Method, apparatus and system for improved directional multi-gigabit awareness

Abstract

In a 60GHz WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), measurement and reporting are carried out in a plurality of sub-channels separated on a frequency domain and / or a space domain, so that efficient and accurate sensing measurement and reporting of a plurality of response ends are realized. By perceiving the PPDU, measurements may be transmitted in parallel over time by multiple devices. Message transmissions related to transmitting report perception results may also be sent in parallel in time by multiple devices. This parallelization may be facilitated by using multiple sub-channels in the frequency domain or spatial domain.

Description

[0001] Cross - Reference to Related Applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit and priority of U.S. Non - Provisional Patent Application No. 18 / 068,040, filed on December 19, 2022, entitled "METHOD, APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR IMPROVED DIRECTIONAL MULTIGIGABIT SENSING", the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The present invention relates to the field of object sensing using radio signals in wireless local area networks such as IEEE 802.11 networks with directional multigigabit capabilities, and more particularly to methods, apparatuses, and systems for implementing improved directional multigigabit object sensing in such contexts. Background Art

[0004] IEEE 802.11bf is an ongoing working group associated with the development of the IEEE 802.11 standard. This working group is researching revisions to the 802.11 standard for object sensing in wireless local area networks (WLANs). As described in the document "IEEE 802.11-19 / 2103r12, 802.11SENS SG proposed PAR" (available at https: / / mentor.ieee.org), this revision defines modifications to the IEEE 802.11 medium access control (MAC) layer and the physical (PHY) layer operations of directional multigigabit (DMG) / enhanced directional multigigabit (EDMG) to enhance WLAN sensing operations in the unlicensed radio frequency bands from 1 GHz to 7.125 GHz (sub-7 GHz) and around 60 GHz. IEEE 802.11bf revises IEEE 802.11-2020 and also takes into account the IEEE 802.11 standard in terms of high efficiency (HE) (see IEEE 802.11ax) and extremely high throughput (EHT) (see IEEE 802.11be) in the sub-7 GHz band, and DMG / EDMG in the 60 GHz band (see IEEE 802.11ad / 802.11ay) for sensing applications.

[0005] As defined in the draft IEEE 802.11bf standard document "IEEE P802.11bf / D0.4" (available from https: / / standards.ieee.org), WLAN sensing uses the PHY and MAC radio signal transmission and reception capabilities of IEEE 802.11 stations (STAs) to obtain measurements that can be used to estimate characteristics such as the range, speed, and movement of objects within the area of interest.

[0006] In the context of HE and EHT of IEEE 802.11, an efficient multiplexing method of orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) is specified. However, in DMG / EDMG, OFDMA is not specified. Therefore, currently, the sensing processes defined for sub-7GHz operation cannot be fully applied to the sensing processes defined for 60GHz operation.

[0007] In addition, DMG sensing operating in the 60GHz band can be classified as: monostatic, cooperative monostatic, bistatic, cooperative bistatic, multistatic, and passive sensing. However, so far, the sensing processes proposed by the IEEE 802.11bf task group for cooperative monostatic, cooperative bistatic, and multistatic sensing only consider serial sensing measurements and sensing reports. This may lead to inaccurate measurement results when the measurement reports of multiple cooperating STAs are merged, and the reporting process is inefficient. Therefore, various improvements are needed for the currently proposed standard.

[0008] Therefore, there is a need for a method, apparatus, and system that eliminate or mitigate one or more limitations of the prior art.

[0009] The purpose of the background information is to disclose information that the applicant believes may be relevant to the present invention. It is not necessary to admit and should not be construed that any of the foregoing information constitutes prior art relative to the present invention. Summary of the Invention

[0010] The purpose of the embodiments of the present invention is to provide a method, apparatus, and system for improved directional multi-gigabit sensing, for example, compatible with the sensing operations being developed by the IEEE 802.11bf task group, or more generally compatible with the current or future versions of the IEEE 802.11 standard. The embodiments described herein involve applying multiple sub-channels and / or multiple antennas to the 60GHz WLAN sensing method of IEEE 802.11bf to achieve efficient and accurate sensing measurements and / or efficient sensing reporting with multiple responders. The embodiments described herein can additionally or alternatively be applied to future extensions of IEEE 802.11bf, such as enabling operation in the 59-64GHz band in China. The sensing measurements made by different STAs can be performed simultaneously (in parallel). The sensing reports from different STAs can also be made simultaneously (in parallel). Various embodiments involve one, some, or all of the cooperative monostatic, cooperative bistatic, and multistatic sensing applications with multiple transmitters and / or multiple responders.

[0011] Rather than being limited to serial sensing measurements and sensing reports (for cooperative mono-static, cooperative bi-static, and multi-static sensing), embodiments provide alternative, less restrictive sensing and reporting methods. The technical effect of such embodiments is that when the channel conditions and / or the target object to be detected change, the measurement results can be more easily or accurately combined because they can correspond to measurements at the same (or closer, or overlapping) time, as obtained by STAs performing cooperative measurements. Another technical effect is that a parallel reporting process can be achieved, which may be more efficient than previous serial reporting processes.

[0012] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a system, apparatus, and method for sensing an object using wireless signals are provided.

[0013] Some embodiments provide a system that may include a sensing initiator and multiple sensing responders. The sensing initiator and the sensing responders of the system can be used for wireless communication to establish object sensing measurements; after establishing the object sensing measurements, cooperate to send multiple sensing physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) on multiple sub-channels; obtain measurements of the multiple sub-channels to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object based on receiving the sensing PPDUs. In this system, different sub-channels among the multiple sub-channels are different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain, or non-overlapping in space, or non-overlapping in both the frequency domain and space. Each sensing PPDU can be sent in parallel in time. Some other embodiments disclose a system that may include a sensing initiator and multiple sensing responders. The sensing initiator and the sensing responders can be used for wireless communication to establish object sensing measurements, and after establishing the object sensing measurements, cooperate to send one or more sensing PPDUs and obtain measurements to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object. After obtaining the measurements, each sensing responder can report the corresponding information (also referred to as an indication of the measurement) obtained from the measurement to the sensing initiator, and the reporting of the corresponding information can be performed in parallel in time by each of the sensing responders. The measurements can be obtained based on receiving the one or more sensing PPDUs.

[0014] Embodiments include performing wireless communication between a sensing initiator and a plurality of sensing responders to establish object sensing measurements. Performing wireless communication between the sensing initiator and the plurality of sensing responders to establish the object sensing measurements may include the sensing initiator communicating with each of the sensing responders using respective directed and spatially separated different wireless communication streams. The method may further include, through cooperation of the sensing initiator and each of the sensing responders, sending different respective one sensing PPDU frames on different respective sub-channels among a plurality of sub-channels with respect to each of the sensing responders. The different respective sub-channels are different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain. The method may further include: obtaining a measurement of the one sub-channel among the plurality of sub-channels so as to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object based on receiving the sensing PPDU frame. Each of the plurality of sensing responders may send one or more sensing PPDU frames among the sensing PPDU frames. Each of the plurality of sensing responders may also measure one sub-channel among the different respective sub-channels to receive the corresponding one sensing PPDU among the sensing PPDUs as part of obtaining the measurement. In some embodiments, the sensing initiator may send each of the sensing PPDUs, and each of the plurality of sensing responders may measure one sub-channel among the different respective sub-channels to receive its corresponding sensing PPDU as part of the obtaining the measurement. In some embodiments of the system, apparatus and method, each of the different respective sensing PPDUs is sent in parallel. Sending each of the different respective sensing PPDUs in parallel may include: sending each of the different respective sensing PPDUs through a timing having at least partial overlap with at least one other sensing PPDU among the different respective sensing PPDUs.

[0015] Some embodiments of the system, apparatus and method may further include the sensing responders reporting the corresponding information obtained from the monitoring (or measurement) to the sensing initiator.

[0016] The sensing response end can measure each of the different corresponding sub-channels to receive the sensed PPDU as part of obtaining the measurement. Each sensing response end in the sensing response ends can also report the corresponding information using one of the multiple sub-channels. The different sensing response ends can use different sub-channels among the multiple sub-channels, or they can all use one sub-channel, particularly the primary channel, to report sub-channel measurements. The corresponding information can be reported in parallel or sequentially by each sensing response end in the sensing response ends. Reporting the corresponding information in parallel by each sensing response end in the sensing response ends can include reporting the corresponding information through a timing that has at least partial overlap with the reporting of the corresponding information of at least one of the sensing response ends in the sensing response ends. The sensing initiating end can send a corresponding prompt (polling) for requesting to report the corresponding information and / or a corresponding acknowledgement (ACK) for reporting the corresponding information to each of the different sensing response ends, where each corresponding prompt (polling) and / or each corresponding acknowledgement is sent in parallel using a different one of the multiple sub-channels, and the sub-channel is used by the sensing response end in the different sensing response ends to perform the reporting of the corresponding information. In other embodiments, each corresponding prompt (polling) and / or each corresponding acknowledgement is sent sequentially using a single sub-channel among the multiple sub-channels, particularly the primary channel.

