Method and apparatus for user equipment to distinguish a human grasp from a protective cover - Patents.com

Abstract

A method and apparatus for distinguishing between a user equipment (UE) antenna being blocked by cover or a UE antenna being blocked by human tissue. The transmit power of an uplink signal can be adjusted accordingly, with higher transmit power for open space (OS) or cover and lower transmit power for tissue. One exemplary method for wireless communication by a UE generally includes receiving multiple cross-polarized captures from a multiple antenna array of the UE, detecting that the cross-polarized captures correspond to a first OS circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible OS circles for the UE, assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the UE and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set based on the detection, determining an environmental scenario corresponding to the active OS circle, and transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined scenario.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Application No. 17 / 166,501, filed February 3, 2021, which claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 62 / 986,528, filed March 6, 2020, both of which are incorporated by reference in their entireties herein for all applicable purposes.

[0002]

[0002] Certain aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless devices and, more particularly, to discriminating between a human grip and a protective cover on a wireless device. [Background technology]

[0003]

[0003] Modern wireless devices (such as cellular phones) are generally required to meet radio frequency (RF) exposure limits set by national and international standards and regulations. To ensure compliance with the standards, such devices must currently undergo an extensive certification process before being shipped to the market. To ensure that wireless devices comply with the RF exposure limits, techniques have been developed to enable wireless devices to assess the RF exposure from the wireless device in real time and adjust the transmission power of the wireless device accordingly to comply with the RF exposure limits. Summary of the Invention

[0004]

[0004] The system, method, and device of the present disclosure each have several aspects, no single aspect of which is solely responsible for the desirable attributes of the present disclosure. Next, some features will be briefly described without limiting the scope of the present disclosure as expressed by the following claims. After considering this description, and especially after reading the section entitled "Description of the Preferred Embodiments," one will understand how the features of the present disclosure provide advantages, including improved systems and methods for assessing RF exposure from wireless devices.

[0005]

[0005] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE). The method generally includes receiving a plurality of signals at the UE, determining values ​​for at least two different types of parameters based on the received plurality of signals, determining an environmental scenario for the UE based on the values ​​for the at least two different types of parameters, and transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario.

[0006]

[0006] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication by a UE. The method generally includes receiving a plurality of signals at the UE, determining a value for each of one or more parameters based on the received plurality of signals, determining a type of cover adjacent to an antenna array of the UE based on the value for each of the one or more parameters, selecting an antenna array codebook based on the determined type of cover, and transmitting a signal in accordance with the selected antenna array codebook.

[0007]

[0007] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide a method for wireless communication by a UE. The method generally includes receiving a plurality of cross-polarization captures from a plurality of antenna arrays of the UE, detecting that the plurality of cross-polarization captures from the plurality of antenna arrays correspond to a first OS circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible open space (OS) circles for the UE, assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the UE based on the detection and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set, determining an environmental scenario corresponding to the active OS circle, and transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario.

[0008]

[0008] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes a receiver, a transmitter, a memory, and a processor. The receiver is configured to receive a plurality of cross-polarized captures from a plurality of antenna arrays. The processor is coupled to the memory, and the processor and the memory are configured to detect that the plurality of cross-polarized captures from the plurality of antenna arrays correspond to a first OS circle in an IQ plane of a set of possible OS circles for the apparatus, and based on the detection, assign the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the apparatus and deactivate other possible OS circles in the set, and determine an environmental scenario corresponding to the active OS circle. The transmitter is configured to transmit a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario.

[0009]

[0009] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for wireless communication. The apparatus generally includes: means for receiving a plurality of cross-polarized captures from a plurality of antenna arrays of the apparatus; means for detecting that the plurality of cross-polarized captures from the plurality of antenna arrays correspond to a first OS circle in an IQ plane of a set of possible OS circles for the apparatus; means for assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the apparatus and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set based on the detection; means for determining an environmental scenario corresponding to the active OS circle; and means for transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario.

[0010]

[0010] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions for receiving multiple cross-polarized captures from multiple antenna arrays of a UE, detecting that the multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a first OS circle in the IQ plane of a set of possible OS circles for the UE, and based on the detection, assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the UE and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set, determining an environmental scenario corresponding to the active OS circle, and transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario.

[0011]

[0011] To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the one or more aspects comprise the features hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims. The following description and the annexed drawings set forth in detail certain illustrative features of the one or more aspects. These features are indicative, however, of but a few of the various ways in which the principles of the various aspects may be employed, and the description is intended to include all such aspects and their equivalents.

[0012]

[0012] So that the above-recited features of the present disclosure may be understood in detail, a more particular description briefly summarized above may be had by reference to the embodiments, some of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the accompanying drawings illustrate only some typical embodiments of the present disclosure, and therefore should not be considered as limiting the scope of the present disclosure, since the description may lead to other equally valid embodiments. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1]

[0013] FIG. 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating an example telecommunications system in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Diagram 2]

[0014] 1 is a block diagram conceptually illustrating a design of an example base station (BS) and an example user equipment (UE) in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Diagram 3]

[0015] 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example transceiver front end in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 4A]

[0016] FIG. 2 illustrates millimeter wave (mmW) sensing by a UE, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 4B]

[0017] FIG. 1 illustrates mmW detection using cross-polarization (Xpol), in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 4C]

[0018] FIG. 1 illustrates mmW detection using a frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) radar, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. [Diagram 5]

[0019] 4 illustrates example Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) symbol values ​​from Xpol detection in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 6]

[0020] FIG. 1 illustrates an example plot of cross-polarization ratio (K) in the in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane for detection of an object in front of an antenna, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 7]

[0021] 1 is a flow diagram of an example operation for wireless communication in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 8]

[0022] FIG. 1 illustrates an example plot of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in decibels (dB) for vertical and horizontal polarization components for different scenarios, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 9]

[0023] FIG. 13 illustrates an example correlation between the standard deviation of K values ​​(σ) and the average signal-to-noise ratio (SNRm) of vertical and horizontal polarization components for different scenarios, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 10]

[0024] FIG. 13 illustrates an example linear relationship between σ and SNR for different scenarios, where the line represents the boundary between the open space (OS) and the object detection region, in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 11]

[0025] 1 is a flow chart for determining parameters for OS based on σ and SNR, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 12]

[0026] 4 is a flow diagram of an example operation for wireless communication based on antenna array codebook selection in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. [Figure 13]

[0027] 1 is a flow diagram of an example operation for wireless communication in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014]

[0028] For ease of understanding, wherever possible, the same reference numbers have been used to designate like elements that are common to each of the figures. It is contemplated that elements disclosed in one embodiment may be beneficially utilized on other embodiments without specific recitation.

[0015]

[0029] Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for distinguishing between an antenna of a user equipment (UE) being blocked by a cover (e.g., a protective rubber or plastic cover) or the antenna of the UE being blocked by human tissue (e.g., a finger or palm). The transmit power of an uplink (UL) signal may be adjusted accordingly, with a relatively higher transmit power for open space or cover and a relatively lower transmit power for human tissue.

[0016]

[0030] The following description provides examples and is not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or examples set forth in the claims. Changes may be made in the function and configuration of the elements described without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Various examples may omit, substitute, or add various procedures or components, as appropriate. For example, the methods described may be performed in an order different from that described, and various steps may be added, omitted, or combined. Also, features described with respect to some examples may be combined in some other examples. For example, an apparatus may be implemented or a method may be practiced using any number of aspects described herein. Furthermore, the scope of the disclosure is intended to cover such apparatus or methods implemented using other structures, functions, or structures and functions in addition to or other than the various aspects of the disclosure described herein. It should be understood that any aspect of the disclosure disclosed herein may be embodied by one or more elements of a claim. The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any aspect described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects.

[0017]

[0031] The techniques described herein may be used for various wireless communication technologies such as LTE, CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and other networks. The terms "network" and "system" are often used interchangeably. A CDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), cdma2000, etc. UTRA includes Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. cdma2000 covers IS-2000, IS-95, and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement a radio technology such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). An OFDMA network may implement radio technologies such as NR (e.g., 5G RA), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), IEEE 802.11 (Wi-Fi®), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX®), IEEE 802.20, Flash-OFDMA, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS).

[0018]

[0032] New Radio (NR) is an emerging wireless communications technology under development with the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF). 3GPP® Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) are releases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, and GSM are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project" (3GPP). cdma2000 and UMB are described in documents from an organization named "3rd Generation Partnership Project 2" (3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the wireless networks and radio technologies mentioned above, as well as other wireless networks and radio technologies. For clarity, aspects may be described herein using terminology commonly associated with 3G and / or 4G wireless technologies, although aspects of the present disclosure may be applied in other generation-based communication systems, such as 5G and beyond, including NR technologies.

[0019]

[0033] NR access (e.g., 5G technology) supports various wireless communication services, such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) targeting wide bandwidth (e.g., 80 MHz or more), millimeter wave (mmW) targeting high carrier frequencies (e.g., 25 GHz or more), massive machine type communication MTC (mMTC) targeting non-backward compatible MTC techniques, and / or mission critical targeting ultra-reliable low latency communication (URLLC). These services may include latency and reliability requirements. These services may also have different transmission time intervals (TTIs) to meet their respective quality of service (QoS) requirements. Furthermore, these services may coexist in the same subframe.

[0020] Example Wireless Communications System

[0034] 1 illustrates an example wireless communication network 100 in which aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented. Wireless devices in the wireless network 100 may implement methods for determining an environmental scenario for an antenna (or antenna array) of the wireless device, as further described herein. An environmental scenario, as used herein, generally refers to the wireless device's antenna (or antenna array) being blocked by an object (such as a protective cover or a human grasp) or not being blocked by an object (a condition referred to as "open space").

