Electronic device, control method for electronic device, and program

Abstract

To provide an electronic device, a control method for the electronic device, and a program that can improve convenience.SOLUTION: An electronic device includes a transmitting antenna unit 24 having a plurality of transmitting channels, a transmission signal processing unit 10 that generates a transmission signal to be transmitted from the transmitting antenna unit, and a transmitting transmission line unit 332 that electrically connects the transmitting antenna unit and the transmission signal processing unit. The transmission signal processing unit 10 corrects the phase difference between the channels of the signals transmitted in the transmitting transmission line unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 11

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an electronic device, a control method for an electronic device, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] For example, in the field of the automobile industry, a technology for measuring the distance between a vehicle and a predetermined object is considered important. In particular, in recent years, various RADAR (Radio Detecting and Ranging) technologies have been researched, which transmit radio waves such as millimeter waves and receive the reflected waves from an object such as an obstacle to measure the distance between the vehicle and the object. The importance of such technology for measuring distance is expected to increase in the future with the development of technologies for assisting the driver in driving and technologies related to autonomous driving that automates part or all of driving.

[0003] In addition, various technologies that can be used when performing sensing using various sensors are also being researched. For example, Patent Document 1 proposes an in-vehicle device that can feed power to a sensor that detects biometric information of a user in a vehicle using radio waves. In the future, sensors based on the above-mentioned radar-like technology will not only be attached to moving objects such as automobiles, but will also be attached to various locations on various objects depending on the purpose. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2022-20270 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] For example, convenience can be improved if there is an electronic device that can increase the degree of freedom in implementation while achieving good detection by transmitting and receiving radio waves such as millimeter waves.

[0006] An object of the present disclosure is to provide an electronic device, a control method for an electronic device, and a program that can improve convenience. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The electronic device according to an embodiment includes: a transmitting antenna unit having a plurality of transmitting channels; a transmission signal processing unit that generates a transmission signal to be transmitted from the transmission antenna unit; The transmitter includes a transmission transmission line section that electrically connects the transmission antenna section and the transmission signal processing section. The transmission signal processing unit corrects a phase difference between each channel of a signal transmitted through the transmission transmission line unit.

[0008] A control method according to an embodiment includes the steps of: a transmitting antenna unit having a plurality of transmitting channels; a transmission signal processing unit that generates a transmission signal to be transmitted from the transmission antenna unit; A method for controlling an electronic device including a transmission transmission line section that electrically connects the transmission antenna section and the transmission signal processing section, The method includes a step of correcting a phase difference between each channel of a signal transmitted in the transmission transmission line section by the transmission signal processing section.

[0009] A program according to an embodiment includes: a transmitting antenna unit having a plurality of transmitting channels; a transmission signal processing unit that generates a transmission signal to be transmitted from the transmission antenna unit; a transmission transmission line section electrically connecting the transmission antenna section and the transmission signal processing section, A step of correcting a phase difference between each channel of a signal transmitted through the transmission transmission line section by the transmission signal processing section is executed. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to one embodiment, it is possible to provide an electronic device, a control method for an electronic device, and a program that can improve convenience. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a usage mode of an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Diagram 3] 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a signal processed by an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating signal processing by an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating signal processing by an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating signal processing by an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Figure 7] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating an example of an antenna arrangement and an operation principle in an antenna array of an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Figure 8] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an antenna arrangement in an antenna array of an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the appearance of an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an internal configuration of an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an electronic device according to an embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an external appearance of an electronic device according to an embodiment. [Figure 13] 11 is a Smith chart showing an example of the operation of an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. [Figure 14] 1 is a Smith chart illustrating an example of an operation of an electronic device according to an embodiment. [Figure 15]FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating S parameters of an electronic device according to a comparative example of the embodiment. [Figure 16] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating S parameters of an electronic device according to an embodiment. [Figure 17] FIG. 17 is a partially enlarged view of the graph shown in FIG. 16. [Figure 18] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of an electronic device according to an embodiment. [Figure 19] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an electronic device according to an embodiment. [Figure 20] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an electronic device according to an embodiment. [Figure 21] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating examples of use of an electronic device according to an embodiment. [Figure 22] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating examples of use of an electronic device according to an embodiment. [Diagram 23] 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating examples of use of an electronic device according to an embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Hereinafter, an electronic device according to an embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0013] In the present disclosure, an "electronic device" may be a device that is powered by electricity. Furthermore, a "user" may be a person (typically a human) or an animal that uses an electronic device according to an embodiment and / or a system including the electronic device. A user may include a person who monitors a target such as a human by using an electronic device according to an embodiment. Furthermore, a "target" may be a person (a target of monitoring, for example, a human or an animal) that is monitored by an electronic device according to an embodiment. Furthermore, a user may include a target.

[0014] In this disclosure, a "heart beat" may refer to the beating of the heart. Also, a "beat" may refer to the rhythmic contraction motion of the heart. Here, the heart includes human and animal hearts. Also, a "heart beat" and a "heart sound" may include human and animal "heart beat" and "heart sound."

[0015] In addition, in this disclosure, "heart rate" refers to the number of times the heart beats within a given time. For example, the heart rate may be the number of beats per minute. When the heart pumps blood, pulsations occur in the arteries. For this reason, the number of times the arteries beat may be referred to as the "pulse rate" or simply "pulse."

[0016] Furthermore, in the present disclosure, a "heart sound" may be the sound of the heart beating. That is, a heart sound may be the sound that occurs when the heart contracts and expands. Here, the "heart sound" may be composed of a first low and long sound due to the tension of the ventricular muscles, the closing of the mitral valve, the start of blood ejection into the arteries, and / or the acceleration of blood flow, followed by a second high and short sound due to the closing of the aortic valve and / or the closing of the pulmonary valve.

[0017] In the present disclosure, heart sounds are not necessarily limited to physical sounds based on air vibrations, but may refer to the vibrations caused by the heartbeat (beating). For example, in the present disclosure, heartbeats may imply a vibration source, and heart sounds may imply the vibrations caused by the vibration source. Furthermore, in the present disclosure, heartbeats may imply heart sounds depending on the situation.

[0018] The electronic device according to an embodiment can detect biological information such as the heartbeat of a target such as a human being present around the electronic device. Therefore, the electronic device according to an embodiment can be used in specific facilities used by people who engage in social activities, such as companies, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, sports gyms, and nursing homes. For example, in a company, it is very important to understand and / or manage the health of employees. Similarly, in a hospital, it is very important to understand and / or manage the health of patients and medical professionals, and in a nursing home, it is very important to understand and / or manage the health of residents and staff. The electronic device according to an embodiment can be used in any facility where it is desired to understand and / or manage the health of a target, and is not limited to the above-mentioned facilities such as companies, hospitals, and nursing homes. The arbitrary facility may include, for example, a non-commercial facility such as a user's home. The electronic device according to an embodiment can be used in any facility, not limited to indoors, but may be used outdoors. For example, the electronic device according to an embodiment can be used in a moving object such as a train, bus, or airplane, as well as in a station or a boarding area. Moreover, the electronic device according to the embodiment may be used in a moving body such as an automobile, an airplane, or a ship, a hotel, a user's home, a living room in the home, a bathroom, a toilet, or a bedroom, etc. The electronic device according to the embodiment may be used to measure the heart rates of cows, pigs, or other livestock or animals in a zoo, a ranch, a farm, or the like.

[0019] The electronic device according to an embodiment may be used, for example, in a nursing facility or the like, for detecting or monitoring biological information such as the heartbeat of a target such as a person requiring nursing care or a person requiring care. In addition, the electronic device according to an embodiment may issue a predetermined warning to, for example, the person and / or other people when an abnormality is found in biological information such as the heartbeat of a target such as a person requiring nursing care or a person requiring care. Therefore, according to the electronic device according to an embodiment, for example, the person and / or staff of a nursing facility or the like may recognize that an abnormality is found in the pulse of a target such as a person requiring nursing care or a person requiring care. On the other hand, according to an embodiment, when no abnormality is found (for example, recognized as normal) in the heartbeat of a target such as a person requiring nursing care or a person requiring care, for example, the electronic device may notify the person and / or other people to that effect. Therefore, according to the electronic device according to an embodiment, for example, the person and / or staff of a nursing facility or the like may recognize that the pulse of a target such as a person requiring nursing care or a person requiring care is normal. An electronic device according to one embodiment may, from the heart rate of a monitored person or animal, determine the heart rate interval (RR interval = RRI in an electrocardiogram), detect dozing or other distracted driving and estimate signs of such driving, estimate the level of alertness, estimate the level of fatigue, or identify the monitored person or animal.

[0020] The electronic device according to an embodiment may detect the pulse of animals other than humans. The electronic device according to an embodiment described below will be described as detecting the pulse of a human using a sensor based on a technology such as millimeter wave radar, for example.

[0021] The electronic device according to an embodiment may be installed on any stationary object or any moving object. The electronic device according to an embodiment can transmit a transmission wave to the surroundings of the electronic device from a transmission antenna. The electronic device according to an embodiment can receive a reflected wave of the transmission wave from a reception antenna. At least one of the transmission antenna and the reception antenna may be provided in the electronic device, or may be provided in, for example, a radar sensor or the like.

[0022] Hereinafter, the electronic device according to the embodiment will be described as being stationary. The electronic device according to the embodiment may be installed in a moving body such as an automobile. The electronic device according to the embodiment may be installed in a moving body such as an automobile to detect biometric information such as the heartbeat of a passenger riding in the moving body. On the other hand, a subject (human) whose biometric information such as a pulse is detected by the electronic device according to the embodiment may be stationary, may be moving, or may move its body while stationary. The electronic device according to the embodiment can measure the distance between the electronic device and an object in a situation where the object around the electronic device may move, similar to a normal radar sensor. The electronic device according to the embodiment can measure the distance between the electronic device and an object even when both the electronic device and the object are stationary.

[0023] Before describing an electronic device according to an embodiment, an electronic device according to a comparative example of the embodiment will be described first. First, an example of object detection by the electronic device according to the comparative example of the embodiment will be described.

[0024] Fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a usage mode of an electronic device according to a comparative example of an embodiment. Fig. 1 illustrates an example of an electronic device having a function of a sensor and including a transmitting antenna and a receiving antenna according to an embodiment.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment may include a transmitting unit and a receiving unit, which will be described later. As described later, the transmitting unit may include a transmitting antenna array 24. The receiving unit may include a receiving antenna array 31. The transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 may be provided, for example, inside the housing of the electronic device 100. Specific configurations of the electronic device 100, the transmitting unit, and the receiving unit will be described later. For ease of viewing, FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the electronic device 100 including the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 inside the housing. The electronic device 100 may also include at least one of the other functional units, such as at least a part of the signal processing unit 10 (FIG. 2) included in the electronic device 100, as appropriate. The electronic device 100 may also include at least one of the other functional units, such as at least a part of the signal processing unit 10 (FIG. 2) included in the electronic device 100, outside the electronic device 100. In FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 may be moving, or may be stationary without moving.

[0026] In the example shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 is shown as having a transmitting section including a transmitting antenna array 24 and a receiving section including a receiving antenna array 31 inside the housing of the electronic device 100. The electronic device 100 may have, for example, a plurality of transmitting sections and / or a plurality of receiving sections. The transmitting section may have a transmitting antenna array 24 consisting of a plurality of transmitting antennas. Furthermore, the receiving section may have a receiving antenna array 31 consisting of a plurality of receiving antennas. Here, the position where the transmitting section and / or the receiving section are installed in the electronic device 100 is not limited to the position shown in FIG. 1, and may be other positions as appropriate. Furthermore, the number of transmitting sections and / or receiving sections may be any number of one or more depending on various conditions (or requirements) such as the detection range and / or detection accuracy of biological information such as heart rate by the electronic device 100.