[0017] Reporting the corresponding information can be performed by each sensing response end in the sensing response ends at different corresponding times. Each sensing response end in the sensing response ends can report the corresponding information using different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated. Reporting the corresponding information can be performed in parallel by each sensing response end in the sensing response ends. In some embodiments of the system and method, reporting the corresponding information in parallel can include reporting the corresponding information through a timing that has at least partial overlap with the reporting of the corresponding information by at least one other sensing response end in the sensing response ends. Additionally, in some embodiments, the sensing initiating end can send a corresponding prompt (corresponding polling) to each of the multiple sensing response ends to report the corresponding information and / or a corresponding acknowledgement (ACK) for reporting the corresponding information. Each corresponding prompt (polling) and / or each corresponding acknowledgement, in turn, is sent in parallel using different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated, and the different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated are used by the sensing response end in the multiple sensing response ends to perform the reporting of the corresponding information. Each sensing response end in the sensing response ends can also communicate with the sensing initiating end using the different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated as part of establishing the object sensing measurement.

[0018] Another embodiment of the system and method for using wireless signals to sense an object may include wireless communication between a sensing initiator and a plurality of sensing responders to establish object sensing measurements. The system and method may further include sending one or more sensing PPDUs and obtaining measurements through the cooperation of each of the sensing initiator and the sensing responders to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object. The measurements are obtained by interacting with the one or more sensing PPDU frames. Each of the sensing responders reports the corresponding information obtained from the monitoring to the sensing initiator. The reporting of the corresponding information may be performed in parallel by each of the sensing responders or sequentially by each sensing responder. Parallel reporting of the corresponding information may include each sensing responder reporting the corresponding information during a timing that has at least partial overlap with the reporting of the corresponding information by at least one other of the sensing responders or during mutually exclusive timings.

[0019] Each of the sensing responders may report the corresponding information to the sensing initiator using a single subchannel or a different respective one of a plurality of subchannels that are different from each other in terms of carrier frequency. Each of the sensing responders may use the respective one of the plurality of subchannels to perform its respective part of sending the one or more sensing PPDUs and / or its respective part of the monitoring for the wireless signature.

[0020] Some embodiments of the present invention disclose devices as a sensing initiator or a sensing responder and related methods. The device may wirelessly communicate with one or more other devices to establish object sensing measurements, where the device and the one or more other devices constitute the sensing initiator and one or more sensing responders, including the sensing responders. The device may also send sensing PPDUs and / or monitor the wireless signature indicating the physical characteristics of the object due to the sensing PPDUs. The device may cooperate with the one or more other devices to send different respective sensing PPDUs, including the sensing PPDUs, on different respective ones of a plurality of subchannels with respect to each of the sensing responders. The subchannels may be different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain, and measurements of the plurality of subchannels may be obtained to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object based on receiving the sensing PPDUs. Each of the sensing responders may report the corresponding information obtained from the measurements to the sensing initiator, and each of the different respective sensing PPDUs may be sent in parallel in time.

[0021] Some other embodiments disclose devices that are either a sensing initiator or a sensing responder, and related methods. The device may communicate wirelessly with one or more other devices to establish object sensing measurements. The device and the one or more other devices constitute the sensing initiator and one or more sensing responders, including the sensing responder. The device may send a sensing PPDU, or acquire measurements, so as to estimate one or more physical characteristics of an object based on receiving the sensing PPDU. The device may perform both: sending a sensing PPDU and acquiring measurements. The device may also report information obtained from monitoring to the sensing initiator, or monitor reports containing the information acquisition. The reporting of the information may be performed in parallel or sequentially by each sensing responder among the sensing responders. Each sensing responder among the sensing responders may report the corresponding information to the sensing initiator using a different respective one of a plurality of sub-channels that are different from each other in terms of carrier frequency, or they may use a single sub-channel, particularly the primary channel. Each sensing responder among the sensing responders may also report the corresponding information to the sensing initiator using different respective directed and spatially separated wireless communication paths.

[0022] Some embodiments provide a method for sensing an object using wireless signals, the method being performed by a sensing initiator. The method includes communicating wirelessly with a plurality of sensing responders to establish object sensing measurements. The method further includes: sending different respective sensing PPDUs to each sensing responder among the sensing responders, or receiving different respective sensing PPDUs from each sensing responder among the sensing responders, on different respective ones of a plurality of sub-channels. The different respective sensing PPDUs are sent in parallel in time. The different respective sub-channels are different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain. The method includes obtaining an indication of measurements of the plurality of sub-channels based on the sensing initiator receiving the sensing PPDU, or based on receiving reports from the plurality of sensing responders. The report is generated based on receiving the sensing PPDU. The indication of the measurements may be used to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object. A sensing initiator device for performing operations equivalent to the above method is also provided.

[0023] Some embodiments provide a method for a sensing responder to sense an object using a wireless signal. The method includes wirelessly communicating with a sensing initiator to establish an object sensing measurement. The object sensing measurement involves the sensing initiator, the sensing responder, and one or more other sensing responders. The method includes transmitting a sensing PPDU on one of a plurality of sub-channels. The sensing PPDU is transmitted in parallel in time with one or more other sensing PPDUs, each of the other sensing PPDUs being transmitted by a corresponding one of the other sensing responders on another one of the plurality of sub-channels. The plurality of sub-channels are different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain. In some embodiments, the method further includes: obtaining a measurement of the one sub-channel of the plurality of sub-channels so as to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object based on receiving the sensing PPDU, and reporting an indication of the measurement to the sensing initiator. A sensing responder device for performing operations equivalent to the above method is also provided.

[0024] The embodiments are described above in connection with aspects of the present invention, and these embodiments can be implemented according to these aspects. Those skilled in the art will understand that the embodiments can be implemented in combination with the aspects that describe them, but can also be implemented together with other embodiments of that aspect. When the embodiments are mutually exclusive or incompatible with each other, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art. Some embodiments can be described in connection with one aspect, but can also be applicable to other aspects, which will be obvious to those skilled in the art. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] Further, the features and advantages of the present invention will be readily understood by reading the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0026] Figure 1 Shows cooperative monostatic sensing provided by an embodiment of the present invention with one initiator and two responders;

[0027] Figure 2 Shows the process of cooperative monostatic sensing;

[0028] Figure 3 Shows cooperative bistatic sensing with one initiator and two responders;

[0029] Figure 4 Shows the process of cooperative bistatic sensing;

[0030] Figure 5-1 Is an example of multi-static sensing with one transmitter (initiator) and two receivers (responders);

[0031] Figure 5-2Shows an example of multi-static sensing with two transmitting ends (responding ends) and one receiving end (initiating end);

[0032] Figure 6 Shows the process of multi-static sensing;

[0033] Figure 7 Is an illustration of multi-subchannel operation in IEEE 802.11ay;

[0034] Figure 8 Shows the process of cooperative mono-static sensing provided by some embodiments of the present invention;

[0035] Figure 9 Shows the process of cooperative mono-static sensing provided by other embodiments;

[0036] Figure 10 Shows the process of cooperative mono-static sensing provided by yet some other embodiments;

[0037] Figure 11 Shows the process of cooperative mono-static sensing provided by other embodiments;

[0038] Figure 12 Shows the process of cooperative bi-static sensing provided by corresponding embodiments;

[0039] Figure 13 Is another example of cooperative mono-static sensing provided by some embodiments;

[0040] Figure 14 Shows yet another process of cooperative bi-static sensing provided by some other embodiments;

[0041] Figure 15 Is another example of the bi-static sensing process;

[0042] Figure 16 Is an example of the multi-static sensing process provided by some embodiments;

[0043] Figure 17 Is another example of the cooperative multi-static sensing process provided by other embodiments;

[0044] Figure 18 Shows the multi-static sensing process provided by other embodiments;

[0045] Figure 19 Is the multi-static sensing process provided by yet some other embodiments;

[0046] Figure 20 Shows the electronic device as a sensing initiating end or a sensing responding end provided by the embodiments of the present invention;

[0047] Figure 21Another aspect of the electronic device acting as a sensing initiator or a sensing responder provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0048] It should be noted that in all the drawings, the same features are identified by the same reference numerals. Detailed implementation manners

[0049] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and / or scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The numerical combinations of numbers and letters correspond to the component labels in all the figures.

