Identifying and authorizing targets for wireless sensing

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing wireless sensing capabilities in a wireless communication system (700) are presented that enable identification of a target object (TO) for sensing and provide the ability of a network to verify whether the target object (TO) is authorized to utilize a sensing service.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of communication between terminal devices and / or fixed or mobile access devices in wireless networks, such as but not limited to fifth generation (5G) cellular communication systems. Background Art

[0002] As the wavelength of communication systems decreases, the ability to use the same wavelength bands for increasingly precise sensing applications increases.

[0003] As an example, signal bands of a 5G communication system or other suitable wireless communication system may be used as radar, for example, to measure the position and movement of cars and people and even vital signs signals such as heart rate and breathing rate.

[0004] Radar systems or other sensing systems are often implemented as a single non-distributed system including a transmitter and a receiver to enable communication of analog signals and timing, but they can also be distributed between a collection of separate transmitter and receiver devices.

[0005] The problem with radar systems and wireless sensing systems in general is that it is not clear how to ensure that the detected object is the intended target so that privacy-sensitive data of unintended target objects does not need to be obtained / leaked. It is also not clear how to verify whether the target object is authorized to utilize the sensing service. Summary of the invention

[0006] The object of the present invention is to realize a wireless sensing capability.

[0007] An advantage of the present invention is that the wireless sensing capability will enable identification and authorization of target objects for sensing.

[0008] This object is achieved by an apparatus as claimed in claims 1 and 2, by a wireless communication device as claimed in claim 10, by a system as claimed in claim 14, by a method as claimed in claims 15 and 16, and by a computer program product as claimed in claim 17.

[0009] According to a first aspect, a device for providing wireless sensing capability is provided. The device is configured to at least perform the following operations:

[0010] Obtain a collection of target identification information;

[0011] detecting a set of objects and determining a set of sensing information about one or more of the detected objects based on outputs of sensing operations performed on a target area or volume by at least a sensing transmitter that transmits a set of sensing signals and a sensing receiver that receives the set of sensing signals;

[0012] determining, based on the set of target identification information, whether a set of sensed information about one or more of the detected objects satisfies or does not satisfy one or more configured criteria for identifying a target; and

[0013] Based on the determining whether the set of sensed information about one or more of the detected objects satisfies or does not satisfy the one or more configured criteria for identifying the target, performing at least one of the following:

[0014] Stop or continue the sensing operation;

[0015] Initiating additional sensing operations;

[0016] generating an event or sending a signal, the generated event or the sent signal indicating detection or non-detection of a matching target; and

[0017] Initiate or continue authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing.

[0018] According to a second aspect, a device for providing wireless sensing capability is provided. The device is configured to at least perform the following operations:

[0019] detecting a set of objects and determining a set of sensing information about one or more of the detected objects based on outputs of sensing operations performed on a target area or volume by at least a sensing transmitter that transmits a set of sensing signals and a sensing receiver that receives the set of sensing signals;

[0020] providing a set of sensing information about one or more of the detected objects and / or one or more potential targets to a target matching entity;

[0021] receiving a result of a target matching process performed by the target matching entity based on the set of sensing information and the set of target identification information;

[0022] Based on the result of the target matching process, perform at least one of the following:

[0023] Stop or continue the sensing operation;

[0024] Initiating additional sensing operations;

[0025] generating an event or sending a signal, the generated event or the sent signal indicating detection or non-detection of a matching target; and

[0026] Initiate or continue authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing.

[0027] According to a third aspect, there is provided a wireless communication device. The wireless communication device comprises a communication unit configured to connect to a network, the network configured to operate a sensing service, wherein the wireless communication device is configured to send an identifier to be used for authorizing use of the sensing service and retrieve a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with the set of target identification information for use in a sensing operation initiated by the network.

[0028] According to a fourth aspect, a system is provided. The system comprises at least a wireless communication device according to the third aspect and an apparatus according to any one of the first to second aspects, wherein after the wireless communication device has been authenticated and authorized by a network to use a sensing service, the apparatus receives a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with the set of target identification information.

[0029] According to a fifth aspect, a method for providing sensing capabilities in a wireless communication network or device is provided. The method at least comprises:

[0030] Obtain a collection of target identification information;

[0031] detecting a set of objects and determining a set of sensing information about one or more detected objects based on output of sensing operations of a target area or volume performed by at least a sensing transmitter that transmits a set of sensing signals and a sensing receiver that receives the set of sensing signals;

[0032] determining, based on the set of target identification information, whether the set of sensed information about one or more of the detected objects satisfies or does not satisfy one or more configured criteria for identifying a target; and

[0033] Based on the determining whether the set of sensed information about one or more of the detected objects satisfies or does not satisfy the one or more configured criteria for identifying the target, performing at least one of the following:

[0034] Stop or continue the sensing operation;

[0035] Initiating additional sensing operations;

[0036] generating an event or sending a signal, the generated event or the sent signal indicating detection or non-detection of a matching target; and

[0037] Initiate or continue authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing.

[0038] According to a sixth aspect, a method for providing sensing capabilities in a wireless communication network or device is provided. The method at least comprises:

[0039] detecting a set of objects and determining a set of sensing information about one or more of the detected objects based on outputs of sensing operations performed on a target area or volume by at least a sensing transmitter that transmits a set of sensing signals and a sensing receiver that receives the set of sensing signals;

[0040] providing a set of sensing information about one or more of the detected objects and / or one or more potential targets to a target matching entity;

[0041] receiving a result of a target matching process performed by the target matching entity based on the set of sensing information and the set of target identification information; and

[0042] Based on the result of the target matching process, at least one of the following is performed:

[0043] Stop or continue the sensing operation;

[0044] Initiating additional sensing operations;

[0045] generating an event or sending a signal, the generated event or the sent signal indicating detection or non-detection of a matching target; and

[0046] Initiate or continue authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing.

[0047] According to a seventh aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising code means for performing the steps of any one of the fifth to sixth aspects above when executed on a processor of a wireless communication device or on a processor of a device operating a wireless communication network.

[0048] According to a first option which can be combined with the first aspect, the apparatus may be configured to evaluate user permissions associated with the identified target before performing the performing step of the first aspect.

[0049] According to a second option which can be combined with the second aspect, the target matching entity may be configured to verify a user permission associated with the identified target before performing the performing step of the second aspect.

[0050] According to a third option that can be combined with the second option, the target matching entity can be configured to receive and store a set of user permission preferences and / or target identification information of objects among the detected objects in an area of ​​interest. For example, an area of ​​interest can be defined as a position or area or volume in which a target is to be sensed / detected (i.e., a target position or area or volume) or sensing is to be performed (i.e., a sensing position or area or volume).

[0051] According to a fourth option which may be combined with any one of the above first to second aspects, the apparatus may include a communication unit configured to operate the sensing transmitter and / or the sensing receiver in order to generate the output of the sensing operation.

[0052] According to a fifth option which can be combined with any one of the first to second aspects above, the device may include a communication unit configured to configure the sensing transmitter and / or the sensing receiver based on the set of target identification information, and to receive the output of the sensing operation from the sensing transmitter and / or the sensing receiver.

[0053] According to a sixth option which can be combined with any one of the above first to second aspects, the device may include a communication unit configured to connect to a network and receive the set of target identification information from the network, and optionally, wherein the device may receive the set of target identification information from the network after the device has been authenticated by the network and authorized to participate in the sensing operation.

[0054] According to the seventh option which can be combined with any one of the first to second aspects above, the device can be configured to operate as a network function or service within a network, and optionally, the device may include a communication unit configured to receive a set of target identification information obtained from the first aspect or a result of a target matching process as received from the second aspect from an authentication server function (AUSF), a unified data management (UDM), a unified data repository (UDR), a network open function (NEF) or an external database.

[0055] According to an eighth option that can be combined with the first aspect above, the device can be configured to initiate or continue the authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing using an identifier associated with the set of target identification information, or to continue the sensing operation based on the determination that the set of sensing information about one or more of the detected objects satisfies the one or more configured criteria for identifying the target based on the set of target identification information associated with the identifier.

[0056] According to a ninth option which may be combined with any one of the first to second aspects above, the apparatus may receive the set of target identification information or an identifier associated with the set of target identification information after a device associated with a subscription to a sensing service has been authenticated by the network and authorized for use of the sensing service, and optionally, wherein: the apparatus may receive the set of target identification information or the identifier associated with the set of target identification information after it has been determined that the device associated with the subscription to the sensing service has been determined to be located in the target area or volume, and / or the apparatus may be configured to send a signal or a message to the device associated with the subscription to the sensing service, the signal or the message indicating that the sensing operation has started or indicating a request for confirmation of initiation of the sensing operation. Optionally, the device may be a wireless communication device.

[0057] According to a tenth option which may be combined with the above third aspect, the wireless communication device may be configured to provide location information, the sensing operation being performed in a target area or volume based on the location information.

[0058] According to an eleventh option which may be combined with the above third aspect, the wireless communication device may be configured to receive a signal or message from the network, the signal or message indicating that the sensing operation has started or indicating a request for confirmation of initiation of the sensing operation.

[0059] According to a twelfth option that can be combined with the above-mentioned third aspect, the wireless communication device can be configured to send the set of target identification information or the identifier associated with the set of target identification information or an artificial intelligence (AI) model capable of identifying the target to the sensing service operated by the network.

[0060] According to a thirteenth option which may be combined with the fourth aspect above, the set of target identification information received by the apparatus may be sent by the wireless communication device.

[0061] It should be understood that the apparatus of claims 1 and 2, the wireless communication device of claim 9, the system of claim 13, the methods of claims 14 and 15, and the computer program product of claim 16 may have similar and / or identical preferred embodiments, in particular as defined in the dependent claims.

[0062] It shall be understood that a preferred embodiment of the invention can also be any combination of the dependent claims or the above embodiments with the respective independent claim.

[0063] These and other aspects of the invention will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0064] Figure 1 Schematically illustrates an embodiment of a communication system with distributed radar functionality that may be used in embodiments of the present invention;

[0065] Figure 2 Schematically illustrates embodiments of transmitter and receiver architectures that may be used in embodiments of the present invention;

[0066] Figure 3 schematically illustrates an embodiment of a process flow chart for radar sensing in a communication system that may be used in embodiments of the present invention;

[0067] Figure 4 Schematically illustrates an embodiment of a flow chart of a sensing operation according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0068] Figure 5 schematically illustrates an embodiment of a flow chart of a position and movement detection process that may be used in embodiments of the present invention;

[0069] Figure 6 schematically illustrates an embodiment of a flow chart of a heart rate and breathing rate detection process that may be used in embodiments of the present invention;

[0070] Figure 7 schematically illustrates a sensing system according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

[0071] Figure 8 The target authorization process according to an embodiment of the present invention is schematically illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0072] Embodiments of the present invention are now described based on a cellular communication network environment such as 5G. However, the present invention can also be used in combination with other wireless technologies (e.g., IEEE802.11 / Wi-Fi or IEEE802.15.4 / Ultra Wideband Communication (UWB)) in which target sensing is provided or can be introduced.

[0073] Throughout this disclosure, the abbreviation "gNB" (5G terminology) or "BS" (Base Station) is intended to represent a wireless access device such as a cellular base station or WiFi access point or UWB PAN coordinator. A gNB can consist of a centralized control plane unit (gNB-CU-CP), multiple centralized user plane units (gNB-CU-UP) and / or multiple distributed units (gNB-DU). The gNB is part of the Radio Access Network (RAN) that provides an interface to functions in the Core Network (CN). The RAN is part of a wireless communication network. It implements the Radio Access Technology (RAT). Conceptually, it resides between communication devices such as mobile phones, computers or any remotely controlled machines and provides a connection to their CN. The CN is the core part of the communication network that provides many services to customers interconnected via the RAN. More specifically, it directs the communication flow through the communication network and possibly other networks.

[0074] Furthermore, the terms "base station" (BS) and "network" may be used as synonyms in the present disclosure. This means that, for example, when it is written that "network" performs a certain operation, it may be performed by a CN function of a wireless communication network, or by one or more base stations that are part of such a wireless communication network, and vice versa. It may also mean that a part of a function is performed by a CN function of a wireless communication network and a part of a function of a base station.

[0075] Furthermore, the terms "radar sensing" and "wireless sensing" are intended to cover not only techniques in which a single device sends and receives radar signals, but also distributed RF-based sensing techniques, such as techniques in which sensing signals are received by multiple devices in a distributed manner or sensing based on channel state information (CSI) in a CSI-based distributed sensing solution and / or techniques based on other types of measurement information related to RF signals (e.g., multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) detection signal feedback, Doppler phase shift measurement). It should be noted that the above terms "radar sensing" and "wireless sensing" may be used interchangeably in the present disclosure, and the embodiments describing radar sensing as an example may also be extended to any type of wireless sensing, such as sensing based on channel state information (CSI).

[0076] Furthermore, the terms "target" and "target object" refer to any entity that may be subject to wireless sensing. This may include a person, an animal, an inanimate object, a structure composed of several smaller entities (e.g., a cloud composed of small water droplets). Furthermore, the terms "target" and "target object" may be used as synonyms in the present disclosure.

[0077] Furthermore, the term "object" throughout this disclosure is intended to mean any physical entity, including a person, an animal, an inanimate object, a vehicle, a structure composed of several smaller entities (eg, a cloud composed of small water droplets).

[0078] Note that throughout this disclosure, only those blocks, components and / or devices relevant to the proposed data distribution function are shown in the accompanying drawings. For the sake of brevity, other blocks are omitted. In addition, the blocks designated by the same reference numerals are intended to have the same or at least similar functions, so that their functions are no longer described later.

[0079] Sensing signal

[0080] The sensing function of the following embodiments may be implemented, for example, by a radar function in wireless communications involving one or more access devices (eg, base stations (BSs)) and / or one or more terminal devices (eg, user equipment devices (UEs)).

[0081] As an example, a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) millimeter wave (mmWave) radar system can measure the range, velocity, and angle of arrival (if two receivers are available) of objects in a scene that reflect radio waves. Such a radar system transmits a chirp signal, such as a sine wave that increases in frequency over time. The chirp signal (e.g., a continuous wave pulse) has a bandwidth and a rate of increase in frequency. Typically, a continuous series of such chirps is transmitted. The transmitted and received analog linear chirp signals are mixed to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) signal that corresponds to the frequency difference of the two signals (outbound and inbound), and whose output phase corresponds to the difference in the phase of the two signals.

[0082] Therefore, each surface of the scene or environment will produce a constant frequency IF signal with a frequency related to the distance to the surface (i.e., the first distance from the transmitter of the chirp signal to the surface plus the second distance from the surface to the receiver of the chirp signal). In order to resolve two surfaces at different distances, the two IF signals can be frequency resolved. The longer time window of the IF signal leads to greater resolution. Since the chirp time is related to its bandwidth (with a constant chirp frequency variation), the resolution of the radar is related to the chirp bandwidth. The IF signal can then be bandpass filtered (to remove signals below a certain minimum range and frequencies above the maximum frequency for the subsequent analog-to-digital converter (ADC)) and digitized before further processing. The upper frequency sensing range of the bandpass filter and the ADC sets the maximum range that can be detected (i.e., the IF frequency increases with the range).

[0083] To detect vibrations, the phase of the IF signal is important because the phase (i.e., the difference in the phase of the transmitted and received chirp signals) is a sensitive measure of small changes in distance to the surface. Small distance changes can be detected in the phase signal but may not be discernible in the frequency signal. In addition, the phase difference measurement between two consecutive chirp signals can be used to determine the velocity of the surface.

[0084] As an example, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) process can be performed across multiple chirp signals to enable separation of objects with the same range but moving at different speeds. The Fourier Transform converts a signal from the space or time domain to the frequency domain. In the frequency domain, a signal is represented by a weighted sum of sine and cosine waves. A discrete digital signal with N samples can be accurately represented by the sum of N waves. FFT provides a faster way to calculate a discrete Fourier transform (DFT) by using the symmetry and repetition of the waves to combine samples and reuse partial results. This method can save a lot of processing time, especially for real-world signals that can have thousands or even millions of samples.

[0085] As another example, angle estimation may be performed by using the phase difference between received chirp signals at two separate receivers.

[0086] As another option, channel state information (CSI) can be used, which is a measurement of the phase and amplitude of many frequencies detected at the receiver, forming a complex "map" of the radio environment, including the impact of objects within that environment. CSI characterizes how wireless signals propagate from the transmitter to the receiver at certain carrier frequencies. CSI amplitude and phase are affected by multipath effects, including amplitude attenuation and phase shifts, for example, by displacement and movement of the transmitter, receiver, and surrounding objects and people. In other words, CSI captures the wireless characteristics of the nearby environment. These characteristics, aided by mathematical modeling or machine learning algorithms, can be used for different sensing applications.

[0087] The radio channel can be divided into multiple subcarriers, such as is done in 5G communication systems (using, for example, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)). To measure CSI, the transmitter can send a long training field symbol (LTF) that contains predefined symbols for each subcarrier (e.g., in a packet preamble). When these LTFs are received, the receiver can estimate the CSI matrix using the received signal and the original LTFs. For each subcarrier, the channel can be modeled by y=Hx+n, where y is the received signal, x is the transmitted signal, H is the CSI matrix, and n is the noise vector. After signal processing (such as removing the cyclic prefix, demapping, and demodulation), the receiver estimates the CSI matrix H, using the predefined signal x and the received signal y. The estimated CSI is then a three-dimensional matrix of complex values, and the matrix represents an "image" of the radio environment at this time. By processing such "image" information against a time series of movement, the position and vibration of the object can be extracted.

[0088] Such processing of the CSI matrix can be used for vital sign monitoring, presence detection, and human motion recognition. As an example, a neural network-like recognition technique can be used to process the CSI matrix to perform such recognition.

[0089] Note that systems using channel state information (CSI) are somehow related to systems with FMCW mmWave radar. In a CSI-based system, an input signal x can be defined, and the receiver can use the received signal y to obtain H, i.e., H = (Y–N) / X. In an FMCW mmWave radar, the transmitted signal chirp x can also be predefined, and the receiver can use the received signal y to obtain the transfer function H = Y / X. This last step is actually somewhat related to multiplying the locally calculated chirp signal and the received chirp signal and applying a bandpass filter. According to various embodiments described below, the above-mentioned wireless sensing technology is implemented in a mobile communication system (e.g., 5G or other cellular or WiFi communication systems), and the functional coexistence of radar and communication operating in the same frequency band is configured to avoid interference bandwidth. Therefore, radio sensing can be integrated into large-scale mobile networks to create a perceptual mobile network (PMN).

[0090] As another example, the sensing signal may consist of a plurality of pulses transmitted by a sensing transmitter, for example, at a specific frequency and timing (sensing signal parameter information). The sensing receiver may include a plurality of bandpass filters that allow identification of the sensing signal parameter information (e.g., the timing and frequency of the received pulses). In particular, if the transmitter determines a given pseudo-random sequence of frequency / timing pulses and beamforms them in a specific direction, for example, by means of beamforming, and if the transmitter transmits the timing / frequency of the transmitted sensing signal (typically, the sensing signal parameter information) to the receiver, the receiver may use its bandpass filter to identify the reception of the same transmitted pulses (i.e., the sensing signal) based on the received sensing signal parameter information.

[0091] (Distributed) Sensing Configuration and Operation

[0092] Figure 1 An embodiment of a communication system with distributed radar functionality created via a wireless communication system link that may be used in embodiments of the present invention is schematically shown.

[0093] although Figure 1 The example embodiments of the invention relate to distributed radar functionality, but it should be noted that the invention may be applied to non-distributed sensing, and in particular, the invention may equally be applied to non-distributed sensing services and / or functions where a sensing transmitter and a sensing receiver are co-located. Thus, the described embodiments may be implemented in a single device including both a transmitter and a receiver.

[0094] In a distributed radar function, unlike a purely centralized radar solution (i.e., whereby the transmitter and receiver of the radar signal are part of or operated by the same device), a portion of the 5G (or other cellular or WiFi) network spectrum is configured (e.g., set to radar mode) or detected as quiet / no communication for a period of time to enable, for example, remote vital signs and other measurements to be performed by constructing a distributed radar system between a base station (BS) 100 or UE (as a transmitter) and at least one UE 120 or base station (as a receiver), while the lack of analog signal exchange and additional path length caused by the transmitter-receiver distance and the distance between the receiver (e.g., UE 120) and the target (e.g., human) can be corrected. To this end, the base station 100 (or UE) that will act as a transmitter can establish a communication link with the UE 120 (or base station) that will act as a receiver (or vice versa) to exchange some control information and / or sensing measurements and / or (partial) sensing results. The control information may include a set of configuration parameters related to the distributed sensing operation.The parameters may include, for example, the distance and angle from the transmitter to the receiver, the pulse start time, the pulse phase, the frequency (possibly including chirp timing (ct), chirp profile (cp), target position (tl), phase offset (po), the time between subsequent sensing signals, the number of repetitions, sensing signal waveform information, amplitude, mimo / beamforming parameters, the number of transmitter antennas used, the transmit power, potential interference patterns, an identifier / address of a destination server and / or network function / device (e.g., an Internet Protocol (ip) address / uniform resource locator (url) address), for sending sensing results (e.g., for storage or further processing), session or application related information (e.g., a session identifier or an application identifier), the expected accuracy for the sensing measurement, etc., and may be in response to a request for a radar (RR) (e.g., as a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message, including, for example, a measurement configuration extended with sensing configuration parameters as specified in 3GPP TS38.331), (e.g., an initiate attach request message from a UE to a base station or as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 (RRC message or system information extended with a sensing request field from the base station to the UE as specified in 38.331) is transmitted from the receiver side (e.g., UE120), or can be sent by the transmitter side to the receiver side before the transmitter starts sending sensing signals (e.g., as part of a configuration / assistance information message / signal), or can be (partially) pre-configured on the receiver (e.g., stored in a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) or in a non-volatile memory at the time of manufacturing), or can be configured on the receiver by a local application, or can be provided by the network (possibly via the transmitter or via another transmitter, or for example by an access and mobility management function (AMF), a policy control function (PCF), a network opening function (NEF), a location management function (LMF), a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) or other core network functions (e.g., as in 3GPP The parameters may be configured differently per application (e.g., based on a sensing target or based on a sensing algorithm). The parameter sets may be combined in the form of a sensing profile that may be identified, for example, by means of a profile identifier or an application identifier or a device identifier. After the sensing profile is sent / configured / pre-configured on the receiver, the activation of the sensing profile may be triggered by sending a signal / message with the indicated sensing profile identifier to the receiver. The sensing profile and / or configuration parameters may also include an algorithm identifier, a filter identifier, or a machine learning model identifier to trigger an application-specific sensing algorithm, filter, or machine learning model, respectively, for analysis / processing of the received sensing signals.These algorithms, filters or models may be pre-configured / stored at the receiver, or transmitted to the receiver by the transmitter (e.g., as virtual machine code, filter parameters / code or model data), for example in a separate message, or may be downloaded by the receiver based on, for example, a download URL or IP address of a server that may be configured for the desired application (e.g., as virtual machine code, filter parameters / code or model data). For example, if accurate distance measurement is required, the complete set of parameters may be transmitted, while if phase-based velocity is required, only the chirp parameters may be required. In some applications, the chirp parameters may be pre-defined and only an identifier indicating the set of chirp parameters may be exchanged. The parameters may also include a set of time / frequency resources (e.g., semi-persistent scheduling as defined in 3GPP TS 38.321) and / or a time / frequency offset, where the sensing signal is scheduled to be sent and / or when the sensing signal is expected to arrive at the receiver. This information may also be provided as a time interval for which the receiver is expected to listen for the incoming reflected sensing signal (e.g., as an offset to the start time or system frame number / subframe / symbol at which the signal will be sent by the transmitter). A start time, offset or time interval for performing sensing by a receiver may be specified so that it starts at the start time or end time of the first instance of the sensing signal received by the receiver (i.e., the sensing signal received via a direct non-reflected path), i.e., the receiver may use the reception of the first instance of the sensing signal to trigger / activate active sensing of the reflected sensing signal. The parameters may also include information about silent periods or guard intervals that may be taken into account by the receiver device. In addition, the parameters may include information about encoded identification information or special symbols / preambles or unique signal characteristics that may enable the receiver to uniquely identify the corresponding sensing signal from possible other sensing or communication signals. In order to enable the receiver to determine which parts of the sensing signal have encoded information therein (e.g., signal identification information, timestamp of when the transmitter sent the signal), additional timing or frequency information may be provided to identify the start / end time or subdivision of the time interval for receiving a complete single sensing signal within the time interval, which indicates where the receiver may find the encoded information in the sensing signal.In a similar manner to the sensing receiver, the sensing transmitter may be provided by the network (e.g., by an access and mobility management function (AMF), a policy control function (PCF), a network openness function (NEF), a location management function (LMF), a gateway mobile location center (GMLC), or other core network functions (e.g., as in 3GPP 501) as part of the policy / system information / RRC configuration / session configuration (e.g., at the time of initial registration or connection setup of a sensing transmitter to the network or a previous initial registration / connection setup), where parameters are provided regarding how sensing is performed (e.g., pulse start time, pulse phase, frequency, possibly including chirp timing (CT), chirp profile (CP), target position (TL), phase offset (PO), time between subsequent sensing signals, sensing signal waveform information, amplitude, MIMO / beamforming parameters, number of transmitter antennas to be used, transmit power that may be considered, silent periods or guard intervals, etc.) and / or which algorithm, filter, sensing profile to use and / or which destination server and / or network function / device to send the sensing results to (e.g., for storage or further processing) and / or session or application related information (e.g., session identifier / application identifier), etc. The above parameters for sensing may also be pre-configured on the transmitter (for example, stored in the USIM or stored in a non-volatile memory during manufacturing), or may be configured on the transmitter through a local application, or may be provided by the receiver.