[0027] As described below, the electronic device 100 transmits electromagnetic waves as transmission waves from the transmitting antenna array 24. For example, when a predetermined object (e.g., the target 200 shown in FIG. 1) is present around the electronic device 100, at least a part of the transmission wave transmitted from the electronic device 100 is reflected by the object and becomes a reflected wave. Then, by receiving such a reflected wave, for example, by the receiving antenna array 31 of the electronic device 100, the electronic device 100 can detect the object as a target.

[0028] The electronic device 100 including the transmitting antenna array 24 may typically be a RADAR (Radio Detecting and Ranging) sensor that transmits and receives radio waves. However, the electronic device 100 is not limited to a radar sensor. The electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of an embodiment may be a sensor based on, for example, a LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging, Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) technology using light waves. Such sensors may be configured to include, for example, a patch antenna. Since technologies such as RADAR and LIDAR are already known, detailed descriptions thereof may be appropriately simplified or omitted. Furthermore, the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of an embodiment may be a sensor based on a technology that detects an object by transmitting and receiving, for example, sound waves or ultrasonic waves.

[0029] The electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 1 receives, from the receiving antenna array 31, a reflected wave of a transmission wave transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24. In this way, the electronic device 100 can detect a predetermined object 200 existing within a predetermined distance from the electronic device 100 as a target. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the electronic device 100 can measure a distance L between the electronic device 100 and the predetermined object 200. The electronic device 100 can also measure a relative speed between the electronic device 100 and the predetermined object 200. Furthermore, the electronic device 100 can also measure a direction in which a reflected wave from the predetermined object 200 arrives at the electronic device 100 (arrival direction (hereinafter also referred to as "arrival angle θ")).

[0030] In Fig. 1, the XY plane may be, for example, a plane that is approximately parallel to the ground surface. In this case, the positive direction of the Z axis shown in Fig. 1 may indicate a vertically upward direction. In Fig. 1, the electronic device 100 may be disposed on a plane that is parallel to the XY plane. Also, in Fig. 1, the target 200 may be, for example, standing on the ground surface that is approximately parallel to the XY plane.

[0031] Here, the target 200 may be, for example, a human being present around the electronic device 100. The target 200 may also be a living thing other than a human being, such as an animal present around the electronic device 100. As described above, the target 200 may be moving, stopped, or stationary. In the present disclosure, the object detected by the electronic device 100 includes inanimate objects such as any object, as well as living things such as a person, a dog, a cat, a horse, and other animals. The object detected by the electronic device 100 of the present disclosure may include targets including a person, an object, and an animal detected by radar technology. In the present disclosure, the target may include a person, an object, and an animal. In the following, the description will be given on the assumption that an object such as the target 200 present around the electronic device 100 is a human being (or an animal). Hereinafter, the "target 200" may also be appropriately written as the "subject 200". In the present disclosure, the target may be the above-mentioned target 200.

[0032] 1, the ratio between the size of the electronic device 100 and the size of the target 200 does not necessarily indicate the actual ratio. Also, in FIG. 1, the transmitting antenna array 24 of the transmitting unit and the receiving antenna array 31 of the receiving unit are shown installed inside the housing of the electronic device 100. However, in one embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 of the transmitting unit and / or the receiving antenna array 31 of the receiving unit may be installed at various positions of the electronic device 100. For example, in one embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 of the transmitting unit and / or the receiving antenna array 31 of the receiving unit may be installed outside the housing of the electronic device 100.

[0033] In the following, as a typical example, the transmitting antenna of the electronic device 100 will be described as transmitting radio waves in a frequency band such as millimeter waves (30 GHz or higher) or quasi-millimeter waves (for example, around 20 GHz to 30 GHz). On the other hand, the transmitting antenna of the electronic device 100 may transmit radio waves having a frequency bandwidth of 4 GHz, such as 77 GHz to 81 GHz. Furthermore, the transmitting antenna of the electronic device 100 may transmit radio waves of a high frequency (for example, 30 GHz to 300 GHz) equal to or higher than the millimeter wave band.

[0034] 2 is a functional block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an electronic device 100 according to a comparative example of an embodiment. An example of the configuration of the electronic device 100 according to a comparative example of an embodiment will be described below.

[0035] When measuring distances and the like using a millimeter wave radar, a frequency modulated continuous wave radar (hereinafter, referred to as FMCW radar) is often used. In an FMCW radar, a transmission signal is generated by sweeping the frequency of radio waves to be transmitted. Therefore, in a millimeter wave FMCW radar using radio waves in a frequency band of, for example, 79 GHz, the frequency of the radio waves used has a frequency bandwidth of 4 GHz, for example, 77 GHz to 81 GHz. A radar in the 79 GHz frequency band has a feature that the available frequency bandwidth is wider than other millimeter wave / quasi-millimeter wave radars in frequency bands of, for example, 24 GHz, 60 GHz, and 76 GHz. Hereinafter, such an embodiment will be described as an example.

[0036] The FMCW radar system used in the present disclosure may include an FCM (Fast-Chirp Modulation) system that transmits a chirp signal at a shorter period than normal. The signal generated by the electronic device 100 is not limited to an FMCW signal. The signal generated by the electronic device 100 may be a signal of various systems other than the FMCW system. The transmission signal sequence stored in an arbitrary storage unit may differ depending on these various systems. For example, in the case of the radar signal of the above-mentioned FMCW system, a signal whose frequency increases and decreases for each time sample may be used. Since the above-mentioned various systems can be appropriately applied using known technologies, a more detailed description will be omitted.

[0037] As shown in FIG. 2, the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment includes a signal processing unit 10. The signal processing unit 10 may include a signal generation processing unit 11, a reception signal processing unit 12, a heartbeat extraction unit 13, and a calculation unit 14. The heartbeat extraction unit 13 may execute, for example, a process of extracting a micro-Doppler component. Furthermore, the heartbeat extraction unit 13 may execute a process of extracting an envelope of the heart sounds of the subject 200. The calculation unit 14 may execute, for example, a process of calculating the heartbeat interval (RRI) of the subject 200, etc. Furthermore, the calculation unit 14 may execute, for example, a process of calculating the heartbeat of the subject 200, etc. Furthermore, the calculation unit 14 may execute, for example, a process of calculating the heart rate variability (Heart rate validity: HRV) of the subject 200, etc. In this case, the calculation unit 14 may execute, for example, a process of performing a frequency analysis of the time series data of the heartbeat interval of the subject 200 extracted. The calculation unit 14 may also execute a process of calculating the heart rate variability of the subject 200 based on frequency analysis of the time series data of the heart rate interval. The signal generation processing unit 11, the received signal processing unit 12, the heart rate extraction unit 13, and the calculation unit 14 will be described further below as appropriate. In the present disclosure, the heart sound may be, for example, a vibration waveform of the chest directly observed by a radar, or may be chest vibration. The heart rate is the heartbeat itself. The heart rate interval, the heart rate, etc. may be calculated from the movement of the heart rate. The heart rate interval may be the time interval between one heart beat and the next heart beat.

[0038] The electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of an embodiment includes a transmission DAC 21, a transmission circuit 22, a millimeter wave transmission circuit 23, and a transmission antenna array 24 as a transmission unit. The electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of an embodiment includes a reception antenna array 31, a mixer 32, a reception circuit 33, and a reception ADC 34 as a reception unit. The electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of an embodiment may not include at least one of the functional units shown in FIG. 2, or may include a functional unit other than the functional unit shown in FIG. 2. The electronic device 100 shown in FIG. 2 may be configured using a circuit basically configured similarly to a general radar using electromagnetic waves such as a millimeter wave band. On the other hand, in the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of an embodiment, the signal processing by the signal processing unit 10 may include processing different from that of a conventional general radar.

[0039] The signal processing unit 10 included in the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment can control the operation of the entire electronic device 100, including the control of each functional unit constituting the electronic device 100. In particular, the signal processing unit 10 performs various processes on signals handled by the electronic device 100. The signal processing unit 10 may include at least one processor, such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), to provide control and processing capabilities for executing various functions. The signal processing unit 10 may be realized as one processor, several processors, or individual processors. The processor may be realized as a single integrated circuit. The integrated circuit is also called an IC (Integrated Circuit). The processor may be realized as a plurality of integrated circuits and discrete circuits connected to each other so as to be able to communicate with each other. The processor may be realized based on various other known technologies. In one embodiment, the signal processing unit 10 may be configured as, for example, a CPU (hardware) and a program (software) executed by the CPU. The signal processing unit 10 may include a storage unit (memory) necessary for the operation of the signal processing unit 10 as appropriate.

[0040] The signal generation processing unit 11 of the signal processing unit 10 generates a signal to be transmitted from the electronic device 100. In the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a transmission signal (transmission chirp signal) such as a chirp signal. In particular, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a signal (linear chirp signal) whose frequency changes periodically and linearly. For example, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a chirp signal whose frequency increases periodically and linearly from 77 GHz to 81 GHz over time. Also, for example, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a signal whose frequency periodically repeats a linear increase (up chirp) and decrease (down chirp) from 77 GHz to 81 GHz over time. The signal generated by the signal generation processing unit 11 may be set in advance in the signal processing unit 10, for example. Also, the signal generated by the signal generation processing unit 11 may be stored in advance in an arbitrary storage unit in the signal processing unit 10, for example. Since chirp signals used in technical fields such as radar are well known, a more detailed description will be simplified or omitted as appropriate. The signal generated by the signal generation processing unit 11 is supplied to the transmission DAC 21. For this reason, the signal generation processing unit 11 may be connected to the transmission DAC 21.

[0041] The transmission DAC (digital-analog converter) 21 has a function of converting the digital signal supplied from the signal generating processing unit 11 into an analog signal. The transmission DAC 21 may be configured to include a general digital-analog converter. The signal converted into an analog signal by the transmission DAC 21 is supplied to the transmission circuit 22. For this reason, the transmission DAC 21 may be connected to the transmission circuit 22.

[0042] The transmission circuit 22 has a function of converting the signal converted into an analog signal by the transmission DAC 21 into an intermediate frequency (IF) band. The transmission circuit 22 may be configured to include a general IF band transmission circuit. The signal processed by the transmission circuit 22 is supplied to the millimeter wave transmission circuit 23. For this reason, the transmission circuit 22 may be connected to the millimeter wave transmission circuit 23.

[0043] The millimeter wave transmission circuit 23 has a function of transmitting the signal processed by the transmission circuit 22 as a millimeter wave (RF wave). The millimeter wave transmission circuit 23 may be configured to include a general millimeter wave transmission circuit. For example, the millimeter wave transmission circuit 23 may be configured to include an amplifier (amplification circuit) that amplifies the power of the transmission wave (transmission signal). The signal processed by the millimeter wave transmission circuit 23 is supplied to the transmission antenna array 24. Therefore, the millimeter wave transmission circuit 23 may be connected to the transmission antenna array 24. In addition, the signal processed by the millimeter wave transmission circuit 23 is also supplied to the mixer 32. Therefore, the millimeter wave transmission circuit 23 may also be connected to the mixer 32.

