A human proximity sensor using short-range radar.

Abstract

In one aspect, a user equipment (UE) determines a mutual coupling signal associated with a transmit antenna and a receive antenna, determines a mutual coupling difference between the mutual coupling signal and a reference signal, determines a beat signal difference between a current beat signal and a previous beat signal, and determines an amount of micromotion present in the near field. The UE determines whether human tissue is present in the near field based on the mutual coupling difference and the amount of micromotion. Based on determining that human tissue is present in the near field, the UE determines an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue. Based on determining that the amount of radio frequency exposure exceeds a maximum allowable exposure, the UE reduces the amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a human proximity sensor using short-range radar. [Background technology]

[0002] 1. Field of disclosure Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to near-field detection of human tissue.

[0003] 2. Description of Related Art Wireless communication systems have evolved through various generations, including first-generation analog wireless telephone service (1G), second-generation (2G) digital wireless telephone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks), third-generation (3G) high-speed data, Internet-enabled wireless service, and fourth-generation (4G) service (e.g., Long Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax). Currently, many different types of wireless communication systems are in use, including cellular systems and personal communications service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular analog advanced mobile phone system (AMPS), and digital cellular systems based on code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), and the like.

[0004] The fifth generation (5G) wireless standard, called New Radio (NR), requires higher data rates, a larger number of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. According to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, the 5G standard is designed to provide data rates of tens of megabits per second to tens of thousands of users, providing 1 gigabit per second to a few dozen workers on an office floor. To support large-scale deployment of sensors, hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections must be supported. Therefore, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly increased compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiency must be increased and latency significantly reduced compared to the current standard. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The following presents a simplified summary related to one or more aspects disclosed herein. As such, the following summary is not intended to be an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, nor is it intended to identify key or critical elements of all contemplated aspects or to delineate the scope related to any particular aspect. Thus, the sole purpose of the following summary is to present certain concepts of one or more aspects of the mechanisms disclosed herein in a simplified form prior to the detailed description presented below.

[0006] In one aspect, a user equipment implements a method for detecting the proximity of human tissue, the method including: determining a mutual coupling signal associated with a transmit antenna and a receive antenna of the user equipment, determining a mutual coupling difference between the mutual coupling signal and a reference mutual coupling signal, determining a beat signal difference between a current beat signal and a previous beat signal, determining an amount of micromotion present in a near field of the user equipment based at least in part on the beat signal difference, determining whether human tissue is present in the near field of the user equipment based on the mutual coupling difference and the amount of micromotion, determining an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that human tissue is present in the near field of the user equipment, and reducing the amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the amount of radio frequency exposure exceeds a maximum allowable exposure.

[0007] In one aspect, a user equipment includes a memory, at least one transceiver, and at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor configured to: determine mutual coupling signals associated with transmit and receive antennas of the user equipment, determine a mutual coupling difference between the mutual coupling signals and a reference mutual coupling signal, determine a beat signal difference between a current beat signal and a previous beat signal, determine an amount of micromotion present in a near field of the user equipment based at least in part on the beat signal difference, determine whether human tissue is present in the near field of the user equipment based on the mutual coupling difference and the amount of micromotion, determine an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that human tissue is present in the near field of the user equipment, and reduce an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the amount of radio frequency exposure exceeds a maximum allowable exposure.

[0008] In one aspect, the device includes means for determining a mutual coupling signal associated with a transmit antenna and a receive antenna of the device, means for determining a mutual coupling difference between the mutual coupling signal and a reference mutual coupling signal, means for determining a beat signal difference between a current beat signal and a previous beat signal, means for determining an amount of micromotion present in the near field of the device based at least in part on the beat signal difference, means for determining whether human tissue is present in the near field of the device based on the mutual coupling difference and the amount of micromotion, means for determining an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that human tissue is present in the near field of the device, and means for reducing the amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the amount of radio frequency exposure exceeds a maximum allowable exposure.

[0009] In one aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores instructions executable by one or more processors to determine a mutual coupling signal associated with a transmit antenna and a receive antenna of a user equipment, determine a mutual coupling difference between the mutual coupling signal and a reference mutual coupling signal, determine a beat signal difference between a current beat signal and a previous beat signal, determine an amount of micromotion present in the near field of the user equipment based at least in part on the beat signal difference, determine whether human tissue is present in the near field of the user equipment based on the mutual coupling difference and the amount of micromotion, determine an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that human tissue is present in the near field of the user equipment, and reduce the amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the amount of radio frequency exposure exceeds a maximum allowable exposure.

[0010] Other objects and advantages associated with the embodiments disclosed herein will become apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description.

[0011] The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the explanation of various aspects of the present disclosure and are provided only to illustrate, not to limit, the aspects. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 2A] 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 2B] 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 3A] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a user equipment (UE) and configured to support communications as taught herein; [Figure 3B] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a base station and configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 3C] 1 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in a network entity and configured to support communications as taught herein. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an exemplary user equipment (UE) in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating detecting the presence of human tissue within a detection zone, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a block diagram illustrating detecting micro-motion within a detection zone, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 illustrates a process including reducing the amount of radio frequency exposure associated with human tissue, according to an aspect of the present disclosure. [Figure 8] 1 illustrates a plot of cancellation depth according to an aspect of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] Aspects of the present disclosure are provided in the following description and associated drawings directed to various examples provided for illustrative purposes. Alternative aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the present disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the present disclosure.

[0014] The words "exemplary" and / or "example" are used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" and / or "example" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Similarly, the term "aspects of the present disclosure" does not require that all aspects of the present disclosure include the discussed feature, advantage or mode of operation.

[0015] Next-generation 5G cellular systems use the millimeter wave (mmW) portion of the spectrum, which has a large available bandwidth enabling high speed (e.g., tens of gigabits per second (Gbps)) data rates. Radio transmissions in the mmW spectrum (e.g., 28 gigahertz (GHz), 39 GHz, etc.) are subject to strict exposure regulations for living organisms and human tissue in many countries. For example, in the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has set a limit of 100 MHz per square centimeter (cm ) for frequencies above 6 GHz. 2 The FCC mandates a Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) of 1 milliwatt (mM) per second. The MPE may be exceeded when a user equipment (UE) is transmitting (Tx) at high power, for example, using high beamforming gain. For example, for handheld UEs such as smartphones, the UE is required by the FCC to detect when human tissue is within close proximity (e.g., 4 centimeters (cm) or less) of the UE's radiating element. This close proximity region is referred to as the near field. The systems and techniques described herein enable near field detection of human tissue.

[0016] In one aspect, the systems and techniques described herein may be used to perform near-field detection of human tissue based on detecting perturbations in mutual coupling. In Wi-Fi radar (also called radio frequency (RF) sensing), a packet is transmitted by a transmit (Tx) antenna array of the UE and received almost instantly (e.g., simultaneously) by a receive (Rx) antenna array of the UE. The transmitted packet is received by the Rx antenna as (i) a direct transmission and (ii) a reflected transmission. The reflected transmission may be the result of the transmitted packet reflecting off an object in the near field, such as human tissue (e.g., a user's hand). The mutual coupling represents the energy absorbed by the Rx antenna when the Tx antenna is transmitting (e.g., a direct transmission). Detecting perturbations in mutual coupling is useful in detecting targets moving in the detection zone (e.g., a proximity region), such as when a user's hand moves within close proximity to the UE.

[0017] The reference mutual coupling signal may be repeatedly (e.g., substantially continuously) compared to the received coupled signal to determine whether fluctuations have occurred as a result of objects (e.g., human tissue) in the near field. The received coupled signal includes a static component and a dynamic component indicative of movement of objects in the near field. In some aspects, a metric used to quantify the similarity between these signals is a cancellation depth based on the inverse of the mean squared errors (MSE), e.g., 1 / MSE. The reference mutual coupling signal may be determined by using a low pass filter to extract the static component from the received coupled signal.

[0018] When a user holds a UE or places a hand near the UE, human tissue may engage in relatively small movements (e.g., micro-motions), which result in small changes to the mutual coupling. A stationary human hand has similar characteristics to the mutual coupling, e.g., the reflected signal is relatively constant over multiple observations. Thus, monitoring the mutual coupling causes the system to "learn" the presence of the stationary hand, which may become part of the reference signal, resulting in a high cancellation depth. When the cancellation depth is relatively high (e.g., above a threshold), the detector may determine that no human tissue is present in the near field, thereby not detecting the presence of the stationary hand. To enable detection of a stationary hand in the near field, the present system and technique are enhanced to detect micro-motions. In general, humans are prone to tremors, e.g., nerve-induced numbness, even when a part of the body is stationary, such as when a hand is placed on a table (e.g., near the UE). The present system and technique are enhanced to detect micro-motions caused by nerve pulses and slow down the learning rate of the adaptive filter. For example, after the present systems and techniques detect a micro-motion, the values ​​of the pole filters are altered (e.g., increased) to retain the previously learned mutual coupling and reduce the learning rate associated with a stationary hand. Thus, the systems and techniques used to detect perturbations in the mutual coupling can be enhanced to detect when a user's hand is relatively static (e.g., motionless) while in close proximity to the UE.

