Access point and communication method for enhanced sensing using a proxy

Abstract

To facilitate collaborative sounding procedures in the context of WLANs. [Solution] In a wireless communication system, the communication device 600 includes a receiving unit that receives an SBP request frame including an SBP initiator field indicating whether or not to include a sensing-by-proxy (SBP) initiator as one of the sensing responders, a link number field corresponding to the number of sensing responders to be measured, and a device address field indicating each of the sensing responders to be measured, and a transmitting unit that transmits an SBP report frame to a station device including a sensing measurement report including a measurement instance ID field for identifying a measurement instance, a station ID field for identifying each of the sensing responders that were the subject of the sensing measurement, and a sensing measurement feedback field indicating the results of the sensing measurement.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to access points and methods for sensing, and more particularly for proxy-based sensing.

Background Art

[0002] Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) sensing is being developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11bf Task Group. In this task group, Sensing by Proxy (SBP) has been proposed that enables a client to obtain sensing measurements by using multiple wireless links, but details of the protocol / procedure for selecting the best link / STA in the SBP procedure have not been discussed in the task group.

[0003] Although Wi-Fi coverage with multiple links is currently very common, blindly measuring and reporting all possible links in the SBP reporting phase causes a large overhead in the Wi-Fi links used for reporting.

[0004] Therefore, there is a need for a communication device and method for proxy-based extended sensing that provides a practical technical solution to address the problem, and more specifically enables an SBP initiator and / or an SBP responder to select the best link / STA to reduce reporting overhead in the SBP procedure.

[0005] Further, 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 the background of the present disclosure.

Summary of the Invention

[0006] Non-limiting and exemplary embodiments facilitate the provision of communication devices and communication methods for coordinated sounding procedures in the context of a WLAN. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] In a first aspect, the Disclosure provides a first communication device comprising: a circuit configured to generate a request frame in operation that indicates conditions used by a second communication device to select one or more links, each associated with one or more third communication devices; a transmitting unit in operation that transmits the request frame to the second communication device to request the second communication device to perform measurements on the one or more links; and a receiving unit in operation that receives a reporting frame from the second communication device, the reporting frame containing one or more reports of the measurements corresponding to the one or more links.

[0008] In a second aspect, the Disclosure provides a second communication device comprising: a receiving unit that, in operation, receives a request frame from a first communication device indicating conditions for selecting one or more links, each linked to one or more third communication devices; a circuit configured to, in operation, generate a report frame including one or more reports of measurements corresponding to the one or more links; and a transmitting unit that, in operation, transmits the report frame to the first communication device.

[0009] In a third aspect, the Disclosure provides a communication method performed by a first communication device, which includes generating a request frame indicating conditions used by a second communication device to select one or more links, each associated with one or more third communication devices; transmitting the request frame to the second communication device to request the second communication device to perform measurements on the one or more links; and receiving a report frame from the second communication device, which includes one or more reports of the measurements corresponding to the one or more links.

[0010] In a fourth aspect, the Disclosure provides a communication method performed by a second communication device, comprising: receiving a request frame from a first communication device indicating conditions for selecting one or more links, each associated with one or more third communication devices; generating a report frame containing one or more reports of measurements corresponding to the one or more links; and transmitting the report frame to the first communication device.

[0011] It should be noted that general or specific embodiments can be implemented as systems, methods, integrated circuits, computer programs, storage media, or any selective combination thereof.

[0012] Further advantages and effects of one embodiment of this disclosure will be made apparent from the specification and drawings. Such advantages and / or effects are provided by several embodiments and features described in the specification and drawings, but not all of them are necessarily provided in order to obtain one or more identical features.

[0013] The embodiments described herein are merely examples, but will be better understood and readily apparent to those skilled in the art through the following description and in conjunction with the drawings. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0014] [Figure 1]Schematic diagram illustrating single-user (SU) communication between an access point (AP) and a station (STA) in a MIMO (multiple-input multiple-output) wireless network. [Figure 2] Schematic diagram illustrating downlink multi-user (MU) communication between an access point (AP) and multiple service stations (STAs) in a MIMO wireless network. [Figure 3] Schematic diagram illustrating trigger-based (TB) uplink MU communication between an AP and multiple STAs in a MIMO wireless network. [Figure 4] Schematic diagram showing communication between STA (Client 0) and AP for the basic SBP procedure. [Figure 5] A schematic diagram showing the floor plan and the devices located on each floor. [Figure 6] Schematic diagram of the communication device related to this disclosure [Figure 7] Flowchart illustrating communication methods implemented by the first communication device according to various embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 8] Flowchart illustrating communication methods implemented by a second communication device according to various embodiments of this disclosure. [Figure 9] A flowchart illustrating the proxy sensing procedure between an AP and three non-AP STAs according to the first embodiment of this disclosure. [Figure 10] Figure 9 shows a flowchart illustrating the detailed procedure flow of the proxy sensing process between the AP and three non-AP STAs. [Figure 11] Schematic diagram showing the connections between AP and three non-AP STAs in Figure 9. [Figure 12] Exemplary format of an extension capability element used for basic discovery according to one embodiment of the present disclosure [Figure 13A] Exemplary format of an SBP Request frame according to a first embodiment of this disclosure [Figure 13B] Exemplary Format of a Protected SBP Request Frame According to the First Embodiment of the Present Disclosure [Figure 14A] Exemplary Format of an SBP Response Frame According to the First Embodiment of the Present Disclosure [Figure 14B] Exemplary Format of a Protected SBP Response Frame According to the First Embodiment of the Present Disclosure [Figure 15] Exemplary Format of an SBP Parameters Element Field within the SBP Request / Response Frames of FIGS. 13A - 14B [Figure 16] Exemplary Format of an SBP Link Information Element Field in the SBP Response Frames of FIGS. 14A and 14B [Figure 17] Exemplary Format of an SBP Report Frame According to the First Embodiment of the Present Disclosure [Figure 18A] Exemplary Format of an SBP Termination Frame According to the First Embodiment of the Present Disclosure [Figure 18B] Exemplary Format of a Protected SBP Termination Frame According to the First Embodiment of the Present Disclosure [Figure 19] Flowchart Showing Communication between an SBP Initiator (Non - AP STA) and an SBP Responder (AP) for Proxy - Based Sensing According to the First Embodiment of the Present Disclosure [Figure 20A] Flowchart Showing an Overview of the Procedure for Proxy - Based Sensing between an AP and Three Non - AP STAs According to the Second Embodiment of the Present Disclosure [Figure 20B] Schematic Diagram Showing the Connection between an AP and Three Non - AP STAs in FIG. 20A [Figure 21] Flowchart Showing the Detailed Procedure Flow of the Procedure for Proxy - Based Sensing between the AP and Three Non - AP STAs in FIG. 20A [Figure 22] This figure shows an example visualization of enhanced client discovery results. [Figure 23] Exemplary format of SBP parameter element fields in an SBP request frame according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure [Figure 24A] Exemplary format of an SBP response according to a second embodiment of this disclosure [Figure 24B] Exemplary format of a protected SBP response according to a second embodiment of this disclosure [Figure 25] Exemplary format of the SBP link information element field in the SBP response frame in Figures 24A and 24B according to the embodiment. [Figure 26] Exemplary format of an SBP reporting frame according to a second embodiment of this disclosure [Figure 27A] A schematic diagram illustrating a floor plan according to a second embodiment of this disclosure, along with two exemplary embodiments of the procedure for proxy sensing of devices located on the floor. [Figure 27B] Another exemplary format of an SBP request frame according to a second embodiment of this disclosure [Figure 28] A flowchart illustrating the proxy sensing procedure between an AP and three non-AP STAs according to a third embodiment of this disclosure. [Figure 29] A flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the proxy sensing procedure between an AP and two non-AP STAs according to a third embodiment of this disclosure. [Figure 30] Exemplary format of a Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame according to a third embodiment of this disclosure [Figure 31] Exemplary format of a Protected Authorization Validation Request frame according to a third embodiment of this disclosure [Figure 32]Exemplary format of a Protected Authorization Validation Response frame according to a third embodiment of this disclosure [Figure 33A] Exemplary format of an SBP response frame according to a third embodiment of this disclosure [Figure 33B] Exemplary format of a protected SBP response frame according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure [Figure 34] Exemplary format of an SBP request frame according to a third embodiment of this disclosure [Figure 35] Diagram showing an example configuration of a communication device. [Figure 36] Diagram showing another exemplary configuration of a communication device. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0015] Those skilled in the art will understand that the elements in the figures are explained in plain and clear terms and are not necessarily drawn to a fixed scale. For example, to aid in the accurate understanding of this embodiment, some dimensions of elements in the figures, block diagrams, or flowcharts may be exaggerated in relation to others.

[0016] Some embodiments of this disclosure will be described, by example, with reference to the drawings. Similar reference numerals and letters in the drawings refer to similar or equivalent elements.

[0017] The following paragraphs describe exemplary embodiments, with particular reference to access points (APs) and stations (STAs) for proxy-based sensing in multi-input multi-output (MIMO) wireless networks.

[0018] In relation to IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology, a station (which can also be referred to as an STA) is a communication device capable of using the 802.11 protocol. Based on the IEEE 802.11-2016 definition, an STA can be any device that includes IEEE 802.11-compliant Media Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) interfaces to a Wireless Medium (WM).

[0019] For example, an STA may be a laptop, desktop personal computer (PC), personal digital assistant (PDA), access point, or Wi-Fi phone in a wireless local area network (WLAN) environment. An STA may be stationary or mobile. In a WLAN environment, the terms "STA," "wireless client," "user," "user device," and "node" are often used interchangeably.

[0020] Similarly, an AP, which can be interchangeably called a Wireless Access Point (WAP) in the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology, is a communication device that enables STAs in a WLAN to connect to a wired network. APs typically connect to a router (via a wired network) as standalone devices, but may be integrated with a router or used within a router.

[0021] As described above, an STA within a WLAN can operate as an AP in other situations, and vice versa. This is because a communication device in the context of IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi) technology may include both STA hardware components and AP hardware components. Thus, a communication device may switch between STA mode and AP mode based on the actual WLAN conditions and / or requirements.

[0022] In MIMO wireless networks, "multiple" refers to multiple antennas used simultaneously for transmission and multiple antennas used simultaneously for reception via a wireless channel. In this regard, "multiple-input" refers to multiple transmitting antennas that input wireless signals to the channel, and "multiple-output" refers to multiple receiving antennas that receive wireless signals from the channel to the receiver. For example, in an N x M MIMO network system, N is the number of transmitting antennas and M is the number of receiving antennas, and N may or may not be equal to M. For simplicity, the number of transmitting antennas and receiving antennas will not be further explained in this disclosure.

[0023] MIMO wireless networks can deploy single-user (SU) and multi-user (MU) communication for communication between communication devices such as APs and STAs. MIMO wireless networks have advantages such as spatial multiplexing and spatial diversity, which enable higher data rates and robustness through the use of multiple spatial streams. Depending on the embodiment, the term "spatial stream" may be used interchangeably with the term "space-time stream" (or STS).

[0024] Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of SU communication 100 between AP102 and STA104 in a MIMO radio network. As shown in the figure, the MIMO radio network may include one or more STAs (e.g., STA104, STA106, etc.). When SU ​​communication 100 within a channel is performed across the entire channel bandwidth, it is called full-bandwidth SU communication. When SU ​​communication 100 within a channel is performed across a portion of the channel bandwidth (e.g., when one or more 20 MHz subchannels within the channel are punctured), it is called punctured SU communication. In SU communication 100, AP102 transmits multiple spatiotemporal streams using multiple antennas (e.g., four antennas as shown in Figure 1) with all spatiotemporal streams directed to a single communication device, i.e., STA104. For simplicity, the multiple spatiotemporal streams directed to STA104 are shown as arrows 108 of grouped data transmissions directed to STA104.