[0050] As used herein, the term "parallel" refers to two events that occur in parallel in time, such as transmissions, so as to occur at least partially simultaneously, or overlappingly, or concurrently. Two events that occur in parallel (in time) may occur substantially simultaneously, so that their starts and ends are more or less precisely aligned in time. However, it is also conceivable that two events that occur in parallel (in time) are not necessarily completely simultaneous. Instead, the two events may occur in a time sequence that at least partially overlaps with each other, so that both events are occurring at a certain point in time, but the starts and / or ends of the two events are not necessarily aligned in time.

[0051] In the various embodiments described below (except for Figure 16 and Figure 17 the embodiments in which only one sensing PPDU is sent), the sensing PPDUs are sent in parallel (in time). In several embodiments, frames associated with reporting (such as polling, reporting, and / or ACK frames) are also sent in parallel (in time) by more than one device.

[0052] Before elaborating on the embodiments of the present invention in detail, a brief overview of different IEEE 802.11bf sensing modalities is first given. Each modality uses a wireless signal (e.g., in the form of a sensing PPDU) to sense an object, which may include physical characteristics of the object. The sensing PPDU may also be referred to as a probe PPDU. The physical characteristics may include, for example, size, shape, orientation, motion, material, posture, etc., or a combination thereof. The sensing PPDU follows the IEEE 802.11 protocol and is wirelessly transmitted within a certain frequency band. The object absorbs, reflects, or otherwise interacts with the radio signal carrying the sensing PPDU, thereby modifying the sensing PPDU. Then the sensing PPDU is received and processed to determine the presence and characteristics of such modifications. Based on this, the physical characteristics of the object are estimated. It should be noted that Figure 1 、 Figure 3 、 Figure 5-1 and Figure 5-2The general perception establishment is applicable to the perception establishment provided by the embodiments of the present invention. In single - base, bi - base, and some forms of multi - base perception, the responder obtains measurements of a channel or sub - channel by receiving and processing at least one sensing PPDU. In other forms of multi - base perception, for example, as shown in Figure 18 and Figure 19 shown, the initiator obtains the measurements. This allows the initiator to estimate the physical characteristics of the object.

[0053] A single - base sensing device can be a device in which the sensing PPDU transmitter and the sensing PPDU receiver are located in the same station (STA). Figure 1 Figure 9 shows a cooperative single - base perception with one initiator 101 and two responders 102 and 103 for sensing an object 100. Various messages (which can be frames) will be described in more detail with reference to other drawings. Each of the responders 102, 103 performs sensing by sending and receiving corresponding sensing PPDUs according to a request from the initiator 101 and responds with the sensing results to the initiator 101. Receiving the sensing PPDU may involve measuring the characteristics of a specified channel or sub - channel by using the receiver.

[0054] Figure 2 Figure 13 shows the process for cooperative single - base perception as outlined in IEEE 802.11 - 22 / 0243r06, which involves sending and receiving physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) and perception reporting. The process includes a measurement establishment phase 201 and a perception phase 202. During the measurement establishment phase 201, the initiator 101 wirelessly communicates with multiple sensing responders (102 and 103) to establish object perception measurements. The initiator 101 sends request frames 108 and 109 to the responders 102 and 103 respectively. Upon receiving the request frames 108 and 109, the responders 102 and 103 complete the handshake process by replying to the initiator 101 with response frames 110 and 111 respectively. The request frames and response frames are sequentially exchanged between the initiator 101 and the responders 102 and 103 on a single sub - channel. During the perception phase 202, the responders 102 and 103 measure the object 100 by sending and receiving sensing PPDUs 104 and 105 respectively. In Figure 1 and Figure 2 shown, the sensing PPDUs 104 and 105 are sent at different times. Upon completing the sending and receiving of the sensing PPDUs 104 and 105, the responders 102 and 103 submit measurement reports 106 and 107 to the initiator 101 respectively. In Figure 1 and Figure 2In this case, measurement reports 106 and 107 are sent at different times, for example, after their respective sensed PPDUs. As described above, responders 102 and 103 perform measurements at different time instances. Due to different channel conditions and other reasons during the transmission of different sensed PPDUs, when initiator 101 combines measurement reports 106 and 107 from responders 102 and 103, inaccurate measurement results may be caused. At the same time, the sequential transmission of measurement reports is also time-consuming.

[0055] In Figure 2 and similar figures, the transmission of a frame is shown by a corresponding rectangle drawn above a line horizontally extending from the device that performs the transmission. For example, initiator 101 sends request 108. The reception of the same frame is represented by a corresponding rectangle drawn below a line horizontally extending from the device that performs the reception. For example, responder 102 receives request 108. For monostatic sensing, the sensed PPDU is sent and received by the same device (STA), and thus such a sensed PPDU is represented by a rectangle that extends both above and below the horizontal line, as shown for PPDU 104.

[0056] A bistatic sensing device can be a device in which the sensed PPDU is sent by one station (STA) and received by another station. In some cases, one station can send multiple sensed PPDUs, each PPDU being received by a different other station. Cooperative bistatic sensing includes the cooperation of multiple bistatic responders. Figure 3 Cooperative bistatic sensing with one initiator 301 and two responders 302 and 303 for sensing object 100 is shown. Various messages (frames) will be described in more detail with reference to other figures. After measurement establishment, each of responders 302, 303 receives the sensed PPDU sent by initiator 301 and responds to initiator 101 as a result of such reception.

[0057] Figure 4 The process of cooperative bistatic sensing with sequential sensing measurement and sensing reporting outlined in IEEE 802.11-22 / 0243r06 is shown. The process includes a measurement establishment phase 201 and a sensing phase 202. Except for the frame numbers, Figure 4 the measurement establishment phase 201 of Figure 2is the same as the measurement establishment phase 201 disclosed in. During the sensing phase 202, the initiator 301 sends multiple sensing PPDUs 304 at different times. The responder 302 and 303 perform measurements on the PPDU 304 and submit measurement reports 306 and 307 back to the initiator 301 respectively. The measurement reports 306 and 307 are sent sequentially. Since the responder 302 and 303 perform measurements at different time instances, when the initiator 301 combines the measurement reports from the responder 302 and 302, it may lead to inaccurate measurement results. Sequential reporting is also time-consuming.

[0058] Multi-base sensing can be defined as a system with at least three STAs, such as one receiver and two transmitters, or two receivers and one transmitter. A multi-base sensing system can also include multiple receivers and multiple transmitters. This can be regarded as a generalization of a bi-static sensing system. For example, Figure 5-1 shows a multi-base sensing system with one transmitter (initiator 501) and two receivers 502 and 503 for sensing the object 100. Various messages (frames) will be described in more detail with reference to other drawings.

[0059] Figure 5-2 shows another multi-base sensing system with two transmitters 502a and 503a and a receiver (initiator 501a) for sensing the object 100. Various frames will be described in more detail with reference to other drawings. The responders 502a and 503a can send sensing PPDUs 504a and 505a at different time instances respectively. As mentioned before, when the initiator 501a combines the received measurements, this may lead to inaccurate measurement results.

[0060] Figure 6 shows the process of multi-base sensing and sequential sensing reporting. The measurement establishment phase 201 of this process is in the same form as Figure 2 disclosed in. During the sensing phase 202, the initiator 501 sends a sensing PPDU 504. Both the responders 502 and 503 receive the same sensing PPDU 504. After receiving the sensing PPDU 504, the responders 502 and 503 can submit measurement reports 506 and 507 to the initiator 501 respectively. Even though the initiator 501 sends a single sensing PPDU 504, the measurement reports 506 and 507 can still be sent sequentially, as Figure 6 shown. Therefore, the reporting may be more time-consuming than necessary because time-parallel reporting is not used in this process. The initiator 501 can time the submission of the measurement reports 506 and 507 by dispatching polling frames 512 and 513 to the responders 502 and 503 respectively.

