Apparatus and method for use in an initiator station

Abstract

The application relates to an apparatus and method for use in an initiator station (ISTA). In one embodiment, an apparatus for use in an ISTA includes a processor circuit configured to cause the ISTA to transmit a fine time measurement (FTM) request frame to a responder station (RSTA), where: the FTM request frame includes a ranging parameter element; a ranging capability specific to the ISTA supporting 20-160 MHz ranging or common to the ISTA supporting 20-160 MHz ranging and the ISTA supporting 320 MHz ranging is carried in a secure long training field (LTF) sub-element of the ranging parameter element, and a ranging capability specific to the ISTA supporting 320 MHz ranging is carried in a 320 MHz ranging parameter sub-element of the ranging parameter element.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of U.S. patent application No. 63 / 589,811, filed on October 12, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Background Art

[0003] Wireless devices are becoming more and more prevalent and are increasingly requesting access to wireless channels. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is developing one or more standards that utilize Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in channel allocation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] Embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the accompanying drawings in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements.

[0005] Figure 1 is a network diagram illustrating an example network environment according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0006] Figure 2A is a table showing the correspondence between the field values ​​of the format and bandwidth subfields and their corresponding technical formats and bandwidths according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0007] Figure 2B It is a schematic diagram of the format of a 320 MHz ranging parameter sub-element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0008] Figure 3 is a functional block diagram of an exemplary communication station according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0009] Figure 4 is a functional block diagram of an example machine or system that can perform any one or more of the techniques (eg, methodologies) discussed herein.

[0010] Figure 5 It can be realized in Figure 1 A functional block diagram of a radio architecture according to some embodiments of the present disclosure in any one of an AP and / or a user device.

[0011] Figure 6 is a functional block diagram of a WLAN FEM circuit according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 7 is a functional block diagram of a radio IC circuit according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0013] Figure 8 is a functional block diagram of a baseband processing circuit according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] The various aspects of the illustrative embodiments will be described using terms commonly used by those skilled in the art to convey the substance of the present disclosure to those skilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that many alternative embodiments may be implemented using the parts of the described aspects. For purposes of explanation, specific numbers, materials, and configurations are provided to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrative embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that alternative embodiments may be implemented without these specific details. In other cases, known features may be omitted or simplified to avoid confusing the illustrative embodiments.

[0015] Furthermore, various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations in sequence in a manner that is most helpful for understanding the illustrative embodiments; however, the order of description should not be interpreted as implying that these operations must be order-dependent. In particular, these operations do not need to be performed in the order presented.

[0016] The phrases "in an embodiment," "in one embodiment," and "in some embodiments" are used repeatedly herein. These phrases generally do not refer to the same embodiment; however, they may refer to the same embodiment. Unless the context dictates otherwise, the terms "comprising," "including," and "having" are synonymous. The phrases "A or B" and "A / B" mean "(A), (B), or (A and B)."

[0017] Figure 1 FIG. 1 is a network diagram showing an example network environment according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 1 As shown, wireless network 100 may include one or more user devices 102 and one or more access points (APs) 104, which may communicate with each other according to IEEE 802.11 communication standards. User device 102 may be a non-fixed (e.g., no fixed location) mobile device or a fixed device.

[0018] In some embodiments, user equipment 102 and AP 104 may include a Figure 3 Functional diagram and / or Figure 4 One or more functional modules of the functional modules in an exemplary machine / system.

[0019] One or more user devices 102 and / or AP 104 may be operated by one or more users 110. It should be noted that any addressable unit may be a station (STA). A STA may have a plurality of different characteristics, each of which shapes its functionality. For example, a single addressable unit may be a portable STA, a quality of service (QoS) STA, a subordinate STA, and a hidden STA at the same time. One or more user devices 102 and one or more AP 104 may be STAs. One or more user devices 102 and / or AP 104 may operate as a personal basic service set (PBSS) control point / access point (PCP / AP). User devices 102 (e.g., 1024, 1026, or 1028) and / or AP 104 may include any suitable processor-driven device, including but not limited to mobile devices or non-mobile devices (e.g., static devices). For example, the user equipment 102 and / or the AP 104 may include a user equipment (UE), a station (STA), an access point (AP), a software-enabled AP (SoftAP), a personal computer (PC), a wearable wireless device (e.g., a wristband, a watch, glasses, a ring, etc.), a desktop computer, a mobile computer, a laptop computer, an ultrabook, or a wireless communication device. TM) computer, notebook computer, tablet computer, server computer, handheld computer, handheld device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, sensor device, personal digital assistant (PDA) device, handheld PDA device, airborne device, non-airborne device, hybrid device (e.g., combining cellular phone functionality with PDA device functionality), consumer device, in-vehicle device, non-in-vehicle device, mobile or portable device, non-mobile or non-portable device, mobile phone, cellular phone, personal communications service (PCS) device, PDA device including wireless communication device, mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) device, digital video broadcasting (DVB) device, relatively small computing device, non-desktop computer, "carry small" computing device livelarge)" (CSLL) devices, ultra mobile devices (UMDs), ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs), mobile Internet devices (MIDs), "origami" devices or computing devices, devices supporting dynamic composable computing (DCC), context-aware devices, video devices, audio devices, audio-visual (A / V) devices, set-top boxes (STBs), Blu-ray disc (BD) players, BD recorders, digital video disc (DVD) players, high-definition (HD) DVD players, DVD recorders, HDDVD recorders, personal video recorders (PVRs), broadcast HD receivers, video sources, audio sources, video sinks, audio sinks, stereo tuners, broadcast radio receivers, flat panel displays, personal media players (PMPs), digital video cameras (DVCs), digital audio players, speakers, audio receivers, audio amplifiers, gaming devices, data sources, data sinks, digital still cameras (DSCs), media players, smart phones, televisions, music players, and the like. Other devices including smart devices such as lamps, climate controls, automotive components, home components, appliances, and the like may also be included in this list.

[0020] As used herein, the term "Internet of Things (IoT) device" is used to refer to any object (e.g., an appliance, a sensor, etc.) that has an addressable interface (e.g., an Internet Protocol (IP) address, a Bluetooth identifier (ID), a near field communication (NFC) ID, etc.) and is capable of sending information to one or more other devices via a wired or wireless connection. IoT devices may have a passive communication interface (e.g., a quick response (QR) code, a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, an NFC tag, etc.) or an active communication interface (e.g., a modem, a transceiver, a transceiver, etc.). IoT devices may have a specific set of attributes (e.g., a device state or condition, such as whether the IoT device is on or off, open or closed, idle or active, available for task execution or busy, etc., cooling or heating functions, environmental monitoring or recording functions, light emission functions, sound emission functions, etc.), which may be embedded in and / or controlled / monitored by a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an ASIC, etc.), and be configured to connect to an IoT network (e.g., a local ad hoc network or the Internet). For example, IoT devices may include, but are not limited to, refrigerators, toasters, ovens, microwave ovens, freezers, dishwashers, dishes, hand tools, washing machines, dryers, furnaces, air conditioners, thermostats, televisions, lamps, vacuum cleaners, sprinklers, electric meters, gas meters, etc., as long as these devices are equipped with an addressable communication interface for communicating with the IoT network. IoT devices may also include cellular phones, desktop computers, laptop computers, tablet computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc. Therefore, an IoT network may include a combination of "traditional" Internet-accessible devices (e.g., laptop or desktop computers, cellular phones, etc.) in addition to devices that typically do not have Internet connectivity (e.g., dishwashers, etc.).