[0025] The SU communication 100 can be configured for bidirectional transmission. As shown in Figure 1A, in the SU communication 100, the STA 104 may transmit multiple spatiotemporal streams using multiple antennas (for example, two antennas as shown in Figure 1) with all spatiotemporal streams directed to the AP 102. For simplicity, the multiple spatiotemporal streams directed to the AP 102 are shown as arrows 110 of grouped data transmissions directed to the AP 102.

[0026] Therefore, the SU communication 100 shown in Figure 1 enables both uplink and downlink SU transmission in a MIMO wireless network.

[0027] Figure 2 is a schematic diagram showing downlink multiple-user (MU) communication 200 between AP202 and multiple STA204, 206, and 208 in a MIMO wireless network. The MIMO wireless network may include one or more STAs (e.g., STA204, STA206, STA208, etc.). MU communication 200 can be OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) communication or MU-MIMO communication. In the case of OFDMA communication on a channel, AP202 simultaneously transmits multiple streams to STA204, 206, and 208 in the network to different resource units (RUs) within the channel bandwidth. In the case of MU-MIMO communication on a channel, AP202 simultaneously transmits multiple streams to STA204, 206, and 208 on the same one or more RUs within the channel bandwidth using multiple antennas via spatial mapping or precoding techniques. When an RU performing OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication occupies the entire channel bandwidth, the OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication is called full-bandwidth OFDMA or full-bandwidth MU-MIMO communication. When an RU performing OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication occupies only a portion of the channel bandwidth (for example, when one or more 20MHz subchannels within a channel are punctured), the OFDMA or MU-MIMO communication is called punctured OFDMA or punctured MU-MIMO communication. For example, two spatiotemporal streams may be directed to STA206, another spatiotemporal stream to STA204, and yet another spatiotemporal stream to STA208. For simplicity, the two spatiotemporal streams directed to STA206 are shown as grouped data transmission arrow 212, the spatiotemporal stream directed to STA204 is shown as data transmission arrow 210, and the spatiotemporal stream directed to STA208 is shown as data transmission arrow 214.

[0028] To enable uplink MU transmission, trigger-based communication is provided to the MIMO radio network. In this regard, Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of trigger-based (TB) uplink MU communication 300 between AP302 and several STA304, 306, 308 in the MIMO radio network.

[0029] Because there are multiple STA304, 306, and 308 participating in trigger-based uplink MU communication, AP302 needs to coordinate the simultaneous transmission of multiple STA304, 306, and 308.

[0030] For coordination purposes, as shown in Figure 3, AP302 simultaneously sends trigger frames 310, 314, and 318 to STA304, 306, and 308, indicating user-specific resource allocation information available to each STA (e.g., the number of spatiotemporal streams, the number of starting STSs, and the allocated RUs). Then, in response to the trigger frames, STA304, 306, and 308 may simultaneously send their respective spatiotemporal streams to AP302 according to the user-specific resource allocation information indicated in trigger frames 310, 314, and 318. For example, two spatiotemporal streams may be directed from STA306 to AP302, another spatiotemporal stream from STA304 to AP302, and yet another spatiotemporal stream from STA308 to AP302. For simplicity, the two spatiotemporal streams directed from STA306 to AP302 are shown as grouped data transmission arrow 316, the spatiotemporal stream directed from STA304 to AP302 is shown as data transmission arrow 312, and the spatiotemporal stream directed from STA308 to AP302 is shown as data transmission arrow 320.

[0031] Due to the packet / PPDU (Physical Layer Protocol Data Unit)-based transmission and distributed MAC (Medium Access Control) scheme in 802.11WLAN, there is no time scheduling (for example, periodic time slot allocation like TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) for data transmission). Frequency and spatial resource scheduling is performed on a packet basis; that is, resource allocation information is in PPDU units.

[0032] According to various embodiments, the WLAN supports non-trigger-based communication as shown in Figure 1 and trigger-based communication as shown in Figure 2. In non-trigger-based communication, the communication device transmits the PPDU to one or more other communication devices in an unsolicited manner. In trigger-based communication, the communication device transmits the PPDU to one or more other communication devices only when it receives a request for a trigger frame.

[0033] In this disclosure, the term “sensing initiator” refers to a device that initiates a sensing session with an STA (hereinafter also referred to as the “client”) and requests sensing results from the STA. The term “sensing responder” refers to an STA that responds to a sensing initiator and participates in a sensing session. In the various embodiments described below, unless otherwise specified, initiator and responder refer to “sensing initiator” and “sensing responder,” respectively. Typically (for example, in trigger-based (TB) sensing measurements), the initiator is an AP and the responder is a non-AP STA. However, this is not always the case, and sometimes (for example, in non-TB sensing measurements or fine timing measurements (FTM) / distancing), a non-AP STA may be the initiator and an AP may be the responder.

[0034] In contrast to "sensing initiator" and "sensing responder," the term "proxy sensing (SBP) initiator" refers to an STA that initiates an SBP procedure and requests a device that will be the proxy sensing initiator (e.g., an AP or sensing initiator) to initiate a sensing session and request sensing results from another STA (e.g., a client of that device) on behalf of the SBP initiator. An "SBP responder" refers to a device that responds to an SBP initiator and agrees to be the proxy sensing initiator to participate in the SBP procedure. Note that an SBP initiator can be a sensing responder, or one of several sensing responders of an SBP responder (sensing initiator).

[0035] As previously mentioned, SBP, which enables a client to acquire sensing measurements using multiple wireless links, is introduced in IEEE 802.11bf. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram showing communication between an STA (client 0) and an AP for a basic SBP procedure. Following the basic concept, the proxy sensing procedure includes SBP procedure setup, sensing measurement, SBP procedure reporting, and SBP procedure termination. During SBP procedure setup, a client (e.g., client 0) requests the AP to acquire sensing measurements with other clients (e.g., clients 1 and 2). The AP is configured to act as a proxy initiator for the requesting client. In the various embodiments shown in this disclosure, the AP is referred to as a proxy AP or SBP responder, while such a requesting client is referred to as an SBP requesting STA or SBP initiator. The proxy is established by exchanging SBP request / response frames 412 between the SBP initiator and the SBP responders. Next, the AP performs sensing measurements with one or more clients (e.g., clients 1 and 2) by exchanging, for example, measurement setup request / response frames and / or measurement report frames 414a, 414b to establish a session during the measurement instance. In the example in Figure 4, the SBP initiator is one of the clients, but the AP may also perform sensing measurements with the SBP initiator by exchanging relevant frames 414c. During SBP procedure reporting, the AP, having received measurement reports from the clients, then reports them to the SBP initiator by, for example, sending an SBP report frame 416. After SBP procedure reporting, the SBP procedure may be terminated at any time by either the SBP initiator or the SBP responder sending an SBP termination frame (not shown).

[0036] As previously mentioned, there are issues with client discovery in the SBP procedure. Because coverage of an entire house / office / building / entity using multi-AP Wi-Fi (e.g., mesh Wi-Fi or enterprise Wi-Fi network) is now very common, blindly measuring and reporting all possible links in the SBP reporting phase would cause significant overhead on the Wi-Fi links used for reporting. Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram 500 showing a floor plan and the devices placed on the floor. In this diagram, STA-8 is an SBP initiator 502 configured to perform person tracking for a person entering through door 504. As indicated by the lines between devices, there may be 15 possible links between the devices, but only a few links, such as links 506, 507, 508, 509, and 510 (among STA-5, phone-1, AP-1), may be of interest for a person tracking sensing application responsible for person tracking near door 504.

[0037] Therefore, in order to reduce reporting overhead, there is a need for communication devices and methods for enhanced sensing via proxies that allow the SBP initiator to select the best link / STA in the SBP procedure.

[0038] This disclosure describes a proxy-based sensing procedure that allows a non-AP STA to act as an SBP initiator during the SBP negotiation phase and to select an STA or link for sensing measurements. The link may be an AP-to-STA link (e.g., Initiator-to-Responder (I2R) or Responder-to-Initiator (R2I)) or an STA-to-STA link (e.g., Responder-to-Responder (R2R)). This disclosure also aims to propose relevant signaling and frame formats for the proxy-based sensing procedure.

[0039] Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of the communication device 600 according to this disclosure. The communication device 600 may also be implemented as a sensing initiator, a sensing responder, an SBP initiator, or an SBP responder.

[0040] As shown in Figure 6, the communication device 600 may include a circuit 614, at least one radio transmitter 802, at least one radio receiver 604, and at least one antenna 612 (for simplicity, only one antenna is shown in Figure 6 for illustrative purposes). The circuit 614 may include at least one control unit 606 for use in software and hardware-assisted execution of tasks designed to be performed by at least one control unit 606, including control of communication with one or more other communication devices in a MIMO radio network. The circuit 614 may further include at least one transmit signal generator 608 and at least one receive signal processing unit 610. At least one control unit 606 may control at least one transmit signal generation unit 608 to generate MAC frames and PPDUs to be transmitted to one or more other communication devices via at least one wireless transmit unit 602, wherein the MAC frames are, for example, Client Discovery Query / Request / Response frames, Sensing Measurement Setup Request / Response frames, SBP Request / Response frames, SBP Report frames, Sensing Measurement Report frames, Polling Trigger frames, Sounding Trigger frames, NFRP Trigger frames, Sensing Trigger frames, Sensing NDPA (Sensing NDPA) NDPA) may be, for example, a PPDU used for non-trigger-based communication, a PPDU used for trigger-based sounding / sensing measurement procedures, a non-trigger-based sounding / sensing measurement procedure, a PPDU used for trigger-based downlink transmission when communication device 600 is an AP, or a PPDU used for trigger-based uplink transmission when communication device 600 is an STA.At least one control unit 606 may control at least one received signal processing unit 610 to process MAC frames and PPDUs received from one or more other communication devices via at least one wireless receiver 604, wherein the MAC frames may be, for example, client discovery query / request / response frames, sensing measurement setup request / response frames, SBP request / response frames, SBP report frames, sensing measurement report frames, polling trigger frames, sounding trigger frames, NFRP trigger frames, sensing trigger frames, and sensing NDPAs, and the PPDUs may be, for example, PPDUs used for non-trigger-based communication, PPDUs used for trigger-based sounding / sensing measurement procedures, non-trigger-based sounding / sensing measurement procedure PPDUs used for trigger-based uplink transmissions when the communication device 600 is an AP, or PPDUs used for trigger-based downlink transmissions when the communication device 600 is an STA. At least one transmit signal generation unit 608 and at least one receive signal processing unit 610 may be standalone modules of a communication device 600 communicating with at least one control unit 606 for the functions described above, as shown in Figure 6. Alternatively, at least one transmit signal generation unit 608 and at least one receive signal processing unit 610 may be included in at least one control unit 606. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the arrangement of these functional modules is flexible and may vary 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 within a chipset. In various embodiments, at operation, at least one radio transmitter 802, at least one radio receiver 604, and at least one antenna 612 may be controlled by at least one control unit 606.

[0041] The communication device 600 provides, during operation, the functions required for proxy sensing. For example, the communication device 600 may be an SBP initiator. Circuit 614 (e.g., at least one transmit signal generation unit 608 of circuit 614) may be configured to generate a request frame. The request frame indicates the conditions used by a second communication device (e.g., an SBP responder) to select one or more links, each associated with one or more third communication devices (e.g., sensing responders). At least one radio transmitter 602 may then transmit the request frame to the second communication device, requesting the second communication device to perform measurements on one or more links. At least one radio receiver 604 may then receive a report frame from the second communication device containing one or more reports of measurements corresponding to one or more links.