[0044] The transmitting antenna array 24 is an array of a plurality of transmitting antennas. In Fig. 2, the configuration of the transmitting antenna array 24 is shown in a simplified form. The transmitting antenna array 24 transmits the signal processed by the millimeter wave transmitting circuit 23 to the outside of the electronic device 100. The transmitting antenna array 24 may be configured to include a transmitting antenna array used in a general millimeter wave radar.

[0045] In this manner, the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment includes a transmitting antenna (the transmitting antenna array 24) and can transmit a transmitting signal (for example, a transmitting chirp signal) from the transmitting antenna array 24 as a transmitting wave.

[0046] 2, it is assumed that an object such as a subject 200 is present around the electronic device 100. In this case, at least a part of the transmission wave transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24 is reflected by the object such as the subject 200. At least a part of the transmission wave transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24 that is reflected by the object such as the subject 200 may be reflected toward the receiving antenna array 31.

[0047] The receiving antenna array 31 receives the reflected waves, which may be at least a portion of the transmitted waves transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24 that are reflected by an object such as the subject 200.

[0048] The receiving antenna array 31 is an array of receiving antennas. In FIG. 2, the configuration of the receiving antenna array 31 is shown in a simplified manner. The receiving antenna array 31 receives a reflected wave that is a reflection of a transmission wave transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24. The receiving antenna array 31 may be configured to include a receiving antenna array used in a general millimeter wave radar. The receiving antenna array 31 supplies a reception signal received as a reflected wave to a mixer 32. For this reason, the receiving antenna array 31 may be connected to the mixer 32. In addition, the reflected wave (received signal) received by the receiving antenna array 31 may be amplified with low noise (low noise) by, for example, a low noise amplifier (LNA) before being supplied to the mixer 32. In FIG. 2, the illustration of the LNA and the like is omitted.

[0049] The mixer 32 converts the signal (transmission signal) processed by the millimeter wave transmission circuit 23 and the reception signal received by the reception antenna array 31 (and further amplified with low noise by the LNA) into an intermediate frequency (IF) band. The mixer 32 may be configured to include a mixer used in a general millimeter wave radar. The mixer 32 supplies a signal generated as a result of the synthesis to the reception circuit 33. For this reason, the mixer 32 may be connected to the reception circuit 33.

[0050] The receiving circuit 33 has a function of performing analog processing on the signal converted to the IF band by the mixer 32. The receiving circuit 33 may be configured to include a receiving circuit that converts to a general IF band. The signal processed by the receiving circuit 33 is supplied to the receiving ADC 34. For this reason, the receiving circuit 33 may be connected to the receiving ADC 34.

[0051] The receiving ADC (analog-digital converter) 34 has a function of converting an analog signal supplied from the receiving circuit 33 into a digital signal. The receiving ADC 34 may be configured to include a general analog-digital converter. The signal digitized by the receiving ADC 34 is supplied to the receiving signal processing unit 12 of the signal processing unit 10. For this reason, the receiving ADC 34 may be connected to the signal processing unit 10.

[0052] The reception signal processing unit 12 of the signal processing unit 10 has a function of performing various processes on the digital signal supplied from the reception ADC 34. For example, the reception signal processing unit 12 calculates the distance from the electronic device 100 to an object such as the subject 200 based on the digital signal supplied from the reception ADC 34 (distance measurement). The reception signal processing unit 12 also calculates the relative speed of the object such as the subject 200 with respect to the electronic device 100 based on the digital signal supplied from the reception ADC 34 (speed measurement). Furthermore, the reception signal processing unit 12 calculates the azimuth angle of the object such as the subject 200 as seen from the electronic device 100 based on the digital signal supplied from the reception ADC 34 (angle measurement). Specifically, I / Q converted data may be input to the reception signal processing unit 12. By inputting such data, the reception signal processing unit 12 performs fast Fourier transform (2D-FFT) in the range direction and the velocity direction, respectively. Thereafter, the reception signal processing unit 12 may suppress false alarms by removing noise points through processing such as CFAR (Constant False Alarm Rate) and make the probability constant. Then, the reception signal processing unit 12 can obtain the position of an object such as the subject 200 by estimating the arrival angle for points that satisfy the CFAR criteria. Information generated as a result of distance, speed, and angle measurement by the reception signal processing unit 12 may be supplied to the heart rate extraction unit 13.

[0053] The heartbeat extraction unit 13 extracts information related to the heartbeat from the information generated by the reception signal processing unit 12. The heartbeat extraction unit 13 may execute a process of extracting a micro Doppler component from the information generated by the reception signal processing unit 12 and extracting an envelope of the heart sounds. Various methods may be used for the operation of extracting information related to the heartbeat by the heartbeat extraction unit 13. The information related to the heartbeat extracted by the heartbeat extraction unit 13 may be supplied to the calculation unit 14.

[0054] The calculation unit 14 performs various calculation processes and / or arithmetic processes on the information on the heartbeat supplied from the heartbeat extraction unit 13. For example, the calculation unit 14 may extract a heartbeat interval based on the information on the heartbeat supplied from the heartbeat extraction unit 13, and perform a process of calculating the HRV by analyzing the frequency of the time series data of the heartbeat interval (RRI). Various methods may be used for the various calculation processes and / or arithmetic processes by the calculation unit 14. The various information calculated and / or processed by the calculation unit 14 may be supplied to, for example, a communication interface 50. For this reason, the calculation unit 14 and / or the signal processing unit 10 may be connected to the communication interface 50. The various information calculated and / or processed by the calculation unit 14 may be supplied to other functional units other than the communication interface 50.

[0055] The communication interface 50 includes an interface that outputs information supplied from the signal processing unit 10 to, for example, an external device 60. The communication interface 50 may output at least one of information regarding the position, speed, and angle of an object such as the subject 200 to the external device 60 as, for example, a signal such as a CAN (Controller Area Network). For example, at least one of information regarding the position, speed, and angle of an object such as the subject 200 may be supplied to the external device 60 via the communication interface 50. For this reason, the communication interface 50 may be connected to the external device 60.

[0056] As shown in Fig. 2, the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of an embodiment may be connected to an external device 60 via a communication interface 50 in a wired or wireless manner. In an embodiment, the external device 60 may be configured to include any computer and / or any control device. The electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of an embodiment may also be configured to include the external device 60. The external device 60 may have various configurations depending on how the information on the heartbeat and / or heart sounds detected by the electronic device 100 is used. Therefore, a more detailed description of the external device 60 will be omitted.

[0057] FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an example of a chirp signal generated by the signal generation processing unit 11 of the signal processing unit 10. In FIG.

[0058] FIG. 3 shows the time structure of one frame when the FCM (Fast-Chirp Modulation) method is used. FIG. 3 shows an example of a received signal in the FCM method. FCM is a method in which chirp signals shown as c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn in FIG. 3 are repeated at relatively short intervals (for example, longer than the round-trip time between the electromagnetic radar and the target calculated from the maximum ranging distance). In FCM, for convenience of signal processing of the received signal, transmission and reception processing is often performed by dividing it into subframe units as shown in FIG. 3.

[0059] In Fig. 3, the horizontal axis represents the elapsed time, and the vertical axis represents the frequency. In the example shown in Fig. 3, the signal generation processing unit 11 generates a linear chirp signal whose frequency changes periodically and linearly. In Fig. 3, each chirp signal is shown as c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn. As shown in Fig. 3, in each chirp signal, the frequency increases linearly with the passage of time.

[0060] In the example shown in FIG. 3, several chirp signals such as c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn are included to form one subframe. That is, subframe 1 and subframe 2 shown in FIG. 3 are each configured to include several chirp signals such as c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn. Also, in the example shown in FIG. 3, several subframes such as subframe 1, subframe 2, ..., subframe N are included to form one frame (1 frame). That is, one frame shown in FIG. 3 is configured to include N subframes. Also, one frame shown in FIG. 3 may be frame 1, followed by frame 2, frame 3, ..., etc. Each of these frames may be configured to include N subframes, similar to frame 1. Also, a frame interval of a predetermined length may be included between the frames. One frame shown in FIG. 3 may be, for example, about 30 milliseconds to 50 milliseconds long.

[0061] In the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a transmission signal as an arbitrary number of frames. Also, some chirp signals are omitted in Fig. 3. In this manner, the relationship between the time and frequency of the transmission signal generated by the signal generation processing unit 11 may be stored as various setting parameters in, for example, a storage unit of the signal processing unit 10.

[0062] In this manner, the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of an embodiment may transmit a transmission signal composed of subframes including a plurality of chirp signals. Also, the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of an embodiment may transmit a transmission signal composed of a frame including a predetermined number of subframes.

[0063] Hereinafter, the electronic device 100 will be described as transmitting a transmission signal having a frame structure as shown in FIG. 3. However, the frame structure as shown in FIG. 3 is an example, and for example, the chirp signal included in one subframe may be arbitrary. That is, in one embodiment, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a subframe including an arbitrary number (for example, an arbitrary multiple) of chirp signals. Also, the subframe structure as shown in FIG. 3 is an example, and for example, the subframe included in one frame may be arbitrary. That is, in one embodiment, the signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a frame including an arbitrary number (for example, an arbitrary multiple) of subframes. The signal generation processing unit 11 may generate signals of different frequencies. The signal generation processing unit 11 may generate a plurality of discrete signals having different bandwidths of frequency f.

[0064] Fig. 4 is a diagram showing, in another aspect, a part of the subframe shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows each sample of the received signal that has received the transmission signal shown in Fig. 3 as a result of 2D-FFT (Two Dimensional Fast Fourier Transform) processing performed by the received signal processing unit 12 (Fig. 2) of the signal processing unit 10.

[0065] As shown in Fig. 4, chirp signals c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn are stored in each subframe such as subframe 1, ..., subframe N. In Fig. 4, each chirp signal c1, c2, c3, c4, ..., cn is composed of samples represented by squares arranged in the horizontal direction. The received signal shown in Fig. 4 is subjected to 2D-FFT, CFAR, and / or integrated signal processing of each subframe by the received signal processing unit 12 shown in Fig. 2.

[0066] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which a group of points on a range-Doppler (distance-velocity) plane is calculated as a result of 2D-FFT, CFAR, and integrated signal processing of each subframe being performed in the received signal processing unit 12 shown in FIG. 2.

[0067] In FIG. 5, the horizontal direction represents range (distance) and the vertical direction represents velocity. The filled squares s1 shown in FIG. 5 represent point clouds indicating signals that exceed the CFAR threshold processing. The unfilled squares s2 shown in FIG. 5 represent bins (2D-FFT samples) without point clouds that do not exceed the CFAR threshold. The point clouds on the range-Doppler plane calculated in FIG. 5 have their orientation from the radar calculated by direction estimation, and the position and velocity on a two-dimensional plane are calculated as a point cloud indicating an object such as the subject 200. Here, the direction estimation may be calculated by a beamformer and / or a subspace method. Representative subspace method algorithms include MUSIC (MUltiple SIgnal Classification) and ESPRIT (Estimation of Signal Parameters via Rotation Invariance Technique).

[0068] Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the result of conversion of point cloud coordinates from the range-Doppler plane shown in Fig. 5 to the XY plane after the received signal processing unit 12 performs direction estimation. The XY plane shown in Fig. 6 may be the same as the XY plane shown in Fig. 1. As shown in Fig. 6, the received signal processing unit 12 can plot a point cloud PG on the XY plane. Here, the point cloud PG is composed of each point P. Furthermore, each point P has an angle θ and a radial velocity Vr in polar coordinates.