[0021] User equipment 102 and / or AP 104 may also include, for example, a mesh station in a mesh network in accordance with one or more IEEE 802.11 standards and / or 3GPP standards.

[0022] Any of the user devices 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 may be configured to communicate wirelessly or wired with each other through one or more communication networks 130 and / or 135. The user devices 102 may also communicate peer-to-peer or directly with each other with or without AP 104. Any of the communication networks 130 and / or 135 may include, but are not limited to, any one or a combination of different types of suitable communication networks, such as a broadcast network, a wired network, a public network (e.g., the Internet), a private network, a wireless network, a cellular network, or any other suitable private and / or public network. In addition, any of the communication networks 130 and / or 135 may have any suitable communication range associated therewith, and may include, for example, a global network (e.g., the Internet), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), or a personal area network (PAN). In addition, any of the communication networks 130 and / or 135 may include any type of media that can carry network traffic, including but not limited to coaxial cable, twisted pair, optical fiber, hybrid fiber-coaxial (HFC) media, microwave terrestrial transceivers, radio frequency communication media, white space communication media, ultra-high frequency communication media, satellite communication media, or any combination thereof.

[0023] Any of the user devices 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, 1028) and the AP 104 may include one or more communication antennas. The one or more communication antennas may be any suitable type of antenna corresponding to the communication protocol used by the user devices 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, and 1028) and the AP 104. Some non-limiting examples of suitable communication antennas include Wi-Fi antennas, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards-compliant antennas, directional antennas, non-directional antennas, dipole antennas, folded dipole antennas, patch antennas, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas, omnidirectional antennas, quasi-omnidirectional antennas, etc. The one or more communication antennas may be communicatively coupled to a radio component to send and / or receive signals, such as communication signals to and / or from the user devices 102 and / or the AP 104.

[0024] Any one of the user equipment 102 (e.g., user equipment 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 can be configured to perform directional transmission and / or directional reception in conjunction with wireless communication in a wireless network. Any one of the user equipment 102 (e.g., user equipment 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 can be configured to use a set of multiple antenna arrays (e.g., DMG antenna arrays, etc.) to perform such directional transmission and / or reception. Each antenna array in the multiple antenna arrays can be used for transmission and / or reception in a specific corresponding direction or range of directions. Any one of the user equipment 102 (e.g., user equipment 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 can be configured to perform any given directional transmission toward one or more defined transmission sectors. Any one of the user equipment 102 (e.g., user equipment 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 can be configured to perform any given directional reception from one or more defined reception sectors.

[0025] MIMO beamforming in a wireless network can be implemented using radio frequency (RF) beamforming and / or digital beamforming. In some embodiments, when performing a given MIMO transmission, user equipment 102 and / or AP 104 can be configured to perform MIMO beamforming using all or a subset of its one or more communication antennas.

[0026] Any of the user devices 102 (e.g., user devices 1024, 1026, 1028) and AP 104 may include any suitable radio and / or transceiver for sending and / or receiving radio frequency (RF) signals in a bandwidth and / or channel corresponding to the communication protocol used by any of the user devices 102 and AP 104 to communicate with each other. The radio component may include hardware and / or software to modulate and / or demodulate communication signals according to a pre-established transmission protocol. The radio component may also have hardware and / or software instructions to communicate via one or more Wi-Fi and / or Wi-Fi direct protocols as standardized by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards. It should be understood that this list of communication channels according to certain 802.11 standards is only a partial list, and other 802.11 standards (e.g., next generation Wi-Fi or other standards) may be used. In some embodiments, non-Wi-Fi protocols may be used for communication between devices, such as Bluetooth, dedicated short-range communication (DSRC), ultra-high frequency (UHF) (e.g., IEEE 802.11af, IEEE 802.22), white band frequencies (e.g., white space), or other packet radio communications. The radio component may include any known receiver and baseband suitable for communicating via the communication protocol. The radio component may also include a low noise amplifier (LNA), an additional signal amplifier, an analog-to-digital (A / D) converter, one or more buffers, and a digital baseband.

[0027] IEEE 802.11bk is a standard that aims to extend the Wi-Fi positioning / ranging / location technology defined in IEEE 802.11az to 320MHz scenarios. IEEE 802.11az only covers bandwidths up to 160MHz. IEEE 802.11bk is expected to reuse IEEE 802.11az technologies and protocols to cover 320MHz bandwidth. For example, an initiator station (ISTA) supporting IEEE 802.11bk is expected to perform ranging operations with a responder station (RSTA) supporting IEEE 802.11az or IEEE 802.11bk by using fine time measurement (FTM) negotiation. FTM negotiation includes: ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk sends an FTM request frame for requesting resources to RSTA supporting IEEE802.11az or IEEE 802.11bk; RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11az or IEEE802.11bk sends an FTM response frame for allocating resources to ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk in response to the FTM request frame. This means that the FTM request frame needs to be backward compatible with RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11az, and contains all the information for setting up an IEEE 802.11bk session with RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk. It should be understood that when an ISTA supporting IEEE802.11bk is implemented as an AP, an RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11az or IEEE 802.11bk is implemented as a non-AP STA, or when an ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk is implemented as a non-AP STA, an RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11az or IEEE802.11bk is implemented as an AP STA.

[0028] Currently, the FTM request frame includes a ranging parameter element, and the ranging parameter element includes a ranging parameter field. The ISTA supporting IEEE802.11bk can set the format and bandwidth subfield in the ranging parameter field of the ranging parameter element to the previously reserved value 6 to indicate that it supports 320MHz ranging. However, the RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11az will not understand the format and bandwidth subfield = 6 because it is a reserved value in IEEE 802.11az. That is, if the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk sets the format and bandwidth subfield to 6, it means that the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk supports 320MHz ranging, and the RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11az will not understand it, and therefore does not know what ranging bandwidth the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk can support.

[0029] In view of the above situation, a ranging capability signaling scheme is proposed, which can be used by ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk to ensure the backward compatibility of FTM request frames to RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11az. In the ranging capability signaling scheme, the ranging capability unique to ISTA supporting 20-160MHz ranging or common to ISTA supporting 20-160MHz ranging and ISTA supporting 320MHz ranging is carried in the secure long training field (LTF) sub-element of the ranging parameter element, and the ranging capability unique to ISTA supporting 320MHz ranging is carried in the 320MHz ranging parameter sub-element of the ranging parameter element.

