Communication device

Abstract

The invention relates to a communication device. A communication device includes a first transmit signal processing circuit, a first receive signal processing circuit, a fundamental frequency signal processing circuit, and a control unit. The first transmit signal processing circuit is enabled in a sensing mode and transmits a first radio frequency signal within a wireless communication environment. The first RF signal includes a predetermined packet. The first received signal processing circuit is enabled in a sensing mode and receives a second radio frequency signal. The second RF signal includes a first packet derived from the predetermined packet. The baseband signal processing circuit generates a predetermined packet provided to the first transmit signal processing circuit according to a bit stream data, and receives a first packet from the first receive signal processing circuit, in which the baseband signal processing circuit further performs channel estimation according to the first packet to generate channel information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a communication device that performs sensing using Wi-Fi communication technology, and more particularly to a Wi-Fi communication device that performs sensing in a monostatic architecture. Background Technology

[0002] Due to its superior performance in terms of transmission speed, coverage, and the number of connected devices, Wi-Fi has become one of the mainstream technologies for wireless network communication today. With the widespread adoption of Wi-Fi devices, additional applications based on Wi-Fi communication have also begun to flourish, such as technologies that use Wi-Fi signals for positioning or sensing.

[0003] However, due to limitations in the Wi-Fi infrastructure architecture, existing Wi-Fi sensing technologies suffer from numerous problems that can affect sensing accuracy. For example, excessively large sensing ranges can easily lead to false alarms, time synchronization is difficult, making it hard to accurately measure the time of flight (ToF) of non-line-of-sight (NLoS) paths, and there are also ambiguities in the interpretation of the motion of target objects.

[0004] Therefore, how to optimize Wi-Fi sensing technology to improve its accuracy and application value is an important issue in the field of Wi-Fi communication technology. Summary of the Invention

[0005] According to one embodiment of the present invention, a communication device includes a first transmitting signal processing circuit, a first receiving signal processing circuit, a baseband signal processing circuit, and a control unit. The first transmitting signal processing circuit is enabled in a sensing mode and transmits a first radio frequency (RF) signal in a wireless communication environment. The first RF signal includes a predetermined packet. The first receiving signal processing circuit is enabled in a sensing mode and receives a second RF signal. The second RF signal includes a first packet originating from the predetermined packet. The baseband signal processing circuit generates a predetermined packet provided to the first transmitting signal processing circuit based on a bit of streaming data and receives the first packet from the first receiving signal processing circuit, wherein the baseband signal processing circuit further performs channel estimation based on the first packet to generate channel information. Attached Figure Description

[0006] Figure 1 This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[0007] Figure 2 This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

[0008] Figure 3This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

[0009] Figure 4 This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

[0010] Figure 5 This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[0011] Figure 6 This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

[0012] Figure 7 This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention.

[0013] Figure 8 This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to the eighth embodiment of the present invention.

[0014] Figure 9 This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention.

[0015] Figure 10 This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a tenth embodiment of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0016] This invention belongs to the field of Integrated Sensing and Communication (ISAC) technology, specifically, it utilizes Wi-Fi communication technology to perform sensing in a monostatic (or single-base) manner. For simplicity, the term "sensing" will be used in the following paragraphs. Furthermore, in this disclosure, "monostatic" or "single-base" refers to a system where the transmitter and receiver for sensing signals or packets are located in the same device. Conversely, in bistatic or multistatic modes, the transmitter and receiver must be located in different devices, such as two or more independent communication devices.

[0017] In embodiments of the present invention, by integrating single-station sensing functionality into the existing Wi-Fi communication framework, the sensing limitations of Wi-Fi communication infrastructure are effectively addressed, particularly improving the application scope and accuracy of Wi-Fi sensing technology in everyday environments. Key applications include device-free sensing scenarios such as positioning, tracking, motion detection, action recognition, vital sign monitoring, and object imaging.

[0018] Figure 1This diagram shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 100 may include at least one independent transmission link (Tx Chain) and at least one independent receiving link (Rx Chain). More specifically, the communication device 100 may include an antenna Ant_A configured on the transmission link, a transmission signal processing circuit 110 and a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 150, an antenna Ant_B configured on the receiving link, a receiving signal processing circuit 120 and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 160, and a baseband signal processing circuit 130 and a control unit 140. In this embodiment, the communication device 100 may be a 1Tx1R Wi-Fi device, where T represents transmission and R represents reception. For simplicity, [the diagram is omitted here]. Figure 1 In subsequent diagrams, the abbreviation DAC will be used to represent digital-to-analog converter, and the abbreviation ADC will be used to represent analog-to-digital converter.

[0019] According to one embodiment of the present invention, during signal processing, the control unit 140 may generate a bit stream to be transmitted (i.e., Wi-Fi data) (hereinafter referred to as bit stream data) and provide the bit stream data to the baseband signal processing circuit 130. The baseband signal processing circuit 130 may include a modulation circuit 131 and a conversion circuit 132 for processing the transmitted signal. The modulation circuit 131 is used to modulate the bit stream data to generate a modulated signal, wherein the modulated signal is a frequency domain signal. The conversion circuit 132 is used to perform a frequency domain-to-time domain conversion on the modulated signal to generate a time domain digital signal.

[0020] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the modulation circuit 131 may be an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signal processing circuit for generating a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bit stream data. The conversion circuit 132 may be an inverse fast Fourier transform (iFFT) circuit for performing an inverse fast Fourier transform. The time-domain digital signal generated by the conversion circuit 132 may include at least one Wi-Fi packet to be transmitted.

[0021] The digital-to-analog converter 150 converts the time-domain digital signal output from the conversion circuit 132 into a time-domain analog signal and provides it to the transmission signal processing circuit 110. The transmission signal processing circuit 110 may include at least a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier. The mixer converts the time-domain analog signal, typically a baseband signal, into a radio frequency (RF) signal. The filter performs filtering operations on the RF signal to remove unwanted components (e.g., image signals or interference signals). The amplifier amplifies the RF signal for transmission to the radio interface via the antenna Ant_A.

[0022] During signal processing, the receiving signal processing circuit 120 receives radio frequency (RF) signals via antenna Ant_B. The receiving signal processing circuit 120 may include at least a mixer, a filter, and an amplifier. The amplifier amplifies the RF signal. The filter performs filtering operations on the RF signal to remove unwanted components (e.g., image signals or interference signals). The mixer converts the RF signal into a baseband signal, which is also a time-domain analog signal. The analog-to-digital converter 160 converts the time-domain analog signal output by the receiving signal processing circuit 120 into a time-domain digital signal and provides it to the baseband signal processing circuit 130. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the time-domain digital signal generated by the analog-to-digital converter 160 may include at least one Wi-Fi packet.

[0023] The baseband signal processing circuit 130 may further include a conversion circuit 133 for processing the received signal and a channel estimation device 134. The conversion circuit 133 performs a time-domain to frequency-domain conversion on the time-domain digital signal to generate a frequency-domain baseband signal. According to one embodiment of the invention, the conversion circuit 133 may be a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) circuit to perform the FFT. The channel estimation device 134 performs channel estimation based on the frequency-domain baseband signal output by the conversion circuit 133 to generate channel information, for example, estimating channel state information (CSI) using the preamble portion of the frequency-domain baseband signal.

[0024] In embodiments of the present invention, the communication device 100 can operate in at least two different operating modes, including a communication mode and a sensing mode. Therefore, Figure 1An architectural example of performing single-site sensing using a 1Tx1R Wi-Fi communication device is illustrated. In embodiments of the invention, the mode selection can be a static setting or a dynamic setting per (or per multiple) packet. In communication mode, the transmit signal processing circuit 110 and the receive signal processing circuit 120 (or the corresponding transmit and receive links) operate in a half-duplex manner. When the transmit and receive links of the communication device 100 operate in a half-duplex manner, the communication device 100 will only be in either the transmit (Tx) or receive (Rx) state. In other words, only one of the transmit and receive links will be used at any given time.

[0025] More specifically, when the communication device 100 is in the transmitting state, only the transmitting link is used. At this time, the devices on the transmitting link, as well as the devices within the baseband signal processing circuit 130 and control unit 140 corresponding to transmitting signal processing, perform transmitting signal processing related operations as described above. When the communication device 100 is in the receiving state, only the receiving link is used. At this time, the devices on the receiving link, as well as the devices within the baseband signal processing circuit 130 and control unit 140 corresponding to receiving signal processing, perform receiving signal processing related operations as described above.

[0026] Unlike the communication mode, in the sensing mode, the communication device 100 performs single-station sensing, and the transmission signal processing circuit 110 and the reception signal processing circuit 120 (or the corresponding transmission link and reception link) operate in full-duplex mode. When the transmission link and reception link of the communication device 100 operate in full-duplex mode, the communication device 100 can be in both transmission (Tx) and reception (Rx) states simultaneously. In other words, both the transmission link and the reception link are used in the sensing mode or during the sensing process, and their operation or usage time can overlap.

[0027] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 140 can generate corresponding control signals according to different mode settings to enable corresponding devices (e.g., the transmit signal processing circuit 110 or the receive signal processing circuit 120). Furthermore, the control unit 140 can control the transmit power according to different mode settings to meet the transmit power requirements of each mode. Additionally, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 140 can receive the CSI reported by the baseband signal processing circuit 130, and perform further digital signal processing or calculations on the obtained CSI according to the application to generate corresponding sensing results, such as determining the characteristics of an object in the wireless communication environment where the communication device 100 is located.

[0028] The following paragraphs will describe in more detail the control and operation of the communication device 100 in communication mode and sensing mode.

[0029] In communication mode, when the communication device 100 needs to transmit packets as required or according to the Wi-Fi transmission protocol, the control unit 140 can generate the bit stream data to be transmitted and provide the bit stream data to the baseband signal processing circuit 130. Furthermore, the control unit 140 can generate a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 130 to perform operations related to transmission signal processing. For example, as described above, the modulation circuit 131 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bit stream data, and the conversion circuit 132 correspondingly generates a time-domain digital signal.