[0021]

[0035] As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless network 100 may include several base stations (BSs) 110 and other network entities. A BS may be a station that communicates with user equipment (UE). Each BS 110 may provide communication coverage for a particular geographic area. In 3GPP, the term "cell" may refer to a coverage area of ​​a Node B (NB) and / or a Node B subsystem serving this coverage area, depending on the context in which the term is used. In an NR system, the terms "cell" and next generation Node B (gNB), new radio base station (NR BS), 5G NB, access point (AP), or transmit reception point (TRP) may be interchangeable. In some examples, a cell may not necessarily be fixed, and the geographic area of ​​a cell may move according to the location of a mobile BS. In some examples, the base stations may be interconnected to each other and / or to one or more other base stations or network nodes (not shown) in the wireless communication network 100 through various types of backhaul interfaces, such as direct physical connections, wireless connections, virtual networks, etc., using any suitable transport network.

[0022]

[0036] Generally, any number of wireless networks may be deployed in a given geographic area. Each wireless network may support a particular radio access technology (RAT) and may operate on one or more frequencies. A RAT may also be referred to as a radio technology, an air interface, etc. A frequency may also be referred to as a carrier, a subcarrier, a frequency channel, a tone, a subband, etc. Each frequency may support a single RAT in a given geographic area to avoid interference between wireless networks of different RATs. In some cases, NR or 5G RAT networks may be deployed.

[0023]

[0037] A base station (BS) may provide communication coverage for a macro cell, a pico cell, a femto cell, and / or other types of cells. A macro cell may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a few kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with a service subscription. A pico cell may cover a relatively small geographic area and may allow unrestricted access by UEs with a service subscription. A femto cell may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a home) and may allow restricted access by UEs having an association with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), UEs for users in the home, etc.). A BS for a macro cell may be referred to as a macro BS. A BS for a pico cell may be referred to as a pico BS. A BS for a femto cell may be referred to as a femto BS or a home BS. In the example shown in FIG. 1, BSs 110a, 110b, and 110c may be macro BSs for macro cells 102a, 102b, and 102c, respectively. BS 110x may be a pico BS for a pico cell 102x. BSs 110y and 110z may be femto BSs for femto cells 102y and 102z, respectively. A BS may support one or multiple (e.g., three) cells.

[0024]

[0038] The wireless communication network 100 may also include relay stations. A relay station is a station that receives a transmission of data and / or other information from an upstream station (e.g., a BS or UE) and sends a transmission of the data and / or other information to a downstream station (e.g., a UE or BS). A relay station may also be a UE that relays transmissions for other UEs. In the example shown in FIG. 1, a relay station 110r may communicate with a BS 110a and a UE 120r to facilitate communication between the BS 110a and the UE 120r. A relay station may also be referred to as a relay BS, a relay, etc.

[0025]

[0039] Wireless network 100 may be a heterogeneous network including different types of BSs, e.g., macro BSs, pico BSs, femto BSs, relays, etc. These different types of BSs may have different transmit power levels, different coverage areas, and different impacts on interference in wireless network 100. For example, a macro BS may have a high transmit power level (e.g., 20 watts (W)), while a pico BS, femto BS, and relays may have a lower transmit power level (e.g., 1 W).

[0026]

[0040] The wireless communication network 100 may support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the BSs may have similar frame timing and transmissions from different BSs may be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the BSs may have different frame timing and transmissions from different BSs may not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein may be used for both synchronous and asynchronous operation.

[0027]

[0041] A network controller 130 may couple to a set of BSs and provide coordination and control for these BSs. The network controller 130 may communicate with the BSs 110 via a backhaul. The BSs 110 may also communicate with each other (e.g., directly or indirectly) via a wireless or wireline backhaul.

[0028]

[0042] The UEs 120 (e.g., 120x, 120y, etc.) may be dispersed throughout the wireless network 100, and each UE may be fixed or mobile. A UE may also be referred to as a mobile station (MS), terminal, access terminal, subscriber unit, station, customer premises equipment (CPE), cellular phone, smartphone, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless modem, wireless communication device, handheld device, laptop computer, cordless phone, wireless local loop (WLL) station, tablet computer, camera, gaming device, netbook, smartbook, ultrabook, appliance, medical device or equipment, biometric sensor / device, wearable device such as smart watch, smart clothing, smart glasses, smart wristband, or smart jewelry (e.g., smart ring, smart bracelet, etc.), entertainment device (e.g., music device, video device, satellite radio, etc.), vehicle component or sensor, smart meter / sensor, industrial manufacturing equipment, global positioning system (GPS) device, or any other suitable device configured to communicate over a wireless or wired medium. Some UEs may be considered as machine type communication (MTC) devices or evolved MTC (eMTC) devices. MTC UEs and eMTC UEs include, for example, a robot, a drone, a remote device, a sensor, a meter, a monitor, a location tag, etc., that may communicate with a BS, another device (e.g., a remote device), or some other entity. A wireless node may provide connectivity for or to a network (e.g., a wide area network such as the Internet or a cellular network), for example, via a wired or wireless communication link. Some UEs may be considered as Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which may be Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) devices.

[0029]

[0043] Some wireless networks (e.g., LTE) utilize orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) on the downlink and single-carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM) on the uplink. OFDM and SC-FDM partition the system bandwidth into multiple (K) orthogonal subcarriers, also commonly referred to as tones, bins, etc. Each subcarrier may be modulated with data. In general, modulation symbols are sent in the frequency domain with OFDM and in the time domain with SC-FDM. The spacing between adjacent subcarriers may be fixed, and the total number of subcarriers (K) may be dependent on the system bandwidth. For example, the spacing of the subcarriers may be 15 kHz, and the minimum resource allocation (called a "resource block" (RB)) may be 12 subcarriers (or 180 kHz). Thus, the nominal fast Fourier transform (FFT) size may be equal to 128, 256, 512, 1024, or 2048 for system bandwidths of 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 megahertz (MHz), respectively. The system bandwidth may also be partitioned into subbands. For example, a subband may cover 1.08 MHz (i.e., 6 resource blocks), and there may be 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 subbands for 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, or 20 MHz system bandwidths, respectively.

[0030]

[0044] Although example aspects described herein may relate to LTE technology, aspects of the present disclosure may be applicable with other wireless communication systems, such as NR. NR may include support for half-duplex operation utilizing OFDM with cyclic prefix (CP) on the uplink and downlink and using time division duplexing (TDD). Beamforming may be supported and beam directions may be dynamically configured. Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission with precoding may also be supported. MIMO configurations in the downlink (DL) may support up to eight transmit antennas with up to eight streams and multi-layer DL transmission of up to two streams per UE. Aggregation of multiple cells may be supported with up to eight serving cells.

[0031]

[0045] In some examples, access to the air interface may be scheduled, where a scheduling entity (e.g., a base station) allocates resources for communication among some or all devices and equipment within its service area or cell. The scheduling entity may be responsible for scheduling, assigning, reconfiguring, and releasing resources for one or more subordinate entities. That is, for scheduled communication, the subordinate entities utilize resources allocated by the scheduling entity. A base station is not the only entity that may function as a scheduling entity. In some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity and schedule resources for one or more subordinate entities (e.g., one or more other UEs), and the other UEs may utilize resources scheduled by the UE for wireless communication. In some examples, a UE may function as a scheduling entity in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network and / or in a mesh network. In a mesh network example, the UEs may communicate directly with each other in addition to communicating with the scheduling entity.

[0032]

[0046] In Figure 1, a solid line with double arrows indicates a desired transmission on the downlink and / or uplink between a UE and a serving BS, which is a BS designated to serve that UE, and a dashed line with double arrows indicates an interfering transmission between the UE and a BS.

[0033]

[0047] 2 illustrates example components of the BS 110 and the UE 120 (shown in FIG. 1) that may be used to implement aspects of the present disclosure. For example, the antenna 252, the transceiver (TX / RX) front-end circuitry 254, the processors 258, 264, and / or the controller / processor 280 of the UE 120 may be used to perform various techniques and methods described herein (e.g., operation 700 of FIG. 7, operation 1200 of FIG. 12, or operation 1300 of FIG. 13).

[0034]

[0048] At the BS 110, the transmit processor 220 may receive data from the data source 212 and control information from the controller / processor 240. The control information may be for a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), a physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), a physical hybrid ARQ indicator channel (PHICH), a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), a group common PDCCH (GC PDCCH), etc. The data may be for a physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH), etc. The processor 220 may process (e.g., encode and symbol map) the data and control information to obtain data symbols and control symbols, respectively. The processor 220 may also generate reference symbols, for example, for a primary synchronization signal (PSS), a secondary synchronization signal (SSS), and a cell-specific reference signal (CRS). The transmit (TX) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) processor 230 may perform spatial processing (e.g., precoding) on ​​the data symbols, control symbols, and / or reference symbols, if applicable, and may provide output symbol streams to the transmit (TX) front-end circuits 232a-t. Each TX front-end circuit 232 may process a respective output symbol stream (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain an output sample stream. Each TX front-end circuit 232 may further process (e.g., convert to analog, amplify, filter, and upconvert) the output sample stream to obtain a downlink signal. The downlink signals from the TX front-end circuits 232a-t may be transmitted via the antennas 234a-t, respectively.

[0035]

[0049] At the UE 120, the antennas 252a-252r may receive the downlink signals from the BS 110 and may provide received signals to receive (RX) front-end circuits 254a-254r, respectively. Each RX front-end circuit 254 may condition (e.g., filter, amplify, downconvert, and digitize) a respective received signal to obtain input samples. Each RX front-end circuit 254 may further process the input samples (e.g., for OFDM, etc.) to obtain received symbols. A MIMO detector 256 may obtain received symbols from all RX front-end circuits 254a-254r, perform MIMO detection on the received symbols if applicable, and provide detected symbols. A receive processor 258 may process (e.g., demodulate, deinterleave, and decode) the detected symbols and provide decoded data for the UE 120 to a data sink 260 and provide decoded control information to the controller / processor 280. The memory 282 may store data and program codes for the UE 120 and may interface with the controller / processor 280.