[0019] The present system and techniques may detect micro-motion in the near field of a UE by determining the delta between a current beat signal and a previous beat signal. In a Frequency-Modulated Continuous-Wave (FMCW) radar system, a chirp signal is transmitted using a Tx antenna. The chirp signal is an FM modulated signal of known and stable frequency, whose instantaneous frequency varies linearly over a period of time (sweep time) with the modulated signal. The transmitted signal hits a target (e.g., a human hand) and is reflected to generate a reflected signal that is received by the Rx antenna. The frequency difference between the received signal and the transmitted signal increases with delay, and the delay is linearly proportional to the range (e.g., the distance between the target and the radar). The echo from the target is mixed with the transmitted signal and down-converted to generate a beat signal. If the environment is static (e.g., there is no any movement, including micro-motion), the delta between the current beat signal and the previous beat signal may be due to noise. When micromotion is present in the environment, the delta between the current beat signal and the previous beat signal may be higher than the noise due to the perturbation caused by the micromotion. Thus, Rise-over-Noise (RoN) may be used to determine the presence of micromotion in the near field. In a static environment, RoN is close to 1 (e.g., 0 decibels (dB)). When micromotion is present, RoN is greater than 1. The amount of noise present may be obtained by various methods, including, for example, using the negative frequency of the beat signal, leading or trailing samples of the beat signal, etc. The learning rate of the mutual coupling monitoring system may be adjusted based on the amount of micromotion present. For example, the mutual coupling monitoring system may use a single-pole infinite impulse and response (IIR) filter with the poles adjusted based on the RoN. Additionally, in some aspects, a smoothing filter may be used on the RoN to reduce the effect of noise.

[0020] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the information and signals described below may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the following description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof, depending in part on the particular application, desired design, corresponding technology, etc.

[0021] Further, many aspects are described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. It will be appreciated that various actions described herein may be performed by specific circuitry (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), by program instructions executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. In addition, a sequence of actions or actions described herein may be considered to be fully embodied in any form of non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a corresponding set of computer instructions that, when executed, cause or instruct an associated processor of a device to perform the functions described herein. Thus, various aspects of the present disclosure may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which are contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each aspect described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspect may be described herein, for example, as "logic configured to" perform the described actions.

[0022] The terms "user equipment" (UE) and "base station" as used herein are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular radio access technology (RAT) unless otherwise stated. In general, a UE may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, a router, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a consumer location device, a wearable (e.g., a smart watch, glasses, augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) headset, etc.), a vehicle (e.g., a car, a motorcycle, a bicycle, etc.), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc.) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communication network. A UE may be mobile or stationary (e.g., at a given time) and may communicate with a radio access network (RAN). The term "UE" as used herein may be referred to interchangeably as an "access terminal" or "AT", "client device", "wireless device", "subscriber device", "subscriber terminal", "subscriber station", "user terminal" or "UT", "mobile device", "mobile terminal", "mobile station", or variations thereof. In general, a UE may communicate with a core network via the RAN, through which the UE may be connected to external networks, such as the Internet, and to other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms for connecting to the core network and / or the Internet are also possible for a UE, such as via a wired access network, a wireless local area network (WLAN) network (e.g., based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 specifications, etc.).

[0023] A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which the base station is deployed and may alternatively be referred to as an access point (AP), network node, Node B, evolved Node B (eNB), next generation eNB (ng-eNB), New Radio (NR) Node B (also referred to as gNB or gNodeB), etc. A base station may be primarily used to support wireless access by UEs, including supporting data, voice, and / or signaling connections for supported UEs. In some systems, a base station may provide only edge node signaling functionality, while in other systems, a base station may provide additional control and / or network management functionality. A communication link through which a UE may send signals to a base station is referred to as an uplink (UL) channel (e.g., reverse traffic channel, reverse control channel, access channel, etc.). The communication links through which a base station can send signals to a UE are called downlink (DL) channels or forward link channels (e.g., paging channels, control channels, broadcast channels, forward traffic channels, etc.). As used herein, the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink / reverse traffic channel or a downlink / forward traffic channel.

[0024] The term "base station" may refer to a single physical transmission-reception point (TRP) or multiple physical TRPs that may or may not be collocated. For example, when the term "base station" refers to a single physical TRP, the physical TRP may be an antenna of the base station that corresponds to a cell (or several cell sectors) of the base station. When the term "base station" refers to multiple collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be an array of antennas of the base station (e.g., as in the case of a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) system or when the base station employs beamforming). When the term "base station" refers to multiple non-collocated physical TRPs, the physical TRP may be a distributed antenna system (DAS) (a network of spatially separated antennas connected to a common source via a transport medium) or a remote radio head (RRH) (a remote base station connected to a serving base station). Alternatively, non-co-located physical TRPs may be serving base stations that receive measurement reports from the UE and neighboring base stations whose reference radio frequency (RF) signals the UE is measuring. Since a TRP is a point from which a base station transmits and receives wireless signals, as used herein, references to transmission from or reception at a base station should be understood as referring to a particular TRP of the base station.

[0025] In some implementations that support positioning of UEs, a base station may not support wireless access by the UE (e.g., may not support data, voice, and / or signaling connections for the UE) but may instead transmit reference signals to the UE to be measured by the UE and / or receive and measure signals transmitted by the UE. Such a base station may be referred to as a positioning beacon (e.g., when it transmits signals to the UE) and / or a position measurement unit (e.g., when it receives and measures signals from the UE).

[0026] An "RF signal" includes electromagnetic waves of a given frequency that transport information through space between a transmitter and a receiver. As used herein, a transmitter may transmit a single "RF signal" or multiple "RF signals" to a receiver. However, the receiver may receive multiple "RF signals" corresponding to each transmitted RF signal due to the propagation characteristics of RF signals through multipath channels. The same transmitted RF signal on different paths between a transmitter and a receiver may be referred to as a "multipath" RF signal. As used herein, an RF signal may also be referred to as a "wireless signal" or simply a "signal" when it is clear from the context that the term "signal" refers to a wireless signal or an RF signal.

[0027] 1 illustrates an example wireless communication system 100 according to aspects of the disclosure. The wireless communication system 100 (sometimes referred to as a wireless wide area network, WWAN) may include various base stations 102 (labeled "BS") and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macrocell base stations (high-power cellular base stations) and / or small cell base stations (low-power cellular base stations). In an aspect, the macrocell base stations may include eNBs and / or ng-eNBs where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an LTE network, or gNBs where the wireless communication system 100 corresponds to an NR network, or a combination of both, and the small cell base stations may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

[0028] The base stations 102 may collectively form a RAN and may interface with a core network 170 (e.g., evolved packet core (EPC) or 5G core (5GC)) through backhaul links 122 and to one or more location servers 172 (e.g., a location management function (LMF) or a secure user plane location (SUPL) location platform (SLP)) through the core network 170. The location server(s) 172 may be part of the core network 170 or may be external to the core network 170. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions related to one or more of forwarding user data, radio channel encryption and decryption, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity), inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS), subscriber and equipment tracing, RAN information management (RIM), paging, positioning, and delivery of alert messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through EPC / 5GC) via backhaul links 134, which may be wired or wireless.

[0029] The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage to a respective geographic coverage area 110. In an aspect, one or more cells may be supported by the base stations 102 in each geographic coverage area 110. A "cell" is a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (e.g., over some frequency resources, referred to as a carrier frequency, component carrier, carrier, band, etc.) and may be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCI), an enhanced cell identifier (ECI), a virtual cell identifier (VCI), a cell global identifier (CGI), etc.) to distinguish cells operating over the same or different carrier frequencies. In some cases, different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., machine-type communication (MTC), narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of UEs. Since a cell is supported by a particular base station, the term "cell" may refer to one or both of the logical communication entity and the base station that supports it, depending on the context. In addition, since a TRP is typically a physical transmission point of a cell, the terms "cell" and "TRP" may be used interchangeably. In some cases, the term "cell" may also refer to the geographic coverage area (e.g., sector) of a base station, as long as the carrier frequency can be detected and used for communication within a portion of the geographic coverage area 110.

[0030] The geographic coverage areas 110 of neighboring macrocell base stations 102 may overlap partially (e.g., in handover regions), and some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by larger geographic coverage areas 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' (labeled "SC" instead of "small cell") may have a geographic coverage area 110' that significantly overlaps with the geographic coverage area 110 of one or more macrocell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell base stations and macrocell base stations may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include home eNBs (HeNBs), which may serve closed groups known as closed subscriber groups (CSGs).

[0031] The communication link 120 between the base station 102 and the UE 104 may include uplink (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from the UE 104 to the base station 102, and / or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from the base station 102 to the UE 104. The communication link 120 may use MIMO antenna techniques, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and / or transmit diversity. The communication link 120 may be through one or more carrier frequencies. The allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to the downlink and uplink (e.g., more or fewer carriers may be allocated for the downlink than for the uplink).

[0032] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication with a WLAN station (STA) 152 over a communication link 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz). When communicating in the unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STA 152 and / or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) procedure or a listen before talk (LBT) procedure before communicating to determine if a channel is available.

[0033] The small cell base station 102' may operate in a licensed and / or unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or NR technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum used by the WLAN AP 150. A small cell base station 102' employing LTE / 5G in an unlicensed frequency spectrum may extend coverage to and / or increase capacity of an access network. NR in an unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as NR-U. LTE in an unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-U, licensed assisted access (LAA), or MultiFire.

