UE Flight Path Report

Abstract

A method for obtaining flight path information includes receiving, at a network entity, a capability report indicating a capability of the UE to report the UE's flight path, and transmitting from the network entity a flight path report message requesting the UE to provide a partial route report by reporting first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is less than all of the flight path, or a triggered report by reporting second flight path information in response to an occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential report by reporting third flight path information indicating a difference between the UE's current flight path and a previous flight path of the UE, or any combination thereof.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Cross-reference of related applications This application claims the interests of U.S. Patent Application No. 17 / 353,078, filed on June 21, 2021, titled "UE FLIGHT PATH REPORTING," which has been assigned to the assignee of this application and whose entire contents are incorporated herein by reference for all purposes. [Background technology]

[0002] Wireless communication systems have evolved through various generations, including first-generation analog wireless telephone services (1G), second-generation (2G) digital wireless telephone services (including provisional 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data and internet-enabled wireless services, fourth-generation (4G) services (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMAX), and fifth-generation (5G) services. Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular systems and personal communication service (PCS) systems. Known examples of cellular systems include cellular analog advanced mobile phone systems (AMPS) and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), and the Global System for Mobile Access (GSM) variant of TDMA.

[0003] The fifth-generation (5G) mobile standard demands improvements such as higher data transfer speeds, more connections, and better coverage. According to the Next Generation Mobile Network Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, and 1 gigabit per second for every office floor where dozens of people work. Hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported to accommodate large-scale sensor deployments. Therefore, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly higher compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiency should be improved and latency significantly reduced compared to the current standard. [Overview of the project] [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] An exemplary method for obtaining flight path information includes the steps of: receiving a capability report from a user equipment (UE) at a network entity indicating the UE's ability to report the UE's flight path to a network entity; and sending a flight path report message from the network entity to the UE, the message requesting the UE to provide a partial flight path report by reporting a first flight path information to the network entity indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that does not constitute the entire flight path, or a triggered flight path report by reporting a second flight path information to the network entity in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the second flight path information is a triggered flight path report indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report by reporting a third flight path information to the network entity indicating the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or any combination thereof.

[0005] An exemplary network entity comprises a transceiver, memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and memory, wherein the processor is configured to receive a capability report from the UE indicating the UE's ability to report the UE's flight paths to the network entity, and to send a flight path report message to the UE, the flight path report message being a partial flight path report by reporting a first flight path information to the network entity indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that does not constitute the entire flight path, or a triggered flight path report by reporting a second flight path information to the network entity in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information being a triggered flight path report indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report by reporting a third flight path information to the network entity indicating the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or any combination thereof.

[0006] Another exemplary network entity includes means for receiving capability reports from the UE indicating the UE's ability to report the UE's flight paths to the network entity, and means for sending a flight path report message to the UE, the flight path report message being a partial flight path report by reporting a first flight path information to the network entity indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that does not constitute the entire flight path, or a triggered flight path report by reporting a second flight path information to the network entity in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the second flight path information is a triggered flight path report indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report by reporting a third flight path information to the network entity indicating the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or any combination thereof.

[0007] An exemplary non-temporary processor-readable storage medium comprises processor-readable instructions for causing a processor of a network entity to receive from a UE a capability report indicating the UE's ability to report the UE's flight paths to the network entity, and to send a flight path report message to the UE, the flight path report message comprising a partial flight path report by reporting to the network entity a first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that does not constitute the entire flight path, or a triggered flight path report by reporting to the network entity a second flight path information in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information being a triggered flight path report indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential flight path report by reporting to the network entity a third flight path information indicating the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or any combination thereof.

[0008] An exemplary communication method relating to a user equipment flight path includes the steps of: determining a flight path report at the user equipment (UE), the flight path report being a partial flight path report, the flight path report being a partial flight path report or a triggered flight path report, which includes a first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is not the entirety of the UE's flight path; the method further includes the step of determining a second flight path information for a flight path report at the UE in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information being a triggered flight path report or a differential flight path report, which includes a third flight path information indicating the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, for the purpose of providing a differential flight path report or any combination thereof; and transmitting the flight path report from the UE to a network entity.

[0009] An exemplary UE comprises a transceiver, memory, and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and memory, wherein the processor is configured to determine a flight path report, the flight path report being a partial flight path report, the flight path report being a partial flight path report or a triggered flight path report, which includes a first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is not all of the UE's flight path, and the processor is configured to determine a second flight path information for a flight path report in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information being a triggered flight path report or a differential flight path report, which includes a third flight path information indicating the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or any combination thereof, and to transmit the flight path report to a network entity via the transceiver.

[0010] Another exemplary UE comprises means for determining a flight path report, the flight path report being a partial flight path report, the flight path report including a first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is not the entirety of the UE's flight path, or a triggered flight path report, the means for determining a flight path report further comprises means for determining a second flight path information for a flight path report in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a triggered flight path report or a differential flight path report, the flight path report including a third flight path information indicating the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or any combination thereof, the means for providing a differential flight path report, or any combination thereof, and means for transmitting a flight path report to a network entity.

[0011] Another exemplary non-temporary processor-readable storage medium is for the purpose of causing the processor of a UE to determine a flight path report, the flight path report being a partial flight path report, which includes a first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is not all of the UE's flight path, or a triggered flight path report, and for the purpose of causing the processor to determine the flight path report, the processor includes a processor-readable instruction for causing the processor to determine a second flight path information for the flight path report in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a triggered flight path report, or a differential flight path report, which includes a third flight path information indicating the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or any combination thereof, and for causing the processor to transmit the flight path report to a network entity. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0012] [Figure 1] This is a simplified diagram of an example of a wireless communication system. [Figure 2] Figure 1 is a block diagram of the components of an exemplary user device. [Figure 3] This is a block diagram of the components of an exemplary transmit / receive point. [Figure 4] Figure 1 is a block diagram of the components of an exemplary server, illustrating various embodiments. [Figure 5] This is a block diagram of an exemplary user device. [Figure 6] This is a block diagram of an exemplary network entity. [Figure 7] This figure shows a simplified example of a user equipment flight path, with intermediate points indicated by ellipsoids and polygons. [Figure 8] This diagram shows the signaling and process flow for providing flight path information. [Figure 9]FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating another signaling and process flow for providing flight path information. [Figure 10] FIG. 5 is a block flow diagram of a method for acquiring flight path information. [Figure 11] FIG. 6 is a block flow diagram of a communication method related to user equipment flight path. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0013] Techniques for requesting and / or obtaining flight path information of user equipment (UE) are discussed herein. For example, a UE may provide flight path information to one or more network entities, such as a server and / or a base station. A network entity may request the UE to provide flight path information. The flight path information may include waypoints each represented by an ellipsoid, a polygon, or another shape. The UE may be requested, and may provide, flight path information that indicates a portion of a flight path (less than the full flight path), and / or provide flight path information in response to occurrence of a trigger event, and / or provide flight path information as difference information relative to previous flight path information. For example, the UE may provide differential flight path information as one or more waypoints each having a respective identifier, and the network entity may add a waypoint to a previous flight path if the previous flight path lacks the corresponding identifier, and may modify waypoint information of the previous flight path if a waypoint with the corresponding identifier exists in the previous flight path. As another example, the UE may provide a waypoint identifier and a deletion instruction as difference information, and the network entity may delete the waypoint having that identifier from the previous flight path. These are examples, and other examples may be implemented.

[0014] The items and / or techniques described in this specification may provide one or more of the following capabilities, as well as other capabilities not mentioned. A server may be informed of a flight path from a UE, and the server may use the flight path information to improve positioning accuracy for the UE and / or reduce positioning latency for the UE. Communication traffic for providing flight path information may be regulated, for example, by avoiding reporting updated flight path information unless a significant change in flight path occurs, by reporting updated flight path information at a frequency that does not exceed a threshold time between reports, and / or by reporting changes to the flight path rather than the entire flight path. Other capabilities may be provided, and not every implementation according to the present disclosure is required to provide any, let alone all, of the discussed capabilities.

[0015] Obtaining the location of a mobile device accessing a wireless network may be useful for many applications including, for example, emergency calls, personal navigation, consumer asset tracking, locating friends or family members, etc. Existing positioning methods include methods based on measuring radio signals transmitted from various devices or entities including satellite vehicles (SVs) and terrestrial radio sources in wireless networks, such as base stations and access points. Standardization for 5G wireless networks is expected to include support for various positioning methods, which may use reference signals transmitted by base stations in a manner similar to how LTE wireless networks currently use positioning reference signals (PRS) and / or cell-specific reference signals (CRS) for position determination.

[0016] The description refers, for example, to a series of actions to be performed by elements of a computing device. Various actions described herein may be performed by a particular circuit (e.g., an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) by the execution of program instructions by one or more processors, or a combination of both. A sequence of actions described herein may be embodied at runtime in a non-temporary computer-readable medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that cause the relevant processors to perform the functions described herein. Thus, various embodiments described herein can be embodied in several different forms, all of which are within the scope of this disclosure, including the claimed subject matter.

[0017] As used herein, the terms “User Equipment” (UE) and “Base Station” are not specific to any particular Radio Access Technology (RAT), and are not otherwise limited to such RAT, unless otherwise noted. Generally, such UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset tracking device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or (e.g., stationary for some time) and may communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN). As used herein, the term “UE” may be interchangeable with “Access Terminal” or “AT,” “Client Device,” “Wireless Device,” “Subscriber Device,” “Subscriber Terminal,” “Subscriber Station,” “User Terminal” or “UT,” “Mobile Terminal,” “Mobile Station,” “Mobile Device,” or variations thereof. Generally, a UE may communicate with the core network over the RAN, and through the core network, a UE may be connected to external networks such as the Internet and to other UEs. Naturally, the UE can have other mechanisms to connect to the core network and / or the internet, such as via a wired access network or a Wi-Fi network (for example, based on IEEE 802.11).

[0018] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs that communicate with the UE, depending on the network in which it is deployed. Examples of base stations include access points (APs), network nodes, node Bs, advanced node Bs (eNBs), or general node Bs (g-node Bs, gNBs). Furthermore, in some systems, base stations may provide purely edge node signaling functionality, while in others they may provide additional control and / or network management functionality.

[0019] A UE can be embodied by any of several types of devices, including, but not limited to, printed circuit (PC) cards, CompactFlash® devices, external or internal modems, wireless or wired telephones, smartphones, tablets, consumer asset tracking devices, and asset tags. The communication links on which a UE can send signals to the RAN are called uplink channels (e.g., reverse traffic channels, reverse control channels, access channels, etc.). The communication links on which the RAN can send signals to the UE are called downlink channels or forward link channels (e.g., paging channels, control channels, broadcast channels, forward traffic channels, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) may refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0020] As used herein, the terms “cell” or “sector” may, depending on the context, refer to one of several cells of a base station or the base station itself. The term “cell” may refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (for example, over a carrier) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) to distinguish neighboring cells operating over the same or different carriers. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communications (MTC), narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of devices. In some examples, the term “cell” may refer to a portion of the geographical coverage area (e.g., a sector) on which a logical entity operates.

[0021] Referring to Figure 1, an example of communication system 100 includes UE105, UE106, a radio access network (RAN), here a fifth-generation (5G) next-generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN) 135, and a 5G core network (5GC) 140. UE105 and / or UE106 may be, for example, IoT devices, location tracking devices, cellular phones, vehicles (e.g., cars, trucks, buses, boats, etc.), or other devices. The 5G network may also be called a new radio (NR) network, NG-RAN 135 may be called a 5G RAN or NR RAN, and 5GC 140 may be called an NG core network (NGC). Standardization of NG-RAN and 5GC is underway in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP®). Therefore, NG-RAN 135 and 5GC 140 may comply with current or future standards for 5G support from 3GPP®. NG-RAN135 may be another type of RAN, such as a 3G RAN or a 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) RAN. UE106 may be configured to send and / or receive signals to and from other similar entities in System 100 and may be coupled to UE105, although such signaling is not shown in Figure 1 for the sake of simplicity. Similarly, this discussion focuses on UE105 for the sake of brevity. The communication system 100 can use information from the constellation 185 of satellite vehicles (SV) 190, 191, 192, 193 for any other local or regional satellite positioning system (SPS) such as the Global Positioning System (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, Beidou, or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) (for example, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)). Additional components of the communication system 100 are described below. The communication system 100 may include additional or alternative components.

[0022] As shown in Figure 1, NG-RAN135 includes NR node B (gNB) 110a, 110b, and next-generation e node B (ng-eNB) 114, and 5GC140 includes access and mobility management function (AMF) 115, session management function (SMF) 117, location management function (LMF) 120, and gateway mobile location center (GMLC) 125. gNB110a, 110b, and ng-eNB114 are communicatively coupled to each other and configured to communicate wirelessly bidirectionally with UE105, and each is communicatively coupled to AMF115 and configured to communicate bidirectionally with it. gNB110a, 110b, and ng-eNB114 may be referred to as base stations (BS). AMF115, SMF117, LMF120, and GMLC125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and GMLC is communicatively coupled to an external client 130. SMF117 may act as an initial contact point for a Service Control Function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and erase media sessions. Base stations such as gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114 may be macrocells (e.g., high-power cellular base stations), small cells (e.g., low-power cellular base stations), or access points (e.g., short-range base stations configured to communicate using short-range technologies such as WiFi, WiFi-Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE), and Zigbee). One or more base stations, e.g., gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114, may be configured to communicate with UE105 via multiple carriers. Each of gNB110a, 110b, and ng-eNB114 may provide communication coverage to its respective geographical area, e.g., cell. Each cell may be divided into multiple sectors depending on the base station antenna.

[0023] Figure 1 provides a generalized diagram of various components, any or all of which may be used as needed, each of which may be duplicated or omitted as needed. Specifically, one UE 105 is illustrated, but many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may be used in the communication system 100. Similarly, the communication system 100 may include a larger (or smaller) number of SVs (i.e., more or fewer than the four SVs 190-193 illustrated), gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, AMF 115, external client 130, and / or other components. The illustrated connections that connect the various components in the communication system 100 include data and signaling connections, which may include additional (intermediary) components, direct or indirect physical and / or wireless connections, and / or additional networks. Furthermore, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, substituted, and / or omitted depending on the desired functionality.

[0024] Figure 1 shows a 5G-based network, but similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies such as 3G and Long-Term Evolution (LTE). The implementations described herein (whether for 5G technology and / or for one or more other communication technologies and / or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) a directional synchronization signal, receive and measure the directional signal at a UE (e.g., UE105), and / or provide location assistance to UE105 (via GMLC125 or other location servers), and / or calculate the location of UE105 at a locatable device such as UE105, gNB110a, 110b, or LMF120 based on the measurements received at UE105 for such directionally transmitted signals. The Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125, Location Management Function (LMF) 120, Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, SMF 117, ng-eNB (e-node B) 114, and gNB (g-node B) 110a, 110b are examples and may be replaced by or include, in various embodiments, other various location server and / or base station functionalities, respectively.

[0025] System 100 is wirelessly communicative in that its components can communicate with each other directly or indirectly (at least sometimes using wireless connections) via, for example, gNB110a, 110b, ng-eNB114 and / or 5GC140 (and / or one or more other devices not shown, such as one or more other transceiver base stations). For indirect communication, the communication may be modified during transmission from one entity to another, for example, by changing the format, such as by changing the header information of the data packet. UE105 may include multiple UEs and may be a mobile wireless communication device, which can communicate wirelessly and via wired connections. UE105 may be any of various devices, such as a smartphone, tablet computer, or vehicle-based device, but these are examples, and UE105 is not required to be one of these configurations, and other configurations of UEs may be used. Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smartwatches, smart jewelry, smart glasses, or headsets). Other UEs may be used, whether they currently exist or will be developed in the future. Furthermore, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) may be implemented within System 100 and may communicate with each other, as well as with UE 105, gNB 110a, 110b, ng-eNB 114, 5GC 140, and / or external client 130. For example, such other devices may include Internet of Things (IoT) devices, medical devices, home entertainment and / or automation devices. 5GC 140 may communicate with external client 130 (e.g., a computer system) so that, for example, external client 130 can request and / or receive location information about UE 105 (e.g., via GMLC 125).