[0036]

[0050] On the uplink, at the UE 120, a transmit processor 264 may receive and process data from a data source 262 (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)) and control information from a controller / processor 280 (e.g., for the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)). The transmit processor 264 may also generate reference symbols for a reference signal (e.g., for a Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)). The symbols from the transmit processor 264 may be precoded by a TX MIMO processor 266 if applicable, further processed by RX front-end circuits 254a-254r (e.g., for SC-FDM, etc.), and transmitted to the BS 110. At the BS 110, uplink signals from the UE 120 may be received by the antennas 234, processed by the TX front-end circuits 232, detected by a MIMO detector 236 if applicable, and further processed by a receive processor 238 to obtain decoded data and control information sent by the UE 120. The receive processor 238 may provide decoded data to a data sink 239 and decoded control information to the controller / processor 240. A memory 242 may store data and program codes for BS 110 and may interface with the controller / processor 240.

[0037]

[0051] The controllers / processors 240 and 280 may direct operation at the BS 110 and the UE 120, respectively. The processor 240 and / or other processors and modules at the BS 110 may perform or direct execution of processes for the techniques described herein. The memories 242 and 282 may store data and program codes for the BS 110 and the UE 120, respectively. The scheduler 244 may schedule UEs for data transmission on the downlink and / or uplink.

[0038]

[0052] 3 is a block diagram of an example transceiver front-end 300, such as the TX / RX front-end circuitry 232, 254 of FIG. 2, in accordance with some aspects of the disclosure. The transceiver front-end 300 includes at least one transmit (TX) path 302 (also known as a transmit chain) for transmitting signals via one or more antennas, and at least one receive (RX) path 304 (also known as a receive chain) for receiving signals via the antenna. When the TX path 302 and the RX path 304 share an antenna 303, the paths may be connected to the antenna via an RF interface 306, which may include any of a variety of suitable RF devices, such as a duplexer, a switch, a diplexer, etc.

[0039]

[0053] When receiving an in-phase (I) or quadrature-phase (Q) baseband analog signal from a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 308, the TX path 302 may include a baseband filter (BBF) 310, a mixer 312, a driver amplifier (DA) 314, and a power amplifier (PA) 316. The BBF 310, the mixer 312, and the DA 314 may be included in a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), while the PA 316 may be included in the RFIC or external to the RFIC. The BBF 310 filters the baseband signal received from the DAC 308, and the mixer 312 mixes the filtered baseband signal with a transmit local oscillator (LO) signal to convert the baseband signal to a different frequency (e.g., upconvert from baseband to RF). This frequency conversion process generates sum and difference frequencies between the LO frequency and the frequency of the baseband signal. The sum and difference frequencies are called beat frequencies. The beat frequency is generally in the RF range, therefore the signal output by the mixer 312 is generally an RF signal and may be amplified by the DA 314 and / or by the PA 316 before transmission by the antenna 303.

[0040]

[0054] The RX path 304 may include a low noise amplifier (LNA) 322, a mixer 324, and a baseband filter (BBF) 326. The LNA 322, the mixer 324, and the BBF 326 may be included in a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC) that may or may not be the same RFIC that includes the TX path components. An RF signal received via the antenna 303 may be amplified by the LNA 322, and the mixer 324 mixes the amplified RF signal with a receive local oscillator (LO) signal to convert (i.e., downconvert) the RF signal to a different baseband frequency. The baseband signal output by the mixer 324 may be filtered by the BBF 326 before being converted by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 328 to a digital I or Q signal for digital signal processing.

[0041]

[0055] Some systems may employ a frequency synthesizer with a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) to generate a stable, tunable LO with a particular tuning range. Thus, the transmit LO may be generated by the TX frequency synthesizer 318, and the transmit LO may be buffered or amplified by the amplifier 320 before being mixed with the baseband signal in the mixer 312. Similarly, the receive LO may be generated by the RX frequency synthesizer 330, and the receive LO may be buffered or amplified by the amplifier 332 before being mixed with the RF signal in the mixer 324.

[0042] Example RF Exposure Assessment

[0056] RF exposure may be expressed in terms of the specific absorption rate (SAR), which measures the energy absorption by human tissue per unit mass and may have units of Watts per kilogram (W / kg). Alternatively, RF exposure may measure the energy absorption per unit area and may be expressed in mW / cm. 2 This may be expressed in terms of power density (PD), which may have units of 100 mA.

[0043]

[0057] SAR may be used to assess RF exposure for transmission frequencies below 6 GHz, covering wireless communication technologies such as 3G (e.g., CDMA), 4G (e.g., LTE), 5G (e.g., NR in the 6 GHz band), IEEE 802.11ac, etc. PD may be used to assess RF exposure for transmission frequencies above 10 GHz, covering wireless communication technologies such as IEEE 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 5G, etc. Thus, different metrics may be used to assess RF exposure for different wireless communication technologies.

[0044]

[0058] A wireless device (e.g., UE 120) may simultaneously transmit signals using multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, a wireless device may simultaneously transmit signals using a first wireless communication technology (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, etc.) operating at or below 6 GHz and a second wireless communication technology (e.g., 5G, IEEE 802.11ad, or 802.11ay in the 24-60 GHz band) operating above 6 GHz. In some aspects, a wireless device may simultaneously transmit signals using a first wireless communication technology (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, IEEE 802.11ac, etc. in the 6 GHz band) for which RF exposure is measured in terms of SAR and a second wireless communication technology (e.g., 5G, IEEE 802.11ad, 802.11ay, etc. in the 24-60 GHz band) for which RF exposure is measured in terms of PD.

[0045]

[0059] To assess RF exposure from transmissions using a first technology (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, IEEE 802.11ac, etc. in the 6 GHz band), the wireless device may include a plurality of SAR distributions for the first technology stored in a memory (e.g., memory 282 of FIG. 2 or memory 336 of FIG. 3). Each of the SAR distributions may correspond to a respective one of a plurality of transmission scenarios supported by the wireless device for the first technology. The transmission scenarios may correspond to various combinations of antennas (e.g., antennas 252a-252r of FIG. 2 or antenna 303 of FIG. 3), frequency bands, channels, and / or body positions, as described further below.

[0046]

[0060] A SAR distribution (also called a SAR map) for each transmission scenario may be generated based on measurements (e.g., E-field measurements) performed in a test laboratory using a human body model. After the SAR distribution is generated, it may be stored in a memory to enable a processor (e.g., processor 266 of FIG. 2) to evaluate RF exposure in real time. Each SAR distribution includes a set of SAR values, where each SAR value may correspond to a different location (e.g., on the human body model). Each SAR value may comprise a SAR value averaged over a 1 g or 10 g mass at the respective location.

[0047]

[0061] The SAR value in each SAR distribution corresponds to a particular transmit power level (e.g., the transmit power level at which the SAR value was measured in a test laboratory). Because SAR scales with transmit power level, the processor may scale the SAR distribution for any transmit power level by multiplying each SAR value in the SAR distribution by a transmit power scaler:

[0048]

number

[0049] Here, Tx cis the current transmit power level for each transmission scenario, and Tx SAR is the transmit power level that corresponds to the SAR value in the stored SAR distribution (eg, the transmit power level at which the SAR value was measured in a test laboratory).

[0050]

[0062] As described above, a wireless device may support multiple transmission scenarios for a first technology. In some aspects, a transmission scenario may be specified by a set of parameters. The set of parameters may include one or more of: antenna parameters indicating one or more antennas (i.e., active antennas) used for transmission; frequency band parameters indicating one or more frequency bands (i.e., active frequency bands) used for transmission; channel parameters indicating one or more channels (i.e., active channels) used for transmission; body position parameters indicating the location of the wireless device relative to the user's body location (away from the body, head, torso, etc.); and / or other parameters. If a wireless device supports a large number of transmission scenarios, performing measurements for each transmission scenario in a test environment (e.g., a test lab) may be extremely time-consuming and expensive. To reduce test time, measurements may be performed for a subset of the transmission scenarios to generate a SAR distribution for the subset of transmission scenarios. In this example, a SAR distribution for each of the remaining transmission scenarios may be generated by combining two or more of the SAR distributions for the subset of transmission scenarios, as described further below.

[0051]

[0063] For example, SAR measurements may be performed for each of the antennas to generate a SAR distribution for each of the antennas. In this example, a SAR distribution for a transmission scenario in which two or more of the antennas are active may be generated by combining the SAR distributions for the two or more active antennas.

[0052]

[0064] In another example, SAR measurements may be performed for each of a plurality of frequency bands to generate a SAR distribution for each of the plurality of frequency bands. In this example, a SAR distribution for a transmission scenario in which two or more frequency bands are active may be generated by combining the SAR distributions for the two or more active frequency bands.

[0053]

[0065] In some aspects, the SAR distribution may be normalized with respect to the SAR limit by dividing each SAR value in the SAR distribution by the SAR limit, where the normalized SAR value exceeds the SAR limit when the normalized SAR value is greater than 1, and is below the SAR limit when the normalized SAR value is less than 1. In these aspects, each of the SAR distributions stored in the memory may be normalized with respect to the SAR limit.

[0054]

[0066] In some aspects, a normalized SAR distribution for a transmission scenario may be generated by combining two or more normalized SAR distributions. For example, a normalized SAR distribution for a transmission scenario in which two or more antennas are active may be generated by combining the normalized SAR distributions for two or more active antennas. If different transmit power levels are used for the active antennas, the normalized SAR distribution for each active antenna may be scaled by the respective transmit power level before combining the normalized SAR distributions for the active antennas. The normalized SAR distribution for simultaneous transmission from multiple active antennas may be given by:

[0055]

number

[0056] Here, SAR lim is the SAR limit, and SAR norm_combinedis the combined normalized SAR distribution for simultaneous transmissions from the active antennas, i is the index for the active antenna, and SAR i is the SAR distribution for the i-th active antenna, and Tx i is the transmit power level for the i-th active antenna, and Tx SARi is the transmit power level for the SAR distribution for the i-th active antenna, and K is the number of active antennas.

