CN117156593A

CN117156593A - Ultra wideband channel access-opportunity reservation

Info

Publication number: CN117156593A
Application number: CN202310618969.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: L·维尔马; A·克雷布斯; 刘勇; 江津菁
Original assignee: Apple Inc
Current assignee: Apple Inc
Priority date: 2022-05-31
Filing date: 2023-05-30
Publication date: 2023-12-01

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to ultra wideband channel access-opportunity reservation. Systems, methods, and mechanisms for an out-of-band (OOB) ultra-wideband (UWB) channel arbitration and/or channel coordination scheme are disclosed. The device may scan an arbitration channel for a first period of time and, based on the scan, the arbitration channel is not in use. The device may perform a first channel access procedure on the arbitrated channel and perform UWB communications on the UWB channel during UWB channel transmission opportunities.

Description

Ultra wideband channel access-opportunity reservation

Technical Field

The present application relates to wireless communications, including techniques for out-of-band (OOB) ultra-wideband (UWB) channel arbitration and/or channel coordination schemes, e.g., embodiments described herein define arbitration, coordination, and/or access schemes via channels in non-UWB bands and on radios other than UWB radios.

Background

In the current implementations, ultra Wideband (UWB) channels do not have channel/medium access rules, such as Listen Before Talk (LBT) regulatory rules, for example. Given the nature of the UWB channel, such an LBT procedure would be a power hungry operation for the UWB radio. Thus, the lack of such access rules is also detrimental to the UWB channel benefits. The benefit is that UWB radios can transmit without channel access delay from listen before talk and do not consume much of the required power (e.g., especially for low power devices such as location tags (e.g., multi-interface radio frequency repeater (MIT) devices) and/or client stations). Unfortunately, when multiple transmitters attempt to use UWB channels in a common area, the lack of arbitration (e.g., channel/medium access rules) for UWB channels results in collisions. Thus, improvements are desired.

Disclosure of Invention

Embodiments described herein relate to systems, methods, and mechanisms for out-of-band (OOB) ultra-wideband (UWB) channel arbitration and/or channel coordination schemes, e.g., embodiments described herein define arbitration, coordination, and/or access schemes via channels in non-UWB bands and on radios other than UWB radios.

For example, in some embodiments, a wireless station may be engaged in peer-to-peer (P2P) data communication with another wireless station over an Ultra Wideband (UWB) channel. The wireless station may perform arbitration of the UWB channel on an arbitration channel (e.g., on an OOB channel). Further, after successful arbitration, the wireless station may declare a UWB channel for the duration of the transmission (or transmission) opportunity.

As another example, in some embodiments, a wireless station may participate in peer-to-peer (P2P) data communication with another wireless station over an Ultra Wideband (UWB) channel. The wireless station may perform coordination of the UWB channel on the advertising channel (e.g., on the OOB channel). Further, after successful coordination of the UWB channel, the wireless station may declare the UWB channel for the duration of the transmission (or transmission) opportunity.

As a further example, in some embodiments, a wireless station may participate in peer-to-peer (P2P) data communication with another wireless station over an Ultra Wideband (UWB) channel. The wireless station may access the UWB channel based on periodic advertisements transmitted on the advertisement channel (e.g., on the OOB channel). Further, after advertising, the wireless station may declare a UWB channel for the duration of the transmission (or transmission) opportunity.

This summary is intended to provide a brief overview of some of the subject matter described in this document. Accordingly, it should be understood that the above-described features are merely examples and should not be construed as narrowing 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

A better understanding of the present subject matter may be obtained when the following detailed description of the embodiments is considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communication system according to some embodiments.

Fig. 2A illustrates an example of wireless device communication according to some embodiments.

Fig. 2B illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram of a wireless device according to some embodiments.

Fig. 2C illustrates an exemplary WLAN communication system according to some embodiments.

Fig. 3A illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram of a WLAN Access Point (AP) according to some embodiments.

Fig. 3B illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram of a wireless station (UE) in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 3C illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram of a wireless node, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary simplified block diagram of a position tag device according to some embodiments.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example of periodic advertising of ultra-wideband (UWB) channel occupancy on an out-of-band (OOB) advertising channel, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 6 illustrates an example of an advertisement for UWB channel occupancy on an OOB advertisement channel, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example of Ranging Area Network (RAN) coordination for accessing UWB channels using OOB advertisement channels, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 8 illustrates an example of RAN coordination for accessing UWB channels using decoupled OOB advertisement channels, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 9 illustrates another example of RAN coordination for accessing UWB channels using OOB advertisement channels, according to some embodiments.

Fig. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a method for UWB channel access, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 11 illustrates a block diagram of another example of a method for UWB channel access, in accordance with some embodiments.

Fig. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a method for UWB channel access coordination, in accordance with some embodiments.

While the features described herein are susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit the invention to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the subject matter as defined by the appended claims.

Detailed Description

Acronyms

Various acronyms are used throughout this patent application. The most prominent acronyms used that may appear throughout this patent application are defined as follows:

UE: user equipment

AP: access point

TX: transmission/emission

RX: reception/reception

UWB: ultra wideband

BT/BLE：BLUETOOTH ^TM /BLUETOOTH ^TM Low power consumption

LAN: local area network

WLAN: wireless local area network

RAT: radio access technology

Terminology

The following is a glossary of terms used in this disclosure:

memory medium-any of various types of non-transitory memory devices or storage devices. The term "memory medium" is intended to include mounting media such as CD-ROM, floppy disk, or magnetic tape devices; computer system memory or random access memory such as DRAM, DDR RAM, SRAM, EDO RAM, rambus RAM, etc.; nonvolatile memory such as flash memory, magnetic media, e.g., hard disk drives or optical storage devices; registers or other similar types of memory elements, etc. The memory medium may also include other types of non-transitory memory or combinations thereof. Furthermore, the memory medium may be located in a first computer system executing the program or may be located in a different second computer system connected to the first computer system through a network such as the internet. In the latter case, the second computer system may provide program instructions to the first computer for execution. The term "memory medium" may include two or more memory media that may reside at different locations in different computer systems connected by, for example, a network. The memory medium may store program instructions (e.g., as a computer program) that are executable by one or more processors.

Carrier medium-a memory medium as described above, and physical transmission media such as buses, networks, and/or other physical transmission media that transmit signals such as electrical, electromagnetic, or digital signals.

Computer system-any of various types of computing systems or processing systems, including Personal Computer Systems (PCs), mainframe computer systems, workstations, network appliances, internet appliances, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), television systems, grid computing systems, or other devices or combinations of devices. In general, the term "computer system" may be broadly defined to encompass any device (or combination of devices) having at least one processor that executes instructions from a memory medium.

Location tag (or tracking device) -any of a variety of types of computer system devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communications, such as communicating with neighboring devices or companion devices to share, determine, and/or update the location of the location tag. The wireless communication may be via a variety of protocols including, but not limited to, bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), wi-Fi, ultra Wideband (UWB), and/or one or more proprietary communication protocols.

Mobile device (or mobile station) -any of a variety of types of computer system devices that are mobile or portable and that perform wireless communications using WLAN communications. Examples of mobile devices include mobile phones or smart phones (e.g., iphones ^TM Android-based ^TM Phone of (a) ^TM 、Samsung Galaxy ^TM Etc. Various other types of devices, if including Wi-Fi or both cellular and Wi-Fi communication capabilities, would fall into this category, such as laptop computers (e.g., macBook ^TM ) Portable game device (e.g. Nintendo DS ^TM 、PlayStation Portable ^TM 、Gameboy Advance ^TM 、iPhone ^TM ) Portable internet devices and other handheld devices, as well as wearable devices such as smart watches, smart glasses, headphones, pendants, earplugs, and the like. In general, the term "mobile device" may be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/or communication device (or combination of devices) that a user facilitates transportation and is capable of wireless communication.

