Responder, communication method and integrated circuit for cooperative wireless local area network sensing - Patents.com

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a receiving communication device, a transmitting communication device, and an initiating communication device, and a communication method for cooperative wireless local area network sensing, the receiving communication device including a receiver configured in operation to receive a sounding signal from the transmitting communication device, the transmitting communication device configured to perform a first channel measurement with the initiating communication device, and a circuit configured in operation to perform a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device upon receipt of the sounding signal.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a communication apparatus and method for wireless local area network sensing (WLAN), and more particularly, for cooperative wireless local area network sensing. [Background technology]

[0002] Wireless local area network (WLAN) sensing can be performed by one-to-one sensing, which associates one initiator and one responder and extends to multiple responders, or by cooperative sensing, which can use multiple WiFi devices in cooperation to perform sensing. Cooperative sensing can expand the sensing area, increase the sensing dimension, and achieve the benefits of transmit and receive diversity.

[0003] However, detailed procedures and signaling are not specified in the current 11bf draft specification. Also, various scenarios of cooperative sensing that can be initiated by an access point (AP) or a non-AP station (STA) should be supported.

[0004] Therefore, there is a need for cooperative WLAN sensing that provides a viable technical solution to address the problem, and more specifically, for a communication apparatus and method for achieving cooperative WLAN sensing that provides signaling supporting AP-initiated and non-AP-initiated sensing scenarios.

[0005] Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the following detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the disclosure. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] Non-limiting, illustrative embodiments facilitate providing a communications apparatus and method for a cooperative signal sounding procedure in the context of a WLAN.

[0007] In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a receiving communication device, the receiving communication device comprising, in operation, a receiver that receives a sounding signal from a transmitting communication device, the transmitting communication device comprising: a receiver that performs a first channel measurement with an initiating communication device; and circuitry that, in operation, is configured to perform a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device upon receipt of the sounding signal.

[0008] In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a transmitting communication device comprising circuitry configured, in operation, to perform a first channel measurement with an initiating communication device and generate a sounding signal, and a transmitter, in operation, to transmit the sounding signal to a receiving communication device, wherein the receiving communication device receives the sounding signal and performs a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device.

[0009] In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides an initiating communication device comprising a circuit for generating a request signal in operation and a transmitter for transmitting the request signal to a transmitting communication device in operation, the transmitting communication device being configured to perform a first channel measurement with the initiating communication device upon receiving the request signal, and the receiving communication device being configured to perform a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device upon receiving a sounding signal from the transmitting communication device.

[0010] In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides a communication method performed by a receiving communication device, the communication method including receiving a sounding signal from a transmitting communication device configured to perform a first channel measurement with an initiating communication device, and performing a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device based on the sounding signal.

[0011] In a fifth aspect, the present disclosure provides a communication method performed by a transmitting communication device, the communication method including performing a first channel measurement with an initiating communication device and generating a sounding signal, and transmitting the sounding signal to a receiving communication device, the receiving communication device receiving the sounding signal and performing a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device.

[0012] In a sixth aspect, the present disclosure provides a communication method performed by an initiating communication device, the communication method including generating a request signal and transmitting the request signal to a transmitting communication device, the transmitting communication device being configured to perform a first channel measurement with the initiating communication device upon receiving the request signal, and the receiving communication device being configured to perform a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device upon receiving a sounding signal from the transmitting communication device.

[0013] It should be noted that the general or specific embodiments may be implemented as a system, a method, an integrated circuit, a computer program, a storage medium, or any selective combination thereof.

[0014] Further benefits and advantages of the disclosed embodiments will become apparent from the specification and drawings. Benefits and / or advantages may be obtained individually from the various embodiments and features of the specification and drawings, and it is not necessary that all of them are provided to obtain one or more of such benefits and / or advantages.

[0015] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be better understood and readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following written description, by way of example only, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which: [Brief description of the drawings]

[0016] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing single-user (SU) communication between an access point (AP) and a station (STA) in a MIMO (multiple-input / multiple-output) wireless network. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating downlink multi-user (MU) communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a MIMO wireless network. [Diagram 3] 1 is a schematic diagram showing trigger-based (TB) uplink MU communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a MIMO wireless network. [Figure 4] A diagram showing one-to-one sensing performed by a sensing initiator and a sensing responder. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 illustrates cooperative sensing performed by a sensing initiator and two sensing responders. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the procedure flow of trigger-based (TB) sensing measurement between a sensing initiator and three sensing responders. [Figure 7] 13 is a diagram showing the procedure flow of non-TB sensing measurement between an AP as a sensing responder (sensing receiver) and a non-AP STA as a sensing initiator (sensing transmitter). [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing five different TB sensing measurement examples. [Figure 9] 1 is a flowchart showing the flow of a conventional sensing measurement procedure between an AP and two STAs. [Figure 10] 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to the present disclosure. [Figure 11] 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method implemented by a receiving communication device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 12] 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method implemented by a transmitting communication device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 13] 4 is a flowchart illustrating a communication method implemented by an initiating communication device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 14]FIG. 2 illustrates a procedural flow of a cooperative sensing measurement between a sensing initiator and two sensing responders according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 15] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a cooperative sensing procedure involving TB sensing measurements between a sensing initiator and two sensing responders, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 16] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a cooperative sensing procedure involving non-TB sensing measurements between a sensing initiator and two sensing responders, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 17] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a TB cooperative sensing procedure between a sensing initiator and two sensing responders according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 18] 1 illustrates an example of a Protected Sensing Session Setup Request frame according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 19] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of a Protected Sensing Session Setup Response frame according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 20] 18 is a flowchart illustrating a procedural flow of a sensing measurement instance using a TB sounding procedure between a sensing initiator and two sensing responders in FIG. 17 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 21] 2 is a diagram showing an example of a format of a sounding trigger frame (TF) according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. [Figure 22] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of the format of a sounding TF according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 23] 1 is a diagram showing an example of a format of a null data packet announcement (NDPA) frame according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. [Figure 24] A figure showing an example of the format of a Sensing Measurement Report frame according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 25] 4 is a flowchart showing a process performed by a cooperative sensing receiver according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 26] A figure showing an example of a trigger-based cooperative sensing procedure involving TB sensing measurements between a sensing initiator and two sensing responders according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 27] 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a non-TB cooperative sensing procedure between a sensing initiator and two sensing responders according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 28] 11 is a flowchart further illustrating a cooperative sensing procedure according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 29] 11 is a flowchart showing a process performed by an AP according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 30] A figure showing an example of a non-TB cooperative sensing procedure between a sensing initiator and two sensing responders according to an implementation of the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 31] A figure showing an example of the format of a Frame Control field of an NDPA frame in an alternative implementation of the second embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 32] 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a non-TB sensing measurement between a sensing initiator and two sensing responders according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 33] 13 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by a non-AP sensing initiator STA according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 34] 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a TB cooperative sensing procedure between a sensing initiator and two sensing responders according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 35] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a Protected Sensing Session Setup Request frame according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 36] A figure showing an example of the format of an NDPA frame related to the fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 37] 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a cooperative sensing procedure between a sensing initiator and three sensing responders according to a fifth embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 38] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing another example of the format of a sounding TF according to the fifth embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 39] A figure showing an example of the format of a Sensing Measurement Report frame according to the fifth embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 40] A figure showing an example of the format of an NDPA frame relating to the sixth embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 41] A figure showing an example of the format of a Sensing Measurement Report frame according to the sixth embodiment of the present disclosure. [Diagram 42] FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a communication device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0017] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures, block diagrams, or flow charts may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help facilitate an accurate understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

[0018] Some embodiments of the present disclosure are now described, by way of example only, with reference to the drawings in which like reference numbers and letters indicate similar elements or equivalents, and in which:

[0019] In the following paragraphs, some exemplary embodiments are described with reference to an access point (AP) and a station (STA) for an aggregated signal sounding procedure in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless network.

[0020] In the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology, a station, synonymously called a STA, is a communication device capable of using the 802.11 protocol. Based on the definition of IEEE 802.11-2016, a STA can be any device that includes an IEEE 802.11 compliant media access control (MAC) and physical layer (PHY) interface to the wireless medium (WM).

[0021] For example, an STA may be a laptop, a desktop personal computer (PC), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an access point, or a Wi-Fi phone in a wireless local area network (WLAN) environment. An STA may be fixed or mobile. In a WLAN environment, the terms "STA," "wireless client," "user," "user device," and "node" are often used synonymously.

[0022] Similarly, an AP, which may be synonymously referred to as a wireless access point (WAP) in the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology, is a communications device that allows STAs in a WLAN to connect to a wired network. APs typically connect to a router (via the wired network) as standalone devices, but can also be integrated into or used within a router.

[0023] As mentioned above, a STA in a WLAN may function as an AP at another time, and vice versa. This is because a communication device in the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology may include both STA and AP hardware components. In this way, the communication device may switch between STA and AP modes based on actual WLAN conditions and / or requirements.

[0024] In this disclosure, an initiating communication device refers to a device that initiates a sensing session and requests a sensing result. The term "initiating communication device" is used interchangeably with the terms "initiator" and "sensing initiator" in various embodiments below. A sensing responder or responder is a STA that responds to an initiating communication device to participate in a sensing session.

[0025] A transmitting communication device refers to a device (typically a sensing responder) that transmits a sensing signal or a feedback response. The term "transmitting communication device" is used interchangeably with the terms "sensing transmitter" and "transmitter."

[0026] A receiving communication device refers to a device that receives a sensing signal or a feedback response transmitted by a transmitting communication device and performs channel measurements based on the sensing signal or the feedback response. The term "receiving communication device" may be used to refer to a sensing receiver, and in various embodiments, may also be used to refer to a cooperative sensing receiver.

[0027] A cooperative sensing receiver refers to a sensing responder that is capable of performing channel measurements upon receiving sensing measurement physical layer protocol data units (PPDUs) from other sensing responders.

[0028] Furthermore, if a sensing responder (e.g., a station (STA)) is a sensing receiver and in order to perform "sensing responder-to-sensing responder" NDP measurements, the sensing responder must obtain the time and transmission parameters of the NDP transmission in advance.

[0029] In a MIMO wireless network, "multiple" refers to multiple antennas used simultaneously for transmission and multiple antennas used simultaneously for reception over a wireless channel. In this regard, "multiple-input" refers to multiple transmit antennas that input wireless signals into a channel, and "multiple-output" refers to multiple receive antennas that receive wireless signals from the channel to a receiver. For example, in an N×M MIMO network system, N is the number of transmit antennas and M is the number of receive antennas, where N may or may not be equal to M. For simplicity, the respective numbers of transmit and receive antennas will not be further discussed in this disclosure.

[0030] In a MIMO wireless network, single-user (SU) and multi-user (MU) communications can be deployed for communication between communication devices such as APs and STAs. MIMO wireless networks have advantages such as spatial multiplexing and spatial diversity, which achieve higher data rates and robustness through the use of multiple spatial streams. According to various embodiments, the term "spatial stream" may be used interchangeably with the term "space-time stream" (i.e., STS).