[0057]

[0067] Equation (2) can be rewritten as follows:

[0058]

number

[0059] Here, SAR norm_i is the normalized SAR distribution for the i-th active antenna. In case of simultaneous transmission using multiple active antennas at the same transmission frequency (e.g., multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)), the combined normalized SAR distribution is obtained by summing the square roots of the individual normalized SAR distributions and taking the square of the sum, as given by:

[0060]

number

[0061]

[0068] In another example, normalized SAR distributions for different frequency bands may be stored in memory. In this example, a normalized SAR distribution for a transmission scenario in which two or more frequency bands are active may be generated by combining the normalized SAR distributions for two or more active frequency bands. If the transmit power levels for the active frequency bands are different, the normalized SAR distribution for each of the active frequency bands may be scaled by the respective transmit power levels before combining the normalized SAR distributions for the active frequency bands. In this example, the combined SAR distribution may also be calculated using (Equation 3a), where i is an index for the active frequency band and SAR norm_i is the normalized SAR distribution for the i-th active frequency band, and Tx i is the transmit power level for the i-th active frequency band, and Tx SARi is the transmit power level for the normalized SAR distribution for the i-th active frequency band.

[0062]

[0069] To assess RF exposure from transmissions using a second technology (e.g., 5G, IEEE 802.11ad, 802.11ay, etc. in the 24-60 GHz band), the wireless device may include a plurality of PD distributions for the second technology stored in a memory (e.g., memory 282 of FIG. 2 or memory 336 of FIG. 3). Each of the PD distributions may correspond to a respective one of a plurality of transmission scenarios supported by the wireless device for the second technology. The transmission scenarios may correspond to various combinations of antennas (e.g., antennas 252a-252r of FIG. 2 or antenna 303 of FIG. 3), frequency bands, channels, and / or body positions.

[0063]

[0070] A PD distribution (also called a PD map) for each transmission scenario may be generated based on measurements (e.g., E-field measurements) performed in a test lab using a model of the human body. After the PD distribution is generated, it may be stored in a memory to enable a processor (e.g., processor 266 of FIG. 2) to assess RF exposure in real time, as described further below. Each PD distribution includes a set of PD values, where each PD value may correspond to a different location (e.g., on the model of the human body).

[0064]

[0071] The PD value in each PD distribution corresponds to a particular transmit power level (e.g., the transmit power level at which the PD value was measured in a test lab). Because PD scales with transmit power level, the processor may scale the PD distribution for any transmit power level by multiplying each PD value in the PD distribution by a transmit power scaler:

[0065]

number

[0066] Here, Tx c is the current transmit power level for each transmission scenario, and Tx PD is the transmit power level that corresponds to the PD value in the PD distribution (eg, the transmit power level at which the PD value was measured in a test lab).

[0067]

[0072] As described above, the wireless device may support multiple transmission scenarios for the second technology. In some aspects, the transmission scenario may be specified by a set of parameters. The set of parameters may include one or more of: antenna parameters indicating one or more antennas (i.e., active antennas) used for transmission; frequency band parameters indicating one or more frequency bands (i.e., active frequency bands) used for transmission; channel parameters indicating one or more channels (i.e., active channels) used for transmission; body position parameters indicating the location of the wireless device relative to the user's body location (away from the body, head, torso, etc.); and / or other parameters. If the wireless device supports a large number of transmission scenarios, performing measurements for each transmission scenario in a test environment (e.g., a test lab) may be extremely time-consuming and expensive. To reduce test time, measurements may be performed for a subset of the transmission scenarios to generate a PD distribution for the subset of the transmission scenarios. In this example, the PD distribution for each of the remaining transmission scenarios may be generated by combining two or more of the PD distributions for the subset of the transmission scenarios, as described further below.

[0068]

[0073] For example, PD measurements may be performed for each of the antennas to generate a PD distribution for each of the antennas. In this example, a PD distribution for a transmission scenario in which two or more of the antennas are active may be generated by combining the PD distributions for the two or more active antennas.

[0069]

[0074] In another example, PD measurements may be performed for each of a plurality of frequency bands to generate a PD distribution for each of the plurality of frequency bands. In this example, a PD distribution for a transmission scenario in which two or more frequency bands are active may be generated by combining the PD distributions for the two or more active frequency bands.

[0070]

[0075] In some aspects, the PD distribution may be normalized with respect to the PD limit by dividing each PD value in the PD distribution by the PD limit, where the normalized PD value exceeds the PD limit when the normalized PD value is greater than 1, and is below the PD limit when the normalized PD value is less than 1. In these aspects, each of the PD distributions stored in the memory may be normalized with respect to the PD limit.

[0071]

[0076] In some aspects, a normalized PD distribution for a transmission scenario may be generated by combining two or more normalized PD distributions. For example, a normalized PD distribution for a transmission scenario in which two or more antennas are active may be generated by combining the normalized PD distributions for two or more active antennas. If different transmit power levels are used for the active antennas, the normalized PD distribution for each active antenna may be scaled by the respective transmit power level before combining the normalized PD distributions for the active antennas. The normalized PD distribution for simultaneous transmission from multiple active antennas may be given by:

[0072]

number

[0073] Here, P.D. lim is the PD limit, and PD norm_combined is the combined normalized PD distribution for simultaneous transmission from the active antennas, i is the index for the active antenna, and PD iis the PD distribution for the i-th active antenna, and Tx i is the transmit power level for the i-th active antenna, and Tx PDi is the transmit power level for the PD distribution for the i-th active antenna, and L is the number of active antennas.

[0074]

[0077] Equation (5) can be rewritten as follows:

[0075]

number

[0076] Here, P.D. norm_i is the normalized PD distribution for the i-th active antenna. In case of simultaneous transmission using multiple active antennas at the same transmission frequency (e.g., MIMO), the combined normalized PD distribution is obtained by summing the square roots of the individual normalized PD distributions and taking the square of the sum, as given by:

[0077]

number

[0078]

[0078] In another example, normalized PD distributions for different frequency bands may be stored in memory. In this example, a normalized PD distribution for a transmission scenario in which two or more frequency bands are active may be generated by combining the normalized PD distributions for two or more active frequency bands. If the transmit power levels for the active frequency bands are different, the normalized PD distribution for each of the active frequency bands may be scaled by the respective transmit power levels before combining the normalized PD distributions for the active frequency bands. In this example, the combined PD distribution may also be calculated using Equation (6a), where i is an index for the active frequency band and PD norm_iis the normalized PD distribution for the i-th active frequency band, and Tx i is the transmit power level for the i-th active frequency band, and Tx PDi is the transmit power level for the normalized PD distribution for the i-th active frequency band.

[0079] Example Method to Distinguish Between Cover and Human Grip As mentioned above, in wireless communications, the radiation energy (W / cm) of an electromagnetic source that is considered safe is 2 or J / cm 2 There are maximum permissible exposure (MPE) restrictions by international regulatory bodies, including the International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States, that specify maximum power or energy density (in units of radiation). In some cases, the MPE restriction(s) may be translated into constraints related to maximum transmission power by one or more devices (e.g., depending on the implementation of each of the devices), and thus uplink (UL) signals transmitted by the devices may be limited by MPE compliance.

[0080]

[0080] Some UEs include sensors (e.g., millimeter wave (mmW) sensors) that allow for higher UL transmit power levels when the sensor output does not indicate detection of an object blocking the UE antenna(s), and transmission at such higher power levels can potentially boost UL throughput. For example, FIG. 4A illustrates mmW sensing by a UE 120 using such an object detection sensor. In FIG. 4A, the UE 120 includes at least one antenna array 400 with multiple antennas 402a-402d (collectively referred to herein as "antennas 402"). To detect an object 404 or open space (OS) conditions (shown in FIGS. 4B and 4C ), the UE 120 may output a signal (e.g., a continuous wave (CW), out-of-band signal) from one of the antennas 402 in the array 400 (e.g., from antenna 402a) at a particular detection angle 406, and another antenna in the array (e.g., antenna 402d) may receive a signal reflected from a surface of a nearby object 404, such as a protective cover or a human hand or finger. The reflected signal allows the UE 120 to utilize the cross-polarization (Xpol) shown in FIG. 4B with two polarized receive paths, one for the horizontally polarized component (labeled “H-pol” in the circuit diagram 420) and another for the vertically polarized component (labeled “V-pol”), to calculate the cross-polarization ratio (K=k V / k H ) to detect whether an object 404 is present. Additionally or alternatively, the UE 120 may employ a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar for object detection, as shown in FIG. 4C with an example frequency sweep and circuit diagram 460. As shown in FIG. 4A, the Xpol may have an object detection radius 408 ranging from 0 cm to about 4 cm from the UE 120, while the FMCW radar may have an object detection radius ranging from about 4 cm to about 60 cm from the UE.

[0081] As described above, FIG. 4B illustrates mmW sensing using cross-polarized (Xpol) to detect objects 404 near a UE or to detect OS conditions, according to some aspects of the disclosure. In FIG. 4B, the antenna array 400 includes four antennas 402, although any suitable number of antennas may be used. In the circuit diagram 420, a transmit path (e.g., transmit path 302) includes a frequency synthesizer (e.g., TX frequency synthesizer 318) and an amplifier 421. The frequency synthesizer may, for example, select a frequency (f) that is out of band between a first component carrier band (CC1) and a second component carrier band (CC2). CW ) is used to generate a CW signal with f CW is 28 GHz. Amplifier 421 may amplify the CW signal and drive antenna 402a to wirelessly transmit the signal (e.g., at a particular detection angle 406).