[0061] Under IEEE 802.11ay, the EDMG STA shall support 4.32 GHz (two consecutive 2.16 GHz subchannels) for PPDU transmission using the EDMG control mode (MCS 0) and the SC mode (MCS1 - 5 and 7 - 10). The EDMG station (STA) shall support 2.16 + 2.16 GHz subchannels (i.e., two consecutive or non - consecutive subchannels) for PPDU transmission using the EDMG control mode MCS 0, the SC mode, and the OFDM mode (all MCS). The EDMG access point (AP) may send DMG beacon frames in the quasi - omnidirectional antenna mode. The EDMG AP may allocate A - BFT on the primary channel or on the secondary channel. Therefore, two non - AP STAs can send sectorsweep (SSW) frames and SSW feedback frames in parallel in time on the primary channel and the secondary channel respectively.

[0062] Under IEEE 802.11ay, the access point (AP) 701 can communicate with the non - AP STA1 702 and the non - AP STA2 703 in parallel through the primary channel 704 and the secondary channel 705 respectively, as Figure 7 shown. The IEEE 802.11ay standard specifies the downlink (DL) of multi - user multiple - input multiple - output (MU - MIMO). The implementation of the MU - MIMO DL feature enables the access point (AP) to send N PPDU frames to N users in parallel through spatial streams. Both the multi - subchannel and the DL MU - MIMO features contribute to the realization of efficient and accurate cooperative mono - static, bi - static, and multi - static sensing, as disclosed in the following embodiments. In other words, the embodiments of the present invention utilize multiple channels (in different frequency subchannels) for communication between the sensing initiator and the sensing responder. These subchannels can be described as different relative to the carrier frequency and non - overlapping in the frequency domain. As described above, the IEEE standard supports such multi - channel use and allows parallel transmission of multiple sensing PPDUs, parallel reporting of sensing results, or a combination thereof.

[0063] In addition to using multiple channels in the frequency domain, different directed and spatially separated wireless communication streams (also referred to as non-overlapping in spatial wireless communication streams) can be used to support parallel transmission of multiple sensing PPDUs, parallel reporting of sensing results, or a combination thereof. Different communication streams correspond to different beams between the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna, which can separate different communications to support such parallel occurrence. In such an embodiment, the initiator can have at least two antennas (with two different antenna / sector / beam IDs) for communicating with different responders. For example, different transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) antenna pairs can be used for this purpose. Other types of MU-MIMO or similar spatial or antenna diversity methods can be employed to achieve separation of the communication streams. The wireless communication signal links can be non-overlapping spatially (as spatially separated streams), as described above, non-overlapping in frequency (as frequency-separated sub-channels), or non-overlapping both spatially and in frequency. Both of these methods can be used to separate signals for facilitating parallel transmission in time.

[0064] Figure 8 The process of cooperative monostatic sensing with responders 102 and 103 performing monostatic sensing measurements in parallel on two sub-channels is shown. The measurement establishment phase 201 of this process is formally the same as Figure 2The same as that disclosed in [reference]. Request frames 108 and 109 and response frames 110 and 111 are sequentially exchanged between the initiating end 101 and the responding ends 102 and 103 on the subchannel 801. During the sensing phase 202, the responding end 102 transmits and receives the sensing PPDU 104 on the first subchannel 801. The responding end 103 transmits and receives the sensing PPDU 105 in parallel with the sensing PPDU 104 on the second subchannel 802. Thus, each responding end uses its corresponding subchannel for its corresponding sensing PPDU transmission and reception. Here and elsewhere below (and as also described above), the carrier frequencies of two different subchannels can be different and non-overlapping in the frequency domain. Each sensing responding end (102 or 103) can transmit more than one sensing PPDU. For example, the sensing responding end (or in other cases, the sensing initiating end) may transmit a burst of sensing PPDUs for coverage purposes. The measurement reports 106 and 107 are respectively provided to the initiating end 101 in parallel (in time) by the responding ends 102 and 103 on different subchannels 801 and 802. Thus, different responding ends use different subchannels for reporting. The polling (112 and 113), measurement reports (106 and 107), and ACK (114 and 115) frames are exchanged in parallel between the initiating end 101 and the responding ends 102 and 103 on the subchannels 801 and 802. One or more of the polling, reporting, and ACK frames can be transmitted in parallel with another corresponding polling, reporting, or ACK frame for the communication corresponding to another initiating end - responding end pair. The disclosed embodiments can provide a more efficient transmission of measurement reports.

[0065] Here and elsewhere in this document, receiving the sensing PPDU includes measuring the corresponding channel or subchannel based on the detected sensing PPDU as part of obtaining measurements of such channel or subchannel. Obtaining such measurements is for estimating the physical characteristics of the object, as described above. The measurement report includes information obtained from the measurements of the responding end (based on the detected / received sensing PPDU) and given to the initiating end.

[0066] Here and elsewhere in this document, the subchannels used for sensing are also described as being used for subsequent reporting. This is considered to be in good agreement with the current IEEE channel allocation operation. However, it is considered that the subchannels used for sensing may be different from the subchannels used for reporting.

[0067] Figure 9 Another process for efficient cooperative monostatic sensing is shown, where parallel (in time) sensing measurements are performed on two different subchannels. The measurement establishment phase 201 of this process is in form the same as Figure 2Same as that disclosed in. Request (108 and 109) and response (110 and 111) frames are sequentially exchanged between the initiating end 101 and the responding ends 102 and 103 on the first subchannel 801. During the sensing phase 202, sensing PPDUs 104 and 105 are respectively used for sensing on subchannels 801 and 802. The sensing PPDUs 104 and 105 are sent and received in parallel by the responding ends 102 and 103, which is the same as Figure 8 Same. Polling (112 and 113), measurement report (106 and 107), and ACK (114 and 115) frames are sequentially exchanged between the initiating end 101 and the responding ends 102 and 103 on the first subchannel 801. Therefore, sensing is performed in parallel and reporting is sequential (so that each responding end performs reporting at different corresponding times, and the initiating end also cues (polls) and confirms reports for different responding ends at different times). The subchannels used by each responding end for reporting can be the same or each can use different subchannels for reporting. Such an embodiment can improve accuracy due to parallel sensing while using different reporting schemes in some cases to obtain greater applicability.

[0068] Some other embodiments can enable each sensing responding end to report corresponding information (e.g., measurement report) to the sensing initiating end using corresponding directed and spatially separated different wireless communication streams (also referred to as paths here). For example, in combination with Figure 10 , Figure 11 , Figure 14 , Figure 15 , Figure 17 to describe these embodiments. In such an embodiment or other embodiments (e.g., as in Figure 19 ), each sensing responding end in the sensing responding ends can communicate with the sensing initiating end using corresponding directed and spatially separated different wireless communication streams as part of establishing object sensing measurements. Alternatively, establishing object sensing measurements does not necessarily require using directed and spatially separated different wireless communication streams. Figure 1 The initiating end 101 disclosed in can have two antennas (with two different antenna / sector / beam IDs) to communicate with the responding ends 102 and 103 respectively. The initiating end 101 with two antennas can facilitate uplink (UL) / downlink (DL) MU-MIMO functionality.

[0069] Figure 10Illustrates the process of efficient monostatic sensing performed in parallel on two different sub-channels, and parallel sensing reporting is performed via MU-MIMO. During the measurement establishment phase 201, request (108 and 109) and response (110 and 111) frames are exchanged between the initiator 101 and the responders 102 and 103 via corresponding directed and spatially separated different wireless communication streams 1001 and 1002 for each initiator-responder pair. For example, such frames can be exchanged via the corresponding first Tx-Rx antenna pair and second Tx-Rx antenna pair on a single (common) sub-channel. The exchange of frames is sequential. In addition to using such separate wireless communication streams or associated links to communicate between the initiator and the responders to establish object sensing measurements, the measurement establishment phase 201 can be formally similar to Figure 2 in form. During the sensing phase 202, sensing PPDUs 104 and 105 are sent in parallel on two different sub-channels 801 and 802, similar to Figure 8 and Figure 9 . The sensing PPDUs (frames) 104 and 105 are respectively sent and received by the responders 102 and 103. Polling (112 and 113), measurement report (106 and 107), and ACK (114 and 115) frames are exchanged in parallel between the initiator 101 and the responders 102 and 103, similar to Figure 8 . However, different from using different (frequency) sub-channels in Figure 8 , in Figure 10 , the parallel transmission of measurement reports is facilitated by using different directed and spatially separated wireless communication streams 1001 and 1002 (by the responders and the initiator). For example, their frames can be sent by different Tx-Rx antenna pairs on a single sub-channel that implements MU-MIMO functionality. The application of multiple spatially separated wireless communication streams (or associated Tx-Rx antenna pairs) can provide more efficient measurement report transmission.

