timing advance values. In another embodiment, the range of timing advance values ​​received from each node may represent a range of values ​​determined by each node to be valid for sidelink PRS transmissions from the UE1100 to each node.

[0112] In one or more embodiments, techniques for providing a mechanism for managing sidelink PRS transmissions with timing advance offsets from sidelink nodes in a wireless communication system, in one or more embodiments, may include additional embodiments, such as any single embodiment or any combination of embodiments, described below or with respect to one or more other processes or devices described elsewhere in this specification. In a first embodiment, providing a mechanism for managing sidelink PRS transmissions with timing advance offsets from sidelink nodes in a wireless communication system may include an apparatus configured to receive a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes, each of the plurality of first transmissions being received by the UE from each of the plurality of nodes at each respective time, to obtain at least one timing advance (TA) configuration for a sidelink (SL)-PRS transmission which will be transmitted to the UE from at least one of the plurality of nodes based on each time the first transmission is received from each of the plurality of nodes, and to transmit at least one TA configuration to at least one of the plurality of nodes. In addition, the device may perform one or more modes, or operate according to one or more modes, as described below. In some implementations, the device includes a wireless device such as a UE (e.g., the target UE described above). In some implementations, the device may include at least one processor and memory coupled to the processor. The processor may be configured to perform the operations described herein with respect to the device. In some other implementations, the device may include a non-temporary computer-readable medium recording program code, which may be executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform the operations described herein with respect to the device. In some implementations, the device may include one or more means configured to perform the operations described herein.In some implementations, the wireless communication method may include one or more operations described herein with respect to the device.

[0113] In a second embodiment, obtaining at least one TA configuration, either alone or in combination with the first embodiment, includes at least one node determining a TA offset for correcting an SL-PRS transmission from at least one node, wherein the correction by at least one node is at least partially based on the TA offset and each first transmission received from at least one of the multiple nodes.

[0114] In a third embodiment, obtaining at least one TA configuration, either alone or in combination with the second embodiment, includes including a determined TA offset in the at least one TA configuration transmitted to at least one node.

[0115] In the fourth aspect, determining the TA offset, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to third aspects, includes measuring the reception time difference between the time at which the first transmission is received by the first node of the plurality of nodes and the time at which the first transmission is received by the second node of the plurality of nodes.

[0116] In a fifth aspect, determining the TA offset, either alone or in combination with the fourth aspect, includes configuring a TA offset for at least one of the first or second nodes based on a measured reception time difference, wherein the TA offset is configured in the apparatus to match the SL-PRS receptions from the first and second nodes with respect to each other.

[0117] In the sixth aspect, configuring a TA offset, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to fifth aspects, to match SL-PRS receptions from a first node and a second node, includes configuring a TA offset to ensure that symbols received from an SL-PRS transmission from the first node and symbols received from an SL-PRS transmission from the second node are received within the same CP.

[0118] In the seventh aspect, configuring a TA offset, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first through sixth aspects, to match SL-PRS receptions from a first node and a second node with respect to each other includes configuring a first TA offset for a first node among a plurality of nodes.

[0119] In the eighth aspect, configuring a TA offset to match SL-PRS receptions from a first node and a second node, either alone or in combination with the seventh aspect, includes configuring a second TA offset for a second node among a plurality of nodes.

[0120] In the ninth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the seventh to eighth aspects, a first TA offset differs from a second TA offset, and at least one TA configuration includes a first TA configuration having a first TA offset for a first node and a second TA configuration having a second TA offset for a second node.

[0121] In the tenth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first through ninth aspects, the technique of the first aspect includes receiving an SL-PRS transmission from at least one node of a plurality of nodes, wherein the SL-PRS transmission is transmitted by at least one node in transmission time using a TA determined by at least one node based at least in part on the TA offset of at least one TA configuration and each first transmission received from at least one node of the plurality of nodes.

[0122] In the eleventh embodiment, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to tenth embodiments, an SL-PRS transmission from at least one node of a plurality of nodes includes a plurality of SL-PRS transmissions from two or more nodes of the at least one node that have been FDM-transmitted within the frequency spectrum of the resource pool, and each of the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions is transmitted from its respective node using its respective TA.

