CN120835000A

CN120835000A - Device, method and computer program

Info

Publication number: CN120835000A
Application number: CN202510359844.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 阿基·赫卡拉; 阿索·赫卡拉
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2024-04-18
Filing date: 2025-03-25
Publication date: 2025-10-24
Also published as: GB202405462D0; GB2640622A

Abstract

The present application relates to an apparatus, method, and computer program for resource conservation in positioning bandwidth aggregation. A device is provided, comprising means for: obtaining an indication of bandwidth extension to be applied to a positioning signal received at the device from a transmitter; receiving a positioning signal, wherein the positioning signal comprises a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers; generating an extended positioning signal based on the received positioning signal and the indication of bandwidth extension to be applied; and determining a time of arrival of the positioning signal based on the extended positioning signal.

Description

Apparatus, method and computer program

Technical Field

The present application relates to methods, apparatus, systems and computer programs and in particular, but not exclusively, to resource saving in positioning bandwidth aggregation.

Background

A communication system may be considered as a facility that enables communication sessions between two or more communication devices or provides communication devices with access to a network. A mobile or wireless communication network is one example of a communication network. The communication device may be served by an application server.

Such communication networks operate according to standards such as those provided by 3GPP (third generation partnership project) or ETSI (european telecommunications standards institute). Examples of standards are the so-called 4G (fourth generation), 5G (fifth generation) standards provided by 3 GPP.

Disclosure of Invention

In a first aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes means for obtaining an indication of a bandwidth extension to be applied to a positioning signal received at the apparatus from a transmitter, receiving the positioning signal, wherein the positioning signal includes a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, generating an extended positioning signal based on the received positioning signal and the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied, and determining a time of arrival of the positioning signal based on the extended positioning signal.

The arrival time of the symbols is substantially frequency independent.

Obtaining an indication of an extension to be applied may comprise receiving the indication from a network entity.

The apparatus may include means for receiving a request for receiver processing capability from a network entity and in response providing an indication of receiver processing capability to a network.

The bandwidth extension to be applied may be associated with a positioning signal received from a given transmitter.

Generating the extended positioning signal may include adding L subcarriers to n subcarriers of the received positioning signal.

The L subcarriers may include generating symbols. The pattern of symbols for the n subcarriers may be repeated in the generated symbols for the L subcarriers.

At least one subcarrier of the L subcarriers may be null.

The indication of the extension to be applied may comprise an indication of at least one of an extension direction, a frequency gap between the L subcarriers and the received n subcarriers, an asymmetric offset, a number of generated symbols included in the L subcarriers, or a deviation of a generated symbol pattern in the L subcarriers from a given symbol pattern.

The apparatus may comprise a user equipment. The transmitter may comprise a base station and the positioning signal may comprise a positioning reference signal.

The apparatus may comprise a base station. The transmitter may comprise a user equipment and the positioning signal may comprise a sounding reference signal.

In a second aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes means for determining a bandwidth of a positioning signal provided by a transmitter of the positioning signal, the positioning signal comprising a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, determining a bandwidth extension of the positioning signal to be applied at a receiver of the positioning signal based on a metric, providing an indication of the bandwidth to the transmitter, and providing an indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied to the receiver.

The arrival time of the symbol at the receiver is substantially frequency independent.

The apparatus may include means for providing a request for receiver processing capability to a receiver and receiving an indication of the receiver processing capability, wherein determining the extension of the positioning signal is further based on the receiver processing capability.

The bandwidth extension to be applied may be associated with a positioning signal received from a transmitter.

The spreading of the positioning signal may comprise adding L subcarriers to the received n subcarriers of the received positioning signal.

The indication of the extension to be applied comprises an indication of at least one of an extension direction, a frequency gap between the L subcarriers and the received subcarriers, an asymmetric offset, a number of sets of generated symbols comprised in the L subcarriers, or a deviation of a generated symbol pattern in the L subcarriers from a given symbol pattern.

The metrics may include at least one of an accuracy metric or a resource saving metric.

The receiver may comprise a user equipment, the transmitter may comprise a base station, and the positioning signal may comprise a positioning reference signal.

The receiver may comprise a base station, the transmitter may comprise a user equipment, and the positioning signal may comprise a sounding reference signal.

In a third aspect, a method is provided that includes obtaining an indication of a bandwidth extension to be applied to a positioning signal received at an apparatus from a transmitter, receiving the positioning signal, wherein the positioning signal includes a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, generating an extended positioning signal based on the received positioning signal and the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied, and determining an arrival time of the positioning signal based on the extended positioning signal.

The arrival time of the symbols is substantially frequency independent.

The method may include receiving a request for receiver processing capability from a network entity and in response providing an indication of receiver processing capability to the network.

At least one subcarrier of the L subcarriers may be null.

The method may be performed at a user equipment. The transmitter may comprise a base station and the positioning signal may comprise a positioning reference signal.

The method may be performed at a base station. The transmitter may comprise a user equipment and the positioning signal may comprise a sounding reference signal.

In a fourth aspect, a method is provided that includes determining a bandwidth of a positioning signal provided by a transmitter of the positioning signal, the positioning signal comprising a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, determining a bandwidth extension of the positioning signal to be applied at a receiver of the positioning signal based on a metric, providing an indication of the bandwidth to the transmitter, and providing an indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied to the receiver.

The method may include providing a request for receiver processing capability to a receiver and receiving an indication of the receiver processing capability, wherein determining the extension of the positioning signal is further based on the receiver processing capability.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third or fourth aspect.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third or fourth aspect.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the third or fourth aspect.

In the foregoing, many different embodiments have been described. It should be appreciated that additional embodiments may be provided by a combination of any two or more of the above embodiments.

