NR DL PRS resource muting and enhanced multiple RTT procedures

文档序号：651933 发布日期：2021-04-23 浏览：8次中文

阅读说明：本技术 Nr dl prs资源静默和增强多rtt过程 (NR DL PRS resource muting and enhanced multiple RTT procedures ) 是由 S·D·索斯宁 A·霍里亚夫 M·S·希洛夫 S·潘特列夫于 2020-10-09 设计创作，主要内容包括：本文描述的是一种下一代NodeB(gNB)的装置。该装置包括：一个或多个处理器,被配置为：确定下行链路(DL)定位参考信号(PRS)配置,DL PRS配置包括定义的DL PRS资源集配置和DL PRS资源静默机制,其中,定义的DL PRS资源集配置使用DL PRS资源集重复或用于DL PRS资源集的时机依赖时间和频率偏移中选定的一个来维护扩展机制；以及基于DL PRS配置,生成PRS。(Described herein is an apparatus of a next generation nodeb (gnb). The device includes: one or more processors configured to: determining a Downlink (DL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) configuration, the DL PRS configuration comprising a defined DL PRS resource set configuration and a DL PRS resource muting mechanism, wherein the defined DL PRS resource set configuration maintains an extension mechanism using a selected one of DL PRS resource set repetition or a timing dependent time and frequency offset for the DL PRS resource set; and generating a PRS based on the DL PRS configuration.)

1. An apparatus of a next generation nodeb (gnb), the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

determining a Downlink (DL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) configuration comprising a defined DL PRS resource set configuration and a DL PRS resource muting mechanism, wherein the defined DL PRS resource set configuration maintains an extension mechanism using a selected one of DL PRS resource set repetition or opportunity-dependent time and frequency offset for a DL PRS resource set; and

generating a PRS based on the DL PRS configuration; and

a Radio Frequency (RF) interface, wherein the PRS is transmitted over the RF interface.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the set of DL PRS resource repetitions includes subsequent repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources in time and frequency domains.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein subsequent repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources in time and frequency domains further comprise different time and frequency offsets for copies of the set of DL PRS resources.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein there is no overlap between the DL PRS resource set repetitions.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the set of DL PRS resources is repeatedly used simultaneously by the gNB.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition is dependent on a time repetition parameter N_TimeRepeatThe parameter configures a number of time repetitions for the set of DL PRS resources.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition is repeated in a frequency domain, a number of repetitions depending on a comb size value of the defined DL PRS resource set.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the occasion dependent time and frequency offsets for the set of DL PRS resources further comprise a time offset value and a frequency offset value that vary according to a PRS occasion index.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition further includes an indication of a unique ID value for each copy of the DL PRS resource set, respectively.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the indication of the unique ID value is based on an index value.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the index values are ordered in ascending order of frequency offset values based on frequency domain and/or in ascending order of time offset values based on time domain.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the muting mechanism comprises a muting pattern comprising:

silence pattern type 1, responsible for indicating inactive resources on each gNB for each PRS occasion index; and

muting pattern type 2, responsible for whole gbb muting.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the muting pattern is used solely on the gNB.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the muting patterns are jointly used on the gNB.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the muting pattern is configured with a bitmap length parameter and a number of non-zero elements.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein a length of the muting pattern type 1 is equal to a number of the sets of DL PRS resources configured on the gNB, and each bit in the muting pattern type 1 indicates activation/deactivation of a corresponding set of DL PRS resources.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein, in the muting pattern type 2, whether or not all DL PRS transmissions are muted on the gNB depends on a value of a bit allocated on index i:

i＝mod(Occasion Index,Muting Patter Type 2size)。

18. the apparatus of claim 12, wherein the muting pattern is reconfigured according to one or more of: a fixed bitmap pattern selected based on static DL PRS resources, one of a set of configuration patterns selected based on PRS occasion IDs, a random pattern reconfiguration, a cyclic shift defining a pattern, or a formula-based pattern reconfiguration.

19. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors of a next generation nodeb (gNB), cause the gNB to:

generating a PRS based on the DL PRS configuration.

20. The storage medium of claim 19, wherein the set of DL PRS resource repetitions includes subsequent repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources in time and frequency domains.

21. The storage medium of claim 20, wherein subsequent repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources in time and frequency domains further includes different time and frequency offsets for copies of the set of DL PRS resources.

22. The storage medium of claim 19, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition is dependent on a time repetition parameter N_TimeRepeatThe parameter configures a number of time repetitions for the set of DL PRS resources.

23. The storage medium of claim 19, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition is repeated in a frequency domain, a number of repetitions depending on a comb size value of the defined DL PRS resource set.

24. The storage medium of claim 19, wherein the occasion dependent time and frequency offsets for the set of DL PRS resources further comprise a time offset value and a frequency offset value that vary according to a PRS occasion index.

25. The storage medium of claim 19, wherein the muting mechanism comprises a muting pattern comprising:

silence pattern type 1, responsible for indicating inactive resources on each gNB for each PRS occasion index; and

muting pattern type 2, responsible for whole gbb muting.

26. The storage medium of claim 25, wherein the muting pattern is configured with a bitmap length parameter and a number of non-zero elements.

27. An apparatus for locating an entity, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors configured to:

receiving signaling from a plurality of gNBs including a serving next generation NodeB (gNB) and a second gNB;

calculating a synchronization error measurement between the serving gNB and the second gNB based on the received signaling;

receiving, from a User Equipment (UE), a Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurement between the UE and the second gNB;

performing a first Round Trip Time (RTT) measurement between the UE and the serving gNB; and

calculating a second RTT measurement between the UE and the second gNB based on the synchronization error measurement, the RSTD measurement, and the first RTT measurement; and

a memory configured to: storing the synchronization error measurement, the RSTD measurement, the first RTT measurement, and the second RTT measurement.

Technical Field

Various embodiments herein relate generally to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to NR (new air interface) DL (downlink) PRS (positioning reference signal) resource muting and enhanced multi-RTT procedures.

Background

Mobile communications have evolved significantly from early speech systems to today's highly sophisticated integrated communication platforms. The next generation wireless communication system 5G (or new air interface (NR)) will enable various users and applications to access information and share data anytime and anywhere. NR promises to be a unified network/system, aimed at satisfying distinct and sometimes conflicting performance dimensions and services. These different multidimensional requirements are driven by different services and applications. In general, NR will be based on 3GPP (third generation partnership project) LTE (long term evolution) -Advanced evolution, with the addition of potentially new Radio Access Technologies (RATs), enriching people's lives with better, simple and seamless radio connection solutions. NR will enable everything to be connected wirelessly and provide fast, rich content and services.

Drawings

The features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the features of the present disclosure; and, wherein:

fig. 1 illustrates an example architecture of a system of networks according to various embodiments.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of an infrastructure device in accordance with various embodiments.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of a platform (or "device") according to various embodiments.

Fig. 4 illustrates example components of a baseband circuit and Radio Front End Module (RFEM) in accordance with various embodiments.

Fig. 5 is an example representation of DL PRS resource set repetition (duplication) in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 6 illustrates an example of a silence pattern type 1, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example of a silence pattern type 2, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of a combination of silence pattern type 1 and silence pattern type 2, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example method for transmitting PRSs, in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 10 illustrates an example method for calculating RTT according to some embodiments.

Fig. 11 illustrates various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device, in accordance with various embodiments.

Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, and specific language will be used herein to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the technology is thereby intended.

Detailed Description

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of the claimed embodiments. However, it will be apparent to one having ordinary skill in the art having had the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the claimed embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure with unnecessary detail.

Various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly employed by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alternative embodiments may be practiced with only some of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that alternative embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the illustrative embodiments.

Further, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations, in turn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the illustrative embodiments. However, the order of description should not be construed as to imply that these operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, these operations need not be performed in the order of presentation.

The phrases "in various embodiments," "in some embodiments," and the like are used repeatedly. The phrase generally does not refer to the same embodiment; however, it may refer to the same embodiment. The terms "comprising," "having," and "including" are synonymous, unless the context dictates otherwise. The phrase "A or B" means (A), (B) or (A and B).

Example embodiments may be described as a process which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flow diagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchart may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel, concurrently or with simultaneous execution. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process may terminate when its operations are completed, but may also have additional operations not included in the figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function, a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process corresponds to a function, its termination may correspond to a return of the function to the calling function and/or the main function.

As used herein, the term "processor" refers to, is part of, or includes the following circuitry: capable of performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations sequentially and automatically; digital data is recorded, stored and/or transmitted. The term "processor" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, physical Central Processing Units (CPUs), single-core processors, dual-core processors, tri-core processors, quad-core processors, and/or any other device capable of executing or operating computer-executable instructions (e.g., program code, software modules, and/or functional processes). As used herein, the term "interface" refers to, is part of, or includes the following circuitry: providing for the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term "interface" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces (e.g., a bus, an input/output (I/O) interface, a peripheral component interface, etc.).

Fig. 1 illustrates an example architecture of a system 100 of networks according to various embodiments. The following description is provided for an example system 100 operating in conjunction with the 5G or NR system standards provided by the LTE system standards and 3GPP technical specifications. However, example embodiments are not limited thereto, and the described embodiments may be applicable to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G) systems), IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), and so forth.

As shown in FIG. 1, the system 100 includes a UE 101a and a UE 101b (collectively referred to as "UEs 101"). In this example, the UE 101 is shown as a smartphone (e.g., a handheld touchscreen mobile computing device connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as a consumer electronic device, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a feature phone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a pager, a wireless telephone, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), an in-vehicle entertainment (ICE) device, an instrument panel (IC), a heads-up display (HUD) device, an in-vehicle diagnostics (OBD) device, a dashboard mobile Device (DME), a Mobile Data Terminal (MDT), an Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS), an electronic/Engine Control Unit (ECU), an electronic/Engine Control Module (ECM), an embedded system, a mobile computing device, a, Microcontrollers, control modules, Engine Management Systems (EMS), network or "smart" appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, and the like.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 101 may be an IoT UE, which may include a network access layer designed for low power IoT applications that utilize short-term UE connections. IoT UEs may exchange data with MTC servers or devices via PLMN, ProSe, or D2D communications, sensor networks, or IoT networks using technologies such as M2M or MTC. The M2M or MTC data exchange may be a machine initiated data exchange. IoT networks describe interconnecting IoT UEs with short-term connections, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the internet infrastructure). The IoT UE may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate connection of the IoT network.

UE 101 may be configured to connect with (e.g., communicatively couple with) RAN 110. In an embodiment, RAN 110 may be an NG RAN or a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN (e.g., UTRAN or GERAN). As used herein, the term "NG RAN" or the like may refer to RAN 110 operating in an NR or 5G system 100, while the term "E-UTRAN" or the like may refer to RAN 110 operating in an LTE or 4G system 100. The UE 101 utilizes connections (or channels) 103 and 104, respectively, each of which includes a physical communication interface or layer (discussed in further detail below).

In this example, connections 103 and 104 are shown as implementing communicatively coupled air interfaces, and may conform to a cellular communication protocol, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, an NR protocol, and/or any other communication protocol discussed herein. In an embodiment, the UE 101 may exchange communication data directly via the ProSe interface 105. The ProSe interface 105 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface 105 and may include one or more logical channels including, but not limited to, PSCCH, pscsch, PSDCH, and PSBCH.

