CN113447917A

CN113447917A - Wireless ranging using physical and virtual responders

Info

Publication number: CN113447917A
Application number: CN202010671418.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: A·F·纳奎布; A·亚达夫; R·古尔尚
Original assignee: Apple Inc
Current assignee: Apple Inc
Priority date: 2020-03-27
Filing date: 2020-07-13
Publication date: 2021-09-28

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to wireless ranging using physical and virtual responders. An electronic device that configures two or more virtual responders associated with different subsets of capabilities of physical responders in the electronic device, wherein the physical responders include a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver and multiple antennas, and wherein a given virtual responder corresponds to the RF transceiver and a given antenna. The electronic device then performs measurements of wireless signals from a second electronic device to the electronic device based at least in part on wireless communication with the second electronic device and using at least the virtual responders, wherein the measurements correspond to time of flight of the wireless signals. Next, the electronic device determines a distance between the electronic device and the second electronic device based at least in part on the measurements, wherein the determination uses the measurements from different virtual responders to correct environmental conditions and/or improve accuracy of the determined distance.

Description

Wireless ranging using physical and virtual responders

Technical Field

Described embodiments relate generally to communication of wireless signals by electronic devices, including techniques for estimating a distance between electronic devices using physical and virtual responders.

Background

Many electronic devices utilize wireless communication to communicate with each other. For example, communication between electronic devices may be based on a communication protocol compatible with an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard, such as the IEEE802.11 standard (sometimes referred to as "Wi-Fi"), a cellular telephone communication standard, a global positioning system, and so forth.

In principle, wireless signals may be used to determine the distance between electronic devices. Notably, using the time of flight and the speed of light of the electromagnetic signal, the distance between the electronic devices can be determined. Due to the popularity of wireless communications, this capability may enable a variety of applications.

In practice, however, it may be difficult to accurately estimate the distance. For example, the accuracy of the determined distance may be reduced due to environmental effects such as interference sources and/or multipath signals. Thus, the resulting reduced accuracy of estimated range is often an obstacle to the use of wireless ranging in many applications.

Disclosure of Invention

An electronic device for determining a distance is described. The electronic device may include: a physical responder having a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver and a plurality of antennas; and integrated circuits (such as processors). During operation of the electronic device, the integrated circuit configures two or more virtual responders associated with different subsets of capabilities of the physical responders, wherein a given virtual responder corresponds to the RF transceiver and a given antenna of the plurality of antennas. Then, based at least in part on the wireless communication with the second electronic device, at least the virtual responder performs a measurement on a wireless signal associated with the second electronic device and intended for the electronic device (e.g., a wireless signal from the second electronic device to the electronic device that may or may not be addressed to the electronic device), wherein the measurement corresponds to a time of flight of the wireless signal. Next, based at least in part on the measurements, the integrated circuit determines a distance between the electronic device and the second electronic device, wherein the determination uses measurements from different virtual responders to correct environmental conditions and/or improve accuracy of the determined distance. In some implementations, any combination of one or more physical responders and one or more virtual (or virtualized) responders may be used.

Further, the integrated circuit may perform an action when the determined distance is within a threshold distance. For example, the integrated circuit may: unlocking the electronic device (or enabling access to the electronic device or its features/functions), transitioning the electronic device from a first power state to a second power state (such as from a low power state to a high power state), changing the state of the electronic device (such as unlocking or opening a door or gate near or adjacent to the second electronic device), or identifying the second electronic device.

It is noted that at least the virtual responders may perform measurements at different spatial locations on the electronic device and/or at different times (such as using the same antenna of the multiple antennas) at the same location on the electronic device. Thus, the measurements may use spatial and/or temporal diversity.

Furthermore, the measurements may also be performed by a physical responder.

In addition, the electronic device may include at least one second physical responder having a second RF transceiver and a plurality of second antennas, and the integrated circuit may configure two or more second virtual responders associated with different subsets of capabilities of the second physical responder. In these embodiments, the measurements may be performed by a physical responder, a second physical responder, a virtual responder, and/or a second virtual responder.

In some embodiments, the integrated circuit dynamically configures the virtual responder.

Note that the environmental conditions may include interference and/or multipath signals.

Further, the electronic devices may include vehicles, doors, computers, and the like.

Further, the wireless communication may include or may use Ultra Wideband (UWB). For example, the wireless communication may be compliant with the IEEE 802.15 standard.

Additionally, the second electronic device may be a cellular phone (e.g., a smartphone), a portable computing device, a wearable device, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, the distance is determined (or estimated) based, at least in part, on a second time of flight of a second wireless signal associated with the electronic device and intended for a second electronic device (e.g., a second wireless signal from the electronic device to the second electronic device).

Other embodiments provide an RF transceiver, a physical responder, and/or an integrated circuit.

Other embodiments provide a computer-readable storage medium for use with the electronic device. The program instructions stored in the computer-readable storage medium, when executed by the electronic device, may cause the electronic device to perform at least some of the foregoing operations of the electronic device.

Other embodiments provide a method for determining a distance. The method includes at least some of the foregoing operations performed by the electronic device.

This summary is provided to illustrate some exemplary embodiments in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the subject matter described herein. Thus, it should be appreciated that the features described above are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the subject matter described herein in any way. Other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter described herein will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the claims.

Drawings

The included drawings are for illustrative purposes and serve only to provide examples of possible structures and arrangements of the disclosed systems and techniques for intelligently and efficiently managing communications between a plurality of associated user devices. These drawings in no way limit any changes in form and detail that may be made to the embodiments by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the embodiments. This embodiment will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate like structural elements.

Fig. 1A is a block diagram illustrating an example of communication between electronic devices.

Fig. 1B and 1C are block diagrams illustrating exemplary embodiments of electronic devices.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method for determining distance using the electronic device of FIG. 1A.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram illustrating an example of communication between components in the electronic device of FIG. 1A.

Fig. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the electronic device of fig. 1A.

It should be noted that like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts throughout the drawings. Further, multiple instances of the same component are referred to by a common prefix separated from the instance number by a dashed line.