[0123] In the twelfth aspect, determining a TA offset to correct an SL-PRS transmission from at least one node, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to eleventh aspects, based at least partially on the TA offset and each first transmission received from at least one of the multiple nodes, includes determining a range of TA offset values ​​in the device, from the first node of the multiple nodes and the second node of the multiple nodes, based on the respective times in which the first transmission is received from each of the multiple nodes, such that it is within a receive window.

[0124] In the 13th aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 1st to 12th aspects, the technique of the first aspect includes receiving a value instruction from a range of values ​​selected by at least one node for a TA offset, the selected value being used by at least one node to determine a TA to apply to an SL-PRS transmission, and the instruction being received from a network node or one or more of at least one node.

[0125] In a fourteenth aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first through thirteenth aspects, it is determined that the technique of the first aspect is not configured to match the range of TA offset values ​​in the device such that the SL-PRS reception from at least one of the third nodes, and one or more of the first and second nodes, is within the reception window.

[0126] In the 15th aspect, either alone or in combination with the 14th aspect, the technique of the first aspect includes, in at least one TA configuration, including an abort instruction for a third node to terminate a position estimation session between the device and the third node, wherein SL-PRS transmission by the third node is withheld.

[0127] In the sixteenth aspect, transmitting at least one TA configuration to at least one node among a plurality of nodes, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first through fifteenth aspects, includes transmitting at least one TA configuration to a network node.

[0128] In the 17th aspect, either alone or in combination with the 16th aspect, a network node is configured to determine a TA offset, which will be used by at least one node to modify an SL-PRS transmission for each first transmission from at least one node, based on at least one TA configuration, and to transmit the TA offset to at least one node.

[0129] In the 18th aspect, the technique of the first aspect includes determining whether a TA configuration update condition has occurred, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first through 17 aspects.

[0130] In the 19th aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first through 18 aspects, the technique of the first aspect includes updating the TA configuration for SL-PRS transmission from at least one node based on a determination that a TA configuration update condition has occurred.

[0131] In the 20th aspect, the technique of the first aspect includes transmitting an updated TA configuration to at least one node, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first through 19 aspects.

[0132] In the 21st aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first through 20 aspects, the TA configuration update condition includes one or more of the following: determining that the location of the device has changed; determining that the reception of SL-PRS transmissions from one or more of the nodes is inconsistent; indicating that the location of one or more of the nodes has changed; or indicating that SL-PRS transmissions from one or more of the nodes are inconsistent with the device.

[0133] In the 22nd aspect, each first transmission received from each node of a plurality of nodes, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first to 21st aspects, includes one or more of a discovery message request, a discovery message response, or an SL-SSB message.

[0134] In the 23rd aspect, the device is either a target UE or a support UE, either alone or in combination with one or more of the first through 22nd aspects.

[0135] In the 24th aspect, a technique for providing a mechanism for managing the transmission of sidelink PRS with timing advance offset from sidelink nodes in a wireless communication system may include an apparatus configured to transmit at least one transmission to at least one node, wherein each of the at least one transmissions is transmitted by the apparatus to each of the at least one node at its respective transmission time, the apparatus obtains at least one TA value which will be used by the UE to transmit SL-PRS to one or more nodes of the at least one node, and uses each TA value to transmit SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes. In this aspect, using each TA value includes advancing the transmission of SL-PRS to each node by a time period equal to the TA value. In addition, the apparatus may perform one or more aspects as described below, or may operate according to one or more aspects. In some implementations, the apparatus includes a wireless device such as a UE (e.g., the support UE described above). In some implementations, the apparatus may include at least one processor and memory coupled to the processor. The processor may be configured to perform the operations described herein with respect to the device. In some other implementations, the device may include a non-temporary computer-readable medium recording program code, which may be executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform the operations described herein with respect to the device. In some implementations, the device may include one or more means configured to perform the operations described herein. In some implementations, a wireless communication method may include one or more operations described herein with respect to the device.

[0136] In the 25th aspect, either alone or in combination with the 24th aspect, each of at least one TA value is based on a TA offset determined by each of the one or more nodes to which the SL-PRS will be transmitted using each TA value.

[0137] In the 26th aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the aspects from the 24th to the 25th aspects, the technique of the 24th aspect includes receiving a TA offset determined by each of the one or more nodes, from a network node and one or more of each of the one or more nodes, which will be transmitted to the SL-PRS using the respective TA values, or determining each of at least one TA value based on the TA offset.