[0030] In some embodiments, an ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk may set the format and bandwidth subfield in the ranging parameters field of the ranging parameters element to a first value (e.g., 8) to indicate that it supports 320 MHz ranging using an extremely high throughput (EHT) format in addition to supporting 20-160 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format. That is, an ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk may use the format and bandwidth subfield in the ranging parameters field of the ranging parameters element as a tool to indicate that it can perform 320 MHz ranging with an RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk and perform <= 160 MHz ranging with an RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11az. In this case, the RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11az can perform <= 160 MHz ranging with the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk; and the RSTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk can perform 320 MHz ranging with the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk.

[0031] In some embodiments, an ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk may set the Format and Bandwidth subfield in the Ranging Parameters field of the Ranging Parameters element to a second value (e.g., 3, 4, or 5) to indicate that it supports 80+80 MHz ranging using HE format, 160 MHz ranging using two radio frequency (RF) local oscillators (LOs), or 160 MHz ranging using a single RF LO in addition to 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, and 80 MHz ranging using HE format.

[0032] In some embodiments, an ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk may set the Format and Bandwidth subfield in the Ranging Parameters field of the Ranging Parameters element to a third value (e.g., 0, 1, or 3) to indicate that it only supports 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, or 80 MHz ranging using the HE format.

[0033] Figure 2A is a table showing the correspondence between the field values ​​of the format and bandwidth subfields and their corresponding technical formats and bandwidths according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 2A As shown, when the format and bandwidth subfield is set to 0, it means that the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk can use the HE format to perform 20MHz ranging; when the format and bandwidth subfield is set to 1, it means that the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk can use the HE format to perform 40MHz ranging; when the format and bandwidth subfield is set to 2, it means that the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk can use the HE format to perform 80MHz ranging; when the format and bandwidth subfield is set to 3, it means that the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk can use the HE format to perform 20MHz ranging, 40MHz ranging, and 80MHz ranging, and can also use the HE format to perform 80+80MHz ranging; when the format and bandwidth subfield is set to 4, it means that the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk can use the HE format to perform 20MHz ranging, 40MHz ranging, and 80MHz ranging, and can also use the HE format to perform two separate RF When the format and bandwidth subfield is set to 5, it means that ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk can use the HE format to perform 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, and 80 MHz ranging, as well as 160 MHz ranging using a single RF LO; when the format and bandwidth subfield is set to 8, it means that ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk can use the EHT format to perform 320 MHz ranging in addition to 20-160 MHz ranging using the HE format.

[0034] In some embodiments, the 320MHz ranging parameter sub-element includes a 320MHz puncturing support subfield, which indicates the 320MHz puncturing mode set supported by the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk. For example, the 320MHz puncturing support subfield has one bit, which indicates which of the mandatory puncturing mode set and the optional puncturing mode set supported by the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk. The mandatory puncturing mode set includes continuous 320MHz, continuous 240MHz (the following 80MHz is punctured), and continuous 240MHz (the upper 80MHz is punctured). The optional puncturing mode set includes all 25 puncturing modes defined for EHT data communication, including the above three mandatory puncturing modes. When the 320MHz puncturing support subfield is set to 0, it means that the ISTA supporting IEEE802.11bk supports the mandatory puncturing mode set; when the 320MHz puncturing support subfield is set to 1, it means that the ISTA supporting IEEE 802.11bk supports the optional puncturing mode set.

[0035] Figure 2B FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of the format of a 320 MHz ranging parameter sub-element according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 2B As shown, in addition to the 320MHz puncturing support subfield, the 320MHz ranging parameter subelement also includes a subelement identifier (ID) subfield, a length subfield, a maximum R2INss=320MHz subfield indicating the maximum number of spatial streams (NSS) from RSTA to ISTA within the 320MHz bandwidth, and a maximum I2RNss=320MHz subfield indicating the maximum number of NSSs from ISTA to RSTA within the 320MHz bandwidth.

[0036] Figure 3 A functional schematic diagram of an exemplary communication station according to one or more exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. In one embodiment, Figure 3 FIG. 1 shows an example of an AP 104 ( Figure 1 ) or user device 102 ( Figure 1 ) is a functional block diagram of a communication station 300 of the present invention. The communication station 300 may also be suitable for use as a handheld device, a mobile device, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet device, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a wearable computer device, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) subscriber station, an access point, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device.

[0037] The communication station 300 may include a communication circuit 302 and a transceiver 310 for sending signals to and receiving signals from other communication stations using one or more antennas 301. The communication circuit 302 may include circuits capable of operating physical layer (PHY) communications and / or medium access control (MAC) communications to control access to the wireless medium and / or operating any other communication layer for sending and receiving signals. The communication station 300 may also include a processing circuit 306 and a memory 308 arranged to perform the operations described herein. In some embodiments, the communication circuit 302 and the processing circuit 306 may be configured to perform the operations described in detail in the above figures, schematics, and processes.

[0038] In some embodiments, the communication circuit 302 may be arranged to contend for a wireless medium and configure frames or packets for communication on the wireless medium. The communication circuit 302 may be arranged to send and receive signals. The communication circuit 302 may also include circuits for modulation / demodulation, up-conversion / down-conversion, filtering, amplification, etc. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 306 of the communication station 300 may include one or more processors. In other embodiments, more than two antennas 301 may be coupled to the communication circuit 302 arranged to send and receive signals. The memory 308 may store information for configuring the processing circuit 306 to perform operations for configuring and sending message frames and for performing various operations described herein. The memory 308 may include any type of memory, including non-transitory memory, for storing information in a machine (e.g., computer) readable form. For example, the memory 308 may include a computer-readable storage device, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a disk storage medium, an optical storage medium, a flash memory device, and other storage devices and media.

[0039] In some embodiments, the communication station 300 can be part of a portable wireless communication device, which is, for example, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capabilities, a web tablet device, a wireless phone, a smart phone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), a wearable computer device, or other device that can wirelessly receive and / or send information.

[0040] In some embodiments, communication station 300 may include one or more antennas 301. Antenna 301 may include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some embodiments, a single antenna with multiple apertures may be used instead of two or more antennas. In these embodiments, each aperture may be considered a separate antenna. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, antennas may be effectively separated to obtain spatial diversity and different channel characteristics that may be generated between each antenna and the antenna of the transmitting station.

[0041] In some embodiments, communication station 300 may include one or more of a keyboard, display, non-volatile memory port, multiple antennas, graphics processor, application processor, speaker, and other mobile device elements. The display may be a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen including a touch screen.

[0042] Although the communication station 300 is shown as having multiple independent functional elements, two or more of these functional elements may be combined together and may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements (e.g., a processing element including a digital signal processor (DSP) and / or other hardware elements). For example, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuits for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements of the communication station 300 may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[0043] Certain embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. Other embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non-transitory memory mechanism for storing information in a machine (e.g., computer) readable form. For example, a computer-readable storage device may include a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a disk storage medium, an optical storage medium, a flash memory device, and other storage devices and media. In some embodiments, the communication station 300 may include one or more processors and may be configured using instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device.

