Method and apparatus for fingerprinting positioning

1. A method implemented at a location server, the method comprising:

deciding inter-frequency measurement information for positioning a user equipment, UE, the inter-frequency measurement information comprising:

at least one frequency in a cell that is different from a serving cell of the UE, for inter-frequency measurements; and

one or both of a first indication indicating that the inter-frequency measurements should be collected based on a non-positioning event corresponding to a mobility/traffic management and a second indication indicating that compulsory periodically triggered inter-frequency measurements should be collected based on a positioning request for positioning the UE;

sending a first measurement request containing the inter-frequency measurement information to an access node of the serving cell;

receiving a first measurement result from the access node, the first measurement result comprising inter-frequency measurements for a plurality or all of the at least one frequency in the cell that is different from of the serving cell of the UE, the measurements being marked with the cell that is different from the serving cell of the UE and a third indication indicating whether the measurements are collected based on the non-positioning event or whether the measurements are collected based on the positioning request; and

determining a position of the UE based on the first measurement result, determining the position of the UE based on the first measurement result comprising:

calculating similarities between measurements in the first measurement result and corresponding signatures recorded in a location database; and

determining the position of the UE based on the calculated similarities.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inter-frequency measurement information further comprises a number of the at least one frequency and a number of neighboring cells of each of the at least one frequency.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a location request containing an identifier of the serving cell from a mobility management node;

retrieving a first set of frequencies associated with the serving cell from a location database;

wherein the deciding inter-frequency measurement information step comprises: selecting a plurality or all of the first set of frequencies as the at least one frequency.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the selecting step is performed based on operator configuration, UE's capability to support multi radio frequency, positioning accuracy requirement, or appearance probabilities of the frequencies in the serving cell.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

sending a measurement request for the frequency of the serving cell to the access node;

receiving a second measurement result from the access node;

determining a preliminary position of the UE based on the second measurement result;

retrieving a second set of frequencies associated with the preliminary position from a location database;

wherein the deciding inter-frequency measurement information step comprises: selecting a plurality or all of the second set of frequencies as the at least one frequency.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first measurement request comprises a LPPa E-CID Measurement Initiation Request or a NRPPa E-CID Measurement Initiation Request and the first measurement result is received via a LPPa E-CID Measurement Initiation Response or a NRPPa E-CID Measurement Initiation response.

7. An apparatus implemented in a location server, the apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memories comprising computer program codes,

the one or more memories and the computer program codes configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus at least to:

decide inter-frequency measurement information for positioning a user equipment, UE, the inter-frequency measurement information comprises comprising:

at least one frequency in a cell that is different from a serving cell of the UE, for inter-frequency measurements; and

one or both of a first indication indicating that the inter-frequency measurements should be collected based on a non-positioning event corresponding to a mobility/traffic management and a second indication indicating that compulsory periodically triggered inter-frequency measurements should be collected based on a positioning request for positioning the UE;

send a first measurement request containing the inter-frequency measurement information to an access node of the serving cell;

receive a first measurement result from the access node, the first measurement result comprising inter-frequency measurements for a plurality or all of the at least one frequency in the cell that is different from the serving cell of the UE, and the measurements are marked with the cell that is different from the serving cell of the UE and a third indication indicating whether the measurements are collected based on the non-positioning event or whether the measurements are collected based on the positioning request; and

determine a position of the UE based on the first measurement result, determining the position of the UE based on the first measurement result comprising:

calculating similarities between measurements in the first measurement result and corresponding signatures recorded in a location database; and

determining the position of the UE based on the calculated similarities.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the one or more memories and the computer program codes are configured to, with the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:

receive a location request containing an identifier of the serving cell from a mobility management node; and

retrieve a first set of frequencies associated with the serving cell from a location database;

wherein the deciding inter-frequency measurement information step comprises: selecting a plurality or all of the first set of frequencies as the at least one frequency.