EP4674196A1

EP4674196A1 - Positioning enhancements for network operations with network energy savings

Info

Publication number: EP4674196A1
Application number: EP23931286.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Jie Cui; Dan Wu; Dawei Zhang; Peng Cheng; Qiming Li; Yang Tang
Original assignee: Apple Inc
Current assignee: Apple Inc
Priority date: 2023-04-04
Filing date: 2023-04-04
Publication date: 2026-01-07
Also published as: CN120898486A; WO2024207213A8; WO2024207213A1

Abstract

A location management function (LMF) of a network component transmits a request to a target positioning base station for positioning information that includes first network energy savings (NES) information indicative of a NES status of the target positioning base station and second discontinuous transmission (DTX) information comprising a DTX status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station. Upon receiving feedback information from the target positioning base station including the first NES information and/or the second DTX information, the LMF transmits the feedback information to a user equipment (UE) and requests positioning management information. Upon receiving a positioning measurement report from the UE that is based at least in part on the feedback information including the first NES information and/or the second DTX information, the LMF calculates a location of the UE based on the positioning measurement report.

Description

Positioning Enhancements for Network Operations with Network Energy Savings

Technical Field

The present disclosure generally relates to wireless communication, and in particular, to positioning enhancements for network operations with network energy savings.

Background

A user equipment (UE) may establish a connection to at least one of a plurality of different networks or types of networks. Various positioning methods exist for the network to locate the UE.
In 5G New Radio (NR) networks, a UE is provided with positioning reference signals (PRS) from one or more transmission and reception points (TRPs) (e.g., from a next generation nodeB (gNB) ) . The UE measures the resources of the PRS and these measurements are used to determine the location of the UE. In some cases, UE-based positioning is used, e.g., the UE calculates the UE’s location based on the PRS measurements. In other cases, network based positioning is used, e.g., the UE sends the measurements to a network function (e.g., location management function) and the network calculates the UE’s position.
A NR network may support devices that use network energy savings ( “NES” ) features. These types of features provide cost and/or complexity reduction benefits. However, the NES systems may still need to provide positioning and/or location services that may be impacted because of the network energy saving capabilities of the devices. For example, there are multiple mechanisms to reduce power consumption. Such mechanisms can enhance the user experience by not exhausting a battery of a UE at an inappropriate rate. One such mechanism is referred to as discontinuous reception or "DRX" and another mechanism is discontinuous transmission or "DTX. " These mechanisms may be implemented at either or both of the UE or network components (e.g., base stations) . DRX and DTX are methods used in mobile communication to conserve power. For example, the UE and the network negotiate phases in which data transfer occurs. During other times the UE and base station may turn of their receivers and/or transmitters and enter a low power state.
Certain enhancements on cell DTX/DRX mechanisms have been proposed that include the alignment of cell DTX/DRX and UE DRX in RRC_CONNECTED mode, and inter-node information exchange on cell DTX/DRX [RAN2, RAN1, RAN3] . One potential issue that arises from these enhancements is that the PRS signals used for positioning may be affected by NES status, particularly with DRX/DTX mechanisms. Thus, a mechanism is needed to be able to use NES systems that use DRX/DTX mechanisms to conserve power, while still providing improved and accurate positioning performance without wasting resources.
Summary
Some exemplary embodiments are related to a method for locating a user equipment (UE) performed by a location management function (LMF) of a network component. The method includes transmitting a request to a target positioning base station for positioning information, the request for positioning information comprising a request for at least one of first network energy savings (NES) information indicative of a NES status of the target positioning base station and second discontinuous transmission (DTX) information comprising a DTX status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station, receiving feedback information from the target positioning base station, the feedback information comprising at least one of the first NES information and the second DTX information, transmitting the feedback information of the target positioning base station to the UE, transmitting a request for positioning management information to the UE, receiving a positioning measurement report from the UE that is based at least in part on the feedback information and calculating a location of the UE based on the positioning measurement report.
Other exemplary embodiments are related to a method for locating a user equipment (UE) performed by a base station serving as a positioning node for the UE. The method includes receiving a request for positioning information from a location management function (LMF) of a network, the request for positioning information comprising a request for at least one of first NES information indicative of a network energy savings (NES) status of a target positioning base station and second DTX information comprising a discontinuous transmission (DTX) status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station and transmitting feedback information to the LMF, the feedback information comprising at least one of the first NES information and the second DTX information, wherein the feedback information is configured to be used by the LMF in calculating a location of the UE.
Still further exemplary embodiments are related to a method for locating a user equipment (UE) performed by the UE. The method includes receiving positioning information from at a location management function (LMF) of a network to be used in a request for positioning management information, the positioning information comprising at least one of first NES information indicative of a network energy savings (NES) status of a target positioning base station and second DTX information comprising a discontinuous transmission (DTX) status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station, performing a positioning measurement on the target positioning base station that is based at least in part on the first NES information and/or the second DTX information; and transmitting a positioning measurement report to the LMF.

Brief Description of the Drawings

Fig. 1 shows a network arrangement according to various exemplary aspects.
Fig. 2 shows an exemplary UE according to various exemplary aspects.
Fig. 3 shows an exemplary network cell according to various exemplary aspects.
Fig. 4 shows a network arrangement including a UE and three gNBs utilized in a positioning determination for the UE according to various exemplary embodiments.
Figure 5 shows a call flow diagram illustrating a method for locating a user equipment (UE) according to various exemplary embodiments.

