Patent Description:
Wireless communication systems have developed through various generations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service (<NUM>), a second-generation (<NUM>) digital wireless phone service (including interim <NUM> and <NUM> networks), a third-generation (<NUM>) high speed data, Internet-capable wireless service and a fourth-generation (<NUM>) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). There are presently many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including cellular and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog advanced mobile phone system (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), etc..

A fifth generation (<NUM>) wireless standard, referred to as New Radio (NR), calls for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. The <NUM> standard, according to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, is designed to provide data rates of several tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, with <NUM> gigabit per second to tens of workers on an office floor. Several hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported in order to support large sensor deployments. Consequently, the spectral efficiency of <NUM> mobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to the current <NUM> standard. <CIT>describes systems and methods for handling radio resource control configured channels and signals with conflict direction. <CIT> describes systems and methods for spatially multiplexing physical uplink control channel and sounding reference signal. Furthermore, signaling efficiencies should be enhanced and latency should be substantially reduced compared to current standards.

Further embodiments are provided by the following description.

As used herein, the terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, consumer asset locating device, wearable (e.g., smartwatch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), vehicle (e.g., automobile, motorcycle, bicycle, etc.), Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communications network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g., at certain times) be stationary, and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term "UE" may be referred to interchangeably as an "access terminal" or "AT," a "client device," a "wireless device," a "subscriber device," a "subscriber terminal," a "subscriber station," a "user terminal" or "UT," a "mobile device," a "mobile terminal," a "mobile station," or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs can be connected with external networks such as the Internet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network and/or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as over wired access networks, wireless local area network (WLAN) networks (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) <NUM> specification, etc.) and so on.

A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as an access point (AP), a network node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a next generation eNB (ng-eNB), a New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as a gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be used primarily to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and/or signaling connections for the supported UEs. In some systems a base station may provide purely edge node signaling functions while in other systems it may provide additional control and/or network management functions. A communication link through which UEs can send signals to a base station is called an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which the base station can send signals to UEs is called a downlink (DL) or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse or downlink / forward traffic channel.

The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmission-reception point (TRP) or to multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be co-located. For example, where the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station corresponding to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be an array of antennas (e.g., as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or where the base station employs beamforming) of the base station. Where the term "base station" refers to multiple non-co-located physical TRPs, the physical TRPs may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, the non-co-located physical TRPs may be the serving base station receiving the measurement report from the UE and a neighbor base station whose reference radio frequency (RF) signals the UE is measuring. Because a TRP is the point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references to transmission from or reception at a base station are to be understood as referring to a particular TRP of the base station.

In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base station may not support wireless access by UEs (e.g., may not support data, voice, and/or signaling connections for UEs), but may instead transmit reference signals to UEs to be measured by the UEs, and/or may receive and measure signals transmitted by the UEs. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when transmitting signals to UEs) and/or as a location measurement unit (e.g., when receiving and measuring signals from UEs).

An "RF signal" comprises an electromagnetic wave of a given frequency that transports information through the space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, the receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between the transmitter and receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal" where it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

<FIG> illustrates an example wireless communications system <NUM>, according to aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communications system <NUM> (which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN)) may include various base stations <NUM> (labeled "BS") and various UEs <NUM>. The base stations <NUM> may include macro cell base stations (high power cellular base stations) and/or small cell base stations (low power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macro cell base stations may include eNBs and/or ng-eNBs where the wireless communications system <NUM> corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communications system <NUM> corresponds to a NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc..

The base stations <NUM> may collectively form a RAN and interface with a core network <NUM> (e.g., an evolved packet core (EPC) or a <NUM> core (5GC)) through backhaul links <NUM>, and through the core network <NUM> to one or more location servers <NUM> (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)). The location server(s) <NUM> may be part of core network <NUM> or may be external to core network <NUM>. In addition to other functions, the base stations <NUM> may perform functions that relate to one or more of transferring user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations <NUM> may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC / 5GC) over backhaul links <NUM>, which may be wired or wireless.

In an aspect, one or more cells may be supported by a base station <NUM> in each geographic coverage area <NUM>. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., over some frequency resource, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, or the like), and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) for distinguishing cells operating via the same or a different carrier frequency. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of UEs. Because a cell is supported by a specific base station, the term "cell" may refer to either or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. In addition, because a TRP is typically the physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to a geographic coverage area of a base station (e.g., a sector), insofar as a carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within some portion of geographic coverage areas <NUM>.

While neighboring macro cell base station <NUM> geographic coverage areas <NUM> may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region), some of the geographic coverage areas <NUM> may be substantially overlapped by a larger geographic coverage area <NUM>. For example, a small cell base station <NUM>' (labeled "SC" for "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area <NUM>' that substantially overlaps with the geographic coverage area <NUM> of one or more macro cell base stations <NUM>. A network that includes both small cell and macro cell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include home eNBs (HeNBs), which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG).

The communication links <NUM> between the base stations <NUM> and the UEs <NUM> may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE <NUM> to a base station <NUM> and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station <NUM> to a UE <NUM>. The communication links <NUM> may use MIMO antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links <NUM> may be through one or more carrier frequencies. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to downlink and uplink (e.g., more or less carriers may be allocated for downlink than for uplink).

Transmit beams may be quasi-co-located, meaning that they appear to the receiver (e.g., a UE) as having the same parameters, regardless of whether or not the transmitting antennas of the network node themselves are physically co-located. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relations.

Transmit and receive beams may be spatially related. A spatial relation means that parameters for a second beam (e.g., a transmit or receive beam) for a second reference signal can be derived from information about a first beam (e.g., a receive beam or a transmit beam) for a first reference signal. For example, a UE may use a particular receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE can then form a transmit beam for sending an uplink reference signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

In <NUM>, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base stations <NUM>/<NUM>, UEs <NUM>/<NUM>) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges, FR1 (from <NUM> to <NUM>), FR2 (from <NUM> to <NUM>), FR3 (above <NUM>), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). mmW frequency bands generally include the FR2, FR3, and FR4 frequency ranges. As such, the terms "mmW" and "FR2" or "FR3" or "FR4" may generally be used interchangeably.

In a multi-carrier system, such as <NUM>, one of the carrier frequencies is referred to as the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell," and the remaining carrier frequencies are referred to as "secondary carriers" or "secondary serving cells" or "SCells. " In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is the carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by a UE <NUM>/<NUM> and the cell in which the UE <NUM>/<NUM> either performs the initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates the RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common and UE-specific control channels, and may be a carrier in a licensed frequency (however, this is not always the case). A secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once the RRC connection is established between the UE <NUM> and the anchor carrier and that may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier in an unlicensed frequency. The secondary carrier may contain only necessary signaling information and signals, for example, those that are UE-specific may not be present in the secondary carrier, since both primary uplink and downlink carriers are typically UE-specific. This means that different UEs <NUM>/<NUM> in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same is true for the uplink primary carriers. The network is able to change the primary carrier of any UE <NUM>/<NUM> at any time. This is done, for example, to balance the load on different carriers. Because a "serving cell" (whether a PCell or an SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier over which some base station is communicating, the term "cell," "serving cell," "component carrier," "carrier frequency," and the like can be used interchangeably.