[0031] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating SU communication 100 between an AP 102 and a STA 104 in a MIMO wireless network. As shown, the MIMO wireless network may include one or more STAs (e.g., STA 104, STA 106, etc.). If the SU communication 100 in the channel is performed over the entire channel bandwidth, it is referred to as full-bandwidth SU communication. If the SU communication 100 in the channel is performed over a portion of the channel bandwidth (e.g., one or more 20 MHz subchannels in the channel are punctured), it is referred to as punctured SU communication. In the SU communication 100, the AP 102 transmits multiple space-time streams using multiple antennas (e.g., four antennas shown in FIG. 1), and all the space-time streams are directed to a single communication device, i.e., the STA 104. For simplicity, the multiple space-time streams directed to the STA 104 are shown as a grouped data transmission arrow 108 directed to the STA 104.

[0032] SU communication 100 can be configured for bidirectional transmission. As shown in FIG. 1, in SU communication 100, STA 104 may transmit multiple space-time streams using multiple antennas (e.g., two antennas shown in FIG. 1), with all space-time streams directed to AP 102. For simplicity, the multiple space-time streams directed to AP 102 are shown as grouped data transmission arrows 110 directed to AP 102.

[0033] Thus, the SU communication 100 shown in FIG. 1 enables both uplink and downlink SU transmissions in a MIMO wireless network.

[0034] FIG. 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating downlink multiple-user (MU) communication 200 between an AP 202 and multiple STAs 204, 206, 208 in a MIMO wireless network. The MIMO wireless network may include one or multiple STAs (e.g., STA 204, STA 206, STA 208, etc.). The MU communication 200 may be orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication or MU-MIMO communication. For OFDMA communication on a channel, the AP 202 transmits multiple streams simultaneously to the STAs 204, 206, 208 in the network on different resource units (RUs) in the channel bandwidth. For MU-MIMO communication on a channel, the AP 202 uses multiple antennas to transmit multiple streams simultaneously to the STAs 204, 206, 208 on the same RU(s) in the channel bandwidth using spatial mapping or precoding techniques. When the RU(s) in which OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication takes place occupies the entire channel bandwidth, the OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication is referred to as full-bandwidth OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication. When the RU(s) in which OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication takes place occupies a portion of the channel bandwidth (e.g., one or more 20 MHz subchannels in the channel are punctured), the OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication is referred to as punctured OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication. For example, two space-time streams may be directed to the STA 206, another space-time stream may be directed to the STA 204, and yet another space-time stream may be directed to the STA 208. For simplicity, the two space-time streams directed to the STA 206 are shown as grouped data transmission arrow 212, the space-time stream directed to the STA 204 is shown as data transmission arrow 210, and the space-time stream directed to the STA 208 is shown as data transmission arrow 214.

[0035] To enable uplink MU transmissions, trigger-based communication is provided in a MIMO wireless network. In this regard, FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram illustrating trigger-based (TB) uplink MU communication 300 between an AP 302 and multiple STAs 304, 306, 308 in a MIMO wireless network.

[0036] Since there are multiple STAs 304, 306, 308 each participating in trigger-based uplink MU communications, the AP 302 needs to coordinate the simultaneous transmissions of the multiple STAs 304, 306, 308.

[0037] To do so, as shown in Figure 3, the AP 302 simultaneously transmits trigger frames 310, 314, 318 to each of the STAs 304, 306, 308 to indicate user-specific resource allocation information (e.g., number of space-time streams, starting STS number, and assigned RU) that each STA can use. In response to the trigger frames, the STAs 304, 306, 308 may simultaneously transmit their respective space-time streams to the AP 302 according to the user-specific resource allocation information indicated in the trigger frames 310, 314, 318. For example, two space-time streams may be directed from the STA 306 to the AP 302, another space-time stream may be directed from the STA 304 to the AP 302, and yet another space-time stream may be directed from the STA 308 to the AP 302. For simplicity, the two space-time streams directed from STA 306 to AP 302 are shown as grouped data transmission arrow 316, the space-time stream directed from STA 304 to AP 302 is shown as data transmission arrow 312, and the space-time stream directed from STA 308 to AP 302 is shown as data transmission arrow 320.

[0038] Due to the packet / PPDU (Physical layer protocol data unit) based transmission and distributed MAC (medium access control) scheme in 802.11 WLAN, time scheduling (e.g., periodic time slot allocation for data transmission like TDMA (time division multiple access)) does not exist in 802.11 WLAN. Scheduling of frequency and spatial resources is performed on a packet-by-packet basis. In other words, resource allocation information is on a PPDU-by-PPDU basis. The terms "packet", "Physical layer (PHY) frame", and "Physical layer protocol data unit (PPDU)" are often used interchangeably.

[0039] According to various embodiments, the WLAN supports non-triggered communication as shown in Figure 1 and triggered communication as shown in Figure 2. In non-triggered communication, a communication device unilaterally transmits PPDUs to one other communication device or two or more other communication devices. In triggered communication, a communication device transmits PPDUs to one other communication device or two or more other communication devices only after a solicited trigger frame is received.

[0040] As mentioned above, WLAN sensing can be performed in two ways: (a) one-to-one sensing and (b) cooperative sensing. FIG. 4 is a diagram 400 illustrating one-to-one sensing performed by a sensing initiator and a sensing responder. Sensing is performed by exchanging sensing frames. FIG. 5 shows a diagram 500 illustrating cooperative sensing performed by a sensing initiator and two sensing responders. In various embodiments of the present disclosure, one of the two sensing responders can be a sensing receiver and perform cooperative sensing for the sensing initiator. In some embodiments described in the present disclosure, such a sensing responder performing cooperative sensing can be a non-AP STA (Non-Access Point Station) or an AP.

[0041] Also, WLAN sensing measurements can be performed via Trigger-Based (TB) sensing or non-TB sensing. TB sensing measurements are agreed upon as a method of performing WLAN sensing. FIG. 6 shows a diagram 600 illustrating a procedure flow of TB sensing measurements between a sensing initiator and three sensing responders. In this case, the sensing initiator is an AP. Two of the three responders are sensing transmitters (Tx). The AP first initiates a TB sensing measurement instance by sending a Sensing Polling trigger frame (TF) to the three responders. Upon receiving the Sensing Polling trigger frame, the three responders simultaneously send their respective Clear To Send (CTS) to Self frames to the AP. The AP then sends a Sensing Sounding TF. In response to the Sensing Sounding TF, the sensing transmitter (Tx) transmits a Responder to Initiator (R2I) null data packet / PPDU (NDP) to the AP. The AP then transmits an Initiator to Responder (I2R) NDP followed by a Sensing NDPA (NDP Announcement) frame to end the measurement phase of WLAN sensing.

[0042] FIG. 7 shows a diagram 700 illustrating a procedure flow of non-TB sensing measurements between an AP as a sensing responder and a non-AP STA as a sensing initiator. When a non-AP STA gets a transmission opportunity (TXOP), it starts a non-TB sensing measurement instance by first transmitting an NDPA frame to the AP followed by an I2R NDP. The sensing initiator is the sensing transmitter and the sensing responder is the sensing receiver, and these transmissions are made after a short interframe spacing (SIFS). In response, the AP sends an R2I NDP to the non-AP STA. The sensing initiator is the sensing receiver and the sensing responder is the sensing initiator, and there is another SIFS between the I2R NDP and the R2I NDP.

[0043] If the non-AP STA is the only sensing transmitter, the NDPA frame should be configured such that the R2I NDP is transmitted with a minimum length of one LTF (long training field) symbol. If the non-AP STA is the only sensing receiver, the NDPA frame should be configured such that the I2R NDP is transmitted with a minimum length of one LTF symbol.

[0044] FIG. 8 shows a diagram 800 illustrating five different TB sensing measurement examples. The TB sensing measurement instance includes a polling phase, an NDPA sounding phase, and a TF sounding phase. In TB sensing measurement instance example 1, the polling phase is followed by an NDPA sounding phase, and a reporting and LTF security update phase. In TB sensing measurement instance example 2, the polling phase is followed by a TF sounding phase, and a LTF security update phase. In TB sensing measurement instance example 3, the polling phase is followed by an NDPA sounding phase, a TF sounding phase, and a reporting phase and an LTF security update phase. In TB sensing measurement instance example 4, the polling phase is followed by a TF sounding phase, an NDPA sounding phase, and a reporting phase and an LTF security update phase. In example 5, there are two TB sensing measurement instances. The first TB sensing measurement instance includes a polling phase followed by an NDPA sounding phase and a TF sounding phase, followed by a second TB sensing measurement instance that includes another polling phase, a reporting phase and an LTF security update phase.

[0045] During the sensing measurement step, the role of the sensing responder must be determined as one of: (i) sensing receiver, (ii) sensing transmitter, and (iii) sensing transmitter and sensing receiver. The AP-initiated sensing procedure can be selectively extended to enable "sensing responder-to-sensing responder" channel measurements. Prior art contributions are limited to AP-initiated sensing scenarios only.

[0046] FIG. 9 shows a flow chart 900 illustrating a conventional sensing measurement procedure flow between an AP and two STAs. In this example, the AP is the sensing initiator and the two STAs are sensing responders. The AP initiates the sensing measurement by transmitting a Sensing NDPA frame, which carries information about the sensing transmitter and the sensing receiver, followed by an NDP 902 to STA1 and STA2. In this example, STA1 is the transmitter of the sensing transmission, and the AP and STA2 are the receivers. The transmitter (STA1) then transmits an NDP 904 to the receivers (AP and STA2) that contains channel information between the receiver and the transmitter. The AP obtains the measurement between STA2 and itself by the transmission from STA1 (e.g., NDP 904). No explicit measurement report from STA1 is required. If necessary, STA1 transmits an explicit measurement report after the NDP transmission. The AP (initiator) transmits a request to STA2. STA2 feeds back the measurement results between STA1 and itself.

[0047] Note that STA2 has no indication of receiving an NDP from STA1 since the NDPA is received from the AP based on the existing sounding sequence, and the NDP may be received from the STA transmitting the NDPA. Therefore, in order to implement cooperative sensing, changes are required to the currently agreed upon details of the IEEE 802.11bf Task Group (TGbf). In the sensing measurement example shown in FIG. 8, when a conventional sensing sequence is performed, the responder reports the sensing measurement result to the sensing initiator.

[0048] In a conventional setting, the following has been observed: - A responder has no knowledge of responders participating in the cooperative sensing procedure. - In the case of sensing between two non-AP STAs, the current NDPA signaling does not contain information about which STA is sending an NDP. - There is no mechanism for an initiator to solicit sensing measurement results from a responder that is not the intended recipient of the channel measurement frame.

[0049] Therefore, in order to realize cooperative sensing, the following items must be considered: -Add signaling to allow non-AP STAs performing sensing to know about participating STAs for cooperative sensing. -Adding signaling for the measurement reporting phase allows the initiator to know which responders in a coordinated sensing group should be solicited for sensing measurement results, and measurement reports can be from multiple responders.

[0050] Based on the proposed signaling, in case of cooperative sensing, the initiator can know from the measurement report which responder the measurement report is from.

[0051] Furthermore, the conventional apparatus and methods only provide a limited solution for AP initiated sounding sequences, and no cooperative sensing was described for non-AP initiated cases.

[0052] According to the present disclosure, a sensing initiator must provide information in an announcement frame (e.g., NDPA, sounding trigger frame) to a sensing responder (hereinafter referred to as a cooperative sensing receiver) capable of performing cooperative sensing to decode sensing measurement PPDUs (e.g., NDP) received from other sensing responders.