[0034] The wireless communication system 100 may further include a millimeter wave (mmW) base station 180 that may operate in mmW and / or sub-mmW frequencies in communication with the UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is a part of RF in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF ranges from 30 GHz to 300 GHz and has a wavelength between 1 and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as millimeter waves. Sub-mmW may extend down to frequencies of 3 GHz with wavelengths of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz and is also referred to as centimeter waves. Communications using the mmW / sub-mmW radio frequency bands have high path losses and relatively short distances. The mmW base station 180 and the UE 182 may utilize beamforming (transmit and / or receive) over the mmW communication link 184 to compensate for the extremely large path losses and short distances. It will be further understood that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or quasi-mmW and beamforming. Thus, it will be understood that the above illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed as limiting various aspects disclosed herein.

[0035] Transmit beamforming is a technique for focusing an RF signal in a particular direction. Traditionally, when a network node (e.g., a base station) broadcasts an RF signal, it broadcasts the signal in all directions (omnidirectionally). With transmit beamforming, the network node determines where a given target device (e.g., UE) is located (relative to the transmitting network node) and projects a stronger downlink RF signal in that particular direction, thereby providing a faster and more powerful RF signal (in terms of data rate) to the receiving device(s). To vary the directionality of the RF signal when transmitting, the network node can control the phase and relative amplitude of the RF signal at each of one or more transmitters broadcasting the RF signal. For example, the network node can use an array of antennas (also called a "phased array" or "antenna array") that creates beams of RF waves that can be "steered" to point in different directions without actually moving the antennas. In particular, RF current from a transmitter is supplied to each antenna with the correct phase relationship so that the radio waves from the separate antennas combine together to increase radiation in the desired direction while suppressing and canceling radiation in undesirable directions.

[0036] A transmit beam may be quasi-co-located, meaning that the transmit beam appears to a receiver (e.g., a UE) to have the same parameters, regardless of whether the network node's own transmit antennas are physically co-located or not. In NR, there are four types of quasi-co-location (QCL) relationships. Specifically, a QCL relationship of a given type means that certain parameters for a second reference RF signal on a second beam can be derived from information about a source reference RF signal on a source beam. Thus, if the source reference RF signal is QCL type A, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift, Doppler spread, average delay, and delay spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL type B, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and Doppler spread of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type C, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate the Doppler shift and average delay of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel. If the source reference RF signal is QCL Type D, the receiver can use the source reference RF signal to estimate spatial reception parameters of a second reference RF signal transmitted on the same channel.

[0037] In receive beamforming, a receiver uses a receive beam to amplify RF signals detected on a given channel. For example, the receiver can increase the gain setting and / or adjust the phase setting of an array of antennas in a particular direction to amplify (e.g., increase the gain level) RF signals received from that direction. Thus, when a receiver is said to beamform in some direction, it means that the beam gain in that direction is higher than the beam gains along other directions, or that the beam gain in that direction is the highest compared to the beam gains in that direction of all other receive beams available to the receiver. This results in a stronger received signal strength (e.g., reference signal received power (RSRP), reference signal received quality (RSRQ), signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), etc.) of the RF signals received from that direction.

[0038] The transmit beam and the receive beam may be spatially related. The spatial relationship means that the parameters for the second beam (e.g., transmit beam or receive beam) for the second reference signal may be derived from information about the first beam (e.g., receive beam or transmit beam) for the first reference signal. For example, the UE may use a particular receive beam to receive a reference downlink reference signal (e.g., synchronization signal block (SSB)) from a base station. The UE may then form a transmit beam for transmitting an uplink reference signal (e.g., sounding reference signal (SRS)) to that base station based on the parameters of the receive beam.

[0039] Note that a "downlink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity that forms it. For example, if the base station forms a downlink beam to transmit a reference signal to the UE, then the downlink beam is a transmit beam. However, if the UE forms a downlink beam, then it is a receive beam to receive a downlink reference signal. Similarly, an "uplink" beam can be either a transmit beam or a receive beam, depending on the entity that forms it. For example, if the base station forms an uplink beam, then it is an uplink receive beam, and if the UE forms an uplink beam, then it is an uplink transmit beam.

[0040] In 5G, the frequency spectrum in which wireless nodes (e.g., base stations 102 / 180, UEs 104 / 182) operate is divided into multiple frequency ranges: FR1 (450-6000 MHz), FR2 (24250-52600 MHz), FR3 (above 52600 MHz), and FR4 (between FR1 and FR2). The mmW frequency band generally includes the FR2, FR3, and FR4 frequency ranges. Thus, the terms "mmW" and "FR2" or "FR3" or "FR4" may generally be used interchangeably.

[0041] In a multi-carrier system such as 5G, one of the carrier frequencies is called the "primary carrier" or "anchor carrier" or "primary serving cell" or "PCell" and the remaining carrier frequencies are called the "secondary carrier" or "secondary serving cell" or "SCell". In carrier aggregation, the anchor carrier is a carrier operating on the primary frequency (e.g., FR1) utilized by the UE 104 / 182 and on the cell in which the UE 104 / 182 either performs an initial radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment procedure or initiates an RRC connection re-establishment procedure. The primary carrier carries all common control channels and UE-specific control channels and may (but is not always) be a carrier among licensed frequencies. The secondary carrier is a carrier operating on a second frequency (e.g., FR2) that may be configured once an RRC connection is established between the UE 104 and the anchor carrier and may be used to provide additional radio resources. In some cases, the secondary carrier may be a carrier in unlicensed frequencies. Since both the primary uplink carrier and the primary downlink carrier are typically UE specific, the secondary carrier may contain only the necessary signaling information and signals, e.g., the signaling information and signals that are UE specific may not be present in the secondary carrier. This means that different UEs 104 / 182 in a cell may have different downlink primary carriers. The same applies to the uplink primary carrier. The network may change the primary carrier of any UE 104 / 182 at any time. This is done, for example, to distribute the load on different carriers. Since a "serving cell" (whether PCell or SCell) corresponds to a carrier frequency / component carrier over which several base stations are communicating, terms such as "cell", "serving cell", "component carrier", "carrier frequency", etc. may be used interchangeably.

[0042] For example, still referring to FIG. 1, one of the frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 may be an anchor carrier (or "PCell"), and the other frequencies utilized by the macrocell base station 102 and / or the mmW base station 180 may be secondary carriers ("SCells"). Simultaneous transmission and / or reception of multiple carriers allows the UE 104 / 182 to significantly increase its data transmission and / or data reception rates. For example, two aggregated 20 MHz carriers in a multi-carrier system would theoretically lead to a two-fold increase in data rate (i.e., 40 MHz) compared to the data rate achieved by a single 20 MHz carrier.

[0043] The wireless communications system 100 may further include a UE 164, which may communicate with the macrocell base station 102 via communications link 120 and / or with the mmW base station 180 via an mmW communications link 184. For example, the macrocell base station 102 may support a PCell and one or more SCells for the UE 164, and the mmW base station 180 may support one or more SCells for the UE 164.

[0044] In the example of FIG. 1, any of the illustrated UEs (shown in FIG. 1 as a single UE 104 for simplicity) may receive signals 124 from one or more Earth-orbiting space vehicles (SVs) 112 (e.g., satellites). In one aspect, the SVs 112 may be part of a satellite positioning system that the UEs 104 may use as an independent source of location information. A satellite positioning system typically includes a system of transmitters (e.g., SVs 112) positioned to enable receivers (e.g., UEs 104) to determine their location on or above the Earth based at least in part on positioning signals (e.g., signals 124) received from the transmitters. Such transmitters typically transmit signals marked with a repeating pseudo-random noise (PN) code of a set number of chips. Although typically located within the SVs 112, transmitters may sometimes be located on ground-based control stations, base stations 102, and / or other UEs 104. The UE 104 may include one or more dedicated receivers specifically designed to receive the signals 124 from the SV 112 to derive geolocation information.

[0045] In a satellite positioning system, the use of the signals 124 may be augmented by various satellite-based augmentation systems (SBAS) that may be associated with or otherwise enabled for use with one or more global and / or regional navigation satellite systems. For example, the SBAS may include an augmentation system or systems that provide integrity information, differential corrections, and the like, such as Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS)(s), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), Multi-functional Satellite Augmentation System (MSAS), Global Positioning System (GPS)-aided Geo-augmented navigation, or GPS and Geo Augmented Navigation system (GAGAN). Thus, as used herein, a satellite positioning system may include any combination of one or more global and / or regional navigation satellites associated with one or more such satellite positioning systems.

[0046] In one aspect, the SV 112 may additionally or alternatively be part of one or more non-terrestrial networks (NTNs). In an NTN, the SV 112 is connected to an earth station (also called a ground station, NTN gateway, or gateway), which in turn is connected to an element in a 5G network, such as a modified base station 102 (without a terrestrial antenna) or a network node in a 5G network. This element will then provide access to other elements in the 5G network and ultimately to entities outside the 5G network, such as Internet web servers and other user devices. In this way, the UE 104 may receive communication signals (e.g., signal 124) from the SV 112 instead of or in addition to communication signals from the terrestrial base station 102.

[0047] The wireless communication system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that indirectly connect to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links (referred to as "sidelinks"). In the example of FIG. 1, the UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 (e.g., through which the UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102, and a D2D P2P link 194 (through which the UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity) with a WLAN STA 152 connected to a WLAN AP 150. In one example, the D2D P2P links 192 and 194 may be supported using any well-known D2D RAT, such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, etc.

