US-12621110-B2 - Methods of latency reduction for positioning-specific measurement reporting

Abstract

A method of latency reduction for positioning-specific measurement reporting is provided. A User Equipment (UE) performs first measurements on Positioning Reference Signals (PRSs) to obtain first measurement results in response to receiving a location information request from a mobile communication network. The UE uses a first configured grant to transmit a first measurement report including the first measurement results to the mobile communication network. The UE performs second measurements on PRSs to obtain second measurement results in response to the same location information request. The UE uses the first configured grant to transmit a second measurement report including the second measurement results to the mobile communication network, without triggering a Scheduling Request (SR) procedure or a Buffer Status Report (BSR) procedure.

Inventors

• Guan-Yu Lin
• Chiao-Yao Chuang

Assignees

• MEDIATEK INC.

Dates

Publication Date

20260505

Application Date

20211014

Claims (18)

1. 1 . A method, executed by a User Equipment (UE) communicatively connected to a mobile communication network, the method comprising: performing first measurements on Positioning Reference Signals (PRSs) to obtain first measurement results in response to receiving a location information request from the mobile communication network; using a first configured grant to transmit a first measurement report comprising the first measurement results to the mobile communication network; performing second measurements on PRSs to obtain second measurement results in response to the location information request; using the first configured grant to transmit a second measurement report comprising the second measurement results to the mobile communication network, without triggering a Scheduling Request (SR) procedure or a Buffer Status Report (BSR) procedure; transmitting a Scheduling Request (SR) to the mobile communication network to request time-frequency radio resources for positioning-specific measurement reporting receiving a first uplink grant or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Reconfiguration message activating the first configured grant comprising information of the time-frequency radio resources for positioning-specific measurement reporting; receiving a second uplink grant for BSR transmission in response to transmitting the SR; and using the second uplink grant to transmit a BSR comprising information on a content size for positioning-specific measurement reporting; wherein the first uplink grant is received in response to the transmission of the BSR.
2. 2 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the reception of the first uplink grant or the RRC Reconfiguration message is performed in response to the transmission of the SR, without triggering the BSR procedure, and the method further comprises: prior to receiving the location information request, transmitting an RRC message comprising information on a suggested grant size for positioning-specific measurement reporting.
3. 3 . The method as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the RRC message is a UE Assistance Information message.
4. 4 . The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the UE Assistance Information message is transmitted when a positioning service of the UE is activated or deactivated, or when a serving cell of the UE has changed and the UE has not transmitted any UE Assistance Information message to the new serving cell, or when a period of time has elapsed since a last transmitted UE Assistance Information message, or when the suggested grant size is different from that in the last transmitted UE Assistance Information message.
5. 5 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the SR is transmitted using an SR configuration which is dedicated for positioning-specific measurement reporting, or dedicated for general measurement reporting, or dedicated for positioning-specific traffic.
6. 6 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the SR is transmitted when the UE has no configured grant for uplink transmission, or when the UE has a configured grant for uplink transmission but the configured grant is too small to carry the first measurement report, or when the UE has a configured grant for uplink transmission but an allocated time of the configured grant is unable to satisfy a latency requirement of positioning-specific measurement reporting.
7. 7 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the SR is transmitted using an SR configuration associated with a Logical Channel (LCH) or a Logical Channel Group (LCG) which is specific for positioning-specific measurement reporting, or specific for general measurement reporting, or specific for control-plane signaling, or specific for Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling, or specific for positioning-specific traffic.
8. 8 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the second uplink grant comprises information of time-frequency resources specific for a two-step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure through which the BSR is transmitted along with a RACH preamble.
9. 9 . A method, executed by a mobile communication network wirelessly serving a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising: transmitting a location information request to the UE to request positioning-specific measurement reporting; receiving a Scheduling Request (SR) requesting time-frequency radio resources for positioning-specific measurement reporting from the UE; transmitting a first uplink grant or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Reconfiguration message to the UE to activate a first configured grant comprising information of the time-frequency radio resources for positioning-specific measurement reporting; and periodically receiving a respective measurement report from the UE on the time-frequency radio resources for positioning-specific measurement reporting.
10. 10 . The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the transmission of the first uplink grant or the RRC Reconfiguration message is performed in response to the reception of the SR, without triggering a Buffer Status Report (BSR) procedure by the UE.
11. 11 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , further comprising: receiving an RRC message comprising information on a suggested grant size for positioning-specific measurement reporting; wherein the first configured grant is determined based on the suggested grant size for positioning-specific measurement reporting.
12. 12 . The method as claimed in claim 11 , wherein the RRC message is a UE Assistance Information message.