[0044] Figure 4A block diagram of an example of a machine or system that can perform any one or more technologies (e.g., methods) discussed herein is shown. In other embodiments, machine 400 can be operated as a standalone device, or can be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, machine 400 can operate with the capabilities of a server machine, a client machine, or both of them in a server-client network environment. In one example, machine 400 can be used as a peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. Machine 400 can be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, a wearable computer device, a network device, a network router, a switch or a bridge, or any machine (e.g., a base station) that can execute instructions (sequential or other) specifying the action to be taken by the machine. In addition, although only one machine is shown, the term "machine" should also be considered to include any machine collection that executes a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more methods discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), or other computer cluster configurations, individually or jointly.

[0045] The examples described herein may include logic or multiple components, modules, or mechanisms, and may also operate on logic or multiple components, modules, or mechanisms. A module is a tangible entity (e.g., hardware) that can perform a specified operation when in operation. A module includes hardware. In one example, the hardware may be specifically configured to perform a specific operation (e.g., hard wiring). In another example, the hardware may include a configurable execution unit (e.g., a transistor, a circuit, etc.) and a computer-readable medium containing instructions, wherein these instructions configure the execution unit to perform a specific operation when in operation. The configuration may be performed under the guidance of the execution unit or a loading mechanism. Therefore, when the device is operating, the execution unit is coupled to the computer-readable medium in a communication manner. In this example, the execution unit may be a member of more than one module. For example, under operation, the execution unit may be configured by a first set of instructions to implement a first module at a time point, and the execution unit may be reconfigured by a second set of instructions to implement a second module at a second time point.

[0046] The machine (e.g., computer system) 400 may include a hardware processor 402 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 404, and a static memory 406, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interconnect (e.g., a bus) 408. The machine 400 may also include a power management device 432, a graphics display device 410, an alphanumeric input device 412 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 414 (e.g., a mouse). In one example, the graphics display device 410, the alphanumeric input device 412, and the UI navigation device 414 may be a touch screen display. The machine 400 may also include a storage device (i.e., a drive unit) 416, a signal generating device 418 (e.g., a speaker), a capability indicating device 419, a network interface device / transceiver 420 coupled to one or more antennas 430, and one or more sensors 428 (e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, a compass, an accelerometer, or other sensor). The machine 400 may include an output controller 434, for example, a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB)), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate with or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., printer, card reader, etc.). Operations according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed by a baseband processor. The baseband processor may be configured to generate corresponding baseband signals. The baseband processor may further include a physical layer (PHY) and a media access control layer (MAC) circuit, and may further interface with the hardware processor 402 for baseband signal generation and processing and for controlling the operation of the main memory 404, the storage device 416, and / or the capability indication device 419. The baseband processor may be provided on a single radio card, a single chip, or an integrated circuit (IC).

[0047] The storage device 416 may include a machine-readable medium 422 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 424 (e.g., software) that embody or are utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functionality described herein. The instructions 424 may also reside, in whole or in part, in the main memory 404, the static memory 406, or the hardware processor 402 during execution of the instructions 424 by the machine 400. In one example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 402, the main memory 404, the static memory 406, or the storage device 416 may constitute a machine-readable medium.

[0048] The capability indicating device 419 may implement or perform any of the operations and processes described and illustrated above.

[0049] It should be understood that the above is only a subset of the functions that the capability indicating device 419 may be configured to perform, and other functions included in the present disclosure may also be performed by the capability indicating device 419.

[0050] Although machine-readable medium 422 is illustrated as a single medium, the term “machine-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media (eg, a centralized or distributed database and / or associated caches and servers) configured to store one or more instructions 424 .

[0051] Various embodiments may be implemented in whole or in part in software and / or firmware. The software and / or firmware may take the form of instructions contained in or on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. These instructions may then be read and executed by one or more processors to enable the execution of the operations described herein. The instructions may be in any suitable form, such as, but not limited to, source code, compiled code, parsed code, executable code, static code, dynamic code, etc. Such computer-readable media may include any tangible non-transitory medium for storing information in a form readable by one or more computers, such as, but not limited to, read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory, etc.

[0052] The term "machine-readable medium" may include any medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the machine 400 and causing the machine 400 to perform any one or more of the techniques disclosed herein, or any medium capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting machine-readable medium examples may include solid-state memory and optical and magnetic media. In one example, a large-capacity machine-readable medium includes a machine-readable medium having a plurality of particles having a rest mass. Specific examples of large-capacity machine-readable media may include non-volatile memory (e.g., semiconductor memory devices (e.g., electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM) or electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices); magnetic disks (e.g., internal hard disks and removable disks); magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM optical disks.

[0053] The instructions 424 may also be sent or received via the network interface device / transceiver 420, using a transmission medium, over a communication network 426 using any of a number of transmission protocols (e.g., frame relay, Internet Protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), a mobile telephone network (e.g., a cellular network), a plain old telephone (POTS) network, a wireless data network (e.g., the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 family of standards (known as ), IEEE 802.16 series of standards (called )), IEEE802.15.4 family of standards, and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, etc. In one example, the network interface device / transceiver 420 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or telephone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communication network 426. In one example, the network interface device / transceiver 420 may include multiple antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), or multiple-input single-output (MISO) technologies. The term "transmission medium" should be deemed to include any intangible medium that can store, encode, or carry instructions for execution by the machine 400, and includes digital or analog communication signals or other intangible media that facilitate the transmission of such software.

[0054] In various implementations, the operations and processes described and shown above may be implemented or performed in any appropriate order as needed. In addition, in some implementations, at least a portion of the operations may be performed in parallel. In addition, in some implementations, more or less operations than the described operations may be performed.

[0055] Figure 5 Yes, you can Figure 1 104 and / or user equipment 102 of the present invention, according to some embodiments of the present invention. The radio architecture 500A, 500B may include radio front end module (FEM) circuits 504a-b, radio IC circuits 506a-b, and baseband processing circuits 508a-b. The radio architecture 500A, 500B as shown includes wireless local area network (WLAN) functionality and Bluetooth (BT) functionality, although the embodiments are not limited thereto. In the present disclosure, "WLAN" and "Wi-Fi" may be used interchangeably.

[0056] The FEM circuits 504a-b may include WLAN or Wi-Fi FEM circuits 504a and Bluetooth (BT) FEM circuits 504b. The WLAN FEM circuits 504a may include a receive signal path including circuits configured to operate on WLAN RF signals received from one or more antennas 501 to amplify the received signals and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the WLAN radio IC circuits 506a for further processing. The BT FEM circuits 504b may include a receive signal path including circuits configured to operate on BT RF signals received from one or more antennas 501 to amplify the received signals and provide an amplified version of the received signals to the BT radio IC circuits 506b for further processing. The FEM circuits 504a may also include a transmit signal path including circuits configured to amplify WLAN signals provided by the radio IC circuits 506a for wireless transmission via the one or more antennas 501. Additionally, the FEM circuitry 504b may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry configured to amplify BT signals provided by the radio IC circuitry 506b for wireless transmission via one or more antennas. Figure 5 In the embodiments, although FEM 504a and FEM 504b are shown as being different from each other, the embodiments are not so limited and include within their scope the use of a FEM (not shown) that includes a transmit path and / or receive path for both WLAN signals and BT signals, or the use of one or more FEM circuits (at least some of which share transmit and / or receive signal paths for WLAN signals and BT signals).