[0069] The reception signal processing unit 12 detects an object present within the range where the transmission wave is transmitted based on at least one of the results of the 2D-FFT and the angle estimation. The reception signal processing unit 12 may perform object detection by, for example, clustering processing based on the estimated distance information, speed information, and angle information. As an algorithm used for clustering data, for example, DBSCAN (Density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise) is known. This is an algorithm that performs clustering based on density. In the clustering processing, for example, the average power of the points constituting the detected object may be calculated. The distance information, speed information, angle information, and power information of the object detected in the reception signal processing unit 12 may be supplied to an external device 60 or the like via a communication interface 50, for example.

[0070] As described above, the electronic device 100 may include a transmitting antenna (transmitting antenna array 24), a receiving antenna (receiving antenna array 31), and a signal processing unit 10. The transmitting antenna array 24 transmits a transmission wave, for example, an electric wave. The receiving antenna array 31 receives a reflected wave of the transmission wave. The signal processing unit 10 detects an object (for example, an object such as the subject 200) that reflects the transmission wave, based on the transmission signal transmitted as the transmission wave and the reception signal received as the reflected wave.

[0071] Next, the estimation of the direction of an incoming wave (an incoming reflected wave) by the antenna array of the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment will be further described.

[0072] 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of the receiving antenna array 31 of the electronic device 100 according to a comparative example of an embodiment, and a principle of estimating a direction of an incoming wave by the receiving antenna array 31. FIG. 7 illustrates an example of reception of radio waves by the receiving antenna array 31.

[0073] As shown in Fig. 7, the receiving antenna array 31 may be a linear arrangement of sensors such as receiving antennas. As shown in Fig. 7, in one embodiment, the receiving antenna array 31 may include multiple receiving antennas arranged in a linear arrangement. In Fig. 7, the receiving antenna array 31 includes antennas x1, x2, x3, ..., x M A plurality of antennas such as the above are indicated by small circles. The receiving antenna array 31 may be composed of any number of antennas. As shown in FIG. 7, the plurality of antennas constituting the receiving antenna array 31 are arranged at an interval of the array pitch d. A sensor array in which sensors (antennas, ultrasonic transducers, microphones, etc.) corresponding to various physical waves are arranged in an array is also called a Uniform Linear Array (ULA). As shown in FIG. 7, physical waves (electromagnetic waves, sound waves, etc.) arrive from various directions such as θ1 and θ2. Here, θ1 and θ2 may be the above-mentioned angles of arrival. In this way, a sensor array such as the receiving antenna array 31 can estimate the direction of arrival (angle of arrival) by utilizing the phase difference that occurs in the measured values ​​between the sensors according to the direction of arrival of the physical wave. A method of estimating the direction of arrival of a wave in this way is also referred to as angle of arrival estimation or direction of arrival (DoA).

[0074] In the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment, at least one of the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 may be a linear arrangement of multiple antennas. This allows, for example, a millimeter wave radar to appropriately narrow the directivity when transmitting and receiving radio waves. When transmitting a transmission wave, the direction of the transmission beam is often controlled by a beamformer. On the other hand, when receiving a reflected wave, the arrival direction of the reflected wave is often estimated by a subspace method (such as the above-mentioned MUSIC and ESPRIT) rather than by a beamformer. In the beamformer and subspace method, in a ULA as shown in FIG. 7, a phase difference occurs in the measurement values ​​between sensors depending on the arrival direction of electromagnetic waves arriving from various directions. Therefore, the arrival direction of the reflected wave can be estimated by utilizing the phase difference.

[0075] Next, the estimation of angles in two directions of the incoming waves by the antenna array of the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment will be further described.

[0076] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of an antenna arrangement for estimating directions of arrival at two orthogonal angles.

[0077] As shown in FIG. 8, in an electronic device 100 according to a comparative example of an embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 and / or the receiving antenna array 31 may include an array of a plurality of patch antenna units.

[0078] In the transmitting antenna array 24 shown in FIG. 8, one patch antenna unit may be configured to include a plurality of elements electrically connected in a direction 1 shown in the figure. In each patch antenna unit, the plurality of elements may be electrically connected by wiring such as a strip line on a substrate. In each patch antenna unit, each of the plurality of elements is spaced apart at an interval d shorter than half the wavelength λ of the transmission wave. 1,t 8, each patch antenna unit may have any number of elements, two or more, electrically connected.

[0079] 8, the transmitting antenna array 24 may be configured by arraying a plurality of patch antenna units in a direction 2 shown in the figure. The patch antenna units are spaced apart from each other by an interval d shorter than half the wavelength λ of the transmitting wave. 2,t In one embodiment, the transmit antenna array 24 may include any number of patch antenna units greater than or equal to two.

[0080] As shown in Fig. 8, in one embodiment, the receiving antenna array 31 may be a modified version of the arrangement of the elements in the transmitting antenna array 24. That is, in the receiving antenna array 31 shown in Fig. 8, one patch antenna unit may be configured to include a plurality of elements electrically connected in the direction 2 shown in the figure. In each patch antenna unit, the plurality of elements may be electrically connected by wiring such as a strip line on a substrate. In each patch antenna unit, each of the plurality of elements is spaced apart at an interval d shorter than half the wavelength λ of the transmission wave. 2,s 8, each patch antenna unit may have any number of elements, two or more, electrically connected.

[0081] 8, the receiving antenna array 31 may be configured by arraying a plurality of patch antenna units in a direction 1 shown in the figure. The patch antenna units are spaced apart from each other by an interval d shorter than half the wavelength λ of the transmission wave. 1,s In one embodiment, the receive antenna array 31 may include any number of patch antenna units greater than or equal to two.

[0082] All elements included in the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 may be arranged on the same plane (for example, on the surface layer of the same substrate). The transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 may be arranged close to each other (monostatic). Furthermore, the direction 1 and the direction 2 shown in FIG. 8 may be geometrically orthogonal to each other.

[0083] The directivity of each of the transmitting antenna and the receiving antenna can be appropriately narrowed by the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 as shown in FIG. 8. In addition, by using the transmitting antenna array 24 as shown in FIG. 8, the direction of transmission of each transmitting wave (transmitting signal) can be controlled at each timing of transmitting the transmitting wave, thereby realizing a beamformer for the direction 2 shown in FIG. 8. Furthermore, by using the receiving antenna array 31 as shown in FIG. 8, the arrival direction of the reflected wave can be estimated for the direction 1 shown in FIG. 8. In this way, it is possible to estimate the arrival direction of the reflected wave for two angles that are substantially orthogonal. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a point cloud showing an object such as the subject 200 in three dimensions.

[0084] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of the appearance of an electronic device 100 according to a comparative example of the embodiment.

[0085] 9, an electronic device 100 according to a comparative example of an embodiment may include a housing 110. The housing 110 may be made of, for example, a resin such as plastic, or a metal. The housing 110 may have a function of protecting the internal structure of the electronic device 100. At least a part of the housing 110 may be configured as a radome section 120. At least a part of the radome section 120 may be configured of a material that transmits a transmission wave transmitted from the electronic device 100 and transmits a reception wave (reflected wave) received by the electronic device 100.

[0086] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the internal structure of a housing of an electronic device 100 according to a comparative example of the embodiment.

[0087] As shown in FIG. 10, the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment may include a substrate 130 as an internal structure. For example, the transmitting antenna array 24, the receiving antenna array 31, and the signal processing unit 10 may be arranged on the substrate 130. For example, the transmitting DAC 21, the transmitting circuit 22, and the millimeter wave transmitting circuit 23 shown in FIG. 2 may be arranged on the substrate 130 as appropriate. For example, the mixer 32, the receiving circuit 33, the receiving ADC 34 shown in FIG. 2 may be arranged on the substrate 130 as appropriate. Furthermore, as described above, an amplifier (amplifying circuit) that amplifies the power of the transmitting wave (transmitting signal) and / or a low noise amplifier (LNA) that amplifies the reflected wave (receiving signal) received by the receiving antenna array 31 may be arranged on the substrate 130.

[0088] For example, in the electronic device 100, the transmitting DAC 21, the transmitting circuit 22, the millimeter wave transmitting circuit 23, the mixer 32, the receiving circuit 33, the receiving ADC 34, and most of the signal processing unit 10 may be arranged on the substrate 130. In this case, these functional units may be implemented in a radar circuit unit (system on chip (SoC)) centered on a monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC). The above-mentioned MMIC / SoC may be implemented as the signal processing unit 10 on the substrate 130 shown in FIG. 10, for example. The MMIC / SoC and the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 arranged on the substrate 130 may be connected through an interlayer via, a microstrip line, a coplanar line, or the like of a multilayer substrate.

[0089] FIG. 10 illustrates an antenna for four channels of transmission and reception. In the configuration example shown in FIG. 10, the MMIC / SoC, the transmission antenna array 24, and the reception antenna array 31 are mounted on the substrate 130. In this case, the substrate 130 may be integrally stored in the housing 110 together with a heat dissipation mechanism and / or a mechanical part for ensuring rigidity. In the present disclosure, a channel of a transmission antenna or a reception antenna may be an antenna of a combination of one or more antenna elements that transmits a transmission signal or receives a reception signal. For example, when there are n transmission antennas consisting of m transmission antenna elements, where m and n are any integers, it may be an n-channel transmission antenna. Also, for example, when there are n reception antennas consisting of m reception antenna elements, where m and n are any integers, it may be an n-channel reception antenna.

[0090] The electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment described above may have the following concerns.

[0091] When detecting biometric information such as a user's heart rate by transmitting and receiving radio waves, it is necessary to use a sufficiently large number of transmitting and receiving antennas to control the directivity of the transmitted waves and / or to perform direction estimation processing of the received waves. In such a case, it is desirable to use antennas with four or more channels for both transmission and reception. However, it is not necessarily easy to integrate the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 with the signal processing unit 10 including the MMIC / SoC to reduce the overall size.

[0092] Generally, in order to sufficiently and appropriately execute the processing of the radar sensor as shown in Fig. 10, the heat generated by the processor such as the CPU / DSP mounted on the circuit unit (signal processing unit 10) such as an SoC tends to increase. For this reason, it is expected that the heat dissipation mechanism, for example, will have to be enlarged in the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment.

[0093] Considering the above-mentioned concerns, it is expected that an integrated configuration such as the housing 110 shown in FIG. 9 may not be suitable for implementation in a small space, such as when sensing the vital signs of a user inside a car.

[0094] Furthermore, in the radar sensor configuration shown in Fig. 10, there is a concern that the area detectable by one MMIC / SoC (signal processing unit 10) is limited. For example, assume that a millimeter-wave radar is used to detect micro-Doppler to detect chest vibrations associated with a user's heartbeat or micro-vibrations of other machines or buildings. In this case, a certain angular range (e.g., about ±30°) in front of the millimeter-wave sensor becomes the field of view (FOV) of the radar. Therefore, when one MMIC / SoC (signal processing unit 10) is used, there is a problem that only a certain narrow area can be detected.

[0095] In view of this, the applicant has conducted various researches and demonstration experiments, and has come up with an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention, which can address the above-mentioned problems. Next, such an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0096] Fig. 11 is a diagram illustrating a schematic structure of an electronic device according to an embodiment. In the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment shown in Fig. 11, the description of the same or similar functional units as those of the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment will be simplified or omitted as appropriate.

