Positioning techniques for wireless communications devices using shared radio frequency spectrum

• US 10,638,444 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2017
• Issued: 04/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Yerramalli, Srinivas, Xu, Hao, Kadous, Tamer
• Primary Examiner(s): Wyche, Myron
• Application Number:
  US15/826,439
• Publication Number:
  US 20180160389A1
• Time in Patent Office: 881 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0808 using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Positioning techniques for wireless communications devices using shared radio frequency spectrum are provided that may enhance positioning determination for devices operating using shared radio frequency spectrum. Various disclosed techniques provide for identifying determining one or more parameters for a positioning procedure for a UE based on characteristics of shared radio frequency spectrum transmissions. Such parameters may include, for example, frequency information for positioning transmissions or frequency hopping patterns. In some cases, a base station may transmit multiple positioning transmissions that have different coverage levels. In some cases, a UE may transmit an uplink positioning signal that may be received by multiple base stations and used for UE position determination. In some cases, a UE may be configured to monitor for a positioning transmissions on a dedicated frequency, and report measurements associated with the positioning transmissions using a shared frequency.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communication by a serving base station, comprising:

identifying a user equipment (UE) that is using frequency hopping in a shared radio frequency spectrum band for wireless communications;

determining, based at least in part on the frequency hopping, one or more parameters for performing a positioning procedure to determine a position of the UE, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a first positioning reference signal (PRS) frequency hopping pattern for the serving base station and a second PRS frequency hopping pattern for one or more neighboring base stations for the UE to perform PRS transmission detection for the serving base station and for the one or more neighboring base stations; and

transmitting the one or more parameters to the UE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the one or more parameters further comprises:

transmitting the one or more parameters that indicate a first number of frames or subframes to monitor for a first PRS transmission from the serving base station in accordance with the first PRS frequency hopping pattern and indicate a second number of frames or subframes to monitor for a second PRS transmission from the serving base station in accordance with the second PRS frequency hopping pattern.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters include information for the UE to perform the transmission detection for the serving base station and the one or more neighboring base stations based at least in part on the frequency hopping.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying a frequency for one or more uplink positioning transmissions of the UE for each of the serving base station and the one or more neighboring base stations; and

determining a first parameter of the one or more parameters based at least in part on the identified frequency.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

configuring the UE to transmit the one or more uplink positioning transmissions without performing a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

determining a transmission time for each uplink positioning transmission based at least in part on an estimated range between the UE and each of the serving base station and the one or more neighboring base stations; and

determining a second parameter of the one or more parameters based at least in part on the determined transmission times.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining one or more frequencies in a dedicated radio frequency spectrum band for PRS transmissions of one or more base stations;

configuring the UE to monitor the one or more frequencies in the dedicated radio frequency spectrum band for the PRS transmissions and transmit measurements associated with the PRS transmissions using the shared radio frequency spectrum band.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a fixed or floating frame alignment for the serving base station and the one or more neighboring base stations; and

determining a first parameter of the one or more parameters based at least in part on the fixed or floating frame alignment for one or more of the serving base station or the one or more neighboring base stations.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters include one or more of a number of frames or subframes that the UE is to monitor for a positioning reference signal.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more parameters include a maximum number of attempts that the UE is to perform to identify a positioning reference signal from the one or more neighboring base stations.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the UE, one or more measurement reports indicating a first measurement generated in accordance with the first PRS frequency hopping pattern and a second measurement generated in accordance with the second PRS frequency hopping pattern; and

determining the position of the UE based at least in part on the one or more measurement reports.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more measurement reports include observed time different of arrival (OTDOA) measurements associated with one or more PRSs from one or more of the serving base station and the one or more neighboring base stations.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a first PRS transmission and a second PRS transmission to the UE, wherein the first PRS transmission provides increased coverage relative to the second PRS transmission.

14. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

receiving, at a user equipment (UE), one or more parameters for performing a positioning procedure to determine a position of the UE while operating using frequency hopping in a shared radio frequency spectrum band, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a first positioning reference signal (PRS) frequency hopping pattern for a serving base station and a second PRS frequency hopping pattern for one or more neighboring base stations for the UE to perform PRS transmission detection for the serving base station and for the one or more neighboring base stations; and

performing the positioning procedure, based at least in part on the one or more parameters.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

monitoring a first number of frames or subframes for a first PRS transmission from the serving base station in accordance with the first PRS frequency hopping pattern and a second number of frames or subframes for a second PRS transmission from the serving base station in accordance with the second PRS frequency hopping pattern; and

determining an observed time different of arrival (OTDOA) based at least in part on the first or the second PRS transmission.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more parameters include information for detecting transmissions of the serving base station and the one or more neighboring base stations based at least in part on the frequency hopping.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

identifying, based at least in part on the one or more parameters, a frequency for one or more uplink positioning transmissions to be transmitted from the UE to each of the serving base station and the one or more neighboring base stations; and

transmitting the one or more uplink positioning transmissions to one or more of the serving base station or the one or more neighboring base stations using the identified frequency.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the transmitting the one or more uplink positioning transmissions is performed in an absence of performance of a listen-before-talk (LBT) procedure.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the one or more parameters, a transmission time for each of a plurality of uplink positioning transmissions based at least in part on an estimated range between the UE and each of the serving base station and the one or more neighboring base stations; and

transmitting each of the plurality of uplink positioning transmissions based at least in part on the determined transmission time for each of the plurality of uplink positioning transmissions.

20. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining one or more frequencies in a dedicated radio frequency spectrum band for PRS transmissions of one or more base stations;

monitoring the one or more frequencies in the dedicated radio frequency spectrum band for the PRS transmissions; and

transmitting measurements associated with the PRS transmissions using the shared radio frequency spectrum band.

21. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining, based at least in part on the one or more parameters, a fixed or floating frame alignment for the serving base station and the one or more neighboring base stations; and

monitoring for a PRS transmission from one or more of the serving base station or the one or more neighboring base stations based at least in part on the fixed or floating frame alignment.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more parameters include one or more of a number of frames or subframes to monitor for a positioning reference signal.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein the one or more parameters include a maximum number of attempts to perform to identify a positioning reference signal from the one or more neighboring base stations.

24. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

transmitting, to the serving base station, one or more measurement reports indicating a first measurement generated in accordance with the first PRS frequency hopping pattern and a second measurement generated in accordance with the second PRS frequency hopping pattern.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the one or more measurement reports include observed time different of arrival (OTDOA) measurements associated with one or more PRSs from one or more of the serving base station and one or more neighboring base stations.

26. An apparatus for wireless communication at a serving base station, in a system comprising:

a processor;

a transmitter;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to;

identify a user equipment (UE) that is using frequency hopping in a shared radio frequency spectrum band for wireless communications;

determine, based at least in part on the frequency hopping, one or more parameters for performing a positioning procedure to determine a position of the UE, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a first positioning reference signal (PRS) frequency hopping pattern for the serving base station and a second PRS frequency hopping pattern for one or more neighboring base stations for the UE to perform PRS transmission detection for the serving base station and for the one or more neighboring base stations; and

transmit, via the transmitter, the one or more parameters to the UE.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

transmit the one or more parameters that indicate a first number of frames or subframes to monitor for a first PRS transmission from the serving base station in accordance with the first PRS frequency hopping pattern and indicate a second number of frames or subframes to monitor for a second PRS transmission from the serving base station in accordance with the second PRS frequency hopping pattern.

28. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the one or more parameters include information for the UE to perform transmission detection for the serving base station and the one or more neighboring base stations.

29. An apparatus for wireless communication, in a system comprising:

a processor;

a receiver;

memory in electronic communication with the processor; and

instructions stored in the memory and operable, when executed by the processor, to cause the apparatus to;

receive, at a user equipment (UE) via the receiver, one or more parameters for performing a positioning procedure to determine a position of the UE while operating using frequency hopping in a shared radio frequency spectrum band, wherein the one or more parameters indicate a first positioning reference signal (PRS) frequency hopping pattern for a serving base station and a second PRS frequency hopping pattern for one or more neighboring base stations for the UE to perform PRS transmission detection for the serving base station and for the one or more neighboring base stations; and

perform the positioning procedure, based at least in part on the one or more parameters.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the processor to:

monitor a first number of frames or subframes for a first PRS transmission from the serving base station in accordance with the first PRS frequency hopping pattern and a second number of frames or subframes for a second PRS transmission from the serving base station in accordance with the second PRS frequency hopping pattern; and

determine an observed time different of arrival (OTDOA) based at least in part on the first or the second PRS transmission.