The wireless communications system <NUM> may further include a UE <NUM> that may communicate with a macro cell base station <NUM> over a communication link <NUM> and/or the mmW base station <NUM> over a mmW communication link <NUM>. For example, the macro cell base station <NUM> may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE <NUM> and the mmW base station <NUM> may support one or more SCells for the UE <NUM>.

In the example of <FIG>, any of the illustrated UEs (shown in <FIG> as a single UE <NUM> for simplicity) may receive signals <NUM> from one or more Earth orbiting space vehicles (SVs) <NUM> (e.g., satellites). In an aspect, the SVs <NUM> may be part of a satellite positioning system that a UE <NUM> can use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SVs <NUM>) positioned to enable receivers (e.g., UEs <NUM>) to determine their location on or above the Earth based, at least in part, on positioning signals (e.g., signals <NUM>) received from the transmitters. Such a transmitter typically transmits a signal marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. While typically located in SVs <NUM>, transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations <NUM>, and/or other UEs <NUM>. A UE <NUM> may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive signals <NUM> for deriving geo location information from the SVs <NUM>.

In a satellite positioning system, the use of signals <NUM> can be augmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and/or regional navigation satellite systems. For example an SBAS may include an augmentation system(s) that provides integrity information, differential corrections, etc., such as the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), the Multifunctional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), the Global Positioning System (GPS) Aided Geo Augmented Navigation or GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN), and/or the like. Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and/or regional navigation satellites associated with such one or more satellite positioning systems.

In an aspect, SVs <NUM> may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, an SV <NUM> is connected to an earth station (also referred to as a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a <NUM> network, such as a modified base station <NUM> (without a terrestrial antenna) or a network node in a 5GC. This element would in turn provide access to other elements in the <NUM> network and ultimately to entities external to the <NUM> network, such as Internet web servers and other user devices. In that way, a UE <NUM> may receive communication signals (e.g., signals <NUM>) from an SV <NUM> instead of, or in addition to, communication signals from a terrestrial base station <NUM>.

The wireless communications system <NUM> may further include one or more UEs, such as UE <NUM>, that connects indirectly to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as "sidelinks"). In the example of <FIG>, UE <NUM> has a D2D P2P link <NUM> with one of the UEs <NUM> connected to one of the base stations <NUM> (e.g., through which UE <NUM> may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link <NUM> with WLAN STA <NUM> connected to the WLAN AP <NUM> (through which UE <NUM> may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity). In an example, the D2D P2P links <NUM> and <NUM> may be supported with any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth®, and so on.

<FIG> illustrates an example wireless network structure <NUM>. For example, a 5GC <NUM> (also referred to as a Next Generation Core (NGC)) can be viewed functionally as control plane (C-plane) functions <NUM> (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions <NUM>, (e.g., UE gateway function, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) which operate cooperatively to form the core network. User plane interface (NG-U) <NUM> and control plane interface (NG-C) <NUM> connect the gNB <NUM> to the 5GC <NUM> and specifically to the user plane functions <NUM> and control plane functions <NUM>, respectively. In an additional configuration, an ng-eNB <NUM> may also be connected to the 5GC <NUM> via NG-C <NUM> to the control plane functions <NUM> and NG-U <NUM> to user plane functions <NUM>. Further, ng-eNB <NUM> may directly communicate with gNB <NUM> via a backhaul connection <NUM>. In some configurations, a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) <NUM> may have one or more gNBs <NUM>, while other configurations include one or more of both ng-eNBs <NUM> and gNBs <NUM>. Either (or both) gNB <NUM> or ng-eNB <NUM> may communicate with one or more UEs <NUM> (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

Another optional aspect may include a location server <NUM>, which may be in communication with the 5GC <NUM> to provide location assistance for UE(s) <NUM>. The location server <NUM> can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server. The location server <NUM> can be configured to support one or more location services for UEs <NUM> that can connect to the location server <NUM> via the core network, 5GC <NUM>, and/or via the Internet (not illustrated). Further, the location server <NUM> may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively may be external to the core network (e.g., a third party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or service server).

<FIG> illustrates another example wireless network structure <NUM>. A 5GC <NUM> (which may correspond to 5GC <NUM> in <FIG>) can be viewed functionally as control plane functions, provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) <NUM>, and user plane functions, provided by a user plane function (UPF) <NUM>, which operate cooperatively to form the core network (i.e., 5GC <NUM>). The functions of the AMF <NUM> include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs <NUM> (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF) <NUM>, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE <NUM> and the short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF <NUM> also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE <NUM>, and receives the intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE <NUM> authentication process. In the case of authentication based on a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF <NUM> retrieves the security material from the AUSF. The functions of the AMF <NUM> also include security context management (SCM). The SCM receives a key from the SEAF that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. The functionality of the AMF <NUM> also includes location services management for regulatory services, transport for location services messages between the UE <NUM> and a location management function (LMF) <NUM> (which acts as a location server <NUM>), transport for location services messages between the NG-RAN <NUM> and the LMF <NUM>, evolved packet system (EPS) bearer identifier allocation for interworking with the EPS, and UE <NUM> mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF <NUM> also supports functionalities for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project) access networks.

Functions of the UPF <NUM> include acting as an anchor point for intra-/inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point of interconnect to a data network (not shown), providing packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) handling for the user plane (e.g., uplink/ downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic verification (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding of one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. The UPF <NUM> may also support transfer of location services messages over a user plane between the UE <NUM> and a location server, such as an SLP <NUM>.

The functions of the SMF <NUM> include session management, UE Internet protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering at the UPF <NUM> to route traffic to the proper destination, control of part of policy enforcement and QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface over which the SMF <NUM> communicates with the AMF <NUM> is referred to as the N11 interface.

Another optional aspect may include an LMF <NUM>, which may be in communication with the 5GC <NUM> to provide location assistance for UEs <NUM>. The LMF <NUM> can be implemented as a plurality of separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternately may each correspond to a single server. The LMF <NUM> can be configured to support one or more location services for UEs <NUM> that can connect to the LMF <NUM> via the core network, 5GC <NUM>, and/or via the Internet (not illustrated). The SLP <NUM> may support similar functions to the LMF <NUM>, but whereas the LMF <NUM> may communicate with the AMF <NUM>, NG-RAN <NUM>, and UEs <NUM> over a control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to convey signaling messages and not voice or data), the SLP <NUM> may communicate with UEs <NUM> and external clients (not shown in <FIG>) over a user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and/or data like the transmission control protocol (TCP) and/or IP).