[0042] In one embodiment, at least one wireless receiver 604 receives a response frame from the second communication device containing information identifying each of the one or more links before receiving a report frame from the second communication device containing one or more reports of measurements corresponding to one or more links.

[0043] In another embodiment, at least one wireless receiver 604 further receives a verification request frame requesting verification information indicating that the communication device 600 is authorized to receive one or more reports. Circuit 614 (for example, each of at least one received signal processing unit 610 and at least one transmitted signal generating unit 608 of circuit 614) may be configured to process the verification request frame and generate a verification response frame containing the verification information. At least one wireless transmitter 602 may then transmit the verification response frame.

[0044] The communication device 600 may be a sensing SBP responder, and at least one radio receiving unit 604 receives a request frame from a first communication device (e.g., an SBP initiator) indicating conditions for selecting one or more links, each associated with one or more third communication devices (e.g., sensing responders). Circuit 614 (e.g., at least one transmit signal generating unit 608 of circuit 614) may be configured to generate a report frame containing a report of one or more measurements corresponding to one or more links. At least one radio transmitting unit 602 may then transmit the report frame to the first communication device.

[0045] In one embodiment, circuit 614 (for example, at least one transmit signal generation unit 608 of circuit 614) may be configured to generate a setup request frame for each of one or more third communication devices, which includes an identifier or address of the communication device 600, in order to set up a measurement for each of the one or more third communication devices. At least one wireless transmitter 602 may then transmit the setup request frame to the first communication device.

[0046] In another embodiment, at least one wireless receiver 604 receives a verification request frame from one of the one or more third communication devices to request verification information indicating that the first communication device is authorized to receive measurement reports from one of the one or more third communication devices. At least one wireless transmitter 602 may then transmit a verification request frame to the communication device 600. The at least one wireless receiver 604 then further receives a verification response frame containing verification information from the communication device 600, and the at least one wireless transmitter 602 may then transmit a verification response frame to one of the one or more third communication devices.

[0047] In yet another embodiment, circuit 614 (for example, at least one transmit signal generation unit 608 of circuit 614) may be configured to assign a different setup identifier to each of one or more links and to generate a response frame after receiving a request frame containing the different setup identifiers assigned to each of the one or more links. The report frame contains information of the different setup identifiers that identify each of the one or more links corresponding to the report of one or more measurements.

[0048] Figure 7 shows a flowchart 700 illustrating a communication method implemented by a first communication device, such as an SBP initiator, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Step 702 involves generating a request frame that will be used by a second communication device (e.g., an SBP responder) to select one or more links, each associated with one or more third communication devices (e.g., sensing responders). Step 704 involves sending the request frame to the second communication device to request the second communication device to perform measurements on one or more links. Step 706 involves receiving a report frame from the second communication device, which will contain one or more reports of measurements corresponding to one or more links.

[0049] Figure 8 shows a flowchart 800 illustrating a communication method implemented by a second communication device, such as an SBP responder, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Step 802 is performed by receiving a request frame from a first communication device (e.g., an SBP initiator), which indicates conditions for selecting one or more links, each associated with one or more third communication devices. Step 804 is performed by generating a report frame, which includes a report of one or more measurements corresponding to one or more links. Step 806 is performed by transmitting the report frame to the first communication device.

[0050] The following paragraphs describe a first embodiment of this disclosure relating to a proxy sensing procedure in which a non-AP STA indicates conditions for an AP to select one or more other non-AP STAs or links.

[0051] According to the first embodiment, during SBP setup, the SBP initiator (non-AP STA) specifies, in the SBP request, attributes of the basic sensing operation (e.g., sampling rate, reporting type, etc.) and information as conditions to help the SBP responder (AP) select an STA or link. The SBP responder then determines / selects the STA / link to be used for sensing measurements based on the conditions (i.e., attributes and information).

[0052] Figure 9 shows a flowchart 900 outlining the proxy sensing procedure between an AP and three non-AP STAs (STA1, STA4, STA3) according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 10 is a flowchart 1000 showing a detailed procedure flow of the proxy sensing procedure between the AP and the three non-AP STAs in Figure 9. Figure 11 is a schematic diagram 1100 showing the connection between the AP and the three non-AP STAs in Figure 9. The AP first uses a beacon / probe response frame to notify the AP of its ability to support enhanced client discovery and basic information about the associated non-AP STAs (e.g., the number / number of associated STAs). STA1 may perform basic SBP discovery and discover the AP's support for SBP functionality. STA1 may then select the AP as its SBP responder.

[0053] Next, STA1 may initiate the extended client discovery procedure by sending a protected client discovery query frame requesting the AP to provide a list of non-AP STAs (associated non-AP STAs and, optionally, unassociated non-AP STAs). The AP terminates the extended client discovery procedure by sending a protected client discovery response frame containing the requested list of non-AP STAs and, optionally, their respective neighboring STAs. In this extended client discovery procedure, the SBP initiator discovers information about the AP and potential sensing responders. Specifically, the AP already has basic information about associated STAs, such as the STA's operating channel, sensing capability, and R2R sensing capability. The SBP initiator (STA1) can obtain such information from the AP using a Level 1 client discovery query. Although not shown in the diagram, when an AP receives a request from an SBP initiator (or even from the SBP initiator itself), it may collect information about the STA's neighboring STAs, including other relevant information from its associated STA, such as the STA's location / position, RSSI (or propagation loss) to / from the STA (which represents the distance between the STA and the AP), and link metrics. This allows the SBP initiator to use a Level 2 client discovery query to retrieve such relevant information from the AP about its associated STA (and its neighboring STAs). Based on the above information, the SBP initiator can select one or more APs as SBP responders, as well as one or more non-AP STAs as target sensing responders for the SBP procedure.Alternatively, for example, if the AP does not support enhanced client discovery, or if, in addition to the information collected via enhanced client discovery, the SBP initiator may also use information received through other means (such as IP / MAC addresses provided by higher-layer applications) to select SBP responders and sensing responders for the SBP procedure.

[0054] Alternatively, an SBP initiator may initially request measurement results from "all / many" available links, but later, in subsequent SBP requests, select a subset of links best suited to the sensing application. Link selection may be based on a statistical analysis of sensing measurement reports for each link; for example, links where CSI feedback is unlikely to change in relation to the sensing application's needs may be omitted in later SBP requests.

[0055] The SBP initiator (STA1) may be associated with an AP (SBP responder), in which case it is assumed that the normal authentication / association procedure with the AP and the setup of the security association (SA) have already been completed, for example via a 4-way handshake, before the initiation of the SBP request. Alternatively, the SBP initiator (STA1) may not be associated with an AP, in which case it is assumed that the security setup associated with the AP has already been completed, for example via Pre-Association Security Negotiation (PASN) via a 3-way handshake, before the initiation of the SBP request.

[0056] STA1 discovers the AP through the client discovery procedure and selects it as the SBP responder. It then initiates the SBP procedure and requests the AP to act as a proxy sensing initiator on its behalf by sending a protected SBP request frame containing link / measurement parameters related to the SBP link and measurement attributes, such as the Receive Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) or Received Channel Power Indicator (RCPI), and the number of measurement links. Based on the link / measurement parameters, the AP then determines the three STAs / links that are more relevant to the sensing measurement (in this case, the I2R link connected to STA4, the I2R link connected to STA3, and the R2R link between STA4 and STA3) and initiates the sensing session setup and sensing measurement setup with the selected STAs (STA4, STA3) by sending a protected sensing measurement setup request frame to the selected STAs (STA4, STA3). In this embodiment, the same measurement setup identifier (ID) is assigned to all different measurement links for the SBP procedure (e.g., the I2R link between AP and STA, and the R2R link between STA4 and STA3). Upon receiving a protected sensing measurement setup request frame, STA4 and STA3 (sensing responders) then send a protected sensing measurement setup response frame to AP (SBP responder or proxy sensing initiator) indicating a successful sensing measurement setup.

[0057] Next, the AP transmits a protected SBP response frame to indicate the success of the setup using its sensing responder, and also indicates the measurement setup ID selected for the SBP procedure to the SBP initiator (STA1) in order to complete the SBP setup.

[0058] Next, the AP first performs a sensing measurement instance with STA4 and STA3 by sending an I2R measurement PPDU (e.g., a sensing NDP) to STA4 and STA3. In response, STA4 and STA3 measure their respective channels based on the receipt of the I2R measurement PPDU and, if requested, send a measurement report. The measurement report includes the assigned measurement setup ID "1". After collecting the measurement reports for its own links, the AP consolidates the measurement reports and sends a protected SBP report frame to STA1 that includes the measurement reports for the I2R links with STA4 and STA3. The report frame includes link information such as the STA ID or other ID that can be used to identify the I2R measurement link. Alternatively or additionally, R2R measurements and R2R link reporting may also be performed during the same measurement instance (measurement instance ID 1). In this case, STA4 sends an R2R measurement PPDU (e.g., a sensing NDP) to STA3, and STA3, in response, sends a measurement report to the AP. The measurement report includes the assigned measurement setup ID "1". Upon receiving the measurement report, the AP then sends a protected SBP report frame to STA1 containing the measurement report for the R2R link between STA4 and STA3. Similarly, the SBP report frame contains link information, such as the STA ID or other IDs that can be used to identify the R2R measurement link.

[0059] Alternatively, as shown in Figure 9, the AP may perform measurements on different links / STAs in different measurement instances (different measurement instance IDs, but the same measurement setup ID). For example, it may perform a sensing measurement with STA3 under measurement instance ID "1" in the first measurement instance, and then perform a sensing measurement with STA4 under measurement instance ID "2" in the second measurement instance. The AP then sends an SBP report frame to STA1 containing the measurement reports for STA4 and STA3 received in the different measurement instances. Similarly, the report frame may include link information such as an STA ID or other ID that can be used to identify the measurement link.

[0060] Finally, STA1 may initiate the termination of the SBP procedure by sending an SBP termination frame (not shown) to the AP after the SBP procedure. The AP then, together with STA4 and STA3, performs the termination of the sensing measurement and the termination of the sensing session for the sensing measurement setup ID corresponding to the SBP procedure.

[0061] Figure 12 shows an exemplary format of an Extended Capability Element 1200 used for basic discovery according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The Extended Capability Element 1200 is used to indicate the capabilities of an STA (AP or non-AP) and support for specified services and communication functions. It has an Element ID field, a Length field, and an Extended Capabilities field. The Extended Capabilities field includes a WLAN Sensing subfield, an SBP subfield, an SBP R2R subfield, a Level 1 Enhanced Client Discovery subfield, and a Level 2 Enhanced Client Discovery subfield. The SBP subfield indicates that the AP is capable of providing proxy sensing services using its associated STA. SBP R2R indicates that the AP is capable of providing proxy sensing services on an R2R link using its associated STA. The Level 1 and Level 2 Enhanced Client Discovery subfields indicate that the AP / non-AP STA can perform Level 1 and Level 2 Enhanced Client Discovery. For Level 1 Enhanced Client Discovery, the AP may provide a list of non-AP STAs (associated non-AP STAs and, optionally, unassociated non-AP STAs), and for Level 2 Enhanced Client Discovery, the AP may provide details about adjacent clients / devices located within the radio range of a specified non-AP STA (associated or unassociated non-AP STA).