Detailed Description

An electronic device for determining a distance is described. During operation, the electronic device configures two or more virtual responders associated with different subsets of capabilities of physical responders in the electronic device, wherein the physical responders include an RF transceiver and multiple antennas, and wherein a given virtual responder corresponds to the RF transceiver and a given antenna of the multiple antennas. The electronic device then performs measurements of wireless signals from a second electronic device to the electronic device based at least in part on wireless communication with the second electronic device and using at least the virtual responders, wherein the measurements correspond to time of flight of the wireless signals. Next, the electronic device determines a distance between the electronic device and the second electronic device based at least in part on the measurements, wherein the determination uses the measurements from different virtual responders to correct environmental conditions and/or improve accuracy of the determined distance.

These measurement techniques may facilitate the use of wireless ranging by correcting for environmental conditions (such as interference or multipath signals) and/or improving the accuracy of the determined distances, thereby facilitating the use of a variety of applications. Notably, the electronic device can perform the action when the determined distance is within a threshold distance. For example, the electronic device may: unlocking the electronic device (or enabling access to the electronic device, function, feature, etc.), transitioning the electronic device from a first power state to a second power state (such as from a low power state to a high power state), or changing the state of the electronic device (such as unlocking or opening a door or gate near or adjacent to the second electronic device). The actions may be any one or more actions that the electronic device is capable of implementing. Thus, the measurement technique may enable the electronic device to perform accurate distance determination even in dynamically changing environments, which may facilitate more reliable applications using the determined distance. These capabilities may improve user experience and customer satisfaction.

In the discussion that follows, the electronic device may transmit wireless signals and may perform measurements of the wireless signals in one or more frequency bands. For example, a wireless signal may have one or more carriers or fundamental frequencies between 3.1GHz-10.6 GHz. Notably, the wireless signals may be compatible, include or may use UWB or "impulse radio," and/or may be compatible with IEEE 802.15 standards (such as IEEE 802.15.4). More generally, the wireless signal may have a bandwidth of one or more carriers or fundamental frequencies between 300MHz and 100GHz and a carrier frequency of at least 500MHz or 20%. In some embodiments, the wireless signal comprises a pulse. By using pulses with a wide bandwidth, such as greater than or equal to 500MHz, the uncertainty in pulse timing (Δ t) may be small enough to allow accurate determination or estimation of range, such as range resolution of less than a few centimeters (e.g., accuracy in the order of millimeters). In some embodiments, the distance resolution may be between 100 μm and 10 cm. In other embodiments, one or more other frequency ranges, bandwidths, protocols, and/or other wireless characteristics may be implemented.

It is noted that the measurement techniques in the following discussion may be used in conjunction with one or more other wireless ranging or positioning techniques according to a communication protocol, such as a communication protocol compatible with the IEEE802.11 standard (sometimes referred to as Wi-Fi). In some embodiments, measurement techniques are used with IEEE802.11BA and/or IEEE802.11 ax. However, measurement techniques may also be used with a wide variety of other communication protocols, and may also be used in electronic devices, such as portable electronic devices or mobile devices, that may incorporate a variety of different Radio Access Technologies (RATs) to provide connectivity through different wireless networks that give different location-based services and/or capabilities.

Thus, the electronic device may include hardware and software to support a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) according to a WPAN communication protocol, such as those standardized by Bluetooth Special Interest Group (located in Kirkland, Washington) or other companies. Further, the electronic device may be via: a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), a Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN), a WLAN, Near Field Communication (NFC), a cellular telephone or data network, such as to communicate using a third generation (3G) communication protocol, a fourth generation (4G) communication protocol (e.g., long term evolution or LTE, LTE-advanced (LTE-a)), a fifth generation (5G) communication protocol, or other advanced cellular communication protocol currently or later developed), and/or another communication protocol. In some embodiments, the communication protocol comprises a peer-to-peer communication technique.

In some embodiments, the electronic device may also operate as part of a wireless communication system that may include a set of client devices, which may also be referred to as stations or client electronic devices, interconnected to an access point, e.g., as part of a WLAN, and/or to each other, e.g., as part of a WPAN and/or an "ad hoc" wireless network, such as Wi-Fi direct. In some embodiments, the client device may be any electronic device capable of communicating via WLAN technology (e.g., according to a WLAN communication protocol). Further, in some embodiments, the WLAN technology may include a Wi-Fi (or more generally, WLAN) wireless communication subsystem or radio, and the Wi-Fi radio may implement IEEE802.11 technology, such as one or more of: IEEE802.11 a; IEEE802.11 b; IEEE802.11 g; IEEE 802.11-2007; ieee802.11n; IEEE 802.11-2012; IEEE802.11 ac; IEEE802.11 ax, or other IEEE802.11 technologies currently or later developed.

In some embodiments, the electronic device may act as a communication hub that provides access to the WLAN and/or to the WWAN, and thus to a wide variety of services that may be supported by various applications executing on the electronic device. Thus, an electronic device may include an "access point" that wirelessly communicates with other electronic devices (such as using Wi-Fi) and provides access to another network (such as the internet) via IEEE 802.3 (which is sometimes referred to as "ethernet"). However, in other embodiments, the electronic device may not be an access point.

In addition, it should be understood that in some embodiments, the electronic devices described herein may be configured as multi-mode wireless communication devices that are also capable of communicating via different 3G and/or second generation (2G) RATs. In these scenarios, the multi-mode electronic device or UE may be configured to prefer to attach to an LTE network that gives faster data rate throughput compared to other 3G legacy networks that give lower data rate throughput. For example, in some implementations, the multi-mode electronic device is configured to fall back to a 3G legacy network, such as an evolved high speed packet access (HSPA +) network or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)2000 evolution data only (EV-DO) network, when LTE and LTE-a networks are otherwise unavailable.

The terms "wireless communication device," "electronic device," "mobile station," "wireless access point," "station," "access point," and "User Equipment (UE)" may be used herein to describe one or more consumer electronic devices that may be capable of performing processes associated with various embodiments of the present disclosure, in accordance with various embodiments described herein.