[0082]

[0082] When an object 404 is near the UE, the surface of the object may reflect the transmitted signal, and another antenna in the antenna array 400 (e.g., antenna 402d) may receive the signal reflected from the object's surface. For Xpol detection, the receive path (e.g., receive path 304) may include two polarized receive paths, one for the horizontal polarization component (labeled "H-pol" in the circuit diagram 420) and another for the vertical polarization component (labeled "V-pol"). The H-pol receive path includes an amplifier (e.g., low noise amplifier 332). H ) and Mixer 324 H and a filter (e.g., a baseband filter 326 H ) and ADC328 H Similarly, the V-pol receive path includes an amplifier (e.g., low noise amplifier 332 V ) and Mixer 324 V and a filter (e.g., a baseband filter 326 V ) and ADC328 V The frequency synthesizer (e.g., RX frequency synthesizer 330) includes an H-pol mixer 324. Hand V-pol Mixer 324 V 4B may generate a local oscillator (LO) signal (e.g., having a frequency of 28.001 GHz and offset 100 MHz from the transmit signal) as an input to each of the receive chain components in FIG. 4B. These receive chain components in FIG. 4B may function as described above with respect to FIG. 3 to amplify the received RF signal, mix the amplified RF signal with the LO signal to downconvert the signal, filter the mixed signal to focus on a baseband signal, and digitize the baseband signal.

[0083] The H-pol digitized signal and the V-pol digitized signal from the ADC may be sent to a processor 422, which may be implemented by a digital signal processor (DSP) or any other suitable processing system. The processor 422 may include a fast Fourier transform (FFT) module 424 and a frequency domain in-phase / quadrature (FD-IQ) module 426. The FFT module 424 may be used to convert the time domain digitized signal to frequency domain data, which may include the maximum H-pol FFT value (k H ) and maximum V-pol FFT value (k V Using the frequency domain data, the FD-IQ module 426 can generate the cross polarization ratio (K=k V / k H ) Open space (i.e., no nearby objects) may have a different location in the I / Q plane than various objects, and thus Xpol may be used to determine if an object is present.

[0084] As described above, FIG. 4C illustrates mmW sensing using FMCW radar to detect objects 404 near a UE or to detect OS conditions, according to some aspects of the disclosure. In FIG. 4C, the antenna array 400 includes four antennas 402, although any suitable number of antennas may be used. In the circuit diagram 460, the transmit path (e.g., transmit path 302) includes a DAC 308, a baseband filter 310, a mixer 312, and an amplifier 421, which may represent the DA 314 and / or the PA 316. A frequency synthesizer 462 may be used to generate an LO signal for input to the mixer 312. The frequency synthesizer 462, along with other components of the transmit path, may be used to generate a frequency sweep (e.g., from 25 GHz to 29 GHz) in the wirelessly transmitted signal output from the antenna 402a, which may include the CC1 and CC2 bands as shown.

[0085]

[0085] When an object 404 is near the UE, the surface of the object may reflect the transmitted signal, and another antenna (e.g., antenna 402d) in the antenna array 400 may receive the signal reflected from the object's surface. In the case of FMCW radar detection, the receive path (e.g., receive path 304) may include a low noise amplifier 332, a mixer 324, a baseband filter 326, and an ADC 328. These receive path components in the circuit diagram 460 of FIG. 4C may function as described above with respect to FIG. 3 to amplify the received RF signal, mix the amplified RF signal with a LO signal from a frequency synthesizer 462 to downconvert the signal, filter the mixed signal to focus on a baseband signal, and digitize the baseband signal. The FMCW digitized signal from the ADC 328 may be sent to a processor 464, which may be implemented by a DSP or any other suitable processing system. The processor 464 may process the FMCW digitized signal to detect objects or open space conditions.

[0086] 5 illustrates example FFT symbol values ​​from Xpol detection in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. The FFT symbol values ​​include horizontal polarization FFT values ​​510 based on the digitized signal from the H-pol receive path and vertical polarization FFT values ​​520 based on the digitized signal from the V-pol receive path. The maximum value of the horizontal polarization FFT values ​​610 is k H The maximum vertical polarization FFT value of 620 is k V The cross polarization ratio (K) is K=k V / k H is determined by.

[0087] The complex value of K(I+jQ) provides an indication of the presence of an object in front of the antenna. V k H * (which can be implemented as V / k H The division may eliminate the calibration of transmit gain / phase randomness during each measurement. Figure 6 is an example plot 600 of multiple samples of K in the in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane for two different scenarios: open space and finger grip (or protective case).

[0088]

[0088] The standard deviation (σ K ) provides a metric of the stability of the object in front of the antenna. In other words, a relatively large σ K means less object stability (i.e., more object movement), and a relatively smaller σ K indicates greater stability (i.e., less object movement). Open space (i.e., no reflectors) has a relatively smaller σ K A human finger or hand not holding the UE in front of the antenna provides a relatively larger σ K , but the fingers grasping the UE have a relatively smaller σ since the fingers do not move as much when they are part of the grasp. KAs with the grasping fingers, protective cases (e.g., made from plastic and / or glass) also provide a smaller σ K , which provides σ K For example, as shown in the example plot 600 of FIG. 6, the σ for open space is K σ for protective case (or finger grip) K may be similar to:

[0089]

[0089] As explained above, due to the MPE limit, a higher transmit power may be used by the UE when the antenna is blocked by a protective case, but a lower transmit power should be used when the antenna is blocked by a finger or other human tissue. Therefore, what is needed are techniques and apparatus for discriminating between a protective cover and a human grasp by an object detection sensor of the UE.

[0090]

[0090] Furthermore, different protective cases may provide different cross-polarization ratio centers {mean(K)} in the IQ plane. The algorithm for determining the transmit power may periodically adapt the open space parameters for the UE, which, when combined with the different K centers for the different protective cases, may also make it more difficult to distinguish the protective case from a finger grip.

[0091]

[0091] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide techniques and apparatus for distinguishing between a UE's antenna being blocked by a cover (e.g., a protective rubber or plastic case) or the UE's antenna being blocked by human tissue (e.g., a finger or palm) using at least two different types of parameters, as described in more detail below.

[0092] 7 is a flow diagram illustrating example operations 700 for wireless communication in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations 700 may be performed, for example, by a wireless device (e.g., the UE 120 of FIG. 1) and, more particularly, by a receiver, a processor, and a transmitter of the wireless device.

[0093] The operations 700 may begin at block 701, where the wireless device transmits a first signal (e.g., at the TX front-end circuits 254a-254r or the transmit path 302 of the UE 120) and receives a plurality of signals (e.g., reflections of the transmitted first signal) based on the transmitted first signal (e.g., at the RX front-end circuits 254a-254r or the receive path 304 of the UE 120). At block 704, the wireless device determines values ​​for at least two different types of parameters based on the received plurality of signals (e.g., at the receive processor 258, the control / processor 280, and / or the transmit processor 264, or at the processor 422 of the UE 120). At block 706, the wireless device determines an environmental scenario for the device based on values ​​for the at least two different types of parameters (e.g., at the receive processor 258, the control / processor 280, and / or the transmit processor 264, or at the processor 422 of the UE 120). At block 708, the wireless device transmits (e.g., at the TX front-end circuitry 254a-254r or the transmit path 302 of the UE 120) the second signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario. The operations 700 are described in more detail below and illustrated in the various figures.

[0094] As presented above, σ K may be insufficient to distinguish between a protective cover and a human grasp. Thus, some aspects of the present disclosure provide KIn addition to the FFT data provided by the two polarization receive paths, this additional information may be determined from the FFT data already provided by the two polarization receive paths.

[0095] For example, empirical studies show that the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the FFT from H-pol and V-pol varies with different types of objects. V ) is the SNR V =10*log 10 (k V / σ 2 FFTV ), where σ 2 FFTV is the variance of the vertical polarization FFT value (e.g., FFT value 520). H ) is the SNR H =10*log 10 (k H / σ 2 FFTH ), where σ 2 FFTH is the variance of the horizontal polarization FFT value (e.g., FFT value 510). The average SNR of these two SNRs (SNR m ) is the SNR m =SNR V -(SNR H -SNR V ) The processor that calculates the FFT values ​​(e.g., processor 422) may be expressed as k H Peak or k V The noise power of a number of bins adjacent to the peak (e.g., 20 adjacent bins, 10 bins on either side of the peak) may be calculated. In some aspects, the processor may remove or otherwise effectively ignore bins that have spurs.

[0096]

[0096] Electromagnetic (EM) simulations show that the near-field coupled electric field varies in a dielectric material that mimics a human finger. The hypothesis for the observed SNR variation is that the coupled signal power varies relative to a fixed receiver noise floor (e.g., according to kTBFG, where k is the Boltzmann constant, T is the absolute temperature, F is the noise figure, B is the reception bandwidth, and G is the gain) and has a correlation with the type of material due to the reflection coefficient of the material.

[0097] 8 is an example plot 800 of SNR in decibels (dB) for vertical and horizontal polarization components for different scenarios including open space (OS), grip, and protective case. Thus, with this additional information, the same σ K Different environmental scenarios generate different SNRs m can also be distinguished by looking at the

[0098] 9 shows an example plot 900 of K for different scenarios in the IQ plane. In the IQ plot 900, an orthogonal human finger pressed against a UE has a relatively very large σ K In contrast, open space and a human palm pressed against a UE have similar, relatively small σ K , whereas a rubber protective case and a vertical human finger pressed onto the UE have similar but significantly larger σ K Therefore, σ K Considering only the surface can make it difficult to distinguish between open space, protective casing, or human tissue conditions.

[0099] FIG. 9 illustrates a comparison of σ for the same scenario presented in an IQ plot 900, in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. K and SNR m9 also shows a graph 950 illustrating an example correlation between OS and object detection. Using regression or any of a variety of other suitable techniques, a linear equation can be found to separate scenarios that may be categorized as OS (e.g., OS or protective cover) and object detection (e.g., presence of human tissue) for purposes of determining transmit power. A line 952 represented by this linear equation in graph 950 can be considered a boundary separating the two regions, i.e., OS region versus object detection region. A threshold standard deviation (σ) of this OS / detection boundary 952 is TH ) is σ TH =m*SNR m +c, where m is the slope of the line and c is σ K It is an offset.

[0100] FIG. 10 illustrates a method for determining if a sigma-based sigma filter is used in accordance with some aspects of the present disclosure. TH =m*SNR m +c represents the boundary between the open space (OS) and the object detection area. K and SNR m 10 is a graph 1000 illustrating an example linear relationship between . Note how air, a rubber protective case, and a plastic phone back housing are in the OS region, and how a pressed horizontal human finger, a pressed human palm, a pressed orthogonal human finger, and a pressed vertical human finger are in the detection region. The linear equation may be frequency or band dependent. Additionally or alternatively, the linear equation may depend on the particular UE and vary between types, brands, and models.