User plane interface <NUM> and control plane interface <NUM> connect the 5GC <NUM>, and specifically the UPF <NUM> and AMF <NUM>, respectively, to one or more gNBs <NUM> and/or ng-eNBs <NUM> in the NG-RAN <NUM>. The interface between gNB(s) <NUM> and/or ng-eNB(s) <NUM> and the AMF <NUM> is referred to as the "N2" interface, and the interface between gNB(s) <NUM> and/or ng-eNB(s) <NUM> and the UPF <NUM> is referred to as the "N3" interface. The gNB(s) <NUM> and/or ng-eNB(s) <NUM> of the NG-RAN <NUM> may communicate directly with each other via backhaul connections <NUM>, referred to as the "Xn-C" interface. One or more of gNBs <NUM> and/or ng-eNBs <NUM> may communicate with one or more UEs <NUM> over a wireless interface, referred to as the "Uu" interface.

The functionality of a gNB <NUM> is divided between a gNB central unit (gNB-CU) <NUM> and one or more gNB distributed units (gNB-DUs) <NUM>. The interface <NUM> between the gNB-CU <NUM> and the one or more gNB-DUs <NUM> is referred to as the "F1" interface. A gNB-CU <NUM> is a logical node that includes the base station functions of transferring user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, and the like, except for those functions allocated exclusively to the gNB-DU(s) <NUM>. More specifically, the gNB-CU <NUM> hosts the radio resource control (RRC), service data adaptation protocol (SDAP), and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB <NUM>. A gNB-DU <NUM> is a logical node that hosts the radio link control (RLC), medium access control (MAC), and physical (PHY) layers of the gNB <NUM>. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU <NUM>. One gNB-DU <NUM> can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU <NUM>. Thus, a UE <NUM> communicates with the gNB-CU <NUM> via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers and with a gNB-DU <NUM> via the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers.

<FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG> illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into a UE <NUM> (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station <NUM> (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity <NUM> (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including the location server <NUM> and the LMF <NUM>, or alternatively may be independent from the NG-RAN <NUM> and/or 5GC <NUM>/<NUM> infrastructure depicted in <FIG> and <FIG>, such as a private network) to support the file transmission operations as taught herein. It will be appreciated that these components may be implemented in different types of apparatuses in different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system-on-chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other apparatuses in a communication system. For example, other apparatuses in a system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. Also, a given apparatus may contain one or more of the components. For example, an apparatus may include multiple transceiver components that enable the apparatus to operate on multiple carriers and/or communicate via different technologies.

The UE <NUM> and the base station <NUM> each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) via one or more wireless communication networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, and/or the like. The WWAN transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> may each be connected to one or more antennas <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest (e.g., some set of time/frequency resources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals <NUM> and <NUM> (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on), respectively, and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals <NUM> and <NUM> (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically, the WWAN transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> include one or more transmitters <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, and one or more receivers <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively.

The UE <NUM> and the base station <NUM> each also include, at least in some cases, one or more short-range wireless transceivers <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> may be connected to one or more antennas <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, and provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for refraining from transmitting, etc.) with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth®, Zigbee®, Z-Wave®, PC5, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), near-field communication (NFC), etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest. The short-range wireless transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals <NUM> and <NUM> (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on), respectively, and, conversely, for receiving and decoding signals <NUM> and <NUM> (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on), respectively, in accordance with the designated RAT. Specifically, the short-range wireless transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> include one or more transmitters <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, for transmitting and encoding signals <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, and one or more receivers <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, for receiving and decoding signals <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth® transceivers, Zigbee® and/or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, or vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and/or vehicle-to-everything (V2X) transceivers.

The UE <NUM> and the base station <NUM> also include, at least in some cases, satellite signal receivers <NUM> and <NUM>. The satellite signal receivers <NUM> and <NUM> may be connected to one or more antennas <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, and may provide means for receiving and/or measuring satellite positioning/communication signals <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively. Where the satellite signal receivers <NUM> and <NUM> are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning/communication signals <NUM> and <NUM> may be global positioning system (GPS) signals, global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. Where the satellite signal receivers <NUM> and <NUM> are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning/communication signals <NUM> and <NUM> may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and/or user data) originating from a <NUM> network. The satellite signal receivers <NUM> and <NUM> may comprise any suitable hardware and/or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning/communication signals <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively. The satellite signal receivers <NUM> and <NUM> may request information and operations as appropriate from the other systems, and, at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine locations of the UE <NUM> and the base station <NUM>, respectively, using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithm.

The base station <NUM> and the network entity <NUM> each include one or more network transceivers <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, providing means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, etc.) with other network entities (e.g., other base stations <NUM>, other network entities <NUM>). For example, the base station <NUM> may employ the one or more network transceivers <NUM> to communicate with other base stations <NUM> or network entities <NUM> over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity <NUM> may employ the one or more network transceivers <NUM> to communicate with one or more base station <NUM> over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links, or with other network entities <NUM> over one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired transceiver or a wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>). A transceiver may be an integrated device (e.g., embodying transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry in a single device) in some implementations, may comprise separate transmitter circuitry and separate receiver circuitry in some implementations, or may be embodied in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> in some implementations) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. Wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>), such as an antenna array, that permits the respective apparatus (e.g., UE <NUM>, base station <NUM>) to perform transmit "beamforming," as described herein. Similarly, wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) may include or be coupled to a plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>), such as an antenna array, that permits the respective apparatus (e.g., UE <NUM>, base station <NUM>) to perform receive beamforming, as described herein. In an aspect, the transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry may share the same plurality of antennas (e.g., antennas <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>), such that the respective apparatus can only receive or transmit at a given time, not both at the same time. A wireless transceiver (e.g., WWAN transceivers <NUM> and <NUM>, short-range wireless transceivers <NUM> and <NUM>) may also include a network listen module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

As used herein, the various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, and network transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> in some implementations) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers <NUM> and <NUM> in some implementations) may generally be characterized as "a transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers. " As such, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred from the type of communication performed. For example, backhaul communication between network devices or servers will generally relate to signaling via a wired transceiver, whereas wireless communication between a UE (e.g., UE <NUM>) and a base station (e.g., base station <NUM>) will generally relate to signaling via a wireless transceiver.

The UE <NUM>, the base station <NUM>, and the network entity <NUM> also include other components that may be used in conjunction with the operations as disclosed herein. The UE <NUM>, the base station <NUM>, and the network entity <NUM> include one or more processors <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, respectively, for providing functionality relating to, for example, wireless communication, and for providing other processing functionality. The processors <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may therefore provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. In an aspect, the processors <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuitry, or various combinations thereof.