The UE 101b is shown as being configured to access an AP 106 (also referred to as "WLAN node 106", "WLAN terminal 106", "WT 106", etc.) via a connection 107. Connection 107 may comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection conforming to any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 106 would include wireless fidelityA router. In this example, the AP 106 is shown connected to the internet without being connected to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, UE 101b, RAN 110, and AP 106 may be configured to operate with LWA and/or LWIP. LWA operations may involve: the UE 101b under RRC _ CONNECTED is configured by the RAN nodes 111a-b to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWThe IP operations may involve: the UE 101b uses the WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 107) to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over the connection 107 via the IPsec protocol tunnel. The IPsec tunnel may include: the entire original IP packet is encapsulated and a new packet header is added, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packet.

RAN 110 may include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 111a and 111b (collectively "RAN nodes 111") that implement connections 103 and 104. As used herein, the terms "access node," "access point," and the like may describe a device that provides radio baseband functionality for data and/or voice connections between a network and one or more users. These access nodes may be referred to as BSs, gnbs, RAN nodes, enbs, nodebs, RSUs, trxps, TRPs, or the like, and may include ground stations (e.g., ground access points) or satellite stations that provide coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the term "NG RAN node" or the like may refer to a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) operating in the NR or 5G system 100, while the term "E-UTRAN node" or the like may refer to a RAN node 111 (e.g., an eNB) operating in the LTE or 4G system 100. According to various embodiments, the RAN node 111 may be implemented as a dedicated physical device (e.g., a macro cell base station) and/or one or more of a Low Power (LP) base station for providing a femto cell, pico cell, or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than a macro cell.

In some embodiments, all or part of the RAN nodes 111 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/or a virtual baseband unit pool (vbbp). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vbbp may implement RAN functionality separation, for example: PDCP detach, wherein the RRC layer and PDCP layer are operated by the CRAN/vbbp, while other L2 protocol entities are operated by the respective RAN nodes 111; MAC/PHY separation, where the RRC layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer and MAC layer are operated by the CRAN/vbbp, while the PHY layer is operated by each RAN node 111; or "lower PHY" separation, where the upper parts of the RRC layer, PDCP layer, RLC layer, MAC layer and PHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vbup and the lower parts of the PHY layer are operated by the respective RAN nodes 111. The virtualization framework allows processor cores of the vacating RAN node 111 to execute other virtualized applications. In some implementations, a single RAN node 111 may represent each gNB-DU connected to a gNB-CU via each F1 interface (not shown in fig. 1). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., fig. 2), and the gNB-CUs may be operated by a server (not shown) located in the RAN 110, or by a server pool, in a similar manner to the CRAN/vbupp. Additionally or alternatively, one or more RAN nodes 111 may be next generation enbs (NG-enbs), which are RAN nodes providing E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE 101 and are connected to a 5GC via an NG interface (discussed below).

In the V2X scenario, one or more RAN nodes 111 may be or act as RSUs. The term "road side unit" or "RSU" may refer to any traffic infrastructure entity for V2X communication. The RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a fixed (or relatively fixed) UE, wherein the RSU implemented in or by the UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU", the RSU implemented in or by the eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU", the RSU implemented in or by the gbb may be referred to as a "gbb-type RSU", and so on. In one example, the RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on the roadside providing connection support to the passing vehicle UE 101(vUE 101). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry for storing the geometry of the intersection map, traffic statistics, media, and applications/software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicle and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9GHz Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) band to provide the extremely low latency communications required for high speed events (e.g., avoiding collisions, traffic warnings, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate over the cellular V2X frequency band to provide the aforementioned low latency communication as well as other cellular communication services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4GHz band) and/or provide a connection to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. The computing device and some or all of the radio frequency circuitry of the RSU may be enclosed in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., ethernet) to a traffic signal controller and/or a backhaul network.

Any of the RAN nodes 111 may terminate the air interface protocol and may be a first point of contact for the UE 101. In some embodiments, any of RAN nodes 111 may perform various logical functions of RAN 110, including, but not limited to, functions of a Radio Network Controller (RNC), such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

In embodiments, the UE 101 may be configured to: OFDM communication signals may be used to communicate with each other or any of RAN nodes 111 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, OFDMA communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communications) or SC-FDMA communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signal may include a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

In some embodiments, the downlink resource grid may be used for downlink transmissions from any one of the RAN nodes 111 to the UE 101, while uplink transmissions may utilize similar techniques. The grid may be a time-frequency grid, referred to as a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is a physical resource in the downlink in each slot. For OFDM systems, such a time-frequency plane representation is common practice, which makes radio resource allocation intuitive. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in the radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is called a resource element. Each resource grid includes a plurality of resource blocks that describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a set of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the minimum amount of resources that can currently be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels transmitted using such resource blocks.

According to various embodiments, the UE 101 and RAN node 111 communicate data (e.g., transmit and receive data) over a licensed medium (also referred to as "licensed spectrum" and/or "licensed band") and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as "unlicensed spectrum" and/or "unlicensed band"). The licensed spectrum may include channels operating in a frequency range of about 400MHz to about 3.8GHz, and the unlicensed spectrum may include a 5GHz band.

To operate in unlicensed spectrum, the UE 101 and RAN node 111 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, UE 101 and RAN node 111 may perform one or more known medium sensing operations and/or carrier sensing operations to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum are unavailable or occupied prior to transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carrier sensing operation may be performed according to a Listen Before Talk (LBT) protocol.

LBT is a mechanism in which a device (e.g., UE 101, RAN node 111, etc.) may sense a medium (e.g., a channel or carrier frequency) and transmit when it senses that the medium is idle (or senses that a particular channel in the medium is unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include a CCA that utilizes at least the ED to determine whether there are other signals on the channel in order to determine whether the channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allows the cellular/LAA network to coexist with incumbent systems in unlicensed spectrum as well as other LAA networks. The ED may include: RF energy on the desired transmission band is sensed for a period of time and the sensed RF energy is compared to a predefined or configured threshold.

Generally, an incumbent system in the 5GHz band is a WLAN based on IEEE 802.11 technology. WLANs employ a contention-based channel access mechanism called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a Mobile Station (MS) (e.g., UE 101, AP 106, etc.)) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform a CCA before transmitting. Furthermore, in case more than one WLAN node senses that the channel is idle and transmits at the same time, a back-off mechanism is used to avoid collisions. The back-off mechanism may be a counter drawn randomly within the CWS that increases exponentially when collisions occur and resets to a minimum value when a transmission is successful. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to CSMA/CA of WLAN. In some implementations, LBT procedures for DL or UL transmission bursts (including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions), respectively, may have an LAA contention window, the length of which may vary between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are the minimum and maximum values of CWS for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (μ β); however, the size of the CWS and MCOT (e.g., transmission bursts) may be based on government regulatory requirements.

The LAA mechanism builds on the CA technology of the LTE-Advanced system. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. The CCs may have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, or 20MHz and may be capable of aggregating up to five CCs, and thus, the maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In an FDD system, the number of aggregated carriers may be different for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or less than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, each CC may have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In a TDD system, the number of CCs and the bandwidth of each CC are typically the same for DL and UL.

The CA also includes respective serving cells to provide respective CCs. The coverage of the serving cell may be different because, for example, CCs on different frequency bands will experience different path losses. The primary serving cell or PCell may provide PCC for UL and DL and may handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells are referred to as scells, and each SCell may provide a separate SCC for UL and DL. SCCs may be added and removed as needed, while changing the PCC may require the UE 101 to switch. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all scells may operate in unlicensed spectrum (referred to as "LAA scells"), and the LAA scells are assisted by a PCell operating in licensed spectrum. When the UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants indicating different PUSCH starting positions within the same subframe on the configured LAA SCell.

The PDSCH carries user data and higher layer signaling to the UE 101. The PDCCH carries information on a transmission format and resource allocation, etc. related to the PDSCH channel. It may also inform the UE 101 of transport format, resource allocation and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. In general, downlink scheduling (assigning control channel resource blocks and shared channel resource blocks to UEs 101b within a cell) may be performed at any one of the RAN nodes 111 based on channel quality information fed back from any one of the UEs 101. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on a PDCCH for (e.g., assigned to) each UE 101.

The PDCCH transmits control information using CCEs. The PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets before being mapped to resource elements, and they may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements called REGs. Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. Depending on the size of the DCI and the channel conditions, the PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more CCEs. There may be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation levels, L ═ 1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use the concept as an extension of the above concept for resource allocation of control channel information. For example, some embodiments may utilize EPDCCH, which uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. One or more ECCEs may be used to transmit EPDCCH. Similar to the above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements called EREGs. In some cases, ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs.

The RAN nodes 111 may be configured to communicate with each other via an interface 112. In embodiments where system 100 is an LTE system (e.g., when CN 120 is an EPC), interface 112 may be an X2 interface 112. An X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more enbs, etc.) connected to the EPC 120, and/or between two enbs connected to the EPC 120. The X2 interfaces may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide a flow control mechanism for user data packets transmitted over the X2 interface and may be used to communicate information about the transmission of user data between enbs. For example, X2-U may provide: specific sequence number information for user data transmitted from the MeNB to the SeNB; information on successful in-order delivery of PDCP PDUs from the SeNB to the UE 101 for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that have not been transmitted to the UE 101; information on a current minimum expected buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting user data to the UE; and the like. X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functions including context transfer from source eNB to target eNB, user plane transport control, etc.; a load management function; and an inter-cell interference coordination function.

In embodiments where the system 100 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when the CN 120 is a5 GC), the interface 112 may be an Xn interface 112. An Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 111 (e.g., two or more gnbs) connected to the 5GC 120, between a RAN node 111 (e.g., a gNB) connected to the 5GC 120 and an eNB, and/or between two enbs connected to the 5GC 120. In some implementations, the Xn interface can include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U can provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functions for managing the functions of the Xn-C interface; mobility support for a UE 101 in CONNECTED mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) includes functionality for managing CONNECTED mode UE mobility between one or more RAN nodes 111. Mobility support may include context transfer from the old (source) serving RAN node 111 to the new (target) serving RAN node 111; and control of user plane tunnels between the old (source) serving RAN node 111 and the new (target) serving RAN node 111. The protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on top of an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer for carrying user plane PDUs above the UDP and/or IP layers. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol, referred to as the Xn application protocol (Xn-AP), and a transport network layer built over SCTP. SCTP can be located above the IP layer and can provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, signaling PDUs are transmitted using point-to-point transmission. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-C protocol stack may be the same as or similar to the user plane and/or control plane protocol stacks shown and described herein.

RAN 110 is shown communicatively coupled to a core network, in this embodiment Core Network (CN) 120. CN 120 may include a plurality of network elements 122 configured to provide various data and telecommunications services to clients/subscribers (e.g., users of UE 101) connected to CN 120 via RAN 110. The components of CN 120 may be implemented in one physical node, or in separate physical nodes, including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage media (described in further detail below). Logical instantiations of the CN 120 may be referred to as network slices, and logical instantiations of a portion of the CN 120 may be referred to as network subslices. The NFV architecture and infrastructure may be used to virtualize one or more network functions (alternatively performed by proprietary hardware) onto physical resources that contain a combination of industry standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, the NFV system may be used to perform a virtual or reconfigurable implementation of one or more EPC components/functions.

In general, the application server 130 may be an element that provides applications (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.) that use IP bearer resources to the core network. The application server 130 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UE 101 via the EPC 120.