[0026] UE105 or other devices may be configured to communicate in various networks and / or for various purposes and / or using various technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communication, multiple frequencies of Wi-Fi communication, satellite positioning, one or more types of communication (e.g., GSM (Mobile Global System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long-Term Evolution), V2X (vehicle-to-vehicle, e.g., V2P (vehicle-to-pedestrian), V2I (vehicle-to-vehicle), V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle)), IEEE802.11p, etc.). V2X communication may be cellular (cellular V2X (C-V2X)) and / or WiFi (e.g., DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Connection)). System 100 supports operation on multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). A multi-carrier transmitter can transmit a modulated signal simultaneously on multiple carriers. Each modulated signal may be a code division multiple access (CDMA) signal, a time division multiple access (TDMA) signal, an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) signal, a single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal may be transmitted on a different carrier and may carry pilot signals, overhead information, data, etc. UEs 105 and 106 can communicate with each other through inter-UE sidelink (SL) communication by transmitting over one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink synchronization channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), or a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH).

[0027] UE105 may include and / or be referred to as a device, mobile device, wireless device, mobile terminal, terminal, mobile station (MS), Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) enabled terminal (SET), or any other name. Furthermore, UE105 may be associated with cell phones, smartphones, laptops, tablets, PDAs, consumer asset tracking devices, navigation devices, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, health monitors, security systems, smart city sensors, smart meters, wearable trackers, or any other portable or mobile devices. Typically, but not always, the UE105 may support wireless communications using one or more radio access technologies (RATs), such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA®), LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 WiFi (also known as Wi-Fi), Bluetooth® (BT), Global Interoperability Microwave Access (WiMAX), and 5G New Radio (NR) (e.g., using NG-RAN135 and 5GC140). The UE105 may also support wireless communications using, for example, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) that can connect to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or packet cable. The use of one or more of these RATs allows UE105 to communicate with an external client 130 (for example, via an element of 5GC140, not shown in Figure 1, or possibly via GMLC125), and / or the external client 130 may be able to receive location information about UE105 (for example, via GMLC125).

[0028] UE105 may include a single entity or multiple entities in a personal area network where, for example, a user may have access to audio, video and / or data I / O (input / output) devices and / or body sensors, and a separate wireline or wireless modem. The estimated location of UE105 may be called location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position, location estimate, or location fix, and may be geographical, and therefore may or may not include an elevation component (e.g., elevation, ground, floor, or height or depth from underground), and provide location coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude) for UE105. Alternatively, the location of UE105 may be represented as an urban location (e.g., as the address or designation of a point or narrow area somewhere in a building, such as a particular room or floor). The location of UE105 may be represented as an area or volume (defined either geographically or in the shape of a city) in which UE105 is expected to be located with some degree of probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). The location of UE105 may be represented, for example, as a relative location including distance and direction from a known location. A relative location may be represented as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to some origin in a known location, which may be defined, for example, geographically, in urban terms, or by reference to a point, area, or volume shown in a map, blueprint, or architectural plan. In the descriptions contained herein, the use of the term location may include any of these variations unless otherwise indicated. When calculating the location of a UE, it is common to obtain values ​​for local x, y, and possibly z coordinates, and then, if desired, convert the local coordinates to absolute coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level).

[0029] UE105 may be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of various technologies. UE105 may be configured to indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. D2D P2P links may support any suitable D2D radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), or Bluetooth®. One or more of a group of UEs using D2D communication may be within the geographical coverage area of ​​a transmit / receive point (TRP), such as one or more of gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114. Other UEs within such a group may be outside such geographical coverage area or otherwise unable to receive transmissions from the base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may use a one-to-many (1:M) system, where each UE can transmit to other UEs within the group. A TRP can facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication can be practiced between UEs without the involvement of a TRP. One or more of the groups of UEs using D2D communication may be within the geographical coverage area of ​​a TRP. Other UEs within such a group may be outside such geographical coverage area or otherwise unable to receive transmissions from the base station. A group of UEs communicating via D2D communication may use a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE can transmit to other UEs within the group. A TRP can facilitate the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication can be practiced between UEs without the involvement of a TRP.

[0030] The base station (BS) in NG-RAN135 shown in Figure 1 includes NR node B, called gNB110a and 110b. The pair of gNB110a and 110b in NG-RAN135 may be interconnected via one or more other gNBs. Access to the 5G network is given to UE105 via wireless communication between UE105 and one or more of the gNB110a and 110b, and these gNBs may provide wireless communication with access to 5GC140 on behalf of UE105 using 5G. In Figure 1, it is assumed that the serving gNB for UE105 is gNB110a, but another gNB (e.g., gNB110b) may act as a serving gNB if UE105 moves to a different location, or as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to UE105.

[0031] The base station (BS) in NG-RAN135 shown in Figure 1 may include ng-eNB114, also known as next-generation advanced node B. ng-eNB114 may connect to one or more of the gNB110a, 110b in NG-RAN135, possibly via one or more other gNBs and / or one or more other ng-eNBs. ng-eNB114 may provide LTE wireless access and / or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to UE105. One or more of the gNB110a, 110b and / or ng-eNB114 may transmit signals to help determine the location of UE105, but may be configured to function as a positioning-only beacon that does not need to receive signals from UE105 or other UEs.

[0032] Each of the gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114 may have one or more TRPs. For example, each sector in a BS cell may have a TRP, but multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., sharing a processor but having separate antennas). System 100 may exclusively include macro TRPs, or system 100 may have different types of TRPs, such as macro, pico, and / or femto TRPs. Macro TRPs may cover relatively large geographical areas (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals subscribing to the service. Pico TRPs may cover relatively small geographical areas (e.g., picocells) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals subscribing to the service. Femto or home TRPs may cover relatively small geographical areas (e.g., femtocells) and may allow limited access by terminals associated with femtocells (e.g., terminals for users in their homes).

[0033] As mentioned above, Figure 1 shows a node configured to communicate according to the 5G communication protocol, but nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols, such as the LTE protocol or the IEEE 802.11x protocol, may be used. For example, in an Advanced Packet System (EPS) providing LTE wireless access to UE105, the RAN may include an Advanced Universal Mobile Communications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) which may include base stations including Advanced Node B (eNB). The core network for the EPS may include an Advanced Packet Core (EPC). The EPS may include E-UTRAN plus EPC, where in Figure 1, E-UTRAN corresponds to NG-RAN135 and EPC corresponds to 5GC140.

[0034] The gNB110a, 110b, and ng-eNB114 can communicate with the AMF115, which in turn communicates with the LMF120 for positioning functionality. The AMF115 can support the mobility of the UE105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be involved in supporting signaling connections to the UE105 and, potentially, data and voice bearers for the UE105. The LMF120 can communicate directly with the UE105, for example, via wireless communication, or directly with the gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114. The LMF120 can support the positioning of UE105 when UE105 accesses NG-RAN135, and can support positioning procedures / methods such as assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) (e.g., downlink (DL)OTDOA or uplink (UL)OTDOA), round-trip time (RTT), multi-cell RTT, real-time kinematic (RTK), precise single positioning (PPP), differential GNSS (DGNSS), extended cell ID (E-CID), angle of arrival (AoA), angle of departure (AoD), and / or other positioning methods. The LMF120 can process location service requests for UE105 received, for example, from AMF115 or GMLC125. The LMF120 may be connected to AMF115 and / or GMLC125. The LMF120 may be referred to by other names, such as Location Manager (LM), Location Function (LF), Commercial LMF (CLMF), or Value-Added LMF (VLMF). Nodes / systems implementing the LMF120 may implement other types of location support modules as additions or replacements, such as Extended Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SLP).At least part of the positioning functionality (including the derivation of the UE105's location) may be performed in the UE105 (for example, using signal measurements acquired by the UE105 for signals transmitted by wireless nodes via gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114, and / or supporting data provided to the UE105 by, for example, LMF120). The AMF115 can act as a control node handling signaling between the UE105 and the 5GC140, and may provide QoS (Quality of Service) flow and session management. The AMF115 can support the mobility of the UE105, including cell changes and handovers, and may be involved in supporting signaling connections to the UE105.

[0035] The GMLC125 can support location requests for UE105 received from an external client 130, and such location requests can be forwarded to the AMF115 for forwarding to the LMF120 by the AMF115, or the location requests can be forwarded directly to the LMF120. The location response from the LMF120 (including, for example, a location estimate for UE105) may be returned to the GMLC125 either directly or via the AMF115, and the GMLC125 may then return the location response (including, for example, a location estimate) to the external client 130. Although the GMLC125 is shown connected to both the AMF115 and the LMF120, in some implementations it may not be connected to either the AMF115 or the LMF120.

[0036] As further shown in Figure 1, the LMF120 can communicate with gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114 using a new radio positioning protocol A (which may be called NPPa or NRPPa) as defined in 3GPP® Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa may be the same as, similar to, or an extension thereof of LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa) as defined in 3GPP® TS36.455, and NRPPa messages are transmitted via the AMF115 between gNB110a (or gNB110b) and the LMF120, and / or between ng-eNB114 and the LMF120. As further shown in Figure 1, the LMF120 and UE105 can communicate using the LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP) as defined in 3GPP® TS36.355. The LMF120 and UE105 can further, or instead, communicate using a new radio positioning protocol (which may be called NPP or NRPP) which may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of LPP. Here, LPP and / or NPP messages may be forwarded to the UE105, between the UE105 and the LMF120 via the AMF115 and serving gNB110a, 110b, or serving ng-eNB114. For example, LPP and / or NPP messages may be forwarded between the LMF120 and the AMF115 using the 5G Location Services Application Protocol (LCS AP), and between the AMF115 and the UE105 using the 5G Non-Access Layer (NAS) protocol. The LPP and / or NPP protocols may be used to support positioning of the UE105 using UE-assisted and / or UE-based positioning methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, OTDOA, and / or E-CID.The NRPPa protocol may be used to support the positioning of the UE105 using network-based positioning methods such as E-CID (for example, when used with measurements acquired by gNB110a, 110b, or ng-eNB114), and / or the LMF120 may be used to acquire location-related information from gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114, such as parameters defining directional SS (synchronization signal) or PRS transmissions from gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114. The LMF120 may be collateralized with or integrated with the gNB or TRP, or may be located separately from the gNB and / or TRP, and may be configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNB and / or TRP.

[0037] Using a UE-assisted positioning method, UE105 can acquire location measurements and send these measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF120) for the calculation of a location estimate for UE105. For example, location measurements may include one or more of the following for gNB110a, 110b, ng-eNB114, and / or WLAN APs: Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), Round-Trip Signal Propagation Time (RTT), Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), and / or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ). Location measurements may also include, or instead, GNSS pseudorange, code phase, and / or carrier phase measurements for SV190-193.

[0038] Using a UE-based positioning method, UE105 can acquire location measurements (which may be the same as or similar to location measurements for a UE-assisted positioning method, for example) and calculate its location (for example, with the help of support data received from a location server such as LMF120, or broadcast by gNB110a, 110b, ng-eNB114, or other base stations or APs).

[0039] Using a network-based location method, one or more base stations (e.g., gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114) or APs can acquire and / or receive location measurements (e.g., RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, or time-of-arrival (ToA) measurements for signals transmitted by UE105). One or more base stations or APs can then send the measurements to a location server (e.g., LMF120) for the calculation of a location estimate for UE105.

[0040] Using NRPPa, the information provided to the LMF120 by gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114 may include timing and configuration information for directional SS or PRS transmissions, as well as location coordinates. The LMF120 may provide some or all of this information to the UE105 as supporting data in LPP and / or NPP messages via NG-RAN135 and 5GC140.

[0041] An LPP or NPP message sent from the LMF120 to the UE105 can instruct the UE105 to do one of a variety of things, depending on the desired functionality. For example, an LPP or NPP message may include an instruction for the UE105 to acquire measurements for GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and / or OTDOA (or some other positioning method). In the case of E-CID, an LPP or NPP message may instruct the UE105 to acquire one or more measurements (e.g., beam ID, beamwidth, mean angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements) of a directional signal transmitted within a particular cell supported by one or more of the gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114 (or supported by some other type of base station, such as an eNB or WiFi AP). UE105 may send the measured quantity back to LMF120 via serving gNB110a (or serving ng-eNB114) and AMF115 in an LPP or NPP message (for example, in a 5G NAS message).

[0042] As stated, although the communication system 100 is described in relation to 5G technology, the communication system 100 may be implemented to support other communication technologies such as GSM, WCDMA®, LTE, etc., used to support and interact with mobile devices such as UE105 (for example, to implement voice, data, positioning, and other functionalities). In some such embodiments, 5GC140 may be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, 5GC140 may be connected to a WLAN using a non-3GPP® inter-network connectivity function in 5GC140 (N3IWF, not shown in Figure 1). For example, the WLAN may support IEEE802.11 WiFi access for UE105 and may have one or more WiFi APs. Here, N3IWF may connect to the WLAN and other elements in 5GC140, such as AMF115. In some embodiments, both NG-RAN135 and 5GC140 may be replaced by one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in an EPS, NG-RAN135 may be replaced with an E-UTRAN including an eNB, and 5GC140 may be replaced with an EPC including a Mobility Management Entity (MME) instead of AMF115, an E-SMLC instead of LMF120, and a GMLC which may be similar to GMLC125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC may use LPPa instead of NRPPa to send and receive location information to and from the eNB in ​​the E-UTRAN, and LPP may be used to support the positioning of UE105. In these other embodiments, the positioning of UE105 using a directional PRS may be supported in a manner similar to that described herein for 5G networks, the difference being that the functions and procedures described herein for gNB110a, 110b, ng-eNB114, AMF115, and LMF120 may, in some cases, apply instead to other network elements such as eNBs, WiFi APs, MMEs, and E-SMLCs.

[0043] As described above, in some embodiments, positioning functionality can be implemented, at least in part, using directional SS or PRS beams transmitted by base stations (such as gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114) within range of the UE whose location is to be determined (e.g., UE105 in Figure 1). In some cases, the UE can use directional SS or PRS beams from multiple base stations (such as gNB110a, 110b, ng-eNB114, etc.) to calculate its position.

[0044] See also Figure 2, UE200 is an example of one of UE105, 106, and comprises a computing platform including a processor 210, memory 211 containing software (SW) 212, one or more sensors 213, a transceiver interface 214 for transceivers 215 (including a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250), a user interface 216, a satellite positioning system (SPS) receiver 217, a camera 218, and a position device (PD) 219. The processor 210, memory 211, sensors 213, transceiver interface 214, user interface 216, SPS receiver 217, camera 218, and position device 219 may be communicatively coupled to one another by a bus 220 (which may be configured for optical and / or telecommunications, for example). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., one or more of the camera 218, positioning device 219, and / or sensors 213, etc.) may be omitted from the UE200. The processor 210 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 210 may include multiple processors, including a general-purpose / application processor 230, a digital signal processor (DSP) 231, a modem processor 232, a video processor 233, and / or a sensor processor 234. One or more of the processors 230-234 may include multiple devices (e.g., multiple processors). For example, the sensor processor 234 may include a processor for, for example, RF (radio frequency) sensing (one or more (cellular) wireless signals are transmitted and reflected, used to identify, map, and / or track objects), and / or ultrasound, etc. The modem processor 232 can support dual SIM / dual connectivity (or even more SIMs).For example, a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module or Subscriber Identification Module) may be used by an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM), and another SIM may be used by the end user of the UE200 for connectivity. Memory 211 is a non-temporary storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM). Memory 211 may store software 212, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code containing instructions configured to cause the processor 210 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, software 212 may not be directly executable by the processor 210, but may be configured to cause the processor 210 to perform functions when compiled and executed, for example. This description may refer to the processor 210 performing functions, but also includes other implementations, such as the processor 210 executing software and / or firmware. This description may refer to processor 210 performing a function as a simplification to the fact that one or more of processors 230-234 perform the function. This description may refer to UE200 performing a function as a simplification to the fact that one or more of the appropriate components of UE200 perform the function. Processor 210 may include, and / or alternatively, memory with stored instructions in addition to memory 211. The functionality of processor 210 will be discussed in more detail below.

[0045] The configuration of the UE200 shown in Figure 2 is an example of the present disclosure as defined in the claims, and is not limiting; other configurations may be used. For example, an exemplary configuration of the UE includes one or more processors 230-234 of the processor 210, memory 211, and a wireless transceiver 240. Other exemplary configurations include one or more processors 230-234 of the processor 210, memory 211, a wireless transceiver, one or more sensors 213, a user interface 216, an SPS receiver 217, a camera 218, a PD 219, and / or a wired transceiver.

[0046] The UE200 may include a modem processor 232 capable of performing baseband processing on signals received and downconverted by the transceiver 215 and / or SPS receiver 217. The modem processor 232 can perform baseband processing on signals so that they are upconverted for transmission by the transceiver 215. Alternatively, baseband processing may be performed by a general-purpose / application processor 230 and / or DSP 231. However, other configurations may be used to perform baseband processing.

