UWB communication method, device and system

Abstract

Disclosed in the present application are a UWB communication method, device and system, which are used to solve the competition problem that occurs during ranging interaction. The UWB communication method comprises: extracting the number of response slots from an acquired UWB broadcast frame; and in a designated response slot within a response interval, transmitting a response frame, wherein the response interval is a duration that is configured according to the number of response slots and the response slots, and the designated response slot is a response slot that is determined by means of detecting the availability of a UWB channel, and / or a response slot that is randomly selected from the response interval.

Description

UWB communication method, device and system Cross-reference to Related Applications

[0001] This application is based on and claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202410650723.X, filed on May 23, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Embodiments of the present application relate to wireless communication technology, and in particular to a UWB communication method, device and system. BACKGROUND

[0003] With the continuous research of wireless technology, wireless devices not only have communication capabilities, but also can provide measurement functions. With the communication characteristics of wireless devices of different frequency bands, wireless devices can be configured with different ranging, angle measurement, positioning and other measurement technologies. Among them, the measurement technology based on UWB (Ultra Wide Band) communication has many advantages compared to other RF (Radio Frequency) communication measurement schemes, such as higher accuracy and lower cost. With this technology, UWB devices are gradually widely used in the fields of Internet of Things, industry, and automobiles.

[0004] With the practice of this technology in different application fields, it also exposes some aspects that need to be improved to varying degrees in at least one of measurement accuracy, measurement resolution, channel capacity, and communication capability. SUMMARY

[0005] The present application provides a UWB communication method, device and system to solve the competition problem generated during ranging interaction.

[0006] In a first aspect, the present application provides a UWB communication method, comprising: extracting a number of response slots from an acquired UWB broadcast frame; transmitting a response frame in a designated response slot within a response interval; wherein the response interval is a time length configured according to the number of response slots and the response slots; the designated response slot is determined according to the availability of a detected UWB channel, and / or a response slot randomly selected from the response interval.

[0007] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the availability of the UWB channel is detected at any of the following times: from the i-th response slot sequentially divided within the response interval, i < M, M being the number of response slots; in the j-th start or j-th time offset within a single response slot, j < k, k being the number of time offsets divided within a single response slot.

[0008] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the manner of detecting the availability of the UWB channel comprises: performing UWB signal frame detection on the received signal, wherein the UWB signal frame comprises an over-the-air transmitted response frame (e.g., a response frame emitted by another UWB device); and / or, detecting a channel quality of the UWB channel.

[0009] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the transmitting of the response frame is performed by any one of: transmitting the response frame in an available response slot or a next response slot of the available response slot when the available response slot is detected; or transmitting the response frame in a remaining time offset in the single response slot when a time offset in the single response slot is detected.

[0010] In some embodiments of the first aspect, the response frame comprises device information.

[0011] In a second aspect, the present application provides a UWB communication system, comprising: a first UWB device and a second UWB device; the first UWB device broadcasts a UWB broadcast frame comprising a number of response slots; the second UWB device transmits a response frame in a designated response slot within a response interval; wherein the response interval is a time length configured according to the number of response slots and the response slots; the first UWB device or the second UWB device measures using a transmission timestamp of transmitting the UWB broadcast frame and a reception timestamp of receiving the response frame.

[0012] In some embodiments of the second aspect, the designated response slot selected by the second UWB device is random, or determined by detecting the availability of the UWB channel by the second UWB device.

[0013] In some embodiments of the second aspect, further comprising: the first UWB device transmits the UWB broadcast frame in a plurality of ranging rounds.

[0014] In some embodiments of the second aspect, the first UWB device maintains device information of at least one of the second UWB device.

[0015] In some embodiments of the second aspect, the first UWB device selects the second UWB device corresponding to the maintained device information for a subsequent ranging interaction.

[0016] In some embodiments of the second aspect, the second UWB device performs the UWB communication method as any one of the above.