[0095] To facilitate configuration of the above-mentioned sensing parameters, the sensing receiver or sensing transmitter device may communicate with the network (e.g., core network functions, or services (operated / provided by the network) responsible for managing and / or performing sensing (i.e., sensing services), or application functions (i.e., sensing applications) for managing and / or using the results of the sensing operations via a capability exchange message (e.g., as part of a request for a radar message, or as described in 3GPP TS 38.331, extended with some fields to indicate sensing-related capabilities) provides its sensing-related capabilities for one or more base stations or for other devices involved in distributed sensing (for example, for sensing transmitter devices in the case of sensing receiver devices). Sensing-related capability information may include, for example, device information (such as the number of antennas or supported frequency ranges), wireless sensing signal processing capabilities (such as supported algorithms, and / or whether they can determine certain sensing results / targets (for example, the location or movement of a target object or the shape of a target object can be determined), one or more supported sensing profiles, etc.), wireless sensing signal transmission capabilities (whether supported and if supported, at what frequency, etc.). A sensing receiver may be configured differently based on the receiving capabilities of a sensing receiver and / or a sensing transmitter. A sensing transmitter may be configured differently and / or adapt sensing signals based on the receiving capabilities of a sensing receiver and / or a sensing transmitter.

[0096] Parameters for configuration of the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver may depend on and be adapted based on sensing requirements that may be provided, for example, by an application function or a network open function or other core network function / service or application (e.g., a sensing service or a sensing application). Such sensing requirements may, for example, identify the type of sensing result expected to be calculated (e.g., movement, position, shape, material, biometrics), information about one or more target objects (e.g., information about a rough position, a last known position, identifiable features or already known features (such as size or material or shape) and / or quality of service (e.g., expected accuracy, sampling rate)) and / or information about the algorithm / filter to be used and / or session / application related information (e.g., an application identifier or a session identifier).

[0097] exist Figure 1 In the present invention, a base station (BS) 100 and / or a UE 120 determines the (rough) position or area or volume of (one or more) targets 150 by transmitting a series of signals (e.g., chirp signals) that can be beamformed in the direction of the target 150. The (rough) position can also be in the form of a relative position, such as a set of distances and / or angles relative to a reference point (e.g., a transmitter or a receiver).

[0098] Optionally, for example, before starting the actual radar sensing process between the transmitter and the receiver, unless already known, the target angle and distance and / or the target shape and / or the target material / reflectivity characteristics may be determined using a position estimation radar operation and / or a target shape determination operation and / or a target material / reflectivity characteristics determination operation at the transmitter (e.g., the base station (BS) 100). This information may be stored at the transmitter and / or may be provided to the receiver and / or may be provided to a network function responsible for collecting the sensing measurements and / or (part of) the sensing results and may perform further processing on these sensing measurements / results to determine further sensing characteristics of the specific target.

[0099] Depending on the target sensing application, the precise timing of the phase and frequency (and optionally the amplitude) of each individual (chirp) signal may optionally be communicated (e.g., by using a protected standard communication signal) to the receiver (i.e., UE 120) together with the position or relative location of the transmitter (i.e., BS 100) and an optional rough position of the target 150 before the (chirp) signal is transmitted. The idea of ​​protected communication (encryption and / or integrity protection) is to ensure that only the target receiver can use the information. Based on this, the receiver may optionally determine the path length and angle from the transmitter to the receiver and internally synthesize an analog (chirp) signal that matches the transmitted (chirp) signal. The received and synthesized signal may be used for sensing purposes.

[0100] If the relative position and precise time are known, the path length of the reflected sensing signal through the target 150 can be determined and / or the target surface can be accurately reconstructed, for example, by detecting the correct intermediate frequency (IF) signal at the mixer output when the signal is a chirped signal. Knowing the rough location of the target object and / or by detecting the angle of arrival of the incoming reflected sensing signal, the distance or angle between the receiver and the target object and / or the transmitter and the target object can be calculated. Knowing the phase and therefore the phase difference, the speed of the target 150 can be determined based on the frequency.

[0101] If only the velocity of the target 150 is required (as opposed to its position and velocity), the transmitter may optionally avoid providing its relative position and transmit only the phase, timing and frequency of the transmitted sensing signal. In some cases, only the sensing signal itself may be sent to the receiver so that the receiver can use the sensing signal assuming a fixed time delay to calculate an IF signal from which the velocity of the target can be derived. This may be particularly meaningful for measuring vital signs such as respiration or heart rate. For example, it may allow the velocity of the chest during respiration to be measured and the breathing rhythm to be derived therefrom.

[0102] Given a good enough estimate of the reflecting surface position, the receiver may enable the collection of further data, such as skin conductivity.

[0103] In an example, radar sensing capabilities may be implemented by the following process: Parameters of sensing signals to be used in a transmitter sensing generation process, a rough position or relative location of a target and a positioning offset / angle from a transmitter to a receiver (e.g., UE 120), or an absolute / geographic location of the transmitter, and a future time or set of time / frequency resources for a first (and subsequent) sensing signal are determined and communicated from the transmitter to the receiver using, for example, a protected communication signal.

[0104] Alternatively, some parameters may also be pre-configured at the receiver, or may be configured at the receiver by a local application or may have been sent by the transmitter or network at an earlier time (e.g., during a previous session). The transmitted parameter information is then (optionally) decrypted and / or verified by the receiver. Thereafter, the transmitter generates a sensing signal by using, for example, its discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-s-OFDM) signal generation process to transmit the sensing signal at the time. The receiver may listen to the sensing signal at the time / resource, as indicated in the parameter information. The receiver may use its DFT-s-OFDM signal generation process to generate an internal synthetic sensing signal (e.g., chirp) that matches the provided parameters, optionally with a delay corresponding to the direct distance from the transmitter to the receiver, thereby minimizing the IF frequency generated in the receiver. The receiver may use the provided sensing parameter information and / or the internal representation of the sensing signal to configure its radio frequency (RF) receiving front end or signal detection unit to identify / detect the sensing signal in the signal received by the RF receiving front end. Upon detecting and / or further processing the received sensing signal, the receiver may determine and record / store the start / end time, phase shift, frequency, amplitude, signal deformation, signal strength, interference pattern, detected special symbol / preamble, encoded identification information of the sensing signal, and / or timing of the silent period between the sensing signals. The receiver may use this information to further determine whether the received sensing signal is actually reflected by the target object or has been received by a direct non-reflective path between the transmitter and the receiver, so as to filter out only the relevant sensing signals to extract the sensing information about the target object. To this end, the receiver may calculate the expected path loss and / or timing between the transmitter and the receiver for the direct path, and the expected path loss and / or timing for the indirect reflection path via the target, and use this information in determining whether the received sensing signal is actually reflected by the target object or has been received via a direct non-reflective path between the transmitter and the receiver.

[0105] Alternatively, the transmitter may calculate the expected path loss and / or timing between the transmitter and the receiver for the direct path, and the expected path loss and / or timing for the indirect reflection path via the target, and send this information to the receiver, which may then use this information in the determination. The receiver may use (e.g., mix) the internally synthesized "transmitted" sensing signal reflected at the target 150 and the received sensing signal to form an IF signal, and may perform bandpass (or optionally high pass filtering only at the maximum frequency of the ADC) filtering and ADC to digitize the IF data and / or digitize the raw / filtered received reflected sensing signal data. To this end, the receiver may create a compressed or uncompressed digital sample representation of the IF signal or the received raw / filtered reflected sensing signal (e.g., as part of the sensing signal parameters) using a sampling frequency pre-configured at the receiver device or provided by the transmitter. In addition, information about which compression method / format to apply may be provided by the transmitter (e.g., as part of the sensing signal parameters) or pre-configured at the receiver. The digital IF signal can then be processed to produce application-specific data (e.g., the output of one or more (pre-configured) algorithms or machine learning models), in this case, sensing results related to the target (e.g., certain characteristics of the target, such as its position, velocity, shape, size, material composition, etc., which can be determined after performing corresponding signal processing / analysis on the received (reflected) sensing signal), or the digitized data from the receiver can be sent to a transmitter or network function / device or cloud to perform further application-specific processing.

[0106] In addition to the processed or digitized data, the receiver may also include identification information of the signal, sensing profile, algorithm / model and / or device, and may include timing and / or measurement information used by the receiver for sensing (e.g., arrival / end time, phase shift, frequency, amplitude or signal deformation of the sensing signal) and / or antenna information / antenna sensitivity / MIMO configuration / beamforming configuration, and / or information related to the position / distance / angle of the receiver relative to the transmitter and / or target, or as absolute coordinates, and / or information about the sensing application or sensing session (e.g., an application identifier or a session identifier).

[0107] The complete separation of transmitter and receiver in digital radio systems (such as 5G) means that the receiver has no access to the analog version of the directly transmitted signal (phase, frequency), only the reflected sense signal, and therefore cannot form the IF signal in the analog domain. This would mean that all processing is performed on the received analog signal (which requires a very fast ADC to digitize the received "raw" sense signal).

[0108] Furthermore, in the proposed distributed radar sensing system, the distance to the reflecting surface of the target 150 depends on the distance from the transmitter to the target 150 and from the receiver to the target 150 (rather than simply being twice the distance from the transmitter to the target, as in a non-distributed radar system).

[0109] The "minimum range" of the measurement corresponds to the direct distance from the transmitter to the receiver. Of course, objects located at a smaller distance from the receiver can be measured, but their indicated range will always be greater than the direct distance from the transmitter to the receiver. The equal time return lies on a spatial positioning ellipse (return ellipse) with the transmitter and receiver positions as its two foci. The minimum (degenerate) ellipse (the straight line between the transmitter and the receiver) with a minor axis length of zero has the minimum delay time, which is the time it takes for a radio wave to travel directly from the transmitter to the receiver.

[0110] The receiver may receive a signal corresponding to a signal transmitted directly from the transmitter to the receiver (a pseudo surface within the "zero" range, ie, a point on a direct line between the transmitter and the receiver).

[0111] Therefore, the proposed integrated distributed radar system may require some clock-level synchronization between the transmitter and receiver to remove the ambiguity in the sensing parameter estimation.

[0112] In addition, auxiliary information signals (e.g., radar request and response parameters) can be communicated between the transmitter and the receiver via an alternative communication route (using, for example, a separate frequency band, a beam-forming sub-beam directed to the receiver, or a time-dispersed signal between the sensing signals) so that the receiver can obtain a representation of the required details of the transmitted signal (e.g., the precise timing, phase of a continuous (chirp) signal) in order to simulate the mixture of the transmitted and received signals to obtain the IF signal without the need to directly analyze the simulated transmitted signal. This can be done by, for example, internally generating a simulated version of the same transmitted sensing signal using the parameters provided via the auxiliary information signal. Therefore, in order to ensure that the correct timing is provided for this mixture of simulated transmitter sensing signals and actual received sensing signals, the transmitter should signal the receiver in advance the precise timing, phase, frequency, etc. of the transmitted signal.

[0113] In addition, the receiver can use auxiliary / (pre-)configured information / parameters about the sensing signals to distinguish between sensing signals received via a direct non-reflection path and reflected sensing signals. The receiver can ignore the sensing signals received via the direct non-reflection path (e.g., by ignoring the first instance of receiving the sensing signals (e.g., by checking the arrival time of the sensing signals, or by checking the phase shift, frequency change, signal deformation, amplitude change, corresponding to the interference pattern identifying which sensing signals have been reflected), or can use these signals to more accurately determine its relative position / distance / angle towards the transmitter. The receiver can also use the signals received via the direct non-reflection path as further input to the signal analysis algorithm / model, for example as an additional reference signal for IF calculation, (relative) positioning calculation or additional phase shift / signal deformation / frequency / amplitude calculation.

[0114] Additionally, the distance and angle from the transmitter to the receiver or the absolute / geolocation of the transmitter may also be signaled in order to calculate the correct position of the detected surface.

[0115] Finally, if the receiver (or transmitter or both) is a handheld device, the movement and vibration of the device may be measured by the corresponding sensor so that they can be subtracted from the detected movement and vibration of the surface for some sensing applications.

[0116] The proposed distributed radar system (e.g., base station (BS) 100 (as a transmitter) and UE 120 (as a receiver and analyzer)) provides the following advantages: the receiver can be more preferably positioned for obtaining the reflected sensing signal with a higher signal strength than the transmitter (i.e., using the receiver part of the transmitter device to monitor the reflected sensing signal, for example, as in the case of non-distributed sensing), for example, it can be closer or more in the path of the reflected sensing signal, and some clutter from the transmission signal can be avoided.

[0117] Furthermore, a single antenna may not operate in full continuous duplex mode, whereas the proposed distributed radar system separates the transmitter antenna from the receiver antenna.

[0118] As another advantage, multiple receivers may be used with a single transmitter, each transmitter possibly associated with collecting vital signs from a different target (eg, an individual human being).

[0119] (Distributed) Sensing Architecture

[0120] Figure 2 An embodiment of a summary transmitter and receiver architecture (including optional elements and functions) of a communication system with distributed sensing capabilities that may be used in embodiments of the present invention is schematically illustrated.

[0121] Although Figure 2 The architecture shows the transmitter device and the receiver device as different devices in a distributed sensing system, but the functionality of the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver may be co-located in the same device (for example, in the case of a centralized sensing architecture), whereby similar functionality and elements (subsets thereof) are expected to exist.

[0122] The proposed distributed radio wave sensing radar / communication system includes a transmitter device (TX) 10 and a receiver device (RX) 20, and is configured to operate on a suitable radio frequency range (such as the millimeter wave range initially mentioned), and includes RF hardware and signal processing algorithms to achieve both standard communications (e.g., 5G) and radar sensing for vital signs, object detection and / or mobile identification. In a 5G system, two options for uplink (UL) waveforms are provided. One is cyclic prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM, the same as the downlink (DL) waveform), and the other is discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM), which corresponds to the UL waveform in the long-term evolution (LTE) system (i.e., the fourth generation (4G)). Transform precoding is the first step in creating a DFT-s-OFDM waveform, followed by subcarrier mapping, inverse FFT, and cyclic prefix (CP) insertion. Whether the UE needs to use CP-OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM can be determined by radio resource control (RRC) parameters.

[0123] 5G transmitters or receivers with integrated radar sensing capabilities can have slightly modified DFT-s-OFDM and frequency domain spectrum shaping (FDSS) filters that enable them to generate suitable chirps. Linear and other chirp signals can be generated from DFT-s-OFDM signals via well-designed FDSS filters that enable standard communication hardware to generate suitable signals for radar with only minor modifications. Their framework provides a way to efficiently synthesize chirps that can be used for dual-function radar and communication (DFRC) or wireless sensing applications with existing DFT-s-OFDM transceivers.

[0124] In Cong Li et al., “Radar Communication Integrated Waveform Design Based on OFDM and Circular Shift Sequence,” Mathematical Problems in Engineering, July 2017, other options for generating signals suitable for performing data transmission and radar sensing simultaneously are described based on the peak-to-average envelope power ratio (PMERP) and peak-to-sidelobe ratio (PSLR) of the OFDM waveform. Specifically, Gray code technology can be used to reduce PMERP, while the optimal cyclic sequence is selected to improve the PSLR of the OFDM waveform. The optimal cyclic sequence is dynamically generated according to the changes in the communication data to continuously provide the optimal waveform. In addition, in order to meet the requirements of different radar detection tasks, two simple methods can be used to adjust the bandwidth of the OFDM waveform. One method is to design different subcarrier composite weights, and the other method is to use phase code technology.

[0125] The transmitter device (TX) 10 may be an access device (e.g., a base station) or a terminal device (e.g., a UE or an Internet of Things (IoT) device), and includes a standard transmitter communication unit or system (S-TX-COM) 101 that enables standard communication (e.g., 5G) using, for example, a data communication signal generated using DFT-s-OFDM. By operating in a "radar mode," the transmitter communication system 101 is capable of forming a radar mode signal generator (RM-SIG-GEN) 102 that is capable of, for example, generating a linear chirp signal (chirp) using a minimal modified communication component. This can be achieved, for example, by using a (slightly) modified DFT-s-OFDM with a suitable FDSS filter for converting the single-carrier nature of the DFT-s-OFDM signal into a linear combination of cyclically shifted chirp signals in the time domain, as described, for example, in Alphan and Ahin et al., “DFT-spread-OFDM BasedChirp Transmission”, IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 25, No. 3, March 2021. By exploiting the properties of the first Fourier series and Bessel functions, an FDSS filter for arbitrary chirps can be obtained.

[0126] Furthermore, the transmitter device 10 includes a transmit front end (TX / ANT) 103 (eg, capable of operating at millimeter wave frequencies) comprising a transmitter coupled to an antenna having beamforming capabilities.

[0127] Optionally, a receive front end (RX / ANT) 104 (e.g., capable of operating at mmWave frequencies) may be provided (e.g., as a separate component or integrated with the transmit front end 103 in a joint transceiver front end) that includes a receiver coupled to an antenna with beamforming receive capabilities (e.g., if additional non-distributed transmitter-only radar operations are to be performed to determine target location, shape / size, or material / reflectivity characteristics).

[0128] Additionally, the transmitter device 10 comprises a transmitter clock generator (TX-CLK) 105 for generating an accurate system clock of the transmitter device 10 .

[0129] Optionally, a transmitter time delay measurement function (not shown) may be provided (eg, implemented by a processor / controller of transmitter device 10) that uses a standard transmitter communication unit 101 to perform two-way time delay measurements with a cooperating receiver device (eg, receiver device 20).

[0130] Optionally, an encryption and decryption function (ENCR / DECR) 106 may be provided for implementing a suitable data encryption / decryption scheme (based on, for example, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm or the Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman (RSA) algorithm) and data integrity verification (e.g., a data verification scheme using a message authentication code or a digital signature). For example, the data may be distributed in a protected radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0131] As another option, the transmitter device 10 may include a non-distributed (low resolution) transmitter radar analysis system (L-RES RAS) 107, that is, a radar analysis system that may include a receiver device and / or may include a (low resolution) transmitter radar analysis system that provides a non-distributed position radar scanning capability, which may include an intermediate frequency (IF) generating mixer (IF-MIX) 107-1, to which a replica of the transmitted sensing signal and an externally received reflected sensing signal are supplied and mixed to generate a mixed signal including an IF signal. In addition, the transmitter radar analysis system 107 may include an electronic signal processing component, which includes a transmitter bandpass filter (BPF) 107-2 and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 107-3 (which is capable of IF filtering and analog-to-digital conversion of the generated IF signal). In addition, the transmitter radar analysis system 107 may include a digital signal processing component and algorithm system (DSP, implemented by, for example, a digital signal processor) 107-4, which provides DSP capabilities for, for example, position detection, pre-processing through clutter removal, etc.

[0132] As yet another option, the transmitter device 10 may include a sensor assembly including a transmitter movement sensor (TX-MOV-SEN) 108 (such as an accelerometer or the like) that measures movement and vibration of the transmitter device 10 .

[0133] In addition, the receiver device 20 can be an access device (e.g., a base station) or a terminal device (e.g., a UE or an Internet of Things (IoT) device), and can include a standard receiver communication unit or system (S-RX-COM) 201, which uses, for example, a DFT-s-OFDM generated data communication signal to provide, for example, standard communication capabilities in 5G. By operating in a "radar mode", the receiver communication system 201 is able to form a radar mode signal generator (RM-SIG-GEN) 202, which generates a linear sensing signal, for example, by using a (slightly) modified DFT-s-OFDM signal, wherein the generated sensing signal can be used internally and is not coupled to the transmitter and antenna. The waveform of the sensing signal can be generated from specific input parameters, which can include at least one of a specific start time, phase, amplitude, base frequency, bandwidth, frequency slope, sensing signal repetition frequency, gaps between sensing signals, and the total number of sensing signals.

[0134] Furthermore, the receiver device 20 includes a receive front end (RX / ANT) 204 that includes a receiver coupled to an antenna having beamforming receive capabilities and capable of operating at millimeter wave frequencies.

[0135] Additionally, the receiver device 20 comprises a receiver clock generator (RX-CLK) 205 for generating an accurate system clock of the receiver device 20 .

[0136] Optionally, a receiver time delay measurement function (not shown) may be provided (e.g., implemented by a processor / controller of the receiver device 20) which uses a standard receiver communication unit 201 to perform two-way time delay measurements with a cooperating transmitter device (e.g., transmitter device 10).

[0137] Optionally, an encryption and decryption function (ENCR / DECR) 206 may be provided for implementing a suitable data encryption / decryption scheme (based on, for example, the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm or the Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman (RSA) algorithm) and data integrity verification (e.g., a data verification scheme using a message authentication code or digital signature) that matches the scheme used on the transmitter side. For example, the data may be distributed in a protected radio resource control (RRC) message.

[0138] As another option, the receiver device 20 may include a (low resolution) non-distributed radar analysis system (L-RESRAS) 207, which provides non-distributed position radar scanning capability, i.e., may include a radar analysis system of the receiver device and / or may include a (low resolution) transmitter radar analysis system, which may include a transmitter front end (TX / ANT) 204, the transmitter front end (TX / ANT) 204 including a transmitter coupled to an antenna having the beamforming capability of the receiver device 20.

[0139] In addition, the (low resolution) radar analysis system 207 may include components shared with an additional high resolution distributed radar analysis system (H-RES RAS) 209, and it may include an IF generating mixer (IF-MIX) 207-1, into which the (internally generated) copy of the transmitted sensing signal and the externally received reflected sensing signal are input to generate a mixed signal including the IF signal, the electronic signal processing components include a receiver bandpass filter (BPF) 207-2 and an ADC 207-3, and are capable of IF filtering and analog-to-digital conversion of the generated IF signal, and the electronic and digital components and algorithm system (DSP, such as a digital signal processor) 207-4 provides DSP capabilities for, for example, position detection, pre-processing by clutter removal, etc.

[0140] The high resolution distributed radar analysis system 209 may be configured to share electronic components of an IF generation mixer 207-1 configured to mix the input of the internally generated sensing signal based on the supplied timing / phase parameters generated by the radar mode signal generator 202 and the externally received sensing signal provided by the receiver front end 204, electronic components of a receiver bandpass filter 207-2 and ADC 207-3 (which takes the analog IF signal, filters it with a suitable bandpass filter and performs analog-to-digital conversion), and electronic and digital components and algorithmic system 207-4 (which provides DSP capabilities for the desired application) including pre-processing through clutter removal, etc. To prevent leakage / tampering of potentially privacy-sensitive sensing information about the target, the radar analysis should be run in a secure tamper-resistant subsystem, and the resulting sensing information should be stored on a secure storage device and / or encrypted with non-tamper-resistant credentials (such as subscriber identity module (e.g., USIM) credentials).

