Wireless device positioning

Abstract

Various aspects of the present disclosure relate to wireless device positioning. Each of multiple network nodes is configured with a binary pattern that is associated with the network node. These different binary patterns can be used as identifiers of the network nodes or cells provided by the network nodes. In one example, a wireless device receives a transmission from a network node that includes the binary pattern of the network node in a preamble of the transmission. The wireless device transmits this preamble to a reader device. The binary pattern can be provided to a location function, which can use the binary pattern to assist in determining a location of the wireless device. In another example, the binary pattern of the reader device can be provided to a location function, which can use the binary pattern to assist in determining a location of the wireless device.

Description

WIRELESS DEVICE POSITIONINGRELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Application Serial No. 63 / 562,613 filed March 7, 2024 entitled “WIRELESS DEVICE POSITIONING,” the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and more specifically to wireless device positioning.BACKGROUND

[0003] A wireless communications system may include one or multiple network communication devices, which may be otherwise known as network equipment (NE), supporting wireless communications for one or multiple user communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE), or other suitable terminology. The wireless communications system may support wireless communications with one or multiple user communication devices by utilizing resources of the wireless communication system (e.g., time resources (e.g., symbols, slots, subframes, frames, or the like) or frequency resources (e.g., subcarriers, carriers, or the like)). Additionally, the wireless communications system may support wireless communications across various radio access technologies including third generation (3G) radio access technology, fourth generation (4G) radio access technology, fifth generation (5G) radio access technology, among other suitable radio access technologies beyond 5G (e.g., sixth generation (6G)).SUMMARY

[0004] An article “a” before an element is unrestricted and understood to refer to “at least one” of those elements or “one or more” of those elements. The terms “a,” “at least one,” “one or more,” and “at least one of one or more” may be interchangeable. As used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items (e.g., a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of’ or “one or more of’ or “one or both of’) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, a list of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Byway of another example, a list of at least one of A; B; or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Also, as used herein, the phrase “based on” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions. For example, an example step that is described as “based on condition A” may be based on both a condition A and a condition B without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, as used herein, the phrase “based on” shall be construed in the same manner as the phrase “based at least in part on”. Further, as used herein, including in the claims, a “set” may include one or more elements.

[0005] An apparatus (e.g., an NE (such as a base station) or an intermediate node (such as a UE or an NE)) for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may be configured to, capable of, or operable to perform one or more operations as described herein. For example, the apparatus may be configured to, capable of, or operable to receive, from a wireless device, an uplink (UL) transmission or backscattered transmission; determine, based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission, an identifier of a second device communicating with the wireless device; transmit at least one of the identifier or a received signal strength based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

[0006] A processor (e.g., a standalone processor chipset, or a component of an NE or an intermediate node (such as a UE or an NE)) for wireless communication is described. The processor may be configured to, capable of, or operable to perform one or more operations as described herein. For example, the processor may be configured to, capable of, or operable to receive, from a wireless device, a UL transmission or backscattered transmission; determine, based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission, an identifier of a second device communicating with the wireless device; transmit at least one of the identifier or a received signal strength based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

[0007] A method performed or performable by an apparatus (e.g., an NE (such as a base station) or an intermediate node (such as a UE or an NE)) for wireless communication is described. The method may include receiving, from a wireless device, a UL transmission or backscattered transmission; determining, based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission, an identifier of a second device communicating with the wireless device; and transmitting at least one of the identifier or a received signal strength based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

[0008] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the apparatus, processor, and method may further be configured to, capable of, performed, performable, or operable to determine the identifier based on a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

[0009] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the apparatus, processor, and method may further be configured to, capable of, performed, performable, or operable to receive, from a network device, a configuration to report the identifier of the second device to the network device.

[0010] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the second device comprises a device that transmitted a downlink (DL) signal to the wireless device.

[0011] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the DL signal includes a trigger for the UL transmission or backscattered transmission by the wireless device.

[0012] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the second device comprises a device that received the UL transmission or backscattered signal from the wireless device.

[0013] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the apparatus, processor, and method may further be configured to, capable of, performed, performable, or operable to transmit at least one of the identifier or the received signal strength to a location server.

[0014] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the second device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a transmission reception point (TRP), or a carrier wave emitter.

[0015] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the second device comprises the first device.

[0016] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the wireless device comprises an Ambient Internet of things (loT) device.

[0017] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0018] An apparatus (e.g., an NE (such as a base station) or an intermediate node (such as a UE or an NE)) for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may be configured to, capable of, or operable to perform one or more operations as described herein. For example, the apparatus may be configured to, capable of, or operable to transmit a configuration for a wireless device to include, in a UL transmission or a backscattered transmission, a preamble pattern received in a DL transmission.

[0019] A processor (e.g., a standalone processor chipset, or a component of an NE or an intermediate node (such as a UE or an NE)) for wireless communication is described. The processor may be configured to, capable of, or operable to perform one or more operations as described herein. For example, the processor may be configured to, capable of, or operable to transmit a configuration for a wireless device to include, in a UL transmission or a backscattered transmission, a preamble pattern received in a DL transmission.

[0020] A method performed or performable by an apparatus (e.g., an NE (such as a base station) or an intermediate node (such as a UE or an NE)) for wireless communication is described. The method may include transmitting a configuration for a wireless device to include, in a UL transmission or a backscattered transmission, a preamble pattern received in a DL transmission.

[0021] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the preamble pattern includes an indication of an identifier of a second device from which the DL transmission is received.

[0022] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the preamble pattern comprises a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence that encodes the identifier of the second device.

[0023] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the second device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter.

[0024] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the second device comprises the first device.

[0025] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the apparatus, processor, and method may further be configured to, capable of, performed, performable, or operable to receive, from a network device an indication for the wireless device to use, in the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the preamble pattern received.

[0026] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the network device comprises a location server.

[0027] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the first device comprises a base station or an intermediate node.

[0028] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device.

[0029] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0030] An apparatus (e.g., a UE or Ambient Internet of Things (loT) device) for wireless communication is described. The apparatus may be configured to, capable of, or operable to perform one or more operations as described herein. For example, the apparatus may be configured to, capable of, or operable to receive a configuration to include in a UL transmission or backscattered transmission an identifier of a first device communicating with the wireless device; receive a DL signal; transmit the UL transmission or backscattered transmission including the identifier of the first device.

[0031] A processor (e.g., a standalone processor chipset, or a component of a UE or of an Ambient loT device) for wireless communication is described. The processor may be configured to, capable of, or operable to perform one or more operations as described herein. For example, the processor may be configured to, capable of, or operable to receive a configuration to include in a UL transmission or backscattered transmission an identifier of a first device communicating with the wireless device; receive a DL signal; transmit the UL transmission or backscattered transmission including the identifier of the first device.

[0032] A method performed or performable by an apparatus (e.g., a UE or Ambient loT device) for wireless communication is described. The method may include receiving a configuration to include in a UL transmission or backscattered transmission an identifier of a first device communicating with the wireless device; receiving a DL signal; and transmitting the UL transmission or backscattered transmission including the identifier of the first device.

[0033] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the apparatus, processor, and method may further be configured to, capable of, performed, performable, or operable to encode the identifier of the first device in a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

[0034] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the apparatus, processor, and method may further be configured to, capable of, performed, performable, or operable to include, as the preamble of the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the DL signal.

[0035] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the DL signal includes a trigger for the UL transmission or backscattered transmission by the wireless device.

[0036] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the first device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a transmission reception point (TRP), or a carrier wave emitter.

[0037] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the apparatus, processor, and method may further be configured to, capable of, performed, performable, or operable to receive the configuration from the first device.

[0038] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device.

[0039] In some implementations of the apparatus, processor, and method described herein, the wireless device comprises a low power device.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0040] Figure 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0041] Figures 2 through 9 illustrate example topologies of a wireless communications system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0042] Figure 10 illustrates an example of a frame structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0043] Figure 11 illustrates an example of a frame structure in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0044] Figure 12 illustrates an example of a device in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0045] Figure 13 illustrates an example of a processor in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0046] Figure 14 illustrates an example of a NE in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

[0047] Figures 15 through 17 illustrate flowcharts of methods in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0048] For various applications, numerous (e.g., billions) of loT devices are expected to be deployed in wireless communications systems. However, it is difficult to power this large number of devices with batteries that need to be replaced for re-charging, which leads to high maintenance cost. Accordingly, devices that consume very low power and / or rely on harvesting the energy are considered. One example of such a device is a device (e.g., referred to as a passive device) that has no energy storage, no independent signal generation, and uses backscattering transmission. Another example of such a device is a device (e.g., referred to as a semi-passive device) that has energy storage, no independent signal generation, and uses backscattering transmission. Use of stored energy can include amplification for reflected signals. Another example of such a device is a device(e.g., referred to as an active device) that has energy storage, has independent signal generation (e.g., an active RF component for transmission), and may use backscattering transmission.

[0049] loT devices may include Ambient loT devices. An Ambient loT device refers to a low- power (e.g., self-powered) sensor or device, which is typically small and / or low-cost. For example, Ambient loT devices may include an energy harvester with an output power of from 1 microwatt (pW) to a few hundreds of pW. Ambient loT devices also typically do not include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card. There are different topologies and deployment scenarios of Ambient loT devices. Examples of these topologies include a topology where a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network) acts as reader and as source of a carrier wave, a topology where the base station acts as a reader but another device is used as a source of the carrier wave, a topology where the base station acts as a controller and another intermediate node is used as a reader and as a source of the carrier wave, and so forth. The source of the carrier wave may also be referred to as an external carrier wave node, a carrier wave node, an external node, an emitter node, and so forth.