Wireless device (or wireless station) -any of various types of computer system devices that perform wireless communications using WLAN communications. As used herein, the term "wireless device" may refer to a mobile device as defined above or a stationary device such as a stationary wireless client or a wireless base station. For example, the wireless device may be any type of wireless station of an 802.11 system, such as an Access Point (AP) or a client station (STA or UE). Other examples include televisions, media players (e.g., appleTV) ^TM 、Roku ^TM 、Amazon FireTV ^TM 、Google Chromecast ^TM Etc.), refrigerators, washing machines, thermostats, etc.

WLAN-the term "WLAN" has its full scope of ordinary meaning and includes at least a wireless communication network or RAT, which is served by WLAN access points and through which connectivity to the internet is provided. Most modern WLANs are based on the IEEE 802.11 standard and sold under the name "Wi-Fi". WLAN networks are different from cellular networks.

Processing element-refers to various implementations of digital circuitry that perform functions in a computer system. Furthermore, a processing element may refer to various embodiments of analog or mixed signal (a combination of analog and digital) circuitry that performs a function (or functions) in a computer or computer system. The processing element includes, for example, circuitry (such as an Integrated Circuit (IC), an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), portions or circuits of respective processor cores), an entire processor core, respective processors, programmable hardware devices (such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)), and/or a larger portion of a system including multiple processors.

By automatically, it is meant that an action or operation is performed by a computer system (e.g., software executed by a computer system) or device (e.g., circuitry, programmable hardware elements, ASIC, etc.) without the need to directly specify or perform the action or operation by user input. Thus, the term "automatically" is in contrast to operations being performed or specified manually by a user, where the user provides input to directly perform the operation. The automatic process may be initiated by input provided by the user, but the actions performed subsequently "automatically" are not specified by the user, e.g., are not performed "manually", in which case the user specifies each action to be performed. For example, a user fills in an electronic form by selecting each field and providing input specifying information (e.g., by typing information, selecting check boxes, radio selections, etc.) to manually fill in the form, even though the computer system must update the form in response to user actions. The form may be automatically filled in by a computer system that (e.g., software executing on the computer system) analyzes the fields of the form and fills in the form without any user entering an answer to the specified fields. As indicated above, the user may refer to the automatic filling of the form, but not participate in the actual filling of the form (e.g., the user does not manually specify answers to the fields, but they do so automatically). The present description provides various examples of operations that are automatically performed in response to actions that a user has taken.

Concurrent-refers to parallel execution or implementation, where tasks, processes, signaling, messages, or programs are executed in an at least partially overlapping manner. Concurrency may be achieved, for example, using "strong" or strict parallelism, in which tasks are executed (at least partially) in parallel on respective computing elements; or use "weak parallelism" to achieve concurrency, where tasks are performed in an interleaved fashion (e.g., by time multiplexing of execution threads).

Configured-various components may be described as "configured to" perform a task or tasks. In such environments, "configured to" is a broad expression that generally means "having" a structure that "performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, even when a component is not currently performing a task, the component can be configured to perform the task (e.g., a set of electrical conductors can be configured to electrically connect a module to another module, even when the two modules are not connected). In some contexts, "configured to" may be a broad expression of structure generally meaning "having" circuitry "that performs one or more tasks during operation. Thus, a component can be configured to perform a task even when the component is not currently on. In general, the circuitry forming the structure corresponding to "configured to" may comprise hardware circuitry.

For ease of description, various components may be described as performing one or more tasks. Such descriptions should be construed to include the phrase "configured to". The expression a component configured to perform one or more tasks is expressly intended to not refer to an explanation of 35u.s.c. ≡112 (f) for that component.

Exemplary Wireless communication System and apparatus

Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communication system according to some embodiments. It is noted that the system of fig. 1 is only one example of a possible system, and that embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired. As shown, the exemplary system 100 includes a plurality of wireless client stations or devices or User Equipment (UEs) 106 configured for wireless communication with various components within the system 100, such as Access Points (APs) 112, other client stations 106, wireless nodes 107, and/or location tag devices 108. Some implementations may include one or more base stations in addition to or in place of AP 112. AP 112 may be a Wi-Fi access point and may include one or more other radio/access technologies (e.g., bluetooth (BT), ultra Wideband (UWB), etc.) for wireless communication with the various components of system 100. AP 112 may communicate with one or more other electronic devices (not shown) and/or another network, such as the internet, via wired and/or wireless communication channels. AP 112 may be configured to operate in accordance with any of a variety of communication standards, such as the various IEEE 802.11 standards and one or more proprietary communication standards, e.g., based on broadband, ultra-broadband, and/or additional short-range/low-power wireless communication technologies. In some embodiments, at least one client site 106 may be configured to communicate directly with one or more neighboring devices (e.g., other client sites 106, wireless nodes 107, and/or location tag devices 108) without using access points 112 (e.g., peer-to-peer (P2P) or device-to-device (D2D)). As shown, wireless node 107 may be implemented as any of a variety of devices, such as a wearable device, a gaming device, and the like. In some embodiments, the wireless node 107 may be various internet of things (IoT) devices, such as smart appliances (e.g., refrigerators, stoves, ovens, dishwashers, washing machines, laundry dryers, etc.), smart thermostats, and/or other home automation devices (e.g., such as smart power outlets, smart lighting fixtures, etc.).

As shown, the location tag device 108 may communicate with one or more other components within the system 100. In some embodiments, the location tag device 108 may be associated with an companion device (e.g., client site 106) and additionally capable of communicating with one or more additional devices (e.g., other client sites 106, wireless nodes 107, APs 112). In some embodiments, communication with companion devices may be via one or more access technologies/protocols, such asSuch as BLUETOOTH ^TM (and/or BLUETOOTH) ^TM (BT) low power consumption (BLE)), wi-Fi peer-to-peer (e.g., wi-Fi Direct, neighbor Aware Networking (NAN), etc.), millimeter wave (mmWave) (e.g., 60GHz, such as 802.11 ad/ay), and any of a variety of proprietary protocols (e.g., via broadband or ultra-wideband (UWB) and/or low power and/or ultra-low power (LP/ULP) wireless communications). In some embodiments, communication with the additional device may be via BT/BLE and one or more other short range peer-to-peer wireless communication technologies (e.g., various Near Field Communication (NFC) technologies, RFID, NAN, wi-Fi Direct, UWB, LT/ULP, etc.). In some embodiments, the location tag device 108 can update the server with the current location (e.g., determined by the tag device 108 and/or provided to the tag device 108 from another device) via one or more additional devices and via companion devices.

Fig. 2A illustrates an exemplary (and simplified) wireless communication system in which aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented. It is noted that the system of fig. 2A is only one example of a possible system, and that embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

As shown, the exemplary wireless communication system includes a ("first") wireless device 105 in communication with another ("second") wireless device 108. The first wireless device 105 and the second wireless device 108 may communicate wirelessly using any of a variety of wireless communication techniques.

As one possibility, the first wireless device 105 and the second wireless device 108 may perform communications using Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) communication technology (e.g., IEEE 802.11/Wi-Fi based communications) and/or WLAN wireless communication based technology. One or both of wireless device 105 and wireless device 108 may also (or alternatively) be capable of communicating via one or more additional wireless communication protocols, such as BLUETOOTH ^TM (BT)、BLUETOOTH ^TM Low power consumption (BLE), near Field Communication (NFC), RFID, UWB, LP/ULP, GSM, UMTS (WCDMA, TDSCDMA), LTE-Advanced (LTE-a), NR, 3gpp2 cd ma2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), wi-MAX, GPS, etc One of them.