[0141] Alternatively, the final digital processing may be offloaded from the receiver device 20 to the transmitter device 10 or a network function / device or cloud computing resource, which may return the obtained results.

[0142] Optionally, the receiver device 20 may include a user interface (UI / MEM) 210 with data storage and display capabilities that can input information from the user, store data in the receiver device 20, and output a display to the user. The specific elements of the user interface 210 may depend on the type of receiver device (e.g., UE) and its functionality. For example, a handheld smartphone device may have a complex user interface 210 and display, while an IoT monitoring device may simply have a visual or audible alarm.

[0143] As another option, the receiver device 20 may include a receiver motion sensor (RX-MOV-SEN) 208, such as an accelerometer, camera, structured light sensor, etc., which measures the movement and vibration of the receiver device 20 and the position of nearby objects. The receiver device 20 may also communicate its movement and vibration to the transmitter device 10 via its transmitter standard communication unit 201 by using a receiver movement data sequence during a sensing time interval obtained by the receiver movement sensor 208. The receiver movement data sequence may be sent to the transmitter by using a separate communication channel between the receiver and the transmitter (e.g., as a series of RRC or medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) messages).

[0144] Target Identification and Authorization

[0145] In general, one of the problems with having a radar system and a wireless sensing system, for both distributed and non-distributed / centralized radar systems, is that within a sensing area / volume, there may be multiple objects that can be sensed / detected by the radar system. Not all of these objects may be subject to wireless sensing services, may not have subscribed to such wireless sensing services, may not be the intended target of wireless sensing services, and / or may not even wish to be sensed or participate in sensing services or sensing processes. Similarly, some services (e.g., communication services) may also benefit from the use of sensing services that may require the collection of sensing information for one or more objects. For example, if very accurate information such as the location or trajectory or speed of one or more objects potentially collected by a sensing service is known, the communication service can be optimized or improved, even if not all objects may have subscribed, been authorized, given authorization, or permitted the use of wireless sensing services.

[0146] This is a problem because wireless sensing can reveal personally identifiable information (e.g., biometrics) and / or other information that may be privacy sensitive (e.g., where a person is located or what he is doing). In many countries, user permission must be obtained to participate in services where privacy sensitive information may be obtained (particularly in private domains (such as one's home). Similarly, 3GPP features may require user permission, depending on local regulations as described in TS 33.501, Annex V, where the collection, processing and use of privacy sensitive data, such as through sensing, may also be limited to specific uses. In addition, devices involved in sensing (particularly devices that may obtain / receive privacy sensitive information in the process) should be appropriately authorized.

[0147] The transmitter and / or receiver and / or sensing service may receive information (e.g., from an application, a network opening function, a policy control function, a subscription database (e.g., a home subscriber service, a unified data management service), an identification database, an authentication / authorization control function, a public safety answering point, e.g., as part of a sensing configuration / parameter), information about one or more biometric characteristics associated with an individual (e.g., heart rate signal characteristics, body shape, body absorption / reflectivity characteristics, body posture / movement, body size / mass, diseases / disorders that cause certain identifiable characteristics, such as causing sleep during sleep, The invention also provides a method for detecting a patient's breathing disorder (e.g., sleep apnea resulting in breathing pauses, asthma resulting in potentially rapid irregular breathing rates or gasping breaths, claudication resulting in abnormal body movements, tremors (e.g., Parkinson's disease), expected body temperature patterns, heart rate variability / patterns), whereby depending on whether the corresponding biometric feature is detected (e.g., by an analysis system) in the reflected sensing signal received by the receiver unit in the receiver device or transmitter device, the sensing session can be continued or aborted, or the sensing information can be approved for further processing / storage or discarded, or a different target or receiver (20) or transmitter (10) can be selected. This is to ensure that unnecessary sensing information is not collected that may come from the wrong target. Use of the transmitter device or receiver (particularly in the case of radar sensing operations to determine biometrics or vital signs) can be limited to authorized devices and / or devices of authorized individuals with authority to, for example, read vital signs of a particular patient, so that patient safety can be protected.

[0148] In general, if the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver determines that the sensing information (e.g., sensing measurements or sensing results related to the detected object) or the input / output data of the sensing signal processing does not correspond to the given information about how to identify the target (e.g., the determined location is too far from the UE carried by the target, or the shape / size of the target is different (e.g., smaller or larger), or the biometric does not match the target, or one or more sensing measurements / results are above or below certain thresholds), the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may discard the received sensing signal and / or discard the sensing information (e.g., sensing measurements or sensing results), and / or discard the input / output data of the sensing signal processing, and / or may not perform any further processing on these measurements, results and / or input / output data and / or may not send them to another processing unit. The sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may also generate a notification message and, for example, send it to an application, an application server, a core network function or via / through the NEF for further processing or storage, and / or may store information about such an occurrence on a non-volatile storage device (such as a database) if the target is not (no longer) detected.

[0149] In addition, the network can provide services or run application functions or interfaces with external applications (e.g., through NEF) to monitor targets (e.g., elderly people living alone at home or, for example, cars). Such sensing services or applications can provide information about the target location / area / volume and / or how to identify the target (e.g., the address / location of a residence in or around which the target resides, or area / volume information (e.g., a delimited geographic area represented by a set of coordinates, lengths, sizes, diameters) where the target is to be sensed or expected), physical characteristics of the target (e.g., size, shape, mass, material composition, biometrics associated with the target (e.g., as listed in the previous embodiments)), the last known location, identification and / or location of wireless communication devices or other devices that the target may own, cover, include or carry, etc., to sense services, sensing transmitters or sensing receivers (possibly indirectly via sensing services). It should be noted that in the present disclosure, the target to be sensed / detected (i.e., the target location or area or volume) or such location or area or volume in which sensing is performed (i.e., the sensing location or area or volume) can be defined as a region of interest (ROI).

[0150] The sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may also obtain information about devices (e.g., their identification and estimated location) near the target or the address / location / residence of the target (e.g., a collection of nearby base stations or nearby UEs (e.g., UEs placed in a person's residence or carried by a person or their family) that can be authorized (or authorized) by the network and / or by the user of the device and / or by the target object to participate in (distributed) sensing of the intended target. The authorization information (which may also include user permission information) may be stored as part of the user's subscription (e.g., in the Unified Data Management (UDM) function of the core network) and / or as part of the sensing service and / or received from a service or application function or an external application or an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) server (e.g., via the NEF).

[0151] However, not every UE can be a sensing device, and it is not clear how a UE can trigger the initiation of sensing of a target or how a UE can be used to confirm user permission. In general, it may be desirable to improve the way in which authorization is obtained / provided to initiate sensing of a particular target and to mitigate / prevent sensing (particularly detailed sensing) of unauthorized / unintended targets, as described in subsequent embodiments.

[0152] In embodiments for identifying targets for wireless sensing, a sensing service, sensing transmitter, or sensing receiver may initiate an initial radar scan (e.g., by using a low resolution of low frequency signals (e.g., below 2.4 GHz) derived from the target location / address, the area / volume in / around which the target is expected to be last known, area information, and / or the location of wireless communication devices that the target may carry / cover) (e.g., using a low resolution non-distributed radar analysis system as described in other embodiments). Such a scan may be used to obtain (low resolution) radar measurements / sensing results that may be used to determine whether a target is present in the scanned area / volume.

[0153] Identifying a target for wireless sensing may be performed as follows. A sensing service, sensing transmitter, or sensing receiver may be configured with information about the target location / area / volume to be sensed or expected and / or how to identify the target (e.g., physical characteristics of the target (e.g., size, shape, mass, material composition, biometrics associated with the target (e.g., heart rate signal characteristics, body shape, body absorption / reflectivity characteristics, body posture / movement, body size / mass, diseases / disorders that cause certain identifiable characteristics, such as sleep apnea that causes breathing pauses during sleep, asthma that causes potentially rapid irregular breathing rates or gasps for breath, claudication that causes abnormal body movements, tremors (e.g., Parkinson's disease), expected body temperature patterns, heart rate variability / patterns)), identification and / or location of wireless communication devices or other devices that the target may possess, encompass, include, or carry, etc.). The target identification information may include thresholds or other criteria associated with the sensing measurements / results, such as minimum / maximum deviations from a particular location, a set of different shapes or a scatter plot of allowed shapes, or multiple shape definitions indicating minimum and maximum shape outlines, size deviations (e.g., maximum / minimum allowed differences in height, width, length, or kilograms), minimum / maximum speeds, a set of possible movement patterns and / or possible deviations thereof, minimum / maximum values ​​of sensed biometrics (e.g., minimum / maximum heart rate or breathing rate), etc. Note that depending on the resolution / accuracy of the radar-based sensing (e.g., depending on the number of transmitters and receivers, the frequencies used, whether non-distributed or distributed sensing is used), the target identification information may be defined with different levels of accuracy, granularity, matching criteria (e.g., thresholds).

[0154] Alternatively or additionally, a target may also be indicated by exclusion, i.e., as a person or animal or structure or another type of object that does not match a set of criteria (e.g., not a person, animal, object or structure, which for example matches certain known biometrics or size) and / or should not be detected at a certain location / area or volume (e.g., does not match the biometrics of a person registered to the site in a certain house, which may be pre-stored in the house), e.g. to detect an intruder / burglar of the house. The information provided to the sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver (possibly indirectly via the sensing service) may further include a set of telephone numbers (e.g., emergency call numbers) that should be contacted when the service should be activated in certain alarm situations, a set of time periods (e.g., only at night), or a set of triggers (e.g., only when a person is known to be at home, e.g., by receiving a signal from a device that the person can carry).

[0155] Based on the above target position / area / volume information and / or target identification information, the sensing service may select and / or configure one or more sensing transmitter devices and / or sensing receiver devices using a sensing configuration that enables sensing to be performed with the required accuracy to be able to perform a match with the target identification information, for example by configuring a set of frequencies for sensing signals, which measurements need to be performed, how many times the sensing signal should be transmitted or how many measurements should be performed, etc. The sensing service may also provide information about a (sub)set of target areas / positions / volumes and / or target identification information to be sensed to the sensing transmitter devices and / or sensing receiver devices.

[0156] Based on the above-mentioned target identification information, the sensing service and / or the sensing transmitter and / or the sensing receiver can be configured to perform a target matching process based on the configured target identification information, whereby the target matching process includes (for example, by algorithmic processing of the sensing data (i.e., sensing measurements and / or (partial) sensing results generated by and / or obtained from the sensing receiver) determining that a set of sensing measurements performed on the received sensing signals, or results from processing performed on the set of sensing measurements and / or (partial) sensing results, satisfies one or more of the configured criteria (e.g., thresholds) for identifying the target object. This can include determining whether the sensing measurements and / or sensing results fall within certain thresholds and / or boundary conditions, for example, whether the object is sufficiently close to the target location, whether the shape of the identified object falls within certain boundaries, whether the size of the object is close to the expected size, whether the speed of the object is lower than the minimum or higher than the maximum of the expected speed of the target, or lower than the minimum or higher than the maximum to achieve appropriate sensing of the target object, whether the movement mode is a movement mode that the target may expect, whether the measured biometric feature (e.g., heart rate or breathing rate) is lower than / higher than a certain expected value of the target, etc.

[0157] The target matching process may be given as input a (ideal) representation of a signal, and the result of signal processing (which may include passing the signal through one or more filters) needs to be matched by finding similarities between the processed signal and this (ideal) representation of the signal. This may include identifying overlaps of the processed signal with the (ideal) representation of the signal, possibly changing the amplitude or timing of the signal. This may also include identifying signal shapes, signal peaks and verifying whether these signal shapes, signal peaks are likely to occur in the (ideal) representation of the signal.

[0158] Additionally or alternatively, the input for this target matching process may include a description of at least one or more signal characteristics (e.g., certain signal peaks or signal shapes) that need to exist in order for the signals to match. The input for this target matching process may also include a set of signal characteristics that should not exist in order for the signals to match (e.g., certain signal shapes, signal peaks). Since some sensing measurements and / or sensing results may be unstable (e.g., measurements fluctuate between certain values, movement causes Doppler shifts, small movements or RF signal interference causes noise in certain signals), the signal may need to pass through certain filters (e.g., low-pass or high-pass filters) to remove noise, unwanted spikes, outliers or trends or Doppler shifts from the signal. Note that the sensing measurements and sensing results may be measured or calculated over a period of time, whereby some outliers during the period of time may be removed and / or some average values ​​during a period of time may be used for signal processing and matching algorithms. The output obtained after these processing steps may be a signal that matches a given (ideal) representation and / or a given set of signal characteristics, whereby the match is likely never to be 100% accurate. This is further exacerbated if the original or processed sensing signal or sensing measurement or (partial) sensing result lacks sufficient accuracy (for example, because it is represented by a low-frequency signal or a low sampling rate or a low-precision signal). Therefore, the matching result can be provided together with a confidence level or a matching percentage or a standard deviation value. The target matching process can be given a minimum confidence level, or a confidence interval, or a minimum matching percentage, or a maximum standard deviation value for one or more of the configured criteria or other target identification information. If the minimum confidence level or the minimum matching percentage or the maximum deviation is not met, the target matching process may not include this in the set of matching criteria or other target identification information.

[0159] Additionally or alternatively, a sensing service and / or a sensing transmitter and / or a sensing receiver or other entity involved in performing the target matching process may determine or receive (e.g., from a core network function such as a location service, other sensing service, or NWDAF) information about the location of a UE or other (potential) target set and / or a set of UEs in an area that are located close to the expected target, whereby the location of the UE or other (potential) target may be obtained by sensing or by other means (e.g., a GNSS position obtained via a location service). If it is determined that the UE or other (potential) target is located close to the expected target (e.g., in a crowded house, apartment building, or area) and / or the amount of UEs or other (potential) targets that are not carried or otherwise linked to the expected target exceeds a threshold, the confidence level is adapted (e.g., reduced by a certain percentage). Similarly, if the amount is less than a threshold, the confidence level may be adapted (e.g., the confidence level may be increased). Additionally or alternatively, a sensing service and / or a sensing transmitter and / or a sensing receiver or other entity involved in performing a target matching process may determine or receive information about an area to be referred to as a congested area (e.g., from a core network function such as NWDAF, which may capture and / or store data and / or have historical data about the number of devices in the area) and / or information indicating congestion of a set of areas (e.g., the average number of UEs residing or connected in the area). If the intended target is determined to be located in an area known to be a congested area, the confidence level is adapted (e.g., reduced by a certain percentage). Similarly, if the intended target is determined to be in a non-congested area, the confidence level may be adapted (e.g., the confidence level may be increased).

[0160] Additionally or alternatively, the target matching process may perform a matching of a sensed measurement and / or (partial) sensed result with an artificial intelligence (AI) model, whereby the AI ​​model may have been trained in identifying a specific target or set of targets, for example, by using sensed measurements and / or (partial) sensed results based on sensing of targets in a controlled environment (possibly in various settings). Such an AI model may be provided as an input to the target matching process, or may be available to the target matching process (e.g., running on an edge server) via a communication interface. By passing a set of sensed measurements and / or (partial) sensed results of an actual target with such an AI model, the AI ​​model may determine that a given sensed measurement and / or (partial) sensed result (such as a processed signal) matches a model learned on how to identify a specific target. Additionally or alternatively, the AI ​​model may determine that a given sensed measurement and / or (partial) sensed result does identify a target and / or a machine learning confidence score that matches one or more of its target identification information with the target. The AI ​​model may provide a matching learning confidence score and / or other matching results for further processing in the target matching process.

[0161] The target matching process can obtain a set of objects (i.e., matching targets) that match a subset of a set of target identification information in the case of a partial match or the entire set of target identification information in the case of a complete match, whereby, as described above, the match can be enhanced or adjusted with a confidence level or a matching percentage. In short, a matching target is an object that matches at least a subset of the target identification information (with a specific confidence or matching percentage), for example, by satisfying one or more of the configured criteria (e.g., thresholds) for identifying the target object. A sensing service, a sensing transmitter, or a sensing receiver that performs sensing of a target or performs a target matching process can assign a new identifier when a new and / or different object is detected, or can assign an identifier associated with a set of target identification information (e.g., matching criteria for the target), or can assign an identifier based on a target identifier provided by an application, or can assign an identifier based on a subscription identifier associated with a sensing service and / or sensing of the target, or can assign an identifier based on an identifier of a sensing session. In the case of a complete match and / or when the confidence level or matching percentage is higher than a preconfigured threshold, the entity responsible for the target matching process can replace the assigned identifier with an identifier associated with a set of target identification information.

[0162] In order to identify targets in a target location / area / volume, a sensing service, a sensing transmitter, or a sensing receiver may initiate an initial scan of the target area and / or obtain sensing measurements / results obtained from the initial scan of the target area as input to a target matching procedure. This initial scan may be a low-resolution scan, but may also be a high-precision scan, for example, if allowed / enabled / authorized, for example, in certain countries or facilities (e.g., in the case of non-public networks) or certain use cases (e.g., for lawful intercept or emergency situations), such as using distributed radar sensing or in higher frequencies such as mmWave. The sensing signals / measurements / results may be processed as described in other embodiments to obtain a set of sensing results, which may reveal zero, one or more objects (e.g., people, animals, houses, cars) detected in the target area.

[0163] If only one object is detected that may (or may not) match a set of target identification information (according to a target matching procedure), then the sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may generate an event and / or transmit a signal (which may carry a message, for example, to an application server, a core network function or via an NEF) indicating that a matching target or an expected target is present in the scan area / volume (possibly augmented with positioning information and / or other sensing results related to the detected target), and / or information about the detection of the target in the case where the target is detected according to the target identification information (possibly augmented with positioning information and / or other sensing results related to the detected target) may be stored on a non-volatile storage device (e.g. a database), and / or a further scan may be initiated and / or further sensing measurements may be performed for verification or determination of a further match with the target identification information and / or the start of a (detailed) sensing phase may be initiated / triggered (only) when the presence of the expected target is detected. To this end, the sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may notify one or more other sensing services, sensing transmitters or sensing receivers that may be involved in the (detailed) sensing of the target, for example by sending a signal to initiate a further sensing operation.

[0164] If more than one object is detected that may (or may not) match a set of target identification information (according to a target matching procedure), the sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may generate an event and / or transmit a signal (which may carry a message, for example, to an application server, a core network function or via an NEF) indicating that multiple expected targets were detected and / or multiple objects (e.g., matching targets) were detected that matched (or did not match) the set of identification information (but for which, for example, it could not be determined with sufficient certainty that the expected target was present in the scanning area / volume and / or which detected object was the expected target), and / or the start of the (detailed) sensing session may be delayed / canceled and / or another scan may be initiated and / or further sensing measurements may be performed for verifying or determining additional matches with the target identification information (e.g., to reduce the number of potential targets and / or to find a better match with the set of target identification information for the expected target).

[0165] In another embodiment, the sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may initiate an initial scan of the target location / area / volume and obtain sensing measurements / results resulting from the initial scan of the target area. This may include raw measurement results (such as the timing or signal strength of the signal), or may be (partial) sensing results obtained from the sensing measurements (e.g., the number of objects detected, the location of the objects, the speed of the objects, the size of the objects, the movement pattern of the objects). The sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver (as a requesting entity) may provide these sensing measurements / results or a subset thereof to another sensing service or sensing application or core network function (e.g., authentication server function (AUSF) or UDM) or an external server responsible for performing the target matching process. For security and privacy reasons, it may be desirable to perform the target matching process for a specific target within a secure / privacy domain (e.g., in the home network (e.g., Home Public Land Mobile Network (H-PLMN)) that has the target subscriber to the sensing service or by a server operated by a trusted identification authority (e.g., provided by a government) or by an authorized / trusted application provider), and therefore, the target identification may not be shared with the sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver, in particular if these will operate in a visited network (e.g., Visited Public Land Mobile Network (V-PLMN)). After the sensing service, sensing application or core network performs the target matching process on the provided sensing measurements / results, it may respond to the requesting entity with a match or no match has been found and / or with a (temporary) identity associated with the identified target that may be used for further authentication and authorization, as described in later embodiments. The response may also contain information on whether the target is authorized to be the target for sensing and / or may contain credentials that may be used to encrypt / decrypt subsequent messages (e.g., if the (temporary) identity is provided in a subsequent message protected by a key based on those credentials). Based on the received response, the sensing service, sensing transmitter, or sensing receiver may stop or continue the sensing operation, initiate additional sensing operations, generate an event or send a signal to indicate that a matching target was detected or not detected, or initiate / continue authorization of the target for sensing (for example, verifying whether the detected object is an authorized target of the sensing service).

[0166] In yet another embodiment, a sensing service, a sensing transmitter, or a sensing receiver may initiate an initial scan of a target location / area / volume, and obtain sensing measurements / results resulting from the initial scan of the target area. This may include raw measurements (such as timing or signal strength of a signal), or may be (partial) sensing results obtained from sensing measurements (e.g., number of detected objects, location of objects, speed of objects, size of objects, movement pattern of objects). A sensing service, a sensing transmitter, or a sensing receiver (as a requesting entity) may request one or more (other) sensing services or sensing applications or core network functions (e.g., AUSF or UDM) or identification databases (e.g., provided by a government) that maintain / store target identification information to provide one or more sets of target identification information (e.g., target identification information that matches one or more sensing measurements / results). Such a request may contain information about the scanned target location / area / volume, one or more sensing parameters / measurements / results (e.g., size of the object, location of the object, speed of the object, movement pattern of the object, shape of the object, material of the object) and / or about one or more targets subscribing to the sensing service (which may also be configured / in the control of the sensing transmitter or sensing receiver) and / or expected to be in / near the target location / area / volume. Based on the request, one or more (other) sensing services or sensing applications or core network functions or identification databases may provide a (sub)set of target identification information for targets whose target location / area / volume and / or target identification information (partially) matches the provided information (e.g., about the scanned target location / area / volume and / or one or more sensing parameters / measurements / results). Additionally or alternatively, the set of target identification information is provided to the sensing service by the network (e.g., the sensing service) or application (e.g., via the NEF) or an external entity (e.g., a public safety answering point (PSAP)), the sensing transmitter and / or the sensing receiver as part of configuration information for sensing the target based on the set of target identification information, or as part of a request to start sensing the target or target location / area / volume. The (sub)set of target identification information received by the sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver can then be used by the sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver to perform further and / or more detailed sensing of the target, which can be fine-tuned to the provided (sub)set of target identification in order to achieve better matching results or, for example, to further determine / exclude one or more detected objects in the initial (low resolution) scan, which one or more detected objects may or may not match (for example, fall within or outside a threshold set for position, velocity, size or other parameters) the set of target identification information as the expected target.

[0167] Depending on the case of detailed / extended / continuous sensing of a target area or a collection of target objects or other objects detected in the target area, which may include, for example, sensing using higher frequency or distributed radar or longer time periods or with more advanced / more accurate algorithms for targeting, it may be initiated in any manner under certain circumstances. Examples of such circumstances include initiating a request for radar-based sensing of one or more targets and / or specific areas, such as in the case of an emergency call or lawful intercept, or in the case of a target area / volume covering a house or facility (e.g., a factory), the owner / resident grants permission (e.g., provides user permission) (implicitly or explicitly) when subscribing to the sensing service or subscribing to the operator's network communication service or, for example, through their healthcare provider / service subscription, or, for example, because the sensing service is operated by a non-public network (which may include privately owned infrastructure equipment and core network components, which may include the sensing service, sensing receiver or sensing transmitter), whereby the sensing service / equipment operates in and / or covers the intended facility, or in the case where the target and / or sensing receiver and / or sensing transmitter subscribe to the same service / application or are part of the same group (e.g., shared group ID or shared group credentials).