Fig. 1A presents a block diagram illustrating an example of communication between an electronic device 110-1 and an electronic device 112 (such as a smartphone or wearable device, e.g., a smart watch). It is noted that electronic device 110-1 (such as a vehicle, e.g., an automobile, truck, SUV, motorcycle, and more generally, a vehicle having wheels in contact with the ground, a computer, e.g., a laptop, notebook, tablet, or other type of electronic device, a door, e.g., a door, window, gate, trunk, etc.) may include one or more instances of physical responder 114. A physical responder (such as physical responder 114) may include an RF transceiver (such as RF transceiver 116-1, which may include at least one transmitter and at least one receiver, or a reconfigurable transmitter/receiver) and one or more antennas (such as antenna 118). Further, the electronic device 110-1 may include an integrated circuit 120 (such as a processor or control circuit) that is coupled to the one or more physical responders 114, for example, by a wired and/or wireless link or connection.

As described further below with reference to fig. 2 and 3, during operation, the integrated circuit 120 may configure two or more virtual responders (sometimes referred to as "logical responders") associated with different subsets of the capabilities of one or more physical responders 114. Notably, a given virtual responder may correspond to a given antenna of an RF transceiver (such as RF transceiver 116-1) and multiple antennas 118. Note that two or more virtual responders may correspond to the same or different RF transceivers. Thus, there may be multiple virtual responders configured for a given RF transceiver and/or different RF transceivers. Further, it is noted that a given virtual responder may at least partially spatially overlap one or more other virtual responders (e.g., two of the virtual responders may each include a common antenna at a location on the electronic device 110-1).

For example, the first physical responder may comprise a first RF transceiver and a first antenna, the second physical responder may comprise a second RF transceiver and a second antenna, and the virtual responder may comprise any one of the first RF transceiver and the first antenna and the second RF transceiver and the second antenna. Alternatively, the first physical responder may comprise a first RF transceiver and first and second antennas. The first virtual transponder may include a first RF transceiver and a first antenna, and the second virtual transponder may include a first RF transceiver and a second antenna. These embodiments are illustrative, and other embodiments of virtual responders may be created using different physical components.

The electronic device 110-1 may communicate using wireless communications (such as UWB) with the electronic device 112 using one or more physical responders 114 and/or one or more virtual responders. Notably, the one or more physical responders 114 and/or the one or more virtual responders may perform measurements on wireless signals 122 associated with the electronic device 112 and intended for the electronic device 110-1 (e.g., wireless signals 122 transmitted to the electronic device 110-1 by a radio 124 in the electronic device 112, as represented by the jagged lines). These measurements may indicate, may correspond to, and/or may specify a time of flight for wireless signal 122 from electronic device 112 to electronic device 110-1. Next, based at least in part on the measurements, integrated circuit 120 may determine a distance between electronic devices 110-1 and 112, where the determination uses the measurements from one or more physical responders 114 and/or one or more virtual responders to correct environmental conditions and/or improve the accuracy of the determined distance.

For example, the environmental conditions may include interference and/or multipath signals. These measurements may use physical and/or virtual responders at or associated with different locations on electronic device 110-1, such as antennas at different locations on electronic device 110-1, to estimate and/or correct for environmental conditions. Alternatively, these measurements may use physical and/or virtual responders at or associated with the same or common location on the electronic device 110-1 to estimate and/or correct environmental conditions, such as measurements performed with the antenna at different times (which may be average values, for example, and may also be used to identify and exclude anomalous measurements). Notably, in some embodiments, at least a subset of the virtual responders may perform two or more measurements of wireless signals (which may include transmitting and receiving wireless signals), and then may average multiple measurements from a given virtual responder. Thus, the measurement techniques may use spatial and/or temporal diversity. These capabilities may allow for verification performance, improved accuracy of location and/or improved security or detection of attacks (such as man-in-the-middle, spoofing, etc.).

When the determined distance is within a threshold distance (such as when the electronic device 112 is from the door to the arm length of the automobile or less than 1 m), the integrated circuit 120 may perform an action. For example, integrated circuit 120 may: unlocking electronic device 110-1, transitioning electronic device 110-1 from a first power state to a second power state (such as from a low power state to a higher power state), changing a state of electronic device 110-1 (such as unlocking or opening a door or gate proximate or adjacent to electronic device 112), or identifying electronic device 112.

In some embodiments, measurements from one or more physical responders 114 and/or one or more virtual responders may be used to estimate a direction or angle of electronic device 112 towards electronic device 110-1. Using this information, the integrated circuit 120 may identify the appropriate portal or door to open or unlock. For example, a user of the electronic device 112 may access an automobile having four doors (two driver side doors, two passenger doors) and a trunk. The automobile may include physical responders located on or near each of the two driver side doors, the two passenger doors, the front bumper, the rear bumper, and/or the interior of the automobile (to determine whether the electronic device 112 is inside or outside the automobile, and thus whether the user is inside or outside the automobile). Two or more of the virtual responders and/or physical responders may provide multiple distance measurements. Based at least in part on the distance measurement (e.g., proximity of the electronic device 112) and the proximity angle determined from the measurement, the integrated circuit 120 may open the trunk of the automobile.

Since environmental conditions may change over time, in some embodiments, integrated circuit 120 may dynamically configure the virtual responder. For example, integrated circuit 120 may dynamically configure the virtual responder based at least in part on one or more communication performance metrics associated with the wireless communication.

In some embodiments, the distance is determined by integrated circuit 120 based at least in part on a second time of flight of a second wireless signal associated with electronic device 110-1 and intended for electronic device 112 (e.g., a second wireless signal transmitted by one or more RF transceivers in electronic device 110-1 to electronic device 112). For example, the radio 124 may measure a second wireless signal, may determine a second time of flight, and may transmit this information in one or more packets or frames to the electronic device 110-1. Thus, in some implementations, the distance is determined based on one-way (or one-way) or two-way (or two-way) communication between electronic devices 110-1 and 112.