[0053] 10 shows a schematic diagram of a communication device 1000 according to the present disclosure. The communication device 1000 may be implemented as a sensing initiator, a sensing responder, or a cooperative sensing receiver.

[0054] As shown in FIG. 10, the communication device 1000 may include a circuit 1014, at least one wireless transmitter 1002, at least one wireless receiver 1004, and at least one antenna 1012 (for simplicity, only one antenna is shown in FIG. 10 for illustration). The circuit 1014 includes at least one controller 1006. The at least one controller 1006 is used for software and hardware assisted execution of tasks that the at least one controller 1006 is designed to perform, including control of communication with one or more other communication devices in a wireless network. The circuit 1014 may further include at least one transmit signal generator 1008 and at least one receive signal processor 1010. The at least one controller 1006 may control the at least one transmit signal generator 1008 to generate MAC frames and PPDUs to be transmitted to one or more other communication devices via the at least one wireless transmitter 1002. The MAC frame may be, for example, a Polling trigger frame, a Sounding trigger frame, or an NFRP trigger frame. Also, the PPDU may be, for example, a PPDU used for non-trigger-based communication, a PPDU used for a trigger-based sounding procedure, a PPDU used for a trigger-based downlink transmission when the communication device 1000 is an AP, or a PPDU used for a trigger-based uplink transmission when the communication device 1000 is an STA.At least one control unit 1006 may control at least one receiving signal processing unit 1010 to process MAC frames and PPDUs received from one or more other communication devices via at least one wireless receiver 1004 under the control of at least one control unit 1006, such as MAC frames, e.g., Polling trigger frames, Sounding trigger frames, NFRP trigger frames, and PPDUs, e.g., PPDUs used for non-trigger-based communication, PPDUs used for trigger-based sounding procedures, PPDUs used for trigger-based uplink transmissions when the communication device 1000 is an AP, and PPDUs used for trigger-based downlink transmissions when the communication device 1000 is an STA. At least one transmission signal generating unit 1008 and at least one receiving signal processing unit 1010 may be standalone modules of the communication device 1000 that communicate with at least one control unit 1006 for the above-mentioned functions, as shown in FIG. 1010. Alternatively, the at least one transmission signal generating unit 1008 and the at least one reception signal processing unit 1010 may be included in the at least one control unit 1006. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that the arrangement of these functional modules is flexible and may be changed according to actual needs and / or requirements. Data processing, storage, and other related control devices may be provided on a suitable circuit board and / or in a chipset. In various embodiments, in operation, the at least one wireless transmitter 1002, the at least one wireless receiver 1004, and the at least one antenna 1012 may be controlled by the at least one control unit 1006.

[0055] In operation, the communication device 1000 provides functionality required for cooperative WLAN sensing. For example, the communication device 1000 may be a cooperative sensing receiver, and the at least one wireless receiver 1004 may in operation receive a sounding signal from a sensing transmitter, the sensing transmitter being configured to perform a first channel measurement with a sensing initiator. The circuit 1014 (e.g., at least one received signal processing unit 1010 of the circuit 1014) may in operation be configured to perform a second channel measurement with the sensing transmitter upon receiving the sounding signal.

[0056] In one embodiment, the at least one wireless receiver 1004 may receive a request signal including a signal field for the receiving communication device prior to receiving the sounding signal, the signal field including first information for performing a second channel measurement.

[0057] The at least one wireless receiver 1004 may receive a setup signal for establishing a tunneled direct link with the initiating communication device before receiving the request signal, and then receive a second sounding signal from the initiating communication device via the tunneled direct link after receiving the request signal. The circuit 1014 (e.g., the at least one receiving signal processing unit 1010 of the circuit 1014) may be configured to perform a third channel measurement with the initiating communication device upon receiving the second sounding signal. Alternatively, the at least one wireless receiver 1004 may receive a setup signal from the initiating communication device, the setup signal including second information for performing the second channel measurement.

[0058] The communication device 1000 may be a sensing transmitter, and the circuit 1014 (e.g., at least one receiving signal processing unit 1010 of the circuit 1014) may be configured, in operation, to perform a first channel measurement with a sensing initiator, and the circuit 1014 (e.g., at least one transmitting signal generating unit 1008 of the circuit 1014) may generate a sounding signal. Then, the at least one wireless transmitter 1002 may transmit the sounding signal to a cooperative sensing receiver. The cooperative sensing receiver receives the sounding signal and performs a second channel measurement with the sensing transmitter.

[0059] The communications device 1000 may be a sensing initiator, and the circuit 1014 (e.g., at least one transmission signal generating unit 1008 of the circuit 1014) may generate a request signal. The at least one wireless transmitter 1002 may then transmit the request signal to the sensing transmitter. The sensing transmitter is configured to perform a first channel measurement with the sensing initiator upon receiving the request signal, and the cooperative sensing receiver is configured to perform a second channel measurement with the sensing transmitter upon receiving a sounding signal from the sensing transmitter.

[0060] The at least one wireless transmitter 1002 may further transmit a request signal to the receiving communication device, the request signal including a signal field for the receiving communication device, the signal field including first information for performing a second channel measurement.

[0061] The at least one wireless transmitter 1002 may transmit a setup signal for establishing a tunneled direct link with the receiving communication device prior to transmitting the request signal, and transmit a second sounding signal to the receiving communication device via the tunneled direct link after transmitting the request signal, the receiving communication device being configured to perform a third channel measurement with the initiating communication device upon receiving the second sounding signal. Alternatively, the at least one wireless receiver 1004 may receive a setup signal from the receiving communication device prior to receiving the request signal, the setup signal including second information for performing the second channel measurement.

[0062] 11 shows a flowchart 1100 illustrating a communication method implemented by a receiving communication device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In step 1102, the receiving communication device receives a sounding signal from a transmitting communication device configured to perform a first channel measurement with an initiating communication device. In step 1104, a step of performing a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device based on the sounding signal is performed.

[0063] 12 illustrates a flowchart 1200 of a communication method implemented by a transmitting communication device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In step 1202, a step of performing a first channel measurement with an initiating communication device is performed. In step 1204, a step of generating a sounding signal is performed. In step 1206, a step of transmitting the sounding signal to a receiving communication device is performed, where the receiving communication device receives the sounding signal and performs a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device.

[0064] 13 shows a flowchart 1300 illustrating a communication method implemented by an initiating communication device according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In step 1302, a step of generating a request signal is performed. In step 1304, a step of transmitting the request signal to a transmitting communication device is performed, the transmitting communication device being configured to perform a first channel measurement with the initiating communication device upon receipt of the request signal, and the receiving communication device being configured to perform a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device upon receipt of a sounding signal from the transmitting communication device.

[0065] FIG. 14 illustrates a diagram 1400 showing a procedure flow of a cooperative sensing measurement between a sensing initiator (AP) and two sensing responders according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The cooperative sensing measurement includes a measurement phase and a reporting phase. During the measurement phase, the sensing initiator (AP) first initiates a sensing measurement instance by sending an announcement frame. The announcement frame is followed by a measurement PPDU. The announcement frame provides information about the cooperative sensing. Then, the sensing responder 1 capable of performing cooperative sensing sends the measurement PPDU to the initiator and the other sensing responder (i.e., sensing responder 2).

[0066] During the reporting phase, the sensing initiator (AP) sends a request for measurement results, and the responder 2 sends the measurement results to the sensing initiator in response to the request.

[0067] FIG. 15 illustrates a flowchart 1500 showing an example of a cooperative sensing procedure with TB sensing measurement between a sensing initiator (AP) and two sensing responders (STA1, STA2) according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The procedure has a measurement setup phase, a trigger-based sensing measurement phase, and a reporting phase. In this case, the sensing responder STA1 is a sensing transmitter and the sensing responder STA2 is a sensing receiver (capable of cooperative sensing). During the measurement setup phase, the initiator assigns a sensing role to the responder (i.e., STA2) capable of cooperative sensing. This is achieved by first sending a Measurement Setup Request frame to the sensing transmitter STA1, which in response sends a Measurement Setup Response frame to the AP. The AP then sends another Measurement Setup Request frame with an instruction to assign a sensing role to the cooperative sensing receiver STA2, which in response sends a Measurement Setup Response frame to the AP. Through such steps, a role is assigned to the responder capable of performing cooperative sensing (i.e., STA2).

[0068] During the trigger-based sensing measurement phase, the sensing initiator (AP) first initiates the sensing measurement by sending a trigger frame to both STA1 and STA2, which carries information for the cooperative sensing receiver (STA2) to perform cooperative sensing. Then, the sensing responder (transmitter), i.e., STA1, sends an R2I NDP to the AP. By taking the role of a cooperative sensing receiver, the sensing responder STA2 can also receive the NDP sent by the sensing transmitter STA1 (Responder to Responder (R2R) measurement). Then, if the sensing responder is a sensing receiver, the sensing initiator sends an NDPA frame to the cooperative sensing receiver, followed by an I2R NDP, and the measurement sensing phase may end.

[0069] During the reporting phase of the TB measurement phase, the sensing initiator transmits a Sensing Report trigger frame to the cooperative sensing receiver STA2, which in response transmits a Sensing Measurement Report frame including a Responder to Responder (R2R) measurement report to the sensing initiator.

[0070] 16 illustrates a flowchart 1600 of an example of a cooperative sensing procedure with non-TB sensing measurements between a sensing initiator (STA1) and two sensing responders (AP, STA2) according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The procedure includes a measurement setup phase, a non-trigger-based sensing measurement phase, and a reporting phase. In this case, STA1 is the sensing initiator, the AP is the sensing responder, and STA2 is the sensing responder (capable of cooperative sensing), and a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS) is established between STA1 and STA2.

[0071] In this case, a sensing initiator (STA1) wants to perform sensing measurements with the AP. During the measurement setup phase, the initiator (STA1) sends a Measurement Setup Request frame to the AP, which in response sends a Measurement Setup Response frame to STA1. STA1 then sends another Measurement Setup Response frame to STA2, which includes an instruction to assign the cooperative sensing role to STA2 via Tunnelled Direct Link Setup (TDLS). STA2 in response sends a Measurement Setup Response frame to STA1. Through these steps, STA2 is assigned the role of performing cooperative sensing.

[0072] During the non-trigger-based measurement phase, the sensing initiator (STA1) initiates sensing measurements by sending an NDPA frame followed by an I2R NDP to the AP, which in response sends an R2I NDP to STA1. The AP also sends an NDPA frame followed by an R2R NDP (responder-to-responder NDP) to STA2. The sensing initiator STA1 then sends an NDPA frame with the Recipient Address (RA) field set to "Broadcast" to all sensing responders (AP and STA2), followed by an NDP to the AP. By taking on the role of a cooperative sensing receiver, the sensing responder STA2 is able to receive the NDP sent by STA1.

[0073] During the reporting phase, the cooperative sensing receiver STA2 can transmit sensing measurement reports to the sensing initiator STA1 via the tunneled direct link.

[0074] In the following paragraphs, a first embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in which a TB sounding procedure is used for a TB cooperative sensing procedure.

