CN116746276A

CN116746276A - Positioning in a cellular communication network

Info

Publication number: CN116746276A
Application number: CN202180089727.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: O-E·巴尔布; B·维加德; J·哈勒贝克; S·斯文森; A·M·艾哈迈迪德黑兰尼
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2021-01-11
Filing date: 2021-12-22
Publication date: 2023-09-12
Also published as: EP4275414A1; WO2022148656A1

Abstract

According to an example aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for sending an inactivity state measurement request to a user equipment requesting the user equipment to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactivity state and sending an inactivity state measurement report after switching from the inactivity state to a connected state; means for receiving an inactivity state measurement report from the user equipment, wherein the inactivity state measurement report comprises information about at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment when the user equipment is in an inactive state; means for generating a mobility profile for the user equipment based at least on said information on at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment; and means for transmitting the mobility profile of the user equipment to a base station serving the user equipment.

Description

Positioning in a cellular communication network

Technical Field

Various example embodiments relate generally to cellular communication networks and, more particularly, to positioning in such networks.

Background

The performance of the cellular communication network may be improved by utilizing the known or predicted location of the user equipment UE. For example, by tracking the location of the UE, the network may optimize its resource usage. In addition, many applications require and/or benefit from accurately tracking the location of UEs, especially high speed UEs.

Thus, in cellular communication networks (such as networks operating according to long term evolution, LTE, and/or 5G radio access technologies), it is important to track the location of the UE. The 5G radio access technology may also be referred to as a new radio NR access technology. Since its generation, LTE has been widely deployed and the third generation partnership project 3GPP is still developing LTE. Similarly, 3GPP also developed standards for 5G/NR. The subject matter of 3GPP discussion includes network efficiency and positioning. In light of these discussions, there is a need to provide improved methods, apparatuses and computer programs for positioning. Such improvements may also be used in other cellular communication networks in the future.

Disclosure of Invention

According to some aspects, the subject matter of the independent claims is provided. Some example embodiments are defined in the dependent claims.

The scope of protection sought for the various exemplary embodiments of the present invention is set forth in the independent claims. The example embodiments and features (if any) described in this specification that do not fall within the scope of the independent claims should be construed as examples for understanding the various example embodiments of the invention.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for sending an inactivity state measurement request to a user equipment requesting the user equipment to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactivity state and sending an inactivity state measurement report after switching from the inactivity state to a connected state; means for receiving an inactivity state measurement report from the user equipment, wherein the inactivity state measurement report comprises information about at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment when the user equipment is in an inactive state; means for generating a mobility profile for the user equipment based at least on said information on at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment; and means for transmitting the mobility profile of the user equipment to a base station serving the user equipment. The apparatus of the first aspect may comprise a location management entity or means for controlling a location management entity.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus comprising: means for receiving an inactivity state measurement request to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactivity state and sending an inactivity state measurement report after the user equipment has switched from the inactivity state to the connected state; means for performing at least one positioning measurement when the user equipment is in an inactive state after receiving the inactive state measurement request; and means for sending an inactivity state measurement report after switching to the connected state, wherein the inactivity state measurement report comprises information about at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment. The apparatus of the second aspect may comprise a user equipment or means for controlling a user equipment.

According to a third aspect of the present invention there is provided a first method comprising: transmitting an inactive state measurement request to a user equipment to request the user equipment to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactive state and transmitting an inactive state measurement report after switching from the inactive state to a connected state; receiving an inactivity state measurement report from the user equipment, wherein the inactivity state measurement report comprises information about at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment when the user equipment is in an inactive state; generating a mobility profile for the user equipment based at least on said information on at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment; and transmitting the mobility profile of the user equipment to a base station serving the user equipment.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a second method comprising: receiving an inactive state measurement request to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactive state and transmitting an inactive state measurement report after the user equipment has switched from the inactive state to the connected state; performing at least one positioning measurement when the user equipment is in an inactive state after receiving the inactive state measurement request; and transmitting an inactivity state measurement report after switching to the connection state, the inactivity state measurement report including information about at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processing core, at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processing core, cause the apparatus at least to perform: transmitting an inactive state measurement request to a user equipment to request the user equipment to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactive state and transmitting an inactive state measurement report after switching from the inactive state to a connected state; receiving an inactivity state measurement report from the user equipment, wherein the inactivity state measurement report comprises information about at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment when the user equipment is in an inactive state; generating a mobility profile for the user equipment based at least on said information on at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment; and transmitting the mobility profile of the user equipment to a base station serving the user equipment. The apparatus of the fifth aspect may comprise a location management entity or means for controlling the location management entity.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least one processing core, at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processing core, cause the apparatus at least to perform: receiving an inactive state measurement request to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactive state and transmitting an inactive state measurement report after the user equipment has switched from the inactive state to the connected state; performing at least one positioning measurement when the user equipment is in an inactive state after receiving the inactive state measurement request; and transmitting an inactivity state measurement report after switching to the connection state, the inactivity state measurement report including information about at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment. The apparatus of the sixth aspect may comprise a user equipment or means for controlling a user equipment.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of computer readable instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus to perform at least a first method. According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a set of computer readable instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus to perform at least a second method.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform a first method. According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform a second method.