[0138] In the 27th aspect, obtaining at least one TA value, either alone or in combination with one or more of the aspects from the 24th to the 26th aspects, includes obtaining a first TA value which will be used to transmit an SL-PRS to a first node of one or more nodes.

[0139] In the 28th aspect, obtaining at least one TA value, either alone or in combination with the 27th aspect, includes obtaining a second TA value which will be used to transmit an SL-PRS to a second node among one or more nodes.

[0140] In the 29th aspect, sending an SL-PRS to each of one or more nodes using a respective TA value, either alone or in combination with one or more of the aspects from the 24th to the 28th aspects, includes sending an SL-PRS to a first node using a first TA value.

[0141] In the 30th aspect, using a first TA value, either alone or in combination with the 29th aspect, includes advancing the transmission of SL-PRS to a first node for a time period equal to the first TA value.

[0142] In the 31st aspect, sending an SL-PRS to each of one or more nodes using a respective TA value, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 30th aspects, includes sending an SL-PRS to a second node using a second TA value.

[0143] In the 32nd aspect, using a second TA value, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 29th to 31st aspects, includes advancing the transmission of SL-PRS to the second node for a time period equal to the second TA value.

[0144] In the 33rd aspect, the TA offset determined by each of the one or more nodes to which the SL-PRS will be transmitted using the respective TA values, either alone or in combination with one or more of the aspects from the 29th to the 32nd aspect, includes a range of TA offset values.

[0145] In the 34th aspect, either alone or in combination with the 33rd aspect, the range of TA offset values ​​represents a range of values ​​determined by each node to be valid for SL-PRS transmissions from the UE to each node.

[0146] In the 35th aspect, the technique of the 24th aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th through 33rd aspects, includes obtaining a value from a range of TA offset values ​​in order to transmit SL-PRS to each node.

[0147] In the 36th aspect, either alone or in combination with the 35th aspect, the technique of the 24th aspect includes transmitting an instruction to each of one or more nodes for a value obtained from a range of TA offset values.

[0148] In the 37th aspect, sending an SL-PRS to each of one or more nodes using each TA value, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 36th aspects, includes sending multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes of one or more nodes, wherein each SL-PRS transmission is sent to each resource of at least one resource pool.

[0149] In the 38th aspect, sending multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 37th aspects, includes sending a first SL-PRS of multiple SL-PRS transmissions to a first resource in a resource pool.

[0150] In the 39th aspect, either alone or in combination with the 38th aspect, the first SL-PRS is transmitted using the first TA value.

[0151] In the 40th aspect, sending multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes, either alone or in combination with one or more of the aspects from the 38th to the 39th aspects, includes sending a second SL-PRS of the multiple SL-PRS transmissions to a second resource in a resource pool.

[0152] In the 41st aspect, a second SL-PRS is transmitted using a second TA value, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 38th to 40th aspects.

[0153] In the 42nd aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 41st aspects, the first TA value is different from the second TA value.

[0154] In the 43rd aspect, sending multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes, either alone or in combination with the 42nd aspect, includes including a transmission gap between a first SL-PRS transmission at a first resource and a second SL-PRS transmission at a second resource.

[0155] In the 44th aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 43rd aspects, the first TA value is equal to the second TA value.

[0156] In the 45th aspect, sending multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes, either alone or in combination with the 44th aspect, includes sending a first SL-PRS at a first resource and a second SL-PRS at a second resource, without any transmission gaps between them.

[0157] In the 46th aspect, sending multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 45th aspects, includes sending a first SL-PRS of multiple SL-PRS transmissions to a first resource in a resource pool.

[0158] In the 47th aspect, the first SL-PRS is transmitted using the first TA value, either alone or in combination with the 46th aspect.

[0159] In the 48th aspect, sending multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes, either alone or in combination with one or more of the aspects from the 46th to the 47th aspects, includes sending data to a second resource in a resource pool.

[0160] In the 49th aspect, data is not transmitted using the first TA value, either alone or in combination with one or more of the aspects from the 46th to the 48th aspects.

[0161] In the 50th aspect, transmitting multiple SL-PRS transmissions to multiple nodes, either alone or in combination with one or more of the aspects from the 46th to the 49th aspects, includes including a transmission gap between the first SL-PRS transmission at the first resource and the data transmission at the second resource.

