System and method for pulse shaping interoperability for ultra wideband systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11171685-B2
Application number	US-202016788528-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 12, 2020
Priority date	Jul 3, 2017
Publication date	Nov 9, 2021
Grant date	Nov 9, 2021

Abstract

Some embodiments include a system and method for enabling 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. A first electronic device comprising:
a transceiver; and
one or more processors communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to:
determine pulse shape information based on a location of the first electronic device;
transmit via the transceiver, the pulse shape information to a second electronic device, wherein the pulse shape information comprises a time instant reference for processing Ultra Wideband (UWB) communications; and
transmit via the transceiver, a ranging signal based at least in part on the pulse shape information and the time instant reference, wherein the time instant reference identifies a timestamp that enables the second electronic device to estimate a distance between the first and second electronic devices.

2. The first electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
based on the transmitted ranging signal, determine a different pulse shape information comprising a second time instant reference; and
transmit the different pulse shape information to the second electronic device.

3. The first electronic device of claim 2 , wherein to determine the different pulse shape information, 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.

4. The first electronic device of claim 3 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: determine an antenna load mismatch or an impedance mismatch.

5. The first electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the pulse shape information satisfies one or more regional aspects associated with the location of the first electronic device, and wherein the one or more regional aspects comprise: a government regulation, a regional law, or a local rule.

6. The first electronic device of claim 5 , wherein the one or more regional aspects comprise rules that constrain metrics including: an allowed spectral mask, a power spectral density limit, a carrier frequency, or a way to measure various metrics to determine compliance.

7. The first electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the time instant reference identifies a first sample of a main peak of the ranging signal.

8. The first electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the time instant reference identifies a center sample of a main peak of the ranging signal.

9. The first electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to:
receive a second pulse shape information comprising a second time instant reference regarding a pulse choice of the second electronic device;
receive a second ranging signal based at least in part on the second pulse shape information; and
estimate a distance between the first and second electronic devices based at least in part on the second time instant reference.

10. A method of operating an electronic device, comprising:
transmitting pulse shape information, the pulse shape information based at least on a location of the electronic device and comprising a time instant reference for processing Ultra Wideband (UWB) communications; and
transmitting a ranging signal based at least in part on the pulse shape information and the time instant reference to a peer electronic device, wherein the time instant reference identifies a timestamp that enables the peer electronic device to estimate a distance between the electronic device and the peer electronic device.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: determining the location of the electronic device, wherein the pulse shape information satisfies a regional aspect associated with the location of the electronic device.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the regional aspect comprises: a government regulation, a regional law, or a local rule.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the regional aspect comprises rules that constrain metrics including: an allowed spectral mask, a power spectral density limit, a carrier frequency, or a way to measure various metrics to determine compliance.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the time instant reference identifies a first sample of a main peak of the ranging signal.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the time instant reference identifies a center sample of a main peak of the ranging signal.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first electronic device, cause the first electronic device to perform operations, the operations comprising:
transmitting regional pulse shape information to a second electronic device, wherein the regional pulse shape information is based at least on a location of the first electronic device and comprises a time instant reference for processing Ultra Wideband (UWB) communications;
transmitting a ranging signal based at least in part on the regional pulse shape information based at least on the location of the first electronic device and the time instant reference, wherein the time instant reference identifies a timestamp that enables the second electronic device to estimate a distance between the first and second electronic devices;
in response to transmitting the ranging signal, determining a different pulse shape information comprising a second time instant reference; and
transmitting the different pulse shape information to the second electronic device.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the determining the different pulse shape information operation comprises:
measuring an output of an antenna; and
determining that the output of the antenna does not satisfy a threshold criteria.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the operations further comprise: determining the location of the first electronic device, wherein the regional pulse shape information satisfies one or more regional aspects associated with the location of the first electronic device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the one or more regional aspects comprises: a government regulation, a regional law, or a local rule.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the time instant reference identifies a first sample of a main peak of the ranging signal or a center sample of the main peak of the ranging signal.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Hammerschmidt Joachim S
• Sasoglu Eren

Classifications

• G01S13/0209

  Systems with very large relative bandwidth, i.e. larger than 10 %, e.g. baseband, pulse, carrier-free, ultrawideband · CPC title

• H04L69/26

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

• H04B1/7172 Primary

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

• H04B1/71632

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

• G01S11/02 Primary

  using radio waves (G01S19/00 takes precedence) · CPC title