Unicast and broadcast protocol for wireless local area network ranging and direction finding

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10104635-B2
Application number	US-201615257824-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 6, 2016
Priority date	Feb 28, 2016
Publication date	Oct 16, 2018
Grant date	Oct 16, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed embodiments pertain to a first STA may broadcast a first Null Data Packet Announcement (NDPA) frame with an indication of one or more second STAs being polled. Subsequent to the first NDPA frame, a Null Data Packet (NDP) frame may be broadcast from a plurality of antennas on the first STA and one or more corresponding first Fine Timing Measurement (FTM) frames may be received in response. Each corresponding first FTM frame may be received from a distinct corresponding second STA and may comprise corresponding ranging measurements between the first STA and the corresponding second STA as determined by the corresponding second STA based on the NDP frame. In some embodiments, the one or more corresponding first FTM frames may be: received in response to a previously broadcast trigger frame, and encoded using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access. The trigger frame may be broadcast subsequent to the NDP frame.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method on a first station (STA) comprising:
broadcasting a first Null Data Packet Announcement (NDPA) frame, the first NDPA frame comprising an indication of one or more second STAs being polled;
broadcasting, subsequent to the first NDPA frame, a Null Data Packet (NDP) frame from a plurality of antennas on the first STA; and
receiving, from the one or more second STAs, in response to the NDP frame, one or more corresponding first Fine Timing Measurement (FTM) frames, wherein each corresponding first FTM frame:
is received from a distinct corresponding second STA of the one or more second STAs, and,
comprises corresponding first ranging measurements between the first STA and the corresponding second STA as determined by the corresponding second STA based, in part, on the NDP frame.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, the one or more corresponding first FTM frames are:
received in response to a previously transmitted trigger frame, and
encoded using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access, (OFDMA), and the method comprises:
broadcasting the trigger frame to the one or more second STAs, the trigger frame being broadcast subsequent to the broadcast of the NDP frame.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more corresponding first FTM frames are received within a Short Inter Frame Spacing (SIFS) time interval from the end of transmission of the trigger frame.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining, a set of second ranging measurements based, in part, on the one or more corresponding first FTM frames received by the first STA; and
broadcasting, in response to the one or more corresponding first FTM frames, at least one additional frame, the at least one additional frame comprising a subset of the second ranging measurements.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein communication between the first STA and the one or more second STAs occurs during a single transmission opportunity.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving, at least one request for a subset of the second ranging measurements, the request referencing a dialog token associated with the NDP frame; and
transmitting a response to the at least one request comprising the requested subset of ranging measurements, wherein the response references the dialog token.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the one or more corresponding first FTM frames comprises:
receiving an initial corresponding first FTM frame from a corresponding initial STA in the one or more second STAs;
transmitting, upon reception of the initial corresponding first FTM frame, one or more poll frames, each of the one or more poll frames identifying a distinct subsequent STA in the one or more second STAs; and
receiving, in response to each poll frame, a corresponding subsequent first FTM frame.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein each of the one or more poll frames further comprises:
a second ranging measurement based, in part, on an immediately preceding corresponding first FTM frame received by the first STA prior to transmission of the poll frame.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein communication between the first STA and the one or more second STAs occurs during a single transmission opportunity.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining, a set of second ranging measurements based, in part, on the one or more corresponding first FTM frames received by the first STA;
receiving, at least one request for a subset of the second ranging measurements, the request referencing a dialog token associated with the NDP frame; and
transmitting, in response to the at least one request, the requested subset of ranging measurements, wherein the response references the dialog token.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first STA and the one or more second STAs form part of a subscription group.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein each corresponding first ranging measurement comprises at least one of:
Angle of Arrival (AoA) information of wireless signals from the first STA at the corresponding second STA; or
Angle of Departure information for the corresponding first FTM frame at the corresponding second STA; or
a time of arrival of the NDP frame at the corresponding second STA; or
a time of arrival of a trigger frame at the corresponding second STA, the trigger frame being broadcast by the first STA subsequent to the NDP frame; or
a time of departure of the corresponding first FTM frame.

13. A first STA comprising:
a processor coupled to a memory and a plurality of antennas, wherein the processor is configured to:
broadcast a first Null Data Packet Announcement (NDPA) frame, the first NDPA frame comprising an indication of one or more second STAs being polled;
broadcast, subsequent to the first NDPA frame, a Null Data Packet (NDP) frame from the plurality of antennas; and
receive, from the one or more second STAs, in response to the NDP frame, one or more corresponding first Fine Timing Measurement (FTM) frames, wherein each corresponding first FTM frame:
is received from a distinct corresponding second STA of the one or more second STAs, and,
comprises corresponding first ranging measurements between the first STA and the corresponding second STA as determined by the corresponding second STA based, in part, on the NDP frame.

14. The first STA of claim 13 , wherein the one or more corresponding first FTM frames are:
received in response to a previously transmitted trigger frame, and
encoded using Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access, (OFDMA), and the processor is configured to:
broadcast the trigger frame to the one or more second STAs, the trigger frame being broadcast subsequent to the broadcast of the NDP frame.

15. The first STA of claim 14 , wherein the one or more corresponding first FTM frames are received within a Short Inter Frame Spacing (SIFS) time interval from the end of transmission of the trigger frame.

16. The first STA of claim 14 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine, a set of second ranging measurements based, in part, on the one or more corresponding first FTM frames received by the first STA; and
broadcast, in response to the one or more corresponding first FTM frames, at least one additional frame, the at least one additional frame comprising a subset of the second ranging measurements.

17. The first STA of claim 16 , wherein communication between the first STA and the one or more second STAs occurs during a single transmission opportunity.

18. The first STA of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
receive, at least one request for a subset of the second ranging measurements, the request referencing a dialog token associated with the NDP frame; and
transmit a response to the at least one request comprising the requested subset of ranging measurements, wherein the response references the dialog token.

19. The first STA of claim 13 , wherein to receive the one or more corresponding first FTM frames, the processor is configured to:
receive an initial corresponding first FTM frame from a corresponding initial STA in the one or more second STAs;
transmit, upon reception of the initial corresponding first FTM frame, one or more poll frames, each of the one or more poll frames identifying a distinct subsequent STA in the one or more second STAs; and
receive, in response to each poll frame, a corresponding subsequent first FTM frame.

20. The first STA of claim 19 , wherein each of the one

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Malik Rahul
• Gidvani Ravi Hiranand
• Aldana Carlos Horacio

Classifications

• H04W4/06

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• H04W64/003 Primary

  locating network equipment · CPC title

• H04L27/2602

  Signal structure · CPC title

• H04W56/0065 Primary

  using measurement of signal travel time · CPC title