EP4666619A1

EP4666619A1 - Devices and methods for sensing measurement

Info

Publication number: EP4666619A1
Application number: EP23921998.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Wenjian Wang; Zhijie Yang; Tao Tao; Jianguo Liu; Yan Meng; Wenyi Xu; Mika Kasslin; Orhan Okan MUTGAN
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-02-17
Filing date: 2023-02-17
Publication date: 2025-12-24
Also published as: JP2026506683A; WO2024168856A1; CN120712813A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to sensing measurement. A device transmits a request for sensing information of a third device to a second device, and the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information. Moreover, the device receives a report comprising the sensing information of the third device from the second device. As such, the device may obtain the sensing information of the third device via the request. Thereby the performance of sensing measurement is improved.

Description

DEVICES AND METHODS FOR SENSING MEASUREMENT

FIELD

Various example embodiments relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media for sensing measurement.

BACKGROUND

With the development of the wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) industry, this technology recently has been the move to address whole-home Wi-Fi network coverage and performance. To address this need, several proprietary, multiple access points (multi-AP) solutions have emerged.
IEEE 802.11bf for radio frame (RF) sensing is the first international standard for sensing in [IEEE P802.11bf^TM/D0.01, March 2022] , in which the sensing is the use of received wireless local area network (WLAN) signal to detect features of an intended target of human, object, and animal in a given environment. For example, the features like range, velocity, angular, motion, presence or proximity, gesture, etc. may be sensed in rooms, houses, cars, and enterprise environments. The targeted frequency bands are between 1 GHz and 7.125 GHz and above 45 GHz. Currently, sensing measurement still needs further enhancement.
SUMMARY
In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media for sensing measurement.
In a first aspect, there is provided a device. The device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device at least to: transmit, to a second device, a request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and receive, from the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
In a second aspect, there is provided a device. The device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device at least to: receive, from a second device, a first request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and transmit, to the third device, a second request for the sensing information of the third device, wherein the second request indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
In a third aspect, there is provided a device. The device comprises at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device at least to: receive, from a second device, a request for sensing information of the device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and transmit, to the second device, a response comprising the sensing information of the device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises transmitting, at a device to a second device, a request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and receiving, by the device from the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
In a fifth aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises receiving, at a device from a second device, a first request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and transmitting, by the device to the third device, a second request for the sensing information of the third device, wherein the second request indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
In a sixth aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises receiving, at a device from a second device, a request for sensing information of the device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and transmitting, by the device to the second device, a response comprising the sensing information of the device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
In a seventh aspect, there is provided a device. The device comprises means for transmitting, to a second device, a request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and means for receiving, by first device, from the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
In an eighth aspect, there is provided a device. The device comprises means for receiving, from a second device, a first request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and means for transmitting, by the device to the third device, a second request for the sensing information of the third device, wherein the second request indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
In a ninth aspect, there is provided a device. The device comprises means for receiving, from a second device, a request for sensing information of the third device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and means for transmitting, by the device to the second device, a response comprising the sensing information of the device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
In a tenth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable media comprising program instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the device to perform at least the method according to any one of the above fourth to sixth aspect.
In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to: transmit, to a second device, a request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and receive, from the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
In a twelfth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, from a second device, a first request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and transmit, to the third device, a second request for the sensing information of the third device, wherein the second request indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
In a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions, which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, from a second device, a request for sensing information of the device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and transmit, to the second device, a response comprising the sensing information of the device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
In a fourteenth aspect, there is provided a device. The device comprises transmitting circuitry configured to transmit, to a second device, a request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and receiving circuitry configured to receive, from the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
In a fifteenth aspect, there is provided a device. The device comprises receiving circuitry configured to receive, from a second device, a first request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and transmitting circuitry configured to transmit, to the third device, a second request for the sensing information of the third device, wherein the second request indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
In a sixteenth aspect, there is provided a device. The device comprises receiving circuitry configured to receive, from a second device, a request for sensing information of the device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and transmitting circuitry configured to transmit, to the second device, a response comprising the sensing information of the device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
It is to be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 illustrates an example communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;
Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a WLAN sensing procedures related to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 3 illustrates an example of multi-AP network process related to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 4 illustrates an example signaling chart illustrating an example process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 5 illustrates an example protocol extension of beacon request frame for sensing operation process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 6 illustrates an example protocol extension of beacon report frame for sensing operation process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 7 illustrates an example process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 9 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at another device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 10 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at yet another device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;
Fig. 11 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure; and
FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable media in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.
Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.
In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.
References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.
It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof. As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.
As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:
(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and
(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :
(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and
(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and
(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.
This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.
As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as long term evolution (LTE) , LTE-advanced (LTE-A) , wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) , high-speed packet access (HSPA) , narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the future fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.
As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology.
The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a subscriber station (SS) , a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS) , or an access terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an internet of things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.
For illustrative purposes, example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to Fig. 1-Fig. 12.
Fig. 1 illustrates an example network environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The environment 100, which may be a part of a communication network, comprises terminal devices, and network devices. As illustrated in Fig. 1, the communication network 100 may comprise a device 110 (hereinafter may also be referred to as first device 110 or AP 110) and a device 120 (hereinafter may also be referred to as second device 120 or STA 120) , and a device 130 (hereinafter may also be referred to as third device 130 or AP 130) . The device 110 can manage a cell 101 and the device 130 can manage a cell 103. The device 110 and the device 120 can communicate with each other in the coverage of the cell 101. The third device 130 and the second device 120 can communicate with each other in the coverage of the cell 103. In some embodiments, the device120 may be an access point.
It is to be understood that the number of devices is only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The system 100 may include any suitable number of devices adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more devices may be located in the cell 101 and the cell 103.
Communications in the communication system 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) and the fifth generation (5G) and on the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: code division multiple access (CDMA) , frequency division multiple access (FDMA) , time division multiple access (TDMA) , frequency division duplex (FDD) , time division duplex (TDD) , multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) , orthogonal frequency division multiple (OFDM) , discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.
One of the dynamic developments in the Wi-Fi industry recently has been the move to address whole-home Wi-Fi network coverage and performance. To address this need, several proprietary, multi-AP solutions have emerged.
IEEE 802.11bf for RF sensing is the first international standard for sensing in [IEEE P802.11bf^TM/D0.01, March 2022] , in which the sensing is the use of received WLAN signal to detect features of an intended target of human, object, and animal in a given environment. For example, the features like range, velocity, angular, motion, presence or proximity, gesture, etc. may be sensed in rooms, houses, cars, and enterprise environments. The targeted frequency bands are between 1 GHz and 7.125 GHz and above 45 GHz.
WLAN sensing enables a station (STA) to obtain sensing measurements of the channel (s) between two or more STAs and/or the channel between a receive antenna and a transmit antenna of a STA. With the execution of the WLAN sensing procedure, it is possible for a STA to obtain sensing measurements useful for detecting and tracking changes in the environment. Here the term STA typically designates an access point, but nothing prevents a non-AP STA (client device) from being a network station.
For a sensing session, some sensing entity roles will be defined as follows:
- sensing initiator: A STA that initiates a WLAN sensing procedure.
- sensing receiver: A STA that receives presentation protocol data units (PPDU) sent by a sensing transmitter and may perform sensing measurements in a WLAN sensing procedure.
- sensing responder: A STA that participates in a WLAN sensing procedure initiated by a sensing initiator.
- sensing transmitter: A station (STA) that transmits PPDUs used for sensing measurements in a WLAN sensing procedure.
A STA acting as a sensing initiator may participate in a sensing measurement instance as a sensing transmitter, a sensing receiver, both a sensing transmitter and a sensing receiver, or neither a sensing transmitter nor a sensing receiver. A STA acting as a sensing responder may participate in a sensing measurement instance as a sensing transmitter, a sensing receiver, or both a sensing transmitter and a sensing receiver. The sensing transmitter and sensing receiver roles are determined during the sensing measurement setup. The set of operational attributes used in a sensing measurement instance are also determined in the sensing measurement setup.
Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a WLAN sensing procedures according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 2, a WLAN sensing procedure is composed of one or more of the following: sensing session setup, sensing measurement setup, sensing measurement instances, sensing measurement setup termination, and sensing session termination. A WLAN sensing procedure may be comprised of multiple sensing measurement instances.
In the sensing session setup, a sensing session is established, and in the sensing measurement setup, operational attributes associated with a sensing measurement instance are set. One or more sensing measurement setups may be established between a sensing initiator and a sensing responder. A sensing measurement instance is a time interval when sensing measurements are obtained, and it can be one of two methods: trigger-based (TB) sensing measurement instance or non-TB sensing measurement instance. A sensing measurement instance is active until terminated in a sensing measurement setup termination. In the sensing session termination, a sensing session is terminated. TB sensing measurement instance is applicable to scenarios where an AP is the sensing initiator, and one or more non-AP STAs are the sensing responders. It includes one or more of the following phases: Polling phase, null data packet announcement (NDPA) sounding phase, trigger frame (TF) sounding phase, and reporting phase. Non-TB sensing measurement instance is applicable to scenarios where a non-AP STA is the sensing initiator and an AP is the sensing responder. A non-AP STA, acting as a sensing initiator, shall initiate a non-TB sensing measurement instance by transmitting a sensing neighbor discovery protocol (NDP) announcement frame addressed to the AP, followed by an initiator-to-responder (I2R) NDP after short inter-frame spacing (SIFS) . In the current proposed sensing measurements, both TB and non-TB sensing measurements involve AP to participate, as sensing transmitter or sensing responder.