[0030] Furthermore, the control unit 140 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Tx to enable devices on the transmission link, such as the digital-to-analog converter 150 and the transmission signal processing circuit 110, and control the devices on the transmission link to perform transmission signal processing-related operations. For example, as described above, the control unit 140 controls the digital-to-analog converter 150 to convert a time-domain digital signal into a time-domain analog signal, and controls the transmission signal processing circuit 110 to transmit the radio frequency signal to the radio interface via the antenna Ant_A after performing corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, amplification, and other operations. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 140 can control the transmission power of packets individually to meet the requirements of Wi-Fi transmission.

[0031] Furthermore, when the communication device 100 needs to transmit packets or is in a transmission state, the control unit 140 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Rx to shut down or disable devices on the receiving link, such as the receiving signal processing circuit 120 and the analog-to-digital converter 160, or control devices on the receiving link to enter a standby state. That is, as described above, the transmission and receiving links of the communication device 100 will operate in half-duplex mode in communication mode.

[0032] When the communication device 100 needs to receive packets as required or according to the Wi-Fi transmission protocol, the control unit 140 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Rx to enable the device on the receiving link, and generate a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 130 to perform operations related to receiving signal processing. Furthermore, the control unit 140 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Tx to turn off or disable the device on the transmission link or control the device on the transmission link to enter a standby state. That is, as described above, the transmission and receiving links of the communication device 100 operate in half-duplex mode in communication mode.

[0033] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present invention, the control unit 140 (and other control units in subsequent figures) can enable or disable the corresponding device by setting the control signals Ctrl_Tx, Ctrl_Rx and Ctrl_BB to different voltage levels.

[0034] The control unit 140 controls the received signal processing circuit 120 to perform corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the received radio frequency signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. It also controls the analog-to-digital converter 160 to convert the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal containing the received packet, and controls the baseband signal processing circuit 130 to prepare for receiving and processing the received packet. For example, the conversion circuit 133 performs a time-domain-to-frequency-domain conversion on the received time-domain signal to generate a frequency-domain signal, which may be a frequency-domain baseband signal. The channel estimation device 134 performs channel estimation based on the frequency-domain signal to generate channel information. In communication mode, the channel information can be used to demodulate the Wi-Fi data carried within the received packet.

[0035] In sensing mode, the control unit 140 can generate bitstream data for sensing and provide the bitstream data to the baseband signal processing circuit 130. Furthermore, the control unit 140 can generate a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 130 to perform operations related to transmission signal processing. For example, the baseband signal processing circuit 130 can generate a predetermined packet provided to the transmission signal processing circuit 110 based on the bitstream data for sensing. As described above, the modulation circuit 131 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bitstream data, and the conversion circuit 132 correspondingly generates a time-domain digital signal. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the time-domain digital signal generated by the conversion circuit 132 may include a predetermined packet for sensing, which carries the bitstream data for sensing generated by the control unit 140.

[0036] Furthermore, the control unit 140 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Tx to enable devices on the transmission link, such as the digital-to-analog converter 150 and the transmission signal processing circuit 110, and control the devices on the transmission link to perform transmission signal processing-related operations. For example, as described above, the control unit 140 controls the digital-to-analog converter 150 to convert a time-domain digital signal into a time-domain analog signal, and controls the transmission signal processing circuit 110 to perform corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, amplification, and other operations before transmitting the radio frequency signal to the radio interface via the antenna Ant_A.

[0037] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the radio frequency signal may include the aforementioned predetermined packet for sensing. Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 140 can control the transmission power of the predetermined packet to simultaneously meet the application requirements of Wi-Fi transmission and single-site sensing. For example, the transmission power of the predetermined packet is related to the sensing distance or range, and the control unit 140 can set the transmission power according to the sensing distance or range.

[0038] Furthermore, in sensing mode, the control unit 140 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Rx to enable devices on the receiving link, and a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 130 to perform operations related to receiving signal processing. Specifically, the control unit 140 can control the receiving signal processing circuit 120 to receive radio frequency signals via antenna Ant_B, which includes a receiving packet (e.g., a first packet) originating from a predetermined packet.

[0039] The term "received packet originating from a predetermined packet" as used in this disclosure refers to a packet that the receiving signal processing circuit can receive via an antenna in response to the transmission of a predetermined packet. Furthermore, "received packet originating from a predetermined packet" also refers to a packet that is retrieved by the communication device after the predetermined packet has been transmitted by the communication device and via one or more paths (including reflection, diffraction, refraction, etc.). Additionally, "received packet originating from a predetermined packet" can also refer to a packet generated and retrieved by the communication device after the predetermined packet transmitted by the communication device has undergone channel responses (e.g., experiencing corresponding time delays and amplitude or phase changes) along the wireless transmission path. It should be noted that this description of "received packet originating from a predetermined packet" applies to all embodiments of the present invention and is therefore not limited to the present first embodiment.

[0040] To differentiate, Figure 1 Solid arrows pointing from one or more antennas, as well as dashed arrows pointing towards one or more antennas, depict the RF signal transmission path in subsequent diagrams, while dashed arrows depict the RF signal reception path. For example... Figure 1 As shown, the wireless communication environment may include one or more target objects, such as target objects Target_1 and Target_2. After the radio frequency signal carrying the predetermined packet for sensing is transmitted through antenna Ant_A, it may propagate through one or more paths (e.g., the path toward target objects Target_1 and Target_2, and the path reflected due to collision with target objects Target_1 and Target_2) and then be received by antenna Ant_B.

[0041] In sensing mode, the control unit 140 can control the receiving signal processing circuit 120 to perform corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the received radio frequency signal to generate a time-domain analog signal, control the analog-to-digital converter 160 to convert the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal, and control the baseband signal processing circuit 130 to prepare to receive and process packets from the receiving signal processing circuit 120 and the analog-to-digital converter 160. For example, the conversion circuit 133 performs time-domain-frequency domain conversion on the time-domain signal containing the received packets to generate a frequency-domain signal, which may be a frequency-domain baseband signal, and the channel estimation device 134 performs channel estimation based on the frequency-domain signal to generate channel information. In sensing mode, the control unit 140 can determine the characteristics of an object in the wireless communication environment based on the channel information. For example, the presence of an object, object location (positioning), object tracking, object movement detection, object motion recognition, object vital sign monitoring, and object imaging.

[0042] Figure 2 This diagram shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a second embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 200 may include at least one independent transmission link and at least one independent receiving link. More specifically, the communication device 200 may include antennas Ant_A and Ant_B, a transmission signal processing circuit 210 and a digital-to-analog converter 250 configured on the transmission link, a reception signal processing circuit 220 and an analog-to-digital converter 260 configured on the receiving link, and a baseband signal processing circuit 230 and a control unit 240.

[0043] The communication device 200 can operate in at least two different operating modes, including a communication mode and a sensing mode. In communication mode, the transmitting signal processing circuit 210 and the receiving signal processing circuit 220 (or the corresponding transmitting link and receiving link) operate in a half-duplex manner. In sensing mode, the communication device 200 performs single-station sensing, and the transmitting signal processing circuit 210 and the receiving signal processing circuit 220 (or the corresponding transmitting link and receiving link) operate in a full-duplex manner. Therefore, in sensing mode, both the transmitting link and the receiving link are used, and their operation or usage time can overlap.

[0044] Similar to the operation of communication device 100, in communication mode, when communication device 200 needs to transmit packets, control unit 240 can generate bit stream data to be transmitted and provide the bit stream data to baseband signal processing circuit 230. Furthermore, control unit 240 can generate a control signal Ctrl_BB to control baseband signal processing circuit 230 to perform operations related to transmission signal processing. For example, as described above, modulation circuit 231 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bit stream data, and conversion circuit 232 correspondingly generates a time-domain digital signal.

[0045] Furthermore, the control unit 240 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Tx to enable devices on the transmission link, such as the digital-to-analog converter 250 and the transmission signal processing circuit 210, and control the devices on the transmission link to perform transmission signal processing-related operations. For example, as described above, the control unit 240 controls the digital-to-analog converter 250 to convert a time-domain digital signal into a time-domain analog signal, and controls the transmission signal processing circuit 210 to transmit a radio frequency signal through the antenna Ant_A after performing corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, amplification, and other operations. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 240 can control the transmit power of packets individually to meet the requirements of Wi-Fi transmission.

[0046] Furthermore, when the communication device 200 needs to transmit packets or is in a transmission state, the control unit 240 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Rx to shut down or disable devices on the receiving link, such as the receiving signal processing circuit 220 and the analog-to-digital converter 260, or control devices on the receiving link to enter a standby state. That is, as described above, the transmission and receiving links of the communication device 200 will operate in half-duplex mode in communication mode.

[0047] When the communication device 200 needs to receive packets, the control unit 240 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Rx to enable the device on the receiving link, and a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 230 to perform operations related to receiving signal processing. Furthermore, the control unit 240 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Tx to disable or turn off the device on the transmission link, or to put the device on the transmission link into a standby state. That is, as described above, the transmission and receiving links of the communication device 200 operate in half-duplex mode in communication mode.

[0048] The control unit 240 controls the received signal processing circuit 220 to perform corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the received radio frequency signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. It also controls the analog-to-digital converter 260 to convert the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal containing the received packets, and controls the baseband signal processing circuit 230 to prepare for receiving and processing the received packets. The conversion circuit 233 performs time-domain-frequency domain conversion on the received time-domain signal to generate a frequency-domain signal, and the channel estimation device 234 performs channel estimation based on the frequency-domain signal to generate channel information. In communication mode, the channel information can be used to demodulate the Wi-Fi data carried in the received packets.

[0049] In sensing mode, the control unit 240 can generate bitstream data for sensing and provide the bitstream data to the baseband signal processing circuit 230. Furthermore, the control unit 240 can generate a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 230 to perform operations related to transmission signal processing. For example, the baseband signal processing circuit 230 can generate a predetermined packet for sensing based on the bitstream data and provide the predetermined packet to the transmission signal processing circuit 210. More specifically, the modulation circuit 231 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bitstream data, and the conversion circuit 232 correspondingly generates a time-domain digital signal. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the time-domain digital signal generated by the conversion circuit 232 may include a predetermined packet for sensing, which carries the bitstream data for sensing generated by the control unit 240.