[0168] In an example embodiment, a UE (which may or may not be a sensing receiver and / or sensing transmitter) initiates an emergency call with a public safety answering point via a (cellular) network to which it is attached, and based on location information provided / obtained during the emergency call in accordance with local regulations (e.g., enhanced 911), may instruct (e.g., via a configuration message) a sensing transmitter near the location where the emergency call was initiated (e.g., a nearby base station or a nearby mobile phone or a mobile phone making the emergency call) to perform a sensing session (e.g., to sense a designated target victim or target area / volume around a victim or emergency area / volume), whereby the instructions may include authorization information, information about the target (e.g., the target location / area / volume or some characteristics of the target victim, such as whether the target victim is moving, on the ground, having a cardiac arrest, etc.) or context (e.g., how many people are gathered around the victim, the distance between people and their devices relative to the victim, the number of injured people, debris nearby) or an identifier or address of a destination server (e.g., an IP address, a URL), a network function / device or a public safety answering point or credentials (e.g., a public key) to be used to encrypt the result, or requested sensing output / results (such as target location or movement or vital signs). The information about the target may be a set of target identification information (as described elsewhere in the present disclosure). The set of target identification information may be provided by the UE to a core network (e.g., an emergency call session control function (E-CSCF) as specified in 3GPP TS23.167) and / or a PSAP, for example, by including the information in an emergency connection establishment request (e.g., an emergency PDU session establishment (e.g., an emergency PDU session as defined in 3GPP TS23.501 and TS23.167, and extended accordingly) or on an emergency connection (e.g., an emergency PDU session)), whereby the E-CSCF may forward the received information to the PSAP. If the UE is capable of performing wireless sensing, the information may be determined by the UE performing an initial scan (e.g., a radar scan) of a victim or another target or emergency area. The UE may be configured to sense a target victim (e.g., matching one or more default characteristics, such as the shape or size of a person lying on the ground or breathing heavily or bleeding), for example, based on a preconfigured set of target identification information (e.g., sensing criteria). The information provided by the UE and received by the core network and / or PSAP (such as a set of target identification information) may then be provided to the RSMF (or another network function, such as a location retrieval function (LRF) or LMF responsible for initiating sensing of the target based on the provided information) and / or directly to a set of sensing transmitters and / or receivers.

[0169] Additionally or alternatively, the UE may provide a set of wireless sensing measurements or sensing results to the core network (e.g., to the E-CSCF) and / or the PSAP, for example, by including this information in an emergency connection establishment request (e.g., emergency PDU session establishment) or in an emergency connection (e.g., emergency PDU session), and the core network or PSAP may determine a set of target identification information based on the provided set of wireless sensing measurements or sensing results, and may then provide the set of target identification information to the RSMF (or another network function, such as an LRF or LMF responsible for initiating sensing of the target based on the provided information) and / or directly to a set of sensing transmitters and / or receivers.

[0170] Additionally or alternatively, the set of target identification information may be retrieved (e.g., via the E-CSCF) based on a UE identity received from the UE making the emergency call from a core network function or database (e.g., UDM / UDR) that maps the UE identity with an associated set of target identification information. To this end, the UE may indicate (e.g., in a message field during emergency connection establishment) whether the target is a carrying UE or includes a UE that has initiated an emergency call (e.g., because the person itself is the victim). The retrieved set of target identification information may then be provided to the RSMF (or another network function, such as an LRF or LMF responsible for initiating sensing of the target based on the provided information) and / or directly to a set of sensing transmitters and / or receivers.

[0171] In the case of an emergency call, authorization (including user permission) to perform sensing on the target (e.g., initial scan or detailed / extended sensing) and / or to share the sensing results of the target with the PSAP can be implicitly provided, for example, because the request to initiate sensing is completed by a core network function used exclusively in the case of an emergency call (e.g., E-CSCF or LRF) or by the PSAP, or, for example, because the request to initiate sensing includes a flag indicating that this is an emergency call. Similarly, one or more receivers (also in the case where the receiver is part of the same device as the transmitter) are activated to participate in the sensing session, and the transmitter and receiver can perform sensing according to other embodiments in this document in the sensing session). The sensing results (which can be filtered to include results only related to the specified target, i.e., targets, sensing transmitters, or sensing receivers that match a set of target identification criteria provided to the sensing service (e.g., by an E-CSCF or PSAP)) can be forwarded to the PSAP by the core network (e.g., by an E-CSCF). To this end, when the UE includes sensing results during PDU session establishment, the sensing results may be provided to the E-CSCF via the AMF, or the E-CSCF may retrieve them via the LRF / GMLC as specified in 3GPP TS 23.167 / 23.273, which is extended for this purpose (e.g., by providing functionality similar to the RSMF or by involving the RSMF as described in other embodiments of the present disclosure or by collecting the sensing results directly from the sensing receiver(s) and / or sensing transmitter(s)).

[0172] In summary, a method, apparatus and system for identifying a target for wireless sensing is provided, comprising: obtaining or determining a set of target position / area / volume information and / or target identification information by a sensing service, a sensing transmitter or a sensing receiver, the sensing transmitter or the sensing receiver (for example, upon / after receiving a request to perform sensing of a specific target, or based on a pre-configuration) performing a sensing operation (for example, an initial / low resolution scan) of a position / area / volume (derived from the set of target position / area / volume information and / or target identification information) using a signal transmitted by the sensing transmitter, receiving the signal (which may be reflected by the target) by a sensing receiver (which may be co-located with the sensing transmitter), performing a set of measurement and / or signal processing operations to obtain a (raw) measurement set about the received signal and / or obtaining a (raw) measurement set from one or more of the devices involved, using the (raw) measurement set for further processing / analysis to detect a set of objects (which may be potential targets or matching targets) and / or obtaining a detected set of objects and / or a set of potential targets from one or more of the devices or applications / services involved, determining / calculating A set of sensing information (i.e., sensing measurements and / or results) about one or more of the detected objects and / or potential targets, and / or obtaining a set of sensing information about one or more detected objects / people / animals / structures and / or potential targets from one or more of the devices involved, performing a target matching process itself or providing a set of sensing information about one or more detected objects and / or potential targets to a target matching entity (e.g., a sensing service, a sensing application or a core network function or an external server) for performing a target matching process, whereby the target matching process includes comparing / correlating the set of sensing information with target identification information (e.g., by checking whether the set of sensing measurements / results satisfies one or more configured criteria (e.g., thresholds) for identifying the target object), determining that one or more objects matching or not matching the set of target identification information have been found, optionally generating / emitting an event or sending a signal to indicate that a matching target has been detected or not detected, and based on whether a matching target has been detected, initiating or delaying / canceling further sensing or storage of sensing measurements / results of matching targets or non-matching objects, or obtaining / verifying authorization for performing further sensing. To clarify, the target matching entity may be operated by a core network function / service of the same core network to which the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver subscribe and / or run the sensing service, or may be operated by a different network operator (e.g., the home network of the target user) or an external application or an external server, or may be operated by a sensing transmitter, a sensing receiver or a sensing service. In the latter, it is assumed that these entities are authorized, trusted and / or that user permission is provided for these entities to participate in sensing of the target.

[0173] Figure 8An example target authorization process according to various embodiments of the present invention is schematically illustrated.

[0174] In an embodiment that can be combined with any other embodiment or can be implemented independently, the sensing service and / or the sensing transmitter and / or the sensing receiver may need to initiate an authorization process before initiating or continuing a sensing session (e.g., before initiating another scan or before initiating detailed and / or distributed sensing). Such an authorization process may include verifying authorization information and / or credentials of a network operator or application or user or device or third party, which issues a request for sensing of a target and / or provides information about how to identify the intended target and / or the user who subscribes to the sensing service, so as to assess whether the corresponding entity is authorized to receive sensing measurements or sensing results or other sensing data, and / or is authorized to initiate a sensing request for a target, and / or is authorized to provide configuration information for sensing a target (e.g., is authorized to provide a collection of target identification information). The authorization may be provided and / or stored in and / or retrieved from a subscription database (e.g., UDM) of the requesting user or device or the intended target. Alternatively, the authorization may be provided and / or obtained from an application server or core network function or through an NEF. Alternatively, the authorization may be provided and / or obtained from a lawful interception service or PSAP. In the case of a lawful interception or emergency call (i.e., with a PSAP), authorization (authorized user permission) for performing sensing (e.g., initial scan or detailed / extended sensing) on ​​a target and / or sharing the sensing results of the target with a PSAP or lawful interception service can be implicitly provided, for example, because the request to initiate sensing is completed by a core network function specifically used in an emergency call (e.g., E-CSCF or LRF) or by a PSAP, or, for example, because the request to initiate sensing includes a sign indicating that this is an emergency call. If authorization fails or cannot be verified, an event and / or error message can be generated, and / or the sensing of the target can be terminated. Since the rules for sensing in a public space and sensing in a private space can be different, authorization and whether authorization needs to be performed can be different according to the location or area or volume where the target is to be sensed or where sensing is performed. Similarly, in the case of only detecting an object (i.e., matching target) of a set that can match target identification information (partially in a subset of a set of matching target identification information or completely in all of a set of matching target identification information), such authorization process or authorization verification may need to be performed. In one example, a set of target identification information (and / or a set of sensing measurements and / or results within certain thresholds) can be linked to a mobile subscription identifier or user identifier (e.g., a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI)) or to an identifier (e.g., after authentication with an authentication server function (AUSF)) from which the mobile subscription identifier or user identifier can be derived (e.g., a wireless communication device carried or covered by the target, or a wireless communication device carried or owned by a person subscribing to the sensing service).The link between the set of target identification information and the mobile subscription identifier or user identifier may be stored, for example, as part of a unified data repository (UDR) or UDM function in the core network or in a separate database or AAA server, from which the link information may be retrieved by a core network function (such as AUSF) at or after authentication. Information linking the set of target identification information to the mobile subscription identifier or user identifier may also be pre-provided by or retrieved from the application, or provided at or after authentication. To this end, the application may communicate with the corresponding core network function (such as UDM / UDR or AUSF) via the NEF. The information linking the set of target identification information to the mobile subscription identifier or user identifier may further include information related to one or more identifiers (preferably temporary or intermediate identifiers, which may be changed or updated for privacy reasons (e.g., based on a set of rules or matching criteria)), and may include information about whether the user or device is subscribed to the sensing service and / or whether the device associated with the mobile subscription can be authorized and / or whether it is capable of acting as a sensing transmitter or sensing receiver. These (temporary or intermediate) identifiers may be provided to a target matching entity (e.g. a sensing service or a sensing transmitter or a sensing receiver (possibly indirectly via a sensing service) or a sensing application or a core network function) that is capable of performing a target matching process. If (e.g. by an initial radar scan) the target matching entity finds a potential target, then the target matching entity (or the sensing transmitter or the sensing receiver or the sensing service to which the result of the target matching process (which may include a (temporary) target identifier) ​​may initiate an authentication and / or authorization process using such (temporary / intermediate) identifier as input to an authentication and / or authorization request, and / or may use a set of target identification information (and / or a set of sensing measurements and / or results) as input to an authentication and / or authorization request, and / or may first retrieve a mobile device based on the set of target identification information and / or the set of sensing measurements and / or results. The mobile subscription identifier or user identifier may be retrieved (e.g., from a UDR or a database) by using the (temporary / intermediate) identifier and / or target identification information (and / or a set of sensing measurements / results).Since the mobile subscription identifier or user identifier may be associated with one or more UEs, the network may also send a notification to the one or more UEs (e.g., to inform the user that the sensing service is activated), and / or may request confirmation from the user of the one or more UEs to initiate and / or approve sensing of the target, and / or may also request the location of the one or more UEs and use it to verify whether the one or more UEs are in the vicinity of the target (e.g., as a target correct or requesting these one or more UEs to participate in additional checks of sensing of the target), and / or may perform a master authentication with the one or more UEs. Authorization and / or user permission for sensing may be provided only on a temporary basis, and / or may be temporarily revoked for example for a specific time of day (e.g., according to a certain schedule) or if the target for sensing is about to sleep or take a shower, or go to a specific area / location, etc. To this end, the user permission information stored in the UDM / UDR and / or requested from the user of the one or more UEs may contain a time or time period or validity time field associated with the user permission information for wireless sensing. Similarly, authorization and / or user permission may be provided only for a given context (time, location, use, etc.), for example, a given location or a maximum amount of measurements or sensing results (e.g., one thousand measurements or one hundred measurement results for a certain sensing target), which may be bound to a maximum (or minimum) time period. To this end, the user permission information stored in the UDM / UDR and / or requested from the user of one or more UEs may contain a field indicating the (maximum) number of sensing measurements or sensing results. If the authorization and / or user permission expires or is invalid for a given context (e.g., in a certain time period and / or too many measurements / results have been obtained), the sensing device (e.g., sensing transmitter or sensing receiver) and / or sensing service should stop or be ordered by the NF or AF to stop sensing and / or the sensing measurements should be discarded and / or not exposed to third parties / applications. In addition, the user permission and / or authorization may be limited to a specific location / area / volume, for example, only allowing sensing in a person's home, not when the target is moving outside his home. To this end, the user permission information stored in the UDM / UDR and / or requested from the user of one or more UEs may contain a field indicating the location / area / volume used for sensing. In addition, user permission and / or authorization may be limited to a specific set of sensing results to be obtained, for example, the speed of a target object may be determined using only sensing rather than the size of the target. To this end, user permission information stored in the UDM / UDR and / or requested from a user of one or more UEs may contain a field indicating a specific set of measurement targets / results to be used for sensing.Similarly, user permissions and / or authorizations may be limited to a maximum or minimum sensing accuracy (e.g., accuracy of movement or other sensing results in a certain measurement system (e.g., kilometers per hour) and / or if a maximum number of digits and / or a maximum frequency after an interval to be used for sensing is exceeded, the results will be rounded (e.g., no millimeter wave or terahertz, as this would achieve very high accuracy for sensing). To this end, user permission information stored in the UDM / UDR and / or requested from a user of one or more UEs may contain fields indicating minimum / maximum accuracy levels and / or data types or data type constraints to store / expose sensing measurements / results. In addition, user permissions and / or authorizations may be limited to a certain maximum or minimum confidence level (e.g., matching certain criteria for identifying a person / object above a certain confidence level (e.g., to ensure that no bystanders are accidentally involved in sensing), or for identifying a person / object below a certain confidence level (e.g., to ensure that the result does not identify a unique person / object, but multiple people / objects may match to prevent unique tracking or exposure). To this end, user permission information stored in the UDM / UDR and / or requested from the user of one or more UEs may contain a field indicating a minimum / maximum confidence level or accuracy associated with the sensing measurements / results. If the above conditions related to authorization or user permission cannot be met / ensured, the sensing device (e.g., a sensing transmitter or a sensing receiver) and / or the sensing service should (be commanded) to stop sensing and / or the sensing measurements should be discarded and / or not exposed to third parties / applications. Contextual information such as timing information or location / area / volume related to authorization and / or user permission may be stored as part of the subscription and / or may be provided to the sensing device or sensing service. If the sensing service determines (e.g., after contacting the UDM) that the user permission and / or authorization is limited to a specific location / area / volume and / or to a specific set of sensing results to be obtained, the sensing service may discard sensing measurements or sensing results that do not involve the specific location / area / volume and / or do not involve the specific set of sensing results to be obtained.

[0175] In such Figure 8In the example authorization process shown, the sensing service 30 and / or the sensing transmitter 10 and / or the sensing receiver 20 performs an initial scan 801 of a target location or area or volume (i.e., an initial sensing operation 801). This can be done in the case where the scan is authorized in a given context (location, timing, accuracy, etc.), where the authorization may have been previously received from the NF. As shown, the sensing service 30 (or the sensing transmitter 10 or the sensing receiver 20) can transmit the sensing measurements and / or results (e.g., a set of sensing information) from the initial scan 801 (i.e., the output of the initial sensing operation 801) to the target matching entity 40 via a message exchange 802. The target matching entity 40 can then perform a target matching process 803 based on the sensing measurements and / or results from the initial scan 801 and the set of target identification information. If a partial match or a complete match with a set of target identification information is found for the target (i.e., a matching target is determined (with a certain confidence or matching percentage), a subset of the set of target identification information is matched in the case of a partial match, or the entirety of the set of target identification information is matched in the case of a complete match), then the target can be initially authenticated / authorized. The target matching entity may have received the target identification information from a centralized authentication and / or authorization entity (e.g., an AUSF, UDM, AAA server, sensing application, or a combination thereof) so that the target matching entity can take this initial authentication / authorization decision itself. In addition, if this initial authentication / authorization is successful (or when it is not applied), as shown in the figure, the target matching entity 40 (or the sensing service 30 or sensing transmitter 10 or sensing receiver 20 to which the result of the target matching is sent) can request authorization for the target by sending a (temporary) identifier associated with the target or the set of target identification information to the authentication and / or authorization entity 50 (such as an AUSF, UDM, AAA server, sensing application, or a combination thereof) via a message exchange 804. The authentication and / or authorization entity 50 may perform an authentication and / or authorization process 805, wherein the authentication and / or authorization entity 50 may further authenticate the target (e.g., by deriving an identity of a device or user subscribing to the sensing service based on the provided (temporary) identifier, or by performing a fine-grained verification of the provided sensing parameters, or for example by performing a master authentication with the respective device), and / or may verify whether the target is authorized to be a target for sensing (e.g., based on subscription information directly or indirectly linked to the provided (temporary) identifier associated with the target or a set of target identification information), and / or may verify whether the user or target subscribed to or subject to the sensing service has provided user permission to be sensed / being sensed. In a message exchange 806, the authentication and / or authorization entity 50 (possibly in collaboration with other core network and RAN entities) may also send a notification to the device 60 linked to the same subscription, indicating that the target is subscribed as a target for the sensing service.In the same message exchange 806, the device 60 may send a message back to the authentication and / or authorization entity 50 to confirm that it may proceed with sensing the target. Once the authentication and / or authorization process 805 performed by the authentication and / or authorization entity 50 has been completed, the authentication and / or authorization entity 50 will notify the entities (e.g., 10, 20, 30, and 40) involved in the sensing operation of the corresponding target through the authorization information process 807 that the target is authorized for sensing, and based on this, they may then proceed with sensing the target.

[0176] In one embodiment variant, the above authentication / authorization process may be iterative in the sense that the sensing service 30 or sensing transmitter 10 or sensing receiver may perform an initial set of measurements at an initial (low) accuracy / granularity required for (initial) authentication / authorization. If a match is determined, the transmission accuracy / granularity is increased so that more accurate sensing measurements may be obtained and a better authentication match may be achieved.

[0177] In another embodiment variant that can be used independently, the data stored in the target matching entity and / or the authentication and / or authorization entity (e.g., AUSF, UDM, AAA server, sensing application or a combination thereof) and used for authentication can be homomorphically encrypted. The target matching entity can also receive an evaluation key for verifying whether the sensing measurement matches the homomorphically encrypted data without having access to the measurement. This embodiment variant addresses the need to allow entities to perform entity matching without disclosing the parameters used for matching. This is particularly meaningful when the entity matching entity connected to the sensing device is in a different security domain than the entity holding or having the data for authentication / authorization, for example, when the entity matching entity is in a visiting PLMN (home PLMN) and the entity owning / holding the data for authentication / authorization is in the home PLMN (external entity / application).

[0178] In another embodiment variant that can be used independently, data stored in a target matching entity and / or an authentication and / or authorization entity (e.g., an AUSF, UDM, AAA server, a sensing application, or a combination thereof) and used for authentication is available in a secure environment managed by a remote party that owns the data. For example, a master authentication and / or authorization entity can remotely manage a secure designated address space in a target matching entity and can perform a certification of the secure designated address space. If the certification is successful, the master authentication and / or authorization entity can configure the secure designated address space with data to perform a target match, wherein the data is securely stored in the secure designated address space and cannot be accessed by the target matching entity. The match can be performed in the secure designated address space and only the results can be shared with the master authentication and / or authorization entity. This embodiment variant addresses the need to allow entities to perform entity matching without disclosing the parameters used for matching. This is particularly relevant when the entity matching entity connected to the sensing device is in a different security domain than the entity holding or owning the data used for authentication / authorization, for example, when the entity matching entity is in the visiting PLMN (home PLMN) and the entity owning / holding the data used for authentication / authorization is in the home PLMN (external entity / application).

[0179] In another embodiment variant that can be used independently, the target matching entity and / or the authentication and / or authorization entity (e.g., AUSF, UDM, AAA server, sensing application or a combination thereof) and / or the external entity / application function can execute a multi-party communication protocol to perform entity matching without revealing private data. Such a multi-party protocol allows two or more parties (e.g., a target matching entity and a centralized authentication / authorization entity) to determine whether a set of measurements of a target matches a given set of data without revealing the measurements to the centralized authentication / authorization entity and without revealing the data to the target matching entity. This is particularly meaningful when the entity matching entity connected to the sensing device is in a different security domain than the entity holding or having data for authentication / authorization, for example, when the entity matching entity is in a visited PLMN (home PLMN) and the entity owning / holding data for authentication / authorization is in the home PLMN (external entity / application).

[0180] The previous embodiment variants show that there are many types of privacy enhancement techniques (PETs) that can provide a certain level of privacy when identifying a target and performing subsequent authentication / authorization. Examples of those PET-related embodiment variants include iterative authentication / authorization processes, the use of homomorphic encryption, the use of secure designated address spaces, or the use of multi-party computing protocols. Therefore, a method of selecting one of those PETs and selecting the required parameters of the PET is needed. Therefore, in another embodiment variant that can be used independently, different entities (e.g., target matching entities and / or centralized authentication / authorization entities and / or external entities) can execute a protocol in which they expose their privacy settings / requirements / preferences for the type of PETs required, and they agree to one or more of those PETs. ​​For example, the target matching entity can expose its PET capabilities, and the centralized authentication / authorization entity can indicate its preferred PET and parameters to the target matching entity. It should be noted that although this embodiment variant is described in the context of wireless sensing and target identification, other applications that perform data matching on other types of data can also benefit from similar protocols.

[0181] In an embodiment that may be combined with other embodiments or may be implemented independently, in order to further improve the privacy of sensing operations, a device carried or covered by a target (particularly a wireless communication device (e.g., a UE device)) may be used to trigger or initiate a sensing operation of a target or target object carried or covered by the device. The wireless communication device may establish a connection to a network that can operate a sensing service, or establish a connection to an application server or core network function that can communicate with a sensing service or a sensing transmitter or a sensing receiver, and may trigger or initiate a sensing operation by sending a signal indicating such a trigger (which may carry a message) directly or indirectly to the sensing service or the sensing transmitter or the sensing receiver. Such a message may include the potential sensing transmitter or sensing receiver capabilities of the device, may include location or area or volume information about the device itself or about the intended target, may include authorization information and / or credentials, and / or information about user permissions, may include identification information of the target or an identifier associated with a set of target identification information, and / or may include a set of sensing measurements or results. Upon receiving such a trigger for initiating a sensing operation, the sensing service may obtain and / or verify authorization for the device (e.g., by obtaining an identification of the device and by checking information in a subscription database (e.g., UDM) whether the user of the device is subscribed to the sensing service, and / or whether the device is authorized to participate in the sensing operation, and / or whether the user of the device has provided permission to be the target of the sensing operation). If the user of the device or the device is indeed authorized, the sensing service and / or the sensing transmitter and / or the sensing receiver may initiate and / or perform the sensing operation as described in the present disclosure. Note that initiating a sensing operation may include receiving and / or retrieving a set of target identification information, or an identifier associated with the set of target identification information (e.g., if the set of target identification information and its associated set of (one or more) identifiers have been provided before or during pre-configuration of the sensing transmitter and receiver devices involved and / or the sensing service). A wireless communication device surrounded or carried by a target object may provide a sensing service or sensing device with information about the size of the object (e.g., a vehicle) carrying or covering the wireless communication device, and / or the relative positioning (e.g., distance and / or angle and / or using a relative coordinate system) of the wireless communication device and / or one or more antennas of the wireless communication device relative to the surface or center of gravity or other (preconfigured or determined) reference point of the object carrying or covering the wireless communication device. This may be used to adjust the calculated distance and / or angle between the wireless communication device and the sensing device or adjust the calculated position of the device by taking into account the distance of the object surface, for example to make it easier to identify the target object covering or carrying the wireless communication device.Information about size or relative positioning may be determined by the wireless communication device by performing sensing using its own wireless sensing capabilities, other sensing modalities, or may be determined by other means (e.g., pre-configured on the device by a user or manufacturer). Additionally or alternatively, the information may include information about antenna configuration, antenna ports (possibly together with information about signals transmitted through those ports), antenna length, antenna placement / positioning relative to reference coordinates, and / or orientation / angle / direction relative to a reference direction (which may be represented by a vector in a coordinate system) or magnetic north. Alternatively or additionally, the sensing service or sensing device may retrieve information about the size of the object and / or the relative positioning of the device or antenna relative to a surface, center of gravity, or reference point and / or detailed antenna information (e.g., antenna length, ports) from a database storing such information about a target object covering or carrying the wireless communication device based on the identification of the wireless communication device.