Wireless device 105 and wireless device 108 may be any of various types of wireless devices. As one possibility, the wireless device 105 may be a substantially portable wireless User Equipment (UE) device, such as a smart phone, a handheld device, a laptop computer, a wearable device (such as a smart watch), a tablet computer, an automobile, or almost any type of wireless device. As another possibility, the wireless device 105 may be a substantially stationary device, such as a toll booth/toll collection device, a point of sale (POS) terminal, a set top box, a media player (e.g., audio or audiovisual device), a game console, a desktop computer, an appliance, a door, an access point, a base station, or any of a variety of other types of devices. The wireless device 108 may be a location tag device, for example, associated with, attached to, and/or otherwise integrated into another computing device in a stand-alone form factor, and/or associated with, attached to, and/or integrated into a personal item or device (e.g., purse, backpack, luggage, briefcase, wallet, key ring/key chain, personal identification, etc.) and/or a commercial item (e.g., shipping container, shipping/storage pallet, inventory item, vehicle, etc.).

Each of wireless device 105 and wireless device 108 may include wireless communication circuitry configured to facilitate performance of wireless communications, which may include various digital and/or analog Radio Frequency (RF) components, one or more processors configured to execute program instructions stored in memory, one or more programmable hardware elements such as any of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a Programmable Logic Device (PLD), an Application Specific IC (ASIC), and/or various other components. Wireless device 105 and/or wireless device 108 may use any or all of such components to perform any method embodiments or operations described herein, or any portion of any method embodiments or operations described herein.

Each of wireless device 105 and wireless device 108 may include one or more antennas and corresponding radio frequency front end circuitry for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols. In some cases, one or more portions of the receive chain and/or the transmit chain may be shared among multiple wireless communication standards; for example, the device may be configured to communicate using BT/BLE or Wi-Fi using partially or fully shared wireless communication circuitry (e.g., using a shared radio or one or more shared radio components). The shared communication circuitry may include a single antenna or may include multiple antennas for performing wireless communications (e.g., for MIMO). Alternatively, the device may include separate transmit and/or receive chains (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another possibility, a device may include one or more radios or radios shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, as well as one or more radios or radios specifically used by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, a device may include a shared radio for communicating using one or more of LTE, CDMA2000 1xRTT, GSM, and/or 5G NR, and one or more independent radios for communicating using Wi-Fi and/or BT/BLE. Other configurations are also possible.

As previously described, aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented in connection with the wireless communication system of fig. 2A. For example, a wireless device (e.g., either of wireless devices 105 or 108) may be configured to implement (and/or facilitate implementation of) the methods described herein.

Fig. 2B illustrates an example wireless device 110 (e.g., corresponding to wireless devices 105 and/or 108) that may be configured for use in connection with various aspects of the disclosure. The device 110 may be any of various types of devices and may be configured to perform any of various types of functions. The device 110 may be a substantially portable device or may be a substantially stationary device, possibly including any of a variety of types of devices. The device 110 may be configured to perform any of the techniques or features shown and/or described herein, including with respect to any or all of the figures.

As shown, device 110 may include a processing element 121. The processing element may include or be coupled to one or more memory elements. For example, device 110 may include one or more storage media (e.g., memory 111), which may include any of various types of memory, and may be used for any of a variety of functions. For example, memory 111 may be RAM that serves as system memory for processing element 121. Additionally or alternatively, the memory 111 may be a ROM that serves as a configuration memory for the device 110. Other types and functions of memory are also possible.

In addition, device 110 may include wireless communication circuitry 131. The wireless communication circuitry may include any of a variety of communication elements (e.g., antennas for wireless communication, analog and/or digital communication circuitry/controllers, etc.), and may enable the device to communicate wirelessly using one or more wireless communication protocols.

Note that in some cases, for example, the wireless communication circuit 131 may include its own processing element (e.g., baseband processor) in addition to the processing element 121. For example, processing element 121 may be an "application processor" whose primary function may be to support application layer operations in device 110, while wireless communication circuitry 131 may be a "baseband processor" whose primary function may be to support baseband layer operations in device 110 (e.g., to facilitate wireless communication between device 110 and other devices). In other words, in some cases, device 110 may include multiple processing elements (e.g., may be a multi-processor device). Other configurations utilizing a multi-processor architecture are also possible (e.g., instead of or in addition to an application processor/baseband processor configuration).

Depending on the intended function of the device 110, the device 110 may additionally include any of a variety of other components (not shown) for implementing the device functions, which may further include a processing element and/or memory element (e.g., audio processing circuitry), one or more power supply elements (which may depend on battery power and/or an external power source), user interface elements (e.g., a display, speaker, microphone, camera, keyboard, mouse, touch screen, etc.), and/or any of a variety of other components.

Components of device 110, such as processing element 121, memory 111, and wireless communication circuit 131, may be operatively (or communicatively) coupled via one or more interconnect interfaces, which may include any of a variety of types of interfaces, possibly including combinations of types of interfaces. As one example, a USB high-speed inter-chip (HSIC) interface may be provided for inter-chip communication between processing elements. Alternatively (or in addition), a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART) interface, a Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI), an inter-integrated circuit (I2C), a system management bus (SMBus), and/or any of a variety of other communication interfaces may be used for communication between the various device components. Other types of interfaces (e.g., an on-chip interface for communication within processing element 121, a peripheral interface for communication with peripheral components internal or external to device 110, etc.) may also be provided as part of device 110.

Fig. 2C illustrates an exemplary WLAN system according to some embodiments. As shown, the exemplary WLAN system includes a plurality of wireless client stations or devices, or User Equipment (UE) 106, configured to communicate with an Access Point (AP) 112 through a wireless communication channel 142. In some embodiments, the AP 112 may be a Wi-Fi access point. AP 112 may communicate with one or more other electronic devices (not shown) and/or another network 152, such as the internet, via wired and/or wireless communication channels 150. Additional electronic devices, such as remote device 154, may communicate with the components of the WLAN system via network 152. For example, the remote device 154 may be another wireless client site. The WLAN system may be configured to operate in accordance with any of a variety of communication standards, such as various IEEE 802.11 standards. In some embodiments, at least one wireless device 106 is configured to communicate directly with one or more neighboring mobile devices (such as location tag device 108) without using access point 112.

Moreover, in some embodiments, wireless device 106 (which may be an example implementation of device 110) may be configured to perform (and/or assist in performing) the methods described herein, as further described below.

Fig. 3A illustrates an exemplary block diagram of an Access Point (AP) 112, which Access Point (AP) 112 may be one possible exemplary implementation of device 110 shown in fig. 2B. Note that the block diagram of the AP of fig. 3A is merely one example of a possible system. As shown, AP 112 may include one or more processors 204 that may execute program instructions for AP 112. The one or more processors 204 may also be coupled (directly or indirectly) to a Memory Management Unit (MMU) 240 or other circuit or device, which may be configured to receive addresses from the one or more processors 204 and translate the addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 260 and read-only memory (ROM) 250).

AP 112 may include at least one network port 270. The network port 270 may be configured to couple to a wired network and provide access to the internet for a plurality of devices, such as the mobile device 106. For example, the network port 270 (or an additional network port) may be configured to couple to a local network, such as a home network or an enterprise network. For example, port 270 may be an ethernet port. The local network may provide a connection to one or more additional networks, such as the internet.