[0075] FIG. 17 illustrates a flowchart 1700 showing an example of a TB cooperative sensing procedure between a sensing initiator (AP) and two sensing responders (STA1, STA2) according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The procedure includes a measurement setup phase, a measurement phase via a TB sounding procedure, and a reporting phase via a TB sounding procedure. In this case, the sensing responder STA1 (e.g., AID=1) is a sensing transmitter, and the sensing responder STA2 (e.g., AID=2) is a sensing receiver (capable of cooperative sensing). During the measurement setup phase, the initiator AP first sends a Measurement Setup Request frame to the sensing transmitter STA1, which responds by sending a Measurement Setup Response frame to the AP. Then, the initiator AP sends another Measurement Setup Request frame including an instruction to assign a cooperative sensing role to STA2, which responds by sending a Measurement Setup Response frame to the AP. Through these steps, the role of cooperative sensing is assigned to STA 2. In one embodiment, the Measurement Setup Request frame and the Measurement Setup Response frame exchanged between the STAs to perform the sensing measurement setup are Protected Sensing Session Setup Request frame and Protected Sensing Session Setup Response frame.

[0076] 18 illustrates an example of a Protected Sensing Session Setup Request frame 1800 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. The Protected Sensing Session Setup Request frame 1800 includes a MAC header (Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field), a Category field, a Public Action field, a Dialog Token field, a Measurement ID field, a Sensing Measurement Parameters Element field, and a Frame Checking Sequence (FCS) field. The Category field is set to "Protected Dual of Public Action", and the Public Action field is set to "Protected Sensing Session Setup Request". The Sensing Measurement Parameters Element field includes an Element ID subfield, a Length subfield, an Element ID Extension subfield, and a Sensing Measurement Parameters subfield. The Measurement Setup ID field carries a measurement ID negotiated between two STAs.

[0077] The Sensing Measurement Parameters subfield carries parameters related to the sensing measurement setup, such as sensing type and type of measurement report (e.g., Channel State Information (CSI), partial CSI, etc.). The Sensing Measurement Parameters subfield may include a Sensing Transmitter subfield, a Sensing Receiver subfield, a Collaborative Sensing Receiver subfield, and a Measurement Report Type subfield. The Collaborative Sensing Receiver subfield is set to 1 to indicate the assignment of the collaborative sensing receiver role to a STA capable of collaborative sensing.

[0078] 19 illustrates another example of a Protected Sensing Session Setup Response frame 1900 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. The Protected Sensing Session Setup Response frame 1900 has a MAC header (Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field), a Category field, a Public Action field, a Dialog Token field, a Status Code field, a Measurement Setup ID field, and an FCS field. The Category field is set to "Protected Dual of Public Action", and the Public Action field is set to "Protected Sensing Session Setup Response". The Measurement Setup ID field carries the measurement ID negotiated between the two STAs. The Status Code field indicates whether the sensing measurement setup is successful or not.

[0079] Returning to Fig. 17, during the trigger-based sensing measurement phase, a TB sounding procedure (sensing measurement instance) is executed. Fig. 20 shows a flowchart 2100 illustrating a procedure flow of using the TB sounding procedure between a sensing initiator (AP) and two sensing responders (STA1, STA2) in the sensing measurement instance in Fig. 17 according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The sensing measurement instance includes a polling phase, a TF sounding phase, an NDPA sounding phase, and a reporting phase.

[0080] During the polling phase of a sensing measurement instance, a sensing initiator (AP) first initiates the sensing measurement by sending a Polling Trigger Frame (TF) to one or more STAs (in this case, both STA1 and STA2) that are assigned to be polled for the TB sensing measurement instance and are expected to participate during the availability period. The Polling TF is used to check the availability of the responder STAs and allocate resources for transmission. In response to the Polling TF, STA1 and STA2 each send a CTS to self frame to the AP to indicate that they are available for TB sensing.

[0081] Then, during the TF sounding phase, the AP transmits a Sounding trigger frame to solicit an NDP transmission (R2I NDP) from one or more STAs (in this case, STA1 (sensing transmitter)) to perform channel measurements. The Sounding TF carries a User Info field for the STAs participating in sensing and a User Info field for the collaborative sensing receiver, which includes a Special AID (Association Identifier), in this case Special AID11, and parameters for the responder to correctly decode the subsequent NDP. The Special AID provides the collaborative sensing receiver information about subsequent NDPs that may be received from other responders. The collaborative sensing receiver identifies the User Info field carrying the Special AID and the Collaborative Sensing AID subfield addressed to its own AID, and obtains the collaborative sensing information and NDP transmission parameters from the User Info field.

[0082] Both STA1 and STA2 receive the Sounding TF. In response, STA1 sends an R2I NDP containing a feedback response to the AP. STA2, which is assigned the role of cooperative sensing receiver and has NDP information that can be received from other responders, can also receive and decode the NDP sent by STA1.

[0083] FIG. 21 shows an example of a format of a Sounding TF 2100 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. The Sounding TF 2100 comprises a Frame Control field, a Duration field, a Recipient field set to "Broadcast", a Transmitter field, a Common Info field, one or more User Info fields, a Padding field, and an FCS field. The Common Info field comprises a Trigger Type subfield set to "Sensing" and a Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield. The Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield includes a Sensing Trigger Subtype set to "Sounding" and a Dialog Token field. For the purpose of cooperative sensing, the Sounding TF 2100 comprises two different User Info fields 2102, 2104, one User Info field 2102 for a sensing transmitter (e.g., STA1 in FIG. 17 and FIG. 20) and the other User Info field 2104 for a cooperative sensing receiver (e.g., STA2 in FIG. 17 and FIG. 20). The User Info field 2102 for the sensing transmitter includes an AID12 subfield, an I2R Repetition (Rep) subfield, a Spatial Stream (SS) Allocation subfield, a UL (uplink) Target Receive (Rx) Power subfield, and a Trigger Dependent User Info subfield. The Trigger Dependent User Info subfield includes a Measurement Setup ID subfield and a Measurement Instance ID subfield.Other User Info fields 2104 for collaborative sensing receivers include AID12 subfield (Special AID for collaborative sensing receivers) set to 2008, Collaborative Sensing Associated Identifier (AID) subfield, I2R Rep subfield, SS Allocation subfield, and UL Target Rx Power subfield. The I2R Rep subfield, SS Allocation subfield, and UL Target Rx Power subfield correspond to R2R NDP parameters. Collaborative Sensing AID is the associated ID of the collaborative sensing receiver. It should be noted that the number 2008 is just an example used as the Special AID for collaborative sensing receivers. From the IEEE 802.11 standard, other valid numbers can be used instead of 2008 for the same purpose.

[0084] FIG. 22 shows another example of the format of the Sounding TF 2200 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. The Sounding TF 2200 has a Frame Control field, a Duration field, a Recipient field set to "Broadcast", a Transmitter field, a Common Info field, one or more User Info fields, a Padding field, and an FCS field. The Common Info field comprises a Trigger Type subfield set to "Sensing" and a Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield. The Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield includes a Sensing Trigger Subtype set to "Sounding" and a Dialog Token field. For the purpose of cooperative sensing, the Sounding TF 2200 comprises two different User Info fields 2202, 2204, one User Info field 2202 for the sensing transmitter (e.g., STA1 in FIG. 17 and FIG. 20) and the other User Info field 2204 for the cooperative sensing receiver (e.g., STA2 in FIG. 17 and FIG. 20). The User Info field 2202 for the sensing transmitter has an AID12 subfield, a Collaborative Sensing Receiver subfield (instead of AID in FIG. 21), an I2R Rep subfield, an SS Allocation subfield, a UL Target Receive Power subfield, and a Trigger Dependent User Info subfield. The other User Info field 2204 for the collaborative sensing receiver includes an AID12 subfield, a Collaborative Sensing Receiver subfield, an I2R Rep subfield, an SS Allocation subfield, and a UL Target Rx Power subfield.The I2R Rep subfield, the SS Allocation subfield, and the UL Target Rx Power subfield correspond to the R2R NDP parameters.

[0085] The Collaborative Sensing Receiver subfields of both User Info fields 2202, 2204 may be set to 1 for collaborative sensing indication, indicating that this User Info is for a collaborative sensing capable receiver.

[0086] Returning to Figures 17 and 20, during the NDPA sounding phase, the AP transmits an NDPA frame to the sensing responder (STA2 in this case) which is the sensing receiver, followed by an I2R NDP. The NDPA frame carries a User (STA) Info field for the STAs participating in sensing, and User Info for the collaborative sensing receivers, which includes a Special AID for the responder to correctly decode the subsequent NDP. The Special AID provides the collaborative sensing receiver information about subsequent NDPs that may be received from other responders. The collaborative sensing receiver identifies the User (STA) Info field carrying the Special AID and the Collaborative Sensing AID subfield addressed to its own AID, and obtains the collaborative sensing information and NDP transmission parameters from the User (STA) Info field.

[0087] FIG. 23 illustrates an example of a format of an NDPA frame 2300 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. The NDPA frame 2300 has a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA field, a TA field, a Sounding Dialog Token field, a Measurement Setup ID field, a Measurement Instance ID field, a STA Info List field, and an FCS field. The Frame Control field, the Duration field, the RA field, and the TA field may be grouped as a MAC header. The RA field is set to "Broadcast". Similar to the Sounding TF 2100 / 2200 for cooperative sensing purposes, the STA Info List field includes two different STA Info fields: a STA Info field 2302 for a sensing transmitter (e.g., STA1 in FIG. 17 and FIG. 20) and a STA Info field 2304 for a cooperative sensing receiver (e.g., STA2 in FIG. 17 and FIG. 20). The STA Info field 2302 has an AID11 subfield, an I2R NDP Tx Power subfield, an R2I NDP Target Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) subfield, and a Disambiguation subfield. The other STA Info field 2304 has a Special AID11 subfield (for collaborative sensing receivers), a Collaborative Sensing AID subfield, an I2R NDP Tx Power subfield, and an R2I NDP Target RSSI subfield. The I2R NDP Tx Power and R2I NDP Target RSSI subfields indicate NDP Tx parameters that may be received from other responders. The Collaborative Sensing AID is the association ID of the collaborative sensing receiver. The Special AID11 for collaborative sensing reception has a value of 4096.It is understood from the IEEE 802.11 standard that other valid numbers can be used instead of 4096 for the same purpose. Alternatively, the Special AID subfield may include one bit as a cooperative sensing indication indicating that this User Info is for a cooperative sensing capable receiver.

[0088] Returning to Figures 17 and 20, finally, during the reporting phase, the AP requests an R2R sensing measurement report by sending a Sensing Report Trigger frame (TF) to STA2, and STA2 responds by sending a Sensing Measurement Report frame including the sensing measurement result (e.g., an R2R measurement report) to the initiator (AP). In the example shown in Figure 20, the Sensing Report TF requests the sensing measurement result from STA2. The sensing measurement report from STA2 consists of an R2I NDP from the TF sounding phase and an I2R NDP from the NDPA sounding phase. The sensing measurement report can be identified and differentiated from sensing measurement reports sent by other STAs (e.g., STA1) using the sensing measurement instance ID, and the initiator can understand whether the report is for a collaborative sensing scenario if a bit is set in the Collaborative Measurement Report field of the Sensing Measurement Control subfield of the Sensing Measurement Report.

