IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,388,590
Granted Patent B2
US 12,388,590 · App. 18/044,731 · Granted Aug 12, 2025

User equipment positioning

Inventors: Joerg Schaepperle (Stuttgart, DE); Juha Pekka Karjalainen (Sotkamo, FI); Mikko Säily (Laukkoski, FI)
Assignee: NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY
H04L5/0048H04L27/0014H04L2027/0067
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,388,590
App. No.
18/044,731
Granted
Aug 12, 2025
Kind
B2
Abstract

Examples of the present disclosure relate to User Equipment positioning. Certain examples provide an apparatus ( 10 ), for example such as a RAN node ( 120 ) or a Location server ( 140 ), configured to: determine Position Reference Signal, PRS, configuration information ( 605, 705 ) comprising information for enabling a network element, for example such as a UE ( 110 ) or a RAN node ( 120 ), of a RAN ( 100 ) to: send a PRS ( 200 ), wherein the PRS comprises: a first portion ( 201 ) of the PRS configured to be sent in a first time interval (T 1 ) over a first frequency range (fr 1 ); a second portion ( 202 ) of the PRS configured to be sent in a second time interval (T 2 ), different to the first time interval, over a second frequency range (fr 2 ), wherein the second frequency range partially overlaps the first frequency range thereby defining an overlapping frequency range (ofr); and wherein a subrange of frequencies (ufr) of the second frequency range is not used to send the second portion of the PRS; and send, the PRS configuration information to the network element of the RAN.

Claims (49)

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program instructions;

the at least one memory and the computer program instructions configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:

determining Position Reference Signal, PRS, configuration information comprising information for enabling a network element of a Radio Access Network, RAN, to:

determine a structure of a PRS, wherein the structure of the PRS comprises at least a first portion of the PRS and a second portion of the PRS, and wherein:

the first portion of the PRS is configured to be sent in a first time interval over a first frequency range, and

the second portion of the PRS is configured to be sent in a second time interval, different to the first time interval, over a second frequency range, wherein the second frequency range partially overlaps the first frequency range thereby defining an overlapping frequency range; and

sending, the PRS configuration information to the network element of the RAN.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the subrange of frequencies of the second frequency range is adjacent, in the frequency domain, the overlapping frequency range.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a bandwidth of the subrange of frequencies of the second frequency range is substantially the same as a bandwidth of the overlapping frequency range.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein one or more resources to be used in sending the first portion of the PRS are common, in the frequency domain, to one or more resources to be used in sending the second portion of the PRS.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the first portion of the PRS is configured to be sent using a first plurality of resources of a first resource block; and

the second portion of the PRS is configured to be sent using a second plurality of resources of a second resource block and one or more resources of the first resource block.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein:

the one or more resources of the first resource block to be used to send a section of the second portion of the PRS are common, in the frequency domain, to one or more of the resources of the first resource block to be used to send a section of the first portion of the PRS.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein:

the common resources, in the frequency domain, to be used for sending the sections of the first and second portions of the PRS are adjacent a resource block boundary, in the frequency domain, between the first resource block and the second resource block.

8. A method comprising:

determining Position Reference Signal, PRS, configuration information comprising information for enabling a network element of a Radio Access Network, RAN, to:

determine a structure of a PRS, wherein the structure of the PRS comprises:

a first portion of the PRS configured to be sent in a first time interval over a first frequency range, and

a second portion of the PRS configured to be sent in a second time interval, different to the first time interval, over a second frequency range, wherein the second frequency range partially overlaps the first frequency range thereby defining an overlapping frequency range; and

sending, the PRS configuration information to the network element of the RAN.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the subrange of frequencies of the second frequency range is adjacent, in the frequency domain, the overlapping frequency range.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein a bandwidth of the subrange of frequencies of the second frequency range is substantially the same as a bandwidth of the overlapping frequency range.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein one or more resources to be used in sending the first portion of the PRS are common, in the frequency domain, to one or more resources to be used in sending the second portion of the PRS.

