Positioning Measurements and Carrier Switching in Multi-Carrier Wireless Communication Networks

摘要

In a multi-carrier wireless communication network, positioning-aware switching of a primary carrier from a first carrier to a second carrier for a UE is constrained to enable one or more positioning measurements to be performed. Either the selection of the second carrier, the timing of switching from the first to the second carrier, or both, are constrained to enable and enhance the positioning performance. The constraints may be operative at a serving node of the network, at a UE, or both. Further constraints may be applied to the network to enhance positioning performance. Carrier switching may be across Radio Access Technology (RAT), and the positioning constraints may include configuring or re-configuring a device to perform positioning measurements in measurement gaps (e.g., on a secondary carrier in LTE systems when Positioning Reference Signals are not transmitted on the primary carrier).