[0089] The reporting phase may be a cooperative sensing sequence in a non-TB sensing measurement instance, in which the sensing initiator transmits a Sensing Report trigger frame to the cooperative sensing receiver STA2, which in response transmits a Sensing Measurement Report frame including a Responder to Responder (R2R) measurement report to the sensing initiator.

[0090] 24 illustrates an example of a format of a Sensing Measurement Report frame 2400 according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. The Sensing Measurement Report frame 2400 has a MAC header (Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field), a Category field, an Action field, a Dialog Token field, a Sensing Measurement Report List field, and an FCS field. The Sensing Measurement Report List field carries one or more Sensing Measurement Report frames, and each Sensing Measurement Report frame includes a Sensing Measurement Time subfield, a Sensing Measurement Report Type subfield, a Sensing Measurement Control subfield, and a Sensing Measurement Feedback subfield. The Sensing Measurement Control subfield includes a Measurement Setup ID subfield, a Measurement Instance ID field, an Nc Index field, an Nr index field, a BW field, an Ng field, a Remaining Feedback Segment field, a First Feedback Segment field, and a Collaborative Measurement Report field. The Sensing Measurement Time field indicates the time when the sensing measurement was performed, i.e., the time when the sensing NDP was received, e.g., the lowest 4 bits of the Device Timing Synchronization Function (TSF). The Sensing Measurement Time subfield of each sensing measurement report helps the AP understand which is the initial report and which is a subsequent report (similar to a timestamp).The Sensing Measurement Feedback subfield carries the results for collaborative sensing if the Collaborative Measurement Report subfield is set to 1 and the initiator can identify a collaborative measurement report based on the value of this subfield.

[0091] FIG. 25 shows a flowchart 2500 illustrating a process performed by a collaborative sensing receiver according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. In step 2502, a sensing responder capable of performing collaborative sensing (hereinafter referred to as a "collaborative sensing receiver") receives collaborative sensing information in a trigger frame or an NDPA frame. In step 2504, the collaborative sensing receiver performs a step of acquiring information for itself based on a User Info field carried by a Special AID and an AID field addressed to its own AID. In step 2506, the collaborative sensing receiver performs a step of decoding the User Info field identified by the Special AID. In step 2508, it is determined whether the AID (e.g., the AID in a Collaborative Sensing AID subfield) matches the AID of the collaborative sensing receiver. If it is determined that the AIDs match, step 2510 is performed, and if it is determined that they do not match, step 2512 is performed. In step 2510, a step of using the instruction to decode subsequent measurement frames that the collaborative sensing receiver may receive is performed. In step 2512, the announcement frame received in step 2502 may be ignored and the process may end.

[0092] FIG. 26 shows a diagram 2600 illustrating an example of a trigger-based cooperative sensing procedure with TB sensing measurements between a sensing initiator (AP) and two sensing responders (STA1, STA2) according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. The procedure has a measurement setup phase, a trigger-based sensing measurement phase, and a reporting phase. In this case, the sensing responder STA1 is a sensing transmitter, and the sensing responder STA2 is a sensing receiver capable of cooperative sensing. During the measurement setup phase, the AP transmits a Measurement Setup Request frame to the sensing transmitter STA1, which in response transmits a Measurement Setup Response frame to the AP. The AP then transmits another Measurement Setup Request frame including an instruction to assign a sensing role to a STA, for example, AID2 (in this case, STA2), and STA2 in response transmits a Measurement Setup Response frame to the AP. Through these steps, a role is assigned to a responder (i.e., STA2) capable of performing cooperative sensing. STA1 and STA2 have a cooperative sensing link 2602. In particular, the AP-STA1 link performs respiration rate estimation, and the STA1-STA2 link 2602 performs presence detection.

[0093] The sensing initiator (AP) first initiates sensing measurement during the trigger-based sensing measurement phase by transmitting a trigger frame containing two User Info fields carrying User Info1 and User Info2 for STA1 and STA2. User Info 1 for STA1 carries an instruction for UL transmission of NDP from the sensing responder (Tx), and User Info 2 for STA2 carries a Special AID for cooperative sensing. STA2 can identify the TF based on the Special AID for STA2 and be informed by the Tx parameter for NDP from the other sensing responder, i.e., STA1, from the User Info field. Then, the sensing responder (Tx), e.g., STA1, transmits an R2I NDP to the AP. The sensing responder STA2, which has the role of cooperative sensing receiver, can also receive the NDP transmitted by the sensing transmitter STA1. The sensing initiator may then send an NDPA frame followed by an I2R NDP to the cooperating sensing receivers and the measurement sensing phase may end.

[0094] During the reporting phase, the sensing initiator transmits a Sensing Report trigger frame to the cooperative sensing receiver STA2, which in response transmits a Sensing Measurement Report frame containing a Responder to Responder (R2R) measurement report to the sensing initiator.

[0095] To realize collaborative sensing, the collaborative sensing information transmitted in the User Info field of the trigger frame must comply with the following rules. - The cooperative sensing indication may be carried in a polling trigger frame, a sounding trigger frame, or an NDPA frame; - The User Info field of the frame must be prepared such that the AIDs are in consecutive order; - Special AID is identical for all cooperative sensing capable receivers; - The cooperative sensing receiver can identify User Info based on the Special AID.

[0096] The following paragraphs describe a second embodiment of the present disclosure in which a non-TB sounding procedure is used for the cooperative sensing procedure.

[0097] 27 and 28 show flowcharts 2700 and 2800, respectively, illustrating an example of a non-TB cooperative sensing procedure between a sensing initiator (initiator STA1) and two sensing responders (responder AP (responder 1) and responder STA2 (non-AP responder 2)) according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. The procedure comprises a sensing measurement phase, a cooperative sensing sequence, and a measurement reporting phase via a non-TB sounding procedure. In this case, the sensing responder STA1 (e.g., AID=1) is a sensing initiator and a sensing transmitter, the responder AP is a sensing receiver, and the responder STA2 is a STA capable of cooperative sensing.

[0098] During the non-TB sounding sensing measurement phase, the sensing initiator (STA1) first initiates the sensing measurement by sending an NDPA frame 2802 followed by an I2R NDP to the sensing responder AP. The NDPA frame sets up the subsequent NDPs sent by the sensing responder. The AP sends an R2I NDP to STA1 in response. Then, after sending the R2I NDP to the sensing initiator, a cooperative sensing sequence is performed in addition to the non-TB sequence, achieving cooperative sensing in the non-TB sensing scenario. This is a simple way to perform cooperative sensing in the non-TB scenario, since the AP is aware of the non-AP responder STAs and their capabilities.

[0099] In particular, in the cooperative sensing sequence, the responder AP transmits an NDPA frame 2804 and an R2R NDP to the non-AP responder to perform cooperative sensing.

[0100] During the reporting phase, the responder AP sends a Measurement Report TF to the cooperative sensing receiver STA2, and in response, STA2 sends a Sensing Measurement Report frame containing the measurement results from the R2R NDP for cooperative sensing to the responder AP, and the responder AP redirects the Sensing Measurement Report frame to the sensing initiator STA1 because all the sensing measurement results should be reported to the initiator.

[0101] The initiator STA may set the Duration field of the NDPA frame 2802 according to equation (1).

[0102] Formula (1): Duration = Length_I2R_NDP + Length_R2I_NDP In the non-TB case, if the initiator sets the NDPA frame 2802 with the Duration field according to equation (1), the cooperative sensing receiver can receive the measurement frame from the AP. The measurement instance ID also remains the same in the cooperative sensing sequence and the reporting sequence for the initiator to know the ID of the measurement result.

[0103] In the non-TB case, the RA of the NDPA frame 2802 is set as the MAC address of the responder AP (responder 1), which means that responder 2 sets its own network allocation vector (NAV) when it receives the NDPA frame from the responder AP. To get around this limitation, the RA of the NDPA frame 2802 is set to broadcast, and the Duration field of the NDPA frame 2802 is set based on Equation 1. This allows the NAV to be terminated after the I2R NDP from the initiator is sent, and responder 2 can receive the NDPA frame 2804 from the AP (responder 1).

[0104] Note that the procedure shown in Figure 28 is similar to the Sensing-by-Proxy (SBP) scenario, where a non-AP initiator may act as an SBP initiator and an AP may act as an SBP responder. An AP (responder) performs sensing with other non-APs (responders) to achieve cooperative sensing.

[0105] 29 shows a flowchart 2900 illustrating a process performed by an AP according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. In step 2902, the AP in a non-TB sensing measurement receives an uplink NDPA frame and then an I2R NDP. In step 2904, the AP receives the I2R NDP and transmits an R2I NDP. In step 2906, the AP performs a step of transmitting an NDPA to a cooperative sensing receiver based on the AP knowing that the sensing responder is a cooperative sensing receiver, and then transmitting an NDP.

[0106] FIG. 30 shows a diagram 3000 illustrating an example of a non-TB cooperative sensing procedure between a sensing initiator (initiator STA1) and two sensing responders (responder AP (responder 1), responder STA2 (non-AP responder 2)) according to an implementation of the second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0107] In this implementation, the procedure comprises a measurement phase and a reporting phase. The sensing initiator then transmits an NDPA frame 3002 to both the sensing responder AP and the sensing responder STA2, followed by an I2R NDP to the sensing responder AP. The frame format of the NDPA frame 3002 is similar to that described in FIG.

[0108] The period in the NDPA frame 3002 is set to cover only the end of the R2I NDP transmission from the responder AP to the sensing initiator (STA1), the RA field of the NDPA frame 3002 is set to broadcast (the RA rule is relaxed), and the NDPA frame 3002 itself includes cooperative sensing information that assigns a sensing role to the sensing responder STA2. With these steps, a role has been assigned to the responder STA2, enabling it to perform cooperative sensing.

[0109] Then, the sensing transmitter (AP) sends an R2I NDP to the sensing initiator. Due to the cooperative sensing role, STA2 can receive the NDP sent by the sensing transmitter.

[0110] During the reporting phase, the responder AP sends a Measurement Report TF to the cooperative sensing receiver STA2, and in response, STA2 sends a Sensing Measurement Report frame including the measurement results of R2R cooperative sensing to the responder AP, and the responder AP redirects the Sensing Measurement Report frame to the sensing initiator STA1.

[0111] To achieve this, during the measurement setup phase, the non-AP initiator STA1 becomes the initiator of a tunneled direct link setup (TDLS) and starts a TDLS discovery. The non-AP TDLS responder (e.g., STA2) must configure frame filtering to be able to accept frames from the TDLS initiator. This allows the non-AP responder STA2 to directly receive the NDPA frame 3002 from the non-AP initiator STA1 and perform cooperative sensing on the R2I NDP received from the sensing transmitter (=AP).

[0112] Regarding frame filtering (without TDLS) where a non-AP responder can receive frames from other non-AP STAs, a cooperative sensing receiver that receives an NDPA frame with the RA field set to broadcast MUST ignore the TA field if the User Info field carries a Special AID or a cooperative sensing receiver indication in the User Info field. This allows the cooperative sensing receiver to receive a cooperative sensing indication from a non-AP sensing initiator and to receive and decode the subsequent sensing NDP.