AP 112 may include at least one antenna 234 and wireless communication circuitry 230, which may be configured to act as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with mobile device 106 (and location tag device 108). The antenna 234 communicates with the wireless communication circuit 230 via a communication link 232. The communication chain 232 may include one or more receive chains and/or one or more transmit chains. The wireless communication circuit 230 may be configured to communicate via Wi-Fi or WLAN (e.g., 802.11). The wireless communication circuitry 230 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate via various other wireless communication techniques including, but not limited to, BT/BLE, UWB and/or LP/ULP. Additionally, in some embodiments, for example, where an AP is co-located with a base station in the case of a small cell, or in other cases where it may be desirable for AP 112 to communicate via a variety of different wireless communication techniques, wireless communication circuitry 230 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate via a variety of other wireless communication techniques including, but not limited to, long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), global System for Mobile (GSM), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), CDMA2000, and so forth.

Further, in some embodiments, AP 112 may be configured to perform (and/or assist in performing) the methods described herein, as described further below.

Fig. 3B shows an exemplary simplified block diagram of a client site 106, which client site 106 may be one possible exemplary implementation of device 110 shown in fig. 2B. According to various embodiments, the client station 106 may be a User Equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, and/or a wireless device or wireless station. As shown, client site 106 may include a system on a chip (SOC) 300, which may include portions for various purposes. The SOC 300 may be coupled to various other circuitry of the client site 106. For example, the client site 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 310), connector interface (I/F) (or docking station) 320 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system, docking station, charging station, etc.), display 360, cellular communication circuitry 330 (such as for LTE, GSM, etc.), mid-short range wireless communication circuitry 329 (e.g., bluetooth) ^TM And WLAN circuitry), low power/ultra low power (LP/ULP) radio 339, and ultra wideband radio 341. The client site 106 may also include one or more smart cards 310 incorporating SIM (subscriber identity module) functionality, such as one or more UICC (universal integrated circuit card or cards) cards 345. The cellular communication circuit 330 may be coupled to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335 and 336 as shown. Short-to-medium range wireless communication circuit 329 may also be coupled to one or more antennas, such as antennas 337 and 338 as shown. The LP/ULP radio 339 may be coupled to one or more antennas, such as antennas 347 and 348 as shown. In addition, UWB radio 341 may be coupled to one or more antennas, such as antennas 345 and 346. Alternatively, the radio may share one or more antennas in addition to or instead of being coupled to a respective antenna or a respective group of antennas. Any or all of the radio components may include multiple receive chains and/or multiple transmit chains for receiving and/or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configuration.

As shown, SOC 300 may include one or more processors 302 that may execute program instructions for client site 106 and display circuitry 304 that may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to display 360. The SOC 300 may also include a motion sensing circuit 370, which motion sensing circuit 370 may detect motion of the client site 106, for example, using a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and/or any of a variety of other motion sensing components. The one or more processors 302 may also be coupled to a Memory Management Unit (MMU) 340 and/or other circuits or devices, such as a display circuit 304, a cellular communication circuit 330, a short range wireless communication circuit 329, an LP/ULP communication circuit 339, a UWB communication circuit 341, a connector interface (I/F) 320, and/or a display 360, which may be configured to receive addresses from the one or more processors 302 and translate the addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read Only Memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310). MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, MMU 340 may be included as part of processor 302.

As described above, the client site 106 may be configured to communicate wirelessly directly with one or more neighboring client sites and/or one or more location tag devices 108. The client station 106 may be configured to communicate in accordance with a WLAN RAT used for communication in the WLAN network, as shown in fig. 2C. Moreover, in some embodiments, as described further below, the client site 106 may be configured to perform (and/or assist in performing) the methods described herein.

As described herein, the client site 106 may include hardware and/or software components for implementing the features described herein. For example, the processor 302 of the client site 106 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein, such as by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable memory medium). Alternatively (or in addition), the processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array) or an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), in combination with one or more of the other components 300, 304, 306, 310, 320, 329, 330, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 340, 341, 345, 346, 347, 348, 350 and/or 360, the processor 302 of the UE 106 may be configured to implement some or all of the features described herein.

Further, processor 302 may include one or more processing elements, as described herein. Accordingly, the processor 302 may include one or more Integrated Circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the processor 302. Further, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., first circuitry, second circuitry, etc.) configured to perform the functions of one or more processors 204.

Further, as described herein, both the cellular communication circuit 330 and the short-range wireless communication circuit 329 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, each of the cellular communication circuit 330 and the short-range wireless communication circuit 329 may include one or more Integrated Circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the cellular communication circuit 330 and the short-range wireless communication circuit 329, respectively.

Fig. 3C illustrates one possible block diagram of wireless node 107, wireless node 107 may be one possible exemplary implementation of device 110 shown in fig. 2B. As shown, wireless node 107 may include a System On Chip (SOC) 301, and System On Chip (SOC) 301 may include portions for various purposes. For example, as shown, SOC 301 may include one or more processors 303 and display circuitry 305, where the one or more processors 303 may execute program instructions for wireless node 107, and display circuitry 305 may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to display 361. The SOC 301 may also include a motion sensing circuit 371, which motion sensing circuit 371 may detect motion of the wireless node 107, for example, using a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and/or any of a variety of other motion sensing components. The processor 303 may also be coupled to a Memory Management Unit (MMU) 341, which Memory Management Unit (MMU) 341 may be configured to receive addresses from the one or more processors 303 and translate the addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 307, read Only Memory (ROM) 351, flash memory 311). MMU 341 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, MMU 341 may be included as part of processor 303.

As shown, the SOC 301 may be coupled to various other circuits of the wireless node 107. For example, the wireless node 107 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 311), a connector interface 321 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system, docking station, charging station, etc.), a display 361, and wireless communication circuitry (radio) 381 (e.g., for LTE, LTE-A, CDMA2000, bluetooth, wi-Fi, NFC, GPS, UWB, LP/ULP, etc.).

The wireless node 107 may include at least one antenna and, in some embodiments, may include multiple antennas 387 and 388 for performing wireless communications with base stations and/or other devices. For example, wireless node 107 may perform wireless communications using antennas 387 and 388. As described above, the wireless node 107 may be configured in some embodiments to communicate wirelessly using a plurality of wireless communication standards or Radio Access Technologies (RATs).

Wireless communication circuitry (radio) 381 may include Wi-Fi logic 382, cellular modem 383, BT/BLE logic 384, UWB logic 385, and LP/ULP logic 386. The Wi-Fi logic 382 is to enable the wireless node 107 to perform Wi-Fi communication over, for example, an 802.11 network and/or via peer-to-peer communication (e.g., NAN). BT/BLE logic 384 is used to enable wireless node 107 to perform bluetooth communications. Cellular modem 383 may be capable of performing cellular communications in accordance with one or more cellular communications techniques. UWB logic 385 is operative to enable wireless node 107 to perform UWB communications. LP/ULP logic 386 is used to enable wireless node 107 to perform LP/ULP communications. Some or all of the components of wireless communication circuit 381 may be used to communicate with position tag device 108.

As described herein, the wireless node 107 may include hardware components and software components for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, one or more components of wireless communication circuit 381 of wireless node 107 may be configured to implement some or all of the methods described herein, e.g., by a processor executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable memory medium), a processor configured as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), and/or using dedicated hardware components that may include an ASIC (application specific integrated circuit). For example, in some embodiments, the wireless node 107 may be configured to perform (and/or assist in performing) the methods described herein, as described further below.

