FTM protocol with angle of arrival and angle of departure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9924387-B2
Application number	US-201615013304-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 2, 2016
Priority date	Feb 10, 2015
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

Apparatuses and methods are disclosed that may perform ranging operations between an initiator device and a responder device. The initiator device may request the responder device to perform a ranging operation. The responder device may transmit a first fine timing measurement (FTM) frame to the initiator device, may receive an acknowledgement (ACK) frame from the responder device, and may transmit a second FTM frame to the initiator device. The second FTM frame may include a time value and angle information. The time value may indicate a difference between a time of departure (TOD) of the first FTM frame and a time of arrival (TOA) of the ACK frame. The angle information may indicate a direction of the initiator device relative to the responder device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of performing a ranging operation between a first device and a second device, the method performed by one or more processors of the first device and comprising:
receiving from the second device a fine timing measurement (FTM) request frame including a request, embedded within a vendor-specific information element (VSIE) of the FTM request frame, for the first device to estimate angle of arrival (AoA) information or angle of departure (AoD) information for one or more frames exchanged between the first device and the second device;
transmitting a first FTM frame to the second device;
receiving an acknowledgement (ACK) frame from the second device; and
transmitting a second FTM frame to the second device, the second FTM frame comprising:
a time value indicating a difference between a time of departure (TOD) of the first FTM frame and a time of arrival (TOA) of the ACK frame; and
angle information indicating a direction of the second device relative to the first device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
embedding, into a beacon frame, information indicating whether the first device is capable of estimating angle of arrival (AoA) information or angle of departure (AoD) information; and
broadcasting the beacon frame to at least the second device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request indicates a desired level of accuracy for the AoA information or the AoD information.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting a response frame to the second device in response to the request, the response frame indicating a level of accuracy to be provided for the AoA information or the AoD information.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
embedding, into an information element (IE) of the first FTM frame, a value indicating a level of accuracy to be provided for the AoA information or the AoD information.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting a response frame to the second device in response to the request, the response frame indicating whether the first device is capable of estimating the AoA information or the AoD information.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
embedding, into an information element (IE) of the first FTM frame, information indicating whether the first device is capable of estimating the AoA information or the AoD information.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
embedding the angle information within one member of the group consisting of a TOD field and a TOA field of the second FTM frame.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
embedding the time value within the other member of the group consisting of the TOD field and the TOA field of the second FTM frame.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the angle information is at least one member of the group consisting of an angle of arrival (AoA) of the ACK frame and an angle of departure (AoD) of the first FTM frame.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
estimating the AoA of the ACK frame using a plurality of different antenna patterns of the first device.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
estimating the AoD of the first FTM frame using a plurality of different antenna patterns of the first device.

13. A first device to perform a ranging operation with a second device, the first device comprising:
one or more processors; and
a memory configured to store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the first device to:
receive from the second device a fine timing measurement (FTM) request frame including a request, embedded within a vendor-specific information element (VSIE) of the FTM request frame, for the first device to estimate angle of arrival (AoA) information or angle of departure (AoD) information for one or more frames exchanged between the first device and the second device;
transmit a first FTM frame to the second device;
receive an acknowledgement (ACK) frame from the second device; and
transmit a second FTM frame to the second device, the second FTM frame comprising:
a time value indicating a difference between a time of departure (TOD) of the first FTM frame and a time of arrival (TOA) of the ACK frame; and
angle information indicating a direction of the second device relative to the first device.

14. The first device of claim 13 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the first device to:
embed, into a beacon frame, information indicating whether the first device is capable of estimating angle of arrival (AoA) information or angle of departure (AoD) information; and
broadcast the beacon frame to at least the second device.

15. The first device of claim 13 , wherein the request indicates a desired level of accuracy for the AoA information or the AoD information.

16. The first device of claim 13 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the first device to:
transmit a response frame to the second device in response to the request, the response frame indicating a level of accuracy to be provided for the AoA information or the AoD information.

17. The first device of claim 13 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the first device to:
embed, into an information element (IE) of the first FTM frame, a value indicating a level of accuracy to be provided for the AoA information or the AoD information.

18. The first device of claim 13 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the first device to:
transmit a response frame to the second device in response to the request, the response frame indicating whether the first device is capable of estimating the AoA information or the AoD information.

19. The first device of claim 13 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the first device to:
embed, into an information element (IE) of the first FTM frame, information indicating whether the first device is capable of estimating the AoA information or the AoD information.

20. The first device of claim 13 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the first device to:
embed the angle information within one member of the group consisting of a TOD field and a TOA field of the second FTM frame.

21. The first device of claim 20 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the first device to:
embed the time value within the other member of the group consisting of the TOD field and the TOA field of the second FTM frame.

22. The first device of claim 13 , wherein the angle information is at least one member of the group consisting of an angle of arrival (AoA) of the ACK frame and an angle of departure (AoD) of the first FTM frame.

23. The first device of claim 22 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the first device to:
estimate the AoA of the ACK frame using a plurality of different antenna patterns of the first device.

24. The first device of claim 22 , wherein execution of the instructions causes the first device to:
estimate the AoD of the first FTM frame using a plurality of different antenna patterns of the first device.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing one or more programs containing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a first device, cause the first device to perform a ranging operation with a second device by performing operations comprising:
receiving from the second device a fine timing measurement (FTM) request frame including a

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Aldana Carlos Horacio
• Zhang Xiaoxin

Classifications

• H04W72/20

  Control channels or signalling for resource management · CPC title

• H04L1/16

  in which the return channel carries supervisory signals, e.g. repetition request signals · CPC title

• G01S13/74

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

• H04W24/06 Primary

  Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using simulated traffic · CPC title

• G01S5/12 Primary

  by co-ordinating position lines of different shape, e.g. hyperbolic, circular, elliptical or radial · CPC title