In an embodiment, the CN 120 may be a 5GC (referred to as "5 GC 120", etc.), and the RAN 110 may be connected with the CN 120 via the NG interface 113. In an embodiment, the NG interface 113 may be split into two parts: a NG user plane (NG-U) interface 114 that carries traffic data between RAN node 111 and the UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface 115, which is a signaling interface between the RAN node 111 and the AMF.

In an embodiment, the CN 120 may be a 5G CN (referred to as "5 GC 120," etc.), while in other embodiments, the CN 120 may be an EPC. In the case where CN 120 is an EPC (referred to as "EPC 120," etc.), RAN 110 may connect with CN 120 via S1 interface 113. In an embodiment, the S1 interface 113 may be split into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface 114, which carries traffic data between the RAN node 111 and the S-GW; and S1-MME interface 115, which is a signaling interface between RAN node 111 and the MME.

Fig. 2 illustrates an example of an infrastructure device 200 in accordance with various embodiments. Infrastructure device 200 (or "system 200") may be implemented as a base, radio head, RAN node (e.g., RAN node 111 and/or AP 106 shown and described previously), application server 130, and/or any other element/device discussed herein. In other examples, system 200 may be implemented in or by a UE.

The system 200 includes an application circuit 205, a baseband circuit 210, one or more Radio Front End Modules (RFEM)215, a memory circuit 220, a Power Management Integrated Circuit (PMIC)225, a power source circuit 230, a network controller circuit 235, a network interface connector 240, a satellite positioning circuit 245, and a user interface 250. In some embodiments, device 200 may include additional elements, such as memory/storage, a display, a camera, sensors, or an input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device. For example, for a CRAN, vbub, or other similar implementation, the circuitry may be included separately in more than one device.

The application circuitry 205 includes circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of low dropout regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces (e.g., SPI, I2C, or a universal programmable serial interface module), Real Time Clocks (RTCs), timer-counters (including interval timers and watchdog timers), universal input/output (I/O or IO), memory card controllers (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) multimedia card (MMC), etc.), Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) interfaces, and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports. The processor (or core) of the application circuitry 205 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to: instructions stored in the memory/storage are executed to enable various applications or operating systems to run on system 200. In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuits that may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology (such as those discussed herein).

The processors of application circuitry 205 may include, for example, one or more processor Cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), one or more Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processors, one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry 205 may include or may be a dedicated processor/controller operating in accordance with various embodiments herein. As an example, the processor of the application circuit 205 may include one or more Intels OrA processor; advanced Micro Devices (AMD)A processor; accelerated Processing Unit (APU) orA processor; based on ARM Holdings, LtdARM processors, such as the ARM Cortex-A family of processors and those available from Cavium (TM), IncMIPS-based designs from MIPS Technologies, inc, such as MIPS Warrior class P processors; and the like. In some embodiments, system 200 may not utilize application circuitry 205, but instead may include a dedicated processor/controller to process IP data received, for example, from an EPC or 5 GC.

In some implementations, the application circuitry 205 may include one or more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, Computer Vision (CV) and/or Deep Learning (DL) accelerators. By way of example, the programmable processing device may be one or more Field Programmable Devices (FPDs), such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), or the like; programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (cplds), large capacity PLDs (hcplds), and the like; ASICs, such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable soc (psoc); and the like. In such implementations, the circuitry of the application circuitry 205 may include logic blocks or logic constructs and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, etc., of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuitry 205 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, static memory (e.g., Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), antifuse, etc.) for storing logic blocks, logic constructs, data, and so forth in a look-up table (LUT) or the like).

Baseband circuit 210 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronics of baseband circuit 210 are discussed below with reference to fig. 4.

User interface circuitry 250 may include one or more interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with system 200 or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral components to interact with system 200. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a speaker or other audio emitting device, a microphone, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, and so forth. The peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power interface, and the like.

The Radio Front End Module (RFEM)215 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include a connection to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., antenna array 411 of fig. 4 below), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative implementation, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM 215, which physical RFEM 215 contains both mmWave and sub-mmWave antennas.

The memory circuit 220 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory including Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) and/or Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high speed electrically erasable memory (often referred to as "Flash memory"), phase change random access memory (PRAM), Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM), etc., and may includeAnda three-dimensional (3D) cross point (XPOINT) memory. Memory circuit 220 may be implemented as one or more of a solder-in package integrated circuit, a socket memory module, and a plug-in memory card.

The PMIC 225 may include a voltage regulator, a surge protector, a power alarm detection circuit, and one or more backup power sources (e.g., batteries or capacitors). The power alarm detection circuit may detect one or more of power down (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage) conditions. Power source circuitry 230 may provide power drawn from the network cable to provide both power and data connections to infrastructure device 200 using a single cable.

Network controller circuitry 235 may provide connectivity to a network using a standard network interface protocol (e.g., ethernet over GRE tunnels, ethernet over multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol). Network connectivity may be provided to/from infrastructure device 200 via network interface connector 240 using physical connections, which may be electrical (commonly referred to as "copper interconnects"), optical, or wireless. Network controller circuitry 235 may include one or more special purpose processors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the above-described protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuit 235 may include multiple controllers to provide connections to other networks using the same or different protocols.

Positioning circuitry 245 includes circuitry for receiving and decoding signals transmitted/broadcast by a positioning network of a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the united states, the global navigation system in russia (GLONASS), the galileo system in the european union, the beidou navigation satellite system in china, the regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., indian constellation Navigation (NAVIC), the quasi-zenith satellite system in japan (QZSS), the doppler orbit imaging in france, and the satellite integrated radio positioning (DORIS), etc.), and so forth. Positioning circuitry 245 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices for facilitating OTA communication, such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, etc.) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, positioning circuitry 245 may include a Micro-technology (Micro-PNT) IC for positioning, navigation, and timing that performs position tracking/estimation using a master timing clock without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 245 may also be part of the baseband circuitry 210 and/or the RFEM 215 or interact with the baseband circuitry 210 and/or the RFEM 215 to communicate with nodes and components of a positioning network. The positioning circuitry 245 may also provide location data and/or time data to the application circuitry 205, which the application circuitry 205 may use to operate synchronously with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN node 111, etc.).

The components shown in fig. 2 may communicate with each other using interface circuitry that may include any number of bus and/or Interconnect (IX) technologies such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), extended ISA (eisa), Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCI x), PCI Express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, a power bus, and the like.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example of a platform 300 (or "device 300") according to various embodiments. In embodiments, the computer platform 300 may be suitable for use as a UE 101, an application server 130, and/or any other element/device discussed herein. Platform 300 may include any combination of the components shown in the examples. The components of platform 300 may be implemented as Integrated Circuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or combinations thereof, as appropriate in computer platform 300, or as components incorporated within the chassis of a larger system. The block diagram of FIG. 3 is intended to illustrate a high-level view of the components of computer platform 300. However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and a different arrangement of the components shown may occur in other implementations.

Application circuitry 305 includes circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces (e.g., SPI, I2C, or a general purpose programmable serial interface module), RTC, timer-counters (including interval timers and watchdog timers), general purpose I/O, memory card controllers (e.g., SD MMC, etc.), USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces, and JTAG test access ports. The processor (or core) of the application circuitry 305 may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to: instructions stored in the memory/storage are executed to enable various applications or operating systems to run on system 300. In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuits that may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology (e.g., those discussed herein).

The processors of application circuitry 205 may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSPs, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, multi-threaded processors, ultra-low voltage processors, embedded processors, some other known processing elements, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry 205 may include or may be a dedicated processor/controller operating in accordance with various embodiments herein.

As an example, the processor of the application circuit 305 may include a microprocessor based microprocessorArchitecture Core^TMProcessors of, e.g. Quark^TM、Atom^TMI3, i5, i7 or another MCU-like processor, or may be from Santa ClaraCorporation. The processor of the application circuit 305 may also be one or more of the following: advanced Micro Devices (AMD)A processor or an Accelerated Processing Unit (APU);an a5-a9 processor, inc;snapdagon of Technologies, Inc^TMA processor; the number of Texas Instruments was,open Multimedia Application Platform (OMAP)^TMA processor; MIPS-based designs of MIPS Technologies, Inc., such as MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; ARM-based designs licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd, such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R and Cortex-M families of processors; and the like. In some implementations, the application circuit 305 may be part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuit 305 and other components are formed as a single integrated circuit or a single package, e.g.Edison from Corporation^TMOr Galileo^TMAnd (6) an SoC board.

Additionally or alternatively, the application circuitry 305 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more Field Programmable Devices (FPDs), such as FPGAs or the like; programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), such as complex PLDs (cplds), large capacity PLDs (hcplds), and the like; ASICs, such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable soc (psoc); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuitry 305 may include logic blocks or logic constructs and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the processes, methods, functions, etc., of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of the application circuit 305 may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, static memory (e.g., Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), antifuse, etc.) for storing logic blocks, logic constructs, data, and so forth in a look-up table (LUT) or the like.

Baseband circuitry 310 may be implemented, for example, as a solder-in substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronics of baseband circuitry 310 are discussed below with respect to fig. 4.

The RFEM 315 may include a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFIC may include a connection to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see, e.g., antenna array 411 of fig. 4 below), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In an alternative implementation, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM 315, which contains both mmWave and sub-mmWave antennas.

Memory circuit 320 may include any number and type of memory devices for providing a given amount of system memory. As an example, memory circuit 320 may include one or more of the following: volatile memory including Random Access Memory (RAM), Dynamic RAM (DRAM), and/or Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM); and non-volatile memory (NVM), including high speed electrically erasable memory (often referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (MRAM), and the like. The memory circuit 320 may be developed according to Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC) based on Low Power Double Data Rate (LPDDR) designs, such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, and the like. The memory circuit 320 may be implemented as one or more of the following: a solder-in package integrated circuit, a Single Die Package (SDP), a Dual Die Package (DDP), or a quad die package (Q17P), a socket memory module, a dual in-line memory module (DIMM) (including micro DIMM or MiniDIMM), and/or soldered to a motherboard via a Ball Grid Array (BGA). In a low power implementation, memory circuit 320 may be an on-die memory or register associated with application circuit 305. To provide persistent storage of information (e.g., data, applications, operating systems, etc.), memory circuitry 320 may include one or more mass storage devicesIt may include, inter alia, a Solid State Disk Drive (SSDD), a Hard Disk Drive (HDD), a micro HDD, a resistive random access memory, a phase change memory, a holographic memory, or a chemical memory. For example, computer platform 300 may include a computer program fromAnda three-dimensional (3D) cross point (XPOINT) memory.

Removable memory circuit 323 may comprise a device, circuitry, housing/enclosure, port or receptacle, etc. for coupling a portable data storage device with platform 300. These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage purposes and may include, for example, Flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD graphics cards, etc.) as well as USB Flash drives, optical disks, external HDDs, and the like.

Platform 300 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) for interfacing external devices with platform 300. External devices connected to the platform 300 via interface circuits include sensor circuits 321 and electro-mechanical components (EMC)322, and a removable memory device coupled to the removable memory circuit 323.

The sensor circuit 321 comprises a device, module or subsystem whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and to send information (sensor data) about the detected events to other devices, modules, subsystems, etc. Examples of such sensors include, among others: an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) comprising an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and/or a magnetometer; a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) or a nano-electromechanical system (NEMS) comprising a 3-axis accelerometer, a 3-axis gyroscope, and/or a magnetometer; a liquid level sensor; a flow sensor; a temperature sensor (e.g., a thermistor); a pressure sensor; an air pressure sensor; a gravimeter; an altimeter; an image capture device (e.g., a camera or a lens-less aperture); a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensor; a proximity sensor (e.g., an infrared radiation detector, etc.), a depth sensor, an ambient light sensor, an ultrasound transceiver; a microphone or other similar audio capture device; and the like.