Fig. 4 shows an exemplary simplified block diagram of a location tag (e.g., multi-interface transponder (MIT)) device 108, which may be one possible exemplary implementation of device 110 shown in fig. 2B. According to an embodiment, the location tag device 108 may include a System On Chip (SOC) 400, and the System On Chip (SOC) 400 may include one or more portions for performing one or more purposes (or functions or operations). SOC 400 may be coupled to one or more other circuits of position tag device 108. For example, the location tag device 108 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 410), connector interface (I/F) 420 (e.g., for coupling to a computer system, docking station, charging station, lights (e.g., for visual output), speakers (e.g., for audible output), etc.), power source 425 (which may be non-removable, removable and replaceable and/or chargeable), and communication circuitry (radio) 451 (e.g., BT/BLE, WLAN, LP/ULP, UWB).

The location tag device 108 may include at least one antenna and, in some embodiments, may include a plurality of antennas 457 and 458 for wireless communication with companion devices (e.g., client station 106, wireless node 107, AP 112, etc.) and other wireless devices (e.g., client station 106, wireless node 107, AP 112, other location tag devices 108, etc.). In some embodiments, one or more antennas may be dedicated for use with a single radio and/or radio protocol. In some other embodiments, one or more antennas may be shared between two or more radios and/or radio protocols. The wireless communication circuit 451 may include any/all of UWB logic 452, LP/ULP logic 453, narrowband (NB) logic 454, and/or BT/BLE logic 455. In some implementations, the wireless communication circuitry may optionally include logic for any other protocol, such as Wi-Fi logic and/or cellular (e.g., license Assisted Access (LAA)) logic. BT/BLE logic 455 is used to enable position tag device 108 to perform bluetooth communications. UWB logic 452 is operative to enable position tag device 108 to perform UWB communications. LP/ULP logic 453 is used to enable position tag device 108 to perform LP/ULP communications. NB logic 454 is used for the location tag device 108 to access narrowband channels, such as for arbitration, coordination, and/or reservation of UWB channels, for example, as further described herein. In some embodiments, wireless communication circuit 451 may include multiple receive chains and/or multiple transmit chains for receiving and/or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) configuration. UWB logic 452, LP/ULP logic 453, NB logic 454, and BT/BLE logic 455 may each be independently configured to perform unidirectional or bidirectional communications.

As shown, SOC 400 may include one or more processors 402 that may execute program instructions for position tag device 108. The SOC 400 may also include a motion sensing circuit 470, which motion sensing circuit 470 may be configured to detect motion of the position tag device 108, for example, using a gyroscope, an accelerometer, and/or any of a variety of other motion sensing components. In some implementations, a GPS receiver and associated circuitry may be used in addition to or in lieu of other motion sensing circuitry. The one or more processors 402 may also be coupled (directly or indirectly) to a Memory Management Unit (MMU) 440, which may be configured to receive addresses from the one or more processors 402 and translate the addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 406, read Only Memory (ROM) 450, NAND flash memory 410), and/or other circuitry or devices, such as wireless communication circuitry 451.MMU 440 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, MMU 440 may be included as part of processor 402.

As described above, the location tag device 108 may be configured to wirelessly communicate with one or more neighboring wireless devices. In some embodiments, the location tag device 108 may be configured to perform (and/or assist in performing) the methods described herein, as described further below.

UWB channel access scheme

Embodiments described herein relate to systems, methods, and mechanisms for out-of-band (OOB) ultra-wideband (UWB) channel arbitration and/or channel coordination schemes, e.g., embodiments described herein define arbitration, coordination, and/or access schemes via channels in non-UWB bands and on radios other than UWB radios. For example, a wireless station (e.g., such as wireless station 106, device 110, and/or access point 112) may be engaged in peer-to-peer (P2P) data communication with another wireless station (e.g., such as another wireless station 106, device 110, and/or access point 112) over an Ultra Wideband (UWB) channel. The wireless station may perform arbitration of the UWB channel on an arbitration channel (e.g., on an OOB channel). Further, after successful arbitration, the wireless station may declare a UWB channel for the duration of the transmission (or transmission) opportunity. As another example, a wireless station (e.g., such as wireless station 106, device 110, and/or access point 112) may be engaged in peer-to-peer (P2P) data communication with another wireless station (e.g., such as another wireless station 106, device 110, and/or access point 112) over an ultra-wideband (UWB) channel. The wireless station may perform coordination of the UWB channel on the advertising channel (e.g., on the OOB channel). Further, after successful coordination of the UWB channel, the wireless station may declare the UWB channel for the duration of the transmission (or transmission) opportunity. As a further example, a wireless station (e.g., such as wireless station 106, device 110, and/or access point 112) may be engaged in peer-to-peer (P2P) data communication with another wireless station (e.g., such as another wireless station 106, device 110, and/or access point 112) over an ultra-wideband (UWB) channel. The wireless station may access the UWB channel based on periodic advertisements transmitted on the advertisement channel (e.g., on the OOB channel). Further, after advertising, the wireless station may declare a UWB channel for the duration of the transmission (or transmission) opportunity.

In some cases, within a P2P group for UWB communications (e.g., pairing of two or more wireless devices for P2P communications), transmission and reception (e.g., communications) may be time synchronized via an arbitration channel, e.g., one of the wireless devices may manage a synchronization time value for the P2P group. Further, P2P groups that are adjacent to each other may be synchronized with each other in time. Further, in some cases, a Request To Send (RTS) frame and/or a Clear To Send (CTS) frame may carry (include) a synchronization time value (e.g., a SyncTime value). The synchronization time value may be 8 bytes within the RTS frame and/or CTS frame. Furthermore, the wireless device may be required to perform a scan of the arbitration channel for at least a period of time prior to the first transmission by the wireless device. The time period may be at least as long as the transmission opportunity on the UWB channel. The scan may act as a channel access procedure. For example, the wireless device may listen for RTS and/or CTS frames during the time period. Note that in addition to carrying a synchronization time value, the RTS and/or CTS frames may also carry a subsequent (e.g., next) arbitration event epoch (e.g., time). In some cases, if the RTS and/or CTS frames are not heard (e.g., received) (e.g., if the arbitration channel is not busy, idle, unoccupied, and/or not in use), the wireless station may transmit the RTS and/or CTS frames on the arbitration channel (e.g., to reserve the UWB channel) and subsequently engage in UWB communications on the UWB channel. In some cases, if an RTS and/or CTS frame is heard (e.g., received) (e.g., if the arbitration channel is busy, not idle, occupied, and/or in use), the wireless device may set a local synchronization time value and arbitrate UWB channel access at the next arbitration event (e.g., as indicated by the RTS and/or CTS frame). Note that if the synchronization time value in the RTS and/or CTS frames is later than the local synchronization time value, the wireless device may set the local synchronization time value to the synchronization time value carried in the RTS and/or CTS frames. It is further noted that if the synchronization time value in the RTS and/or CTS frames is earlier than the local synchronization time value, the wireless device may maintain the local synchronization time value.

In some cases, the arbitration for UWB channel access may include the wireless device performing a Clear Channel Access (CCA) Energy Detection (ED) of the arbitration channel for a period of time, e.g., a random and/or pseudo-random duration between 0 microseconds and X microseconds, e.g., at each arbitration event. Note that if CCA-Ed is determined to be above (e.g., greater than or equal to) a threshold (e.g., such as-75 dBm/MHz) and/or if an RTS and/or CTS frame is received during the duration, the wireless device may assume that the UWB channel is busy, not idle, occupied and/or in use. Otherwise, the wireless device may transmit on the UWB channel for the duration of the transmit opportunity. It is further noted that the RTS and/or CTS frame durations, the inter-frame spacing between RTS and/or CTS frames, the transmission opportunity durations, and X may be defined by standards and/or known a priori. Note that instead of a fixed transmitter opportunity duration, the RTS and/or CTS frames may carry UWB physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU) durations, e.g., for better UWB channel utilization.