[0162] In the 51st aspect, the technique of the 24th aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the aspects from the 24th to the 50th aspect, includes receiving at least one updated TA configuration from one or more nodes among a plurality of nodes.

[0163] In the 52nd aspect, either alone or in combination with the 51st aspect, at least one updated TA configuration is transmitted from one or more nodes based on a determination by one or more nodes that a TA configuration update condition has occurred.

[0164] In the 53rd aspect, either alone or in combination with one or more of the aspects from the 24th to the 52nd aspects, the technique of the 24th aspect includes transmitting at least one SL-PRS to one or more nodes using at least one updated TA configuration.

[0165] In the 54th aspect, at least one transmission, either alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 53rd aspects, includes one or more of a discovery message request, a discovery message response, or an SL-SSB message.

[0166] In the 55th aspect, the device is either alone or in combination with one or more of the 24th to 54th aspects, being either a target UE or a supporting UE.

[0167] Those skilled in the art will understand that information and signals may 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 referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltage, electric current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or magnetic particles, light fields or optical particles, or any combination thereof.

[0168] With respect to Figures 1 to 11, the components, functional blocks, and modules described herein include, in examples, processors, electronic devices, hardware devices, electronic components, logic circuits, memory, software code, firmware code, or any combination thereof. “Software” is broadly interpreted, in examples, to mean instructions, instruction sets, code, code segments, program code, programs, subprograms, software modules, applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executable files, execution threads, procedures, and / or functions, whether referred to as software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or otherwise. In addition, the features described herein may be implemented via dedicated processor circuits, via executable instructions, or a combination thereof.

[0169] Those skilled in the art will further understand that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic steps described herein may 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 have been outlined above in relation to their functions. Whether such functions are implemented as hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functions 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. Those skilled in the art will also readily recognize that the order or combination of components, methods, or interactions described herein is merely illustrative, and that components, methods, or interactions of various aspects of this disclosure may be combined or performed in ways other than those illustrated and described herein.

[0170] The various exemplary logics, logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithmic processes described herein in relation to the implementation forms disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. Hardware and software compatibility is briefly described functionally and illustrated in the various exemplary components, blocks, modules, circuits, and processes described above. Whether such functionality is implemented in hardware or software depends on the specific application and the design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0171] Hardware and data processing devices used to implement the various exemplary logics, logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in relation to the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented or run by a general-purpose single-chip processor or general-purpose multi-chip processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, individual gate or transistor logic, individual hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. In some implementations, the processor may be implemented as a combination of computing devices, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors working with a DSP core, or any other such configuration. In some implementations, specific processes and methods may be performed by circuits specific to a given function.

[0172] In one or more embodiments, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, digital electronic circuits, computer software, firmware, or any combination thereof, including structures disclosed herein and their structural equivalents. Implementations of the subject matter described herein may also be implemented as one or more computer programs, i.e., one or more modules of computer program instructions encoded on a computer storage medium for execution by a data processing device or for controlling the operation of a data processing device.

[0173] When implemented in software, the functionality may be stored on or transmitted via computer-readable media as one or more instructions or code. The processes of the methods or algorithms disclosed herein may be implemented in processor-executable software modules that reside on computer-readable media. Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media, including any media that can enable the transfer of computer programs from one location to another. Storage media can be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. Such computer-readable media, but not limited to examples, may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (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 store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Any connection may also be appropriately referred to as computer-readable media. The terms "disk" and "disc" as used herein include compact discs (CDs), laser discs, optical discs, digital multipurpose discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs, where a disk typically reproduces data magnetically, and a disc reproduces data optically using a laser. Any combination of these should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media. In addition, the operation of a method or algorithm may reside on machine-readable and computer-readable media, as one or any combination or set of code and instructions, which can be incorporated into computer program products.

[0174] Various modifications to the implementations described herein may be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may apply to several other implementations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Accordingly, the claims should not be limited to the implementations shown herein, but should be given the broadest scope consistent with this disclosure, the principles disclosed herein, and the novel features.

[0175] In addition, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the terms “upper” and “lower” are sometimes used to facilitate the description of figures, indicating relative positions corresponding to the orientation of figures on a properly oriented page, and may not reflect the proper orientation of any implemented device.