[0050] In some scenarios, there can be a large number of Ambient loT devices (e.g., as many as 150 devices per 100 square meters (m2)), such as in an indoor factory or warehouse area where Ambient loT devices are attached to items (e.g., products, boxes, pallets) being tracked. The positioning of the Ambient loT device is important as part of performing inventory (e.g., in a factory or warehouse). Inventorying of the items informs the presence or absence of the item (e.g., in the factory or warehouse) but the whereabouts of the item is not known. Thus, to know the location of the item (e.g., in a factory or warehouse), positioning of the Ambient loT device is needed. The indoor positioning accuracy can be, for example, approximately 3 meters. The techniques discussed herein provide a methodology to determine (e.g., in an inventory round in which a subset of Ambient loT devices in the factory or warehouse participate) positions of the Ambient loT devices along with the inventory.

[0051] These Ambient loT devices need not be connected to a cell and may not need or maintain radio resource control (RRC) states or a cell identifier (ID), may not perform cell selection or reselection, and so forth. Accordingly, performing device positioning using legacy procedures that make use of a cell ID is challenging.

[0052] The techniques discussed herein configure network nodes with a binary pattern or sequence that is associated with the network node. Different network nodes are configured with different binary patterns. Thus, these different binary patterns can be used as identifiers of the network nodes or cells provided by the network nodes. The network nodes can be, for example, devices (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network), an external node, an intermediate node) that transmit any of various information to Ambient loT devices in a DL or reader devices (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network), an intermediate node) that receive UL or backscatter transmissions from Ambient loT devices.

[0053] In one or more implementations, a network node providing a DL transmission to an Ambient loT device includes the binary pattern of the network node in a preamble of the DL transmission to the Ambient loT device. The Ambient loT device includes this preamble in an UL or backscattered transmission to a reader device. This informs the reader device of which network node the Ambient loT device received the DL transmission from and thus which network node the Ambient loT device is close to. The reader device provides an indication of the binary pattern received from the Ambient loT device to a location function (e.g., on a location server), which can use the binary pattern as an identifier of the network node or cell that transmitted the DL to the Ambient loT device.

[0054] Additionally or alternatively, a network node (e.g., a reader device) that receives an UL or backscattered transmission from an Ambient loT device is configured with a binary pattern for the network node. The reader device provides an indication of the binary pattern to a location function (e.g., on a location server), which can use the binary pattern as an identifier of the network node or cell that received the UL or backscatter transmission from the Ambient loT device.

[0055] The binary pattern provided to the location function (e.g., on a location server) gives the location function an identifier of which network node the Ambient loT device is close to (e.g., the network node providing the DL transmission to the Ambient loT device, or the network node receiving the UL or backscattered transmission from the Ambient loT device). The reader node can also report the received signal strength measured from received UL or backscatter transmission to determine the proximity of the Ambient loT device to the reader device. All or some of this information, including optionally an identifier of the Ambient loT device provided by the AmbientloT device in the UL or backscatter transmission as well as known locations of the network node providing the DL transmission to the Ambient loT device and the network node receiving the UL or backscattered transmission from the Ambient loT device, can be used by the location function to determine a location of the Ambient loT device.

[0056] Accordingly, the techniques discussed herein provide an identifier of a device, such as cell ID or a device ID, to be provided for the Ambient loT device. The identifier of the device is an identifier associated with a device other than the Ambient loT device (e.g., an identifier of the network node providing the DL transmission to the Ambient loT device or an identifier of the network node receiving the UL or backscattered transmission from the Ambient loT device). Nonetheless, the identifier can be used by a location function to determine a location of the Ambient loT device. Thus, procedures (e.g., legacy procedures) that make use of an identifier (e.g., a cell ID) are able to be used to determine the location of the Ambient loT device.

[0057] Reference is made herein to communicating data or information, such as signaling communication resources and / or communications that are transmitted or received between devices. It is to be appreciated that other terms may be used interchangeably with communicating, such as signaling, transmitting, receiving, outputting, forwarding, retrieving, obtaining, and so forth.

[0058] Aspects of the present disclosure are described in the context of a wireless communications system.

[0059] Figure 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The wireless communications system 100 may include one or more NE 102, one or more UE 104, and a core network (CN) 106. The wireless communications system 100 may support various radio access technologies. In some implementations, the wireless communications system 100 may be a 4G network, such as an LTE network or an LTE- Advanced (LTE-A) network. In some other implementations, the wireless communications system 100 may be a new radio (NR) network, such as a 5G network, a 5G-Advanced (5G-A) network, or a 5G ultrawideband (5G-UWB) network. In other implementations, the wireless communications system 100 may be a combination of a 4G network and a 5G network, or other suitable radio access technology including Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi) (e.g., including one or more of 802.1 lay, 802.1 lax (also referred to as Wi-Fi 6), 802.11 az, 802.1 Iba,802.1 Ibc, 802.1 Ibd, 802.1 Ibe (also referred to as Wi-Fi 7), 802.1 Ibf, and / or 802.1 Ibn (also referred to as Wi-Fi 8)), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20. The wireless communications system 100 may support radio access technologies beyond 5G, for example, 6G. Additionally, the wireless communications system 100 may support technologies, such as time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), or code division multiple access (CDMA), etc.

[0060] The one or more NE 102 may be dispersed throughout a geographic region to form the wireless communications system 100. One or more of the NE 102 described herein may be or include or may be referred to as a network node, a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network), a network element, a network function, a network entity, a radio access network (RAN), a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), a next-generation NodeB (gNB), or other suitable terminology. An NE 102 and a UE 104 may communicate via a communication link, which may be a wireless or wired connection. For example, an NE 102 and a UE 104 may perform wireless communication (e.g., receive signaling, transmit signaling) over a Uu interface.

[0061] An NE 102 may provide a geographic coverage area for which the NE 102 may support services for one or more UEs 104 within the geographic coverage area. For example, an NE 102 and a UE 104 may support wireless communication of signals related to services (e.g., voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc.) according to one or multiple radio access technologies. In some implementations, an NE 102 may be moveable, for example, a satellite associated with a nonterrestrial network (NTN). In some implementations, different geographic coverage areas associated with the same or different radio access technologies may overlap, but the different geographic coverage areas may be associated with different NE 102.

[0062] The one or more UE 104 may be dispersed throughout a geographic region of the wireless communications system 100. A UE 104 may include or may be referred to as a remote unit, a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a subscriber device, a transmitter device, a receiver device, or some other suitable terminology. In some implementations, the UE 104 may be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, among other examples. Additionally, or alternatively, the UE 104 may be referred to as an Internet-of-Things (loT) device, an Internet-of- Everything (loE) device, or machine-type communication (MTC) device, among other examples.

[0063] A UE 104 may be able to support wireless communication directly with other UEs 104 over a communication link. For example, a UE 104 may support wireless communication directly with another UE 104 over a device-to-device (D2D) communication link. In some implementations, such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) deployments, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) deployments, or cellular-V2X deployments, the communication link may be referred to as a sidelink. For example, a UE 104 may support wireless communication directly with another UE 104 over a PC5 interface.

[0064] An NE 102 may support communications with the CN 106, or with another NE 102, or both. For example, an NE 102 may interface with other NE 102 or the CN 106 through one or more backhaul links (e.g., SI, N2, N6, or other network interface). In some implementations, the NE 102 may communicate with each other directly. In some other implementations, the NE 102 may communicate with each other indirectly (e.g., via the CN 106). In some implementations, one or more NE 102 may include subcomponents, such as an access network entity, which may be an example of an access node controller (ANC). An ANC may communicate with the one or more UEs 104 through one or more other access network transmission entities, which may be referred to as a radio heads, smart radio heads, or transmission-reception points (TRPs).

[0065] In some implementations, an NE 102 may be configured in a disaggregated architecture, which may be configured to utilize a protocol stack physically or logically distributed among two or more network entities 102, such as an integrated access backhaul (IAB) network, an open RAN (O- RAN) (e.g., a network configuration sponsored by the O-RAN Alliance), or a virtualized RAN (vRAN) (e.g., a cloud RAN (C-RAN)). For example, an NE 102 may include one or more of a central unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a radio unit (RU), a RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) (e.g., a Near-Real Time RIC (Near-RT RIC), a Non-Real Time RIC (Non-RT RIC)), a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) system, or any combination thereof.

[0066] An RU may also be referred to as a radio head, a smart radio head, a remote radio head (RRH), a remote radio unit (RRU), or a transmission reception point (TRP). One or more components of the network entities 102 in a disaggregated RAN architecture may be co-located, or one or more components of the NEs 102 may be located in distributed locations (e.g., separate physical locations). In some implementations, one or more NEs 102 of a disaggregated RAN architecture may be implemented as virtual units (e.g., a virtual CU (VCU), a virtual DU (VDU), a virtual RU (VRU)).

[0067] Split of functionality between a CU, a DU, and an RU may be flexible and may support different functionalities depending upon which functions (e.g., network layer functions, protocol layer functions, baseband functions, radio frequency functions, and any combinations thereof) are performed at a CU, a DU, or an RU. For example, a functional split of a protocol stack may be employed between a CU and a DU such that the CU may support one or more layers of the protocol stack and the DU may support one or more different layers of the protocol stack. In some implementations, the CU may host upper protocol layer (e.g., a layer 3 (L3), a layer 2 (L2)) functionality and signaling (e.g., Radio Resource Control (RRC), service data adaption protocol (SDAP), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)). The CU may be connected to one or more DUs or RUs, and the one or more DUs or RUs may host lower protocol layers, such as a layer 1 (LI) (e.g., physical (PHY) layer) or an L2 (e.g., radio link control (RLC) layer, medium access control (MAC) layer) functionality and signaling, and may each be at least partially controlled by the CU.

[0068] Additionally, or alternatively, a functional split of the protocol stack may be employed between a DU and an RU such that the DU may support one or more layers of the protocol stack and the RU may support one or more different layers of the protocol stack. The DU may support one or multiple different cells (e.g., via one or more RUs). In some implementations, a functional split between a CU and a DU, or between a DU and an RU may be within a protocol layer (e.g., some functions for a protocol layer may be performed by one of a CU, a DU, or an RU, while other functions of the protocol layer are performed by a different one of the CU, the DU, or the RU).

