Coverage extension for device localization through collaborative ranging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12137388-B2
Application number	US-202117519385-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 4, 2021
Priority date	Dec 18, 2020
Publication date	Nov 5, 2024
Grant date	Nov 5, 2024

Abstract

A method for localizing a target device (TD) by a user device (UD) includes determining whether the TD is within a range and within a field-of-view (FoV) of the UD based on a UWB channel between the TD and the UD. In response to a determination that the TD is outside the range and not within the FoV, the method includes identifying a first electronic device. The method also includes transmitting, to the first electronic device, a request for localizing the TD using an out-of-band channel. The method further includes receiving, from the first electronic device, location information of the TD on the out-of-band channel. The location information represents a candidate location of the TD in a coordinate system of the first or a second electronic device. Additionally, the method includes identifying a TD location with respect to a coordinate system of the UD based on the candidate location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for localizing a target device (TD) by an user device (UD), the method comprising:
determining whether the TD is within a range and within a field-of-view (FoV) of the UD based on a UWB channel between the TD and the UD;
in response to a determination that the TD is outside the range and not within the FoV of the UD, identifying a first electronic device;
transmitting, to the first electronic device, a request for localizing the TD using an out-of-band channel, wherein the out-of-band channel is different from the UWB channel;
receiving, from the first electronic device, location information of the TD on the out-of-band channel, the location information representing a candidate location of the TD in a coordinate system of the first electronic device or a second electronic device; and
identifying a TD location with respect to a coordinate system of the UD based on the candidate location of the TD.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the first electronic device is within a range and within a FoV of the UD based on the UWB channel;
determining that the UD is within a range and within a FoV of the first electronic device based on the UWB channel; and
identifying the first electronic device as an environmental device.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the environmental device is a first environmental device;
the location information is a first location information;
the candidate location of the TD is a first candidate location of the TD; and
the method further comprises:
identifying a second environmental device based on a determination that the second environmental device satisfies a bidirectional FoV and range condition with the UD,
receiving, from the second environmental device, second location information of the TD on the out-of-band channel, the second location information representing a second candidate location of the TD based on a coordinate system of the second environmental device, and
identifying another TD location with respect to the coordinate system of the UD based on the second candidate location of the TD.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein:
identifying the TD location with respect to the coordinate system of the UD comprises identifying (i) a position of the UD relative to a position of the first environmental device and (ii) the position of the first environmental device relative to the position of the UD;
identifying the other TD location with respect to the coordinate system of the UD comprises identifying (i) the position of the UD relative to a position of the second environmental device and (ii) the position of the second environmental device relative to the position of the UD; and
the method further comprises generating a final location of the TD based at least on the TD location and the other TD location.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein:
the environmental device is a first environmental device; and
the method further comprises:
identifying a second environmental device based on a determination that the second environmental device satisfies a bidirectional FoV and range condition with the UD,
transmitting, to the first environmental device, the request for localizing the TD, wherein the request includes an indication of the second environmental device; and
transmitting, to the second environmental device, a request for localizing the TD using the out-of-band channel, wherein the request includes an indication of the first environmental device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first electronic device is a hub that stores a map of ranging relationships between pairs of environmental devices including the second electronic device, based on the UWB channel; and
the location information that is received from the hub includes a generated TD map based on the candidate location of the TD according to the second electronic device and a location of the second electronic device with respect to one or more of the pairs of environmental devices.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating information indicating the TD location based on a current location of the UD; and
displaying on a display of the UD a view of an environment around the UD that is augmented with the information indicating the TD location.

8. A user device comprising:
a transceiver; and
a processor operably coupled with the transceiver and configured to:
determine whether a target device (TD) is within a range and within a field-of-view (FoV) of the user device based on a UWB channel between the TD and the user device;
in response to a determination that the TD is outside the range and not within the FoV of the user device, identify a first electronic device;
transmit, to the first electronic device, a request for localizing the TD using an out-of-band channel, wherein the out-of-band channel is different from the UWB channel;
receive, from the first electronic device, location information of the TD on the out-of-band channel, the location information representing a candidate location of the TD in a coordinate system of the first electronic device or a second electronic device; and
identify a TD location with respect to a coordinate system of the user device based on the candidate location of the TD.

9. The user device of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine that the first electronic device is within a range and within a FoV of the user device based on the UWB channel;
determine that the user device is within a range and within a FoV of the first electronic device based on the UWB channel; and
identify the first electronic device as an environmental device.

10. The user device of claim 9 , wherein:
the environmental device is a first environmental device;
the location information is a first location information;
the candidate location of the TD is a first candidate location of the TD; and
the processor is further configured to:
identify a second environmental device based on a determination that the second environmental device satisfies a bidirectional FoV and range condition with the user device,
receive, from the second environmental device, second location information of the TD on the out-of-band channel, the second location information representing a second candidate location of the TD based on a coordinate system of the second environmental device, and
identify another TD location with respect to the coordinate system of the user device based on the second candidate location of the TD.

11. The user device of claim 10 , wherein:
to identify the TD location with respect to the coordinate system of the user device, the processor is configured to identify (i) a position of the user device relative to a position of the first environmental device and (ii) the position of the first environmental device relative to the position of the user device;
to identify the other TD location with respect to the coordinate system of the user device, the processor is configured to identify (i) the position of the user device relative to a position of the second environmental device and (ii) the position of the second environmental device relative to the position of the user device; and
the processor is further configured to generate a final location of the TD based at least on the TD location and the other TD location.

12. The user device of claim 9 , wherein:
the environmental device is a first environmental device; and
the processor is further configured to:
identify a second environmental device based on a determination that the second environmental device satisfies a bidirectional FoV and range condition with the user de

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Nguyen Hoang Viet
• Zhu Yuming
• Ng Boon Loong

Classifications

• H04W4/20

  Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel · CPC title

• G06T11/00

  Two-dimensional [2D] image generation · CPC title

• G01S5/04

  Position of source determined by a plurality of spaced direction-finders · CPC title

• H04W4/023

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

• G01S5/0218

  Multipath in signal reception · CPC title