[0047] The UE200 may include sensor 213, which may include one or more of various types of sensors, such as one or more inertial sensors, one or more magnetometers, one or more environmental sensors, one or more optical sensors, one or more weight sensors, and / or one or more radio frequency (RF) sensors. The inertial measurement unit (IMU) may include, for example, one or more accelerometers (e.g., collectively responding to the acceleration of the UE200 in three dimensions) and / or one or more gyroscopes (e.g., 3D gyroscopes). Sensor 213 may include one or more magnetometers (e.g., 3D magnetometers) for determining orientation (e.g., relative to magnetic north and / or true north), which can be used for any of a variety of purposes, such as supporting one or more compass applications. Environmental sensors may include, for example, one or more temperature sensors, one or more barometric pressure sensors, one or more ambient light sensors, one or more camera imaging devices, and / or one or more microphones. Sensor 213 can generate analog and / or digital signal indications that are stored in memory 211 and can be processed by DSP 231 and / or general-purpose / application processor 230, for example, to support one or more applications, such as applications targeting positioning and / or navigation operations.

[0048] Sensor 213 can be used for relative location measurement, relative location determination, motion determination, etc. Information detected by sensor 213 can be used for motion detection, relative movement, dead reckoning, sensor-based location determination, and / or sensor-assisted location determination. Sensor 213 may be useful in determining whether UE200 is stationary or mobile, and / or whether specific useful information regarding UE200's mobility should be reported to LMF120. For example, based on information acquired / measured by sensor 213, UE200 may notify / report to LMF120 that UE200 has detected movement or has moved, and report relative movement / distance (e.g., by dead reckoning, sensor-based location determination, or sensor-assisted location determination enabled by sensor 213). In another example, for relative positioning information, the sensor / IMU may be used to determine the angle and / or orientation of other devices relative to UE200, etc.

[0049] The IMU may be configured to provide measurements of the direction and / or speed of motion of the UE200, which may be used in relative location determination. For example, one or more accelerometers and / or one or more gyroscopes of the IMU may detect the linear acceleration and speed of rotation of the UE200, respectively. The linear acceleration and rotational speed measurements of the UE200 may be integrated over time to determine the instantaneous direction and translation of the UE200's motion. The instantaneous direction and translation of motion may be integrated to track the location of the UE200. For example, the reference location of the UE200 may be determined for a given moment, for example, using the SPS receiver 217 (and / or by some other means), and measurements from the accelerometers and gyroscopes taken after this moment may be used in dead reckoning to determine the current location of the UE200 based on the motion (direction and distance) of the UE200 relative to the reference location.

[0050] The magnetometer can determine the magnetic field strength in different directions, which can be used to determine the orientation of the UE200. For example, the orientation can be used to provide the UE200 with a digital compass. The magnetometer may include a two-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and indicate the magnetic field strength in two orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer may include a three-dimensional magnetometer configured to detect and indicate the magnetic field strength in three orthogonal dimensions. The magnetometer may provide means for detecting the magnetic field and providing an indication of the magnetic field to, for example, a processor 210.

[0051] The transceiver 215 may include a wireless transceiver 240 and a wired transceiver 250, respectively, configured to communicate with other devices via wireless and wired connections. For example, the wireless transceiver 240 may include a wireless transmitter 242 and a wireless receiver 244 coupled to an antenna 246 to transmit (e.g., over one or more uplink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) and / or receive (e.g., over one or more downlink channels and / or one or more sidelink channels) a wireless signal 248, and to convert the signal from the wireless signal 248 to a wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal, and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal to the wireless signal 248. The wireless transmitter 242 includes appropriate components (e.g., a power amplifier and a digital-to-analog converter). The wireless receiver 244 includes appropriate components (e.g., one or more amplifiers, one or more frequency filters, and an analog-to-digital converter). The wireless transmitter 242 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 244 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wireless receiver 240 may be configured to communicate signals (for example, with the TRP and / or one or more other devices) in accordance with various radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Mobile Global System), UMTS (Universal Mobile Communication System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA® (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP® LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, Zigbee, etc. The new radio may use mm wave frequencies and / or sub-6 GHz frequencies.The wired transceiver 250 may include a network interface that can be used to communicate with a wired transmitter 252 and a wired receiver 254 configured for wired communication, for example, an NG-RAN135, to send communications to and receive communications from there. The wired transmitter 252 may include a plurality of transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 254 may include a plurality of receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wired transceiver 250 may be configured, for example, for optical and / or telecommunications. The transceiver 215 may be communicatively coupled to a transceiver interface 214, for example, by optical and / or electrical connections. The transceiver interface 214 may be integrated with the transceiver 215, at least in part. The wireless transmitter 242, wireless receiver 244, and / or antenna 246 may include a plurality of transmitters, a plurality of receivers, and / or a plurality of antennas, respectively, for sending and / or receiving appropriate signals.

[0052] The user interface 216 may include one or more of several devices, such as speakers, microphones, display devices, vibration devices, keyboards, and touchscreens. The user interface 216 may include several of any of these devices. The user interface 216 may be configured to allow the user to interact with one or more applications housed by the UE 200. For example, the user interface 216 may store analog and / or digital signal instructions in memory 211 so that they are processed by the DSP 231 and / or general-purpose / application processor 230 in response to user actions. Similarly, an application housed on the UE 200 may store analog and / or digital signal instructions in memory 211 to present output signals to the user. The user interface 216 may include audio input / output (I / O) devices, such as speakers, microphones, digital-analog circuit configurations, analog-digital circuit configurations, amplifiers, and / or gain control circuit configurations (including several of any of these devices). Other configurations of audio I / O devices may be used. Alternatively, the user interface 216 may include, for example, one or more touch sensors that respond to touch and / or pressure on the keyboard and / or touchscreen of the user interface 216.

[0053] An SPS receiver 217 (for example, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver) may be capable of receiving and acquiring an SPS signal 260 via an SPS antenna 262. The SPS antenna 262 may be configured to convert the SPS signal 260 from a wireless signal to a wired signal, such as an electrical or optical signal, and may be integrated with antenna 246. The SPS receiver 217 may be configured to process the acquired SPS signal 260 whole or partially in order to estimate the location of the UE 200. For example, the SPS receiver 217 may be configured to use the SPS signal 260 to determine the location of the UE 200 by trilateration. A general-purpose / application processor 230, memory 211, DSP 231, and / or one or more specialized processors (not shown) may be used together with the SPS receiver 217 to process the acquired SPS signal whole or partially and / or to calculate the estimated location of the UE 200. Memory 211 can store indications (e.g., measurements) of the SPS signal 260 and / or other signals (e.g., signals obtained from the wireless transceiver 240) for use when performing positioning operations. The general-purpose / application processor 230, DSP 231, and / or one or more specialized processors, and / or memory 211 may provide or support a location engine for use when processing measurements to estimate the location of the UE200.

[0054] The UE200 may include a camera 218 for capturing still images or video. The camera 218 may include, for example, an image sensor (e.g., a charge-coupled element or a CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) imager), a lens, an analog-digital circuit configuration, a frame buffer, and the like. Additional processing, adjustment, encoding, and / or compression of the signal representing the captured image may be performed by the general-purpose / application processor 230 and / or DSP 231. Similarly or alternatively, the video processor 233 may perform adjustment, encoding, compression, and / or manipulation of the signal representing the captured image. The video processor 233 can decode / decompress the stored image data for display, for example, on a display device (not shown) of the user interface 216.

[0055] The position device (PD) 219 may be configured to determine the position of the UE 200, the movement of the UE 200, and / or the relative position of the UE 200, and / or the time. For example, the PD 219 may communicate with and / or include part or all of the SPS receiver 217. The PD 219 may, as necessary, work with the processor 210 and memory 211 to implement at least part of one or more positioning methods, but the description herein may refer to the PD 219 being configured to implement, or to implement, a positioning method. The PD 219 may also or alternatively be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 using terrestrial-based signals (e.g., at least some of the wireless signals 248) to help acquire and use the SPS signal 260 for trilateration, or both. The PD 219 may be configured to determine the location of the UE 200 based on another technique, such as a serving base station cell (e.g., cell center) and / or E-CID. PD219 may be configured to determine the location of UE200 using image recognition combined with one or more images from camera 218 and known locations of landmarks (e.g., natural landmarks such as mountains and / or artificial landmarks such as buildings, bridges, and roads). PD219 may be configured to use one or more other techniques for determining the location of UE200 (e.g., relying on the UE's self-reported location (e.g., part of the UE's location beacon)), and may use a combination of techniques (e.g., SPS and ground positioning signals) to determine the location of UE200. PD219 may include one or more sensors 213 (e.g., gyroscope, accelerometer, magnetometer, etc.) that can detect the orientation and / or motion of UE200 and provide instructions for it, which can be configured for use by processor 210 (e.g., general-purpose / application processor 230 and / or DSP231) to determine the motion of UE200 (e.g., velocity vectors and / or acceleration vectors).The PD219 may be configured to provide indications of uncertainty and / or error in the determined position and / or motion. The functionality of the PD219 may be provided in various ways and / or configurations, for example, by another component of the general-purpose / application processor 230, transceiver 215, SPS receiver 217, and / or UE200, and may be provided by hardware, software, firmware, or various combinations thereof.

[0056] See also Figure 3, an example of the TRP300 for gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114 comprises a computing platform including a processor 310, memory 311 containing software (SW) 312, and transceiver 315. The processor 310, memory 311, and transceiver 315 may be communicatively coupled to one another by a bus 320 (which may be configured, for example, for optical and / or telecommunications). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless transceiver) may be omitted from the TRP300. The processor 310 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The processor 310 may include multiple processors (for example, a general-purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, as shown in Figure 2). Memory 311 is a non-temporary storage medium that may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM). Memory 311 can store software 312, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code containing instructions configured to cause the processor 310 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 312 does not have to be directly executable by the processor 310, but may be configured to cause the processor 310 to perform functions when compiled and executed, for example.

[0057] This description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function, but also includes other implementations, such as the processor 310 executing software and / or firmware. This description may refer to the processor 310 performing a function as a simplification of the fact that one or more processors contained within the processor 310 perform a function. This description may refer to the TRP300 performing a function as a simplification of the fact that one or more suitable components of the TRP300 (and therefore one of the gNB110a, 110b, and / or ng-eNB114) (e.g., the processor 310 and memory 311) perform a function. The processor 310 may include, and / or instead of, memory with stored instructions in addition to memory 311. The functionality of the processor 310 will be discussed in more detail below.

[0058] The transceiver 315 may include a wireless transceiver 340 and / or a wired transceiver 350, respectively, configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections. For example, the wireless transceiver 340 may include a wireless transmitter 342 and a wireless receiver 344 coupled to one or more antennas 346 to transmit (e.g., over one or more uplink channels and / or one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., over one or more downlink channels and / or one or more uplink channels) a wireless signal 348, and to convert the signal from the wireless signal 348 to a wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal, and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal to the wireless signal 348. Thus, the wireless transmitter 342 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 344 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The Wireless Transceiver 340 can be configured to communicate signals (for example, with UE200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) in accordance with various Radio Access Technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Mobile Global System), UMTS (Universal Mobile Communication System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA® (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long-Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP® LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, Zigbee, etc.The wired transceiver 350 may include a wired transmitter 352 and a wired receiver 354 configured for wired communication, for example, a network interface and / or one or more other network entities that can be used to communicate with the NG-RAN135 to send communications to and receive communications from the LMF120. The wired transmitter 352 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 354 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wired transceiver 350 may be configured for optical and / or telecommunications, for example.

[0059] The configuration of the TRP300 shown in Figure 3 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting; other configurations may be used. For example, the description herein states that the TRP300 is configured to perform, or will perform, several functions, one or more of which may be performed by the LMF120 and / or UE200 (i.e., the LMF120 and / or UE200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0060] See also Figure 4, a server 400, exemplified by the LMF120, comprises a computing platform including a processor 410, memory 411 containing software (SW) 412, and a transceiver 415. The processor 410, memory 411, and transceiver 415 may be communicatively coupled to one another by a bus 420 (which may be configured, for example, for optical and / or telecommunications). One or more of the illustrated devices (e.g., a wireless transceiver) may be omitted from the server 400. The processor 410 may include one or more intelligent hardware devices, such as a central processing unit (CPU), a microcontroller, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc. The processor 410 may include multiple processors (for example, including a general-purpose / application processor, a DSP, a modem processor, a video processor, and / or a sensor processor, as shown in Figure 2). The memory 411 is a non-temporary storage medium, which may include random access memory (RAM), flash memory, disk memory, and / or read-only memory (ROM), etc. Memory 411 may store software 412, which may be processor-readable processor-executable software code containing instructions configured to cause the processor 410 to perform various functions described herein when executed. Alternatively, the software 412 may not be directly executable by the processor 410, but may be configured, for example, to cause the processor 410 to perform functions when compiled and executed. This description may refer to the processor 410 performing functions, but also to other implementations, such as the processor 410 executing software and / or firmware. This description may refer to the processor 410 performing functions as a simplification of one or more processors contained within the processor 410 performing functions. This description may refer to the server 400 performing functions as a simplification of one or more appropriate components of the server 400 performing functions.The processor 410 may include, in addition to and / or alternatively, memory containing stored instructions, in addition to memory 411. The functionality of the processor 410 will be discussed in more detail below.

[0061] The transceiver 415 may include a wireless transceiver 440 and / or a wired transceiver 450, respectively, configured to communicate with other devices through wireless and wired connections. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may include a wireless transmitter 442 and a wireless receiver 444 coupled to one or more antennas 446 to transmit (e.g., over one or more downlink channels) and / or receive (e.g., over one or more uplink channels) a wireless signal 448, and to convert the signal from the wireless signal 448 to a wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal, and from the wired (e.g., electrical and / or optical) signal to the wireless signal 448. Thus, the wireless transmitter 442 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wireless receiver 444 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The Wireless Transceiver 440 can be configured to communicate signals (for example, with UE200, one or more other UEs, and / or one or more other devices) in accordance with various Radio Access Technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Mobile Global System), UMTS (Universal Mobile Communication System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA® (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP® LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 802.11 (including IEEE 802.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, Zigbee, etc. The wired transceiver 450 may include a wired transmitter 452 and a wired receiver 454 configured for wired communication, for example, a network interface, and / or one or more other network entities, which can be used to communicate with NG-RAN135 to send communications to TRP300 and receive communications from there.The wired transmitter 452 may include multiple transmitters, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components, and / or the wired receiver 454 may include multiple receivers, which may be individual components or composite / integrated components. The wired transceiver 450 may be configured, for example, for optical communications and / or telecommunications.

[0062] The descriptions herein may refer to the processor 410 that performs the function, but also include other implementations, such as the processor 410 running software (stored in memory 411) and / or firmware. The descriptions herein may refer to the server 400 performing the function as a simplification of the fact that one or more of the appropriate components of the server 400 (e.g., the processor 410 and memory 411) perform the function.

[0063] The configuration of the server 400 shown in Figure 4 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting; other configurations may be used. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Similarly, or alternatively, while the description herein states that the server 400 is configured to perform or performs several functions, one or more of these functions may be performed by the TRP 300 and / or UE 200 (i.e., the TRP 300 and / or UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0064] Positioning techniques For ground positioning of UEs in cellular networks, techniques such as Altitude Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) and Observation Time of Arrival Difference (OTDOA) often operate in "UE-assisted" mode, in which the UE takes measurements of a reference signal (e.g., PRS, CRS, etc.) transmitted by a base station and then provides them to a location server. The location server then calculates the UE's position based on the measurements and the known location of the base station. Because these techniques use the location server rather than the UE itself to calculate the UE's position, these positioning techniques are not frequently used in applications such as car or cell phone navigation, which instead typically rely on satellite-based positioning.

[0065] UEs can use satellite positioning systems (SPS) (Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS)) for high-precision positioning using Precision Single-Person Positioning (PPP) or Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) techniques. These techniques use supporting data such as measurements from ground stations. With LTE Release 15, data is encrypted so that only UEs subscribed to the service can read the information exclusively. Such supporting data changes over time. Therefore, UEs subscribed to the service cannot easily "break the encryption" for other UEs by passing the data to other UEs that have not paid for their subscription. This transfer must be repeated each time the supporting data changes.

[0066] In UE-assisted positioning, the UE sends measured values ​​(e.g., TDOA, angle of arrival (AoA), etc.) to a positioning server (e.g., LMF / eSMLC). The positioning server has a base station almanac (BSA) containing multiple “entries” or “records,” i.e., one record per cell, each record containing geographic cell location, but may also contain other data. Identifiers of “records” within the multiple “records” in the BSA may be referenced. The measured values ​​from the BSA and the UE may be used to calculate the UE’s position.

