Positioning enhancements for narrowband internet of things
View Patent ↗Systems and methods of providing location techniques for a NB UE are described. The UE transmits, to a location server, a capability message that indicates position capabilities of the UE to support different positioning methods and common information related to the position methods, including that the UE is a NB UE. The UE receives a request for location information that includes a request for positioning measurements for a particular positioning method, a NB message size limit that indicates a limit on an amount of location information to return, and a NB response time to provide the positioning measurements. At least one of the response time or message size limit is different than for the NB UE than for non-NB UEs. The UE enters an idle state, performs the measurements, and transmits at expiry of or before the NB response time, a message containing the measurements.
1. An apparatus of user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:
processing circuitry arranged to:
decode a request for location information Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) message from a location server, the request for location information LPP message comprising a request for positioning measurements and a narrowband (NB) response time to provide the positioning measurements;
decode a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection release message from an evolved NodeB (eNB) after reception of the request for location information LPP message;
enter an idle state in response to reception of the RRC connection release message;
after entry into the idle state, perform measurements indicated by the request for location information LPP message; and
encode, for transmission to the location server within the NB response time to obtain the positioning measurements, at least one LPP Provide Location Information message containing the positioning measurements; and
a memory configured to store the NB response time and the positioning measurements.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the NB response time is longer than a non-NB response time.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the request for location information LPP message further comprises a NB message size limit that indicates a limit on an amount of location information the UE is to return in response to the request for location information LPP message.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
encode, for transmission to the location server, a capability message that indicates position capabilities of the UE to support different positioning methods and information common to a plurality of the position methods, the capability message received prior to reception of the request for location information LPP message, the request for location information LPP message dependent on the position capabilities in the capability message.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein:
the information comprises an indication of a type of the UE, the type of the UE being NB.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
decode, from the location server, assistance data to perform the measurements, the assistance data specific to a particular positioning method indicated by the location server, the assistance data received prior to reception of the request for location information LPP message.
7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein:
the particular positioning method is Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA).
8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein:
the assistance data comprises NB reference cell information and NB neighbor cell information, and the NB reference cell information and NB neighbor cell information are contained in different information elements than reference cell information and neighbor cell information for non-NB UEs.
9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein:
the particular positioning method is Enhanced Cell-ID (E-CID), and
the measurements comprise at least one of Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) for inter-frequency neighbor cells.
10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:
resume a signalling connection before transmission of the positioning measurements.
11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:
the processing circuitry comprises a baseband processor configured to encode transmissions to, and decode transmissions from, the eNB.
12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a user equipment (UE), the one or more processors to configure the UE to, when the instructions are executed:
transmit to a location server, a capability message that indicates position capabilities of the UE to support different positioning methods and common information related to a plurality of the position methods, wherein the information comprises an indication of a type of the UE, the type being narrowband (NB);
receive a request for location information Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) message from a location server after transmission of the capability message, the request for location information LPP message comprising a request for positioning measurements and a NB response time to provide the positioning measurements, wherein the NB response time is longer than 128 seconds;
receive a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection release message from an evolved NodeB (eNB) after reception of the request for location information LPP message;
enter an idle state in response to reception of the RRC connection release message;
after entry into the idle state, perform measurements indicated by the request for location information LPP message; and
transmit, to the location server at expiry of or before the NB response time, at least one LPP Provide Location Information message containing the positioning measurements.
13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein:
the request for location information LPP message further comprises a NB message size limit that indicates a limit on an amount of location information the NB UE is to return in response to the request for location information LPP message.
14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein:
the instructions further configure the one or more processors to configure the UE to receive, from the location server, assistance data to perform the measurements, the assistance data specific to a particular positioning method indicated by the location server, the assistance data received prior to reception of the request for location information LPP message, and
when the particular positioning method is Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA), the assistance data comprises NB reference cell information and NB neighbor cell information, and the NB reference cell information and NB neighbor cell information are contained in different information elements than reference cell information and neighbor cell information for non-NB UEs.
15. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
decoding a request for location information Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) message from a location server, the request for location information LPP message comprising a request for positioning measurements and a narrowband (NB) response time to provide the positioning measurements;
decoding a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection release message from an evolved NodeB (eNB) after reception of the request for location information LPP message;
entering an idle state in response to reception of the RRC connection release message;
after entering into the idle state, performing measurements indicated by the request for location information LPP message; and
encoding, for transmission to the location server within the NB response time to obtain the positioning measurements, at least one LPP Provide Location Information message containing the positioning measurements; and
storing the NB response time and the positioning measurements.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein:
the NB response time is longer than a non-NB response time.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein:
the request for location information LPP message further comprises a NB message size limit that indicates a limit on an amount of location information the UE is to return in response to the request for location information LPP message.
18. The method of claim 15 , the method further comprising:
encoding, for transmission to the location server, a capability message that indicates position capabilities of the UE to support different positioning methods and information common to a plurality of the position methods, the capability message received prior to reception of the request for location information LPP message, the request for location information LPP message dependent on the position capabilities in the capability message.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein:
the information comprises an indication of a type of the UE, the type of the UE being NB.
20. The method of claim 15 , the method further comprising:
decoding, from the location server, assistance data to perform the measurements, the assistance data specific to a particular positioning method indicated by the location server, the assistance data received prior to reception of the request for location information LPP message.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein:
the particular positioning method is Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA).
22. The method of claim 21 , wherein:
the assistance data comprises NB reference cell information and NB neighbor cell information, and the NB reference cell information and NB neighbor cell information are contained in different information elements than reference cell information and neighbor cell information for non-NB UEs.