Method and apparatus for supporting positioning measurements
A method and apparatus for supporting positioning measurements. The methods include designating a reference cell, choosing a positioning signal, and, for inter-frequency measurements, determining which inter-frequency cell to measure and how to make such an inter-frequency positioning measurement.
1. A method for supporting positioning measurements, comprising:
designating a base station cell as a reference cell;
designating at least one other base station cell as a non-reference cell;
transmitting reference cell information and non-reference cell information to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that makes the positioning measurements with respect to the reference cell and the non-reference cell, wherein the positioning measurements are used to determine a position of the WTRU; and
transmitting information for the non-reference cell that indicates that a transmission of a positioning reference signal (PRS) by the non-reference cell is synchronized with a transmission of a PRS by the reference cell.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference cell is not a serving cell.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting information for the reference cell to the WTRU on a condition that the reference cell supports PRS.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the information for the reference cell includes subframe allocation information.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising detecting an absence of a receipt of the information for the reference cell and determining non-support of PRS in accordance with the detecting.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting at least one carrier frequency with respect to at least one interfrequency cell being used for the positioning measurements.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the at least one carrier frequency is provided as assistance data.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein assistance data is signaled via one of radio resource control or long term evolution positioning protocol signaling.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting an absence of information for a neighboring cell and determining that PRS information of the neighboring cell is identical to PRS information of the reference cell.
10. A method for supporting positioning measurements at a wireless device, comprising:
receiving reference cell information associated with a reference cell from a network, wherein the reference cell corresponds to a base station cell;
receiving non-reference cell information associated with a non-reference cell, wherein the non-reference cell corresponds to one other base station cell;
receiving information for the non-reference cell that indicates that a transmission of a positioning reference signal (PRS) by the non-reference cell is synchronized with a transmission of a PRS by the reference cell; and
making positioning measurements using the reference cell information and the non-reference cell information, wherein the positioning measurements are used to determine a position of the wireless device.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving information for the reference cell on a condition that the reference cell supports PRS.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the information for the reference cell includes subframe allocation information.
13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining lack of positioning reference signal (PRS) support by the reference cell from lack of signaling of PRS information for the reference cell.
14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving at least one carrier frequency with respect to at least one inter-frequency cell being used for positioning measurements.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the at least one carrier frequency is provided as assistance data.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the assistance data is signaled via one of radio resource control or long term evolution positioning protocol signaling.
17. A wireless device, comprising:
a receiver configured to receive reference cell information associated with a reference cell from a network, wherein the reference cell corresponds to a base station cell;
the receiver configured to receive non-reference cell information associated with a non-reference cell, wherein the non-reference cell corresponds to one other base station cell;
a processor in communication with the receiver;
a transmitter in communication with the processor;
the processor configured to make positioning measurements using the reference cell information and the non-reference cell information;
the processor further configured to use the positioning measurements to determine a position of the wireless device; and
the receiver further configured to receive information for the non-reference cell that indicates that a transmission of a positioning reference signal (PRS) by the non-reference cell is synchronized with a transmission of a PRS by the reference cell.
18. The wireless device of claim 17 , wherein the reference cell is not a serving cell.
19. The wireless device of claim 17 , wherein the receiver is configured to receive information for the reference cell on a condition that the reference cell supports PRS, wherein the information includes PRS subframe allocation information.