Drawings

Embodiments will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an example 5GS communication system;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram of an example mobile communication device;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example control device;

Fig. 4 shows a schematic diagram of a time domain based positioning scheme;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative example of the time domain pulse width of a signal as the bandwidth of the signal increases;

FIG. 6 shows a graph of achievable accuracy versus bandwidth measured by standard deviation;

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart of a method according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 8 shows a flow chart of a method according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 9 shows a block diagram of a method according to an example embodiment;

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram of an extension signal according to an example embodiment;

fig. 11 shows a signaling flow diagram in accordance with an example embodiment;

FIG. 12 shows a block diagram of an extension signal according to an example embodiment;

fig. 13 shows a signaling flow diagram in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 14 shows a signaling flow diagram in accordance with an example embodiment;

fig. 15 shows a signaling flow diagram in accordance with an example embodiment;

Fig. 16 shows a signaling flow diagram in accordance with an example embodiment.

Detailed Description

Before explaining examples in detail, some general principles of a wireless communication system and a mobile communication device are briefly explained with reference to fig. 1, 2 and 3 to help understand the basic technology of the described examples.

Examples of suitable communication systems are the 5G or NR concepts. The network architecture in the NR may be similar to that of LTE-advanced. The base station of the NR system may be referred to as a next generation node B (gNB). Changes to the network architecture may depend on the need to support various radio technologies and finer quality of service (QoS), as well as some on-demand requirements for supporting QoS levels for quality of experience (QoE) of users, for example. Network aware services and applications and service and application aware networks may also bring about changes to the architecture. These relate to Information Centric Networking (ICN) and user centric content delivery networking (UC-CDN) approaches. NR may use multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, many more base stations or nodes than LTE (so-called small cell concept), including macro sites operating in cooperation with smaller stations, and possibly also employ various radio technologies to obtain better coverage and enhanced data rates.

Future networks may utilize Network Function Virtualization (NFV), which is a network architecture concept that proposes entities that virtualize network node functions as "building blocks" or that may be operatively connected or linked together to provide services. A Virtualized Network Function (VNF) may comprise one or more virtual machines that run computer program code using standard or generic type servers instead of custom hardware. Deployment may be based on cloud native network functions (CNFs), where a network function includes one or more pods. Cloud computing or data storage may also be utilized. In radio communications, this may mean performing node operations at least in part in a server, host, or node operatively coupled to the remote radio head. Node operations may also be distributed among multiple servers, nodes, or hosts. It should also be appreciated that the labor distribution between core network operation and base station operation may be different from LTE, or may not even exist.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic representation of a 5G system (5 GS) 100. The 5GS may include a User Equipment (UE) 102 (which may also be referred to as a communication device or terminal), a 5G radio access network (5 GRAN) 104, a 5G core network (5 GCN) 106, one or more internal or external Application Functions (AFs) 108, and one or more Data Networks (DNs) 110.

An example 5G Core Network (CN) includes functional entities. The 5gcn 106 may include one or more access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 112, one or more Session Management Functions (SMFs) 114, an authentication server function (AUSF) 116, a Unified Data Management (UDM) 118, one or more User Plane Functions (UPFs) 120, a unified data store (UDR) 122, and/or a network opening function (NEF) 124. The UPF is controlled by an SMF (session management function) that receives policies from the PCF (policy control function). The 5GCN may include a Location Management Function (LMF) 126. The LMF is responsible for receiving measurement and assistance information from the mobile device or NG-RAN and calculating the location of the UE.

The CN may be connected to the UE through a fixed access via a Radio Access Network (RAN) or via a non-3 GPP interworking function (N3 IWF). The 5GRAN may include one or more gNodeB (gNB) Distributed Unit (DU) functions coupled to one or more gNodeB (gNB) Centralized Unit (CU) functions. The RAN may include one or more access nodes.

A User Plane Function (UPF), known as a PDU Session Anchor (PSA), may be responsible for forwarding frames back and forth between the DN and a tunnel established through 5G to a UE exchanging traffic with the DN.

A possible mobile communication device will now be described in more detail with reference to fig. 2, fig. 2 showing a schematic partial cross-sectional view of a communication device 200. Such communication devices are often referred to as User Equipment (UE) or terminals. A suitable mobile communication device may be provided by any device capable of transmitting and receiving radio signals. Non-limiting examples include a Mobile Station (MS) or mobile device (such as a mobile phone or so-called smart phone), a computer provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility (e.g., USB dongle), a Personal Data Assistant (PDA) or tablet computer provided with wireless communication capabilities, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a portable computer, a desktop computer, an image capture terminal device (such as a digital camera), a gaming terminal device, a music storage and playback appliance, an in-vehicle wireless terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer premises device (CPE), an internet of things (IoT) device, an industrial IoT device, a tag device, or any combination of these, etc. A mobile communication device may provide, for example, data communication for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text messages, multimedia, and the like. Thus, users can be provided and offer a number of services via their communication devices. Non-limiting examples of such services include two-way or multi-way calls, data communications or multimedia services, or simply accessing a data communications network system such as the internet. Broadcast or multicast data may also be provided to the user. Non-limiting examples of content include downloads, television and radio programming, video, advertising, various alerts and other information.

The mobile device is typically provided with at least one data processing entity 201, at least one memory 202 and possibly other components 203 for software and hardware assistance in performing tasks it is designed to perform, including control of access and communication to access systems and other communication devices. The data processing, storage and other related components may be provided on a suitable circuit board and/or in a chipset. This feature is indicated by reference numeral 204. The user may control the operation of the mobile device by means of a suitable user interface, such as a keypad 205, voice commands, touch sensitive screen or pad, combinations thereof, and the like. A display 208, speakers, and microphone may also be provided. In addition, the mobile communication device may include suitable connectors (wired or wireless) to other devices and/or for connecting external accessories (e.g., hands-free devices) thereto.