[0050] Furthermore, the control unit 240 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Tx to enable devices on the transmission link, such as the digital-to-analog converter 250 and the transmission signal processing circuit 210, and control the devices on the transmission link to perform transmission signal processing-related operations. For example, as described above, the control unit 240 controls the digital-to-analog converter 250 to convert a time-domain digital signal into a time-domain analog signal, and controls the transmission signal processing circuit 210 to perform corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, amplification, and other operations before transmitting the radio frequency signal to the radio interface via the antenna Ant_A.

[0051] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the radio frequency signal may include a predetermined packet for sensing. Furthermore, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 240 can control the transmission power of the predetermined packet to simultaneously meet the application requirements of Wi-Fi transmission and single-site sensing. For example, the transmission power of the predetermined packet is related to the sensing distance or range, and the control unit 240 can set the transmission power according to the sensing distance or range.

[0052] Furthermore, in sensing mode, the control unit 240 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Rx to enable devices on the receiving link, and a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 230 to perform operations related to receiving signal processing. Specifically, the control unit 240 can control the receiving signal processing circuit 220 to receive radio frequency signals through the antenna Ant_B, which includes a receiving packet originating from a predetermined packet.

[0053] In sensing mode, the control unit 240 controls the receiving signal processing circuit 220 to perform corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the received radio frequency signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. It also controls the analog-to-digital converter 260 to convert the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal, and controls the baseband signal processing circuit 230 to prepare to receive and process packets from the receiving signal processing circuit 220 and the analog-to-digital converter 260. The conversion circuit 233 performs time-domain-frequency domain conversion on the time-domain signal containing the received packets to generate a frequency-domain signal, and the channel estimation device 234 performs channel estimation based on the frequency-domain signal to generate channel information.

[0054] In sensing mode, the control unit 240 can determine the characteristics of an object in the wireless communication environment based on channel information. For example, the presence of an object, the object's location (positioning), object tracking, object movement detection, object motion recognition, object vital sign monitoring, and object imaging.

[0055] Figure 2 Similarly, an architectural example of performing single-site sensing using a 1Tx1R Wi-Fi communication device is illustrated. The components and operations of the communication device 200 are largely the same as those of the communication device 100 in the first embodiment. Therefore, the above paragraphs only briefly describe the components and operations of the communication device 200. For detailed descriptions of the internal components of the communication device 200 and more details on the operation of the communication device 200 in different modes, please refer to [reference needed]. Figure 1 The relevant paragraphs will not be repeated here.

[0056] The difference from the first embodiment described above is that in the second embodiment, antenna Ant_A can be an antenna shared by both the transmission and reception links. In communication mode, communication device 200 can selectively receive radio frequency signals through antenna Ant_A or Ant_B, while in sensing mode, communication device 200 can transmit radio frequency signals containing predetermined packets through antenna Ant_A and receive radio frequency signals through antenna Ant_B. In other words, in sensing mode, antenna Ant_A can be dedicated to transmitting radio frequency signals containing predetermined packets, while antenna Ant_B can be dedicated to receiving radio frequency signals containing a received packet originating from the predetermined packets. In this way, antenna Ant_B and its corresponding pins or corresponding amplifiers can be designed more appropriately for the sensing application.

[0057] Figure 3 This shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a third embodiment of the present invention. Figure 3 Similarly, an architectural example of performing single-site sensing using a 1Tx1R Wi-Fi communication device is illustrated, and the components included in the communication device 300 and their operation are generally the same as those in the communication device 100 of the first embodiment and the communication device 200 of the second embodiment. Therefore, for a detailed description of the components included in the communication device 300, such as the transmit signal processing circuit 310, the receive signal processing circuit 320, the baseband signal processing circuit 330, the modulation circuit 331, the conversion circuit 332, the channel estimation device 334, the control unit 340, the digital-to-analog converter 350, and the analog-to-digital converter 360, please refer to... Figure 1 and Figure 2 The corresponding components will not be described in detail here. Furthermore, for information regarding the operation of the communication device 300 in communication mode and sensing mode, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 1 and Figure 2 The relevant paragraphs will not be repeated here.

[0058] The difference between this embodiment and the first and second embodiments is that, in this embodiment, the transmitting link and the receiving link share the same conversion circuit 332. Therefore, the conversion circuit 332 can be a conversion circuit capable of performing Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT). For example, considering that communication devices typically operate in half-duplex mode during communication, i.e., transmission and reception do not occur simultaneously, sharing the same conversion circuit between the transmitting and receiving links can effectively reduce hardware costs. It should be noted that the conversion circuits 132, 133, 232, and 233 in the first and second embodiments can also be conversion circuits capable of performing FFT and IFFT.

[0059] In a third embodiment of the present invention, the baseband signal processing circuit 330 may further include a register 335. The register 335 can be used to temporarily store received packets in sensing mode. For example, when the resources of the conversion circuit 332 are occupied to perform frequency-domain to time-domain conversion on the modulated signal, the register 335 can temporarily store the received packets provided by the receiving link to the baseband signal processing circuit 330. When the resources of the conversion circuit 332 are released, the conversion circuit 332 can retrieve the received packets from the register 335 and perform time-domain to frequency-domain conversion on the received packets to generate a frequency-domain baseband signal for performing channel estimation.

[0060] In embodiments of the present invention, a transmission link and a receiving link that can operate in half-duplex mode can form a transceiver circuit. Figures 1 to 3 Several different embodiments of a communication device that performs single-station sensing using a single transceiver circuit are shown; however, the invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments of the invention, the communication device may also utilize more than one transceiver circuit to perform single-station sensing.

[0061] Figure 4 This diagram shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 400 may include antennas Ant_A and Ant_B, front-end signal processing circuits 41 and 42, baseband signal processing circuit 430, and control unit 440. In this embodiment, the communication device 400 may include at least two independent transmission links and at least two independent receiving links.

[0062] The front-end signal processing circuit 41 may include a transmit signal processing circuit 410-1 and a digital-to-analog converter 450-1 (and further include an antenna Ant_A configured on the transmit link S1_TX), and a receive signal processing circuit 420-1 and an analog-to-digital converter 460-1 (and further include an antenna Ant_A configured on the receive link S1_RX).

[0063] The front-end signal processing circuit 42 may include a transmit signal processing circuit 410-2 and a digital-to-analog converter 450-2 (and further include an antenna Ant_B configured on the transmit link S2_TX), and a receive signal processing circuit 420-2 and an analog-to-digital converter 460-2 (and further include an antenna Ant_B configured on the receive link S2_RX).

[0064] In this embodiment, the front-end signal processing circuit 41 can be the first transceiver circuit S1 of the communication device 400, and the front-end signal processing circuit 42 can be the second transceiver circuit S2 of the communication device 400. Therefore, the communication device 400 can be a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. The front-end signal processing circuits 41 and 42 can form a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system, and the communication device 400 can use these two transceiver circuits to perform MIMO communication.

[0065] The communication device 400 can operate in at least two different operating modes, including a communication mode and a sensing mode. In communication mode, the transmitting link S1_TX and the receiving link S1_RX cooperate in a half-duplex manner, and the transmitting link S2_TX and the receiving link S2_RX also cooperate in a half-duplex manner. In sensing mode, the communication device 400 performs single-station sensing, and the transmitting link S1_TX and the receiving link S2_RX (or, the transmitting link S2_TX and the receiving link S1_RX) operate in a full-duplex manner. Therefore, in sensing mode, both the transmitting and receiving links are used, and their operation or usage time can overlap.

[0066] In communication mode, when the communication device 400 needs to transmit packets, the control unit 440 can generate a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 430 to perform operations related to transmission signal processing. Additionally, the control unit 440 can generate control signals Ctrl_Tx_1 and Ctrl_Tx_2 to enable devices on transmission links S1_TX and S2_TX.

[0067] In addition, when the communication device 400 needs to transmit packets or is in a transmission state, the control unit 440 can generate control signals Ctrl_Rx_1 and Ctrl_Rx_2 to turn off or disable the devices on the receiving link S1_RX and the receiving link S2_RX, or control the devices on the receiving link S1_RX and the receiving link S2_RX to enter a standby state.

[0068] On the other hand, when the communication device 400 needs to receive packets, the control unit 440 can generate a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 430 to perform operations related to transmission signal processing. Furthermore, the control unit 440 can generate control signals Ctrl_Rx_1 and Ctrl_Rx_2 to enable devices on the receive link S1_RX and receive link S2_RX.

[0069] Furthermore, when the communication device 400 needs to receive packets or is in a receiving state, the control unit 440 can generate control signals Ctrl_Tx_1 and Ctrl_Tx_2 to shut down or disable the devices on transmission links S1_TX and S2_TX, or control the devices on transmission links S1_TX and S2_TX to enter a standby state. This allows the two transceiver circuits to operate in half-duplex mode during communication.

[0070] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of the present invention, the control unit 440 (and other control units in subsequent figures) can enable or disable the corresponding device by setting the control signals Ctrl_Tx_1, Ctrl_Tx_2, Ctrl_Rx_1, Ctrl_Rx_2 and Ctrl_BB to different voltage levels.

[0071] In communication mode, the operations related to transmission signal processing and the operations related to reception signal processing are respectively performed by the transmission signal processing circuits 410-1 and 410-2, the receiving signal processing circuits 420-1 and 420-2, the digital-to-analog converters 450-1 and 450-2, the analog-to-digital converters 460-1 and 460-2, the baseband signal processing circuit 430, and the control unit 440. Figure 1 The transmit signal processing circuit 110, receive signal processing circuit 120, digital-to-analog converter 150, analog-to-digital converter 160, baseband signal processing circuit 130, and control unit 140 shown are largely the same. Therefore, for more details regarding the components included in the communication device 400 and their operation in communication mode, please refer to [reference needed]. Figure 1 The relevant paragraphs will not be repeated here.

[0072] It should be noted that, in one embodiment of the present invention, the baseband signal processing circuit 430 may include two sets of baseband circuits, each set corresponding to a transceiver circuit, and may include one or more of corresponding modulation circuits, conversion circuits, and channel estimation devices, as shown in the above embodiments, to perform corresponding baseband signal processing. However, for the sake of simplifying the illustrations and facilitating the description of operation in sensing mode, Figure 4 Only a portion of the baseband signal processing circuit 430 is shown.