[0048] 2A illustrates an exemplary wireless network structure 200. For example, a 5GC (also referred to as Next Generation Core (NGC)) 210 may be considered functionally as control plane (C-plane) functions 214 (e.g., UE registration, authentication, network access, gateway selection, etc.) and user plane (U-plane) functions 212 (e.g., UE gateway functions, access to data networks, IP routing, etc.) that operate cooperatively to form a core network. A user plane interface (NG-U) 213 and a control plane interface (NG-C) 215 connect the gNB 222 to the 5GC 210, specifically to the user plane function 212 and the control plane function 214, respectively. In an additional configuration, the ng-eNB 224 may also be connected to the 5GC 210 via the NG-C 215 to the control plane function 214 and the NG-U 213 to the user plane function 212. Additionally, the ng-eNB 224 may communicate directly with the gNB 222 via a backhaul connection 223. In some configurations, the Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 220 may have one or more gNBs 222, while other configurations include one or more of both the ng-eNB 224 and the gNB 222. Either the gNB 222 or the ng-eNB 224 (or both) may communicate with one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein).

[0049] Another optional aspect may include a location server 230, which may be in communication with the 5GC 210 to provide location assistance to the UE(s) 204. The location servers 230 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules spread across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The location servers 230 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UEs 204 that may connect to the location server 230 via the core network 5GC 210 and / or via the Internet (not shown). Furthermore, the location server 230 may be integrated into a component of the core network, or alternatively, may be external to the core network (e.g., a third-party server, such as an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) server or a service server).

[0050] 2B illustrates another example wireless network structure 250. 5GC 260 (which may correspond to 5GC 210 in FIG. 2A) may be viewed functionally as a control plane function provided by an access and mobility management function (AMF) 264 and a user plane function provided by a user plane function (UPF) 262, which operate cooperatively to form a core network (i.e., 5GC 260). The functions of the AMF 264 include registration management, connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception, transport for session management (SM) messages between one or more UEs 204 (e.g., any of the UEs described herein) and a session management function (SMF) 266, transparent proxy services for routing SM messages, access authentication and access authorization, transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 204 and a short message service function (SMSF) (not shown), and security anchor functionality (SEAF). The AMF 264 also interacts with an authentication server function (AUSF) (not shown) and the UE 204 to receive intermediate keys established as a result of the UE 204 authentication process. In case of authentication based on a UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) subscriber identity module (USIM), the AMF 264 retrieves security material from the AUSF. AMF264 functionality also includes security context management (SCM).The SCM receives keys from the SEAF that the SCM uses to derive access network specific keys. The functionality of the AMF 264 also includes location service management for regulated services, transport for location service messages between the UE 204 and the Location Management Function (LMF) 270 (acting as the location server 230), transport for location service messages between the NG-RAN 220 and the LMF 270, EPS bearer identifier allocation for interworking with evolved packet system (EPS), and UE 204 mobility event notification. In addition, the AMF 264 also supports functions for non-3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project®) access networks.

[0051] The functions of the UPF 262 include acting as an anchor point for intra / inter-RAT mobility (when applicable), acting as an external protocol data unit (PDU) session point for interconnection to a data network (not shown), routing and forwarding of packets, packet inspection, user plane policy rule enforcement (e.g., gating, redirection, traffic steering), lawful interception (user plane collection), traffic usage reporting, quality of service (QoS) processing for the user plane (e.g., uplink / downlink rate enforcement, reflective QoS marking in the downlink), uplink traffic validation (service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering, and sending and forwarding one or more "end markers" to the source RAN node. The UPF 262 may also support forwarding of location service messages on the user plane between the UE 204 and a location server such as the SLP 272.

[0052] The functions of the SMF 266 include session management, UE Internet protocol (IP) address allocation and management, selection and control of user plane functions, configuration of traffic steering in the UPF 262 to route traffic to the appropriate destination, control of policy enforcement and part of QoS, and downlink data notification. The interface through which the SMF 266 communicates with the AMF 264 is called the N11 interface.

[0053] Another optional aspect may include an LMF 270, which may be in communication with the 5GC 260 to provide location assistance to the UE 204. The LMF 270 may be implemented as multiple separate servers (e.g., physically separate servers, different software modules on a single server, different software modules across multiple physical servers, etc.), or alternatively, each may correspond to a single server. The LMF 270 may be configured to support one or more location services for the UE 204, which may be connected to the LMF 270 via a core network, the 5GC 260, and / or via the Internet (not shown). The SLP 272 may support similar functions as the LMF 270, except that the LMF 270 may communicate with the AMF 264, the NG-RAN 220, and the UE 204 on the control plane (e.g., using interfaces and protocols intended to carry signaling messages rather than voice or data) and the SLP 272 may communicate with the UE 204 and external clients (not shown in FIG. 2B ) on the user plane (e.g., using protocols intended to carry voice and / or data, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP) and / or IP).

[0054] The user plane interface 263 and the control plane interface 265 connect the 5GC 260, and in particular the UPF 262 and the AMF 264, respectively, to one or more gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 in the NG-RAN 220. The interface between the gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the AMF 264 is referred to as the “N2” interface, and the interface between the gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 and the UPF 262 is referred to as the “N3” interface. The gNB(s) 222 and / or ng-eNB(s) 224 of the NG-RAN 220 may communicate directly with each other via a backhaul connection 223 referred to as the “Xn-C” interface. One or more of the gNBs 222 and / or ng-eNBs 224 may communicate with one or more UEs 204 via a wireless interface referred to as the “Uu” interface.

[0055] The functionality of the gNB 222 is divided between a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU) 226 and one or more gNB Distributed Units (gNB-DU) 228. The interface 232 between the gNB-CU 226 and one or more gNB-DUs 228 is called the "F1" interface. The gNB-CU 226 is a logical node that includes base station functions such as forwarding user data, mobility control, radio access network sharing, positioning, session management, etc., except for those functions that are exclusively allocated to the gNB-DU(s) 228. More specifically, the gNB-CU 226 hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) protocols of the gNB 222. The gNB-DU 228 is a logical node that hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), and Physical (PHY) layers of the gNB 222. Its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU 226. One gNB-DU 228 can support one or more cells, and one cell is supported by only one gNB-DU 228. Thus, the UE 204 communicates with the gNB-CU 226 via the RRC, SDAP, and PDCP layers, and with the gNB-DU 228 via the RLC, MAC, and PHY layers.

[0056] 3A, 3B, and 3C illustrate several example components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated in a UE 302 (which may correspond to any of the UEs described herein), a base station 304 (which may correspond to any of the base stations described herein), and a network entity 306 (which may correspond to or embody any of the network functions described herein, including a location server 230 and an LMF 270, or alternatively, may be independent of the NG-RAN 220 and / or 5GC 210 / 260 infrastructure depicted in FIGS. 2A and 2B, such as a private network) to support file transmission operations taught herein. It will be understood that these components may be implemented in different types of devices in different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a system on a chip (SoC), etc.). The illustrated components may also be incorporated in other devices in a communication system. For example, other devices in the system may include components similar to the illustrated components to provide similar functionality. Also, a given device may include one or more of the components. For example, a device may contain multiple transceiver components that enable the device to operate on multiple carriers and / or communicate via different technologies.

[0057] The UE 302 and base station 304 each include one or more wireless wide area network (WWAN) transceivers 310 and 350, respectively, and provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for coordinating, means for centering transmission, etc.) over one or more wireless communications networks (not shown), such as an NR network, an LTE network, a GSM network, etc. The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 can each be connected to one or more antennas 316 and 356, respectively, for communicating with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations (e.g., eNBs, gNBs), etc., over at least one designated RAT (e.g., NR, LTE, GSM, etc.) over a wireless communications medium of interest (e.g., some set of time / frequency resources in a particular frequency spectrum). The WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 may be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.), and conversely, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.), in accordance with a designated RAT. In particular, the WWAN transceivers 310 and 350 include one or more transmitters 314 and 354, respectively, to transmit and encode signals 318 and 358, respectively, and include one or more receivers 312 and 352, respectively, to receive and decode signals 318 and 358, respectively.

[0058] The UE 302 and base station 304 also each, in at least some cases, include one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360, respectively. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be connected to one or more antennas 326 and 366, respectively, and may provide means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for ceasing transmission, etc.) with other network nodes, such as other UEs, access points, base stations, etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., WiFi, LTE-D, Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-Wave, PC5, Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC), wireless access for vehicular environments (WAVE), Near Field Communication (NFC), etc.) over a wireless communication medium of interest. The short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be variously configured to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.), and conversely, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368, respectively (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.), in accordance with a specified RAT. In particular, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 include one or more transmitters 324 and 364, respectively, to transmit and encode signals 328 and 368, respectively, and include one or more receivers 322 and 362, respectively, to receive and decode signals 328 and 368, respectively. As specific examples, the short-range wireless transceivers 320 and 360 may be WiFi transceivers, Bluetooth® transceivers, Zigbee® and / or Z-Wave® transceivers, NFC transceivers, or Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and / or Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) transceivers.

[0059] The UE 302 and the base station 304 also, at least in some cases, include satellite signal receivers 330 and 370. The satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may be connected to one or more antennas 336 and 376, respectively, and may provide a means for receiving and / or measuring satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378, respectively. If the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are satellite positioning system receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) signals, Galileo signals, Beidou signals, Navigation Satellite System of India (NAVIC), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), etc. If the satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 are non-terrestrial network (NTN) receivers, the satellite positioning / communication signals 338 and 378 may be communication signals (e.g., carrying control and / or user data) originating from a 5G network. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may comprise any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing satellite positioning / communications signals 338 and 378, respectively. Satellite signal receivers 330 and 370 may request information and actions from other systems as appropriate and, at least in some cases, perform calculations to determine the location of UE 302 and base station 304, respectively, using measurements obtained by any suitable satellite positioning system algorithms.