The UE <NUM>, the base station <NUM>, and the network entity <NUM> include memory circuitry implementing memories <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> (e.g., each including a memory device), respectively, for maintaining information (e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, and so on). The memories <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may therefore provide means for storing, means for retrieving, means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, the UE <NUM>, the base station <NUM>, and the network entity <NUM> may include SRS configuration component <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, respectively. The SRS configuration component <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, respectively, that, when executed, cause the UE <NUM>, the base station <NUM>, and the network entity <NUM> to perform the functionality described herein. In other aspects, the SRS configuration component <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may be external to the processors <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the SRS configuration component <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may be memory modules stored in the memories <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, respectively, that, when executed by the processors <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE <NUM>, the base station <NUM>, and the network entity <NUM> to perform the functionality described herein. <FIG> illustrates possible locations of the SRS configuration component <NUM>, which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers <NUM>, the memory <NUM>, the one or more processors <NUM>, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. <FIG> illustrates possible locations of the SRS configuration component <NUM>, which may be, for example, part of the one or more WWAN transceivers <NUM>, the memory <NUM>, the one or more processors <NUM>, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component. <FIG> illustrates possible locations of the SRS configuration component <NUM>, which may be, for example, part of the one or more network transceivers <NUM>, the memory <NUM>, the one or more processors <NUM>, or any combination thereof, or may be a standalone component.

The UE <NUM> may include one or more sensors <NUM> coupled to the one or more processors <NUM> to provide means for sensing or detecting movement and/or orientation information that is independent of motion data derived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers <NUM>, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers <NUM>, and/or the satellite signal receiver <NUM>. By way of example, the sensor(s) <NUM> may include an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electrical mechanical systems (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric pressure altimeter), and/or any other type of movement detection sensor. Moreover, the sensor(s) <NUM> may include a plurality of different types of devices and combine their outputs in order to provide motion information. For example, the sensor(s) <NUM> may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and orientation sensors to provide the ability to compute positions in two-dimensional (2D) and/or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate systems.

In addition, the UE <NUM> includes a user interface <NUM> providing means for providing indications (e.g., audible and/or visual indications) to a user and/or for receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device such a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, and so on). Although not shown, the base station <NUM> and the network entity <NUM> may also include user interfaces.

Referring to the one or more processors <NUM> in more detail, in the downlink, IP packets from the network entity <NUM> may be provided to the processor <NUM>. The one or more processors <NUM> may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a medium access control (MAC) layer. The one or more processors <NUM> may provide RRC layer functionality associated with broadcasting of system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information blocks (SIBs)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression/decompression, security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

The transmitter <NUM> and the receiver <NUM> may implement Layer-<NUM> (L1) functionality associated with various signal processing functions. Layer-<NUM>, which includes a physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter <NUM> handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase-shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase-shift keying (QPSK), M-phase-shift keying (M-PSK), M-quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). Each stream may then be mapped to an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and/or frequency domain, and then combined together using an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) to produce a physical channel carrying a time domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to produce multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas <NUM>. The transmitter <NUM> may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

At the UE <NUM>, the receiver <NUM> receives a signal through its respective antenna(s) <NUM>. The receiver <NUM> recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors <NUM>. The transmitter <NUM> and the receiver <NUM> implement Layer-<NUM> functionality associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver <NUM> may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE <NUM>. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE <NUM>, they may be combined by the receiver <NUM> into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver <NUM> then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time-domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates computed by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and de-interleaved to recover the data and control signals that were originally transmitted by the base station <NUM> on the physical channel. The data and control signals are then provided to the one or more processors <NUM>, which implements Layer-<NUM> (L3) and Layer-<NUM> (L2) functionality.

In the uplink, the one or more processors <NUM> provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The one or more processors <NUM> are also responsible for error detection.

Similar to the functionality described in connection with the downlink transmission by the base station <NUM>, the one or more processors <NUM> provides RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIBs) acquisition, RRC connections, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression/decompression, and security (ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with the transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction through ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

Channel estimates derived by the channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station <NUM> may be used by the transmitter <NUM> to select the appropriate coding and modulation schemes, and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter <NUM> may be provided to different antenna(s) <NUM>. The transmitter <NUM> may modulate an RF carrier with a respective spatial stream for transmission.

The uplink transmission is processed at the base station <NUM> in a manner similar to that described in connection with the receiver function at the UE <NUM>. The receiver <NUM> receives a signal through its respective antenna(s) <NUM>. The receiver <NUM> recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to the one or more processors <NUM>.

In the uplink, the one or more processors <NUM> provides demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, deciphering, header decompression, control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE <NUM>. IP packets from the one or more processors <NUM> may be provided to the core network. The one or more processors <NUM> are also responsible for error detection.

For convenience, the UE <NUM>, the base station <NUM>, and/or the network entity <NUM> are shown in <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG> as including various components that may be configured according to the various examples described herein. It will be appreciated, however, that the illustrated components may have different functionality in different designs. In particular, various components in <FIG> are optional in alternative configurations and the various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, costs, use of the device, or other considerations. For example, in case of <FIG>, a particular implementation of UE <NUM> may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) <NUM> (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth capability without cellular capability), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) <NUM> (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit the satellite signal receiver <NUM>, or may omit the sensor(s) <NUM>, and so on. In another example, in case of <FIG>, a particular implementation of the base station <NUM> may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) <NUM> (e.g., a Wi-Fi "hotspot" access point without cellular capability), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) <NUM> (e.g., cellular-only, etc.), or may omit the satellite receiver <NUM>, and so on. For brevity, illustration of the various alternative configurations is not provided herein, but would be readily understandable to one skilled in the art.

The various components of the UE <NUM>, the base station <NUM>, and the network entity <NUM> may be communicatively coupled to each other over data buses <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may form, or be part of, a communication interface of the UE <NUM>, the base station <NUM>, and the network entity <NUM>, respectively. For example, where different logical entities are embodied in the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality incorporated into the same base station <NUM>), the data buses <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may provide communication between them.

The components of <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG> may be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of <FIG>, <FIG>, and <FIG> may be implemented in one or more circuits such as, for example, one or more processors and/or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors). Here, each circuit may use and/or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks <NUM> to <NUM> may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the UE <NUM> (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks <NUM> to <NUM> may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the base station <NUM> (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components). Also, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks <NUM> to <NUM> may be implemented by processor and memory component(s) of the network entity <NUM> (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and/or functions are described herein as being performed "by a UE," "by a base station," "by a network entity," etc. However, as will be appreciated, such operations, acts, and/or functions may actually be performed by specific components or combinations of components of the UE <NUM>, base station <NUM>, network entity <NUM>, etc., such as the processors <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, the transceivers <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, the memories <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, the SRS configuration component <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>, etc..

In some designs, the network entity <NUM> may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity <NUM> may be distinct from a network operator or operation of the cellular network infrastructure (e.g., NG RAN <NUM> and/or 5GC <NUM>/<NUM>). For example, the network entity <NUM> may be a component of a private network that may be configured to communicate with the UE <NUM> via the base station <NUM> or independently from the base station <NUM> (e.g., over a non-cellular communication link, such as WiFi).

