Beam alignment using shared driving intention for vehicular mmWave communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10098014-B1
Application number	US-201815885778-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 31, 2018
Priority date	Jan 31, 2018
Publication date	Oct 9, 2018
Grant date	Oct 9, 2018

Abstract

The disclosure includes embodiments for performing beam alignment based on driving intentions. A method includes receiving a wireless message that includes first vehicle data that describes a first vehicle position, a first vehicle speed, a first vehicle heading, and a first vehicle driving intention. The method further includes determining whether a blockage is predicted to occur based on a second vehicle position, a second vehicle driving intention, and the first vehicle data. The method further includes, responsive to the blockage being predicted to occur, determining a non-line of sight (NLOS) path based on the second vehicle position, the second vehicle driving intention, and the first vehicle data. The method further includes before the blockage is predicted to occur, performing beam alignment between the first vehicle and the second vehicle based on the NLOS path.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a wireless message that includes first vehicle data that describes a first vehicle position, a first vehicle speed, a first vehicle heading, and a first vehicle driving intention;
determining whether a blockage is predicted to occur based on a second vehicle position, a second vehicle driving intention, and the first vehicle data;
responsive to the blockage being predicted to occur, determining a non-line of sight (NLOS) path based on the second vehicle position, the second vehicle driving intention, and the first vehicle data; and
before the blockage is predicted to occur, performing beam alignment between the first vehicle and the second vehicle based on the NLOS path.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
responsive to the blockage not being predicted to occur, performing beam alignment based on the second vehicle position, the second vehicle driving intention, and the first vehicle data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first vehicle driving intention describes coarse driving intention and a planned trajectory.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting a millimeter wave (mmWave) communication based on the beam alignment.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless message is a dedicated short range communication message (DSRC) or a long-term evolution vehicle to everything (LTE-V2X) message.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the NLOS path includes reflecting a beam off of a reflector to reach the first vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining second vehicle data that describes the second vehicle position, a second vehicle speed, a second vehicle heading, and the second vehicle driving intention; and
wherein determining the NLOS path is further based on the second vehicle speed and the second vehicle heading.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the wireless message is transmitted by the first vehicle or a road-side unit (RSU).

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blockage is a third vehicle, the second vehicle receives a DSRC message or a LTE-V2X message that includes third vehicle data, and determining whether the blockage is predicted to occur is further based on the third vehicle data.

10. A system comprising:
an onboard vehicle computer system of a vehicle that is Dedicated Short Range Communication-enabled (“DSRC-enabled”) and that includes a non-transitory memory storing computer code which, when executed by the onboard vehicle computer system causes the onboard vehicle computer system to:
receive a wireless message that includes first vehicle data that describes a first vehicle position, a first vehicle speed, a first vehicle heading, and a first vehicle driving intention;
determine whether a blockage is predicted to occur based on a second vehicle position, a second vehicle driving intention, and the first vehicle data;
responsive to the blockage being predicted to occur, determine a non-line of sight (NLOS) path based on the second vehicle position, the second vehicle driving intention, and the first vehicle data; and
before the blockage is predicted to occur, perform beam alignment between the first vehicle and the second vehicle based on the NLOS path.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the onboard vehicle computer system includes additional computer code that causes the onboard vehicle computer system to:
responsive to the blockage not being predicted to occur, performing beam alignment based on the second vehicle position, the second vehicle driving intention, and the first vehicle data.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the first vehicle driving intention describes coarse driving intention and a planned trajectory.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the onboard vehicle computer system includes additional computer code that causes the onboard vehicle computer system to:
transmit a millimeter wave (mmWave) communication based on the beam alignment.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the wireless message is a dedicated short range communication message (DSRC) or a long-term evolution vehicle to everything (LTE-V2X) message.

15. A non-transitory memory encoded with a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receiving a wireless message from a vehicle that includes vehicle data that describes a vehicle position, a vehicle speed, a vehicle heading, and a vehicle driving intention;
determining whether a blockage is predicted to occur based on a roadside unit (RSU) position and the vehicle data;
responsive to the blockage being predicted to occur, determining a non-line of sight (NLOS) path based on the RSU position and the vehicle data; and
before the blockage is predicted to occur, performing beam alignment between the RSU and the vehicle based on the NLOS path.

16. The non-transitory memory of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
responsive to the blockage not being predicted to occur, performing beam alignment based on the RSU position and the vehicle data.

17. The non-transitory memory of claim 15 , wherein the vehicle driving intention describes coarse driving intention and a planned trajectory.

18. The non-transitory memory of claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise:
transmitting a millimeter wave (mmWave) communication to the vehicle based on the beam alignment, wherein the mmWave communication includes high-definition three-dimensional map data or sensor data.

19. The non-transitory memory of claim 15 , wherein the wireless message is a dedicated short range communication message (DSRC) or a long-term evolution vehicle to everything (LTE-V2X) message.

20. The non-transitory memory of claim 15 , wherein the NLOS path includes reflecting a beam off of a reflector to reach the vehicle.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shimizu Takayuki
• Bansal Gaurav

Classifications

• H04W4/027

  using movement velocity, acceleration information · CPC title

• H04W16/28 Primary

  using beam steering · CPC title

• H04W4/40

  for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title