12. The method of claim 8 , wherein:

the first portion of the PRS is configured to be sent using a first plurality of resources of a first resource block; and

the second portion of the PRS is configured to be sent using a second plurality of resources of a second resource block and one or more resources of the first resource block.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein:

the one or more resources of the first resource block to be used to send a section of the second portion of the PRS are common, in the frequency domain, to one or more of the resources of the first resource block to be used to send a section of the first portion of the PRS.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein:

the common resources, in the frequency domain, to be used for sending the sections of the first and second portions of the PRS are adjacent a resource block boundary, in the frequency domain, between the first resource block and the second resource block.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with instructions that, when performed by at least one processor, causes at least the following to be performed:

determining Position Reference Signal, PRS, configuration information comprising information for enabling a network element of a Radio Access Network, RAN, to:

determine a structure of a PRS, wherein the structure of the PRS comprises:

a first portion of the PRS configured to be sent in a first time interval over a first frequency range, and

a second portion of the PRS configured to be sent in a second time interval, different to the first time interval, over a second frequency range, wherein the second frequency range partially overlaps the first frequency range thereby defining an overlapping frequency range; and

sending, the PRS configuration information to the network element of the RAN.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the subrange of frequencies of the second frequency range is adjacent, in the frequency domain, the overlapping frequency range.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein a bandwidth of the subrange of frequencies of the second frequency range is substantially the same as a bandwidth of the overlapping frequency range.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein one or more resources to be used in sending the first portion of the PRS are common, in the frequency domain, to one or more resources to be used in sending the second portion of the PRS.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 , wherein:

the first portion of the PRS is configured to be sent using a first plurality of resources of a first resource block; and

the second portion of the PRS is configured to be sent using a second plurality of resources of a second resource block and one or more resources of the first resource block.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19 , wherein:

the one or more resources of the first resource block to be used to send a section of the second portion of the PRS are common, in the frequency domain, to one or more of the resources of the first resource block to be used to send a section of the first portion of the PRS.

Assignments (4)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 5, 2023
From: SCHAEPPERLE, JOERG
To: NOKIA SOLUTIONS AND NETWORKS GMBH & CO. KG
Reel/Frame 063224/0833 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 5, 2023
From: PEKKA KARJALAINEN, JUHA; SÄILY, MIKKO
To: NOKIA SOLUTIONS AND NETWORKS OY
Reel/Frame 063224/0836 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 5, 2023
From: NOKIA SOLUTIONS AND NETWORKS GMBH & CO. KG
To: NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY
Reel/Frame 063224/0844 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 5, 2023
From: NOKIA SOLUTIONS AND NETWORKS OY
To: NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY
Reel/Frame 063224/0851 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 63092786 · Oct 16, 2020
Related Publication 20230370221A1 · Nov 16, 2023
References Cited (18)
US 20180212732A1 · You et al. · 2018 [cited by applicant]
US 20190253282A1 · Hadaschik et al. · 2019 [cited by applicant]
US 20200169367A1 · Palanivelu · 2020 [cited by examiner]
US 20200235877A1 · Manolakos et al. · 2020 [cited by applicant]
US 20210067990A1 · Opshaug · 2021 [cited by examiner]
CN 109586869A · 2019 [cited by applicant]
WO 2020146853A1 · 2020 [cited by applicant]
WO 2020168253A1 · 2020 [cited by applicant]
“3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical layer procedures for data (Release 16)”, 3GPP TS 38.214, V16.2.0, Jun. 2020, pp. 1-163. [cited by applicant]
“3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Physical channels and modulation (Release 16)”, 3GPP TS 38.211, V16.2.0, Jun. 2020, pp. 1-131. [cited by applicant]
“3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol specification (Release 16)”, 3GPP TS 38.331, V16.1.0, Jul. 2020, pp. 1-906. [cited by applicant]
“New SID on NR Positioning Enhancements”, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #86, RP-193237, Agenda: 9.1.1, Qualcomm Incorporated, Dec. 9-12, 2019, 4 pages. [cited by applicant]
“New SID on support of reduced capability NR devices”, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #86, RP-193238, Agenda: 9.1.1, Ericsson, Dec. 9-12, 2019, 5 pages. [cited by applicant]
Lin et al., “Random Access Preamble Design and Detection for 3GPP Narrowband IoT Systems”, IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, vol. 5, No. 6, Dec. 2016, pp. 640-643. [cited by applicant]
“Study on New Radio Access Technology”, 3GPP TSG RAN meeting #75, RP-170376, NTT Docomo, Inc, Mar. 6-9, 2017, 157 pages. [cited by applicant]
International Search Report and Written Opinion received for corresponding Patent Cooperation Treaty Application No. 8 PCT/EP2021/073556, dated Dec. 3, 2021. 11 pages. [cited by applicant]
Communication pursuant to Article 94(3) EPC issued for corresponding European Patent Application No. 21766175.0, dated Feb. 27, 2024, 4 pages. [cited by applicant]
Notice of Allowance received for corresponding European Patent Application No. 21766175.0, dated Jun. 5, 2025, 7 pages. [cited by applicant]