Various frame structures may be used to support downlink and uplink transmissions between network nodes (e.g., base stations and UEs). <FIG> is a diagram <NUM> illustrating an example frame structure, according to aspects of the disclosure. The frame structure may be a downlink or uplink frame structure. Other wireless communications technologies may have different frame structures and/or different channels.

LTE, and in some cases NR, utilizes OFDM on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. Unlike LTE, however, NR has an option to use OFDM on the uplink as well. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers may be <NUM> kilohertz (kHz) and the minimum resource allocation (resource block) may be <NUM> subcarriers (or <NUM>). Consequently, the nominal FFT size may be equal to <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> for system bandwidth of <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> megahertz (MHz), respectively. For example, a subband may cover <NUM> (i.e., <NUM> resource blocks), and there may be <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> subbands for system bandwidth of <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM>, respectively.

LTE supports a single numerology (subcarrier spacing (SCS), symbol length, etc.). In contrast, NR may support multiple numerologies (µ), for example, subcarrier spacings of <NUM> (µ=<NUM>), <NUM> (µ=<NUM>), <NUM> (µ=<NUM>), <NUM> (µ=<NUM>), and <NUM> (µ=<NUM>) or greater may be available. In each subcarrier spacing, there are <NUM> symbols per slot. For <NUM> SCS (µ=<NUM>), there is one slot per subframe, <NUM> slots per frame, the slot duration is <NUM> millisecond (ms), the symbol duration is <NUM> microseconds (µs), and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a <NUM> FFT size is <NUM>. For <NUM> SCS (µ=<NUM>), there are two slots per subframe, <NUM> slots per frame, the slot duration is <NUM>, the symbol duration is <NUM>, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a <NUM> FFT size is <NUM>. For <NUM> SCS (µ=<NUM>), there are four slots per subframe, <NUM> slots per frame, the slot duration is <NUM>, the symbol duration is <NUM>, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a <NUM> FFT size is <NUM>. For <NUM> SCS (µ=<NUM>), there are eight slots per subframe, <NUM> slots per frame, the slot duration is <NUM>, the symbol duration is <NUM>, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a <NUM> FFT size is <NUM>. For <NUM> SCS (µ=<NUM>), there are <NUM> slots per subframe, <NUM> slots per frame, the slot duration is <NUM>, the symbol duration is <NUM>, and the maximum nominal system bandwidth (in MHz) with a <NUM> FFT size is <NUM>.

In the example of <FIG>, a numerology of <NUM> is used. Thus, in the time domain, a <NUM> frame is divided into <NUM> equally sized subframes of <NUM> each, and each subframe includes one time slot. In <FIG>, time is represented horizontally (on the X axis) with time increasing from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y axis) with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top.

A resource grid may be used to represent time slots, each time slot including one or more time-concurrent resource blocks (RBs) (also referred to as physical RBs (PRBs)) in the frequency domain. The resource grid is further divided into multiple resource elements (REs). An RE may correspond to one symbol length in the time domain and one subcarrier in the frequency domain. In the numerology of <FIG>, for a normal cyclic prefix, an RB may contain <NUM> consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and seven consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of <NUM> REs. For an extended cyclic prefix, an RB may contain <NUM> consecutive subcarriers in the frequency domain and six consecutive symbols in the time domain, for a total of <NUM> REs.

Some of the REs may carry reference (pilot) signals (RS). The reference signals may include positioning reference signals (PRS), tracking reference signals (TRS), phase tracking reference signals (PTRS), cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS), demodulation reference signals (DMRS), primary synchronization signals (PSS), secondary synchronization signals (SSS), synchronization signal blocks (SSBs), sounding reference signals (SRS), etc., depending on whether the illustrated frame structure is used for uplink or downlink communication. <FIG> illustrates example locations of REs carrying a reference signal (labeled "R").

In an aspect, the reference signal carried on the REs labeled "R" may be SRS. SRS transmitted by a UE may be used by a base station to obtain the channel state information (CSI) for the transmitting UE. CSI describes how an RF signal propagates from the UE to the base station and represents the combined effect of scattering, fading, and power decay with distance. The system uses the SRS for resource scheduling, link adaptation, massive MIMO, beam management, etc..

A collection of REs that are used for transmission of SRS is referred to as an "SRS resource," and may be identified by the parameter "SRS-ResourceId. " The collection of resource elements can span multiple PRBs in the frequency domain and 'N' (e.g., one or more) consecutive symbol(s) within a slot in the time domain. In a given OFDM symbol, an SRS resource occupies one or more consecutive PRBs. An "SRS resource set" is a set of SRS resources used for the transmission of SRS signals, and is identified by an SRS resource set ID ("SRS-ResourceSetId").

The transmission of SRS resources within a given PRB has a particular comb size (also referred to as the "comb density"). A comb size 'N' represents the subcarrier spacing (or frequency/tone spacing) within each symbol of an SRS resource configuration. Specifically, for a comb size 'N,' SRS are transmitted in every Nth subcarrier of a symbol of a PRB. For example, for comb-<NUM>, for each symbol of the SRS resource configuration, REs corresponding to every fourth subcarrier (such as subcarriers <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) are used to transmit SRS of the SRS resource. In the example of <FIG>, the illustrated SRS is comb-<NUM> over four symbols. That is, the locations of the shaded SRS REs indicate a comb-<NUM> SRS resource configuration.

Generally, as noted above, a UE transmits SRS to enable the receiving base station (either the serving base station or a neighboring base station) to measure the channel quality (i.e., CSI) between the UE and the base station. However, SRS can also be specifically configured as uplink positioning reference signals for uplink-based positioning procedures, such as uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA), round-trip-time (RTT), uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA), etc. As used herein, the term "SRS" may refer to SRS configured for channel quality measurements or SRS configured for positioning purposes. The former may be referred to herein as "SRS-for-communication" and/or the latter may be referred to as "SRS-for-positioning" or "positioning SRS" when needed to distinguish the two types of SRS.

Several enhancements over the previous definition of SRS have been proposed for SRS-for-positioning (also referred to as "UL-PRS"), such as a new staggered pattern within an SRS resource (except for single-symbol/comb-<NUM>), a new comb type for SRS, new sequences for SRS, a higher number of SRS resource sets per component carrier, and a higher number of SRS resources per component carrier. In addition, the parameters "SpatialRelationInfo" and "PathLossReference" are to be configured based on a downlink reference signal or SSB from a neighboring TRP. Further still, one SRS resource may be transmitted outside the active BWP, and one SRS resource may span across multiple component carriers. Also, SRS may be configured in RRC connected state and only transmitted within an active BWP. Further, there may be no frequency hopping, no repetition factor, a single antenna port, and new lengths for SRS (e.g., <NUM> and <NUM> symbols). There also may be open-loop power control and not closed-loop power control, and comb-<NUM> (i.e., an SRS transmitted every eighth subcarrier in the same symbol) may be used. Lastly, the UE may transmit through the same transmit beam from multiple SRS resources for UL-AoA. All of these are features that are additional to the current SRS framework, which is configured through RRC higher layer signaling (and potentially triggered or activated through a MAC control element (MAC-CE) or DCI).