In some embodiments, one or more RF transceivers may have a static or dynamic field of view (such as an angular range greater than 90 ° and less than 180 °), and the fields of view of adjacent RF transceivers may at least partially overlap. Thus, a given RF transceiver may have a directional antenna pattern that is different from an omnidirectional antenna pattern. The one or more RF transceivers may provide 360 ° coverage around the electronic device 110-1 in at least a horizontal plane.

Further, at least one of the one or more physical responders or the one or more virtual responders may transmit wireless signals 122 based at least in part on instructions or signals from integrated circuit 120. Thus, the integrated circuit 120 may coordinate transmissions from one or more physical responders or one or more virtual responders to eliminate mutual interference.

Although the preceding discussion describes measurement techniques using pulses, in other embodiments (e.g., frequency modulation), a continuous wave signal (such as a chirp or pulse compression signal) may be used, and the distance may be determined from the amplitude modulation, frequency modulation, and/or phase modulation of the reflected signal. Further, operations in the measurement technique (such as filtering) may be performed in the time and/or frequency domain and may be implemented using analog or digital techniques.

In some embodiments, electronic devices 110-1 and 112 may communicate wirelessly in a WLAN, for example, using an IEEE802.11 communication protocol. Thus, electronic devices 110-1 and 112 may be associated with each other. For example, electronic devices 110-1 and 112 may communicate wirelessly if: detecting each other by scanning wireless channels, transmitting and receiving beacons or beacon frames over wireless channels, establishing connections (e.g., by transmitting connection requests), and/or transmitting and receiving packets or frames (which may include requests and/or additional information such as data as payload). In these embodiments, electronic device 110-1 may be an access point or may provide the functionality of an access point that may facilitate access to a network, such as the internet, via an ethernet protocol, and may be a physical access point or a virtual or "software" access point implemented on a computer or electronic device. However, in some embodiments, electronic devices 110-1 and/or 112 may communicate with base stations in a cellular telephone network, for example, using a cellular telephone communication protocol.

As further described below with reference to fig. 4, electronic device 110-1 and/or electronic device 112 may include subsystems, such as networking subsystems, memory subsystems, processor subsystems, measurement subsystems, and analysis subsystems. In general, electronic device 110-1 may include any electronic device having a measurement subsystem that enables electronic device 110-1 to perform measurements (such as wireless measurements) and an analysis subsystem that determines distance. Additionally, electronic device 110-1 and/or electronic device 112 may include RF transceivers and/or radios in the networking subsystem. In some embodiments, electronic device 110-1 and electronic device 112 may comprise (or may be included within) any electronic device having networking subsystems that enable electronic device 110-1 and electronic device 112, respectively, to communicate wirelessly with another electronic device. This may include transmitting pulses for the measurement technique. Alternatively or in addition, this may include transmitting beacons over a wireless channel to enable electronic devices to make initial contact with each other or to detect each other, and thereafter exchanging subsequent data/management frames (such as connection requests) to establish a connection, configuring security options (e.g., IPSec), transmitting and receiving packets or frames via the connection, and so forth.

It is noted that electronic device 110-1 and/or electronic device 112 may be compatible with an IEEE802.11 standard (such as IEEE802.11 ax) that includes trigger-based channel access. However, electronic device 110-1 and/or electronic device 112 may also communicate with one or more legacy electronic devices that are not compatible with the IEEE802.11 standard (i.e., do not use multi-user trigger-based channel access). In some embodiments, the electronic device 110-1 uses multi-user transmission (such as orthogonal frequency division multiple access or OFDMA). For example, a radio in electronic device 110-1, such as radio 126, may provide a trigger frame to one or more electronic devices. Further, radio 124 may provide a group acknowledgement to radio 126 after radio 124 receives the trigger frame. For example, radio 124 may provide acknowledgements during assigned time slots and/or in assigned channels in a group acknowledgement. However, in some embodiments, one or more electronic devices may independently provide confirmation to radio 126. Thus, after radio 124 receives the trigger frame, a radio in one or more electronic devices (such as radio 124) may provide an acknowledgement to radio 126.

In the depicted embodiment, processing packets or frames in electronic device 110-1 and electronic device 112 includes: receiving a wireless signal encoding a packet or frame; decoding/extracting a packet or frame from a received wireless signal to obtain a packet or frame; and processing the packet or frame to determine information contained in the packet or frame, such as data in the payload.

Generally, communications via impulse, WLAN and/or cellular telephone networks in measurement technologies can be characterized by a variety of communication performance metrics. For example, the communication performance metrics may include any/all of the following: RSSI, data rate of successful communication (sometimes referred to as "throughput"), delay, error rate (such as retry or retransmission rate), mean square error of the equalized signal relative to the equalization target, intersymbol interference, multipath interference, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), eye diagram width, the ratio of the number of successfully transmitted bytes during a time interval (such as, for example, a time interval between 1 and 10 seconds) to the estimated maximum number of bytes that can be transmitted within the time interval (where the latter is sometimes referred to as the "capacity" of the communication channel or link), and/or the ratio of the actual data rate to the estimated data rate (sometimes referred to as "utilization").

Although we have described the network environment shown in FIG. 1A as an example, in alternative embodiments, there may be a different number and/or type of electronic devices. For example, some embodiments may include more or fewer electronic devices. As another example, in other embodiments, different electronic devices may transmit and/or receive packets or frames. In some embodiments, different electronic devices may transmit and/or receive wireless signals.

FIG. 1B illustrates various examples of electronic device 110. A first example of the electronic device 110-1 includes a virtual responder 128-1. A second example of the electronic device 110-2 includes a virtual responder 128-2. As shown, virtual responder 128-1 and virtual responder 128-2 correspond to the same hardware.