[0067] In conventional UE-based positioning, the UE calculates its own position and thus avoids sending measurements to a network (e.g., a location server), thereby improving latency and scalability. The UE uses relevant BSA record information from the network (e.g., the location of gNBs (or more broadly, base stations)). The BSA information may be encrypted. However, since the BSA information does not change as frequently as, for example, the previously described PPP or RTK-assisted data, it may be easier (compared to PPP or RTK information) to make the BSA information available to UEs that have joined and not paid for the decryption key. The transmission of reference signals by gNBs makes the BSA information potentially accessible to crowdsourcing or ward driving, essentially allowing the BSA information to be generated based on on-site and / or beyond-limit observations.

[0068] Positioning techniques may be characterized and / or evaluated based on one or more criteria, such as position determination accuracy and / or latency. Latency is the time elapsed between an event that triggers the determination of location-related data and the state in which that data becomes available at the positioning system interface, e.g., the LMF120 interface. In the initialization of the positioning system, the latency for location-related data to become available is called the time to first position (TTFF), and is greater than the latency after the TTFF. The inverse of the time elapsed between two consecutive states of location-related data availability is called the update rate, i.e., the rate at which location-related data is generated after the first position. Latency may depend, for example, on the processing capacity of the UE. For example, the UE may report its processing capacity as the duration of DL PRS symbols in units of time (e.g., milliseconds) that the UE can process for every amount of time T (e.g., T ms) assuming a 272 PRB (Physical Resource Block) allocation. Other examples of factors that can affect latency include the number of TRPs that the UE can process from, the number of PRSs that the UE can process, and the UE's bandwidth.

[0069] One or more of many different positioning techniques (also called positioning methods) may be used to determine the location of an entity, such as one of UE105 or UE106. For example, known positioning techniques include RTT, multi-RTT, OTDOA (also known as TDOA, including UL-TDOA and DL-TDOA), Extended Cell Identification (E-CID), DL-AoD, and UL-AoA. RTT uses the time it takes for a signal to travel from one entity to another and vice versa to determine the range between two entities. The range, as well as the known location of the first entity and the angle between the two entities (e.g., azimuth), may be used to determine the location of the second entity. In multi-RTT (also known as multi-cell RTT), multiple ranges from one entity (e.g., UE) to another entity (e.g., TRP) and the known locations of the other entities may be used to determine the location of a given entity. In the TDOA technique, the difference in travel time between one entity and another may be used to determine the relative range from the other entity, and this, combined with the known location of the other entity, may be used to determine the location of the entity. The angles of arrival and / or departure may be used to help determine the location of an entity. For example, the angle of arrival or departure of a signal (determined using the signal, e.g., the signal's travel time, the signal's received power, etc.) combined with the range between devices, and the known location of one of the devices, may be used to determine the location of the other device. The angle of arrival or departure may be an azimuth angle relative to a reference direction such as true north. The angle of arrival or departure may be a zenith angle relative to the direction directly upward from the entity (i.e., relative to the direction radiating outward from the center of the Earth).E-CID uses the serving cell's identity, timing advance (i.e., the difference between the receive time and transmit time at the UE), the estimated timing and power of the detected neighbor cell signal, and possibly the angle of arrival (e.g., from the base station, the signal at the UE, or vice versa) to determine the UE's location. TDOA uses the difference in arrival times at the receiving device of signals from different sources, along with the known location of the source and the known offset of the transmit time from the source, to determine the receiving device's location.

[0070] In network-centric RTT estimation, the serving base station instructs the UE to scan / receive RTT measurement signals (e.g., PRS) on the serving cells of two or more neighboring base stations (and typically the serving base station, as at least three base stations are required). One or more base stations transmit RTT measurement signals on low-reuse resources (e.g., resources used by base stations to transmit system information) allocated by the network (e.g., a location server such as LMF120). The UE records the arrival time (also called receive time, reception time, or arrival time (ToA)) of each RTT measurement signal relative to the UE's current downlink timing (e.g., derived by the UE from the DL signal received from its serving base station), and transmits a common or individual RTT response message (e.g., an SRS (sounding reference signal) for positioning, i.e., UL-PRS) to one or more base stations (e.g., when commanded by its serving base station), with a time difference T between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message. Rx→Tx (That is, UET) Rx-Tx or UE Rx-Tx The following should be included in the payload of each RTT response message. The RTT response message will contain a reference signal from which the base station can infer the ToA of the RTT response. The difference T between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal from the base station and the ToA of the RTT response at the base station.Tx→Rx The time difference T reported by UE Rx→Tx By comparing this, the base station can infer the propagation time between the base station and the UE, and from there, the base station can determine the distance between the UE and the base station by assuming the speed of light during this propagation time.

[0071] UE-centered RTT estimation is similar to network-based methods, except that the UE transmits an uplink RTT measurement signal (for example, when commanded by a serving base station), which is received by multiple base stations in the UE's vicinity. Each participating base station responds with a downlink RTT response message, which may include in its RTT response message payload the time difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal at the base station and the transmission time of the RTT response message from the base station.

[0072] For both network-centric and UE-centric procedures, the party performing the RTT calculation (network or UE) typically (but not always) sends a first message or signal (e.g., an RTT measurement signal), and the other party responds with one or more RTT response messages or signals, which may include the difference between the ToA of the first message or signal and the transmission time of the RTT response message or signal.

[0073] A multi-RTT technique can be used to determine location. For example, a first entity (e.g., a UE) may send one or more signals (e.g., unicast, multicast, or broadcast from a base station), and several second entities (e.g., other TSPs such as base stations and / or UEs) may receive signals from the first entity and respond to these received signals. The first entity receives responses from several second entities. The first entity (or another entity such as an LMF) may use the responses from the second entities to determine the range to the second entities, and use several ranges and known locations of the second entities to determine the location of the first entity by trilateration.

[0074] In some cases, additional information may be obtained in the form of an angle of arrival (AoA) or angle of departure (AoD) that defines a directional range (e.g., in a linear direction, or in three dimensions) or, in some cases, a range of directions (e.g., from the base station location to the UE). The intersection of the two directions can give another estimate of the UE's location.

[0075] For positioning techniques that use a PRS (Positioning Reference Signal) signal (e.g., TDOA and RTT), PRS signals sent by multiple TRPs are measured, and the signal arrival time, known transmission time, and known location of the TRP are used to determine the range from the UE to the TRP. For example, the RSTD (Reference Signal Time Difference) may be determined for PRS signals received from multiple TRPs and used in the TDOA technique to determine the UE's location. This positioning reference signal is sometimes called a PRS or PRS signal. PRS signals are usually transmitted using the same power and have the same signal characteristics (e.g., the same frequency deviation), which can cause interference between them. This can result in PRS signals from more distant TRPs being overwhelmed by PRS signals from closer TRPs, making it impossible to detect signals from more distant TRPs. PRS muting may be used to help reduce interference by muting some PRS signals (reducing the power of the PRS signals, for example, to zero, and therefore not transmitting the PRS signals). In this way, weaker PRS signals (in the UE) can be more easily detected by the UE without stronger PRS signals interfering with weaker PRS signals. The term RS, and its variations (e.g., PRS, SRS, CSI-RS (Channel Status Information - Reference Signal)), can refer to one or more reference signals.

[0076] The positioning reference signal (PRS) includes a downlink PRS (DL PRS, often simply called PRS) and an uplink PRS (UL PRS) (which may be called an SRS (sounding reference signal) for positioning purposes). The PRS may include a PN code (pseudorandom code) or may be generated using a PN code (for example, by modulating a carrier signal with a PN code) so that the PRS source can act as a pseudo-satellite. The PN code may be unique to the PRS source (at least within a specified area so that identical PRSs from different PRS sources do not overlap). The PRS may include frequency layer PRS resources and / or PRS resource sets. A DL PRS positioning frequency layer (or simply frequency layer) is a collection of DL PRS resource sets from one or more TRPs having PRS resources with common parameters composed of higher layer parameters DL-PRS-PositioningFrequencyLayer, DL-PRS-ResourceSet, and DL-PRS-Resource. Each frequency layer has DL PRS resource sets and DL PRS subcarrier spacing (SCS) for DL ​​PRS resources within the frequency layer. Each frequency layer also has DL PRS resource sets and DL PRS cyclic prefixes (CPs) for DL ​​PRS resources within the frequency layer. In 5G, a resource block occupies 12 consecutive subcarriers and a specified number of symbols. A common resource block is a set of resource blocks that occupy the channel bandwidth. A bandwidth part (BWP) is a set of consecutive common resource blocks that may include all or a subset of common resource blocks within the channel bandwidth. Additionally, the DL PRS point A parameter defines the frequency of a reference resource block (and the lowest subcarrier of the resource block), and DL PRS resources belong to the same DL PRS resource set having the same point A, and all DL PRS resource sets belong to the same frequency layer having the same point A.The frequency layer also has the same DL PRS bandwidth, the same start PRB (and center frequency), and the same comb size (i.e., the frequency of PRS resource elements per symbol such that every N resource elements in a comb N are PRS resource elements). A PRS resource set is identified by a PRS resource set ID and may be associated with a particular TRP transmitted by the base station's antenna panel (identified by a cell ID). A PRS resource ID in a PRS resource set may be associated with an omnidirectional signal and / or a single beam (and / or beam ID) transmitted from a single base station (a base station may transmit one or more beams). Each PRS resource in a PRS resource set may be transmitted on a different beam, and therefore, a “PRS resource” (or simply “resource”) may also be called a “beam.” This has no implications for whether the base station and PRS know the beams transmitted on it to the UE.

[0077] A TRP may be configured to send DL PRS on a schedule, for example, by instructions received from a server and / or by software within the TRP. According to the schedule, the TRP may send DL PRS intermittently, for example, periodically at regular intervals from the initial transmission. A TRP may be configured to send one or more PRS resource sets. A resource set is a collection of PRS resources across a single TRP, where resources have the same periodicity, common muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor across slots. Each PRS resource set contains multiple PRS resources, each PRS resource containing multiple OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) resource elements (REs) which may be in multiple resource blocks (RBs) within N (one or more) consecutive symbols in a slot. PRS resources (or generally reference signal (RS) resources) may be called OFDM PRS resources (or OFDM RS resources). An RB is a collection of REs (Representative Errors) spanning the amount of one or more consecutive symbols in the time domain and the amount of consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain (12 for a 5G RB). Each PRS resource consists of an RE offset, a slot offset, a symbol offset within the slot, and several consecutive symbols that the PRS resource may occupy within the slot. The RE offset defines the starting RE offset of the first symbol in the DL PRS resource at frequency. The relative RE offsets of the remaining symbols in the DL PRS resource are defined based on the initial offset. The slot offset is the starting slot of the DL PRS resource relative to the corresponding resource set slot offset. The symbol offset determines the starting symbol of the DL PRS resource within the starting slot. Transmitted REs may be repeated across slots, and each transmission is called a repeat, as there may be multiple repeats within a PRS resource. DL PRS resources in a DL PRS resource set are associated with the same TRP, and each DL PRS resource has a DL PRS resource ID.In a DL PRS resource set, a DL PRS resource ID is associated with a single beam transmitted from a single TRP (although a TRP may transmit one or more beams).

[0078] PRS resources can also be defined by pseudo-collocation and start PRB parameters. Pseudo-collocation (QCL) parameters can define any pseudo-collocation information for DL ​​PRS resources with other reference signals. DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type D with DL PRS or SS / PBCH (Synchronization Signal / Physical Broadcast Channel) blocks from a serving cell or non-serving cell. DL PRS may be configured to be QCL type C with SS / PBCH blocks from a serving cell or non-serving cell. The start PRB parameter defines the start PRB index of the DL PRS resource relative to reference point A. The start PRB index has a granularity of one PRB and can have a minimum value of 0 and a maximum value of 2176 PRBs.

[0079] A PRS resource set is a collection of PRS resources that span slots and have the same periodicity, the same muting pattern configuration (if any), and the same repetition factor. Any time when all repetitions of all PRS resources in a PRS resource set are configured to be sent is called an "instance." Therefore, an "instance" of a PRS resource set is a specified number of repetitions for each PRS resource and a specified number of PRS resources in the PRS resource set, and by this means that an instance is complete when a specified number of repetitions have been sent for each of the specified number of PRS resources. An instance may also be called an "opportunity." A DL PRS configuration, including a DL PRS transmission schedule, may be provided to the UE to facilitate (or even enable) the UE to instrument DL PRS.

[0080] Multiple frequency layers of a PRS can be aggregated so that each provides an effective bandwidth greater than any of the layer bandwidths. Multiple frequency layers of component carriers (which may be consecutive and / or separate) and that meet criteria such as being pseudo-colocated (QCLed) and having the same antenna port may be stitched together to provide a larger effective PRS bandwidth (for DL ​​PRS and UL PRS) and increase arrival time measurement accuracy. Stitching involves combining PRS measurements across individual bandwidth fragments into one integrated one so that the stitched PRS can be treated as if it were taken from a single measurement. When QCLed, different frequency layers behave similarly, allowing the stitching of the PRS to result in a larger effective bandwidth. The larger effective bandwidth may be called the aggregated PRS bandwidth or aggregated PRS frequency bandwidth and results in better time-domain resolution (e.g., TDOA). An aggregated PRS includes a collection of PRS resources, each PRS resource in the aggregated PRS may be called a PRS component, and each PRS component may be transmitted on different component carriers, bandwidths, or frequency layers, or on different portions of the same bandwidth.

[0081] RTT positioning is an active positioning technique in which the RTT uses positioning signals sent by the TRP to the UE and by the UE (involved in RTT positioning) to the TRP. The TRP can send a DL-PRS signal that is received by the UE, and the UE can send an SRS (Sounding Reference Signal) signal that is received by multiple TRPs. The Sounding Reference Signal is sometimes called an SRS or SRS signal. In 5G multi-RTT, cooperative positioning may be used in conjunction with the UE sending a single UL-SRS for positioning that is received by multiple TRPs, rather than sending a separate UL-SRS for positioning to each TRP. TRPs involved in multi-RTT typically look up UEs currently camped on that TRP (serviced UEs, where the TRP is the serving TRP) and UEs camped on neighboring TRPs (neighbor UEs). A neighbor TRP may be the TRP of a single BTS (transmitting / receiving base station) (e.g., gNB), or it may be the TRP of one BTS and the TRPs of separate BTSs. For RTT positioning, including multi-RTT positioning, the DL-PRS signal and the UL-SRS signal in the positioning PRS / SRS signal pair used to determine RTT (and therefore the range between the UE and the TRP) can occur close together in time so that errors due to the movement of the UE and / or the UE's clock drift and / or the TRP's clock drift are within acceptable limits. For example, the signals in the positioning PRS / SRS signal pair can be transmitted from the TRP and the UE, respectively, within approximately 10 ms of each other. Because the positioning SRS is transmitted by the UE, and because the positioning PRS and SRS are transmitted close together in time, it is known that radio frequency (RF) signal congestion (which can cause excessive noise, etc.) can occur, especially when many UEs attempt positioning simultaneously, and / or computational congestion can occur at the TRP attempting to measure many UEs simultaneously.

[0082] RTT positioning may be UE-based or UE-assisted. In UE-based RTT, UE200 determines the RTT and corresponding range to each TRP300, and the position of UE200 based on the range to TRP300 and the known location of TRP300. In UE-assisted RTT, UE200 measures a positioning signal and provides the measurement information to TRP300, which determines the RTT and range. TRP300 provides a range to a location server, for example, server 400, and the server determines the location of UE200, for example, based on the range to a different TRP300. The RTT and / or range may be determined by a TRP300 that receives a signal from UE200, by this TRP300 and one or more other devices, for example, one or more other TRP300s and / or server 400, or by one or more devices other than TRP300 that receive a signal from UE200.

[0083] Various positioning techniques are supported in 5G NR. NR-specific positioning methods supported in 5G NR include DL-only positioning, UL-only positioning, and DL+UL positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include DL-TDOA and DL-AoD. Uplink-based positioning methods include UL-TDOA and UL-AoA. Combined DL+UL-based positioning methods include RTT with a single base station and RTT with multiple base stations (multi-RTT).

[0084] Location estimation (for example, for a UE) may be referred to by other names such as location estimate, location, position, position fix, or fix. Location estimation is geodetic and may include coordinates (latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may relate to a city and include a place address, mailing address, or any other wording of the location. Location estimation may further be defined against some other known location or defined in absolute terms (for example, using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). Location estimation may include expected error or uncertainty (for example, by including an area or volume that is expected to contain that location with some specified or default confidence).