[0069] A CU may be functionally split further into CU control plane (CU-CP) and CU user plane (CU-UP) functions. A CU may be connected to one or more DUs via a midhaul communication link (e.g., Fl, Fl-c, Fl-u), and a DU may be connected to one or more RUs via a fronthaul communication link (e.g., open fronthaul (FH) interface). In some implementations, a midhaul communication link or a fronthaul communication link may be implemented in accordance with an interface (e.g., a channel) between layers of a protocol stack supported by respective NEs 102 that are in communication via such communication links.

[0070] The CN 106 may support user authentication, access authorization, tracking, connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The CN 106 may be an evolved packet core (EPC), or a 5G core (5GC), which may include a control plane entity that managesaccess and mobility (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility management functions (AMF)) and a user plane entity that routes packets or interconnects to external networks (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function (UPF)), or a location management function (EMF), which is a control plane entity that manages location services. In some implementations, the control plane entity may manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions, such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management (e.g., data bearers, signal bearers, etc.) for the one or more UEs 104 served by the one or more NE 102 associated with the CN 106.

[0071] The CN 106 may communicate with a packet data network over one or more backhaul links (e.g., via an SI, N2, N6, or other network interface). The packet data network may include an application server. In some implementations, one or more UEs 104 may communicate with the application server. A UE 104 may establish a session (e.g., a protocol data unit (PDU) session, or the like) with the CN 106 via an NE 102. The CN 106 may route traffic (e.g., control information, data, and the like) between the UE 104 and the application server using the established session (e.g., the established PDU session). The PDU session may be an example of a logical connection between the UE 104 and the CN 106 (e.g., one or more network functions of the CN 106).

[0072] In the wireless communications system 100, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may use resources of the wireless communications system 100 (e.g., time resources (e.g., symbols, slots, subframes, frames, or the like) or frequency resources (e.g., subcarriers, carriers)) to perform various operations (e.g., wireless communications). In some implementations, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may support different resource structures. For example, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may support different frame structures. In some implementations, such as in 4G, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may support a single frame structure. In some other implementations, such as in 5G and among other suitable radio access technologies, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may support various frame structures (i.e., multiple frame structures). The NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may support various frame structures based on one or more numerologies.

[0073] One or more numerologies may be supported in the wireless communications system 100, and a numerology may include a subcarrier spacing and a cyclic prefix. A first numerology (e.g., / r=0) may be associated with a first subcarrier spacing (e.g., 15 kHz) and a normal cyclic prefix. In some implementations, the first numerology (e.g., / r=0) associated with the first subcarrierspacing (e.g., 15 kHz) may utilize one slot per subframe. A second numerology (e.g., / r=l) may be associated with a second subcarrier spacing (e.g., 30 kHz) and a normal cyclic prefix. A third numerology (e.g., / r=2) may be associated with a third subcarrier spacing (e.g., 60 kHz) and a normal cyclic prefix or an extended cyclic prefix. A fourth numerology (e.g., / r=3) may be associated with a fourth subcarrier spacing (e.g., 120 kHz) and a normal cyclic prefix. A fifth numerology (e.g., / r=4) may be associated with a fifth subcarrier spacing (e.g., 240 kHz) and a normal cyclic prefix.

[0074] A time interval of a resource (e.g., a communication resource) may be organized according to frames (also referred to as radio frames). Each frame may have a duration, for example, a 10 millisecond (ms) duration. In some implementations, each frame may include multiple subframes. For example, each frame may include 10 subframes, and each subframe may have a duration, for example, a 1 ms duration. In some implementations, each frame may have the same duration. In some implementations, each subframe of a frame may have the same duration.

[0075] Additionally or alternatively, a time interval of a resource (e.g., a communication resource) may be organized according to slots. For example, a subframe may include a number (e.g., quantity) of slots. The number of slots in each subframe may also depend on the one or more numerologies supported in the wireless communications system 100. For instance, the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth numerologies (i.e., / r=0, / =l , / r=2, / r=3, / r=4) associated with respective subcarrier spacings of 15 kHz, 30 kHz, 60 kHz, 120 kHz, and 240 kHz may utilize a single slot per subframe, two slots per subframe, four slots per subframe, eight slots per subframe, and 16 slots per subframe, respectively. Each slot may include a number (e.g., quantity) of symbols (e.g., orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) symbols). In some implementations, the number (e.g., quantity) of slots for a subframe may depend on a numerology. For a normal cyclic prefix, a slot may include 14 symbols. For an extended cyclic prefix (e.g., applicable for 60 kHz subcarrier spacing), a slot may include 12 symbols. The relationship between the number of symbols per slot, the number of slots per subframe, and the number of slots per frame for a normal cyclic prefix and an extended cyclic prefix may depend on a numerology. It should be understood that reference to a first numerology (e.g., / r=0) associated with a first subcarrier spacing (e.g., 15 kHz) may be used interchangeably between subframes and slots.

[0076] In the wireless communications system 100, an electromagnetic (EM) spectrum may be split, based on frequency or wavelength, into various classes, frequency bands, frequency channels, etc. By way of example, the wireless communications system 100 may support one or multiple operating frequency bands, such as frequency range designations FR1 (410 MHz - 7.125 GHz), FR2 (24.25 GHz - 52.6 GHz), FR3 (7.125 GHz - 24.25 GHz), FR4 (52.6 GHz - 114.25 GHz), FR4a or FR4-1 (52.6 GHz - 71 GHz), and FR5 (114.25 GHz - 300 GHz). In some implementations, the NEs 102 and the UEs 104 may perform wireless communications over one or more of the operating frequency bands. In some implementations, FR1 may be used by the NEs 102 and the UEs 104, among other equipment or devices for cellular communications traffic (e.g., control information, data). In some implementations, FR2 may be used by the NEs 102 and the UEs 104, among other equipment or devices for short-range, high data rate capabilities.

[0077] FR1 may be associated with one or multiple numerologies (e.g., at least three numerologies). For example, FR1 may be associated with a first numerology (e.g., / r=0), which includes 15 kHz subcarrier spacing; a second numerology (e.g., / r=l), which includes 30 kHz subcarrier spacing; and a third numerology (e.g., / r=2), which includes 60 kHz subcarrier spacing. FR2 may be associated with one or multiple numerologies (e.g., at least 2 numerologies). For example, FR2 may be associated with a third numerology (e.g., / r=2), which includes 60 kHz subcarrier spacing; and a fourth numerology (e.g., / r=3), which includes 120 kHz subcarrier spacing.

[0078] Communication between devices discussed herein, such as between NEs 102 and external carrier wave nodes, or between NEs 102 and Ambient loT devices, is performed using any of a variety of different signaling. For example, such signaling can be any of various messages, requests, or responses, such as triggering messages, configuration messages, and so forth. By way of another example, such signaling can be any of various signaling mediums or protocols over which messages are conveyed, such as any combination of radio resource control (RRC), downlink control information (DCI), uplink control information (UCI), medium access control element (MAC-CE), and so forth.

[0079] In some cases, a cell refers to a radio access node in communication with a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network) or including a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network). A celltypically has a coverage area, which is a geographic area in which the cell provides wireless connectivity to devices within. Different cells may operate on defined frequencies or frequency bands, referred to as subcarriers.

[0080] The wireless communications system 100 may also include various low power devices, such as Ambient loT devices. These low power devices may communicate with any of various NEs 102 or UEs 104. One usage of such low power devices is to track inventory in an indoor area (e.g., a factory or warehouse) where low power devices are attached to objects (e.g., products, boxes, pallets) are being tracked. These low power devices may do random access and data transmission for transmitting, e.g., an electronic product code identifier (ID) to the network.

[0081] In recent years, loT has attracted much attention in the wireless communication world. More things are expected to be interconnected for improving productivity, efficiency, and increasing comforts of life. Further reduction of size, complexity, and power consumption of loT devices can enable the deployment of tens or even hundreds of billion loT devices for various applications and provide added value across the entire value chain. It is impractical to power all the loT devices by batteries that need to be replaced or recharged manually, which leads to high maintenance cost, serious environmental issues, and even safety hazards for some use cases (e.g., wireless sensor in electric power and petroleum industry).

[0082] Many existing wireless communication devices are powered by battery that needs to be replaced or recharged manually. The automation and digitalization of various industries open numbers of new markets considering new loT technologies of supporting battery-less devices with no energy storage capability or devices with energy storage that do not need to be replaced or recharged manually. The form factor of such devices are expected to be reasonably small to convey the validity of target use cases.

[0083] Various use cases, traffic scenarios, device constraints of ambient power-enabled Internet of Things are considered and identification of new potential service requirements as well as new KPIs are considered. Devices being battery-less or with limited energy storage capability (e.g., using a capacitor) are considered and the energy is provided through the harvesting of radio waves, light, motion, heat, or any other power source.

[0084] Considering the limited size and complexity required by practical applications for battery-less devices with no energy storage capability or devices with limited energy storage that do not need to be replaced or recharged manually, the output power of energy harvester is typically from 1 microwatt (pW) to a few hundreds of pW. Existing cellular devices may not work well with energy harvesting due to their peak power consumption of higher than 10 milliwatts (mW).

[0085] An example type of application is asset identification, which presently resorts mainly to barcode and radio frequency identification (RFID) in most industries. An advantage of these two technologies is the ultra-low complexity and small form factor of the tags. However, the limited reading range of a few meters usually requires handheld scanning which leads to labor intensive and time-consuming operations, or RFID portals or gates, which leads to costly deployments. Moreover, the lack of interference management scheme results in severe interference between RFID readers and capacity problems, especially in case of dense deployment. It is difficult to support large-scale network with seamless coverage for RFID.

[0086] Since existing technologies cannot meet all the requirements of target use cases, a new loT technology is desired to open new markets within 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) systems, whose number of connections and / or device density can be orders of magnitude higher than existing 3GPP loT technologies. The new loT technology is expected to provide complexity and power consumption orders of magnitude lower than the existing 3 GPP low power wide area (EPWA) technologies (e.g., narrowband (NB)-IoT and enhanced machine type communication (eMTC)), and is expected to address use cases and scenarios that cannot otherwise be fulfilled based on existing 3GPP EPWA loT technologies.