Detailed Description

The exemplary aspects may be further understood with reference to the following description and the related appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The exemplary aspects include a method performed by a location management function of a network component for use in locating a user equipment (UE) .
The exemplary aspects are described with regard to a user equipment (UE) . However, the use of a UE is provided for illustrative purposes. The exemplary aspects may be utilized with any electronic component that may establish a connection with a network and is configured with the hardware, software, and/or firmware to exchange information and data with the network. Therefore, the UE as described herein is used to represent any electronic component that is capable of providing positioning signals to a network cell so that the network cell may perform positioning measurements for the UE.
The exemplary aspects are described with regard to the network being a 5G New Radio (NR) network and a base station being a next generation Node B (gNB) . The 5G NR network may utilize a discontinuous reception cycle (DRX) and a measurement gap (MG) and configure connected UEs accordingly. The 5G NR network may also utilize various positioning methods for locating connected UEs. However, the use of the 5G NR network, the gNB, the DRX cycle, the MG, and the described positioning methods are provided for illustrative purposes. The exemplary aspects may apply to any type of network that utilizes similar functionalities.
In addition, throughout this description, a gNB may be referred to as a “serving cell. ” A gNB that is acting as a serving cell is the cell to which a UE is currently connected, e.g., the UE may be in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Connected state with the gNB and may be actively exchanging data and/or control information with the cell. A gNB may also be referred to as a “positioning gNB, ” a “positioning node” or a “positioning cell. ” A gNB acting as a positioning cell is a cell that is assisting in locating the UE, e.g., receiving positioning signals from the UE to assist in locating the UE. A gNB may simultaneously act as a serving cell and a positioning cell with respect to a UE or may act only as a positioning cell for a UE.
Furthermore, throughout this description, the terms “positioning signals” or “PRS” are used to describe the signals transmitted by the UE to allow the network to locate the UE. Those skilled in the art will understand that the PRS may also be also be used for other purposes in addition to location, e.g., channel estimation. Thus, the positioning signals described herein are not limited to any specific type of positioning signals. In addition, it should be understood that the exemplary embodiments described herein may be applicable to UE based or network based positioning.
The exemplary embodiments include a method for transmitting a request from an LMF to a target positioning base station for positioning information, the request for positioning information comprising a request for at least one of first NES information indicative of a network energy savings (NES) status of the target positioning base station and second DTX information comprising a discontinuous transmission (DTX) status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station. The method also comprises receiving feedback information from the target positioning base station, the feedback information comprising at least one of the first NES information and the second DTX information. The LMF transmits the feedback information including at least one of the first NES information and the DTX information of the target positioning base station to the UE and transmits a request for positioning management information to the UE. Upon receiving a positioning measurement report from the UE that is based at least in part on the feedback information comprising the first NES information and/or the DTX information, the LMF calculates a location of the UE based on the positioning measurement report. By requesting and using NES information and/or DTX information from target positioning base stations, the LMF can use the NES and/or DTX information to determine the location of an UE in a more accurate and efficient manner. In this way, improved and accurate positioning and location performance is provided without wasting resources and while still conserving power in NES systems with DRX/DTX mechanisms.
Fig. 1 shows an exemplary network arrangement 100 according to various exemplary aspects. The exemplary network arrangement 100 includes a user equipment (UE) 110. Those skilled in the art will understand that the UE may be any type of electronic component that is configured to communicate via a network, e.g., mobile phones, tablet computers, smartphones, phablets, embedded devices, wearable devices, Cat-M devices, Cat-M1 devices, MTC devices, eMTC devices, other types of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, etc. It should also be understood that an actual network arrangement may include any number of UEs being used by any number of users. Thus, the example of a single UE 110 is merely provided for illustrative purposes.
The UE 110 may be configured to communicate directly with one or more networks. In the example of the network configuration 100, the networks with which the UE 110 may wirelessly communicate are a 5G NR radio access network (5G NR-RAN) 120, an LTE radio access network (LTE-RAN) 122 and a wireless local access network (WLAN) 124. Therefore, the UE 110 may include a 5G NR chipset to communicate with the 5G NR-RAN 120, an LTE chipset to communicate with the LTE-RAN 122 and an ISM chipset to communicate with the WLAN 124. However, the UE 110 may also communicate with other types of networks (e.g. legacy cellular networks) and the UE 110 may also communicate with networks over a wired connection. With regard to the exemplary aspects, the UE 110 may establish a connection with the 5G NR-RAN 122.
The 5G NR-RAN 120 and the LTE-RAN 122 may be portions of cellular networks that may be deployed by cellular providers (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, etc. ) . These networks 120, 122 may include, for example, cells or base stations (Node Bs, eNodeBs, HeNBs, eNBS, gNBs, gNodeBs, macrocells, microcells, small cells, femtocells, etc. ) that are configured to send and receive traffic from UEs that are equipped with the appropriate cellular chip set. The WLAN 124 may include any type of wireless local area network (WiFi, Hot Spot, IEEE 802.11x networks, etc. ) .
The UE 110 may connect to the 5G NR-RAN via at least one of the next generation nodeB (gNB) 120A and/or the gNB 120B. Reference to two gNBs 120A, 120B is merely for illustrative purposes. The exemplary aspects may apply to any appropriate number of gNBs. For example, three or more gNBs may be utilized as positioning gNBs for estimating positioning signals transmitted from a target UE. The positioning gNBs may then provide their respective measurements, e.g. PRS estimations, to the network so that the network may determine a location of the target UE therefrom, to be described in further detail below.
In addition to the networks 120, 122 and 124 the network arrangement 100 also includes a cellular core network 130, the Internet 140, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network services backbone 160. The cellular core network 130, e.g. the 5GC for the 5G NR network, may be considered to be the interconnected set of components that manages the operation and traffic of the cellular network. It may include the evolved packet core (EPC) and/or the fifth generation core (5GC) . Those skilled in the art will understand that an actual cellular core network may include various other components performing any of a variety of different functions.
In this example, the cellular core network 130 includes a location management function (LMF) 132 and an access and mobility management function (AMF) 134. The LMF 132 may be configured to support location determinations for a UE.
The LMF 132 may be configured to perform operations related to positioning such as, but not limited to, configuring PRS signals for the UE 110 to determine and report its location to the radio access network and/or the cellular core network 130. As will be described further below, in the exemplary aspects described herein, the LMF 132 may instruct a serving cell to configure a target UE for PRS transmission, provide information to a plurality of positioning gNBs to monitor for and estimate the positioning signals, receive the PRS measurements from the positioning gNBs, and determine a position of the target UE from the PRS measurements. Reference to a single LMF 132 is merely for illustrative purposes, as an actual network arrangement may include any appropriate number of LMFs. It should also be understood that while the LMF 132 is shown as being part of the cellular core network 130, the LMF 132 may be a separate component (e.g., one or more servers) outside of but communicatively connected to the cellular core network 130.
