PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-11012966-B2
Application Number: US-201716477572-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Location positioning protocol based positioning for UEs in idle mode

Abstract:
Techniques described herein allow for mobile positioning (i.e., the determination of the position of the UE) to be performed when the UE is in Idle mode. In some implementations, assistance data, that is used by the UE as part of the mobile positioning procedure, may be broadcast to the UE or transmitted to the UE within paging messages. The assistance data can potentially be sent to the UE in a number of time slots. In some implementations, the UE may perform measurements needed for mobile positioning only within discontinuous reception (DRX) occasions. Alternatively, in some implementations, the UE may perform measurements needed for mobile positioning outside of DRX occasions.

Claims:
What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An apparatus for User Equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:
 an interface to radio circuitry, for a cellular wireless network including a plurality of evolved NodeBs (eNBs); 
 one or more processors to:
 process, via the interface to radio circuitry, Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) assistance data from the eNBs; 
 determine a positioning measurement period based on a product of a predetermined sufficient number of samples of position reference signals (PRS) and a periodicity of the PRS; 
 determine additional wake up occasions in addition to discontinuous reception (DRX) on-durations to measure the PRS within the positioning measurement period; 
 control, via the interface to the radio circuitry and based on the assistance data, obtaining of PRS measurements for a plurality of cells associated with the plurality of eNBs, including a reference cell of the UE, over the positioning measurement; 
 process the PRS measurements to obtain Reference Signal Time Differences (RSTDs) values for the plurality of cells; 
 generate a report, including the RSTD values; and 
 control transmitting of the report to at least one of the eNBs. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the OTDOA assistance data is received while in an Idle state of the UE. 
     
     
       3. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the assistance data is received as broadcast data from the eNBs. 
     
     
       4. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the assistance data is received as part of a paging message. 
     
     
       5. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
 control the obtaining of the PRS measurements only during DRX occasions of the UE. 
 
     
     
       6. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
 prioritize reading of system information (SI) over the obtaining of the PRS measurements. 
 
     
     
       7. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
 prioritize reading of the PRS measurements over reading of system information (SI). 
 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the UE is a narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) device. 
     
     
       9. A baseband processor of a User Equipment (UE) configured to:
 process Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) assistance data from evolved NodeBs (eNBs), of a cellular wireless network, that are each associated with one or more cells;
 determine a positioning measurement period based on a product of a predetermined sufficient number of samples of position reference signals (PRS) and a periodicity of the PRS; 
 determine additional wake up occasions in addition to discontinuous reception (DRX) on-durations to measure the PRS within the positioning measurement period; 
 control, based on the assistance data and while the UE is in an Idle state, obtaining of PRS measurements for a plurality of cells, including a reference cell of the UE, over the positioning measurement period; 
 process the PRS measurements to obtain Reference Signal Time Differences (RSTDs) values for the plurality of cells; 
 generate a report, including the RSTD values; and 
 control transmitting of the report to at least one of the eNBs. 
 
 
     
     
       10. The baseband processor of  claim 9 , wherein the OTDOA assistance data is received as broadcast data from the eNBs. 
     
     
       11. The baseband processor of  claim 9 , wherein the assistance data is received as part of a paging message. 
     
     
       12. The baseband processor of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
 control the obtaining of the PRS measurements only during DRX occasions of the UE. 
 
     
     
       13. The baseband processor of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
 prioritize reading of system information (SI) over the obtaining of the PRS measurements. 
 
     
     
       14. The baseband processor of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more processors are further to:
 prioritize reading of the PRS measurements over reading system information (SI). 
 
     
     
       15. The baseband processor of  claim 9 , wherein the UE is a narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) device. 
     
     
       16. A method, comprising:
 processing Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) assistance data from evolved NodeBs (eNBs), of a cellular wireless network, that are each associated with one or more cells; 
 determining a positioning measurement period based on a product of a predetermined sufficient number of samples of position reference signals (PRS) and a periodicity of the PRS; 
 determining additional wake up occasions in addition to discontinuous reception (DRX) on-durations to measure the PRS within the positioning measurement period; 
 controlling, based on the assistance data and while the UE is in Idle mode, obtaining of PRS measurements for a plurality of cells, including a reference cell of the UE, over the positioning measurement period; 
 processing the PRS measurements to obtain Reference Signal Time Differences (RSTDs) values for the plurality of cells; 
 generating a report, including the RSTD values; and 
 controlling transmitting of the report to at least one of the eNBs. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 16 , wherein the assistance data is received in an Idle state of the UE. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the assistance data is received as broadcast data from the eNBs. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 17 , wherein the assistance data is received as part of a paging message. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 16 , wherein the program instructions further cause the device to:
 control the obtaining of the measurements only during DRX occasions of the UE. 
 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 16 , wherein the program instructions further cause the device to:
 prioritize reading of system information (SI) over the obtaining of the measurements.