Fig. 1C shows additional examples of electronic devices 110. A first example of the electronic device 110-1 includes a virtual responder 130-1 that includes an RF transceiver 116-1 and a first antenna 118-1, but does not include a second antenna 118-2 (as shown by the dashed line in the electronic device 110-1 in fig. 1C). A second example of the electronic device 110-2 includes a virtual responder 130-2 that includes the RF transceiver 116-2 and the second antenna 118-2, but does not include the first antenna 118-1 (as shown by the dashed line in the electronic device 110-2 in fig. 1C). For example, an RF transceiver in a given electronic device may be selectively attached or coupled to a given antenna having a given polarization, and a virtual responder may include or select a particular antenna having a particular polarization (such as one of the two antennas 118 having different polarizations). Alternatively, an RF transceiver in a given electronic device may be selectively attached or coupled to a given antenna of two or more antennas, and these antennas (such as antenna 118) may have the same polarization.

While these examples are shown, other examples and arrangements are also contemplated, encompassing the full scope of the variations discussed herein.

Fig. 2 presents a flow chart illustrating an exemplary method 200 for determining distance. The method may be performed by an electronic device, such as electronic device 110-1 in FIG. 1A. During operation, the electronic device may configure two or more virtual responders associated with different subsets of capabilities of physical responders in the electronic device (operation 210), wherein the physical responders include an RF transceiver and multiple antennas, and wherein a given virtual responder corresponds to the RF transceiver and a given antenna of the multiple antennas. The electronic device may then perform a measurement of a wireless signal associated with the second electronic device and intended for the electronic device based at least in part on the wireless communication with the second electronic device and using at least the virtual responder (operation 212), wherein the measurement corresponds to a time of flight of the wireless signal. Next, the electronic device may determine a distance between the electronic device and a second electronic device based at least in part on the measurement (operation 214). Further, the determination may use measurements from different virtual responders to correct environmental conditions (such as interference from interference sources, reflections, received signal strength, and/or transient changes in multipath signals) and/or improve the accuracy of the determined distance.

In some embodiments, the electronic device performs one or more optional additional operations (operation 216). For example, the electronic device may perform an action when the determined distance is within a threshold distance. Notably, the electronic device may: unlocking the electronic device, enabling a function, feature, or application of the electronic device, transitioning the electronic device from a first power state to a second power state (such as from a low power state to a high power state), changing a state of the electronic device (such as unlocking or opening a door or gate near or adjacent to the second electronic device), or identifying the second electronic device.

It is noted that at least the virtual responders may perform measurements at different spatial locations on the electronic device and/or at different times (such as using the same antenna of the multiple antennas) at the same location on the electronic device. Further, at least some of the measurements may also be performed by a physical responder. Thus, the measurements may use spatial and/or temporal diversity.

In addition, the electronic device may include at least one second physical responder having a second RF transceiver and a plurality of second antennas, and the electronic device may configure two or more second virtual responders associated with different subsets of capabilities of the second physical responder. In these embodiments, the measurements may be performed by a physical responder, a second physical responder, a virtual responder, and/or a second virtual responder.

In some embodiments, the electronic device dynamically configures the virtual responder. For example, a virtual responder may be dynamically configured based at least in part on one or more of: changing environmental conditions, changes in the location of the electronic device, time of day, etc.

Note that the environmental conditions may include interference from interference sources, reflections, and/or multipath signals.

Further, the distance may be determined based at least in part on a second time of flight of a second wireless signal associated with the electronic device and intended for a second electronic device (e.g., a second wireless signal from the electronic device to the second electronic device).

In some embodiments of method 200 (fig. 2), there may be more or fewer operations. In addition, one or more different operations may be included. Further, the order of the operations may be changed, and/or two or more operations may be combined into a single operation or performed at least partially in parallel.

The measurement technique is further illustrated in FIG. 3, which presents a flow chart illustrating an example of communication between components in electronic devices 110-1 and 112. During operation, the integrated circuit 120 in the electronic device 110-1 may configure two or more virtual responders associated with different subsets of the capabilities of the physical responders 114 in the electronic device 110-1, wherein the physical responders 114 include the RF transceiver 116-1 and the plurality of antennas 118, and wherein a given virtual responder corresponds to the RF transceiver 116-1 and a given antenna of the plurality of antennas. Notably, the integrated circuit 120 can provide instructions 310 or signals to the physical responder 114 (such as to the RF transceiver 116-1) to configure two or more virtual responders.

The physical responder 114 and/or the two or more virtual responders may then wirelessly transmit the pulse 312 with the radio 124 in the electronic device 112. For example, the radio 124 may transmit the pulse 312-1 to the electronic device 110, which is measured 314 by the physical responder 114 and/or two or more virtual responders. These measurements may correspond to the time of flight of pulse 312-1. For example, the pulse 312-1 may be time stamped with a transmission time when transmitted by the radio 124 and time stamped with a reception time when received by the physical responder 114 and/or two or more virtual responders. Next, the physical responder 114 may provide the measurement 314 to the integrated circuit 120.

In some embodiments, the physical responder 114 and/or two or more virtual responders may transmit pulses 312-2 to the electronic device 110, which are measured 316 by the radio 124. These measurements may correspond to or otherwise indicate the time of flight of pulse 312-2. For example, the pulse 312-2 may be time stamped with a transmission time when transmitted by the physical responder 114 and/or two or more virtual responders and time stamped with a reception time when received by the radio 124. The radio 124 may then transmit one or more packets 318 or frames with information 320 specifying the time of flight of the pulse 312-2 to the electronic device 110. After receiving one or more packets 318 or frames, physical responder 114 and/or radio 126 may provide information 320 to integrated circuit 120.

Next, integrated circuit 120 may determine a distance 322 between electronic devices 110-1 and 112 based at least in part on measurements 314 and/or information 320, where the determination uses measurements from different virtual responders to correct environmental conditions (such as interference, reflections, and/or multipath signals) and/or to improve the accuracy of the determined distance 322.

In some implementations, integrated circuit 120 performs optional act 324. For example, integrated circuit 120 may perform act 324 when determined distance 322 is within a threshold distance.

Although communication between components in fig. 3 is illustrated as unidirectional or bidirectional communication (e.g., lines with single or double arrows), a given communication operation may generally be unidirectional or bidirectional.

In summary, measurement techniques may allow for dynamic, reliable, and accurate determination of a distance between an electronic device and a second electronic device. Further, this capability may enable various location or proximity based applications. Thus, the measurement techniques may improve the user experience when using the electronic device.