The mobile device 200 may receive signals over the air or radio interface 207 via suitable means for receiving and may transmit signals via suitable means for transmitting radio signals. In fig. 2, the transceiver device is schematically designated by block 206. The transceiver means 206 may be provided, for example, by radio components and associated antenna arrangements. The antenna arrangement may be arranged inside or outside the mobile device.

Fig. 3 shows an example of a control apparatus 300 for a communication system, e.g. a station to be coupled to and/or for controlling an access system, such as a RAN node (e.g. a base station, eNB or gNB), a relay node or a core network node (such as an MME or a serving gateway (S-GW) or a packet data network gateway (P-GW)), or a core network function (such as an AMF/SMF), or a server or a host. The method may be implemented in a single control device or across more than one control device. The control means may be integrated with or external to a node or module of the core network or RAN. In some embodiments, the base station includes a separate control device unit or module. In other embodiments, the control device may be another network element such as a radio network controller or a spectrum controller. In some embodiments, each base station may have such control means as well as control means provided in a radio network controller. The control means 300 may be arranged to provide control of the communication in the service area of the system. The control device 300 comprises at least one memory 301, at least one data processing unit 302, 303 and an input/output interface 304. Via the interface, the control means may be coupled to a receiver and a transmitter of the base station. The receiver and/or transmitter may be implemented as a radio front-end or a remote radio head.

In a communication system, positioning is used to determine the location of a device in the communication system.

The location of moving objects (cars, robots, unmanned aerial vehicles,) may be critical or even extremely important for accurately knowing, for example, autonomous driving use cases, industrial use cases, or for general network purposes.

Time domain positioning techniques include TDoA (time difference of arrival) or ToA (time of arrival). TDoA and ToA are based on the principle of measuring the arrival time of a signal at a device and using the departure time of the signal from a transmitter to derive the time of flight. The time of flight is then used for distance calculation, which can be used to determine the position of the device relative to the transmitter.

As an example, the signal to be measured may be a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) in the Downlink (DL) or a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) in the Uplink (UL).

An example general open area positioning scheme is depicted in fig. 4. The downlink direction is shown, but without loss of generality, the direction of signaling may be reversed.

The number of base stations shown in fig. 4 is three, but any greater number of Base Stations (BSs) (or more generally TRPs) may be used. Distance calculation by formula using the symbols from fig. 4

D _i＝c·(T_1,i-T_0,i) (equation 1)

Where i=a, B or C. The transmission time T _0,i is ideally the same for all BSs. The arrival time T _1,i naturally varies according to the distance to BS a, BS B or BS C. The coordinate triplet (X, Y, H) of each BS (=trp) is known, i.e. the location of the BS.

T _1,i-T_0,i (equation 2)

The subtraction shown in equation 2 is defined as time of flight (ToF).

The ToF is per transmitter (per BS in the example shown in fig. 4). The time of flight is calculated from the system clock and the transmitter clock (value) is subtracted from the receiver clock as shown in equation 2.

For accurate distance calculation, the arrival time of the signal should be measured as accurately as possible.

The accuracy of the time-of-arrival measurement depends at least in part on the bandwidth of the signal to be measured. The greater the bandwidth, the better the accuracy of the positioning process.

As described below, the received reference signal content is known, and thus one example method for measuring the time of arrival is an autocorrelation function, in which a receiver-generated copy of the reference signal is delayed so that the correlation obtains a maximum. The correlation peak in the time domain is the arrival time. The narrower the bandwidth, the more rounded the peak (in the time domain). This means that the sampling of the autocorrelation response may not find (theoretically) the correct peak, but rather the uncertainty with the peak width is measured. By increasing the bandwidth, the autocorrelation peak becomes narrower in the time domain, and thus the uncertainty of the measurement value decreases. The distribution of the position estimates is thus narrower and the accuracy of the measurement of the arrival time is improved.

Fig. 5 shows an illustrative example of a time domain pulse width of a signal with a narrower bandwidth on the left and a wider bandwidth on the right. The narrower bandwidth peaks are wider than the wider bandwidth peaks.

In more detail, the standard deviation of the arrival time can be usedTo establish the achievable accuracy of the time-based positioning method, the standard deviation being defined as

Where c is the speed of light, P is the received power, N _o is the noise spectral density, and T is the integration/measurement time. The parameter BW _i represents the bandwidth of the carrier frequency f _i and the corresponding wavelength lambda _i, which is used for positioning measurements.

One positioning case is for a factory type environment. Objects moving in the factory (e.g. devices such as robots, or any object that might be harmful if it collides with other objects) should know their position with good accuracy, e.g. at least tens of centimeters horizontally. There are a number of example techniques to achieve this accuracy, including maximum use of available bandwidth (the environment may include a private network so a local operator (factory workplace management) may prioritize positioning use cases), re-use of reference signals, over-sampling of signals in the receive phase or maximum use of antennas for receiving signals transmitted by devices. This can result in high cost and a large number of RRHs and antennas. It is also possible to increase the computational effort. Furthermore, the bandwidth is limited, for example, by regulation. Thus, physics sets an upper limit on the achievable accuracy.

One example use case is factory tool drum positioning. The factory environment may be deployed with several TRP (transmit receive points) or remote antennas, where DUs are only in nearby locations.

The same problem may apply to other exemplary positioning use cases, such as open area installations in the field, although the number of receiving antennas may be less than in a factory-type environment. In a field installation such as that shown in fig. 4, the basic positioning process may require at least three receive (or transmit) antennas, but accuracy may increase a bit if signal coverage is sufficient for more transceivers and network loading enables use of a greater number of transceivers.

