Terminal device, infrastructure equipment and methods

Infrastructure equipment for use with a wireless telecommunications network, the infrastructure equipment comprising transmitter circuitry configured to transmit, to a terminal device of the wireless telecommunications network, a signal comprising positioning assistance information for allowing a spatial position of the terminal device to be determined using the positioning assistance information and a predetermined positioning scheme associated with the positioning assistance information, the positioning scheme comprising one or more of instructions and additional information for determining the position of the terminal device using the positioning assistance information,

• wherein the positioning assistance information is comprised within a system information block (SIB) of the transmitted signal,
• wherein the SIB is associated with a characteristic indicative to the terminal device of a temporal validity of the transmitted positioning assistance information so as to allow the terminal device to determine, at a time at which the received positioning assistance information is temporally valid, the spatial position of the terminal device using the received positioning assistance information and the predetermined positioning scheme,
• wherein the positioning assistance information is one of a plurality of different types of positioning assistance information,
• wherein each said type of positioning assistance information is associated with a respective temporal validity, and
• wherein the characteristic indicative to the terminal device of a temporal validity of the transmitted positioning assistance information is the type of positioning assistance information, and the type of the positioning assistance information is associated with a time corresponding to the respective temporal validity for determining the temporal validity of the positioning assistance information of the type to be used with the predetermined positioning scheme in determining the spatial position of the terminal device.

A terminal device for use with a wireless telecommunications network, the terminal device comprising:

• receiver circuitry configured to receive, from infrastructure equipment of the wireless telecommunications network, a signal comprising positioning assistance information for allowing a spatial position of the terminal device to be determined using the positioning assistance information and a predetermined positioning scheme associated with the positioning assistance information, the positioning scheme comprising one or more of instructions and additional information for determining the position of the terminal device using the positioning assistance information, wherein the positioning assistance information is comprised within a system information block (SIB) of the received signal;
• and
• processing circuitry configured:
• to determine a characteristic of the SIB and a geographical region over which the received positioning assistance information is valid, and
• to determine, when the terminal devices is located within the geographical region over which the received positioning assistance information is valid, the spatial position of the terminal device using the received positioning assistance information and the predetermined positioning scheme,
• wherein the positioning assistance information is one of a plurality of different types of positioning assistance information,
• wherein each said type of positioning assistance information is associated with a respective temporal validity, and
• wherein the characteristic of the SIB of the received signal is the type of positioning assistance information, and the type of the positioning assistance information is associated with a time corresponding to the respective temporal validity for determining the temporal validity of the positioning assistance information of the type to be used with the predetermined positioning scheme in determining the spatial position of the terminal device.