As described above, various aspects of the present technology may include collecting and using data available from various sources, for example, to improve or enhance functionality. The present disclosure contemplates that, in some instances, such collected data may include personal information data that uniquely identifies or may be used to contact or locate a particular person. Such personal information data may include demographic data, location-based data, phone numbers, email addresses, twitter IDs, home addresses, data or records related to the user's health or fitness level (e.g., vital sign measurements, medication information, exercise information), date of birth, or any other identifying or personal information. The present disclosure recognizes that the use of such personal information data in the present technology may be useful to benefit the user.

The present disclosure contemplates that entities responsible for collecting, analyzing, disclosing, transmitting, storing, or otherwise using such personal information data will comply with established privacy policies and/or privacy practices. In particular, such entities should enforce and adhere to the use of privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining privacy and security of personal information data. Such policies should be easily accessible to users and should be updated as data is collected and/or used. Personal information from the user should be collected for legitimate and legitimate uses by the entity and not shared or sold outside of these legitimate uses. Furthermore, such acquisition/sharing should only be done after receiving users informed consent. Furthermore, such entities should consider taking any necessary steps to defend and secure access to such personal information data, and to ensure that others who have access to the personal information data comply with their privacy policies and procedures. In addition, such entities may subject themselves to third party evaluations to prove compliance with widely accepted privacy policies and practices. In addition, policies and practices should be adjusted to the particular type of personal information data collected and/or accessed, and to applicable laws and standards including specific considerations of jurisdiction. For example, in the united states, the collection or acquisition of certain health data may be governed by federal and/or state laws, such as the health insurance transfer and accountability act (HIPAA); while other countries may have health data subject to other regulations and policies and should be treated accordingly. Therefore, different privacy practices should be maintained for different personal data types in each country.

Regardless of the foregoing, the present disclosure also contemplates embodiments in which a user selectively prevents use or access to personal information data. That is, the present disclosure contemplates that hardware elements and/or software elements may be provided to prevent or block access to such personal information data. For example, the present technology may be configured to allow a user to selectively engage in "opt-in" or "opt-out" of collecting personal information data at any time, e.g., during or after a registration service. In addition to providing "opt-in" and "opt-out" options, the present disclosure contemplates providing notifications related to accessing or using personal information. For example, the user may be notified that their personal information data is to be accessed when the application is downloaded, and then be reminded again just before the personal information data is accessed by the application.

Further, it is an object of the present disclosure that personal information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of inadvertent or unauthorized access or use. Once the data is no longer needed, the risk can be minimized by limiting data collection and deleting data. In addition, and when applicable, including in certain health-related applications, data de-identification may be used to protect the privacy of the user. De-identification may be facilitated by removing particular identifiers (e.g., date of birth, etc.), controlling the amount or specificity of stored data (e.g., collecting location data at a city level rather than at an address level), controlling how data is stored (e.g., aggregating data among users), and/or other methods, as appropriate.

Thus, while the present disclosure may broadly cover the use of personal information data to implement one or more of the various disclosed embodiments, the present disclosure also contemplates that various embodiments may also be implemented without the need to access such personal information data. That is, various embodiments of the present technology do not fail to function properly due to the lack of all or a portion of such personal information data.

Embodiments of the electronic device will now be described. Fig. 4 presents a block diagram of an electronic device 400 (which may be a cellular phone, a smart watch, an access point, a wireless speaker, an IoT device, another electronic device, etc.), in accordance with some embodiments. The electronic device includes a processing subsystem 410, a memory subsystem 412, a networking subsystem 414, and a measurement subsystem 432. Processing subsystem 410 includes one or more devices configured to perform computing operations. For example, processing subsystems 410 may include one or more microprocessors, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), microcontrollers, Graphics Processing Units (GPUs), programmable logic devices, and/or one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs).

Memory subsystem 412 includes one or more devices for storing data and/or instructions for processing subsystem 410, networking subsystem 414, and/or measurement subsystem 432. For example, memory subsystem 412 may include Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), Static Random Access Memory (SRAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), flash memory, and/or other types of memory. In some embodiments, instructions for processing subsystem 410 in memory subsystem 412 include: program instructions or sets of instructions (such as program instructions 422 or operating system 424) that are executable by the processing subsystem 410. For example, ROM may store programs, utilities or processes to be executed in a non-volatile manner, and DRAM may provide volatile data storage and may store instructions related to the operation of electronic device 400. Note that the one or more computer programs may constitute a computer program mechanism, a computer-readable storage medium, or software. Further, the instructions in the various modules in memory subsystem 412 may be implemented in the following languages: a high-level programming language, an object-oriented programming language, and/or an assembly or machine language. Further, the programming language may be compiled or interpreted, e.g., configurable or configured (the two being used interchangeably in this discussion) to be executed by the processing subsystem 410. In some embodiments, one or more computer programs are distributed over network-coupled computer systems so that the one or more computer programs are stored and executed in a distributed fashion.

Further, memory subsystem 412 may include mechanisms for controlling access to memory. In some embodiments, memory subsystem 412 includes a memory hierarchy that includes one or more caches coupled to memory in electronic device 400. In some of these embodiments, one or more of the caches are located in processing subsystem 410.

In some embodiments, the memory subsystem 412 is coupled to one or more high capacity mass storage devices (not shown). For example, the memory subsystem 412 may be coupled to a magnetic or optical disk drive, a solid state drive, or another type of mass storage device. In these embodiments, memory subsystem 412 may be used by electronic device 400 as a fast-access storage for frequently used data, while mass storage devices are used to store less frequently used data.