The AMF 134 may be configured to perform operations related to mobility management such as, but not limited to, paging, non-access stratum (NAS) management and registration procedure management between the UE 110 and the cellular core network 130. Reference to a single AMF 134 is merely for illustrative purposes, as an actual network arrangement may include any appropriate number of AMFs.
The cellular core network 130 also manages the traffic that flows between the cellular network and the Internet 140. The IMS 150 may be generally described as an architecture for delivering multimedia services to the UE 110 using the IP protocol. The IMS 150 may communicate with the cellular core network 130 and the Internet 140 to provide the multimedia services to the UE 110. The network services backbone 160 is in communication either directly or indirectly with the Internet 140 and the cellular core network 130. The network services backbone 160 may be generally described as a set of components (e.g., servers, network storage arrangements, etc. ) that implement a suite of services that may be used to extend the functionalities of the UE 110 in communication with the various networks.
Fig. 2 shows an exemplary UE 110 according to various exemplary aspects. The UE 110 will be described with regard to the network arrangement 100 of Fig. 1. The UE 110 may represent any electronic device and may include a processor 205, a memory arrangement 210, a display device 215, an input/output (I/O) device 220, a transceiver 225, and other components 230. The other components 230 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery that provides a limited power supply, a data acquisition device, ports to electrically connect the UE 110 to other electronic devices, sensors to detect conditions of the UE 110, etc.
The processor 205 may be configured to execute a plurality of engines for the UE 110. For example, the engines may include a positioning engine 235 for transmitting positioning signals to each of a plurality of positioning nodes based on a network configuration for the positioning signals. The positioning signals are estimated by the positioning nodes to provide the network with information so that the network may determine a location of the UE, to be described in further detail below.
The above referenced engine being an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 205 is only exemplary. The functionality associated with the engines may also be represented as a separate incorporated component of the UE 110 or may be a modular component coupled to the UE 110, e.g., an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry to receive signals and processing circuitry to process the signals and other information. The engines may also be embodied as one application or separate applications. In addition, in some UEs, the functionality described for the processor 205 is split among two or more processors such as a baseband processor and an applications processor. The exemplary aspects may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a UE.
The memory 210 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UE 110. The display device 215 may be a hardware component configured to show data to a user while the I/O device 220 may be a hardware component that enables the user to enter inputs. The display device 215 and the I/O device 220 may be separate components or integrated together such as a touchscreen. The transceiver 225 may be a hardware component configured to establish a connection with the 5G-NR RAN 120, the LTE RAN 122 etc. Accordingly, the transceiver 225 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., set of consecutive frequencies) .
Fig. 3 shows an exemplary network cell, in this case gNB 120A, according to various exemplary aspects. As noted above with regard to the UE 110, the gNB 120A may represent a serving cell for the UE 110. The gNB 120A may represent any access node of the 5G NR network through which the UE 110 may establish a connection and manage network operations. Additionally, the gNB 120A may represent a positioning node used in a positioning method implemented by the network to locate a target UE. The gNB 120A illustrated in Fig. 3 may also represent the gNB 120B.
The gNB 120A may include a processor 305, a memory arrangement 310, an input/output (I/O) device 320, a transceiver 325, and other components 330. The other components 330 may include, for example, an audio input device, an audio output device, a battery, a data acquisition device, ports to electrically connect the gNB 120A to other electronic devices, etc.
The processor 305 may be configured to execute a plurality of engines of the gNB 120A. For example, when the gNB 120A is a serving cell for a UE, the engines may include a UE configuration engine 335 for providing UE configuration information to the network, for example, information relating to periods when the UE is in a DRX inactive mode or has a measurement gap (MG) . The network may then distribute the information to positioning nodes so that the positioning nodes may monitor. When the gNB 120A is a positioning cell being used by the network to locate a UE, the engines may also include a position monitoring engine 340 for receiving the UE configuration information from the network and monitoring for positioning signals from the UE in accordance therewith. For example, the gNB 120A may determine a period during which it will monitor for the positioning signals and a period during which it will not monitor for the positioning signals based on the UE configuration information, to be described in further detail below, and estimate the positioning signals when it is received from the UE.
The above noted engines each being an application (e.g., a program) executed by the processor 305 is only exemplary. The functionality associated with the engines may also be represented as a separate incorporated component of the gNB 120A or may be a modular component coupled to the gNB 120A, e.g., an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include input circuitry to receive signals and processing circuitry to process the signals and other information. In addition, in some gNBs, the functionality described for the processor 305 is split among a plurality of processors (e.g., a baseband processor, an applications processor, etc. ) . The exemplary aspects may be implemented in any of these or other configurations of a gNB.
The memory 310 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by the UEs 110, 112. The I/O device 320 may be a hardware component or ports that enable a user to interact with the gNB 120A. The transceiver 325 may be a hardware component configured to exchange data with the UEs 110, 112 and any other UE in the system 100, e.g. if the gNB 120A serves as a PCell or an SCell to either or both of the UEs 110, 112. The transceiver 325 may operate on a variety of different frequencies or channels (e.g., set of consecutive frequencies) . Therefore, the transceiver 325 may include one or more components (e.g., radios) to enable the data exchange with the various networks and UEs.
As discussed above, a UE may be configured with a discontinuous reception (DRX) cycle to save power. In addition, there may also be discontinuous transmission or "DTX" functionality. The DRX or DTX cycle utilizes an active mode of data exchange processing and a sleep mode of inactivity. The UE may use the active mode of processing at defined intervals to perform scheduled operations such as performing measurements related to the network conditions, transmitting (e.g., requests, measurement reports, uplink data etc. ) , and receiving (e.g. control channel information, reference signals, synchronization signals, downlink data, etc. ) . The time period that the UE may be scheduled to receive control channel information may be termed the OnDuration for the DRX or DTX cycle, or a DRX or DTX active time. The OnDuration relates to a duration during which the UE may perform operations that enable the UE to receive data that may be transmitted to the UE such as but not limited to, control channel information, an uplink grant, a downlink grant, reference signals, synchronization signals, payload data etc.