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a National Phase entry application of International Patent Application No. PCT/US2017069122 filed Dec. 29, 2017, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/447,138, which was filed on Jan. 17, 2017, in the name of Jie Cui et al. and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     The Location Position Protocol (LPP) in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards for cellular communications use Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) of certain downlink (DL) signals to determine a position of a UE. The LPP may use multilateration techniques in which User Equipment (UE) measures the time of arrival (TOA) of signals received from multiple base stations. Based on the TOAs and the known locations of the base stations, the location of the UE may be calculated. As part of position determination suing OTDOA, the network may transmit assistance data to the UE. The assistance data may include configuration information describing when positioning signals, such as Positioning Reference Signals (PRS), are expected to arrive at the UE. 
     For some types of UEs, such as Internet of Things (IoT) UEs, operating in a low power mode, for extended periods, may be an important consideration in the design of the UEs. Such UEs may frequently be in an Idle state. In general, an Idle state UE, in contrast to being in the Connected state, may not have an active radio link with the network. Instead, an Idle state UE may be in a long discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle for monitoring downlink signals without transmitting to the network. Existing UEs, when in Idle mode, may not be capable of performing OTDOA positioning. For example, the Idle state may complicate the ability of the UE to receive the assistance data. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Embodiments described herein will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitate this description, like reference numerals may designate like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an architecture of a system in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG. 2  is a signal diagram illustrating the broadcasting of assistance data, by an evolved NodeB (eNB), to a UE; 
         FIG. 3A  is a signal diagram illustrating the broadcasting of assistance data, by an eNB, to a UE, as a number of partial pieces; 
         FIG. 3B  is a diagram illustrating an example of a timing relationship of multiple assistance data pieces; 
         FIG. 4  is a signal diagram illustrating the broadcasting of assistance data, via paging, by an eNB, to a UE; 
         FIG. 5A  is a signal diagram illustrating the transmission of assistance data, by an eNB, to a UE; 
         FIG. 5B  is a diagram illustrating an example of the timing relationship of multiple paging assistance data messages. As shown, a number of paging assistance data pieces  520 - 1  through  520 -N 
         FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating an example timing of DRX occasions and positioning signals; 
         FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating an example of a UE associated with a tracking area (TA); 
         FIG. 8  illustrates example components of a device in accordance with some embodiments; 
         FIG. 9  illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments; and 
         FIG. 10  is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers in different drawings may identify the same or similar elements. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of embodiments is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. 
     For a number of reasons, determining the position of a UE in Idle mode can be challenging. Various techniques described herein allow for mobile positioning (i.e., the determination of the position of the UE) to be performed even when the UE is in Idle mode. In some implementations, assistance data, that is used by the UE as part of the mobile positioning procedure, may be broadcast to the UE or transmitted to the UE within paging messages. The assistance data can potentially be sent to the UE in a number of time slots. In some implementations, the UE may perform measurements needed for mobile positioning only within discontinuous reception (DRX) occasions. Alternatively, in some implementations, the UE may perform measurements needed for mobile positioning outside of DRX occasions. 
     Additionally, in some implementations, the UE may prioritize the reading of system information (SI) in Idle over mobile positioning measurements. In this situation, the positioning measurement period may be extended. Alternatively, the UE may prioritize mobile positioning measurements over the reading of the SI information. 
     Additionally, in some implementations, requests to UEs, to perform mobile positioning measurements, may be sent to all the cells in a tracking area. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates an architecture of a system  100  in accordance with some embodiments. The system  100  is shown to include a user equipment (UE)  101  and a UE  102 . The UEs  101  and  102  are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wireless communications interface. 
     In some embodiments, any of the UEs  101  and  102  can comprise an Internet of Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to-device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network. One type of IoT device, Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) UEs, may be IoT UEs capable of operating at low bandwidths. 
     The UEs  101  and  102  may be configured to connect, e.g., communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN)  110 —the RAN  110  may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. The UEs  101  and  102  utilize connections  103  and  104 , respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connections  103  and  104  are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like. 
     In this embodiment, the UEs  101  and  102  may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface  105 . The ProSe interface  105  may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH). 
     The UE  102  is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP)  106  via connection  107 . The connection  107  can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP  106  would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP  106  is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). 
     The RAN  110  can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections  103  and  104 . These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN  110  may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macro RAN node  111 , and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., low power (LP) RAN node  112 . 
     Any of the RAN nodes  111  and  112  can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs  101  and  102 . In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes  111  and  112  can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN  110  including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management. 
     In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs  101  and  102  can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes  111  and  112  over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers. 
     In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes  111  and  112  to the UEs  101  and  102 , while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks. 