[0087] Assessment of Ambient loT suitable for deployment in a 3GPP system that relies on ultra-low complexity devices with ultra-low power consumption for the very-low end loT applications is taken into consideration. Addressing use cases and scenarios that cannot otherwise be fulfilled based on existing 3GPP EPWA loT technology, e.g., NB-IoT including with reduced peak transmit (TX) power is taken into consideration.

[0088] A harmonized air interface design with reduced (e.g., minimized) differences (where appropriate) for Ambient loT to enable the following devices is considered: a) an approximately 1 pW peak power consumption, has energy storage, initial sampling frequency offset (SFO) up to 10xppm, neither downlink (DL) nor uplink (UL) amplification in the device, where X is to be decided; the device’s UL transmission is backscattered on a carrier wave provided externally; b) less than or equal to a few hundred pW peak power consumption, has energy storage, initial SFO up to 10xppm, both DL and / or UL amplification in the device, where X is to be decided; the device’s UL transmission may be generated internally by the device, or be backscattered on a carrier wave provided externally. The coverage design target is a largest distance of 10-50 meters with device indoors. Devices where a UE operates as an intermediate node under network (e.g., base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) control), with no RRC states, no mobility (e.g., at least no cell selection or re-selection -like function), no hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), no automatic repeat request (ARQ), is considered.

[0089] Deployment scenarios with the following characteristics are considered. A deployment and topology scenario with a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network) and coexistence characteristics of micro-cell, co-site. A deployment and topology scenario with a UE as an intermediate node, under network (e.g., base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) control and base station and coexistence characteristics of macro-cell, co-site; and the location is of intermediate node is indoor. FR1 licensed spectrum in frequency division duplex (FDD). Spectrum deployment in-band to NR, in guard-band to ETE / NR, in one or more standalone bands. Traffic types DO-DTT, DT, with focus on rUCl (indoor inventory) and rUC4 (indoor command). Whether the harmonized air interface design can address the device-originated autonomous (DO-A) use case is also considered.

[0090] The occurrence of transmission from Ambient loT device (including backscattering when used) at least in UE spectrum is considered.

[0091] The following is considered: applicable largest (e.g., maximum) distance target values(s); latency suitable for use in RAN; 2-dimensional (2D) distribution of devices; deployment scenarios for coverage and coexistence evaluations; identify basic blocks or components of possible Ambient loT device architectures, taking into account implementations of low-power low- complexity devices which meet the RAN design target for power consumption and complexity; link budget calculation for coverage, including whether or how to model carrier wave from one or more nodes inside or outside the connectivity topology.

[0092] The following is considered: appropriate and feasible solutions for Ambient loT, including decisions on which functions, procedures, etc. are used, and providing at least desired (e.g., required) functionalities; positioning, restricted to functionalities which would have no, or little, specification impact; the feasibility and desired (e.g., required) functionalities for proximity determination.

[0093] For the Ambient loT DL and UL, the following is considered: frame structure, synchronization and timing, random access; numerologies, bandwidths, and multiple access; waveforms and modulations; channel coding; downlink channel / signal aspects; uplink channel / signal aspects; scheduling and timing relationships; characteristics of carrier-wave waveform for a carrier wave provided externally to the Ambient loT device, including for interference handling at Ambient loT UL receiver, and at NR base station.

[0094] The following is also considered: functions used for an Ambient loT compact protocol stack and lightweight signaling procedure to enable DO-DTT and DT data transmission; for example, paging, random access, data transmission, including radio resource control aspects, interactions with upper layers.

[0095] The following is also considered: impacts on signaling and procedures for CN-RAN interface, to enable paging, device context management, data transport; RAN architecture aspects, including whether support for split architecture is used; solutions for locating an Ambient loT device with no specification impact, e.g., reusing existing user location report, or reduced (e.g., minimal) specification impact to convey location information to core network.

[0096] The following is also considered: coexistence of Ambient loT and NR / LTE; RF for Ambient loT, including Ambient loT base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network) transmission and reception, Ambient loT Device transmission and reception, intermediate node (e.g., UE), transmission and reception.

[0097] Target an loT segment well below the existing 3GPP loT technologies, e.g. NB-IoT, eMTC, RedCap, etc., is considered. Not replacing existing 3GPP EPWA technologies is also considered.

[0098] For various applications, numerous (e.g., billions) of loT devices are expected to be deployed in a wireless communications system. However, it is difficult to power this large numberof devices with batteries that need to be replaced for re-charging, which leads to high maintenance cost. Accordingly, devices that consume very low power and / or rely on harvesting the energy are considered. One example of such a device is a device (e.g., referred to as a passive device) that has no energy storage, no independent signal generation, and uses backscattering transmission. Another example of such a device is a device (e.g., referred to as a semi-passive device) that has energy storage, no independent signal generation, and uses backscattering transmission. Use of stored energy can include amplification for reflected signals. Another example of such a device is a device (e.g., referred to as an active device) that has energy storage, has independent signal generation (e.g., an active RF component for transmission), and may use backscattering transmission.

[0099] loT devices may include Ambient loT devices. An Ambient loT device refers to a low- power (e.g., self-powered) sensor or device, which is typically small and / or low-cost. These low- power sensors or device may be, for example, passive devices, semi-passive devices, or active devices. There are different topologies and deployment scenarios of Ambient loT devices.Examples of these topologies include a topology where a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network) acts as reader and as source of a carrier wave, a topology where the base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network) acts as a reader but another device is used as a source of the carrier wave, a topology where the base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network) acts as a controller and another intermediate node is used as a reader and as a source of the carrier wave, and so forth.

[0100] The techniques discussed herein configure network nodes with a binary pattern that is associated with the network node. These network nodes can be, for example, devices (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network), an external node, an intermediate node) that transmit any of various information to Ambient loT devices in a DE or reader devices (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network), an intermediate node) that receives UE or backscatter transmissions from Ambient loT devices. Different network nodes are configured with different binary patterns. Thus, these different binary patterns can be used as identifiers of the network nodes or cells provided by the network nodes.

[0101] In one or more implementations, a network node providing a DL transmission to an Ambient loT device includes the binary pattern of the network node in a preamble of the DL transmission to the Ambient loT device. The Ambient loT device includes this preamble in an UL or backscattered transmission to a reader device. This informs the reader device of which network node the Ambient loT device received the DL transmission from and thus which network node the Ambient loT device is close to. The reader device provides an indication of the binary pattern received from the Ambient loT device to a location function (e.g., on a location server), which can use the binary pattern as an identifier of the network node or cell that transmitted the DL to the Ambient loT device.

[0102] Additionally or alternatively, a network node (e.g., a reader device) that receives an UL or backscattered transmission from an Ambient loT device is configured with a binary pattern for the network node. The reader device provides an indication of the binary pattern to a location function (e.g., on a location server), which can use the binary pattern as an identifier of the network node or cell that received the UL or backscatter transmission from the Ambient loT device.

[0103] Ambient loT devices can be used in any of various different topologies. Examples of these various different topologies are illustrated in Figures 2 through 9. Carrier waves can be provided to the Ambient loT devices from other internal (e.g., intermediate) or external nodes.

[0104] The Ambient loT device may be classified or defined as a low power device if a power consumption level of the Ambient loT device satisfies (e.g., is less than) a threshold value. The Ambient loT device may include a low power processor to reduce the power consumption level of the Ambient loT device. A low power processor may be a processor that operates with a power consumption level that satisfies (e.g., is less than) a threshold value. A low power processor and / or the Ambient loT device may have reduced functionality when compared with a processor or other wireless device that operates at a power consumption level that is greater than the threshold values. For example, the low power processor and / or the Ambient loT device may have reduced processing capabilities for decoding and generating signaling, may have reduced transmission and / or reception capabilities (e.g., transmission and / or reception range, among others), reduced energy storage capabilities (e.g., smaller battery), or the like when compared with a processor or wireless device that operates at a power consumption level that is greater than the threshold values.

[0105] In one or more implementations, the Ambient loT device may be a sensor (e.g., a tag), an actuator, an appliance, or another device capable of connecting to a wireless network. In some examples, the Ambient loT device is categorized according to a set of components and / or capabilities of the Ambient loT devices, where the categories include one or more of an active Ambient loT device category, a semi-passive Ambient loT device category, and / or a passive Ambient loT device category. An active Ambient loT device includes a power source and an active radio frequency component, such as a transmitter and / or receiver component, for signal generation. The transmitter and / or receiver component may include one or more antennas for transmitting and receiving signaling. A semi-passive Ambient loT device may have energy storage capabilities but may not include an active radio frequency component for signal generation. A passive Ambient loT device may not have energy storage capabilities or an active radio frequency component.

[0106] In some cases, semi-passive Ambient loT devices and passive Ambient loT devices use backscattering techniques and / or energy harvesting for transmitting and / or receiving transmissions. In variations, an active Ambient loT device may use a transmitter and / or receiver component for transmitting or receiving transmissions and / or may use backscattering techniques for transmitting and / or receiving transmissions. Semi-passive Ambient loT devices may use the stored energy to amplify a signal when using backscattering techniques. Backscattering techniques include receiving signaling from a source device (e.g., a node such as an intermediate node) and modulating a reflection of the incoming signaling towards a destination device (e.g., a reader node such as an intermediate node). Thus, the Ambient loT device may not use an active receiver and / or transmitter component for receiving and transmitting signaling, which reduces a power consumption level of the device.

[0107] In some examples, the Ambient loT device may be capable of energy harvesting using energy harvesting techniques. For example, the Ambient loT device may extract energy from transmission waves from a source device (e.g., an NE) to power the Ambient loT device. The source device may transmit the signaling using a continuous wave waveform in which the signaling has a constant amplitude and frequency and / or a carrier wave waveform in which the signaling has a periodic variation in amplitude, duration, and position. Signaling transmitted using a continuous wave waveform may be referred to as a continuous wave transmission, while signaling transmitted using a carrier wave waveform may be referred to as a carrier wave transmission. If the AmbientloT device includes an energy storage component, then the Ambient loT device may store the extracted energy for later use (e.g., to amplify a reflection of signal or to generate a new signal).