EMC 322 includes devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to enable platform 300 to change its state, position, and/or orientation, or to move or control a mechanism or (sub) system. Further, the EMC 322 may be configured to: messages/signaling are generated and sent to other components of the platform 300 to indicate the current state of the EMC 322. Examples of EMCs 322 include one or more power switches, relays (including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or Solid State Relays (SSRs)), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), sound generators, visual alert devices, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and/or other similar electromechanical components. In an embodiment, platform 300 is configured to: the one or more EMCs 322 are operated based on one or more captured events and/or instructions or control signals received from the service provider and/or various clients.

In some implementations, interface circuitry may connect platform 300 with positioning circuitry 345. The positioning circuitry 345 comprises circuitry for receiving and decoding signals transmitted/broadcast by the positioning network of the GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include GPS in the united states, GLONASS in russia, galileo system in the european union, beidou navigation satellite system in china, regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), QZSS in japan, DORIS in france, etc. The positioning circuitry 345 includes various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices to facilitate OTA communication, such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements) to communicate with components of a positioning network (e.g., navigation satellite constellation nodes). In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry 345 may include a Micro-PNT IC that performs position tracking/estimation using a master timing clock without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 345 may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry 210 and/or the RFEM 315 to communicate with nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry 345 may also provide location data and/or time data to the application circuitry 305, which the application circuitry 305 may use to operate in synchronization with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations) for route planning navigation applications, and the like.

In some implementations, interface circuitry may connect platform 300 with Near Field Communication (NFC) circuitry 340. NFC circuitry 340 is configured to: contactless short-range communication is provided based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) standards, where magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between NFC circuitry 340 and NFC-enabled devices external to platform 300 (e.g., "NFC contacts"). NFC circuitry 340 includes an NFC controller coupled with the antenna element and a processor coupled with the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/IC that provides NFC functionality to NFC circuitry 340 by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executable by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executable by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to transmit the short-range RF signal. The RF signal may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to send stored data to NFC circuitry 340, or initiate a data transfer between NFC circuitry 340 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or NFC-enabled POS terminal) in the vicinity of platform 300.

Driver circuit 346 may include software and hardware elements that operate to control specific devices embedded in platform 300, attached to platform 300, or communicatively coupled with platform 300. Driver circuit 346 may include various drivers that allow other components of platform 300 to interact with or control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be present within platform 300 or connected to platform 300. For example, driver circuit 346 can include a display driver for controlling and allowing access to a display device, a touch screen driver for controlling and allowing access to a touch screen interface of platform 300, a sensor driver for obtaining sensor readings of sensor circuit 321 and controlling and allowing access to sensor circuit 321, an EMC driver for obtaining EMC actuator positions 322 and/or controlling and allowing access to EMC 322, a camera driver for controlling and allowing access to an embedded image capture device, an audio driver for controlling and allowing access to one or more audio devices.

A Power Management Integrated Circuit (PMIC)325 (also referred to as a "power management circuit 325") may manage power provided to various components of platform 300. In particular, with respect to the baseband circuitry 310, the PMIC 325 may control power supply selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-DC conversion. The PMIC 325 may often be included when the platform 300 is capable of being powered by the battery 330 (e.g., when the device is included in the UE 101).

In some embodiments, PMIC 325 may control, or be a part of, various power saving mechanisms of platform 300. For example, if platform 300 is in an RRC _ Connected state (where it is still Connected to the RAN node because it is expected to receive traffic soon), it may enter a state referred to as discontinuous reception mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, platform 300 may be powered down for short time intervals, thereby saving power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, the platform 300 may transition to the RRC _ Idle state (where it is disconnected from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc.). Platform 300 enters a very low power state and it performs paging, where it again periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. In this state, the platform 300 may not receive data; in order to receive data, it must transition back to the RRC _ Connected state. Additional power-save modes may make the device unavailable to the network for periods longer than the paging interval (ranging from seconds to hours). During this time, the device is completely unreachable to the network and may be completely powered down. Any data sent during this time causes a large delay and it is assumed that the delay is acceptable.

The battery 330 may power the platform 300, although in some examples, the platform 300 may be installed deployed in a fixed location and may have a power source coupled to a power grid. The battery 330 may be a lithium ion battery, a metal-air battery (e.g., zinc-air battery, aluminum-air battery, lithium-air battery), or the like. In some implementations, such as in a V2X application, the battery 330 may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

In some implementations, the battery 330 may be a "smart battery" that includes or is coupled to a Battery Management System (BMS) or battery monitoring integrated circuit. The BMS may be included in the platform 300 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 330. The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 330 to provide fault predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and the functional state (SoF) of the battery 330. The BMS may communicate information of the battery 330 to the application circuit 305 or other components of the platform 300. The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) converter that allows the application circuit 305 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 330 or the current from the battery 330. The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that platform 300 may perform, such as transmission frequencies, network operations, listening frequencies, and the like.

A power block or other power source coupled to the grid may be coupled with the BMS to charge the battery 330. In some examples, the power block may be replaced with a wireless power receiver, for example, by a loop antenna in computer platform 300, to obtain power wirelessly. In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit may be included in the BMS. The particular charging circuit selected may depend on the size of the battery 330, and thus on the current required. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by Airfuel Alliance, the Qi Wireless charging standard promulgated by Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard promulgated by Alliance for Wireless Power, or the like.

User interface circuitry 350 includes various input/output (I/O) devices present within platform 300 or connected to platform 300, and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with platform 300 and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral components to interact with platform 300. The user interface circuitry 350 includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. The input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting input, including, inter alia, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touch screen, a microphone, a scanner, a headset, etc. Output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for displaying information or communicating information (e.g., sensor readings, actuator position, or other similar information). Output device circuitry may include any number and/or combination of audio and/or visual displays, including, among other things, one or more simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs such as display devices or touch screens (e.g., Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), where output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, etc., is generated or produced from operation of platform 300. Actuators providing haptic feedback, etc.). In another example, NFC circuitry (including an NFC controller coupled with the antenna element and the processing device) may be included to read the electronic tag and/or connect with another NFC enabled device. The peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power interface, and the like.

Although not shown, the components of platform 300 may communicate with each other using suitable bus or Interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI x, PCIe, Time Triggered Protocol (TTP) systems, FlexRay systems, or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX, such as used in SoC-based systems. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I2C interface, an SPI interface, a point-to-point interface, a power bus, and the like.

Fig. 4 illustrates example components of a baseband circuit 410 and a Radio Front End Module (RFEM)415 in accordance with various embodiments. Baseband circuitry 410 corresponds to baseband circuitry 210 of fig. 2 and baseband circuitry 310 of fig. 3. The RFEM 415 corresponds to the RFEM 215 of fig. 2 and the RFEM 315 of fig. 3. As shown, the RFEM 415 may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 406, Front End Module (FEM) circuitry 408, antenna array 411 coupled together at least as shown.

The baseband circuitry 410 includes circuitry and/or control logic configured to perform various radio/network protocols and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 406. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some embodiments, the modulation/demodulation circuitry of baseband circuitry 410 may include Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, the encoding/decoding circuitry of baseband circuitry 410 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functions are not limited to these examples, and other suitable functions may be included in other embodiments. The baseband circuitry 410 is configured to: processes baseband signals received from the receive signal path of RF circuitry 406 and generates baseband signals for the transmit signal path of RF circuitry 406. The baseband circuitry 410 is configured to: interface with application circuitry 205/305 (see fig. 2 and 3) for generating and processing baseband signals and controlling operation of the RF circuitry 406. The baseband circuitry 410 may handle various radio control functions.

The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of baseband circuitry 410 may include one or more single-core or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor 404A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor 404B, a 5G/NR baseband processor 404C, or some other baseband processor 404D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of the baseband processors 404A-D may be included in modules that are stored in the memory 404G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 404E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of the baseband processors 404A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with appropriate bit streams or logic blocks that are stored in respective memory units. In various embodiments, the memory 404G may store program code for a real-time os (rtos) that, when executed by the CPU 404E (or other baseband processor), causes the CPU 404E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources, schedule tasks, etc. of the baseband circuitry 410. Representation of RTOSExamples may include:embedded Operating System (OSE) provided^TM、Provided nucleous RTOS^TM、MentorProvided multifunctional real-time executor (VRTX), ExpressProvided ThreadX^TM、Provided with FreeRTOS, REX OS, Open Kernel (OK)OKL4 provided or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuitry 410 includes one or more audio Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) 404F. The audio DSP 404F includes elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, each processor 404A-404E includes a respective memory interface for sending and receiving data to and from the memory 404G. Baseband circuitry 410 may further include one or more interfaces communicatively coupled to other circuitry/devices, such as an interface for sending/receiving data to/from memory external to baseband circuitry 410; an application circuit interface for sending/receiving data to/from the application circuit 205/305 of fig. 2-4; an RF circuit interface for transmitting/receiving data to/from RF circuit 406 of fig. 4; for transmitting data to and from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC) components,A component,Component, etc.) a wireless hardware connection interface to send/receive data; and a power management interface for transmitting/receiving power signals or control signals to/from the PMIC 325.

In an alternative embodiment (which may be combined with the embodiments described above), the baseband circuitry 410 includes one or more digital baseband systems coupled to each other via an interconnection subsystem and to the CPU subsystem, the audio subsystem, and the interface subsystem. The digital baseband subsystem may also be coupled to the digital baseband interface and the mixed signal baseband subsystem via another interconnection subsystem. Each interconnect subsystem may include a bus system, a point-to-point connection, a Network On Chip (NOC) fabric, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSP circuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing accelerator circuitry, data converter circuitry (e.g., analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter circuitry), analog circuitry including one or more of amplifiers and filters, and/or other similar components. In an aspect of the disclosure, the baseband circuitry 410 may include protocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functionality for digital baseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., radio front end module 415).

Although not shown in fig. 4, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 410 includes processing devices (e.g., "multi-protocol baseband processors" or "protocol processing circuits") for operating one or more wireless communication protocols and processing devices for implementing PHY layer functionality. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers/entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, when baseband circuitry 410 and/or RF circuitry 406 are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellular communication circuitry, the protocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or 5G/NR protocol entities. In this first example, the protocol processing circuitry will operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC and NAS functionality. In a second example, when baseband circuitry 410 and/or RF circuitry 406 are part of a Wi-Fi communication system, protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols. In this second example, the protocol processing circuitry will operate Wi-Fi MAC and Logical Link Control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuit may include: one or more memory structures (e.g., 404G) for storing program code and data for operating protocol functions; and one or more processing cores for executing program code and performing various operations using the data. The baseband circuitry 410 may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol.

The various hardware elements of baseband circuitry 410 discussed herein may be implemented as, for example, a solder-in substrate including one or more Integrated Circuits (ICs), a single package IC soldered to a main circuit board, or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of baseband circuitry 410 may be suitably combined in a single chip or chip set, or disposed on the same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the constituent components of baseband circuitry 410 and RF circuitry 406 may be implemented together, for example, on a system on a chip (SoC) or a System In Package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the constituent components of baseband circuitry 410 may be implemented as a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with RF circuitry 406 (or multiple instances of RF circuitry 406). In yet another example, some or all of the constituent components of baseband circuitry 410 and application circuitry 205/305 may be implemented together as individual socs mounted to the same circuit board (e.g., "multi-chip packages").