     The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs  101  and  102 . The physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs  101  and  102  about the transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE  102  within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes  111  and  112  based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs  101  and  102 . The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs  101  and  102 . 
     The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8). 
     Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced the control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations. 
     The RAN  110  is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network (CN)  120 —via an S1 interface  113 . In embodiments, the CN  120  may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment, the S1 interface  113  is split into two parts: the S1-U interface  114 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  111  and  112  and the serving gateway (S-GW)  122 , and the S1-mobility management entity (MME) interface  115 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  111  and  112  and MMEs  121 . 
     In this embodiment, the CN  120  comprises the MMEs  121 , the S-GW  122 , the Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW)  123 , a home subscriber server (HSS)  124 , and an enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (eSMLC)  127 . The MMEs  121  may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs  121  may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS  124  may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions. The CN  120  may comprise one or several HSSs  124 , depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS  124  can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. 
     The S-GW  122  may terminate the S1 interface  113  towards the RAN  110 , and routes data packets between the RAN  110  and the CN  120 . In addition, the S-GW  122  may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. 
     The P-GW  123  may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW  123  may route data packets between the EPC network  123  and external networks such as a network including the application server  130  (alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface  125 . Generally, the application server  130  may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW  123  is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server  130  via an IP communications interface  125 . The application server  130  can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs  101  and  102  via the CN  120 . 
     The P-GW  123  may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF)  126  is the policy and charging control element of the CN  120 . In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE&#39;s Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE&#39;s IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF  126  may be communicatively coupled to the application server  130  via the P-GW  123 . The application server  130  may signal the PCRF  126  to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF  126  may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server  130 . 
     The eSMLC  127  may be a network element that calculates the location of UEs  101  and  102 . The eSMLC may participate in LPP to receive TOA and/or OTDOA data from UEs  101  and  102 . Based on this data, the eSMLC  127  may calculate the position (e.g., the geographical position) of UEs  101  and  102 . In particular, in one implementation, a UE may measure OTDOA data, and calculate reference signal time differences (RSTDs), from a number of nearby cells. The nearby cells may include a reference cell (e.g., the cell to which the UE is attached) and a number of neighbor cells. The OTDOA/RSTD measurements may be obtained from positioning signals (e.g., a positioning reference signal (PRS)) transmitted by the reference cell and the nearby cells. The RSTD measurements may be reported, by the UEs, to the eSMLC  127 , which may calculate the UE position based on the RSTD measurements and the known location of the cells/eNBs. 
     A number of issues may be encountered to enable mobile positioning for Idle mode UEs, such as Idle mode NB-IoTs. One such issue may relate to the transmission of assistance data to the UE. In existing positioning procedures for Connected mode UEs, eSMLC  127  may send the assistance data to the target UE. The assistance data is carried by a data traffic channel and is only transmitted to the target UE. In IDLE mode, however, the UE is not able to receive unicast data traffic. 
     A second issue that may be encountered when enabling mobile positioning for Idle mode UEs relates to determination of the measurement period for the positioning measurement. In existing positioning procedures for Connected mode UEs, a UE may perform a positioning measurement when a predetermined positioning signal (e.g. the PRS (positioning reference signal), CRS (cell reference signal), or others) occurs. If the UE is in a discontinuous reception (DRX) status in Connected mode, the UE will also measure the positioning signal regardless of the DRX status. However for NB-IoT UEs in Idle mode, the UE may not be able to measure the positioning signal. 
     A third issue that may be encountered when enabling mobile positioning for Idle mode UEs relates to ensuring that the UE is able to read the cell system information (SI). In Idle mode, a UE may need to read the cell SI for both serving and neighbor cells for cell reselection or for other mobility purposes. Performing the SI reading may interrupt other UE behaviors, such as paging reception. If the positioning signal reception duration collides with the SI reading duration, the UE might miss this positioning signal, and the positioning period will be extended. 
     A fourth issue that may be encountered when enabling mobile positioning for Idle mode UEs relates to enhanced cell ID (ECID). In ECID, the UE may report, to eSMLC  127 , the serving cell ID, the timing advance (difference between its transmit and receive time), and estimated timing and power of detected neighbor cells. eSMLC  127  may estimate the UE position based on this information and its knowledge of the cells&#39; positions. Existing ECID positioning may require the UE, in Connected mode, to perform measurements on the serving cell and report the measurement results to the network. Since the UE is in Connected mode, it is easy for the network to know which cell is the current serving cell for the target UE. However, in Idle mode, the network may not be aware of which cell is the current serving cell for the target UE. 
     In a first embodiment, the first issue, mentioned above (transmission of assistance data to the UE), may be addressed. In various implementations, the assistance data may be broadcast to the UE, either in a single time domain piece or in multiple time domain pieces. Because Idle mode UEs can receive broadcast data, the assistance data may be successfully received by the UE. 
       FIG. 2  is a signal diagram illustrating the broadcasting of assistance data, by an eNB, to a UE. As shown, the eNB is illustrated as eNB  111  and the UE is illustrated as UE  101 . 