During the DRX or DTX cycle, when an OnDuration is not scheduled the UE may have an opportunity to utilize the sleep mode of inactivity and conserve power. This period may be referred to as a DRX or DTX inactive time. However, reference to a DRX or DTX cycle is for illustrative purposes, and different networks may refer to similar concepts by a different name. The exemplary aspects may apply to any scenario in which the UE transitions between a power saving mode, where certain operations are suspended, and an active mode, where the operations are resumed, with regard to data exchange processing.
The DRX or DTX cycle may have a predetermined duration N such as 100 milliseconds (ms) , 50 ms, 40 ms, 20 ms, etc. For example, at a time 0, there may be a OnDuration during which the active mode of processing is used. Subsequently, upon the conclusion of the OnDuration, the UE has an opportunity to utilize the sleep mode of inactivity. Then at a time N, there may be another OnDuration. Subsequently, the sleep mode is used until a time 2N. This process continues for the duration of the DRX or DTX cycle. Reference to the sleep mode of inactivity does not necessarily mean putting the processor, the transmitter, and the receiver of the UE to sleep, in hibernation, or in deactivation. For example, the processor (e.g., baseband and/or application) may continue to execute other applications or processes. The sleep mode relates to conserving power by discontinuing a continuous processing functionality relating to operations that enable the UE to receive data that may be transmitted to the UE and transmit data to the network. Further, reference to the DRX or DTX cycle being configured in ms units is merely for illustrative purposes, the exemplary aspects may utilize a DRX cycle that is based on subframes or any other suitable unit of time.
A UE may further be configured with a measurement gap (MG) for performing frequency measurements while other capabilities, such as transmitting/receiving data, are suspended. The measurement gap configuration may depend on the capability of the UE, the active BWP and/or the operating frequency. The measurement gap may be of a predefined duration and repeat periodically. Typically, a UE will tune away from a currently connected network or frequency band during the measurement gap to measure signals associated with other networks and/or at different frequencies than on which it is currently operating. During this measurement gap, the UE is not available to the currently connected network, e.g., it is neither transmitting signals to nor receiving signals from the currently connected network.
In some methods for determining a position of a user equipment (UE) , such as multiple round trip time (RTT) positioning or Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (UTDOA) , a positioning signal is transmitted from a target UE to a plurality of network nodes so that each of the nodes can estimate the uplink arrival timing from the UE. The network may then use the information provided by the positioning nodes to determine a position of the UE.
Fig. 4 shows a network arrangement 400 including a UE 402 and three gNBs 404 utilized in a positioning determination for the UE 402. In the example of Fig. 4, it may be considered that the UE 402 may be similar to the UE 110 described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2. It may also be considered that the gNBs 404 may be similar to the gNB 120A and 120B described with reference to Figs. 1 and 3. In the arrangement 400, the gNB 404a is a serving cell for the UE 402 and gNBs 404b and 404c may be configured by the network to be utilized as positioning nodes. The gNB 404a may also be used as a positioning node in the positioning method. The positioning gNBs 404b and 404c are configured to listen for and estimate positioning signals transmitted from the UE 402 and provide the measurements to the network, for example via a location management function (LMF) at the 5G core network (5GC) , such as LMF 132 in Figure 1. The LMF 132 may be considered a positioning server for coordinating the positioning PRS transmissions from the UE, providing information to the positioning nodes for monitoring for the positioning signals, and receiving PRS estimations from the positioning nodes.
In a typical positioning method, such as multiple RTT or UTDOA, the LMF 132 may request the serving gNB 404a to configure the UE 402 for the positioning PRS transmission, and knows the positioning PRS configuration from the serving gNB 404a. The LMF distributes the positioning PRS configuration information to all of the positioning gNBs 404 so that, when the UE 402 transmits the positioning signals to the positioning gNBs, the gNBs 404 may estimate the positioning signals from the target UE 402 based on the information provided by the LMF 132.
The protocol of information exchange for positioning system (e.g., OTDOA) may follow certain standards (TS38.305) . The LMF (Location Management Function) is the one to coordinate the positioning measurement configuration for the gNBs and for UEs. The serving gNBs in this positioning system do not know the positioning configuration of neighbor gNBs. In this situation, the positioning information can be provided by a dedicated location management function, such as LMF 132 in Figure 1.
Referring back to Figure 1, when some entity in the core network requests some location service (e.g., positioning) for a target UE 110 to the serving AMF 134, or the serving AMF 134 for a target UE 110 determines a need for some location service (e.g., locate the UE for an emergency call) , or the UE 110 requests some location service (e.g., positioning or delivery of assistance data) to the serving AMF 134) , the AMF 134 will transfer the location service request to the LMF 132. The LMF 132 will instigate location procedures with the serving gNB and possibly neighboring ng-eNBs or gNBs to obtain positioning measurements or assistance data. In addition or instead of the previous procedure, the LMF 132 will instigate location procedures with the UE 110 to obtain a location estimate or position measurements or to transfer location assistance data to the UE 110. The LMF 132 will provide a location service response to the AMF 132 and includes any needed results, such as success or failure indication, and if requested and obtained, a location estimate for the UE 110.
The AMF 134 will then return a location service response as appropriate. For example, if the original location service request was from a core network entity, the AMF 134 will send a response to the requesting core network entity that includes any needed results, such as a location estimate for the UE 110. If the original relocation service request was when the AMF 134 determined a need to locate an UE for an emergency call, the AMF 134 will uses the location service response to assist the service that triggered the location service request to provide a location estimate associated with the emergency call to the appropriate entity. If the UE 110 requested the location service, the AMF 134 will return a location service response with the UE 110 that includes a location estimate for the UE 110.
While enhancing data capabilities, networks like the described above in Figure 1 also may have additional requirements for power consumption in mobile wireless devices. Therefore, there are multiple mechanisms to reduce power consumption. Such mechanisms can enhance the user experience by not exhausting the user's battery at an inappropriate rate. One such mechanism is referred to as discontinuous reception or "DRX" and another mechanism is discontinuous transmission or "DTX, " as previously discussed.
New radio (NR) networks may support devices that use network energy savings ( “NES” ) features. These types of features provide cost and/or complexity reduction benefits. However, the NES systems may still need to provide positioning and/or location services that may be impacted because of the network energy saving capabilities of the devices. Certain enhancements on cell DTX/DRX mechanism have been proposed that include the alignment of cell DTX/DRX and UE DRX in RRC_CONNECTED mode, and inter-node information exchange on cell DTX/DRX [RAN2, RAN1, RAN3] .
One potential issue is that the PRS signals used for positioning might be affected by NES mechanisms, particularly with DRX/DTX mechanisms. Thus, a mechanism is needed to be able to use NES systems that use DRX/DTX mechanisms to conserve power, while still providing improved and accurate positioning performance without wasting resources.
The exemplary aspects relate to providing information between a dedicated location management function (LMF) , one or more target positioning base stations (gNBs) , and a user equipment (UE) for use in positioning and/or location methods for the UE to be used in situations where NES functionality with DRX/DTX may be employed. The exemplary methods include the request and use of NES information and DTX information along with PRS information as part of the location request services. Each of these exemplary aspects will be described in greater detail below.