[0097] As shown in FIG. 11, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may include a plurality of antenna units, such as Ant-1 and Ant-2. The electronic device 1 may also include a circuit unit 400 including a substrate 140. The circuit unit 400 may include a signal processing unit 10. In FIG. 11, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment includes two antenna units, Ant-1 and Ant-2. The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may include at least one antenna unit Ant, or any number of antenna units. On the other hand, as described later, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may include only one antenna unit, such as only Ant-1.

[0098] The antenna unit Ant-1 may have an antenna array pattern (antenna pattern) as shown in FIG. 11. The antenna unit Ant-1 may be, for example, a rigid substrate antenna or a flexible antenna connected by a microstrip line or a coplanar line mounted on a flexible substrate. The antenna unit Ant-1 may have a transmitting antenna array 24 and a receiving antenna array 31. As shown in FIG. 11, the antenna unit Ant-1 may have a plurality of transmitting antenna arrays 24 and a plurality of receiving antenna arrays 31. In FIG. 11, the antenna unit Ant-1 has four transmitting antenna arrays 24 and four receiving antenna arrays 31. However, in the antenna unit Ant-1, the transmitting antenna arrays 24 and the receiving antenna arrays 31 may each be any number.

[0099] The transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 are each electrically connected to the RF switch 333 via a transmission line section 332. The transmitting antenna array 24 may be electrically connected to the transmission line section 332. The receiving antenna array 31 may be electrically connected to the transmission line section 332 via an LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) ​​331. That is, the signal received by the receiving antenna array 31 may be a low noise amplifier that amplifies the received radio wave with low noise. When amplifying the received signal, the low noise amplifier located near the receiving antenna provides a better S / N ratio. Therefore, the LNA 331 may be connected near the receiving antenna array 31. The signal may be amplified with low noise by the LNA 331 and then supplied to the transmission line section 332. The electronic device 1 may also include an amplifier that amplifies the transmission signal at any position before the transmission signal is transmitted from the transmitting antenna array 24. The RF switch 333 connected to the transmission line unit 332 may be connected to the signal processing unit 10. The signal processing unit 10 may be implemented with the above-mentioned MMIC / SoC.

[0100] 11, the transmission line portion 332 connected to the antenna portion Ant-1 may have a length L1 [m]. The length of the transmission line portion 332 connected to the antenna portion Ant-1 may be set appropriately depending on the application of the electronic device 1 (for example, several centimeters to several meters).

[0101] Moreover, the antenna unit Ant-2 may have the same configuration as the antenna unit Ant-1. Like the antenna unit Ant-1, the antenna unit Ant-2 may also be connected to the signal processing unit 10 via the RF switch 333. When an antenna unit Ant other than the antenna unit Ant-1 and the antenna unit Ant-2 is provided, the other antenna unit Ant may also have the same configuration as the antenna unit Ant-1 and the antenna unit Ant-2.

[0102] The antenna unit Ant-1, the antenna unit Ant-2, etc. may include a transmitting / receiving antenna pattern corresponding to each antenna set. The antenna unit Ant-1, the antenna unit Ant-2, etc. may be mounted on a rigid dielectric substrate or a ceramic substrate, or a flexible dielectric substrate.

[0103] 11, the transmission line portion 332 connected to the antenna portion Ant-2 may have a length L2 [m]. The length of the transmission line portion 332 connected to the antenna portion Ant-2 may be set appropriately depending on the application of the electronic device 1 (for example, several centimeters to several meters).

[0104] The transmission line portion 332 may be various members for guiding radio waves to each of the transmitting and receiving antenna sets. For example, the transmission line portion 332 may be configured by a coaxial cable or a flexible cable. Also, the transmission line portion 332 may be, for example, a microstrip line or a coplanar line mounted on a flexible dielectric substrate.

[0105] The transmission line portion 332 may be wired to have the same length as much as possible in all antenna channels when implemented as hardware.

[0106] The RF switch 333 may have a function of switching between a plurality of transmitting antenna arrays 24 and a receiving antenna array 31. The RF switch 333 may be a high-frequency switch such as a Single-Pole Double-Throw (SPDT) or Single-Pole n Throw (SPnT (n is a natural number of 2 or more)). In one embodiment, the RF switch 333 may be mounted on, for example, a substrate 140 included in the circuit unit 400. The number of RF switches 333 depends on the value of n in the case of Single-Pole n Throw (SPnT (n is a natural number of 2 or more)), the number Sn of transmitting antenna arrays 24 of each channel, and the number Rn of receiving antenna arrays 31. For example, when n=2, Sn=2, and Rn=2, the number of RF switches 333 may be two. The RF switch 333 may be a p-pole q-throw switch, where p and q are arbitrary integers. In the case shown in FIG. 11, Sn=4 and Rn=4, so the number of single-pole double-throw (SPDT) RF switches 333 is eight in total: four for the transmitting antenna array 24 and four for the receiving antenna array 31.

[0107] As shown in FIG. 11, in the electronic device 1, a waveguide formed by a transmission line portion 332 extends from the signal processing portion 10 to the antenna portion Ant-1 and the like. 11, the waveguide 40A and the waveguide 40B leading from the signal processing unit 10 to the RF switch 333 are conceptually shown. Furthermore, each of the waveguides extended by the transmission line unit 332 is provided with an RF switch 333. The RF switch 333 may be a single-pole, double-throw (SPDT) or single-pole, n-throw (SPnT) switch depending on the number of sets of transmitting and receiving antennas to be connected. In FIG. 11, the RF switch 333 shows an example in which two sets of transmitting and receiving antennas are connected.

[0108] Fig. 12 is a diagram that illustrates an example of the external appearance of the electronic device 1 illustrated in Fig. 11. Fig. 12 illustrates a state in which the configuration illustrated in Fig. 11 is housed in, for example, a housing.

[0109] When implemented as hardware, the electronic device 1 may include a circuit section 400, and antenna sections Ant-1 and Ant-2, etc., separated from the circuit section 400, as shown in Fig. 12. The circuit section 400 and the antenna sections Ant-1 and Ant-2, etc. may be electrically connected to each other by a transmission line section 332. The circuit section 400 may include, for example, the signal processing section 10 (and the substrate 140) shown in Fig. 12. In Fig. 12, the transmission line section 332 may be a coaxial cable. The transmission line section 332 may be a flexible cable or other wiring.

[0110] 12, the electronic device 1 may include a plurality of antenna units, such as the antenna unit Ant-1 and the antenna unit Ant-2, etc. Therefore, the electronic device 1 can mount a plurality of antenna units, such as the antenna unit Ant-1 and the antenna unit Ant-2, at different locations.

[0111] With this configuration, the electronic device 1 can suitably sense the heart rate, breathing, body movement, etc. of a human being even when compactness is required for mounting a radar sensor, etc. For example, when the electronic device 1 as shown in FIG. 12 is applied to an environment such as the inside of a car, the electronic device 1 can sense, for example, the driver's heart rate, breathing, body movement, etc. In this case, the circuit unit 400 of the electronic device 1 may be mounted, for example, around the on-board ECU of the car. Also, the antenna unit Ant-1 of the electronic device 1 may be mounted in front of the steering wheel of the car. Furthermore, the antenna unit Ant-2 of the electronic device 1 may be mounted around the rearview mirror of the car.

[0112] By implementing the electronic device 1 in this manner, it is possible to robustly detect the driver's biometric information, for example, even if the driver's body position moves, and it is also possible to implement the electronic device in a space-saving manner.

[0113] Next, the operation of the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment will be described.

[0114] In order to appropriately perform detection by the electronic device 1 as shown in Fig. 11 and Fig. 12, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may perform various correction operations, for example, by digital processing. The various correction operations performed by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment will be further described below.

[0115] (1. Correction taking into account the electrical length of the transmission line) 11 and 12, in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, the antenna units Ant-1 and Ant-2 are extended by the transmission line unit 332. When the electrical length for transmitting and receiving radio waves is extended by the transmission line in this manner, the range (distance measurement) detected by the radar sensor shifts to the long distance side by the amount of the extended electrical length. Therefore, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may perform a correction taking into account the electrical length for transmission and reception extended by the transmission line unit 332.

[0116] In general, electromagnetic waves propagating through a coaxial cable, a microstrip line, a coplanar line, or the like are subject to wavelength shortening due to the dielectric of the cable. For example, when the transmission line portion 332 is a coaxial cable, the length of the coaxial cable is L [m], and the real part of the relative dielectric constant of the dielectric is ε'. r Then, the wavelength shortening due to the dielectric can be expressed as follows:

[0117]

number

[0118] Therefore, in electronic device 1, when the electrical length of transmission and reception extended by transmission line portion 332 is taken into consideration, the radio wave is equivalent to having propagated a distance of L' [m] shown in the above formula (1). In this way, the length of the wiring from device to device in an electronic circuit expressed based on the signal delay time rather than the physical length (physical length) is sometimes called the electrical length.

[0119] The above-mentioned correction needs to be performed on values ​​when performing a range FFT, for example, when 2D-FFT is performed in the signal processing unit 10 shown in Fig. 2. That is, if the range resolution of the 2D-FFT is d [m] and the calculated value of the range bin of the 2D-FFT is r, the correction value r' can be expressed as the following formula (2).

[0120]

number

[0121] In the above formula (2), round is a function that represents the process of rounding off the decimal point. The numerator of the fraction in parentheses of the round function in the above formula (2) is multiplied by 2 as a coefficient. This takes into account that the transmission line parts for transmission and reception are of equal length and the round-trip path.

[0122] (2. Correction taking into account the phase between channels) When the transmission line portion 332 is extended by a relatively long cable, no matter how all the channels are wired to the same length, a phase delay difference occurs between the channels due to design. This may cause deviation in the direction of arrival (DOA). Therefore, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment may correct such deviation.

[0123] (3. Correction taking into account electromagnetic wave losses) When the transmission line portion 332 is extended, the loss of the electromagnetic wave seen from the final stage of the transmission / reception circuit of the electronic device 1 changes compared to when the transmission line portion 332 is not extended. This may cause deviation from the loss in the radar equation. If such deviation occurs, correction may be required when performing signal processing assuming, for example, the radar cross-section (RCS) of a person. Therefore, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment may perform such correction.

[0124] The above-mentioned "2. Correction taking into account the phase between channels" and "3. Correction taking into account the loss of electromagnetic waves" will be further explained below.

[0125] For example, in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, the antenna units Ant-1 and Antenna units Ant-2 are each provided with a transmission line unit 332, and the line lengths are slightly different. For example, one of the transmission line unit 332 for extending the antenna unit Ant-1 and the transmission line unit 332 for extending the antenna unit Ant-2 is 60 cm, and the other is 61 cm. In the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment configured in this manner, the amplitude and phase between the antenna patches in the antenna unit Ant of each channel and the signal processing unit 10 (MMIC) will be considered.

[0126] FIG. 13 is a graph showing an S-parameter (Scattering parameter) S in a configuration that does not include the transmission line portion 332, such as the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment shown in FIG. 11 FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a Smith chart of S 11 4 shows a Smith chart of

[0127] FIG. 14 is a graph showing the S-parameter (Scattering parameter) S in a configuration including a transmission line portion 332, like the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment shown in FIG. 11 FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of a Smith chart of S 11 14 shows a Smith chart of the transmission line section 332 for extending the antenna section Ant-1 and the transmission line section 332 for extending the antenna section Ant-2. Here, one of the transmission line sections 332 for extending the antenna section Ant-1 and the other is 60 cm long and 61 cm long. Also, the transmission line section 332 is a coaxial cable with an outer conductor radius of 2.6 mm and an inner conductor radius of 0.7 mm, and the dielectric layer is polyethylene. In FIG. 14, the S 11 and S in the 61 cm transmission line section 332 11 It is shown that:

[0128] As can be seen from a comparison between FIG. 13 and FIG. 14, when the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment has the transmission line portion 332, the phase rotates many times on the Smith chart (FIG. 14).