[0108] Figure 2 illustrates an example topology 200 of a wireless communications system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, the topology 200 implements aspects of the wireless communications system 100. For example, the topology 200 includes a NE 202 (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) and a low power (e.g., Ambient loT device) 204. In the topology 200, Ambient loT data and signaling is transmitted between the NE 202 and the Ambient loT device 204.

[0109] Figure 3 illustrates an example topology 300 of a wireless communications system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, the topology 300 implements aspects of the wireless communications system 100. For example, the topology 300 includes a NE 302 (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) and a low power (e.g., Ambient loT device) 304. In the topology 300, the NE 302 communicates (e.g., via a Uu interface) with an intermediate node 306, and Ambient loT data and signaling is transmitted between the Ambient loT device 304 and the intermediate node 306.

[0110] Figure 4 illustrates an example topology 400 of a wireless communications system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, the topology 400 implements aspects of the wireless communications system 100. For example, the topology 400 includes a UE 402 and a low power (e.g., Ambient loT device) 404. In the topology 400, Ambient loT data and signaling is transmitted between the UE 402 and the Ambient loT device 404.

[0111] Figure 5 illustrates an example topology 500 of a wireless communications system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, the topology 500 implements aspects of the wireless communications system 100. For example, the topology 500 includes a NE 502 (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) and a low power (e.g., Ambient loT device) 504. In the topology 500, the NE 502 transmits (e.g., via a Uu interface) data or signaling to an assisting node 506, the assisting node transmits data or signaling to the Ambient loT device 504, and the Ambient loT device node transmits data or signaling to the NE 502.

[0112] Figure 6 illustrates an example topology 600 of a wireless communications system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, the topology 600 implements aspects of the wireless communications system 100. For example, the topology 600 includes a NE 602 (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) and a low power (e.g., Ambient loT device) 604. In the topology 600, the NE 602 transmits data or signaling to the Ambient loT device 604, the Ambient loT device node transmits data or signaling to the assisting node 606, and the assisting node 606 transmits (e.g., via a Uu interface) data or signaling to the NE 602.

[0113] In Figures 2 through 6, the carrier wave is provided to an Ambient loT device from another external node inside or outside the topology. For example, the carrier wave may be provided to an Ambient loT device from a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network), an external carrier wave node, or an intermediate node as shown in Figures 7 through 9.

[0114] Figure 7 illustrates an example topology 700 of a wireless communications system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, the topology 700 implements aspects of the wireless communications system 100. For example, the topology 700 includes a NE 702 (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)), and a low power (e.g., Ambient loT device) 704. In the topology 700, the NE 702 can transmit any of various information to the Ambient loT device 704 in a DL for the Ambient loT device transmission 706. The NE 702 can also transmit a carrier wave 708 to the Ambient loT device 704 to excite the Ambient loT device 704 to transmit (backscatter 710) data or information to the NE 702. Accordingly, in the topology 700, the NE 702 (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) acts as reader and as source of a carrier wave.

[0115] Figure 8 illustrates an example topology 800 of a wireless communications system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, the topology 800 implements aspects of the wireless communications system 100. For example, the topology 800 includes a NE 802 (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)), and a low power (e.g., Ambient loT device) 804. In the topology 800, the NE 802 can transmit any of various information to the Ambient loT device 804 in a DL for the Ambient loTdevice transmission 806. The NE 802 also transmits a configuration or control signaling 808 to an external node 810. The configuration or control signaling 808 is for the external node 810 to transmit a carrier wave 812 to the Ambient loT device 804 to excite the Ambient loT device 804 to transmit (backscatter 814) data or information to the NE 802. Accordingly, in the topology 800, the NE 802 (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) acts as a reader but another device is used as a source of the carrier wave.

[0116] Figure 9 illustrates an example topology 900 of a wireless communications system in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, the topology 900 implements aspects of the wireless communications system 100. For example, the topology 900 includes a NE 902 (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)), and a low power (e.g., Ambient loT device) 904. In the topology 900, configuration and reporting signaling 906 is transmitted between the NE 902 and an intermediate node 908. The configuration signaling is transmitted from the NE 902 to the intermediate node 908, and the reporting is transmitted from the intermediate node 908 to the NE 902.

[0117] The intermediate node 908 can transmit any of various information to the Ambient loT device 904 in a DL for the Ambient loT device transmission 910. The configuration signaling from the NE 902 is to configure the intermediate node 908 to transmit a carrier wave 912 to the Ambient loT device 904 to excite the Ambient loT device 904 to transmit (backscatter 914) data or information to the intermediate node 908. The intermediate node 908 can then report the data or information received from the intermediate node 908 to the NE 902.

[0118] In the topology 900, an intermediate node is communicating with the Ambient loT device. Accordingly, in the topology 900, the NE 902 (e.g., a base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) acts as a controller and another intermediate node is used as a reader and as a source of the carrier wave.

[0119] An Ambient loT device can include any of various receiver types. In one or more implementations, an Ambient loT device receiver is a heterodyne envelope detector implemented at intermediate frequency (IF) level. Additionally or alternatively, the receiver is a homodyne / zero-IF envelope detector at the baseband (BB). Additionally or alternatively, the receiver is the OFDM based sequence or signal with time domain or frequency domain correlation.

[0120] In one or more implementations, a plurality of distinct binary preamble patterns or binary sequences for each of the network node or the intermediate node may be configured for DL transmission towards the Ambient loT device. A plurality of network nodes may be configured for DL transmission on the same frequency to the Ambient loT device however the binary preamble pattern transmitted by each of the network nodes may be different. The Ambient loT device may receive a DL transmission containing a trigger for the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, and may use the same preamble pattern in the UL that it received in the DL from the network node or from the intermediate node to transmit to the network node or to the intermediate node.

[0121] For the bistatic case, the network node or the intermediate node that is configured to receive the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, which may be different from the network node or intermediate node that transmitted the DL to the Ambient loT device, after receiving the UL transmission may determine from the received preamble pattern the cell ID of the network node or intermediate node ID that transmitted the DL to the Ambient loT device. Although reference is made herein to the cell ID, it is to be appreciated that other identifiers can be used, such as a base station ID.

[0122] Figure 10 illustrates an example of a frame structure 1000 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The frame structure 1000 is a common frame structure design containing preamble for DL and UL. The frame structure 1000 includes a preamble 1002, which includes a preamble pattern or binary sequence as discussed below. The frame structure 1000 also includes a synchronization (Sync) word 1004, a header (HDR) 1006, and a payload 1008.

[0123] In a case that the network node was configured (e.g., by a location server) to report the cell ID of the network node or intermediate node ID that transmitted DL transmission to the Ambient loT device, the network node after receiving the UL transmission or backscattered transmission may determine the cell ID or intermediate node ID of the DL transmission from the received preamble pattern and report the cell ID or intermediate node ID that transmitted DL to the Ambient loT device to a location server. The report may also contain the received signal strength measured from the preamble to determine the proximity to the network node or the intermediate node.

[0124] A plurality of network nodes or intermediate nodes may transmit DL signal to the Ambient loT device with distinct preamble patterns and the network node receiving the UL transmission or backscattered transmission may report the cell ID and the received signal strength to the location server.

[0125] The network node may configure the preamble pattern to be transmitted by the intermediate node in some topologies, such as the topology 900 of Figure 9 discussed above.

[0126] Furthermore, the network node may configure the Ambient loT device to use in the UL the preamble pattern from the DL signal. Such configuration may be provided to the Ambient loT device as part of the DL trigger command or semi-statically configured.

[0127] Multiple predefined binary patterns modulated using the on-off keying (OOK) waveform for the preamble can be specified and each of these patterns can be associated with (e.g., encodes) a cell ID or part of the cell ID or to the intermediate node. In one example, the predefined binary pattern is alternating "1" and "0" (e.g., 101010...), where each symbol "1" or "0" is OOK- modulated. In another example, the predefined pattern is a group of multiple "Is" followed by a single "0," such as "110110110...," where each symbol is OOK modulated. In another example, the predefined pattern is composed of all "Is," using OOK modulation. In another example, the binary Golay sequence can be used as an orthogonal sequence for generating the preambles.

[0128] Additionally or alternatively, the DL trigger may contain the transmission of UL binary pattern for performing positioning or channel estimate at the network node or at the intermediate node. Accordingly, the preamble may also be transmitted instead of the payload.

[0129] Figure 11 illustrates an example of a frame structure 1100 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The frame structure 1100 is a common frame structure design containing preamble for DL and UL. The frame structure 1100 includes a preamble 1102, a synchronization (Sync) word 1104, a header (HDR) 1106, and an extended preamble 1108. The extended preamble 1108, optionally in combination with the preamble 1102, includes a preamble pattern or binary sequence as discussed above. Use of such an extended transmission of preamble may help the network to correct timing errors, synchronization errors to estimate the time difference of arrival or phase difference of arrival at the network node based on the received signal.