[0057] The radio IC circuits 506a-b as shown may include a WLAN radio IC circuit 506a and a BT radio IC circuit 506b. The WLAN radio IC circuit 506a may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry for down-converting a WLAN RF signal received from the FEM circuit 504a and providing a baseband signal to the WLAN baseband processing circuit 508a. The BT radio IC circuit 506b may also include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry for down-converting a BT RF signal received from the FEM circuit 504b and providing a baseband signal to the BT baseband processing circuit 508b. The WLAN radio IC circuit 506a may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry for up-converting a WLAN baseband signal provided by the WLAN baseband processing circuit 508a and providing a WLAN RF output signal to the FEM circuit 504a for subsequent wireless transmission via one or more antennas 501. The BT radio IC circuit 506b may also include a transmit signal path that may include circuitry for up-converting a BT baseband signal provided by the BT baseband processing circuit 508b and providing a BT RF output signal to the FEM circuit 504b for subsequent wireless transmission via one or more antennas 501. Figure 5 In the embodiments, although the radio IC circuits 506a and 506b are shown as being different from each other, the embodiments are not limited thereto and include within their scope the use of a radio IC circuit (not shown) that includes a transmit signal path and / or receive signal path for both WLAN signals and BT signals, or the use of one or more radio IC circuits (at least some of which share transmit and / or receive signal paths for WLAN signals and BT signals).

[0058] The baseband processing circuits 508a-b may include WLAN baseband processing circuits 508a and BT baseband processing circuits 508b. The WLAN baseband processing circuits 508a may include memory, such as a set of RAM arrays in a fast Fourier transform or inverse fast Fourier transform block (not shown) of the WLAN baseband processing circuits 508a. Each of the WLAN baseband processing circuits 508a and the BT baseband processing circuits 508b may also include one or more processors and control logic to process signals received from the corresponding WLAN or BT receive signal paths of the radio IC circuits 506a-b and generate corresponding WLAN or BT baseband signals for the transmit signal paths of the radio IC circuits 506a-b. Each of the baseband processing circuits 508a and 508b may also include physical layer (PHY) and medium access control layer (MAC) circuits, and may further interface with devices for baseband signal generation and processing and for controlling the operation of the radio IC circuits 506a-b.

[0059] Still reference Figure 5 According to the illustrated embodiment, the WLAN-BT coexistence circuit 513 may include logic to provide an interface between the WLAN baseband processing circuit 508a and the BT baseband processing circuit 508b to enable use cases requiring WLAN and BT coexistence. In addition, a switch 503 may be provided between the WLAN FEM circuit 504a and the BT FEM circuit 504b to allow switching between the WLAN and BT radios as required by the application. In addition, although the antenna 501 is depicted as being connected to the WLAN FEM circuit 504a and the BT FEM circuit 504b, respectively, embodiments include within their scope sharing one or more antennas between the WLAN and BT FEMs, or providing more than one antenna connected to each of the FEMs 504a or 504b.

[0060] In some embodiments, the front end module circuits 504a-b, the radio IC circuits 506a-b, and the baseband processing circuits 508a-b may be provided on a single radio card, such as the radio circuit card 502. In some other embodiments, one or more antennas 501, the FEM circuits 504a-b, and the radio IC circuits 506a-b may be provided on a single radio card. In some other embodiments, the radio IC circuits 506a-b and the baseband processing circuits 508a-b may be provided on a single chip or integrated circuit (IC) such as IC 512.

[0061] In some embodiments, the wireless circuit card 502 may include a WLAN radio card and may be configured for Wi-Fi communications, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 500A, 500B may be configured to receive and transmit orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication signals on a multi-carrier communication channel. The OFDM or OFDMA signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0062] In some of these multi-carrier embodiments, the radio architecture 500A, 500B may be part of a Wi-Fi communication station (STA), such as a wireless access point (AP), a base station, or a mobile device, including a Wi-Fi device. In some of these embodiments, the radio architecture 500A, 500B may be configured to send and receive signals according to a specific communication standard and / or protocol, such as any standard of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), including 802.11n-2009, IEEE 802.11-2012, IEEE 802.11-2016, 802.11n-2009, 802.11ac, 802.11ah, 802.11ad, and / or 802.11ax standards, and / or specifications proposed for WLAN, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard. The radio architecture 500A, 500B may also be adapted to send and / or receive communications according to other technologies and standards.

[0063] In some embodiments, the radio architectures 500A, 500B may be configured for high-efficiency Wi-Fi (HEW) communications in accordance with the IEEE 802.11ax standard. In these embodiments, the radio architectures 500A, 500B may be configured to communicate in accordance with OFDMA techniques, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0064] In some other embodiments, the radio architectures 500A, 500B may be configured to send and receive signals sent using one or more other modulation techniques including, for example, spread spectrum modulation (e.g., direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) and / or frequency hopping code division multiple access (FH-CDMA)), time division multiplexing (TDM) modulation, and / or frequency division multiplexing (FDM) modulation, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0065] In some embodiments, Figure 5 As further shown in FIG. 5 , the BT baseband processing circuit 508 b may comply with a Bluetooth (BT) connection standard, such as Bluetooth, Bluetooth 8.0, or Bluetooth 6.0, or any other iteration of the Bluetooth standard.

[0066] In some embodiments, the radio architecture 500A, 500B may include other radio cards, such as a cellular radio card configured for cellular (e.g., 5GPP, e.g., LTE, LTE Advanced, or 7G communications).

[0067] In some IEEE 802.11 embodiments, the radio architectures 500A, 500B can be configured for communication over various channel bandwidths, including bandwidths with center frequencies of approximately 900 MHz, 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and bandwidths of approximately 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 5 MHz, 5.5 MHz, 6 MHz, 8 MHz, 10 MHz, 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz (continuous bandwidth), or 80+80 MHz (160 MHz) (non-continuous bandwidth). In some embodiments, a channel bandwidth of 720 MHz can be used. However, the scope of the embodiments is not limited to the above center frequencies.

[0068] Figure 6 WLAN FEM circuit 504a is shown according to some embodiments. Although described in conjunction with WLAN FEM circuit 504a Figure 6 , but may be combined with the example BT FEM circuit 504b ( Figure 5 )describe Figure 6 , although other circuit configurations may also be applicable.

[0069] In some embodiments, the FEM circuit 504a may include a transmit (TX) / receive (RX) switch 602 for switching between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuit 504a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuit 504a may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) 606 to amplify the received RF signal 603 and provide an amplified received RF signal 607 as an output (e.g., to the radio IC circuit 506a-b ( Figure 5 ) output). The transmit signal path of circuit 504a may include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying an input RF signal 609 (e.g., provided by radio IC circuits 506a-b) and a power amplifier (PA) for generating an RF signal 615 for subsequent transmission via an example duplexer 614 (e.g., via one or more antennas 501 ( Figure 5 )) of one or more filters 612 (e.g., a bandpass filter (BPF), a lowpass filter (LPF), or other types of filters).