Drawings

Fig. 1 illustrates a communication network in accordance with at least some example embodiments;

fig. 2 illustrates a signaling diagram in accordance with at least some example embodiments;

FIG. 3 illustrates an apparatus capable of supporting at least some example embodiments;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a first method in accordance with at least some example embodiments;

fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a second method in accordance with at least some example embodiments.

Detailed Description

Positioning in a cellular communication system may be improved by the process described herein. More specifically, the user equipment UE may perform at least one positioning measurement even if the UE is in an inactive state. The UE may perform at least one positioning measurement in response to receiving an inactivity state measurement request, e.g., from the location management entity. Thus, the location management entity may control how the UE performs at least one positioning measurement in the inactive state (if needed). After switching to the connected state, the UE may in turn send an inactivity state measurement report to the location management entity comprising information about at least one positioning measurement performed by the UE. By taking into account said information about at least one positioning measurement performed by a UE in an inactive state, the location management entity may generate or update a mobility profile of the UE. The mobility profile may be further transmitted to the base station BS so that the BS may act accordingly.

Fig. 1 illustrates a communication network in accordance with at least some example embodiments. The example communication network of fig. 1 may include a UE 110, a first BS 120, a second BS 130, and a core network 140. If cell reselection or handover of UE 110 is required due to movement of UE 110, first BS 120 may be referred to as a source BS and second BS 130 may be referred to as a target BS. However, in some example embodiments, if cell reselection and handover are not required due to movement of the UE 110, the first BS 120 and the second BS 130 may be identical.

The location of UE 110 at different times is indicated by points 102, 104, 106, and 108 in fig. 1. Taking cell reselection as an example, UE 110 may be located at point 102 prior to cell reselection and in a connected state with first BS 120 via air interface 115. Further, UE 110 may begin moving from point 102 to second BS 130 via points 104 and 106. At point 108, UE 110 may have performed a cell reselection. Thus, at point 108, UE 110 may be in a connected state with second BS 130 via air interface 125. At points 104 and 106, UE 110 may be in an inactive state.

The first BS 120 and the second BS 130 may be directly connected to each other via a wired interface 135 such as an X2 or Xn interface. The first BS 120 and the second BS 130 may also be connected to the core network 140 directly or via at least one intermediate node. The core network 140 may in turn be coupled via a wired interface 145 with another network (not shown in fig. 1) via which a connection to the other network may be obtained (e.g. via a global interconnection network).

UE 110 may include or be attached to, for example, a smart phone, a cellular phone, a machine-to-machine M2M node, a machine type communication node MTC, an internet of things IoT node, an automotive telemetry unit, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, or virtually any kind of suitable mobile wireless terminal or mobile station. In some example embodiments, prior to cell reselection, the first BS 120 may be considered a serving BS for the UE 110 (at least in the connected state at point 102), and after cell reselection, the second BS 130 may be considered a serving BS for the UE 110 (at least in the connected state at point 108).

The air interface 115 between the UE 110 and the first BS 120 may be configured according to a first radio access technology, RAT, that the UE 110 and the first BS 120 are configured to support, and the UE 110 may communicate with the first BS 120 via the air interface 115 using the first RAT prior to cell reselection. Similarly, the air interface 125 between the UE 110 and the second BS 130 may be configured according to a second RAT that the UE 110 and the second BS 130 are configured to support, and the UE 110 may communicate with the second BS 130 via the air interface 125 using the second RAT after cell reselection.

The first RAT and the second RAT may or may not be different. Examples of cellular RATs include long term evolution LTE, new radio NR (which may also be referred to as fifth generation 5G radio access technology), and multewire. For example, in the context of LTE, a BS may be referred to as an eNB, while in the context of NR, a BS may be referred to as a gNB. In any event, the example embodiments are not limited to any particular wireless technology. Rather, the example embodiments may be utilized in any cellular communication network in which enhanced positioning is desired.

In general, positioning may be used to improve the performance of a communication network. In the case of a cellular communication network, at least the location information of the UE may be utilized to improve network efficiency. By knowing or predicting the location of UE 110 along the route from points 102 to 108, the network can optimize its resource usage. For example, resource allocation may be optimized by predicting future locations of UE 110, which allows first BS 120 and/or second BS 130 to adapt, for example, modulation and coding schemes, bandwidths, and/or parameter sets to channel and cell load conditions.