The definition of Positioning Reference Signals (PRS) is in TS 38.211 section 7.4.1.7.2 and the mapping to physical resources (also called comb pattern) is in section 7.4.1.7.3. The specification defines the creation of a bit sequence r _m for a symbol as:

the pseudo-random sequence c is explained in the same specification. The uplink reference signals, i.e. the sounding reference signals, are given in section 6.4.1.4, respectively.

FIG. 6 shows a graph with parameter values { lambda _i＝8.57cm,P/N_o achievable accuracy of =15 db.hz } (byDefined) versus the increased bandwidth of the signal (SRS in this example). As can be seen from fig. 6, the accuracy achievable by ToA is sensitive to the configured bandwidth of the reference signal.

Equation 3 is one possible example of definition accuracy, and the expression may vary for different system configurations (i.e., OFDM, etc.). However, the basic relationship between parameters (e.g., σ iToA. Alpha. 1/BWI) holds under different scaling, and thus FIG. 6 provides an overview and trend of achievable accuracy with reference signal bandwidth.

However, the bandwidth of the signal is limited by the available spectrum in the operator network, which is a hard limitation of any bandwidth aggregation technique. The bandwidth is also limited from a resource point of view, and the operator can bear how much to allocate its limited resources to positioning purposes, which can be considered as a soft limitation of bandwidth aggregation. That is, bandwidth cannot be increased without compromising other factors, and in fact the operator must compromise between customer requests and available resources.

The limited BW for the positioning signals limits the accuracy of UE positioning in time domain methods. The accuracy of the positioning improves in proportion to the BW increase.

The 3GPP standardization work [ RP-232670] in work item extension and improved NR location includes bandwidth aggregation. Based on this study, PRS/SRS bandwidth aggregation for in-band contiguous carriers was inferred to be viable for single-chain Tx/Rx architectures at both UE and gNB.

Fig. 7 shows a flow chart of a method according to an example embodiment.

In 701, the method includes obtaining an indication of a bandwidth extension to be applied to a positioning signal received at a device from a transmitter.

In 702, the method includes receiving a positioning signal, wherein the positioning signal includes a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers.

In 703, the method includes generating an extended positioning signal based on the received positioning signal and an indication of bandwidth extension to be applied.

In 704, the method includes determining a time of arrival of the positioning signal based on the extended positioning signal.

The method may comprise providing the determined time of arrival of the positioning signal to a network entity. The network entity may include a transmitter or a network function (e.g., LMF).

Obtaining an indication of an extension to apply may include receiving an indication from a network entity (e.g., a network function such as an LMF).

The method may be performed at a user equipment. In this case, the transmitter may comprise a base station and the positioning signal may comprise PRS.

The method may be performed at a base station, TRP, or remote antenna (or DU for such remote antenna). In this case, the transmitter may include a user equipment, and the positioning signal may include an SRS.

Fig. 8 shows a flow chart of a method according to an example embodiment.

In 801, the method includes determining a bandwidth of a positioning signal provided by a transmitter of the positioning signal, the positioning signal comprising a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers.

In 802, the method includes determining a bandwidth extension of a positioning signal to be applied at a receiver of the positioning signal based on a metric.

In 803, the method includes providing an indication of bandwidth to a transmitter.

In 804, the method includes providing an indication of bandwidth extension to be applied to a receiver.

The method may be performed at a network entity, for example a network function such as, but not limited to, an LMF. The receiver may comprise a user equipment, the transmitter may comprise a base station, and the positioning signal may comprise a PRS. Alternatively or additionally, the receiver may comprise a base station, the transmitter may comprise a user equipment, and the positioning signal comprises an SRS.

The method described with reference to fig. 8 may include providing a request for receiver processing capability (e.g., BB BW capability) to a receiver, and receiving an indication of receiver BB processing capability. Determining the extension of the positioning signal may be further based on the receiver BB processing capability.

The metrics may include at least one of an accuracy metric (e.g., an accuracy target) or a resource saving metric.

The methods described with reference to fig. 7 and 8 may provide a technique that may be referred to as positioning signal (e.g., PRS or SRS) spreading. Positioning signal expansion may provide a low cost solution to increase bandwidth using standardized and/or established positioning techniques. The method may be applied to any time-domain based positioning technique. The method may be release independent. The problem solved by the method is positioning accuracy, and the wider the bandwidth is, the higher the accuracy is.

It is assumed that the time of flight (ToF) of the positioning signal (whether PRS or SRS) symbols in the positioning use case is frequency independent, i.e. the arrival time of the symbols of the positioning signal is substantially frequency independent. Thus, it is assumed that all symbols of a positioning signal received from a transmitter have one and the same ToF. This assumption is derived from a concept referred to herein as Velocity Flatness (VF).

The assumption of VF can be inferred as follows. Theoretically, the air channel is frequency dependent, but more often the frequency dependence of the channel is with respect to signal fading, whereas in the present case fading of different frequency components (symbols) is not a problem, as long as the sensitivity of the receiver is good enough to capture fading symbols. To change the ToF, the electromagnetic parameters epsilon _r and/or mu _r of the medium in the air channel should be frequency dependent over the bandwidth used. Epsilon _r and/or mu _r are defined by the formulaWhere c=the speed of light in vacuum. For air as a medium, the velocity remains constant with high accuracy. The error due to the VF assumption is negligible.

As a result of the assumption, it is assumed that all symbols of the positioning signal (whether PRS or SRS) received from the transmitter arrive at the receiver at the same time.