[0070] In some dual-mode embodiments for Wi-Fi communications, the FEM circuit 504a can be configured to operate in the 2.4 GHz spectrum or the 5 GHz spectrum. In these embodiments, the receive signal path of the FEM circuit 504a can include a receive signal path duplexer 604 to separate the signals from each spectrum and provide a separate LNA 606 for each spectrum as shown. In these embodiments, the transmit signal path of the FEM circuit 504a can also include a power amplifier 610, a filter 612 (e.g., a BPF, LPF, or other type of filter for each spectrum), and a transmit signal path duplexer 614 to provide a signal of one of the different spectrums to a single transmit path for subsequent transmission through one or more antennas 501 ( Figure 5 In some embodiments, BT communications may utilize a 2.4 GHz signal path and may utilize the same FEM circuitry as the FEM circuitry 504a used for WLAN communications.

[0071] Figure 7 5. A radio IC circuit 506a is shown according to some embodiments. The radio IC circuit 506a is suitable for use as a WLAN or BT radio IC circuit 506a / 506b ( Figure 5 ) is an example of a circuit, although other circuit configurations may also be applicable. Alternatively, the example BT radio IC circuit 506b may be described in conjunction with the example Figure 7 .

[0072] In some embodiments, the radio IC circuit 506a may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the radio IC circuit 506a may include at least a mixer circuit 702 (e.g., a down-conversion mixer circuit), an amplifier circuit 706, and a filter circuit 708. The transmit signal path of the radio IC circuit 506a may include at least a filter circuit 712 and a mixer circuit 714 (e.g., an up-conversion mixer circuit). The radio IC circuit 506a may also include a synthesizer circuit 704 for synthesizing a frequency 705 for use by the mixer circuit 702 and the mixer circuit 714. According to some embodiments, the mixer circuits 702 and / or 714 may be configured to provide a direct conversion function. Compared to a standard superheterodyne mixer circuit, the latter type of circuit presents a simpler architecture and may mitigate any flicker noise caused by it by using, for example, OFDM modulation. Figure 7Only a simplified version of the radio IC circuit is shown, and embodiments may be included (although not shown) in which each of the depicted circuits may include more than one component. For example, mixer circuit 714 may include one or more mixers, respectively, and filter circuits 708 and / or 712 may include one or more filters, respectively, such as one or more BPFs and / or LPFs as required by the application. For example, when the mixer circuits are of the direct conversion type, they may include two or more mixers, respectively.

[0073] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 702 may be configured to generate a synthesized frequency 705 from FEM circuits 504a-b based on the synthesized frequency 705 provided by synthesizer circuit 704. Figure 5 ) to down-convert the received RF signal. The amplifier circuit 706 may be configured to amplify the down-converted signal, and the filter circuit 708 may include an LPF configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signal to generate an output baseband signal 707. The output baseband signal 707 may be provided to the baseband processing circuits 508a-b ( Figure 5 ) for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signal 707 can be a zero-frequency baseband signal, although this is not required. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 702 can include a passive mixer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this regard.

[0074] In some embodiments, mixer circuit 714 may be configured to up-convert input baseband signal 711 based on synthesized frequency 705 provided by synthesizer circuit 704 to generate RF output signal 709 for FEM circuits 504a-b. Baseband signal 711 may be provided by baseband processing circuits 508a-b and may be filtered by filter circuit 712. Filter circuit 712 may include an LPF or a BPF, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0075] In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 702 and the mixer circuit 714 may each include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature down-conversion and / or up-conversion, respectively, with the aid of the synthesizer circuit 704. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 702 and the mixer circuit 714 may each include two or more mixers, each mixer being configured for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 702 and the mixer circuit 714 may each be arranged for direct down-conversion and / or direct up-conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 702 and the mixer circuit 714 may be configured for superheterodyne operation, although this is not required.

[0076] According to one embodiment, mixer circuit 702 may include: quadrature passive mixers (e.g., for in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) paths). In such an embodiment, Figure 6 The RF input signal 607 may be downconverted to provide I and Q baseband output signals to be sent to a baseband processor.

[0077] The quadrature passive mixers may be driven by zero-degree and 90-degree time-varying LO switching signals provided by a quadrature circuit, which may be configured to receive an LO frequency (fLO) from a local oscillator or synthesizer (e.g., synthesizer circuit 704 ( Figure 7 ) LO frequency 705). In some embodiments, the LO frequency can be the carrier frequency, while in other embodiments, the LO frequency can be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., half the carrier frequency, one-third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the zero-degree and 90-degree time-varying switching signals can be generated by a synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0078] In some embodiments, the LO signal may vary in duty cycle (the percentage of a cycle that the LO signal is high) and / or offset (the difference between the beginnings of the cycles). In some embodiments, the LO signal may have an 85% duty cycle and an 80% offset. In some embodiments, each branch of the mixer circuit (e.g., the in-phase (I) and quadrature-phase (Q) paths) may operate at an 80% duty cycle, which may result in a significant reduction in power consumption.

[0079] RF input signal 607 ( Figure 6 ) may include balanced signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The I and Q baseband output signals may be provided to a low noise amplifier, such as amplifier circuit 706 ( Figure 7 ) or filter circuit 708 ( Figure 7 ).

[0080] In some embodiments, output baseband signal 707 and input baseband signal 711 may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternative embodiments, output baseband signal 707 and input baseband signal 711 may be digital baseband signals. In these alternative embodiments, the radio IC circuit may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuits.

[0081] In some dual-mode embodiments, separate radio IC circuits may be provided to process signals for each spectrum or other spectrums not mentioned herein, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0082] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 704 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N / N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, the synthesizer circuit 704 may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer including a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. According to some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 704 may include a digital synthesizer circuit. One advantage of using a digital synthesizer circuit is that, although it may still include some analog components, its footprint is much smaller than that of an analog synthesizer circuit. In some embodiments, the frequency input to the synthesizer circuit 704 may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although this is not required. Depending on the desired output frequency 705, the divider control input may also be provided by the baseband processing circuit 508a-b ( Figure 5 ) is provided in one of the following embodiments. In some embodiments, the divider control input (e.g., N) can be determined from a lookup table (e.g., within a Wi-Fi card) based on the channel number and channel center frequency determined or indicated by the example application processor 510. The application processor 510 can include or otherwise be connected to one of the example secure signal converter 101 or the example receive signal converter 103 (e.g., depending on which device the example radio architecture is implemented in).

[0083] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuit 704 can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency 705, while in other embodiments, the output frequency 705 can be a fraction of the carrier frequency (e.g., half the carrier frequency, one third the carrier frequency). In some embodiments, the output frequency 705 can be the LO frequency (fLO).

