Electronic device supporting wireless communication

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12273140-B2
Application number	US-202318100107-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 23, 2023
Priority date	Oct 27, 2021
Publication date	Apr 8, 2025
Grant date	Apr 8, 2025

Abstract

An electronic device according to an embodiment of the disclosure may receive an advertising frame transmitted by an external electronic device through the communication circuit through ultra-wideband (UWB) communication, may receive at least one frame among the advertising frames in a first decision period, may determine whether the number of times an angle based on the at least one frame received in the first decision period is within a specified angle range satisfies a specified condition, and may determine whether the electronic device points to the external electronic device according to whether the specified condition is satisfied.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a communication circuit configured to support ultra-wideband (UWB) communication;
at least one processor including processing circuitry; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
receive a first frame among advertising frames transmitted by an external electronic device through the communication circuit, the first frame comprising interval information indicating a period in which the advertising frames are transmitted, a window size and an offset associated with a time at which the advertising frames are transmitted;
determine whether at least one frame among the advertising frames is received in a first decision period and/or a first additional period and whether an angle determined based on a UWB signal comprising the received at least one frame is within a specified angle range, based on receiving the first frame;
determine whether a number of times the angle based on the at least one frame received in the first decision period and/or the first additional period is within the specified angle range satisfies a specified condition, wherein the first additional period is determined based on the interval information, the window size and the offset;
determine whether the electronic device points to the external electronic device, based on whether the specified condition is satisfied; and
defer determining whether the electronic device points to the external electronic device based on determining that a second external electronic device is a pointing candidate of the electronic device and that a second advertising frame is received from the second external electronic device in the first decision period at least based on the first advertising frame.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
determine that the electronic device points to the external electronic device, when the number of times the angle based on the at least one frame received in the first decision period is within the specified angle range satisfies the specified condition;
determine whether the at least one frame is received in the first additional period and whether the angle determined based on the UWB signal comprising the received at least one frame is within the specified angle range, when the number of times the angle based on the at least one frame received in the first decision period is within the specified angle range does not satisfy the specified condition; and
determine whether the electronic device points to the external electronic device according to whether the number of times the angle based on the at least one frame received in the first decision period and the first additional period is within the specified angle range satisfies the specified condition.

3. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to determine that the specified condition is satisfied based on the number of times the angle based on the at least one frame being within the specified angle range is successively n or greater,
wherein the n is a natural number greater than 1.

4. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to determine that the specified condition is satisfied based on the number of times the angle based on the at least one frame being within the specified angle range is m or greater,
wherein the m is a natural number greater than 1.

5. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
identify a distance to the external electronic device, based on the first frame; and
determine the specified angle range, based on the distance.

6. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to determine whether the angle is within the specified angle range, based on an angle of arrival of the at least one frame received from the external electronic device through the communication circuit.

7. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to:
determine whether the external electronic device is a pointing candidate of the electronic device, based on the at least one frame received in the first decision period, when the number of times the angle based on the at least one frame received in the first decision period being within the specified angle range does not satisfy the specified condition; and
determine whether the at least one frame is received in the first additional period and whether the angle determined based on the UWB signal comprising the received at least one frame is within the specified angle range, based on determining that the external electronic device is the pointing candidate of the electronic device.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to determine that the external electronic device is the pointing candidate of the electronic device based on there being one or more frames on which the angle is within the specified angle range among the at least one frame received in the first decision period.

9. A method of operating an electronic device, the method comprising:
receiving a first frame among advertising frames transmitted by an external electronic device through a communication circuit configured to support ultra-wideband (UWB) communication, the first frame comprising interval information indicating a period in which the advertising frames are transmitted, a window size and an offset associated with a time at which the advertising frames are transmitted;
determining whether at least one frame among the advertising frames is received in a first decision period and/or a first additional period and whether an angle determined based on a UWB signal comprising the received at least one frame is within a specified angle range, based on receiving the first frame, wherein the first additional period is determined based on the interval information, the window size and the offset;
determining whether a number of times the angle based on the at least one frame received in the first decision period and/or the first additional period is within the specified angle range satisfies a specified condition;
determining whether the electronic device points to the external electronic device, based on whether the specified condition is satisfied; and
deferring determining whether the electronic device points to the external electronic device based on determining that a second external electronic device is a pointing candidate of the electronic device and that a second advertising frame is received from the second external electronic device in the first decision period at least based on the first advertising frame.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining of whether the electronic device points to the external electronic device comprises:
determining that the electronic device points to the external electronic device, when the number of times the angle based on the at least one frame received in the first decision period is within the specified angle range satisfies specified condition;
determining whether the at least one frame is received in the first additional period and whether the angle determined based on the UWB signal comprising the received at least one frame is within the sp

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kim Hyunchul
• Kang Moonseok
• Yang Yi
• Jang Jonghoon

Classifications

• H04W64/00

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

• H04W4/023

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

• H04B2201/71634

  Applied to ranging · CPC title

• G01S13/02

  Systems using reflection of radio waves, e.g. primary radar systems; Analogous systems · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title