[0129] Next, the state of the amplitude and phase between the antenna patches of one channel and the signal processing unit 10 (MMIC) is shown.

[0130] 15(a) and 15(b) show the S 11 15(a) shows an example of transmission loss and phase delay in the S-band of 60 GHz to 67 GHz. FIG. 15(b) shows a frequency change of amplitude (unit: dB). FIG. 15(a) and FIG. 15(b) show a frequency change of phase (unit: degrees). 11 In the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment, the antenna of channel 1 is designed to resonate at 61.5 GHz. As shown in FIG. 15(a), the resonance at 61.5 GHz can be confirmed.

[0131] 16(a) and 16(b) show the S 11 16(a) shows an example of transmission loss and phase delay in the S-band 16. FIG. 16(a) shows the frequency change of amplitude (unit: dB). FIG. 16(b) shows the frequency change of phase (unit: degrees). FIG. 16(a) and FIG. 16(b) show the frequency change of S-band 16. 11 16(a) and 16(b) show the S 11 and S in the 61 cm transmission line section 332 11 It is shown that:

[0132] Figures 17(a) and 17(b) are partial enlarged views of Figures 16(a) and 16(b), respectively. More specifically, Figures 17(a) and 17(b) show the amplitude and phase in an enlarged view of the range of 62 GHz to 62.2 GHz (200 MHz span) in Figures 16(a) and 16(b), respectively.

[0133] As shown in Fig. 16(a) and Fig. 16(b), S 11 15(a) and 15(b), there is no significant difference in the amplitude and phase of the signal from the transmission line portion 332. However, it can be seen that small variations occur. As can be seen from Fig. 17(a) and Fig. 17(b), even if the line length of the transmission line portion 332 differs by only 1 cm, such as 60 cm and 61 cm, changes occur in both the amplitude and phase. As can be seen from Fig. 17(a) and Fig. 17(b), it can be seen that an amplitude difference of about 0.5 dB and a phase difference of about 100 degrees occur for a line length of 1 cm of the transmission line portion 332.

[0134] In order to correct the above-mentioned changes, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may determine a certain reference channel and measure the phase difference between that channel and other channels using a network analyzer, etc. By such measurement, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can correct the above-mentioned amplitude difference and / or phase difference.

[0135] More specifically, the signal processing unit 10 of the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment may first set the number of transmission channels for measurement data to N t Let the number of channels receiving the measurement data be N r Then, the signal processing unit 10 may correct the amplitude and phase of the radio waves transmitted and received by each channel with the first channel as a reference. After receiving a reflected wave of the transmitted wave, the signal processing unit 10 may perform the above-mentioned amplitude and phase correction as a process before performing a process such as 2D-FFT.

[0136] Here, the signal processing unit 10 calculates an amplitude correction value Δa for the i-th receiving channel. ir and the phase correction value is Δφ i r In addition, the signal processing unit 10 sets the amplitude correction value Δa j t and the phase correction value is Δφ j t In one embodiment, the signal processing unit 10 may store these correction values ​​in, for example, an arbitrary memory.

[0137] Then, the signal processing unit 10 calculates the amplitude a of the actual received signal. i r and phase φ i r , and the amplitude of the actual transmitted signal a j tr and phase φ j t In this manner, the signal processing unit 10 calculates the i-th corrected received signal vector s i r , and the j-th transmitted signal vector s after correction j t In the formulas (3) and (4), i is a number starting from 2, and j is a number starting from 2.

[0138]

number

number

[0139] A specific processing method using the above formulas (3) and (4) will be further described.

[0140] An example of the amplitude and phase difference at the transmitting and receiving ends of the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 of the antenna unit Ant is as shown in Fig. 17. On the other hand, the correction using the above formulas (3) and (4) may be performed by digital signal processing in, for example, the signal processing unit 10. When this correction is applied to, for example, heartbeat detection (estimation) processing, after a reflected wave of a transmitted wave is received, amplitude correction and phase correction of the received signal may be performed before basic radar processing such as 2D-FFT processing, CFAR processing, and DoA processing.

[0141] In one embodiment, the signal processing unit 10 may perform amplitude and phase correction on the antenna that transmits and receives radio waves in the antenna unit Ant, based on a certain channel. In this case, the signal processing unit 10 performs amplitude and phase correction on the antenna unit Ant, based on the S-axis as viewed from the end of the board 140 shown in FIG. 11, for the sensor system of the designed or actually manufactured electronic device 1. 11 The amplitude and phase difference of the two signals are measured.

[0142] In this manner, the signal processing unit 10 calculates the amplitude correction value Δa i r and the phase correction value Δφ i r , and the amplitude correction value Δa in the j-th transmission channel j t and the phase correction value Δφ j t Therefore, the signal processing unit 10 can perform correction according to the above formulas (3) and (4). These correction values, i.e., Δa i r , Δφ i r , Δa j t , and Δφ j t may be stored in advance in a memory on the radar SoC. The signal processing unit 10 may read out the correction values ​​stored in the memory every time the signal processing unit 10 performs processing for transmitting and receiving radio waves.

[0143] 18 is a flowchart showing an example of an operation of estimating a heartbeat interval by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation of estimating a heartbeat interval by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment will be outlined with reference to FIG.

[0144] Fig. 18 shows the operation of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment after receiving a reflected wave. That is, as a premise of the operation shown in Fig. 18, it is assumed that the electronic device 1 shown in Fig. 11 transmits a transmission wave (transmission signal) from the transmitting antenna array 24. Then, at least a part of the transmission wave transmitted from the electronic device 1 is reflected by the subject 200 (for example, the chest) and becomes a reflected wave. Then, the electronic device 1 shown in Fig. 11 receives such a reflected wave from the receiving antenna array 31 and converts it into a digital signal (receiving ADC 34) (see Fig. 2). Then, the operation shown in Fig. 18 starts.

[0145] When the operation shown in Fig. 18 starts, first, in step S100, the signal processing unit 10 of the electronic device 1 corrects data of each channel of a plurality of antenna units Ant, such as antenna units Ant-1 and Ant-2. The correction performed here may be at least one of "2. Correction taking into account the phase between channels" and "3. Correction taking into account the loss of electromagnetic waves". That is, in step S100, the signal processing unit 10 may perform amplitude correction and phase correction of the received signal. The correction performed here may also include "1. Correction taking into account the electrical length of the transmission line unit". Such a correction operation may be performed by, for example, the received signal processing unit 12 of the signal processing unit 10.

[0146] Next, in step S110, the signal processing unit 10 processes the received signal. The signal processing performed in step S110 may include, for example, the above-mentioned 2D-FFT, CFAR processing, and / or arrival direction estimation. Such operations may be performed by, for example, the received signal processing unit 12 of the signal processing unit 10.

[0147] Next, in step S120, the signal processing unit 10 extracts a signal source from the information processed in step S110. The signal processing performed in step S120 may include, for example, a process of filtering data resulting from 2D-FFT processing. In step S120, the signal processing unit 10 may extract spectral components only at the position where the subject 200 is present. Here, the position where the subject 200 is present may be specified by various known methods. Such an operation may be performed, for example, by the heart rate extraction unit 13 of the signal processing unit 10.

[0148] Next, in step S130, the signal processing unit 10 converts the result of the previous processing into a vibration waveform. The processing performed in step S130 may include, for example, a process of extracting phase information from the IQ data. In step S130, the signal processing unit 10 may include a process of extracting vibration data including heart sounds from the spectral components of the 2D-FFT processing of the subject 200 extracted in step S120. Such an operation may be performed by, for example, the heartbeat extraction unit 13 of the signal processing unit 10.

[0149] Next, in step S140, the signal processing unit 10 extracts vibration data from the result of the previous processing. The processing performed in step S140 may include, for example, frequency filtering. In step S140, the signal processing unit 10 may extract a low-frequency signal including an envelope of the heart sounds of the subject 200 by performing frequency filtering. Such an operation may be performed, for example, by the heartbeat extraction unit 13 of the signal processing unit 10.

[0150] Next, in step S150, the signal processing unit 10 detects peaks of the heartbeat of the subject 200 from the results of the previous processing, and calculates the intervals between the peaks to calculate the RR interval (RRI) of the subject 200. In step S150, the signal processing unit 10 may detect peaks of a low-frequency signal including an envelope of the heart sounds of the subject 200. Also, in step S150, the signal processing unit 10 may calculate and / or extract the intervals between the respective peaks. Such an operation may be performed, for example, by the calculation unit 14 of the signal processing unit 10. As described above, in step S150, the signal processing unit 10 may extract the intervals between the heart sounds.

[0151] Next, in step S160, the signal processing unit 10 may calculate the heart rate variability (HRV) of the subject 200. In step S160, the signal processing unit 10 may calculate the HRV of the subject 200 by calculating the spectral density of the time series data of the RRI. When calculating the power spectral density of the time series data of the RRI, a frequency analysis of the time series waveform of the RRI may be performed, for example, by using the Welch method. Such an operation may be performed, for example, by the calculation unit 14 of the signal processing unit 10. Also, in step S160, the signal processing unit 10 may analyze the spectrum from the processing result of the previous stage.

[0152] Thus, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment includes an antenna unit Ant including multiple antenna elements, and a signal processing unit 10 that generates a transmission signal transmitted from the antenna unit Ant and processes a reception signal received by the antenna unit Ant. In one embodiment, the electronic device 1 includes a transmitting antenna unit Ant having multiple transmission channels, and a transmission signal processing unit 10 that generates a transmission signal transmitted from the transmitting antenna unit Ant. The electronic device 1 may also include a receiving antenna unit Ant having multiple reception channels, and a reception signal processing unit 10 that processes a reception signal received from the receiving antenna unit Ant.

[0153] Moreover, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may include a transmission line section 332 that electrically connects the antenna section Ant and the signal processing section 10. Here, the signal processing section 10 may correct the phase difference between each channel of the signal transmitted and received in the transmission line section 332. In an embodiment, the electronic device 1 may include a transmission transmission line section 332 that electrically connects the transmission antenna section Ant and the transmission signal processing section 10. Also, the electronic device 1 may include a reception transmission line section 332 that electrically connects the reception antenna section Ant and the reception signal processing section 10. Here, the transmission signal processing section 10 may correct the phase difference between each channel of the signal transmitted in the transmission transmission line section 332. Also, the reception signal processing section 10 corrects the phase difference between each channel of the signal received in the reception transmission line section 332.

[0154] In one embodiment, the substrate on which the antenna unit Ant is mounted may be separated from the substrate 140 on which the signal processing unit 10 is mounted. In this case, the substrate on which the antenna unit Ant is mounted and the substrate 140 on which the signal processing unit 10 is mounted may be connected by a transmission line unit 332. In one embodiment, the first substrate on which the transmitting antenna unit Ant or the receiving antenna unit Ant is mounted may be separated from the second substrate on which the transmitting signal processing unit 10 or the receiving signal processing unit 10 is mounted. Here, the first substrate and the second substrate may be connected by a transmitting transmission line unit 332 or a receiving transmission line unit 332.