[0084] Figure 8 5 shows a block diagram of a baseband processing circuit 508a according to some embodiments. The baseband processing circuit 508a is suitable for use as a baseband processing circuit 508a ( Figure 5 ) is an example of a circuit, although other circuit configurations may also be applicable. Alternatively, Figure 8 The example can be used to implement Figure 5 An example BT baseband processing circuit 508b.

[0085] Baseband processing circuitry 508a may include circuitry for processing signals received from radio IC circuitry 506a-b ( Figure 5 ) and a transmit baseband processor (TX BBP) 804 for generating a transmit baseband signal 711 for the radio IC circuits 506a-b. The baseband processing circuit 508a may also include control logic 806 for coordinating the operation of the baseband processing circuit 508a.

[0086] In some embodiments (e.g., when analog baseband signals are exchanged between baseband processing circuits 508a-b and radio IC circuits 506a-b), baseband processing circuits 508a may include ADC 810 to convert analog baseband signals 809 received from radio IC circuits 506a-b into digital baseband signals for processing by RX BBP 802. In these embodiments, baseband processing circuits 508a may also include DAC 812 to convert digital baseband signals from TX BBP 804 into analog baseband signals 811.

[0087] In some embodiments where OFDM signals or OFDMA signals are transmitted by, for example, baseband processor 508a, the transmit baseband processor 804 may be configured to generate an OFDM or OFDMA signal suitable for transmission by performing an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT). The receive baseband processor 802 may be configured to process the received OFDM or OFDMA signal by performing an FFT. In some embodiments, the receive baseband processor 802 may be configured to detect the presence of an OFDM or OFDMA signal by performing an autocorrelation, detect a preamble (e.g., a short preamble), and detect a long preamble by performing a cross-correlation. The preamble may be part of a predetermined frame structure for Wi-Fi communications.

[0088] Return to reference Figure 5 In some embodiments, antenna 501 ( Figure 5 ) may each include one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas, or other types of antennas suitable for transmitting RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas may be effectively separated to exploit spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result. Antennas 501 may each include a set of phased array antennas, although embodiments are not limited thereto.

[0089] Although the radio architectures 500A, 500B are shown as having multiple independent functional elements, one or more functional elements may be combined together and may be implemented by a combination of software-configured elements (e.g., a processing element including a digital signal processor (DSP) and / or other hardware elements). For example, some elements may include one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs), and combinations of various hardware and logic circuits for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, a functional element may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

[0090] The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. The terms "computing device," "user device," "communication station," "station," "handheld device," "mobile device," "wireless device," and "user equipment (UE)" as used herein refer to a wireless communication device, such as a cellular phone, a smart phone, a tablet device, a netbook, a wireless terminal, a laptop computer, a femtocell, a high data rate (HDR) user station, an access point, a printer, a point of sale device, an access terminal, or other personal communication system (PCS) device. The device may be mobile or fixed.

[0091] The term "transmit" as used in this document is intended to include sending or receiving, or both sending and receiving. This may be particularly useful in a claim when describing the organization of data that is sent by one device and received by another device, but requiring only the functionality of one of these devices would infringe the claim. Similarly, a two-way data exchange between two devices (both devices send and receive during the exchange) may be described as "transmitting" when only the functionality of one of the devices is requested. The term "transmitting" as used herein with respect to wireless communication signals includes sending wireless communication signals and / or receiving wireless communication signals. For example, a wireless communication unit capable of transmitting wireless communication signals may include a wireless transmitter for sending wireless communication signals to at least one other wireless communication unit and / or a wireless communication receiver for receiving wireless communication signals from at least one other wireless communication unit.

[0092] As used herein, unless otherwise specified, the use of ordinal adjectives "first", "second", "third", etc. to describe a common object merely indicates that different instances of similar objects are referenced and does not imply that the objects so described are necessarily in a given order in time, space, ranking, or in any other manner.

[0093] The term "access point (AP)" as used herein may be a fixed station. An access point may also be referred to as an access node, a base station, an evolved Node B (eNodeB), or some other similar term known in the art. An access terminal may also be referred to as a mobile station, a user equipment (UE), a wireless communication device, or some other similar term known in the art. Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to wireless networks. Some embodiments may relate to a wireless network operating according to one of the IEEE 802.11 standards.

[0094] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with various devices and systems, such as personal computers (PCs), desktop computers, mobile computers, laptop computers, notebook computers, tablet computers, server computers, handheld computers, handheld devices, personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, handheld PDA devices, airborne devices, non-airborne devices, hybrid devices, vehicle-borne devices, non-vehicle-borne devices, mobile or portable devices, consumer devices, non-mobile or non-portable devices, wireless communication stations, wireless communication devices, wireless access points (APs), wired or wireless routers, wired or wireless modems, video devices, audio devices, audio and video (A / V) devices, wired or wireless networks, wireless area networks, wireless video area networks (WVANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless LANs (WLANs), personal area networks (PANs), wireless PANs (WPANs), and the like.

[0095] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one-way and / or two-way wireless communication systems, cellular radio-telephone communication systems, mobile phones, cellular phones, wireless phones, personal communication system (PCS) devices, PDA devices including wireless communication devices, mobile or portable global positioning system (GPS) devices, devices including GPS receivers or transceivers or chips, devices including RFID elements or chips, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transceivers or devices, single-input multiple-output (SIMO) transceivers or devices, multiple-input single-output (MISO) transceivers or devices, devices with one or more internal antennas and / or external antennas, digital video broadcasting (DVB) devices or systems, multi-standard radio devices or systems, wired or wireless handheld devices (e.g., smart phones), wireless application protocol (WAP) devices, etc.

[0096] Some embodiments may be used in conjunction with one or more types of wireless communication signals and / or systems that comply with one or more of the following wireless communication protocols, including, for example, radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR), frequency division multiplexing (FDM), orthogonal FDM (OFDM), time division multiplexing (TDM), time division multiple access (TDMA), extended TDMA (E-TDMA), general packet radio service (GPRS), extended GPRS, code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA), CDMA 2000, single carrier CDMA, multi-carrier CDMA, multi-carrier modulation (MDM), discrete multi-tone (DMT), Bluetooth Global Positioning System (GPS), Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, ZigBee, Ultra-Wideband (UWB), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 3.5G, 4G, fifth generation (5G) mobile networks, 3GPP, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Advanced, Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), etc. Other embodiments may be used in various other devices, systems, and / or networks.

[0097] The following paragraphs describe examples of various embodiments.

[0098] Example 1 includes an apparatus for use in an initiator station (ISTA), the apparatus comprising a processor circuit, the processor circuit being configured to cause the ISTA to send a fine time measurement (FTM) request frame to a responder station (RSTA), wherein: the FTM request frame includes a ranging parameter element, a ranging capability specific to the ISTA supporting 20-160 MHz ranging or common to the ISTA supporting 20-160 MHz ranging and the ISTA supporting 320 MHz ranging is carried in a secure long training field (LTF) sub-element of the ranging parameter element, and a ranging capability specific to the ISTA supporting 320 MHz ranging is carried in a 320 MHz ranging parameter sub-element of the ranging parameter element.