[0017] In a third aspect, the present application provides a UWB communication device, comprising: a UWB transceiver circuit; a signal processing circuit; a controller; wherein the controller is coupled to the signal processing circuit and the UWB transceiver circuit, and coordinates the signal processing circuit and the UWB transceiver circuit to perform the UWB communication method according to any one of the above.

[0018] The UWB communication method, device and system provided by the present application shorten the delay of UWB ranging interaction by using channel detection, and effectively reduce the communication conflict during ranging interaction of a number of UWB devices. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0019] FIG. 1a is a timing diagram of a ranging interaction according to the present application;

[0020] FIG. 1b is a timing diagram of another ranging interaction according to the present application;

[0021] FIG. 2 is a network diagram of a plurality of UWB devices in the same ranging communication environment according to the present application;

[0022] FIG. 3a is a flow diagram of a UWB device performing ranging according to the present application;

[0023] FIG. 3b is another flow diagram of a UWB device performing ranging according to the present application;

[0024] FIG. 4a is a timing diagram of a UWB device sending a response frame according to the present application;

[0025] FIG. 4b is another timing diagram of a UWB device sending a response frame according to the present application;

[0026] FIG. 5 is a timing diagram of a UWB device sending a response frame according to the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] The present application will be further described below in conjunction with the drawings and embodiments. It can be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to explain the present application, but not to limit the present application. In addition, it should be noted that, for the convenience of description, only the parts related to the present application are shown in the drawings, but not all the structures.

[0028] Certain implementations of the technology described herein can be implemented in any device, system or network that conforms to any of the communication standards in, for example, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4. For example, Ultra-WideBand standards, IEEE 802.11 standards (e.g., Wi-Fi 5 standards), Bluetooth standards, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), GSM / General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA), Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO), 1xEV-DO, EV-DO Rev A, EV-DO Rev B, High-Rate Packet Data (HRPD), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), High-Speed Packet Access+ (HSPA+), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS), or other known signal networks for communicating within a wireless, cellular, or Internet of Things (LoT) network, such as systems utilizing 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, or further implementations thereof.

[0029] Unless otherwise specified herein, the same signal (e.g., RF signal), data (or information) referred to herein can be taken as being divided into different stages of processing by the wireless device, and the same signal (or data) at the same stage of processing does not mean different meanings due to any of the following descriptions: signal (or data) form, such as electromagnetic wave or electric wave; signal (or data) transmission mode, such as single-ended transmission or differential transmission; signal characteristics, such as signal gain, frequency, phase; or data structure form, etc. The different stages of processing can be divided based on the software and hardware function framework, or based on the communication protocol architecture. For example, the different stages of processing include signal transmission and reception, digital signal processing, measurement calculation, calibration, information security, etc. For another example, the different stages of processing are different stages based on the OSI (Open System Interconnect) model, etc.

[0030] The measurement technology based on UWB communication is a technology that a UWB device calculates distance and / or angle by measuring the length of time / phase of electromagnetic wave transmission in the air. This technology can be performed by one or more UWB devices to enable the UWB device to provide functions related to ranging / angle measurement, positioning, and perception, etc.

[0031] In an example of calculating measurement data by ranging interaction based on that a first UWB device and at least one second UWB device have established a session, the first UWB device and the second UWB devices pre-know various parameters required for UWB ranging by other communication modes, such as Bluetooth communication and other short-range communication modes, such as session, start time, device information, ranging block index, ranging round index, etc.