[0070] More specifically, the initiator can send polling and / or ACK in parallel to each responder using the corresponding one of the directed and spatially separated wireless communication streams 1001, 1002, where such transmission uses the stream in the reverse direction with respect to the stream visible from the responder to the initiator. The responders can use these streams to send their reports to the initiator in parallel.

[0071] Figure 11Illustrates the operation of parallel sensing measurements on sub-channels 801 and 802 and the process of efficient monostatic sensing performed using corresponding directed and spatially separated different wireless communication flows during measurement establishment and reporting. For example, during the reporting of measurements to the initiator 101, this process can be used without implementing DL / UL MU-MIMO functionality. The initiator 101 can have two antennas with two different antenna / sector / beam IDs. The measurement establishment phase 201 of this process is formally the same as Figure 10 disclosed in. During the sensing phase 202 (also the same as Figure 10 ), the sensing PPDUs 104 and 105 for channel measurement are sent in parallel by the responder on two different sub-channels 801 and 802 and received by the responders 102 and 103 respectively. The reporting is sequential. For example, polling, measurement reports, and ACK frames are exchanged sequentially between the initiator 101 and the responders 102 and 103. The reporting can be performed on a single sub-channel. The frame exchange between the initiator 101 and the responders 102 and 103 is carried out through corresponding directed and spatially separated different wireless communication flows 1001 and 1002, for example corresponding to different Tx-Rx antenna pairs. The embodiment of monostatic sensing disclosed in Figures 8 to 11 can provide more efficient transmission of multiple sensing PPDUs and more accurate cooperative measurements when combining the measurement results from the responders 102 and 103.

[0072] Figure 12 Illustrates the process of efficient cooperative bistatic sensing by performing parallel sensing measurements and parallel measurement reporting on two sub-channels. Multiple sensing PPDUs are sent in parallel with each other in time (e.g., simultaneously) by the sensing initiator. Each sensing PPDU is sent on a different corresponding one of multiple sub-channels at different frequencies. In this embodiment, the initiator 301 can have a single antenna (omnidirectional antenna or a directional antenna with a specific antenna / sector / beam ID) for parallel communication with the responders 302 and 303. The initiator 301 can also have two or more antennas. The measurement establishment phase 201 of this embodiment is formally the same as Figure 2are the same as the phases disclosed in [reference], except for the frame numbers. During the sensing phase 202, the sensing initiator 301 cooperates with the sensing responders 302 and 303 by sending a sensing PPDU 304 for the first sensing responder 302 to receive and a sensing PPDU 304a for the second sensing responder 303 to receive. The sensing PPDUs 304 and 304a are respectively sent via the first sub-channel 801 and the second sub-channel 802 for the responders 302 and 303 to receive in parallel, such that each responder performs its corresponding sensing PPDU reception (and associated measurements) using a different sub-channel. The sub-channels 801 and 802 are different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain. The sensing PPDUs 304 and 304a are used for channel measurement and are sent in parallel in time on the sub-channels 801 and 802. The sensing PPDUs 304 and 304a are respectively received by the responders 302 and 303. The responders 302 and 303 obtain measurements of the sub-channels 801 and 802 in order to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object 100 based on the sensing PPDUs they respectively receive (e.g., due to interaction therewith).

[0073] The sensing initiator can send respective polls 312, 313 to each of the multiple sensing responders to request reporting of corresponding information. The sensing initiator can also send respective acknowledgments (ACK 314, 315), which acknowledge the reporting of the corresponding information 306, 307. Each respective poll signal and / or each respective acknowledgment (ACK) can be sent in parallel using different sub-channels. The polls, reports, and acknowledgments corresponding to interacting with the same sensing responder can use the same sub-channel or a set of different sub-channels. For example, in this embodiment, the polls, measurement reports, and ACK frames are exchanged in parallel (e.g., simultaneously) between the initiator 301 and the responders 302 and 303 via the sub-channels 801 and 802. Similar to Figure 8 this, different responders cooperate with the initiator and use different sub-channels for reporting (e.g., including polls, reports, and ACK frames), thus facilitating parallel reporting (e.g., at least one of the poll, report, and ACK frames). The measurement reporting disclosed in this embodiment can provide a more efficient transmission of the measurement report.

[0074] Figure 13 Another process of cooperative bistatic sensing for parallel bistatic sensing measurements on two sub-channels is shown. The initiator 301 can use a single antenna (an omnidirectional antenna or a directional antenna with a specific antenna / sector / beam ID) to communicate in parallel with the responders 302 and 303. The measurement establishment phase 201 is in form the same as Figure 2is the same as the stage disclosed in (except for the frame number). During the sensing stage 202, the initiator 301 cooperates with the responders 302 and 303 by transmitting relative to the responders for each sensing PPDU 304 and 304a. Similar to Figure 12 the embodiment of, the responders 302 and 303 receive the sensing PPDUs 304 and 304a through sub-channels 801 and 802 respectively. The sub-channels 801 and 802 are different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain. The sensing PPDUs 304 and 304a are used for channel measurement and are transmitted in parallel on the sub-channels 801 and 802. The sensing PPDUs 304 and 304a are received by the responders 302 and 303 respectively. The responders 302 and 303 obtain the measurements of the sub-channels 801 and 802 to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object 100 due to the interaction with the sensing PPDU. Polling, measurement reports, and ACK frames are sequentially exchanged between the initiator 301 and the responders 302 and 303 on the sub-channel 801 (for example) to achieve a sequential reporting similar to Figure 9 that of.

[0075] Figure 14 shows another process for performing efficient cooperative bistatic sensing by using parallel sensing measurements on two sub-channels and parallel sensing reporting through MU-MIMO. In this embodiment, the initiator 301 can have two antennas (with two different antenna / sector / beam IDs) to communicate with the responders 302 and 303. The sensing PPDUs 304 and 304a are transmitted in parallel through one or more antennas. The initiator 301 with multiple antennas can facilitate uplink (UL) / downlink (DL) MU-MIMO functionality. The measurement establishment stage 201 of this process is the same in form as Figure 10 and the corresponding description disclosed (thus using directed and spatially separated different wireless communication flows for communication between each initiator-responder pair). During the sensing stage 202, the sensing PPDUs 304 and 304a are transmitted in parallel in time on different sub-channels 801 and 802, similar to Figure 12 and Figure 13 . The sensing PPDUs (frames) 304 and 304a are respectively transmitted by the initiator and received by the responders 302 and 303. Polling (312 and 313), measurement reports (306 and 307), and ACK (314 and 315) frames are exchanged in parallel in time between the initiator 301 and the responders 302 and 303, similar to Figure 10 . Polling, reporting, and ACK frames can be transmitted by different Tx-Rx antenna pairs on a single sub-channel that realizes MU-MIMO functionality, as Figure 14As shown. More generally, polling, reporting, and ACK frames can be sent via different wireless communication streams 1001, 1002 that are directed and spatially separated, such that the responder performs reporting in parallel via such streams. The application of multiple Tx-Rx antenna pairs or spatially separated wireless communication streams 1001, 1002 can provide a more efficient transmission of measurement reports.

[0076] Figure 15 illustrates the process of efficient cooperative bistatic sensing for operations of performing parallel bistatic sensing measurements on two subchannels. Similar to the above embodiments, the initiator 301 may have two or more antennas (with two or more different antenna / sector / beam IDs) for communicating with the responders 302 and 303. The sensing PPDUs 304 and 304a are sent in parallel via one antenna or multiple antennas. The measurement setup phase 201 of this process is in form the same as Figure 10 and the measurement setup phase disclosed in the corresponding description. During the sensing phase 202, the sensing PPDUs 304 and 304a are sent in parallel on subchannels 801 and 802, similar to Figure 12 and Figure 14 The sensing frames 304 and 304a are respectively sent by the initiator 301 and received by the responders 302 and 303. Polling (312 and 313), measurement reporting (306 and 307), and ACK (314 and 315) frames are exchanged sequentially between the initiator 301 and the responders 302 and 303 on, for example, a single subchannel (in frequency), similar to Figure 11 to achieve sequential reporting. The polling, reporting, and ACK frames exchanged between the initiator 301 and the responders 302 and 303 can be respectively performed via different Tx-Rx antenna pairs. More generally, the polling, reporting, and ACK frames can be sent via different wireless communication streams 1001, 1002 that are directed and spatially separated. The disclosed embodiments of bistatic sensing in Figures 12 to 15 can provide a more efficient transmission of multiple sensing PPDUs and more accurate cooperative measurements when combining the measurement results from the responders 302 and 303. Sending multiple sensing PPDUs simultaneously improves sensing accuracy and shortens the sensing time. Reporting can be parallelized in time to shorten the time requirement for reporting, although this is not necessary in all embodiments.