In the sensing session procedure, the STA acting the sensing responders may transmit a measurement report as a response. The measurement report may comprise physical layer (PHY) and media access control (MAC) capability of neighboring APs, as well as the measurement pilot information like received signal-to-noise indicator (RSNI) and received channel power indication (RCPI) information.
Fig. 3 illustrates an example of multi-AP network process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 3, in a typical smart home WIFI environment with multi-AP network consisting of N APs such as AP1～AP3 operating in channel1～channel3 and one STA named STA1. AP1 is deployed in the in bedroom-1, AP2 is deployed in the bedroom-2, AP3 are deployed in the kitchen room, and STA1 is deployed in the living room respectively. The station means any device that contains an IEEE 802.11-conformant MAC and PHY interface to the wireless medium (WM) . The AP means any entity that has station (STA) functionality and provides access to the distribution services, via the WM for associated STAs.
In this scenario, a radio emission can simultaneously convey information from the transmitter to the receiver and extract information from the scattered echoes. The amplitude and phase variations of wireless signal could be employed to realize like human presence detection, human proximity detection, fall detection, sleep monitoring, daily activity recognition, breathing/heart rate estimation, intruder detection, location-aware control, etc.
With the introduction of the sensing framework in 802.11bf, this sensing procedure may introduce significant overhead to implement the negotiation between the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver (likely to be mandatory configuration) . This may ultimately result in sensing latency in multi-AP network. Taking an example in Fig. 3, to get the consistent sensing service, STA1 needs to connect to the new APs (AP2 or AP3) in the case of the sensing target moving to the edge of or out of the original sensing coverage (AP1 to STA1 coverage) . At this time, AP1 intends to gather sensing information from a neighbor APs (i.e. AP2, and/or AP3) when required by the network, the STA1 has to switch the radio to each AP’s operating channel to perform traditional procedure of normal sensing session setup, sensing measurement setup, sensing measurement instances, sensing measurement setup termination, and sensing session termination, which has large latency and cannot guarantee the seamless sensing coverage. This will cause the normal service interruption on STA side. (E.g., the traditional re-association may cost 500ms) .
In addition, the 802.11bf defines some sensing procedures including trigger-based (TB) sensing and non-TB sensing measurement. However, no specific topics about the multi-AP network coordination of sensing measurement were discussed yet. Moreover, the definition of the required trigger timing for executing sensing function through the other AP does not seem to be finalized.
According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, a solution is provided for sensing measurement. In this solution, a device transmits a request for sensing information of a third device to a second device, and the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information. Moreover, the device receives a report comprising the sensing information of the third device from the second device. As such, in embodiments of the present disclosure, the device may obtain the sensing information of the third device via the request. Thereby sensing latency is reduced and the performance of sensing measurement is improved.
Fig. 4 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating an example process 400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 400 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The process 400 may involve the device 110, the device 120 and the device 130. It would be appreciated that although the process 400 has been described in the communication environment 100 of Fig. 1, this process may be likewise applied to other communication scenarios with similar issues.
In the process 400, the device 110 transmits 410 a first request 402 for sensing information of a device 130 to a device 120. The first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
In some embodiments, in order to transmit 410 the first request 402, the first device 110 may determine whether a target moves to an edge of or out of a sensing coverage area between the device 110 and the device 120. Then the first device 110 may transmit the first request 402 to the device 120 when the target moves to an edge of or out of the sensing coverage area.
In some embodiments, the at least one sensing parameter may comprise velocity of a target; at least one of an angle, accuracy, a resolution, a false alarm rate, a detection probability of a sensing measurement for the target; a sensing range of a sensor device for the target, and the sensor device is the device 120 or the device 130; a field of view of the sensor device; expected latency of the sensing measurement; an expected number of simultaneous targets; or any combination of two or more of the above-mentioned items.
In some embodiments, the first request 402 may indicate a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth and a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
In some embodiments, the device 110 may transmit 410 the first request 402 via an enhanced beacon request frame. In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon request frame may comprise a first subelement field for requesting the device 120 to include the sensing information into the enhanced beacon report frame.
In some embodiments, the first subelement field may comprise a first subfield indicative of at least one extended element identifier (ID) in addition to an element ID in the enhanced beacon request frame, a second subfield indicative of at least one element ID extension value, wherein the at least one element ID extension value combined with a value of a requested element ID field of the enhanced beacon request frame indicate at least one element ID extension to be included in the enhanced beacon report frame, or any combination of two or more of the above-mentioned items.
In some embodiments, the first subfield may comprise an element indicative of at least one operational attribute of an associated sensing measurement instance.
In some embodiments, the element may comprise a third subfield indicative of a type of a measurement result reported in a sensing measurement instance corresponding to a sensing measurement ID, a fourth subfield indicative of at least one sensing measurement parameter associated with the sensing measurement instance, or any combination of two or more of the above-mentioned items.
For example, new elements are placed in a beacon request frame to request that the responding STA include the requested information in the beacon response frame. Fig. 5 illustrates an example protocol extension of beacon request frame for sensing operation process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.
As shown in Fig. 5, the optional subelements field contains zero or more subelements. The subelement ID field values for the defined subelements are shown in the following table 1:
Table 1: protocol extension of optional subelement in beacon request frame for sensing operation
The extended request is one of the subelement ID indexed 11 in table 1. This element is placed in beacon request frame to request that the responding STA include the requested information in the beacon report frame. The element ID extension specifies an extended element IDs field besides the normal element IDs. The requested element ID extensions field contains a list of 1-octet element ID extension values (defined as the name of “probe request sensing element ID extensions” ) that combined with the value of the requested element ID field. The requested element ID extensions field identifies elements ID Extensions (take ID=95 for example in table 1) that are requested to be included in the probe response or information response frame.