[0182] The sensing service or sensing transmitter / receiver may initiate sensing based on the received information (e.g., by directing a beam to the estimated location of the wireless communication device), and / or perform a set of sensing measurements when the UE carried or covered by the target connects to the network (e.g., during or after authorization), and / or initiate a sensing request for the sensing service or application. By doing so, the sensing service or sensing transmitter / receiver may detect an object that matches the given target identification information and / or the size of the object carrying or covering the wireless communication device, and / or the relative positioning (e.g., distance and / or angle and / or using a relative coordinate system) of the wireless communication device and / or one or more antennas of the wireless communication device relative to the surface or gravity center or other (preconfigured or determined) reference point of the object carrying or covering the wireless communication device. In an example, this initial sensing may result in the detection of an object whose position and / or surface and / or size will cover the wireless communication and / or will be at a given relative positioning of the wireless communication device and the surface or gravity center or other reference point. Using these measurement / matching results, the sensing service or sensing transmitter / receiver device may determine that the detected object is a target for sensing. Additionally or alternatively, sensing measurements performed on an object encompassing the wireless communication device may be used to determine a (further) set of target identification information that may be used for matching.

[0183] Once it has identified a target for sensing, there is no need for the wireless communication device to continue sensing, so sensing can continue (e.g., once it has a "fix" on the object that can follow the object as it moves around), and / or the target object can be identified again when needed based on target identification information or object size or relative positioning related information (e.g., received from the wireless communication device or from initial sensing of the target object encompassing the wireless communication device or at an indicated / measured distance from the surface of the object), even when the wireless communication device carried by or encompassed by the target is switched or separated from the target object.

[0184] Optionally, the sensing service may send a signal to a device carried or covered by the target, indicating that the sensing operation has started or is about to start. The device may display a notification to the user, or may request the user to provide a confirmation that he / she / it agrees to start the sensing operation (or automatically provide a confirmation based on the device configuration), after which a signal may be sent back to the sensing service, indicating whether the confirmation has been obtained, after which, if the confirmation has been obtained, the sensing operation is initiated or further performed. In an example, a wireless communication device carried or covered by a target (e.g., a mobile phone, an IoT device, a sensor device, a wireless tag, or other UE) has a subscription with the network. The user of the wireless communication device may also subscribe to the sensing service. The core network function (e.g., UDR or UDM or a separate database or AAA server) may store a mobile subscription identifier or user identifier (such as a SUPI of a wireless communication device carried or covered by a target (object), or a SUPI of a wireless communication device carried or owned by a person who subscribes to the sensing service) or an association between a (temporary or intermediate) identifier from which a mobile subscription identifier or user identifier can be derived and a set of target identification information (and / or a set of sensing measurements and / or results within certain thresholds). The information linking these identifiers to the set of target identification information may also include information about whether the user of the device or the device is subscribed to the sensing service, and / or whether the device associated with the mobile subscription can be authorized and / or capable of acting as a sensing transmitter or sensing receiver. When a wireless communication device carried or covered by a target (object) or user subscribing to the sensing service registers with the network and / or the sensing service, or when a wireless communication device carried or covered by a target or user subscribing to the sensing service connects to a sensing transmitter or sensing receiver, the identifier of the wireless communication device may be provided by the wireless communication device to a core network function responsible for authentication and / or authorization of the device (e.g., to an AUSF or UDM). After authentication or as part of the authentication process, the core network function responsible for authentication and / or authorization of the device may check information stored in the UDR or UDM or a separate database or AAA server about whether the user of the device or the device is subscribed to the sensing service, and / or whether user permission has been provided, and / or whether the identification associated with the mobile subscription can be authorized and / or capable of acting as a sensing transmitter or sensing receiver based on a given identifier, and / or the mobile subscription identifier or user identifier may be retrieved based on a given identifier. The identifier used by the wireless communication device covered by the target carrier may be a subscription hidden identifier (SUCI) or a 5G globally unique temporary identifier (GUTI) sent to the core network as part of the wireless communication of the connection establishment and / or primary authentication process specified in TS 33.501. However, benefits may be provided if the wireless communication device covered by the target carrier can use another or additional identifier (preferably a temporary identifier) ​​to indicate to the core network that the wireless communication device is subject to wireless sensing.The identifier may be pre-configured by the core network on the device (e.g., by a policy control function (PCF)), or configured by the network (e.g., by an AMF) when the device connects to the network, or may be provided as part of a sensing request (e.g., a mobile terminated or network initiated sensing request initiated by an RSMF). The core network function responsible for authentication and / or authorization of the device (e.g., an AUSF or UDM) may use the identifier to verify whether the device is authorized to use sensing services, retrieve user permission information, retrieve a set of target identification information associated with the device, etc.

[0185] Alternatively or additionally, authorization may be provided or obtained by an application server or from a core network function or through an NEF, or may be provided and / or obtained from a lawful interception service or PSAP. The core network function responsible for authentication and / or authorization of the device may also retrieve a set of target identification information associated with a given identifier or a mobile subscription identifier or a user identifier retrieved based on a given identifier, or may retrieve or create an (intermediate or temporary) identifier associated with the set of target identification information. If authentication and / or authorization is successful and / or if a set of target identification information can be successfully retrieved, the set of target identification information or the (intermediate or temporary) identifier associated therewith may be provided to the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver.

[0186] In addition, credentials may be provided that the devices involved (e.g., sensing transmitters and / or sensing receivers) require to securely send (e.g., with integrity and / or confidentiality protection) any sensing measurements and / or results or other sensing information, and / or sensing configuration information, sensing services or sensing sessions and / or other devices or services and / or applications involved in the operation regarding one or more targets / objects.

[0187] Additionally or alternatively, it is verified whether identification information of a target (and / or a set of sensing measurements and / or results) provided during registration and / or connection establishment matches such retrieved set of target identification information.

[0188] Additionally or alternatively, a mobile subscription identifier or user identifier associated with one or more UEs may be used by the network to send a notification to one or more UEs (e.g., to notify the user that the sensing service is activated) and / or to request confirmation from the user of the UE to initiate and / or approve sensing of the target, and / or may also be used to request the location of the UE and use it to verify whether the UE is in the vicinity of the target (e.g., as an additional check that the target is correct or to trigger a sensing session and / or operation or to generate an event or transmit a signal, the generated event or the transmitted signal indicating that a matching target was detected or not detected, or to initiate / continue authorization to use the matching target as a target for sensing).

[0189] Additionally or alternatively, the location service may use a subscription identifier or user identifier associated with one or more UEs to determine whether one or more of the one or more UEs are moving in the same direction and / or following the same trajectory as the expected target (with a particular maximum deviation) and, based on that determination, trigger, stop, or continue a sensing session / operation, initiate additional sensing operations, generate an event, or send a signal, the generated event or the sent signal indicating that a matching target was detected or not detected, or initiate / continue authorization of a matching target as a target for sensing.

[0190] Additionally or alternatively, if the wireless communication device carried or covered by the target is also capable of wireless sensing (e.g., acting as a sensing receiver), then the sensing service or another sensing device (e.g., a sensing transmitter or a sensing receiver) may request the wireless communication device carried or covered by the target to prove that it is attached to the target or target object being sensed, for example, it may be necessary to sense the transmitted sensing signal by the target shoelace or covered wireless communication device and send sensing measurements and / or results based on the (reflected and / or received) sensing signal to determine that the sensing measurements and / or results match the set of target identification information of the corresponding target or target object, and based on this determine to trigger, stop or continue the sensing session / operation, initiate additional sensing operations, generate an event or send a signal, the generated event or the sent signal indicating that a matching target was detected or not detected, or initiate / continue authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing.

[0191] Additionally or alternatively, a wireless communication device carried or covered by a potential target may be instructed to show instructions for the target or target object to perform a specific movement (e.g., waving, swinging, moving a few steps in a specific direction) that can be detected by the sensing service, for example, while performing an initial radar scan or at a specific time. If movement can indeed be detected, it can be determined that the potential target is indeed the intended target or target object.

[0192] In some scenarios, the user or target for sensing may be in a sensing area that has the ability to sense users in the sensing area in the jurisdiction of a management entity (e.g., an official organization, such as a local agency or local government that provides public services in the sensing area, such as an IT department of a hospital or a manager of an elderly facility). The management entity may be authorized by default (e.g., by law) to perform sensing of the user or may perform sensing of the user after arranging an agreement (e.g., subscription) with the user and / or obtaining user permission from the user and / or obtaining privacy permission.

[0193] In some scenarios, a management entity may be responsible for monitoring (certain) users (eg in a healthcare facility). However, only authorized users (eg subscribers) of the management entity should be sensed.

[0194] In some scenarios, a management entity may have an obligation to perform wireless sensing even if users in its jurisdiction have not subscribed to its services. Therefore:

[0195] In another embodiment variation, the management entity may exchange information with a telecommunication system (e.g., 5GS) regarding its sensing areas and sensing characteristics (e.g., targets, sensing characteristics, sensing timing, sensing parameters, etc.);

[0196] In another embodiment variation, the management entity may obtain permission / permission / subscription for users in its jurisdiction to perform wireless sensing thereon;

[0197] In another embodiment variation, the management entity may obtain sampled sensory data / sensing parameters of the user / target to facilitate the sensory identification / matching task of the target matching entity in the telecommunication system. Such sensory parameters may include, for example, gait, health status, etc.;

[0198] In another embodiment variant, the management entity may provide said sampled sensory data / parameters of the user to the telecommunication system so that target recognition may be performed by the target matching entity;

[0199] In another embodiment variation, the management entity may configure the telecommunication system to sense parameters / data used in the sensing area in its jurisdiction. These sensed parameters / data may include at least one or more of the following:

[0200] - Authorized users / targets;

[0201] - parameters measured / sensed for each user; and

[0202] - Sampled sensory data for each user / target;

[0203] In another embodiment variant, the management entity may have a sensing subscription of the operator of the telecommunication system. As part of the subscription, the operator provides certain features for the sensing service (e.g., certain parameters for the number N of users / targets in a given area (e.g., N=100)). The subscription data may be stored in a database, e.g., in the UDM. The operator may check whether a sensing request from the management entity falls under the current subscription. For example, when the management entity configures the telecommunication system with sensing parameters / data (as described in the previous embodiments), the telecommunication system may check whether these sensing parameters / data fall under the current subscription. In the affirmative, the sensing parameters / data may be configured in the target matching entity, and / or the user identification / authorization rights may be configured in the authentication / authorization entity. Prevent / reduce exposure of personal data / personally identifiable information dew

[0204] Wireless sensing can be used to sense information about an intended target and / or target area. However, it may (unintentionally) expose information about a person, an object, a context that is not intended for sensing, and / or information about an intended target for sensing that is not intended for sensing. For example, the target (Robert) may wish / authorize sensing his gait, but may not allow sensing of his heart rate. When sensing Robert's gait, Robert's heart rate may be disclosed. Such personal information / data may be considered as personally identifiable information (PII). For privacy reasons, the exposure of sensing information of unintended targets and / or unintended sensing information about intended targets of applications or external parties outside the wireless network, or even other parts of sensing that are not directly related to the target within the wireless network should be prevented or minimized. Therefore, the following embodiments are intended to address these shortcomings.

[0205] In an embodiment that may be combined with other embodiments or may be implemented independently, a sensing service or a sensing transmitter or a sensing receiver may use a confidence function (e.g., a correlation function, a confidence or a match percentage or a standard deviation or a threshold value, etc. as mentioned in other embodiments) to determine whether a sensing measurement or a sensing result can be provided to another device, service, application, or third party. For example, the confidence function may be such that the sensing measurement / result may only be exposed if the measurement matches the data / target matching criteria by more than a threshold. For example, a sensing service or a sensing transmitter or a sensing receiver or a sensing receiver or other device that performs matching of a target with a set of target identification information may be configured to or may have received or may have determined a minimum confidence level of a confidence function (e.g., a confidence level or a match percentage or a threshold value above it or a maximum standard deviation, etc.), below which the target matches the set of target identification information and thus identifies the intended target. If the target does not match the set of target identification information with a confidence level (e.g., above such a minimum confidence level or match percentage or threshold or with a match percentage or threshold with a standard deviation below such a maximum standard deviation), the associated sensing measurement or result will not be provided to another device, service, application, or third party because it may involve an unexpected target and / or the associated sensing measurement or result will be obfuscated (e.g., replacing it with random data or adapting the resolution of the data (e.g., changing the bit depth, number of samples, number of objects, or using a lower precision data type)), and then providing the set of sensing measurements / results to another device, service, application, or third party. Instead, the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may provide an error message or other message to the other device, service, application, or third party indicating that no matching target (with sufficient confidence) was found.

[0206] In other words, the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may be adapted to prevent / reduce exposure of privacy-sensitive information by applying a confidence function to a set of sensing measurements and / or sensing results to determine whether the set of sensing measurements and / or sensing results matches a set of target matching criteria for an expected target with a minimum confidence level, and based on the result of the determination, decide whether the sensing measurements or sensing results can be provided to another device, service, application, or third party, and / or remove or obfuscate the sensing measurements or sensing results from the set of sensing measurements / results provided to another device, service, application, or third party.

[0207] Additionally or alternatively, if the target matches a minimum confidence level or match percentage or threshold or maximum standard deviation, but authorization of the target is unsuccessful and / or user permission associated with the target cannot be obtained, then the associated sensing measurements or results will not be provided to another device, service, application, or third party. Instead, the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may provide an error message or other message indicating that the target cannot be authorized or that user permission for the target cannot be obtained to the other device, service, application, or third party.

[0208] Additionally or alternatively, if a target matches a minimum confidence level or match percentage or threshold or maximum standard deviation, but it also finds other targets that match the same set of target identification information and / or finds too many potential targets near the expected target (e.g., the number of objects detected that satisfy some of the target identification information is above a certain threshold), then the relevant sensing measurements or results will not be provided to another device, service, application, or third party, and / or information about or not belonging to the desired target will be removed or obfuscated (e.g., replaced with random data or the resolution of the data is adapted (e.g., changing the bit depth, number of samples, number of objects, or using a lower accuracy data type)). If the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver finds other targets that match the same set of target identification information or too many potential targets, it may provide an error message or other message indicating that multiple matching targets were found with other devices, services, applications, or third parties. In a specific example, a sensing service or a sensing transmitter or a sensing receiver or other entity involved in sensing of a target may determine or receive (e.g., from a core network function such as a location service, other sensing service, or NWDAF) information about the locations of a set of UEs or other (potential) targets and / or a set of UEs in an area that are located close to the expected target, whereby the locations of the UEs or other (potential) targets may be obtained by sensing or by other means (e.g., GNSS locations obtained via location services). If it is determined that they are located close to the expected target (e.g., in a crowded house, apartment building, or area) and / or it is determined that the amount of UEs or other (potential) targets that are not carried or otherwise linked to the expected target exceeds a threshold, the sensing measurements or results will not be provided to another device, service, application, or third party, and / or information that does not relate to the desired target will be removed or obfuscated. Additionally or alternatively, a sensing service and / or sensing transmitter and / or sensing receiver or other entity involved in sensing of a target may determine or receive (e.g., from a core network function such as NWDAF, which may capture and / or store data and / or have historical data about the number of devices in an area) information about an area to be referred to as a congested area and / or information indicating congestion for a set of areas (e.g., the average number of UEs residing or connected in an area). If it is determined that the intended target is located in an area known to be a congested area, the sensing measurements or results will not be provided to another device, service, application, or third party, and / or information not related to the intended target will be removed or obfuscated.

[0209] In other words, the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may be adapted to prevent / reduce exposure of privacy-sensitive information by determining the number of targets that match a set of target matching criteria for an expected target (with a certain confidence level) and comparing this number with the minimum / maximum number of matching targets, and / or by determining the number of potential targets or the amount of UEs located in the vicinity of the expected target and comparing this number with the minimum / maximum number of UEs or potential targets, and based on the result of the determination, deciding whether the sensing measurement or sensing result may be provided to another device, service, application or third party, and / or removing or obfuscating the sensing measurement or sensing result from the set of sensing measurements / results provided to another device, service, application or third party.

[0210] Additionally or alternatively, the actions performed based on the context (eg, number of targets, confidence level, etc.) may depend on policies that may be configured by the application or network operator.

[0211] Additionally or alternatively, in the case of emergency services (e.g., when one of the users or devices (e.g., UE) in the area requests emergency services), privacy-related settings in the policy that control exposure of the sensed information may be overridden to allow exposure of the sensed information even though it may contain private information.

[0212] In a related embodiment that may be combined with other embodiments or may be implemented independently, before the sensory data related to the intended target is exposed to another device, service, application or third party, the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may remove or obfuscate the sensory data to be exposed (e.g., sensory measurements or sensory results) that do not belong to a certain target (e.g., limiting the area / volume for providing the sensory results to only cover / include the desired target or adjusting the resolution of the data to sense data related to other discovered objects) or do not relate to the desired sensory results (e.g., if the application or service only requests the shape of the object, then it should not provide information about the position or speed, or use a data format of the desired sensory results that only allows information related to the desired sensory results or other high-level information to be represented and does not allow raw or partially processed sensory results (e.g., if the application / service indicates that it wants to obtain the speed of the object, then select / use a data type to represent the speed of the object, for example, by a data type that includes an integer speed value and an object identifier, and nothing more)).

[0213] In a related embodiment, which may be combined with other embodiments or implemented independently, in order to limit the exposure of private information to unintended targets, a sensing service or a sensing transmitter or a sensing receiver may:

[0214] 1) configure the sensing parameters (e.g., sensing accuracy, location, timing) to the type of information that the intended target needs to sense, and / or

[0215] 2) performing (post) processing of the sensed data (e.g., sensed measurements or sensed results) to check whether

[0216] Any person, object, or contextual information other than the intended target found in or derived from the sensory data, e.g., by

[0217] Try to perform a common aggregation of sensor data and multiple target identification information (for example, the aggregation of target identification information in one or more

[0218] multiple sizes or poses to find people, or to find common objects such as houses, trees, cars),

[0219] 3) As a default or if any person, object, or contextual information not related to the target is found (e.g., if a match is made to the target

[0220] If one or more common sets of target identifiers are successful, then the sensed data related to the intended target is exposed to another

[0221] Before such person, object or contextual information is removed and / or obfuscated by the device, service, application or third party

[0222] Furthermore, the configured sensing parameters at the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may be provided, for example, by

[0223] Configuration messages are sent from the sensing service (where the decision is made) to the sensing transmitter / receiver for updating.

[0224] In a related embodiment, which may be combined with other embodiments or implemented independently, in order to limit the exposure of private information of the intended target, the sensing service or the sensing transmitter or the sensing receiver may:

[0225] 1) configure the sensing parameters (e.g., sensing accuracy, location, timing) to the type of information that the intended target needs to sense, and / or

[0226] 2) Perform (post) processing of the sensed data (e.g., sensed measurements or sensed results) to check whether

[0227] Any private information of the intended target that is discovered / leaked from the sensor data or derived from the sensor data that is not intended / authorized to be disclosed.

[0228] Given the sensory measurements of user Rob who is allowed to sense his gait, the sensory service can verify that in addition to being requested and / or authorized

[0229] Other types of information (e.g., heart rate or respiration) beyond the goals / results of obtaining / exposing and / or the user’s permission to obtain / expose

[0230] This can be done by trying to extract this information (e.g., by executing a sensing / matching algorithm on the sensed data for a common set of multiple sensing targets (e.g., executing not only a gait sensing / matching algorithm, but also a sensory / matching algorithm for heart rate sensing).

[0231] corresponding sensing / matching algorithms for blood pressure, respiratory rate, or other sensing / matching algorithms to obtain other sensing targets / results, and

[0232] determining whether other sensing targets / results can be obtained by executing those algorithms), and / or

[0233] 3) By default or if it is determined in 2) that information may be leaked, the sensed data related to the intended target is exposed to another

[0234] The sensory measurements / information may be removed and / or obfuscated and / or hidden before being communicated to a device, service, application or third party.

[0235] Such as by reducing the sampling frequency of the sensing measurements and / or updating the configuration of the sensing service or the sensing transmitter or the sensing receiver

[0236] Sensing parameters is done, for example, by sending a configuration message from the sensing service (where the decision is made) to the sensing transmitter

[0237] / Receiver.

[0238] In other words, the sensing service or sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may be adapted to prevent / reduce exposure of privacy-sensitive information by performing (post-)processing of sensing measurements and / or sensing results to determine whether any person, object, contextual information other than the intended target can be found in the sensing data or derived from the sensing data by performing matching of the sensing data with one or more sets of target identification information other than the set of target identification information for the intended target, and / or to determine whether to obtain / expose other types of information other than requested or authorized by performing sensing of other sensing targets / results using one or more sensing / matching algorithms other than the sensing / matching algorithms for the intended sensing target / result, and based on the result of the determination, decide whether the sensing measurements or sensing results can be provided to another device, service, application or third party, and / or remove or obfuscate the sensing measurements or sensing results from the set of sensing measurements / results provided to another device, service, application or third party, and / or provide or not provide sensing results for specific sensing targets and / or use a data format that is only used to expose specific sensing targets.

[0239] Reduced measurement reports

[0240] In an embodiment that may be combined with other embodiments or may be implemented independently, after initiating sensing of a target, a wireless communication device carried or covered by the target may automatically stop or reduce its (conventional) wireless communication signal measurements (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP) reporting as performed by a UE in accordance with TS 38.331, TS 38.215) or location / ranging signal measurements (e.g., positioning reference signal (PRS) measurements as performed by a UE in accordance with TS 38.215, TS 38.305) (e.g., based on pre-configured triggers / criteria for relaxed measurements similar to measurements defined in TS 38.304) or after receiving a message with a new / updated measurement configuration from the network (e.g., an RRC reconfiguration message). The network may use the sensing measurements / results of the sensing service instead of the wireless signal measurements provided by the wireless communication device to determine its location and / or determine whether the wireless communication device is moving, for example to adjust its beamforming towards the wireless communication device or trigger a handover of the wireless communication device to another base station. This allows the wireless communication device to save energy and / or go to sleep. The network can notify (e.g., by paging) the wireless communication device when something happens and it needs to wake up, for example, to perform a handover again or start its regular wireless medium measurements again, and / or notify the wireless device if any anomalies are detected or it cannot obtain reliable readings or the AI ​​model for sensing needs to be (re)trained (e.g., if the target, and therefore the wireless communication device carried / covered by the target, enters a new location).