[0176] Furthermore, some features described herein in the context of separate implementations may be implemented in combination in a single implementation. Conversely, various features described in the context of a single implementation may also be implemented separately or in any suitable partial combination in multiple implementations. Moreover, features may be described above as working in several combinations, and may even be initially claimed as such, but one or more features from a claimed combination may, in some cases, be removed from that combination, and the claimed combination may be a partial combination or a variation of a partial combination.

[0177] Similarly, while actions are shown in a specific order in the diagrams, this should not be understood as requiring that such actions be performed in a specific or sequential order shown, or that all illustrated actions be performed, in order to achieve the desired result. Furthermore, diagrams may schematically illustrate one or more exemplary processes in the form of flow charts. However, other actions not shown may be incorporated into the schematicly illustrated exemplary processes. For example, one or more additional actions may be performed before, after, simultaneously with, or between any of the shown actions. In some situations, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Moreover, the separation of various system components in the implementation forms described above should not be understood as requiring such separation in all implementation forms, and it should be understood that the program components and systems described may generally be integrated together within a single software product or packaged within multiple software products. In addition, several other implementation forms fall within the scope of the following claims. In some cases, the actions described in the claims may be performed in a different order and still achieve the desired result.

[0178] As used herein, including in the claims, the term “or” means that when used in a list of two or more items, any one of the listed items may be taken alone, or any combination of two or more of the listed items may be taken. For example, if a composition is described as comprising components A, B, or C, the composition may include A only, B only, C only, a combination of A and B, a combination of A and C, a combination of B and C, or a combination of A, B and C. Also, as used herein, including in the claims, “or” when used in a list of items ending in “at least one of” indicates a disjunctive list, such as when the list “at least one of A, B, or C” means any of these in A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C) or any combination thereof. The term “substantially” is defined as, as understood by those skilled in the art, as the majority of but not necessarily the entirety of what is specified (and including what is specified, for example, substantially 90 degrees includes 90 degrees, and substantially parallel includes parallel). In any disclosed implementation, the term “substantially” may be replaced with “within [percentage] of” the specified percentage, including 0.1, 1, 5, or 10 percent.

[0179] The foregoing description of this disclosure is provided so that any person skilled in the art may create or use this disclosure. Various modifications of this disclosure will be readily apparent to a person skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other variations without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure. Accordingly, this disclosure should be given the broadest scope that is consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein, and is not limited to the examples and designs described herein. [Explanation of symbols]

[0180] 100 Wireless Networks 105 base stations, 5G-compatible base stations 105a, 105b, 105c base station 105d, 105e base stations, macro base stations 105f base station, small cell base station 115 UE, 5G compatible UE 115a UE, Support UE, Target UE, Sidelink UE 115b, 115c, 115x UE, Support UE, Target UE 115d, 115e, 115f, 115g, 115h, 115i~115k, 1100 UE 212, 262 data sources 220, 264 transmit processors 230 Transmit (TX) MIMO Processor 232 Modulators, Demodulators 232a~232t Modulator (MOD), Modulator 234, 234a~234t, 252a~252r antennas 236, 256 MIMO detectors 238, 258 receiving processors 239, 260 Data Sync 240 controllers 242, 282 memory 244 Scheduler 254 Demodulator 254a~254r Demodulator, Modulator, Modulator / Demodulator 266 TX MIMO processor 280 Controllers, Controllers / Processors 310, 312, 314, 316 PRS transmission 320, 322, 324, 326 measurement report Measurements 330, 332, 334, 336 400 slot structure 410 The First Symbol 420 Gap Symbols 450 PRS slot structure 460 Sidelink PRS, PRS 500 configurations 510, 810, 820 resource pools 520 RP-P 530 Area for data / control 700 Wireless communication systems, systems 702, 722 processors 704, 724 memory devices, memory 705, 1102 Timing Advance Offset Manager 716, 726 Transmitter 718, 728 receivers 725, 1103 PRS Manager 770 First transmission 775 PRS request 780 PRS 800, 850 resource pool configuration 830 Data Control 840 Sidelink PRS 860 Gap 870 Gap, 1st cluster, cluster 872 Second cluster, cluster 1101a~r Wireless Radio