[0032] To ensure that the use of the measurement technology based on UWB communication is not limited by the protocol set between devices, the first UWB device and each second UWB device perform ranging interaction by exchanging the data packets shown in FIG. 1a. The first UWB device sends a Pre Poll packet to inform each second UWB device of the transmission-reception order information for performing ranging interaction with the first UWB device respectively. According to the transmission-reception order indicated by the Pre Poll packet, the first UWB device sends a Poll packet to inform each second UWB device to start ranging, and the first UWB device receives a response frame according to the transmission-reception order one by one. When the signal frame transmission-reception according to the transmission-reception order is completed, the first UWB device sends a Final packet to inform each second UWB device that the ranging is over, and the first UWB device sends a Final data packet to carry the measurement value of the ranging with each second UWB device this time. In some embodiments, the Final data packet can also include various configuration parameters required for the next ranging. Wherein, the transmission-reception order is as shown in FIG. 1a, in turn: Poll, R1, R2, …, Rz, wherein the rectangle where poll is located in FIG. 1a represents the packet transmission time slot corresponding to the poll packet, and the rectangles where R1 and the like are located have the same meaning. And R1, R2, …, Rz shown in FIG. 1a are respectively the time slots for each second UWB device to send a response frame under the same session. Wherein, the measurement value includes but is not limited to the relative distance / angle calculated by the first UWB device with each second UWB device respectively, and / or the transmission timestamp, reception timestamp, etc. of each UWB signal frame collected through the ranging interaction. Wherein the UWB signal frame refers to any one or more of the various data frames transmitted during the ranging interaction, such as the Pre Poll packet, the Poll packet, the response frame, the Final packet, and the Final data packet.

[0033] It should be noted that the above signal frames are different according to different UWB communication protocols. As shown in FIG. 1b, the UWB signal frames involved in the UWB ranging interaction can also include RIM (Ranging Initiation Message), RRM (Ranging Response Message), RFM (Ranging Final Message), MRM (Measurement Report Message), RRRM (Ranging Result Report Message), etc. For example, in a process involving multiple second UWB devices respectively performing ranging interaction with the first UWB device, the first UWB device sends a RIM packet to inform each second UWB device to feed back a RRM packet in a different response time slot; each second UWB device feeds back a RRM packet in a different response time slot. The first UWB device and the second UWB device exchange measurement information through MRM, RRRM, or CRUM packet, etc. to complete measurement calculation.

[0034] In order to improve measurement accuracy and reduce the opportunity of collision of ranging interaction of each device in a multi-session environment, the first UWB device (such as an initiator) and z second UWB devices (such as responders) adopt the way of intermittently repeating ranging interaction to complete a measurement. Still referring to FIG. 1a, the period of one ranging block (Round Block1) is divided into 5 ranging rounds (Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4) to support 5 session ranging interactions. As shown in FIG. 1a, the 5 ranging rounds are represented as “Round” for simplicity, i.e. Round 0, Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Round 4. The first UWB device and each second UWB device perform ranging interaction in the Round 1 ranging round agreed in the Round Block1 ranging block. In one measurement, the initiator and each responder can perform ranging interaction in the Round 1 ranging round agreed in multiple ranging blocks (Round Block1, Round Block2, etc.) to determine the measured measurement result. N and z in the figure are both greater than or equal to 1.

[0035] However, in some application scenarios, the first UWB device or the second UWB device still needs to perform UWB ranging interaction with the peer device even when part or all of the configuration parameters of the peer device have not been obtained. For example, between multiple vehicles, between a vehicle and multiple digital keys, or between a terminal and multiple UWB anchors in an LoT scenario, the number of UWB devices participating in ranging is not determined, and the UWB ranging interaction is performed. On the one hand, the ranging interaction can be used to measure the distance / angle of each UWB device, and on the other hand, each UWB device participating in measurement can be determined.

[0036] It should be noted that the number of UWB devices is not determined, which means that the number of anchors participating in ranging in the UWB device is not determined, or means that there are multiple UWB devices. For example, in some vehicle rental applications, a mobile phone with a UWB chip performs ranging / positioning with a vehicle by executing the scheme of the present application without determining the number of UWB anchors arranged on the vehicle. For another example, still taking the vehicle rental application as an example, the vehicle performs ranging / positioning with multiple mobile phones by executing the scheme of the present application without determining the number of mobile phones with authority. For another example, the vehicle performs ranging / positioning between two vehicles by executing the scheme of the present application without determining the number of UWB anchors arranged by other vehicles around the vehicle. In the example of configuring multiple UWB anchors in one UWB device, the second UWB device mentioned in the present application can be represented as a UWB anchor.