[0241] Use sensors to determine target identification information

[0242] In an embodiment that may be combined with other embodiments or may be implemented independently, a wireless communication device (possibly in cooperation with a set of sensors and / or sensing transmitters and / or sensing receivers connected to the wireless communication device) may determine a set of target identification information by performing wireless medium measurements or sensor readings or performing an initial radar scan of a target in order to identify a unique set of characteristics by which the target can be identified. For example, it may use signal / data processing / analysis to detect specific patterns in wireless medium measurements, sensor readings, or radar scan measurements / results (e.g., unique movement patterns or biometrics). To this end, the wireless communication device or a network function / server to which the wireless communication device is connected may run an AI model to learn how to identify targets (e.g., by identifying specific patterns) by feeding it corresponding wireless medium measurements, sensor readings, and / or radar scan measurements / results. The model may also be fed with information related to different objects that should not be identified as targets (e.g., wireless medium measurements, sensor readings, and / or radar scan measurements / results). The AI ​​model may be initially configured with a coarse-grained classification of objects and people based on some high-level characteristics (e.g., male, medium height, heavy), and use such a set of characteristics for a particular target object as input to determine a particular set of target objects having those characteristics in a particular area and / or select a particular AI model trained for objects having those characteristics. Users / subscribers of the sensing service may be asked (e.g., based on a request / message received from the network) to place their mobile phones in close proximity to the target objects so that the AI ​​model can learn about the particular target object during this initial phase, and subsequently use the AI ​​model to sense the target without requiring the mobile phone to be close to the target.

[0243] Additionally or alternatively, a wireless communication device carried / covered by a potential target may be instructed to show instructions for the target to perform a specific movement (e.g., waving, swinging, moving a few steps in a specific direction) that can be detected by the AI ​​model, for example, while performing an initial radar scan or at a specific time. The resulting set of target identification information or the AI ​​model itself (or a portion thereof) may be sent to a core network function or application server and / or a sensing service, a sensing transmitter, or a sensing receiver, where it may be used to identify the target using mechanisms as described in other embodiments. The target identification set may be stored with an identifier of the wireless communication device or an identifier of the AI ​​model. The sensing service, sensing transmitter, or sensing receiver may use such an identifier to identify the wireless communication device or AI model, and send a request to verify whether the set of target identification information and / or the set of sensing measurements / results matches the target.

[0244] In an embodiment that may be combined with other embodiments or may be implemented independently, a sensing service, a sensing transmitter, or a sensing receiver may receive information about a target for sensing and / or about other potential objects that should be excluded from sensing or should be excluded from sensing measurements / results from a heat / motion sensor, a camera, or a surveillance system (e.g., capable of generating a heat map or process video footage) or through an external application interface (e.g., a network open function). The sensing service, the sensing transmitter, or the sensing receiver may use the information to determine a target location, a target area, a target direction for sending a sensing signal toward and / or for a receiver to focus its antenna / receiving unit toward. The sensing service, the sensing transmitter, or the sensing receiver may also use the information to associate a sensing measurement / result with the information to determine whether the sensing measurement / result corresponds to the target for sensing (e.g., by comparing a measured / calculated characteristic of the sensed object / target with a measured / calculated characteristic of the object / target based on the information). The sensing service, the sensing transmitter, or the sensing receiver may also use the information to (only) trigger the start of a (detailed / distributed) sensing session when the presence of the expected target is detected in the information.

[0245] Relocation of transmitters and receivers

[0246] According to a further embodiment, the sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver determines that the sensing signal does not or cannot adequately identify the target object based on an initial (low resolution) scan of the target or a detailed scan of the target (e.g., if allowed / enabled / authorized) based on the set of target identification information. For example, this may be because the resolution / accuracy may be too low (e.g., due to the low frequency used), because the sensing signal may be blocked, because the distance may be too large, because the target may not reflect the sensing signal enough or may absorb the sensing signal too much, or because the target is moving, or because the sensing transmitter or sensing receiver is moving. Based on this determination, the sensing service, sensing transmitter or sensing receiver may decide to reposition itself, delay sending the sensing signal (e.g., wait until the target, receiver or transmitter has moved to a new location), adapt the sensing signal transmission characteristics / waveform, send information / instructions to the sensing transmitter or sensing receiver or the sensing service or sensing application (e.g., via NEF) (e.g., a warning signal, requesting the receiver to position closer or further away from the target or change its angle towards the target, reconfigure its antenna, adapt sensing signal parameters or sensing measurements / results, such as the transmitter may use to adapt the transmission of the sensing signal), select another receiver for sensing of the target, or send a signal to another transmitter or receiver to initiate sensing of the target. If the sensing transmitter or sensing receiver has a display (e.g., in the case of a mobile phone) or is connected to a display, the transmitter or receiver may display a notification, whereby the notification may display to the user a request and / or instruction to move the sensing transmitter or sensing receiver or the target to another location.

[0247] Sensing process flow

[0248] Figure 3 An embodiment of a process flow diagram for radar sensing in a communication system is schematically illustrated.

[0249] In the following, a method for wireless communication infrastructure (such as Figure 2 The process is designed to produce a distributed system of transmitter devices 10 (e.g., base stations or UEs) and receiver devices 20 (e.g., base stations or UEs) capable of standard wireless communication and distributed radar sensing of a local environment. However, it may be noted that in alternative embodiments, the transmitter device 10 and the receiver device 20 may be co-located.

[0250] exist Figure 3 Indicates the process involved Figure 2 Components / blocks of embodiments of transmitter and receiver architectures are described herein but not described again.

[0251] The receiver device 20 uses its receiver standard communication unit 201 (e.g., 5G) to send a request for radar measurement (i.e., a radar service session request (RS-REQ)) to the transmitter device 10, optionally together with a description of its sensing-related capabilities (e.g., the number of antennas, the supported frequency ranges, wireless sensing signal processing capabilities (such as supported algorithms), and / or whether it is able to determine certain sensing results / targets (e.g., being able to determine the location or movement of a target object or the shape of a target object)), one or more supported sensing profiles, etc.) and / or the location of the receiver device 20.

[0252] Alternatively or additionally, the transmitter device 10 may request a distributed radar session with a selected receiver device (eg, UE) or multiple receivers that may be supported simultaneously.

[0253] Alternatively, the initial position of the receiver device 20 may be obtained from the currently known position of the receiver device 20 (if available, for example, from a location management function in the core network), or may already be known by the transmitter device 10 .

[0254] Alternatively, the receiver device 20 may send a rough indication of direction and range to the target as a target initial position estimate, which may be derived from an estimate supplied by the user and / or based on measurements made by a local terminal device (eg, UE).

[0255] Alternatively, the receiver device 20 may send an identifier to be used to authorize use of the sensing service or to authorize the receiver device 20 to participate in the sensing operation and / or retrieve a set of target identification information or identifiers associated with a set of target identification information used in the sensing operation.

[0256] Alternatively, the receiver device 20 may transmit a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with a set of target identification information, or an AI model capable of identifying a target of a sensing service operated by the network.

[0257] In an example, the receiver device 20 may also send a required scan time (i.e., the length of time to perform a radar scan). This may depend on the desired application (e.g., a vital signs scan may require an extended scan time, while an object location / count may only require a very short session (one scan)). Monitoring the location of infrastructure objects may require a short scan once a day for some extended period of time. The transmitter device 10 may be configured to generate a sensing signal for multiple receiver devices, in which case the sensing signal is generated until the latest required time for any receiver device.

[0258] In the event that the transmitter has received a radar measurement request, the transmitter device 10 determines whether it can respond to the request from the receiver device 20, and may send a radar session confirm (CONF) or radar session reject (DEN) message to the receiver device 20. The receiver device 20 may not be able to provide radar capabilities if, for example, it cannot provide sufficient bandwidth available for radar signals given its current communication needs, or if it is currently performing radar functions for another receiver device and cannot perform both, or if the receiver device 20 does not have permission to request radar functions from the transmitter device 10.

[0259] If the receiver device 20 asks for resources, the transmitter device 10 may also indicate its allocated resources. This option may be implemented similarly to the dynamic resource allocation process in 5G or other standard communication systems. Thus, the receiver device 20 may send a resource scheduling message to the transmitter device 10 requesting scheduling of radar session resources, and the transmitter device 10 may reply to the receiver device 20 with a downlink control information (DCI) message including the allocated resources (e.g., time (time slot, time slot offset k2, etc.), frequency, etc.).

[0260] Alternatively, if the receiver has not yet asked the transmitter whether to initiate the resources for radar measurement, the transmitter device 10 may autonomously send the allocated resources for radar-based sensing to the receiver device. To indicate that it involves radio resources for radar-based sensing, a dedicated DCI message may be used that may include some assistance / configuration information (for sensing).

[0261] For sensing, it may make sense to use a semi-persistently scheduled resource allocation in which the transmitter device 10 sends the allocated resources for the radar session in a secure RRC message, which are periodically reserved for a given period of time. In addition, if the offset and / or time interval for radar-based sensing is sent to the receiver device, for example, as part of the semi-persistent resource scheduling or the same RRC message or as a different message, the start of radar-based sensing can be activated / triggered at the receiver by the transmitter by sending a subsequent DCI message with the corresponding semi-persistently scheduled C-RNTI to the receiver.

[0262] Once resource scheduling is performed, the receiver device 20 knows the timing / frequency for the (distributed) radar functions.

[0263] Optionally, a time synchronization (T-SYNC) and delay compensation (D-COMP) measurement process may then be initiated, where the transmitter and receiver clocks are synchronized. This may not be necessary for applications where a high level of clock synchronization is not required for sensing or distance measurement (i.e., ranging).

[0264] This measurement process can be achieved by having the transmitter device 10 use its standard communication unit to send a timing signal (clock synchronization signal) reflecting the current timing of the transmitter clock to the receiver device 20, and by having the transmitter device 10 use the transmitter time delay measurement functionality to perform a round-trip time delay measurement from the transmitter device 10 to the receiver device 20 and back and using the receiver time delay measurement functionality to utilize the receiver device 20, thereby obtaining a measured delay time (transmitter-receiver delay), and by having the receiver device 20 use both the clock synchronization signal and the transmitter-receiver delay to update the receiver clock time, thereby ensuring that the two clocks of the transmitter device 10 and the receiver device 20 are fully synchronized.

[0265] As an optional measure, the transmitter device 10 may then obtain the (relative) position, shape / size or material / reflectivity properties of the desired target to direct its transmitter towards that position. This may be achieved by at least one of the following:

[0266] (i) causing the receiver device 20 (or a core network function, such as a sensing management function or an application server (e.g. via a network exposure function) (not shown in the figure)) to send to the transmitter device 10 the position of the target obtained from an initial target position estimate, which may have been obtained by user input of details of the target position or by some other form of relative position estimation performed by the receiver device 20; or

[0267] (ii) If Figure 3 As shown, the transmitter device 10 performs a low-resolution scan of the environment and selects a suitable target direction for detailed radar transmission, wherein the radar mode signal generator 102 sends a sensing signal via a transmit front end 103, the reflected sensing signal is received by a receive front end 104, and a transmitter low-resolution non-distributed radar analysis system 107 is used to process the signal (e.g., a standard FMCW scan using a beamforming direction scan to determine the approximate surface in the scene and obtain target position information); or

[0268] (iii) causing the receiver device 20 to perform a low-resolution scan of the environment and select an appropriate target direction for detailed radar transmission, wherein the radar mode signal generator 202 sends a sensing signal to the transmit front end 203, the reflected sensing signal is received by the receive front end 204, and the receiver low-resolution non-distributed radar analysis system 207 is used to process the signal (e.g., using a standard FMCW scan of the scan in the beamforming direction to determine the approximate surface in the scene and obtain target location information, which is then transmitted to the transmitter device 10); or

[0269] (iv) causing the transmitter device 10 to identify a device carried / encompassed by a target object by using a signal / communication message received from the device by the transmitter device's receiving front end 104 (e.g., matching an identification of a known device in a device database), and using measurement or location information of the device (e.g., provided by the device or by a location service) to determine a rough location of the sensing target. In a specific example, the target sensing object (e.g., a person) carries a receiver device 20 that can also be used to perform distributed radar sensing measurements; or

[0270] (v) enabling the transmitter device 10 to receive information about potential target objects from a sensor, camera, or surveillance system (e.g., capable of generating heat maps or process video footage) and / or through an external application interface (e.g., NEF) for radar-based sensing; or

[0271] (vi) having the transmitter device 10 use CSI information received from a set of devices in the area and use that information to calculate changes and / or interruptions / occlusions of certain signals to detect some activity / movement of objects in the area and use that signal to determine a rough location of a potential sensing target; or

[0272] (vii) causing the transmitter device to transmit an initial set of signals (possibly at different frequencies, varying waveforms, varying bandwidths, and various beam steering directions / angles / focusing areas) and receive reports from a set of receiver devices 10 that have received one or more of these signals, including timing information of the received signals and processed information about these signals, such as IF signal information or angle of arrival, and using information from these reports to determine a rough location of a potential sensing target; or

[0273] (viii) causing the transmitter device to initiate a sensing operation on a configured target area / volume (whereby the transmitter device and / or the receiver device may be configured by a sensing service (e.g., operated by a cellular core network)), and based on the output of the sensing operation on the target area / volume performed by a sensing transmitter that transmits the sensing signal set, the sensing receiver receives the sensing signal set (whereby the output may be obtained by performing measurements / signal processing of the received sensing signals), detects (e.g., by the transmitter device, the receiver device, or the sensing service to which the output may be sent) a set of objects and / or determines a set of sensing information for one or more detected objects, and / or determines based on a set of target identification information (e.g., provided / configured by a sensing service, core network function, or application) whether the sensing information set for one or more detected objects meets or does not meet one or more configured criteria for identifying a target, and based on the determination, stops or continues the sensing operation or initiates another sensing operation or generates an event or sends a signal to indicate that a matching target is detected or not detected. The location of the detected target may be stored or provided to the sensing service.

[0274] Based on the target location / area / volume information and / or based on whether the target is detected to be present in the target location / area / volume and / or the location of the detected target or equipment carried / covered by the target, the transmitter device 10 selects an appropriate transmitter target direction for beamforming of the distributed radar function.

[0275] In addition, the transmitter device 10 selects appropriate parameters of the sensing signal to be generated for the distributed radar function. The sensing signal generation parameters may be selected to satisfy at least one of the bandwidth / frequency constraints at the transmitter device 10, the limitations on the sensing signal generation capabilities of the radar mode signal generator 102, and the requirements of the radar application (e.g., as requested by the receiver device 20). Such sensing signal generation parameters may include at least one of the number of sensing signals (related to the scan time and application requirements), the sensing signal repetition rate (alternatively, the delay between chirps), the sensing signal frequency slope, the sensing signal bandwidth, the lowest sensing signal (starting) frequency, the initial sensing signal phase, and the sensing signal start time (the exact time of the first sensing signal, which may be selected later).

[0276] Further details on the relationship between the sensed signal parameters and the accuracy of positioning and velocity (and the use of triangular chirp signals rather than linear chirp signals) can be obtained from, for example, Pasi “Triangular and RampWaveforms in Target Detection with a Frequency Modulated Continuous WaveRadar”, Master’s thesis, School of Electronic Engineering, Espoo, collected on January 23, 2017:

[0277] Before or after, the transmitter device 10 uses its transmitter standard communication unit 101 (e.g., 5G) to send configuration information (e.g., radar session parameters (RSP), sensing signal generation parameters, sensing signal start time (CST), transmitter location (TXL, the transmitter device 10's own location) and target location information (TLI) and other information about the target (e.g., shape / size, material / reflectivity characteristics)) to the receiver device 20, for example as part of an RRC message (e.g., a measurement configuration included in an RRC reconfiguration message or an RRC recovery message) (e.g., an encrypted payload).

[0278] The transmitted receiver configuration information is received by the receiver standard communication unit 201 (e.g., 5G) and (optionally) decrypted and verified at the receiver device 20 using a suitable process (e.g., a decryption algorithm).

[0279] It should be noted that any of the data exchanges in any of the methods described herein may be protected between the transmitter device 10 and the receiver device 20, where protected may mean integrity protected and / or encrypted. Integrity protection may be required to ensure that an attacker cannot tamper with required radar parameters, such as chirp generation parameters. Encryption may be required, for example, to ensure that an attacker located close to the receiver device 20 cannot use the transmitted signal to monitor the target.

[0280] Optionally, if specific ranging and positioning is required, the receiver device 20 can derive a relative positioning offset (or alternatively a distance and angle) and / or an equivalent time delay (transmitter-computer delay) between the transmitter device 10 and the receiver device 20 by at least one of the following: calculating the relative positioning offset (or equivalent optical transmission time) between the transmitter device 10 and the receiver device 20 using the transmitter position plus its own known receiver position, or based on a round-trip delay measurement from the receiver device 20 to the transmitter device 10, and using the receiver time delay measurement and utilizing the transmitter device 10 to back off the time delay using the transmitter time delay measurement, or reusing the transmitter-receiver delay obtained above to determine.

[0281] This relative position / distance / time delay can be used to derive the times at which the transmitter sensing signals will be transmitted and received, and in subsequent digital signal processing to enable knowledge of points in the environment or scene that are located on a spatial ellipse of equal delay times defined as foci by the transmitter device 10 and the receiver device 20.

[0282] The relative position / distance / time delay information provided to the receiver may also be used to delay / trigger the start time of the active sensing time interval at the receiver, e.g., so that only the reflected sensing signal is sensed / received and considered for the sensing algorithm, rather than the first signal that arrives at the receiver via a direct path without reflection (given a longer path, and thus a longer delay / later signal arrival time of the reflected sensing signal compared to a shorter path, and thus a shorter delay / earlier arrival time of the direct sensing signal). To this end, signals received before a certain time (e.g., based on an estimated distance / delay of the signal traveling directly between the transmitter device and the receiver device) may be ignored / discarded, and only those signals that arrive after a time exceeding the estimated delay of the direct path will be used for further analysis.

[0283] At the sensing signal start time, the transmitter device 10 uses the radar mode signal generator 102 operating on the sensing signal generation parameters and transmits a sensing signal or a sensing signal sequence (E-CRP) having an antenna beam formed in the direction of the target (ie, in the transmitting target direction).

[0284] The transmitter device 10 may also communicate its movement and vibration to the receiver device 20 via its transmitter standard communication unit 101 by using a transmitter mobile data sequence (TX-MOV-D) during a series of sensing signal transmissions or sensing intervals (e.g., chirp sequence transmissions) that have been obtained by the transmitter mobile sensor 108. The transmitter mobile data sequence may be sent together with the sensing signal (e.g., encoded in the signal) or by using a separate communication channel between the transmitter and the receiver (e.g., as a series of RRC or MAC control element messages).

[0285] The receiver device 20 receives the reflected sensing signal (R-CRP) by calculating the direction to the target and / or the expected delay of the signal arriving via the path reflected by the target from the target position information provided to it by the transmitter device 10 .

[0286] Alternatively, the receiver device 20 may search for radar reflections until it finds a desired signal, e.g., a signal corresponding to (pre-)configured / received sensing signal characteristics (e.g., waveform, frequency, preamble, encoded identity, etc.) or a maximum return signal, or which corresponds to a specific pattern (based on the application) in the reflected sensing signal (e.g., which may indicate / represent vital signs or movement of an object), and use that direction as the receiver target direction.

[0287] Alternatively, if the receiver device 20 allows multiple sensing signals to be sent before analysis can begin and / or the receiver device 20 does not know the direction of the beamformed radar transmission, the receiver device 20 can use beamforming to scan the environment or scene and detect the direction that gives the highest sensing signal return and store it as the receiver target direction.

[0288] The receiver device 20 then directs its antenna using beamforming reception in the receiver target direction and collects the reflected radio signals to form a received signal.

[0289] The receiver device 20 may then start the IF signal generation process by using the sensing signal generation parameters and optionally the sensing signal start time and the transmitter-receiver delay to generate an internal analog signal (i.e., a synthetic sensing signal that exactly matches the transmitted sensing signal) through its radar mode signal generator 202. It may combine the internal analog signal with the received signal in the IF mixer 207-1 to generate the IF signal. The options for this signal combination may be that the synthetic sensing signal is timed to match the sensing signal start time (the exact time when the sensing signal is transmitted by the transmitter device 10) or the synthetic sensing signal is timed to match the time when the sensing signal will arrive at the receiver device 20 via a direct path (i.e., the synthetic sensing signal time is equal to the sensing signal start time plus the transmitter-receiver delay), or the synthetic sensing signal time is equal to the sensing signal start time plus a defined fraction of the transmitter-receiver delay.

[0290] The reason for adding the transmitter-receiver delay (or some fraction of the delay) may be to obtain a minimum range (i.e., minimum IF frequency) that is zero (or some minimum value) rather than representing the distance to the transmitter device 10, thereby reducing the IF frequency and increasing the available detection range (by reducing the "measurement range" of the detection).

[0291] In an example where an object is to be precisely located, it is assumed that the transmitter device 10 can also receive radar signals (i.e., it also includes a non-distributed radar), and therefore, the distance D1 to any object is estimated due to the use of, for example, an FMCW radar. The receiver device 20 knows exactly when the transmitter device 10 starts sending the sensing signal, and can estimate the distance D2 from the transmitter device 10 to the receiver device 20 through the reflection path. In this case, the distance D3 from the receiver device 20 to the object can be calculated as D3=D1-D21. Therefore, if the positions of the receiver device 20 and the transmitter device 10 are known (e.g., in the case of a distributed access device (e.g., gNB-DU)), then this embodiment can be used to enhance the positioning algorithm.

[0292] Similarly, if the transmitter device 10 can receive radar signals and is able to accurately calculate the distance D1 and / or angle A1 between the transmitter and the sensing target, and forward this information together with its own (relative) positioning information, then the receiver device can use this information together with the information of the received sensing signal via a direct non-reflected path (i.e., typically the first instance of a series of sensing signals) and via a reflected path to more accurately calculate the distance between the receiver and the transmitter or its position relative to the transmitter or its more accurate absolute geographic location.

[0293] In those examples where the transmitter device 10 or the receiver device 20 optionally includes a non-distributed radar, the positioning information may also be derived from alternative positioning or ranging techniques, such as 5G positioning or ranging techniques (such as round-trip time, angle of arrival, time of flight, etc.) enabled by signals (e.g., positioning signals via a standard Uu interface or PC5 (sidelink) interface).

[0294] After the IF signal is generated in the IF mixer 207-1 of the receiver device 20, the signal can be bandpass filtered or lowpass filtered and converted to a digital signal using the filter and ADC components 207-2 and 207-3. The IF signal can be highpass filtered (as part of the bandpass filter) if the use of the IF data requires the removal of echoes (reflected chirp signals) below a certain minimum "range" (the distance from the transmitter device 10 to the target and back to the receiver device 20). In addition, the IF signal can be lowpass filtered to prevent aliasing of the upper frequency range of the ADC 207-3.

[0295] The resulting digital data obtained from the ADC 207 - 3 may be processed using a digital signal processing system 207 - 4 to produce sensed information (eg, sensed measurements / results or application specific data).

[0296] Alternatively, the digital signal processing may be distributed by transmitting the resulting digital data to the transmitter device 10 (e.g., as an RRC measurement report) or a network function / device (e.g., via a non-access stratum (NAS) message or a user plane (UP) message). The processed received sensing signals and / or digital data and / or sensing measurements / results and / or application-specific data and / or other sensing information / results may be sent to the transmitter device 10 or a cloud computing resource (e.g., an edge server), which may return the processing results to the receiver device 20. The resulting digital data or sensing information from the above-described sensing operations may be used to detect a set of objects and / or to determine a set of sensing information of one or more detected objects and / or to determine whether a set of sensing information of one or more detected objects satisfies one or more configured criteria for identifying a target based on a set of target identification information. Based on the determination, the receiver device and / or the transmitter device and / or the sensing service may:

[0297] Stop or continue sensing operation;

[0298] Initiate additional sensing operations;

[0299] Generate an event or send a signal to indicate the detection or non-detection of a matching target; or

[0300] • Initiate / continue authorization of a target for sensing (eg, verify whether a detected object is an authorized target for sensing services).

[0301] Optionally, the receiver device 20 can use standard (e.g., 5G) communication between the receiver device 20 and the transmitter device 10 based on the results of the above-mentioned digital signal processing to send the updated improved TLI and / or position / movement / vibration information of the receiver device (e.g., as acquired by its motion sensor 208) to the transmitter device 10 during radar processing to enable the transmitter device 10 to continue accurate beamforming toward the target, or adjust the beamforming toward the target by the transmitter device 10, or adjust the sensing signal sent by the transmitter device 10, or adjust the sensing signal configuration information to be used by the transmitter device 10 and / or to be sent to the receiver device, or update the position information of the target and / or receiver by the transmitter device 10 based on the target position information and / or receiver position / movement / vibration information and / or the processed sensing signal and / or the obtained digital data and / or application-specific data and / or other sensing information / results received from the receiver device 20 during the distributed radar processing process.