Networking subsystem 414 includes one or more devices configured to couple to and communicate over wired and/or wireless networks (i.e., perform network operations), such as: the control logic, interface circuitry, and a set of antennas (or antenna elements) in an adaptive array that can be selectively switched on and/or off by the control logic to produce a variety of optional antenna patterns or "beam patterns". Alternatively, instead of the set of antennas, in some embodiments, the electronic device 400 includes one or more nodes, e.g., pads or connectors, which may be coupled to the set of antennas. Thus, the electronic device 400 may or may not include the set of antennas. For example, networking subsystem 414 may include Bluetooth^TMA networking system, a cellular networking system (e.g., a 3G/4G/5G network, such as UMTS, LTE, etc.), a Universal Serial Bus (USB) networking system, a networking system based on the standards described in IEEE 802.12 (e.g.,

a networked system), an ethernet networked system, and/or another networked system.

Networking subsystem 414 includes a processor, controller, radio/antenna, jack/plug, and/or other devices for coupling to, communicating over, and processing data and events for each supported networking system. It is noted that the mechanisms for coupling to, communicating over, and processing data and events on the network of each network system are sometimes collectively referred to as a "network interface" for that network system. Furthermore, in some embodiments, a "network" or "connection" between electronic devices does not yet exist. Thus, the electronic device 400 may use mechanisms in the networking subsystem 414 for performing simple wireless communications between electronic devices, such as transmitting advertisement frames and/or scanning for advertisement frames transmitted by other electronic devices.

Measurement subsystem 432 includes one or more devices configured to transmit wireless (e.g., radar) signals and perform wireless measurements, such as: control logic 416, a plurality of separate RF transceivers 418 collocated in electronic device 400, and a set of one or more antennas 420 (or antenna elements) electrically coupled to RF transceivers 418 at nodes 408 (e.g., one or more pads). These independent RF transceivers may not be synchronized with each other. In some embodiments, the set of antennas 420 have a directional antenna pattern that is different from an omni-directional antenna pattern.

Within electronic device 400, processing subsystem 410, memory subsystem 412, networking subsystem 414, and measurement subsystem 432 are coupled together using bus 428, which facilitates data transfer between these components. Bus 428 may include electrical, optical, and/or electro-optical connections that subsystems may use to transfer commands and data between each other. Although only one bus 428 is shown for clarity, different embodiments may include different numbers or configurations of electrical, optical, and/or electro-optical connections between subsystems.

In some embodiments, electronic device 400 includes a display subsystem 426 for displaying information on a display, which may include a display driver and a display, such as a liquid crystal display, multi-touch screen, or the like. Display subsystem 426 may be controlled by processing subsystem 410 to display information (e.g., information related to incoming, outgoing, or active communication sessions) to a user.

Electronic device 400 may also include a user input subsystem 430 that allows a user of electronic device 400 to interact with electronic device 400. For example, the user input subsystem 430 may take a variety of forms, such as: buttons, keypads, dials, touch screens, audio input interfaces, visual/image capture input interfaces, input in the form of sensor data, and the like.

Electronic device 400 may be (or may be included in) any electronic device having at least one network interface or measurement subsystem. For example, electronic device 400 may include: a cellular or smart phone, a tablet, a laptop, a notebook, a personal or desktop computer, a netbook computer, a media player device, a wireless speaker, an IoT device, an e-book device, a computer system, a computer system, a computer system, a computer system, a computer system, a computer system, a computer system, a computer system,

Devices, smart watches, wearable computing devices, portable computing devices, consumer electronics devices, vehicles, doors, windows, portals, access points, routers, switches, communication devices, testing devices, and any other type of electronic computing device having wireless communication capabilities that may include communicating via one or more wireless communication protocols.

Although electronic device 400 is described using specific components, in alternative embodiments, different components and/or subsystems may be present in electronic device 400. For example, electronic device 400 may include one or more additional processing subsystems, memory subsystems, networking subsystems, and/or display subsystems. In addition, one or more of the subsystems may not be present in the electronic device 400. Further, in some embodiments, electronic device 400 may include one or more additional subsystems not shown in fig. 4. In some embodiments, the electronic device may include an analysis subsystem that performs at least some of the operations in the measurement technique. Further, while separate subsystems are shown in fig. 4, in some embodiments, some or all of a given subsystem or component may be integrated into one or more of the other subsystems or components in electronic device 400. For example, in some embodiments, the program instructions 422 are included in the operating system 424 and/or the control logic 416 is included in the RF transceiver 418.

Further, the circuits and components in electronic device 400 may be implemented using any combination of analog and/or digital circuits, including: bipolar, PMOS and/or NMOS gates or transistors. Further, the signals in these embodiments may include digital signals having approximately discrete values and/or analog signals having continuous values. In addition, the components and circuits may be single-ended or differential, and the power supply may be unipolar or bipolar.

Integrated circuits (sometimes referred to as "communication circuits") may implement some or all of the functionality of networking subsystem 414. The integrated circuit may include hardware and/or software mechanisms for transmitting wireless signals from the electronic device 400 and receiving signals from other electronic devices at the electronic device 400. Radios other than the mechanisms described herein are well known in the art and, as such, are not described in detail. In general, networking subsystem 414 and/or the integrated circuit may include any number of radios. Note that the radios in the multiple radio implementation function in a similar manner to the single radio implementation.

In some embodiments, networking subsystem 414 and/or the integrated circuit includes a configuration mechanism (such as one or more hardware mechanisms and/or software mechanisms) that configures the radio to transmit and/or receive on a given communication channel (such as a given carrier frequency). For example, in some embodiments, the configuration mechanism may be used to switch the radio from monitoring and/or transmitting on a given communication channel to monitoring and/or transmitting on a different communication channel. (Note that "monitoring," as used herein, includes receiving signals from other electronic devices, and possibly performing one or more processing operations on the received signals)

Alternatively or in addition, an integrated circuit (sometimes referred to as a "measurement circuit") may implement some or all of the functionality of measurement subsystem 432. The integrated circuit may include hardware and/or software mechanisms for transmitting wireless signals from the electronic device 400 and receiving wireless signals at the electronic device 400.

