Method, apparatus, and system for wireless sensing measurement and reporting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12596187-B2
Application number	US-202318395537-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 23, 2023
Priority date	Feb 13, 2020
Publication date	Apr 7, 2026
Grant date	Apr 7, 2026

Abstract

Methods, apparatus and systems for wireless sensing are described. In one example, a described system in a wireless data communication network comprises: a transmitter configured to transmit a time series of at least one wireless sounding signal (WSS) based on a standard wireless network protocol associated with the wireless data communication network, and a receiver. The wireless data communication network comprises a physical (PHY) layer, a medium access control (MAC) layer, and at least one higher layer. The receiver is configured to: receive the time series of at least one WSS (TSWSS) based on the standard wireless network protocol through a wireless channel of a venue, and perform a plurality of wireless sensing measurements based on the received TSWSS to obtain sensing measurement results based on the standard wireless network protocol. The PHY layer or the MAC layer of the receiver provides the sensing measurement results locally to the at least one higher layer of the receiver based on the standard wireless network protocol. The sensing measurement results are available to the at least one higher layer of the receiver for performing a sensing-based task based on the sensing measurement results.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A standardized wireless sensing method, comprising:
in response to at least one of: (1) a first sensing measurement setup request frame that is compliant to a standard wireless network protocol and transmitted by a sensing initiator device to a first sensing responder device requesting the first sensing responder device to function as a sensing receiver device, or (2) a second sensing measurement setup request frame that is compliant to the standard wireless network protocol and transmitted by the sensing initiator device to a second sensing responder device requesting the second sensing responder device to function as a sensing transmitter device, wherein the sensing initiator device, the first sensing responder device and the second sensing responder device are in a same physical network associated with a same access point device:
using a receiving antenna and an associated receiving circuitry by the sensing receiver device to receive a wireless sounding signal that is compliant to the standard wireless network protocol and transmitted from the sensing transmitter device through a wireless channel of a venue;
performing wireless sensing measurements compliant to the standard wireless network protocol by the sensing receiver device based on the received wireless sounding signal to generate sensing measurement results compliant to the standard wireless network protocol, wherein the sensing measurement results comprise one of: a channel state information (CSI), a channel impulse response (CIR), or a channel frequency response (CFR); and
providing a report in a report frame either (1) nonlocally by the sensing receiver device to the sensing initiator device, or (2) locally from a physical (PHY) layer or a medium access control (MAC) layer of the sensing receiver device to a higher layer of the sensing receiver device, or (3) both, according to a bit pattern in a configuration field of the first sensing measurement setup request frame based on the standard wireless network protocol, the report frame comprising: (a) a first field indicating the sensing measurement results and (b) a second field indicating a gain index associated with an amplification operation used by the sensing receiver device to generate the sensing measurement results,
wherein:
when the configuration field has a first bit pattern, the report is provided locally to the higher layer of the sensing receiver device in a first reporting way but not to any device other than the sensing receiver device, according to the standard wireless network protocol,
when the configuration field has a second bit pattern, the report is provided both locally to the higher layer of the sensing receiver device in the first reporting way and nonlocally to the sensing initiator device other than the sensing receiver device in a second reporting way different from the first reporting way, according to the standard wireless network protocol, and
the standard wireless network protocol comprises at least one of: a wireless LAN (WLAN) standard protocol, a mobile communication standard protocol, a WLAN standard, a Wi-Fi standard, an IEEE 802 standard, an IEEE 802.11 standard, or an IEEE 802.11bf standard.

2 . The standardized wireless sensing method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing a sensing task to obtain a sensing task result in the higher layer of the sensing receiver device based on: (a) the sensing measurement results and (b) the gain index.

3 . The standardized wireless sensing method of claim 1 , further comprising:
performing a sensing task to obtain a sensing task result by the sensing initiator device based on: (a) the sensing measurement results and (b) the gain index.

