# US 12,216,212 B2 · Positioning reference signal repetition duration for non-terrestrial networks > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,216,212 B2 - Document ID: US12216212B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/757,931 - Filed: 2020-01-14 - Published: 2023-01-26 - Granted: 2025-02-04 - Earliest claimed: 2020-01-14 - Assignees: QUALCOMM Incorporated - Applicants: QUALCOMM Incorporated - Inventors: Jun Ma; Qiang Wu; Huilin Xu; Xiao Feng Wang; Iyab Issam Sakhnini; Dan Zhang; Yiqing Cao - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12216212B2 ## CPC - G01S 5/06: Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements (G01S5/12 takes precedence) - G01S 19/115: {Airborne or satellite based pseudolites or repeaters} - G01S 1/0428: {Signal details} - G01S 5/0205: {Details} - G01S 5/0236: {Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac} - H04L 5/0048: {Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver (allocation of control signalling H04L5/0053; use of control signalling H04L5/0091)} - H04W 64/00: Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management - H04W 84/06: Airborne or Satellite Networks (space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185) - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract Disclosed are techniques for positioning. A receiver measures a time of arrival (ToA) of a positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission of a first PRS sequence transmitted by a first transmitter, measures a ToA of a PRS transmission of a second PRS sequence transmitted by a second transmitter, and determines an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) as a difference between the ToA of the PRS transmission of the first PRS sequence and the ToA of the PRS transmission of the second PRS sequence, wherein the OTDOA is less than half a maximum differential delay expected between the PRS transmission of the first PRS sequence and the PRS transmission of the second PRS sequence, and wherein a repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence is greater than 10 milliseconds (ms) and at least twice the maximum differential delay. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method of positioning performed by a receiver device, comprising: measuring a time of arrival (ToA) of a positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission of a first PRS sequence transmitted by a first transmitter; measuring a ToA of a PRS transmission of a second PRS sequence transmitted by a second transmitter; and determining an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) between the PRS transmission of the first PRS sequence and the PRS transmission of the second PRS sequence as a difference between the ToA of the PRS transmission of the first PRS sequence and the ToA of the PRS transmission of the second PRS sequence, wherein the OTDOA is less than a maximum differential delay expected between reception at the receiver device of a pair of PRS transmissions transmitted by a pair of transmitter devices during the same radio frame, and wherein a repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence is greater than 10 milliseconds (ms) and at least twice the maximum differential delay. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence from a network entity. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the repetition duration is received from the network entity in a higher layer configuration, in a synchronization signal block (SSB), in a system information block (SIB), or any combination thereof. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the network entity is one of the first transmitter and the second transmitter. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, wherein the network entity is a location server. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein an initial state of a generator function for the first PRS sequence is based on a system frame number or an index of the first PRS sequence. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the initial state is calculated as: cinit=228·└NIDPRS/512┘+220(nrf mod 2)+210·(7·(ns+1)+l+1)·(2·(NIDPRS mod 512)+1)+2·(NBS mod 512)+NCP, where NIDPRS is a PRS identifier, ns is a slot number, nrf is a frame number, and NCP indicates a cyclic prefix (CP) type. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence is the same for all beams of all transmitters in the same communication network. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence depends on a location of the receiver device, a location of the first transmitter, a location of the second transmitter, or any combination thereof. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The method of claim 9, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence is different at different latitudes of the first transmitter and/or the second transmitter. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence depends on a beam on which the first PRS sequence is transmitted and/or a beam on which the second PRS sequence is transmitted. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence depends on an altitude of the first transmitter and/or the second transmitter. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence is different depending on whether the first transmitter and/or the second transmitter is in a low earth orbit (LEO), a medium earth orbit (MEO), a high earth orbit (HEO), or a geostationary earth orbit (GEO). ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: reporting the OTDOA to a positioning entity. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the receiver device is a user equipment (UE) and the first transmitter and the second transmitter are satellites or airborne vehicles. ### Claim 16 A method of positioning performed by a transmitter device, comprising: generating a first positioning reference signal (PRS) sequence, wherein a repetition duration of the first PRS sequence is greater than 10 milliseconds (ms) and at least twice a maximum differential delay, wherein the maximum differential delay is a maximum amount of time expected to occur between reception at a receiver device of a pair of PRS transmissions simultaneously transmitted by a pair of transmitter devices during the same radio frame; and transmitting the PRS sequence to the receiver device. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, further comprising: transmitting the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence to the receiver device. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The method of claim 17, wherein the repetition duration is transmitted in a higher layer configuration, in a synchronization signal block (SSB), in a system information block (SIB), or any combination thereof. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein an initial state of a generator function for the first PRS sequence is based on a system frame number or an index of the first PRS sequence. ### Claim 20 (depends on 19) The method of claim 19, wherein the initial state is calculated as: cinit=228·└NIDPRS/512┘+220(nrf mod 2)+210·(7·(ns+1)+l+1)·(2·(NIDPRS mod 512)+1)+2·(NIDPRS mod 512)+NCP, where NIDPRS is a PRS identifier, ns is a slot number, nrf is a frame number, and NCP indicates a cyclic prefix (CP) type. ### Claim 21 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence is the same for all beams of all transmitters in the same communication network. ### Claim 22 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence depends on a location of the receiver device and/or a location of the transmitter device. ### Claim 23 (depends on 22) The method of claim 22, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence is different at different latitudes of the transmitter device. ### Claim 24 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence depends on a beam on which the first PRS sequence is transmitted. ### Claim 25 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence depends on an altitude of the transmitter device. ### Claim 26 (depends on 25) The method of claim 25, wherein the repetition duration of the first PRS sequence is different depending on whether the transmitter device is in a low earth orbit (LEO), a medium earth orbit (MEO), a high earth orbit (HEO), or a geostationary earth orbit (GEO). ### Claim 27 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, wherein the receiver device is a user equipment (UE) and the transmitter device is a satellite or an airborne vehicle. ### Claim 28 An apparatus comprising at least one processor and memory coupled to the at least one processor, the at least one processor and memory being configured to: measure a time of arrival (ToA) of a positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission of a first PRS sequence transmitted by a first transmitter; measure a ToA of a PRS transmission of a second PRS sequence transmitted by a second transmitter; and determine an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) between the PRS transmission of the first PRS sequence and the PRS transmission of the second PRS sequence as a difference between the ToA of the PRS transmission of the first PRS sequence and the ToA of the PRS transmission of the second PRS sequence, wherein the OTDOA is less than a maximum differential delay expected between reception at the receiver device of a pair of PRS transmissions transmitted by a pair of transmitter devices during the same radio frame, and wherein a repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence is greater than 10 milliseconds (ms) and at least twice the maximum differential delay. ### Claim 29 An apparatus comprising: means for measuring a time of arrival (ToA) of a positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission of a first PRS sequence transmitted by a first transmitter; means for measuring a ToA of a PRS transmission of a second PRS sequence transmitted by a second transmitter; and means for determining an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) between the PRS transmission of the first PRS sequence and the PRS transmission of the second PRS sequence as a difference between the ToA of the PRS transmission of the first PRS sequence and the ToA of the PRS transmission of the second PRS sequence, wherein the OTDOA is less than a maximum differential delay expected between reception at the receiver device of a pair of PRS transmissions transmitted by a pair of transmitter devices during the same radio frame, and wherein a repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence is greater than 10 milliseconds (ms) and at least twice the maximum differential delay. ### Claim 30 A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions which when executed by a computer or processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform functions in accordance with the instructions, comprising: instructions to measure a time of arrival (ToA) of a positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission of a first PRS sequence transmitted by a first transmitter; instructions to measure a ToA of a PRS transmission of a second PRS sequence transmitted by a second transmitter; and instructions to determine an observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) between the PRS transmission of the first PRS sequence and the PRS transmission of the second PRS sequence as a difference between the ToA of the PRS transmission of the first PRS sequence and the ToA of the PRS transmission of the second PRS sequence, wherein the OTDOA is less than a maximum differential delay expected between reception at the receiver device of a pair of PRS transmissions transmitted by a pair of transmitter devices during the same radio frame, and wherein a repetition duration of the first PRS sequence and the second PRS sequence is greater than 10 milliseconds (ms) and at least twice the maximum differential delay.