<FIG> is a diagram <NUM> illustrating various uplink channels within an example uplink slot. In <FIG>, time is represented horizontally (on the X axis) with time increasing from left to right, while frequency is represented vertically (on the Y axis) with frequency increasing (or decreasing) from bottom to top. In the example of <FIG>, a numerology of <NUM> is used. Thus, in the time domain, the illustrated slot is one millisecond (ms) in length, divided into <NUM> symbols.

A random-access channel (RACH), also referred to as a physical random-access channel (PRACH), may be within one or more slots within a frame based on the PRACH configuration. The PRACH may include six consecutive RB pairs within a slot. The PRACH allows the UE to perform initial system access and achieve uplink synchronization. A physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) may be located on edges of the uplink system bandwidth. The PUCCH carries uplink control information (UCI), such as scheduling requests, CSI reports, a channel quality indicator (CQI), a precoding matrix indicator (PMI), a rank indicator (RI), and HARQ ACK/NACK feedback. The physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) carries data, and may additionally be used to carry a buffer status report (BSR), a power headroom report (PHR), and/or UCI.

NR supports a number of cellular network-based positioning technologies, including downlink-based, uplink-based, and downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods. Downlink-based positioning methods include observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) in LTE, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA) in NR, and downlink angle-of-departure (DL-AoD) in NR. In an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, a UE measures the differences between the times of arrival (ToAs) of reference signals (e.g., positioning reference signals (PRS)) received from pairs of base stations, referred to as reference signal time difference (RSTD) or time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurements, and reports them to a positioning entity. More specifically, the UE receives the identifiers (IDs) of a reference base station (e.g., a serving base station) and multiple non-reference base stations in assistance data. The UE then measures the RSTD between the reference base station and each of the non-reference base stations. Based on the known locations of the involved base stations and the RSTD measurements, the positioning entity can estimate the UE's location.

For DL-AoD positioning, the positioning entity uses a beam report from the UE of received signal strength measurements of multiple downlink transmit beams to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the transmitting base station(s). The positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE based on the determined angle(s) and the known location(s) of the transmitting base station(s).

Uplink-based positioning methods include uplink time difference of arrival (UL-TDOA) and uplink angle-of-arrival (UL-AoA). UL-TDOA is similar to DL-TDOA, but is based on uplink reference signals (e.g., sounding reference signals (SRS)) transmitted by the UE. For UL-AoA positioning, one or more base stations measure the received signal strength of one or more uplink reference signals (e.g., SRS) received from a UE on one or more uplink receive beams. The positioning entity uses the signal strength measurements and the angle(s) of the receive beam(s) to determine the angle(s) between the UE and the base station(s). Based on the determined angle(s) and the known location(s) of the base station(s), the positioning entity can then estimate the location of the UE.

Downlink-and-uplink-based positioning methods include enhanced cell-ID (E-CID) positioning and multi-round-trip-time (RTT) positioning (also referred to as "multi-cell RTT"). In an RTT procedure, an initiator (a base station or a UE) transmits an RTT measurement signal (e.g., a PRS or SRS) to a responder (a UE or base station), which transmits an RTT response signal (e.g., an SRS or PRS) back to the initiator. The RTT response signal includes the difference between the ToA of the RTT measurement signal and the transmission time of the RTT response signal, referred to as the reception-to-transmission (Rx-Tx) time difference. The initiator calculates the difference between the transmission time of the RTT measurement signal and the ToA of the RTT response signal, referred to as the transmission-to-reception (Tx-Rx) time difference. The propagation time (also referred to as the "time of flight") between the initiator and the responder can be calculated from the Tx-Rx and Rx-Tx time differences. Based on the propagation time and the known speed of light, the distance between the initiator and the responder can be determined. For multi-RTT positioning, a UE performs an RTT procedure with multiple base stations to enable its location to be determined (e.g., using multilateration) based on the known locations of the base stations. RTT and multi-RTT methods can be combined with other positioning techniques, such as UL-AoA and DL-AoD, to improve location accuracy.

The E-CID positioning method is based on radio resource management (RRM) measurements. In E-CID, the UE reports the serving cell ID, the timing advance (TA), and the identifiers, estimated timing, and signal strength of detected neighbor base stations. The location of the UE is then estimated based on this information and the known locations of the base station(s).

To assist positioning operations, a location server (e.g., location server <NUM>, LMF <NUM>, SLP <NUM>) may provide assistance data to the UE. For example, the assistance data may include identifiers of the base stations (or the cells/TRPs of the base stations) from which to measure reference signals, the reference signal configuration parameters (e.g., the number of consecutive positioning subframes, periodicity of positioning subframes, muting sequence, frequency hopping sequence, reference signal identifier, reference signal bandwidth, etc.), and/or other parameters applicable to the particular positioning method. Alternatively, the assistance data may originate directly from the base stations themselves (e.g., in periodically broadcasted overhead messages, etc.). In some cases, the UE may be able to detect neighbor network nodes itself without the use of assistance data.

In the case of an OTDOA or DL-TDOA positioning procedure, the assistance data may further include an expected RSTD value and an associated uncertainty, or search window, around the expected RSTD. In some cases, the value range of the expected RSTD may be +/- <NUM> microseconds (µs). In some cases, when any of the resources used for the positioning measurement are in FR1, the value range for the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be +/- <NUM>. In other cases, when all of the resources used for the positioning measurement(s) are in FR2, the value range for the uncertainty of the expected RSTD may be +/- <NUM>.

A location estimate may be referred to by other names, such as a position estimate, location, position, position fix, fix, or the like. A location estimate may be geodetic and comprise coordinates (e.g., latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude) or may be civic and comprise a street address, postal address, or some other verbal description of a location. A location estimate may further be defined relative to some other known location or defined in absolute terms (e.g., using latitude, longitude, and possibly altitude). A location estimate may include an expected error or uncertainty (e.g., by including an area or volume within which the location is expected to be included with some specified or default level of confidence).

Referring back to SRS, as described above, SRS and SRS-for-positioning (collectively "SRS" and distinguished by the context) may be transmitted within a resource block with a given comb pattern. Currently, an SRS resource may span <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> consecutive symbols within a slot with a comb size of comb-<NUM>, comb-<NUM>, or comb-<NUM>. The following table shows the frequency offsets from symbol to symbol for the SRS comb patterns that are currently supported.

