Prioritized scheduling for UWB ranging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11838830-B2
Application number	US-202218075631-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2022
Priority date	Aug 25, 2020
Publication date	Dec 5, 2023
Grant date	Dec 5, 2023

Abstract

Presented herein are techniques for scheduling Ultra-Wideband (UWB) anchors and mobile devices for client ranging. A control device can determine respective ranging priorities for a plurality of mobile devices, which are each assigned to at least one UWB anchor. The control device can obtain at least one collision mapping identifying, for a respective pair of the mobile devices, a collision probability that a UWB signal associated with a ranging procedure involving a first mobile device of the respective pair will collide with a UWB signal associated with a ranging procedure involving a second mobile device of the respective pair. The control device can establish a ranging schedule for the mobile devices and UWB anchors based on the respective UWB ranging priorities and the collision mapping(s). The control device can send at least one command to cause UWB ranging procedures to be performed according to the ranging schedule.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
determining a respective Ultra-Wideband (UWB) ranging priority for each of a plurality of mobile devices, wherein each of the plurality of mobile devices are associated with at least one UWB anchor of a plurality of UWB anchors for UWB ranging;
obtaining at least one collision mapping identifying, for a respective pair of the plurality of mobile devices, a collision probability that a UWB signal associated with a UWB ranging procedure involving a first mobile device of the respective pair of the plurality of mobile devices will collide with a UWB signal associated with a UWB ranging procedure involving a second mobile device of the respective pair of the plurality of mobile devices; and
establishing a ranging schedule for the plurality of mobile devices and a plurality of UWB anchors based on the respective UWB ranging priority for each of the plurality of mobile devices and the at least one collision mapping.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising obtaining an interference mapping identifying which UWB anchors of the plurality of UWB anchors are within UWB interference range of each other,
wherein establishing the ranging schedule comprises scheduling transmission of ranging schedule instructions at different times by UWB anchors within UWB interference range of each other.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending at least one command to cause UWB ranging procedures to be performed according to the ranging schedule.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the at least one command causes at least one primary UWB anchor of the plurality of UWB anchors to transmit a frame to particular mobile devices of the plurality of mobile devices, which particular mobile devices are assigned to the at least one primary UWB anchor for ranging, and the frame is to encode scheduling information for the particular mobile devices to range according to the ranging schedule.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the ranging schedule comprises, for respective primary UWB anchors of the plurality of UWB anchors, allocating one or more slots of a super-frame to mobile devices assigned to the respective primary UWB anchors for ranging.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein allocating the one or more slots of the super-frame comprises assigning a first mobile device having a first priority exclusively to a first slot of the one or more slots and assigning a second mobile device having a second priority lower than the first priority non-exclusively to a shared slot of the one or more slots.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein assigning the second mobile device to the shared slot is part of an assignment of multiple mobile devices to the shared slot, the assignment of the multiple mobile devices performed in an order starting from a lowest collision probability.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the ranging schedule comprises:
re-computing at least a selected one of the at least one collision mapping to determine an updated collision probability if a UWB transmit power is changed for a particular mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices, and
revising the ranging schedule based on the re-computing.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the respective UWB ranging priority for each of the plurality of mobile devices comprises obtaining at least one authentication service attribute associated with each particular one of the plurality of mobile devices.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein obtaining the at least one authentication service attribute associated with each particular one of the plurality of mobile devices comprises obtaining in the at least one authentication service attribute at least one of a field indicating a relative priority or a required ranging interval.

11. An apparatus comprising:
an interface configured to enable network communications; and
one or more processors coupled to the interface and configured to perform operations, comprising:
determining a respective Ultra-Wideband (UWB) ranging priority for each of a plurality of mobile devices, wherein each of the plurality of mobile devices are associated with at least one UWB anchor of a plurality of UWB anchors for UWB ranging;
obtaining at least one collision mapping identifying, for a respective pair of the plurality of mobile devices, a collision probability that a UWB signal associated with a UWB ranging procedure involving a first mobile device of the respective pair of the plurality of mobile devices will collide with a UWB signal associated with a UWB ranging procedure involving a second mobile device of the respective pair of the plurality of mobile devices; and
establishing a ranging schedule for the plurality of mobile devices and the plurality of UWB anchors based on the respective UWB ranging priority for each of the plurality of mobile devices and the at least one collision mapping.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations, comprising:
obtaining an interference mapping identifying which UWB anchors of the plurality of UWB anchors are within UWB interference range of each other, and
establishing the ranging schedule by scheduling transmission of ranging schedule instructions at different times by UWB anchors within UWB interference range of each other.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to perform operations, comprising:
sending at least one command to cause UWB ranging procedures to be performed according to the ranging schedule.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein establishing the ranging schedule comprises establishing the ranging schedule by, for respective primary UWB anchors of the plurality of UWB anchors, allocating one or more slots of a super-frame to mobile devices assigned to the respective primary UWB anchors for ranging.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein allocating the one or more slots of the super-frame comprises assigning a first mobile device having a first priority exclusively to a first slot of the one or more slots and assigning a second mobile device having a second priority lower than the first priority non-exclusively to a shared slot of the one or more slots.

16. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein determining the respective UWB ranging priority for each of the plurality of mobile devices comprises obtaining at least one authentication service attribute associated with each particular one of the plurality of mobile devices.

17. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media comprising instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, are operable to:
determine a respective Ultra-Wideband (UWB) ranging priority for each of a plurality of mobile devices, wherein each of the plurality of mobile devices are associated with at least one UWB anchor of a plurality of UWB anchors for UWB ranging;
obtain at least one collision mapping identifying, for a respective pair of the plurality of mobile devices, a collision probability that a UWB signal associated with a UWB ranging procedure involving a first mobile device of the respective pair of the plurality of mobile devices will collide with a UWB signal associated with a UWB ranging procedure involving a second mobile device of the respective pair of the plurality of mobile devices; and
estab

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Barton Robert Edgar
• Henry Jerome
• Silverman Matthew Aaron

Classifications

• H04W4/023 Primary

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04B1/7163

  using impulse radio · CPC title

• H04W72/56

  based on priority criteria · CPC title

• G01S5/0236

  Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac · CPC title

• G01S5/0215

  Interference · CPC title