[0037] To this end, the present application provides a UWB communication method, which aims to enable measurement with at least one peer device in the surrounding through ranging interaction when the UWB device cannot determine the number of peer devices. On this basis, the possibility of conflict between multiple peer devices in this ranging interaction can also be reduced.

[0038] For ease of description, as shown in FIG. 2, the first UWB device is the initiator, and each of the number of second UWB devices is the responder. The first UWB device and at least one of the second UWB devices can perform ranging interaction as described in the following examples, as shown in FIG. 3a or 3b. The first UWB device periodically or via event triggering performs step S11. Examples of events include events generated by operating the application interface in the first UWB device, or events generated by other hardware (such as other wireless communication modules, human-computer operation circuits) connected to (or included in) the first UWB device.

[0039] Step S11, the first UWB device broadcasts a UWB broadcast frame containing the number of response slots. The UWB broadcast frame is a data packet sent by broadcast using the UWB communication protocol, which may include, for example, the number of response slots, the source address, and in some embodiments, one or more of the corresponding time of the response slot, the clock synchronization information, the ranging block index, the ranging round index, etc. In some embodiments, the UWB broadcast frame can also be one or more data packets, such as a Pre-Poll packet, or a combination of a Pre-Poll packet and a Poll packet, etc., which will not be listed one by one here.

[0040] Unlike the ranging interaction described in FIGS. 1a and 1b, the number of response slots required for the ranging interaction described in FIGS. 2, 3a, and 3b can be preset by the first UWB device. The number of response slots corresponds to the maximum number of response frames that the first UWB device reserves to receive. In order to ensure that the surrounding second UWB devices respond to the feedback of the response frame as much as possible without conflict, the maximum number of reserved response frames is usually greater than the number of anchors used for positioning, for example, the number of reserved response frames is greater than 3. Therefore, compared with the ranging interaction between the first UWB device and a plurality of UWB anchors with a known number, the total time length of the ranging interaction between the first UWB device and the second UWB devices with an unknown number is longer. The response slots are used for the second UWB devices with an unknown number to feed back their response frames.

[0041] In some embodiments, the first UWB device can broadcast the UWB broadcast frame using one or more UWB channels. The second UWB devices with an unknown number located within the broadcast range receive the UWB broadcast packet, and at least part of the second UWB devices execute step S21 upon receiving the UWB broadcast packet.

[0042] Step S21, the second UWB device transmits a response frame in a designated response slot within a response interval; wherein the response interval is a time length configured according to the number of response slots and the response slot.

[0043] Here, the second UWB device receives the UWB broadcast frame by scanning each UWB channel and parses the number of response slots therefrom. The second UWB device selects one of the response slots to send a response frame. The response frame can be sent in a response slot such as R1 or R2 in FIG. 1a.

[0044] In some embodiments, the starting time of the response interval is configured by the first UWB device and the second UWB device under a synchronized clock system for ranging needs.

[0045] In some examples, according to some UWB protocols, the second UWB device can start calculating the index of the response slot in which it sends the response frame after a default delay from receiving the broadcast frame. In a synchronized clock system, the first UWB device and the second UWB device can eliminate the effect of the default delay on the ranging calculation.

[0046] In some examples, the second UWB device can also parse the start time of the first response slot from the broadcast frame, and determine the index of the response slot in which it sends the response frame according to the unit length of the default response slot.

[0047] Thus, the second UWB device can accurately control the time of sending the response frame within the response interval formed by the plurality of response slots.