[0060] The base station 304 and the network entity 306 each include one or more network transceivers 380 and 390, respectively, that provide a means for communicating (e.g., a means for transmitting, a means for receiving, etc.) with other network entities (e.g., other base stations 304, other network entities 306). For example, the base station 304 may employ one or more network transceivers 380 to communicate with other base stations 304 or network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links. As another example, the network entity 306 may employ one or more network transceivers 390 to communicate with one or more base stations 304 over one or more wired or wireless backhaul links or with other network entities 306 over one or more wired or wireless core network interfaces.

[0061] A transceiver may be configured to communicate over a wired or wireless link. A transceiver (whether a wired or wireless transceiver) includes transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) and receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362). A transceiver may be an integrated device in some implementations (e.g., embodying transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry in a single device), may comprise separate transmitter circuitry and separate receiver circuitry in some implementations, or may be embodied in other ways in other implementations. The transmitter and receiver circuitry of a wired transceiver (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390 in some implementations) may be coupled to one or more wired network interface ports. The wireless transmitter circuitry (e.g., transmitters 314, 324, 354, 364) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366), such as an antenna array that enables an individual device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform transmit "beamforming," as may be described herein. Similarly, the wireless receiver circuitry (e.g., receivers 312, 322, 352, 362) may include or be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., antenna arrays) that enable an individual device (e.g., UE 302, base station 304) to perform receive beamforming, as may be described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter and receiver circuitry may share multiple identical antennas (e.g., antennas 316, 326, 356, 366) such that individual devices can only receive or transmit at a given time, but not both at the same time. The wireless transceivers (e.g., WWAN transceivers 310 and 350, short range wireless transceivers 320 and 360) may also include network listen modules (NLMs) and the like for performing various measurements.

[0062] As used herein, various wireless transceivers (e.g., transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, and network transceivers 380 and 390, in some implementations) and wired transceivers (e.g., network transceivers 380 and 390, in some implementations) may be generally characterized as a "transceiver," "at least one transceiver," or "one or more transceivers." Thus, whether a particular transceiver is a wired or wireless transceiver may be inferred from the type of communication being performed. For example, backhaul communications between network devices or servers generally involve signaling via wired transceivers, while wireless communications between a UE (e.g., UE 302) and a base station (e.g., base station 304) generally involve signaling via wireless transceivers.

[0063] The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 also include other components that may be used in conjunction with operations as disclosed herein. The UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 each include one or more processors 332, 384, and 394, for example, to provide functionality related to wireless communications and to provide other processing functionality. Thus, the processors 332, 384, and 394 may comprise processing means, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. In one aspect, the processors 332, 384, and 394 may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, central processing units (CPUs), ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), other programmable logic devices or processing circuits, or various combinations thereof.

[0064] The UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 include memory circuitry implementing memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively (e.g., each including a memory device) for maintaining information (e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, etc.). Thus, the memories 340, 386, and 396 may provide a means for storing, a means for retrieving, a means for maintaining, etc. In some cases, the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 may include a proximity sensing module 342, 388, and 398, respectively. The proximity sensing modules 342, 388, and 398 may be hardware circuits that are part of or coupled to the processors 332, 384, and 394, respectively, which, when executed, cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. In other aspects, the proximity sensing modules 342, 388, and 398 may be external to the processors 332, 384, and 394 (e.g., part of a modem processing system, integrated with another processing system, etc.). Alternatively, the proximity sensing modules 342, 388, and 398 may be memory modules stored in memories 340, 386, and 396, respectively, which when executed by the processors 332, 384, and 394 (or a modem processing system, another processing system, etc.), cause the UE 302, the base station 304, and the network entity 306 to perform the functions described herein. FIG. 3A illustrates possible locations of the proximity sensing module 342, which may be part of, for example, one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the memory 340, the one or more processors 332, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component. FIG. 3B illustrates possible locations for a proximity sensing module 388, which may be, for example, part of one or more WWAN transceivers 350, memory 386, one or more processors 384, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.FIG. 3C illustrates possible locations for a proximity sensing module 398, which may be, for example, part of one or more network transceivers 390, memory 396, one or more processors 394, or any combination thereof, or may be a stand-alone component.

[0065] The UE 302 may include one or more sensors 344 coupled to the one or more processors 332 to provide a means for sensing or detecting movement and / or orientation information that is independent of movement data derived from signals received by the one or more WWAN transceivers 310, the one or more short-range wireless transceivers 320, and / or the satellite receiver 330. By way of example, the sensor(s) 344 may include an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electrical mechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), and / or any other type of movement detection sensor. Additionally, the sensor(s) 344 may include multiple different types of devices and combine their outputs to provide movement information. For example, the sensor(s) 344 may use a combination of a multi-axis accelerometer and an orientation sensor to provide the ability to calculate a position in a two-dimensional (2D) and / or three-dimensional (3D) coordinate system.

[0066] Additionally, the UE 302 includes a user interface 346 that provides a means for providing indications to a user (e.g., audio and / or visual indications) and / or receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device, such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.). Although not shown, the base station 304 and the network entity 306 may also include user interfaces.

[0067] Referring to the one or more processors 384 in more detail, on the downlink, IP packets from the network entity 306 may be provided to the processor 384. The one or more processors 384 may implement functionality for an RRC layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer. The one or more processors 384 may provide RRC layer functions associated with system information (e.g., master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB)), RRC connection control (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), inter-RAT mobility, and broadcasting of measurement configurations for UE measurement reporting; PDCP layer functions associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification), and handover support functions; RLC layer functions associated with forwarding of higher layer PDUs, error correction with automatic repeat request (ARQ), concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC service data units (SDUs), resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functions associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, scheduling information reporting, error correction, priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0068] The transmitter 354 and receiver 352 may implement Layer 1 (L1) functions related to various signal processing functions. Layer 1, including the physical (PHY) layer, may include error detection on the transport channel, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of the transport channel, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto the physical channel, modulation / demodulation of the physical channel, and MIMO antenna processing. The transmitter 354 handles mapping to signal constellations based on various modulation schemes (e.g., binary phase shift keying (BPSK), quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK), M-phase shift keying (M-PSK), M-ary quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM)). The coded and modulated symbols may then be split into parallel streams. Each stream may then be mapped to an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) subcarrier, multiplexed with a reference signal (e.g., pilot) in the time and / or frequency domain, and then combined together using an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) to generate a physical channel carrying a time-domain OFDM symbol stream. The OFDM symbol stream is spatially precoded to generate multiple spatial streams. Channel estimates from a channel estimator may be used to determine the coding and modulation scheme, as well as for spatial processing. The channel estimates may be derived from a reference signal and / or channel condition feedback transmitted by the UE 302. Each spatial stream may then be provided to one or more different antennas 356. The transmitter 354 may modulate an RF carrier with the individual spatial streams for transmission.

[0069] At the UE 302, the receiver 312 receives the signal through its individual antenna(s) 316. The receiver 312 recovers the information modulated onto the RF carriers and provides the information to one or more processors 332. The transmitter 314 and the receiver 312 implement layer 1 functions associated with various signal processing functions. The receiver 312 may perform spatial processing on the information to recover any spatial streams destined for the UE 302. If multiple spatial streams are destined for the UE 302, they may be combined by the receiver 312 into a single OFDM symbol stream. The receiver 312 then converts the OFDM symbol stream from the time domain to the frequency domain using a fast Fourier transform (FFT). The frequency domain signal includes a separate OFDM symbol stream for each subcarrier of the OFDM signal. The symbols on each subcarrier, as well as the reference signal, are recovered and demodulated by determining the most likely signal constellation point transmitted by the base station 304. These soft decisions may be based on channel estimates calculated by a channel estimator. The soft decisions are then decoded and deinterleaved to recover the data and control signals originally transmitted on the physical channel by the base station 304. The data and control signals are then provided to one or more processors 332 that implement Layer 3 (L3) and Layer 2 (L2) functions.

[0070] In the uplink, the one or more processors 332 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header recovery, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the core network. The one or more processors 332 are also responsible for error detection.

[0071] Similar to the functionality described in connection with downlink transmissions by the base station 304, the one or more processors 332 provide RRC layer functionality associated with system information (e.g., MIB, SIB) acquisition, RRC connection, and measurement reporting; PDCP layer functionality associated with header compression / decompression, security (encryption, decryption, integrity protection, integrity verification); RLC layer functionality associated with forwarding of upper layer PDUs, error correction via ARQ, concatenation, segmentation, and reassembly of RLC SDUs, resegmentation of RLC data PDUs, and reordering of RLC data PDUs; and MAC layer functionality associated with mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs onto transport blocks (TBs), demultiplexing of MAC SDUs from TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction via hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), priority handling, and logical channel prioritization.

[0072] Channel estimates derived by a channel estimator from a reference signal or feedback transmitted by the base station 304 may be used by the transmitter 314 to select an appropriate coding and modulation scheme and to facilitate spatial processing. The spatial streams generated by the transmitter 314 may be provided to different antenna(s) 316. The transmitter 314 may modulate an RF carrier with the individual spatial streams for transmission.