[0062] In this disclosure, an SBP initiator and an SBP responder set up an SBP procedure by exchanging SBP request / response / end frames if a security association (SA) does not exist between them. If one exists, they exchange protected SBP request / response frames. According to a first embodiment of this disclosure, exemplary formats of an SBP request frame 1300 and a protected SBP request frame 1310 are shown in Figures 13A and 13B, respectively. The SBP request frame 1300 includes a MAC header (Frame Control field, Duration field, Recipient Address (RA) field, Transmitter Address (TA) field), a Category field set to "Public", a Public Action field set to "SBP Request", a Dialog Token field, an SBP parameter element, and a Frame Checking Sequence (FCS) field. The SBP protection frame 1310 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to "Protected Dual of Public Action", a public action field set to "Protected SBP Request", a dialog token field, an SBP parameter element field, and an FCS field.

[0063] According to a first embodiment of this disclosure, Figures 14A and 14B show exemplary formats of an SBP response frame 1400 and a protected response frame 1410, respectively. The SBP response frame 1400 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to "Public", a public action field set to "SBP Response", a dialog token field, a Status Code field, a Measurement Setup ID field, an SBP Parameters Element field, an SBP Link Info Element field, and an FCS field. The protected SBP response frame 1410 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to "protected public action dual", a public action field set to "protected SBP response", a dialog token field, a status code field, a measurement setup ID field, an SBP parameter element field, an SBP link information element field, and an FCS field.

[0064] The Measurement Setup ID field is set to a Measurement Setup ID value that uniquely identifies the SBP procedure and all measurement links corresponding to the SBP procedure. The Measurement Setup ID field is present in SBP response frames 1400 and 1410 only when the Status Code field indicates "Success".

[0065] Figure 15 shows an exemplary format of the SBP parameter element field 1500 in the SBP request frames 1300, 1310 / SBP response frames 1400, 1410 in Figures 13A-14B. The SBP parameter element field includes an Element ID field, a Length field, an Element ID Extension field, and an SBP parameter field. The SBP parameter field includes Link Parameters subfields, Measurement Parameters subfields, and Report Parameters subfields, which specify the attributes related to the link being measured, the measured PPDU, and the SBP report, respectively.

[0066] The Link Parameters subfield includes the Include SBP Initiator bit, the Include R2R bit, the Minimum RSSI / RCPI subfield, and the Number of Measurement Links subfield. The Include SBP Initiator bit is set to 1, indicating a request to include the SBP initiator as one of the sensing responders. Therefore, measurement reports for the link to which the SBP initiator is attached are also measured and included in the SBP report frame. The Include R2R bit is set to 1 to indicate that R2R links may be taken into consideration. The Minimum RSSI / RCPI subfield indicates that the average of the observed RSSI or RCPI for frames transmitted on the selected link is expected to be above the indicated level. The Number of Links subfield indicates the number of links used for sensing measurements.

[0067] The measurement parameters subfield includes the NDP Type subfield, the NDP Bandwidth subfield, and the Sampling Rate subfield. The NDP Type subfield indicates the NDP type or format used to measure the channel (e.g., High Efficiency (HE), Extremely High Throughput (EHT), or Ranging). The NDP Bandwidth subfield indicates the channel bandwidth of the NDP used to measure the channel. The Sampling Rate subfield indicates how frequently sensing measurements are performed, i.e., in terms of the number of measurements per Hz or second.

[0068] The reporting parameters subfield includes the Measurement Report Type subfield, the Report Frequency subfield, and the Channel State Information (CSI) Variation Threshold subfield. The Measurement Report Type subfield indicates the type of sensing measurement report used during the SBP reporting procedure. The Report Frequency subfield indicates how often SBP reports are sent, i.e., in terms of the number of transmissions per Hz or second. The CSI Variation Threshold subfield indicates a number between 0 and 1 that corresponds to the threshold used to determine whether the measured change in CSI is large enough for the AP to generate an SBP report.

[0069] Figure 16 shows an exemplary format of the SBP link information element field 1600 in the SBP response frames 1400 and 1410 of Figures 14A and 14B according to an embodiment. The SBP link information element field includes an element ID field, a length field, an element ID extension field, and an SBP link information (SBP Link Info) field. The SBP link information field includes a Link Info Count (N) subfield and one or more Link Information fields corresponding to one or more links. The Link Info Count (N) subfield indicates the number of links (link information subfields) present in the SBP link information field. Each link information subfield includes an STA2 Present subfield, an STA1 ID subfield, and an STA2 ID subfield (if the STA2 Present subfield is set to 1). For I2R or R2I links to which the SBP responder itself is attached, the STA2 presence subfield is set to 0, and the STA1 ID subfield indicates the STA ID (e.g., MAC address or Associated Identifier (AID)) of the STA associated with the other end of the link. For R2R links, the STA2 presence subfield is set to 1, and the STA1 and STA2 ID subfields indicate the STA IDs (e.g., MAC addresses or AIDs) of the two STAs associated with both ends of the R2R link. Alternatively, instead of the STA ID, a unique link ID for each measurement link (assigned during the sensing measurement setup for the SBP procedure) may be included in the link information subfield. The SBP initiator uses the link ID to identify the measurement link in subsequent frames.

[0070] Regarding SBP reporting, the sensing measurement results obtained in the WLAN sensing procedure resulting from the SBP request are reported by the SBP responder to the SBP initiator in a protected SBP reporting frame. The protected SBP reporting frame is constructed either by the SBP responder (AP) itself (if the AP is a sensing receiver) or by adding a link information field (shown in Figure 16) and updating the Report Length field obtained in each sensing measurement report field transmitted by the sensing responder on the link.

[0071] Figure 17 shows an exemplary format of an SBP report frame 1700 according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. The SBP report frame 1700 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to “Protected Sensing”, an Action field set to “Protected SBP Report”, a dialog token field, a Sensing Measurement Report List field, and an FCS field. The Sensing Measurement Report List field includes one or more Sensing Measurement Report fields corresponding to one or more links. Each Sensing Measurement Report field includes a Report Length field, a Measurement Setup ID field, a Measurement Instance ID field, a Sensing Measurement Time field, a Sensing Measurement Report Type field, a Sensing Measurement Control field, a Sensing Measurement Feedback field, and a Link Information field. The Report Length field indicates the length of the Sensing Measurement Report field. If a link information field is added, the report length field should also be updated accordingly. The measurement setup ID field indicates the measurement setup ID value corresponding to the SBP procedure. The measurement instance ID field identifies the measurement instance in which the sensing measurement is performed. The sensing measurement time field indicates the measurement timestamp in which the measurement was performed by the sensing receiver (responder).The sensing measurement control field includes the Nc Index subfield, the Nr Index subfield, the Bandwidth (BW) subfield, the NG (Number of Groups) subfield, the Remaining Feedback Segments subfield, and the First Feedback Segment subfield. The sensing measurement feedback includes the sensing measurement results, e.g., CSI or partial CSI. The link information shown in Figure 16 includes the STA2 presence subfield, the STA1 ID subfield, and (if the STA2 presence subfield is set to 1 to indicate an R2R link) the STA2 ID subfield. The STA1 and STA2 ID subfields include the sensing responder ID (e.g., MAC address or AID) and identify the link corresponding to the sensing measurement report. Alternatively, instead of the STA ID, a unique link ID may be assigned to each measurement link and included in the link information subfield.

[0072] According to a first embodiment of this disclosure, Figures 18A and 18B show exemplary formats for an SBP termination frame 1800 and a protected SBP termination frame 1810, respectively. The SBP termination frame 1800 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to "Public", a public action field set to "SBP Termination", a measurement setup ID field, and an FCS field. The protected SBP termination frame 1810 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to "Protected Public Action Dual", a public action field set to "Protected SBP Termination", a measurement setup ID field, and an FCS field. The measurement setup ID field is set to a measurement setup ID value assigned by the SBP responder (AP) corresponding to the SBP procedure being terminated.

[0073] Figure 19 shows a flowchart 1900 illustrating communication between an SBP initiator (non-AP STA) and an SBP responder (AP), including communication between the Station Management Entity (SME) and MAC subLayer Management Entity (MLME) of the SBP initiator and SBP responder for proxy sensing according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure. The MLME-SBP.request primitive is issued by the MAC sublayer to request the SBP initiator's SME to send an SBP request frame to the peer STA (SBP responder). Upon receiving this primitive, the SBP initiator's MLME constructs an SBP request frame and sends it to the peer STA's (SBP responder's) MAC address. The MLME-SBP.request primitive and its primitive parameters are shown below.

[0074] MLE-SBP.request( PeerSTAAddress, SBPParameters )

[0075] Table 1 shows the details of the primitive parameters included in the MLME_SBP_request primitive. [Table 1]

[0076] The MLME-SBP.indication primitive is issued by the MAC sublayer to notify the SBP responder SME of the receipt of an SBP request frame from the peer STA (SBP initiator). Upon receiving this primitive, the SME initiates the SBP procedure on behalf of the peer STA. The MLME-SBP_indication primitive and its parameters are shown below.

[0077] MLME-SBP.indication( PeerSTAAddress, SBPParameters )

[0078] Table 2 shows the details of the primitive parameters included in the MLME_SBP.indication primitive. [Table 2]

[0079] The MLME-SBP.response primitive is issued to the MAC sublayer by the SBP responder's SME in response to the MLME-SBP.indication and the request to send the SBP response frame to the peer STA (SBP initiator). Upon receiving this primitive, the SBP responder's MLME constructs the SBP response frame and sends it to the peer STA's MAC address. The MLME-SBP.response primitive and its parameters are shown below.

[0080] MLME-SBP.response( PeerSTAAddress, StatusCode, SBPParameters, MeasurementSetupID, SBPLinkInfo )

[0081] Table 3 shows the details of the primitive parameters included in the MLME_SBP_response primitive. [Table 3]

[0082] The MLME-SBP.confirm primitive is issued to the MAC sublayer of the SBP initiator to the SME when an SBP response is received from the peer STA (SBP responder) to notify the result of the SBP response. The MLME-SBP.confirm primitive and its parameters are shown below.

[0083] MLME-SBP.confirm( PeerSTAAddress, StatusCode, SBPParameters, MeasurementSetupID, SBPLinkInfo )

[0084] Table 4 shows the details of the primitive parameters included in the MLME-SBP.confirm primitive. [Table 4]

[0085] The MLME-SBPREPORT.request primitive is issued by the SBP responder's SME to the MAC sublayer to request the transmission of an SBP report frame to the peer STA (SBP initiator). Upon receiving the primitive, the SBP responder's MLME constructs an SBP report frame and sends it to the peer STA's MAC address. The MLME-SBPREPORT.request primitive and its parameters are shown below.

[0086] MLME-SBPREPORT.request( PeerSTAAddress, SensingMeasurementReportList )

[0087] Table 5 shows the details of the primitive parameters included in the MLME-SBPREPORT.request primitive. [Table 5]

[0088] The MLME-SBRREPORT.indication primitive is issued by the MAC sublayer to notify the SBP initiator's SME of the receipt of an SBP report frame from a peer STA (SBP responder). The MLME-SBRREPORT.indication primitive and its parameters are shown below.

[0089] MLME-SBPREPORT.indication( PeerSTAAddress, SensingMeasurementReportList )

[0090] Table 6 shows the details of the primitive parameters included in the MLME-SBPREPORT.request primitive. [Table 6]

[0091] The MLME-SBPREPORT.confirm primitive is issued by the MAC sublayer to the SBP responder's SME to notify it of the result of the request for sending an SBP report frame. The MLME-SBPREPORT.confirm primitive and its parameters are shown below.