[0101] FIG. 11 illustrates a σ K and SNR m 11 is a flowchart 1100 for determining parameters for an OS based on the radius (R OS ) and center (C OS) As shown in flowchart 1100, σ K <σ TH (indicating the OS region), the OS parameters can be updated, where R OS =3*σ K where C OS = average(K). Otherwise, the OS parameters are not updated and more samples are captured. More specifically, samples (e.g., Xpol samples) are captured in block 1102, and an FFT is performed on the captured samples in block 1104 to convert the sampled data from the time domain to the frequency domain. From the FFT, σ is obtained in block 1106, as described above. K may be determined, and in block 1108, the SNR m In block 1110, the variables (e.g., m and c) of the linear equation for the boundary between the open space region and the object detection region (e.g., line 952 or line 1002) may be determined (e.g., read from memory, such as from memory 282). In block 1112, σ TH But the variables for the linear equation and the SNR m As determined in block 1114, σ K <σ TH If R is an OS region, then the OS parameters may be updated in block 1116, where R OS =3*σ K where C OS = average(K). Otherwise, as determined in block 1114, σ K ≧σ TH If so, then the OS parameters are not updated and more samples are captured in block 1102 .

[0102]

[0102] As described above, some aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a method for wireless communication by a UE. The method generally includes receiving a plurality of signals at a UE, determining values ​​for at least two different types of parameters based on the received plurality of signals, determining an environmental scenario for the UE based on the values ​​for the at least two different types of parameters, and transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario.

[0103]

[0103] According to some aspects, the received signals include a vertical polarization component signal and a horizontal polarization component signal. In some aspects, the at least two different types of parameters comprise a statistic of a cross-polarization ratio between the vertical polarization component signal and the horizontal polarization component signal. For example, the statistic of the cross-polarization ratio may be a standard deviation of the cross-polarization ratio. In some aspects, the at least two different types of parameters further include a statistic of a signal-to-noise ratio based on the vertical polarization component signal and the horizontal polarization component signal. For example, the statistic of the signal-to-noise ratio may be an average of a signal-to-noise ratio calculated based on the variance of the vertical polarization component signal and the variance of the horizontal polarization component signal.

[0104]

[0104] According to some aspects, the at least two different types of parameters include signal-to-noise ratio statistics based on the vertically polarized component signals and the horizontally polarized component signals.

[0105]

[0105] According to some aspects, receiving the multiple signals involves receiving a vertically polarized component signal via a vertically polarized receive path of the UE and receiving a horizontally polarized component signal via a horizontally polarized receive path of the UE.

[0106] According to some aspects, the method further involves transmitting a test signal from the UE. In some cases, the test signal may be a continuous wave (CW) signal or a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar signal. In some aspects, the test signal is transmitted from an antenna in an antenna array of the UE, and the signals are received by another antenna in the antenna array.

[0107] According to some aspects, determining the environmental scenario involves distinguishing between an antenna of the UE being blocked by a cover or an antenna of the UE being blocked by human tissue. For example, the cover may include a protective case for the UE.

[0108]

[0108] According to some aspects, determining the environmental scenario involves determining a center and a radius of an open space from an antenna of the UE.

[0109] According to some aspects, determining the environmental scenario includes determining a line (e.g., a line such as line 952 or line 1002) based on a linear relationship between at least two types of parameters, and determining whether one of the at least two types of parameters is above the line. In this case, the signal may be transmitted using a relatively lower transmit power if one of the at least two types of parameters is above the line, and the signal may be transmitted using a relatively higher transmit power if one of the at least two types of parameters is not above the line. In some aspects, the parameters of the line (e.g., slope and offset) may be stored in a memory.

[0110] According to some aspects, determining the environmental scenario involves determining a boundary based on a relationship between at least two types of parameters and determining whether one of the at least two types of parameters is on a first side of the boundary or a second side of the boundary. In this case, the signal may be transmitted using a relatively lower transmit power if one of the at least two types of parameters is on the first side of the boundary, and the signal may be transmitted using a relatively higher transmit power if one of the at least two types of parameters is on the second side of the boundary.

[0111]

[0111] According to some aspects, determining the environmental scenario involves determining a material of a protective case covering the UE. In some aspects, the received signals include a vertical polarization component signal and a horizontal polarization component signal, and the at least two different types of parameters comprise a statistical value of a cross-polarization ratio between the vertical polarization component signal and the horizontal polarization component signal. In this case, determining a material of the protective case covering the UE may be based at least in part on the statistical value of the cross-polarization ratio. For example, the statistical value may be a standard deviation of the cross-polarization ratio.

[0112] Example Automatic Cover Detection As explained above, millimeter wave (mmWave) transmissions present a potential safety hazard since such transmissions can cause localized heating on the skin or ocular surface. To protect the public from this hazard, government regulatory agencies have set RF exposure limits (e.g., in terms of maximum power per square centimeter area). For mmWave, these limits are called Maximum Permissible Exposure (MPE) limits. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States has set MPE limits for all transmissions at frequencies greater than 3 GHz. For example, for transmissions between 30 GHz and 300 GHz, the FCC MPE limit is 1 mW / cm 2The MPE limits put a strain on the link budget for 5G mmWave uplink (UL) transmissions.

[0113]

[0113] One solution is the use of a proximity sensor that determines whether there is a human body near the mmWave module. When the proximity sensor indicates open space (OS), the UE may transmit at a higher power, but if the sensor indicates the presence of an object, the UE may back off its UL transmit power to remain compliant with the MPE limit. One shortcoming of many proximity sensors is that they cannot distinguish between a human body and other objects. Thus, when an end user places a protective cover on the UE, the cover may trigger a permanent detection and disable the proximity sensor. Therefore, a mechanism for sensing through the protective cover is desirable.

[0114]

[0114] As explained above, a cross-polarized (Xpol) sensor may rely on the near-field coupling property between transmitting and receiving antenna elements in an mmWave antenna array to detect the presence of an object in the vicinity of the antenna array. With Xpol, a transmitter may transmit a single tone (e.g., at mmWave frequencies) and two receivers may receive the transmitted tone. The two receivers may be attached to antenna ports for different polarizations (e.g., vertical and horizontal polarization). The ratio of the two received signals (K=k v / k H ) serves as a signature to distinguish the OS from the object.

[0115]

[0115] With the Xpol algorithm, an OS signature may be defined as an OS circle whose center and radius are plotted on an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane, for example, as described herein with respect to FIG. 6. The OS signature of each antenna array (at each frequency or band) may be characterized or calibrated for each device. Once this OS circle is established for a given antenna array, the Xpol algorithm may detect objects by classifying captures that land outside the OS circle in the IQ plane as object detections, and captures that land inside the OS circle as open space. OS circles may be characterized or generated for various states of the antenna array and UE, such as a state when the UE is not covered, and multiple states corresponding to various cases or covers. For example, one OS circle may be characterized for a given antenna array when the UE is not covered, and another OS circle may be characterized for that antenna array when the UE is covered with a particular case or cover.

[0116]

[0116] Single-shot Xpol sensing may have difficulty distinguishing between human body parts and other objects, which is generally true for most other sensors. Thus, when an end user places a protective cover on a UE (e.g., a smartphone), the cover may trigger a persistent detection, which is a problem. One potential solution to this problem is to have multiple active OS circles. For example, one OS circle may be associated with a bare (i.e., uncovered) UE, and another may correspond to a characterized cover. In such a case, the Xpol algorithm may classify a capture as an OS if it lands within any of these OS circles. The problem with this approach is that it may find a specific finger touch location on a bare UE, which may lead to the capture landing erroneously in the OS circle of the cover. Such a finger touch location may most likely be falsely detected on a bare UE, as the capture would be interpreted as an OS on the cover.

[0117]

[0117] Some aspects of the present disclosure provide an Xpol-based algorithm and sensors that support multiple OS circles, but allow only one of these OS circles to be active at a time. In this way, when the algorithm determines that the UE is bare, the algorithm deactivates the OS circles of all covers, and when the algorithm determines that a particular cover is installed, the algorithm deactivates the OS circle of the bare UE and the OS circles of other covers (other than the OS circle of the installed cover). Thus, some aspects of the present disclosure relate to an Xpol algorithm that determines when a cover is installed and what type of cover is installed. This Xpol algorithm relies on the extremely low probability of holding a bare UE in such a way that a particular holding scenario looks like the OS of the cover across multiple antenna arrays. In some aspects, the Xpol algorithm may determine that a cover is installed by observing Xpol captures across multiple antenna arrays. When an OS corresponding to a given cover is detected across multiple antenna arrays, the algorithm assigns the OS circle of the given cover to be the only active OS circle. Similarly, when the end user removes the cover, the algorithm may eventually observe that the bare UE's OS is detected across multiple antenna arrays, and therefore the algorithm may reassign the bare UE's OS circle as the only active OS circle.

[0118] As shown in Table 1, the nominal value of the OS circle may not be the same for a given environmental condition (e.g., a particular cover) observed by different antenna arrays. In Table 1, the rows correspond to the antenna arrays at the UE and the columns correspond to the environmental conditions. The algorithms disclosed herein may choose a single column in Table 1 at a time, rather than a single OS at a time.

[0119] [Table 1]

[0120] 13 is a flow diagram of example operations 1300 for wireless communication in accordance with certain aspects of the present disclosure. The operations 1300 may be performed, for example, by a wireless device (e.g., the UE 120 of FIG. 1) and, more particularly, by a receiver, a processor, and a transmitter of the wireless device.

