Methods and apparatus for hybrid positioning measurement and reporting using different types of physical signals

A user equipment (UE) configured to support positioning of the UE in a wireless network, comprising:

• a wireless transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with entities in the wireless network;
• at least one memory;
• at least one processor coupled to the wireless transceiver and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
• receive positioning assistance data comprising a first set of information related to positioning reference signals (PRS) and a second set of information related to non-positioning reference signals (non-PRS), wherein the non-PRS are downlink or sidelink signals transmitted for purposes unrelated to positioning, the positioning assistance data further comprises a list of PRS identifiers (PRS-IDs), wherein the non-PRS is associated with PRS-IDs;
• perform positioning measurements based on the positioning assistance data using the non-PRS;
• and
• send a report of measurement information to a network node in the wireless network, the measurement information using the PRS-IDs associated with the non-PRS to identify the non-PRS used for the positioning measurements.

A location server configured to support positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network, comprising:

• an external interface configured to communicate with entities in the wireless network;
• at least one memory;
• at least one processor coupled to the external interface and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
• obtain a first set of information related to positioning reference signals (PRS) and a second set of information related to non-positioning reference signals (non-PRS), a list of PRS identifiers (PRS-IDs) and an association of the non-PRS with the PRS-IDs, wherein the non-PRS are downlink or sidelink signals transmitted for purposes unrelated to positioning, wherein the UE receives the association of the non-PRS with the PRS-IDs and performs downlink positioning measurements using the non-PRS;
• and
• receive a report of measurement information from the UE, the measurement information using the PRS-IDs associated with the non-PRS to identify the non-PRS used for the positioning measurements performed by the UE.

A base station configured to support positioning of a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network, comprising:

• an external interface configured to wirelessly communicate with entities in the wireless network;
• at least one memory;
• at least one processor coupled to the external interface and the at least one memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to:
• send a first message to a location server for the UE, the first message comprising an association of non-positioning reference signals (non-PRS) with positioning reference signal (PRS) identifiers (PRS-IDs), wherein the non-PRS are downlink or sidelink signals transmitted for purposes unrelated to positioning;
• and
• send a positioning assistance data to the UE comprising the association of non-PRS with PRS-IDs, wherein the UE performs positioning measurements using the non-PRS.