[0113] 31 shows an example of a format of a Frame Control field 3100 of an NDPA frame according to an alternative implementation of the second embodiment of the present disclosure. The Frame Control field 3100 has a Protocol Version subfield, a Type subfield, a Subtype subfield, a To DS subfield, a From Distribution System (DS) subfield, a More Fragments subfield, a Retry subfield, a Power Management subfield, a More Data subfield, a Protected Frame subfield, and a high throughput control (+HTC) subfield.

[0114] In this alternative implementation, an NDPA frame transmitted by a non-AP STA that may also be received by a cooperative receiver must have its Protocol Version subfield set to "02" for sensing. The Type subfield is set to "01" for control and the Subtype subfield is set to "1111" for cooperative sensing NDPA. If an NDPA frame is transmitted with the Frame Control field set according to Figure 31, the non-AP STA receiving the frame will ignore the TA field and decode the NDPA frame to decode the subsequent NDP for channel measurements.

[0115] The following paragraphs describe a third embodiment of the present disclosure, in which a Tunneled Direct Link Setup (TDLS) link between non-AP STAs is formed before a non-TB sensing measurement instance.

[0116] In a non-TB sensing scenario for cooperative sensing, a sensing initiator (non-AP STA) may not know about another non-AP sensing responder. This problem may be effectively solved by setting up a TDLS link between non-AP STAs capable of cooperative sensing before a non-TB sensing measurement instance.

[0117] A TDLS Discovery request / response frame exchange may occur before the sensing measurement setup, ensuring that the sensing transmitter and the cooperative sensing receiver are within the same range of each other. If this frame exchange is successful, the STA capable of cooperative sensing may be assigned the role of cooperative sensing receiver.

[0118] FIG. 32 shows a flowchart 3200 illustrating an example of non-TB sensing measurement between a sensing initiator (STA1) and two sensing responders (responder AP (responder 1), responder STA2 (non-AP responder 2)) according to the third embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0119] This procedure includes a TDLS setup procedure, a measurement phase via a non-TB sounding procedure, and a measurement reporting phase. In this case, STA1 is the sensing initiator, and the AP and STA2 are the sensing responders.

[0120] In this case, the sensing initiator wants to perform sensing measurements with the AP. The TDLS setup procedure is executed before the measurement phase. STA1 first sends a TDLS Discovery Request frame to the AP, which directs the TDLS Discovery Request frame to STA2. STA2 sends a TDLS Discovery Request frame to STA1 in response. STA1 then sends a TDLS Setup Request frame to the AP, which directs the TDLS Setup Request frame to STA2. STA2, which agrees to form a TDLS link with STA1, then sends a TDLS Setup Response frame to the AP, which directs the TDLS Setup Response frame to STA1, and the TDLS link between STA1 and STA2 is established. This enables transmission between two non-AP STAs.

[0121] During the measurement setup phase, the initiator (STA1) sends an NDPA frame. The RA field of the NDPA frame is set to broadcast to be received on all links, and the User Info field of the NDPA frame provides details of the TDLS receiver (STA2). This informs the TDLS receiver of the subsequent NDPs it may receive (similar to assigning a cooperative sensing role). STA1 then sends an I2R NDP to the sensing responder AP to perform channel measurements. Now that STA2 is informed of the NDP, it can receive the NDP sent by STA1 directly on the TDLS link.

[0122] Finally, during the reporting phase, the sensing responder STA2 can send a Sensing Measurement Report directly to the sensing initiator STA1 over the TDLS link.

[0123] It should be noted that the third embodiment of the present disclosure need not be a straightforward case of coordinated sensing, since coordinated sensing allows sensing between two responders. However, the third embodiment provides diversity in channel measurements where two non-AP STAs can perform sensing when a non-AP STA is a sensing responder.

[0124] 33 shows a flowchart 3300 illustrating a process performed by a non-AP sensing initiator STA according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. In step 3302, before a measurement instance, the non-AP sensing initiator STA performs TDLS setup with other non-AP sensing responder STAs capable of cooperative sensing. In step 3304, a step of transmitting an NDPA frame configured in a Broadcast manner to the AP and the TDLS responder is performed. In step 3306, a step of transmitting an NDP to the AP and the TDLS responder following the NDPA frame is performed.

[0125] The following paragraphs describe a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure in which grouping of STAs capable of cooperative sensing is implemented to perform cooperative sensing.

[0126] Cooperative sensing can be achieved by performing grouping during the sensing session setup phase by assigning group IDs to the cooperative sensing STAs to identify which cooperative sensing group they are part of. Such group IDs are assigned by the AP to cooperative sensing capable responders whose frames received by the AP from the responders have similar RSSIs.

[0127] FIG. 34 shows a flowchart 3400 illustrating an example of a TB cooperative sensing procedure between a sensing initiator (AP) and two sensing responders (STA1, STA2) according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. The procedure includes a measurement setup phase, a sensing measurement phase via a TB sounding procedure, and a reporting phase via a TB sounding procedure. In this case, the sensing responder STA1 (e.g., AID=1) is a sensing transmitter, and the sensing responder STA2 (e.g., AID=2) is a sensing receiver (capable of cooperative sensing). During the measurement setup phase, the initiator first transmits a Measurement Setup Request frame to the sensing transmitter STA1, which in response transmits a Measurement Setup Response frame to the AP. The AP then transmits a Measurement Setup Request frame including an instruction to assign a sensing role and a group ID to STA2. STA2 identifies which cooperative sensing group STA2 is a part of based on the group ID, and sends a Measurement Setup Response frame to the AP. Through such steps, a role is assigned to STA2. In one embodiment, the Measurement Setup Request frame and the Measurement Setup Response frame exchanged between the STAs to perform the sensing measurement setup are Protected Sensing Session Setup Request and Protected Sensing Session Setup Response frames.

[0128] During the sensing measurement phase, a TB sounding procedure is performed. In this procedure, a sensing initiator (AP) first initiates a sensing measurement by sending a Polling TF to one or more STAs that are assigned to be polled in the TB sensing measurement instance and are expected to participate during the available period (in this case, both STA1 and STA2 are the STAs). The Polling TF is used to check the availability of the responder STAs and allocate resources for transmission. In response to the Polling TF, STA1 and STA2 each send a CTS to self frame to the AP to indicate that they are available for TB sensing.

[0129] Then, during the TF sounding phase, the AP transmits a Sounding trigger frame to request an NDP transmission (R2I NDP) from one or more STAs (STA1 in this case) to perform channel measurements. The Sounding TF carries a User Info field for the STAs participating in sensing, and User Info for the cooperative sensing receiver, which includes a group ID, an AID (AID11 in this case), and parameters for the responder to correctly decode the subsequent NDP. STA2 can also identify the User Info field carrying the Group ID and the AID11 field addressed to its own Group ID and AID, and obtain the cooperative sensing information from the User Info field.

[0130] Therefore, both STA1 and STA2 receive the Sounding TF. In response, STA1 sends an R2I NDP including a feedback response to the AP. STA2, which is assigned the role of a cooperative sensing receiver and has NDP information that can be received from other responders, can receive the NDP sent by STA1.

[0131] The AP transmits an NDPA frame to the sensing responder (here, STA2) which is a sensing receiver, and then transmits an I2R NDP to STA2. The NDPA frame carries a User (STA) Info field for the STAs participating in sensing, and User Info for the cooperative sensing receivers, which includes a group ID for the responder to correctly decode the subsequent NDP. Similarly, STA2 can identify the User Info field carrying the Special AID and the AID11 subfield addressed to its own AID, and the Group ID subfield addressed to the cooperative sensing receiver group to which STA2 belongs, and obtain the cooperative sensing information from the User Info field. Then, the STA1 transmitter transmits an NDP to the cooperative sensing receiver STA2.

[0132] During the reporting phase, a TB sounding procedure is performed in which the AP requests an R2R sensing measurement report by sending a Sensing Report TF to STA2, and STA2 responds by sending a Sensing Measurement Report frame including a sensing measurement result (e.g., an R2R measurement report) to the AP.

[0133] The sensing initiator transmits a Sensing Report trigger frame to the cooperative sensing receiver STA2, and in response, STA2 transmits a Sensing Measurement Report frame including a Responder to Responder (R2R) measurement report to the sensing initiator.

[0134] 35 illustrates an example of a Protected Sensing Session Setup Request frame 3500 according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. The Protected Sensing Session Setup Request frame 3500 includes a MAC header (Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field), a Category field, a Public Action field, a Dialog Token field, a Measurement ID field, a Sensing Measurement Parameters Element field, and a Frame Checking Sequence (FCS) field. The Category field is set to "Protected Dual of Public Action", and the Public Action field is set to "Protected Sensing Session Setup Request". The Sensing Measurement Parameters Element field includes an Element ID subfield, a Length subfield, an Element ID Extension subfield, and a Sensing Measurement Parameters subfield. The Measurement Setup ID field carries a measurement ID negotiated between two STAs.

[0135] The Sensing Measurement Parameters subfield carries parameters related to the sensing measurement setup, such as the sensing type, measurement report type (e.g., Channel State Information (CSI), partial CSI, etc.) and Group ID according to this embodiment. The Sensing Measurement Parameters subfield comprises a Sensing Transmitter subfield, a Sensing Receiver subfield, a Collaborative Sensing Receiver subfield, a Group ID subfield, and a Measurement Report Type subfield. The Collaborative Sensing Receiver subfield is set to 1 to indicate the assignment of the collaborative sensing receiver role to the STA capable of collaborative sensing. The Group ID indicates a Group ID that identifies a group of STAs capable of collaborative sensing in order to assign the collaborative sensing role to the group of STAs capable of collaborative sensing.

[0136] FIG. 36 illustrates an example of a format of an NDPA frame 3600 according to a fourth embodiment of the present disclosure. The NDPA frame 3600 has a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA field, a TA field, a Sounding Dialog Token field, a Measurement Setup ID field, a Measurement Instance ID field, a STA Info List field, and an FCS field. The Frame Control field, the Duration field, the RA field, and the TA field may be grouped as a MAC header. The RA field is set to "Broadcast". For the purpose of cooperative sensing, the STA Info List field comprises two different STA Info fields. One is a STA Info field 3602 for a sensing transmitter (e.g., STA1 in FIG. 34), and the other is a STA Info field 3604 for a cooperative sensing receiver (e.g., STA2 in FIG. 34). The STA Info field 3602 includes an AID11 subfield, an I2R NDP Tx Power subfield, an R2I NDP Target RSSI subfield, and a Disambiguation subfield. The other STA Info field 3604 includes a Special AID11 subfield (for cooperative sensing receivers), a Group ID subfield, and a Group Info subfield.

[0137] The Special ID11 subfield allows a STA capable of collaborative sensing to identify the STA Info field, and the Group ID subfield allows a group of STAs capable of collaborative sensing having a Group ID to receive information about the collaborative sensing parameters included in the Group Info subfield and perform collaborative sensing.

[0138] In the following paragraphs, a fifth embodiment of the present disclosure is described which performs cooperative sensing transmitters and cooperative sensing measurements.