[0073] In other words, Figure 4 The circuitry of the baseband signal processing circuit 430 is omitted, and therefore some connections between devices are also omitted. Those skilled in the art can deduce this from the circuits and device connections disclosed in other embodiments. Figure 4 The omitted parts. Furthermore, for more details regarding the components included in each baseband circuit and their operation in communication mode, please refer to [reference needed]. Figure 1 The relevant paragraphs will not be repeated here.

[0074] Figure 4 This example illustrates an architecture paradigm for performing 1Tx1R single-site sensing using a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. It should be noted that, for distinction, Figure 4 Devices filled with slashes represent an example of devices that are turned off or disabled in sensing mode.

[0075] In sensing mode, the control unit 440 can select a transmission link in one set of transceiver circuits and a receiving link in another set of transceiver circuits for sensing. For example, the control unit 440 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Tx_1 to enable devices on the transmission link S1_TX and a control signal Ctrl_Rx_1 to disable or deactivate devices on the receiving link S1_RX. Similarly, the control unit 440 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Tx_2 to disable or deactivate devices on the transmission link S2_TX and a control signal Ctrl_Rx_2 to enable or deactivate devices on the receiving link S2_RX, and vice versa.

[0076] The control unit 440 can generate bit stream data for sensing and provide the bit stream data to the baseband signal processing circuit 430. Furthermore, the control unit 440 can generate a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 430 to perform operations related to transmission signal processing. For example, the baseband signal processing circuit 430 can generate a predetermined packet for sensing based on the bit stream data and provide the predetermined packet to the transmission signal processing circuit 410-1.

[0077] More specifically, modulation circuit 431 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bit stream data, and conversion circuit 432 correspondingly generates a time-domain digital signal. For example, conversion circuit 432 may be a conversion circuit corresponding to the first transceiver circuit S1 (denoted by (S1) in the figure), and may perform an inverse fast Fourier transform. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the time-domain digital signal generated by conversion circuit 432 may include a predetermined packet for sensing, which carries bit stream data for sensing generated by control unit 440.

[0078] The digital-to-analog converter 450-1 can further convert the time-domain digital signal into a time-domain analog signal. After performing corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, amplification, and other operations, the transmission signal processing circuit 410-1 transmits the radio frequency signal to the radio interface through the antenna Ant_A.

[0079] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the radio frequency signal may include a predetermined packet for sensing. Furthermore, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 440 can control the transmission power of the predetermined packet to simultaneously meet the application requirements of Wi-Fi transmission and single-site sensing. For example, the transmission power of the predetermined packet is related to the sensing distance or range, and the control unit 440 can set the transmission power according to the sensing distance or range.

[0080] For processing the received signal, in sensing mode, the control unit 440 can control the received signal processing circuit 420-2 to receive a radio frequency (RF) signal via the antenna Ant_B. This RF signal includes a received packet originating from a predetermined packet. The received signal processing circuit 420-2 can perform corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the received RF signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. The analog-to-digital converter 460-2 converts the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal.

[0081] Furthermore, the control unit 440 can generate a control signal Ctrl_BB to control the baseband signal processing circuit 430 to prepare to receive and process received packets from the receiving link S2_RX. The conversion circuit 433 can perform a time-domain to frequency-domain conversion on the time-domain signal containing the received packets to generate a frequency-domain signal. For example, the conversion circuit 433 can be a conversion circuit corresponding to the second transceiver circuit S2 (denoted by (S2) in the figure), and can perform a Fast Fourier Transform. The channel estimation device 434 performs channel estimation based on the frequency-domain signal to generate channel information and provides the channel information to the control unit 440.

[0082] In sensing mode, the control unit 440 can determine the characteristics of an object in the wireless communication environment based on channel information. For example, the presence of an object, the object's location (positioning), object tracking, object movement detection, object motion recognition, object vital sign monitoring, and object imaging.

[0083] It should be noted that in the fourth embodiment of the present invention, conversion circuits 432 and 433 can be implemented similarly to conversion circuit 332 as conversion circuits capable of performing fast Fourier transform and inverse fast Fourier transform, respectively. For example, when the communication device 400 needs to transmit packets, conversion circuits 432 and / or 433 can perform an inverse fast Fourier transform to perform a frequency-domain to time-domain conversion on the modulated signal to generate a time-domain digital signal. When the communication device 400 receives packets, conversion circuits 432 and / or 433 can perform a fast Fourier transform to perform a time-domain to frequency-domain conversion on the time-domain digital signal output by the front-end signal processing circuit to generate a frequency-domain fundamental frequency signal.

[0084] Figure 5This diagram shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 500 may include antennas Ant_A and Ant_B, front-end signal processing circuits 51 and 52, baseband signal processing circuit 530, and control unit 540. In this embodiment, the communication device 500 may include at least two independent transmission links and at least two independent receiving links.

[0085] The front-end signal processing circuit 51 may include an antenna Ant_A, a transmission signal processing circuit 510-1 and a digital-to-analog converter 550-1 configured on the transmission link S1_TX, and an antenna Ant_A, a reception signal processing circuit 520-1 and an analog-to-digital converter 560-1 configured on the reception link S1_RX.

[0086] The front-end signal processing circuit 52 may include an antenna Ant_B, a transmit signal processing circuit 510-2 and a digital-to-analog converter 550-2 configured on the transmit link S2_TX, and an antenna Ant_B, a receive signal processing circuit 520-2 and an analog-to-digital converter 560-2 configured on the receive link S2_RX.

[0087] In this embodiment, the front-end signal processing circuit 51 can be the first transceiver circuit S1 of the communication device 500, and the front-end signal processing circuit 52 can be the second transceiver circuit S2 of the communication device 500. Therefore, the communication device 500 can be a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. The front-end signal processing circuits 51 and 52 can form a MIMO system, and the communication device 500 can use these two transceiver circuits to perform MIMO communication.

[0088] The communication device 500 can operate in at least two different operating modes, including a communication mode and a sensing mode. In communication mode, the transmitting link S1_TX and the receiving link S1_RX operate in half-duplex mode, and the transmitting link S2_TX and the receiving link S2_RX also operate in half-duplex mode. In sensing mode, the communication device 500 performs single-station sensing, and the transmitting link S1_TX and the receiving link S2_RX (or, the transmitting link S2_TX and the receiving link S1_RX) operate in full-duplex mode. Therefore, in sensing mode, both the transmitting and receiving links are used, and their operation or usage time can overlap.

[0089] Figure 5 This example illustrates an architecture paradigm for performing 1Tx1R single-site sensing using a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. It should be noted that, for distinction, Figure 5 Devices filled with slashes represent an example of devices that are turned off or disabled in sensing mode.

[0090] In sensing mode, the control unit 540 generates bitstream data for sensing and provides it to the baseband signal processing circuit 530. The modulation circuit 531 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bitstream data; this signal is a frequency domain signal. The conversion circuit 532 performs a frequency-to-time domain conversion on the modulation signal to correspondingly generate a time-domain digital signal. According to one embodiment of the invention, the time-domain digital signal generated by the conversion circuit 532 may include a predetermined packet for sensing, which carries the bitstream data generated by the control unit 540 for sensing.

[0091] Control unit 540 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_1 to enable / disable the transmit signal processing circuit 510-1 and digital-to-analog converter 550-1 on transmit link S1_TX, and control signal Ctrl_Rx_1 to disable / disable the receive signal processing circuit 520-1 and analog-to-digital converter 560-1 on receive link S1_RX. Similarly, control unit 540 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_2 to disable / disable the transmit signal processing circuit 510-2 and digital-to-analog converter 550-2 on transmit link S2_TX, and control signal Ctrl_Rx_2 to enable / disable the receive signal processing circuit 520-2 and analog-to-digital converter 560-2 on receive link S2_RX.

[0092] The digital-to-analog converter 550-1 converts a time-domain digital signal containing a predetermined packet into a time-domain analog signal, and the signal processing circuit 510-1, after performing corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, amplification, and other operations, transmits the radio frequency signal containing the predetermined packet to the radio interface through the antenna Ant_A.

[0093] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 540 can control the transmission power of a predetermined packet to simultaneously meet the application requirements of Wi-Fi transmission and single-site sensing. For example, the transmission power of a predetermined packet is related to the sensing distance or range, and the control unit 540 can set the transmission power according to the sensing distance or range.

[0094] For the processing of the received signal, in sensing mode, the receive signal processing circuit 520-2 receives a radio frequency (RF) signal via antenna Ant_B. This RF signal contains a received packet originating from a predetermined packet. The receive signal processing circuit 520-2 performs corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the RF signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. The analog-to-digital converter 560-2 converts the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal.

[0095] The baseband signal processing circuit 530 receives a time-domain digital signal containing received packets, and the conversion circuit 533 performs a time-domain-to-frequency-domain conversion on the time-domain signal to generate a frequency-domain baseband signal. The channel estimation device 534 performs channel estimation based on the frequency-domain baseband signal to generate channel information, and provides the channel information to the control unit 540.

[0096] In sensing mode, the control unit 540 can determine the characteristics of an object in the wireless communication environment based on channel information. For example, the presence of an object, the object's location (positioning), object tracking, object movement detection, object motion recognition, object vital sign monitoring, and object imaging.

[0097] Since the components included in communication device 500 and their operation are largely the same as those in communication device 400 in the fourth embodiment, further detailed descriptions of the components included in communication device 500 can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 4 The corresponding components will not be described in detail here. Furthermore, for other unmentioned control and operation of the communication device 500 in communication and sensing modes, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 4 The relevant paragraphs will not be repeated here.

[0098] The difference from the aforementioned fourth embodiment is that, in this embodiment, after the receiving link enters the baseband signal processing circuit 530, it uses the conversion circuit 533 of the first transceiver circuit S1, and the conversion circuit 533 performs a fast Fourier transform on the time-domain signal containing the received packet to generate a frequency-domain signal. Then, the channel estimation device 534 performs channel estimation based on the frequency-domain signal to generate channel information, and provides the channel information to the control unit 540.