In addition, the carrier frequency offset may be pre-compensated by using the positioning information of the UE 110. The location information of UE 110 may be referred to as information about location measurements performed by UE 110, such as time of arrival of received signals, strength, and/or angle of arrival of reference signals. At least high speed UEs suffer from a large doppler shift, unless this is taken into account, the quality of data reception in both uplink and downlink may be severely degraded. The positioning information may also be used for interference, handover and cell reselection management. Furthermore, many applications require and/or benefit from accurately tracking the location of UEs, especially high speed UEs. Thus, it is often desirable to ensure accurate positioning in a cellular communication network.

However, if UE 110 is in an inactive state, accurate tracking of the UE's location can become a challenging task. UEs in an inactive state are typically unable to process and report information about positioning measurements (such as information about measurements of positioning reference signals) because there is no means for scheduling reports for UEs in an inactive state. Thus, the accuracy of the positioning of the UE in the inactive state will be reduced. Particularly in the case of high speed UEs (such as UEs in trains or automobiles), the location may change drastically during inactive states and thus there is a need to improve tracking of the location of such UEs to avoid compromising subsequent resource optimization, for example in the case of cell reselection at the second BS 130. If the network does not know the exact location of such a UE when it switches from inactive to connected state, especially if the latest channel conditions are not particularly advantageous for the UE, the network will need to perform resource allocation and sizing (sizing) of data transmissions in a very conservative way. Thus, it may be desirable to select robust modulation and coding schemes and potentially fewer parameter sets, which are not optimal in all cases. In general, the inactive state may refer to a radio resource control, RRC, inactive state and the connected state may refer to an RRC connected state, at least in the case of the third generation partnership project, 3GPP, standard.

Thus, example embodiments of the present invention enhance tracking of the location of a UE by improving the accuracy of the location of the UE for switching from an inactive state to a connected state. Thus, mobility management may be improved by enhancing tracking of the location of a UE in an inactive state. The inactive state is a state between the idle mode and the connected state to reduce signaling load and creation/cancellation of tunnels between the radio network (including, for example, the first BS 120 and the second BS 130) and the core network 140. In the inactive state, the logical signaling link and tunnel of the UE to the core network remains unchanged, but the UE's connection to the wireless network is released.

More specifically, UE 110 may report to the network its history of past locations during the last inactivity period (i.e., when UE 110 was in an inactive state at points 104 and 106 in fig. 1). UE 110 may report its history of past locations by sending an inactivity state measurement report that includes information about at least one positioning measurement that it has performed in an inactivity state. UE 110 may send the inactive state measurement report after waking up from the inactive state (i.e., after switching from the inactive state to the connected state). Subsequently, a location management entity in the core network 140, such as a location management function, LMF, may use said information about at least one positioning measurement in the inactive state measurement report to generate a mobility profile, mproffor the UE 110. The LMF may generate the mprofs of the UE 110, for example, by updating the previous mprofs of the UE 110 according to the information about the at least one positioning measurement. The information about the positioning measurement may for example comprise at least one of the following: a time stamp indicating when the measurement was performed (time of arrival), the strength of the received signal (reference signal received power RSRP), the angle of arrival for the measured cell specific reference signal (synchronization signal block SSB) and an indication.

The LMF in core network 140 may, for example, calculate and update the mprofs for UE 110. For example, mprofmay consist of a set of parameters characterizing the mobility mode of UE 110, e.g., speed, direction of movement, acceleration, etc. These parameters may be obtained by the UE 110 itself (e.g., the UE 110 may report sensor information) or estimated via the serving BS using channel state information and past position estimates.

Further, the LMF may transmit the mprofof the UE 110 to the second BS 130. Further, the mprofof the UE 110 calculated from the inactive state measurement report may be used by the second BS 130 to predict the direction of movement, the future position, and the velocity of the UE 110, e.g., during the current radio resource control, RRC, connection window. Mprofof UE 110 may define the displacement of UE 110 between two time instances (such as points 102 and 108 in fig. 1), depending on the velocity and acceleration vectors of UE 110. For example, an inactivity period of 2.5s when uniformly moving at 500km/h in the connected state is equal to a travel distance of 350 m. The mprofof UE 110 may be used by second SB130 for enhanced mobility management (e.g., for potentially precompensated RA and predicted carrier frequency offset).