[0092] MLME-SBPREPORT.confirm( PeerSTAAddress, StatusCode, )

[0093] Table 7 shows the details of the primitive parameters included in the MLME-SBPREPORT.confirm primitive. [Table 7]

[0094] The MLME-SBPTERMINATION.request primitive is issued by the SME to the MAC sublayer to request the transmission of an SBP termination frame to the peer STA. Upon receiving this primitive, the MLME constructs an SBP termination frame and causes it to be sent to the peer MAC address.

[0095] MLME-SBPTERMINATION.request( PeerSTAAddress, )

[0096] Table 8 shows the details of the primitive parameters included in the MLME-SBPTERMINATION.request primitive. [Table 8]

[0097] The MLME-SBPTERMINATION.indication primitive is issued by the MAC sublayer to the SME to notify it of the receipt of an SBP termination frame from the peer STA.

[0098] MLME-SBPTERMINATION.indication( PeerSTAAddress, )

[0099] Table 9 shows the details of the primitive parameters included in the MLME-SBPTERMINATION.indication primitive. [Table 9]

[0100] The MLME-SBPTERMINATION.confirm primitive is issued to the SME by the MAC sublayer to notify it of the result of a request to send an SBP termination frame.

[0101] MLME-SBPTERMINATION.confirm( PeerSTAAddress, StatusCode, )

[0102] Table 10 shows the details of the primitive parameters included in the MLME-SBPTERMINATION.confirm primitive. [Table 10]

[0103] In Figure 19, the SBP termination frame is sent by the SBP initiator, but it can also be sent by the SBP responder, in which case the direction of the corresponding MLME primitive is reversed.

[0104] The following paragraphs describe a second embodiment of the present disclosure of a proxy sensing procedure in which a non-AP STA indicates the conditions and target STA or link information for the AP to select one or more other non-AP STAs or links.

[0105] Figure 20A shows a flowchart 2000 outlining the proxy sensing procedure between an AP and three non-AP STAs (STA1, STA2, STA3) according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 21 shows a flowchart 2100 outlining the detailed procedure flow of the proxy sensing procedure between the AP and the three non-AP STAs in Figure 20A. The AP first uses a Beacon / Probe Response frame to communicate its ability to support enhanced client discovery and basic information about the associated non-AP STAs (e.g., the number of associated STAs). STA1 may perform basic SBP discovery and discover the AP's support for SBP functionality. STA1 may then select the AP as its SBP responder.

[0106] Next, STA1 (SBP initiator) may initiate the extended client discovery procedure by sending a protected client discovery query frame requesting AP (SBP responder) to provide a list of non-AP STAs (associated non-AP STAs and, optionally, unassociated non-AP STAs). AP terminates the extended client discovery procedure by sending a protected client discovery response frame containing the requested list of non-AP STAs and, optionally, their respective neighboring STAs.

[0107] The SBP initiator (STA1) may be associated with an AP (SBP responder), in which case it is assumed that the normal authentication / association procedure with the AP and the setup of the security association (SA) have already been completed, for example via a four-way handshake, before the initiation of the SBP request. Alternatively, the SBP initiator (STA1) may not be associated with an AP, in which case it is assumed that the setup of security associated with the AP has already been completed, for example via pre-association security negotiation (PASN) via a three-way handshake, before the initiation of the SBP request.

[0108] STA1 discovers AP, STA2, and STA3 from the discovery procedure and selects AP as the SBP responder. It then initiates the SBP procedure and requests AP to act as a proxy sensing initiator on its behalf by sending a protected SBP request frame that includes the number of measurement links and link / measurement parameters and information related to the SBP link and measurement attributes, such as the minimum RSSI / RCPI. Unlike the SBP procedure described in the first embodiment, in this second embodiment, the SBP request frame also includes information on target device parameters such as the location, coverage information, and STA ID of one or more specific target sensing responders. Based on the link / measurement parameters and target device parameters, the AP then determines three STAs / links (in this case, an I2R link connected to STA2, an I2R link connected to STA3, and an R2R link between STA2 and STA3) that are more relevant to the sensing measurement based on the parameters and information of the target sensing responder, and initiates the sensing session setup and sensing measurement setup with the selected STAs (STA2, STA3) by sending a protected sensing measurement setup request frame to the selected STAs.

[0109] In this second embodiment, a unique Measurement Setup ID (MSID) is assigned to each measurement link for the SBP procedure. For example, the I2R link between AP and STA3 is assigned MSID "1", the link between AP and STA2 is assigned MSID "2", and the R2R link between STA2 and STA3 is assigned MSID "3". Upon receiving a protected sensing measurement setup request frame, STA2 and STA3 (sensing responders) then send back a protected sensing measurement setup response frame to AP (SBP responder or proxy sensing initiator) indicating a successful sensing measurement setup.

[0110] Next, the AP completes the SBP setup by sending a protected SBP response frame back to the SBP initiator (STA1) to indicate a successful setup, along with its sensing responder and the measurement setup ID selected for the SBP procedure and assigned to the measurement link.

[0111] Next, the AP performs a sensing measurement instance with STA2 and STA3 by first sending an I2R measurement PPDU (e.g., a sensing NDP) to STA2 and STA3. In response, STA2 and STA3 measure their respective channels based on receiving the I2R measurement PPDU and send their respective measurement reports if requested. The measurement reports include their respective measurement setup IDs "1" and "2". After collecting the measurement reports for its own link, the AP consolidates the measurement reports and sends a protected SBP report frame to STA1 containing the measurement reports for the I2R links between the AP and STA2 and STA3. The measurement setup IDs are included in the measurement reports in the SBP report frame to identify the respective measurement links. Alternatively or additionally, R2R measurements and R2R link reporting may also be performed during the same measurement instance (measurement instance ID 1). In this case, STA2 sends an R2R measurement PPDU (e.g., a sensing NDP) to STA3, and STA3 sends a measurement report to the AP in response. The measurement report includes its measurement setup ID "3". Upon receiving the measurement report, the AP then sends a protected SBP report frame to STA1 containing the measurement report for the R2R link between STA2 and STA3. The measurement setup ID is included in the measurement report within the SBP report frame to identify each measurement link.

[0112] Alternatively, as shown in Figure 20A, the AP may perform measurements on different links / STAs in different measurement instances (different measurement instance IDs, but the same measurement setup ID). For example, it may perform a sensing measurement with STA3 under measurement instance ID "1" in the first measurement instance, and then perform a sensing measurement with STA2 under measurement instance ID "2" in the second measurement instance. The AP then sends an SBP report frame to STA1 containing the measurement reports for its I2R links with STA2 and STA3 received in the different measurement instances. The measurement setup IDs are included in the measurement reports in the SBP report frame to identify the I2R and R2R measurement links, respectively.

[0113] Finally, STA1 may initiate the termination of the SBP procedure by sending an SBP termination frame (not shown) to the AP after the SBP procedure. The AP then works with STA2 and STA3 to terminate the sensing measurement and the sensing session for the sensing measurement setup ID corresponding to the SBP procedure.

[0114] Figure 22 is an exemplary visualization of the results of extended client discovery. The results of extended client discovery correspond to the links between devices located within a floor plan, as shown in Figure 5. Such visualizations may be displayed on the screen of a laptop, smartphone, or any electronic device. In this example, the SBP initiator (STA8) performs Level 1 client discovery and displays only a list of APs / AP MLDs (in this case, four different APs (AP1, AP2, AP3, AP4)). Each AP sends its discovery results, consisting of a list of STAs associated with the AP, along with their basic information, to the SBP initiator. These may be sorted in descending order according to link quality. Optionally, APs also provide a list of unassociated STAs (and / or MLDs) that the AP is aware of. In this example, AP1 provides information on STA8, STA5, and phone 1; AP2 provides information on STA7 and STA1; AP4 provides information on STA4 and STA6; and AP3 provides information on STA2 and STA3. The SBP initiator may, additionally or alternatively, perform Level 2 client discovery. This Level 2 client discovery may be triggered by selection in a particular STA or non-AP MLD. In this example, STA-5 is selected, and the SBP initiator performs Level 2 client discovery on STA-5 together with AP1. A client discovery query frame containing STA-5's ID (e.g., MAC address) is sent to AP1. Thus, AP1 provides information not only about STA-5 but also about its neighboring APs and STAs located within STA-5's radio range (in this case, STA5, STA8 (the SBP initiator itself)), phone 1, STA1, AP2, AP4, and STA4), as shown in block 2202. The results can then be used to select a sensing responder for SBP procedure measurement.

[0115] As part of Extended Client Discovery, the SBP initiator may also discover the location of APs (in addition to the location of non-AP STAs). Location information may be obtained via GPS (outdoors) or precision timing measurement and / or ranging (indoors), etc. AP location information (along with other information such as supported capabilities) may be used by the SBP initiator to select an AP suitable to act as an SBP responder. If the STA information field in the client discovery response frame contains information for a DMG (Directional Multi-Gigabit, i.e., 802.11ad) STA or an EDMG (Enhanced Directional Multi-Gigabit, i.e., 802.11ay) STA, the STA information field may also contain a Sector Select subfield containing the value of the Sector ID subfield of the SSW field in the frame received at the best quality in the preceding sector sweep. The Sector ID subfield indicates the sector number to which the frame containing this SSW field is transmitted. When selecting a sensing responder STA from among DMG / EDMG STAs, the AP may use the sector number information as a reference.

[0116] Figure 23 shows an exemplary format of the SBP parameter element field in an SBP request frame according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. The SBP parameter element field 2300 includes an element ID field, a length field, an element ID extension field, and an SBP parameter field. Unlike the SBP parameter element field described in Figure 15 for the first embodiment, the SBP parameter field includes additional Target Device Parameter subfields, a link parameter subfield, a measurement parameter subfield, and a reporting parameter subfield, which specify attributes related to the target STA / link, the link being measured, the measured PPDU, and the SBP report, respectively.

[0117] The link parameter subfield, measurement parameter subfield, and reporting parameter subfield are the same as those described in Figure 15. The target device parameter subfield includes a Target Device Control field, a Device Location Info field, a Coverage Info field, and one or more Target Device Info fields. The Target Device Control field includes a Device Type subfield, a Device Location Info Present subfield, a Coverage Info Present subfield, and a Target Device Count (N) subfield. The Device Type subfield specifies the device type restrictions for the sensing responder.

[0118] Table 11 shows the various device types corresponding to the device type subfield value. [Table 11]

[0119] The Device Location Information Presence subfield and the Coverage Information Presence subfield indicate the presence of the corresponding fields in the Target Device Parameters subfield. The Number of Target Devices (N) subfield indicates the number of Target Device Information fields in the Target Device Parameters subfield.

[0120] The device location information field specifies the device's location and uses that location as the center to determine the coverage area or the wireless range extended from that location. The coverage information field includes a Coverage Radius subfield and a Coverage Sector Bitmap subfield. The Coverage Radius subfield specifies the radius of the coverage area associated with the device location specified in the device location information field (e.g., presented by RSSI / RCPI level (dBm) or as distance (m)). The Coverage Sector Bitmap subfield indicates a segment or area relative to the device's location.

[0121] The device location information field contains information about the location where the target STA should be placed. For example, this field may include a Device Location Information Body field, as described in 9.4.1.56 of 802.11-2020. The Device Location Information Body field includes Location Configuration Information (LCI), which includes latitude, longitude, and altitude information. Together with the coverage information field, the SBP initiator can specify a coverage area (with the location indicated in the device location information field). The SBP initiator requests the AP (SBP responder) to select a target sensing responder within this coverage area. If the device location information field does not exist but the coverage information field does, the location of the SBP responder (AP) is considered to be the center of the target coverage area.