[0073] Uplink transmissions are processed at the base station 304 in a manner similar to that described with respect to the receiver function at the UE 302. The receiver 352 receives signals through its respective antenna(s) 356. The receiver 352 recovers information modulated onto an RF carrier and provides the information to one or more processors 384.

[0074] In the uplink, the one or more processors 384 provide demultiplexing between transport and logical channels, packet reassembly, decryption, header recovery, and control signal processing to recover IP packets from the UE 302. The IP packets from the one or more processors 384 may be provided to a core network. The one or more processors 384 are also responsible for error detection.

[0075] For convenience, the UE 302, base station 304, and / or network entity 306 are illustrated in Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C as including various components that may be configured according to various examples described herein. However, it will be understood that the illustrated components may have different functions in different designs. In particular, various components in Figures 3A-3C are optional in alternative configurations, and various aspects include configurations that may vary due to design choice, cost, device use, or other considerations. For example, in the case of Figure 3A, a particular implementation of the UE 302 may omit the WWAN transceiver(s) 310 (e.g., a wearable device or tablet computer or PC or laptop may have Wi-Fi and / or Bluetooth capabilities without cellular capabilities), or may omit the short-range wireless transceiver(s) 320 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit the satellite receiver 330, or may omit the sensor 344, and so on. 3B, a particular implementation of base station 304 may omit WWAN transceiver(s) 350 (e.g., a Wi-Fi “hotspot” access point without cellular capability), or may omit short-range wireless transceiver(s) 360 (e.g., cellular only, etc.), or may omit satellite receiver 370, etc. For brevity, examples of various alternative configurations are not provided herein, but should be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art.

[0076] The various components of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306 may be communicatively coupled to one another via data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392, respectively. In an aspect, the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may form or be part of communication interfaces of the UE 302, base station 304, and network entity 306, respectively. For example, when various logical entities are embodied within the same device (e.g., gNB and location server functionality integrated within the same base station 304), the data buses 334, 382, ​​and 392 may provide communication therebetween.

[0077] The components of Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in a variety of ways. In some implementations, the components of Figures 3A, 3B, and 3C may be implemented in one or more circuits, such as, for example, one or more processors and / or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors), where each circuit may use and / or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide its functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 310-346 may be implemented by the processor component(s) and memory component(s) of the UE 302 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 350-388 may be implemented by the processor component(s) and memory component(s) of the base station 304 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). Also, some or all of the functionality represented by blocks 390-398 may be implemented by the processor component(s) and memory component(s) of the network entity 306 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and / or by appropriate configuration of the processor components). For simplicity, various operations, acts, and / or functions are described herein as being performed "by the UE," "by the base station," "by the network entity," etc. However, it will be understood that such operations, acts, and / or functions may actually be performed by a particular component or combination of components of the UE 302, base station 304, network entity 306, etc., such as the processors 332, 384, 394, transceivers 310, 320, 350, and 360, memories 340, 386, and 396, proximity sensing modules 342, 388, and 398, etc.

[0078] In some designs, the network entity 306 may be implemented as a core network component. In other designs, the network entity 306 may be separate from the network operator or operation of the cellular network infrastructure (e.g., the NG RAN 220 and / or the 5GC 210 / 260). For example, the network entity 306 may be a component of a private network that may be configured to communicate with the UE 302 via the base station 304 or independently of the base station 304 (e.g., via a non-cellular communication link such as WiFi).

[0079] FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an exemplary UE 400, according to aspects of the disclosure. In an aspect, the UE 400 may correspond to any of the UEs described herein. As a specific example, the UE 400 may be a V-UE, such as the V-UE 160 in FIG. 1. For simplicity, the various features and functions illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 4 are connected together using a common data bus, which is intended to represent that these various features and functions are operatively coupled together. Those skilled in the art will recognize that other connections, mechanisms, features, functions, etc. may be provided and adapted as necessary to operatively couple and configure an actual UE. It is further recognized that one or more of the features or functions illustrated in the example of FIG. 4 may be further subdivided, or two or more of the features or functions illustrated in FIG. 4 may be combined.

[0080] The UE 400 may include at least one transceiver 404 coupled to one or more antennas 402, which provides means for communicating (e.g., means for transmitting, means for receiving, means for measuring, means for tuning, means for ceasing transmission, etc.) with other network nodes, such as a V-UE (e.g., V-UE 160), an infrastructure access point (e.g., roadside access point), a P-UE (e.g., UE 104), a base station (e.g., base station 102), etc., via at least one designated RAT (e.g., cV2X or IEEE 802.11p) via one or more communication links (e.g., communication link 120, sidelinks 162, 166, 168, mmW communication link 184). The at least one transceiver 404 may be variously configured for transmitting and encoding signals (e.g., messages, instructions, information, etc.) and conversely for receiving and decoding signals (e.g., messages, instructions, information, pilots, etc.) in accordance with the designated RAT. In one aspect, the at least one transceiver 404 and the antenna(s) 402 may form a (wireless) communication interface of the UE 400.

[0081] A "transceiver" as used herein may in some implementations include at least one transmitter and at least one receiver in an integrated device (e.g., implemented as transmitter and receiver circuitry in a single communications device), in some implementations may comprise separate transmitter and receiver devices, or in other implementations may be implemented in other manners. In one aspect, the transmitter may include or be coupled to multiple antennas, such as an antenna array (e.g., antenna(s) 402), that enable the UE 400 to perform transmit "beamforming" as described herein. Similarly, the receiver may include or be coupled to multiple antennas, such as an antenna array (e.g., antenna(s) 402), that enable the UE 400 to perform receive beamforming as described herein. In one aspect, the transmitter(s) and receiver(s) may share the same antennas (e.g., antenna(s) 402) such that the UE 400 can only receive or transmit at a given time, rather than both receive and transmit at the same time. In some cases, a transceiver may not provide both transmitter and receiver capabilities. For example, in some designs, a low-function receiver circuit (e.g., a receiver chip or similar circuitry that merely provides low-level sniffing) may be employed to reduce cost when it is not necessary to provide full communication.

[0082] The UE 400 may also include a Satellite Positioning Service (SPS) receiver 406. The SPS receiver 406 may be connected to one or more antennas 402 and may provide a means for receiving and / or measuring satellite signals. The SPS receiver 406 may comprise any suitable hardware and / or software for receiving and processing SPS signals, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. The SPS receiver 406 requests information and actions from other systems as appropriate, and performs the calculations necessary to determine the location of the UE 400 using measurements obtained by any suitable SPS algorithms.

[0083] One or more sensors 408 may be coupled to the at least one processor 410 and may provide a means for sensing or detecting information regarding the state and / or environment of the UE 400, such as speed, heading (e.g., compass heading), headlight status, gas mileage, etc. By way of example, the one or more sensors 408 may include a speedometer, a tachometer, an accelerometer (e.g., a micro-electromechanical system (MEMS) device), a gyroscope, a geomagnetic sensor (e.g., a compass), an altimeter (e.g., a barometric altimeter), etc.

[0084] The at least one processor 410 may include one or more central processing units (CPUs), microprocessors, microcontrollers, ASICs, processing cores, digital signal processors (DSPs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), etc. that provide processing functions as well as other computational and control functions. Thus, the at least one processor 410 may provide means for processing, such as means for determining, means for calculating, means for receiving, means for transmitting, means for indicating, etc. The at least one processor 410 may include any form of logic suitable for implementing or causing components of the UE 400 to implement at least the techniques described herein.

[0085] The at least one processor 410 may also be coupled to a memory 414 that provides a means for storing (including a means for retrieving, a means for maintaining, etc.) data and software instructions for executing programmed functions within the UE 400. The memory 414 may be on-board the at least one processor 410 (e.g., within the same integrated circuit (IC) package) and / or the memory 414 may be external to the at least one processor 410 and operatively coupled thereto via a data bus.

[0086] The UE 400 may include a user interface 450 providing any suitable interface system, such as a microphone / speaker 452, a keypad 454, and a display 456, to enable user interaction with the UE 400. The microphone / speaker 452 may provide voice communication services with the UE 400. The keypad 454 may comprise any suitable buttons for user input to the UE 400. The display 456 may comprise any suitable display, such as, for example, a backlit liquid crystal display (LCD), and may further include a touch screen display for additional user input modes. The user interface 450 may thus be a means for providing instructions (e.g., audible and / or visual instructions) to a user and / or for receiving user input (e.g., via user actuation of a sensing device, such as a keypad, touch screen, microphone, etc.).

[0087] In one aspect, the UE 400 may include a sidelink manager 470 coupled to the at least one processor 410. The sidelink manager 470 may be a hardware, software, or firmware component that, when executed, causes the UE 400 to perform the operations described herein. For example, the sidelink manager 470 may be a software module stored in the memory 414 and executable by the at least one processor 410. As another example, the sidelink manager 470 may be a hardware circuit (e.g., an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc.) within the UE 400.

[0088] 5 is a block diagram 500 illustrating detecting the presence of human tissue within a detection zone, according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The UE 400 may create a detection zone 502 of at least a distance 504 around the UE 400 to detect the presence of human tissue, such as a hand 506. For example, in the United States, the distance 504 may be at least 4 cm to comply with FCC regulations. Of course, in other countries, the distance 504 may differ from 4 cm to comply with local regulations.

[0089] The UE 400 may periodically (or substantially continuously) transmit packets 508 from a receiver (Rx) transmit (Tx) antenna (array) 510 that are received by an antenna (array) 512. One or more transceivers 404 may be used to transmit and receive the packets 508. The packets 508 may use Wi-Fi based radar techniques to create the detection zone 502.