[0048] To reduce the possibility of multiple second UWB devices selecting the same response slot to send the response frame, in some embodiments, the second UWB device can select a response slot as a designated response slot in a random manner, and send the response frame.

[0049] For example, the second UWB device performs random calculation according to the number of response slots. The following formula is used:

[0050] S(RoundIndex,Addr,N CAP_slots )=((AES(RoundIndex,Addr)&0xFF)N CAP_slots )>>16

[0051] wherein RoundIndex represents the ranging round index in which the current ranging interaction is located, Addr represents the local address information, N CAP_slots represents the number of response slots, S represents a random number generation function, AES represents an encryption function, & represents a logical AND operation, and 0xFF is a default address. The meaning of the above function is that S(RoundIndex,Addr,N CAP_slots ) represents a random generation function with RoundIndex, Addr, and N CAP_slots as inputs, and ((AES(RoundIndex,Addr)&0xFF)N CAP_slots ) represents that the specific expression of the random generation function is to call the AES encryption function with RoundIndex and Addr as inputs, perform a logical AND operation on the encryption function call result and 0xFF, and multiply the result of the logical AND operation by N CAP_slotsAs a final result. And in practice, the final result is usually much larger than 16, so for multiple second UWB devices, the result determined based on the above expression is essentially selecting a random element in a set with a data volume much larger than 16 as the index of the response slot of the response frame sent by itself. And this random number is related to the ranging round in which the current ranging interaction is located, the own address, etc., avoiding conflicts between different ranging rounds and different second UWB devices.

[0052] In order to further reduce the random conflicts of multiple second UWB devices, the application can also introduce a mechanism for detecting the availability of the UWB channel in the response interval and determining the designated response slot according to the availability in some embodiments. In other words, the designated response slot is determined based on the availability of the detected UWB channel. The availability is described by quantized data.

[0053] In some examples, the availability can be obtained by the second UWB device performing UWB signal frame detection on the received receive signal. The UWB signal frame includes but is not limited to any UWB communication format signal frame transmitted in the air. For example, the response frame sent by other second UWB devices in the response interval, or other frame structure UWB signal that can be received in the response interval. The second UWB device determines whether the UWB channel for feeding back the response frame is available by using the channel characteristics of the UWB signal frame and the code word characteristics in the UWB signal frame. If it is detected that the UWB channel is being used for transmitting UWB signals by other devices, it is determined that the UWB channel is occupied at this moment, and the data expression of unavailability is marked. Otherwise, the data expression of availability is marked.

[0054] In yet another example, the availability can also be obtained by the second UWB device detecting the channel quality of the UWB channel. Considering that some UWB channels are multiplexed with other radio communication channels, the availability can also be expressed by data of channel quality. For example, the channel quality can be obtained by analyzing measurable data. The measurable data includes but is not limited to one of the following: channel noise energy, whether there is signal jitter in the channel, in-band energy statistics, signal-to-noise ratio, etc. The channel quality can be expressed as available or unavailable by using quantized data.

[0055] In yet some examples, the detection of the UWB channel can also take into account the channel availability and the channel quality, and determine whether to send the response frame by evaluation.

[0056] In some embodiments, the second UWB device can not use a random manner or use a random manner to send the response frame in a more dispersed response slot by using the means for detecting the UWB channel.

[0057] To this end, the second UWB device can perform a continuous or sampling detection operation in the entire response interval, or in any response slot before the randomly determined response slot, and determine the designated response slot according to the detection result.

[0058] In some examples, the second UWB device starts to detect the availability of the UWB channel from the ith response slot divided in time sequence in the response interval, i < M, M being the total number of response slots.