[0099] Figure 6 This diagram shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 600 may include antennas Ant_A and Ant_B, front-end signal processing circuits 61 and 62, baseband signal processing circuit 630, and control unit 640. In this embodiment, the communication device 600 may include at least two independent transmission links and at least two independent receiving links.

[0100] The front-end signal processing circuit 61 may include an antenna Ant_A, a transmission signal processing circuit 610-1 and a digital-to-analog converter 650-1 configured on the transmission link S1_TX, and an antenna Ant_A, a reception signal processing circuit 620-1 and an analog-to-digital converter 660-1 configured on the reception link S1_RX.

[0101] The front-end signal processing circuit 62 may include an antenna Ant_B, a transmission signal processing circuit 610-2 and a digital-to-analog converter 650-2 configured on the transmission link S2_TX, and an antenna Ant_B, a reception signal processing circuit 620-2 and an analog-to-digital converter 660-2 configured on the reception link S2_RX.

[0102] In this embodiment, the front-end signal processing circuit 61 can be the first transceiver circuit S1 of the communication device 600, and the front-end signal processing circuit 62 can be the second transceiver circuit S2 of the communication device 600. Therefore, the communication device 600 can be a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. The front-end signal processing circuits 61 and 62 can form a MIMO system, and the communication device 600 can use these two transceiver circuits to perform MIMO communication.

[0103] The communication device 600 can operate in at least two different operating modes, including a communication mode and a sensing mode. In communication mode, the transmit link S1_TX and the receive link S1_RX operate in half-duplex mode, and the transmit link S2_TX and the receive link S2_RX also operate in half-duplex mode. In sensing mode, the communication device 600 performs single-station sensing, and the transmit link S1_TX and the receive link S2_RX (or, the transmit link S2_TX and the receive link S1_RX) operate in full-duplex mode. Therefore, in sensing mode, both the transmit and receive links are used, and their operation or usage time can overlap.

[0104] Figure 6 This example illustrates an architecture paradigm for performing 1Tx1R single-site sensing using a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. It should be noted that, for distinction, Figure 6 Devices filled with slashes represent an example of devices that are turned off or disabled in sensing mode.

[0105] In sensing mode, the control unit 640 generates bitstream data for sensing and provides it to the baseband signal processing circuit 630. The modulation circuit 631 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bitstream data; this signal is a frequency domain signal. The conversion circuit 632 performs a frequency-to-time domain conversion on the modulation signal to correspondingly generate a time-domain digital signal. According to one embodiment of the invention, the time-domain digital signal generated by the conversion circuit 632 may include a predetermined packet for sensing, which carries the bitstream data generated by the control unit 640 for sensing.

[0106] Control unit 640 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_1 to enable / disable the transmit signal processing circuit 610-1 and digital-to-analog converter 650-1 on transmit link S1_TX, and generate control signal Ctrl_Rx_1 to disable / disable the receive signal processing circuit 620-1 on receive link S1_RX. Similarly, control unit 640 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_2 to disable / disable the transmit signal processing circuit 610-2 and digital-to-analog converter 650-2 on transmit link S2_TX.

[0107] The difference from the fourth embodiment described above is that, in this embodiment, the analog-to-digital conversion operation of the received signal in sensing mode is instead performed by the analog-to-digital converter 660-1 within the front-end signal processing circuit 61. Therefore, the receiving signal processing circuit 620-2 can be more directly coupled to the analog-to-digital converter 660-1 within the front-end signal processing circuit 61. The control unit 640 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Rx_2 to enable the receiving signal processing circuit 620-2 on the receiving link S2_RX and disable or turn off the analog-to-digital converter 660-2 on the receiving link S2_RX. Furthermore, the control unit 640 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Rx_1 to enable the analog-to-digital converter 660-1 on the receiving link S1_RX.

[0108] It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the invention, the control signals Ctrl_Tx_1, Ctrl_Tx_2, Ctrl_Rx_1, and Ctrl_Rx_2 can each be implemented as a group of control signals comprising multiple sub-control signals, and each sub-control signal can be used to control a corresponding device. The control unit 640 (and other control units shown in subsequent figures) can enable or disable the corresponding device by setting the sub-control signals to different voltage levels.

[0109] The digital-to-analog converter 650-1 converts a time-domain digital signal containing a predetermined packet into a time-domain analog signal, and the signal processing circuit 610-1, after performing corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, amplification, and other operations, transmits the radio frequency signal containing the predetermined packet to the radio interface through the antenna Ant_A.

[0110] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 640 can control the transmission power of a predetermined packet to simultaneously meet the application requirements of Wi-Fi transmission and single-site sensing. For example, the transmission power of a predetermined packet is related to the sensing distance or range, and the control unit 640 can set the transmission power according to the sensing distance or range.

[0111] For the processing of the received signal, in sensing mode, the receive signal processing circuit 620-2 receives a radio frequency (RF) signal via antenna Ant_B. This RF signal contains a received packet originating from a predetermined packet. The receive signal processing circuit 620-2 performs corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the RF signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. The analog-to-digital converter 660-1 converts the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal.

[0112] The baseband signal processing circuit 630 receives a time-domain digital signal containing received packets, and the conversion circuit 633 performs a time-domain-to-frequency-domain conversion on the time-domain signal containing the received packets to generate a frequency-domain signal. The channel estimation device 634 performs channel estimation based on the frequency-domain signal to generate channel information and provides the channel information to the control unit 640.

[0113] In sensing mode, the control unit 640 can determine the characteristics of an object in the wireless communication environment based on channel information. For example, the presence of an object, the object's location (positioning), object tracking, object movement detection, object motion recognition, object vital sign monitoring, and object imaging.

[0114] Since the components included in communication device 600 and their operation are largely the same as those in communication device 400 in the fourth embodiment, further detailed descriptions of the components included in communication device 600 can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 4 The corresponding components will not be described in detail here. Furthermore, for other unmentioned control and operation of the communication device 600 in communication and sensing modes, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 4 The relevant paragraphs will not be repeated here.

[0115] Figure 7 This diagram shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 700 may include antennas Ant_A and Ant_B, front-end signal processing circuits 71 and 72, baseband signal processing circuit 730, and control unit 740. In this embodiment, the communication device 700 may include at least two independent transmission links and at least two independent receiving links.

[0116] The front-end signal processing circuit 71 may include an antenna Ant_A, a transmission signal processing circuit 710-1 and a digital-to-analog converter 750-1 configured on the transmission link S1_TX, and an antenna Ant_A, a reception signal processing circuit 720-1 and an analog-to-digital converter 760-1 configured on the reception link S1_RX.

[0117] The front-end signal processing circuit 72 may include an antenna Ant_B, a transmit signal processing circuit 710-2 and a digital-to-analog converter 750-2 configured on the transmit link S2_TX, and an antenna Ant_B, a receive signal processing circuit 720-2 and an analog-to-digital converter 760-2 configured on the receive link S2_RX.

[0118] In this embodiment, the front-end signal processing circuit 71 can be the first transceiver circuit S1 of the communication device 700, and the front-end signal processing circuit 72 can be the second transceiver circuit S2 of the communication device 700. Therefore, the communication device 700 can be a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. The front-end signal processing circuits 71 and 72 can form a MIMO system, and the communication device 700 can use these two transceiver circuits to perform MIMO communication.

[0119] The communication device 700 can operate in at least two different operating modes, including a communication mode and a sensing mode. In communication mode, the transmitting link S1_TX and the receiving link S1_RX cooperate in a half-duplex manner, and the transmitting link S2_TX and the receiving link S2_RX also cooperate in a half-duplex manner. In sensing mode, the communication device 700 performs single-station sensing, and the transmitting link S1_TX and the receiving link S2_RX (or, the transmitting link S2_TX and the receiving link S1_RX) operate in a full-duplex manner. Therefore, in sensing mode, both the transmitting and receiving links are used, and their operation or usage time can overlap.

[0120] Figure 7 This example illustrates an architecture paradigm for performing 1Tx1R single-site sensing using a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. It should be noted that, for distinction, Figure 7 Devices filled with slashes represent an example of devices that are turned off or disabled in sensing mode.

[0121] In sensing mode, the control unit 740 generates bitstream data for sensing and provides it to the baseband signal processing circuit 730. The modulation circuit 731 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bitstream data; this signal is a frequency domain signal. The conversion circuit 732 performs a frequency-to-time domain conversion on the modulation signal to correspondingly generate a time-domain digital signal. According to one embodiment of the invention, the time-domain digital signal generated by the conversion circuit 732 may include a predetermined packet for sensing, which carries the bitstream data generated by the control unit 740 for sensing.

[0122] Control unit 740 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_1 to enable / disable the transmit signal processing circuit 710-1 and digital-to-analog converter 750-1 on transmit link S1_TX, and control signal Ctrl_Rx_1 to disable / disable the receive signal processing circuit 720-1 and analog-to-digital converter 760-1 on receive link S1_RX. Similarly, control unit 740 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_2 to disable / disable the transmit signal processing circuit 710-2 and digital-to-analog converter 750-2 on transmit link S2_TX, and control signal Ctrl_Rx_2 to enable / disable the receive signal processing circuit 720-2 and analog-to-digital converter 760-2 on receive link S2_RX.

[0123] The digital-to-analog converter 750-1 converts a time-domain digital signal containing a predetermined packet into a time-domain analog signal, and the signal processing circuit 710-1, after performing corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, amplification, and other operations, transmits the radio frequency signal containing the predetermined packet to the radio interface through the antenna Ant_A.

[0124] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 740 can control the transmission power of a predetermined packet to simultaneously meet the application requirements of Wi-Fi transmission and single-site sensing. For example, the transmission power of a predetermined packet is related to the sensing distance or range, and the control unit 740 can set the transmission power according to the sensing distance or range.

[0125] For the processing of the received signal, in sensing mode, the receive signal processing circuit 720-2 receives a radio frequency (RF) signal via antenna Ant_B. This RF signal contains a received packet originating from a predetermined packet. The receive signal processing circuit 720-2 performs corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the RF signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. The analog-to-digital converter 760-2 converts the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal.