[0090] The comparison module 518 may monitor the mutually coupled signal 516 to detect perturbations (e.g., changes) in the mutually coupled signal 516. For example, when the comparison module 518 detects a perturbation in the mutually coupled signal 516, the UE 400 may determine that human tissue, such as a hand 506, is present within the detection zone 502. The comparison module 518 may compare a reference signal 522 to the mutually coupled signal 516 using a filter 520. For example, in some aspects, the filter 520 may be implemented as an infinite impulse response (IIR) filter. The output of the filter 520 may be scaled using a scaling module 524 to provide a scaled output 525 used to determine the cancellation depth 526.

[0091] The exposure adjustment module 528 may determine whether the cancellation depth 526 exceeds a threshold 532 indicating the presence of human tissue, such as a hand 506, within the detection zone 502. The exposure adjustment module 528 may determine whether the power level 536 of the transceiver 404 should be modified (e.g., reduced) using a maximum permissible exposure (MPE) 530 set by a regulatory body, such as the FCC in the United States, for example. For example, if the exposure adjustment module 528 determines that the cancellation depth 526 is relatively low (e.g., below the threshold 532), the exposure adjustment module 528 may determine that no human tissue is present within the detection zone 502. If the exposure adjustment module 528 determines that the cancellation depth 526 is equal to or greater than the threshold 532, the exposure adjustment module 528 may determine that human tissue, such as a hand 506, is present within the detection zone 502 and provide instructions 534 to one or more of the transceivers 404 to reduce the amount of power being used to transmit the packet 508, thereby reducing the amount of exposure of the human tissue. In this manner, perturbations in the mutual coupling signal 516 may be monitored to determine the presence or absence of human tissue, such as a hand 506, within a detection zone 502 (e.g., near field) around the UE 400.

[0092] Thus, the UE 400 may repeatedly (e.g., substantially continuously) compare the reference signal 522 to the received mutually coupled signal 516 to determine whether the fluctuations occur as a result of the presence of human tissue (e.g., hand 506) within the detection zone 502 (e.g., near field). The received mutually coupled signal 516 includes a static component 537 and a dynamic component 538. The dynamic component 538 is indicative of the movement of the human tissue (e.g., hand 506) within the detection zone 502. The cancellation depth 526 is used to quantify the similarity between the mutually coupled signal 516 and the reference signal 522. In some aspects, the cancellation depth 526 is based on the inverse of the mean square error (MSE), e.g., 1 / MSE. The reference signal 522 may be determined by using a low pass filter 520 to extract the static component 537 from the received mutually coupled signal 516.

[0093] In some aspects, the cancellation depth 526 ("CancDepth") may be determined as follows:

[0094]

number

[0095] When a user holds the UE 400 or places a hand near the UE 400, human tissue may engage in relatively small movements (e.g., micro-motions), resulting in small changes to the mutual coupling signal 516. A stationary human hand (e.g., hand 506) has similar characteristics to the mutual coupling, e.g., the reflected signal is relatively constant across multiple observations. Thus, monitoring the mutual coupling signal 516 may cause the UE 400 to "learn" the presence of the stationary hand 506, which may become part of the reference signal 522, such that a high value of the cancellation depth 526 may cause the comparison module 518 to erroneously determine that there is no human tissue present within the detection zone 502, thereby not detecting the presence of the stationary hand 506. To enable detection of the stationary hand 506 in the detection zone 502, the system shown in FIG. 5 may be enhanced to detect micro-motions, as shown in FIG. 6.

[0096] FIG. 6 is a block diagram 600 illustrating detecting micro-motion in a detection zone according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The block diagram 600 can detect micro-motion in a detection zone 502 (e.g., near field) of the UE 400 by determining the difference between a current beat signal 602 and a previous beat signal 603. The previous beat signal 603 is processed using a delay 612 to enable the current beat signal 602 to be compared to the previous beat signal 603. For example, in a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar system, a chirp signal is transmitted using a Tx antenna 510 to generate a transmit signal 604. The chirp signal is an FM modulated signal of known stable frequency whose instantaneous frequency varies linearly over a period of time (sweep time) with the modulated signal. The transmit signal 604 hits a target (e.g., a hand 506) and is reflected to generate a reflected signal 606 that is received by the Rx antenna 512. The frequency difference between the reflected signal 606 and the transmitted signal 604 increases with delay, which is linearly proportional to the range (e.g., distance between the target and the radar). The reflected signal 606 (e.g., an echo) from the target (e.g., a hand 506) is mixed with the transmitted signal 604 and downconverted to generate the beat signal 602.

[0097] When the detection zone 502 is static (e.g., no motion, including no micro-motion), the delta 614 between the beat signal 602 and the previous beat signal 603 may be caused primarily by noise 618. Even if the hand 506 is relatively static, there is micro-motion in the detection zone 502 when the hand 506 is present in the detection zone 502. When there is micro-motion caused by the hand 506, the delta 614 between the beat signal 602 and the previous beat signal 603 (after being scaled using scaling 610) may be higher than the noise 618 due to perturbations caused by the micro-motion. Thus, the rise-over noise (RoN) 616 may be used to determine the presence of micro-motion in the detection zone 502 (e.g., near field). The RoN 616 may be determined, for example, by dividing the delta 614 by the noise 618. When no micro-motion is present within the detection zone 502 (e.g., no hand 506), the RoN 616 may be about 1 (e.g., corresponding to 0 decibels (dB)). When micro-motion is present within the detection zone 502, the RoN 616 is greater than 1. The amount of noise 618 present may be obtained by various methods, including, for example, using a negative frequency of the beat signal 602, a leading or trailing sample of the beat signal 602, another technique, or any combination thereof. The learning rate of the UE 400 may be adjusted based on the amount of micro-motion present within the detection zone 502. For example, the UE 400 may use a filter 520 implemented using a single-pole infinite impulse response (IIR) filter with poles that are adjustable based on the RoN 616. Additionally, in some aspects, to reduce the effects of noise, a smoothing filter 620 may be used on the RoN 616 to generate a smoothed signal 622.

[0098] Thus, Figure 6 illustrates a system that may be used to (1) detect when human tissue, such as a hand 506, enters the detection zone 502, and (2) detect when human tissue is present within the detection zone 502 by detecting micro-motions generated by the human tissue, even if the human tissue is relatively static. The system detects when human tissue enters the detection zone 502 by monitoring perturbations in the mutual coupling signal 516 of Figure 5. The system detects micro-motions generated by the human tissue within the detection zone 502 by monitoring the RoN 616.

[0099] In the flow diagram of FIG. 7, each block represents one or more operations that may be implemented in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. In the context of software, the blocks represent computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to perform the recited operations. Generally, computer-executable instructions include routines, programs, objects, modules, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular functions or implement particular abstract data types. The order in which the blocks are described is not intended to be construed as limiting, and any number of the described operations may be combined in any order and / or in parallel to implement a process. For illustrative purposes, the process 700 is described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 as described above, although other models, frameworks, systems, and environments may be used to implement this process.

[0100] 7 illustrates an example process 700 that includes reducing an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with human tissue, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Process 700 may be performed by UE 400 of FIGS. 4, 6, and 7.

[0101] At 702, the UE may determine mutual coupling signals associated with the UE's transmit and receive antennas. For example, in FIG. 5, the comparison module 518 may determine the mutual coupling signal 516. In one aspect, 702 may be performed by the processor 410, the memory 414 (e.g., the comparison module 518), and the at least one transceiver 404, any or all of which may be considered a means for performing this operation.

[0102] At 704, the UE may determine a mutual coupling difference between the mutually coupled signal and a reference mutually coupled signal. For example, in FIG. 5, the comparison module 518 may compare the mutually coupled signal 516 to the reference signal 522 to determine a cancellation depth 526 indicative of the difference between the mutually coupled signal 516 and the reference signal 522. In an aspect, 704 may be performed by the processor 410, the memory 414 (e.g., storing the comparison module 518), and the at least one transceiver 404, any or all of which may be considered a means for performing this operation.

[0103] At 706, the UE may determine whether human tissue is present within the near field of the user equipment based on the mutual coupling difference. For example, in FIG. 5, the exposure adjustment module 528 may use the cancellation depth 526 (e.g., determined based on the difference between the mutual coupling signal 516 and the reference signal 522) to determine whether human tissue, such as a hand 506, is present within the near field (e.g., detection zone 502) of the UE 400. In one aspect, 706 may be performed by the processor 410 and the memory 414 (e.g., storing the exposure adjustment module 528), any or all of which may be considered as a means for performing this operation.

[0104] At 708, the UE may determine an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the human tissue is present within the near field of the user equipment. For example, in FIG. 5, the exposure adjustment module 528 may determine a power level 536 associated with the transceiver 404 to determine an amount of radio frequency exposure to which the human tissue (e.g., hand 506) is receiving based on determining that the cancellation depth 526 indicates the presence of human tissue within the detection zone 502. In one aspect, 708 may be performed by the processor 410, the memory 414 (e.g., storing the exposure adjustment module 528), and the at least one transceiver 404, any or all of which may be considered a means for performing this operation.