[0139] FIG. 37 shows a flowchart 3700 illustrating an example of a cooperative sensing procedure between a sensing initiator (AP) and three sensing responders (STA1, STA2, STA3) according to a fifth embodiment of the present disclosure. The procedure includes a measurement setup phase and a measurement report phase. In this case, the AP is the sensing initiator, the sensing responder STA2 is the sensing receiver (capable of cooperative sensing), and the sensing responders STA1 and STA3 are cooperative sensing transmitters. During the sensing measurement phase, the sensing initiator (AP) transmits a Sounding TF to request STA1 to transmit an NDP (R2I NDP) and perform channel measurement. The Sounding TF includes a User Info field 1 addressed to the cooperative transmitter with the AID (STA1's AID) of the cooperative transmitter (STA1 in this case), and a User Info field 2 for the cooperative sensing receiver addressed to STA2 so that STA2 can correctly decode the subsequent NDP. In particular, the User Info field 2 comprises the AID of the sensing transmitter (STA1) as it is informed to STA2 by parameters of subsequent NDPs that STA2 may receive from the other responder (STA1).

[0140] In response, STA1 sends an R2I NDP containing a feedback response to the AP. STA2, which is assigned the role of cooperative sensing receiver and has NDP information that can be received from other responders, can receive the NDP sent by STA1.

[0141] Similarly, the sensing initiator then transmits a Sounding TF (R2I NDP) to STA3 requesting NDP transmission and performing channel measurements. The Sounding TF carries a User Info field 1 addressed to the AID (STA3's AID) of the cooperating transmitter (in this case STA3) and a User Info field 2 for the cooperative sensing receiver addressed to STA2 so that STA2 can correctly decode the subsequent NDP. In particular, the User Info field 2 comprises the AID of the sensing transmitter (STA3) so that STA2 is informed by the cooperative sensing receiver information regarding the subsequent NDP that it may receive from the other responder (STA3).

[0142] In response, STA3 sends an R2I NDP including a feedback response to the AP. By being assigned the role of a cooperative sensing receiver and having NDP information that can be received from other responders, STA2 can also receive the NDP sent by STA3.

[0143] During the measurement reporting phase, the AP solicits R2R sensing measurement reports by sending a Sensing Report TF to STA2, and STA2 responds by sending a Sensing Measurement Report frame containing Sensing Measurement Report 1 and Sensing Report 2 to the AP. Sensing Measurement Reports 1 and 2 carry the respective cooperative sensing transmitter AIDs (STA1's AID and STS3's AID), so that the initiator receiving the reports knows which cooperative sensing receiver pair each report is for.

[0144] FIG. 38 illustrates another example of the format of a Sounding TF 3800 according to the fifth embodiment of the present disclosure. The Sounding TF 3800 comprises a Frame Control field, a Duration field, a Recipient field set to "broadcast", a Transmitter field, a Common Info field, one or more User Info fields, a Padding field, and an FCS field. The Common Info field comprises a Trigger Type subfield set to "Sensing" and a Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield. The Trigger Dependent Common Info subfield includes a Sensing Trigger Subtype set to "Sounding" and a Dialog Token field. For the purpose of cooperative sensing, the Sounding TF 3800 comprises two different User Info fields 3802, 3804, one User Info field 3802 for sensing transmitters (e.g., STA1 and STA3 in FIG. 37) and another User Info field 3804 for cooperative sensing receivers (e.g., STA2 in FIG. 37). The User Info field 3804 for the sensing transmitter has an AID12 subfield, a Collaborative Sensing Receiver subfield, an I2R Rep subfield, an SS Allocation subfield, a UL Target Receive Power subfield, and a Trigger Dependent User Info subfield. Another User Info field 3904 for the collaborative sensing receiver has an AID12 subfield, a Collaborative Sensing Receiver subfield, and a Collaborative Transmitter AID12 subfield. The Collaborative Transmitter AID12 subfield carries the AID of the collaborative sensing transmitter.The Collaborative Transmitter AID12 subfield instructs the collaborative sensing receivers to follow the same transmission parameters to the responder indicated in the User Info field (eg, User Info field 3902) as indicated using the responder's AID12 subfield.

[0145] 39 illustrates an example of a format of a Sensing Measurement Report frame 3900 according to the fifth embodiment of the present disclosure. The Sensing Measurement Report frame 3900 has a MAC header (Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field), a Category field, an Action field, a Dialog Token field, a Sensing Measurement Report List field, and an FCS field. The Sensing Measurement Report List field carries one or more Sensing Measurement Report frames, and each Sensing Measurement Report frame includes a Sensing Measurement Time subfield, a Sensing Measurement Report Type subfield, a Sensing Measurement Control subfield, and a Sensing Measurement Feedback subfield. The Sensing Measurement Control subfield includes a Measurement Setup ID subfield, a Measurement Instance ID field, an Nc Index field, an Nr index field, a BW field, an Ng field, a Remaining Feedback Segment field, a First Feedback Segment field, a Collaborative Measurement Report field, a Collaborative Tx AID field, and a Collaborative Rx AID field. The Collaborative Tx AID field indicates the AID of the collaborative Tx to which the Sensing Measurement Report pertains.The sensing initiator can use the Collaborative Tx AID field and the Collaborative Rx AID field to identify which collaborative sensing link the sensing measurement report pertains to.

[0146] The following paragraphs describe a sixth embodiment of the present disclosure in which each NDP is assigned a sequence number in the User Info field for the cooperative sensing receiver to identify the sensing measurement report for the NDP.

[0147] In particular, in the User Info field for cooperative sensing receivers in the NDPA frame, the AP can assign a sequence number (SN) to each R2R NDP, so that during sensing measurements, the sensing initiator can identify which NDP the sensing measurement is for by identifying the sequence number.

[0148] FIG. 40 illustrates an example of a format of an NDPA frame 4000 according to a sixth embodiment of the present disclosure. The NDPA frame 4000 has a Frame Control field, a Duration field, an RA field, a TA field, a Sounding Dialog Token field, a Measurement Setup ID field, a Measurement Instance ID field, a STA Info List field, and an FCS field. The Frame Control field, the Duration field, the RA field, and the TA field may be grouped as a MAC header. The RA field is set to "Broadcast". For the purpose of cooperative sensing, the STA Info List field includes two different STA Info fields, one is a STA Info field 4002 for a sensing transmitter (e.g., STA1 in FIG. 17 and FIG. 20), and the other is a STA Info field 4004 for a cooperative sensing receiver (e.g., STA2 in FIG. 17 and FIG. 20). The STA Info field 4002 has an AID11 subfield, an I2R NDP Tx Power subfield, an R2I NDP Target RSSI subfield, and a Disambiguation subfield. The other STA Info field 4004 has a Special AID11 subfield (for collaborative sensing receivers), a Collaborative Sensing AID subfield, an I2R NDP Tx Power subfield, an R2I NDP Target RSSI subfield, and an R2R NDP SN subfield. The I2R NDP Tx Power subfield, the R2I NDP Target RSSI subfield, and the R2R NDP SN subfield correspond to NDP Tx parameters that may be received from other responders. The Collaborative Sensing AID is the associated ID of the collaborative sensing receiver. The R2R NDP SN subfield indicates the SN assigned to the R2R NDP.The receiver obtains the SN of the NDP it receives upon receiving the R2R NDP SN indication in the NDPA. The receiver may provide the same R2R NDP SN in the sensing measurement report so that the initiator knows which R2R NDP the sensing measurement report is for based on the SN.

[0149] 41 shows an example of a format of a Sensing Measurement Report frame 4100 according to a sixth embodiment of the present disclosure. The Sensing Measurement Report frame 4100 has a MAC header (Frame Control field, Duration field, RA field, and TA field), a Category field, an Action field, a Dialog Token field, a Sensing Measurement Report List field, and an FCS field. The Sensing Measurement Report List field carries one or more Sensing Measurement Report frames, and each Sensing Measurement Report frame includes a Sensing Measurement Time subfield, a Sensing Measurement Report Type subfield, a Sensing Measurement Control subfield, and a Sensing Measurement Feedback subfield. The Sensing Measurement Control subfield includes a Measurement Setup ID subfield, a Measurement Instance ID field, an Nc Index field, an Nr index field, a BW field, an Ng field, a Remaining Feedback Segment field, a First Feedback Segment field, a Collaborative Measurement Report field, an R2R NDP SN field, and a Collaborative Measurement Report SN field. The R2R NDP SN field is read by the sensing initiator to identify which R2R NDP the sensing measurement report is for.In the case of multiple receivers receiving the same NDP, the initiator can distinguish the sensing measurement reports using the Collaborative Measurement Report SN subfield in the sensing measurement report. The Collaborative Measurement Report SN provides a sequence number for the measurement report for the initiator to distinguish the sensing measurement reports.

[0150] Figure 42 shows a block diagram 4200 illustrating the configuration of a communication device that may be implemented as a receiving communication device, a transmitting communication device, or an initiating communication device, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Similar to the schematic example of the communication device 1200 shown in Figure 11, the communication device has at least one antenna 4202 for transmitting and receiving signals (for simplicity, only one antenna is shown in Figure 42), at least one wireless transmitter 4212, at least one wireless receiver 4214, and a sensing circuit 4206. The communications device 4200 also comprises an 802.11 MAC / PHY sublayer 4204 with sensing circuitry 4206 for channel measurements, layer management service interfaces such as an MLME SAP 4208 and a MAC SAP 4210 through which defined primitives are exchanged to communicate information and through which layer management functions, e.g., cooperative WLAN sensing, may be invoked, and higher layer applications (e.g., a WLAN data application and a WLAN sensing application) (not shown) that communicate with the 802.11 MAC / PHY (sublayer) 4204 via the MLME SAP 4208.

[0151] At least one wireless transmitter 4212, at least one wireless receiver 4214, and sensing circuitry 4206 transmit signals, receive signals, and generate / process signals, respectively, to provide the functionality of cooperative WLAN sensing as described in the various embodiments above of the present disclosure.

[0152] The MAC / PHY sublayer 4204 may also be configured to extract signals, responses, and measurement PPDUs received from another communication device, such as trigger frames, response frames, sounding PPDUs or NDPs, or report frames, and pass information regarding the received signals, responses, or PPDUs to the sensing circuit 4206.

[0153] The sensing circuitry 4206 further includes an encoding / decoding module (not shown) configured to decode and encode information for cooperative WLAN sensing according to various embodiments described above in this disclosure.

[0154] The following embodiments are described and illustrated in the present disclosure.

[0155] 1) A receiving communication device comprising: a receiver configured, in operation, to receive a sounding signal from a transmitting communication device, the transmitting communication device being configured to perform a first channel measurement with an initiating communication device; and a circuit configured, in operation, upon receipt of the sounding signal, to perform a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device.

[0156] 2) A receiving communication device as described in embodiment 1, wherein the sounding signal is received by the initiating communication device and includes a result of a first channel measurement performed by the transmitting communication device with the initiating communication device.

[0157] 3) A receiving communication device as described in embodiment 1 or 2, in which the receiver receives a request signal including a signal field for the receiving communication device before receiving the sounding signal, the signal field including first information for performing a second channel measurement.

[0158] 4) The receiving communication device of embodiment 3, wherein the request signal includes one of a trigger frame and a null data packet (NDP) announce (NDPA) frame, and the signal field is included in one of the trigger frame and the NDPA frame.

[0159] 5) A receiving communication device as described in embodiment 3 or 4, wherein the receiver further receives a setup signal for establishing a direct link with the initiating communication device before receiving the request signal, and further receives a second sounding signal from the initiating communication device via the direct link after receiving the request signal, and the circuit is configured to perform a third channel measurement with the initiating communication device upon receiving the second sounding signal.