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication performed by a user device (UE), The steps include: receiving a plurality of first transmissions from a plurality of nodes by the UE, wherein each of the plurality of first transmissions is received by the UE from each of the plurality of nodes at each respective time; A step of obtaining at least one timing advance (TA) configuration for a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission to be transmitted to the UE from at least one node of the plurality of nodes, based on the respective times in which the first transmission is received from each of the plurality of nodes, the step of which the at least one node determines a TA offset for correcting the SL-PRS transmission from the at least one node, wherein the correction by the at least one node is at least partially based on the TA offset and each of the first transmissions received from the at least one node of the plurality of nodes, A step of transmitting the at least one TA configuration to at least one of the plurality of nodes, wherein the at least one TA configuration includes the determined TA offset. A method that includes this.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving the SL-PRS transmission from at least one of the plurality of nodes, wherein the SL-PRS transmission is transmitted by the at least one node at transmission time using a TA determined by the at least one node based at least in part on the TA offset of the at least one TA configuration and the respective first transmissions received from the at least one of the plurality of nodes.

3. The step of determining the TA offset is, A step of measuring the reception time difference between the time at which the first transmission is received by the first node among the plurality of nodes and the time at which the first transmission is received by the second node among the plurality of nodes, A step of configuring the TA offset for at least one of the first node or the second node based on the measured reception time difference, wherein the TA offset is configured in the UE to match the SL-PRS reception from the first node and the second node with respect to each other. The method according to claim 1, including the method described in claim 1.

4. The step of configuring the TA offset so as to match the SL-PRS reception from the first node and the second node is: The step of configuring the TA offset to ensure that the symbols received from the SL-PRS transmission from the first node and the symbols received from the SL-PRS transmission from the second node are received within the same cyclic prefix (CP). The method according to claim 3, including the method described in claim 3.

5. The step of configuring the TA offset so as to match the SL-PRS reception from the first node and the second node is: The steps of configuring a first TA offset for the first node among the plurality of nodes, A step of configuring a second TA offset for the second node among the plurality of nodes, wherein the first TA offset is different from the second TA offset, and the at least one TA configuration includes a first TA configuration having the first TA offset for the first node and a second TA configuration having the second TA offset for the second node. The method according to claim 3, including the method described in claim 3.

6. The step of transmitting the at least one TA configuration to at least one of the plurality of nodes is: A step of transmitting the at least one TA configuration to a network node, The aforementioned network node, Based on the at least one TA configuration, the TA offset will be used by the at least one node to modify the SL-PRS transmission for each of the first transmissions from the at least one node, and Transmitting the TA offset to at least one of the aforementioned nodes. A step configured to perform The method according to claim 1, including the method described in claim 1.

7. Each of the first transmissions received from each of the plurality of nodes includes one or more of a discovery message request, a discovery message response, or a sidelink (SL) synchronization signal block (SL-SSB) message, and the method A step in which the UE determines whether or not a TA configuration update condition has occurred, wherein the TA configuration update condition is The UE determines that the position of the UE has changed. The UE determines that the reception of SL-PRS transmissions from one or more of the multiple nodes is inconsistent. An instruction that the position of one or more of the aforementioned nodes has changed, or An SL-PRS transmission from one or more of the aforementioned nodes indicates to the UE that it is inconsistent. A step that includes one or more of the following, A step of updating the TA configuration for SL-PRS transmission from at least one node based on the determination that a TA configuration update condition has occurred, The steps of sending the updated TA configuration to at least one node and The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

8. A method of wireless communication performed by a user device (UE), A step of transmitting at least one transmission to at least one node by the UE, wherein each of the at least one transmissions is transmitted by the UE to each of the at least one nodes at each transmission time, A step of obtaining at least one timing advance (TA) value which will be used by the UE to transmit a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) to one or more of the at least one nodes, wherein each of the at least one TA value is based on a TA offset determined by each of the one or more nodes to which the SL-PRS will be transmitted using its respective TA value. A step of transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using each of the aforementioned TA values, wherein using each of the aforementioned TA values ​​is equivalent to a time period equal to the TA value for the transmission of the SL-PRS to each of the nodes. A method that includes this.

9. The steps include receiving the TA offset determined by each of the one or more nodes from a network node and one or more of the one or more nodes, the SL-PRS to be transmitted using the respective TA values, A step of determining each of the at least one TA values ​​based on the TA offset. The method according to claim 8, further comprising one or more of the following.