The sensing measurement parameters element indicates operational attributes of the corresponding sensing measurement instance. The measurement report type subfield indicates the type of measurement result reported in sensing measurement instance (s) corresponding to the required sensing measurement ID (e.g. ID=94, or 95 or both) . The sensing measurement report type field is set to a number that identifies the type of sensing measurement report, e.g. 0 is channel state information (CSI) , 1 is received signal strength indicator (RSSI) , etc. The specified sensing measurement parameters is the detailed sensing measurement parameters that required in the corresponding sensing measurement instance.
In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon request frame may request a first sensing measurement in a first bandwidth. The enhanced beacon request frame may further comprise a second subelement field for requesting a second sensing measurement in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
For example, except for the extended request design in the optional subelement, the optional subelement should add another subelement ID indexed 12. “wide bandwidth probe request” for better sensing performance, particularly in the case of imaging or pattern recognition requirement. The new channel width field indicates an extra 80 MHz, 160 MHz, 500MHz bandwidth of the probe request on the basis of 20MHz by default. The detailed could be shown in table 1.
Reference is made back to Fig. 4, after receiving 415 the first request 402 from the device 110, the device 120 transmits 425 a second request 404 for the sensing information of the device 130 to the device 130. The second request 404 indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information to the device 130.
In some embodiments, the device 120 may receive 415 the first request 402 via an enhanced beacon request frame. In some embodiments, in order to transmit 425 the second request 404, the device 120 may perform 420 a scan operation on a channel of the device 130 via the second request 404.
In some embodiments, the first request 402 and the second request 404 may indicate a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth and a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
In some embodiments, the device 120 may transmit 425 the second request 404 via an enhanced probe request frame. In some embodiments, the enhanced probe request frame comprises a content of the subelement field of the enhanced beacon request frame. For example, the extended request element in probe request frame may copy the content that defined in the extended request in the beacon request.
On the side of a device 130, after receiving 430 a second request 404 from the device 120, the device 130 transmits 435 a response 406 comprising the sensing information of the device 130 to the device 120, and the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
In some embodiments, the device 120 may receive 440 the response 406 comprising the sensing information of the device 130 from the device 130. In some embodiments, the device 120 may receive 440 the response 406 via an enhanced probe response frame
In some embodiments, at least one requested element in the enhanced probe response frame comprises at least one element requested by the enhanced probe request frame. For example, the requested elements in probe response frame may contain the elements requested by the request element or extended request element (s) of the probe request frame.
In some embodiments, the device 120 may generate 445 a report comprising the sensing information of the device 130 based on the response 406. In some embodiments, the device 120 may transmit 450 the report 408 to the device 110.
In some embodiments, the device 120 may transmit 450 the report 408 via an enhanced beacon report frame. In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon report frame may comprise a subelement field for carrying a reported frame body.
In some embodiments, the subelement field may comprise a subfield indicative of at least one sensing element in the enhanced beacon report frame. In some embodiments, the subfield may comprise an element indicative of at least one operational attribute of an associated sensing measurement instance.
In some embodiments, the element may comprise a subfield indicative of a type of a measurement result reported in a sensing measurement instance corresponding to a sensing measurement ID, a subfield indicative of at least one sensing measurement parameter associated with the sensing measurement instance, or any combination of two or more of the above-mentioned items.
Fig. 6 illustrates an example protocol extension of beacon report frame for sensing operation process according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 6, the definition of key element in beacon report is the same as the definition in enhanced beacon request. Note that M, N, X, Y, Z in the figure are the actual measurement values.
Referring back to Fig. 4, the device 110 receives 455 the report 408 from the device 120. In some embodiments, the device 110 may receive 455 the report via an enhanced beacon report frame. Some embodiments of the present disclosure target the seamless sensing coverage in multi-AP network that are beneficial to reduce the sensing latency problem, especially focus on the optimized procedure for STA/APs sensing and its signaling enhancement including the beacon request/report pair amendment that enables an AP (serving AP) to request from its associated STA a list of other APs’ (target APs) sensing information through the probe response and the beacon report.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide means for the 802.11bf sensing signalling to be integrated into the beacon request/report exchange sequence so as to initiate a sensing session between associated STA and target AP without association. In multiple-AP scenario, a serving AP (e.g., AP1 in Fig. 3 ) may instruct an associated STA (e.g., STA1 in Fig. 3) to perform the sensing procedure with a neighbor AP (e.g., AP2 in Fig. 3 ) via sensing probe request/response frame exchange, in which the STA does not disconnect from AP1. Thus, the proposed solution facilitates STA to gather PHY/MAC information as well as the sensing information of the targeted APs in a more efficient manner directly from probe response, preventing long sensing negotiation between target AP2 and STA1. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the STA just consumes the off-channel scan, which may cost only 10-20ms.
Enhanced beacon request/report mechanisms may be used to enable an AP to request from its associated STAs a list of their neighboring APs. This is used to obtain not only PHY/MAC information of neighboring APs but also some sensing parameters from the neighboring APs. Sensing probe request/response frame has been defined in some embodiments of the present disclosure to integrate with the beacon request/report at the extended request element, which enable a new sensing measurement parameter that allows STA1 to request sensing information from target APs via the active scan operation. Some embodiments of the present disclosure define activation and specific usage of sensing to eliminate the latency from protocol perspective in multi-AP networks.
Fig. 7 illustrates an example process 700 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 700 may involve a serving AP1 701 (hereinafter may also be referred to as AP1 701) , a STA1 702 and a target AP2 703 (hereinafter may also be referred to as AP2 703) . It is understood that the process 700 can be considered as a more specific example of the process 400 in Fig. 4. Thus, the serving AP1 701 in Fig. 7 may be an example of the device 110 in Fig. 1 or 4, the STA1 702 in Fig. 7 may be an example of the device 120 in Fig. 1 or 4, and the target AP2 703 in Fig. 7 may be an example of the device 130 in Fig. 1 or 4.
The normal sensing measurement is performed between AP1 701 and STA1 702. Once the sensing target moves to the edge of or out of the AP1 701 to STA1 702 sensing coverage, AP1 701 triggers 705 the new sensing request. The common sensing procedure is carried out in this procedure, which composed of normal sensing session setup, sensing measurement setup, sensing measurement instances, sensing measurement setup termination, and sensing session termination. In addition, to get the consistent sensing service, if the sensing target moving to the edge of or out of the original sensing coverage (AP1 to STA1 coverage) , the AP1 may trigger the generation of enhanced beacon request to facilitate STA1 to connect to the new APs (here refers to the target AP2) for sensing information.
