Systems and methods for supporting positioning beacons compatible with legacy wireless devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10194265-B2
Application number	US-201615275096-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2016
Priority date	May 22, 2016
Publication date	Jan 29, 2019
Grant date	Jan 29, 2019

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, devices, systems, nodes, apparatus, servers, computer-/processor-readable media, and other implementations, including a method, at a wireless node, for supporting positioning of one or more wireless devices. The method includes transmitting, by the wireless node configured as a positioning beacon, a first downlink signal for supporting positioning of the one or more wireless devices, and transmitting a second downlink signal that inhibits a receiving wireless device, from the one or more wireless devices, from sending uplink signals to the wireless node configured as the positioning beacon.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method at a wireless node for supporting positioning of one or more wireless devices comprising:
transmitting, by the wireless node configured as a positioning beacon, a first downlink signal for supporting positioning of the one or more wireless devices; and
transmitting a second downlink signal that inhibits a receiving wireless device, from the one or more wireless devices, from sending uplink signals to the wireless node configured as the positioning beacon.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first downlink signal and the second downlink signal are configured according to 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first downlink signal comprises positioning reference signals detectable by the one or more wireless devices to facilitate location determination based on observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA).

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the wireless node is identified as a reference cell or a neighbor cell to support OTDOA computations using the positioning reference signals transmitted by the wireless node and additional positioning reference signals transmitted by at least one other wireless node.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein transmitting the second downlink signal comprises:
generating the second downlink signal with one or more LTE information blocks omitted, wherein the one or more LTE information blocks omitted include: a master information block (MIB) for a corresponding LTE cell, a system information block one (SIB1) for the corresponding LTE cell, or a system information block two (SIB2) for the corresponding LTE cell, or any combination thereof; and
transmitting the second downlink signal with the one or more LTE information blocks omitted.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second downlink signal comprises:
a system information block one (SIB1), wherein the SIB1 includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) indicator and a CSG identifier to which none of the one or more wireless devices belong.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the second downlink signal comprises:
a system information block two (SIB2), wherein the SIB2 includes an access-barring indicator.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the SIB2 including the access-barring indicator comprises an indicator to: bar sending an emergency communication by the receiving wireless device, or bar accessing by the receiving wireless device another non-emergency service, or any combination thereof.

9. A wireless node to support positioning of one or more wireless devices, the wireless node comprising:
one or more processors; and
a transceiver, coupled to the one or more processors, configured to:
transmit, by the wireless node configured as a positioning beacon, a first downlink signal for supporting positioning of the one or more wireless devices; and
transmit a second downlink signal that inhibits a receiving wireless device, from the one or more wireless devices, from sending uplink signals to the wireless node configured as the positioning beacon.

10. The wireless node of claim 9 , wherein the first downlink signal and the second downlink signal are configured according to 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards.

11. The wireless node of claim 10 , wherein the first downlink signal comprises positioning reference signals detectable by the one or more wireless devices to facilitate location determination based on observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA).

12. The wireless node of claim 11 , wherein the wireless node is identified as a reference cell or a neighbor cell to support OTDOA computations using the positioning reference signals transmitted by the wireless node and additional positioning reference signals transmitted by at least one other wireless node.

13. The wireless node of claim 10 , wherein the transceiver configured to transmit the second downlink signal is configured to:
generate the second downlink signal with one or more LTE information blocks omitted, wherein the one or more LTE information blocks omitted include: a master information block (MIB) for a corresponding LTE cell, a system information block one (SIB1) for the corresponding LTE cell, or a system information block two (SIB2) for the corresponding LTE cell, or any combination thereof; and
transmit the second downlink signal with the one or more LTE information blocks omitted.

14. The wireless node of claim 10 , wherein the second downlink signal comprises:
a system information block one (SIB1), wherein the SIB1 includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) indicator and a CSG identifier to which none of the one or more wireless devices belong.

15. The wireless node of claim 10 , wherein the second downlink signal comprises:
a system information block two (SIB2), wherein the SIB2 includes an access-barring indicator.

16. The wireless node of claim 15 , wherein the SIB2 including the access-barring indicator comprises an indicator to: bar sending an emergency communication by the receiving wireless device, or bar accessing by the receiving wireless device another non-emergency service, or any combination thereof.

17. An apparatus to support positioning of one or more wireless devices, the apparatus comprising:
means for transmitting, by a wireless node configured as a positioning beacon, a first downlink signal for supporting positioning of the one or more wireless devices; and
means for transmitting a second downlink signal that inhibits a receiving wireless device, from the one or more wireless devices, from sending uplink signals to the wireless node configured as the positioning beacon.

18. The apparatus of claim 17 , wherein the first downlink signal and the second downlink signal are configured according to 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the first downlink signal comprises positioning reference signals detectable by the one or more wireless devices to facilitate location determination based on observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA).

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the wireless node is identified as a reference cell or a neighbor cell to support OTDOA computations using the positioning reference signals transmitted by the wireless node and additional positioning reference signals transmitted by at least one other wireless node.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the means for transmitting the second downlink signal comprises:
means for generating the second downlink signal with one or more LTE information blocks omitted, wherein the one or more LTE information blocks omitted include: a master information block (MIB) for a corresponding LTE cell, a system information block one (SIB1) for the corresponding LTE cell, or a system information block two (SIB2) for the corresponding LTE cell, or any combination thereof; and
means for transmitting the second downlink signal with the one or more LTE information blocks omitted.

22. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the second downlink signal comprises:
a system information block one (SIB1), wherein the SIB1 includes a closed subscriber group (CSG) indicator and a CSG identifier to which none of the one or more wireless devices belong.

23. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the second downlink signal comprises:
a system information block two (SIB2), wherein the SIB2 includes an access-barring indicator.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the SIB2 including the access-barring

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Edge Stephen William
• Fischer Sven

Classifications

• G01S5/0236

  Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac · CPC title

• H04W48/12

  using downlink control channel · CPC title

• G01S5/0231 Primary

  Emergency, distress or locator beacons · CPC title

• G01S5/0036

  of measured values, i.e. measurement on mobile and position calculation on base station · CPC title

• H04W8/186

  Processing of subscriber group data · CPC title