[0105] At 710, the UE may reduce an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the amount of radio frequency exposure exceeds a maximum allowable exposure. For example, in FIG. 6, the exposure adjustment module 528 may determine whether the power level 536 exceeds the maximum allowable exposure 530. If the power level 536 exceeds the maximum allowable exposure 530, the exposure adjustment module 528 may cause the transceiver 404 to reduce an amount of power used to transmit the packet 508. In an aspect, 706 may be performed by the processor 410, the memory 414 (e.g., storing the exposure adjustment module 528), and the at least one transceiver 404, any or all of which may be considered a means for performing this operation.

[0106] Thus, the UE may monitor perturbations to the mutual coupling signal to detect the presence of human tissue within a detection zone (e.g., near field) around the UE. If the UE detects the presence of human tissue, the UE checks the radio frequency transmit power and determines whether the amount of power being used complies with the maximum allowable exposure under applicable local law. If the amount of power being used exceeds the maximum allowable exposure, the UE reduces the amount of power being used until it is below the maximum allowable exposure. Thus, a technical advantage of the process 700 is that it enables the UE 400 to comply with maximum allowable exposure regulations. A second technical advantage is that tissue users of the UE are not subjected to a radiation dose that exceeds the maximum allowable exposure, thereby protecting the health and well-being of the users.

[0107] 8 shows a plot of cancellation depth according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In FIG. 8, actual measurements are on the x-axis and cancellation depth 526 is on the y-axis. During a first period 802 (e.g., actual measurements from 0 to about 400), the cancellation depth is shown to be 50db or greater when open space (OS) is present, e.g., when no human tissue is present.

[0108] During the second time period 804 (e.g., actual readings from about 401 to about 1400), the presence of human tissue (e.g., hand 506 in FIG. 5 ) causes the cancellation depth 526 to decrease and remain below (e.g., below) threshold value 532. The hand 506 may be relatively static during the second time period 804.

[0109] During a third time period 806 (e.g., actual readings from about 1401 to about 2400), no human tissue is present (e.g., there is open space resulting from removing hand 506). During the third time period 806, cancellation depth 526 begins to increase until cancellation depth 526 is greater than threshold value 532.

[0110] Thus, the systems and techniques described herein enable a UE to detect the presence of human tissue, such as a hand, and continue to detect the human tissue even when the human tissue is relatively static. The systems and techniques can also detect when the human tissue has been removed and is no longer in proximity to the UE.

[0111] In the above detailed description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in each example. This manner of disclosure should not be understood as an intention that the exemplary clauses have more features than are expressly stated in each clause. Rather, various aspects of the disclosure may include fewer than all features of each disclosed exemplary clause. Thus, the following clauses should be considered to be incorporated in the description, and each clause may stand alone as a separate example. Although each dependent clause may refer to a specific combination with one of the other clauses in the clause, the aspect(s) of the dependent clause are not limited to that specific combination. It will be understood that other exemplary clauses may also include combinations of the aspect(s) of the dependent clause with the subject matter of any other dependent clause or independent clause, or combinations of any features with other dependent clauses and independent clauses. Unless a specific combination is not intended (e.g., conflicting aspects such as defining an element as both an insulator and a conductor) is expressly expressed or can be easily inferred, the various aspects disclosed herein expressly include these combinations. It is further intended that aspects of a clause may be included in any other independent clause, even if the clause is not directly dependent on the independent clause.Example implementations are described in the following numbered clauses.

[0112] Clause 1. A method implemented by a user equipment for detecting proximity of human tissue, the method including: determining a mutual coupling signal associated with a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna of the user equipment; determining a mutual coupling difference between the mutual coupling signal and a reference mutual coupling signal; determining a beat signal difference between a current beat signal and a previous beat signal; determining an amount of micromotion present in a near field of the user equipment based at least in part on the beat signal difference; determining whether human tissue is present in the near field of the user equipment based on the mutual coupling difference and the amount of micromotion; determining an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that human tissue is present in the near field of the user equipment; and reducing the amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the amount of radio frequency exposure exceeds a maximum allowable exposure.

[0113] Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the reference mutual coupling signal is determined when no human tissue is present within the near field of the user equipment.

[0114] Clause 3. The method of clause 1 or 2, wherein the near field is at least 4 centimeters away from the nearest external surface of the user equipment.

[0115] Clause 4. The method of any of clauses 1-3, wherein the maximum permissible exposure comprises 1 milliwatt per square centimeter.

[0116] Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1-4, further comprising determining that human tissue is present within the near field based on determining that an amount of micromotion present within the near field exceeds a threshold.

[0117] Clause 6. The method of any of clauses 1-5, further comprising determining that no human tissue is present within the near field based on determining that an amount of micromotion present within the near field does not exceed a threshold.

[0118] Clause 7. A method according to any of clauses 1 to 6, wherein determining the amount of micromotion present within the near field of the user equipment includes determining an amount of noise associated with the near field in the absence of human tissue, and determining riseover noise based on the beat signal difference and the amount of noise.

[0119] Clause 8. The method of clause 7, further comprising determining that no human tissue is present in the near field based on determining that the riseover noise is about 1.

[0120] Clause 9. The method of clause 7 or 8, further comprising determining that human tissue is present within the near field based on determining that the riseover noise is greater than 1.

[0121] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, the data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referred to throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

[0122] Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the various exemplary logic blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or a combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various exemplary components, blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithms have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Those skilled in the art may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0123] The various example logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a digital signal processor (DSP) and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0124] The methods, sequences, and / or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. The software module may reside in a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a removable disk, a compact disk (CD) ROM, an optical disk, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Alternatively, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE). Alternatively, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

[0125] In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted via a computer-readable medium as one or more instructions or code. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. Storage media may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included within the definition of media. As used herein, disk and disc include compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk, and Blu-ray disc, where disks typically reproduce data magnetically and discs reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

[0126] Although the above disclosure illustrates exemplary aspects of the disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications may be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, things, and / or actions of the method claims according to the aspects of the disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.

Claims

1. 1. A method implemented by a user device for detecting proximity of human tissue, comprising: determining mutual coupling signals associated with transmit and receive antennas of the user equipment; determining a mutual coupling difference between the mutual coupling signal and a reference mutual coupling signal; determining a beat signal difference between a current beat signal and a previous beat signal, the current beat signal and the previous beat signal being respectively derived from a mixture of a transmitted signal transmitted using the transmitting antenna and a reflected signal received using the receiving antenna; determining an amount of micromotion present within a near field of the user equipment based at least in part on the beat signal difference; determining whether human tissue is present within the near field of the user device based on the mutual coupling difference and the amount of micromotion; determining an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the human tissue is within the near field of the user device; reducing the amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the amount of radio frequency exposure exceeds a maximum allowable exposure. A method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reference mutual coupling signal is determined when no human tissue is present within the near field of the user equipment.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the near field is at least 4 centimeters away from the nearest exterior surface of the user device.

4. 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the maximum allowable exposure comprises 1 milliwatt per square centimeter.

5. determining that the human tissue is present within the near field based on determining that the amount of micromotion present within the near field exceeds a threshold. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

6. determining that the human tissue is not present within the near field based on determining that the amount of micromotion present within the near field does not exceed a threshold. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

7. Determining the amount of micromotion present within the near field of the user equipment comprises: determining an amount of noise associated with the near field in the absence of the human tissue; determining riseover noise based on the beat signal difference and the amount of noise; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

8. determining that the human tissue is not present within the near field based on determining that the riseover noise is approximately 1. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

9. determining that the human tissue is present within the near field based on determining that the riseover noise is greater than 1. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

10. A user equipment, Memory, At least one transceiver; at least one processor communicatively coupled to the memory and the at least one transceiver, the at least one processor comprising: determining mutual coupling signals associated with transmit and receive antennas of the user equipment; determining a mutual coupling difference between the mutual coupling signal and a reference mutual coupling signal; determining a beat signal difference between a current beat signal and a previous beat signal, the current beat signal and the previous beat signal being each derived from a mixture of a transmitted signal transmitted using the transmitting antenna and a reflected signal received using the receiving antenna; determining an amount of micromotion present within a near field of the user device based at least in part on the beat signal difference; and determining whether human tissue is present within the near field of the user device based on the mutual coupling difference and the amount of micromotion; determining an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the human tissue is within the near field of the user device; reducing the amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the amount of radio frequency exposure exceeds a maximum tolerable exposure. A user equipment configured to:

11. The user equipment of claim 10 , wherein the reference mutual coupling signal is determined when no human tissue is present within the near field of the user equipment.

12. The user device of claim 10 , wherein the near field is at least 4 centimeters away from a nearest exterior surface of the user device.

13. The user equipment of claim 10 , wherein the maximum allowable exposure comprises 1 milliwatt per square centimeter.

14. A user equipment as described in claim 10, further comprising means for performing a method as described in any one of claims 5 to 9.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, the instructions being configured to be executed by one or more processors to: determining mutual coupling signals associated with transmit and receive antennas of a user equipment; determining a mutual coupling difference between the mutual coupling signal and a reference mutual coupling signal; determining a beat signal difference between a current beat signal and a previous beat signal, the current beat signal and the previous beat signal being each derived from a mixture of a transmitted signal transmitted using the transmitting antenna and a reflected signal received using the receiving antenna; determining an amount of micromotion present within a near field of the user device based at least in part on the beat signal difference; and determining whether human tissue is present within the near field of the user device based on the mutual coupling difference and the amount of micromotion; determining an amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the human tissue is within the near field of the user device; reducing the amount of radio frequency exposure associated with the human tissue based on determining that the amount of radio frequency exposure exceeds a maximum tolerable exposure. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium executable to perform the steps of the method of the present invention.

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