     eNB  111  may broadcast the positioning assistance data to UEs, such as UE  101 , in its coverage area (at  210 ). The assistance data may include, for example, information relating to positioning reference signal timing or sequence, information relating to carrier frequency, etc In the assistance data, the broadcasting cell may be the reference cell for the positioning operation. The assistance data may also include assistance data for any neighbor cells that may potentially be used by UE  101  in the positioning operation. Thus, the broadcast assistance data may include two parts: reference cell information and neighbor cell information. The determination of which cells to include as neighbor cells may be based on, for example, known distance information between eNBs (e.g., any eNB that is potentially in range of another eNB may be included as a possible neighbor cell). 
     The broadcast assistance data may be triggered or requested by eSMLC  127  via MME  121 . For example, eSMLC  127  may send an assistance data broadcasting request to MME  121 , and then MME  121  may request all the cells which belong to this MME to broadcast the assistance data. 
     As an example of the broadcasting of assistance data, assume the existence of two adjacent cells, called “cell 1 ” and “cell 2 .” The assistance data broadcast by cell may include information in which cell 1  is the reference cell and cell 2  is the neighbor cell. In the assistance data broadcast by cell 2 , cell 2  is included as the reference cell and cell is included as the neighbor cell. 
       FIG. 3A  is a signal diagram illustrating the broadcasting of assistance data, by an eNB, to a UE, as a number of partial pieces. As shown, the eNB is illustrated as eNB  111  and the UE is illustrated as UE  101 . The assistance data may be broadcast in a number of timeslots. In particular, eNB  111  may broadcast the assistance data to UEs, such as UE  101 , in its coverage area. As shown in  FIG. 3A , the broadcasted assistance data may divided into different pieces/slots, shown as N broadcasts  310  (e.g. in different subframes, different slots, or different symbols). UE  101  may receive and combine these assistance data pieces together to decode the assistance data needed for positioning. 
       FIG. 3B  is a diagram illustrating an example of the timing relationship of multiple assistance data pieces. As shown, a number of assistance data pieces  320 - 1  through  320 -N may be periodically broadcast by eNB  111 . In some implementations, the period and/or duration of each assistance data piece  320  may be indicated in the first assistance data piece (piece  1 ). Alternatively or additionally, the period and/or duration of the assistance data pieces may be indicated in a system information message (e.g., Master Information Block (MIB), System Information Block (SIB), or others) of the cell that is broadcasting the assistance data. 
     In another embodiment, relating to the first issue mentioned above, the assistance data may be transmitted as paging data. For example, all cells within the same tracking area may transmit the assistance data within paging messages. 
       FIG. 4  is a signal diagram illustrating the broadcasting of assistance data, via paging, by an eNB, to a UE. As shown, the eNB is illustrated as eNB  111  and the UE is illustrated as UE  101 . 
     eNB  111  may transmit paging messages that include positioning assistance data to UEs, such as UE  101  (at  410 , “paging data”). The assistance data, transmitted via paging, may include the assistance data for all of the cells in the tracking area. That is, the assistance data may be the combined assistance data of all the cells in the tracking area. 
     The transmitted assistance data may be triggered or requested by eSMLC  127  via MME  121 . For example, eSMLC  127  may send an assistance data paging request to MME  121 , and then MME  121  may request all the cells which belong to this MME to transmit, via paging messages, the assistance data. 
     As an example of the transmission of assistance data via paging, assume that two adjacent cells, called “cell 1 ” and “cell 2 ,” belong to the same MME  121 . Cell 1  and cell 2  may transmit the assistance data via paging, and the transmitted assistance data may be the same for both cells. Additionally, any other cells in the same tracking area as cell 1  and cell 2  may also transmit, via paging, the same assistance data. 
       FIG. 5A  is a signal diagram illustrating the transmission of assistance data, by an eNB, to a UE In  FIG. 5A , the assistance data may be transmitted, via paging, in a number of timeslots. In particular, the assistance data may be divided into different paging messages and transmitted in different messages. UE  101  may receive and combine the different paging messages to decode the assistance data. In a manner similar to that discussed previous with respect to dividing the broadcast assistance data into multiple pieces, the paging assistance data may divided into N paging messages  510 . 
       FIG. 5B  is a diagram illustrating an example of the timing relationship of multiple paging assistance data messages. As shown, a number of paging assistance data pieces  520 - 1  through  520 -N may be transmitted by eNB  111 . In some implementations, the period and/or duration of each assistance data piece  520  may be indicated in the first assistance data paging message (piece  1 ). Alternatively or additionally, the period and/or duration of the assistance data pieces may be indicated in system information (e.g., Master MIB, SIB, SIB1, or others) of the cell that is paging the UE with assistance data. 
     In another embodiment, the second issue, mentioned above, relating to the determination of the measurement period for the positioning measurement during Idle mode, may be addressed. In one implementation, UE  101  may only measure the positioning signal during the DRX occasions. In another implementation, UE  101  may measure all the positioning signals, regardless of the scheduled DRX occasions. 
     In Idle mode, a UE typically only transmits or receives data during defined occasions (the DRX occasions). Outside of the DRX occasions, the UE may turn off its radios to conserve power.  FIG. 6  is a diagram illustrating an example timing of DRX occasions and positioning signals. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 6 , a number of DRX occasions (periods)  610  are illustrated. Periodic positioning signals  620  may be transmitted by eNBs  111 . Some of positioning signals  620  may overlap with a DRX occasion  610 , while other ones of the positioning signals  620  do not overlap. 
     In one implementation, UE  101  may perform positioning measurements (i.e., measuring positioning signals  620 ) only during the DRX occasions  610 . Outside of DRX occasions  610 , the UE  101  may remain in a low-power state and not measure the positioning signals  620 . In  FIG. 6 , UE  101  may thus only perform the positioning measurements in the first and third DRX occasions. In this implementation, the positioning measurement period requirement may be defined as N*T, where N is the number of positioning signal samples that need to be decoded for a positioning measurement, and T is the lower common multiple (LCM) of the DRX cycle and the positioning signal periodicity. 
     In another implementation, UE  101  may measure positioning signals  620  regardless of whether a DRX occasion is occurring (i.e., the UE may active its radio even when not in a DRX occasion). In this implementation, the positioning measurement period requirement may be defined as N*T′, where N is the amount of positioning signal (e.g., position reference signals) samples that need to be decoded for a positioning measurement, and T′ is the time interval between two adjacent available positioning signal samples. 