In some embodiments, the STA1 that responded in the polling phase within the sensing measurement instances is a sensing receiver that can obtain several sensing measurement results, the related specified sensing measurement parameters is defined in some embodiments of the present disclosure, and the related specified sensing measurement parameters include but are not limited to the following factors
Extended ID=94: Velocity, angle, accuracy, resolution, false alarm rate, detection probability.
Extended ID=95: Sensing range: the maximum distance from sensing device to the target.
Extended ID=96: Field of view (FOV) : the angle through which the sensing device can perform sensing and detection, i.e., the FOV indicates the coverage area of a sensing device.
Extended ID=97: Expected latency: expected time taken to complete the related Wi-Fi sensing process.
Extended ID=98: Expected number of simultaneous targets.
AP1 701 transmits 710 the enhanced beacon request to instruct the associated STA1 702 to provide the expected sensing information from neighbor APs (AP2 or AP3) .
In some embodiments, if human or object being detected moves towards another direction that in the edge of the sensing range as mentioned above, AP1 701 would instruct STA1 702 in the beacon request including some sensing measurement parameters element to provide the expected sensing information from neighbor AP2 703.
In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon request may consist of two modified points:
- Modify the field in optional subelement involving extended request. The extended request also consists of an element ID extensions and requested element ID extensions. The element ID extensions further comprise of sensing measurement parameters element, and the sensing measurement parameters element further consist of specified sensing measurement parameters. The whole content of the beacon request content can be depicted in Fig 5;
- Extend the optional subelements for another field entitled “wide bandwidth probe request” for better sensing performance, particularly in the case of imaging or pattern recognition requirement. The new channel width field indicates an extra 80 MHz, 160 MHz, 500MHz bandwidth of the probe request on the basis of 20MHz by default. The detailed change places can also be depicted in the table 1.
Based on enhanced beacon request frame, STA1 702 transmits the enhanced probe request to perform off-channel scan operation on other APs for sensing information.
As an embodiment, this section is to illustrate how to retrieve the sensing information of other target APs (AP2, AP3) triggered by beacon request frame transmitted by service AP1 701 and enhanced probe request transmitted by associated STA1 702.
In some embodiments, considering to minimize the JCAS service interruption issue, STA1 702 may perform active scan operation (from channel2 to channel3) through enhanced probe request on the neighbor APs’ operating channels according to the instruction in the Beacon request frame
In some embodiments, alternatively, STA1 702 could also detect the moving target directly through DL NDPA sensing STA1 can get the sensing information) or UL TF sensing, and perform off-channel scan operation on other APs for sensing information through enhanced probe request. Additionally, the explanation of enhanced probe request can be found in the illustration of Fig. 4.
Reference is made back to Fig. 5, STA1 702 receives 720 enhanced probe response frame from target AP2 703, to obtain AP2s’ sensing information from the enhanced probe response.
In some embodiments, how to obtain the sensing information based on the received enhanced probe response frame on STA1 side is defined. the explanation of enhanced probe response can be found in the illustration of Fig. 4.
Then STA1 702 transmits 725 enhanced beacon report frame to AP1 701. AP1 701 obtains AP2s’ sensing information from the beacon report sent by STA1 that is partly includes the received probe response.
In some embodiments, the beacon report frame is includes the neighboring AP’s PHY and MAC capability from its received Beacon and probe response frame, as well as the measurement pilot information like received signal-to-noise indicator (RSNI) and received channel power indication (RCPI) information as shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 8 shows a flowchart of an example method 800 implemented at the device 110 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 800 will be described from the perspective of the device 110 with reference to Fig. 1. It is to be understood that method 800 may further include additional blocks not shown and/or omit some shown blocks, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.
At block 810, the device 110 transmits a request for sensing information of a device 130 to a device 120, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information. At block 820, the device 110 receives a report comprising the sensing information of the device 130 from the device 120.
In some embodiments, in order to transmit the request, the device 110 may transmit the request to the device 120 based on determining that a target moves to an edge of or out of a sensing coverage area between the device 110 and the device 120.
In some embodiments, the at least one sensing parameter may comprise velocity of a target; at least one of an angle, accuracy, a resolution, a false alarm rate, a detection probability of a sensing measurement for the target; a sensing range of a sensor device for the target, wherein the sensor device is the device 120 or the device 130; a field of view of the sensor device; expected latency of the sensing measurement; an expected number of simultaneous targets, or any combination of two or more of the above-mentioned items.
In some embodiments, the request may indicate a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth and a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
In some embodiments, the device 110 may transmit the request via an enhanced beacon request frame. The device 110 may receive the report via an enhanced beacon report frame.
In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon request frame may comprise a first subelement field for requesting the device 120 to include the sensing information into the enhanced beacon report frame.
In some embodiments, the first subelement field may comprise: a first subfield indicative of at least one extended element identifier (ID) in addition to an element ID in the enhanced beacon request frame, a second subfield indicative of at least one element ID extension value, wherein the at least one element ID extension value combined with a value of a requested element ID field of the enhanced beacon request frame indicate at least one element ID extension to be included in the enhanced beacon report frame, or any combination of two or more of the above-mentioned items.
In some embodiments, the first subfield comprises an element indicative of at least one operational attribute of an associated sensing measurement instance. In some embodiments, the element may comprise a third subfield indicative of a type of a measurement result reported in a sensing measurement instance corresponding to a sensing measurement ID, a fourth subfield indicative of at least one sensing measurement parameter associated with the sensing measurement instance, or any combination of two or more of the above-mentioned items.
In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon request frame may request a first sensing measurement in a first bandwidth. The enhanced beacon request frame may comprise a second subelement field for requesting a second sensing measurement in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon report frame may comprise a subelement field for carrying a reported frame body. In some embodiments, the subelement field may comprise a subfield indicative of at least one sensing element in the enhanced beacon report frame.