In some exemplary aspects, a method for providing positioning and location services in a system providing NES functionality with DTX/DRX mechanisms will include an exchange of information between a location management function (such as LMF 132 in Figure 1) , a base station (such as gNBs 120A and 120B in Figures 1, 3, and 4) , and a UE (such as UE 110 in Figures 1, 2, and 4) .
Figure 5 is a call flow diagram illustrating a method for locating a user equipment (UE) . Referring to Figure 5, a method 500 of locating a UE 110 is illustrated, showing the information exchange between an LMF 132, a target positioning base station (such as gNB 120A) , and an UE 110. Though not shown in Figure 5, an AMF, such as AMF 134 in Figure 1, might also be included, and the AF 134 will pass messages between LMF 132 and gNB 120A as previously discussed.
Referring to Figure 5, when a location service request is received at the LMF 132, the LMF 132 transmits a request to one or more target positioning gNBs for position (e.g., PRS) information (510) . This request may include cell information and PRS configuration information. In addition, the request may include a request for the NES status of the target gNB 120A and/or the DTX status or pattern of the target gNB 120A. The DTX pattern can be any known DTX pattern. Although only one target positioning base station is shown in Figure 5 (gNB 120A) , there may be multiple target positioning base stations and multiple requests sent by the LMF 132. The request sent by the LMF 132 for PRS information may be periodically requested in one example. In another exemplary aspect, the request sent by the LMF 132 for PRS information may occur only after a location service request is received by the LMF 132 (i.e., a one-time request) . The request for information collection may be collected via the NR Positioning Protocol A (NRPPa) and may be included in Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) cell information. For example, the request from the LMF 132 to the gNB 120A may be via NRPPa and may be a request for OTDOA information. In one example, the request may be an OTDOA information request pursuant to standard TS38.455.
In response to the request in 510 being received by the positioning gNB 120A, the positioning gNB 120A may transmit DTX, NES, and/or PRS information back to the LMF 132 (520) . This information may be referred to as feedback information. In one exemplary aspect, the NES information is information that is indicative of a NES status of the positioning gNB 120A, e.g., the NES status may indicate whether the target gNB enables NES functionality or not. In another exemplary aspect, the NES information may indicate if the NES status is ON or OFF. In one exemplary aspect, the DTX information may include information that may indicate whether DTX is enabled, and the DTX information may also include one or more of a DTX cycle periodicity (active window or on-duration window periodicity) , a DTX pattern, an active window time offset, an active window time duration and similar information. The PRS information may indicate the PRS pattern and/or time periodicity/offset for the following situations: Muted PRS with DTX or with NES ON; PRS with NES mode and PRS with non-NES mode; and/or PRS with non-NES mode but with a muting pattern to apply on top of PRS when NES mode is ON or DTX is used. For example, with the PRS with non-NES mode, if the original pattern is 1100, and a muting pattern for DTX of 0100 is provided, the final PRS pattern will be 1000. In one exemplary aspect, the information provided by the gNB 120A to the LMF 132 in 510 may be via NRPPa, and could be included in OTDOA Cell Information.
Based on the feedback information received by the LMF 132 in 520, the LMF 132 may perform the following optional behaviors not shown in Figure 5. In Option 1, the LMF 132 may request those gNBs with NES ON to turn off the NES for positioning purpose (e.g., do not disable the PRS transmission, especially if the UE is in emergency status) . In Option 2, the LMF 132 may request those gNBs with NES ON to adjust PRS transmission and provide a new PRS information to LMF 132, and then the LMF 132 may receive this new PRS information from the gNB after gNB adjustment.
Whether or not the optional behaviors are performed, the LMF 132 may then transmit, based on the feedback information sent by the gNB 120A, the DTX information, and/or the NES information of the target positioning gNBs, optionally along with the PRS information, to the UE 110 in positioning information assistance data (530) . The PRS information may be sent to the UE 110 via LPP, such as NR-DL-TDOA-ProvideAssistance Data-r18 in standard TS37.355. The LMF 132 may also request PRS based positioning measurement at the UE 110 (540) . In one exemplary aspect, 530 and 540 could be combined into a single message transmitted from the LMF 132 to the UE 110, e.g., the feedback information and optional PRS information might be included with the request for PRS based positioning measurement. Alternatively, they could be separate operations as shown in Figure 5.
In one exemplary aspect, based on 520 and 530, the LMF 132 may request the UE 110 in 540 to perform the measurement for all candidate positioning gNBs. However, in this example, the gNBs without NES or without DTX have a higher priority for measurement at UE 110, and other gNBs with NES or with DTX have a lower priority. In another exemplary embodiment, based on 530 and 540, the LMF 132 may request the UE 110 in 540 to perform the measurement for only those candidate positioning gNBs without NES or without DTX. This may help ensure that the positioning performance is not negatively impacted.
In another exemplary aspect, if the PRS based measurement needs a measurement gap (e.g., needs RF tuning/retuning from the serving carrier) , the UE 110 may transmit a request for a positioning measurement gap to the serving gNB (550) . The UE 110 is doing the PRS measurement, as the gNB 120A has no idea of the positioning configuration of neighboring gNBs. The request in 550 may include positioning gNB NES information, DTX information, and/or PRS muting information for NES purposes. In one example, this information may also include PRS periodicity information.
Upon receipt of the request 550, the serving gNB 120A may consider one or more of the PRS periodicity, the NES information, the DTX information, and the PRS muting information to decide or determine a measurement gap (MG) configuration and may transmit the MG configuration to the UE 110 (560) . In one example, if the PRS periodicity of the neighbor positioning gNB is eighty milliseconds (80ms) , and the DTX cycle periodicity is one hundred sixty milliseconds (160ms) , it means PRS is transmitted from the neighbor positioning gNB every 160ms rather than 80ms, and the serving gNB can configure a measurement gap repetition period (MGRP) to be 160ms for the MG based PRS measurement. This will help ensure that resources are not wasted. If a MG is needed, the serving gNB 120A may configure the MGRP and send it to the UE 110 in 560.
In response to the request for PRS based positioning measurement (540) , the UE 110 may perform the PRS based measurement on one or more neighbor positioning gNBs (570) . This measurement be via OTDOA or other known protocols. If a MG is not needed, in one example, a PRS measurement sampling interval is determined by the UE 110 and may be not less than a maximum of a PRS periodicity after muting, a DRX cycle configured by the serving gNB (base station) , and a DTX cycle of the target neighbor positioning gNB (base station) . If a MG is needed, then a PRS measurement sampling interval is determined by the UE 110 and may be not less than a maximum of a PRS periodicity after muting, a DRX cycle configured by the serving gNB (base station) , and a DTX cycle of the target neighbor positioning gNB (base station) , and a measurement gap repetition period (MGRP) configured by the serving gNB (base station) . If the serving gNB has not configured DRX for the UE 110, then the DRX cycle configured by serving gNB may be set to 0.
After the UE 110 has performed the PRS based measurement (s) on one or more neighbor positioning gNBs in 570, the UE 110 may transmit a PRS based measurement report to the LMF 132 with the results of the PRS position measurement (s) (580) . In the measurement results report, the UE 110 may choose one cell as a reference cell for an RSTD measurement report. In one example, the reference cell may be a cell without NES and/or DTX. The cells without NES and/or DTX may be more reliable for positioning measurement purposes. In one exemplary aspect, if all of the potential reference cells have NES and/or DTX, then the serving cell can be chosen as the reference cell.