Note that RTS and/or CTS frames during UWB channel arbitration may increase the radio coverage area, thereby preventing further P2P group transmissions. Thus, omitting RTS and/or CTS frames from the UWB channel arbitration process may improve the spatial reuse of UWB channels by P2P groups.

Thus, in some implementations, P2P groups may coordinate with each other to multiplex access to UWB channels. For example, the RTS and/or CTS frames may indicate a P2P group identifier (groupID) and a transmit opportunity sub-slot for transmission in a current transmit opportunity. As another example, the RTS and/or CTS frames may indicate P2P groupID and a frequency offset from a center frequency for transmission in the current transmit opportunity. In some cases, the CTS frame may copy information (e.g., such as groupID and/or resource allocation) from the RTS frame. In such schemes, P2P groups may learn about each other's groupID by listening to RTS and/or CTS frames. In some cases, management packets may be exchanged between P2P group devices to relay such information.

In some cases, the arbitration channel may be a Narrowband (NB) channel, e.g., an NB arbitration channel such as an NB advertisement channel. In such cases, there may be no synchronization between the adjacent narrowband network and the UWB network. Thus, the arbitration (or coordination) process may be applied to only those narrowband UWB networks operating on NB advertising channels. It is further noted that such coordination may not unduly inhibit UWB channel access.

In some cases, wireless devices (e.g., such as wireless station 106, device 110, and/or access point 112) may periodically transmit advertisements on narrowband advertisement channels to coordinate UWB channel access. Note that since the narrowband advertisement is periodic, it may not precede each UWB channel access. For example, as shown in fig. 5, a source node (e.g., SRC 1) that may be a wireless station (e.g., such as wireless station 106, device 110, and/or access point 112) may periodically (e.g., every 96 milliseconds) transmit advertisements on a narrowband advertisement channel. The advertisement may indicate a UWB channel usage pattern, such as a UWB transmission start time offset, a UWB transmission duration, a UWB transmission interval and/or information to determine a UWB transmission interval, and/or a UWB transmission type (MMS/non-MMS). Furthermore, prior to transmitting the advertisement, the source node may discover neighboring NB-UWB networks by scanning at least once for a pre-heated scanning window. The preheat scanning window may be greater than or equal to the advertisement periodicity. As shown, the source node may perform CCA-ED prior to transmitting the advertisement. Based on the CCA-ED, if the advertising channel is determined to be busy (e.g., occupied and/or in use), the source node may defer access to the UWB channel until at least a next advertising cycle. However, if based on CCA-ED, the source node may transmit an advertisement if the advertisement channel is determined to be idle (e.g., unoccupied and/or not in use). Note that if the source node fails to send an advertisement during the advertisement period (e.g., after an initial warm-up scan), the source node may not be required to relinquish upcoming UWB channel access.

In some cases, wireless devices (e.g., such as wireless station 106, device 110, and/or access point 112) may opportunistically transmit advertisements on narrowband advertisement channels to coordinate UWB channel access. Note that narrowband advertisements may continue for each UWB channel access. For example, as shown in fig. 6, a source node (e.g., SRC 1), which may be a wireless station 106, may scan a narrowband advertisement channel within at least one scan window. Then, if a Clear Channel Access (CCA) Energy Detection (ED) value is less than a threshold until the scanning window expires, the source node may transmit an advertisement on the narrowband channel and make one or more UWB transmissions after the advertisement. In some cases, the advertisement may include a UWB transmission start time offset, a UWB transmission duration, and/or a UWB transmission type (e.g., multi-Millisecond Message (MMS) and/or non-MMS). However, if the CCA ED value is greater than or equal to the threshold at some point during the scanning window and/or if an advertisement is received during the scanning window, the source node may defer UWB access for at least the advertisement duration before reattempting access. In some cases, the source node may be an SRC node that may increase its scanning window and/or deferral duration over the narrowband advertisement channel, e.g., based on UWB frame failure rate. In some cases, the advertisement frame may include a virtual field to increase the advertisement frame duration, thereby increasing the likelihood that the neighboring device will sense the advertisement. Note, however, that such a scheme may result in excessive suppression of the UWB channel.

In some cases, the advertisement may be a legacy 802.15.4z block-based Medium Access Control (MAC) frame for the narrowband. Thus, advertisement packets may be arranged into a fixed, predefined MAC grid, for example, an atomic advertisement block (e.g., 24 ms) with, for example, 24 advertisement rounds (1 ms). Furthermore, the advertising scheme may use a fixed, predefined hopping function and a fixed, predefined hopping seed to minimize overhead in the advertising payload. In addition, a node (e.g., such as wireless station 106) may skip three-fourths of the advertisement block to balance power and discovery time. Further, new nodes in the vicinity and/or group may scan one or more advertising channels for at least 120 milliseconds before beginning transmission. Note that in such a scheme, discovery of other devices may be guaranteed for up to 120 milliseconds (e.g., under ideal channel conditions). For example, as shown in fig. 7, a device joining a RAN such as RAN 1 (e.g., participating in a Ranging Area Network (RAN) 2 (such as RAN 2 initiator)) may scan an advertisement channel for discovery of RAN 1 initiators for up to 120 milliseconds. In other words, the RAN 2 originator may receive advertisements from the RAN 1 originator while scanning for advertisement channels. The advertisement (packet) may include the current local timestamp of the RAN 1 originator for synchronization purposes or equivalently the advertisement block index k. Then, using a predefined hopping function and hopping seed, the RAN 2 initiator may synchronize with the RAN 1 initiator, e.g., based on k and the recorded reception time of the advertisement packet. The RAN 2 originator may then begin advertising on the advertising channel using a time offset randomly chosen from the RAN 1 originator. In this way UWB channel access between RAN 1 and RAN 2 may not collide.

In some cases, the UWB channel and the narrowband advertisement channel may be decoupled. In such a case, for example, as shown in fig. 8, the RAN 2 initiator joining the RAN1 may calculate future RAN1 transmissions based on the advertisement packet reception time and the advertisement payload. Thus, as shown, the RAN1 initiator may advertise UWB channel (e.g., UWB) occupancy on a narrowband advertisement channel (e.g., NB ADV CH). In addition, the RAN 2 initiator may scan the narrowband advertisement channel to determine occupancy of the UWB channel. Based on this scan, the RAN 2 initiator may then determine its occupancy on the UWB channel, e.g., to avoid collisions with the RAN1 occupancy of the UWB channel.

In some cases, for example, as shown in fig. 9, to enhance UWB channel coexistence, the joining RAN may align UWB transmissions with an existing RAN and/or avoid collisions with the existing RAN by skipping UWB transmissions. As shown, the RAN1 initiator, RAN 2 initiator, and RAN 3 initiator may advertise UWB occupancy in advertisement blocks on narrowband advertisement channels. Then, based on the information in the advertisement received from the RAN1 initiator, the RAN 2 initiator may align its UWB occupancy and hopping to avoid collisions with the RAN 1. Furthermore, the RAN 3 initiator, which may have ranging blocks and ranging rounds of different sizes than RAN1 or RAN 2, and different hopping frequencies, may determine its UWB occupancy and hopping based on information in advertisements received from the RAN1 initiator and the RAN 2 initiator. Further, as shown, the RAN 3 initiator may determine a conflict on UWB with either or both of the RAN1 or RAN 2 occupancy and cancel at least one of its scheduled occupancy on UWB, e.g., to avoid a conflict with either or both of the RAN1 or RAN 2 occupancy.