In some embodiments, the subfield may comprise an element indicative of at least one operational attribute of an associated sensing measurement instance. In some embodiments, the element may comprise: a subfield indicative of a type of a measurement result reported in a sensing measurement instance corresponding to a sensing measurement ID, a subfield indicative of at least one sensing measurement parameter associated with the sensing measurement instance, or any combination of two or more of the above-mentioned items.
Fig. 9 shows a flowchart of an example method 900 implemented at the device 120 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 900 will be described from the perspective of the device 120 with reference to Fig. 1. It is to be understood that method 900 may further include additional blocks not shown and/or omit some shown blocks, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.
At block 910, the device 120 receives a first request for sensing information of a device 130 from a device 110, and the first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information. At block 920, the device 120 transmits a second request for the sensing information of the device 130 to the device 130, and the second request indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
In some embodiments, the device 120 may receive a response comprising the sensing information of the device 130 from the device 130, and the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter. Then the device 120 may transmit a report comprising the sensing information of the device 130 to the device 110. In some embodiments, the device 120 may generate the report based on the response.
In some embodiments, the first request and the second request may indicate a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth and a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
In some embodiments, in order to transmit the second request, the device 120 may perform a scan operation on a channel of the device 130 via the second request.
In some embodiments, the at least one sensing parameter may comprise: velocity of a target; at least one of an angle, accuracy, a resolution, a false alarm rate, a detection probability of a sensing measurement for the target; a sensing range of a sensor device for the sensing target, wherein the sensor device is the device 120 or the device 130; a field of view of the sensor device; expected latency of the sensing measurement, an expected number of simultaneous targets, or any combination of two or more of the above-mentioned items.
In some embodiments, the device 120 may receive the first request via an enhanced beacon request frame, and the device 120 may transmit the second request via an enhanced probe request frame. In addition, the device 120 may receive the response via an enhanced probe response frame, and the device 120 may transmit the report via an enhanced beacon report frame.
In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon request frame may comprise a subelement field for requesting the device 120 to include the sensing information into the enhanced beacon report frame. The enhanced probe request frame may comprise a content of the subelement field of the enhanced beacon request frame.
Fig. 10 shows a flowchart of an example method 1000 implemented at a device 130 in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 1000 will be described from the perspective of the device 130 with reference to Fig. 1. It is to be understood that method 1000 may further include additional blocks not shown and/or omit some shown blocks, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.
At block 1010, the device 130 receives a request for sensing information of the device 130 from a device 120, and the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information. At block 1020, the device 130 transmits a response comprising the sensing information of the device 130 to the device 120, and the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
In some embodiments, the request may indicate a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth and a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
In some embodiments, the at least one sensing parameter may comprise: velocity of a target; at least one of an angle, accuracy, a resolution, a false alarm rate, a detection probability of a sensing measurement for the target; a sensing range of a sensor device for the target, wherein the sensor device is the device 120 or the device 130; a field of view of the sensor device; expected latency of the sensing measurement; an expected number of simultaneous targets, or any combination of two or more of the above-mentioned items.
In some embodiments, the device 130 may receive the request via an enhanced probe request frame. The device 130 may transmit the response via an enhanced probe response frame.
In some embodiments, at least one requested element in the enhanced probe response frame may comprise at least one element requested by the enhanced probe request frame.
In some embodiments, a device capable of performing the method 800 (for example, the device 110) is provided. The device may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 800. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.
In some embodiments, the device comprises means for transmitting, to a second device, a request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and means for receiving, from the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
In some embodiments, means for transmitting the request may comprise means for, based on determining that a target moves to an edge of or out of a sensing coverage area between the device and the second device, transmitting the request to the second device.
In some embodiments, the at least one sensing parameter may comprise at least one of the following: velocity of a target; at least one of an angle, accuracy, a resolution, a false alarm rate, a detection probability of a sensing measurement for the target; a sensing range of a sensor device for the target, wherein the sensor device is the second device or the third device; a field of view of the sensor device; expected latency of the sensing measurement; or an expected number of simultaneous targets.
In some embodiments, the request may indicate a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth; and a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
In some embodiments, the device may comprise means for transmitting the request via an enhanced beacon request frame; or means for receiving the report via an enhanced beacon report frame.
In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon request frame may comprise a first subelement field for requesting the second device to include the sensing information into the enhanced beacon report frame.
In some embodiments, the first subelement field may comprise a first subfield indicative of at least one extended element identifier (ID) in addition to an element ID in the enhanced beacon request frame; or a second subfield indicative of at least one element ID extension value, wherein the at least one element ID extension value combined with a value of a requested element ID field of the enhanced beacon request frame indicate at least one element ID extension to be included in the enhanced beacon report frame.
In some embodiments, the first subfield may comprise an element indicative of at least one operational attribute of an associated sensing measurement instance.
In some embodiments, the element may comprise at least one of the following: a third subfield indicative of a type of a measurement result reported in a sensing measurement instance corresponding to a sensing measurement ID; or a fourth subfield indicative of at least one sensing measurement parameter associated with the sensing measurement instance.
In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon request frame may request a first sensing measurement in a first bandwidth; and the enhanced beacon request frame may comprise a second subelement field for requesting a second sensing measurement in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon report frame may comprise a subelement field for carrying a reported frame body.
In some embodiments, the subelement field may comprise a subfield indicative of at least one sensing element in the enhanced beacon report frame.