[0099] Example 2 includes the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the 320 MHz ranging parameters sub-element includes a 320 MHz puncturing support sub-field indicating a set of 320 MHz puncturing patterns supported by the ISTA.

[0100] Example 3 includes the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to cause the ISTA to set the format and bandwidth subfield in the ranging parameters field of the ranging parameters element to a first value to indicate that it supports 320 MHz ranging using an extremely high throughput (EHT) format in addition to supporting 20-160 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format.

[0101] Example 4 includes the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to cause the ISTA to set the format and bandwidth subfield in the ranging parameter field of the ranging parameter element to a second value to indicate that it supports 80+80 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format, 160 MHz ranging using two RF local oscillators, or 160 MHz ranging using a single RF local oscillator in addition to 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, and 80 MHz ranging using a HE format.

[0102] Example 5 includes the apparatus of Example 1, wherein the processor circuit is further configured to cause the ISTA to set the format and bandwidth subfield in the ranging parameter field of the ranging parameter element to a third value to indicate that it only supports 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, or 80 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format.

[0103] Example 6 includes a method for use in an initiator station (ISTA), the method comprising sending a fine time measurement (FTM) request frame to a responder station (RSTA), wherein: the FTM request frame includes a ranging parameter element, a ranging capability specific to the ISTA supporting 20-160 MHz ranging or common to the ISTA supporting 20-160 MHz ranging and the ISTA supporting 320 MHz ranging is carried in a secure long training field (LTF) sub-element of the ranging parameter element, and a ranging capability specific to the ISTA supporting 320 MHz ranging is carried in a 320 MHz ranging parameter sub-element of the ranging parameter element.

[0104] Example 7 includes the method of Example 6, wherein the 320 MHz ranging parameters sub-element includes a 320 MHz puncturing support sub-field indicating a set of 320 MHz puncturing patterns supported by the ISTA.

[0105] Example 8 includes the method of Example 6, wherein, when the ISTA supports 320 MHz ranging using an extremely high throughput (EHT) format in addition to 20-160 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format, the format and bandwidth subfields in the ranging parameter field of the ranging parameter element are set to a first value.

[0106] Example 9 includes the method of Example 6, wherein, when the ISTA supports 80+80 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format, 160 MHz ranging using two RF local oscillators, or 160 MHz ranging using a single RF local oscillator in addition to 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, and 80 MHz ranging using a HE format, the format and bandwidth subfields in the ranging parameter field of the ranging parameter element are set to a second value.

[0107] Example 10 includes the method of Example 6, wherein when the ISTA supports only 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, or 80 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format, the format and bandwidth subfields in the ranging parameter field of the ranging parameter element are set to a third value.

[0108] Example 11 includes a computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a processor circuit of an initiator station (ISTA), cause the ISTA to perform the method of any one of Examples 6 to 10.

[0109] Example 12 includes a computer program product comprising computer executable instructions, wherein the computer executable instructions, when executed by a processor circuit of an initiator station (ISTA), cause the ISTA to perform the method of any of Examples 6 to 10.

[0110] Example 13 includes a wireless communication device comprising the apparatus described in any one of Examples 1 to 5.

[0111] Example 14 includes an apparatus for use in an initiator station (ISTA), the apparatus comprising means for performing the method of any one of Examples 6 to 10.

[0112] Example 15 includes a wireless communication device comprising means for performing the method described in any of Examples 6 to 10.

[0113] Although certain embodiments have been illustrated and described herein for purposes of illustration, various alternative and / or equivalent embodiments or implementations may be substituted for the embodiments shown and described without departing from the scope of the present disclosure to achieve the same purposes. This application is intended to cover any changes or variations of the embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, the embodiments described herein are expressly limited only by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. An apparatus for use in an initiator station (ISTA), the apparatus comprising a processor circuit, the processor circuit being configured to cause the ISTA to send a fine time measurement (FTM) request frame to a responder station (RSTA), wherein: The FTM request frame includes a ranging parameter element, and the ranging capability specific to ISTA supporting 20-160 MHz ranging or shared by ISTA supporting 20-160 MHz ranging and ISTA supporting 320 MHz ranging is carried in a secure long training field (LTF) sub-element of the ranging parameter element, and the ranging capability specific to ISTA supporting 320 MHz ranging is carried in a 320 MHz ranging parameter sub-element of the ranging parameter element.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The 320 MHz ranging parameters sub-element includes a 320 MHz puncturing support sub-field indicating a 320 MHz puncturing pattern set supported by the ISTA.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processor circuit is further configured to cause the ISTA to set the format and bandwidth subfield in the ranging parameters field of the ranging parameters element to a first value to indicate that it supports 320 MHz ranging using an extremely high throughput (EHT) format in addition to supporting 20-160 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format.

4. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processor circuit is further configured to cause the ISTA to set the format and bandwidth subfield in the ranging parameters field of the ranging parameters element to a second value to indicate that it supports 80+80 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format, 160 MHz ranging using two RF local oscillators, or 160 MHz ranging using a single RF local oscillator in addition to 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, and 80 MHz ranging using a HE format.

5. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The processor circuit is further configured to cause the ISTA to set the format and bandwidth subfield in the ranging parameters field of the ranging parameters element to a third value to indicate that it only supports 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, or 80 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format.

6. A method for use in an initiator station (ISTA), the method comprising sending a fine time measurement (FTM) request frame to a responder station (RSTA), wherein: The FTM request frame includes a ranging parameter element, and the ranging capability specific to ISTA supporting 20-160 MHz ranging or shared by ISTA supporting 20-160 MHz ranging and ISTA supporting 320 MHz ranging is carried in a secure long training field (LTF) sub-element of the ranging parameter element, and the ranging capability specific to ISTA supporting 320 MHz ranging is carried in a 320 MHz ranging parameter sub-element of the ranging parameter element.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein: The 320 MHz ranging parameters sub-element includes a 320 MHz puncturing support sub-field indicating a 320 MHz puncturing pattern set supported by the ISTA.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein: When the ISTA supports 320 MHz ranging using an extremely high throughput (EHT) format in addition to 20-160 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format, the format and bandwidth subfields in the ranging parameters field of the ranging parameters element are set to a first value.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein: When the ISTA supports 80+80 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format, 160 MHz ranging using two RF local oscillators, or 160 MHz ranging using a single RF local oscillator in addition to 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, and 80 MHz ranging using a HE format, the format and bandwidth subfields in the ranging parameter field of the ranging parameter element are set to a second value.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein: When the ISTA supports only 20 MHz ranging, 40 MHz ranging, or 80 MHz ranging using a high efficiency (HE) format, the format and bandwidth subfields in the ranging parameter field of the ranging parameter element are set to a third value.

11. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon, wherein: The computer executable instructions, when executed by a processor circuit of an initiator station (ISTA), cause the ISTA to perform the method of any one of claims 6 to 10.

12. A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions, wherein: The computer executable instructions, when executed by a processor circuit of an initiator station (ISTA), cause the ISTA to perform the method of any one of claims 6 to 10.

13. A wireless communication device, comprising the apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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