4 . The standardized wireless sensing method of claim 1 , further comprising:
requesting, based on the standard wireless network protocol, the sensing initiator device by a proxy initiator device to:
request a sensing responder device to function as the sensing transmitter device to transmit the wireless sounding signal,
request another sensing responder device to function as the sensing receiver device to:
receive the wireless sounding signal,
perform the wireless sensing measurements to generate the sensing measurement results based on the received wireless sounding signal, and
report the sensing measurement results to the sensing initiator device; and

providing, based on the standard wireless network protocol, (a) the sensing measurement results and (b) the gain index by the sensing initiator device to the proxy initiator device by wirelessly transmitting them in a second report frame from the sensing initiator device to the proxy initiator device, wherein:
the sensing measurement results are provided in a third field of the second report frame by the sensing initiator device, and
the gain index is provided in a fourth field of the second report frame by the sensing initiator device.

5 . The standardized wireless sensing method of claim 4 , further comprising:
performing a sensing task to obtain a sensing task result by the proxy initiator device based on: (a) the sensing measurement results and (b) the gain index.

6 . The standardized wireless sensing method of claim 4 , further comprising:
transmitting, based on the standard wireless network protocol, a proxy sensing request message to the sensing initiator device by the proxy initiator device to request the sensing initiator device to, as a proxy of the proxy initiator device, perform wireless sensing on behalf of the proxy initiator device, wherein:
the sensing initiator device is requested to perform the wireless sensing by initiating sensing sessions with a plurality of sensing responder devices comprising a selected sensing device to perform wireless sensing measurements to obtain sensing measurement results based on wireless sounding signals communicated among the plurality of sensing responder devices and the sensing initiator device,
the selected sensing device is requested in the proxy sensing request message by the proxy initiator device to be one of the sensing receiver device or the sensing transmitter device.

7 . The standardized wireless sensing method of claim 6 , further comprising:
specifying, based on the standard wireless network protocol, an identity (ID) of the selected sensing device in a first field of the proxy sensing request message by the proxy initiator device, wherein the ID of the selected sensing device comprises one of: a MAC address, a network address, a network ID, an internet protocol (IP) address, a multicast ID, an ID in a network associated with the proxy responder device, a name, an identifying number, an alphanumeric ID, a representation, a device ID, a device name, a device product name, a host name, a client name, a vendor ID, a vendor class ID, a serial number, a host ID, a client ID, a UUID, or a GUID.

8 . The standardized wireless sensing method of claim 4 , wherein:
the gain index is an integer.

9 . The standardized wireless sensing method of claim 8 , wherein:
the gain index is a non-negative integer between a lower bound and an upper bound.

10 . The standardized wireless sensing method of claim 9 , wherein:
the processing operation applied on the received wireless sounding signal to generate the sensing measurement results is associated with at least one of: the receiving antenna, the associated receiving circuitry, a radio, an analog circuitry, an amplification, an analog amplification, a digital amplification, a radio amplifier, a power amplifier, a low-noise amplifier, a switch, a correction, a DC adjustment, a compensation, a processing, an analog processing, a digital processing, a baseband processing, a radio-frequen

Assignees

• Au Oscar Chi Lim
• Wang Beibei
• Liu K J Ray
• Lai Hung Quoc Duc
• Origin Res Wireless Inc

Inventors

• Au Oscar Chi-Lim
• Wang Beibei
• Liu K J Ray
• Lai Hung-Quoc Duc

Classifications

• H04W4/38

  for collecting sensor information · CPC title

• G01S7/006

  using shared front-end circuitry, e.g. antennas (G01S13/765, G01S13/825 take precedence) · CPC title

• G01S13/876

  Combination of several spaced transponders or reflectors of known location for determining the position of a receiver (G01S13/874 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01S13/765

  with exchange of information between interrogator and responder · CPC title

• H04L27/2647

  Arrangements specific to the receiver only (equalisation H04L27/01) · CPC title