In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 410 may provide communications compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry 410 may support communication with an E-UTRAN or other WMANs, WLANs, WPANs. Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 410 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 406 may enable communication with a wireless network through a non-solid medium using modulated electromagnetic radiation. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 406 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, and the like to facilitate communication with a wireless network. RF circuitry 406 may include a receive signal path that may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from FEM circuitry 408 and provide baseband signals to baseband circuitry 410. RF circuitry 406 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry to upconvert baseband signals provided by baseband circuitry 410 and provide RF output signals to FEM circuitry 408 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of RF circuitry 406 may include mixer circuitry 406a, amplifier circuitry 406b, and filter circuitry 406 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of RF circuitry 406 may include filter circuitry 406c and mixer circuitry 406 a. RF circuitry 406 may also include synthesizer circuitry 406d for synthesizing the frequencies used by mixer circuitry 406a for the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 406a of the receive signal path may be configured to: the RF signal received from the FEM circuit 408 is down-converted based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuit 406 d. The amplifier circuit 406b may be configured to amplify the downconverted signal, and the filter circuit 406c may be a Low Pass Filter (LPF) or a Band Pass Filter (BPF) configured to: unwanted signals are removed from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal. The output baseband signal may be provided to baseband circuitry 410 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal may be a zero frequency baseband signal, but this is not required. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 406a of the receive signal path may comprise a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 406a of the transmit signal path may be configured to: the input baseband signal is up-converted based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuit 406d to generate an RF output signal for FEM circuit 408. The baseband signal may be provided by baseband circuitry 410 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 406 c.

In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 406a of the receive signal path and mixer circuitry 406a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 406a of the receive signal path and mixer circuit 406a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 406a of the receive signal path and mixer circuitry 406a of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct down-conversion and direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, mixer circuit 406a of the receive signal path and mixer circuit 406a of the transmit signal path may be configured for superheterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, the output baseband signal and the input baseband signal may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, RF circuitry 406 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry, and baseband circuitry 410 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with RF circuitry 406.

In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 406d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional-N/N +1 synthesizer, although the scope of embodiments is not so limited as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 406d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase locked loop with a frequency divider.

The synthesizer circuit 406d may be configured to: the output frequency used by mixer circuit 406a of RF circuit 406 is synthesized based on the frequency input and the divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 406d may be a fractional N/N +1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, the frequency input may be provided by a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO), but this is not required. The divider control input may be provided by baseband circuitry 410 or application circuitry 205/305 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on the channel indicated by the application circuit 205/305.

Synthesizer circuit 406d of RF circuit 406 may include a frequency divider, a Delay Locked Loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual-mode divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a Digital Phase Accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to: the input signal is divided by N or N +1 (e.g., based on a carry) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded tunable delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay element may be configured to: the VCO period is broken up into Nd equal phase packets, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuit 406d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with a quadrature generator and frequency divider circuit to generate a plurality of signals at the carrier frequency having a plurality of different phases relative to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be the LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 406 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 408 may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array 411, amplify the received signals, and provide amplified versions of the received signals to RF circuitry 406 for further processing. FEM circuitry 408 may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals provided by RF circuitry 406 for transmission by one or more antenna elements of antenna array 411. In various embodiments, amplification through either the transmit signal path or the receive signal path may be done in only the RF circuitry 406, only the FEM circuitry 408, or both the RF circuitry 406 and the FEM circuitry 408.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 408 may include TX/RX switches to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 408 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 408 may include an LNA for amplifying the received RF signal and providing the amplified receive RF signal as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 406). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 408 may include: a Power Amplifier (PA) to amplify an input RF signal (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 406); and one or more filters for generating RF signals for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of antenna array 411.

Antenna array 411 includes one or more antenna elements, each configured to: converts an electric signal into a radio wave to propagate in the air, and converts a received radio wave into an electric signal. For example, digital baseband signals provided by baseband circuitry 410 are converted to analog RF signals (e.g., modulation waveforms) that are to be amplified and transmitted via antenna elements of antenna array 411, which includes one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, directional, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed in a variety of arrangements as is known and/or discussed herein. Antenna array 411 may include microstrip antennas or printed antennas fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array 411 may be formed as various shapes of metal foils (e.g., patch antennas) and may be coupled with the RF circuitry 406 and/or the FEM circuitry 408 using metal transmission lines or the like.

The processor of the application circuitry 205/305 and the processor of the baseband circuitry 410 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, the processor of the baseband circuitry 410 may be used, alone or in combination, to perform layer 3, layer 2, or layer 1 functions, while the processor of the application circuitry 205/305 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further perform layer 4 functions (e.g., TCP layer and UDP layer). As referred to herein, layer 3 may include an RRC layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, the layer 2 may include a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, layer 1 may include the PHY layer of the UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

It is often desirable to know the location of a User Equipment (UE), such as a cellular telephone. To assist in determining location, a Base Station (BS) (e.g., a gNB) may broadcast Positioning Reference Signals (PRS) that are used by UEs for Downlink (DL) measurements, such as Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD), angle of arrival (AOA), angle of departure (AOD), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ). For example, the UE may measure time differences of PRS signals received from multiple base stations for positioning based on observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA). Since the location of the base station is known, the observed time difference can be used to calculate the location of the UE. Generally, PRS signals transmitted in different neighboring cells and sometimes within the same cell may interfere with each other, resulting in lower accuracy and reliability of PRS acquisition and measurement by a UE, and thus lower accuracy of location estimation by the UE. To mitigate or avoid this, the PRS signal may be periodically and differentially muted.

Modern wireless communication systems are designed to provide high quality of service while consuming a minimum amount of resources. It is desirable that the procedures enabled in these wireless communication systems be optimized and efficient.

The mechanism that supports calculation of accurate user coordinates is one of the embedded components of modern wireless communication systems, such as 5G. The process of resource management is expected to be flexible and efficient to maintain the required QoS.

Embodiments described herein relate to detailed mechanisms for flexible and efficient resource configuration mechanisms for NR DL PRS resources, provide mechanisms for flexible and optimized resource scheduling based on muting procedures, provide different approaches for muting, such as formula-based or random-based. In addition, embodiments described herein relate to an enhanced method of RSTD to RTT conversion for a neighbor gNB.

Resource allocation aspect

As described above, PRSs are broadcast by the gNB and used by the UE for positioning in the wireless communication network.

In some embodiments, a single configured set of PRS resources may be extended/repeated into multiple sets of PRS resources by using the following mechanisms.

The first option is the repetition method. In this option, a copy of the current set of PRS resources may be added in the time and/or frequency domain. This option may assume that a single or multiple PRS resource sets may be selected per opportunity (occase) for DL PRS transmission. Furthermore, for this purpose, separate parameters may be reused for time and frequency. In some embodiments, DL PRS resource set repetition may depend on a temporal repetition parameter N_TimeRepeatThe parameter configures the number of time repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources. In other embodiments, the DL PRS resource set repetition may be repeated in the frequency domain, the number of repetitions depending on a comb (comb) size value of the defined DL PRS resource set. It should be understood that the number of repetitions in time and frequency may be fixed and configurable. In some embodiments, there is no overlap between DL PRS resource set repetitions.

The second option is a time and frequency offset that is time and frequency dependent. In this option, when time and frequency offsets are configured according to the opportunity index, a copy of the set of PRS resources may be configured. This option may assume that a single set of PRS resources may be selected per opportunity for DL PRS transmission.

Fig. 5 is an example representation of DL PRS resource set repetition (duplication) in accordance with some embodiments. As shown in fig. 5, in a DL PRS occasion, a set of DL PRS resources may be repeated in the time domain and/or the frequency domain. In this example, the four types of DL PRS resource set repetitions shown are (#0, #1, #2, and # 3). DL PRS resource set repetition #0 has a different frequency offset from DL PRS resource set repetition #1, and DL PRS resource set repetitions #0 and #1 have different time offsets from DL PRS resource set repetitions #2 and # 3. It should be understood that the scope of the embodiments is not so limited, and other representations are possible.

To make it easier to reference between these repetitions, an indexing mechanism may be applied. An index value may be assigned to each PRS resource set repetition. For each time/frequency offset, its index value may be unique and may be ordered in ascending order of frequency offset values based on the frequency domain and/or in ascending order of time offset values based on the time domain.

Two patterns for DL PRS muting

As described above, to mitigate or avoid interference between different PRS signals from different gnbs, PRS signals may be periodically and differentially muted. For each enabled/activated set of PRS resources and repetition, a procedure for activating a replica of the set of PRS resources may be defined. This all repeated procedure for a selected set of PRS resources may be based on two muting pattern mechanisms, wherein the main idea of the method is to select active DL PRS resources based on a muting procedure that is based on two independently configured muting patterns. For simplicity, the muting patterns may be denoted herein as muting pattern type 1 and muting pattern type 2. Further, it is assumed that DL PRS transmission is enabled in all DL PRS resource set repetitions configured on the gNB.

In some embodiments, muting pattern type 1 may be responsible for indicating a set of DL PRS resources that are inactive on each gNB for each PRS occasion index. In these embodiments, the length of muting pattern type 1 may be equal to the number of DL PRS resource sets configured on the gNB, and each bit indicates activation/deactivation of a corresponding DL PRS resource set. An example of muting pattern type 1 is shown in fig. 6, where the muting pattern determines a single active PRS resource per occasion. In this example, opportunities #0- #8 are shown, each containing 6 sets of DL PRS resources. Accordingly, the bitmap of the silent pattern type 1 has a length of 6 bits. Each bit may represent a "0" or a "1". In this example, a bit "0" indicates that the corresponding set of DL PRS resources is disabled, while a bit "1" indicates that the corresponding set of DL PRS resources is enabled. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other examples are possible in which a bit "0" indicates that the corresponding set of DL PRS resources is enabled and a bit "1" indicates that the corresponding set of DL PRS resources is disabled. Further, although only one resource set is activated per opportunity in this example, the number of active resource sets per opportunity may be configured.

In other embodiments, muting pattern type 1 may be responsible for indicating DL PRS resources that are inactive per PRS occasion index on each gNB. For illustration purposes, each block in fig. 6 may also represent a DL PRS resource in a set of DL PRS resources. In these embodiments, the length of muting pattern type 1 may be equal to the number of DL PRS resources configured on the gNB, and each bit indicates activation/deactivation of a corresponding DL PRS resource in the set of DL PRS resources. Each bit may represent a "0" or a "1". Similar to the above, a bit "0" may indicate that a corresponding DL PRS resource in the set of DL PRS resources is disabled, while a bit "1" may indicate that a corresponding DL PRS resource in the set of DL PRS resources is enabled.

As shown in fig. 6, the muting pattern for timing #0 is set to {0,1,0,0,0,0 }. That is, for opportunity #0, DL PRS resources or sets of DL PRS resources with index 1 are enabled for PRS transmission, while the remaining DL PRS resources or sets of DL PRS resources are muted. Similarly, the muting pattern for occasion #1 is set to {0,0,0,1,0,0}, which means that DL PRS resources or DL PRS resource sets with index 3 are enabled for PRS transmission, and the remaining DL PRS resources or DL PRS resource sets are muted. Then, the gnbs may transmit PRSs in the DL PRS resources enabled for them, respectively.