     In a third embodiment, the third issue, mentioned above, relating to the reading of the cell system information, may be addressed. As mentioned, in Idle mode, a UE may need to read the cell SI for both serving and neighbor cells for cell reselection or for other mobility purposes. Performing the SI reading may interrupt other UE behaviors, such as paging reception. If the positioning signal reception duration collides with the SI reading duration, the UE might miss this positioning signal, causing the positioning period to be extended. 
     In one implementation, a UE in Idle mode may prioritize reading of the cell SI over positioning measurements. The total period for a positioning measurement may thus be extended when some of the positioning measurement or positioning signals overlap with the neighbor or serving cell ST transmissions in the time domain In this situation, UE  101 , when performing a positioning measurement, may extend the positioning measurement period by the number of expected overlapping positioning signal and SI transmissions. As an example of this, assume UE  101  needs X positioning signal samples to successfully decode the positioning signal, the positioning signal periodicity is T p , and Y positioning samples of the X positioning samples overlap with neighbor or serving cell SI readings. UE  101 , when performing a single positioning measurement, may thus make the total positioning measurement over a period that is equal to X*T p +Y*Tp. 
     In another possible implementation, a UE in Idle mode may deprioritize reading of the cell SI over positioning measurements. The total period for the cell SI reading may thus be extended instead of extending the period for the positioning measurement signal. In this situation, UE  101 , when performing a cell SI reading, may extend the cell SI reading period by the number of expected overlapping positioning signals and SI transmissions. As an example of this, assume UE  101  needs X cell SI readings to successfully decode the SI, the cell SI periodicity is T p , and Y SI samples of the X SI readings overlap with positioning signals. UE  101 , when performing a cell SI reading, may thus make the total SI reading over a period that is equal to X*T p +Y*Tp. 
     In a fourth embodiment, the fourth issue, mentioned above, relating to the determination of the current cell of a UE, when in Idle mode, may be addressed. As mentioned, for an Idle mode UE, the network may not be aware of which cell is the current serving cell (i.e., the reference cell) for the UE. Accordingly, eSMLC  127  may not know which eNB  111  to contact to request a positioning measurement (i.e., to request that the UE perform a Rx-Tx time difference measurement and report the results to eSMLC  127 ). 
       FIG. 7  is a diagram illustrating an example of a UE associated with a tracking area (TA). As shown, the RAN portion of a network may include a number of eNBs. The network operator may logically group the eNBs into groups, called tracking areas, and illustrated as TA  710  and TA  720 . TA  710  is illustrated as including eNBs  111 - 1 ,  111 - 2 , and  111 - 3 , and TA  720  is illustrated as including eNBs  111 - 4 ,  111 - 5 , and  111 - 6 . In this example, assume each eNB is associated with a single cell. When UE  101  is in an active state, its location may be known by the network at the eNB/cell level. However, when the UE is in an Idle state, the location of the UE may be known by the network only at the TA level. 
     In one implementation relating to the fourth embodiment, eSMLC  127 , when submitting an eNB Rx-TX time difference measurement request (i.e., a request for a UE to perform a position measurement), eSMLC  127  may transmit the request to all of the eNBs  111  that are associated with the TA of the UE. For example, if the UE is currently in TA  710 , eSMLC  127  may transmit the eNB Rx-TX time difference measurement request to each of eNBs  111 - 1 ,  111 - 2 , and  111 - 3 . Each of eNBs  111 - 1 ,  111 - 2 , and  111 - 3  may subsequently attempt to trigger UE  101  to perform position measurement. UE  101 , after performing the position measurement, may report the eNB Rx-TX time difference measurement via the RACH (Random Access Channel). The cells that successfully receive and decode the RACH, from UE  101 , may report the eNB Rx-TX time difference measurements to eSMLC  127 . The report to eSMILC  127  may include an indication of the PCI (physical cell identifier). eSMLC  127  may, based on the PCI and corresponding reported eNB Rx-Tx and UE Rx-Tx measurement results, derive the round trip time. 
     In another implementation relating to the fourth embodiment, UE  101  may report, in an ECID positioning capability message, the service cell information (e.g., the PCI) to eSMLC  127 . The service cell may be defined as the cell at which the UE perform the UE Rx-Tx time difference measurement. 
     As used herein, the term “circuitry,” “processing circuitry,” or “logic” may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group), and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates example components of a device  800  in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the device  800  may include application circuitry  802 , baseband circuitry  804 , Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry  806 , front-end module (FEM) circuitry  808 , one or more antennas  810 , and power management circuitry (PMC)  812  coupled together at least as shown. The components of the illustrated device  800  may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device  800  may include less elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry  802 , and instead include a processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device  800  may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations). 
     The application circuitry  802  may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry  802  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device  800 . In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry  802  may process IP data packets received from an EPC. 
     The baseband circuitry  804  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry  804  may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry  806  and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  806 . Baseband processing circuitry  804  may interface with the application circuitry  802  for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry  806 . For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  804  may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor  804 A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor  804 B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor  804 C, or other baseband processor(s)  804 D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc). The baseband circuitry  804  (e.g., one or more of baseband processors  804 A-D) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry  806 . In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  804 A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory  804 G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU)  804 E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry  804  may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry  804  may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low-Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments. 
