Pulse shaping interoperability protocol for ultra wideband systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10171129-B1
Application number	US-201715681968-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 21, 2017
Priority date	Jul 3, 2017
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

Embodiments enable communicating Ultra Wideband (UWB) devices to collaborate by exchanging pulse shape information. The UWB devices use the pulse shape information to improve ranging accuracy. The improved ranging accuracy can be used in complex multipath environments where advanced estimation schemes are used to extract an arriving path for time-of-flight estimation. To determine the pulse shape information to be shared, some embodiments include determining location information of a UWB device and selecting the pulse shape information that satisfies regional aspects. The pulse shape information includes a time-zero index specific to a ranging signal that is used by UWB receivers to establish timestamps time-of-flight calculations. Some embodiments include measuring performance characteristics and selecting different pulse shape information based on the performance characteristics for improved accuracy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to:
receive pulse shape information from an other electronic device, wherein the pulse shape information is used in Ultra Wideband (UWB) communications between the electronic device and the other electronic device, and wherein the pulse shape information comprises a time-zero index that identifies a time instant reference to be used to process the UWB communications;
receive a ranging signal based at least in part on the pulse shape information; and
determine an estimated distance between the electronic device and the other electronic device based at least in part on the time-zero index and the ranging signal.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the time-zero index identifies a first sample of a main lobe of the ranging signal.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the time-zero index identifies a center sample of a main lobe of the ranging signal.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the pulse shape information satisfies one or more regional aspects associated with a location of the electronic device.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein to determine the estimated distance, the one or more processors are configured to calculate a time-of-flight associated with the ranging signal.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
determine one or more performance characteristics of another ranging signal previously transmitted;
determine additional pulse shape information;
transmit the additional pulse shape information to the other electronic device; and
transmit another ranging signal using the additional pulse shape information to the other electronic device.

7. The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein to determine the one or more performance characteristics, the one or more processors are configured to:
measure an output of an antenna communicatively coupled to the one or more processors; and
determine that the output of the antenna does not satisfy a threshold criteria.

8. A method comprising:
receiving, with an electronic device, pulse shape information from an other electronic device, wherein the pulse shape information is used in Ultra Wideband (UWB) communications between the electronic device and the other electronic device, and wherein the pulse shape information comprises a time-zero index that identifies a time instant reference to be used to process the UWB communications;
receiving, with the electronic device, a ranging signal based at least in part on the pulse shape information; and
estimating a distance between the electronic device and the other electronic device based at least in part on the time-zero index and the ranging signal.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the time-zero index identifies a center sample of a main lobe of the ranging signal.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the time-zero index identifies a first sample of a main lobe of the ranging signal.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the pulse shape information satisfies one or more regional aspects associated with a location of the electronic device.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining a performance characteristic of another previously transmitted ranging signal;
determining additional pulse shape information;
transmitting the additional pulse shape information to the other electronic device; and
transmitting another ranging signal using the additional pulse shape information to the other electronic device.

13. The method of claim 8 , wherein estimating the distance comprises using the time-zero index to calculate a time-of-flight associated with the ranging signal.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by one or more processors in an electronic device cause the one or more processors to perform operations for utilizing a pulse shaping interoperability protocol for the UWB communications, the operations comprising:
receiving, with an electronic device, pulse shape information from an other electronic device, wherein the pulse shape information is used in the UWB communications between the electronic device and the other electronic device, wherein the pulse shape information comprises a time-zero index that identifies a time instant reference to be used to process the UWB communications, and wherein the pulse shape information satisfies one or more regional aspects associated with a location of the electronic device;
receiving, with the electronic device, a ranging signal based at least in part on the pulse shape information; and
computing a distance between the electronic device and the other electronic device based at least in part on the time-zero index and the ranging signal.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the time-zero index identifies a center sample of a main lobe of the ranging signal.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the time-zero index identifies a first sample of a main lobe of the ranging signal.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:
determining performance characteristics of another previously transmitted ranging signal;
determining additional pulse shape information;
transmitting the additional pulse shape information to the other electronic device; and
transmitting another ranging signal using the additional pulse shape information to the other electronic device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the determining the performance characteristics operation comprises:
measuring an output of an antenna communicatively coupled to the one or more processors; and
determining that the output of the antenna does not satisfy a threshold criteria.

19. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine an antenna load mismatch.

20. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine an impedance mismatch.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Hammerschmidt Joachim S
• Sasoglu Eren

Classifications

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• H04B1/7172 Primary

  Pulse shape (in general H04L25/03834) · CPC title

• G01S13/765

  with exchange of information between interrogator and responder · CPC title

• H04B1/71632

  Signal aspects (H04B1/7172 and H04B1/7176 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04L69/26

  Special purpose or proprietary protocols or architectures (network applications for proprietary or special purpose networking environments H04L67/12) · CPC title