[0059] As shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, the second UWB device predefines a response slot in which to start detecting the UWB channel. Different second UWB devices can have different predefined response slots in which to start detecting the UWB channel, so that the designated response slot selected by each second UWB device can be different. That is, the second UWB device starts to detect the availability of the UWB channel from the ith response slot. When the ith response slot is detected to be unavailable, the second UWB device continues to detect the (i+1)th response slot, until a response slot before the mth response slot is detected to be available. In this way, the designated response slot can be selected from at least one response slot in which an available response slot is detected. As shown in FIGS. 4a and 4b, the slanting boxes represent unavailable channels, and the solid boxes represent available response slots. For example, the (i+t)th response slot in FIG. 4a or the (i+t+1)th response slot in FIG. 4b can be selected as the designated response slot. Here, t is the number of consecutive response slots in which the UWB channel is detected to be unavailable.

[0060] To enhance the competitiveness of the second UWB device, in an example, the availability of the UWB channel is detected in the jth start or jth time offset in a single response slot, j < k, k being the total number of time offsets divided in a single response slot.

[0061] As shown in FIG. 5, a single response slot can be further divided into multiple time offsets, for example, a slot (Slot) of the response interval in FIG. 5, Slot i, is divided into k time offsets: offset 1, offset 2, …, offset k. The time length corresponding to each time offset can be the same or different. For example, a single time offset is related to a detection window for detecting the UWB channel, or related to the time length of a UWB signal such as a UWB broadcast frame (or a response frame), or allocated according to a fixed unit time length, or equally divided according to a fixed number.

[0062] In some embodiments, the second UWB device can randomly select a value of the index j of the time offset to start detecting the available response slot from the jth time offset, or from the first time offset.

[0063] For example, in the jth time offset in the ith response slot, if the second UWB device detects that the UWB channel is unavailable, it continues to detect whether the UWB channel in the (j+1)th time offset is available until it detects that the UWB channel in a certain time offset is available, and then selects a designated response slot from at least one response slot starting from the response slot in which the available clock offset is located.

[0064] In some embodiments, when the second UWB device has multiple selectable response slots, the second UWB device can randomly select one of them as the designated response slot to send the response frame. As the time granularity of channel detection is finer, the second UWB device is more likely to select a designated response slot with less latency feedback and available.

[0065] In some examples, in the case of using response slots as the time granularity for detecting the UWB channel, when the ith response slot is detected to be available, the second UWB device transmits a response frame in the (i+1)th response slot, i < M, where M is the total number of response slots. In this way, the second UWB device can select a designated response slot with shorter latency relative to receiving the UWB broadcast frame to feed back the response frame.

[0066] For example, as shown in FIG. 4a, Slot 0…Slot M, Slot(M+1) are M+1 slots provided for each transmission of UWB signals in the ranging interaction. Among them, Slot 0 is the slot of the UWB broadcast frame. Slot 1…Slot M are response slots in turn, which constitute the response interval as a whole. Slot(M+1) is the slot of the ranging end frame. The second UWB device receives the UWB broadcast frame in Slot 0. The second UWB device randomly starts from Slot i, detects that the UWB channel in each of Slot i…Slot(i+t) is unavailable, and detects that the UWB channel in Slot(i+t) is available. Then, the second UWB device designates Slot(i+t) as the response slot to send the response frame.

[0067] In an example, in the case of using time offsets in a response slot as the time granularity for detecting the UWB channel, when the jth time offset in a single response slot (such as response slot i) is detected to be available, the response frame is transmitted in the (j+1)th time offset in the response slot or the next response slot (i+1), where k is the number of time offsets divided in a single response slot, and j < k.

[0068] In some embodiments, in order to eliminate the first j time offsets, a sending timestamp can be included in the response frame sent in the jth time offset in the response slot Slot i, for subsequent calculation of measurement information to remove the real delay and improve measurement accuracy. Similarly, in order to reduce the clock error between the local UWB device and the synchronous clock system, a sending timestamp can be carried in any example of the response frame.

[0069] In addition, in some embodiments, in order to shorten the frame length of each signal frame for ranging, the above-mentioned timestamps can also be transmitted through the data packet transmitted at the end of the ranging, such as the Final data packet or the MRM packet, for subsequent measurement calculation.