     In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  804  may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP)  804 F. The audio DSP(s)  804 F may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  804  and the application circuitry  802  may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC). 
     In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  804  may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  804  may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry  804  is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. 
     RF circuitry  806  may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry  806  may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry  806  may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  808  and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry  804  RF circuitry  806  may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  804  and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry  808  for transmission. 
     In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry  806  may include mixer circuitry  806   a , amplifier circuitry  806   b  and filter circuitry  806   c . In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  806  may include filter circuitry  806   c  and mixer circuitry  806   a . RF circuitry  806  may also include synthesizer circuitry  806   d  for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  808  based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry  806   d . The amplifier circuitry  806   b  may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry  806   c  may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry  804  for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry  806   a  of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. 
     In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry  806   d  to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry  808 . The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry  804  and may be filtered by filter circuitry  806   c.    
     In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  806   a  may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation. 
     In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry  806  may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry  804  may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry  806 . 
     In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. 
     In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  806   d  may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry  806   d  may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. 
     The synthesizer circuitry  806   d  may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  806   a  of the RF circuitry  806  based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  806   d  may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer. 
     In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry  804  or the applications processor  802  depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor  802 . 
     Synthesizer circuitry  806   d  of the RF circuitry  806  may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle. 
     In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry  806   d  may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry  806  may include an IQ/polar converter. 
     FEM circuitry  808  may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas  810 , amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry  806  for further processing. FEM circuitry  808  may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry  806  for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas  810 . In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry  806 , solely in the FEM  808 , or in both the RF circuitry  806  and the FEM  808 . 
     In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry  808  may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry  806 ). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry  808  may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry  806 ), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas  810 ). 
     In some embodiments, the PMC  812  may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry  804 . In particular, the PMC  812  may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC  812  may often be included when the device  800  is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device is included in a UE. The PMC  812  may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics. 
     While  FIG. 8  shows the PMC  812  coupled only with the baseband circuitry  804 . However, in other embodiments, the PMC  812  may be additionally or alternatively coupled with, and perform similar power management operations for, other components such as, but not limited to, application circuitry  802 , RF circuitry  806 , or FEM  808 . 
     In some embodiments, the PMC  812  may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device  800 . For example, if the device  800  is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. 
     During this state, the device  800  may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power. 
     If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device  800  may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device  800  goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device  800  may not receive data in this state, in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state. 
     An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable. 
     Processors of the application circuitry  802  and processors of the baseband circuitry  804  may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry  804 , alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry  804  may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below. 
       FIG. 9  illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry  804  of  FIG. 8  may comprise processors  804 A- 504 E and a memory  804 G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors  804 A- 504 E may include a memory interface,  904 A- 604 E, respectively, to send/receive data to/from the memory  804 G. 
     The baseband circuitry  804  may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface  912  (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry  804 ), an application circuitry interface  914  (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry  802  of  FIG. 8 ), an RF circuitry interface  916  (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry  806  of  FIG. 8 ), a wireless hardware connectivity interface  918  (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components), and a power management interface  920  (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMC  812 . RF circuitry interface  916  may particularly include a first interface to a radio designed to communicate via an LTE link and a second interface to a radio designed to communicate via a WLAN (e.g., WiFi) link. 
       FIG. 10  is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically,  FIG. 10  shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources  1000  including one or more processors (or processor cores)  1010 , one or more memory/storage devices  1020 , and one or more communication resources  1030 , each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus  1040 . For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor  1002  may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources  1000   
