Method for a procedure for determining distance or angle between electronic devices connected wirelessly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016119805-A1
Application number	US-201514842418-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 1, 2015
Priority date	Oct 27, 2014
Publication date	Apr 28, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

In a procedure for determining distance (or angle) between a pair of electronic devices wirelessly connected to one another, a current session may be temporarily suspended on request and thereafter the current session may be resumed. Temporary suspension and resumption of the current session may, for example, eliminate starting a new session between the pair of electronic devices and repeating a determination of parameters that were initially agreed upon in the current session. Temporary suspension of a current session may be signaled wirelessly, by one electronic device to the other electronic device, for example, by setting a specific value in a specific field, to signal that the current session is to be paused now, in a frame or message transmitted from the pausing device to the to-be-paused device. The current session may be resumed without repeating determination of the initially-agreed upon parameters, by transmitting a frame to initiate measurement exchange.

First claim

1 . A method for use in determining at least one positional relationship between two or more electronic devices, the method comprising:
in a first electronic device of the two or more electronic devices, determining, with at least a second electronic device of the two or more electronic devices, a plurality of parameters for a phase to exchange measurements, wherein the plurality of parameters identify multiple sets of wireless signals scheduled to be transmitted during the phase to exchange measurements by the first electronic device, the second electronic device, or a combination of the first electronic device and the second electronic device; in the first electronic device, receiving from the second electronic device or transmitting to the second electronic device, an indication to temporarily suspend participating in the phase to exchange measurements during a current set of wireless signals among the multiple sets of wireless signals; in the first electronic device, based on the indication to temporarily suspend participation in the phase to exchange measurements, withholding transmission of one or more of the multiple sets of wireless signals scheduled to be transmitted by the first electronic device; and in the first electronic device, transmitting to or receiving from the second electronic device, a new set of wireless signals among the multiple sets of wireless signals, the new set of wireless signals being scheduled to be transmitted subsequent to the one or more of the multiple sets of wireless signals.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the withholding transmission is performed in response to receipt of a frame from the second electronic device.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein transmission of the new set of wireless signals is based on a specific time identified in said frame.

4 . The method of claim 2 wherein:
a field in the frame is unused in a published industry standard; and
the field is set to a value to convey the indication to temporarily suspend participation in the phase to exchange measurements.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein the measurements comprise a time of arrival measurement and a time of departure measurement.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the measurements comprise a difference between a time of arrival measurement and a time of departure measurement.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one positional relationship is indicative of a distance between an antenna of the first electronic device and an antenna of the second electronic device.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one positional relationship is indicative of an angle between an antenna of the first electronic device and an antenna of the second electronic device.

9 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a plurality of instructions, which, when executed by a processor perform steps in a method to determine at least one positional relationship between a pair of electronic devices, the plurality of instructions comprising:
instructions in a first electronic device among the pair of electronic devices, to determine with at least a second electronic device of the pair of electronic devices, a plurality of parameters for a phase to exchange measurements, wherein the plurality of parameters identify multiple sets of wireless signals scheduled to be transmitted during the phase to exchange measurements by the first electronic device, the second electronic device, or a combination of the first electronic device and the second electronic device; in the first electronic device, instructions to receive from the second electronic device or transmit to the second electronic device, an indication to temporarily suspend participating in the phase to exchange measurements during a current set of wireless signals among the multiple sets of wireless signals; in the first electronic device, responsive to the indication to temporarily suspend participation in the phase to exchange measurements, instructions to withhold transmission of one or more of the multiple sets of wireless signals scheduled to be transmitted by the first electronic device; and in the first electronic device, instructions to transmit to or receive from the second electronic device, a new set of wireless signals among the multiple sets of wireless signals, the new set of wireless signals being scheduled to be transmitted subsequent to the one or more of the multiple sets of wireless signals.

10 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the instructions to withhold transmission are executed in response to receipt of a frame from the second electronic device.

11 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein transmission of the new set of wireless signals is based on a specific time identified in said frame.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 wherein:
a field in the frame is unused in a published industry standard; and
the field is set to a value to convey the indication to temporarily suspend participation in the phase to exchange measurements.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the at least one positional relationship is indicative of a distance between an antenna of the first electronic device and an antenna of the second electronic device.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 wherein the at least one positional relationship is indicative of an angle between an antenna of the first electronic device and an antenna of the second electronic device.

15 . A first electronic device comprising:
a transceiver; a memory; a processor operatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory and wherein the processor and memory are configured to:
determine, with at least a second electronic device via the transceiver, a plurality of parameters for a phase to exchange measurements to determine at least one positional relationship, wherein the plurality of parameters identify multiple sets of wireless signals scheduled to be transmitted during the phase to exchange measurements by the first electronic device, the second electronic device, or a combination of the first electronic device and the second electronic device;
with the transceiver, receive from the second electronic device or transmit to the second electronic device, an indication to temporarily suspend participating in the phase to exchange measurements during a current set of wireless signals among the multiple sets of wireless signals;
based on the indication to temporarily suspend participation in the phase to exchange measurements, withhold transmission of one or more of the multiple sets of wireless signals scheduled to be transmitted by the first electronic device; and
with the transceiver transmit to or receive from the second electronic device, a new set of wireless signals among the multiple sets of wireless signals, the new set of wireless signals being scheduled to be transmitted subsequent to the one or more of the multiple sets of wireless signals.

16 . The first electronic device of claim 15 wherein the withholding transmission is performed in response to receipt of a frame from the second electronic device.

17 . The first electronic device of claim 16 wherein transmission of the new set of wireless signals is based on a specific time identified in said frame.

18 . The first electronic device of claim 16 wherein:
a field in the frame is unused in a published industry standard; and
the field is se

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Aldana Carlos Horacio
• Homchaudhuri Sandip
• Vamaraju Santosh Kumar
• Marri Sridhar Subash
• Arroyo Bernal

Classifications

• H04W64/00 Primary

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

• G01S5/0284 Primary

  Relative positioning · CPC title

• H04L43/106 Primary

  using time related information in packets, e.g. by adding timestamps · CPC title

• H04L67/143

  Termination or inactivation of sessions, e.g. event-controlled end of session · CPC title

• H04W76/22

  Manipulation of transport tunnels · CPC title