[0085] The configuration of the server 400 shown in Figure 4 is an example of the present disclosure, including the claims, and is not limiting; other configurations may be used. For example, the wireless transceiver 440 may be omitted. Similarly, or alternatively, while the description herein states that the server 400 is configured to perform or performs several functions, one or more of these functions may be performed by the TRP 300 and / or UE 200 (i.e., the TRP 300 and / or UE 200 may be configured to perform one or more of these functions).

[0086] Flight path report Referring to Figure 5, UE500 includes a processor 510, a transceiver 520, and a memory 530, which are communicatively coupled to each other by a bus 540. UE500 may include the components shown in Figure 5. UE500 may include one or more other components, such as any of those shown in Figure 2, for example, UE200 may be an example of UE500. For example, processor 510 may include one or more components of processor 210. Transceiver 520 may include one or more components of transceiver 215, for example, wireless transmitter 242 and antenna 246, or wireless receiver 244 and antenna 246, or wireless transmitter 242, wireless receiver 244, and antenna 246. Similarly or alternatively, transceiver 520 may include a wired transmitter 252 and / or wired receiver 254. Memory 530 may be configured similarly to memory 211 and may include, for example, software having processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 510 to perform functions.

[0087] The descriptions herein may refer to the processor 510 that performs the function, but also include other implementations, such as the processor 510 running software (stored in memory 530) and / or firmware. The descriptions herein may refer to the UE500 performing the function as a simplification to one or more of the appropriate components of the UE500 (e.g., the processor 510 and memory 530) performing the function. The processor 510 (possibly together with memory 530 and, if necessary, the transceiver 520) may include a flight path reporting unit 550. The flight path reporting unit 550 is discussed further below, and this description may refer to the processor 510 or the UE500 in general as performing one of the functions of the flight path reporting unit 550, and the UE500 is configured to perform those functions.

[0088] Referring to Figure 6, the network entity 600 includes a processor 610, a transceiver 620, and a memory 630, which are coupled together to communicate with each other by a bus 640. The network entity 600 may include the components shown in Figure 6. The network entity 600 may include one or more other components, such as any of those shown in Figure 3 and / or Figure 4, so that the TRP 300 and / or server 400 may be examples of the network entity 600. For example, the processor 610 may include one or more components of the processor 310 and / or processor 410. The transceiver 620 may include one or more components of the transceiver 315 and / or transceiver 415. The memory 630 may be configured similarly to the memory 311 and / or memory 411, and may include, for example, software with processor-readable instructions configured to cause the processor 610 to perform functions.

[0089] The descriptions herein may refer to the processor 610 that performs the function, but also include other implementations, such as the processor 610 running software (stored in memory 630) and / or firmware. The descriptions herein may refer to the network entity 600 performing the function as a simplification to one or more of the appropriate components of the network entity 600 (e.g., the processor 610 and memory 630) performing the function. The processor 610 (possibly together with memory 630 and, if necessary, the transceiver 620) may include the flight path request unit 650 and the flight path creation unit 660. The flight path request unit 650 and the flight path creation unit 660 will be discussed further here, but the descriptions may refer generally to the processor 610 or generally to the network entity 600 as performing either of the functions of the flight path request unit 650 and / or the flight path creation unit 660, and the network entity 600 is configured to perform those functions.

[0090] See also Figure 7, which is an example of UE500, in which UE700, a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) which may also be called a drone, has a flight path 710 that includes intermediate points 721, 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, and 727. Flight path 710 may be the actual flight path taken by UE700 or a scheduled flight path that is expected to be taken by UE700. Flight path 710 is a non-limiting example. The flight path may be formed by curve fittings that have lines (straight or non-straight, e.g., curves) connecting adjacent intermediate points, rather than all adjacent intermediate points being connected by straight lines as shown in the exemplary flight path 710. Intermediate points 721-727 are shown as point locations, but intermediate points may be described in one or more of the following ways: as point locations, 2D areas, and / or 3D shapes (e.g., ellipsoids (ellipsoids 731, 732, etc.), polygons (polygon 740, etc.)). For example, the UE700's flight path reporting unit 550 may be configured to provide flight path information according to the following pseudocode: FlightPathInfoReport-r15::=SEQUENCE{ flightPath-r15 SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxWayPoint-r15))OF WayPointflightpath-r15 OPTIONAL, nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE{}OPTIONAL } WayPointflightpath-r15::=SEQUENCE{ wayPointflightpath-r15 flightpathInfo-r10, timeStamp-r15 AbsoluteTimeInfo-r10 OPTIONAL } flightpathInfo-r10::=SEQUENCE{ flightpathCoordinates-r10 CHOICE{ ellipsoid-Point-r10 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING Ellipsoid-Point), ellipsoidPointWithAltitude-r10 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING EllipsoidPointWithAltitude), ..., ellipsoidPointWithUncertaintyCircle-r11 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING Ellipsoid-PointWithUncertaintyCircle), ellipsoidPointWithUncertaintyEllipse-r11 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING EllipsoidPointWithUncertaintyEllipse), ellipsoidPointWithAltitudeAndUncertaintyEllipsoid-r11 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING EllipsoidPointWithAltitudeAndUncertaintyEllipsoid), ellipsoidArc-r11 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING EllipsoidArc), polygon-r11 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING Polygon) }, horizontalVelocity-r10 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING HorizontalVelocity)OPTIONAL, gnss-TOD-msec-r10 OCTET STRING(CONTAINING Gnss-TOD-msec)OPTIONAL, ... } Furthermore, as described above, each intermediate point has an associated timestamp. The UE700 may send flight path information, such as a description of the intermediate points, to the server 400 via a base station 750 equipped with one or more TRP300s. The server 400 may use the flight path information for accurate positioning of the UE700. For example, the server 400 may use the flight path information as input to a filter (e.g., a Kalman filter) used to determine the location estimate of the UE700 in order to help improve the accuracy of the location estimate.

[0091] Referring to Figure 8, and further to Figures 1-7, the signaling and process flow 800 for network-initiated provision of flight path information from target UE 801 to network entity 802 includes the illustrated steps. Target UE 801 is the UE for which one or more location estimates should be determined, which in this example is UE 700. Flow 800 is an example, and steps may be added, rearranged, and / or deleted. For example, if non-differential flight path reporting is used, step 850 may be omitted. Flow 800 includes flight path information capability transfer, flight path information request, flight path information transfer, and flight path editing.

[0092] In stage 810, the target UE 801 sends a capability report 812 to the network entity 802 (for example, network entity 600). The flight path reporting unit 550 of the target UE 801 may send a capability report 812 to the network entity 802 indicating that the target UE 801 supports reporting flight path information to the network entity 802. The capability report 812 may indicate that the target UE 801 supports partial flight path reporting, triggered flight path reporting, and / or differential flight path reporting. The target UE 801 may be configured to send the capability report 812 in response to receiving a capability request from the network entity 802, or without receiving a capability request from the network entity 802. For example, flight path-related capabilities may be requested within the information element (IE) CommonIEsRequestCapabilities, or added as a non-essential extension to that information element, and / or flight path-related capabilities may be provided within the information element CommonIEsProvideCapabilities, or added as a non-essential extension to that information element.

[0093] In stage 820, network entity 802 sends a flight path information request 822, which is shown here as an IE called RequestFlightPathInformation. If network entity 802 is a server, request 822 may be an LPP message. If network entity 802 is a TRP, request 822 may be an RRC (Radio Resource Control) message. The flight path information request 822 may configure target UE 801 in one or more of various ways of reporting flight path information about, for example, flight path 710. Target UE 801 may be statically configured (e.g., manufactured) to support one or more of various ways of reporting flight path information, and the flight path information request 822 may indicate one or more such ways to be implemented and may provide one or more parameters for implementing the indicated way. The flight path information request 822 may therefore dynamically configure target UE 801 to implement one or more supported static configurations. Similarly or alternatively, a flight path information request may dynamically configure the target UE 801 to implement flight path information reporting in a way that is not statically configured, for example, by providing processor-readable instructions for the processor 510 to execute. A flight path information request 822 may request that the target UE 801 implement partial flight path reporting, for example, by reporting the entire flight path 710, or by reporting only a portion of the flight path 710 that is less than the entire flight path 710. As another example, a flight path information request 822 may request that the target UE 801 implement triggered flight path reporting for reporting flight path information in response to the occurrence of a trigger event. As yet another example, a flight path information request 822 may request that the target UE 801 implement differential reporting for reporting the difference between the current flight path and a previous flight path, i.e., one or more changes to the previous flight path.The current flight path includes the flight path based on the current and previous locations of the target UE801, and may include an updated expected path between the current location of the target UE801 and the destination of the target UE801. The flight path information request 822 may require the target UE801 to implement these methods, for example, partial flight path reporting and differential flight path reporting, partial flight path reporting and triggered flight path reporting, triggered flight path reporting and differential flight path reporting, or a combination of partial flight path reporting, triggered flight path reporting and differential flight path reporting.

[0094] As an example of configuring target UE801 for partial flight path reporting, a network entity 802, for example, a flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to provide one or more spatial and temporal offsets. For example, using Cartesian coordinates, request 822 specifies the x, y, and z coordinates of a reference location, the x offset Δx, the y offset Δy, and / or the z offset Δz, the reference time t, and the temporal offset Δt. The offsets may instruct target UE801 to exclude any intermediates around the reference location in the flight path 710 where the location is outside the volume, defined by x+ / -Δx, y+ / -Δy, and z+ / -Δz, or timestamps exceeding t+ / -Δt. Alternatively, the temporal offset Δt may instruct target UE801 to exclude any intermediates whose timestamp exceeds t+Δt, and therefore any intermediates whose timestamp is before the specified time t. Time t may be the current timestamp or another timestamp, for example, a future time or a past time. Alternatively, different values ​​of Δt may be used to indicate that any intermediate points outside of time t, for example, t-Δt1 and t+Δt2, should be excluded, where t1≠t2. Further examples are possible. For example, the volume may be defined in other ways (e.g., in other coordinate systems), and the volume may be defined irregularly (e.g., x+Δx1, x-Δx2 (where Δx1≠Δx2)).

[0095] As another example of configuring target UE 801 for partial flight path reporting, a network entity 802, for example, a flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to provide a quantity and time offset of intermediate points that should not be exceeded. For example, request 822 may instruct target UE 801 to report a quantity M and a time offset Δt, each having a corresponding timestamp indicating a time within t+ / -Δt. Alternatively, the time offset Δt may instruct target UE 801 to exclude any intermediate point whose timestamp exceeds t+Δt, and therefore any intermediate point whose timestamp is before the instructed time t. Time t may be the current timestamp or another timestamp, for example, a future time or a past time. As another alternative, different values ​​of Δt may be used to instruct to exclude any intermediate point whose timestamp is outside of t-Δt1 and t+Δt2 on either side of time t, for example, t1≠t2. Further examples are possible.

[0096] As another example of configuring target UE801 for partial flight path reporting, a network entity 802, for example, a flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to provide a number of intermediates that should not be exceeded, without indicating a time offset. For example, request 822 may specify a number M instructing target UE801 to report no more than M intermediates in the flight path 710, regardless of the timestamps corresponding to the intermediates.

[0097] As another example of configuring target UE801 for partial flight path reporting, a network entity 802, for example, a flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to provide a reference time and time offset. For example, request 822 may specify a time t and a time offset Δt, instructing target UE801 not to report any intermediates whose timestamp is within t+ / -Δt, regardless of how many intermediates they include. Alternatively, the time offset Δt may instruct target UE801 to exclude any intermediates whose timestamp exceeds t+Δt, and therefore any intermediates whose timestamp is before the specified time t. Time t may be the current timestamp or another timestamp, for example, a future time or a past time. As another alternative, different values ​​of Δt may be used to instruct to exclude any intermediates whose timestamps are outside of t-Δt1 and t+Δt2 on either side of time t, for example, t1≠t2. Further examples are possible.

[0098] Target UE801 may be configured to implement several of these examples, and request 822 may provide coded instructions on which example should be implemented. For example, partial flight path reporting with spatial and temporal constraints may be the first option, partial flight path reporting with intermediate point quantities and temporal constraints may be the second option, partial flight path reporting with intermediate point quantities may be the third option, and partial flight path reporting with temporal constraints may be the fourth option. In this case, the request may include a two-bit instruction on which of the four options Target UE801 should implement. Request 822, or another message, will include the respective parameter values ​​for the indicated (e.g., selected) option of partial flight path reporting, unless the parameter values ​​have already been agreed upon (e.g., fixed and pre-programmed into Target UE801).

[0099] Network entity 802 may request target UE 801 to report partial flight paths for one or more of a variety of reasons. For example, network entity 802 may know one or more mobility limitations of target UE 801 (e.g., maximum speed, turning ability, etc.) and therefore may restrict flight path reporting to possible intermediate points within a time window. As another example, network entity 802 may want to concentrate the effort for positioning target UE 801 on a target area (which may be a volume), thereby reducing the processing required by network entity 802 to determine one or more location estimates for target UE 801, saving energy and / or time, and / or allowing network entity 802 to perform more detailed processing. This, in turn, may reduce latency and / or improve positioning accuracy. As yet another example, network entity 802 may restrict the flight paths reported to intermediate points suitable for a particular application, for example, to limit intermediate points to areas suitable for advertising by local businesses.

[0100] As an example of configuring Target UE 801 for triggered flight path reporting, a network entity 802, for example, a flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to provide one or more parameters that define an event to trigger flight path reporting. For example, the flight path request unit 650 may define the difference between a previous flight path (e.g., a flight path previously reported by Target UE 801) and the current flight path (e.g., the actual flight path followed or the determined expected flight path), which triggers Target UE 801 to report flight path information. The previous (old) flight path, i.e., fp old However, as a sequence of P intermediate points (optionally including timestamps), fp old ={(x1(i),y1(i),z1(i),t1(i))}, where i=1,2,...,P (1) may be defined as, the current (new) flight path, i.e., fp new as a sequence of N waypoints, optionally including time stamps, fp new ={(x2(i),y2(i),z2(i),t2(i))}, where i=1,2,...,N (2) may be defined as. The spatial difference and the temporal difference between the old flight path and the new flight path are

[0101] [Math.]]

[0102] may be given by the above formula, where w x , w y , and w z are weighting factors provided by the flight path request unit 650 of the network entity 802. The weighting factors may be used, for example, to weight altitude deviations significantly more heavily than horizontal deviations between flight paths. A spatial difference exceeding a spatial threshold or a temporal difference exceeding a temporal threshold, that is, diff pos (fp1,fp1)>Δ position (5) or diff time (fp1,fp1)>Δ time (6) a trigger event may be defined as. The network entity 802 may provide the threshold diff pos , diff time . Other trigger events may also be defined. For example, a trigger event may be defined for a difference between individual waypoints. As another example, a trigger event may be defined as a deviation in only one direction (e.g., altitude). A trigger event may include deviations from expectations and / or anomalies. A trigger event may indicate avoidance behavior such as avoiding an obstacle, avoiding a reference location, or the like.

[0103] The flight path information request 822 may indicate one or more restrictions on the triggered flight path report by the target UE 801. For example, the request 822 may indicate an expiration time after which the target UE 801 should terminate the triggered flight path report, or a duration after which it should terminate the flight path report. The request 822 may indicate that there is no expiration for the triggered flight path report, for example, by indicating a value of 0 for the duration. The target UE 801 may be statically configured to implement a default time window for the triggered flight path report, for example, by starting the triggered flight path report upon receiving the flight path information request 822, and terminating the triggered flight path report after a default duration has elapsed since the start of the triggered flight path report. As another example, the flight path information request 822 may indicate a report prohibition timer that indicates a threshold time amount after the target UE 801 has reported flight path information and before the target UE 801 can report flight path information again. Implementing this threshold time during flight path information reporting reduces communication overhead and minimizes processing by both target UE801 and network entity 802, resulting in energy savings.

[0104] As an example of configuring Target UE801 for differential flight path reporting, a network entity 802, for example, a flight path request unit 650, may create a request 822 to request or enable Target UE801 to perform differential flight path reporting. In differential reporting, the difference between a previous flight path (e.g., a previously reported or otherwise previously determined flight path) and the current flight path is reported, but the entire current flight path is not reported. In this way, communication overhead is saved (reduced relative to transmitting the entire current flight path) and latency can be reduced (by not processing the entire flight path in order to use the flight path for positioning of Target UE801). The previous flight path may be the expected flight path of Target UE801, for example, the expected flight path is reported / stored before Target UE801 departs. This flight path may be updated by deviations from the expected flight path or validated based on Target UE801 being at the expected midpoint at the corresponding expected time.