[0126] The baseband signal processing circuit 730 receives a time-domain digital signal containing the received packets. The difference from the fourth embodiment described above is that, in this embodiment, in sensing mode, the transmit link S1_TX and the receive link S2_RX share the same conversion circuit 732. Therefore, the conversion circuit 732 can be a conversion circuit capable of performing fast Fourier transform and inverse fast Fourier transform.

[0127] In a seventh embodiment of the present invention, the baseband signal processing circuit 730 may further include a register 735. The register 735 can be used to temporarily store received packets in sensing mode. For example, when the resources of the conversion circuit 732 are occupied to perform frequency-to-time domain conversion on the modulated signal, the register 735 can temporarily store the received packets provided by the receive link to the baseband signal processing circuit 730. When the resources of the conversion circuit 732 are released, the conversion circuit 732 can retrieve the received packets from the register 735 and perform time-to-frequency domain conversion on the received packets to generate a frequency-domain baseband signal for performing channel estimation.

[0128] The channel estimation device 734 performs channel estimation based on the frequency domain fundamental frequency signal to generate channel information, and provides the channel information to the control unit 740. In sensing mode, the control unit 740 can determine the characteristics of an object in the wireless communication environment based on the channel information. For example, the presence of an object, object location (positioning), object tracking, object movement detection, object motion recognition, object vital sign monitoring, and object imaging.

[0129] Since the components included in communication device 700 and their operation are largely the same as those in communication device 700 in the fourth embodiment, further detailed descriptions of the components included in communication device 700 can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 4 The corresponding components will not be described in detail here. Furthermore, for other unmentioned control and operation of the communication device 700 in communication and sensing modes, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 4 The relevant paragraphs will not be repeated here.

[0130] Figure 8 This diagram shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 800 may include antennas Ant_A and Ant_B, front-end signal processing circuits 81 and 82, baseband signal processing circuit 830, and control unit 840. In this embodiment, the communication device 800 may include at least two independent transmission links and at least two independent receiving links.

[0131] The front-end signal processing circuit 81 may include an antenna Ant_A, a transmission signal processing circuit 810-1 and a digital-to-analog converter 850-1 configured on the transmission link S1_TX, and an antenna Ant_A, a reception signal processing circuit 820-1 and an analog-to-digital converter 860-1 configured on the reception link S1_RX.

[0132] The front-end signal processing circuit 82 may include an antenna Ant_B, a transmit signal processing circuit 810-2 and a digital-to-analog converter 850-2 configured on the transmit link S2_TX, and an antenna Ant_B, a receive signal processing circuit 820-2 and an analog-to-digital converter 860-2 configured on the receive link S2_RX.

[0133] In this embodiment, the front-end signal processing circuit 81 can be the first transceiver circuit S1 of the communication device 800, and the front-end signal processing circuit 82 can be the second transceiver circuit S2 of the communication device 800. Therefore, the communication device 800 can be a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. The front-end signal processing circuits 81 and 82 can form a MIMO system, and the communication device 800 can use these two transceiver circuits to perform MIMO communication.

[0134] The communication device 800 can operate in at least two different operating modes, including a communication mode and a sensing mode. In communication mode, the transmitting link S1_TX and the receiving link S1_RX operate in half-duplex mode, and the transmitting link S2_TX and the receiving link S2_RX also operate in half-duplex mode. In sensing mode, the communication device 800 performs single-station sensing, and the transmitting link S1_TX and the receiving link S2_RX (or, the transmitting link S2_TX and the receiving link S1_RX) operate in full-duplex mode. Therefore, in sensing mode, both the transmitting and receiving links are used, and their operation or usage time can overlap.

[0135] Figure 8 This example illustrates an architecture paradigm for performing 1Tx1R single-site sensing using a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. It should be noted that, for distinction, Figure 8 Devices filled with slashes represent an example of devices that are turned off or disabled in sensing mode.

[0136] In sensing mode, the control unit 840 generates bitstream data for sensing and provides it to the baseband signal processing circuit 830. The modulation circuit 831 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bitstream data; this signal is a frequency domain signal. The conversion circuit 832 performs a frequency-to-time domain conversion on the modulation signal to correspondingly generate a time-domain digital signal. According to one embodiment of the invention, the time-domain digital signal generated by the conversion circuit 832 may include a predetermined packet for sensing, which carries the bitstream data generated by the control unit 840 for sensing.

[0137] Control unit 840 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_1 to enable / disable the transmission signal processing circuit 810-1 and digital-to-analog converter 850-1 on transmission link S1_TX, and generate control signal Ctrl_Rx_1 to disable / disable the receive signal processing circuit 820-1 on receive link S1_RX. Similarly, control unit 840 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_2 to disable / disable the transmission signal processing circuit 810-2 and digital-to-analog converter 850-2 on transmission link S2_TX.

[0138] The difference from the seventh embodiment described above is that, in this embodiment, the analog-to-digital conversion operation of the received signal in sensing mode is instead performed by the analog-to-digital converter 860-1 within the front-end signal processing circuit 81. Therefore, the receiving signal processing circuit 820-2 can be more directly coupled to the analog-to-digital converter 860-1 within the front-end signal processing circuit 81. The control unit 840 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Rx_2 to enable the receiving signal processing circuit 820-2 on the receiving link S2_RX and disable or turn off the analog-to-digital converter 860-2. Furthermore, the control unit 840 can generate a control signal Ctrl_Rx_1 to enable the analog-to-digital converter 860-1 on the receiving link S1_RX.

[0139] The digital-to-analog converter 850-1 converts a time-domain digital signal containing a predetermined packet into a time-domain analog signal, and the signal processing circuit 810-1, after performing corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, amplification, and other operations, transmits the radio frequency signal containing the predetermined packet to the radio interface through the antenna Ant_A.

[0140] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 840 can control the transmission power of a predetermined packet to simultaneously meet the application requirements of Wi-Fi transmission and single-site sensing. For example, the transmission power of a predetermined packet is related to the sensing distance or range, and the control unit 840 can set the transmission power according to the sensing distance or range.

[0141] For the processing of the received signal, in sensing mode, the receive signal processing circuit 820-2 receives a radio frequency (RF) signal via antenna Ant_B. This RF signal contains a received packet originating from a predetermined packet. The receive signal processing circuit 820-2 performs corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the RF signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. The analog-to-digital converter 860-1 converts the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal.

[0142] The baseband signal processing circuit 830 receives a time-domain digital signal containing received packets. In this embodiment, in sensing mode, the transmit link S1_TX and the receive link S2_RX share the same conversion circuit 832. Therefore, the conversion circuit 832 can be a conversion circuit capable of performing fast Fourier transform and inverse fast Fourier transform.

[0143] In an eighth embodiment of the present invention, the baseband signal processing circuit 830 may further include a register 835. The register 835 can be used to temporarily store received packets in sensing mode. For example, when the resources of the conversion circuit 832 are occupied to perform frequency-to-time domain conversion on the modulated signal, the register 835 can temporarily store the received packets provided by the receive link to the baseband signal processing circuit 830. When the resources of the conversion circuit 832 are released, the conversion circuit 832 can retrieve the received packets from the register 835 and perform time-to-frequency domain conversion on the received packets to generate a frequency-domain baseband signal for performing channel estimation.

[0144] The channel estimation device 834 performs channel estimation based on the frequency domain fundamental frequency signal to generate channel information and provides the channel information to the control unit 840. In sensing mode, the control unit 840 can determine the characteristics of an object in the wireless communication environment based on the channel information. For example, the presence of an object, object location (positioning), object tracking, object movement detection, object motion recognition, object vital sign monitoring, and object imaging.

[0145] Since the components included in communication device 800 and their operation are largely the same as those in communication device 800 in the fourth embodiment, further detailed descriptions of the components included in communication device 800 can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 4 The corresponding components will not be described in detail here. Furthermore, for other unmentioned control and operation of the communication device 800 in communication and sensing modes, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 4 The relevant paragraphs will not be repeated here.

[0146] Figure 9 This diagram shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 900 may include antennas Ant_A and Ant_B, front-end signal processing circuits 91 and 92, baseband signal processing circuit 930, and control unit 940. In this embodiment, the communication device 900 may include at least two independent transmission links and at least two independent receiving links.

[0147] The front-end signal processing circuit 91 may include an antenna Ant_A, a transmission signal processing circuit 910-1 and a digital-to-analog converter 950-1 configured on the transmission link S1_TX, and an antenna Ant_A, a reception signal processing circuit 920-1 and an analog-to-digital converter 960-1 configured on the reception link S1_RX.

[0148] The front-end signal processing circuit 92 may include an antenna Ant_B, a transmission signal processing circuit 910-2 and a digital-to-analog converter 950-2 configured on the transmission link S2_TX, and an antenna Ant_B, a reception signal processing circuit 920-2 and an analog-to-digital converter 960-2 configured on the reception link S2_RX.

[0149] In this embodiment, the front-end signal processing circuit 91 can be the first transceiver circuit S1 of the communication device 900, and the front-end signal processing circuit 92 can be the second transceiver circuit S2 of the communication device 900. Therefore, the communication device 900 can be a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. Furthermore, in one embodiment of the present invention, the baseband signal processing circuit 930 may include two sets of baseband circuits, each set corresponding to one transceiver circuit, and may include one or more of corresponding modulation circuits, conversion circuits, and channel estimation devices, as shown in the above embodiments, to perform corresponding baseband signal processing. It should be noted that, for the sake of simplifying the illustrations and facilitating the description of operation in the sensing mode, Figure 9 Only a portion of the baseband signal processing circuitry 930 is shown. Those skilled in the art can deduce the circuitry and device connections disclosed in other embodiments. Figure 9 The omitted part.

[0150] The front-end signal processing circuits 91 and 92 can form a MIMO system, and the communication device 900 can use these two transceiver circuits to perform MIMO communication. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the communication device 900 may further include an independent antenna Ant_Aux configured on the receive link S1_Aux_RX.

[0151] The communication device 900 can operate in at least two different operating modes, including a communication mode and a sensing mode. In communication mode, the transmit link S1_TX and the receive link S1_RX operate in half-duplex mode, and the transmit link S2_TX and the receive link S2_RX also operate in half-duplex mode. In sensing mode, the communication device 900 performs single-station sensing, and the transmit link S1_TX, the receive link S1_Aux_RX, and the receive link S2_RX operate in full-duplex mode. Therefore, in sensing mode, both the transmit and receive links are used, and their operation or usage time can overlap.