[0122] Table 12 shows the various sectors represented by the bits in the coverage sector bitmap. [Table 12]

[0123] Each target device information field within the target device parameters subfield specifies the target link and has an STA2 presence subfield, an STA1 ID subfield, and an STA2 ID subfield. For I2R or R2I links, the STA2 presence subfield is set to 0, and the STA1 ID subfield indicates the STA ID (e.g., MAC address, associated identifier (AID), or unassociated ID (UID)) of the STA associated with the link, while the SBP responder is understood to be attached to the other end of the link. For R2R links, the STA2 presence subfield is set to 1, and the STA1 ID subfield and STA2 ID subfield indicate the STA IDs (e.g., MAC address or AID) of the two STAs associated with the R2R link. Alternatively, instead of an STA ID, a unique link ID may be assigned to each measurement link and included in the link information subfield.

[0124] Although not shown in the diagram, other information about the target device, such as the device name, PHY version (HT / VHT / HE / EHT, etc.), and supported features (e.g., WLAN sensing is supported, precision timing measurement (FTM) is supported), may also be included in the target device parameter field.

[0125] According to a second embodiment of this disclosure, the SBP initiator provides the SBP parameter subfield frame with target device parameters in addition to the link / measurement parameters in the SBP parameter element field of the SBP request to the SBP responder (AP), and the SBP responder (AP) uses the provided target device parameters and link parameters to select the STA / link to be used for the SBP sensing measurement. For example, if a device location information field and a coverage information field are included, the AP may select an STA that is located within a specified sector of the coverage area and satisfies the link parameters (e.g., minimum RSSI / RCPI). Additionally or alternatively, if a target device information field is included, the AP directly selects an STA that is indicated to satisfy other parameters such as link parameters. The SBP responder (AP) then acts as a sensing initiator and, with the selected STA (sensing responder), performs sensing session setup and sensing measurement setup using a unique measurement setup ID for each measurement link.

[0126] Figures 24A and 24B show exemplary formats of an SBP response frame 2400 and a protected response frame 2410 according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure, respectively. The SBP response frame 2400 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to "Public", a public action field set to "SBP Response", a dialog token field, a status code field, an SBP parameter element field, an SBP link information element field, and an FCS field. The protected SBP response frame 2410 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to "Protected Public Action Dual", a public action field set to "Protected SBP Response", a dialog token field, a status code field, an SBP parameter element field, an SBP link information element field, and an FCS field. Note that for the SBP procedure according to the second embodiment, different measurement links are assigned different measurement setup IDs, and therefore the measurement setup IDs are included in the SBP link element fields of SBP response frames 2400 and 2410, which are different from the SBP response frames 1400 and 1410 shown in Figures 14A and 14B. Alternatively, the measurement setup ID field is also included in the SBP response frame itself, and a unique measurement setup ID can be assigned to represent the SBP procedure.

[0127] Figure 25 shows an exemplary format of the SBP link information element field 2500 of the SBP response frames 2400, 2410 in Figures 24A and 24B according to an embodiment. The SBP link information element field includes an element ID field, a length field, an element ID extension field, and an SBP link information field. The SBP link information field includes a link information count (N) subfield and one or more link information fields corresponding to one or more links. The link information count (N) subfield indicates the number of links (link information subfields) present in the SBP link information field. Each link information subfield includes an STA2 presence subfield, an STA1 ID subfield, an STA2 ID subfield (if the STA2 presence subfield is set to 1), and a measurement setup ID subfield. For I2R or R2I links, the STA2 presence subfield is set to 0, and the STA1 ID subfield indicates the STA ID (e.g., MAC address, AID, or UID) of the STA associated with the link. For R2R links, the STA2 presence subfield is set to 1, and the STA1 and STA2 ID subfields indicate the STA IDs (e.g., MAC address, AID, or UID) of the two STAs associated with the R2R link. The unique link ID for each measurement link is assigned and included in the measurement setup ID subfield of the link information subfield.

[0128] If the setup is successful, the AP proceeds to run sensing measurement instances on the selected links based on the attributes indicated in the SBP request, and collects sensing measurement reports from sensing responders if applicable.

[0129] Regarding SBP reporting, the sensing measurement results obtained in the WLAN sensing procedure resulting from the SBP request are reported by the SBP responder to the SBP initiator in a protected SBP reporting frame. The protected SBP reporting frame is constructed either by the SBP responder (AP) itself (if the AP is a sensing receiver) or by adding a link information field (shown in Figure 16) and updating the reporting length field obtained in each sensing measurement report field transmitted by the sensing responder on the link.

[0130] Figure 26 shows an exemplary format of an SBP report frame 2600 according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. The SBP report frame 2600 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to “Protected Sensing”, an action field set to “Protected SBP Report”, a dialog token field, a sensing measurement report list field, and an FCS field. The sensing measurement report list field includes one or more sensing measurement report fields corresponding to one or more links. Each sensing measurement report field includes a report length field, a measurement setup ID field, a measurement instance ID field, a sensing measurement time field, a sensing measurement report type field, a sensing measurement control field, a sensing measurement feedback field, and a link information field. The report length field indicates the length of the sensing measurement report field. If a link information field is added, the report length field should also be updated accordingly. The measurement setup ID field indicates the measurement setup ID value corresponding to the measurement setup assigned and initiated by the AP. The Measurement Setup ID uniquely identifies the link corresponding to the sensing measurement report from other sensing measurement reports. The Measurement Instance ID field identifies the measurement instance in which the sensing measurement is performed. The Sensing Measurement Time field indicates the measurement timestamp in which the measurement was performed by the sensing receiver (responder). The Sensing Measurement Control field includes the Nc Index subfield, Nr Index subfield, Bandwidth (BW) subfield, NG (Number of Groups) subfield, Remaining Feedback Segment subfield, and First Feedback Segment subfield. The Sensing Measurement Feedback includes the sensing measurement result, e.g., CSI or Partial CSI. The link information shown in Figure 25 includes the STA2 Presence subfield, the STA1 ID subfield, and (if the STA2 Presence subfield is set to 1 to indicate an R2R link) the STA2 ID subfield.The STA1 and STA2 ID subfields contain the sensing responder's ID (e.g., MAC address, AID, or UID) and identify the link corresponding to the sensing measurement report. Alternatively, instead of the STA ID, a unique link ID may be assigned to each measurement link and included in the link information subfield. In this embodiment, a unique measurement setup ID is assigned to identify each measurement link, so the link information field may be omitted. In this case, instead of using a protected SBP report frame, the SBP responder may forward a protected sensing measurement report frame received from the STA (with the MAC header correctly modified if necessary) or generated by the SBP responder itself directly to the SBP initiator; that is, the sensing measurement report frame can also be used as an SBP report frame.

[0131] Figure 27A is a schematic diagram 2700 showing a floor plan and two exemplary embodiments of the procedure for proxy sensing of devices located on the floor according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure. As an example, a motion detection sensing application is running on an SBP initiator (STA8) and is detecting human movement in the office entrance / lobby area 2704. The SBP initiator performs basic and extended client discovery and selects AP1 and AP2 as two SBP responders based on, for example, their capabilities (e.g., SBP support) and location, as well as the capabilities and location of their associated STAs. In this example, the SBP initiator includes the following target device parameters and link parameters as target selection criteria for AP1. • Device type = "Non-mobile devices only" • Device location information present = 0 • Coverage radius = -62 dBm, Coverage sectors = North and East • Number of target devices (N) = 0 • Include SBP initiator bit = 1 • Include R2R bit = 1 • Number of measurement links = 3

[0132] Based on the specified target selection criteria, the target coverage area 2706 can be determined from the coverage radius parameter (since device position information is unavailable, the position of AP-1 is taken as the center of the target coverage area), and AP1 selects three links (AP1-STA8 link 2706, AP1-STA9 link 2707, and STA8-STA9 link 2708) for SBP measurement. Similarly, the SBP initiator also includes similar parameters as target selection criteria to AP2 and sets up SBP with AP2 on one link (AP2-STA1 link 2708) for SBP measurement.

[0133] In another example that can be implemented as a continuation of the first example, STA8 is implemented as a motion detection sensor and obtains sensing measurement results from three selected SBP links (AP1-STA8 link, AP1-STA9 link, STA8-STA9 link) by the SBP procedure according to the first exemplary embodiment, but the sensing measurement results for the AP1-STA9 link and STA8-STA9 link may be determined to be less disruptive (e.g., because people entering near the entrance / lobby are far from the link). The SBP initiator (STA8) may then determine that STA5 is a better choice than STA9 for SBP measurement. STA8 then (re)starts a new SBP setup with AP1, for example, after terminating a previous SBP setup.

[0134] The SBP initiator includes the following target device parameters and link parameters in the new SBP request frame as target selection criteria for AP1. • Device type = "Includes all types" • Device location information exists = Coverage information exists = 0 • Number of target devices (N) = 3 • Include SBP initiator bit = 1 • Include R2R bit = 1 • Number of measurement links = 3 • Target device information 1, 2, 3 = STA8, STA5; STA5, STA8 (R2R link)

[0135] The SBP initiator directly specifies the target STA to be used as a sensing responder for the SBP procedure. Based on the specified target selection criteria (i.e., target device information), AP1 selects three links (AP1-STA8 link 2706, AP1-STA5 link 2709, and STA8-STA5 link 2710) for the SBP measurement.

[0136] Figure 27B shows another exemplary format of an SBP request frame 2750 according to a second embodiment. In the second example above, after the SBP initiator (STA8) has determined that STA5 is a better choice than STA9 for the SBP measurement, instead of terminating the existing SBP procedure, the SBP initiator may also choose to modify the existing SBP procedure and send an SBP request frame 2750 with the Re-Setup bit field 2752 set to 1, indicating that this is a request for a change in SBP parameters rather than a new SBP request. When the Re-Setup bit field 2752 is equal to 1, the Measurement Setup ID field indicates the Measurement Setup ID present in the SBP request frame and corresponding to the SBP procedure being re-setup. The SBP initiator includes the following target device parameters and link parameters in the SBP request frame for SBP re-setup as target selection criteria for AP1. • Device type = "Includes all types" • Device location information exists = Coverage information exists = 0 • Number of target devices (N) = 3 • Include SBP initiator bit = 1 • Include R2R bit = 1 • Number of measurement links = 3 • Target device information 1, 2, 3 = STA8, STA5; STA5, STA8 (R2R link)

[0137] Upon receiving this SBP request frame, the SBP responder (AP-1) compares the STA specified in the target device information and understands that the SBP initiator is requesting that sensing responder STA-9 be removed from the current SBP procedure and that STA-5 be used instead as the second sensing responder for the SBP procedure. Based on the specified target device information, AP1 sends a sensing termination frame to STA-9 to terminate its sensing measurement setup with STA-9 in the MSID corresponding to the SBP procedure. AP1 also performs a sensing measurement setup with STA-5 and adds STA-5 as a new sensing responder for the SBP procedure corresponding to the MSID. Using this SBP request re-setup has the advantage of changing SBP parameters without having to terminate the SBP procedure and perform a new SBP setup.

[0138] The following paragraphs describe a third embodiment of the present disclosure concerning a proxy sensing procedure in which a non-AP STA negotiates one SBP procedure for one measurement link at a time. Different measurement setup IDs are assigned to different measurement links for the SBP procedure. The measurement setup IDs can then be used to identify the measurement link corresponding to the sensing measurement report.

[0139] Figure 28 shows a flowchart 2800 outlining the proxy sensing procedure between an AP and three non-AP STAs (STA1, STA2, STA3) according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. First, basic SBP discovery is performed to discover the AP's support for SBP functionality. Next, STA1 may select the AP as its SBP responder. Then, STA1 may initiate an extended client discovery procedure to request the AP to provide a list of non-AP STAs (associated non-AP STAs and optional non-AP STAs that are not associated) and discover basic information about the AP and potential sensing responders.