[0070] In yet another example, the second UWB device randomly selects a response slot from the response interval as a candidate designated response slot, and detects the UWB channel using any of the foregoing examples. If the UWB channel is detected to be available before the start time of the candidate designated response slot, the response slot determined according to the detection is taken as the designated response slot, and a response frame is sent. Otherwise, a response frame is sent in the candidate designated response slot. In this way, by flexibly adjusting the sending time of the response frame, not only the success rate of sending the response frame can be improved, but also the time interval between receiving the broadcast frame and sending the response frame can be effectively shortened.

[0071] As can be seen from the above examples and / or embodiments, shortening the time interval can effectively reduce the decrease in ranging accuracy caused by the frequency deviation of the synchronous clock in the synchronous system. The synchronous clock system is a synchronous clock system formed by the clock signals exchanged by each local clock system in the first UWB device and the second UWB device using UWB ranging.

[0072] In some embodiments, in each response slot designated by the first UWB device, the first UWB device receives response frames from an uncertain number of second UWB devices around it.

[0073] Using the synchronous clock system, the first UWB device records a first sending timestamp of sending the UWB broadcast frame and a second receiving timestamp of receiving each response frame. Each second UWB device records a first receiving timestamp of locally receiving the UWB broadcast frame and a second sending timestamp of sending the local response frame. Using each set of measured timestamps, the first UWB device or each second UWB device participating in the ranging interaction can be executed as shown in FIG. 3a or FIG. 3b to locate the first UWB device. Each set of timestamps includes at least the timestamps obtained by the first UWB device and one second UWB device in the ranging interaction.

[0074] As shown in FIG. 3a, at step S12, the first UWB device calculates the measurement information between the first UWB device and each of the second UWB devices participating in the ranging interaction, using each set of calculation parameters including at least the first transmission timestamp, the first reception timestamp, etc. The calculation parameters can further include the second transmission timestamp and the second reception timestamp, and can even further include some known parameters. The known parameters include but are not limited to the aforementioned various time intervals, such as the length of the response slot, the length of the time offset, the length of time between the transmission of the broadcast frame and the start of the first response slot, etc. In some embodiments, the calculation parameters can further include the arraying parameters between the antennas of the first UWB device, for calculating the angle, etc. Each set of calculation parameters includes at least the aforementioned timestamps of the transceiving frames between the first UWB device and one of the second UWB devices. In some embodiments, the calculation parameters can further include other known parameters, etc., which are not listed here. The ranging algorithm includes but is not limited to SS_TWR (Single-sided Two-way Ranging) or eSS_TWR (Enhanced Single-sided Two-way Ranging), etc. The angle calculation algorithm includes but is not limited to AOA (Angle-of-Arrival), etc.

[0075] As shown in FIG. 3b, at step S13, the first UWB device provides each of the second UWB devices with the locally recorded sets of calculation parameters. For example, the first UWB device provides each of the second UWB devices with the sets of calculation parameters in the final data packet in the ranging interaction.

[0076] At step S22, any of the second UWB devices calculates the measurement information between the first UWB device and each of the second UWB devices participating in the ranging interaction, i.e., calculates the distance and / or angle between the first UWB device and each of the second UWB devices according to the received sets of calculation parameters. The ranging algorithm includes but is not limited to SS_TWR or eSS_TWR, etc. The angle calculation algorithm includes but is not limited to AOA, etc.

[0077] To improve the success rate of the ranging interaction, the first UWB device transmits the UWB broadcast frame in multiple ranging rounds. Each ranging round belongs to a different ranging block. For example, the first UWB device performs at least one ranging interaction facing an undetermined number of second UWB devices in the ranging rounds with fixed (or not fixed) indexes in the consecutive multiple ranging blocks.

[0078] In some examples, the first UWB device performs the ranging interaction with the undetermined number of second UWB devices in multiple ranging rounds.

