Wireless network location techniques

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9532239-B2
Application number	US-201314129949-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 29, 2013
Priority date	Feb 19, 2013
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

Improved wireless network location techniques are described. In one embodiment, for example, an apparatus may comprise circuitry and a communications management module for execution on the circuitry to send a timing announcement element comprising a sounding preamble count parameter indicating a number of sounding preambles, send a null data element comprising a number of sounding preambles equal to the sounding preamble count parameter, receive timing reply information comprising the number of sounding preambles equal to the sounding preamble count parameter, and determine a time of flight based on the timing reply information. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of wireless network location instructions that, in response to being executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to:
send a timing announcement element comprising a sounding preamble count parameter;
send a first timing reference element comprising a first sounding preamble set of a size specified by the sounding preamble count parameter;
receive timing reply information comprising a second timing reference element comprising a second sounding preamble set of the size specified by the sounding preamble count parameter and a response buffer time parameter that indicates a maximum buffering time that a subsequent timing response element will be buffered; and
determine a time of flight based on the timing reply information.

2. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , comprising wireless network location instructions that, in response to being executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to cause transmission of at least one sounding preamble among the first sounding preamble set by a combination of two or more antennas.

3. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , comprising wireless network location instructions that, in response to being executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to:
send the first timing reference element to a remote computing device, the first timing reference element comprising a bandwidth specified by a bandwidth parameter in the timing announcement element; and
receive the second timing reference element from the remote computing device, the second timing reference element comprising the bandwidth specified by the bandwidth parameter.

4. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , the first timing reference element comprising a null data packet.

5. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , the second timing reference element comprising a null data packet.

6. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , the first sounding preamble set comprising one or more long training fields.

7. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , the second sounding preamble set comprising one or more extended long training fields.

8. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 1 , the timing announcement element comprising a receive capabilities parameter indicating a sounding preamble format for the second sounding preamble set.

9. A wireless network location apparatus, comprising:
circuitry; and
a communications management module for execution on the circuitry to send a timing announcement element comprising a sounding preamble count parameter indicating a number of sounding preambles, send a null data element comprising a number of sounding preambles equal to the sounding preamble count parameter, receive timing reply information comprising the number of sounding preambles equal to the sounding preamble count parameter and a response buffer time parameter that indicates a maximum buffering time that a subsequent timing response element will be buffered, and determine a time of flight based on the timing reply information.

10. The wireless network location apparatus of claim 9 , the communications management module for execution on the circuitry to cause transmission of at least one sounding preamble by a combination of two or more antennas.

11. The wireless network location apparatus of claim 9 , the communications management module for execution on the circuitry to determine a bandwidth parameter indicating a bandwidth for the null data element, send the bandwidth parameter to a remote computing device, send the null data element based on the bandwidth parameter, and receive a timing reference element comprising the bandwidth indicated by the bandwidth parameter from the remote computing device.

12. The wireless network location apparatus of claim 9 , the timing reply information comprising a number of extended long training fields equal to the sounding preamble count parameter.

13. The wireless network location apparatus of claim 9 , the sounding preambles of the null data element comprising one or more long training fields.

14. The wireless network location apparatus of claim 9 , the sounding preambles of the timing reply information comprised in the timing response element.

15. The wireless network location apparatus of claim 9 , the sounding preambles of the timing reply information comprised in a null data packet.

16. The wireless network location apparatus of claim 9 , comprising an antenna array, the communications management module for execution on the circuitry to cause transmission of each sounding preamble in the null data element using a different antenna of the antenna array.

17. A wireless network location method, comprising:
sending a timing announcement element comprising a sounding preamble count parameter;
sending a first timing reference element comprising a first sounding preamble set of a size specified by the sounding preamble count parameter;
receiving timing reply information comprising a second timing reference element comprising a second sounding preamble set of the size specified by the sounding preamble count parameter and a response buffer time parameter that indicates a maximum buffering time that a subsequent timing response element will be buffered; and
determining, by a processor circuit, a time of flight based on the timing reply information.

18. The wireless network location method of claim 17 , comprising transmitting at least one sounding preamble among the first sounding preamble set by a combination of two or more antennas.

19. The wireless network location method of claim 17 , comprising:
sending the first timing reference element to a remote computing device, the first timing reference element comprising a bandwidth specified by a bandwidth parameter in the timing announcement element; and
receiving the second timing reference element from the remote computing device, the second timing reference element comprising the bandwidth specified by the bandwidth parameter.

20. The wireless network location method of claim 17 , the first timing reference element comprising a null data packet.

21. The wireless network location method of claim 17 , the second timing reference element comprising a null data packet.

22. The wireless network location method of claim 17 , the first sounding preamble set comprising one or more long training fields.

23. The wireless network location method of claim 17 , the second sounding preamble set comprising one or more extended long training fields.

24. The wireless network location method of claim 17 , comprising transmitting each sounding preamble in the first sounding preamble set using a different antenna.

Assignees

• Intel Ip Corp

Inventors

• Ben-Haim Shani
• Amizur Yuval

Classifications

• H04L43/08

  Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters · CPC title

• G01S13/765

  with exchange of information between interrogator and responder · CPC title

• H04W24/02 Primary

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · 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

• G01S5/14 Primary

  Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location · CPC title