The LMF may be a controller of an extension process performed by the receiver. In an example embodiment, the LMF controls participation of BSs, as in the example of fig. 4, which may be a minimum of three BSs (or antennas if a remote antenna is used) in normal applications in the field. The LMF may have a different set of requirements per BS. The reasons for the changing requirements may be channel conditions, one of the directions may have a more complex propagation environment, or the distance may be significantly different compared to the distance from other BSs to the target device (UE) to be located.

The bandwidth extension to be applied may be associated with a positioning signal received from a transmitter. The required accuracy may depend on the use case. The LMF knows the uncertainty of each of its positioning methods and each of the resources used. Thus, if the use case requires the use of an extension method, the LMF knows the parameters. In one example use case, the operator defines an allocation to be used for positioning for each loading over time. Thus, the allocation may vary depending on the network load. The operator releases resources from location to other use cases by applying the extension method described herein.

The physical frequency or spectrum of each operator is limited by regulations, so the spectrum is the set of assets that the operator has in use, and is an improvement over operators if it can operate with fewer resources to service but remain of the same or even better quality. Thus, it may be desirable to balance positioning accuracy for different positioning use cases and available resources. Finally, the work is done by the LMF. Thus, the LMF may define a smaller amount of physical resources to be used that are available (e.g., the metric may be a resource saving metric). This may be BS dependent.

Fig. 9 shows a block diagram of signal arrival and ToA estimation in a receiver. The dashed line includes the proposed technique (positioning signal spreading in the frequency domain) to improve the estimation of ToA.

Physical resources may be saved by sending less bandwidth, while ToA estimation accuracy is improved, as bandwidth may be increased by positioning signal expansion, as described below, e.g., with reference to fig. 10 and 12.

Standard measurement procedures may be performed using increased bandwidth. This results in improved time of arrival accuracy.

Generating the extended positioning signal may include adding L subcarriers to n subcarriers of the received positioning signal. The L subcarriers may include generating symbols. The pattern of symbols for n subcarriers may be repeated in the generated symbols for L subcarriers. Alternatively or additionally, at least one of the L subcarriers is null.

The positioning signals used are known to the receiver. The receiver can add extra symbols (bandwidth extension) on top of the received signal because it knows the symbol pattern and the symbol content. Adding additional symbols does not violate any symbol pattern creation. When the base station controls the parameters used to generate the pseudo-random sequence, this means that the base station knows the transmitted sequence. Thus, when the base station is receiving the generated symbol and applying the addition of the generated symbol on top of the received symbol, no additional signaling between the base station and the UE is required. Similarly, when the UE is receiving base station signals by definition, the parameters used (more precisely, the LMF control to the positioning occasion of each involved base station) are known to the UE and no additional signaling is required.

Adding a generated symbol to the received symbol pattern increases the bandwidth of the signal. Fig. 10 shows an example of an extended positioning signal. Subcarriers n to n+11 are physically received n subcarriers, and subcarriers n+12 to n+23 are added L subcarriers. The symbols in subcarriers n through n+11 (as shown by the dashed hatching) are physically received symbols, and the symbols in n+12 through n+23 (as shown by the dashed hatching) are generated symbols added in the receiver. For simplicity, only a small portion of the addition is shown in this example, and only a single-sided option is used.

Fig. 11 shows a signaling diagram of an example embodiment.

In the following steps, RS is an abbreviation for reference signal, each BS (per BS) means that the physical signal between each BS and UE is individually defined, depending on specific conditions in the art. A minimum of three BSs (or TRPs) may be used. Provided that they are applied simultaneously (transmitted or received, depending on the positioning scheme). The DL direction is shown in the signaling diagram (e.g., PRS from BS to UE), but the diagram may be reversed (i.e., SRS from UE to BS) without loss of generality.

In step 1, there is an initialization of the positioning procedure by the LMF, wherein all involved BSs are activated.

In step 2, the LMF indicates transmission/reception and processing of PRS signals to the BS and the UE. The LMF may consider the operator's positioning use case guide and/or the current network load before indicating to the BS and UE in step 2.

In step 3, the LMF infers VF, i.e., can use positioning signal expansion.

In step 4, the LMF requests the UE to report its BB BW capability to ensure that positioning signal extension is feasible. This is an example of providing a request for receiver processing capability (e.g., BB BW capability) to a receiver and receiving an indication of the receiver processing capability.

In step 5, based on the positioning use case, the LMF defines how much physical spectrum (BW) is used per BS, including which comb pattern of PRS symbols is used, and based on the accuracy target and the BB BW indicated by the UE, the LMF defines how much RS extension is applied per BS. Accuracy targets are examples of metrics on which bandwidth expansion may be based, where a metric is an accuracy metric. In this example embodiment, a bandwidth extension of the positioning signal to be applied at the receiver of the positioning signal is determined based on the metric and the receiver processing power.

In step 6, the LMF indicates BW of PRS signals per BS to each BS and indicates positioning signal extension to the UE.

In step 7, each BS simultaneously transmits PRSs and applies a standard positioning procedure to receive a comb pattern of (M) PRS symbols in (N) Resource Elements (REs). N REs are examples of N received subcarriers.

Theoretically, the transmission of the BS may occur at different times, which may not be practical due to clock and other real-field problems, and static conditions will be required, i.e. no movement is allowed within the measurement window.

In step 8, the generated symbols are added to L REs or subcarriers at the top of the received N REs in the frequency domain in accordance with the time domain pattern of the received symbols to generate an extended positioning signal.

In step 9, autocorrelation is performed with the extended positioning signal, and ToA per BS is calculated using the extended positioning signal. ToA is reported to LMF.

In step 10, the location of the UE is calculated at the LMF based on the ToA determined at the UE from the extended positioning signals.