After the LMF 132 receives the positioning measurement report from the UE 110, the LMF 132 may calculate the UE location based on the positioning measurement report (590) . In one example, the LMF 132 may do this using OTDOA. The LMP 132 can then send the location of the UE 110 to the requesting entity.
Accordingly, in systems that have NES functionality and/or DRX/DTX mechanisms, by requesting and using NES information and/or DTX information from target positioning base stations, a location management function (LMF) in a network component can use the NES and/or DTX information to determine the location of an UE in a more accurate and efficient manner. In this way, improved and accurate positioning and location performance is provided without wasting resources and while still conserving power in NES systems with DRX/DTX mechanisms.
Examples
In a first example, a method for locating a user equipment (UE) , comprising: at a location management function (LMF) of a network component, transmitting a request to a target positioning base station for positioning information, the request for positioning information comprising a request for at least one of first network energy savings (NES) information indicative of a NES status of the target positioning base station and second discontinuous transmission (DTX) information comprising a DTX status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station, receiving feedback information from the target positioning base station, the feedback information comprising at least one of the first NES information and the second DTX information, transmitting the feedback information of the target positioning base station to the UE, transmitting a request for positioning management information to the UE, receiving a positioning measurement report from the UE that is based at least in part on the feedback information and calculating a location of the UE based on the positioning measurement report.
In a second example, the method of the first example, wherein the request for positioning information comprises a request for both the first NES information and the second DTX information, and the feedback information comprises both the first NES information and the second DTX information.
In a third example, the method of the first example, where the request for positioning information occurs periodically.
In a fourth example, the method of the first example, wherein the request for positioning information occurs after a location service request is received by the LMF.
In a fifth example, the method of the first example, wherein at least one of the request for positioning information and the receiving of the feedback information is via the NR Positioning Protocol A (NRPPa) and is included in Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) cell information.
In a sixth example, the method of the first example, wherein the first NES information is indicative of whether the target positioning base station enables NES functionality.
In a seventh example, the method of the first example, wherein the second DTX information comprises one or more of a DTX cycle periodicity, a DTX pattern, an active window time offset, or an active window time duration.
In an eighth example, the method of the first example, wherein the feedback information further comprises information relating to positioning reference signals (PRS information) , and wherein the PRS information comprises a pattern for the PRS and/or a time periodicity/offset for the PRS.
In a ninth example, the method of the eighth example, wherein the PRS information is for muted PRS with DTX or muted PRS with NES in an ON state.
In a tenth example, the method of the eighth example, wherein the PRS information is for PRS with NES mode and PRS with non-NES mode.
In an eleventh example, the method of the eighth example, wherein the PRS information is for PRS with non-NES mode, but with a muting pattern to apply on top of the PRS when the NES mode is ON or DTX is used.
In a twelfth example, the method of the first example, further comprising based on the feedback information received by the LMF including information that is indicative that the target positioning base station has an NES status of ON, sending a request to the target positioning base station to change the NES status to OFF.
In a thirteenth example, the method of the first example, further comprising based on the feedback information received by the LMF including information that is indicative that the target positioning base station has an NES status of ON, sending a request to the target positioning base station to adjust the PRS and to provide new PRS information to the LMF.
In a fourteenth example, the method of the first example, further comprising transmitting PRS information to the UE via NR-DL-TDOA-ProvideAssistanceData-r18.
In a fifteenth example, the method of the first example, wherein the request for positioning management information transmitted to the UE comprises a request to perform positioning measurements for a plurality of target positioning base stations, and wherein a higher priority for measurement at the UE is given to those of the plurality of target positioning base stations without NES functionality and/or without DTX.
In a sixteenth example, the method of the first example, wherein the request for positioning management information transmitted to the UE comprises a request to perform positioning measurements for a plurality of target positioning base stations and wherein the request comprises a request to perform positioning measurements only for those of the plurality of target positioning base stations without NES functionality and/or without DTX.
In a seventeenth example, one or more processors configured to perform any of the methods of the first through sixteenth examples.
In an eighteenth example a method for locating a user equipment (UE) , comprising at a base station serving as a positioning node for the UE, receiving a request for positioning information from a location management function (LMF) of a network, the request for positioning information comprising a request for at least one of first NES information indicative of a network energy savings (NES) status of a target positioning base station and second DTX information comprising a discontinuous transmission (DTX) status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station and transmitting feedback information to the LMF, the feedback information comprising at least one of the first NES information and the second DTX information, wherein the feedback information is configured to be used by the LMF in calculating a location of the UE.
In a nineteenth example, the method of the eighteenth example, wherein the request for positioning information comprises a request for both the first NES information and the second DTX information, and the feedback information comprises both the first NES information and the second DTX information.
In a twentieth example, the method of the eighteenth example, wherein at least one of the request for positioning information and the receiving of the feedback information is via the NR Positioning Protocol A (NRPPa) and is included in Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) cell information.
In a twenty first example, the method of the eighteenth example, wherein the first NES information is indicative of whether the target positioning base station enables NES functionality.
In a twenty second example, the method of the eighteenth example, wherein the second DTX information comprises one or more of a DTX cycle periodicity, a DTX pattern, an active window time offset, or an active window time duration.
In a twenty third example, the method of the eighteenth example, wherein the feedback information further comprises information relating to positioning reference signals (PRS information) , and wherein the PRS information comprises a pattern for the PRS and/or a time periodicity/offset for the PRS.
In a twenty fourth example, the method of the twenty third example, wherein the PRS information is for muted PRS with DTX or muted PRS with NES in an ON state.
In a twenty fifth example, the method of the twenty third example, wherein the PRS information is for PRS with NES mode and PRS with non-NES mode.
In a twenty sixth example, the method of the twenty third example, wherein the PRS information is for PRS with non-NES mode, but with a muting pattern to apply on top of the PRS when the NES mode is ON or DTX is used.