[0140] STA1 discovers the AP through the client discovery procedure and selects it as the SBP responder. STA1 then initiates the SBP procedure and requests that the AP perform the sensing measurement instead by a specific target sensing responder (in this case, STA3) by sending a protected SBP request frame containing target device parameters such as location, coverage information, and the STA ID of the target sensing responder. Based on the target device parameters, the AP determines STA3 for the sensing measurement and initiates the sensing session setup and sensing measurement setup with the selected STA / link (STA3) by sending a protected sensing measurement setup request frame to STA3. The AP assigns a sensing measurement setup ID (MSID "1") unique to the STA / link. The AP then completes the SBP setup by sending a protected SBP response frame back to STA1 indicating the success of the setup with the sensing responder, the sensing responder's link information, and their measurement setup IDs ("2").

[0141] Subsequently, the AP performs sensing measurements with STA3 and sends an SBP report after collecting measurement reports on the link. In the report frame, the link / STA measurement setup ID ("1") is included to identify the measurement link.

[0142] Next, STA1 initiates a second SBP procedure, requesting that the AP perform the sensing measurement instead by a different specific target sensing responder (in this case, STA2) by sending a protected SBP request frame containing target device parameters such as location, coverage information, and the STA ID of the target sensing responder. Based on the target device parameters, the AP determines STA2 for the sensing measurement and initiates the sensing session setup and sensing measurement setup with the selected STA / link (STA2) by sending a protected sensing measurement setup request frame to STA2. The AP assigns a sensing measurement setup ID (MSID "2") unique to the STA / link. The AP then completes the SBP setup by sending a protected SBP response frame to STA1, indicating the success of the setup with the sensing responder, the link information of the sensing responder, and their measurement setup IDs ("2").

[0143] Subsequently, the AP performs sensing measurements with STA2 and sends an SBP report after collecting measurement reports on the link. In the report frame, the link / STA measurement setup ID ("2") is included to identify the measurement link.

[0144] In this third embodiment, the selected sensing responder (e.g., STA2) may also need to verify whether the SBP initiator is authorized to obtain sensing measurement reports in which the selected sensing responder is involved. Therefore, during the sensing measurement setup phase after receiving the SBP request frame from the SBP initiator, the sensing measurement setup request frame sent to the sensing responder (e.g., STA2) includes the SBP initiator's ID (e.g., MAC address), so the selected sensing responder can verify whether the SBP initiator is authorized in this way.

[0145] The exchange of additional authorization verification frames (e.g., frames requesting / containing a password) may also occur between the sensing responder and the SBP initiator (via AP). If authorization verification is successful, the sensing responder accepts the measurement setup request, and the SBP setup is successful. If authorization verification fails, the sensing responder rejects the measurement setup request, and the SBP setup fails.

[0146] Figure 29 shows a flowchart 2900 illustrating a detailed procedure flow of proxy sensing between an AP, which is an SBP responder, and two non-AP STAs (STA1, which is an SBP initiator, and STA2, which is a sensing responder), according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. After a basic client discovery procedure and an extended client discovery procedure (not shown), STA1 requests the AP to be a proxy sensing initiator on its behalf by initiating an SBP procedure and sending a protected SBP request frame. Based on the target device parameters specified in the SBP request frame, the AP selects two STAs / links that are more relevant to the sensing measurement (in this case, the I2R link from the AP to STA1, which is linked to itself (STA1), and the AP-STA2 I2R link).

[0147] The SBP initiator (STA1) may be associated with an AP (SBP responder), in which case it is assumed that the normal authentication / association procedure with the AP and the setup of the security association (SA) have already been completed, for example via a four-way handshake, before the initiation of the SBP request. Alternatively, the SBP initiator (STA1) may not be associated with an AP, in which case it is assumed that the setup of security associated with the AP has already been completed, for example via pre-association security negotiation (PASN) via a three-way handshake, before the initiation of the SBP request.

[0148] In this third embodiment, as in the second embodiment, a unique measurement setup ID (MSID) is assigned to each measurement link. For example, the I2R link between AP and STA1 is assigned MSID "1", and the link between AP and STA2 is assigned MSID "2". Unlike the second embodiment, the SBP responder performs separate sensing procedures for different STAs / links.

[0149] Figure 30 shows an exemplary format of a sensing measurement setup request frame 3000 according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. The sensing measurement setup request frame 3000 includes a MAC header, a category field set to "Public", a public action field set to "Sensing Measurement Setup Request", a dialog token field, a re-setup bit field, a measurement setup ID field, a Sensing Measurement Parameter Element field, and an FCS field. The Sensing Measurement Parameter Element field has an element ID field, a length field, an element ID extension field, and a Sensing Measurement Parameters field. The Sensing Measurement Parameters field includes a Sensing Transmitter subfield, a Sensing Receiver subfield, a Sensing Measurement Report subfield, a Measurement Report Type subfield, an SBP Procedure subfield, an SBP Initiator ID Present subfield, and an SBP Initiator ID subfield. The SBP Procedure subfield indicates that the sensing measurement setup request frame is for an SBP procedure, and the SBP Initiator ID subfield indicates the ID of the SBP initiator. If the sensing initiator chooses to modify the attributes (parameters) of an existing sensing measurement setup, it sends a sensing measurement setup request frame 3000 with the Re-setup bit field 3052 set to 1 to indicate that this is a request for modification of sensing measurement setup parameters rather than a request for a new sensing measurement setup. When the Re-setup bit field 3052 is equal to 1, the Measurement Setup ID field of the Sensing Measurement Setup Request Frame indicates the Measurement Setup ID corresponding to the sensing measurement setup being re-setup.Using this sensing measurement setup request to re-setup has the advantage of changing the sensing measurement setup without having to terminate the sensing measurement setup and run a new one.

[0150] Returning to Figure 29, the SBP responder may first perform a sensing setup with STA1, and then perform another sensing setup with STA2. In the case of a sensing setup by STA2, upon receiving a sensing measurement setup request frame 3000, the sensing responder STA2, which received the request, may perform authorization verification by sending a Protected Authorization Validation Request frame to the SBP initiator (STA1 in Figure 29) via the SBP responder (AP in Figure 29) to verify whether the SBP initiator (STA1) is authorized for the SBP procedure. Upon receiving the Protected Authorization Validation Request frame, the SBP initiator sends back a Protected Authorization Validation Response frame via the SBP responder to the sensing responder, containing verification information (e.g., shared password) in the requested format.

[0151] If authorization verification is successful, the steps shown in block 2902 are performed; if authorization verification fails, the steps shown in block 2904 are performed. In particular, if authorization verification is successful, the sensing responder accepts the sensing measurement setup request and sends back a measurement setup response frame to the SBP responder containing its measurement setup ID "2" assigned by the SBP responder, indicating that the SBP setup is successful. The SBP responder then sends a protected SBP response frame to the SBP initiator to indicate that the SBP setup with the STA / link under measurement setup ID "2" is successful.

[0152] If authorization verification fails, the sensing responder indicates that the SBP setup has failed by sending back a measurement setup response frame to the SBP responder containing its measurement setup ID "2" assigned by the SBP responder. The SBP responder then sends a protected SBP response frame to the SBP initiator indicating that the SBP setup with STA / link failed under measurement setup ID "2". However, even if the AP cannot perform sensing measurements to STA2 via a proxy on behalf of STA1, I2R measurements and reporting between STA1 and the AP can still be performed.

[0153] In one embodiment, the AP may skip the authorization verification request / response if it has other means to verify whether an STA is authorized to obtain information about other STAs. For example, if the AP maintains a list of authorized devices, or if the AP retrieves a list of authorized devices from a database such as a server.

[0154] When STA1 receives the sensing measurement setup request frame 3000, STA1 accepts the sensing measurement setup without exchanging authorization verification frames and sends back a protected sensing measurement setup response frame to the SBP responder, indicating that the SBP setup is successful, containing the measurement setup ID "1" assigned by the SBP responder for the SBP procedure. The SBP responder then sends a protected SBP response frame to the SBP initiator to indicate that the SBP setup with STA / link under measurement setup ID "1" is successful.

[0155] Figure 31 shows an exemplary format of a protected authorization validation request frame 3100 according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. The protected authorization validation request frame 3100 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to “Protected Discovery”, an action field set to “Protected Authorization Validation Request Frame”, a dialog token field, a Requesting STA ID field, a Target STA ID field, a Validation Mode field, and an FCS field.

[0156] Figure 32 shows an exemplary format of a protected authorization validation response frame 3200 according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. The protected authorization validation response frame 3200 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to “Protected Discovery”, an action field set to “Protected Authorization Validation Response Frame”, a dialog token field, a requesting STA ID field, a target STA ID field, a validation mode field, a validation information field, and an FCS field. The requesting STA ID of the authorization validation frame 3100, 3200 indicates the ID (e.g., MAC address) of the STA requesting validation. The target ID of the authorization validation frame 3100, 3200 indicates the ID (e.g., MAC address) of the SBP initiator STA. The validation mode is set to 0 to indicate a plaintext password and to 1 to indicate a hashed password. The validation information of the authorization validation response frame 3200 includes a PN / TSF field, a length subfield, and a validation text subfield. The PN / TSF field contains the packet number or a time synchronization feature used as a salt to prevent replay attacks. The length subfield indicates the length of the text in the validated text subfield. The validated text subfield contains either a plaintext password or a hashed password, based on the validated mode field.

[0157] For example, the hashed password is SHA-256(Key, PN / TSF||"plaintext password"), where "Key" is a common private secret key known to both parties, which may be, for example, a PTK generated during security association, or a dedicated secret key for sensing provided by the AP / upper layer application, "||" is a concatenation operation, and "PN / TSF" is the value of the PN / TSF field, which the transmitter should ensure does not use the same value twice to prevent replay attacks. For example, it may be a monotonically increasing number, or it may contain the current value of the transmitter's Time Synchronization Function (TSF).

[0158] According to a third embodiment of this disclosure, Figures 33A and 33B show exemplary formats of an SBP response frame 3300 and a protected SBP response frame 3310, respectively. The SBP response frame 3300 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to "Public", a public action field set to "SBP Response", a dialog token field, a status code field, a measurement setup ID field, an SBP parameter element field, and an FCS field. The protected SBP response frame 3310 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, RA field, and TA field), a category field set to "Protected Public Action Dual", a public action field set to "Protected SBP Response", a dialog token field, a status code field, a measurement setup ID field, an SBP parameter element field, and an FCS field. The SBP parameter element field may be the same as that described in Figure 15.

[0159] In this third embodiment, the SBP initiator requests two separate SBP procedures, and therefore two SBP response frames are sent separately for separate STA / links. No additional link information fields are included in the SBP response frames, as the measurement setup ID field in each SBP response frame identifies the measurement setup ID value corresponding to the sensing measurement link assigned by the SBP responder.

[0160] Furthermore, in one embodiment according to a third embodiment of this disclosure, if the SBP initiator is one of the sensing responders (and sensing receivers), the measurement report for the I2R or R2R link to which the SBP initiator is attached does not need to be sent to the SBP responder, and the SBP report does not need to include a measurement report for such an I2R or R2R link, since the SBP initiator already knows the results of the sensing measurements performed by the SBP initiator itself. This can be indicated by setting the "No Report for SBP Initiator Links" field in the SBP request frame.