Example embodiments of the present invention may be used, for example, for the LTE-advanced positioning protocol LPP and the new radio positioning protocol annex NRPPa positioning protocol, so that UE 110 may report information about positioning measurements performed in an inactive state, for example, on SSBs. SSB is a cell-specific reference signal that first BS 120 and second BS 130 may broadcast to enable UEs in the network to perform beam selection and periodic realignment. Typical use of SSBs at the UE includes periodic measurements of RSRP of SSBs of all detectable BSs, and reporting back the index of the best SSB to the serving BS. In some example embodiments, the use of SSBs may be extended to track the location of UE 110.

Fig. 2 illustrates a signaling diagram in accordance with at least some example embodiments. On the vertical axis, from left to right, the UE 110, the first BS 120 (BS 1), the second BS 130 (BS 2), and the LMF in the core network 140 of fig. 1 are disposed. Time proceeds from top to bottom. Although an LMF in the core network 140 is used as an example in fig. 2, the steps of an LMF may generally be performed by any location management entity.

At optional step 202, the LMF in the core network 140 may determine that the UE 110 needs to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactive state. Thus, the LMF may evaluate whether UE 110 needs to perform location tracking during the inactive mode period, i.e., evaluate location-related requirements of UE 110 or the user of UE 110. The determination at step 202 may be based on at least one of: the type of UE 110 (obtained from, e.g., vehicle, IIot, etc.), the location accuracy requirements (depending on the application), the location integrity requirements (depending on the application), and the previous mprofs of UE 110. The accuracy and delay of the positioning may be determined by the service that first requests the positioning. Thus, for example, robots in a factory may need to be positioned often and very accurately. As another example, virtual reality and augmented reality applications may also have high accuracy and latency requirements.

For example, the BS may learn the type of UE it is serving and may estimate UE mobility (e.g., doppler estimation, channel state information reporting). Based on this information, the serving BS may decide how often the mobility profile of the UE it serves needs to be updated. Note that the BS can implicitly use this type of method for RRM, handover or cell reselection purposes.

At step 204, the LMF in the core network 140 may send an inactivity state measurement request to the UE 110 requesting the UE 110 to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactivity state and send an inactivity state measurement report comprising information about the at least one positioning measurement performed by the UE 110 when the UE 110 is in the inactivity state. The LMF may, for example, send an inactivity state measurement request after determining that the evaluation is affirmative (i.e., after determining that UE 110 needs to perform a positioning measurement in the inactivity state) at step 202.

The LMF may configure UE 110 with the inactivity state measurement request. For example, the inactivity state measurement request may include at least one indication of a measurement rate, a location of at least one cell-specific reference signal for performing at least one location measurement, and a duration of a positioning measurement within an inactivity time period. More specifically, measuring the rate may involve performing and collecting measurements at a given rate R, i.e. collecting the frequency of positioning measurements, e.g. by measuring a certain SSB. If the UE 110 is static or moves very slowly, the LMF may configure a low rate because it does not expect that the positioning measurements will change significantly over a short period of time. Thus, performance can be optimized since unnecessary measurements are avoided.

Alternatively or additionally, the LMF may avoid unnecessary measurements by sending an indication of the location of at least one cell-specific reference signal for performing at least one location measurement. The indication of the location of the at least one cell specific reference signal may relate to SSB location measurements on certain SSB resources (time/frequency resources), e.g. time of arrival and/or angle of arrival other than RSRP. In some example embodiments, the LMF may configure a subset of the best cell-specific reference signals.

Alternatively or additionally, the LMF may avoid unnecessary measurements by sending an indication of the duration of the positioning measurement during the inactivity period. The LMF may determine that UE110 does not need to perform measurements at all times when UE110 is in an inactive state. For example, if the route of UE110 is predicted to be known at the beginning of the inactive state (e.g., UE110 is in a train), then measurements may not need to be performed at the beginning of the inactive state. The connection state may be restored after being requested from an upper layer and initiated by the UE110 or BS.

At optional step 206, UE110 may send a resource allocation request to first BS 120 and/or possibly to second BS 130 (if known), e.g., to request that first BS 120 allocate resources in the next first X time slots (after switching from the inactive state to the connected state). A resource allocation request may be sent to request allocation of resources for sending the inactive state measurement report. Alternatively, the LMF may send the resource allocation request to the first BS 120 and/or the second BS 130 in a message exchange transparent to the UE110, e.g., through NRPPa.

The resource allocation request includes an inactivity state tracking flag, an indication of the size of the expected inactivity state measurement report (the payload of the inactivity state measurement report), and/or an emergency flag (i.e., how long after waking up the UE needs to report the inactivity state measurement report).

For example, the size of the expected inactivity measurement report may be used by the first BS 120 and/or the second BS 130 to properly allocate resources for transmitting the inactivity measurement report. Since the size of the expected inactivity measurement report may be considered when allocating resources, a high probability of adapting the report to the allocated resources may be ensured, and thus unnecessary signaling may be avoided, as one transmission is sufficient. At the same time, resources need not be allocated excessively.