The indication of the extension to be applied may comprise an indication of at least one of an extension direction, a frequency gap between the L subcarriers and the received n subcarriers, an asymmetric offset, a number of generated symbols included in the L subcarriers, or a deviation of a generated symbol pattern in the L subcarriers from a given symbol pattern. An indication of the extension to be applied may be associated with a given transmitter.

In the case where the indication of extension includes an indication of extension direction, the generated symbols may be added to the L subcarriers when the subcarrier index is reduced, see symbols in subcarriers n-1 to n-5 in fig. 12 (as indicated by hash shading). Likewise, top and bottom placements exist simultaneously. Thus, the additional symbols may be located anywhere in the frequency domain of the reference receive band. Each BS is controlled individually by the LMF, for example, for interference reasons. In the uncontrolled case, the extension may extend over the bandwidth of other cells or other operators, which should be counted when defining the extension direction (and the amount of added symbols).

Fig. 13 shows a signaling flow according to an example embodiment. The signaling flow includes the steps of fig. 11, but also includes an indication of the direction of the LMF transmission extension.

The generated symbols may also be at a distance from the received symbols, i.e. there may be a frequency gap between the received n subcarriers and the generated symbol set of the L subcarriers. If both top and bottom placements are used, the generated symbols may be placed asymmetrically (e.g., with asymmetric offsets). Any number of symbol sets are supported if there are any constraints from any system component to partially split the extension.

Fig. 14 shows a signaling flow according to an example embodiment. The signaling flow includes the steps of fig. 11, but also includes an indication of the LMF transmit extended continuity, e.g., an indication of the frequency gap between the L subcarriers and the received n subcarriers, an asymmetric offset, and/or the number of generated symbol sets included in the L subcarriers.

Since the generated symbols are known to the receiver, there is no obligation to use the standard (TS 38.211) defined symbol bit sequence for the extension. It should be appreciated that this deviation from the standard mode does not conflict with the compliance of the network, as this mode invariance is an internal operation of the UE. For autocorrelation or any other method for measuring delay, the receiver knows to use non-standard copies of the received signal and the spread signal, with the mode unchanged. In this case, the received symbols may be duplicated, with their symbol internal r (m) sequences as such. In other words, the symbol r (l) may be a copy of r (m), even though l+.m.

Fig. 15 shows a signaling flow according to an example embodiment. The signaling flow includes the steps of fig. 11, but also includes the LMF sending an indication of extended mode invariance, e.g., a deviation of the generated symbol pattern from a given symbol pattern in the L subcarriers.

The time domain mode for the extension part may be any mode, not necessarily a standard definition mode (comb mode). The standard format is most cost effective but there may sometimes be reasons for using another mode format, for example the applied IFFT may be optimized with another mode. The symbol content in the non-standard mode may be defined by a system, wherein the system is an LMF, BS or UE. That is, the indication of the spread may include a deviation of the generated symbol pattern from a given symbol pattern in the L subcarriers.

Fig. 16 shows a signaling flow according to an example embodiment. The signaling flow includes the steps of fig. 11, but also includes the LMF sending an indication of the extended non-standard mode.

The method may allow setting the generated symbols to any resource element within the available operator band. Continuous spectrum may provide the best accuracy. However, it should be noted that this technique is also applicable to any non-contiguous case of carrier aggregation or other BW aggregation techniques (e.g., techniques such as SUL or NR-U). Furthermore RedCap UE with limited RF and BB bandwidth makes great use of this technique (with or without frequency hopping).

The method may be provided to a network having frequency bands of any size. The lower or upper band limit of the operator does not limit the total bandwidth applied. Thus, a narrow bandwidth FDD band is also well suited to time domain positioning techniques with the presented supplements.

When considering PRS comb patterns from multiple base stations (or in general from TRPs), the proposed PRS expansion is also fine in this scenario, since when the UE receives defined patterns from at least three base stations, this means that the patterns have to be properly aligned in the time and frequency domains to avoid overlapping patterns, the LMF being responsible for pattern definition and synchronization of the base stations. The regularity of the extended mode remains in a non-overlapping scenario and no interference problems occur due to the extended technique.

The method described herein is backward compatible with previous versions and is applicable to future 6G versions.

VF assumption means that the difference in ToA between the case where the system has sent full bandwidth in the physical signal and the case where the positioning signal extension is applied is negligible. An increase in BW size may increase positioning accuracy while allowing resource (spectrum) or battery savings.

The bandwidth of the measurement signal can be increased without requiring HW changes to the transmitter or receiver. Thus, these methods are cost effective in nature, and can be considered transparent to the transmitter. Thus, even upgrading the technology to an existing base station is feasible. Similarly, from the UE's point of view, no new requirements are set to UE capabilities. Thus, the operator problems described above are overcome.

In the case of a large number of UEs, which may be any type of device to be located that transmits SRS symbols, interference of the symbols may occur. For example, there may be energy leakage between symbols, for example, if their decoding (same symbol, same frequency) is too close to each other. In this case, the proposed technique helps to reduce interference, since we can separate more devices in the frequency domain by limiting their physical transmission bands to smaller partitions and no longer overlap.

IoT devices typically have battery time requirements, for example, up to 10 years. Positioning of IoT devices is very sensitive to positioning energy consumption, as GPS (or generally GNSS) is power hungry. It is beneficial to replace or supplement GNSS positioning by network-based positioning as provided herein whenever possible. When accuracy requirements for IoT devices are not high, bandwidth may be significantly reduced, thereby reducing energy consumption.

An apparatus may include means for obtaining an indication of a bandwidth extension to be applied to a positioning signal received at the apparatus from a transmitter, receiving the positioning signal, wherein the positioning signal comprises a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, generating an extended positioning signal based on the received positioning signal and the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied, and determining an arrival time of the positioning signal based on the extended positioning signal.

