Systems, methods, and devices for utilizing radar with smart devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10798539-B2
Application number	US-201715485127-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2017
Priority date	May 13, 2016
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

The various implementations described herein include methods, devices, and systems for determining locations of a plurality of electronic devices within a home. In one aspect, a method is performed at a computing system having one or more processors and memory. The method includes: (1) obtaining device identification information for a plurality of electronic devices; (2) broadcasting, via a standard wireless communication protocol, a request based on the device identification information that a particular electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices be enabled to transmit or reflect location information using a radar technique; (3) receiving a signal from the particular electronic device, the signal indicating a location of the particular electronic device using a radar technique; and (4) determining the location of the particular electronic device based on the received signal.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for determining locations of a plurality of radar- and wirelessly-enabled electronic devices within a home, comprising:
at a computing system having one or more processors and memory:
obtaining device identification information for the plurality of electronic devices;
broadcasting, via a standard wireless communication protocol, a request based on the device identification information that a particular electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices be enabled to transmit or reflect positioning information using one or more radar techniques;
receiving a radar signal from the particular electronic device, the radar signal indicating a position and/or velocity of the particular electronic device in accordance with using the one or more radar techniques; and
determining the positioning and/or velocity of the particular electronic device based on the received signal;
wherein determining the positioning includes determining one or more of location and orientation, and wherein determining the velocity includes determining one or more of speed and trajectory.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of electronic devices comprises a plurality of radar tags, wherein each radar tag of the plurality of radar tags comprises:
a first component configured to communicate with one or more remote electronic devices via the standard wireless communication protocol, wherein the one or more remote electronic devices includes the computing system; and
a second component configured to convey the positioning information to the one or more remote electronic devices using the one or more radar techniques.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the device identification information for the plurality of electronic devices comprises receiving the device identification information via a smart home application executing on a personal device of an occupant of the home.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing system comprises a smart device selected from a group consisting of:
a camera;
a hub device;
a smart thermostat;
a smart security device;
an entryway interface device; and
a smart hazard detector.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein broadcasting, via the standard wireless communication protocol, the request that the particular electronic device be enabled to transmit or reflect positioning information comprises transmitting a request that the other electronic devices of the plurality of electronic devices not be enabled to transmit positioning information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the radar signal from the particular electronic device comprises one or more of:
a single tone on a radar band;
an amplification of a received radio signal;
a modulation of a received radio signal; and
a pulse on the radar band.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
broadcasting, via the standard wireless communication protocol, a request based on the device identification information that a second electronic device of the plurality of electronic devices be enabled to transmit or reflect positioning information using one or more radar techniques;
receiving a radar signal from the second electronic device, the radar signal from the second electronic device indicating a position and/or velocity of the second electronic device in accordance with using the one or more radar techniques; and
determining the positioning and/or velocity of the second electronic device based on the received signal from the second electronic device.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after determining the positioning and/or velocity of the particular electronic device, monitoring the positioning and/or velocity of the particular electronic device.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein monitoring the positioning and/or velocity of the particular electronic device comprises:
receiving a second radar signal from the particular electronic device, the second radar signal indicating positioning of the particular electronic device in accordance with using the one or more radar techniques; and
determining whether the positioning and/or velocity of the particular electronic device has changed based on the second signal.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after determining the positioning and/or velocity of the particular electronic device and in accordance with a determination that the particular electronic device is affixed to a wall, disregarding detected activity beyond the particular electronic device.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining information regarding an object to which the particular electronic device is affixed; and
monitoring movement of the object by utilizing the information regarding the object and the determined positioning and/or velocity of the particular electronic device.

12. A method, comprising:
at a radar- and wirelessly-enabled electronic device having one or more controllers and memory:
receiving, via a standard wireless communication protocol and from a remote electronic device, a request to be enabled to transmit or reflect location information using a radar technique, the request including device identification information;
determining whether the received device identification information matches device identification information for the electronic device, wherein the device identification information for the electronic device is stored at the electronic device; and
in accordance with a determination that the received device identification information matches the device identification information for the electronic device, causing a signal to be transmitted, the signal indicating positioning and/or velocity of the electronic device in accordance with using one or more radar techniques.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising receiving a radar signal from the remote electronic device; and
wherein causing the signal to be transmitted comprises modulating and reflecting the received radar signal such that a preset phantom velocity is present in the reflected signal.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
prior to receiving the request to be enabled, operating in a low power mode; and
in accordance with the determination that the received device identification information matches the device identification information for the electronic device, operating in a radar mode, wherein operating in the radar mode consumes more power than operating in the low power mode.

15. A radar- and wirelessly-equipped electronic device, comprising:
a first component configured to communicate with one or more remote electronic devices via a standard wireless communication protocol, the first component including:
one or more antennas configured to communicate at a first frequency corresponding to the standard wireless communication protocol; and
a first controller coupled to the one or more antennas, the first controller configured to govern the one or more antennas to communicate signals in accordance with the standard wireless communication protocol; and

a second component configured to convey positioning and/or velocity information with the one or more remote electronic devices using one or more radar techniques, the second component including:
one or more second antennas configured to communicate via a radar band; and
a radar controller coupled to the one or more second antennas and the first controller, the radar controller being configured to govern the one or more second antennas to communicate signals in accordance with the one or more radar techniques.

16. The radar-

Assignees

• Google Llc

Inventors

• Marschalkowski Eric
• Silverstein Brian
• Sherry Eden
• Goldenson Andrew

Classifications

• G05B15/02 Primary

  electric · CPC title

• G05B2219/2642

  Domotique, domestic, home control, automation, smart house · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• G01S13/88

  Radar or analogous systems specially adapted for specific applications (electromagnetic prospecting or detecting of objects, e.g. near-field detection, G01V3/00) · CPC title

• G01S13/86

  Combinations of radar systems with non-radar systems, e.g. sonar, direction finder · CPC title