[0155] In one embodiment, the signal processing unit 10 may detect the monitoring target based on a transmission signal transmitted as a transmission wave from the antenna unit Ant and a reception signal received by the antenna unit Ant as a reflected wave of the transmission wave reflected by the monitoring target. In one embodiment, the transmission signal processing unit 10 may detect the monitoring target based on a transmission signal transmitted as a transmission wave from the transmitting antenna unit Ant. In addition, the reception signal processing unit 10 may detect the monitoring target based on a reception signal received by the receiving antenna unit Ant as a reflected wave of the transmission wave reflected by the monitoring target.

[0156] In addition, in one embodiment, the signal processing unit 10 may correct a deviation in the direction of arrival estimation caused by a phase delay difference occurring between the channels of the signals transmitted and received in the transmission line unit 332. In one embodiment, the transmission signal processing unit 10 or the reception signal processing unit 10 may correct a deviation in the direction of arrival estimation caused by a phase delay difference occurring between the transmission channels or the reception channels.

[0157] Furthermore, in one embodiment, as described above, the signal processing unit 10 may correct the amplitude of the signal detected by the signal processing unit 10 based on the loss of the signal transmitted and received in the transmission line unit 332. In one embodiment, the transmission signal processing unit 10 or the reception signal processing unit 10 may correct the amplitude of the signal detected by the transmission signal processing unit 10 or the reception signal processing unit 10 based on the loss of the signal.

[0158] In one embodiment, the signal processing unit 10 may correct the distance to the detected monitoring target based on the electrical length of the signal transmission and reception in the transmission line unit 332. In one embodiment, the transmitting signal processing unit 10 or the receiving signal processing unit 10 may correct the distance to the monitoring target based on the electrical length of the signal in the transmitting transmission line unit 332 or the receiving transmission line unit 332.

[0159] In one embodiment, the antenna unit Ant may include a first antenna unit Ant-1 and a second antenna unit Ant-2. In this case, the first transmission line unit 332 may connect the first antenna unit Ant-1 and the signal processing unit 10. In addition, the second transmission line unit 332 may connect the second antenna unit Ant-2 and the signal processing unit 10. In this case, an RF switch 333 may be provided for switching between the connection between the first antenna unit Ant-1 and the signal processing unit 10 and the connection between the second antenna unit Ant-2 and the signal processing unit 10. In one embodiment, the transmitting antenna unit Ant may include a first transmitting antenna unit Ant-1 and a second transmitting antenna unit Ant-2. In this case, the first transmitting transmission line unit 332 may connect the first transmitting antenna unit Ant-1 and the transmitting signal processing unit 10. In addition, the second transmitting transmission line unit 332 may connect the second transmitting antenna unit Ant-2 and the transmitting signal processing unit 10. In this case, the electronic device 1 may be provided with a transmission RF switch 333 that switches between the connection between the first transmitting antenna unit Ant-1 and the transmitting signal processing unit 10 and the connection between the second transmitting antenna unit Ant-2 and the transmitting signal processing unit 10.

[0160] In one embodiment, the electronic device 1 may include two antenna units Ant (Ant-1 and Ant-2), or may include three or more antenna units Ant (Ant-1, Ant-2, and Ant-n). In one embodiment, the electronic device 1 may include two transmitting antenna units Ant, or may include three or more transmitting antenna units Ant.

[0161] Furthermore, in one embodiment, the electronic device 1 may include a low noise amplifier LNA331 that amplifies, with low noise, a reception signal received by the receiving antenna in the antenna unit Ant. In one embodiment, the electronic device 1 may include a low noise amplifier LNA331 that amplifies, with low noise, a reception signal received by the receiving antenna in the receiving antenna unit Ant.

[0162] Furthermore, in one embodiment, the antenna unit Ant may be a sheet antenna formed on a flexible substrate, etc. In one embodiment, at least one of the transmitting antenna unit Ant and the receiving antenna Ant may be a sheet antenna formed on a flexible substrate.

[0163] As described above, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment extracts a component that is thought to be an envelope of a heartbeat by frequency filtering the vibration at the position where the subject 200 is present, and determines the interval between peaks of the envelope as the heartbeat interval. In this way, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can calculate the heartbeat interval of the subject 200.

[0164] For example, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can detect the heart rate of a passenger in a moving body such as an automobile by being installed in the moving body. In this case, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can analyze the RRI of a driver who is operating a moving body such as an automobile by measuring the heart rate of the driver using a radar. If such an RRI analysis can be performed with relatively high accuracy, the electronic device 1 can be used for applications such as estimating the psychological state of a passenger such as a driver, including the degree of alertness. In addition, if such an RRI analysis can be performed with relatively high accuracy, the electronic device 1 can be used for applications such as detecting the driver's mindless driving, including drowsy driving, or detecting a sign of such mindless driving.

[0165] As described above, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment can measure the vibrations of the subject's body surface by applying signal processing to the reflected waves (received waves) obtained from the radar. As a result, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment can obtain a good cardiac sound waveform of a human or animal. Furthermore, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment can detect the presence or absence of noise, including road noise, superimposed on the obtained cardiac sound waveform by multivariate analysis. And, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment can separate the heart sound from the noise when the obtained cardiac sound waveform contains noise.

[0166] Furthermore, in the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment, various technical effects can be expected due to the mounting of the antenna unit Ant, which includes an antenna for transmitting and receiving radio waves, and the circuit unit 400, which includes an MMIC / SoC, separately.

[0167] For example, as described above, when detecting biometric information such as a user's heart rate by transmitting and receiving radio waves, it is necessary to use a sufficiently large number of transmitting and receiving antennas to control the directivity of the transmitted waves and / or to perform direction estimation processing of the received waves. In such a case, it is desirable to use antennas with four or more channels for both transmission and reception. According to the electronic device 1 of one embodiment, the transmitting antenna array 24 and the receiving antenna array 31 are integrated with the signal processing unit 10 including an MMIC / SoC, thereby making it possible to reduce the overall size.

[0168] Also, as described above, generally, in order to sufficiently and appropriately execute the processing of the radar sensor as shown in Fig. 10, the heat generation of the processor such as the CPU / DSP mounted on the circuit unit (signal processing unit 10) such as an SoC tends to become large. Therefore, it is expected that, for example, the heat dissipation mechanism will have to be enlarged in the electronic device 100 according to the comparative example of the embodiment.

[0169] However, the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment can also be used in cases where implementation in a small space is required, such as when sensing the vital signs of a user inside a vehicle.

[0170] 10, there is a concern that the area detectable by one MMIC / SoC (signal processing unit 10) is limited. However, according to the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment, even when one MMIC / SoC (signal processing unit 10) is used, a relatively wide area can be detected by using multiple antenna units Ant.

[0171] As described above, the electronic device 1 according to one embodiment can increase the degree of freedom in mounting the electronic device 1 (or the antenna unit Ant and the circuit unit 400) while realizing good detection by transmitting and receiving radio waves such as millimeter waves. Therefore, according to one embodiment, it is possible to provide an electronic device that can improve convenience.

[0172] The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can measure distance (distance measurement), estimate angle (angle measurement), and detect Doppler velocity (speed measurement) by using a Doppler radar of high frequency (20 GHz or higher) equal to or higher than the millimeter wave band. The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can detect vital signals such as human or animal heart sounds, heartbeats, breathing, or biological vibrations, or vibrations of buildings or machines. The electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can separately mount transmitting and receiving antennas, thereby enabling the mounting of a system such as a millimeter wave radar even in applications where space saving is required.

[0173] (Other embodiments) Other embodiments will be described below.

[0174] The above-described embodiment has been described assuming sensing of the heartbeat / breathing / body movement of an object such as a human body or an animal. However, sensing by the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment is not limited to the heartbeat / breathing / body movement of an object such as a human body or an animal. For example, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can also be used to measure general vibrations of an artificial object or a natural object.

[0175] 11 and 12, the electronic device 1 according to the embodiment has been described as including a plurality of antenna units Ant, such as antenna unit Ant-1 and antenna unit Ant-2, etc. However, the electronic device according to the embodiment may include only one antenna unit, such as only Ant-1.

[0176] FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a schematic structure of an electronic device having only one antenna unit.

[0177] 19, the electronic device 2 may include, for example, an antenna unit Ant-1 as only one antenna unit Ant. That is, the electronic device 2 shown in FIG. 19 may include one antenna unit Ant-1 and one circuit unit 400. As shown in FIG. 19, the antenna unit Ant-1 and the circuit unit 400 may be electrically connected by a transmission line unit 332. By providing only one antenna unit Ant, the electronic device 2 shown in FIG. 19 can omit the RF switch 333 such as SPDT or SPnT, as compared with the electronic device 1 shown in FIG. 11.

[0178] 12, in the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment, at least one of the antenna unit Ant-1 and the antenna unit Ant-2 may be cased, for example, by a housing or the like. Meanwhile, in the electronic device according to an embodiment, at least one of the one or more antenna units Ant may include, for example, an uncased exposed antenna. Here, the exposed antenna may be an antenna made of a rigid substrate, an antenna made of a flexible substrate, or a curved antenna that is not flat.

[0179] The electronic device 1 according to the above-described embodiment may perform both amplitude correction and phase correction, or may perform either one of them. For example, when the difference in amplitude between the channels is small, the electronic device 1 etc. may execute only phase correction and omit amplitude correction.

[0180] In the above-described embodiment, the orientation of the radiation surface of the antenna unit Ant and the orientation of any of the planar portions of the circuit unit 400 may be set in various ways.

[0181] Fig. 20 is a diagram illustrating a schematic structure of an electronic device according to a variation of an embodiment. In one embodiment, as in electronic device 3 shown in Fig. 20, the normal direction of the radiation surface (surface A) of antenna unit Ant and the normal direction of the surface (surface B) of circuit unit 400 including SoC and the like may be configured to be different (for example, these normals may be perpendicular to each other). With such a configuration, it is expected that the effect of increasing the degree of freedom in installing antenna unit Ant can be achieved.

[0182] For reference, some examples of installation modes of the electronic device 1 and the like according to the above-described embodiments will be shown below.

[0183] FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating a schematic example of a location where the antenna unit Ant of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can be installed in a moving body 500 such as an automobile. As shown in FIG. 21, the antenna unit Ant of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may be disposed at least at any of the locations indicated as "Ant" in the drawing in the moving body 500. Also, as shown in FIG. 21, the circuit unit 400 of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may be disposed at any location, such as near an ECU. Each antenna unit Ant and the circuit unit 400 may be electrically connected by a transmission line unit 332. In FIG. 21, the transmission line unit 332 connecting each antenna unit Ant and the circuit unit 400 is omitted.

[0184] 21, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed, for example, at a position (such as on the surface or inside) of a headrest or a seat of a moving object 500. Such an arrangement of the antenna unit Ant makes it possible to secure an arrangement space even in a narrow vehicle interior. Furthermore, with the antenna unit Ant disposed in this manner, vital signs can be detected with high accuracy at a position close to a person (passenger).

[0185] 21, the antenna section Ant may be arranged at two separate positions on the seat of the moving body 500, for example, at the waist and heart of a person seated thereon. With the antenna section Ant arranged in this way, it is possible to perform detection while covering the difference in physique between an adult passenger and a child passenger.