The apparatus may comprise a receiver, such as the user equipment or base station described with reference to fig. 2 (or the control apparatus for a base station described with reference to fig. 3), which may be the receiver or at least some actions included in/for the receiver or chipset.

An apparatus may include means for determining a bandwidth of a positioning signal provided by a transmitter of the positioning signal, the positioning signal comprising a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, determining a bandwidth extension of the positioning signal to be applied at a receiver of the positioning signal based on a metric, providing an indication of the bandwidth to the transmitter, and providing an indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied to the receiver.

The apparatus may include a network function, such as but not limited to a function for location management, e.g., an LMF, which may be a network function or at least some actions included in/for performing a network function in a network function or chipset.

In an embodiment, an apparatus comprising a network function refers to a device/apparatus that performs or is configured to perform at least part of the network function or to a device/apparatus that comprises circuitry (e.g., a chipset) that performs or is configured to perform at least part of the network function.

It should be understood that the apparatus may comprise or be coupled to other units or modules or the like, such as a radio or a radio head, used for or for transmitting and/or receiving. Although the apparatus has been described as one entity, the different modules and memories may be implemented in one or more physical or logical entities.

Note that while some embodiments have been described with respect to a 5G network, similar principles may be applied with respect to other networks and communication systems, such as a 6G network or a 5G advanced network. Thus, although certain embodiments are described above by way of example with reference to certain example architectures for wireless networks, technologies, and standards, embodiments may be applied to any other suitable form of communication system other than those shown and described herein.

It should also be noted herein that while the above describes exemplifying embodiments, there are several variations and modifications which may be made to the disclosed solution without departing from the scope of the present invention.

As used herein, at least one of the following "list of two or more elements >" and "< at least one of the list of two or more elements >" and similar expressions, wherein the list of two or more elements is combined by "and" or "means at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all of the elements.

In general, the various embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects of the disclosure may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the disclosure is not limited thereto. While various aspects of the disclosure may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of (a) a hardware-only circuit implementation (such as an implementation in analog and/or digital circuitry only), and (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, e.g., if applicable:

(i) Combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuitry and software/firmware, and

(Ii) Any portion of a hardware processor (including a digital signal processor) having software that works together to cause a device (such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions), and hardware circuitry and/or a processor (such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor) that requires software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but that software may not exist when not required to operate.

This definition of circuit applies to all uses of this term in this application (including any claims). As another example, as used in this disclosure, the term circuitry also covers hardware circuitry or processor (or multiple processors) alone or a portion of hardware circuitry or processor and its (or its) accompanying implementation of software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit or server for a mobile device, a cellular network device, or a similar integrated circuit in another computing or network device.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by computer software executable by a data processor of a mobile device, such as in a processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Computer software or programs (also referred to as program products, including software routines, applets, and/or macros) can be stored in any apparatus-readable data storage medium and they include program instructions to perform particular tasks. The computer program product may include one or more computer-executable components configured to perform embodiments when the program is run. The one or more computer-executable components may be at least one software code or portion thereof.

Further in this regard, it should be noted that any blocks of the logic flows as in the figures may represent program steps, or interconnected logic circuits, blocks and functions, or a combination of program steps and logic circuits, blocks and functions. The software may be stored on physical media such as memory chips or blocks of memory implemented within a processor, magnetic media such as hard or floppy disks, and optical media such as DVDs and their data variants CDs. The physical medium is a non-transitory medium. As used herein, the term "non-transitory" is a limitation on the medium itself (i.e., tangible, rather than signal), rather than on the durability of data storage (e.g., RAM versus ROM).

The memory may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and removable memory. As non-limiting examples, the data processor may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may include one or more of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an FPGA, a gate level circuit, and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit modules. The design of integrated circuits is generally a highly automated process. Complex and powerful software tools are available for converting a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

The scope of protection sought for the various embodiments of the present disclosure is set forth in the independent claims. The embodiments and features (if any) described in this specification that do not fall within the scope of the independent claims should be construed as examples that facilitate an understanding of the various embodiments of the disclosure.

The foregoing description has provided by way of non-limiting examples a full and informative description of exemplary embodiments of the disclosure. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. However, all such and similar modifications of the teachings of this disclosure will still fall within the scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims. Indeed, there is another embodiment that includes a combination of one or more embodiments with any other embodiment previously discussed.

Furthermore, implementations of the present disclosure may be described with reference to the following clauses, the features of which may be combined in any reasonable manner.

An apparatus of clause 1, comprising means for obtaining an indication of a bandwidth extension to be applied to a positioning signal received at the apparatus from a transmitter, receiving the positioning signal, wherein the positioning signal comprises a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, generating an extended positioning signal based on the received positioning signal and the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied, and determining an arrival time of the positioning signal based on the extended positioning signal.

Clause 2 the device of clause 1, wherein the arrival time of the symbol is substantially frequency independent.

Clause 3 the apparatus of clause 1 or clause 2, wherein obtaining the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied comprises receiving the indication from a network entity.

Clause 4 the apparatus of clause 3, comprising means for receiving a request for receiver processing capability from the network entity and, in response, providing an indication of receiver processing capability to the network.

Clause 5 the apparatus of any of clauses 1 to 4, wherein the bandwidth extension to be applied is associated with a positioning signal received from a given transmitter.

Clause 6 the apparatus of any of clauses 1 to 5, wherein generating the extended positioning signal comprises adding L subcarriers to the n subcarriers of the received positioning signal.

Clause 7 the apparatus of clause 6, wherein the L subcarriers comprise a generated symbol and the pattern of symbols of the n subcarriers is repeated in the generated symbols of the L subcarriers.

The apparatus of clause 6 or clause 7, wherein at least one of the L subcarriers is null.