In some embodiments, the subfield may comprise an element indicative of at least one operational attribute of an associated sensing measurement instance.
In some embodiments, the element may comprise at least one of the following: a subfield indicative of a type of a measurement result reported in a sensing measurement instance corresponding to a sensing measurement ID; or a subfield indicative of at least one sensing measurement parameter associated with the sensing measurement instance.
In some embodiments, the device further comprises means for performing other steps in some embodiments of the method 800. In some embodiments, the means comprise at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the device.
In some embodiments, a device capable of performing the method 900 (for example, the device 120) is provided. The device may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 900. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.
In some embodiments, the device comprises means for receiving, from a second device, a first request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and means for transmitting, to the third device, a second request for the sensing information of the third device, wherein the second request indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
In some embodiments, the device may further comprise means for receiving, from the third device, a response comprising the sensing information of the third device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter; and means for transmitting, to the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
In some embodiments, the device may further comprise means for generating the report based on the response.
In some embodiments, the first request and the second request may indicate a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth; and a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
In some embodiments, means for transmitting the second request may comprise means for performing a scan operation on a channel of the third device via the second request.
In some embodiments, the at least one sensing parameter may comprise at least one of the following: velocity of a target; at least one of an angle, accuracy, a resolution, a false alarm rate, a detection probability of a sensing measurement for the target; a sensing range of a sensor device for the target, wherein the sensor device is the device or the third device; a field of view of the sensor device; expected latency of the sensing measurement; or and an expected number of simultaneous targets.
In some embodiments, the device may comprise means for receiving the first request via an enhanced beacon request frame; means for transmitting the second request via an enhanced probe request frame; means for receiving the response via an enhanced probe response frame; or means for transmitting the report via an enhanced beacon report frame.
In some embodiments, the enhanced beacon request frame may comprise a subelement field for requesting the device to include the sensing information into the enhanced beacon report frame; and the enhanced probe request frame may comprise a content of the subelement field of the enhanced beacon request frame.
In some embodiments, the device further comprises means for performing other steps in some embodiments of the method 900. In some embodiments, the means comprise at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the device.
In some embodiments, a device capable of performing the method 1000 (for example, the device 130) is provided. The device may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 1000. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.
In some embodiments, the device comprises means for receiving, from a first device, a request for sensing information of the device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and means for transmitting, to the second device, a response comprising the sensing information of the device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
In some embodiments, the request may indicate a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth; and a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
In some embodiments, the at least one sensing parameter may comprise at least one of the following: velocity of a target; at least one of an angle, accuracy, a resolution, a false alarm rate, a detection probability of a sensing measurement for the target; a sensing range of a sensor device for the target, wherein the sensor device is the second device or the device; a field of view of the sensor device; expected latency of the sensing measurement; or an expected number of simultaneous targets.
In some embodiments, the device comprises means for receiving the request via an enhanced probe request frame; or means for transmitting the response via an enhanced probe response frame.
In some embodiments, at least one requested element in the enhanced probe response frame may comprise at least one element requested by the enhanced probe request frame.
In some embodiments, the device further comprises means for performing other steps in some embodiments of the method 1000. In some embodiments, the means comprise at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the device.
FIG. 11 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1100 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1100 may be provided to implement the communication device, for example the device 110, the device 120 or the device 130 as shown in Fig. 1. As shown, the device 1100 includes one or more processors 1110, one or more memories 1120 coupled to the processor 1110, and one or more communication module 1140 coupled to the processor 1110.
The communication module 1140 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 1140 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements.
The processor 1110 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 1100 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.
The memory 1120 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM) 1124, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 1122 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.
A computer program 1130 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 1110. The program 1130 may be stored in the ROM 1020. The processor 1110 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 1130 into the RAM 1120.
The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 1130 so that the device 1100 may perform any device functionality or any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to Figs. 2 to 10. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.
In some embodiments, the program 1130 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable media which may be included in the device 1100 (such as in the memory 1120) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 1100. The device 1100 may load the program 1130 from the computer readable media to the RAM 1122 for execution. The computer readable media may include any types of tangible non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. Fig. 12 shows an example of the computer readable media 1200 in form of CD or DVD. The computer readable media has the program 1130 stored thereon.
Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.
The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage media. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out any of the method 800, 900 and 1000 as described above with reference to Figs. 8-10. Program modules may include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.
Program code for carrying out the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be instructions stored on a memory and provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.
In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable media, and the like.
The computer readable media may be a computer readable signal media or a computer readable storage media. A computer readable media may include but is not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage media would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the media itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .
Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.
Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