     The processors  1010  (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor  1012  and a processor  1014 . 
     The memory/storage devices  1020  may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices  1020  may include, but are not limited to any type of volatile or non-volatile memory such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM), static random-access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc. 
     The communication resources  1030  may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices  1004  or one or more databases  1006  via a network  1008 . For example, the communication resources  1030  may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components. 
     Instructions  1050  may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors  1010  to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions  1050  may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors  1010  (e.g., within the processor&#39;s cache memory), the memory/storage devices  1020 , or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions  1050  may be transferred to the hardware resources  1000  from any combination of the peripheral devices  1004  or the databases  1006 . Accordingly, the memory of processors  1010 , the memory/storage devices  1020 , the peripheral devices  1004 , and the databases  1006  are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media. 
     A number of examples, relating to implementations of the techniques described above, will next be given. 
     In a first example, an apparatus of a baseband processor for User Equipment (UE) may comprise an interface to radio circuitry, for a cellular wireless network including a plurality of evolved NodeBs (eNBs); and one or more processors to: process, via the interface to radio circuitry, Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) assistance data from the eNBs; control, via the interface to the radio circuitry and based on the assistance data, obtaining of position reference signals (PRS) measurements for a plurality of cells associated with the plurality of eNBs, including a reference cell of the UE, over a position measuring period defined based on a product of: a specified amount of samples of the PRS, a period of the PRS; process the PRS measurements to obtain Reference Signal Time Differences (RSTDs) for the plurality of cells; and report the measured RSTD values to at least one of the eNBs. 
     In example 2, the subject matter of example 1, or any of the examples herein, wherein the OTDOA assistance data is received while in an Idle state of the UE. 
     In example 3, the subject matter of example 1 or 2, or any of the examples herein, wherein the assistance data is received as broadcast data from the eNBs. 
     In example 4, the subject matter of example 1 or 2, or any of the examples herein, the assistance data is received as part of a paging message. 
     In example 5, the subject matter of example 1 or 2, or any of the examples herein, wherein the one or more processors are further to: control the obtaining of the measurements only during a discontinuous reception (DRX) period of the UE. 
     In example 6, the subject matter of example 1, or any of the examples herein, wherein the one or more processors are further to: prioritize reading of system information (SI) over the obtaining of the measurements 
     In example 7, the subject matter of example 1, or any of the examples herein, wherein the one or more processors are further to: prioritize reading of the measurements over reading of system information (SI). 
     In example 8, the subject matter of example 1, 6, or 7, or any of the examples herein, wherein the UE is a narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) device. 
     In a ninth example, an apparatus including User Equipment (UE) may comprise a computer-readable medium containing program instructions; and one or more processors to execute the program instructions to: process Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) assistance data from evolved NodeBs (eNBs), of a cellular wireless network, that are each associated with one or more cells; control, based on the assistance data and while the UE is in an Idle state, obtaining of position reference signals (PRS) measurements for a plurality of cells, including a reference cell of the UE, over a position measuring period defined based on a product of: a specified amount of samples of the PRS, and a period of the PRS; process the PRS measurements to obtain Reference Signal Time Differences (RSTDs) values for the plurality of cells; generate a report, including the RSTD values; and control transmitting of the report to at least one of the eNBs. 
     In example 10, the subject matter of example 9, or any of the examples herein, wherein the OTDOA assistance data is received as broadcast data from the eNBs. 
     In example 11, the subject matter of example 9, or any of the examples herein, wherein the assistance data is received as part of a paging message. 
     In example 12, the subject matter of example 9 or 10, or any of the examples herein, wherein the one or more processors are further to: control the obtaining of the measurements only during a discontinuous reception (DRX) period of the UE. 
     In example 13, the subject matter of example 9, or any of the examples herein, wherein the one or more processors are further to: prioritize reading of system information (SI) over the obtaining of the measurements. 
     In example 14, the subject matter of example 9, or any of the examples herein, wherein the one or more processors are further to: prioritize reading of the measurements over reading system information (SI). 
     In example 15, the subject matter of example 9, 10, 12, 13, or 14 or any of the examples herein, wherein the UE is a narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) device. 
     In a 16 th  example, a computer readable medium containing program instructions for causing a device to perform the method of: control, based on the assistance data and while the UE is in Idle mode, obtaining of position reference signals (PRS) measurements for a plurality of cells, including a reference cell of the UE, over a position measuring period defined based on a product of: a specified amount of samples of the PRS, and a period of the PRS; process the PRS measurements to obtain Reference Signal Time Differences (RSTDs) values for the plurality of cells: generate a report, including the RSTD values; and control transmitting of the report to at least one of the eNBs. 
     In example 17, the subject matter of example 16, or any of the examples herein, wherein the assistance data is received in an Idle state of the UE. 
     In example 18, the subject matter of example 17, or any of the examples herein, wherein the assistance data is received as broadcast data from the eNBs. 
     In example 19, the subject matter of example 17, or any of the examples herein, wherein the assistance data is received as part of a paging message. 
     In example 20, the subject matter of example 16, or any of the examples herein, wherein the program instructions further cause the device to: control the obtaining of the measurements only during a discontinuous reception (DRX) period of the UE. 
     In example 21, the subject matter of example 16, or any of the examples herein, wherein the program instructions further cause the device to: prioritize reading of system information (SI) over the obtaining of the measurements. 