[0077] Figure 16 illustrates the process of efficient multistatic sensing for parallel sensing measurement reporting on two subchannels. In this embodiment, the initiator 501 may have a single antenna (an omnidirectional antenna or a directional antenna with a specific antenna / sector / beam ID) for communicating with the responders 502 and 503. The measurement setup phase 201 is in form the same as Figure 2is the same as the stage disclosed in (except for the frame number). The multi-base sensing PPDU 504 for channel measurement is transmitted on sub-channel 801 and received by responder ends 502 and 503. Each responder end measures the same sub-channel for PPDU reception and associated measurements (for estimating object physical characteristics). Polling, measurement report, and ACK frames are exchanged in parallel in time between the initiator end 501 and the responder ends 502 and 503 on sub-channels 801 and 802 of different frequencies, similar to Figure 8 and Figure 12 . Thus, the responder ends can report the sensing results to the sensing initiator end simultaneously, or at least there is no time limit on the transmissions of each other. The communication between the initiator end and the responder ends related to such reporting can also be carried out simultaneously, or at least the transmission from the initiator end to each responder end is without a time limit. In this embodiment, the parallel measurement reporting achieved by making each responder end use a different corresponding sub-channel for reporting can provide a more efficient or timely transmission of the measurement report frames.

[0078] Figure 17 Another process of efficient multi-base sensing with parallel measurement reporting is disclosed. In this embodiment, the initiator end 501 can have two or more antennas (with two or more different antenna / sector / beam IDs) to communicate with the responder ends 502 and 503. The initiator end 501 with two or more antennas can facilitate uplink (UL) / downlink (DL) MU-MIMO functionality. More generally, the initiator end 501 can communicate with each responder end 502, 503 (and vice versa) via corresponding directed and spatially separated different wireless communication streams 1001, 1002. The measurement establishment stage 201 of this process is in form the same as that disclosed in Figure 10 , Figure 14 and Figure 15 and the corresponding description. Similar to Figure 16 , a single sensing PPDU 504 for channel measurement is transmitted and received by the responder ends 502 and 503 on a single sub-channel. Polling (512 and 513), measurement report (506 and 507), and ACK (514 and 515) frames are exchanged in parallel in time between the initiator end 501 and the responder ends 502 and 503. By implementing MU-MIMO functionality, frames can be transmitted by different Tx-Rx antenna pairs on a single (frequency) sub-channel. More generally, polling, report, and ACK frames can be transmitted through corresponding directed and spatially separated different wireless communication streams 1001, 1002, thus allowing parallelization of reporting in time without having to use sub-channels of different frequencies (although these different sub-channels can be optionally used), similar to Figure 14The application of multiple directed and spatially separated different wireless communication streams 1001 and 1002 (e.g., achieved by using multiple different Tx-Rx antenna pairs) can provide a more efficient or timely transmission of measurement reports. Figure 16 and Figure 17 illustrates two different methods for parallelizing sensing reporting in time, namely by using sub-channels of different frequencies or different wireless communication streams.

[0079] Figure 18 illustrates the process of efficient multi-static sensing with parallel multi-static sensing measurements on two sub-channels. In this embodiment, each of the multiple sensing responders (e.g., 502a or 503a) sends one or more sensing PPDUs. In this embodiment, the initiator 501a may have a single antenna (an omnidirectional antenna or a directional antenna with a specific antenna / sector / beam ID) to receive the reflected PPDUs sent by the responders 502a and 503a. The initiator 501a obtains the measurements of each of the different corresponding sub-channels in order to receive the sensing PPDUs, and obtains the measurements of each sub-channel in order to estimate the physical characteristics of the sensing object based on the received sensing PPDUs. The measurement establishment phase 201 of this embodiment is the same in form as Figure 2 the phase disclosed in (except for the frame number). During the sensing phase 202, the sensing PPDUs 504a and 505a are sent in parallel in time on sub-channels 801 and 802 of different frequencies by the responders 502a and 503a respectively. The initiator receives the sensing PPDUs in parallel in time through these two sub-channels. The sensing frames 504a and 505a are received by the initiator 501a. Since the initiator itself performs the measurements, there is no need for sensing reporting.

[0080] Figure 19 illustrates another process of efficient multi-static sensing performed by parallel multi-static sensing operations on two sub-channels. The initiator 501a may have two antennas (with two different antenna / sector / beam IDs) to communicate with the responders 502a and 503a. The measurement establishment phase 201 of this process is the same in form as Figure 10 、 Figure 14 、 Figure 15 and Figure 17 and the measurement establishment phase disclosed in the corresponding description. The sensing phase 202 is the same in form as the phase disclosed in the previous embodiment ( Figure 18 ). Figure 18 and Figure 19The disclosed embodiments can provide for the efficient transmission of multiple sensing PPDUs and more precise collaborative measurements when combining measurement results. Additionally, these embodiments provide a method for multi-static sensing, in which a responder transmits a sensing PPDU for reception by the same initiator, and the sensing PPDUs are transmitted in parallel in time, thereby improving sensing performance by avoiding the need for sequential sensing PPDUs, which may introduce inaccuracies due to time-varying channel conditions.

[0081] In mono-static, bi-static, and multi-static sensing, the request and response frames exchanged between the initiator and the responder can provide an allocation of sub-channel information for each responder for multiple sub-channel operations during the sensing phase, including sensing measurements and sensing reporting. The request and response frames exchanged between the initiator and the responder can also provide a start time for parallel sensing measurements on multiple sub-channels. Thus, although the measurement establishment phase 201 in the embodiments of the present invention may be the same or substantially the same in form as the measurement establishment phase in other methods, the information exchanged between the initiator and the responder during this measurement establishment phase 201 can be different compared to other methods. The measurement establishment phase is the phase in which the sensing initiator and the sensing responder perform wireless communication to establish object sensing measurements. Therefore, the measurement establishment phases of different embodiments may be the same or similar in form, but may be different in content. Information indicating different frequency sub-channels to be used, the parallelization or non-parallelization of various transmissions in time (or other timing aspects), the specification of different wireless communication flows that are directed and spatially separated, etc. can be transmitted as needed during the measurement establishment phase 201.

[0082] Figure 20FIG. 0 is a block diagram of an electronic device 2000 that is represented as a sensing initiator or a sensing responder in the present invention. The device 2000 may wirelessly communicate with one or more other devices to establish object sensing measurements, where the device 2000 and the one or more other devices form a sensing initiator and one or more sensing responders. The device 2000 may be a device in a multi-master system. The device 2000 may include a computer processor operatively coupled to a computer memory. A computer having network capabilities including a wireless transceiver may be configured as the device 2000. The device 2000 may correspond to a portion of a computer server, or a network node providing network access (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 access point (AP) or a similar device), or a network node accessing a network (e.g., an IEEE 802.11 wireless station (STA)). In some embodiments, the initiator is an AP or an STA, and each responder is also an AP or an STA. The AP and the STA may be wirelessly coupled via a wireless local area network (WLAN) (e.g., an IEEE 802.11-compliant WLAN), where various PPDUs, frames, and other communications as described herein are communications that follow such IEEE 802.11 protocols.

[0083] As Figure 20 shown in FIG. 5, the device 2000 includes a processor 2001, e.g., a central processing unit (CPU) or a dedicated processor such as a graphics processing unit (GPU) or other such processor unit, a memory 2004, a non-transitory mass storage 2002, an I / O interface 2005, a network interface 2003, and a wireless transceiver 2006, all of which are communicatively coupled via a bidirectional bus 2007. The transceiver 2006 includes one or more antennas. According to certain embodiments, any or all of the depicted elements may be used, or only a subset of the elements may be used. Additionally, the device 2000 may include multiple instances of certain elements, such as multiple processors, memories, or transceivers. Further, the elements of the hardware device may be directly coupled to other elements without a bidirectional bus. In addition to the processor and the memory, other electronic components such as integrated circuits may be used to perform the required logical operations.

[0084] The memory 2004 may include any type of non-transitory memory, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), read-only memory (ROM), or a combination thereof, etc. The mass storage element 2002 may include any type of non-transitory storage device, such as a solid-state drive, a hard disk drive, a disk drive, an optical disk drive, a USB drive, or any computer program product for storing data and machine-executable program code. According to some embodiments, statements and instructions executable by the processor 2001 for performing any of the above method operations may be recorded on the memory 2004 or the mass storage 2002.