10. The step of obtaining the aforementioned at least one TA value is, The steps include obtaining a first TA value which will be used to transmit the SL-PRS to a first node among the one or more nodes, A step of obtaining a second TA value which will be used to transmit the SL-PRS to a second node among the one or more nodes; Includes, The step of using each TA value to transmit the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes is: A step of transmitting the SL-PRS to the first node using the first TA value, wherein using the first TA value includes advancing the transmission of the SL-PRS to the first node for a time period equal to the first TA value. A step of transmitting the SL-PRS to the second node using the second TA value, wherein using the second TA value means that the transmission of the SL-PRS to the second node proceeds for a time period equal to the second TA value. The method according to claim 8, including the method described in claim 8.

11. The step of transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using each TA value includes the step of transmitting a plurality of SL-PRS transmissions to a plurality of nodes among the one or more nodes, wherein each of the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions is transmitted to each resource of at least one resource pool, The step of transmitting the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions to the plurality of nodes is: A step of transmitting a first SL-PRS among the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions in a first resource of the resource pool, wherein the first SL-PRS is transmitted using a first TA value. A step of transmitting a second SL-PRS among the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions in a second resource of the resource pool, wherein the second SL-PRS is transmitted using a second TA value. A step of including a transmission gap between the transmission of the first SL-PRS in the first resource and the transmission of the second SL-PRS in the second resource, wherein the first TA value is different from the second TA value. Includes, or A step of transmitting a first SL-PRS among the plurality of SL-PRS transmissions in a first resource of the resource pool, wherein the first SL-PRS is transmitted using a first TA value. A step of transmitting data in a second resource of the resource pool, wherein the data is not transmitted using the first TA value. The steps include including a transmission gap between the transmission of the first SL-PRS in the first resource and the transmission of the data in the second resource. The method according to claim 8, including the method described in claim 8.

12. At least one transmission includes one or more of a discovery message request, a discovery message response, or a sidelink (SL) synchronization signal block (SL-SSB) message, and the method is The UE receives at least one updated TA configuration from one or more nodes among a plurality of nodes, wherein the at least one updated TA configuration is transmitted from the one or more nodes based on the one or more nodes' determination that a TA configuration update condition has occurred. The steps include: transmitting at least one SL-PRS to one or more nodes using the at least one updated TA configuration; The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

13. A device for wireless communication in user equipment (UE), At least one processor, A memory coupled to at least one of the aforementioned processors, which stores processor-readable code. The processor-readable code is executed by at least one of the processors, The UE receives multiple first transmissions from multiple nodes, wherein each of the multiple first transmissions is received by the UE from each of the multiple nodes at each respective time. Obtaining at least one timing advance (TA) configuration for a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission to be transmitted to the UE from at least one node of the plurality of nodes, based on the respective time at which the first transmission is received from each of the plurality of nodes, comprising determining a TA offset for correcting the SL-PRS transmission from the at least one node, wherein the correction by the at least one node is at least partially based on the TA offset and the respective first transmissions received from the at least one node of the plurality of nodes, and Transmitting the at least one TA configuration to at least one of the plurality of nodes, wherein the at least one TA configuration includes the determined TA offset. A device configured to perform operations including those mentioned above.

14. A device for wireless communication in user equipment (UE), At least one processor, A memory coupled to at least one of the aforementioned processors, which stores processor-readable code. The processor-readable code is executed by at least one of the processors, The UE transmits at least one transmission to at least one node, wherein each of the at least one transmissions is transmitted by the UE to each of the at least one nodes at each transmission time. The UE obtains at least one timing advance (TA) value which will be used by the UE to transmit a sidelink (SL) positioning reference signal (PRS) to one or more of the at least one node, wherein each of the at least one TA value is obtained based on a TA offset determined by each of the one or more nodes to which the SL-PRS will be transmitted using its respective TA value, and Transmitting the SL-PRS to each of the one or more nodes using each of the aforementioned TA values, wherein using each of the aforementioned TA values ​​includes advancing the transmission of the SL-PRS to each of the nodes for a time period equal to the TA value. A device configured to perform operations including those mentioned above.

15. A non-temporary computer-readable recording medium storing instructions, wherein when an instruction is executed by a processor, the processor causes the processor to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

16. A non-temporary computer-readable recording medium storing an instruction, wherein when the instruction is executed by a processor, the processor causes the processor to execute the method described in any one of claims 8 to 12.

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