[0130] The proximity of Ambient loT devices from the reader can be determined when the reader transmits the distinct preamble sequence to the Ambient loT device in the direction of the reader to the Ambient loT devices, and in return the Ambient loT devices may transmit the same preamble pattern to the reader in the uplink. The reader, after receiving the signal from the Ambient loT device, may determine the reader ID from the detected preamble and the received signal strength can be estimated to determine the distance of the Ambient loT device from the reader. The reader may transmit the electronic product code identifiers of ambient loT devices within the certain range of the reader to a server (e.g., the location server). The reader may be configured with a reading range (e.g., distance) by the server where the reader may determine the number of Ambient loT devices with the configured distance or reading range using above procedures. The reader may be configured with a periodic or aperiodic reporting of Ambient loT devices within the reading range. The reader may transmit a trigger for the proximity determination request to the Ambient loT devices in the downlink control message and the frame may contain one or more preambles to do clock synchronization using binary modulated OOK waveform using OFDM or using OOK using discrete Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM). At least one preamble (e.g., extended preamble) transmitted as part of the payload may be modulated using OOK-4, M >1 where M is the number of OOK chips per OFDM symbol, to achieve finer synchronization for positioning. Depending on the positioning accuracy, the network node (e.g., base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) may request in the DL signal the ‘M’ chips of OOK per OFDM symbol used for the UL transmission by Ambient loT device, M>1 provides narrower pulse duration within a OFDM symbol thereby achieving finer synchronization. When the DL signal contains a proximity determination request or a positioning request, the Ambient loT device may backscatter UL transmission using a plurality of carrier waves transmitted by a plurality of carrier wave nodes to help network node (e.g., base station (e.g., of a cellular network) or an access point (AP) (e.g., of a Wi-Fi network)) with positioning. In response to the proximity determination request, the Ambient loT device may transmit the random 16 (RN16 - any random number containing 16 bits) in binary modulated or binary sequency using OFDM waveform.

[0131] Additionally or alternatively, in a case that the network node was configured (e.g., by a location server) to report the cell ID of the network node or intermediate node ID that received ULtransmission or backscattered transmission from the Ambient loT device, the network node or the intermediate node, after receiving the UL transmission or the backscattered transmission from the Ambient loT device, may determine the identity of the Ambient loT device and may report the cell ID of the received network node or the intermediate node to the server (e.g., location server) and the report may also contain the received signal strength.

[0132] In case of Ambient loT passive devices, the network node may configure the external emitter node or device to transmit the carrier wave to the Ambient loT device for backscattering. To improve the backscattered reception at the network node, the network node may configure a plurality of emitter nodes to transmit a plurality of carrier waves for transmission towards the Ambient loT passive device. Such carrier waves may be frequency shifted with respect to each other or transmitted in different time slots. The Ambient loT passive device may backscatter a carrier wave when received within its frequency response. The network node, after receiving the plurality of backscattered received signals, may transmit the cell ID of the received network node, signal strength and may also include the emitter ID to the server.

[0133] In one or more implementations, the identifier of the network node can be a cell ID, a gNB ID, a TRP ID, a Reader ID, and so forth.

[0134] In one or more implementations, the identifier of the intermediate node can be a UE ID; a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) of the intermediate UE, a reader ID, and so forth.

[0135] Accordingly, in a case that the network node was configured (e.g., by a location server) to report the cell ID of the network node or intermediate node ID that transmitted DL transmission to the Ambient loT device (e.g., a bistatic case), the network configures a plurality of distinct binary preamble patterns or binary sequences for each of the network node or to the intermediate node that may be configured for DL transmission towards the Ambient loT device. The Ambient loT device may use the same preamble pattern in the UL that it received in the DL from the network node or from the intermediate node to transmit to the network node or to the intermediate node. The network node may configure the preamble pattern to be transmitted by the intermediate node (e.g., for the topology 900 of Eigure 9 discussed above). The DL trigger may contain the transmission of UL binary pattern for performing positioning and the device may transmit an extended preamble transmission.

[0136] In a case that the network node was configured (e.g., by a location server) to report the cell ID of the network node or intermediate node ID that received UL transmission or backscattered transmission from the Ambient loT device, the network node may determine the identity of the Ambient loT device and may report the cell ID of the received network node or the intermediate node ID to the server, and the report may also contain the received signal strength. The network node may configure a plurality of emitter nodes to transmit a plurality of carrier waves for transmission towards the Ambient loT passive device. Such carrier waves may be frequency shifted with respect to each other or transmitted in different time slots. The network node, after receiving the plurality of backscattered received signals, may transmit the cell ID of the received network node, signal strength, and may also include the emitter ID to the server (e.g., location server).

[0137] Figure 12 illustrates an example of a device 1200 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The device 1200 may include a processor 1202, a memory 1204, a controller 1206, and a transceiver 1208. The processor 1202, the memory 1204, the controller 1206, or the transceiver 1208, or various combinations thereof or various components thereof may be examples of means for performing various aspects of the present disclosure as described herein. These components may be coupled (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) via one or more interfaces. The device 1200 may be a low power device (e.g., an Ambient loT device), a UE, a wireless device associated with a carrier wave (e.g., an external carrier wave node as discussed above), and so forth.

[0138] The processor 1202, the memory 1204, the controller 1206, or the transceiver 1208, or various combinations or components thereof may be implemented in hardware (e.g., circuitry). The hardware may include a processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof configured as or otherwise supporting a means for performing the functions described in the present disclosure.

[0139] The processor 1202 may include an intelligent hardware device (e.g., a general-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, or any combination thereof). In some implementations, the processor 1202 may be configured to operate the memory 1204. In some other implementations, the memory 1204 may be integrated into the processor 1202. The processor 1202may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in the memory 1204 to cause the device 1200 to perform various functions of the present disclosure.

[0140] The memory 1204 may include volatile or non-volatile memory. The memory 1204 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code including instructions when executed by the processor 1202 cause the device 1200 to perform various functions described herein. The code may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as the memory 1204 or another type of memory. Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A non-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer.

[0141] In some implementations, the processor 1202 and the memory 1204 coupled with the processor 1202 may be configured to cause the device 1200 to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., executing, by the processor 1202, instructions stored in the memory 1204). For example, the processor 1202 may support wireless communication at the device 1200 in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The device 1200 may be configured to or operable to support a means for receiving a configuration to include in a UL transmission or backscattered transmission an identifier of a first device communicating with the wireless device; receiving a DL signal; and transmitting the UL transmission or backscattered transmission including the identifier of the first device.

[0142] Additionally, the device 1200 may be configured to support any one or combination of encoding the identifier of the first device in a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the UL transmission or backscattered transmission; including, as the preamble of the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the DL signal; where the DL signal includes a trigger for the UL transmission or backscattered transmission by the wireless device; where the first device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; further including receiving the configuration from the first device comprises the first device; where the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device; where the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0143] Additionally, or alternatively, the device 1200 may support at least one memory (e.g., the memory 1204) and at least one processor (e.g., the processor 1202) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to or operable to cause the device to: receive a configuration to include in an UL transmission or backscattered transmission an identifier of a first device communicating with the wireless device; receive a DL signal; transmit the UL transmission or backscattered transmission including the identifier of the first device.

[0144] Additionally, the device 1200 may be configured to support any one or combination of the at least one processor is configured to or operable to cause the device to encode the identifier of the first device in a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the UL transmission or backscattered transmission; where the at least one processor is further configured to or operable to cause the wireless device to include, as the preamble of the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the DL signal; where the DL signal includes a trigger for the UL transmission or backscattered transmission by the wireless device; where the first device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; where the first device comprises the first device; where the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device; where the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0145] In some implementations, the processor 1202 and the memory 1204 coupled with the processor 1202 may be configured to cause the device 1200 to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., executing, by the processor 1202, instructions stored in the memory 1204). For example, the processor 1202 may support wireless communication at the device 1200 in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The device 1200 may be configured to or operable to support a means for transmitting a configuration for a wireless device to include, in an UL transmission or a backscattered transmission, a preamble pattern received in a DL transmission.

[0146] Additionally, the device 1200 may be configured to support any one or combination of where the preamble pattern includes an indication of an identifier of a second device from which the DL transmission is received; where the preamble pattern comprises a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence that encodes the identifier of the second device; where the second device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; where the second device comprises the first device; receiving, from a network device an indication for thewireless device to use, in the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the preamble pattern received; where the network device comprises a location server; where the first device comprises a base station or an intermediate node; where the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device; where the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0147] Additionally, or alternatively, the device 1200 may support at least one memory (e.g., the memory 1204) and at least one processor (e.g., the processor 1202) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to or operable to cause the device to: transmit a configuration for a wireless device to include, in an UL transmission or a backscattered transmission, a preamble pattern received in a DL transmission.

[0148] Additionally, the device 1200 may be configured to support any one or combination of the at least one processor is configured to or operable to cause the device to: where the preamble pattern includes an indication of an identifier of a second device from which the DL transmission is received; where the preamble pattern comprises a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence that encodes the identifier of the second device; where the second device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; where the second device comprises the first device; receive, from a network device an indication for the wireless device to use, in the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the preamble pattern received; where the network device comprises a location server; where the first device comprises a base station or an intermediate node; where the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device; where the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0149] The controller 1206 may manage input and output signals for the device 1200. The controller 1206 may also manage peripherals not integrated into the device 1200. In some implementations, the controller 1206 may utilize an operating system such as iOS®, ANDROID®, WINDOWS®, or other operating systems. In some implementations, the controller 1206 may be implemented as part of the processor 1202.

[0150] In some implementations, the device 1200 may include at least one transceiver 1208. In some other implementations, the device 1200 may have more than one transceiver 1208. The transceiver 1208 may represent a wireless transceiver. The transceiver 1208 may include one or more receiver chains 1210, one or more transmitter chains 1212, or a combination thereof.

[0151] A receiver chain 1210 may be configured to receive signals (e.g., control information, data, packets) over a wireless medium. For example, the receiver chain 1210 may include one or more antennas to receive a signal over the air or wireless medium. The receiver chain 1210 may include at least one amplifier (e.g., a low-noise amplifier (LNA)) configured to amplify the received signal. The receiver chain 1210 may include at least one demodulator configured to demodulate the receive signal and obtain the transmitted data by reversing the modulation technique applied during transmission of the signal. The receiver chain 1210 may include at least one decoder for decoding the demodulated signal to receive the transmitted data.

[0152] A transmitter chain 1212 may be configured to generate and transmit signals (e.g., control information, data, packets). The transmitter chain 1212 may include at least one modulator for modulating data onto a carrier signal, preparing the signal for transmission over a wireless medium. The at least one modulator may be configured to support one or more techniques such as amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), or digital modulation schemes like phaseshift keying (PSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). The transmitter chain 1212 may also include at least one power amplifier configured to amplify the modulated signal to an appropriate power level suitable for transmission over the wireless medium. The transmitter chain 1212 may also include one or more antennas for transmitting the amplified signal into the air or wireless medium.