[0105] In stage 830, the target UE 801, for example, the flight path reporting unit 550, transmits flight path information 832 to the network entity 802. The flight path reporting unit 550 of the target UE 801 is configured to report flight path information about the flight path 710 based on the instructed reporting method, for example, indicated in the flight path information request 822, and using the respective parameters provided by the network entity 802 for the instructed method. For example, for triggered flight path reporting, the target UE 801 may monitor triggering events in the time span instructed by the flight path information request 822, thereby enabling triggered flight path reporting in the instructed time span. The flight path information 832 may be transmitted in ProvideFlightPathInformation IE. The flight path information 832 may include one or more intermediate points (for example, all intermediate points, a portion of intermediate points as defined by the flight path information request 822, intermediate points that constitute the difference between the current and previous flight paths, etc.). The flight path information 832 to be transferred may match or be a subset of the flight path information requested by the flight path information request 822, but the network entity 802 may request the transfer of additional flight path information, which may be transferred in stage 840. If stage 840 does not occur, the flight path information 832 may terminate the transfer of flight path information, for example, by setting endTransaction IE to TRUE.

[0106] In stage 840, if requested by the flight path information request 822, the target UE 801 transmits additional flight path information 842, for example, in another ProvideFlightPathInformation IE. Unless the network entity 802 permits additional flight path information that it can use to confirm the location of the target UE 801 and / or to improve the location estimate for the target UE 801, the additional flight path information 842 may match or be a subset of the flight path information requested by the flight path information request 822. For example, the additional information may include uncertainties associated with intermediate points and / or UE speeds associated with intermediate points (e.g., expected and / or actual speeds at intermediate points). The final message of the additional flight path information 842 terminates the flight path information transfer by including an endTransaction IE set to TRUE, for example.

[0107] Flight path information 832 and 842 may be transmitted by the target UE 801 in response to a flight path information request 822 from the network entity 802. If the network entity 802 is a server, the flight path information 832 and 842 may be transmitted as LPP messages. For example, if the network entity 802 is a server, upon receiving a RequestFlightPathInformation message, the target UE 801 may (1) include the requested information in a ProvideFlightPathInformation message, set the LPP-TransactionID IE in the response to the same value as the LPP-TransactionID in the received message, and distribute the ProvideFlightPathInformation message to a lower layer (below where the flight path information is determined) for transmission, if the requested information is compatible with the capabilities and configuration of the target UE 801; and (2) if it is not compatible, handle the signaling content due to LPP error detection. If network entity 802 is TRP, the flight path information 832, 842 may be transmitted as RRC messages, similar to the LPP messages discussed, for example.

[0108] Flight path information 832, 842 may be transmitted by target UE801 in response to the occurrence of a trigger event. For example, when triggered to send a ProvideFlightPathInformation message, target UE801 may set the corresponding IE to include available flight path information and distribute the response to a lower layer (below where the flight path information is determined) for transmission.

[0109] In stage 850, the network entity 802 may edit the flight path. The network entity 802, for example, the flight path creation unit 660, may generate a new flight path using received intermediate point information about a flight path that has not been previously created or received, and may edit an existing flight path by adding one or more new intermediate points, reviewing information about one or more intermediate points, and / or deleting one or more intermediate points based on information in the flight path information 832, 842. Editing the flight path will be discussed further below.

[0110] See also Figure 9, the signaling and process flow 900 for UE-initiated provision of flight path information from target UE 901 to network entity 902 includes the illustrated steps. Flow 900 includes steps similar to flow 800. In step 910, target UE 901 may send a capability report 912 to network entity 902 without being required by network entity 902 to provide the capabilities of target UE 901. In steps 920 and 930, target UE 901 may provide flight path information 922 and 932 similar to flight path information 832 and 842, but without being required by network entity 902 to provide flight path information. For example, target UE 901 may provide partial flight path information according to one or more parameters stored by target UE 901 and / or provide a triggered flight path report according to one or more parameters stored by target UE 901 (e.g., defining a trigger event). In stage 940, network entity 902 can edit flight path information, similar to network entity 802 in stage 850.

[0111] Target UE801, 901 (for example, their respective flight path reporting units 550) may be configured to provide flight path information 832, 922 in various formats. For example, target UE801, 901 may be configured to provide flight path information 832, 922 according to the pseudocode discussed above with respect to Figure 7. As another example, for differential flight path reporting, target UE801, 901 may be configured to provide flight path information 832, 922 according to the following pseudocode. ProvideFlightPathInformation::=SEQUENCE{ flightpathinforeport FlightPathInfoReport-r15 ... } Here, FlightPathInfoReport can be defined as follows: FlightPathInfoReport-rXX::=SEQUENCE{ flightPath SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxWayPoint-rXX))OF WayPointFlightPath-rXX OPTIONAL, flightPathToAddModList SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxWayPoint-rXX))OF WayPointflightpath-rXX OPTIONAL, flightPathToReleaseList SEQUENCE(SIZE(1..maxWayPoint-rXX))OF WayPointflightpath-rXX-Id OPTIONAL, } and WayPointFlightPath-rXX::=SEQUENCE{ wayPointFlightPathID-rxx, wayPointflightpath-r15 LocationInfo-r10, timeStamp-r15 AbsoluteTimeInfo-r10 OPTIONAL } WayPointFlightPathID-rxx::=INTEGER(1..maxWayPointFlightPathID-rxx) Therefore, the flight path information 832, 922 may include a complete or partial flight path that includes one or more intermediate points, each intermediate point including an intermediate point ID, location, and timestamp. The intermediate point ID provides a unique identity for a particular intermediate point on a particular flight path. The flight path information 832, 922 may also, or alternatively, include one or more intermediate points to be added (if they do not already exist), one or more intermediate points to be modified (if they already exist in the flight path), and / or one or more intermediate point IDs of intermediate points to be removed from the flight path stored by the network entities 802, 902 (for example, as an array of intermediate point IDs and intermediate point information (e.g., location, ellipsoid, polygon, etc.)). flightPathToAddModList includes one or more intermediate points, if included. For each intermediate point in flightPathToAddModList, if the intermediate point ID exists in the flight path stored by network entities 802 and 902, network entities 802 and 902 (for example, flight path creation unit 660) modify the intermediate point information for the intermediate point provided in the flight path information 832 and 922. For each intermediate point in flightPathToAddModList, if the intermediate point ID does not exist in the flight path stored by network entities 802 and 902, network entities 802 and 902 (for example, flight path creation unit 660) add the intermediate point information from the flight path information 832 and 922 to the flight path. flightPathToReleaseList contains one or more intermediate point IDs, if any. For each intermediate point ID in flightPathToReleaseList, network entities 802 and 902 (for example, flight path creation unit 660) remove the intermediate point information (if any) for that intermediate point ID from the flight path stored by network entities 802 and 902.

[0112] Referring again to stages 850 and 940, network entities 802 and 902, for example, a flight path creation unit 660, may be configured to create a flight path based on whether the flight path information 832 and 922 contains a publish instruction or a modification / add instruction. The flight path creation unit 660 may be configured to respond to a publish instruction, for example, flight path information 832 and 922 containing flight path information, by publishing each intermediate point that is in the current flight path and whose intermediate point ID is included in flightPathToReleaseList, and thus removing intermediate points from the flight path. Alternatively, the flight path creation unit 660 may be configured to respond to an add / modify instruction, for example, flightPathToAddModList, by adding each intermediate point that, if present, has an intermediate point ID included in flightPathToAddModList but is not in the current flight path, and thus modifying the current flight path to include intermediate points that were not in the flight path but were in the add / modify instruction. Furthermore, the flight path creation unit 660 may be configured to respond to flight path information 832, 922 including add / modify instructions by modifying each intermediate point in the current flight path, and thus reconstructing the current flight path to include intermediate point information corresponding to intermediate points in the current flight path that were not in the flight path but are present in the add / modify instructions, if any.

[0113] Referring to Figure 10, and further to Figures 1 to 9, the method 1000 for obtaining flight path information includes the illustrated steps. However, method 1000 is an example and not limited to it. Method 1000 may be modified, for example, by adding, deleting, rearranging, combining, and performing steps simultaneously, and / or by dividing a single step into multiple steps.

[0114] In step 1010, method 1000 includes the step of receiving a capability report from the UE at the network entity, indicating the UE's ability to report the flight path of the user equipment (UE) to the network entity. For example, network entity 802 receives capability report 812 from target UE 801. The processor 610 may have means for receiving capability reports, possibly in combination with memory 630 and in combination with transceivers 620 (e.g., wireless receiver 344 and antenna 346, or wired receiver 354, or wireless receiver 444 and antenna 446, or wired receiver 454).

[0115] In step 1020, method 1000 includes the step of sending a flight path report message from a network entity to a UE, the message requesting the UE to provide a partial flight path report by reporting to the network entity a first flight path information showing a portion of the UE's flight path that is not the entire flight path, or a triggered flight path report by reporting to the network entity a second flight path information in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the second flight path information shows at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or a differential report by reporting to the network entity a third flight path information showing the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or any combination thereof. For example, network entity 802 sends a flight path information request 822 to target UE 801 requesting a partial flight path report, a triggered flight path report, and / or a differential flight path report. The processor 610 may, possibly in combination with memory 630, be provided with means for transmitting flight path report messages in combination with transceivers 620 (for example, wireless transmitter 342 and antenna 346, or wired transmitter 352, or wireless transmitter 442 and antenna 446, or wired transmitter 452).

[0116] Implementations of Method 1000 may include one or more of the following features. In one exemplary implementation, a flight path report message requests the UE to provide a partial flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for intermediate points of a portion of the flight path. For example, a flight path information request 822 may specify one or more parameters that must be satisfied for a partial flight path report. In another exemplary implementation, at least one criterion may include a first time window and one or more location ranges, or a second time window and a first limit for intermediate points of a portion of the flight path, or a second limit for intermediate points of a portion of the flight path. One or more parameters to be satisfied may include a time span (e.g., a reference time and a time window relative to the reference time) and one or more spatial constraints that intermediate points must satisfy in order to be reported (e.g., one or more coordinate constraints relative to one or more reference coordinates). Alternatively, one or more parameters to be satisfied may include a time span and a limit on the number of intermediate points to be reported. Alternatively, one or more parameters to be satisfied may include, for example, a limit on the number of intermediate points to be reported, without a time span parameter (and possibly without any other constraints).

[0117] Similarly or alternatively, implementations of Method 1000 may include one or more of the following features: In one exemplary implementation, a flight path report message requests the UE to provide a triggered flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for a trigger event. For example, a flight path information request 822 may specify one or more event parameters that must be met for a triggered flight path report. In another exemplary implementation, the at least one criterion for a trigger event includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events that occur in response to each of multiple trigger events for the UE to report a second flight path information, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more event parameters may define the amount of time that a triggered flight path report is enabled and / or the amount of time between when a triggered report is sent and when another triggered report may be sent. In another exemplary implementation, at least one criterion may include one or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in coordinate system values ​​between a first midpoint in the UE's previous flight path and a second midpoint in the UE's current flight path, or a distance difference threshold for the sum of distance differences between the first and second midpoints, or a time difference threshold for the sum of time differences between the first and second midpoints, or any combination thereof. For example, one or more event parameters may define one or more spatial weights for coordinate system differences between midpoints in the previous and current flight paths, spatial thresholds for spatial differences between flight paths, and / or time thresholds for time differences between flight paths, as described above with respect to equations (1) to (6), for example.

[0118] Similarly or alternatively, implementations of Method 1000 may include one or more of the following features: In one exemplary implementation, a flight path report message requests a UE to provide a differential report, and the Method further includes the steps of: receiving third flight path information from the UE by a network entity; and, based on the third flight path information including first intermediate location information and a first intermediate location identity, storing first intermediate location information from the third flight path information to a stored flight path by the network entity, or, based on the third flight path information instructing to publish a second intermediate location identity present in the stored flight path, deleting second intermediate location information from the stored flight path by the network entity, wherein the second intermediate location information corresponds to a second intermediate location identity. For example, a network entity 802 (e.g., a flight path creation unit 660) may store (e.g., add intermediate points to a flight path or modify intermediate points in a flight path) based on instructions from flight path information 832 to add to a previous flight path or modify it with provided intermediate point information, and / or the network entity 802 may delete intermediate points from a previous flight path based on instructions from flight path information 832 to publish intermediate points having intermediate point IDs provided in the flight path information 832. Flight path information 832 may include one or more instructions for adding intermediate points, one or more instructions for modifying intermediate points, and / or one or more instructions for publishing intermediate points. The processor 610, in combination with memory 630, may have means for storing first intermediate point information and / or means for deleting second intermediate point information.

[0119] Referring to Figure 11, and further to Figures 1 to 9, the communication method 1100 relating to the user equipment flight path includes the illustrated steps. However, method 1100 is an example and not limiting. Method 1100 may be modified, for example, by adding, deleting, rearranging, combining, and performing steps simultaneously, and / or splitting a single step into multiple steps.

[0120] In step 1110, method 1100 includes the step of determining a flight path report in a user device (UE), the flight path report being a partial flight path report, the flight path report being a partial flight path report or a triggered flight path report, wherein the flight path report includes first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that is not the entirety of the UE's flight path, and the method further includes the step of determining second flight path information for a flight path report in the UE in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information being a triggered flight path report or a differential flight path report indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, the flight path report being a differential flight path report or any combination thereof, which includes third flight path information indicating the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path. For example, target UEs 801, 901 (e.g., flight path reporting unit 550) determine flight path information 832, 922 (e.g., partial or complete flight paths), possibly in response to the occurrence of a trigger event and / or by differential flight path information (e.g., between a previous (e.g., previously reported) flight path and the current flight path). The processor 510 may have means for determining the flight path report, possibly in combination with memory 530.

[0121] In step 1120, method 1100 includes the step of transmitting a flight path report from the UE to a network entity. For example, target UEs 801, 901 transmit flight path information 832, 922 to network entities 802, 902 (e.g., TRP 300 and / or server 400). The processor 510 may be provided with means for transmitting the flight path report, possibly in combination with memory 530 and in combination with transceiver 520 (e.g., wireless transmitter 242 and antenna 346).

[0122] Implementations of Method 1100 may include one or more of the following features. In one exemplary implementation, the flight path report provides a partial flight path report, which includes intermediate point information for at least one intermediate point of the UE's flight path that satisfies at least one partial path criterion. For example, the flight path information 832 includes a portion of the flight path, e.g., flight path 710, based on one or more parameters (e.g., received from network entity 802 (e.g., in a flight path information request 822) or stored in target UEs 801, 901). In another exemplary implementation, at least one partial path criterion includes a first time window and one or more location ranges, or a second time window and a first intermediate point limit for the portion of the flight path, or a second intermediate point limit for the portion of the flight path. For example, one or more parameters may restrict the partial path flight path report to reporting intermediate points with locations within one or more spatial boundaries and timestamps within temporal boundaries, or to reporting a threshold number of intermediate points each with timestamps within temporal boundaries or fewer intermediate points (regardless of timestamps), or to reporting a threshold number of intermediate points.

[0123] Similarly or alternatively, implementations of Method 1100 may include one or more of the following features: In one exemplary implementation, the flight path report provides a triggered flight path report, and the Method further includes the step of obtaining at least one event criterion for a trigger event in the UE. For example, target UE 801 may receive one or more event parameters from network entity 802 (e.g., in a flight path information request 822) that define a triggering event for reporting flight path information, and / or read one or more event parameters from memory 530 of target UE 801. In another example, target UE 901 may read one or more event parameters from memory 530 of target UE 901. Processor 510 may have means for obtaining at least one event criterion, possibly in combination with memory 530, and possibly in combination with transceiver 520 (e.g., wireless receiver 244 and antenna 246). In another exemplary implementation, at least one event criterion for a trigger event includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events in which the UE reports second flight path information in response to each of multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more event parameters may define a time window in which triggered flight path reporting is enabled and / or a threshold time between consecutive trigger events for triggered flight path reporting. A threshold time for separation between consecutive triggered flight path reports (i.e., when a triggered flight path report is reported) may be provided.In another exemplary implementation, at least one event criterion for a trigger event includes one or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in coordinate system values ​​between a first midpoint of the UE's previous flight path and a second midpoint of the UE's current flight path, or a distance difference threshold for the sum of distance differences between the first and second midpoints, or a time difference threshold for the sum of time differences between the first and second midpoints, or any combination thereof. For example, one or more event parameters may include one or more of the weighting factors and / or spatial thresholds and / or time thresholds described above with respect to equations (1) to (6).