In some cases, more than one mirrored (e.g., advertising) channel (e.g., the same MAC, each offset by 1 millisecond) may be operated in parallel. In some cases, a narrowband advertisement may require 9 microseconds CCA-ED in UNII-5 to resolve the conflict during the first advertisement packet slot reservation in accordance with ETSI management specifications. In some cases, the advertisement packet (e.g., advertisement) may include a UWB preamble to address UWB-to-NB link budget imbalance issues. For example, joining the RAN (e.g., a device joining from a different RAN) may perform 802.15.4-2020CCA modes 5 or 6 directly on the UWB channel. Note that if, for example, the advertisement includes narrowband output power (EIRP), UWB pathloss may be estimated by narrowband pathloss. In some cases, the existing RAN may (additionally) perform CCA-ED or receive at known advertisement packet locations of other RANs to gain knowledge of the released session and/or resynchronization. For example, the existing RAN may scan one or more narrowband advertisement channels (e.g., 10% duty cycle) when possible to improve initial scanning (e.g., to account for devices that are moving in and/or out of range). In some cases, the responding device may also transmit advertisement packets for its RAN to increase coverage (e.g., CTS frames).

Fig. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a method for ultra-wideband (UWB) channel access, according to some embodiments. The method shown in fig. 10 may be used in conjunction with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, as well as other devices. In various embodiments, some of the illustrated method elements may be performed concurrently in a different order than illustrated, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate as follows.

At 1002, a wireless station (such as wireless station 106, wireless device 110, and/or access point 112) may scan an arbitration channel for a first period of time. The arbitration channel may reflect (e.g., may represent) activity on the UWB channel. In some cases, to scan the arbitration channel, the wireless station may listen for Request To Send (RTS) and/or Clear To Send (CTS) frames. The first time period may be greater than the UWB channel transmitter opportunity. The arbitration channel may be a narrowband channel. In some cases, the narrowband channel may be a narrowband advertisement channel.

At 1004, the wireless station may determine, based on the scan, that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle. In some cases, to determine that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle based on the scan, the wireless station may determine when no RTS or CTS frame was received during the first time period.

At 1006, the wireless station may perform a first channel access procedure on the arbitrated channel.

At 1008, the wireless station may perform UWB communications on the UWB channel during UWB channel transmission opportunities.

In some cases, the wireless station may determine that the arbitration channel is occupied, busy, active, in use, and/or not idle based on the scan. Further, the wireless station may align timing to the arbitration channel and arbitrate UWB channel access at subsequent arbitration events (e.g., the wireless station may align its UWB transmissions to avoid collisions with other transmissions on the UWB channel and/or align its UWB occupancy and hops to avoid collisions with other stations using the UWB channel). In some cases, to determine that the arbitration channel is occupied, busy, active, in use, and/or not idle based on the scan, the wireless station may identify (and/or determine) that at least one RTS or CTS frame has been received during the first time period.

In some cases, to arbitrate UWB channel access, the wireless station may perform a second channel access procedure on the arbitrated channel for a second time period at a subsequent arbitration event. Further, the wireless station may determine that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle based on the second channel access procedure, and perform UWB communications on the UWB channel in response to determining that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle. Additionally, in some cases, the wireless station may determine that the arbitration channel is occupied, busy, active, in use, and/or not idle based on the second channel access procedure, and wait for a subsequent arbitration event to arbitrate UBW channel access. The second time period may be a random and/or pseudo-random duration. In some cases, the second channel access procedure may include a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) Energy Detection (ED) procedure. In this case, to determine that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle based on the second channel access procedure, the wireless station may determine that CCA-ED is less than a threshold. In some cases, to determine that the arbitration channel is occupied, busy, active, in use, and/or not idle based on the second channel access procedure, the wireless station may determine that CCA-ED is greater than or equal to a threshold.

In some cases, the second channel access procedure may include the wireless station scanning an arbitration channel. In this case, scanning the arbitration channel may include the wireless station listening for RTS and/or CTS frames. In some cases, to determine that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle based on the scanning, the wireless station may determine when no RTS or CTS frame is received during the second time period. Similarly, to determine that the arbitration channel is occupied, busy, active, in use, and/or not idle based on the scanning, the wireless station may identify (and/or determine) that at least one RTS or CTS frame has been received during the second time period.

In some cases, the synchronization time may be carried in an RTS frame and/or a CTS frame. In some cases, the wireless station may set the local synchronization time to the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel when the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel is later than the local synchronization time. In some cases, the wireless station may not set the local synchronization time to the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel when the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel is earlier than the local synchronization time.

In some cases, the wireless station may be included in and/or be part of the first peer-to-peer group. In such cases, the wireless station may receive an indication of coordination information from the second peer-to-peer group while scanning the arbitration channel during the first time period. The indication of coordination information may include an indication of a group Identifier (ID) of the second peer group. Additionally, in some cases, the indication of coordination information may further (and/or further) include an indication of UWB channel transmission opportunity sub-slot for transmission during the UWB channel transmission opportunity and/or a frequency offset from a center frequency for transmission in the UWB channel transmission opportunity. In some cases, the indication of the coordination information may be carried in at least one of a CTS frame or an RTS frame.

Fig. 11 illustrates a block diagram of another example of a method for UWB channel access, in accordance with some embodiments. The method shown in fig. 11 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices. In various embodiments, some of the illustrated method elements may be performed concurrently in a different order than illustrated, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate as follows.

At 1102, a wireless station (such as wireless station 106, wireless device 110, and/or access point 112) may determine that an arbitration channel is occupied, busy, active, in use, and/or not idle based on scanning the arbitration channel during a first time period. The arbitration channel may reflect (e.g., may represent) activity on the UWB channel. In some cases, to scan the arbitration channel, the wireless station may listen for Request To Send (RTS) and/or Clear To Send (CTS) frames. The first time period may be greater than the UWB channel transmitter opportunity. The arbitration channel may be a narrowband channel. In some cases, the narrowband channel may be a narrowband advertisement channel.

At 1104, the wireless station may align timing to an arbitration channel (e.g., the wireless station may align its UWB transmissions to avoid collisions with other transmissions on the UWB channel, and/or align its UWB occupancy and hops to avoid collisions with other stations using the UWB channel). In some cases, the synchronization time may be carried in an RTS frame and/or a CTS frame. In some cases, the wireless station may set the local synchronization time to the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel when the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel is later than the local synchronization time. In some cases, the wireless station may not set the local synchronization time to the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel when the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel is earlier than the local synchronization time.

At 1106, the wireless station may arbitrate UWB channel access at subsequent arbitration events over the arbitration channel. In some cases, to arbitrate UWB channel access, the wireless station may perform a second channel access procedure on the arbitrated channel for a second time period at a subsequent arbitration event. Further, the wireless station may determine that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle based on the second channel access procedure, and perform UWB communications on the UWB channel in response to determining that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle. Additionally, in some cases, the wireless station may determine that the arbitration channel is occupied, busy, active, in use, and/or not idle based on the second channel access procedure, and wait for a subsequent arbitration event to arbitrate UBW channel access. The second time period may be a random and/or pseudo-random duration. In some cases, the second channel access procedure may include a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) Energy Detection (ED) procedure. In this case, to determine that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle based on the second channel access procedure, the wireless station may determine that CCA-ED is less than a threshold. In some cases, to determine that the arbitration channel is occupied, busy, active, in use, and/or not idle based on the second channel access procedure, the wireless station may determine that CCA-ED is greater than or equal to a threshold.