Regarding the emergency flag, "urgent-flag=1" may mean that the UE 110 may delay transmission of the inactive-state measurement report by 0 slot, and "urgent-flag=2" may mean a delay of a slots, etc. The mapping between the index of the flag and the supported delays may be agreed in advance between the LMF, the UE 110 and the serving BS. The emergency flag indicates to the BS how long the UE 110 may delay the transmission of the report. Based on the flag, the BS may allocate resources to the UE to transmit the report.

At optional step 208, the first BS 120 may grant the resource allocation request and inform the UE 110 about resources (such as random access resources) for transmitting an inactivity report after switching from the inactivity mode to the connected state. For example, the first BS 120 may configure resources for transmitting the inactivity report and transmit the reconfiguration in an RRC message, e.g., by setting pointers to the beginning and end of the transmission slot. At steps 202-208, UE 110 may be in a connected state with first BS 120 and switch to an inactive state after step 208.

At optional step 210, the first BS 102 may send an indication to the LMF that the UE 110 has switched from the connected state to the inactive state. For example, the indication regarding UE 110 may be sent over a backhaul link (such as interface 135 in fig. 1) using NRPPa protocol. UE 110 has switched from the connected state to the inactive state may be determined by the LMF and indicated to first BS 120 prior to step 210. In some example embodiments, the indication may relate to a set of UEs, and the LMF may periodically indicate the set of UEs to the first BS 120, and possibly also to the second BS 130.

At step 212, UE 110 may perform positioning measurements based on the inactive state measurement report request after receiving the inactive state measurement request. That is, UE 110 may perform positioning measurements in an inactive state based on a measurement rate, a measurement duration, and/or a location of at least one cell-specific reference signal used to perform at least one location measurement, i.e., on the indicated SSB. While in an inactive state, UE 110 may listen for at least one cell-specific reference signal, such as a beam management signal, e.g., SSB, from all available BSs. For example, UE 110 may perform the requested at least one positioning measurement on the detected SSB. As indicated by the LMF, the positioning measurement on the SSB may include measuring at least one of: the time of arrival, the strength of the received signal, and/or the angle of arrival of the best SSB in a given SSB burst.

In some example embodiments, FIFO storage devices may be used at UE 110 to compensate for memory limitations of UE 110. Thus, UE 110 does not have to store the positioning measurements indefinitely, as they will become obsolete after a period of time proportional to the mobility (e.g., speed) of UE 110. For example, the size of the FIFO storage device may be determined according to the UE type of UE 110. Each measurement may be recorded by UE 110 in an inactive measurement report in the following FIFO listing:

FIFO indexing	PM
		1	SSB-PM[1]
…	…
		DR	SSB-PM[DR]

At step 214, UE 110 may generate an inactive state measurement report by adding information regarding at least one positioning measurement performed by UE 110 to the inactive state measurement report. For example, the information about the at least one positioning measurement may comprise the time of arrival of the received signal, the strength, the angle of arrival of the measured cell-specific reference signal and/or an indication.

At steps 210-214, UE 110 may be in an inactive state and switch to a connected state after step 214. At step 216, UE 110 may send an inactivity state measurement report to the LMF, wherein the inactivity state measurement report includes the information regarding at least one positioning measurement performed by UE 110 while UE 110 is in an inactive state (steps 210-214). For example, UE 110 may report an inactivity state measurement report to the LMF, possibly via second BS 130, including a list of positioning measurements on SSBs collected by UE 110 while UE 110 is in an inactive state.

In some example embodiments, UE 110 may transmit the inactivity state measurement report table using the resources allocated and indicated at step 208 after switching from the inactivity state to the connected state. UE 110 may send the report by appending the inactive state measurement report to a standard positioning report as configured by the serving BS during LPP. The report may be sent via the serving BS on a conventional control channel, but it is transparent to the serving BS because the serving BS acts as a relay to the LMF.

Upon receiving the inactivity measurement report, the LMF in the core network 140 may generate or update the mprofof the UE 110 at step 218. For example, mprofof UE 110 may include information about expected current and future displacements of UE 110, e.g., based on estimated velocity and acceleration vectors.

At step 220, the LMF may transmit the generated or updated mprofs of the UE 110 to the second BS 130, i.e., to the BS serving the UE 110 in a connected state (after the UE 110 has switched from an inactive state to a connected state). The generated or updated mprofs of the UE 110 may be transmitted to the second BS 130 for mobility management of the next Y slots of the RRC connected state. The LMF may also transmit a list of predicted locations of UEs 110 in the future Y slots to BS 130. The generated or updated mprofs of UE 110 may be transmitted through NRPPa.