[0085] Figure 21 An electronic device 2100 provided by an embodiment of the present invention is shown. The electronic device 2100 may be a sensing initiator or a sensing responder, and may include components and aspects of the device 2000 as described above. The device includes a transmitter and a receiver 2106, which may transmit and receive PPDUs and / or frames according to the IEEE 802.11 protocol. The electronic device further includes a measurement establishment module 2110, a sensing PPDU module 2120, and a sensing result module 2130. These modules may be functional aspects of the device, such as implemented by the same computer processor or common electronics, or implemented by separate or partially separate processors or electronics. The modules 2110, 2120, 2130 may operate differently depending on whether the device 2100 is acting as a sensing initiator or a sensing responder and the type of sensing operation being performed (e.g., monostatic, bistatic, or multistatic). The modules 2110, 2120, 2130, and the transmitter and receiver 2106 cooperate to perform some of the operations of the device described in the various embodiments above, where the device is a sensing initiator or a sensing responder. Multiple such devices may interact to provide a device system for performing sensing operations.

[0086] The measurement establishment module 2110 operates to set up sensing measurements by communicating with other similar devices via the transmitter and receiver 2106. That is, the measurement establishment module 2110 may perform the communication portion of the device as described above with respect to the measurement establishment phase 201. When the device 2100 is a sensing initiator, the measurement establishment module may also determine the type of sensing to be performed, the sensing responder to be used, etc. The measurement establishment module 2110 configures the sensing PPDU module 2120 and the sensing result module 2130. Such configuration may be based on the information obtained during measurement establishment. For example, the measurement establishment module 2110 may configure which subchannels are used for transmitting or receiving sensing PPDUs at what times and which subchannels or streams are used for transmitting or receiving polling, reporting, and ACK frames, etc., at what times.

[0087] The sensing PPDU module 2120 configures and causes the transmitter and receiver 2106 to transmit, receive, or transmit and receive sensing PPDUs simultaneously, as described above in the first part of the sensing phase 202. The sensing PPDU module may indicate aspects of the transmission and / or reception, such as the content, timing, and subchannels used for the sensing PPDU.

[0088] The sensing result module 2130 operates to perform the device portion of the communication as described above in the second part of the sensing phase 202. This may include (in cooperation with the transmitter and receiver 2106) appropriately transmitting or receiving polling, reporting, and confirmation frames. Such frames may also be appropriately generated and configured or processed by the sensing result module 2130. The sensing result module 2130 may, for example, generate and provide the content of the sensing report frames to be sent to other devices based on the information received from the sensing PPDU module 2120. The sensing result module 2130 may receive sensing report frames from other devices and generate sensing results, such as object-related information, at least in part based on such sensing reports. Additionally or alternatively, the sensing result module 2130 may generate sensing results at least in part based on the information obtained from the sensing PPDU module 2120.

[0089] Within the scope of the technology, there is provided a computer program product or program element, or a program storage element or memory device (e.g., magnetic or optical wire, magnetic tape or disk, etc.) for storing machine-readable signals, controlling the operation of a computer according to the method of the technology, and / or constructing some or all of its components according to the system of the technology. The actions associated with the methods described herein can be implemented as encoded instructions in a computer program product. In other words, a computer program product is a computer-readable medium on which software code is recorded to execute the method when the computer program product is loaded into memory and executed on the microprocessor of a wireless communication device. Additionally, each operation of the method can be executed on any computing device, such as a personal computer, server, PDA, etc., according to one or more program elements, modules, or objects, or a part of one or more program elements, modules, or objects generated from any programming language such as C++, Java, etc. Further, each operation or the file or object, etc., implementing each said operation can be executed by dedicated hardware or a circuit module designed for this purpose.

[0090] Through the description of the above embodiments, the present invention can be implemented only by hardware, or by software and a necessary general hardware platform. Based on such an understanding, the technical solution of the present invention can be embodied in the form of a software product. The software product can be stored in a non-volatile or non-transitory storage medium, which can be a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), a USB flash drive, or a mobile hard disk. The software product includes a number of instructions that enable a computer device (personal computer, server, or network device) to execute the method provided in the embodiments of the present invention. For example, such execution can correspond to an emulation of the logical operations as described herein. According to an exemplary embodiment, the software product can additionally or alternatively include a number of instructions that enable a computer device to execute operations for configuring or programming a digital logic device.

[0091] Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific features and embodiments of the present invention, it is obvious that various modifications and combinations of the present invention can be made without departing from the present invention. The specification and drawings are to be regarded only as illustrative of the present invention as defined by the appended claims and any and all modifications, variations, combinations, or equivalents falling within the scope of this specification are contemplated.

Claims

1. A method for sensing an object using wireless signals, comprising, by the sensing initiator: Wirelessly transmitting a request frame to a plurality of sensing responders on a first single subchannel among a plurality of subchannels and wirelessly receiving a response frame from the plurality of sensing responders to establish object sensing measurements; Transmitting a different corresponding sensing PPDU to each of the sensing responders on a different corresponding one of the plurality of subchannels or receiving a different corresponding sensing PPDU from each of the sensing responders, one of the sensing PPDUs being transmitted on the first single subchannel, the different corresponding sensing PPDUs being transmitted in parallel in time, the different corresponding subchannels among the plurality of subchannels being different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain; Obtaining an indication of measurements of the plurality of subchannels based on the sensing initiator receiving the sensing PPDU, or based on receiving a report from the plurality of sensing responders, the report being generated based on receiving the sensing PPDU, the indication of the measurements being usable to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The report from the plurality of sensing responders includes different corresponding reports from each of the plurality of sensing responders, each of the different corresponding reports being received using a different corresponding one of the plurality of subchannels; The different corresponding reports are received in parallel in time.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that The sensing initiator transmits each of the sensing PPDUs, and each of the plurality of sensing responders measures one of the different corresponding subchannels to receive its corresponding sensing PPDU to obtain the measurement of the one of the different corresponding subchannels.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, Transmitting each of the different corresponding sensing PPDUs in parallel includes: transmitting each of the different corresponding sensing PPDUs with a timing that at least partially overlaps with at least one other sensing PPDU among the different corresponding sensing PPDUs.

5. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that, The different corresponding reports received in parallel are transmitted by the plurality of sensing responders with at least partially overlapping timings.

6. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5 further comprises: Transmitting a corresponding poll signal for one of the reports and / or a corresponding acknowledgement for one or the reports to each of the plurality of sensing responders, wherein each corresponding poll signal and / or each corresponding acknowledgement is transmitted in parallel in time using one different subchannel among the plurality of subchannels, the subchannel being used by one of the different sensing responders to transmit its corresponding report.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein The reports from the plurality of sensing responder ends include different respective reports from each of the plurality of sensing responder ends, and each of the different respective reports is received using different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein The different respective reports are received in parallel in time.

9. The method according to claim 7 or 8, further comprising: A respective polling signal for one of the reports and / or a respective acknowledgement for one of the reports are sent to each of the plurality of sensing responder ends, wherein each respective polling signal and / or each respective acknowledgement is in turn sent in parallel in time using the different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated, and the different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated are used by one of the plurality of sensing responder ends to send its respective report.

10. The method according to claim 1 or 7, characterized in that, Wirelessly sending a request frame to the plurality of sensing responder ends and wirelessly receiving a response frame from the plurality of sensing responder ends to establish the object sensing measurement includes: communicating with each of the sensing responder ends using different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated.

11. A method for sensing an object using wireless signals, including by a sensing responder end: Wirelessly receiving a request frame from a sensing initiator end on a first single subchannel among a plurality of subchannels and wirelessly sending a response frame to the sensing initiator end to establish an object sensing measurement, the object sensing measurement involving the sensing initiator end, the sensing responder end, and one or more other sensing responder ends; Sending and receiving a first sensing PPDU on one of the plurality of subchannels, the first sensing PPDU being sent in parallel in time with one or more other sensing PPDUs, each of the other sensing PPDUs being sent and received by a respective one of the other sensing responder ends on another one of the plurality of subchannels, one of the sensing PPDUs being sent on the first single subchannel, the plurality of subchannels being different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain.