[0302] It should be noted that due to the equal delay times of the reflected sensing signals being located in a spatial ellipse (limited to some extent by the beamwidth of the transmitted signal), the receiver device 20 may have limited information about the exact location of the target. The target object may move to the edge of the transmitter beam, such that the transmitter device 10 may need to update its transmitter target direction.

[0303] Optionally, motion compensation may be performed, wherein detected movement of the transmitter device 10 and / or the receiver device 20 is subtracted during data processing, wherein the receiver motion sensor 208 obtains a sensor signal (motion data sequence) of the movement of the receiver device 20 and the transmitter motion sensor 108 obtains the movement of the transmitter device 10.

[0304] Finally, the input information may be collected and the resulting digital data (D-DISP) may be stored and displayed by the receiver device 20 using its user interface and data storage 210. The precise nature and details of the user interface, data storage, and display process may depend on the type and nature of the receiver device 20 (e.g., UE), and may range from a high resolution display with a sophisticated user interface to the generation of a very simple digital display or alert.

[0305] Sensing Flowchart

[0306] Figure 4 An embodiment of a flow diagram of a sensing operation (eg, radar-based sensing operation) between a transmitter device and a receiver device (including identification and authorization of a target for sensing), whereby the transmitter device and the receiver device may or may not be co-located, is schematically illustrated.

[0307] In the optional initial session request (RS-REQ) step S401, a receiver device (e.g., a terminal device), or a transmitter device (e.g., an access device), or a sensing service, or a sensing application (e.g., via an NEF), or a mobile device carried / covered by a target, or a mobile device subscribed to a sensing service may send a sensing session request (e.g., using an RRC or NAS message), possibly enhanced with information about the location of the receiver device, the transmitter device, or the mobile device to the sensing service (e.g., operated by a core network function or a transmitter device), or generally the wireless network operates or provides access to the corresponding service. The request and / or corresponding information may be sent as part of a PDU session request or a request for a service that may involve sensing.

[0308] Optionally, information about the target location, area or volume, and / or a set of target identification information or identifiers associated with the set of target identification information, and / or an AI model (partially) capable of identifying the target, and / or an identifier for authorizing the device to use the sensing service or participate in the sensing operation, and / or the required scanning time may also be provided by the receiver device, the transmitter device or the mobile device.

[0309] Optionally, the receiver device, transmitter device, or mobile device is authenticated by the network and authorized to use the sensing service or participate in sensing operations (e.g., by verifying whether subscription information associated with the device's unique identifier includes information about whether the device has subscribed to the sensing service or is authorized by a user (e.g., the target of the sensing service) to participate in sensing operations on a target).

[0310] In an optional responsive request confirmation (REQ-CONF) / rejection (REQ-DEN) step S402, the sensing service and / or transmitter device and / or receiver device determines whether (one or more) it can respond to the request (e.g., sufficient bandwidth is available for the signal given its current communication needs) and sends a confirmation or rejection response to the requesting device or service. The response (e.g., using an RRC or NAS message) may include a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with a set of target identification information and / or other sensing configuration information. The response may also include credentials to be used to securely send (e.g., integrity / confidentiality protection) any sensing measurements / results or other sensing information about one or more targets / objects, and / or sensing configuration information for the sensing service, or other devices or services or applications involved in the sensing session / operation. The response may also include a message for notifying the user that the sensing service is activated and / or requesting confirmation from the user of the UE to initiate / approve sensing of the target, and / or may also include a request for the location of the UE (if not provided in the request), for example, to use it to verify whether the UE is near the target.

[0311] Optionally or alternatively, the sensing service or transmitter device may find potential transmitter or receiver devices that are close to the expected target (e.g., by requesting the last known position fix from a location database / service, or by requesting the potential transmitter or receiver device to send its known position fix information, or obtaining a position fix from the potential transmitter or receiver device based on signals received from the potential transmitter or receiver device through trilateration / triangulation / round trip time calculation), and may voluntarily request (e.g., using RRC or NAS messages) the transmitter or receiver device for sensing. The sensing service or transmitter device may transmit sensing configuration information to the transmitter or receiver device participating in sensing of the target based on the set of target identification information. Similar to the above-mentioned confirmation or rejection response, the request may include a set of target identification information or identifiers associated with the set of target identification information and / or other sensing configuration information, and may also include credentials to be used to securely send (e.g., integrity / confidentiality protection) any sensing measurements / results or other sensing information about one or more targets / objects, and / or sensing configuration information for the sensing service, or other devices or services or applications involved in the sensing session / operation. The request may also include a message notifying the user that the sensing service is activated and / or requesting confirmation from the user of the UE to initiate / approve sensing of the target, and / or may also include a request for the location of the UE (if not provided in the request), for example, to use the request to verify whether the UE is in the vicinity of the target.

[0312] Then, an optional time synchronization (T-SYNC) and delay compensation (D-COMP) step S403 is initiated, wherein the receiver clock is synchronized to the transmitter clock by sending a timing signal to the receiver device.

[0313] In an optional subsequent target location acquisition (TP-ACQ) step S404, the target position / area / volume information is determined by the transmitter device, the receiver device or the sensing service, for example, by performing an approximate radar object position scan in the direction indicated by the receiver device as an initial target position estimate.

[0314] Alternatively or additionally, information about the target location / area / volume may be provided as part of the sensing configuration or may be provided (indirectly) from the receiver device, transmitter device or mobile device (as mentioned in step RS-REQ), which the transmitter device may use as target location information.

[0315] Alternatively or additionally, a set of target identifications or an identifier associated with a set of target identification information may be provided to a receiver device, a transmitter device, or a sensing service.

[0316] Then, in a transmitter beamforming direction selection (BFD-SEL) step S405, the transmitter device selects an appropriate direction (for beamforming) for performing radar-based sensing (distributed or non-distributed) based on the target location information / area / volume as the transmitter target direction.

[0317] In the following signal parameter generation (eg, chirp parameter generation (CP-GEN)), step S406, the transmitter device selects appropriate parameters of the signal and generates matching parameters for signal generation (eg, through DFT-s-OFDM processing).

[0318] Then, in an optional subsequent (radar-based) sensing session parameter transmission (RSP-TX) step SD407, the generated parameters and / or the selected start time and / or location of the transmitter device and / or the target location information / area / volume are protected (e.g., encrypted using an encryption algorithm) and sent to the receiver device, where they are decrypted using a corresponding decryption algorithm.

[0319] In the following optional receiver-transmitter relative positioning and delay estimation (RX-TX-P / D-EST) step S408, the receiver device uses the transmitter position plus its own known receiver position or round-trip delay measurement to calculate the relative offset (or equivalent optical transmission time) between the transmitter device and the receiver device.

[0320] At the signal (eg, chirp) start time, the transmitter device initiates a transmitter generation (TX-C-GEN) step S409 and generates and transmits a signal or a signal sequence via an antenna beam formed in the direction of the transmitter target direction based on generation parameters.

[0321] In an optional transmitter movement sequence transmission (TX-MOV-TX) step S410, the transmitter device transmits its detected movements and / or vibrations during the sequence to the receiver device or sensing service as a transmitter movement data sequence.

[0322] In the receiver reflection signal acquisition (RX-R-SIG-ACQ) step S411, the receiver collects the reflected radio signal, whereby it can obtain a reception signal using beamforming reception directed toward a target.

[0323] The above steps S401 to S411 may also be applied to a CSI-based distributed sensing system.

[0324] In an optional receiver IF signal generation (RX-IF-GEN) step S412, the receiver device uses the obtained sensing signal start time, transmitter-receiver delay, and sensing signal generation parameters to generate a synthetic internal analog sensing signal that matches the transmitted sensing signal, and mixes the signal with the received signal to generate an IF signal.

[0325] Additionally or alternatively, the receiver may perform measurements (e.g., determining a time of arrival of a received sensing signal, determining an angle of arrival of a sensing signal, determining an amplitude or frequency of a signal) or perform digital signal processing of the received sensing signal (e.g., to perform filtering of the signal, such as bandpass filtering or determining a signal deformation).

[0326] In a subsequent optional receiver signal processing (RX-SIG-PROC) step S413, the resulting IF digital signal data or output from measurements and / or digital signal processing performed on the received sensing signal is processed to produce sensing information (e.g., sensing measurements / results or application-specific data, such as the position, movement, vibration, etc. of a detected object, which may be a potential / intended target).

[0327] Additionally or alternatively, the resulting IF digital signal data or output resulting from measurements and / or digital signal processing performed on the received sensing signals and / or resulting sensing information is sent to a sensing service or transmitter device for further processing.

[0328] In an optional target identification (T-ID) step, the receiver device, transmitter device or sensing service uses IF digital signal data, or outputs obtained by measurements and / or digital signal processing performed on the received sensing signals, or sensing information generated from the previous step for detecting a set of objects and / or for determining a set of sensing information for one or more detected objects and / or for determining that the set of sensing information for one or more detected objects satisfies the criteria of one or more configurations for identifying the target based on the set of target identification information. The set of target identifications may be, for example, pre-configured, or may be sent as part of a request for a sensing operation / session (e.g., from a core network function or application (e.g., via an NEF), or from a device connected to the network), or may be sent to the corresponding receiver device, transmitter device or sensing service when authenticating or authorizing a sensing service for a device connected to the network (which may be carried or covered by a sensing target) (e.g., from an AUSF or UDM), or may be retrieved from a core network function or database based on an identifier received as part of a request for a sensing operation / session or as part of an authentication / authorization step, whereby the identifier is associated with the set of target identification information. Based on the determination, the receiver device, the transmitter device and / or the sensing service may:

[0329] Stop or continue sensing operation;

[0330] Initiate additional sensing operations;

[0331] Generate an event or send a signal to indicate the detection or non-detection of a matching target; or

[0332] • Initiate / continue authorization for the target of sensing (eg, verify whether the detected object is an authorized target of the sensing service).

[0333] In addition, in an optional receiver target positioning update transmission (RX-TP-UD-TX) step S414, the receiver device may send updated and improved target location information to the transmitter device based on the result of step S413 to enable the transmitter device to continue accurate beamforming toward the target.

[0334] Additionally, an optional transmitter and receiver motion compensation (TX / RX-MOV-COMP) step S415 may be integrated, wherein the measured motion and / or vibration of the transmitter device and the receiver device are subtracted from the radar detected motion.

[0335] Finally, in a user interface, data storage and display (UI / DS / DISP) step S416, the resulting data (e.g., sensing information about the target object or information about whether a matching target is detected) may be stored and / or may be sent to a network service or application (e.g., via an NEF) and / or may be displayed by a receiver device, a transmitter device, or other device that may receive the resulting data from a core network service or application (e.g., a mobile device carried / covered by the target). The user interface and input information are collected (when necessary) using the user interface.

[0336] In the following additional embodiments, details of the specialized processing applied to the digitized IF signal are described (e.g., in Figure 4 in step S413).

[0337] Figure 5 An embodiment of a flow chart of a position and movement detection process is schematically shown.

[0338] This embodiment may be relevant to use cases such as object counting, object motion detection and measurement, infrastructure monitoring, etc. In this case, a receiver device or a transmitter device may request to establish a process for regular radar operation (e.g., repeated radar sensing every 15 (fifteen) minutes).

[0339] In the initial background clutter subtraction (BG-C-SUB) step S501, background subtraction of clutter (e.g., undesired multipath signals) from the digital IF signal (i.e., IF frequency data) is performed. Background subtraction can be achieved by distinguishing foreground information from background information based on the changes in data received at different times. This can be achieved by applying a recursive moving average (RMA) or a Gaussian mixture model (GMM) to learn the mean of the path distribution.

[0340] Then, in a surface identification (SF-ID) step S502, each surface is identified from the constant lines detected in the IF frequency data.

[0341] For objects with measurable velocity, in the surface velocity identification (SF-V-ID) step S503, the velocity of each isolated surface is identified by averaging the phase change over several consecutive sensing signals of the data extracted from the surface after phase extraction and phase unwrapping (e.g., by applying a Doppler FFT). The sensing signal reflected at the moving surface causes a Doppler frequency shift proportional to the velocity of the surface. This frequency shift introduces a phase shift in the detected sensing signal.

[0342] For objects with slow and long-term movement, the movement can be found in the slow movement detection (SL-MOV-DET) step S504 by determining their position (range, direction) at regular times and calculating the change of the position over time.

[0343] Figure 6 An embodiment of a flow chart of a heart rate and breathing rate detection process is schematically shown.

[0344] Next, in an initial background clutter subtraction (BG-C-SUB) step S601, background subtraction of clutter from the digital IF signal (ie, IF frequency data) is performed.

[0345] Then, in the target surface selection (T-SF-SEL) step S602, the correct surface of the target user is selected from the constant line (at the correct range) in the IF frequency data.

[0346] In a subsequent phase data isolation (PD-ISO) step S603, the phase data from the selected surface is isolated and phase unwrapped (eg, by applying a Doppler FFT).

[0347] Alternatively, the phase can be represented by the complex components of the sine and cosine of the signal (this avoids the need for phase unwrapping).

[0348] Then, in a phase filtering (PS-FIL) step S604, the phase signal is bandpass filtered for a heart rate frequency range (e.g., 0.6 to 4 Hz) and / or a respiratory rate (e.g., 0.1 to 0.6 Hz) to derive heart rate data and / or respiratory rate data.

[0349] Finally, in a vital signal extraction (VS-EXTR) step S605, the resulting data is processed to extract vital sign signals from the noise, for example, using an algorithm such as a deep neural network trained on a dataset collected in conjunction with a "gold standard" (such as an electrocardiogram (ECG) and / or a stretch-respiratory sensor) to compensate for noise and background motion to extract the desired signal (heart rate, respiratory rate), signal variability (e.g., heart rate variability), and confidence values ​​for the accuracy of the data values.

[0350] Wireless sensing operated by network functions

[0351] Another embodiment of the present invention is Figure 7 In the statement, Figure 7 An example sensing system 700 is schematically shown, whereby a network (e.g., Figure 7 The RF sensing management function (RSMF) deployed by the 5G core network as depicted in the figure configures or controls configuration parameters and / or sensing requirements, and / or collects or combines sensing results of sensing transmitters (sTX) and / or sensing receivers (sRX), for example to perform matching and / or identify target objects. Such an RSMF can be deployed as a separate function or service in the core network, as part of an existing function in the core network (for example, as part of or extension of the location management function (LMF) as specified in 3GPP TS23.273), as part of a wireless access device (such as a base station), or for example as part of an application function or edge application or cloud server (which can indirectly provide configuration information or sensing requirements and / or receive sensing results via a network exposure function (NEF)), and can generally be regarded as a sensing service and / or can support sensing capabilities as described for the sensing service in the present disclosure.

[0352] The RSMF may include the ability to send and receive data to / from a sensing transmitter (sTX) and / or a sensing receiver (sRX) and / or other core network functions and / or services (e.g., as specified in 3GPP TS 23.501, in particular UDM, UDR, AUSF and / or Figure 7A (network) communication unit for sending and receiving messages to and from a sensing transmitter (sTX) and / or a sensing receiver (sRX) using the AMF functions and / or services shown, which may include a non-volatile storage device for storing sensing capabilities received from a sensing transmitter (sTX) and / or a sensing receiver (sRX), and may include a processing unit that runs a sensing application or operation to determine parameters to be configured for the sensing transmitter (sTX) and / or the sensing receiver (sRX) (e.g., based on the sensing capabilities received from the sensing receiver (sRX) and / or from the sensing transmitter (sTX)), and / or based on sensing requirements (e.g., as received from or determined by an application or other service), and / or based on information about a target object (TO) (e.g., a set of target identification information as described in other embodiments of the present disclosure)) to collect sensing results from the sensing transmitter (sTX) and / or from the sensing receiver (sRX), and / or perform matching or object identification, and / or further process the collected sensing results.

[0353] The RSMF may be deployed as part of a system 700 comprising a set of sensing transmitter devices (sTX) (e.g., a base station, an access point, or a UE (e.g., a mobile phone)) and a set of sensing receiver devices (sRX) (e.g., a base station, an access point, or a UE (e.g., a mobile phone)), whereby the sensing transmitter and receiver devices (sTX, sRX) may be co-located and thereby be part of the same device (and may therefore be controlled and operated as a single entity), and whereby the RSMF may be (securely) connected directly or indirectly to these sensing transmitter and receiver devices (sTX, sRX) via a set of wireless and / or wired connections, and whereby the RSMF and the involved sensing transmitter and receiver devices (sTX, sRX) may communicate with each other via a messaging protocol (e.g., a messaging protocol based on or extending the NAS protocol as defined in 3GPP TS 24.501, or the RRC protocol as defined in 3GPP TS 38.331, or the RRC protocol as defined in 3GPP TS 38.341). The two systems may communicate with each other using the Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP) as defined in TS 37.355, or the New Radio (NR) Positioning Protocol (NRPP) as defined in TS 38.455.

[0354] The RSMF and / or the sensing transmitter device (sTX) and / or the sensing receiver device (sRX) may support a method or service flow comprising the following steps which may be performed in any order:

[0355] - When a sensing receiver device (sRX) (e.g., UE) registers with the network, the sensing receiver device (sRX) may provide its wireless sensing capabilities (e.g., device information (such as the number of antennas or the frequency range supported), wireless sensing signal processing capabilities, capabilities of the sensing receiver or sensing transmitter or both, wireless sensing signal transmission capabilities (e.g., frequency, timing, phase, the type of signal it can generate), etc.), directly to the RSMF using a signal or message sent from the sensing receiver device (sRX) to the RSMF at 709, or indirectly to the RSMF using a signal or message sent from the sensing receiver device (sRX) to the sensing transmitter device (sTX) at 712 and then sent from the sensing transmitter device (sTX) to the RSMF at 710. The sensing receiver device (sRX) may also include its own positioning information, if known.

[0356] Alternatively or additionally, the positioning of the sensing receiver device (sRX) may be obtained from the LMF or location server, or from a wireless access device (eg, a base station) to which the sensing receiver device (sRX) is connected or co-located.

[0357] Similarly, when a sensing transmitter device (sTX) (e.g., a wireless access device such as a base station (e.g., a mobile base station relay device)) is added to the network, it can provide its wireless sensing capabilities to the RSMF using a signal or message at 710.

[0358] It should be noted that in alternative embodiments, the (wireless) access device may also be OAM (operation, administration and maintenance) managed, whereby the RSMF may be deployed as part of the OAM, or may be connected to the RSMF to exchange signals or messages (such as the sensing capabilities of the wireless access device, configuration messages for sensing, or sensing measurements or sensing results).

[0359] The wireless access device or core network function (e.g., AMF) to which the sensing receiver device (sRX) or the sensing transmitter device (sTX) is registered may forward or redirect a signal or message or capability information received from the sensing receiver device (sRX) or from the sensing transmitter device (sTX) to the RSMF (e.g., based on a device identifier or session identifier or RSMF identifier that may be provided in a registration message). The sensing receiver device (sRX) or the sensing transmitter device (sTX) may also send their capabilities after initial registration, for example, using an RRCUECapabilityInformation message as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331, or via an LPPProvideCapabilities message as specified in 3GPP TS 37.355, or as part of a sensing session establishment request message (e.g., via a separate / new NAS message extending the message defined in 3GPP TS24.501, via a separate or new RRC message extending the message defined in 3GPP TS 38.331, or via a separate or new LPP or NRPP message extending the messages defined in 3GPP TS 37.355 and TS 38.455, respectively). Note that the capabilities of each device involved in sensing may be different. For example, the RF signal processing capabilities of the UE may be different from the RF signal processing capabilities of the base station, for example, the UE may be able to determine the location or movement of the target object (TO), but may not be able to determine the shape of the target object (TO), or, for example, the UE may be able to receive and perform measurements of the received sensing signals, but may not be able to generate and send wireless sensing signals. Therefore, the configuration of each of these sensing transmitter and sensing receiver devices (sTX, sRX) may be different, or may change according to their capabilities or the roles they take (e.g., acting as a sensing transmitter or a sensing receiver). If the device can act as both a sensing transmitter (sTX) and a sensing receiver (sRX), the sensing transmitter and receiver roles may be independently configured and / or activated and may be dynamically changed (e.g., it may act as both a sensing transmitter and a sensing receiver at the same time according to a given schedule or based on, for example, a message received by an RSMF or another network function or by a local application).

[0360] Based on the sensing requirements of the (5G) core network services (e.g., provided by or via the GMLC or LMF or AMF) or external applications (e.g., provided via the NEF) or the UE (e.g., provided during registration with the core network), and / or based on the received capabilities, the RSMF can determine a set of wireless access devices (e.g., base stations) and / or UEs and / or other devices to be used for sensing, and can configure one or more of these devices as transmitters of wireless sensing signals using a signal or message sent directly from the RSMF to the sensing transmitter device (sTX) at 706. To this end, the core network service may provide relevant information for sensing (e.g., sensing needs / requirements) by issuing a request for sensing to the RSMF using a network initiated location request (NI-LR) (e.g., as defined in TS23.273), and the RSMF may be extended to include information about the target to be sensed and / or information about the sensing requirements (e.g., sensing results, such as speed, required calculations and / or accuracy requirements) and / or about sensing configuration information (e.g., target location / area / volume information that may be based on the location of the UE initiating the request, or an identifier of the UE initiating the request if the location of the UE is unknown and still needs to be determined) and / or about the capabilities of one or more sensing receivers or sensing transmitters. The RSMF is capable of receiving and interpreting such information, and the RSMF may then initiate the selection and configuration of the sensing transmitter device based on the information. Similarly, the UE may issue a mobile originated location request (MO-LR) or another client (e.g., an application function) may issue a mobile terminated location request (MT-LR) carrying the above information to the RMSF. If the location of the requesting UE (or the identity of the UE included in the request to the RSMF, e.g., triggered by a core network function to initiate sensing via the RSMF) is used as the target location, and the location of the UE is not yet known, the RSMF may first request the LMF to determine the location of the UE, after which it may use the resulting location as the target location, possibly with some other information, such as the (preconfigured or estimated) distance between the UE and the target, or (preconfigured or estimated) information about the emergency / disaster area. In addition, one or more of the set of wireless access devices (e.g., base stations) and / or UEs and / or other devices for sensing may be configured as receivers of wireless sensing signals, using signals or messages sent directly from the RSMF to a sensing receiver device (sRX) at 707 or indirectly from the RSMF (i.e., sent from the RSMF to a sensing transmitter device (sTX) at 706 and then from the sensing transmitter device (sTX) to the sensing receiver device (sRX) at 711). The sensing transmitter and receiver devices (sTX, sRX) may also be co-located.

[0361] The device configuration information may include information about the wireless sensing signal to be used (e.g., timing, frequency, phase offset, identification of the wireless sensing signal), identification of the algorithm or filter to be used for processing, a wireless sensing application or session identifier, a destination for sending signal processing results, etc. (e.g., as described in the present disclosure). Some of these parameters may also be determined by the device itself, for example, a sensing transmitter device (sTX) may determine the timing of the sensing signal (i.e., which resources are used for the sensing signal). Such parameters may be exchanged directly with (one or more) sensing receiver devices (e.g., via a DCI or sidelink control information (SCI) signal or message as specified in 3GPP TS 38.212 (e.g., having a specific (new) format and / or sensing signal parameters identifiable to indicate reception or transmission of a sensing signal, such as frequency), or via a semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) indicating a set of repetitive resources for the sensing signal) or indirectly via a core network.