In some embodiments, the output of a process for designing an integrated circuit or a portion of an integrated circuit including one or more of the circuits described herein may be a computer readable medium, such as, for example, magnetic tape or a compact or magnetic disk. The computer-readable medium may be encoded with a data structure or other information that describes circuitry that may be physically instantiated as an integrated circuit or as part of an integrated circuit. While various formats may be used for such encoding, these data structures are often written in the following formats: caltech Intermediate Format (CIF), Calma GDS II stream format (GDSII), or Electronic Design Interchange Format (EDIF). Such data structures may be developed by those skilled in the art of integrated circuit design from schematic diagrams and corresponding descriptions of the types detailed above, and encoded on computer-readable media. One skilled in the art of integrated circuit fabrication may use such encoded data to fabricate integrated circuits that include one or more of the circuits described herein.

While the foregoing discussion uses the UWB communication protocol as an illustrative example, in other embodiments a wide variety of communication protocols may be used, and more generally, wireless communication techniques may be used. Thus, measurement techniques may be used in a variety of network interfaces. Further, while some of the operations in the foregoing embodiments are implemented in hardware or software, in general, the operations in the foregoing embodiments may be implemented in a wide variety of configurations and architectures. Thus, some or all of the operations in the foregoing implementations may be performed in hardware, software, or both. For example, at least some of the operations in the measurement technique may be implemented using program instructions 422, an operating system 424 (such as a driver for the interface circuitry in networking subsystem 414 or RF transceiver 418 in measurement subsystem 432), or in firmware in the interface circuitry networking subsystem 414 or measurement subsystem 432. Alternatively or additionally, at least some of the operations in the measurement technique may be implemented in a physical layer (such as in interface circuitry in networking subsystem 414 or hardware in measurement subsystem 432). In some embodiments, the measurement techniques are implemented at least in part in the MAC layer and/or the physical layer in the interface circuitry in networking subsystem 414.

While examples of values are provided in the foregoing discussion, different values are used in other embodiments. Accordingly, the numerical values provided are not intended to be limiting.

Further, while the foregoing embodiments illustrate the use of wireless signals in one or more frequency bands, in other embodiments of the measurement technique, electromagnetic signals in one or more different frequency bands are used to determine distance. For example, these signals may be transmitted in one or more frequency bands, including: microwave band, radar band, 900MHz, 2.4GHz, 5GHz, 60GHz, and/or band used by citizen broadband radio service or LTE.

Reference has been made in the foregoing description to "some embodiments". It is noted that "some embodiments" describe a subset of all possible embodiments, but do not always specify the same subset of embodiments.

The previous description is intended to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the disclosure, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Furthermore, the foregoing descriptions of embodiments of the present disclosure have been presented only for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosure to the forms disclosed. Thus, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the discussion of the preceding embodiments is not intended to limit the disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a pad or connector configured to communicatively couple to a physical responder;

one or more circuits coupled to the pad or the connector and configured to:

configuring two or more virtual responders associated with different subsets of capabilities of the physical responders, wherein a given virtual responder corresponds to a given antenna of the plurality of antennas in the physical responder and an RF transceiver in the physical responder;

performing a measurement of a wireless signal associated with an electronic device and intended for the integrated circuit based at least in part on wireless communication with the electronic device and using at least the virtual responder, wherein the measurement corresponds to a time of flight of the wireless signal; and

determining a distance between the integrated circuit and the electronic device based at least in part on the measurements, wherein the determining uses the measurements from different virtual responders to correct environmental conditions, improve accuracy of the determined distance, or both.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the integrated circuit performs an action when the determined distance is within a threshold distance.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 2, wherein the action comprises: unlocking the second electronic device; transitioning the second electronic device from a first power state to a second power state; or change the state of the second electronic device.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the measuring is also performed by the physical responder.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the pad or the connector is configured to communicatively couple to a second physical responder; and

wherein the one or more circuits are configured to configure two or more second virtual responders associated with different subsets of the capabilities of the second physical responders.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 5, wherein the measurement is performed by two or more of: the physical responder, the second physical responder, the virtual responder, or the second virtual responder.

7. An electronic device, comprising:

a physical responder comprising:

a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver; and

a plurality of antennas; and

an integrated circuit coupled to the physical responder, wherein the electronic device is configured to:

configuring two or more virtual responders associated with different subsets of capabilities of the physical responders, wherein a given virtual responder corresponds to the RF transceiver and a given antenna of the plurality of antennas;

performing a measurement of a wireless signal associated with a second electronic device and intended for the electronic device based at least in part on wireless communication with the second electronic device and using at least the virtual responder, wherein the measurement corresponds to a time of flight of the wireless signal; and

determining a distance between the electronic device and the second electronic device based at least in part on the measurements, wherein the determining uses the measurements from different virtual responders to correct environmental conditions, improve accuracy of the determined distance, or both.

8. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the integrated circuit performs an action when the determined distance is within a threshold distance.

9. The electronic device of claim 8, wherein the action comprises: unlocking the electronic device; transitioning the electronic device from a first power state to a second power state; or change the state of the electronic device.

10. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein at least the virtual responder performs the measurements at different spatial locations on the electronic device, at different times at the same location on the electronic device, or both.

11. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the measuring is further performed by the physical responder.

12. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the electronic device comprises:

a second physical responder comprising:

a second RF transceiver; and

a plurality of second antennas; and

wherein the integrated circuit is configured to configure two or more second virtual responders associated with different subsets of the capabilities of the second physical responders.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the measurement is performed by two or more of: the physical responder, the second physical responder, the virtual responder, or the second virtual responder.

14. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the integrated circuit dynamically configures the virtual responder.

15. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the environmental condition comprises interference or a multipath signal.

16. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the electronic device comprises an automobile, a door, or a computer.

17. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the wireless communication uses Ultra Wideband (UWB).

18. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the second electronic device comprises a cellular telephone.

19. The electronic device of claim 7, wherein the distance is determined based at least in part on a second time of flight of a second wireless signal associated with the electronic device and intended for the second electronic device.

20. A method for determining distance, comprising:

by an electronic device:

configuring two or more virtual responders associated with different subsets of capabilities of physical responders in the electronic device, wherein the physical responders comprise a Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver and a plurality of antennas, and wherein a given virtual responder corresponds to the RF transceiver and a given antenna of the plurality of antennas;