[0121] The operations 1300 may begin at block 1301, where the wireless device transmits at least one test signal (e.g., at the TX front-end circuitry 254a-254r or the transmit path 302 of the UE 120) and receives multiple cross-polarized captures from multiple antenna arrays (e.g., at the RX front-end circuitry 254a-254r or the receive path 304 of the UE 120) at block 1302. In an aspect, the received multiple cross-polarized captures may indicate reflections of the transmitted test signal. At block 1304, the wireless device may detect that the multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a first OS circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible open space (OS) circles for the wireless device. Based on the detection at block 1304, the wireless device may assign the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the wireless device at block 1306. The wireless device may also deactivate (e.g., ignore) other possible OS circles in the set based on the detection in block 1304. In block 1308, the wireless device may determine an environmental scenario corresponding to the active OS circle. In block 1310, the wireless device may transmit a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario (e.g., in the TX front-end circuits 254a-254r or the transmit path 302 of the UE 120).

[0122]

[0121] In some aspects, since the first OS circle may be associated with a particular state of the wireless device (e.g., not covered or covered with a particular case / cover), the wireless device may update the active OS circle to a second OS circle of the set of possible OS circles and associated with another state of the wireless device, for example, due to a change in the wireless device being not covered or covered with a different case / cover. With respect to operation 1300, the wireless device may transmit another test signal and receive another plurality of cross-polarized captures from the plurality of antenna arrays of the wireless device. The wireless device may detect that the other plurality of cross-polarized captures from the plurality of antenna arrays correspond to a second OS circle in the IQ plane of the set of possible OS circles, the second OS circle being different from the first OS circle. Based on the detection of the correspondence to the second OS circle, the wireless device may assign the second OS circle as the active OS circle for the wireless device and deactivate other possible OS circles in the set, including the first OS circle. As an example, a first OS circle may correspond to when the wireless device is uncovered, and a second OS circle may correspond to when the wireless device is covered with a particular case or cover.

[0123] In aspects, the set of possible OS circles may correspond to or be associated with various states of the wireless device. For example, the set of possible OS circles may correspond to the wireless device being uncovered and / or the wireless device being covered with one or more different types of covers or cases.

[0124] In some aspects, transmitting the test signal in block 1302 may involve using one of the antennas in one of the antenna arrays. The test signal may include a continuous wave signal or an FMCW radar signal. The test signal may be transmitted from an antenna in one of the multiple antenna arrays of the wireless device, and a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal may be received by another antenna in the same one of the multiple antenna arrays.

[0125] In aspects, determining the environmental scenario at block 1308 may involve identifying whether human tissue is in proximity to the wireless device. For example, determining the environmental scenario may include the wireless device distinguishing between an antenna of the wireless device being blocked by a cover or an antenna of the wireless device being blocked by human tissue.

[0126]

[0125] According to some aspects, the cover may include a protective case for a wireless device. For example, the cover may be a case for a mobile phone or smartphone. The cover may include a variety of materials, such as plastic, rubber, or leather.

[0127]

[0126] In some aspects, the cross-polarization capture may be indicative of the cross-polarized component signals received at block 1302. For example, each of the multiple cross-polarization captures may be based on a cross-polarization ratio between a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal.

[0128] According to some aspects, cross-polarization captures associated with multiple antenna arrays may be used to detect an OS circle associated with a current covered / uncovered state of a wireless device. For example, the detecting in block 1304 may include the wireless device detecting that a first cross-polarization capture from a first antenna array corresponds to a first OS circle and to a second OS circle, and detecting that a second cross-polarization capture from a second antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle but not to the second OS circle. Based on the first OS circle corresponding to the first antenna array and the second antenna array, the wireless device may identify that the first OS circle is an OS circle corresponding to a current covered / uncovered state of the wireless device.

[0129]

[0128] For ease of understanding, various examples are described herein with respect to OS circles being used to identify environmental scenarios or to correspond to uncovered or covered states of a wireless device, but aspects of the present disclosure may also be applied to other suitable areas (e.g., polygons) in the IQ plane. For example, a particular polygon in the IQ plane may indicate an OS state of a wireless device.

[0130]

[0129] The various operations of the methods described above may be implemented by any suitable means capable of performing the corresponding functions. Those means may include various (one or more) hardware and / or software components and / or modules, including but not limited to circuits, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or processors. Generally, where there are operations illustrated in the figures, those operations may have the means-plus-functions of the corresponding counterparts. For example, the means for receiving may include the RX front-end circuits 254a-254r and / or antennas 252a-252r of FIG. 2, or the receive path 304 and / or antennas 303 of FIG. 3. The means for transmitting may include the TX front-end circuits 254a-254r and / or antennas 252a-252r of FIG. 2, or the transmit path 302 and / or antennas 303 of FIG. 3. The means for detecting, the means for determining, and / or the means for allocating (and deactivating) may include at least one processor, such as the receive processor 258, the controller / processor 280, and / or the transmit processor 264 of FIG. 2, or the processor 422 of FIG. 4B.

[0131] Example Aspects

[0130] In addition to the various aspects described above, certain combinations of aspects are within the scope of the present disclosure, some of which are detailed below.

[0132]

[0131] Aspect 1. A method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving multiple cross-polarized captures from multiple antenna arrays of the UE; detecting that the multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a first open space (OS) circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible OS circles for the UE; based on the detection, assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the UE and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set; determining an environmental scenario corresponding to the active OS circle; and transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario.

[0133]

[0132] Aspect 2. The method of aspect 1, further comprising receiving a plurality of other cross-polarized captures from a plurality of antenna arrays of the UE, detecting that the other plurality of cross-polarized captures from the plurality of antenna arrays correspond to a second OS circle in the IQ plane from a set of possible OS circles, and based on detection of the second OS circle corresponding to a second OS circle that is different from the first OS circle, assigning the second OS circle as an active OS circle for the UE and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set, including the first OS circle.

[0134]

[0133] Aspect 3. The method of aspect 1 or 2, wherein the set of possible OS circles corresponds to no coverage for the UE and one or more different types of coverage for the UE.

[0135]

[0134] Aspect 4. The method of aspects 1 to 3, further comprising transmitting at least one test signal from the UE.

[0136]

[0135] Aspect 5. The method of aspect 4, wherein at least one test signal comprises a continuous wave signal or a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar signal.

[0137]

[0136] Aspect 6. The method described in aspect 4, wherein at least one test signal is transmitted from an antenna in one of a plurality of antenna arrays of the UE, and wherein a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal are received by another antenna in the same one of the plurality of antenna arrays.

[0138]

[0137] Aspect 7. A method as described in any of aspects 1 to 6, wherein determining the environmental scenario comprises distinguishing between an antenna of the UE being blocked by a cover or an antenna of the UE being blocked by human tissue.

[0139]

[0138] Aspect 8. The method of aspect 7, wherein the cover comprises a protective case for the UE.

[0140]

[0139] Aspect 9. A method as described in any of aspects 1 to 8, wherein each of the multiple cross-polarization captures is based on a cross-polarization ratio between a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal.

[0141]

[0140] Aspect 10. A method as described in any of aspects 1 to 9, wherein the detecting comprises detecting that a first cross-polarized capture from a first antenna array corresponds to a first OS circle and to a second OS circle, and detecting that a second cross-polarized capture from a second antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle but does not correspond to the second OS circle.

[0142]

[0141] Aspect 11. An apparatus for wireless communications comprising: a multiple antenna array; a receiver configured to receive multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays; a memory; a processor coupled to the memory; the processor and memory configured to detect that the multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a first open space (OS) circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible OS circles for the device; and based on the detection, assign the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the device and deactivate other possible OS circles in the set; and determine an environmental scenario corresponding to the active OS circle; and a transmitter configured to transmit a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario.

[0143]

[0142] Aspect 12. The device described in Aspect 11, wherein the receiver is configured to receive other cross-polarized captures from the device's multiple antenna arrays, and the processor and memory are further configured to detect that the other cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a second OS circle in the IQ plane of a set of possible OS circles, and based on detection of the second OS circle corresponding to a second OS circle that is different from the first OS circle, assign the second OS circle as an active OS circle for the device and deactivate other possible OS circles in the set, including the first OS circle.

[0144]

[0143] Aspect 13. An apparatus as described in aspect 11 or 12, wherein the set of possible OS circles corresponds to the apparatus being uncovered and one or more different types of coverage for the apparatus.

[0145]

[0144] Aspect 14. An apparatus as described in any of aspects 11 to 13, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit at least one test signal.

[0146]

[0145] Aspect 15. An apparatus as described in Aspect 14, wherein an antenna in one of a plurality of antenna arrays of the apparatus is configured to transmit at least one test signal, wherein another antenna in the same one of the plurality of antenna arrays is configured to receive a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal.

[0147]

[0146] Aspect 16. A device described in any of aspects 11 to 15, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to distinguish between the antenna of the device being blocked by a cover or the antenna of the device being blocked by human tissue.

[0148]

[0147] Aspect 17. The apparatus of Aspect 16, wherein the cover comprises a protective case for the UE.

[0149]

[0148] Aspect 18. An apparatus described in any of aspects 11 to 17, wherein each of the multiple cross-polarization captures is based on a cross-polarization ratio between a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal.

[0150]

[0149] Aspect 19. An apparatus as described in any of aspects 11 to 18, wherein the processor and memory are further configured to detect that a first cross-polarized capture from the first antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle and to the second OS circle, and to detect that a second cross-polarized capture from the second antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle but not to the second OS circle.

[0151]

[0150] Aspect 20. An apparatus for wireless communications comprising: means for receiving multiple cross-polarized captures from a multiple antenna array of the apparatus; means for detecting that the multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a first open space (OS) circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible OS circles for the apparatus; means for assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the apparatus and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set based on the detection; means for determining an environmental scenario corresponding to the active OS circle; and means for transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario.

[0152]

[0151] As used herein, the term "determining" encompasses a wide variety of actions. For example, "determining" may include calculating, computing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (e.g., looking up in a table, database, or another data structure), ascertaining, and the like. Also, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), and the like. Also, "determining" may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, and the like.