At step 222, the second BS 130 may use mprofof the UE 110 for enhanced mobility management.

Fig. 3 illustrates an apparatus capable of supporting at least some example embodiments. A device 300 is illustrated, which may include, for example, an LMF or UE 110 in the core network 140, or a device controlling its functionality. Included in device 300 is a processor 310, which may include, for example, a single-core or multi-core processor, wherein the single-core processor includes one processing core and the multi-core processor includes more than one processing core. In general, the processor 310 may include a control device. Processor 310 may include more than one processor. The processor 310 may be a control device. For example, the processing cores may include Cortex-A8 processing cores manufactured by ARM Hold, inc. or Steamroller processing cores manufactured by ultra-micro semiconductor Inc. (Advanced Micro Devices Corporation). The processor 310 may include at least one high-pass Snapdragon and/or intel Atom processor. The processor 310 may include at least one application specific integrated circuit ASIC. The processor 310 may include at least one field programmable gate array FPGA. Processor 310 may be a means for performing the method steps in device 300. Processor 310 may be configured, at least in part, by computer instructions to perform actions.

The processor may comprise circuitry or be constructed as one or more circuits configured to perform the stages of the method according to the example embodiments described herein. As used in this disclosure, the term "circuit" may refer to one or more or all of the following: (a) Hardware-only circuit implementations, such as analog-only and/or digital-circuit implementations; (b) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (if applicable): (i) A combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuitry and software/firmware; and (ii) any portion of a hardware processor having software (including a digital signal processor, software, and memory that work together to cause a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions); and (c) hardware circuitry and/or a processor, such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor, that requires software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but may not be present when software is not required for operation.

This definition of "circuitry" applies to all uses of this term in this disclosure, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this disclosure, the term "circuitry" shall also cover an implementation of only one hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its accompanying software and/or firmware. The term "circuitry" shall also cover (e.g., and if applicable to the specifically required element) a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device, or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network device, or other network device.

The device 300 may include a memory 320. Memory 320 may include random access memory and/or persistent memory. Memory 320 may include at least one RAM chip. The memory 320 may include, for example, solid state, magnetic, optical, and/or holographic memory. Memory 320 may be at least partially accessible by processor 310. Memory 320 may be at least partially included in processor 310. Memory 320 may be a means for storing information. Memory 320 may include computer instructions that processor 310 is configured to execute. When computer instructions configured to cause processor 310 to perform certain actions are stored in memory 320 and device 300 as a whole is configured to run under direction of processor 310 using computer instructions from memory 320, processor 310 and/or at least one processing core thereof may be considered to be configured to perform the certain actions. Memory 320 may be at least partially included in processor 310. Memory 320 may be at least partially external to device 300, but accessible by device 300.

The device 300 may include a transmitter 330. The device 300 may include a receiver 340. The transmitter 330 and the receiver 340 may be configured to transmit and receive information, respectively, according to at least one cellular or non-cellular standard. Transmitter 330 may include more than one transmitter. The receiver 340 may include more than one receiver. The transmitter 330 and/or the receiver 340 may be configured to operate in accordance with, for example, the Global System for Mobile communications GSM, wideband code division multiple Access WCDMA, 5G, long term evolution LTE, IS-95, wireless local area network WLAN, ethernet, and/or worldwide interoperability for microwave Access WiMAX standards.

The device 300 may comprise a near field communication NFC transceiver 350. The NFC transceiver 350 may support at least one NFC technology such as bluetooth, wibree or similar technologies.

The device 300 may include a user interface UI 360.UI 360 may include at least one of the following: a display, a keyboard, a touch screen, a vibrator configured to signal a user by vibrating the device 300, a speaker, and a microphone. The user may be able to operate device 300 via UI 360, for example, accept incoming calls, initiate telephone or video calls, browse the internet, manage digital files stored in memory 320 or on a cloud accessible via transmitter 330 and receiver 340 or via NFC transceiver 350, and/or play games.

The device 300 may include or be configured to accept a user identity module 370. The user identity module 370 may comprise, for example, a subscriber identity module, SIM, card that may be installed in the device 300. User identity module 370 may include information identifying a subscription of a user of device 300. User identity module 370 may include cryptographic information that may be used to verify the identity of a user of device 300 and/or facilitate encryption of transmitted information and billing for communications effectuated by a user of device 300 via device 300.