[0152] Since the communication device 900 can receive radio frequency signals through two receiving links S1_Aux_RX and S2_RX in sensing mode, it can achieve 1Tx2R single-station sensing.

[0153] Figure 9 This example illustrates an architecture paradigm for performing 1Tx2R single-site sensing using a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. It should be noted that, for distinction, Figure 9 Devices filled with slashes represent an example of devices that are turned off or disabled in sensing mode.

[0154] In sensing mode, the control unit 940 generates bitstream data for sensing and provides it to the baseband signal processing circuit 930. The modulation circuit 931 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bitstream data; this signal is a frequency domain signal. The conversion circuit 932 performs a frequency-to-time domain conversion on the modulation signal to correspondingly generate a time-domain digital signal. According to one embodiment of the invention, the conversion circuit 932 may be a conversion circuit corresponding to the first transceiver circuit S1, and the time-domain digital signal generated by the conversion circuit 932 may include a predetermined packet for sensing, which carries the bitstream data for sensing generated by the control unit 940.

[0155] Control unit 940 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_1 to enable / disable transmit signal processing circuit 910-1 and digital-to-analog converter 950-1 on transmit link S1_TX, and control signal Ctrl_Rx_1 to enable receive signal processing circuit 920-1 and analog-to-digital converter 960-1 on receive link S1_Aux_RX. Similarly, control unit 940 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_2 to disable / disable transmit signal processing circuit 910-2 and digital-to-analog converter 950-2 on transmit link S2_TX, and control signal Ctrl_Rx_2 to enable receive signal processing circuit 920-2 and analog-to-digital converter 960-2 on receive link S2_RX.

[0156] The digital-to-analog converter 950-1 converts a time-domain digital signal containing a predetermined packet into a time-domain analog signal, and the signal processing circuit 910-1, after performing corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, amplification, and other operations, transmits the radio frequency signal containing the predetermined packet to the radio interface through the antenna Ant_A.

[0157] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 940 can control the transmission power of a predetermined packet to simultaneously meet the application requirements of Wi-Fi transmission and single-site sensing. For example, the transmission power of a predetermined packet is related to the sensing distance or range, and the control unit 940 can set the transmission power according to the sensing distance or range.

[0158] For the processing of the received signal, in sensing mode, the receive signal processing circuit 920-2 receives a radio frequency (RF) signal via antenna Ant_B. This RF signal includes a received packet (e.g., a first packet) originating from a predetermined packet. The receive signal processing circuit 920-2 performs corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the RF signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. The analog-to-digital converter 960-2 converts the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal. Furthermore, in sensing mode, the receive signal processing circuit 920-1 receives an RF signal via antenna Ant_Aux. This RF signal includes a received packet (e.g., a second packet) originating from a predetermined packet. The receive signal processing circuit 920-1 performs corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the RF signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. The analog-to-digital converter 960-1 converts the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal.

[0159] The baseband signal processing circuit 930 receives a time-domain digital signal containing received packets. Conversion circuit 933 may correspond to the first transceiver circuit S1, and conversion circuit 936 may correspond to the second transceiver circuit S2. Conversion circuits 933 and 936 perform time-domain to frequency-domain conversion on the time-domain signal containing received packets to generate a corresponding frequency-domain baseband signal. The MIMO channel estimation device 934 performs MIMO channel estimation based on the frequency-domain signals received through different receiving links to generate channel information and provides the channel information to the control unit 940.

[0160] In sensing mode, the control unit 940 can determine the characteristics of an object in the wireless communication environment based on channel information. For example, the presence of an object, the object's location (positioning), object tracking, object movement detection, object motion recognition, object vital sign monitoring, and object imaging.

[0161] Since the components included in communication device 900 and their operation are largely the same as those in communication device 400 in the fourth embodiment, further detailed descriptions of the components included in communication device 900 can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 4 The corresponding components will not be described in detail here. Furthermore, for other unmentioned control and operation of the communication device 900 in communication and sensing modes, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 4 The relevant paragraphs will not be repeated here.

[0162] Figure 10 This diagram shows an example block diagram of a communication device according to a tenth embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 1000 may include antennas Ant_A and Ant_B, front-end signal processing circuits 101 and 102, baseband signal processing circuit 1030, and control unit 1040. In this embodiment, the communication device 1000 may include at least two independent transmission links and at least two independent receiving links.

[0163] The front-end signal processing circuit 101 may include an antenna Ant_A, a transmission signal processing circuit 1010-1 and a digital-to-analog converter 1050-1 configured on the transmission link S1_TX, and an antenna Ant_A, a reception signal processing circuit 1020-1 and an analog-to-digital converter 1060-1 configured on the reception link S1_RX.

[0164] The front-end signal processing circuit 102 may include an antenna Ant_B, a transmission signal processing circuit 1010-2 and a digital-to-analog converter 1050-2 configured on the transmission link S2_TX, and an antenna Ant_B, a reception signal processing circuit 1020-2 and an analog-to-digital converter 1060-2 configured on the reception link S2_RX.

[0165] In this embodiment, the front-end signal processing circuit 101 can be the first transceiver circuit S1 of the communication device 1000, and the front-end signal processing circuit 102 can be the second transceiver circuit S2 of the communication device 1000. Therefore, the communication device 1000 can be a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device. Furthermore, in one embodiment of the present invention, the baseband signal processing circuit 1030 may include two sets of baseband circuits, each set corresponding to one transceiver circuit, and may include one or more of corresponding modulation circuits, conversion circuits, and channel estimation devices, as shown in the above embodiments, to perform corresponding baseband signal processing. It should be noted that, for the sake of simplifying the illustrations and facilitating the description of operation in the sensing mode, Figure 10 Only a portion of the baseband signal processing circuit 1030 is shown. Those skilled in the art can deduce the circuitry from the connections of the circuits and devices disclosed in other embodiments. Figure 10 The omitted part.

[0166] The front-end signal processing circuits 101 and 102 can form a MIMO system, and the communication device 1000 can use these two transceiver circuits to perform MIMO communication. Furthermore, in this embodiment, the communication device 1000 may further include an independent antenna Ant_Aux_A configured on the receive link S1_Aux_RX, and an independent antenna Ant_Aux_B configured on the receive link S2_Aux_RX.

[0167] The communication device 1000 can operate in at least two different operating modes, including a communication mode and a sensing mode. In communication mode, the transmit link S1_TX and the receive link S1_RX operate in half-duplex mode, and the transmit link S2_TX and the receive link S2_RX also operate in half-duplex mode. In sensing mode, the communication device 1000 performs single-station sensing, and the transmit link S1_TX and the receive link S1_Aux_RX, as well as the transmit link S2_TX and the receive link S2_Aux_RX, operate in full-duplex mode. Therefore, in sensing mode, both the transmit and receive links are used, and their operation or usage time can overlap.

[0168] Since in sensing mode, the communication device 1000 can transmit radio frequency signals through two transmission links S1_TX and S2_TX, and receive radio frequency signals through two receiving links S1_Aux_RX and S2_Aux_RX, it can achieve 2Tx2R single-station sensing. Figure 10 An example architecture for performing 2Tx2R single-site sensing using a 2Tx2R Wi-Fi communication device is shown.

[0169] In sensing mode, the control unit 1040 generates bitstream data for sensing and provides it to the baseband signal processing circuit 1030. The MIMO modulation circuit 1031 generates a Wi-Fi OFDM format modulation signal based on the input bitstream data, which is a frequency domain signal. Conversion circuits 1032 and 1033 perform frequency-domain to time-domain conversion on the modulation signal to correspondingly generate a time-domain digital signal. According to one embodiment of the invention, the time-domain digital signal may include a predetermined packet for sensing, which carries the bitstream data generated by the control unit 1040 for sensing. Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the invention, conversion circuit 1032 may be a conversion circuit corresponding to the first transceiver circuit S1, and conversion circuit 1033 may be a conversion circuit corresponding to the second transceiver circuit S2.

[0170] Control unit 1040 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_1 to enable the transmit signal processing circuit 1010-1 and digital-to-analog converter 1050-1 on transmit link S1_TX, and generate control signal Ctrl_Rx_1 to enable the receive signal processing circuit 1020-1 and analog-to-digital converter 1060-1 on receive link S1_Aux_RX. Similarly, control unit 1040 can generate control signal Ctrl_Tx_2 to enable the transmit signal processing circuit 1010-2 and digital-to-analog converter 1050-2 on transmit link S2_TX, and generate control signal Ctrl_Rx_2 to enable the receive signal processing circuit 1020-2 and analog-to-digital converter 1060-2 on receive link S2_Aux_RX.

[0171] Digital-to-analog converter 1050-1 converts a time-domain digital signal containing a predetermined packet into a time-domain analog signal. After performing corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, and amplification operations, the transmission signal processing circuit 1010-1 transmits the radio frequency signal containing the predetermined packet to the radio interface via antenna Ant_A. Similarly, digital-to-analog converter 1050-2 converts a time-domain digital signal containing a predetermined packet into a time-domain analog signal. After performing corresponding mixing (e.g., upsampling), filtering, and amplification operations, the transmission signal processing circuit 1010-2 transmits the radio frequency signal containing the predetermined packet to the radio interface via antenna Ant_B.

[0172] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 1040 can control the transmission power of a predetermined packet to simultaneously meet the application requirements of Wi-Fi transmission and single-site sensing. For example, the transmission power of a predetermined packet is related to the sensing distance or range, and the control unit 1040 can set the transmission power according to the sensing distance or range.

[0173] For the processing of the received signal, in sensing mode, the receive signal processing circuit 1020-1 receives a radio frequency (RF) signal through antenna Ant_Aux_A. This RF signal includes a received packet (e.g., a first packet) originating from a predetermined packet. The receive signal processing circuit 1020-1 performs corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the RF signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. The analog-to-digital converter 1060-1 converts the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal. Similarly, the receive signal processing circuit 1020-2 receives an RF signal through antenna Ant_Aux_B. This RF signal includes a received packet (e.g., a second packet) originating from a predetermined packet. The receive signal processing circuit 1020-2 performs corresponding mixing (e.g., down-conversion), filtering, amplification, and other operations on the RF signal to generate a time-domain analog signal. The analog-to-digital converter 1060-2 converts the time-domain analog signal into a time-domain digital signal.