[0153] Figure 13 illustrates an example of a processor 1300 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The processor 1300 may be an example of a processor configured to perform various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. The processor 1300 may include a controller 1302 configured to perform various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. The processor 1300 may optionally include at least one memory 1304, which may be, for example, an L1 / L2 / L3 cache. Additionally, or alternatively, the processor 1300 may optionally include one or more arithmetic-logic units (ALUs) 1306. One or more of these components may be in electronic communication or otherwise coupled (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) via one or more interfaces (e.g., buses).

[0154] The processor 1300 may be a processor chipset and include a protocol stack (e.g., a software stack) executed by the processor chipset to perform various operations (e.g., receiving, obtaining, retrieving, transmitting, outputting, forwarding, storing, determining, identifying,accessing, writing, reading) in accordance with examples as described herein. The processor chipset may include one or more cores, one or more caches (e.g., memory local to or included in the processor chipset (e.g., the processor 1300) or other memory (e.g., random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), static RAM (SRAM), ferroelectric RAM (FeRAM), magnetic RAM (MRAM), resistive RAM (RRAM), flash memory, phase change memory (PCM), and others).

[0155] The controller 1302 may be configured to manage and coordinate various operations (e.g., signaling, receiving, obtaining, retrieving, transmitting, outputting, forwarding, storing, determining, identifying, accessing, writing, reading) of the processor 1300 to cause the processor 1300 to support various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. For example, the controller 1302 may operate as a control unit of the processor 1300, generating control signals that manage the operation of various components of the processor 1300. These control signals include enabling or disabling functional units, selecting data paths, initiating memory access, and coordinating timing of operations.

[0156] The controller 1302 may be configured to fetch (e.g., obtain, retrieve, receive) instructions from the memory 1304 and determine subsequent instruction(s) to be executed to cause the processor 1300 to support various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. The controller 1302 may be configured to track memory addresses of instructions associated with the memory 1304. The controller 1302 may be configured to decode instructions to determine the operation to be performed and the operands involved. For example, the controller 1302 may be configured to interpret the instruction and determine control signals to be output to other components of the processor 1300 to cause the processor 1300 to support various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. Additionally, or alternatively, the controller 1302 may be configured to manage flow of data within the processor 1300. The controller 1302 may be configured to control transfer of data between registers, ALUs 1306, and other functional units of the processor 1300.

[0157] The memory 1304 may include one or more caches (e.g., memory local to or included in the processor 1300 or other memory, such as RAM, ROM, DRAM, SDRAM, SRAM, MRAM, flash memory, etc. In some implementations, the memory 1304 may reside within or on a processorchipset (e.g., local to the processor 1300). In some other implementations, the memory 1304 may reside external to the processor chipset (e.g., remote to the processor 1300).

[0158] The memory 1304 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code including instructions that, when executed by the processor 1300, cause the processor 1300 to perform various functions described herein. The code may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as system memory or another type of memory. The controller 1302 and / or the processor 1300 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in the memory 1304 to cause the processor 1300 to perform various functions. For example, the processor 1300 and / or the controller 1302 may be coupled with or to the memory 1304, the processor 1300, and the controller 1302, and may be configured to perform various functions described herein. In some examples, the processor 1300 may include multiple processors and the memory 1304 may include multiple memories. One or more of the multiple processors may be coupled with one or more of the multiple memories, which may, individually or collectively, be configured to perform various functions herein.

[0159] The one or more ALUs 1306 may be configured to support various operations in accordance with examples as described herein. In some implementations, the one or more ALUs 1306 may reside within or on a processor chipset (e.g., the processor 1300). In some other implementations, the one or more ALUs 1306 may reside external to the processor chipset (e.g., the processor 1300). One or more ALUs 1306 may perform one or more computations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division on data. For example, one or more ALUs 1306 may receive input operands and an operation code, which determines an operation to be executed. One or more ALUs 1306 may be configured with a variety of logical and arithmetic circuits, including adders, subtractors, shifters, and logic gates, to process and manipulate the data according to the operation. Additionally, or alternatively, the one or more ALUs 1306 may support logical operations such as AND, OR, exclusive-OR (XOR), not-OR (NOR), and not-AND (NAND), enabling the one or more ALUs 1306 to handle conditional operations, comparisons, and bitwise operations.

[0160] The processor 1300 may support wireless communication in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The processor 1300 may be configured to or operable to support at least one controller (e.g., the controller 1302) coupled with at least one memory (e.g., the memory 1304) andconfigured to cause the processor to: transmit a configuration for a wireless device to include, in an UL transmission or a backscattered transmission, a preamble pattern received in a DL transmission.

[0161] Additionally, the processor 1300 may be configured to or operable to support any one or combination of the at least one controller is configured to or operable to cause the processor to: where the preamble pattern includes an indication of an identifier of a device from which the DL transmission is received; where the preamble pattern comprises a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence that encodes the identifier of the device; where the device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; where the device includes the processor; where the at least one controller is further configured to or operable to cause the processor to receive, from a network device an indication for the wireless device to use, in the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the preamble pattern received; where the network device comprises a location server; where the processor is included in a base station or an intermediate node; where the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device; where the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0162] The processor 1300 may support wireless communication in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The processor 1300 may be configured to or operable to support at least one controller (e.g., the controller 1302) coupled with at least one memory (e.g., the memory 1304) and configured to cause the processor to: receive a configuration to include in an UL transmission or backscattered transmission an identifier of a first device communicating with the wireless device; receive a DL signal; transmit the UL transmission or backscattered transmission including the identifier of the first device.

[0163] Additionally, the processor 1300 may be configured to or operable to support any one or combination of the at least one controller is configured to or operable to cause the processor to encode the identifier of the first device in a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the UL transmission or backscattered transmission; include, as the preamble of the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the DL signal; where the DL signal includes a trigger for the UL transmission or backscattered transmission by the wireless device; where the first device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; receive the configuration fromthe first device; where the processor is included in an Ambient loT device; where the processor is included in a low power device.

[0164] The processor 1300 may support wireless communication in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The processor 1300 may be configured to or operable to support at least one controller (e.g., the controller 1302) coupled with at least one memory (e.g., the memory 1304) and configured to cause the processor to: receive, from a wireless device, a UL transmission or backscattered transmission; determine, based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission, an identifier of a second device communicating with the wireless device; transmit at least one of the identifier or a received signal strength based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

[0165] Additionally, the processor 1300 may be configured to or operable to support any one or combination of the at least one controller is configured to or operable to cause the processor to determine the identifier based on a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission; receive, from a network device, a configuration to report the identifier of the second device to the network device; where the second device comprises a device that transmitted a DL signal to the wireless device; where the DL signal includes a trigger for the UL transmission or backscattered transmission by the wireless device; where the second device comprises a device that received the UL transmission or backscattered signal from the wireless device; transmit at least one of the identifier or the received signal strength to a location server; where the second device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; where the second device comprises the first device; where the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device; where the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0166] Figure 14 illustrates an example of a NE 1400 in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The NE 1400 may include a processor 1402, a memory 1404, a controller 1406, and a transceiver 1408. The processor 1402, the memory 1404, the controller 1406, or the transceiver 1408, or various combinations thereof or various components thereof may be examples of means for performing various aspects of the present disclosure as described herein. These components may be coupled (e.g., operatively, communicatively, functionally, electronically, electrically) via one or more interfaces. The NE 1400 may be any of a variety of different NEs as discussed above, such asan intermediate node, a TRP, a base station, or any device that receives an UL transmission or backscatter transmission.

[0167] The processor 1402, the memory 1404, the controller 1406, or the transceiver 1408, or various combinations or components thereof may be implemented in hardware (e.g., circuitry). The hardware may include a processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or other programmable logic device, or any combination thereof configured as or otherwise supporting a means for performing the functions described in the present disclosure.

[0168] The processor 1402 may include an intelligent hardware device (e.g., a general-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, an ASIC, an FPGA, or any combination thereof). In some implementations, the processor 1402 may be configured to operate the memory 1404. In some other implementations, the memory 1404 may be integrated into the processor 1402. The processor 1402 may be configured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in the memory 1404 to cause the NE 1400 to perform various functions of the present disclosure.

[0169] The memory 1404 may include volatile or non-volatile memory. The memory 1404 may store computer-readable, computer-executable code including instructions when executed by the processor 1402 cause the NE 1400 to perform various functions described herein. The code may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as the memory 1404 or another type of memory. Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A non-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that may be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer.

[0170] In some implementations, the processor 1402 and the memory 1404 coupled with the processor 1402 may be configured to cause the NE 1400 to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., executing, by the processor 1402, instructions stored in the memory 1404). For example, the processor 1402 may support wireless communication at the NE 1400 in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The NE 1400 may be configured to support a means for receiving an UL transmission or backscattered transmission; determining, based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission, an identifier of a second devicecommunicating with the wireless device; and transmitting at least one of the identifier or a received signal strength based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

[0171] Additionally, the NE 1400 may be configured to support any one or combination of determining the identifier based on a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission; receiving, from a network device, a configuration to report the identifier of the second device to the network device; where the second device comprises a device that transmitted a DL signal to the wireless device; where the DL signal includes a trigger for the UL transmission or backscattered transmission by the wireless device; where the second device comprises a device that received the UL transmission or backscattered signal from the wireless device; transmitting at least one of the identifier or the received signal strength to a location server; where the second device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; where the second device comprises the first device; where the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device; where the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0172] Additionally, or alternatively, the NE 1400 may support at least one memory (e.g., the memory 1404) and at least one processor (e.g., the processor 1402) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to or operable to cause the NE to: receive, from a wireless device, an UL transmission or backscattered transmission; determine, based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission, an identifier of a second device communicating with the wireless device; transmit at least one of the identifier, or a received signal strength based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

[0173] Additionally, the NE 1400 may be configured to support any one or combination of the at least one processor is configured to or operable to cause the NE to determine the identifier based on a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission; receive, from the network device, a configuration to report the identifier of the second device to the network device; where the second device comprises a device that transmitted a DL signal to the wireless device; where the DL signal includes a trigger for the UL transmission or backscattered transmission by the wireless device; where the second device comprises a device that received the UL transmission or backscattered signal from the wireless device; transmit at least one of the identifier or the received signal strength to a location server;where the second device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; where the second device comprises the first device; where the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device; where the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0174] In some implementations, the processor 1402 and the memory 1404 coupled with the processor 1402 may be configured to cause the NE 1400 to perform one or more of the functions described herein (e.g., executing, by the processor 1402, instructions stored in the memory 1404). For example, the processor 1402 may support wireless communication at the NE 1400 in accordance with examples as disclosed herein. The NE 1400 may be configured to support a means for transmitting a configuration for a wireless device to include, in an UL transmission or a backscattered transmission, a preamble pattern received in a DL transmission.