In some embodiments, muting pattern type 2 may be responsible for entire gNB muting. In these embodiments, the length of the bitmap of the muting pattern may not be limited. In some embodiments, the decision of whether or not the gNB mutes all DL PRS transmissions may depend on the value of the allocated bit in the muting pattern index i:

i＝mod(Occasion Index,Muting Patter Type 2size)

an example of muting pattern type 2 (gNB-based muting) is depicted in fig. 7. Similar to fig. 6, occasions #0- #8 are shown in this example, each containing 6 sets of DL PRS resources. Further, it can be seen that the muting pattern type 2 is set to be the same for all occasions.

As shown in fig. 7, in this example, the bitmap of silence pattern type 2 may have a length of 4 bits: {1,0,1,1}. Again, in this example, a bit "0" indicates that the corresponding set of DL PRS resources is disabled, while a bit "1" indicates that the corresponding set of DL PRS resources is enabled. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that other examples are possible in which a bit "0" indicates that the corresponding set of DL PRS resources is enabled and a bit "1" indicates that the corresponding set of DL PRS resources is disabled. For the #0 occasion, the gNB may enable all DL PRS resource sets since i ═ mod (0,4) ═ 0 and the bit with index 0 in muting pattern type 2 is "1". Similarly, for opportunity #1, the gNB may mute (disable) all DL PRS resource sets since i ═ mod (1,4) ═ 1, and the bit with index 1 in muting pattern type 2 is "0". For opportunity #4, the gNB may enable all DL PRS resource sets since i ═ mod (4,4) ═ 0 and the bit with index 0 in muting pattern type 2 is "1". For opportunity #5, the gNB may mute all DL PRS resource sets since i ═ mod (5,4) ═ 1 and the bit with index 1 in muting pattern type 2 is "0". Then, the gnbs may transmit PRSs in the DL PRS resource sets enabled for them, respectively.

Although as described above, two independently configured muting patterns may be used separately for DL PRS resource selection/activation, in some embodiments they may be combined together, which allows for a flexible mechanism of DL PRS resource selection to be used. An example of this is depicted in fig. 8. As shown in fig. 8, whether or not a set of DL PRS resources is to be muted depends not only on the values of the bits corresponding to the set of DL PRS resources in muting pattern type 1, but also on the values of the bits corresponding to the set of DL PRS resources in muting pattern type 2. For example, for opportunity #0, only DL PRS resource sets with index 1 are enabled according to muting pattern type 1, and all DL PRS resource sets are enabled according to muting pattern type 2. As a result, for opportunity #0, only the DL PRS resource set with index 1 is enabled. For opportunity #1, only DL PRS resource set with index 3 is enabled according to muting pattern type 1. However, according to muting pattern type 2, all DL PRS resource sets are muted. As a result, no set of DL PRS resources is enabled for opportunity # 1. Then, the gnbs may transmit PRSs in the DL PRS resource sets enabled for them, respectively.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example method 900 for transmitting PRSs in accordance with some embodiments. Method 900 may be performed by an apparatus of a gNB.

As shown in fig. 9, method 900 may include: a Downlink (DL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) configuration is determined, the DL PRS configuration comprising a defined DL PRS resource set configuration and a DL PRS resource muting mechanism (block 902). In some embodiments, the defined DL PRS resource set configuration maintains an extension mechanism using a selected one of DL PRS resource set repetition or a timing dependent time and frequency offset for the DL PRS resource set. Next, method 900 may include: generating a PRS based on the DL PRS configuration. Thereafter, the gNB may send the PRS to the UE.

In some embodiments, the bitmap for the muting pattern may be configured by a length parameter and a non-zero element number parameter. In some embodiments, the bitmap for the muting pattern may be reconfigured by the network. In these embodiments, the reconfiguration rules for the bitmap may be based on one or a combination of the following methods:

fixed bitmap pattern-static DL PRS resource selection

Configured pattern set used periodically according to PRS occasion ID

Random-based pattern reconfiguration-random method for pattern reconfiguration, fixed-size patterns being randomly assigned with a fixed number of non-zero elements

Pattern reconfiguration based on cyclic shift-based on cyclic shift of defined patterns

Formula-based pattern reconfiguration-parameter-based pattern reconfiguration, e.g., PRS occasion ID, number of configured DL PRS resources, gNB-specific PRS ID parameters, etc.

Formula-based DL PRS muting pattern configuration

In some embodiments, a predefined PRS transmission pattern may allocate PRS transmissions from all stations on configured orthogonal PRS resources (i.e., mapping unique PRS IDs/station IDs to allocated PRS resources or resource sets). To optimize performance, all transmitting stations (determined by PRS IDs) may be evenly distributed over the N orthogonal resources allocated for transmission (DL PRS resource set repetition). To optimize positioning performance, each station may have one transmission opportunity in the N allocated resources. In addition, at the next transmission window opportunity (e.g., DL PRS occasion), a new unique combination of transmitting stations may occupy the allocated orthogonal resources.

The following symbols may be introduced to define the mapping of PRS IDs to orthogonal PRS resources over multiple occasions:

N_PRS-ID-a maximum number of PRS IDs supported by the specification;

I_PRS-IDall PRS ID sets, 0 ≦ I_PRS-ID＜N_PRS-ID；

P is the number of repetitions of orthogonal DL PRS resource sets per opportunity;

w_maxa maximum number of PRS transmission occasions per SFN cycle;

w is the index of PRS transmission opportunity in SFN cycle period, w is more than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to w_max-1。

The result of the multiple non-zero primitive selections is the following formula for each PRS ID I_PRS-ID(m) and generating a logical index i, i ∈ {0, …, P-1} for the PRS resource per opportunity:

multiple PRS resource set repetitions allocated in the same time offset and different frequency offsets may be selected according to the following formula:

i(I_PRS-ID,w)＝{j_T,j_T+1,…j_T+P_Ftherein of

j_T-an index of a first PRS resource set repetition with a unique time domain offset, calculated according to:

whereinP_T-number of repetitions for orthogonal DL PRS resource sets in time domain per opportunity;

P_F-number of repetitions of orthogonal DL PRS resource sets in frequency domain per occasion.

Random-based DL PRS muting pattern configuration

In some embodiments, the configuration of the muting pattern may be based on a randomization method on DL PRS occasions. As an example, the following mechanism may be used for silence pattern randomization:

N_PRS-ID-specifying a maximum number of supported PRS IDs;

I_PRS-IDall PRS ID sets, I_PRS-ID＝{0,1,…,N_PRS-ID-1}；

w is the index of transmission time, w is more than or equal to 0 and less than or equal to w_max；

P is the number of orthogonal DL PRS resource set repetitions per opportunity.

The single non-zero primitive selection process may be based on the following rules:

i(I_PRS-ID,w)＝mod(x[w]p) of which

x[w]＝mod(a·x[w-1],b)；x[-1]＝mod(a·c_init,b)

c_init＝2·N_PRS-ID+I_PRS-ID+1；a＝39827,b＝65537。

The plurality of non-zero primitive selection processes may be based on the following rules:

i(I_PRS-ID,w)＝{j_T,j_T+1,…j_T+P_Ftherein of

j_T-an index of a first PRS resource set repetition with a unique time domain offset, calculated according to:

j_T＝mod(x[w],P_T) Wherein

x[w]＝mod(a·x[w-1],b)；x[-1]＝mod(a·c_init,b)

c_init＝2·N_PRS-ID+I_PRS-ID+1；a＝39827,b＝65537，

P_TFor orthogonality in the time domain per opportunity DThe number of repetitions of the L PRS resource set;

P_Fthe number of repetitions of the orthogonal DL PRS resource set in the frequency domain per opportunity.

Simplified measurement of multiple RTT positioning

Round Trip Time (RTT) is a technique for determining the location of a User Equipment (UE). RTT is a two-way messaging technique (gNB to UE and UE to gNB), where both UE and gNB report their transmit-receive time differences to a positioning entity (e.g., a location server or a Location Management Function (LMF)) that calculates the location of the UE. This allows the round-trip time-of-flight between the UE and the gNB to be calculated. Then, the UE position is known to be on a circle (for two-dimensional positioning) or a sphere (for three-dimensional positioning) centered on the position of the gNB. Reporting the RTTs with multiple network nodes allows the positioning entity to solve the position of the UE as the intersection of circles or spheres.

In the present disclosure, the multi-RTT positioning procedure may be simplified from a measurement perspective, and the multi-RTT positioning procedure may be improved from a coverage perspective. In some embodiments, RSTD measurements of non-serving gnbs may be used to obtain RTT measurements for them. In these embodiments, the following measurements may need to be obtained:

RTT between UE and serving gNB_sMeasuring

Synchronization error measurement Δ τ between the serving and mth gNB_sm

RSTD between UE and mth gNB_mMeasuring

In general, RSTD_mCan be defined as:

wherein the content of the first and second substances,is the ideal time delay between the UE and the mth gbb,is the mth gNB synchronization with respect to absolute timingThe error is a measure of the error,is the measured estimation error of the mth gbb. In a similar manner to that described above,is an ideal time delay between the UE and the serving gbb (i.e., reference gbb),is the serving gbb synchronization error with respect to absolute timing,is the measurement estimation error of the serving gbb.

And, RTT can be defined as:

accordingly, RSTD can be rewritten using RTT as follows_m：

Wherein, Δ τ_smIndicating a synchronization error between the serving gbb and the mth gbb.

The main idea of the positioning procedure is therefore to calculate the RTT measurement between the UE and the mth gNB according to the following rule:

in some embodiments, the synchronization error measurement Δ τ between the gnbs may be calculated by means of RAT-dependent or RAT-independent signaling_sm。

Figure 10 illustrates an example method 1000 for calculating RTT in accordance with some embodiments. The method 1000 may be performed by an apparatus of a location entity.

The method may begin at block 1002: signaling is received from a plurality of next generation nodebs (gnbs) including a serving gNB and a second gNB. At block 1004, the method may include: based on the received signaling, a synchronization error measurement between the serving gNB and the second gNB is calculated. At block 1006, the method may include: receiving, from a User Equipment (UE), a Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurement between the UE and a second gNB. At block 1008, the method may include: a first Round Trip Time (RTT) measurement between the UE and the serving gNB is performed. Then, at block 1010, the method may include: a second RTT measurement between the UE and the second gNB is calculated based on the synchronization error measurement, the RSTD measurement, and the first RTT measurement.

Fig. 11 illustrates various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device, in accordance with various embodiments. In particular, fig. 11 includes an arrangement 1100 that illustrates interconnections between various protocol layers/entities. The following description of fig. 11 is provided with respect to various protocol layers/entities operating in conjunction with the 5G/NR system standard and the LTE system standard, although some or all aspects of fig. 11 may be applicable to other wireless communication network systems as well.

The protocol layers of arrangement 1100 may include one or more of PHY 1110, MAC 1120, RLC 1130, PDCP 1140, SDAP 1147, RRC 1155, and NAS 1157, as well as other higher layer functions not shown. The protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., items 1159, 1156, 1150, 1149, 1145, 1135, 1125, and 1115 of fig. 11), which may provide communication between two or more protocol layers.

PHY 1110 may transmit and receive physical layer signal 1105, and physical layer signal 1105 may be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. Physical layer signal 1105 may include one or more physical channels such as those discussed herein. PHY 1110 may also perform link Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers (e.g., RRC 1155). PHY 1110 may also perform error detection for the transport channels, Forward Error Correction (FEC) encoding/decoding for the transport channels, modulation/demodulation for the physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping to the physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In an embodiment, an instance of PHY 1110 may process a request from an instance of MAC 1120 via one or more PHY-SAPs 1115 and provide an indication thereto via one or more PHY-SAPs 1115. The requests and indications communicated via the PHY-SAP 1115 may include one or more transport channels, according to some embodiments.