A device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device at least to:

transmit, to a second device, a request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and

receive, from the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
The device of claim 1, wherein the device is configured to transmit the request by:

based on determining that a target moves to an edge of or out of a sensing coverage area between the device and the second device, transmitting the request to the second device.
The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the at least one sensing parameter comprises at least one of the following:

velocity of a target;

at least one of an angle, accuracy, a resolution, a false alarm rate, a detection probability of a sensing measurement for the target;

a sensing range of a sensor device for the target, wherein the sensor device is the second device or the third device;

a field of view of the sensor device;

expected latency of the sensing measurement; or

an expected number of simultaneous targets.
The device of any of claims 1-3, wherein the request indicates:

a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth; and

a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
The device of any of claims 1-4, configured to perform at least one of the following:

transmit the request via an enhanced beacon request frame; or

receive the report via an enhanced beacon report frame.
The device of claim 5, wherein the enhanced beacon request frame comprises a first subelement field for requesting the second device to include the sensing information into the enhanced beacon report frame.
The device of claim 6, wherein the first subelement field comprises at least one of the following:

a first subfield indicative of at least one extended element identifier (ID) in addition to an element ID in the enhanced beacon request frame; or

a second subfield indicative of at least one element ID extension value, wherein the at least one element ID extension value combined with a value of a requested element ID field of the enhanced beacon request frame indicate at least one element ID extension to be included in the enhanced beacon report frame.
The device of claim 7, wherein the first subfield comprises an element indicative of at least one operational attribute of an associated sensing measurement instance.
The device of claim 8, wherein the element comprises at least one of the following:

a third subfield indicative of a type of a measurement result reported in a sensing measurement instance corresponding to a sensing measurement ID; or

a fourth subfield indicative of at least one sensing measurement parameter associated with the sensing measurement instance.
The device of any of claims 5-9, wherein:

the enhanced beacon request frame requests a first sensing measurement in a first bandwidth; and

the enhanced beacon request frame comprises a second subelement field for requesting a second sensing measurement in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
The device of claim 5, wherein the enhanced beacon report frame comprises a subelement field for carrying a reported frame body.
The device of claim 11, wherein the subelement field comprises a subfield indicative of at least one sensing element in the enhanced beacon report frame.
The device of claim 12, wherein the subfield comprises an element indicative of at least one operational attribute of an associated sensing measurement instance.
The device of claim 13, wherein the element comprises at least one of the following:

a subfield indicative of a type of a measurement result reported in a sensing measurement instance corresponding to a sensing measurement ID; or

a subfield indicative of at least one sensing measurement parameter associated with the sensing measurement instance.
A device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device at least to:

receive, from a second device, a first request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and

transmit, to the third device, a second request for the sensing information of the third device, wherein the second request indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
The device of claim 15, wherein the device is further configured to:

receive, from the third device, a response comprising the sensing information of the third device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter; and

transmit, to the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
The device of claim 16, wherein the device is further configured to:

generate the report based on the response.
The device of claim 15, wherein the first request and the second request indicates:

a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth; and

a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
The device of any of claims 15-18, wherein the device is configured to transmit the second request by:

performing a scan operation on a channel of the third device via the second request.
The device of claim 15, wherein the at least one sensing parameter comprises at least one of the following:

velocity of a target;

at least one of an angle, accuracy, a resolution, a false alarm rate, a detection probability of a sensing measurement for the target;

a sensing range of a sensor device for the target, wherein the sensor device is the device or the third device;

a field of view of the sensor device;

expected latency of the sensing measurement; or

an expected number of simultaneous targets.
The device of any of claims 15-20, configured to perform at least one of following:

receive the first request via an enhanced beacon request frame;

transmit the second request via an enhanced probe request frame;

receive the response via an enhanced probe response frame; or

transmit the report via an enhanced beacon report frame.
The device of claim 21, wherein:

the enhanced beacon request frame comprises a subelement field for requesting the device to include the sensing information into the enhanced beacon report frame; and

the enhanced probe request frame comprises a content of the subelement field of the enhanced beacon request frame.
A device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device at least to:

receive, from a second device, a request for sensing information of the device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and

transmit, to the second device, a response comprising the sensing information of the device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
The device of claim 23, wherein the request indicates:

a first sensing measurement for a target in a first bandwidth; and

a second sensing measurement for the target in a second bandwidth wider than the first bandwidth, in the event that the first sensing measurement does not satisfy a sensing performance requirement.
The device of claim 23, wherein the at least one sensing parameter comprises at least one of the following:

velocity of a target;

at least one of an angle, accuracy, a resolution, a false alarm rate, a detection probability of a sensing measurement for the target;

a sensing range of a sensor device for the target, wherein the sensor device is the second device or the device;

a field of view of the sensor device;

expected latency of the sensing measurement; or

an expected number of simultaneous targets.
The device of any of claims 23-25, configured to perform at least one of following:

receive the request via an enhanced probe request frame; or

transmit the response via an enhanced probe response frame.
The device of claim 26, wherein:

at least one requested element in the enhanced probe response frame comprises at least one element requested by the enhanced probe request frame.
A method comprising:

transmitting, at a device to a second device, a request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and

receiving, by the device from the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
A method comprising:

receiving, at a device from a second device, a first request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and

transmitting, by the device to the third device, a second request for the sensing information of the third device, wherein the second request indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
A method comprising:

receiving, at a device from a second device, a request for sensing information of the device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and

transmitting, by the device to the second device, a response comprising the sensing information of the device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
A device comprising:

means for transmitting, to a second device, a request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and

means for receiving, by the device from the second device, a report comprising the sensing information of the third device.
A device comprising:

means for receiving, from a second device, a first request for sensing information of a third device, wherein the first request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and

means for transmitting, by the device to the third device, a second request for the sensing information of the third device, wherein the second request indicates the at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information.
A device comprising:

means for receiving, from a second device, a request for sensing information of the device, wherein the request indicates at least one sensing parameter to be comprised in the sensing information; and

means for transmitting, by the device to the second device, a response comprising the sensing information of the device, wherein the sensing information comprises the at least one sensing parameter.
A non-transitory computer readable media comprising program instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 28-30.