In a twenty seventh example, the method of the eighteenth example, further comprising based on the target positioning base station having an NES status of ON, transmitting, to the LMF, feedback information comprising the first NES information that indicates that the NES status is ON and based on a request from the LMF, changing the NES status to OFF.
In a twenty eighth example, the method of the eighteenth example, further comprising based on the target positioning base station having an NES status of ON, transmitting, to the LMF, feedback information comprising the first NES information that indicates that the NES status is ON and based on a request from the LMF, adjusting the PRS and providing new PRS information to the LMF.
In a twenty ninth example, the method of the eighteenth example, comprising receiving a request for a measurement gap from the UE, wherein the request comprises one or more of NES information for the target positioning base station, DTX information for the target positioning base station, and PRS muting information and deciding a configuration for the measurement gap to send to the UE based on one or more of the NES information, the DTX information, the PRS muting information, and a periodicity of the PRS.
In a thirtieth example, the method of the twenty ninth example, wherein the DTX information comprises a periodicity of a DTX cycle and a periodicity of the PRS, the method further comprising configuring, at the serving base station, the measurement gap to have a measurement gap repetition period (MGRP) based on the periodicity of the DTX cycle and the periodicity of the PRS.
In a thirty first example, one or more processors configured to perform any of the methods of the eighteenth through thirtieth examples.
In a thirty second example, a base station comprising a transceiver configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE) and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform any of the methods of the eighteenth through thirtieth examples.
In a thirty third example, a method for locating a user equipment (UE) , comprising: at the UE, receiving positioning information from at a location management function (LMF) of a network to be used in a request for positioning management information, the positioning information comprising at least one of first NES information indicative of a network energy savings (NES) status of a target positioning base station and second DTX information comprising a discontinuous transmission (DTX) status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station and performing a positioning measurement on the target positioning base station that is based at least in part on the first NES information and/or the second DTX information, and transmitting a positioning measurement report to the LMF.
In a thirty fourth example, the method of the thirty third example, wherein the positioning information comprises both the first NES information and the second DTX information.
In a thirty fifth example, the method of the thirty third example, wherein the receiving of the positioning information is via the NR Positioning Protocol A (NRPPa) and is included in Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) cell information.
In a thirty sixth example, the method of the thirty third example, wherein the first NES information is indicative of whether the target positioning base station enables NES functionality.
In a thirty seventh example, the method of the thirty third example, wherein the second DTX information comprises one or more of a DTX cycle periodicity, a DTX pattern, an active window time offset or an active window time duration.
In a thirty eighth example, the method of the thirty third example, wherein the feedback information further comprises information relating to positioning reference signals (PRS information) , wherein the PRS information comprises a pattern for the PRS and/or a time periodicity/offset for the PRS.
In a thirty ninth example, the method of the thirty eighth example, wherein the PRS information is for muted PRS with DTX or muted PRS with NES in an ON state.
In a fortieth example, the method of the thirty eighth example, wherein the PRS information is for PRS with NES mode and PRS with non-NES mode.
In a forty first example, the method of the thirty eighth example, wherein the PRS information is for PRS with non-NES mode, but with a muting pattern to apply on top of the PRS when the NES mode is ON or DTX is used.
In a forty second example, the method of the thirty third example, wherein the request for positioning management information transmitted to the UE comprises a request to perform positioning measurements for a plurality of target positioning base stations, the method further comprising assigning, at the UE, a higher priority for measurement to those of the plurality of target positioning base stations without NES functionality and/or without DTX.
In a forty third example, the method of the thirty third example, wherein the request for positioning management information comprises a request to perform positioning measurements for a plurality of target positioning base stations, the method further comprising performing, at the UE, measurements only for those of the target positioning base stations without NES functionality and/or without DTX.
In a forty fourth example, the method of the thirty third example, comprising determining, at the UE, that a measurement gap is needed for the performing of the positioning measurement and transmitting to a serving base station a request for a measurement gap, wherein the request for the measurement gap comprises one or more of NES information for the target positioning base station, DTX information for the target positioning base station, and PRS muting information.
In a forty fifth example, the method of the forty fourth example, further comprising receiving a measurement gap configuration from the serving base station and determining a PRS measurement sampling interval that is not less than a maximum of a PRS periodicity after muting, a DRX cycle configured by the serving base station, a DTX cycle of the target neighbor positioning base station, and a measurement gap repetition period (MGRP) configured by the serving base station.
In a forty sixth example, the method of the thirty third example, comprising determining, at the UE, that a measurement gap is not needed for the performing of the positioning measurement and determining a PRS measurement sampling interval that is not less than a maximum of a PRS periodicity after muting, a DRX cycle configured by the serving base station, and a DTX cycle of the target neighbor positioning base station.
In a forty seventh example, the method of the thirty third example, wherein the positioning measurement report transmitted to the LMF comprises a reference cell chosen by the UE.
In a forty eighth example, the method of the forty seventh example, wherein the reference cell chosen by the UE comprises a cell without NES status ON or DTX status ON.
In a forty ninth example, one or more processors configured to perform any of the methods of the thirty third through forty eighth examples.
In a fiftieth example, a user equipment (UE) comprising a transceiver configured to communicate with a network and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform any of the methods of the thirty third through forty eighth examples.
Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described exemplary aspects may be implemented in any suitable software or hardware configuration or combination thereof. An exemplary hardware platform for implementing the exemplary aspects may include, for example, an Intel x86 based platform with compatible operating system, a Windows OS, a Mac platform and MAC OS, a mobile device having an operating system such as iOS, Android, etc. In a further example, the exemplary aspects of the above described method may be embodied as a program containing lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on a processor or microprocessor.
It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users.
Although this application described various aspects each having different features in various combinations, those skilled in the art will understand that any of the features of one aspect may be combined with the features of the other aspects in any manner not specifically disclaimed or which is not functionally or logically inconsistent with the operation of the device or the stated functions of the disclosed aspects.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the present disclosure, without departing from the spirit or the scope of the disclosure. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalent.