[0161] Figure 34 shows an exemplary format of an SBP request frame 3400 according to a third embodiment of the present disclosure. The SBP request frame 3400 includes a MAC header (frame control field, duration field, TA field, RA field), a category field set to "Public", a public action field set to "SBP Request", a dialog token field, an SBP parameter element field, and an FCS field. The SBP parameter element field includes an element ID field, a length field, an element ID extension field, and an SBP parameter field. The SBP parameter field includes a target device parameter subfield, a link parameter subfield, a measurement parameter subfield, and a report parameter subfield, which specify attributes related to the target STA / link, the link to be measured, the measured PPDU, and the SBP report, respectively.

[0162] In particular, the reporting parameters subfield includes the measurement report type subfield, the reporting frequency subfield, the channel status information (CSI) variation threshold subfield, and the no-report subfield for additional SBP initiator links. If the no-report subfield for SBP initiator links is set to 1, an SBP responder (AP) shall not assign an SBP initiator as a sensing receiver on any R2R or I2R link containing the SBP initiator, nor shall it request sensing measurement reports from the SBP initiator on such links. Furthermore, an SBP responder shall not include measurement reports in SBP reporting frames on links with SBP initiators.

[0163] Returning to Figure 29, the SBP request frame has the "No Report" subfield for the SBP initiator link in the SBP parameter field set to 1, indicating that the SBP responder should not request sensing measurement reports from the SBP initiator for the links associated with the SBP initiator. Therefore, during a measurement instance, upon receiving an I2R measurement PPDU (e.g., sensing NDP) from the AP, STA1, being the SBP initiator, does not send its own measurement report to the AP over the I2R link. The SBP responder also does not include measurement reports for the links associated with STA1 in the SBP initiator.

[0164] Figure 35 shows an exemplary configuration of the communication device 3500. The communication device 3500 is implemented as an STA for proxy sensing according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The communication device may include at least one antenna 3522 for transmitting and receiving signals (for simplicity, only one antenna is shown in Figure 35). The communication device 5200 also includes an 802.11 MAC / PHY sublayer 3504 with a sensing module 3506 for channel measurement, layer management service interfaces such as MLME SAP3508 and MAC SAP3510 from which defined primitives are exchanged and information is exchanged, and layer management functions, such as WLAN sensing, can be invoked, and a higher layer application (e.g., WLAN sensing abstraction layer 3514) that communicates with the 802.11 MAC / PHY 3504 via MLME SAP3508.

[0165] Furthermore, the 802.11 MAC / PHY sublayer 3504 may communicate with a WLAN data application (hidden) via MAC SAP 5210. In this example, the sensing module 3506 performs channel measurements and provides the raw results to the WLAN sensing abstraction layer 3514 via the WLAN sensing API. The WLAN sensing abstraction layer 3514 collects and integrates the channel measurement results from the 802.11 devices and may process the results (e.g., smoothing and compression) before passing the processed results to WLAN sensing client applications such as WLAN sensing client application 1 (vital sign detection) 3516 and WLAN sensing client application 2 (motion detection) 3516. WLAN sensing client applications such as 3516, 3518, etc. may perform WLAN sensing based on the channel measurements (e.g., using application-specific machine learning algorithms) and may provide the results of the WLAN sensing, in this case, whether human detection and human motion detection are present or absent.

[0166] The communication device further includes a Station Management Entity (SME) (not shown), which is a layer-dependent entity that performs functions on behalf of a general system management entity and implements a standard management protocol to ensure correct MAC operation. The layer-dependent entity provides interfaces such as MLME SAP3508 and PLME SAP (not shown) for exchanging and communicating primitives with MLME and PLME, respectively.

[0167] In one embodiment, the communication device may be an SBP initiator, and the higher-layer application may issue an MLME primitive (not shown) using, for example, the MLME-SBP.request primitive to initiate the SBP procedure.

[0168] The MAC / PHY sublayer 3504 may be configured to receive information or MAC / PHY parameters related to WLAN sensing in order to form an SBP request frame. The trigger frame or PPDU is then transmitted from antenna 3522 to one or more communication devices (e.g., APs or SBP responders) via at least one radio transmitter (not shown).

[0169] The MAC / PHY sublayer 3504 may also be configured to unpack response PPDUs or measurement PPDUs, such as SBP response frames and SBP report frames received from another communication device, and pass information related to the received PPDUs to the sensing module 3506.

[0170] The sensing module 3506 further comprises a CSI feedback encode / decode module configured to decode and encode information of CSI information, for example, information of CSI subcomponents (e.g., amplitude, phase, I, and Q) indicated by a reporting type indicator, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0171] Figure 36 shows another exemplary configuration of the communication device 3600. The communication device 3600 is implemented as an AP or SBP responder for proxy sensing according to the present disclosure. The communication device 3600 comprises a power supply 3602, a memory 3604, a CPU 3606 having at least one processor, a secondary storage device 3608, a wired I / F 3610, and a wireless I / F 3612. The memory 3604 may be a non-temporary computer-readable storage medium storing data representing instructions executable by at least one processor of the CPU 3606 to communicate with the wireless I / F 3612 to perform multi-generation random access according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless I / F 3612 comprises a MAC layer 3614 and a PHY layer 3616. The PHY layer 3616 connects to a wireless transmitter (not shown), a wireless receiver (not shown), and an antenna 3622 used to transmit / receive signals to / from other (base) communication devices. Alternatively, the communication device 3600 may transmit / receive signals to / from other communication devices via the wired interface 3610.

[0172] MAC layer 3614 further comprises a link / STA selection module 3618 that stores information of non-AP STA 3620. The link / STA selection module 3618 may be configured to generate and process frames (e.g., SBP request / response frames, sensing measurement setup request / response frames, authorization verification request / response frames, measurement reports, SBP report frames) according to the various embodiments described above, to act as a proxy sensing initiator for SBP initiators, and to utilize information of non-AP STA 3520 to perform proxy sensing procedures for SBP initiators.

[0173] As described above, embodiments of the present disclosure provide an advanced communication system, communication method, and communication device for proxy-based sensing in a MIMO WLAN network.

[0174] This disclosure can be implemented by software, by hardware, or by software working in conjunction with hardware. Each functional block used in the description of the embodiments above may be implemented in part or in whole as an integrated circuit (LSI), and each process described in the embodiments above may be controlled in part or in whole by one LSI or a combination of LSIs. An LSI may be formed individually as a chip, or a single chip may be formed to include some or all of the functional blocks. An LSI may include data input / output units coupled to itself. Depending on the degree of integration, an LSI may also be called an IC (integrated circuit), a system LSI, a super LSI, or an ultra LSI. However, the technology for implementing integrated circuits is not limited to LSIs and can be implemented using dedicated circuits, general-purpose processors, or dedicated processors. Furthermore, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) that can be programmed after the manufacture of the LSI, or reconfigurable processors that can reconfigure the connections and settings of circuit cells located inside the LSI, can also be used. This disclosure can be implemented as digital or analog processing. If LSIs are replaced by future integrated circuit technologies as a result of advancements in semiconductor technology or other derivative technologies, functional blocks can be integrated using those future integrated circuit technologies. Biotechnology can also be applied.

[0175] This disclosure can be implemented by any type of device or system having communication capabilities (referred to as a communication device).

[0176] Non-exclusive examples of communication devices include telephones (mobile phones, smartphones, etc.), tablets, personal computers (PCs) (laptops, desktops, notebooks, etc.), cameras (digital still cameras / video cameras, etc.), digital players (digital audio players / video players, etc.), wearable devices (wearable cameras, smartwatches, tracking devices, etc.), game consoles, digital book readers, telehealth / telemedicine devices, vehicles with communication capabilities (cars, airplanes, ships, etc.), and combinations of the above-mentioned devices.

[0177] Communication devices are not limited to portable or mobile devices, but also include all kinds of non-portable or fixed devices, devices, and systems, such as smart home devices (appliances, lighting equipment, smart meters or measuring instruments, control panels, etc.), vending machines, and any other "things" that may exist on an IoT (Internet of Things) network.

[0178] Communication may include steps such as exchanging data through cellular systems, wireless LAN systems, satellite systems, and others, and various combinations thereof.

[0179] A communication device may include devices such as controllers and sensors coupled to a communication device that performs the communication functions described in this disclosure. For example, a communication device may include a controller or sensor that generates control signals or data signals used by the communication device that performs the communication functions of the communication device.

[0180] Communication equipment may further include base stations, access points, and any other devices, devices, or systems that communicate with or control infrastructure equipment, such as the devices in the non-limiting examples above.

[0181] While some characteristics of various embodiments are described with reference to the device, it will be understood that the corresponding characteristics also apply to the methods of various embodiments, and vice versa.

[0182] Those skilled in the art will understand that numerous variations and / or modifications can be made to the Disclosure, as shown in the specific embodiments, without departing from the broader spirit or scope of the Disclosure. Therefore, these embodiments should be considered illustrative and not restrictive in all respects.

Claims

1. An access point that functions as a sensing-by-proxy (SBP) responder, A receiving unit receives an SBP request frame from a station device that functions as an SBP initiator requesting the execution and reporting of channel quality sensing measurements for each of one or more stations, the frame including an SBP initiator field indicating whether or not to include the SBP initiator as one of the sensing responders, a link count field corresponding to the number of sensing responders subject to the sensing measurement, and a device address field indicating each of the sensing responders subject to the sensing measurement. A transmission unit transmits an SBP report frame to the station device, which includes a sensing measurement report comprising a measurement instance identifier (ID) field for identifying a measurement instance, a station ID field for identifying each of the sensing responders that were the target of the sensing measurement, and a sensing measurement feedback field indicating the results of the sensing measurement. An access point equipped with the following features.

2. If the SBP initiator field included in the SBP request frame indicates that the SBP initiator is included as one of the sensing responders, then the device address field included in the SBP request frame includes a device address field indicating the SBP initiator. The access point according to claim 1.

3. If the SBP request frame requests sensing measurement of a responder-to-responder (R2R) link, the transmitting unit transmits a second SBP report frame containing the measurement results of the R2R link. The access point according to claim 2.

4. The SBP report frame includes a measurement setup ID field for identifying the measurement setup, The access point according to claim 1.

5. Before transmitting the SBP report frame, the transmitting unit transmits a response frame to the station device, which includes a measurement setup ID field for identifying the measurement setup and a station ID field for identifying each of the sensing responders that were the subject of the sensing measurement. The access point according to claim 1.

6. A communication method implemented by an access point that functions as a sensing-by-proxy (SBP) responder, A station device, which functions as an SBP initiator requesting the execution and reporting of channel quality sensing measurements for each of one or more stations, receives an SBP request frame that includes an SBP initiator field indicating whether or not to include the SBP initiator as one of the sensing responders, a link count field corresponding to the number of sensing responders subject to the sensing measurement, and a device address field indicating each of the sensing responders subject to the sensing measurement. The station device transmits an SBP report frame, which includes a sensing measurement report comprising a measurement instance identifier (ID) field for identifying a measurement instance, a station ID field for identifying each of the sensing responders that were the target of the sensing measurement, and a sensing measurement feedback field indicating the results of the sensing measurement. Communication method.

7. If the SBP initiator field included in the SBP request frame indicates that the SBP initiator is included as one of the sensing responders, then the device address field included in the SBP request frame includes a device address field indicating the SBP initiator. The communication method according to claim 6.

8. If the SBP request frame requests sensing measurement of a responder-to-responder (R2R) link, a second SBP report frame containing the measurement results of the R2R link is transmitted. The communication method according to claim 7.

9. The SBP report frame includes a measurement setup ID field for identifying the measurement setup, The communication method according to claim 6.

10. Before transmitting the SBP report frame, the station device transmits a response frame containing a measurement setup ID field for identifying the measurement setup and a station ID field for identifying each of the sensing responders that were the subject of the sensing measurement. The communication method according to claim 6.

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