Processor 310 may be equipped with a transmitter configured to output information from processor 310 to other devices included in device 300 via electrical leads internal to device 300. Such transmitters may include, for example, a serial bus transmitter configured to output information to memory 320 via at least one electrical lead for storage therein. Instead of a serial bus, the transmitter may comprise a parallel bus transmitter. Similarly, the processor 310 may comprise a receiver arranged to receive information in the processor 310 from other devices comprised in the device 300 via electrical leads internal to the device 300. Such a receiver may comprise, for example, a serial bus receiver configured to receive information via at least one electrical lead from receiver 340 for processing in processor 310. Instead of a serial bus, the receiver may comprise a parallel bus receiver.

Device 300 may include other devices not shown in fig. 3. For example, where the device 300 comprises a smart phone, it may comprise at least one digital camera. Some devices 300 may include a rear camera that may be intended for digital video cameras and a front camera that may be intended for video telephony. The device 300 may comprise a fingerprint sensor arranged to at least partially authenticate a user of the device 300. In some example embodiments, the device 300 lacks at least one of the devices described above. For example, some devices 300 may lack NFC transceiver 350 and/or user identity module 370.

Processor 310, memory 320, transmitter 330, receiver 340, NFC transceiver 350, UI 360, and/or user identity module 370 may be interconnected by electrical leads internal to device 300 in many different ways. For example, each of the aforementioned devices may be separately connected to a main bus internal to device 300 to allow the devices to exchange information. However, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, this is merely one example, and various ways of interconnecting at least two of the foregoing devices may be selected according to example embodiments without departing from the scope of the example embodiments.

Fig. 4 illustrates a flow chart of a first method in accordance with at least some example embodiments. The stages of the illustrated first method may be performed by an LMF in the core network 140, or possibly by a control device (when installed therein) configured to control its functions.

The first method may include, at step 410, sending an inactivity state measurement request to a user equipment to request the user equipment to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactivity state and sending an inactivity state measurement report after switching from the inactivity state to a connected state. At step 420, the first method may include: an inactivity state measurement report is received from the user equipment, wherein the inactivity state measurement report comprises information about at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment while the user equipment is in an inactive state. Further, at step 430, the first method may include: a mobility profile of the user equipment is generated based at least on said information on at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment. Finally, at step 440, the first method may include: the mobility profile of the user equipment is sent to a base station serving the user equipment.

Fig. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a second method in accordance with at least some example embodiments. The stages of the illustrated second method may be performed by the UE 110, or possibly by a control device (when installed therein) configured to control its functions.

The second method may include, at step 510, receiving an inactive state measurement request to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactive state and sending an inactive state measurement report after the user equipment has switched from the inactive state to the connected state. At step 520, the second method may include: at least one positioning measurement is performed when the user equipment is in an inactive state after receiving the inactive state measurement request. Finally, at step 530, the second method may include: an inactivity state measurement report is sent after switching to the connection state, the inactivity state measurement report comprising information about at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment.

It is to be understood that the disclosed example embodiments are not limited to the specific structures, process steps, or materials disclosed herein, but are extended to equivalents thereof as would be recognized by those of ordinary skill in the relevant arts. It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only, and is not intended to be limiting.

Reference in the specification to "one example embodiment" or "an example embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the example embodiment is included in at least one example embodiment. Thus, the appearances of the phrase "in one example embodiment" or "in an example embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same example embodiment. Where a term such as "about" or "substantially" is used to refer to a numerical value, the exact numerical value is also disclosed.

As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, constituent elements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list for convenience. However, these lists should be construed as though each member of the list is individually identified as a separate and unique member. Thus, without an opposite indication, each member of such a list should not be interpreted as a de facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based on their presence in the common group. Further, various example embodiments and examples may be referenced herein along with alternatives to their various components. It should be understood that such example embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not to be construed as actual equivalents of each other, but rather as separate and autonomous representations.

In an example embodiment, an apparatus (such as, for example, an LMF or UE 110 in core network 140, or a control device configured to control its functions) may include means for performing the example embodiments described above, and any combination thereof.

In an example embodiment, a computer program may be configured to cause a method according to the example embodiments described above and any combination thereof. In example embodiments, a computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer readable medium may be configured to control a processor to perform a process including the example embodiments described above and any combination thereof.

In an example embodiment, an apparatus (such as, for example, an LMF or a UE 110 in a core network 140, or a control device configured to control its functions) may include at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform the example embodiments described above, and any combination thereof.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more example embodiments. In the previous description, numerous specific details were provided, such as examples of lengths, widths, shapes, etc., to provide a thorough understanding of example embodiments of the invention. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the invention may be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, and so forth. In other instances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of the invention.

The verbs "comprise" and "comprise" as used herein are open ended terms that neither preclude nor require the presence of additional unrecited features. Features recited in the dependent claims may be combined with each other in any desired manner unless explicitly stated otherwise. Furthermore, it should be understood that the use of "a" or "an" as used herein (i.e., in the singular) does not exclude a plurality.