12. The method according to claim 11 further comprises: Obtaining a measurement of the one of the plurality of subchannels so as to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object based on receiving the first sensing PPDU, and reporting an indication of the measurement to the sensing initiator end.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein Each of the one or more other sensing responder ends reports a respective indication of a measurement regarding the object to the sensing initiator end based on receiving the respective one of the other sensing PPDUs; The sensing responder end reports an indication of its measurement using one of the plurality of subchannels, and each of the one or more other sensing responder ends reports a respective indication of its measurement using another respective one of the plurality of subchannels; The indication of reporting the measurement performed by the sensing response end and each of the one or more other sensing response ends is executed in parallel in time.

14. The method according to any one of claims 11 to 13, characterized in that, Parallelly transmitting each of the different corresponding sensing PPDUs includes: transmitting each of the different corresponding sensing PPDUs through a time sequence that at least partially overlaps with at least one other sensing PPDU among the different corresponding sensing PPDUs.

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that, The sensing response end and each of the one or more other sensing response ends reporting the corresponding information in parallel includes: reporting the corresponding information through a time sequence that at least partially overlaps with the reporting of the corresponding information of at least one sensing response end among the sensing response ends.

16. The method according to claim 12, wherein each of the one or more other sensing response ends reports a corresponding indication of the measurement of the object to the sensing initiating end based on receiving a corresponding one of the other sensing PPDUs; the sensing response end and each of the one or more other sensing response ends use different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated to report the indication of their measurements.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein The indication of reporting the measurement performed by the sensing response end and each of the one or more other sensing response ends is executed in parallel in time by each of the sensing response ends.

18. A sensing initiating end device for sensing an object using wireless signals, the device being configured to: perform wireless communication with a plurality of sensing response ends to establish object sensing measurements; send different corresponding sensing PPDUs to each of the sensing response ends on different corresponding ones of a plurality of subchannels or receive different corresponding sensing PPDUs from each of the sensing response ends, the different corresponding sensing PPDUs being transmitted in parallel in time, the different corresponding subchannels being different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain; obtain an indication of the measurements of the plurality of subchannels based on the sensing initiating end receiving the sensing PPDU, or based on receiving reports from the plurality of sensing response ends, the reports being generated based on receiving the sensing PPDU, and the indication of the measurements being usable for estimating one or more physical characteristics of the object.

19. The device according to claim 18, wherein the reports from the plurality of sensing response ends include different corresponding reports from each of the plurality of sensing response ends, and each of the different corresponding reports is received using a different corresponding one of the plurality of subchannels; the different corresponding reports are received in parallel in time.

20. The device according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that The sensing initiator transmits each sensing PPDU in the sensing PPDUs, and each sensing responder among the multiple sensing responders measures one sub-channel among the different corresponding sub-channels to receive its corresponding sensing PPDU, so as to obtain the measurement of the one sub-channel among the different corresponding sub-channels.

21. The device according to any one of claims 18 to 20, characterized in that, Transmitting each sensing PPDU among the different corresponding sensing PPDUs in parallel includes: transmitting each sensing PPDU among the different corresponding sensing PPDUs through a timing that has at least partial overlap with at least one other sensing PPDU among the different corresponding sensing PPDUs.

22. The device according to any one of claims 19 to 21, characterized in that, The different corresponding reports received in parallel are transmitted by the multiple sensing responders through at least partially overlapping timings.

23. The apparatus according to any one of claims 19 to 22, further comprising: Transmit a corresponding polling signal and / or a corresponding acknowledgement of one of the reports to each sensing responder among the multiple sensing responders, wherein each corresponding polling signal and / or each corresponding acknowledgement is transmitted in parallel in time using one different sub-channel among the multiple sub-channels, and the sub-channel is used by one sensing responder among the different sensing responders to transmit its corresponding report.

24. The apparatus according to claim 18, wherein The reports from the multiple sensing responders include different corresponding reports from each sensing responder among the multiple sensing responders, and each report among the different corresponding reports is received using a different wireless communication stream that is correspondingly directed and spatially separated.

25. The device according to claim 24, wherein The different corresponding reports are received in parallel in time.

26. The apparatus according to claim 25, further comprising: Transmit a corresponding polling signal and / or a corresponding acknowledgement of one of the reports to each sensing responder among the multiple sensing responders, wherein each corresponding polling signal and / or each corresponding acknowledgement is in turn transmitted in parallel in time using the different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated, and the different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated are used by one sensing responder among the multiple sensing responders to transmit its corresponding report.

27. The device according to any one of claims 24 to 26, characterized in that Wirelessly communicating with the multiple sensing responders to establish the object sensing measurement includes: communicating with each sensing responder among the sensing responders using different wireless communication streams that are correspondingly directed and spatially separated.

28. A sensing responder apparatus for sensing an object using wireless signals, the apparatus being configured to: Wirelessly communicate with a sensing initiator to establish an object sensing measurement, the object sensing measurement involving the sensing initiator, the sensing responder, and one or more other sensing responders; Transmit and receive a first sensing PPDU on one sub-channel among multiple sub-channels, the first sensing PPDU being transmitted in parallel in time with one or more other sensing PPDUs, and each other sensing PPDU is transmitted and received by a corresponding one of the other sensing responders on another sub-channel among the multiple sub-channels, and the multiple sub-channels are different from each other in terms of carrier frequency and non-overlapping in the frequency domain.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28 is further configured to: obtain a measurement of the one sub-channel among the plurality of sub-channels, so as to estimate one or more physical characteristics of the object based on receiving the first sensing PPDU, and report an indication of the measurement to the sensing initiator.

30. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein each of the one or more other sensing responders reports a corresponding indication of a measurement of the object to the sensing initiator based on receiving the corresponding one of the other sensing PPDUs; the sensing responder reports an indication of its measurement using one sub-channel among the plurality of sub-channels, and each of the one or more other sensing responders reports a corresponding indication of its measurement using another corresponding sub-channel among the plurality of sub-channels; the reporting of the indication of the measurement performed by the sensing responder and each of the one or more other sensing responders is performed in parallel in time.

31. The device according to any one of claims 28 to 30, characterized in that, The parallel transmission of each of the different corresponding sensing PPDUs includes: transmitting each of the different corresponding sensing PPDUs through a timing that has at least partial overlap with at least one other sensing PPDU among the different corresponding sensing PPDUs.

32. The device according to claim 30 or 31, characterized in that, The parallel reporting of the corresponding information by the sensing responder and each of the one or more other sensing responders includes: reporting the corresponding information through a timing that has at least partial overlap with the reporting of the corresponding information of at least one sensing responder among the sensing responders.

33. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein each of the one or more other sensing responders reports a corresponding indication of a measurement of the object to the sensing initiator based on receiving the corresponding one of the other sensing PPDUs; the sensing responder and each of the one or more other sensing responders report an indication of their measurements using different wireless communication streams that are respectively directed and spatially separated.

34. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein The reporting of the indication of the measurement performed by the sensing responder and each of the one or more other sensing responders is performed in parallel in time by each of the sensing responders.

35. The method according to claim 1, wherein the reports from the plurality of sensing responders include different corresponding reports from each of the plurality of sensing responders, and are sequentially received on the first single sub-channel among the plurality of sub-channels.

36. The method according to claim 35, further comprising: Send a corresponding polling signal for one of the reports and / or a corresponding confirmation for one or the reports to each of the plurality of sensing responders, wherein each corresponding polling signal and / or each corresponding confirmation is sequentially sent using the first single sub-channel among the plurality of sub-channels.

37. The method according to claim 36, wherein Before any other polling signal in the polling signal, the sensing initiating end sends a first polling signal to the sensing responding end, and the sensing responding end sends the sensing PPDU on the first single sub-channel among the plurality of sub-channels.

38. The method according to claim 11, wherein each of the one or more other sensing responding ends reports a corresponding indication of the measurement of the object to the sensing initiating end on the first single sub-channel based on receiving a corresponding one of the other sensing PPDUs; the reporting of the indication of the measurement by the sensing responding end and each of the one or more other sensing responding ends is sequentially performed in time.

39. The method according to claim 38, further comprising: Receive from the sensing initiating end: a polling signal for causing the sensing responding end to report the indication of the measurement and / or an acknowledgment of the reporting, wherein the polling signal and / or the acknowledgment are sequentially received together with at least one of another polling signal and another acknowledgment for another sensing responding end among the sensing responding ends on the first single sub-channel among the plurality of sub-channels.

40. The method according to claim 39, characterized in that, The sensing responding end that sends the sensing PPDU on the first single sub-channel is the first sensing responding end that receives the polling signal from the sensing initiating end.

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