[0124] Similarly or alternatively, implementations of Method 1100 may include one or more of the following features: In one exemplary implementation, the flight path report provides a differential flight path report, and the third flight path information includes intermediate location information for at least one intermediate location, and for each of the at least one intermediate location, the intermediate location information includes an intermediate location identity. For example, the flight path information 832, 922 may include one or more intermediate location IDs corresponding to each intermediate location information (e.g., location, volume definition (e.g., ellipsoid, polygon, etc.)). In another exemplary implementation, the flight path report includes intermediate location information for each of the at least one intermediate location of the UE's flight path, and for each of the at least one intermediate location, the intermediate location information includes an ellipsoid designation, a polygon designation, or a combination thereof. In another exemplary implementation, Method 1100 provides a capability report indicating the UE's ability to provide at least one of a partial flight path report, a triggered flight path report, or a differential flight path report. The process includes a step of sending from to a network entity. For example, target UE801 (e.g., flight path reporting unit 550) may send a capability report 812 indicating that target UE801 is capable of providing partial flight path reports, and / or that target UE801 is capable of providing triggered flight path reports, and / or that target UE801 is capable of providing differential flight path reports. The processor 510 may have means for sending capability reports, possibly in combination with memory 530, and possibly in combination with transceiver 520 (e.g., wireless transmitter 242 and antenna 246).

[0125] Implementation example Implementation examples are given in the following numbered clauses.

[0126] Article 1. A method for obtaining flight path information, The steps include: receiving a capability report from the UE at the network entity, which indicates the UE's ability to report the flight path of the user equipment (UE) to the network entity; A step of sending a flight path report message from a network entity to a UE, wherein the flight path report message is sent to the UE, Partial path flight path reporting by reporting to a network entity first flight path information that shows a portion of the UE's flight path, but not the entire flight path, or A triggered flight path report, which reports second flight path information to a network entity in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the second flight path information indicates at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or Differential flight path reporting by reporting a third flight path information to the network entity that shows the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or A method including the steps of requesting to provide any combination thereof.

[0127] Clause 2. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a partial flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for the midpoint of the portion of the flight path, in the manner of Clause 1.

[0128] Article 3. At least one criterion is: The first time window and one or more location ranges, The second time window and the first limit amount at the midpoint of the portion of the flight path, or The method of Clause 2, including a second limit amount at an intermediate point in the portion of the flight path.

[0129] Clause 4. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a triggered flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for the trigger event, in the manner of Clause 1.

[0130] Clause 5. The method of Clause 4, wherein at least one criterion for a trigger event includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events in which the UE reports second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0131] Article 6. At least one criterion is: One or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting the differences in coordinate system values ​​between the first midpoint of the UE's previous flight path and the second midpoint of the UE's current flight path, or The distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or The method of Clause 4, including any combination thereof.

[0132] Clause 7. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a differential flight path report, and the method is as follows: The network entity receives third flight path information from the UE, Based on the fact that the third flight path information includes the first intermediate point information and the first intermediate point identity, the network entity stores the first intermediate point information from the third flight path information up to the stored flight path, or The method of Clause 1, further comprising the step of a network entity deleting a second intermediate location information from a stored flight path based on a third flight path information instructing the disclosure of a second intermediate location identity present in the stored flight path, wherein the second intermediate location information corresponds to the second intermediate location identity, and at least one of the steps.

[0133] Article 8. Transceiver and, Memory and A network entity comprising a transceiver and a processor communicatively coupled to memory, wherein the processor Receiving capability reports from user equipment (UE) that indicate the UE's ability to report the UE's flight path to network entities, This involves sending a flight path report message to the UE, and the flight path report message is: Partial path flight path reporting by reporting to a network entity first flight path information that shows a portion of the UE's flight path, but not the entire flight path, or A triggered flight path report, which reports second flight path information to a network entity in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the second flight path information indicates at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or Differential flight path reporting by reporting a third flight path information to the network entity that shows the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or A network entity configured to request the UE to provide any combination of these.

[0134] Clause 9. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a partial flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for the midpoint of a portion of the flight path, as per Clause 8 of the network entity.

[0135] Clause 10. At least one criterion is: The first time window and one or more location ranges, The second time window and the first limit amount at the midpoint of the portion of the flight path, or A network entity under Clause 9, including a second limit amount for the midpoint of a portion of the flight path.

[0136] Clause 11. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a triggered flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for the trigger event, as per Clause 8 of the network entity.

[0137] Clause 12. At least one criterion for a trigger event is a network entity of Clause 11, which includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events in which the UE reports second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0138] Article 13. At least one criterion is: One or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting the differences in coordinate system values ​​between the first midpoint of the UE's previous flight path and the second midpoint of the UE's current flight path, or The distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A network entity of Clause 11, including any combination thereof.

[0139] Clause 14. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a differential flight path report, and the processor shall The network entity receives third flight path information from the UE, Based on the fact that the third flight path information includes the first intermediate point information and the first intermediate point identity, the first intermediate point information is stored from the third flight path information to the stored flight path, or A network entity of Clause 8, further configured to remove a second intermediate location information from a stored flight path based on a third flight path information instructing the stored flight path to disclose a second intermediate location identity present in the stored flight path, wherein the second intermediate location information corresponds to a second intermediate location identity, and to do at least one of these things.

[0140] Clause 15. Network entities, A means for receiving a capability report from a user device (UE) indicating the UE's ability to report the UE's flight path to a network entity, A means for sending a flight path report message to the UE, the flight path report message is Partial path flight path reporting by reporting to a network entity first flight path information that shows a portion of the UE's flight path, but not the entire flight path, or A triggered flight path report, which reports second flight path information to a network entity in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the second flight path information indicates at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or Differential flight path reporting by reporting a third flight path information to the network entity that shows the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or A network entity comprising means for requesting the UE to provide any combination thereof.

[0141] Clause 16. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a partial flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for the midpoint of a portion of the flight path, as per the network entity of Clause 15.

[0142] Article 17. At least one criterion is: The first time window and one or more location ranges, The second time window and the first limit amount at the midpoint of the portion of the flight path, or A network entity of Clause 16, including a second limit amount for the midpoint of a portion of the flight path.

[0143] Clause 18. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a triggered flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for the trigger event, as per Clause 15 of the network entity.

[0144] Clause 19. At least one criterion for a trigger event is a network entity of Clause 18, which includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events in which the UE reports second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0145] Article 20. At least one criterion is: One or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting the differences in coordinate system values ​​between the first midpoint of the UE's previous flight path and the second midpoint of the UE's current flight path, or The distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A network entity of Clause 18, including any combination thereof.

[0146] Clause 21. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a differential flight path report, and the network entity shall A means for receiving third flight path information from the UE, A means for storing the first intermediate point information from the third flight path information to the stored flight path, based on the fact that the third flight path information includes the first intermediate point information and the first intermediate point identity, or A network entity according to Clause 15, a means for deleting a second intermediate location information from a stored flight path, based on a third flight path information instructing the disclosure of a second intermediate location identity present in the stored flight path, wherein the second intermediate location information further comprises at least one of the means corresponding to the second intermediate location identity.

[0147] Clause 22. A non-temporary processor-readable storage medium containing processor-readable instructions, wherein the processor-readable instructions are provided to the processor of a network entity. Receiving capability reports from user equipment (UE) that indicate the UE's ability to report the UE's flight path to network entities, This involves sending a flight path report message to the UE, and the flight path report message is: Partial path flight path reporting by reporting to a network entity first flight path information that shows a portion of the UE's flight path, but not the entire flight path, or A triggered flight path report, which reports second flight path information to a network entity in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the second flight path information indicates at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or Differential flight path reporting by reporting a third flight path information to the network entity that shows the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or A non-temporary processor-readable storage medium that requests the UE to provide any combination thereof.

[0148] Clause 23. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a partial flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for the midpoint of a portion of the flight path, as stored in the storage medium of Clause 22.

[0149] Article 24. At least one criterion is: The first time window and one or more location ranges, The second time window and the first limit amount at the midpoint of the portion of the flight path, or A storage medium of Clause 23, including a second limit amount at an intermediate point in a portion of the flight path.

[0150] Clause 25. The flight path report message requires the UE to provide a triggered flight path report, and the flight path report message includes at least one criterion for the trigger event, as stored in the storage medium of Clause 22.

[0151] Clause 26. The storage medium of Clause 25, wherein at least one criterion for a trigger event includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events in which the UE reports second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0152] Article 27. At least one criterion is: One or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting the differences in coordinate system values ​​between the first midpoint of the UE's previous flight path and the second midpoint of the UE's current flight path, or The distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A storage medium of Clause 25, including any combination thereof.

[0153] Clause 28. The flight path report message requests the UE to provide a differential flight path report, and the storage medium will send it to the processor. To receive third flight path information from UE, Based on the fact that the third flight path information includes the first intermediate point information and the first intermediate point identity, the first intermediate point information is stored from the third flight path information to the stored flight path, or The storage medium of clause 22 further comprises a processor-readable instruction to cause the third flight path information to delete the second intermediate location information from the stored flight path, based on the instruction to disclose the second intermediate location identity present in the stored flight path, wherein the second intermediate location information corresponds to the second intermediate location identity, and at least one of these actions.

[0154] Article 29. Communication methods relating to the flight path of user equipment, In the user equipment (UE), the step of determining the flight path report is that the flight path report is: A partial flight path report, in which the flight path report includes first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path, which is not the entirety of the UE's flight path, or A triggered flight path report, the method further comprising the step of determining second flight path information for a flight path report at the UE in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the second flight path information indicates at least a portion of the flight path of the UE, or A differential flight path report, in which the flight path report includes third flight path information showing the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or The steps are to provide any combination of them, A method including the step of sending a flight path report from a UE to a network entity.

[0155] Article 30. The flight path report provides a partial flight path report. The flight path report includes intermediate point information for at least one intermediate point of the UE's flight path that satisfies at least one partial path criterion, in the manner of Clause 29.

[0156] Clause 31. At least one subroutine criterion is: The first time window and one or more location ranges, The second time window and the first intermediate point limit for the portion of the flight path, or The method of Clause 30, including a second intermediate point limit for a portion of the flight path.

[0157] Clause 32. Flight path reporting provides triggered flight path reporting, and the method further includes the step of obtaining at least one event criterion for a trigger event in the UE, as per the method of Clause 29.

[0158] Clause 33. The method of Clause 32, wherein at least one event criterion for a trigger event includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between a plurality of trigger events in which the UE reports second flight path information in response to each of a plurality of trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0159] Clause 34. At least one event criterion for a trigger event is: One or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting the differences in coordinate system values ​​between the first midpoint of the UE's previous flight path and the second midpoint of the UE's current flight path, or The distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or The methods of Clause 32, including any combination thereof.

[0160] Clause 35. The flight path report provides a differential flight path report, and the third flight path information includes intermediate location information for at least one intermediate location, and the intermediate location information includes an intermediate location identity for each of the at least one intermediate location, in the manner of Clause 29.

[0161] Clause 36. The flight path report shall include intermediate point information for each of at least one intermediate point in the flight path of the UE, and for each of at least one intermediate point, the intermediate point information shall include an ellipsoidal indication, a polygonal indication, or a combination thereof, in the manner of Clause 29.

[0162] Clause 37. The method of Clause 29, further comprising the step of sending a capability report from the UE to a network entity indicating the UE's ability to provide at least one of the following: partial path report, triggered path report, or differential path report.

[0163] Article 38. Transceiver and, Memory and A user device (UE) comprising a transceiver and a processor communicatively coupled to memory, wherein the processor is A partial flight path report, in which the flight path report includes first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path, which is not the entirety of the UE's flight path, or A triggered flight path report, wherein the processor is configured to determine second flight path information for a flight path report in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, and the second flight path information indicates at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or A differential flight path report, in which the flight path report includes third flight path information showing the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or Determining the flight path report to provide any combination of those, A UE configured to send flight path reports to network entities via a transceiver.

[0164] Article 39. The processor is configured to determine the flight path report in order to provide a partial flight path report. The flight path report includes intermediate point information for at least one intermediate point of the UE's flight path that satisfies at least one partial path criterion, as per Clause 38 of the UE.

[0165] Clause 40. At least one subroutine criterion is: The first time window and one or more location ranges, The second time window and the first intermediate point limit for the portion of the flight path, or UE of Clause 39, including the second intermediate point limit for a portion of the flight path.

[0166] Clause 41. The processor is configured to determine a flight path report for providing a triggered flight path report, and the processor is further configured to obtain at least one event criterion for a trigger event, UE of Clause 38.

[0167] Clause 42. The UE of Clause 41, wherein at least one event criterion for a trigger event includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events in which the UE reports second flight path information in response to each of multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0168] Clause 43. At least one event criterion for a trigger event is: One or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting the differences in coordinate system values ​​between the first midpoint of the UE's previous flight path and the second midpoint of the UE's current flight path, or The distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or The UE of Clause 41 includes any combination thereof.

[0169] Clause 44. The processor is configured to determine a flight path report for providing a differential flight path report, the third flight path information including intermediate location information for at least one intermediate location, and the intermediate location information including an intermediate location identity for each of the at least one intermediate location, as per Clause 38.

[0170] Clause 45. The flight path report shall include intermediate point information for each of at least one intermediate point in the flight path of the UE, and for each of at least one intermediate point, the intermediate point information shall include an ellipsoidal indication, a polygonal indication, or a combination thereof, as per Clause 38 of the UE.

[0171] Clause 46. The UE of Clause 38 further comprises means for sending a capability report to a network entity indicating the UE's ability to provide at least one of the following: partial path report, triggered path report, or differential path report.

[0172] Clause 47. User equipment (UE) A means for interpreting a flight path report, and a flight path report is, A partial flight path report, in which the flight path report includes first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path, which is not the entirety of the UE's flight path, or A triggered flight path report, wherein the means for determining the flight path report comprises means for determining second flight path information for the flight path report in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, the second flight path information indicating at least a portion of the UE's flight path, or A differential flight path report, in which the flight path report includes third flight path information showing the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or The means to provide any combination of those, A UE comprising means for sending flight path reports to network entities.

[0173] Article 48. The means for determining the flight path report includes means for determining the flight path report to provide a partial flight path report, The flight path report includes intermediate point information for at least one intermediate point of the UE's flight path that satisfies at least one partial path criterion, as per Clause 47 of the UE.

[0174] Article 49. At least one subroutine criterion is: The first time window and one or more location ranges, The second time window and the first intermediate point limit for the portion of the flight path, or UE of Clause 48, including the second intermediate point limit for a portion of the flight path.

[0175] Clause 50. Means for determining a flight path report include means for determining a flight path report to provide a triggered flight path report, and the UE further includes means for obtaining at least one event criterion for a triggered event, as per Clause 47.

[0176] Clause 51. The UE of Clause 50, wherein at least one event criterion for a trigger event includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between multiple trigger events in which the UE reports second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0177] Clause 52. At least one event criterion for a trigger event is: One or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting the differences in coordinate system values ​​between the first midpoint of the UE's previous flight path and the second midpoint of the UE's current flight path, or The distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or The UE of Clause 50 includes any combination thereof.

[0178] Clause 53. Means for determining a flight path report comprising means for determining a flight path report to provide a differential flight path report, wherein the third flight path information includes intermediate location information for at least one intermediate location, and the intermediate location information includes an intermediate location identity for each of the at least one intermediate location, as per Clause 47.

[0179] Clause 54. The flight path report shall include intermediate point information for each of at least one intermediate point in the flight path of the UE, and for each of at least one intermediate point, the intermediate point information shall include an ellipsoidal indication, a polygonal indication, or a combination thereof, for the UE of Clause 47.

[0180] The UE of Clause 55. The UE of Clause 47 further comprises means for sending a capability report to a network entity indicating the UE's ability to provide at least one of the following: partial path report, triggered path report, or differential path report.

[0181] Clause 56. A non-temporary processor-readable storage medium containing processor-readable instructions, wherein the processor-readable instructions are provided to the processor of the user equipment (UE). This involves interpreting the flight path report, and the flight path report is, A partial flight path report, in which the flight path report includes first flight path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path, which is not the entirety of the UE's flight path, or A triggered flight path report, wherein a processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to determine a flight path report comprises a processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to determine second flight path information for a flight path report in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the second flight path information indicates at least a portion of the flight path of the UE, or A differential flight path report, in which the flight path report includes third flight path information showing the difference between the UE's current flight path and the UE's previous flight path, or The purpose is to provide any combination of those, A non-temporary processor-readable storage medium that enables the transmission of flight path reports to network entities.