Claims

A method for locating a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

at a location management function (LMF) of a network component:

transmitting a request to a target positioning base station for positioning information, the request for positioning information comprising a request for at least one of first network energy savings (NES) information indicative of a NES status of the target positioning base station and second discontinuous transmission (DTX) information comprising a DTX status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station;

receiving feedback information from the target positioning base station, the feedback information comprising at least one of the first NES information and the second DTX information;

transmitting the feedback information of the target pos itioning base station to the UE;

transmitting a request for positioning management information to the UE;

receiving a positioning measurement report from the UE that is based at least in part on the feedback information; and

calculating a location of the UE based on the positioning measurement report.
The method of claim 1, wherein the request for positioning information comprises a request for both the first NES information and the second DTX information, and the feedback information comprises both the first NES information and the second DTX information.
The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the request for positioning information and the receiving of the feedback information is via the NR Positioning Protocol A (NRPPa) and is included in Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) cell information.
The method of claim 1, wherein the first NES information is indicative of whether the target positioning base station enables NES functionality.
The method of claim 1, wherein the second DTX information comprises one or more of a DTX cycle periodicity, a DTX pattern, an active window time offset, or an active window time duration.
The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback information further comprises information relating to positioning reference signals (PRS information) , and wherein the PRS information comprises a pattern for the PRS and/or a time periodicity/offset for the PRS.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the feedback information received by the LMF including information that is indicative that the target positioning base station has an NES status of ON, sending a request to the target positioning base station to change the NES status to OFF.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the feedback information received by the LMF including information that is indicative that the target positioning base station has an NES status of ON, sending a request to the target positioning base station to adjust the PRS and to provide new PRS information to the LMF.
A method for locating a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

at a base station serving as a positioning node for the UE:

receiving a request for positioning information from a location management function (LMF) of a network, the request for pos itioning information comprising a request for at least one of first NES information indicative of a network energy savings (NES) status of a target positioning base station and second DTX information comprising a discontinuous transmission (DTX) status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station; and

transmitting feedback information to the LMF, the feedback information comprising at least one of the first NES information and the second DTX information, wherein the feedback information is configured to be used by the LMF in calculating a location of the UE.
The method of claim 9, wherein the request for positioning information comprises a request for both the first NES information and the second DTX information, and the feedback information comprises both the first NES information and the second DTX information.
The method of claim 9, wherein at least one of the request for positioning information and the receiving of the feedback information is via the NR Positioning Protocol A (NRPPa) and is included in Observed Time Difference Of Arrival (OTDOA) cell information.
The method of claim 17, wherein the first NES information is indicative of whether the target positioning base station enables NES functionality.
The method of claim 9, further comprising:

based on the target positioning base station having an NES status of ON, transmitting, to the LMF, feedback information comprising the first NES information that indicates that the NES status is ON; and

based on a request from the LMF, changing the NES status to OFF.
The method of claim 9, further comprising:

based on the target positioning base station having an NES status of ON, transmitting, to the LMF, feedback information comprising the first NES information that indicates that the NES status is ON; and

based on a request from the LMF, adjusting the PRS and providing new PRS information to the LMF.
A method for locating a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

at the UE:

receiving positioning information from at a location management function (LMF) of a network to be used in a request for positioning management information, the positioning information comprising at least one of first NES information indicative of a network energy savings (NES) status of a target positioning base station and second DTX information comprising a discontinuous transmission (DTX) status or DTX pattern of the target positioning base station;

performing a positioning measurement on the target positioning base station that is based at least in part on the first NES information and/or the second DTX information; and

transmitting a positioning measurement report to the LMF.
The method of claim 15, wherein the positioning information comprises both the first NES information and the second DTX information.
The method of claim 15, wherein the request for positioning management information transmitted to the UE comprises a request to perform positioning measurements for a plurality of target positioning base stations, the method further comprising:

assigning, at the UE, a higher priority for measurement to those of the plurality of target positioning base stations without NES functionality and/or without DTX.
The method of claim 15, wherein the request for positioning management information comprises a request to perform positioning measurements for a plurality of target positioning base stations, the method further comprising:

performing, at the UE, measurements only for those of the target positioning base stations without NES functionality and/or without DTX.
The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining, at the UE, that a measurement gap is needed for the performing of the positioning measurement; and

transmitting to a serving base station a request for a measurement gap, wherein the request for the measurement gap comprises one or more of NES information for the target positioning base station, DTX information for the target positioning base station, and PRS muting information.
The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining, at the UE, that a measurement gap is not needed for the performing of the positioning measurement; and

determining a PRS measurement sampling interval that is not less than a maximum of a PRS periodicity after muting, a DRX cycle configured by the serving base station, and a DTX cycle of the target neighbor positioning base station.