<FIG> illustrate various comb patterns supported for SRS within a resource block. The illustrated comb patterns correspond to various comb patterns shown in Table <NUM> above. Each comb pattern is illustrated within a single resource block. In each resource block, frequency is represented vertically and time is represented horizontally. Each block of each resource block represents an RE, and each shaded block represents an RE carrying SRS. All of the REs carrying SRS within a resource block correspond to an SRS resource.

<FIG> illustrates a comb pattern <NUM> for comb-<NUM> with one symbol, a comb pattern <NUM> for comb-<NUM> with two symbols, and a comb pattern <NUM> for comb-<NUM> with four symbols. <FIG> illustrates a comb pattern <NUM> for comb-<NUM> with two symbols, a comb pattern <NUM> for comb-<NUM> with four symbols, and a comb pattern <NUM> for comb-<NUM> with eight symbols. The comb pattern for comb-<NUM> with <NUM> symbols is not illustrated, but as shown in Table <NUM>, it is similar to comb-<NUM> with eight symbols but with four more symbols having a repeated pattern of offsets {<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>}. <FIG> illustrates a comb pattern <NUM> for comb-<NUM> with four symbols, a comb pattern <NUM> for comb-<NUM> with eight symbols, and a comb pattern <NUM> for comb-<NUM> with <NUM> symbols.

As can be seen in <FIG>, the shaded REs (i.e., REs carrying SRS) are offset from each other across symbols according to the values in Table <NUM>. For example, from Table <NUM>, comb pattern <NUM> has an offset pattern of {<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>}. As shown, this means that the first (bottom) RE in the first (leftmost) symbol has an offset of zero tones from the first (bottom) tone of the resource block, the first RE in the second symbol has an offset of two tones from the first tone of the resource block, the first RE in the third symbol has an offset of one tone from the first tone of the resource block, and the first RE in the fourth symbol has an offset of three tones from the first tone of the resource block. The pattern then repeats for the remaining REs of the comb pattern. As can be seen, the offsets cause the REs to be "staggered" in frequency, which is referred to as comb staggering.

SRS-for-positioning utilize comb staggering, as illustrated in Table <NUM> and <FIG>, to provide a larger observation range for the receiver. That is, the receiver (e.g., a base station, another UE, etc.) will collapse all symbols of the SRS resource (when the different symbols of the SRS resource have a different comb offset) into a single comb-<NUM>-equivalent symbol to maximize the ToA range. SRS are also defined by a cyclic shift (α) of a base sequence. A cyclic shift in the time domain is equivalent to a phase rotation in the frequency domain. The base sequence is cyclic shifted to increase the total number of available sequences. For frequency non-selective channels over the <NUM> subcarriers of a resource block, it is possible to achieve orthogonality between SRS generated from the same base sequence. The orthogonality can be exploited to allow different UEs to transmit SRS at the same time using the same frequency resources without interfering with each other. This is referred to as UE multiplexing.

However, the time domain cyclic shift pattern designed for the SRS staggering structure is not currently supported in NR. This means that, for UE multiplexing purposes, the legacy (e.g., LTE) time domain cyclic shift pattern designed for the legacy non-staggered comb structure would be applied to the staggered comb structure for SRS in NR.

The allocation of cyclic shifts over a combed signal, such as SRS, folds the cyclic shift range within the comb duration so that the time-domain representation of the cyclic shift is periodic. In the legacy (e.g., LTE) SRS, the cyclic shift is applied to each symbol equally, as shown in <FIG>. Specifically, <FIG> is a diagram <NUM> illustrating how a legacy cyclic shift is applied on the frequency grid for a four-symbol SRS resource. In <FIG>, frequency is represented vertically and time is represented horizontally. Each block represents an RE and each shaded block represents an RE carrying SRS. As shown, the SRS resource has a comb-<NUM> pattern. The cyclic shift for each RE is represented as ejan. Each symbol is self-contained, meaning that the cyclic frequency increases from ejα<NUM> to ejαn within each symbol.

While this is the correct behavior for a non-staggered SRS comb, it should be modified when a fully or partially staggered pattern is used, to utilize the full range of the comb-<NUM>-equivalent symbol obtained by the combination of all symbols in the SRS resource. One way to resolve this issue is to have the sequence distributed over the full SRS resource so that each symbol in the comb pattern features a part of the cyclic shift sequence.

The current implementation of the cyclic shift multiplexes different shifts over a given time span so that each cyclic shift is equally spaced. This is inefficient, however, as either the space between cyclic shifts could be extended to improve separation between signals, or the number of multiplexed signals could be extended while keeping the same separation between signals. This is illustrated in <FIG>. Specifically, <FIG> is a diagram <NUM> of an example allocation of cyclic shifts that would extend the space between cyclic shifts by utilizing the whole duration of the comb-<NUM>-equivalent SRS. In <FIG>, frequency is represented vertically and time is represented horizontally. Each block represents an RE and each shaded block represents an RE carrying SRS. The comb pattern in the example of <FIG> is a comb-<NUM> pattern over four symbols, and therefore has an offset pattern of {<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>}.

As shown in <FIG>, the SRS RE on the first tone, which is also the first RE of the pattern, has a cyclic shift of ejα<NUM>. However, the SRS RE on the second tone, rather than the second RE of the pattern (on the third tone of the second symbol), has a cyclic shift of ejα<NUM>. Likewise, the SRS RE of the third tone, rather than the third RE of the pattern (on the second tone of the third symbol), has a cyclic shift of ejα<NUM>. The SRS RE of the fourth tone, which is also the fourth RE of the pattern, has a cyclic shift of ejα<NUM>. The pattern then repeats, incrementing n with each tone. To utilize the extended range from the staggered SRS resource, the SRS equation for sequence generation is dependent on both the frequency index and the symbol index so that the generated sequence spans the whole resource bandwidth.

The allocation of cyclic shifts illustrated in <FIG> allows more UEs to be multiplexed on the same frequency resources. However, an issue arises when one or more of the symbols on which the SRS resource is transmitted are canceled or punctured. Puncturing is a technique whereby when a lower priority signal overlaps (collides) with a higher priority signal in a symbol or slot, the transmission of the lower priority signal in the symbol or slot is canceled. SRS are generally lower priority than other channels (e.g., PUCCH, PUSCH), and therefore, when SRS collide with another channel, the SRS are dropped in the symbols or slots where the collision occurs.

However, when the cyclic shift number for each comb (a single RE of a comb pattern) is increased across tones (as illustrated in <FIG>), rather than within a symbol (as illustrated in <FIG>), SRS symbol dropping becomes an issue. This is because the increased cyclic shift number for each comb only maintains cyclic shift separation after the staggering across multiple SRS symbols and may therefore not work when some SRS symbols are dropped. If a UE transmits SRS on the remaining symbols, it may create interference for other intra-cell UEs on the same comb with different cyclic shifts.