An instance of MAC 1120 may process requests from an instance of RLC 1130 via one or more MAC-SAP 1125 and provide indications thereto via one or more MAC-SAP 1125. These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP 1125 may include one or more logical channels. MAC 1120 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be transmitted to PHY 1110 via transport channels, demultiplexing MAC SDUs from TBs transmitted from PHY 1110 via transport channels onto one or more logical channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction by HARQ, and logical channel prioritization.

The instance of RLC 1130 may process requests from the instance of PDCP 1140 via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 1135 and provide indications thereto via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAPs) 1135. These requests and indications communicated via the RLC-SAP 1135 may include one or more RLC channels. RLC 1130 may operate in a variety of operating modes including: transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). RLC 1130 may perform delivery of upper layer Protocol Data Units (PDUs), error correction by automatic repeat request (ARQ) (for AM data delivery), and concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs (for UM and AM data delivery). RLC 1130 may also perform re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs (for AM data transfer), re-ordering RLC data PDUs (for UM and AM data transfer), detecting duplicate data (for UM and AM data transfer), discarding RLC SDUs (for UM and AM data transfer), detecting protocol errors (for AM data transfer), and performing RLC re-establishment.

The instance of PDCP 1140 may process requests from the instance of RRC 1155 and/or the instance of SDAP 1147 via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points (PDCP-SAP)1145 and provide indications thereto via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points (PDCP-SAP) 1145. These requests and indications communicated via the PDCP-SAP 1145 may include one or more radio bearers. PDCP 1140 may perform header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-order delivery of upper layer PDUs when lower layers are re-established, eliminate duplication of lower layer SDUs for radio bearers mapped onto RLC AM when lower layers are re-established, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification on control plane data, control timer-based data discard, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

An instance of the SDAP 1147 may process requests from one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAPs 1149 and provide indications thereto via one or more SDAP-SAPs 1149. These requests and indications communicated via the SDAP-SAP 1149 may include one or more QoS flows. The SDAP 1147 may map QoS flows to DRBs and vice versa and may also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity 1147 may be configured for a single PDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN 110 can control the mapping of QoS flows to DRBs in two different ways, i.e. reflection mapping or explicit mapping. For reflective mapping, the SDAP 1147 of the UE 101 may monitor the QFI of the DL packets of each DRB and may apply the same mapping to packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP 1147 of the UE 101 may map UL packets belonging to a QoS flow corresponding to a QoS flow ID and a PDU session observed in DL packets of the DRB. To enable the reflection mapping, the NG-RAN may tag the DL packet on the Uu interface with the QoS flow ID. Explicit mapping may involve the RRC 1155 configuring the SDAP 1147 with an explicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which the SDAP 1147 may store and follow. In an embodiment, the SDAP 1147 may be used only in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

RRC 1155 may configure aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY 1110, MAC 1120, RLC 1130, PDCP 1140, and SDAP 1147, via one or more management service access points (M-SAPs). In an embodiment, an instance of RRC 1155 may process requests from one or more NAS entities 1157 via one or more RRC-SAPs 1156 and provide indications thereto via one or more RRC-SAPs 1156. The primary services and functions of RRC 1155 may include broadcasting system information (e.g., included in MIB or SIB related NAS), broadcasting system information related to Access Stratum (AS), paging, establishing, maintaining, and releasing RRC connections between UE 101 and RAN 110 (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishing, configuring, maintaining, and releasing point-to-point radio bearers, security functions (including key management), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. The MIB and SIBs may include one or more IEs, each of which may include a separate data field or data structure.

NAS 1157 may form the highest layer of the control plane between UE 101 and the AMF. The NAS 1157 may support mobility and session management procedures for the UE 101 to establish and maintain an IP connection between the UE 101 and a P-GW in the LTE system.

According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of the arrangement 1100 may be implemented in the UE 101, the RAN node 111, an MME in an AMF or LTE implementation in an NR implementation, an S-GW and a P-GW in an UPF or LTE implementation in an NR implementation, or the like to be used in a control plane or user plane communication protocol stack between the above mentioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of the UE 101, the gNB 111, the AMF, etc. may communicate with a corresponding peer protocol entity that may be implemented in or on another device, using the services of the corresponding lower layer protocol entity, to perform such communications. In some embodiments, the gNB-CU of gNB 111 may host RRC 1155, SDAP 1147, and PDCP 1140 of the gNB that control the operation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of gNB 111 may each host RLC 1130, MAC 1120, and PHY 1110 of gNB 111.

In a first example, the control plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, NAS 1157, RRC 1155, PDCP 1140, RLC 1130, MAC 1120, and PHY 1110. In this example, upper layers 1160 may be built on top of NAS 1157 and include IP layer 1161, SCTP 1162, and application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1163.

In NR implementations, the AP 1163 may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP)1163 for the NG interface 113 defined between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF, or the AP 1163 may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP)1163 for the Xn interface 112 defined between two or more RAN nodes 111.

The NG-AP 1163 may support the functionality of the NG interface 113 and may include a basic procedure (EP). The NG-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF. The NG-AP 1163 service may include two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the UE 101) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the entire NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 111 and the AMF). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for sending a paging request to the NG-RAN node 111 involved in a specific paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF to establish, modify and/or release UE contexts in the AMF and NG-RAN nodes 111; mobility functions for the UE 101 in ECM-CONNECTED mode, support mobility in NG-RAN for intra-system HO, support mobility from/to EPS system for inter-system HO; NAS signaling transport function, configured to transport or reroute NAS messages between UE 101 and AMF; a NAS node selection function to determine an association between the AMF and the UE 101; the NG interface management function is used for establishing an NG interface and monitoring errors on the NG interface; a warning message transmission function for providing a means of transmitting a warning message or canceling an ongoing warning message broadcast via the NG interface; a configuration transfer function for requesting and transferring RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information, Performance Measurement (PM) data, etc.) between the two RAN nodes 111 via the CN 120; and/or other similar functions.

XnAP 1163 may support the functionality of Xn interface 112 and may include XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedure may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the NG RAN 111 (or E-UTRAN), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context acquisition and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and so on. The XnAP global procedures may include procedures unrelated to the particular UE 101, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like.

In an LTE implementation, the AP 1163 may be an S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP)1163 for an S1 interface 113 defined between the E-UTRAN node 111 and the MME, or the AP 1163 may be an X2 interface 112X 2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP)1163 for an X2 interface defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes 111.

The S1 application protocol layer (S1-AP)1163 may support the functionality of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may include the S1-AP EP. The S1-AP EP may be the unit of interaction between the E-UTRAN node 111 and the MME within the LTE CN 120. The S1-AP 1163 service may include two groups: UE-associated services and non-UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN radio Access bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

The X2AP 1163 may support the functionality of the X2 interface 112 and may include X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. The X2AP basic mobility procedure may include procedures for handling UE mobility within the E-UTRAN 120, such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN state transfer procedures, UE context acquisition and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and so on. The X2AP global procedures may include procedures unrelated to the particular UE 101, such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, and so forth.

The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) 1162 may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). SCTP 1162 may ensure reliable transport of signaling messages between RAN node 111 and the AMF/MME based in part on the IP protocol supported by IP 1161. An internet protocol layer (IP)1161 may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. In some implementations, IP layer 1161 may use point-to-point transport to transmit and deliver PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node 111 may include L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME/AMF to exchange information.

In a second example, the user plane protocol stack may include, in order from the highest layer to the lowest layer, an SDAP 1147, a PDCP 1140, an RLC 1130, a MAC 1120, and a PHY 1110. The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between the UE 101, RAN node 111, and the UPF in NR implementations or the S-GW and P-GW in LTE implementations. In this example, the upper layers 1151 may be built on top of the SDAP 1147 and may include a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP/IP)1152, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) tunneling protocol (GTP-U)1153 for the user plane layer, and a user plane PDU layer (UP PDU) 1163.

The transport network layer 1154 (also referred to as the "transport layer") may be built on top of IP transport and the GTP-U1153 may be used on top of the UDP/IP layer 1152 (including the UDP layer and the IP layer) to carry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also referred to as the "internet layer") may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functions. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets, for example, in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats.

GTP-U1153 may be used to carry user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transmitted may be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. UDP/IP 1152 may provide a checksum for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication of selected data streams. The RAN node 511 and S-GW may exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer (e.g., PHY 1110), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1120, RLC 1130, PDCP 1140, and/or SDAP 1147), a UDP/IP layer 1152, and a GTP-U1153, using an S1-U interface. The S-GW and the P-GW may exchange user plane data via a protocol stack including an L1 layer, an L2 layer, a UDP/IP layer 1152, and a GTP-U1153 using an S5/S8a interface. As previously discussed, the NAS protocol may support mobility of the UE 101 and session management procedures to establish and maintain an IP connection between the UE 101 and the P-GW.

Further, although not shown in fig. 11, there may be an application layer above the AP 1163 and/or transport network layer 1154. The application layer may be a layer at which a user of the UE 101, the RAN node 111, or other network element interacts with, for example, a software application being executed by the application circuitry 205 or the application circuitry 305, respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for software applications to interact with the communication system (e.g., baseband circuitry 410) of the UE 101 or RAN node 111. In some implementations, the IP layer and/or the application layer can provide the same or similar functionality as or portions of layers 5-7 of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (e.g., layer 7 of OSI-the application layer, layer 6 of OSI-the presentation layer and layer 5 of OSI-the session layer).

Fig. 12 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments. In particular, fig. 12 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resource 1200, hardware resource 1200 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1210, one or more memory/storage devices 1220, and one or more communications resources 1230, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1240. For embodiments that utilize node virtualization (e.g., NFV), hypervisor 1202 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/subslices to utilize hardware resources 1200.

Processor 1210 may include, for example, processor 1212 and processor 1214. Processor 1210 may be, for example, a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processor, a Complex Instruction Set Computing (CISC) processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a DSP (e.g., baseband processor), an ASIC, an FPGA, a Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), another processor (including the processors discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

Memory/storage device 1220 may include a main memory, a disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage 1220 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile or non-volatile memory, such as Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid state storage, and the like.

The communication resources 1230 may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices for communicating with one or more peripherals 1204 or one or more databases 1206 via a network 1208. For example, communication resources 1230 can include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellular communication components, NFC components,(or low power consumption)) A component,Components and other communication components.

Instructions 1250 may include software, programs, applications, applets, apps, or other executable code for causing at least any one processor 1210 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 1250 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processor 1210 (e.g., within a cache memory of the processor), the memory/storage device 1220, or any suitable combination thereof. Further, any portion of instructions 1250 may be transmitted to hardware resource 1200 from any combination of peripheral devices 1204 or databases 1206. Thus, the memory of processor 1210, memory/storage 1220, peripherals 1204, and database 1206 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

Example 1 may include an apparatus of a next generation nodeb (gnb), the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: determining a Downlink (DL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) configuration comprising a defined DL PRS resource set configuration and a DL PRS resource muting mechanism, wherein the defined DL PRS resource set configuration maintains an extension mechanism using a selected one of DL PRS resource set repetition or opportunity-dependent time and frequency offset for a DL PRS resource set; and generating a PRS based on the DL PRS configuration; and a Radio Frequency (RF) interface, wherein the PRS is transmitted over the RF interface.

Example 2 may be the subject matter of example 1, or any other example herein, wherein the set of DL PRS resource repetitions includes subsequent repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources in a time domain and a frequency domain.

