Apparatus, system and method of range estimation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016192138-A1
Application number	US-201414583144-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 25, 2014
Priority date	Dec 25, 2014
Publication date	Jun 30, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Some demonstrative embodiments include apparatuses, devices, systems and methods of range estimation. For example, a mobile device may include a radio to receive from an Access Point (AP) statistical channel information of a plurality of wireless communication channels in a region covered by the AP; a channel estimator to estimate, based on the statistical channel information, a time of arrival (ToA) of a wireless communication signal from the AP via a line of sight (LOS) channel between the AP and the mobile device; and a range estimator to estimate a range between the mobile device and the AP based on the ToA.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A mobile device comprising:
a radio to receive from an Access Point (AP) statistical channel information of a plurality of wireless communication channels in a region covered by said AP; a channel estimator to estimate, based on said statistical channel information, a time of arrival (ToA) of a wireless communication signal from said AP via a line of sight (LOS) channel between said AP and said mobile device; and a range estimator to estimate a range between said mobile device and said AP based on said ToA.

2 . The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein said statistical channel information includes channel autocorrelation information.

3 . The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein said radio is to receive said statistical channel information in a message of a range measurement procedure between said AP and said mobile device.

4 . The mobile device of claim 3 , wherein said range measurement procedure includes a Fine Timing Measurement (FTM) procedure.

5 . The mobile device of claim 3 , wherein said range measurement procedure includes a Time of Flight (ToF) measurement procedure.

6 . The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein said radio is to receive said statistical channel information in a periodic broadcast massage from said AP.

7 . The mobile device of claim 1 , wherein said radio is to send to said AP a request message to request said statistical channel information, and to receive said statistical channel information in response to said request message.

8 . The mobile device of claim 1 comprising:
one or more antennas;
a memory; and
a processor.

9 . An access point (AP) comprising:
a channel estimator to determine statistical channel information of a region covered by said AP based on channel estimations of a plurality of wireless communication channels between said AP and one or more wireless communication devices in said region; and a radio to send said statistical channel information to a mobile device in said region.

10 . The AP of claim 9 , wherein said channel estimator is to determine said statistical channel information based on a plurality of line of sight (LOS) estimations of a plurality of LOS paths between said AP and said one or more wireless communication devices.

11 . The AP of claim 10 , wherein said channel estimator is to dynamically update said statistical channel information based on one or more changes selected from the croup consisting of a change in said plurality of channel estimations and a change in said plurality of LOS estimations.

12 . The AP of claim 9 , wherein said channel estimator is to estimate a time of arrival (ToA) of a wireless communication signal from a device of said wireless communication devices via a line of sight (LOS) path between said AP and said device, and to update said statistical channel information based on said TOA.

13 . The AP of claim 12 , wherein said radio is to communicate a Multiple In Multiple Out (MIMO) communication over two or more MIMO channels, said channel estimator is to estimate said ToA via said LOS path based on channel estimations of the two or more MIMO channels.

14 . The AP of claim 9 , wherein said channel estimator is to determine said statistical channel information by applying said channel estimations to a precalculated statistical channel information.

15 . The AP of claim 9 comprising a range measurement module to perform a range measurement procedure to measure a range between said AP and said mobile device.

16 . The AP of claim 15 , wherein said radio is to send said statistical channel information in a message of said range measurement procedure.

17 . The AP of claim 9 , wherein said radio is to send said statistical channel information in a periodic broadcast massage.

18 . The AP of claim 9 , wherein said radio is to receive a request message from said mobile device to request said statistical channel information, and to send to said mobile device said statistical channel information in response to said request message.

19 . The AP of claim 9 comprising:
one or more antennas;
a memory; and
a processor.

20 . A product including one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor to implement a method at a mobile device, the method comprising:
receiving from an Access Point (AP) statistical channel information of a plurality of wireless communication channels in a region covered by said AP; estimating, based on said statistical channel information, a time of arrival (ToA) of a wireless communication signal from said AP via a line of sight (LOS) channel between said AP and said mobile device; and estimating a range between said mobile device and said AP based on said ToA.

21 . The product of claim 20 , wherein the method comprises receiving said statistical channel information in a message of a range measurement procedure between said AP and said mobile device.

22 . A product including one or more tangible computer-readable non-transitory storage media comprising computer-executable instructions operable to, when executed by at least one computer processor, enable the at least one computer processor to implement a method at an Access Point (AP), the method comprising:
determining statistical channel information of a region covered by said AP based on channel estimations of a plurality of wireless communication channels between said AP and one or more wireless communication devices in said region; and sending said statistical channel information to a mobile device in said region.

23 . The product of claim 22 , wherein the method comprises determining said statistical channel information based on a plurality of line of sight (LOS) estimations of a plurality of LOS paths between said AP and said one or more wireless communication devices.

24 . The product of claim 23 , wherein the method comprises dynamically updating said statistical channel information based on one or more changes selected from the croup consisting of a change in said plurality of channel estimations and a change in said plurality of LOS estimations.

25 . The product of claim 22 , wherein the method comprises estimating a time of arrival (ToA) of a wireless communication signal from a device of said wireless communication devices via a line of sight (LOS) path between said AP and said device, and to update said statistical channel information based on said TOA.

Assignees

• Intel Ip Corp

Inventors

• Amizur Yuval
• Schatzberg Uri

Classifications

• H04W4/023 Primary

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