Industrial applicability

At least some example embodiments find industrial application in cellular communication networks, such as in 5G/NR networks, where improved tracking of the location of a UE is desired.

List of abbreviations

3GPP third Generation partnership project

ASIC specific integrated circuit

BS base station

FPGA field programmable gate array

Global system for mobile communication (GSM)

IoT (Internet of things)

LMF location management functionality

LPP LTE positioning protocol

LTE long term evolution

M2M machine-to-machine

MAC medium access control

MProf mobility profile

MTC machine type communication

NFC near field communication

NR new radio

NRPPa New radio positioning protocol annex

RAN radio access network

RAT radio access technology

RRC radio resource control

RSRP reference signal received power

SIM subscriber identity module

SSB synchronization signal block

UE user equipment

UI user interface

WCDMA wideband code division multiple access

WLAN wireless local area network

WiMAX worldwide interoperability for microwave access

List of reference marks

110	UE
		115,125	Air interface
120	Source BS
		130	Target BS
135,145	Wired interface
		140	Core network
210–222	The steps of the signaling diagram of fig. 2
		300–370	The structure of the device of FIG. 3
410–440	Stages of the first method in FIG. 4
		510–530	Stages of the second method in FIG. 5

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

-means for sending an inactivity state measurement request to a user equipment requesting the user equipment to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactivity state and sending an inactivity state measurement report after switching from the inactivity state to a connected state;

-means for receiving the inactivity state measurement report from the user equipment, wherein the inactivity state measurement report comprises information about the at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment when the user equipment is in the inactivity state;

-means for generating a mobility profile of the user equipment based at least on the information about the at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment; and

-means for transmitting the mobility profile of the user equipment to a base station serving the user equipment.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the user equipment is in the connected state when the apparatus receives the inactivity state measurement report.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the inactivity state measurement request comprises an indication of a measurement rate and/or an indication of a duration of a requested positioning measurement over an inactivity time period.

4. The apparatus of any of the preceding claims, wherein the inactivity state measurement request comprises an indication of a location of at least one cell-specific reference signal used to perform the at least one positioning measurement.

5. The apparatus of any of the preceding claims, further comprising:

-means for determining that the user equipment needs to perform the at least one positioning measurement in the inactive state, wherein the determination is based on at least one of: the type of the user equipment, the location accuracy requirements, the location integrity requirements, and the previous mobility profile of the user equipment; and

-in response to the determination, sending the inactivity state measurement request.

6. The apparatus of any of the preceding claims, further comprising:

-means for sending a resource allocation request to a base station requesting allocation of resources for sending said inactivity state measurement report, wherein said resource allocation request comprises an inactivity state tracking flag, an indication of the size of an expected inactivity state measurement report, and/or an emergency flag.

7. An apparatus, comprising:

-means for receiving an inactivity state measurement request to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactivity state and to send an inactivity state measurement report after the user equipment has switched from the inactivity state to a connected state;

-means for performing said at least one positioning measurement when said user equipment is in said inactive state after receiving said inactive state measurement request; and

-means for sending an inactivity state measurement report after switching to the connection state, wherein the inactivity state measurement report comprises information about the at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the user equipment is in the connected state when the apparatus transmits the inactivity state measurement report.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the inactivity state measurement request comprises an indication of a measurement rate and/or an indication of a duration of a requested positioning measurement over an inactivity time period.

10. The apparatus according to any of claims 7 to 9, wherein the inactivity state measurement request comprises an indication of a location of at least one cell specific reference signal used to perform the at least one positioning measurement.

11. The apparatus according to any one of claims 7 to 10, further comprising:

12. The apparatus according to any of claims 7 to 11, wherein the apparatus comprises the user equipment or means for controlling the user equipment.

13. A method, comprising:

-sending an inactive state measurement request to a user equipment requesting the user equipment to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactive state and sending an inactive state measurement report after switching from the inactive state to a connected state;

-receiving the inactivity state measurement report from the user equipment, wherein the inactivity state measurement report comprises information about the at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment when the user equipment is in the inactivity state;

-generating a mobility profile of the user equipment based at least on the information about the at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment; and

-transmitting the mobility profile of the user equipment to a base station serving the user equipment.

14. A method, comprising:

-receiving an inactive state measurement request to perform at least one positioning measurement in an inactive state and to send an inactive state measurement report after the user equipment has switched from the inactive state to a connected state;

-after receiving the inactive state measurement request, performing the at least one positioning measurement when the user equipment is in the inactive state; and

-transmitting an inactive state measurement report after switching to the connected state, the inactive state measurement report comprising information about the at least one positioning measurement performed by the user equipment.

15. A computer program configured to perform the method of claim 13 or claim 14.