Accordingly, the present disclosure introduces a puncturing (or cancellation) unit for SRS resources that can be used when, for example, the cyclic shift number for each comb is increased across tones rather than within a symbol. A puncturing unit may comprise one or more symbols or slots of an SRS resource. When one or more symbols (or slots) within a puncturing unit collide with another channel and would be dropped (punctured), the entire puncturing unit is dropped instead.

The base station that configured the UE with the SRS resources (including the comb pattern) may configure the UE with the puncturing unit for SRS resources. The puncturing unit should be consistent with the SRS staggering (comb pattern) that the base station applies for cyclic shift assignments across UEs. More specifically, when the amount of the phase rotation applied to the REs across symbols containing SRS transmissions follows the order of the occupied subcarriers, the cyclic shift separation among UEs is maintained after staggering across multiple SRS symbols, and may not hold if some SRS symbols are missing. In the latter case, transmission of SRS on the remaining symbols creates interference to other intra-cell UEs on the same comb with different cyclic shifts. As such, the base station should configure the UE with a puncturing unit that prevents such a scenario. The base station may configure the UE with the puncturing unit using, for example, RRC signaling. The base station may specify the puncturing unit as, for example, the length (e.g., in symbols or slots) of the puncturing unit, or the number of puncturing units per comb pattern.

<FIG> and <FIG> illustrate examples of different puncturing units within an example comb pattern, according to aspects of the disclosure. The comb pattern in the examples of <FIG> and <FIG> is a comb-<NUM> pattern over eight symbols, and therefore has an offset pattern of {<NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>}. Each comb pattern is illustrated within a single resource block. In each resource block, frequency is represented vertically and time is represented horizontally. Each block of each resource block represents an RE, and each shaded block represents an RE carrying SRS. All of the REs carrying SRS within an illustrated resource block correspond to an SRS resource.

<FIG> illustrates an eight-symbol comb-<NUM> comb pattern <NUM> without a puncturing unit, and an eight-symbol comb-<NUM> comb pattern <NUM> with a four-symbol puncturing unit. For the comb pattern <NUM>, the base station assigns a cyclic shift with staggering every four symbols. That is, the cyclic shift number (ejαn) for each comb is increased across the tones of four consecutive symbols, as illustrated in <FIG>. Note that while only one puncturing unit is shown, each group of four symbols of comb pattern <NUM> would correspond to a puncturing unit. If an SRS transmission within a symbol within a four-symbol puncturing unit collides with a higher priority channel, or otherwise needs to be cancelled, SRS transmissions within the entire puncturing unit are dropped, rather than just SRS transmissions within the colliding symbol.

<FIG> illustrates an eight-symbol comb-<NUM> comb pattern <NUM> with a two-symbol puncturing unit. For the comb pattern <NUM>, the base station assigns a cyclic shift with staggering every two symbols. That is, the cyclic shift number (ejαn) for each comb is increased across the tones of two consecutive symbols. Note that while only one puncturing unit is shown, each group of two symbols of comb pattern <NUM> would correspond to a puncturing unit. If an SRS transmission within a symbol within a two-symbol puncturing unit collides with a higher priority channel, or otherwise needs to be cancelled, SRS transmissions within the entire puncturing unit are dropped, rather than just SRS transmissions within the colliding symbol.

<FIG> further illustrates an eight-symbol comb-<NUM> comb pattern <NUM> with a one-symbol puncturing unit. For the comb pattern <NUM>, the base station assigns a cyclic shift with staggering every one symbol. That is, the cyclic shift number (ejαn) for each comb is increased across the tones of a single symbol. This is effectively the situation illustrated in <FIG>. Note that while only one puncturing unit is shown, each group of one symbols of comb pattern <NUM> would correspond to a puncturing unit. If an SRS transmission within a symbol within a one-symbol puncturing unit collides with a higher priority channel, or otherwise needs to be cancelled, SRS transmissions within the entire puncturing unit are dropped, rather than just SRS transmissions within the colliding symbol. This is effectively the situation described with reference to <FIG>.

As will be appreciated, while <FIG> and <FIG> illustrate examples for an eight-symbol comb-<NUM> comb pattern, the present techniques are applicable to any comb pattern. In addition, while <FIG> and <FIG> illustrate puncturing units of one, two, and four symbols, as will be appreciated, other lengths are possible, and may depend on the length (in the time domain) of the comb pattern (e.g., <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, or <NUM> symbols). Further, while <FIG> illustrate example comb patterns within a single resource block, as will be appreciated, the comb pattern may extend over multiple resource blocks in the frequency domain. For example, <FIG> and <FIG> illustrate comb patterns extending over two resource blocks in the frequency domain. Further, while the foregoing has generally described puncturing units in terms of length of symbols, they may instead be defined in terms of lengths of slots, depending on, for example, the processing and/or transmission capabilities of the UE.

<FIG> illustrates an example method <NUM> of wireless communication, according to aspects of the disclosure. In an aspect, method <NUM> may be performed by a UE (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

At <NUM>, the UE receives an SRS resource configuration, the SRS resource configuration indicating at least a comb pattern for at least one SRS resource allocated to the UE and a puncturing unit for the comb pattern, wherein the comb pattern is divided into one or more puncturing units, wherein each puncturing unit of the one or more puncturing units comprises one or more time units of the comb pattern, and wherein each of the one or more time units of the comb pattern comprises two or more symbols. In an aspect, operation <NUM> may be performed by the one or more WWAN transceivers <NUM>, the one or more processors <NUM>, memory <NUM>, and/or SRS configuration component <NUM>, any or all of which may be considered means for performing this operation.

At <NUM>, the UE refrains from transmitting all SRS transmissions of the at least one SRS resource within a first puncturing unit of the one or more puncturing units based on a determination that one or more SRS transmissions of the at least one SRS resource within the first puncturing unit are to be dropped. In an aspect, operation <NUM> may be performed by the one or more WWAN transceivers <NUM>, the one or more processors <NUM>, memory <NUM>, and/or SRS configuration component <NUM>, any or all of which may be considered means for performing this operation.

As will be appreciated, a technical advantage of the method <NUM> is decreased interference to other UEs and reduced power consumption for the UE.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field-programable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The methods, sequences and/or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in random access memory (RAM), flash memory, read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An example storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE).

Claim 1:
A method (<NUM>) of wireless communication performed by a user equipment, UE, comprising:
receiving (<NUM>) a sounding reference signal, SRS, resource configuration, the SRS resource configuration indicating at least a comb pattern for at least one SRS resource allocated to the UE and a puncturing unit for the comb pattern, wherein the comb pattern is divided into one or more puncturing units, wherein each puncturing unit of the one or more puncturing units comprises one or more time units of the comb pattern, and wherein each of the one or more time units of the comb pattern comprises two or more symbols; and
transmitting (<NUM>) at least one SRS transmission of the at least one SRS resource outside a first puncturing unit of the one or more puncturing units based on a determination that one or more SRS transmissions of the at least one SRS resource within the first puncturing unit are to be dropped.