[0182] Article 57. Processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to determine a flight path report include processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to determine a flight path report to provide a partial flight path report, A flight path report is a storage medium of Clause 56 that includes intermediate point information for at least one intermediate point of the UE's flight path that satisfies at least one partial path criterion.

[0183] Article 58. At least one subroutine criterion is: The first time window and one or more location ranges, The second time window and the first intermediate point limit for the portion of the flight path, or A storage medium under Clause 57, including a second intermediate point limit for a portion of the flight path.

[0184] Clause 59. A processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to determine a flight path report includes a processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to determine a flight path report for providing a triggered flight path report, and the storage medium further comprises a processor-readable instruction for causing a processor to obtain at least one event criterion for a triggered event, as per the storage medium of Clause 56.

[0185] Clause 60. The storage medium of Clause 59, wherein at least one event criterion for a trigger event includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between a plurality of trigger events in which the UE occurs to report second flight path information in response to each of a plurality of trigger events, or a combination thereof.

[0186] Clause 61. At least one event criterion for a trigger event is: One or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting the differences in coordinate system values ​​between the first midpoint of the UE's previous flight path and the second midpoint of the UE's current flight path, or The distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A storage medium of Clause 59, including any combination thereof.

[0187] Clause 62. A processor-readable instruction causing a processor to determine a flight path report includes a processor-readable instruction causing a processor to determine a flight path report for providing a differential flight path report, the third flight path information includes intermediate location information for at least one intermediate location, and the intermediate location information includes an intermediate location identity for each of the at least one intermediate location, in the storage medium of Clause 56.

[0188] Clause 63. The flight path report shall include intermediate information for each of at least one intermediate point in the flight path of the UE, and for each of at least one intermediate point, the intermediate information shall include an ellipsoidal indication, a polygonal indication, or a combination thereof, in the storage medium of Clause 56.

[0189] The storage medium of Clause 64, further comprising processor-readable instructions for causing the processor to send to a network entity a capability report indicating the UE's ability to provide at least one of the following: partial path report, triggered path report, or differential path report.

[0190] Other considerations Other examples and implementations are within the scope of this disclosure and the appended claims. For example, depending on the nature of the software and the computer, the functions described above may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, or any combination thereof, executed by a processor. The features implementing the functions may also be physically located in various locations, including the distribution of the functional parts so that they are implemented in various physical locations.

[0191] As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” also include the plural forms unless the context otherwise explicitly indicates. The terms “equip,” “equip,” “include,” and / or “contain,” as used herein, express the presence of the features, completes, steps, operations, elements, and / or components being referred to, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, completes, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof.

[0192] As used herein, the term RS (reference signal) may refer to one or more reference signals and may, as necessary, be any form of the term RS, such as PRS, SRS, CSI-RS, etc.

[0193] When used herein, unless otherwise specified, any statement that a function or operation is "based on" an item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the stated item or condition, and may be based on one or more additional items and / or conditions.

[0194] Furthermore, as used herein, in lists of items (which may begin with "at least one of" or "one or more of"), "or" indicates a disjunctive list such as, for example, the list "at least one of A, B, or C", or the list "one or more of A, B, or C", or the list "A or B or C", meaning A, or B, or C, or AB (A and B), or AC (A and C), or BC (B and C), or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or a combination of two or more elements (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Thus, a statement that an item, for example, a processor is configured to perform a function relating to at least one of A or B, or a statement that an item is configured to perform function A or function B, means that the item may be configured to perform a function relating to A, or may be configured to perform a function relating to B, or may be configured to perform functions relating to both A and B. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to measure at least one of A or B" or "a processor configured to measure A or B" means that the processor may be configured to measure A (and may or may not be configured to measure B), or may be configured to measure B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or may be configured to measure A and B (and may be configured to select either A or B or both). Similarly, a description of means for measuring at least one of A or B includes means for measuring A (and may or may not be able to measure B), or means for measuring B (and may or may not be configured to measure A), or means for measuring A and B (and may be able to select either A or B or both to measure).As another example, a statement that an item, for example, a processor, is configured to perform at least one of the following: perform function X or perform function Y, means that the item may be configured to perform function X, or may be configured to perform function Y, or may be configured to perform function X and function Y. For example, the phrase "a processor configured to perform at least one of the following: measure X or measure Y" means that the processor may be configured to measure X (and may or may not be configured to measure Y), or may be configured to measure Y (and may or may not be configured to measure X), or may be configured to perform both X and Y (and may be configured to choose to measure either X or Y, or both).

[0195] Significant modifications may be made according to specific requirements. For example, customized hardware may be used, and / or certain elements may be implemented in hardware, software executed by the processor (including portable software such as applets), or both. Furthermore, connections to other computing devices, such as network input / output devices, may be utilized. Functional or other components shown in the diagrams and / or discussed herein, connected to or communicating with one another, are coupled in a communicative manner unless otherwise stated. That is, components may be connected directly or indirectly to enable communication between them.

[0196] The systems and devices described above are examples. Various configurations may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components as appropriate. For example, features described for some configurations can be combined with various other configurations. Different aspects and elements of configurations can be combined in the same way. Furthermore, technology is evolving, and therefore many of the elements are examples and do not limit the scope of this disclosure or claims.

[0197] A wireless communication system is one in which communication is transmitted wirelessly, that is, by electromagnetic and / or acoustic waves that propagate through the atmosphere rather than through wires or other physical connections. A wireless communication network may not have all communications transmitted wirelessly, but it may be configured to have at least some communications transmitted wirelessly. Furthermore, the term “wireless communication device” or similar terms does not require that the functionality of the device is exclusively, or even primarily, for communication, or that the communication using the wireless communication device is exclusively, or even primarily, wireless, or that the device is a mobile device, but that the device includes wireless communication capabilities (unidirectional or bidirectional), for example, including at least one radio for wireless communication (each radio being part of a transmitter, receiver, or transceiver).

[0198] The description provides specific details to give a complete understanding of exemplary configurations (including implementation forms). However, the configurations can be practiced without these specific details. For example, well-known circuits, processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques are shown without unnecessary details to avoid obscuring the configurations. This description provides exemplary configurations and does not limit the scope, applicability, or configurations of the claims. Rather, the preceding description of the configurations provides instructions for implementing the described techniques. Various modifications may be made to the function and configuration of the elements.

[0199] As used herein, the terms “processor-readable medium,” “machine-readable medium,” and “computer-readable medium” refer to any medium involved in providing data that enables a machine to operate in a particular manner. In computing platforms, various processor-readable media may be involved in providing instructions / code to a processor for execution and / or used to store and / or carry such instructions / code (e.g., signals). In many implementations, processor-readable media are physical and / or tangible storage media. Such media can take numerous forms, including, but are not limited to, non-volatile and volatile media. Non-volatile media include, for example, optical disks and / or magnetic disks. Volatile media include, but are not limited to, dynamic memory.

[0200] While several exemplary configurations have been described, various modifications, alternative configurations, and equivalents may be used. For example, the elements described above may be components of a larger system, in which other rules may take precedence over the examples of application of this disclosure, or otherwise modify the examples of application of this disclosure. Also, some actions may occur before, during, or after the consideration of the elements described above. Therefore, the above description does not limit the scope of the claims.

[0201] Unless otherwise specified, “about” and / or “approximately” as used herein when referring to measurable values ​​such as quantity, duration, etc., includes variations of ±20%, ±10%, ±5%, or ±0.1% from the specified value, where such variations are appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other forms of implementation described herein. Unless otherwise specified, “substantially” as used herein when referring to measurable values ​​such as quantity, duration, physical attributes (such as frequency), etc., also includes variations of ±20%, ±10%, ±5%, or +0.1% from the specified value, where such variations are appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other forms of implementation described herein.

[0202] The statement that a value exceeds (or is greater than or above) a first threshold is equivalent to the statement that a value satisfies or exceeds a second threshold that is slightly greater than the first threshold, for example, the second threshold being a single value higher than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system. The statement that a value is less than (or is within or below) a first threshold is equivalent to the statement that a value is less than or equal to a second threshold that is slightly lower than the first threshold, for example, the second threshold being a single value lower than the first threshold in the resolution of the computing system. [Explanation of symbols]

[0203] 100 Communication systems, systems 105 UE 106 UE 110a NR node B (gNB), gNB (g node B), gNB 110b NR node B (gNB), gNB (g node B), gNB 114 Next-generation e-node B (ng-eNB), ng-eNB (e-node B), ng-eNB 115 Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 117 Session Management Function (SMF) 120 Location Management Function (LMF) 125 Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 130 External Clients 135 Next Generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN) 140 5G Core Network (5GC) 185 Constellations 190 Satellite Vehicles (SV) 191 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 192 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 193 Satellite Vehicle (SV) 200 UE 210 processors 211 memory 212 Software (SW) 213 Sensor 214 Transceiver Interface 215 Transceiver 216 User Interface 217 Satellite Positioning System (SPS) Receiver 218 Camera 219 Position Device (PD) 220 Bus 230 General Purpose / Application Processor, Processor 231 Digital Signal Processor (DSP), Processor 232 Modem Processor 233 Video Processor 234 Sensor Processor, Processor 240 Wireless Transceiver 242 Wireless Transmitter 244 Wireless Receiver 246 Antenna 250 Wired Transceiver 252 Wired Transmitter 254 Wired Receiver 262 SPS Antenna 300 TRP 310 Processor 311 Memory 312 Software (SW) 315 Transceiver 320 Bus 340 Wireless Transceiver 342 Wireless Transmitter 344 Wireless Receiver 346 Antenna 350 Wired Transceiver 352 Wired Transmitter 354 Wired Receiver 400 Server 410 Processor 411 Memory 412 Software (SW) 415 Transceiver 420 bus 440 Wire Restaurant Seaba 442 Wireless Transmitter 444 Wireless Receiver 446 Antenna 450 Wired Transceiver 452 Wired Transmitter 454 Wired Receiver 500 UE 510 Processor 520 transceiver 530 memory 540 bus 550 Flight Path Reporting Unit 600 Network Entities 610 Processor 620 transceivers 630 memory 640 bus 650 Flight path request units 660 Flight Path Creation Unit 700 UE 750 base station 801 Target UE 802 Network Entity 901 Target UE 902 Network Entity

Claims

1. A communication method relating to the flight path of user equipment, A step in a user device (UE) to determine a flight path report in order to provide a triggered flight path report, The communication method further includes the step of determining, in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information for the flight path report at the UE, wherein the second flight path information indicates at least a portion of the UE's flight path and corresponds to intermediate points contained within the volume, based on a request received by the UE indicating a volume defined by reference location coordinates and spatial offset, and the trigger event includes a deviation from a previously reported or previously determined flight path. The step includes transmitting the flight path report from the UE to the network entity, The aforementioned flight path report provides the triggered flight path report, The aforementioned communication method is, The step of obtaining, in the UE, at least one event criterion for the trigger event, wherein the at least one event criterion for the trigger event includes one or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in coordinate system values ​​between a first midpoint of the previously reported or previously determined flight path of the UE and a second midpoint of the current flight path of the UE, Communication method.

2. The flight path report provides a partial flight path report by reporting to the network entity first flight path information indicating a portion of the flight path of the UE that does not constitute the entire flight path. The flight path report includes intermediate point information for at least one intermediate point of the flight path of the UE that satisfies at least one partial path criterion, The aforementioned at least one partial route criterion is: The first time window and one or more location ranges, The second time window and the first intermediate point limit of the portion of the flight path, or Including a second intermediate point limit amount of the portion of the aforementioned flight path, The communication method described in claim 1.

3. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one event criterion for the trigger event further includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between the plurality of trigger events in which the UE occurs to report the second flight path information in response to each of the plurality of trigger events, or a combination thereof.

4. The at least one event criterion for the trigger event is: A distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or Further including one or more combinations thereof, The communication method described in claim 1.

5. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the flight path report provides a differential flight path report, and the third flight path information is information indicating the difference between the current flight path of the UE and a previously reported or previously determined flight path of the UE, and includes intermediate location information for at least one intermediate location, wherein the intermediate location information includes an intermediate location identity for each of the at least one intermediate location.

6. The communication method according to claim 1, wherein the flight path report includes intermediate point information for each of at least one intermediate point of the flight path of the UE, and for each of the at least one intermediate point, the intermediate point information includes an ellipsoidal designation, a polygonal designation, or a combination thereof.

7. The communication method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting a capability report from the UE to the network entity indicating the capability of the UE to provide at least one of the following: a partial path report, a triggered path report, or a differential path report, by reporting a first path information to the network entity indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that does not constitute the entire flight path.

8. Transceiver and, Memory and A user device (UE) comprising a transceiver and a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is This involves determining the flight path report in order to provide a triggered flight path report. The processor is configured to determine, in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, second flight path information for the flight path report, the second flight path information representing at least a portion of the UE's flight path, corresponding to intermediate points included within the volume based on a request received by the UE indicating a volume defined by reference location coordinates and spatial offset, and the trigger event includes determinations that include deviations from previously reported or determined flight paths. The transceiver transmits the flight path report to the network entity, To provide the aforementioned triggered flight path report, the flight path report is determined, Obtaining at least one event criterion for the aforementioned trigger event, It is configured to do the following: The at least one event criterion for the trigger event is: Includes one or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in coordinate system values ​​between a first midpoint of the previously reported or previously determined flight path of the UE and a second midpoint of the current flight path of the UE, UE.

9. The processor is configured to determine the flight path report in order to provide a partial flight path report by reporting to the network entity first flight path information indicating a portion of the flight path of the UE that does not represent the entire flight path. The flight path report includes intermediate point information for at least one intermediate point of the flight path of the UE that satisfies at least one partial path criterion, The aforementioned at least one partial route criterion is: The first time window and one or more location ranges, The second time window and the first intermediate point limit of the portion of the flight path, or Including a second intermediate point limit amount of the portion of the aforementioned flight path, The UE according to claim 8.

10. The UE according to claim 8, wherein the at least one event criterion for the trigger event further includes a time window in which the trigger event should occur, or a threshold separation time between the multiple trigger events in which the UE occurs to report the second flight path information in response to each of the multiple trigger events, or a combination thereof.

11. The at least one event criterion for the trigger event is: A distance difference threshold for the sum of the distance differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or A time difference threshold for the sum of the time differences between the first intermediate point and the second intermediate point, or Further including one or more combinations thereof, The UE according to claim 8.

12. The processor is configured to determine the flight path report in order to provide a differential flight path report, the third flight path information being information indicating the difference between the current flight path of the UE and a previously reported or previously determined flight path of the UE, and including intermediate location information for at least one intermediate location, the intermediate location information including an intermediate location identity for each of the at least one intermediate location, or The flight path report includes intermediate point information for each of the at least one intermediate points of the flight path of the UE, and for each of the at least one intermediate points, the intermediate point information includes an ellipsoidal designation, a polygonal designation, or a combination thereof. The system further comprises means for transmitting to the network entity a capability report indicating the capability of the UE, which provides at least one of the following: a partial path report, a triggered path report, or a differential path report, by reporting to the network entity a first path information indicating a portion of the UE's flight path that does not constitute the entire flight path; The UE according to claim 8.

13. A non-temporary processor-readable storage medium containing processor-readable instructions, wherein the processor-readable instructions are transmitted to the processor of a user device (UE). This involves determining the flight path report in order to provide a triggered flight path report. The processor-readable instruction for causing the processor to determine the flight path report comprises a processor-readable instruction for causing the processor to determine second flight path information for the flight path report in response to the occurrence of a trigger event, wherein the second flight path information indicates at least a portion of the flight path of the UE and corresponds to intermediate points contained within the volume based on a request received by the UE indicating a volume defined by reference location coordinates and spatial offset, and the trigger event includes determination of deviations from previously reported or previously determined flight paths. The system transmits the aforementioned flight path report to the network entity, and performs the following actions: The aforementioned flight path report provides the triggered flight path report, The aforementioned processor-readable instructions are further transmitted to the processor of the user equipment (UE). The UE is to obtain at least one event criterion for the trigger event, wherein the at least one event criterion for the trigger event includes one or more difference distance weighting factors for weighting one or more differences in coordinate system values ​​between a first midpoint of the previously reported or previously determined flight path of the UE and a second midpoint of the current flight path of the UE. Non-temporary processor-readable storage medium.

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