The apparatus of any one of clauses 6 to 8, wherein the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied comprises an indication of at least one of an extension direction, a frequency gap between the L subcarriers and the n received subcarriers, an asymmetric offset, a number of sets of generated symbols included in the L subcarriers, or a deviation of a generated symbol pattern in the L subcarriers from a given symbol pattern.

Clause 10 the apparatus of any of clauses 1 to 9, comprising a user equipment, wherein the transmitter comprises a base station and the positioning signal comprises a positioning reference signal.

Clause 11 the apparatus of any of clauses 1 to 9, comprising a base station, wherein the transmitter comprises a user equipment and the positioning signal comprises a sounding reference signal.

The apparatus of clause 12, comprising means for determining a bandwidth of a positioning signal provided by a transmitter of the positioning signal, the positioning signal comprising a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, determining a bandwidth extension of the positioning signal to be applied at a receiver of the positioning signal based on a metric, providing an indication of the bandwidth to the transmitter, and providing an indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied to the receiver.

Clause 13 the apparatus of clause 12, wherein the arrival time of the symbol at the receiver is substantially frequency independent.

The apparatus of clause 12 or clause 13, comprising means for providing a request for receiver processing capability to the receiver, and receiving an indication of receiver processing capability, wherein determining the bandwidth extension of the positioning signal is further based on the receiver processing capability.

Clause 15 the apparatus of any of clauses 12 to 14, wherein the bandwidth extension to be applied is associated with a positioning signal received from the transmitter.

The apparatus of any one of clauses 12 to 15, wherein the bandwidth extension of the positioning signal comprises adding L subcarriers to the n received subcarriers of the received positioning signal.

The apparatus of clause 17, wherein the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied comprises an indication of at least one of an extension direction, a frequency gap between the L subcarriers and the received subcarriers, an asymmetric offset, a number of sets of generated symbols included in the L subcarriers, or a deviation of a generated symbol pattern in the L subcarriers from a given symbol pattern.

The apparatus of any one of clauses 12 to 17, wherein the metrics comprise at least one of an accuracy metric or a resource saving metric.

The apparatus of any one of clauses 12 to 18, wherein the receiver comprises a user equipment, wherein the transmitter comprises a base station, and the positioning signal comprises a positioning reference signal.

The apparatus of any one of clauses 12 to 18, wherein the receiver comprises a base station, wherein the transmitter comprises a user equipment, and the positioning signal comprises a sounding reference signal.

Clause 21, a method comprising obtaining an indication of a bandwidth extension to be applied to a positioning signal received at the device from a transmitter, receiving the positioning signal, wherein the positioning signal comprises a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, generating an extended positioning signal based on the received positioning signal and the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied, and determining an arrival time of the positioning signal based on the extended positioning signal.

Clause 22, a method comprising determining a bandwidth of a positioning signal provided by a transmitter of the positioning signal, the positioning signal comprising a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, determining a bandwidth extension of the positioning signal to be applied at a receiver of the positioning signal based on a metric, providing an indication of the bandwidth to the transmitter, and providing an indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied to the receiver.

Clause 23, a computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by an apparatus cause the apparatus to obtain an indication of a bandwidth extension to be applied to a positioning signal received at the apparatus from a transmitter, receive the positioning signal, wherein the positioning signal comprises a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, generate an extended positioning signal based on the received positioning signal and the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied, and determine a time of arrival of the positioning signal based on the extended positioning signal.

Clause 24, a computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by an apparatus cause the apparatus to perform at least the operations of determining a bandwidth of a positioning signal provided by a transmitter of the positioning signal, the positioning signal comprising a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers, determining a bandwidth extension of the positioning signal to be applied at a receiver of the positioning signal based on a metric, providing an indication of the bandwidth to the transmitter, and providing an indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied to the receiver.

Claims

1. An apparatus for locating resource savings in bandwidth aggregation, comprising means for:

Obtaining an indication of a bandwidth extension to be applied to a positioning signal received at the apparatus from a transmitter;

receiving the positioning signal, wherein the positioning signal comprises a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers;

generating an extended positioning signal based on the received positioning signal and the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied, and

An arrival time of the positioning signal is determined based on the extended positioning signal.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the arrival time of the symbol is substantially frequency independent.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, comprising means for:

Receiving a request for receiver processing power from a network entity, and

In response, an indication of the receiver processing capability is provided to the network.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the bandwidth extension to be applied is associated with a positioning signal received from a given transmitter.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein generating the extended positioning signal comprises adding L subcarriers to the n subcarriers of the received positioning signal.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the L subcarriers comprise generated symbols and a pattern of the symbols of the n subcarriers is repeated in the generated symbols of the L subcarriers.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied comprises an indication of at least one of an extension direction, a frequency gap between the L subcarriers and the n received subcarriers, an asymmetric offset, a number of sets of generated symbols included in the L subcarriers, or a deviation of a generated symbol pattern from a given symbol pattern among the L subcarriers.

8. An apparatus for locating resource savings in bandwidth aggregation, comprising means for:

Determining a bandwidth of a positioning signal provided by a transmitter of the positioning signal, the positioning signal comprising a plurality of symbols in n subcarriers;

Determining a bandwidth extension of the positioning signal to be applied at a receiver of the positioning signal based on a metric;

Providing an indication of the bandwidth to the transmitter, and

An indication of the bandwidth extension to be applied is provided to the receiver.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein arrival times of the symbols at the receiver are substantially frequency independent.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 or claim 9, comprising means for:

providing the receiver with a request for receiver processing power, and

An indication of receiver processing capability is received, wherein determining the bandwidth extension of the positioning signal is also based on the receiver processing capability.