REFERENCE SIGNALS FOR POSITIONING MEASUREMENTS

• US 20100273506A1
• Filed: 04/27/2010
• Published: 10/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dennean, Charles A., Pietraski, Philip J., Stern-Berkowitz, Janet A., Levy, Joseph S., Zhang, Guodong, Rudolf, Marian, Haim, John W.
• Granted Patent: US 9,234,957 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0045 Transmission from base station to mobile station G01S5/009 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2613 Structure of the reference signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 27/2655 Synchronisation arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/566 of the information or information source or recipient

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for supporting reference signals for positioning measurements are disclosed. Methods include subframe configuration, subframe structures, measurement opportunities using a set of downlink subframes which are not all consecutive, handling of subframes containing reference signals and system signals such as synchronization signals, paging occasions and Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Service (MBMS), and related control signaling between a long term evolution (LTE) network and a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU). Moreover, methods to resolve allocation conflicts arising between positioning reference signals and other reference signals are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for supporting positioning measurements in wireless communications, comprising:

configuring at least one subframe for positioning measurements; and

mapping at least one positioning signal to at least one resource element in the at least one subframe, wherein the mapping accounts for resource elements carrying a non-positioning signal.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the at least one positioning signal is not mapped to certain resource elements carrying non-positioning signals.

3. The method as in claim 2, wherein the non-positioning signal includes primary synchronization signals, secondary synchronization signals, physical broadcast channels, system signals, reference signals in a downlink control region, reference signals and paging information.

4. The method as in claim 2, wherein the non-positioning signal is a physical downlink shared channel carrying paging information.

5. The method as in claim 1, wherein subframes used for the positioning measurement may not be consecutive.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein subframes used for the positioning measurement are consecutive configured subframes which skip over unavailable subframes.

7. The method as in claim 1, wherein predefined subframes are unavailable.

8. The method as in claim 1, wherein subframe 6 is unavailable in time division duplexing.

9. The method as in claim 1, wherein configured subframes start in one frame and end in one of the one frame or another frame.

10. The method as in claim 1, wherein the at least one positioning signal occurs in a center bandwidth of the at least one subframe.

11. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

identifying subframe configuration using frame information and an index for identifying configured subframes.

12. The method as in claim 1, further comprising:

signaling a periodicity for positioning signals in frames; and

signaling an offset based on a signaled periodicity for positioning signals in frames.

13. The method as in claim 1, wherein the at least on resource element is at least one sub carrier

14. The method as in claim 1, wherein a table is used to signal positioning signal subframes, the table using indices.

15. The method as in claim 1, wherein configured subframes use a transmission pattern that is identical for all the configured subframes.

16. The method as in claim 15, wherein the configured subframes include at least normal subframes and multicast broadcast single frequency network (MBSFN) subframes.

17. The method as in claim 4, wherein the paging information is one of:

a system information block 1, a system information block 2, or a paging channel.

18. A base station for supporting positioning measurements in wireless communications, comprising:

a processor configured to configure at least one subframe for positioning measurements; and

the processor configured to map at least one positioning signal to at least one resource element in the at least one subframe, wherein the mapping accounts for resource elements carrying a non-positioning signal.

19. The base station as in claim 18, wherein the at least one positioning signal is not mapped to certain resource elements carrying non-positioning signals.

20. The base station as in claim 19, wherein the non-positioning signal includes primary synchronization signals, secondary synchronization signals, physical broadcast channels, system signals, reference signals in a downlink control region, reference signals and paging information.

21. The base station as in claim 18, wherein subframes used for the positioning measurement may not be consecutive.

22. The base station as in claim 18, wherein subframes used for the positioning measurement are consecutive configured subframes which skip over unavailable subframes.

23. The base station as in claim 18, wherein predefined subframes are unavailable.

24. The base station as in claim 18, wherein subframe 6 is unavailable in time division duplexing.

25. The base station as in claim 18, wherein configured subframes start in one frame and end in one of the one frame or another frame.

26. The base station as in claim 18, wherein the at least one positioning signal occurs in a center bandwidth of the at least one subframe.

27. The base station as in claim 18, further comprising:

the processor configured to identify subframe configuration using frame information and an index for identifying configured subframes.

28. The base station as in claim 18, further comprising:

the processor configured to signal a periodicity for positioning signals in frames; and

the processor configured to signal an offset based on a signaled periodicity for positioning signals in frames.

29. The base station as in claim 18, wherein a table is used to signal positioning signal subframes, the table using indices.

30. The base station as in claim 18, wherein configured subframes use a transmission pattern that is identical for all the configured subframes.

31. The base station as in claim 20, wherein the paging information is one of:

a system information block 1, a system information block 2, or a paging channel.

32. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) for supporting positioning measurements in wireless communications, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive at least one subframe for positioning measurements; and

a processor configured to decode the at least one subframe, wherein the at least one subframe has at least one positioning signal mapped to at least one resource element, the mapping accounting for resource elements carrying a non-positioning signal.