[0153]

[0152] As used herein, a phrase referring to "at least one of" a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, "at least one of a, b, or c" is intended to encompass a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, and abc, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., aa, aaa, aab, aac, abb, acc, bb, bbb, bbc, cc, and ccc, or any other permutation of a, b, and c).

[0154]

[0153] The various example logic blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with this disclosure may be implemented or performed using a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an ASIC, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device (PLD), discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but alternatively, the processor may be any commercially available processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, for example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

[0155]

[0154] The methods disclosed herein comprise one or more steps or actions for achieving the described method. The steps and / or actions of the methods may be interchanged with one another without departing from the scope of the claims. In other words, unless a specific order of steps or actions is specified, the order and / or use of specific steps and / or actions may be modified without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0156]

[0155] The described functions may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in hardware, an exemplary hardware configuration may comprise a processing system in a wireless node. The processing system may be implemented using a bus architecture. The bus may include any number of interconnected buses and bridges depending on the particular application and overall design constraints of the processing system. The bus may link various circuits together, including processors, machine-readable media, and bus interfaces. The bus interface may be used to connect a network adapter, among others, to the processing system via the bus. The network adapter may be used to implement the signal processing functions of the physical (PHY) layer. In the case of a user terminal, a user interface (e.g., a keypad, a display, a mouse, a joystick, etc.) may also be connected to the bus. The bus may also link various other circuits, such as timing sources, peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and therefore will not be described further.

[0157]

[0156] The processing system may be configured as a general-purpose processing system with one or more microprocessors providing processor functions and external memory providing at least a portion of the machine-readable medium, all linked together with other support circuits via an external bus architecture. Alternatively, the processing system may be implemented using an ASIC with the processor, bus interface, user interface in the case of an access terminal, support circuits, and at least a portion of the machine-readable medium integrated into a single chip, or using one or more FPGAs, PLDs, controllers, state machines, gate logic, discrete hardware components, or other suitable circuits, or any combination of circuits capable of performing the various functions described throughout this disclosure. Those skilled in the art will recognize how to best implement the described functions for a processing system depending on the particular application and the overall design constraints imposed on the overall system.

[0158]

[0157] It should be understood that the claims are not limited to the precise configuration and components shown above. Various modifications, changes, and variations may be made in the configuration, operation, and details of the methods and apparatus described above without departing from the scope of the claims. The invention as described in the claims of the original application is set forth below. [C1] A method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a plurality of cross polarized captures from a plurality of antenna arrays of the UE; Detecting that the multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a first open space (OS) circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible OS circles for the UE; assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the UE based on the detection and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set; determining an environmental scenario corresponding to said active OS circle; transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario; A method comprising: [C2] receiving other cross polarized captures from the antenna arrays of the UE; and detecting that the other cross polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a second OS circle in the IQ plane of the set of possible OS circles, the second OS circle being different from the first OS circle; assigning the second OS circle as the active OS circle for the UE based on the detection of correspondence to the second OS circle and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set, including the first OS circle; The method of C1, further comprising: [C3] The method of C1, wherein the set of possible OS circles corresponds to no coverage for the UE and one or more different types of coverage for the UE. [C4] The method of C1, further comprising transmitting at least one test signal from the UE. [C5] The method of C4, wherein the at least one test signal comprises a continuous wave signal or a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar signal. [C6] The method of C4, wherein the at least one test signal is transmitted from an antenna in one of the plurality of antenna arrays of the UE, and wherein a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal are received by another antenna in the same one of the plurality of antenna arrays. [C7] The method of C1, wherein determining the environmental scenario comprises distinguishing between an antenna of the UE being blocked by a cover or an antenna of the UE being blocked by human tissue. [C8] The method of C7, wherein the cover comprises a protective case for the UE. [C9] The method of C1, wherein each of the plurality of cross polarization captures is based on a cross polarization ratio between a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal. [C10] The detecting step Detecting that a first cross polarized capture from a first antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle and to a second OS circle; detecting that a second cross polarized capture from a second antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle but does not correspond to the second OS circle; The method of claim C1, comprising: [C11] Apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: A plurality of antenna arrays; a receiver configured to receive a plurality of cross polarized captures from the plurality of antenna arrays; Memory, a processor coupled to the memory, the processor and the memory comprising: Detecting that the multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a first open space (OS) circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible OS circles for the device; assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the device based on said detection and deactivating other possible OS circles in said set; determining an environmental scenario corresponding to said active OS circle;

[0023] a transmitter configured to transmit a signal using a transmission power based on the determined environmental scenario; An apparatus comprising: [C12] The receiver is configured to receive other cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays of the device; The processor and the memory detecting that the other cross polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a second OS circle in the IQ plane of the set of possible OS circles, the second OS circle being different from the first OS circle; and based on the detection of the correspondence to the second OS circle, assigning the second OS circle as the active OS circle for the device and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set, including the first OS circle. The apparatus of C11, further configured to: [C13] The apparatus of C11, wherein the set of possible OS circles corresponds to no coverage of the apparatus and one or more different types of coverage for the apparatus. [C14] The apparatus of C11, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit at least one test signal. [C15] The apparatus of C14, wherein an antenna in one of the plurality of antenna arrays of the apparatus is configured to transmit the at least one test signal, and wherein another antenna in the same one of the plurality of antenna arrays is configured to receive a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal. [C16] The apparatus of C11, wherein the processor and the memory are further configured to distinguish between an antenna of the apparatus being blocked by a cover or an antenna of the apparatus being blocked by human tissue. [C17] The apparatus of C16, wherein the cover comprises a protective case for the UE. [C18] The apparatus of C11, wherein each of the plurality of cross polarization captures is based on a cross polarization ratio between a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal. [C19] The processor and the memory Detecting that a first cross polarized capture from a first antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle and a second OS circle; detecting that a second cross polarized capture from a second antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle but does not correspond to the second OS circle; The apparatus of C11, further configured to: [C20] Apparatus for wireless communication, comprising: means for receiving a plurality of cross polarized captures from a plurality of antenna arrays of the apparatus; means for detecting that the multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a first open space (OS) circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible OS circles for the device; means for assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the device and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set based on the detection; means for determining an environmental scenario corresponding to said active OS circle; and means for transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario.

Claims

1. 1. A method for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising: receiving a plurality of cross polarized captures indicative of reflections of a test signal transmitted from a plurality of antenna arrays of the UE; Detecting that the multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a first open space (OS) circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible OS circles for the UE; wherein each OS circle defines a respective OS signature based on a cross polarization ratio in the IQ plane; assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the UE based on the detection and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set; determining an environment scenario corresponding to the active OS circle; transmitting a signal using a transmit power based on the determined environmental scenario; A method comprising:

2. receiving other cross polarized captures from the antenna arrays of the UE; and detecting that the other cross polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a second OS circle in the IQ plane of the set of possible OS circles, the second OS circle being different from the first OS circle; assigning the second OS circle as the active OS circle for the UE based on the detection of correspondence with the second OS circle and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set, including the first OS circle; The method of claim 1 further comprising:

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of possible OS circles corresponds to no coverage for the UE and one or more different types of coverage for the UE.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting at least one test signal from the UE.

5. the at least one test signal comprises a continuous wave signal or a frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) radar signal; or 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the at least one test signal is transmitted from an antenna in one of the multiple antenna arrays of the UE, where a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal are received by another antenna in the same one of the multiple antenna arrays.

6. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the environmental scenario comprises distinguishing between an antenna of the UE being blocked by a cover corresponding to the first OS circle or the antenna of the UE being blocked by human tissue based on whether cross-polarization capture is within the first OS circle, the cover in particular comprising a protective case for the UE.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of cross-polarization captures is based on a cross-polarization ratio between a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal.

8. The detecting comprises: Detecting that a first cross polarized capture from a first antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle and to a second OS circle; detecting that a second cross polarized capture from a second antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle but does not correspond to the second OS circle; The method of claim 1 , comprising:

9. An apparatus for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE), comprising: A plurality of antenna arrays; a receiver configured to receive a plurality of cross polarized captures indicative of reflections of a test signal transmitted from the plurality of antenna arrays; Memory, a processor coupled to the memory, the processor comprising: Detecting that the multiple cross-polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a first open space (OS) circle in an in-phase / quadrature (IQ) plane of a set of possible OS circles for the device; wherein each OS circle defines a respective OS signature based on a cross polarization ratio in the IQ plane; assigning the first OS circle as an active OS circle for the device based on the detection and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set; determining an environment scenario corresponding to the active OS circle; configured to: a transmitter configured to transmit a signal using a transmission power based on the determined environmental scenario; An apparatus comprising:

10. the receiver is configured to receive other cross polarized captures from the antenna arrays of the device; The processor, detecting that the other cross polarized captures from the multiple antenna arrays correspond to a second OS circle in the IQ plane of the set of possible OS circles, the second OS circle being different from the first OS circle; assigning the second OS circle as the active OS circle for the device based on the detection of correspondence with the second OS circle and deactivating other possible OS circles in the set, including the first OS circle; The apparatus of claim 9 , further configured to:

11. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the set of possible OS circles corresponds to no coverage of the device and one or more different types of coverage for the device.

12. the transmitter is further configured to transmit at least one test signal; 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein an antenna in one of the plurality of antenna arrays of the apparatus is configured to transmit the at least one test signal, and another antenna in the same one of the plurality of antenna arrays is configured to receive a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal.

13. 10. The device of claim 9, wherein the processor is further configured to distinguish between an antenna of the device being blocked by a cover corresponding to the first OS circle or an antenna of the device being blocked by human tissue based on whether cross-polarized capture is within the first OS circle, the cover in particular comprising a protective case for the UE.

14. 10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein each of the plurality of cross-polarization captures is based on a cross-polarization ratio between a vertically polarized component signal and a horizontally polarized component signal.

15. The processor, Detecting that a first cross polarized capture from a first antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle and a second OS circle; detecting that a second cross polarized capture from a second antenna array corresponds to the first OS circle but does not correspond to the second OS circle; The apparatus of claim 9 , further configured to:

Images