Example 3 may include the subject matter of example 2, or any other example herein, wherein subsequent repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources in time and frequency domains further include different time and frequency offsets for copies of the set of DL PRS resources.

Example 4 may include the subject matter of example 3, or any other example herein, wherein there is no overlap between the DL PRS resource set repetitions.

Example 5 may include the subject matter of example 4, or any other example herein, wherein the set of DL PRS resources is repeatedly used simultaneously by the gNB.

Example 6 may include the subject matter of example 1, or any other example herein, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition is dependent on a temporal repetition parameter N_TimeRepeatThe parameter configures a number of time repetitions for the set of DL PRS resources.

Example 7 may include the subject matter of example 1, or any other example herein, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition is repeated in a frequency domain, a number of repetitions depending on a comb size value of the defined DL PRS resource set.

Example 8 may include the subject matter of example 1, or any other example herein, wherein the occasion-dependent time and frequency offsets for the set of DL PRS resources further includes a time offset value and a frequency offset value that vary according to a PRS occasion index.

Example 9 may include the subject matter of example 1, or any other example herein, wherein the set of DL PRS resources repeats further include, for each copy of the set of DL PRS resources, an indication of a unique ID value, respectively.

Example 10 may include the subject matter of example 9, or any other example herein, wherein the indication of the unique ID value is based on an index value.

Example 11 may include the subject matter of example 10, or any other example herein, wherein the index values are ordered in ascending order of frequency offset values based on a frequency domain, and/or ordered in ascending order of time offset values based on a time domain.

Example 12 may include the subject matter of example 1, or any other example herein, wherein the muting mechanism comprises a muting pattern comprising: silence pattern type 1, responsible for indicating inactive resources on each gNB for each PRS occasion index; and muting pattern type 2, responsible for entire gbb muting.

Example 13 may include the subject matter of example 12, or any other example herein, wherein the muting pattern is used solely on the gNB.

Example 14 may include the subject matter of example 12, or any other example herein, wherein the muting patterns are jointly used on the gNB.

Example 15 may include the subject matter of example 12, or any other example herein, wherein the muting pattern is configured with a bitmap length parameter and a number of non-zero elements.

Example 16 may include the subject matter of example 12, or any other example herein, wherein a length of the muting pattern type 1 is equal to a number of the sets of DL PRS resources configured on the gNB, and each bit in the muting pattern type 1 indicates activation/deactivation of a corresponding set of DL PRS resources.

Example 17 may include the subject matter of example 12, or any other example herein, wherein in the muting pattern type 2, whether or not all DL PRS transmissions are muted on the gNB depends on a value of a bit allocated on index i: mod (Occasion Index, music Pattern Type 2 size).

Example 18 may include the subject matter of example 12, or any other example herein, wherein the muting pattern is reconfigured according to one or more of: a fixed bitmap pattern selected based on static DL PRS resources, one of a set of configuration patterns selected based on PRS occasion IDs, a random pattern reconfiguration, a cyclic shift defining a pattern, or a formula-based pattern reconfiguration.

Example 19 may include a computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors of a next generation nodeb (gNB), cause the gNB to: determining a Downlink (DL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) configuration comprising a defined DL PRS resource set configuration and a DL PRS resource muting mechanism, wherein the defined DL PRS resource set configuration maintains an extension mechanism using a selected one of DL PRS resource set repetition or opportunity-dependent time and frequency offset for a DL PRS resource set; and generating a PRS based on the DL PRS configuration.

Example 20 may be the subject matter of example 19, or any other example herein, wherein the set of DL PRS resource repetitions includes subsequent repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources in a time domain and a frequency domain.

Example 21 may include the subject matter of example 20, or any other example herein, wherein subsequent repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources in time and frequency domains further includes different time and frequency offsets for copies of the set of DL PRS resources.

Example 22 may include the subject matter of example 21, or any other example herein, wherein there is no overlap between the DL PRS resource set repetitions.

Example 23 may include the subject matter of example 22, or any other example herein, wherein the set of DL PRS resources is repeatedly used simultaneously by the gNB.

Example 24 may include the subject matter of example 19, or any other example herein, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition is dependent on a temporal repetition parameter N_TimeRepeatThe parameter is configured for the DL PRS resource setThe number of time repetitions.

Example 25 may include the subject matter of example 19, or any other example herein, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition is repeated in a frequency domain, a number of repetitions depending on a comb size value of the defined DL PRS resource set.

Example 26 may include the subject matter of example 19, or any other example herein, wherein the occasion-dependent time and frequency offsets for the set of DL PRS resources further includes a time offset value and a frequency offset value that vary according to a PRS occasion index.

Example 27 may include the subject matter of example 19, or any other example herein, wherein the set of DL PRS resources repeats further include, for each copy of the set of DL PRS resources, an indication of a unique ID value, respectively.

Example 28 may include the subject matter of example 27, or any other example herein, wherein the indication of the unique ID value is based on an index value.

Example 29 may include the subject matter of example 28, or any other example herein, wherein the index values are ordered in ascending order of frequency offset values based on a frequency domain, and/or ordered in ascending order of time offset values based on a time domain.

Example 30 may include the subject matter of example 19, or any other example herein, wherein the muting mechanism comprises a muting pattern comprising: silence pattern type 1, responsible for indicating inactive resources on each gNB for each PRS occasion index; and muting pattern type 2, responsible for entire gbb muting.

Example 31 may include the subject matter of example 30, or any other example herein, wherein the muting pattern is used solely on the gNB.

Example 32 may include the subject matter of example 30, or any other example herein, wherein the muting patterns are jointly used on the gNB.

Example 33 may include the subject matter of example 30, or any other example herein, wherein the muting pattern is configured with a bitmap length parameter and a number of non-zero elements.

Example 34 may include the subject matter of example 30, or any other example herein, wherein a length of the muting pattern type 1 is equal to a number of the sets of DL PRS resources configured on the gNB, and each bit in the muting pattern type 1 indicates activation/deactivation of a corresponding set of DL PRS resources.

Example 35 may include the subject matter of example 30, or any other example herein, wherein in the muting pattern type 2, whether or not all DL PRS transmissions are muted on the gNB depends on a value of a bit allocated on index i: mod (Occasion Index, music Pattern Type 2 size).

Example 36 may include the subject matter of example 30, or any other example herein, wherein the muting pattern is reconfigured according to one or more of: a fixed bitmap pattern selected based on static DL PRS resources, one of a set of configuration patterns selected based on PRS occasion IDs, a random pattern reconfiguration, a cyclic shift defining a pattern, or a formula-based pattern reconfiguration.

Example 37 may include a method performed at a next generation nodeb (gnb), the method comprising: determining a Downlink (DL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) configuration comprising a defined DL PRS resource set configuration and a DL PRS resource muting mechanism, wherein the defined DL PRS resource set configuration maintains an extension mechanism using a selected one of DL PRS resource set repetition or opportunity-dependent time and frequency offset for a DL PRS resource set; and generating a PRS based on the DL PRS configuration.

Example 38 may be the subject matter of example 37, or any other example herein, wherein the set of DL PRS resources repetitions includes subsequent repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources in time and frequency domains.

Example 39 may include the subject matter of example 38, or any other example herein, wherein subsequent repetitions of the set of DL PRS resources in time and frequency domains further include different time and frequency offsets for copies of the set of DL PRS resources.

Example 40 may include the subject matter of example 39, or any other example herein, wherein there is no overlap between the DL PRS resource set repetitions.

Example 41 may include the subject matter of example 40, or any other example herein, wherein the set of DL PRS resources is repeatedly used simultaneously by the gNB.

Example 42 may include the subject matter of example 37, or any other example herein, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition is dependent on a temporal repetition parameter N_TimeRepeatThe parameter configures a number of time repetitions for the set of DL PRS resources.

Example 43 may include the subject matter of example 37, or any other example herein, wherein the DL PRS resource set repetition is repeated in a frequency domain, a number of repetitions depending on a comb size value of the defined DL PRS resource set.

Example 44 may include the subject matter of example 37, or any other example herein, wherein the occasion-dependent time and frequency offsets for the set of DL PRS resources further includes a time offset value and a frequency offset value that vary according to a PRS occasion index.

Example 45 may include the subject matter of example 37, or any other example herein, wherein the set of DL PRS resources repeats further include, for each copy of the set of DL PRS resources, an indication of a unique ID value, respectively.

Example 46 may include the subject matter of example 45, or any other example herein, wherein the indication of the unique ID value is based on an index value.

Example 47 may include the subject matter of example 46, or any other example herein, wherein the index values are ordered in ascending order of frequency offset values based on a frequency domain, and/or ordered in ascending order of time offset values based on a time domain.

Example 48 may include the subject matter of example 37, or any other example herein, wherein the muting mechanism comprises a muting pattern comprising: silence pattern type 1, responsible for indicating inactive resources on each gNB for each PRS occasion index; and muting pattern type 2, responsible for entire gbb muting.

Example 49 may include the subject matter of example 48, or any other example herein, wherein the muting pattern is used solely on the gNB.

Example 50 may include the subject matter of example 48, or any other example herein, wherein the muting patterns are jointly used on the gNB.

Example 51 may include the subject matter of example 48, or any other example herein, wherein the muting pattern is configured with a bitmap length parameter and a number of non-zero elements.

Example 52 may include the subject matter of example 48, or any other example herein, wherein a length of the muting pattern type 1 is equal to a number of the sets of DL PRS resources configured on the gNB, and each bit in the muting pattern type 1 indicates activation/deactivation of a corresponding set of DL PRS resources.

Example 53 may include the subject matter of example 48, or any other example herein, wherein in the muting pattern type 2, whether or not all DL PRS transmissions are muted on the gNB depends on a value of a bit allocated on index i: mod (Occasion Index, music Pattern Type 2 size).

Example 54 may include the subject matter of example 48, or any other example herein, wherein the muting pattern is reconfigured according to one or more of: a fixed bitmap pattern selected based on static DL PRS resources, one of a set of configuration patterns selected based on PRS occasion IDs, a random pattern reconfiguration, a cyclic shift defining a pattern, or a formula-based pattern reconfiguration.

Example 55 may include an apparatus comprising: means for determining a Downlink (DL) Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) configuration, the DL PRS configuration comprising a defined DL PRS resource set configuration and a DL PRS resource muting mechanism, wherein the defined DL PRS resource set configuration maintains an extension mechanism using a selected one of DL PRS resource set repetition or a timing dependent time and frequency offset for a DL PRS resource set; and means for generating a PRS based on the DL PRS configuration.

Example 56 may include an apparatus to locate an entity, the apparatus comprising: one or more processors configured to: receiving signaling from a plurality of gNBs including a serving next generation NodeB (gNB) and a second gNB; calculating a synchronization error measurement between the serving gNB and the second gNB based on the received signaling; receiving, from a User Equipment (UE), a Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurement between the UE and the second gNB; performing a first Round Trip Time (RTT) measurement between the UE and the serving gNB; and calculating a second RTT measurement between the UE and the second gNB based on the synchronization error measurement, the RSTD measurement, and the first RTT measurement; and a memory configured to: storing the synchronization error measurement, the RSTD measurement, the first RTT measurement, and the second RTT measurement.

46页详细技术资料下载

上一篇：一种医用注射器针头装配设备

下一篇：用于指示控制信道的方法与装置

NR DL PRS resource muting and enhanced multiple RTT procedures

相关技术

网友询问留言