13. 13 . The method as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the UE Assistance Information message is received when a positioning service of the UE is activated or deactivated, or when a serving cell of the UE has changed and the UE has not transmitted any UE Assistance Information message to the new serving cell, or when a period of time has elapsed since a last received IE Assistance Information message, or when the suggested grant size is different from that in the last received IE Assistance Information message.
14. 14 . The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the SR is received using an SR configuration which is dedicated for positioning-specific measurement reporting, or dedicated for general measurement reporting, or dedicated for positioning-specific traffic.
15. 15 . The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the SR is received when no configured grant for uplink transmission is provided to the IE, or when a configured grant for uplink transmission is provided to the IE but the configured grant is too small to carry the measurement report, or when a configured grant for uplink transmission is provided to the IE but an allocated time of the configured grant is unable to satisfy a latency requirement of positioning-specific measurement reporting.
16. 16 . The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the SR is received using an SR configuration associated with a Logical Channel (LCH) or a Logical Channel Group (LCG) which is specific for positioning-specific measurement reporting, or specific for general measurement reporting, or specific for control-plane signaling, or specific for Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling, or specific for positioning-specific traffic.
17. 17 . The method as claimed in claim 9 , further comprising: transmitting a second uplink grant for BSR transmission in response to receiving the SR; and receiving a BSR comprising information on a content size for positioning-specific measurement reporting in response to transmitting the second uplink grant; wherein the first uplink grant is transmitted in response to the reception of the BSR.
18. 18 . The method as claimed in claim 17 , wherein the second uplink grant comprises information of time-frequency resources specific for a two-step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure through which the BSR is received along with a RACH preamble.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATION This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 from U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/092,533, entitled “Latency reduction for measurement reports”, filed on Oct. 16, 2020, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The application generally relates to mobile communications and, more particularly, to methods of latency reduction for positioning-specific measurement reporting. BACKGROUND In a typical mobile communication environment, a User Equipment (UE) (also called a Mobile Station (MS)), such as a mobile telephone (also known as a cellular or cell phone), or a tablet Personal Computer (PC) with wireless communication capability may communicate voice and/or data signals with one or more mobile communication networks. The wireless communication between the UE and the mobile communication networks may be performed using various Radio Access Technologies (RATs), such as Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technology, Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA-2000) technology, Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) technology, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology, Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technology, etc. In particular, GSM/GPRS/EDGE technology is also called 2G technology; WCDMA/CDMA-2000/TD-SCDMA technology is also called 3G technology; and LTE/LTE-A/TD-LTE technology is also called 4G technology. These RAT technologies have been adopted for use in various telecommunication standards to provide a common protocol that enables different wireless devices to communicate on a municipal, national, regional, and even global level. An example of an emerging telecommunication standard is the 5G New Radio (NR). The 5G NR is a set of enhancements to the LTE mobile standard promulgated by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). It is designed to better support mobile broadband Internet access by improving spectral efficiency, reducing costs, and improving services. In 5G network, the positioning procedure may involve a sequence of procedures, including the capability transfer procedure, the assistance data transfer procedure, and the location information transfer procedure. Generally, the capability transfer procedure may occur only once, while the assistance data transfer procedure and the location information transfer procedure may be performed more than once. In particular, the assistance data transfer procedure may be performed with a longer periodicity (i.e., the assistance data is updated with a longer period). On the other hand, the location information, including measurement results and measurement reference time, may be updated with a shorter period (i.e., the location information transfer procedure may be performed more frequently). However, before providing a measurement report to the network, a UE needs to perform a series of signaling exchanges with the network, including transmitting a scheduling request, receiving an uplink grant, transmitting a Buffer Status Report (BSR), and receiving a further uplink grant. As a result, the latency incurred by the signaling exchanges for each measurement reporting may take a toll on the performance of the positioning procedure. A solution is sought. SUMMARY In a first aspect of the application, a method executed by a User Equipment (UE) communicatively connected to a mobile communication network is provided. The method comprises the following steps: performing first measurements on Positioning Reference Signals (PRSs) to obtain first measurement results in response to receiving a location information request from the mobile communication network; using a first configured grant to transmit a first measurement report comprising the first measurement results to the mobile communication network; performing second measurements on PRSs to obtain second measurement results in response to the same location information request; and using the first configured grant to transmit a second measurement report comprising the second measurement results to the mobile communication network, without triggering a Scheduling Request (SR) procedure or a Buffer Status Report (BSR) procedure. In a first implementation form of the first aspect of the application, the method further comprises the following steps: transmitting a Scheduling Request (SR) to the mobile communication network to request time-frequency radio resources for positioning-specific measurement reporting; and receiving a first uplink grant or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Reconfiguration message activating the first configured grant comprising information of the time-frequency radio resources for positioning-specific measurement reporting. In a second impl