[0174] The baseband signal processing circuit 1030 receives a time-domain digital signal containing received packets. Conversion circuit 1036 may correspond to the first transceiver circuit S1, and conversion circuit 1037 may correspond to the second transceiver circuit S2. Conversion circuits 1036 and 1037 perform time-domain to frequency-domain conversion on the time-domain signal containing received packets to generate a corresponding frequency-domain baseband signal. The MIMO channel estimation device 1034 performs MIMO channel estimation based on the frequency-domain signals received through different receiving links to generate channel information and provides the channel information to the control unit 1040.

[0175] In sensing mode, the control unit 1040 can determine the characteristics of an object in the wireless communication environment based on channel information. For example, the presence of an object, the object's location (positioning), object tracking, object movement detection, object motion recognition, object vital sign monitoring, and object imaging.

[0176] Since the components included in communication device 1000 and their operation are largely the same as those in communication device 400 in the fourth embodiment, further detailed descriptions of the components included in communication device 1000 can be found in [reference needed]. Figure 4 The corresponding components will not be described in detail here. Furthermore, for other unmentioned control and operation of the communication device 1000 in communication mode and sensing mode, please refer to [link to relevant documentation]. Figure 4 The relevant paragraphs will not be repeated here.

[0177] It should be noted that although the above embodiments illustrate architectural examples of implementing 1Tx1R single-station sensing, 1Tx2R single-station sensing, and 2Tx2R single-station sensing, the present invention is not limited thereto. In other embodiments of the present invention, such as Figure 9The shown 1Tx2R single - station sensing architecture can be extended to an nTxmR single - station sensing architecture based on the same concept, where T represents transmission, R represents reception, n and m are positive integers, and n < m. Similarly, in other embodiments of the present invention, such as Figure 10 The shown 2Tx2R single - station sensing architecture can be extended to an nTxmR single - station sensing architecture based on the same concept, where T represents transmission, R represents reception, n and m are positive integers, and n = m.

[0178] In the embodiments of the present invention, a variety of architectures for implementing single - station sensing based on Wi - Fi chips are proposed. In the embodiments of the present invention, a communication device is used to send a predetermined packet for sensing, and the same communication device itself receives a radio - frequency signal containing a received packet derived from the predetermined packet. In addition to effectively avoiding affecting the sending and receiving performance of Wi - Fi communication, the hardware elements originally used for Wi - Fi communication are also shared for sensing, achieving better cost - effectiveness.

[0179] In addition, the architecture for implementing single - station sensing based on Wi - Fi chips proposed by the present invention can effectively solve the problems of bistatic or multistatic sensing, including that the sensing range is too large and easy to generate false alarms, and the signal transmitter and receiver of the sensing are not the same device, so that the receiver cannot obtain many radio - frequency information helpful for estimating channel information from the transmitter, such as the initial transmission phase, frequency offset, etc. In addition, the time synchronization of bistatic or multistatic sensing is difficult, and it is difficult to accurately measure the time - of - flight (ToF) of non - line - of - sight (NLoS) paths, resulting in only relatively rough identification and detection. Moreover, based on the bistatic or multistatic architecture, there must be a pair of physically separated transmitters and receivers, resulting in serious limitations in the actual system deployment. In addition, there are also ambiguities in the interpretation of the movement of the target object based on the sensing results of the bistatic or multistatic architecture.

[0180] In the architecture for implementing single - station sensing based on Wi - Fi chips proposed by the present invention, since the signal transmitter and receiver of the sensing are the same device, the above problems of bistatic or multistatic sensing can be effectively solved, and by sharing the hardware elements of Wi - Fi communication for sensing, better cost - effectiveness is achieved.

[0181] The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention. All equivalent changes and modifications made according to the scope of the patent application of the present invention shall fall within the scope of the present invention.

[0182] Symbol Explanation

[0183] 41, 42, 51, 52, 61, 62, 71, 72, 81, 82, 91, 92, 101, 102: Front - end signal processing circuit

[0184] 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000: Communication device

[0185] 110, 210, 310, 410-1, 410-2, 510-1, 510-2, 610-1, 610-2, 710-1, 710-2, 810-1, 810-2, 910-1, 910-2, 1010-1, 1010-2: Transmission signal processing circuit

[0186] 120, 220, 320, 420-1, 420-2, 520-1, 520-2, 620-1, 620-2, 720-1, 720-2, 820-1, 820-2, 920-1, 920-2, 1020-1, 1020-2: Receive signal processing circuit

[0187] 130, 230, 330, 430, 530, 630, 730, 830, 930, 1030: Fundamental frequency signal processing circuit

[0188] 131, 231, 331, 431, 531, 631, 731, 831, 931: Modulation circuits

[0189] 132, 133, 232, 233, 332, 432, 433, 532, 533, 632, 633, 732, 832, 932, 933, 936, 1032, 1033, 1036, 1037: Conversion circuit

[0190] 134, 234, 334, 434, 534, 634, 734, 834: Channel estimation devices

[0191] 140, 240, 340, 440, 540, 640, 740, 840, 940, 1040: Control Unit

[0192] 150, 250, 350, 450-1, 450-2, 550-1, 550-2, 650-1, 650-2, 750-1, 750-2, 850-1, 850-2, 950-1, 950-2, 1050-1, 1050-2, DAC: Digital-to-Analog Converter

[0193] 160, 260, 360, 460-1, 460-2, 560-1, 560-2, 660-1, 660-2, 760-1, 760-2, 860-1, 860-2, 960-1, 960-2, 1060-1, 1060-2, ADC: Analog-to-Digital Converter

[0194] 335, 735, 835: Temporary registers

[0195] 934, 1034: MIMO channel estimation devices

[0196] 1031: MIMO modulation circuit

[0197] Ant_A, Ant_B, Ant_Aux, Ant_Aux_A, Ant_Aux_B: Antenna

[0198] CSI: Channel State Information

[0199] Ctrl_BB, Ctrl_Tx, Ctrl_Tx_1, Ctrl_Tx_2, Ctrl_Rx, Ctrl_Rx_1, Ctrl_Rx_2: control signals

[0200] Target_1, Target_2: Target objects

[0201] S1_TX, S2_TX: Transmission links

[0202] S1_RX, S2_RX, S1_Aux_RX, S2_Aux_RX: Receive link

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising: A first transmission signal processing circuit is enabled in a sensing mode and transmits a first radio frequency signal in a wireless communication environment, wherein the first radio frequency signal includes a predetermined packet. A first receiving signal processing circuit is enabled in the sensing mode and receives a second radio frequency signal, wherein the second radio frequency signal includes a first packet originating from the predetermined packet; A baseband signal processing circuit generates a predetermined packet based on a bit of streaming data and provides it to the first transmit signal processing circuit, and receives the first packet from the first receive signal processing circuit, wherein the baseband signal processing circuit further performs a channel estimation based on the first packet to generate channel information. as well as A control unit determines the characteristics of an object within the wireless communication environment based on the channel information.

2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the first transmitting signal processing circuit and the first receiving signal processing circuit operate in a full-duplex manner in the sensing mode.

3. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the control unit further generates at least one control signal for activating the first transmit signal processing circuit and the first receive signal processing circuit in the sensing mode.

4. The communication device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: A first antenna is coupled to the first transmission signal processing circuit, wherein the first transmission signal processing circuit transmits the first radio frequency signal through the first antenna; as well as A second antenna is coupled to the first receiving signal processing circuit, wherein the first receiving signal processing circuit receives the second radio frequency signal through the second antenna.

5. The communication device of claim 4, wherein the first receiving signal processing circuit is further coupled to the first antenna, and in a communication mode, the first transmitting signal processing circuit and the first receiving signal processing circuit operate in half-duplex mode through the first antenna.

6. The communication device as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: A first front-end signal processing circuit, including the first transmitting signal processing circuit and a second receiving signal processing circuit; A second front-end signal processing circuit includes a second transmitting signal processing circuit and the first receiving signal processing circuit; A first antenna is coupled to the first front-end signal processing circuit, wherein the first transmission signal processing circuit transmits the first radio frequency signal through the first antenna; as well as A second antenna is coupled to the second front-end signal processing circuit, wherein the first receiving signal processing circuit receives the second radio frequency signal through the second antenna.

7. The communication device of claim 6, wherein in the sensing mode, the second receiving signal processing circuit and the second transmitting signal processing circuit are disabled, the first transmitting signal processing circuit and the first receiving signal processing circuit operate in a full-duplex mode, and in a communication mode, the first transmitting signal processing circuit and the second receiving signal processing circuit operate in a half-duplex mode, and the second transmitting signal processing circuit and the first receiving signal processing circuit operate in the half-duplex mode.

8. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the baseband signal processing circuit comprises: A modulation circuit modulates the bit stream data to generate a modulated signal, wherein the modulated signal is a frequency domain signal. A first conversion circuit performs a frequency-domain to time-domain conversion on the modulated signal to generate the predetermined packet; as well as A second conversion circuit performs a time-domain to frequency-domain conversion on the first packet to generate a frequency-domain fundamental frequency signal.

9. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the baseband signal processing circuit comprises: A modulation circuit modulates the bit stream data to generate a modulated signal, wherein the modulated signal is a frequency domain signal. A temporary register is used to temporarily store the first packet; as well as A conversion circuit performs a frequency-domain to time-domain conversion on the modulated signal to generate the predetermined packet, and retrieves the first packet from the register and performs a time-domain to frequency-domain conversion on the first packet to generate a frequency-domain fundamental frequency signal.

10. The communication device of claim 1, further comprising: A second receiving signal processing circuit is enabled in this sensing mode and receives a third radio frequency signal, wherein the third radio frequency signal includes a second packet originating from the predetermined packet. The baseband signal processing circuit receives the second packet from the second receiving signal processing circuit and performs channel estimation based on the second packet to generate the channel information.

Images