Determining a position of an entity of a wireless communication network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12439367-B2
Application number	US-202318301042-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 14, 2023
Priority date	Oct 16, 2020
Publication date	Oct 7, 2025
Grant date	Oct 7, 2025

Abstract

A position of a first entity of a wireless communication network is determined on the basis of one or more measurements between the first entity and a second entity. For one of the measurements, a reference signal is transmitted between the first and the second entities. The first and the second entities use respective antenna patterns for transmitting or receiving the reference signal. The position of the first entity is determined using antenna pattern information about the antenna pattern used by the first entity and/or antenna pattern information about the antenna pattern used by the second entity.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus for determining a position of an entity of a wireless communication network, the apparatus being implemented as a microprocessor, the apparatus comprising:
a position determining processor configured to determine a position of a first entity of the wireless communication network using information about a set of measurements between the first entity and one or more second entities, wherein the first entity is a user equipment, and wherein the one or more second entities are one or more transmission reception points (TRPs), and
wherein, for each measurement of the set of measurements between the first entity and one of the second entities, said one of the second entities uses a respective antenna pattern for transmitting a reference signal for the measurement on a respective positioning reference signal (PRS) resource of a PRS resource set, the PRS resource set being indicative of a plurality of PRS resources associated with respective resource identifiers, and
wherein, in performing the set of measurements, the first entity uses an antenna pattern with an antenna pattern identifier for performing reference signal received power (RSRP) measurements and/or timing measurements on the PRS resources of the PRS resource set,
wherein the antenna pattern used by the first entity for the set of measurements and the respective antenna pattern used by said one of the second entities for transmitting the reference signal for the measurement are specific to an operation of antennas of the first entity and said one of the second entities using respective spatial filters for transmitting or receiving the reference signal,
wherein the information about the measurement comprises antenna pattern information about each of the antenna patterns used by said one of the second entities for the set of measurements, wherein the measurement information indicates, for each of the antenna patterns used by said one of the second entities for the set of measurements, a resource identifier associated with the PRS resource used for the respective measurement, and wherein the antenna pattern information comprises, for each of the antenna patterns, information about a steering direction towards which the antenna pattern is directed, and further comprising information about a gain of the antenna pattern towards one or more predetermined directions, and
wherein the first entity is configured for being provided with a configuration information for the set of measurements, the configuration information indicating a configuration of the PRS resources,
wherein the position determining processor is configured to use, in determining the position of the first entity, the assumption that the first entity uses the same antenna pattern to measure the plurality of PRS resources of the PRS resource set.

2. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the position determining processor is configured to use, in determining the position of the first entity, the assumption that the first entity uses the same antenna pattern to measure the PRS resources of the PRS resource set, if the configuration information comprises a respective indication.

3. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the position determining processor is configured to use, in determining the position of the first entity, the assumption that the first entity uses the same antenna pattern to measure the PRS resources of the PRS resource set, if the configuration information comprises an indication, which indicates a grouping of the reference signals by receiver-side antenna pattern.

4. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is to receive, from the first entity, a report of the set of measurements for each measured PRS resource comprising an indication of the antenna pattern used by the first entity for the set of measurements.

5. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the one or more predetermined directions points towards the directions of a side lobes of a gain distribution of the antenna pattern when the antenna pattern is directed towards the steering direction.

6. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the antenna pattern information is indicative of
a gain level for the steering direction and respective gain levels for the one or more predetermined direction, or
relative gain levels between the steering direction on the one hand and each of the one or more predetermined directions on the other hand.

7. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the antenna pattern information is indicative of one or more below-threshold directions at which the gain of the antenna, when directed towards the steering direction, is below a predetermined gain threshold.

8. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the antenna pattern information is indicative of one or both of an azimuth angle and an elevation angle for indicating a direction out of the steering direction, the predetermined direction, and the below-threshold direction.

9. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the reference signal for the measurement is transmitted using predetermined radio resources, and
wherein the information about the measurement comprises measurement information which is indicative of a received signal strength measured for the predetermined radio resources.

10. Apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein the position determining processor is to
determine a signal strength relation between a value of the received signal strength for the measurement and a value of the received signal strength for a further one of the set of measurements,
evaluate a degree of a matching between the signal strength relation and a relation between a gain level for the predetermined direction for the measurement and a gain level associated with the further one of the set of measurements.

11. Apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein, for each of the antenna patterns, the antenna pattern information is indicative of a relative gain level between the steering direction and the predetermined direction.

12. Apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein, for the predetermined direction, the antenna pattern information is indicative of a relative gain level between two of the antenna patterns.

13. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is provided in one or more of
a core entity, of a core of the wireless communication network, the core entity to receive the information about the one or more measurements,
the first entity, entity or a user device, of the wireless communication network,
the one or more second entities, entity, or a transmission reception point, TRP, of the wireless communication network.

14. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is provided in a core entity, like a Location Management Function, of a core of the wireless communication network, the core entity to receive the information about the one or more measurements, wherein the apparatus is to
provide a configuration information for the measurement, the configuration information indicating the predetermined radio resource to be used for the measurement,
receive the antenna pattern information, and
receive measurement information.

15. Apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is provided in the first entity of the wireless communication network, wherein the apparatus is to
receive a configuration information for the measurement, the configuration information indicating the predetermined radio resource to be used for the measurement,
receive the antenna pattern information.

16. Apparatus according to claim 15 , wherein the first entity is to receive the re

Assignees

• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung

Inventors

• Alawieh Mohammad
• Momani Mohammad
• Franke Norbert

Classifications

• H04W16/28

  using beam steering · CPC title

• H04L5/0051

  of dedicated pilots, i.e. pilots destined for a single user or terminal · CPC title

• H04B17/328

  Reference signal received power [RSRP]; Reference signal received quality [RSRQ] · CPC title

• H04B7/086

  using weights depending on external parameters, e.g. direction of arrival [DOA], predetermined weights or beamforming · CPC title

• H04B7/0617

  for beam forming · CPC title