In some cases, the wireless station may determine that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle based on the scan. In some cases, to determine that the arbitration channel is silent, inactive, not in use, and/or idle based on the scan, the wireless station may determine when no RTS or CTS frame was received during the first time period. In such cases, the wireless station may perform a first channel access procedure on the arbitrated channel and perform UWB communications on the UWB channel during UWB channel transmission opportunities.

Fig. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an example of a method for UWB channel access coordination, in accordance with some embodiments. The method shown in fig. 12 may be used with any of the systems, methods, or devices shown in the figures, among other devices. In various embodiments, some of the illustrated method elements may be performed concurrently in a different order than illustrated, or may be omitted. Additional method elements may also be performed as desired. As shown, the method may operate as follows.

At 1202, a wireless station (such as wireless station 106, wireless device 110, and/or access point 112) may periodically transmit advertisement packets on an advertisement channel associated with a UWB channel. In some cases, the advertisement channel associated with the UWB channel may comprise a narrowband advertisement channel.

At 1204, the wireless station may transmit on the UWB channel according to the UWB channel usage pattern indicated by the advertising packet. In other words, the wireless station may transmit on the UWB channel according to the UWB channel usage pattern indicated by the advertising packet. In some cases, to indicate UWB channel usage patterns, the advertising packets may include one or more of UWB transmission start time offset, UWB transmission duration, UWB transmission interval, information from which UWB transmission interval may be determined, and/or UWB transmission type.

In some cases, the wireless station may scan the advertising channel for at least a first period of time before transmitting the first advertising packet. The first time period may be at least equal to the periodicity of transmitting the advertisement packet. In some cases, scanning may help discover neighboring wireless stations attempting to access the UWB channel.

In some cases, the wireless station may perform a channel access scan for the advertising channel and determine that the advertising channel is occupied, busy, active, in use, and/or not idle based on the channel access scan. In addition, the wireless station may repeat the channel access scan for the advertisement channel in the next advertisement period. In some cases, to perform a channel access scan on an advertising channel, a wireless station may perform a clear channel access energy detection (CCA-ED) operation (or procedure) on the advertising channel. In such cases, to determine that the advertising channel is occupied, busy, active, in use, and/or not idle based on the channel access scan, the wireless station may determine that the value of the CCA-ED operation is greater than or equal to the threshold.

It is well known that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of inadvertent or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be specified to the user.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be embodied in any of various forms. For example, some embodiments may be implemented as a computer-implemented method, a computer-readable memory medium, or a computer system. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more custom designed hardware devices, such as an ASIC. Other embodiments may be implemented using one or more programmable hardware elements, such as FPGAs.

In some embodiments, a non-transitory computer readable memory medium may be configured such that it stores program instructions and/or data, wherein the program instructions, if executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to perform a method, such as any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets.

In some embodiments, a wireless device may be configured to include a processor (or a set of processors) and a memory medium, wherein the memory medium stores program instructions, wherein the processor is configured to read and execute the program instructions from the memory medium, wherein the program instructions are executable to cause the wireless device to implement any of the various method embodiments described herein (or any combination of the method embodiments described herein, or any subset of any of the method embodiments described herein, or any combination of such subsets). The device may be implemented in any of various forms.

Although the above embodiments have been described in considerable detail, numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.

Claims

1. A method for ultra-wideband (UWB) channel access, the method comprising:

the wireless device performs the following operations:

scanning an arbitration channel over a first time period, wherein the arbitration channel reflects activity on a UWB channel;

Determining that the arbitration channel is not in use based on the scan;

performing a first channel access procedure on the arbitrated channel; and

UWB communications are performed on UWB channels during UWB channel transmission opportunities.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the wireless device performs the following operations:

determining that the arbitration channel is in use based on the scan;

aligning timing to the arbitration channel; and

UWB channel access at subsequent arbitration events is arbitrated.

3. The method according to claim 2,

wherein determining that the arbitration channel is not in use based on the scan comprises the wireless device determining that a Request To Send (RTS) or Clear To Send (CTS) frame was not received during the first time period.

4. The method according to claim 2 to 3,

wherein determining that the arbitration channel is in use based on the scan comprises the wireless device receiving at least one RTS or CTS frame during the first time period.

5. The method according to claim 2 to 4,

wherein the synchronization time is carried in a Request To Send (RTS) frame and a Clear To Send (CTS) frame.

6. The method according to claim 5,

Wherein when the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel is later than a local synchronization time, the method further comprises the wireless device setting the local synchronization time to the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel; and is also provided with

Wherein when the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel is earlier than a local synchronization time, the method further comprises the wireless device not setting the local synchronization time to the synchronization time sensed on the arbitration channel.

7. The method according to claim 2 to 6,

wherein arbitrating UWB channel access comprises the wireless device:

performing a second channel access procedure on the arbitration channel for a second time period at the subsequent arbitration event;

determining that the arbitration channel is not in use based on the second channel access procedure; and

UWB communication is performed over the UWB channel.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

the wireless device performs the following operations:

determining that the arbitration channel is in use based on the second channel access procedure; and

another arbitration event is awaited to arbitrate UBW channel access.

9. The method according to any one of claim 7 to 8,

wherein the second channel access procedure comprises a Clear Channel Assessment (CCA) Energy Detection (ED) procedure;

wherein determining that the arbitration channel is not in use based on the second channel access procedure includes the wireless device determining that the CCA-ED is less than a threshold; and is also provided with

Wherein determining that the arbitration channel is in use based on the second channel access procedure includes determining that the CCA-ED is greater than or equal to the threshold.

10. The method according to any one of claim 7 to 9,

wherein the second channel access procedure includes the wireless device scanning the arbitration channel.

11. The method according to claim 10,

wherein determining that the arbitration channel is not in use based on the scan comprises the wireless device determining that a Request To Send (RTS) or Clear To Send (CTS) frame was not received during the second time period; and is also provided with

Wherein determining that the arbitration channel is in use based on the scan comprises the wireless device receiving at least one RTS or CTS frame during the second time period.

12. The method according to any one of claim 1 to 11,

wherein the first time period is greater than a UWB channel transmitter opportunity.

13. The method according to any one of claim 1 to 12,

wherein the wireless device is included in a first peer-to-peer group, and wherein the method further comprises:

an indication of coordination information is received from a second peer-to-peer group while scanning the arbitration channel during the first time period.

14. The method according to claim 13,

wherein the indication of coordination information comprises an indication of a group Identifier (ID) of the second peer group.

15. The method according to claim 14,

wherein the indication of coordination information further comprises one or more of an indication of a UWB channel transmission opportunity sub-slot for transmission during the UWB channel transmission opportunity or a frequency offset from a center frequency for transmission in the UWB channel transmission opportunity.

16. The method according to any one of claim 13 to 15,

wherein the indication of coordination information is carried in at least one of a Clear To Send (CTS) frame or a Ready To Send (RTS) frame.

17. The method according to any one of claim 1 to 16,

wherein the arbitration channel is a narrowband channel.

18. The method according to claim 17,

wherein the narrowband channel is a narrowband advertisement channel.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one antenna;

at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna, wherein the at least one radio comprises circuitry supporting at least two Radio Access Technologies (RATs); and

a processing element coupled to the at least one radio;

wherein the processing element is configured to cause the apparatus to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 18.

20. A non-transitory computer readable memory medium storing program instructions that, when executed, cause an apparatus to implement the method of any one of claims 1 to 18.