[0175] Additionally, the NE 1400 may be configured to support any one or combination of where the preamble pattern includes an indication of an identifier of a second device from which the DL transmission is received; where the preamble pattern comprises a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence that encodes the identifier of the second device; where the second device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; where the second device comprises the first device; receiving, from a network device an indication for the wireless device to use, in the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the preamble pattern received; where the network device comprises a location server; where the first device comprises a base station or an intermediate node; where the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device; where the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0176] Additionally, or alternatively, the NE 1400 may support at least one memory (e.g., the memory 1404) and at least one processor (e.g., the processor 1402) coupled with the at least one memory and configured to or operable to cause the NE to: transmit a configuration for a wireless device to include, in an UL transmission or a backscattered transmission, a preamble pattern received in a DL transmission.

[0177] Additionally, the NE 1400 may be configured to support any one or combination of the at least one processor is configured to or operable to cause the NE to: where the preamble pattern includes an indication of an identifier of a second device from which the DL transmission is received; where the preamble pattern comprises a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence thatencodes the identifier of the second device; where the second device comprises at least one of a base station, an intermediate node, a TRP, or a carrier wave emitter; where the second device comprises the first device; receive, from a network device an indication for the wireless device to use, in the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the preamble pattern received; where the network device comprises a location server; where the first device comprises a base station or an intermediate node; where the wireless device comprises an Ambient loT device; where the wireless device comprises a low power device.

[0178] The controller 1406 may manage input and output signals for the NE 1400. The controller 1406 may also manage peripherals not integrated into the NE 1400. In some implementations, the controller 1406 may utilize an operating system such as iOS®, ANDROID®, WINDOWS®, or other operating systems. In some implementations, the controller 1406 may be implemented as part of the processor 1402.

[0179] In some implementations, the NE 1400 may include at least one transceiver 1408. In some other implementations, the NE 1400 may have more than one transceiver 1408. The transceiver 1408 may represent a wireless transceiver. The transceiver 1408 may include one or more receiver chains 1410, one or more transmitter chains 1412, or a combination thereof.

[0180] A receiver chain 1410 may be configured to receive signals (e.g., control information, data, packets) over a wireless medium. For example, the receiver chain 1410 may include one or more antennas to receive a signal over the air or wireless medium. The receiver chain 1410 may include at least one amplifier (e.g., a low-noise amplifier (LNA)) configured to amplify the received signal. The receiver chain 1410 may include at least one demodulator configured to demodulate the receive signal and obtain the transmitted data by reversing the modulation technique applied during transmission of the signal. The receiver chain 1410 may include at least one decoder for decoding the demodulated signal to receive the transmitted data.

[0181] A transmitter chain 1412 may be configured to generate and transmit signals (e.g., control information, data, packets). The transmitter chain 1412 may include at least one modulator for modulating data onto a carrier signal, preparing the signal for transmission over a wireless medium. The at least one modulator may be configured to support one or more techniques such as amplitude modulation (AM), frequency modulation (FM), or digital modulation schemes like phase-shift keying (PSK) or quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). The transmitter chain 1412 may also include at least one power amplifier configured to amplify the modulated signal to an appropriate power level suitable for transmission over the wireless medium. The transmitter chain 1412 may also include one or more antennas for transmitting the amplified signal into the air or wireless medium.

[0182] Figure 15 illustrates a flowchart of a method in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method may be implemented by a device as described herein, such as a UE, an Ambient loT device, or a low power device. In some implementations, the UE, Ambient loT device, or low power device may execute a set of instructions to control the function elements of the UE, Ambient loT device, or low power device to perform the described functions.

[0183] At 1502, the method may include receiving a configuration to include in an UL transmission or backscattered transmission an identifier of a first device communicating with the wireless device. The operations of 1502 may be performed in accordance with examples as described herein. In some implementations, aspects of the operations of 1502 may be performed by a device as described with reference to Figure 12.

[0184] At 1504, the method may include receiving a DL signal. The operations of 1504 may be performed in accordance with examples as described herein. In some implementations, aspects of the operations of 1504 may be performed by a UE as described with reference to Figure 12.

[0185] At 1506, the method may include transmitting the UL transmission or backscattered transmission including the identifier of the first device. The operations of 1506 may be performed in accordance with examples as described herein. In some implementations, aspects of the operations of 1506 may be performed a UE as described with reference to Figure 12.

[0186] It should be noted that the method described herein describes a possible implementation, and that the operations and the steps may be rearranged or otherwise modified and that other implementations are possible.

[0187] Figure 16 illustrates a flowchart of a method in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method may be implemented by a NE as described herein. In some implementations, the NE may execute a set of instructions to control the function elements of the NE to perform the described functions.

[0188] At 1602, the method may include transmitting a configuration for a wireless device to include, in an UL transmission or a backscattered transmission, a preamble pattern received in a DL transmission. The operations of 1602 may be performed in accordance with examples as described herein. In some implementations, aspects of the operations of 1602 may be performed by a NE as described with reference to Figure 14.

[0189] Figure 17 illustrates a flowchart of a method in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The operations of the method may be implemented by a NE as described herein. In some implementations, the NE may execute a set of instructions to control the function elements of the NE to perform the described functions.

[0190] At 1702, the method may include receiving, from a wireless device, an UL transmission or backscattered transmission. The operations of 1702 may be performed in accordance with examples as described herein. In some implementations, aspects of the operations of 1702 may be performed by a NE as described with reference to Figure 14.

[0191] At 1704, the method may include determining, based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission, an identifier of a second device communicating with the wireless device. The operations of 1704 may be performed in accordance with examples as described herein. In some implementations, aspects of the operations of 1704 may be performed by a NE as described with reference to Figure 14.

[0192] At 1706, the method may include transmitting at least one of the identifier or a received signal strength based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission. The operations of 1706 may be performed in accordance with examples as described herein. In some implementations, aspects of the operations of 1706 may be performed a NE as described with reference to Figure 14.

[0193] It should be noted that the method described herein describes a possible implementation, and that the operations and the steps may be rearranged or otherwise modified and that other implementations are possible.

[0194] The description herein is provided to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosure will be apparent to a person having ordinary skill in the art, and the generic principles defined herein may be applied to othervariations without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is not limited to the examples and designs described herein but is to be accorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. A first device for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and operable to cause the first device to: receive, from a wireless device, an uplink (UL) transmission or backscattered transmission; determine, based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission, an identifier of a second device communicating with the wireless device; transmit at least one of the identifier or a received signal strength based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

2. The first device of claim 1 , where the at least one processor is further operable to cause the first device to determine the identifier based on a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

3. The first device of claim 1, where the at least one processor is further operable to cause the first device to receive, from a network device, a configuration to report the identifier of the second device to the network device.

4. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one processor is further operable to cause the first device to transmit at least one of the identifier or the received signal strength to a location server.

5. The first device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device comprises an Ambient Internet of things (loT) device or a low power device.

6. A first device for wireless communication, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and operable to cause the first device to:transmit a configuration for a wireless device to include, in an uplink (UL) transmission or a backscattered transmission, a preamble pattern received in a downlink (DL) transmission.

7. The first device of claim 6, wherein the preamble pattern includes an indication of an identifier of a second device from which the DL transmission is received.

8. The first device of claim 7, wherein the preamble pattern comprises a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence that encodes the identifier of the second device.

9. The first device of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor is further operable to cause the first device to receive, from a location server an indication for the wireless device to use, in the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the preamble pattern received.

10. The first device of claim 6, wherein the first device comprises a base station or an intermediate node.

11. The first device of claim 6, wherein the wireless device comprises an Ambient Internet of things (loT) device or a low power device.

12. A wireless device, comprising: at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and operable to cause the wireless device to: receive a configuration to include in an uplink (UL) transmission or backscattered transmission an identifier of a first device communicating with the wireless device; receive a downlink (DL) signal; transmit the UL transmission or backscattered transmission including the identifier of the first device.

13. The wireless device of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further operable to cause the wireless device to encode the identifier of the first device in a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence; and include, as the preamble of the UL transmission or backscattered transmission, the binary preamble pattern or binary sequence.

14. The wireless device of claim 12, wherein the DL signal includes a trigger for the UL transmission or backscattered transmission by the wireless device.

15. The wireless device of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further operable to cause the wireless device to receive the configuration from the first device.

16. The wireless device of claim 12, wherein the wireless device comprises an Ambient Internet of things (loT) device.

17. The wireless device of claim 12, wherein the wireless device comprises a low power device.

18. A method performed by a first device, the method comprising: receiving, from a wireless device, an uplink (UL) transmission or backscattered transmission; determining, based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission, an identifier of a second device communicating with the wireless device; and transmitting at least one of the identifier or a received signal strength based at least in part on the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising determining the identifier based on a binary preamble pattern or binary sequence in a preamble of the received UL transmission or backscattered transmission.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising receiving, from a network device, a configuration to report the identifier of the second device to the network device.

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