     In a 22 nd  example, a device comprises: means for processing Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) assistance data from at least one evolved NodeB (eNB) of a plurality of eNBs associated with a cellular network, means for controlling, based on the assistance data, obtaining of measurements of position reference signals (PRS) for a plurality of cells associated with the plurality of eNBs, including a reference cell of the UE, over a position measuring period defined based on a product of: a specified amount of samples of the PRS, a period of the PRS; means for processing the PRS measurements to obtain Reference Signal Time Differences (RSTDs) for the plurality of cells; and means for reporting the measured RSTD values to at least one of the eNBs. 
     In example 23, the subject matter of example 22 or any of the examples herein, wherein the OTDOA assistance data is received while in an Idle state of the UE. 
     In example 24, the subject matter of example 22 or 23 or any of the examples herein, wherein the assistance data is received as broadcast data from the eNBs. 
     In example 25, the subject matter of example 22 or 23 or any of the examples herein, wherein the assistance data is received as part of a paging message. 
     In example 26, the subject matter of example 22 or 23, or any of the examples herein, further comprising: means for controlling the obtaining of the measurements only during a discontinuous reception (DRX) period of the UE. 
     In example 27, the subject matter of example 22 or any of the examples herein, further comprising: means for prioritizing reading of system information (SI) over the obtaining of the measurements. 
     In example 28, the subject matter of example 22 or any of the examples herein, further comprising: means for prioritizing reading of the measurements over reading of system information (SI). 
     In example 29, the subject matter of example 27 or any of the examples herein, wherein wherein the device is a narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) device. 
     In a 30 th  example, a method may comprise: processing Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) assistance data from at least one evolved NodeB (eNB) of a plurality of eNBs associated with a cellular network, controlling, based on the assistance data, obtaining of measurements of position reference signals (PRS) for a plurality of cells associated with the plurality of eNBs, including a reference cell of the UE, over a position measuring period defined based on a product of: a specified amount of samples of the PRS, a period of the PRS; processing the PRS measurements to obtain Reference Signal Time Differences (RSTDs) for the plurality of cells; and reporting the measured RSTD values to at least one of the eNBs. 
     In example 31, the subject matter of example 30 or any of the examples herein, wherein the OTDOA assistance data is received while in an Idle state of the UE. 
     In example 32, the subject matter of example 30 or 31 or any of the examples herein, wherein the assistance data is received as broadcast data from the eNBs. 
     In example 33, the subject matter of example 30, or any of the examples herein, wherein the assistance data is received as part of a paging message. 
     In example 34, the subject matter of example 30, or any of the examples herein, further comprising controlling the obtaining of the measurements only during a discontinuous reception (DRX) period of the UE. 
     In example 35, the subject matter of example 30, or any of the examples herein, further comprising: prioritizing reading of system information (SI) over the obtaining of the measurements. 
     In the preceding specification, various embodiments have been described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto, and additional embodiments may be implemented, without departing from the broader scope as set forth in the claims that follow. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in an illustrative rather than restrictive sense. 
     For example, while series of signals and/or operations have been described with regard to  FIGS. 2 and 4 , the order of the signals/operations may be modified in other implementations. Further, non-dependent signals may be performed in parallel. 
     It will be apparent that example aspects, as described above, may be implemented in many different forms of software, firmware, and hardware in the implementations illustrated in the figures. The actual software code or specialized control hardware used to implement these aspects should not be construed as limiting. Thus, the operation and behavior of the aspects were described without reference to the specific software code—it being understood that software and control hardware could be designed to implement the aspects based on the description herein. 
     Even though particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to be limiting. In fact, many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification. 
     No element, act, or instruction used in the present application should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. An instance of the use of the term “and,” as used herein, does not necessarily preclude the interpretation that the phrase “and/or” was intended in that instance. Similarly, an instance of the use of the term “or,” as used herein, does not necessarily preclude the interpretation that the phrase “and/or” was intended in that instance. Also, as used herein, the article “a” is intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with the phrase “one or more.” Where only one item is intended, the terms “one,” “single,” “only,” or similar language is used.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20171229
Publication Date: 20210518
Grant Date: 20210518
Priority Date: 20170117
Inventors: CUI, JIE
TANG, YANG
CHOI, HYUNG-NAM
HAN, SEUNG HEE
MARTINEZ TARRADELL, Marta
HEO, YOUN HYOUNG
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "G01S5/10", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W36/0085", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W64/006", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W76/28", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W76/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W64/003", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "Y02D30/70", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G01S5/0036", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G01S5/0236", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G01S5/0036", "inventive": false, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L5/005", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G01S5/10", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W76/27", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W64/00", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W48/16", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04L5/005", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G01S5/0036", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W76/27", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W64/003", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W48/16", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W36/0085", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W76/28", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W64/006", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "G01S5/10", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 62908789