[0362] Based on the sensing needs of the (5G) core network service (e.g., as part of the authentication and / or authorization process of the target of the sensing service) or an external application, the RSMF can obtain information about a set of target objects. This information may include (rough) location information (or, for example, the last known location) or area information (e.g., the address of a factory, hospital or house, or representing a (geographical) area or volume) where the target object is expected to reside or where it typically resides, or may include information about how to identify a specific target object (e.g., physical properties, materials, shape, etc.) (i.e., a set of target identification information as described in other embodiments of the present disclosure), or may include identification of a device that a person may own or carry, etc. (e.g., as described in other embodiments of the present disclosure). The RSMF may use this information about the set of target objects to select and configure a set of sensing transmitters and / or receiver devices (sTX, sRX) to participate in sensing of the indicated target or target area / volume (which may include information about the wireless sensing signals to be used, as previously described above), and / or may forward and / or configure some of this information to the set of sensing transmitters and / or sensing receiver devices (sTX, sRX). For example, the RSMF may provide a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with the set of target identification information to the set of sensing transmitters and / or receiver devices (sTX, sRX).

[0363] Additionally or alternatively, a UE device carried or covered by a target object (TO) may establish a connection to a network (e.g., to an AMF) via 701, and may trigger or initiate a sensing operation by sending a signal (which may carry a message) to the RSMF, the signal indicating such a trigger or initiation directly (e.g., via a tunneling connection on 701 and 715) or indirectly (e.g., via the AMF on 715 or via the AUSF on 705, whereby the UE may use a different set of messages for the AMF or AUSF than those used between the AMF or AUSF and the RSMF). Upon receiving such a trigger or initiation for initiating sensing, the AMF or AUSF or RSMF may initiate or request authorization for sensing services for the UE. For example, the AUSF may obtain the SUPI of the UE based on the identity provided by the UE to the AMF at 701, then sent from the AMF to the AUSF via a message at 702, or based on the identity provided by the UE to the AMF at 701, sent from the AMF to the RSMF via a message at 715, and then sent from the RSMF to the AUSF via a message at 714, and based on the obtained SUPI, the AUSF may check or verify the information in the subscription database (e.g., UDM) by sending a message to the UDM at 703 to determine whether the user of the UE device has subscribed to the sensing service and / or whether the UE device is authorized to participate in the sensing operation and / or whether the user of the UE device has provided permission as a target for the sensing operation. If the user of the UE device is indeed authorized, the UDM or the AUSF or the AMF may notify the RSMF about this by sending a message at 704, 705 or 715, respectively. The message may contain a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with a set of target identification information (e.g., provided by the UDM / UDR, which may store the information as part of the subscription information for the sensing service). Thereafter, the RSMF, the sensing transmitter device (sTX) and / or the sensing receiver device (sRX) may initiate or perform sensing as described in the present disclosure. Note that initiating a sensing operation may include receiving or retrieving a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with a set of target identification information (e.g., if the set of target identification information and the set of identifiers associated therewith have been provided prior to or during pre-configuration of the sensing transmitter and receiver devices (sTX, sRX) and / or the RSMF involved).

[0364] Optionally, the RSMF may send a signal or message to a UE device carried or covered by a target object (TO) (e.g., via a tunnel connection at 715 and 701) indicating that a sensing operation has started or is about to start. The UE device may display a notification to the user, or may request the user to provide confirmation that he / she / it agrees to start the sensing operation (or automatically provide confirmation based on the UE device configuration), on which a signal may be sent back to the sensing service (e.g., via a tunnel connection at 715 and 701) to indicate whether confirmation has been obtained. And if confirmation is obtained, sensing is initiated or further performed. The AUSF may optionally provide credential information to the RSMF at 705, and / or the RSMF may determine a set of credential information and may provide the set of credential information to the AUSF at 714. The AUSF or RSMF can provide the credential information to the device involved (e.g., a sensing transmitter device (sTX), a sensing receiver device (sRX)) after successful authentication and / or authorization, which can use the credential information to securely send (e.g., integrity and / or confidentiality protection) any sensing measurements and / or results (i.e., sensing information sets) or other sensing information, and / or sensing configuration information about one or more target objects to the RSMF or to other devices or services or applications involved in the sensing session or sensing operation.

[0365] A UE device carried or covered by a target object (TO) may provide information about its location and / or an identifier associated with a set of target identification information and / or other sensing capability / configuration information after it has registered the network with the RSMF (e.g., via an AMF or LMF that may connect to the RSMF to obtain the location of the UE), or may be requested by the RSMF or LMF to provide its location or participate in a location determination process so that the RSMF may obtain the positioning of the UE device and / or may be requested to provide a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with a set of target identification information and / or other sensing capability / configuration information.

[0366] The positioning information can be used as an (initial) target position and / or can be used to configure (one or more) sensing receivers and (one or more) sensing transmitters for sensing TO, that is, the RSMF can use the location information of the UE device together with the location information of a set of sensing receiver devices and / or (one or more) sensing transmitter devices that it may have stored or can obtain, so as to select and configure a set of sensing transmitters and / or sensing receiver devices (sTX, sRX) near the UE device (and therefore near the TO) so that these devices (sTX, sRX) can participate in the sensing operation of the TO. Similarly, a set of target identification information or an identifier and / or other sensing capability / configuration information associated with a set of target identification information can be used by the RSMF to select and configure a set of sensing transmitters and / or sensing receiver devices (sTX, sRX) that are capable of participating in or are optimally equipped to participate in sensing of the TO based on the target identification information (e.g., by determining the required / desired accuracy that the RSMF can select sensing transmitters and / or sensing receiver devices (sTX, sRX) based on which the RSMF can select sensing transmitters and / or sensing receiver devices (sTX, sRX) that may be able to achieve the required / desired accuracy, for example, because they support sensing using high frequency bands).

[0367] It should be noted that the RSMF may provide location information about the UE device and / or location information about the sensing transmitter device (sTX) and / or the sensing receiver device (sRX) to one or more of the UE device and / or the (selected) sensing transmitter device (sTX) and / or the (selected) sensing receiver device (sRX). In addition, the sensing transmitter device (sTX) or the sensing receiver device (sRX) may each (further) provide location information about itself or about other sensing transmitter devices (sTX) or about other sensing receiver devices (sRX) to other sensing transmitters and sensing receiver devices (sTX, sRX). This information can be used during processing of sensing measurements and / or sensing results to determine the location of the target object (TO) (as described in other embodiments of the present disclosure).

[0368] Alternatively, if target location or area or volume information is not available, the RSMF may trigger a (broadcast) search function where a request is made to the sending transmitter device (sTX) to sense the environment to determine coarse location information of a set of target objects (TO).

[0369] Alternatively or additionally, one or more devices involved in the sensing (e.g., a base station that may include both sensing transmitter and sensing receiver capabilities) may determine a coarse location or position of the target object (TO) (e.g., based on non-distributed radar sensing) and provide this information regarding the coarse location or position of the target object (TO) to the RSMF.

[0370] Alternatively or additionally, the rough position (or last known position) of the target object (TO) or more generally the target position or area or volume may be provided by an external application (e.g., via NEF), or may be obtained, for example, from an LMF (as specified in 3GPP TS23.273) or from a network data analysis function (NWDAF) (as specified in 3GPP TS23.288) (e.g., based on the identification of a device or UE device expected or known to be attached to or carried by the target object (TO)). The RSMF or sensing transmitter device (sTX) or sensing receiver device (sRX) may provide the coarse positioning or position information about the target object (TO) or more generally the target position or area or volume to the sensing receiver devices (sRX / sRX) and the sensing transmitter devices (sTX / sTX) involved.

[0371] Alternatively or additionally, the sensing function or service (RSMF) may obtain information about devices (e.g., information about their identification and estimated location) in the vicinity of a target object (TO) (e.g., a set of nearby base stations or UEs in the vicinity that can be authorized (or authorized) by the network and / or by a user of the device and / or by a target person or target object owner to participate in (distributed) sensing of the intended target. The authorization information (which may also include user permission information) may be stored as part of the user's subscription (e.g., in the UDM function of the core network) and / or as part of the RSMF, and / or may be received from a service or application function or an external application (e.g., via an NEF). The RSMF may use the information about the sensing transmitter and receiver devices (sTX, sRX) in the vicinity of the target object (TO) to select and configure the sensing transmitter and sensing receiver devices (sTX, sRX) to be used. Devices involved in sensing may be invited and / or devices to be involved in a sensing session may be configured by sending a message that may include a session identifier and / or a sensing signal identifier and / or a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with a set of target identification information.

[0372] Alternatively or additionally, an initial radar scan or sensing operation performed by one of the sensing devices that may support both transmitter and receiver roles may show that the accuracy of the sensing measurements obtained may not be sufficient to meet the desired accuracy (e.g., as indicated by an external application or received or configured in the RSMF). The sensing device involved may determine this itself and inform the RSMF, or the RSMF may determine this based on the sensing results it may receive from the corresponding sensing device.

[0373] Alternatively or additionally, the RSMF may determine, based on the capabilities of the sensing transmitter and receiver devices (sTX, sRX) and / or the available frequency bands or spectra in a particular area, and / or through previous measurements (e.g., through or obtained from a network analysis function such as NWDAF), that the accuracy of the sensing transmitter and / or receiver devices (sTX, sRX) involved and / or the accuracy that can be obtained in a given sensing area may not be sufficient to meet the requirements of the application. The RSMF may use this information (possibly together with the received capabilities and location information of the sensing transmitter and receiver devices (sTX, sRX) in the area) as a trigger to select other or additional sensing transmitters and / or sensing receiver devices near the target object (TO), and / or improve the sensing measurements and sensing accuracy (e.g., by changing to a higher frequency and / or a larger bandwidth, by increasing the number of signals and / or the number of signal measurements, or by selecting a different algorithm).

[0374] The RSMF may activate one or more of the selected sensing transmitter devices (sTX) and / or sensing receiver devices (sRX) to activate sensing, for example, by directly initiating a sensing session at 706 and / or 707, respectively, or indirectly initiating a sensing session via the sensing transmitter device (sTX) at 706 and subsequently 711. Activation of the sensing transmitter device (sTX) and / or sensing receiver device (sRX) may be automatically triggered by receiving the above-mentioned sensing configuration (e.g., a set of start times or time intervals when a given sensing signal is transmitted), or may be triggered by a separate message (e.g., an additional LPP message containing, for example, a sensing session identifier) ​​or by a separate signal (e.g., detection of an identifiable sensing signal matching one or more of the given signal characteristics or signal identifiers provided during configuration).

[0375] Based on the received configuration information and / or rough position of the target object (TO) or more generally the target position or area or volume, one or more of the sensing transmitter devices (sTX) direct the wireless sensing signal 708 to the target position or area or volume. The time at which such a wireless sensing signal 708 is transmitted is based on timing information (e.g., a set of sensing start times or time intervals or a set of (pre-configured) time or frequency resources for sensing) that is configured and shared, for example, with the sensing receiver device (sRX) and other sensing transmitter devices (sTX). The sensing receiver device (sRX / sRX) will receive the reflected wireless sensing signal 708R and will be able to identify and process the received reflected wireless sensing signal 708R based on the provided wireless sensing configuration information (e.g., as described in the present disclosure). In an example, based on the received reflected wireless sensing signal 708R, timing information of when the signal was sent (e.g., as a configuration or part of timestamp information in the signal), its own known position and the position of the sensing transmitter device (sTX) (e.g., a base station), the location or position of a (potential) target object (TO) can be estimated, for example by using triangulation.

[0376] Additionally or alternatively, each sensing receiver or sensing transmitter device (sRX, sTX) sends its wireless sensing signal measurement and / or processing results to a configured destination (e.g., to RSMF), which collects the results and may perform further processing on these results. RSMF can use all received / collected measurements and / or (partial) sensing results to determine a set of sensing results. This can be based on the sensing requirements received in the location / sensing request (e.g., as received from the application). The sensing results (e.g., the positioning of the target) can be provided to the entity (e.g., GMLC / AMF / NEF / UE) that issues or forwards the "extended" location request to the RSMF. Alternatively or additionally, the sensing results can be stored in a shared storage device (e.g., a unified data repository (UDR)), from which other entities can obtain the sensing results based on an identifier provided by the RSMF to the corresponding entity.

[0377] Processing on the sensing receiver device (sRX) or on the sensing transmitter device (sTX) or part of this further processing to a configured destination (e.g., RSMF) may include steps for detecting a set of objects, and / or steps for determining a set of sensing information (i.e., measurements and / or results) of one or more detected objects, for example using an initial scanning or sensing operation of a target area or volume performed by the sensing service (i.e., RSMF) and / or the sensing transmitter device (sTX) and / or the sensing receiver device (sRX) (also as described in Figure 8), and / or a step for determining whether a set of sensing information (i.e., measurements and / or results obtained as an output of a sensing operation) for one or more detected objects satisfies or does not satisfy one or more configured criteria (e.g., thresholds) for identifying a target based on a set of target identification information. Based on the latter determination, a sensing receiver device (sRX) and / or a sensing transmitter device (sTX) and / or a configured destination (e.g., RSMF) may:

[0378] Stop or continue the sensing operation, for example, by sending a signal or message directly to the sensing transmitter device (sTX) at 706 and / or directly to the sensing receiver device (sRX) at 707, or indirectly to the sensing receiver device (sRX), i.e., via the sensing transmitter device (sTX) at 706 and then from the sensing transmitter device (sTX) to the sensing receiver device (sRX) at 711;

[0379] Initiate additional sensing operations, e.g., by sending a signal or message directly to the sensing transmitter device (sTX) at 706 and / or directly to the sensing receiver device (sRX) at 707, or indirectly to the sensing receiver device (sRX), i.e., via the sensing transmitter device (sTX) at 706 and then from the sensing transmitter device (sTX) to the sensing receiver device (sRX) at 711;

[0380] generating an event or sending a signal indicating that a matching target is detected or not detected (wherein, in the case of a partial match, the matching target matches (with a certain confidence or matching percentage) a subset of the set of target identification information, or in the case of a full match, the matching target matches the entire set of target identification information), for example, by sending a signal or message from the sensing transmitter device (sTX) directly to the RSMF at 710, and / or from the sensing receiver device (sRX) directly to the RSMF at 709, or indirectly from the sensing receiver device (sRX) to the RSMF, i.e., from the sensing receiver device (sRX) to the sensing transmitter device (sTX) at 712 and then from the sensing transmitter device (sTX) to the RSMF at 710, or by sending a signal or message from the RSMF to the UDM / UDR at 713 or to the AUSF at 714 (e.g., as part of an authentication and / or authorization process) or to an application function or AAA server (e.g., via an NEF, not shown) or to a non-volatile storage unit; or

[0381] Initiate or continue authorization of a target or target object (TO) for sensing (e.g., to verify whether the detected object is an authorized target for the sensing service), for example by sending a signal or message from the RSMF to the UDM / UDR at 713, or to the AUSF at 714, or to an application function or AAA server (e.g., via the NEF, not shown).

[0382] Thus, the RSMF can retrieve the wireless sensing capabilities of a sensing receiver device (sRX) and / or a sensing transmitter device (sTX), can configure one or more sensing transmitter devices (sTX) and / or sensing receiver devices (sRX) to participate in wireless sensing of a target object (TO), can configure a receiver device (sRX) with wireless sensing capabilities and / or a transmitter device (sTX) with wireless sensing capabilities with information about a network entity or a destination server that sends wireless sensing results, can configure a transmitter device (sTX) with wireless sensing capabilities and / or a receiver device with wireless sensing capabilities with information about when and how to send and / or receive and / or process wireless sensing signals, and can collect and further process wireless sensing measurements and / or results (i.e., a set of sensing information) from a sensing transmitter device (sTX) and / or from a sensing receiver device (sRX).

[0383] In summary, systems and methods for providing wireless sensing capabilities (e.g., radar-based sensing capabilities) in wireless communication systems have been described, wherein the wireless sensing capabilities enable identification of target objects for sensing and provide the ability for the network to verify whether the target objects are authorized to utilize sensing services.

[0384] Although the present invention has been described and illustrated in detail in the accompanying drawings and the foregoing description, such illustration and description should be considered illustrative or exemplary rather than restrictive. The present invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. It can be applied to various types of UE or terminal devices, such as mobile phones, vital signs monitoring / telemetry devices, smart watches, detectors, vehicles (for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication or more general vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication), V2X devices, IoT hubs, IoT devices, including low-power medical sensors for health monitoring, medical (emergency) diagnostic and treatment equipment, for hospital use or first responder use, virtual reality (VR) headsets, etc.

[0385] In addition, the above embodiments can be implemented in a quasi-distributed deployment, where the base station is a central unit (e.g., gNB-CU) and there are two distributed units (e.g., gNB-DU), one distributed unit acts as a transmitter device and the other acts as a receiver device, and the central unit can be an entity that synchronizes the distributed units.

[0386] A base station can be any network access device that provides a geographic service area (such as a base station, a Node B (eNB, eNode B, gNB, gNode B, ng-eNB, etc.), an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) relay node, an access point, etc.).

[0387] In addition, at least some of the above-described embodiments may be implemented to provide a new product class of network equipment for 5G / 6G / xG cellular networks or (low-cost / medium-cost) reconfigurable smart surfaces for improving coverage, reliability, and speed of cellular networks.

[0388] Those skilled in the art can understand and implement other variations of the disclosed embodiments by studying the drawings, the present disclosure and the appended claims when practicing the claimed invention. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude multiple. A single processor or other unit can implement the functions of several items recorded in the claims. Throughout the specification and claims, the expression "at least one of A, B and C" or "at least one of A, B or C" should generally be understood to mean "A and / or B and / or C". The fact that certain measures are recorded only in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that the combination of these measures cannot bring advantages. The previous description details certain embodiments of the present invention. However, it should be understood that regardless of the foregoing content appears in the text, the present invention can be practiced in many ways and is therefore not limited to the disclosed embodiments. It should be noted that the use of specific terms in describing certain features or aspects of the present invention should not be considered to mean that the terms are redefined herein to be limited to include any specific characteristics of the features or aspects of the present invention associated with the term.

[0389] and Figures 4 to 8 The operations described in the embodiment of the present invention can be implemented as program code means of a computer program and / or dedicated hardware of related network devices or functions, respectively. The computer program can be stored / distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium, which is provided together with other hardware or as part of other hardware, but can also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing wireless sensing capability, wherein: The device is configured to perform at least the following operations: Obtain a collection of target identification information; detecting a set of objects and determining a set of sensing information about one or more of the detected objects (TO) based on outputs of sensing operations of a target area or volume performed by at least a sensing transmitter (sTX) transmitting a set of sensing signals and a sensing receiver (sRX) receiving the set of sensing signals; determining, based on the set of target identification information, whether the set of sensed information about the one or more of the detected objects satisfies or does not satisfy one or more configured criteria for identifying a target; as well as Based on the determining whether the set of sensed information about the one or more of the detected objects satisfies or does not satisfy the one or more configured criteria for identifying the target, performing at least one of the following: Stop or continue the sensing operation; Initiating additional sensing operations; generating an event or sending a signal, wherein the generated event or the sent signal indicates that a matching target is detected or not detected; as well as Initiate or continue authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing.

2. An apparatus for providing wireless sensing capability, wherein: The device is configured to perform at least the following operations: Detecting a set of objects and determining a set of sensing information about one or more of the detected objects based on output of a sensing operation (801) of a target area or volume performed by at least a sensing transmitter (10) transmitting a set of sensing signals and a sensing receiver (20) receiving the set of sensing signals; providing the set of sensed information about the one or more objects and / or one or more potential targets among the detected objects to a target matching entity (40); receiving a result of a target matching process (803) performed by the target matching entity based on the set of sensing information and the set of target identification information; as well as Based on the result of the target matching process, perform at least one of the following: Stop or continue the sensing operation; Initiating additional sensing operations; generating an event or sending a signal, wherein the generated event or the sent signal indicates that a matching target is detected or not detected; as well as Initiate or continue authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing.

3. The device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The apparatus comprises a communication unit configured to operate the sensing transmitter and / or the sensing receiver in order to generate the output of the sensing operation.

4. The device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The apparatus comprises a communication unit configured to configure the sensing transmitter and / or the sensing receiver based on the set of target identification information and to receive the output of the sensing operation from the sensing transmitter and / or the sensing receiver.

5. The device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The apparatus comprises a communication unit configured to connect to a network and receive the set of target identification information from the network, and Optionally, the device receives the set of target identification information from the network after the device has been authenticated by the network and authorized to participate in the sensing operation.

6. The device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The device is configured to operate as a network function or service within the network, and Optionally, the device includes: a communication unit configured to receive a set of target identification information such as obtained from claim 1 or the result of the target matching process received from claim 2 from an authentication server function (AUSF), a unified data management (UDM), a unified data repository (UDR), a network open function (NEF) or an external database.

7. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The device is configured to initiate or continue the authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing using an identifier associated with the set of target identification information, or to continue the sensing operation based on determining that the set of sensing information about one or more of the detected objects satisfies one or more configured criteria for identifying the target based on the set of target identification information associated with the identifier.

8. The device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: the apparatus receiving the set of target identification information or an identifier associated with the set of target identification information after a device associated with a subscribed sensing service has been authenticated and authorized by the network for use of the sensing service, and Optionally, where: After the device associated with the subscribing to the sensing service has been determined to be located in the target area or volume, the apparatus receives the set of target identification information or the identifier associated with the set of target identification information, and / or The apparatus is configured to send a signal or a message to the device associated with the subscribing to the sensing service, the signal or the message indicating that the sensing operation has started or indicating a request for confirmation of initiation of the sensing operation.

9. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The device determines whether the set of sensing information satisfies or does not satisfy one or more configured criteria without accessing content of the set of target identification information.

10. A wireless communication device, comprising: A communication unit configured to connect to a network, the network configured to operate a sensing service, wherein the wireless communication device is configured to send an identifier to be used to authorize use of the sensing service and retrieve a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with the set of target identification information for use in a sensing operation initiated by the network.

11. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The wireless communication device is configured to provide location information, and the sensing operation is performed in a target area or volume based on the location information.

12. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The wireless communication device is configured to receive a signal or message from the network indicating that the sensing operation has started or indicating a request for confirmation of initiation of the sensing operation.

13. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein: The wireless communication device is configured to send the set of target identification information or the identifier associated with the set of target identification information or an artificial intelligence (AI) model capable of identifying a target to the sensing service operated by the network.

14. A system comprising at least the wireless communication device according to claim 9 and the apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The apparatus receives a set of target identification information or an identifier associated with the set of target identification information after the wireless communication device has been authenticated and authorized by a network to use sensing services.

15. A method for providing sensing capabilities in a wireless communication network or device, the method comprising at least: Obtain a collection of target identification information; detecting a set of objects (TO) and determining a set of sensing information about one or more detected objects based on output of sensing operations of a target area or volume performed by at least a sensing transmitter (sTX) transmitting a set of sensing signals and a sensing receiver (sRX) receiving the set of sensing signals; determining, based on the set of target identification information, whether the set of sensed information about one or more of the detected objects satisfies or does not satisfy one or more configured criteria for identifying a target; as well as Based on the determining whether the set of sensed information about the one or more of the detected objects satisfies or does not satisfy the one or more configured criteria for identifying the target, performing at least one of the following: Stop or continue the sensing operation; Initiating additional sensing operations; generating an event or sending a signal, wherein the generated event or the sent signal indicates that a matching target is detected or not detected; as well as Initiate or continue authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing.

16. A method for providing sensing capabilities in a wireless communication network or device, the method comprising at least: Detecting a set of objects and determining a set of sensing information about one or more of the detected objects based on output of a sensing operation (801) of a target area or volume performed by at least a sensing transmitter (10) transmitting a set of sensing signals and a sensing receiver (20) receiving the set of sensing signals; providing the set of sensed information about the one or more objects and / or one or more potential targets among the detected objects to a target matching entity (40); receiving a result of a target matching process (803) performed by the target matching entity based on the set of sensing information and the set of target identification information; as well as Based on the result of the target matching process, at least one of the following is performed: Stop or continue the sensing operation; Initiating additional sensing operations; generating an event or sending a signal, wherein the generated event or the sent signal indicates that a matching target is detected or not detected; as well as Initiate or continue authorization of the matching target as a target for sensing.

17. A computer program product comprising code means for producing the steps of any one of claims 15 to 16 when executed on a processor of a wireless communication device or a processor of a device operating a wireless communication network.

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