[0186] 21, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed at various positions in front of the vehicle 500, such as the handle, dashboard, sun visor, and / or rearview mirror of the vehicle 500. With the antenna unit Ant disposed in this manner, the chest heartbeat of the passenger can be accurately detected.

[0187] 21, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed on the steering wheel and / or dashboard of the vehicle 500. Such an arrangement of the antenna unit Ant makes it possible to secure an arrangement space even in a small vehicle interior. Furthermore, the antenna unit Ant disposed in this manner makes it possible to detect the vital signs of the driver with particularly high accuracy.

[0188] 21, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed on the ceiling of the moving body 500 and / or near an interior light, etc. By disposing the antenna unit Ant in this manner, it is possible to secure a space for disposing the antenna unit Ant even in a narrow vehicle interior. Furthermore, with the antenna unit Ant disposed in this manner, the inside of the moving body 500 can be made into a wide detection range.

[0189] 21, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed on the door, floor, rear window, and / or rear of the moving object 500. By disposing the antenna unit Ant in this manner, it is possible to ensure sufficient installation space even in a narrow vehicle interior.

[0190] The electronic device according to the above-mentioned embodiment may be installed in a general mobile object moving on a public road. However, the electronic device according to the other embodiment may be applied not only to a mobile object moving on a public road such as an automobile, but also to an environment where noise may be generated, such as an airplane, a ship, or a train. The electronic device according to the other embodiment may also be applied to noise generated by the body movement of a subject in an indoor environment. Furthermore, the electronic device according to one embodiment may be applied to measurement of the heart rate of a subject riding on a motorcycle, a bus, a bicycle, a truck, a construction vehicle, a tractor, or the like.

[0191] FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating a schematic example of a place where the antenna unit Ant of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can be installed in a space 600 such as a residence or an office. As shown in FIG. 22, the antenna unit Ant of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may be disposed at least at any of the positions marked "Ant" in the figure in the space 600. Also, as shown in FIG. 22, the circuit unit 400 of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may be installed in an arbitrary position, such as under the floor. Each antenna unit Ant and the circuit unit 400 may be electrically connected by a transmission line unit 332. In FIG. 22, the transmission line unit 332 connecting each antenna unit Ant and the circuit unit 400 is omitted.

[0192] 22, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed, for example, on a door, a floor, and / or a wall in the space 600. With the antenna unit Ant disposed in this manner, it is possible to detect a person or an animal entering or leaving the space 600.

[0193] 22, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed, for example, on the ceiling and / or inside or near a ceiling light in the space 600. With the antenna unit Ant disposed in this manner, the entire space 600 can be monitored from above.

[0194] 22, the antenna unit Ant may be placed, for example, inside or near furniture in the space 600. The antenna unit Ant placed in this manner can also be moved within the space 600.

[0195] As shown in Fig. 22, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed, for example, inside or near a bed in the space 600. Also, as shown in Fig. 22, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed, for example, near a ceiling facing the bed in the space 600. Also, as shown in Fig. 22, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed, for example, on the outer frame of a bed or in its vicinity in the space 600. With the antenna unit Ant disposed in this manner, the heart rate and / or breathing of a person sleeping in bed in the space 600 can be constantly measured.

[0196] As shown in FIG. 22, the antenna unit Ant may be arranged on, for example, four wall surfaces in the space 600. In this case, the antenna unit Ant may be arranged on or inside the wall surface. The space 600 may be, for example, a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom, a toilet, or a kitchen. With the antenna unit Ant arranged in this way, the heart rate and / or breathing of a person present in the space 600 can be constantly measured. For example, even if a person present in the space 600 is watching television, sleeping, taking a bath, in the toilet, or cooking, the heart rate and / or breathing can be constantly measured.

[0197] FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a schematic example of a place where the antenna unit Ant of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can be installed in a space 700 such as a hospital room or a nursing home. As shown in FIG. 23, the antenna unit Ant of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may be disposed at least at any of the positions marked "Ant" in the figure in the space 700. Also, as shown in FIG. 23, the circuit unit 400 of the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment may be installed in an arbitrary position, such as under the floor. Each antenna unit Ant and the circuit unit 400 may be electrically connected by a transmission line unit 332. In FIG. 23, the transmission line unit 332 connecting each antenna unit Ant and the circuit unit 400 is omitted.

[0198] As shown in Fig. 23, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed, for example, inside or near the bed 710 in the space 700. Also, as shown in Fig. 23, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed, for example, near the ceiling facing the bed 710 in the space 700. Also, as shown in Fig. 23, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed, for example, inside or near the frame (or side) of the bed 710 in the space 700. In this case, as shown in Fig. 23, the antenna unit Ant may be disposed, for example, near a position corresponding to the head, chest, and / or legs (or feet) of a person lying on the bed 710. With the antenna unit Ant disposed in this manner, it is possible to detect vital signs with greater accuracy according to the position of the body of the person lying on the bed 710.

[0199] 2, the signal processing unit 10 has been described as including functional units such as the heartbeat extraction unit 13 and the calculation unit 14. However, in one embodiment, the processing performed by the heartbeat extraction unit 13 and / or the calculation unit 14 may be performed by an external computer or processor.

[0200] As described above, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment detects weak vibrations such as heartbeats using, for example, a millimeter wave sensor having a plurality of transmitting antennas and a plurality of receiving antennas. When the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment does not detect a target, it detects the body movement of the target while changing the transmission phase of the antenna to perform the beamforming pattern of the transmitting antenna. On the other hand, when the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment detects the body movement of the target, it performs beamforming in the direction of the body movement and detects the heartbeat. In this way, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can improve signal quality by automatically detecting the direction of the human body. Therefore, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can improve the detection accuracy and / or detection range of the heartbeat. Therefore, the electronic device 1 according to an embodiment can detect the human heartbeat with high accuracy.

[0201] Although the present disclosure has been described based on the drawings and examples, it should be noted that a person skilled in the art can easily make various modifications or corrections based on the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be noted that these modifications or corrections are included in the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the functions included in each functional unit can be rearranged so as not to be logically inconsistent. Multiple functional units, etc. may be combined into one or divided. Each embodiment of the present disclosure described above is not limited to being implemented faithfully to each of the embodiments described, and may be implemented by combining each feature as appropriate or omitting a part. In other words, the contents of the present disclosure can be modified and corrected in various ways by a person skilled in the art based on the present disclosure. Therefore, these modifications and corrections are included in the scope of the present disclosure. For example, in each embodiment, each functional unit, each means, each step, etc. can be added to other embodiments so as not to be logically inconsistent, or replaced with each functional unit, each means, each step, etc. of other embodiments. In addition, in each embodiment, multiple functional units, each means, each step, etc. can be combined into one or divided. Furthermore, each of the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited to being implemented faithfully according to each of the described embodiments, but may be implemented by combining each feature or omitting some features as appropriate.

[0202] The above-described embodiment is not limited to being implemented only as the electronic device 1. For example, the above-described embodiment may be implemented as a control method for an apparatus such as the electronic device 1. Furthermore, the above-described embodiment may be implemented as a program executed by an apparatus such as the electronic device 1, or as a storage medium or recording medium on which a program is recorded. [Explanation of symbols]

[0203] 1 Electronic equipment 10 Signal Processing Section 11 Signal generation processing section 12 Receiving signal processing section 13 Heart Rate Extraction Unit 14 Calculation section 21 Transmit DAC 22 Transmitting circuit 23 Millimeter wave transmission circuit 24 Transmitting Antenna Array 31 Receiving Antenna Array 32 Mixer 33 Receiving circuit 34 Receive ADC 40A,40B waveguide 50 Communication Interface 60 External equipment 100 Electronic Devices (Comparative Example) 110 Cabinet 120 Radome section 130 Substrate Antenna part 140 Substrate 331 LNA 332 Transmission line section 333 RF Switch 400 Circuit section 500 Mobile 600 space 700 space 710 Beds

Claims

1. a transmitting antenna unit having a plurality of transmitting channels; a transmission signal processing unit that generates a transmission signal to be transmitted from the transmission antenna unit; a transmission transmission line section electrically connecting the transmitting antenna section and the transmitting signal processing section, The transmission signal processing unit corrects a phase difference between each channel of the signal transmitted through the transmission transmission line unit.

2. a receiving antenna unit having a plurality of receiving channels; a reception signal processing unit that processes a reception signal received from the reception antenna unit; a reception transmission line section that electrically connects the reception antenna section and the reception signal processing section, The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the reception signal processing unit corrects a phase difference between each channel of the signal received at the reception transmission line unit.

3. a first substrate on which the transmitting antenna section or the receiving antenna section is mounted is separated from a second substrate on which the transmitting signal processing section or the receiving signal processing section is mounted; The electronic device according to claim 2 , wherein the first substrate and the second substrate are connected by the transmitting transmission line section or the receiving transmission line section.

4. The electronic device according to claim 1 , wherein the transmission signal processing unit detects a monitoring target based on a transmission signal transmitted as a transmission wave from the transmission antenna unit.

5. The electronic device according to claim 4 , wherein the received signal processing unit detects the monitoring target based on a received signal received by the receiving antenna unit as a reflected wave of the transmitted wave reflected by the monitoring target.

6. The electronic device according to claim 2 , wherein the transmission signal processing unit or the reception signal processing unit corrects a deviation in an estimated direction of arrival caused by a phase delay difference between transmission channels or reception channels.

7. The electronic device according to claim 2 , wherein the transmission signal processing unit or the reception signal processing unit corrects an amplitude of the signal detected by the transmission signal processing unit or the reception signal processing unit based on a loss of the signal.

8. The electronic device according to claim 2 , wherein the transmission signal processing unit or the reception signal processing unit corrects the distance to the monitoring target based on an electrical length of a signal in the transmission transmission line unit or the reception transmission line unit.

9. the transmitting antenna unit includes a first transmitting antenna unit and a second transmitting antenna unit, a first transmitting transmission line section connecting the first transmitting antenna section and the transmitting signal processing section; a second transmission transmission line section connecting the second transmission antenna section and the transmission signal processing section; The electronic device according to claim 1 , further comprising a transmission switch that switches between a connection between the first transmitting antenna unit and the transmitting signal processing unit and a connection between the second transmitting antenna unit and the transmitting signal processing unit.

10. The electronic device according to claim 1 , further comprising two transmitting antenna units.

11. The electronic device according to claim 1 , comprising three or more transmitting antenna units.

12. The electronic device according to claim 2 , further comprising a low-noise amplifier for amplifying, with low noise, a signal received by the receiving antenna in the receiving antenna section.

13. The electronic device according to claim 2 , wherein at least one of the transmitting antenna section and the receiving antenna is a sheet antenna formed on a flexible substrate.

14. a transmitting antenna unit having a plurality of transmitting channels; a transmission signal processing unit that generates a transmission signal to be transmitted from the transmission antenna unit; A method for controlling an electronic device including a transmission transmission line section that electrically connects the transmission antenna section and the transmission signal processing section, A control method comprising the step of correcting a phase difference between each channel of a signal transmitted in the transmission transmission line section by the transmission signal processing section.

15. a transmitting antenna unit having a plurality of transmitting channels; a transmission signal processing unit that generates a transmission signal to be transmitted from the transmission antenna unit; a transmission transmission line section electrically connecting the transmission antenna section and the transmission signal processing section, A program for causing the transmission signal processing unit to execute a step of correcting a phase difference between each channel of a signal transmitted in the transmission transmission line unit.

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