[0160] 6) A receiving communication device as described in embodiment 3 or 4, wherein before receiving the request signal, the receiver further receives a setup signal from the initiating communication device, the setup signal including second information for performing a second channel measurement.

[0161] 7) A receiving communication device as described in embodiment 6, wherein the second information includes an identifier assigned to a plurality of communication devices capable of performing second channel measurements, the plurality of communication devices including a receiving communication device, and the first information in the signal field includes the second information and third information of parameters used by the plurality of communication devices to perform the second channel measurements.

[0162] 8) A receiving communication device as described in embodiment 3 or 4, wherein the first information in the signal field includes an identifier of the transmitting communication device, and the circuit is further configured to generate a second sounding signal including the identifier and a result of the second channel measurement.

[0163] 9) A receiving communication device as described in embodiment 3 or 4, wherein the first information in the signal field of the request signal includes a sequence number assigned to each sounding signal transmitted to / received from the transmitting communication device, and the circuit is configured to further generate a second sounding signal including the sequence number and a result of a second channel measurement.

[0164] 10) A transmitting communication device comprising circuitry configured, in operation, to perform a first channel measurement with an initiating communication device and generate a sounding signal, and a transmitter, in operation, to transmit the sounding signal to a receiving communication device, wherein the receiving communication device receives the sounding signal and performs a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device.

[0165] 11) The transmitting communication device of embodiment 10, further comprising a receiver that, in operation, receives a request signal including a signal field for a receiving communication device, the signal field including first information for performing a second channel measurement, and the circuitry is configured to perform the first channel measurement with the initiating communication device and generate a sounding signal upon receiving the request signal.

[0166] 12) An initiating communication device comprising: a circuit for generating a request signal when operated; a circuit for generating the request signal when operated; and a transmitter for transmitting the request signal to a transmitting communication device when operated; wherein the transmitting communication device is configured to perform a first channel measurement with the initiating communication device upon receiving the request signal; and the receiving communication device is configured to perform a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device upon receiving a sounding signal from the transmitting communication device.

[0167] 13) An initiating communication device as described in embodiment 12, wherein the sounding signal includes a result of a first channel measurement performed by the transmitting communication device with the initiating communication device.

[0168] 14) The initiating communication device of embodiment 12 or 13, wherein the transmitter further transmits a request signal to the receiving communication device, the request signal including a signal field for the receiving communication device, the signal field including first information for performing a second channel measurement.

[0169] 15) An initiating communication device as described in any one of embodiments 12 to 14, wherein the request signal includes one of a trigger frame and a null data packet (NDP) announce (NDPA) frame, and the signal field is included in one of the trigger frame and the NDPA frame.

[0170] 16) An initiating communication device as described in any one of embodiments 12 to 15, wherein the transmitter further transmits a setup signal for establishing a direct link with the receiving communication device before transmitting the request signal, and further transmits a second sounding signal to the receiving communication device via the direct link after transmitting the request signal, and the receiving communication device is configured to perform a third channel measurement with the initiating communication device upon receiving the second sounding signal.

[0171] 17) An initiating communication device as described in any one of embodiments 12 to 15, wherein before receiving the request signal, the receiver further receives a setup signal from the initiating communication device, the setup signal including second information for performing a second channel measurement.

[0172] 18) An initiating communication device as described in embodiment 17, wherein the second information includes an identifier assigned to a plurality of communication devices capable of performing a second channel measurement, the plurality of communication devices including a receiving communication device, and the first information in the signal field includes the second information and third information of parameters used by the plurality of communication devices to perform the second channel measurement.

[0173] 19) A communications method performed by a receiving communication device, the communications method including: receiving a sounding signal from a transmitting communication device configured to perform a first channel measurement with an initiating communication device; and performing a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device based on the sounding signal.

[0174] 20) A communication method performed by a transmitting communication device, the communication method including: performing a first channel measurement with an initiating communication device and generating a sounding signal; and transmitting the sounding signal to a receiving communication device, the receiving communication device receiving the sounding signal and performing a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device.

[0175] 21) A communication method performed by an initiating communication device, comprising: generating a request signal; and transmitting the request signal to a transmitting communication device, wherein the transmitting communication device is configured to perform a first channel measurement with the initiating communication device upon receiving the request signal; and wherein the receiving communication device is configured to perform a second channel measurement with the transmitting communication device upon receiving a sounding signal from the transmitting communication device.

[0176] As described above, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide an advanced communication system, communication method and communication device for aggregated signal sounding procedure in MIMO WLAN networks, improving the spectral efficiency in MIMO WLAN networks.

[0177] The present disclosure can be realized by software, hardware, or software in cooperation with hardware. Each functional block used in the description of each embodiment above can be partially or completely realized by an LSI such as an integrated circuit, and each process described in each embodiment can be partially or completely controlled by the same LSI or a combination of LSIs. The LSI can be formed individually as a chip, or one chip can be formed to include some or all of the functional blocks. The LSI can include data inputs and outputs coupled thereto. The LSI in this specification can be called an IC, a system LSI, a super LSI, or an ultra LSI depending on the degree of integration. However, the technology for implementing the integrated circuit is not limited to an LSI, and can be realized using a dedicated circuit, a general-purpose processor, or a dedicated processor. Also, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) that can be programmed after the LSI is manufactured, or a reconfigurable processor that can reconfigure the connections and settings of circuit cells arranged in the LSI can be used. The present disclosure can be realized as digital processing or analog processing. If future integrated circuit technology replaces LSI as a result of advances in semiconductor technology or other derived technologies, the functional blocks can be integrated using the future integrated circuit technology. Biotechnology can also be applied.

[0178] The present disclosure may be implemented by any type of apparatus, device or system having communication capabilities, referred to as a communications apparatus.

[0179] Some non-limiting examples of such communication devices include phones (e.g., cellular (cell) phones, smartphones), tablets, personal computers (PCs) (e.g., laptops, desktops, netbooks), cameras (e.g., digital still / video cameras), digital players (digital audio / video players), wearable devices (e.g., wearable cameras, smart watches, tracking devices), game consoles, digital book readers, telehealth / telemedicine (remote health and medicine) devices, and vehicles (e.g., cars, airplanes, ships) that provide communication capabilities, and various combinations thereof.

[0180] Communications devices are not limited to being portable or mobile, but may also include any type of non-portable or fixed equipment, device, or system, such as smart home devices (e.g., appliances, lights, smart meters, control panels), vending machines, and any other "things" in the network of the "Internet of Things" (IoT).

[0181] Communications may include, for example, data exchange via cellular systems, wireless LAN systems, satellite systems, and the like, as well as various combinations thereof.

[0182] A communications apparatus may include devices such as a controller or a sensor coupled to a communications device to perform the communications functions described in this disclosure. For example, a communications apparatus may include a controller or a sensor that generates control or data signals used by the communications device to perform the communications functions of the communications apparatus.

[0183] Communications equipment may also include infrastructure facilities such as base stations, access points, and any other equipment, device, or system that communicates with or controls equipment such as those in the non-limiting examples above.

[0184] Although certain features of the various embodiments have been described with reference to devices, it will be understood that corresponding features also apply to the methods of the various embodiments, and vice versa.

[0185] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that numerous variations and / or modifications may be made to the present disclosure as illustrated in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the disclosure as broadly described. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive.

Claims

1. A first sensing responder, A receiver that receives a sounding trigger frame from a sensing initiator during operation, The system includes a transmitter that, during operation, transmits a null data packet (NDP) to a second sensing responder in response to the sounding trigger frame. The first sensing responder.

2. The sounding trigger frame from the sensing initiator includes a User Info field for the second sensing responder. The first sensing responder according to claim 1.

3. The first sensing responder and the second sensing responder are non-access point stations, and the sensing initiator is an access point. The first sensing responder according to claim 1.

4. The sensing initiator starts the sensing procedure by sending a request frame, and the first sensing responder and the second sensing responder participate in the sensing procedure by responding to the sensing initiator. The sensing procedure begins in the measurement setup phase, followed by a trigger-based (TB) sensing measurement instance. The TB sensing measurement instance includes a polling phase, a trigger frame (TF) sounding phase, and a reporting phase, The request frame is transmitted during the measurement setup phase, and the sounding trigger frame is transmitted during the TF sounding phase. The first sensing responder according to claim 1.

5. The sensing initiator assigns roles to the first sensing responder and the second sensing responder, respectively, by transmitting the request frame during the measurement setup phase. The first sensing responder according to claim 4.

6. The aforementioned role is one of a sensing receiver, a sensing transmitter, or a sensing transmitter / sensing receiver. The first sensing responder according to claim 5.

7. The request frame comprises a Sensing Measurement Parameters Element, the Sensing Measurement Parameters Element includes a field set to 1 to indicate that the TB sensing measurement instance includes the transmission of the NDP from the first sensing responder to the second sensing responder. The first sensing responder according to claim 4.

8. The sensing initiator notifies the first sensing responder and the second sensing responder of the Measurement Setup ID by transmitting the request frame during the Measurement Setup Phase, and the Measurement Setup ID is used to identify the Measurement Setup Phase. The first sensing responder according to claim 4.

9. The sounding trigger frame comprises a Measurement Setup ID field and a Measurement Instance ID field, The Measurement Setup ID field indicates the Measurement Setup ID, The Measurement Instance ID field indicates a Measurement Instance ID that identifies the TB sensing measurement instance associated with the measurement setup phase. The first sensing responder according to claim 8.

10. The sounding trigger frame comprises a Trigger Type subfield, and the Trigger Type subfield is set to "Sensing". The first sensing responder according to claim 1.

11. The sounding trigger frame comprises a Trigger Dependent Common Info field, the Trigger Dependent Common Info field includes a Sensing Trigger Subtype field, and the Sensing Trigger Subtype field indicates a subtype of the sounding trigger frame. The first sensing responder according to claim 1.

12. The sounding trigger frame comprises a first User Info field for the first sensing responder and a second User Info field for the second sensing responder. The first sensing responder according to claim 1.

13. The first User Info field includes a first field indicating the operation of the first sensing responder, and the second User Info field includes a second field indicating the operation of the second sensing responder. The first sensing responder according to claim 12.

14. The second field is set to 1 to indicate the operation for the second sensing responder. The first sensing responder according to claim 13.

15. The sounding trigger frame comprises a User Info field which includes an AID12 subfield set to 2008. The first sensing responder according to claim 1.

16. A communication method performed by a first sensing responder, Receiving a sounding trigger frame from the sensing initiator, The process includes transmitting a null data packet (NDP) to a second sensing responder in response to the sounding trigger frame, Communication method.

17. The second sensing responder receives the sounding trigger frame from the sensing initiator. The communication method according to claim 16.

18. An integrated circuit for a first sensing responder, At least one input section that receives an electronic signal during operation, The system comprises a control circuit coupled to at least one input unit, The control circuit, when in operation, Receiving a sounding trigger frame from the sensing initiator, and, In response to the sounding trigger frame, the system controls the transmission of a null data packet (NDP) to a second sensing responder. Integrated circuit.

19. The integrated circuit according to claim 18, wherein the second sensing responder receives the sounding trigger frame from the sensing initiator.

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