[0079] In some examples, the first UWB device pre-stores and maintains the device information of at least one second UWB device. Alternatively, the first UWB device collects and maintains the device information of at least one second UWB device by using at least one ranging interaction.

[0080] For example, the first UWB device is a vehicle, and the second UWB devices are mobile phones authorized to interact with the vehicle. The first UWB device pre-stores the device information of the second UWB devices, and uses an uncertain number of ranging interactions to find the second UWB devices that match the maintained device information.

[0081] For example, regardless of whether the second UWB device is authorized or not, the first UWB device can obtain device information from each ranging interaction through at least one ranging interaction, and dynamically maintain the device information to select the second UWB device for subsequent ranging interaction. In this way, the success rate of multiple ranging is improved, and the opportunity of conflict is reduced.

[0082] When performing at least one ranging interaction towards an uncertain number of second UWB devices, the first UWB device selects a second UWB device corresponding to the maintained device information for subsequent ranging interaction. Here, the subsequent ranging interaction can use the method shown in FIG. 1a or 1b to perform ranging interaction with the selected second UWB devices, thereby shortening the time length of the ranging interaction.

[0083] The UWB device mentioned in any of the above examples can include at least one UWB anchor point and a controller connected to each UWB anchor point. Each UWB anchor point can include one or more of a UWB transceiver circuit, a signal processing circuit, a controller, etc. In some cases, the controller can be coupled to the signal processing circuit and the UWB transceiver circuit, and coordinate the signal processing circuit and the UWB transceiver circuit to perform the above steps S11-S12 (or steps S11-S13) or S21-S22 (or steps S21) to perform ranging interaction with other UWB devices.

[0084] Under the control of the controller, the UWB transceiver circuit in a single UWB anchor point performs transmitting and / or receiving UWB signals to achieve wireless transmission of the UWB signals.

[0085] The signal processing circuit is exemplified as a digital special circuit, or a programmable logic circuit, etc. The signal processing circuit in a single UWB anchor point performs signal analysis on the digital sequence received via the UWB transceiver circuit and digitized, and reports the analysis result. The signal analysis is exemplified as including but not limited to signal detection, statistics, classification, etc. by means of signal spectrum, power spectrum, phase, etc. The signal analysis is further exemplified as including but not limited to a series of signal processing on the digital sequence for the purpose of calibration, detection of radio environment, measurement strategy, reporting of measurement data, etc. such as FFT (Fast Fourier Transform), signal quality calculation, etc.

[0086] The signal processing circuit adjusts the transmission / reception parameters of the UWB transceiver circuit according to the analysis result. For example, the signal processing circuit stores the detected available UWB channel, and the start time of the specified response time slot in the register, and controls the UWB transceiver circuit to send the response frame when the start time of the specified response time slot is counted.

[0087] The controller can be configured in a single UWB anchor point to configure the initial data required for the signal processing circuit and the UWB transceiver circuit to run into the registers to start the signal processing circuit and the UWB transceiver circuit to run. The controller can also be configured in the UWB device and data-connected with multiple UWB anchor points to realize the data / instruction interaction between each UWB anchor point and the upper layer application. For example, the controller transmits the data / instruction provided by other wireless modules (such as BLE modules) in the UWB device to the UWB anchor point to trigger the signal processing circuit and the UWB transceiver circuit in the UWB anchor point to run. Among them, the transmitted data exemplarily includes any one of the following: various parameters required to be configured for performing UWB ranging interaction, and various instructions transmitted for controlling UWB ranging interaction. Among them, the various parameters exemplarily include the session, start time, device information, ranging block index, ranging round index, etc. required for UWB ranging interaction. The instructions exemplarily include instructions for various security authentication for performing the data transmission, instructions indicating the UWB device to start performing UWB ranging interaction, etc.

[0088] The technical features of the above-described embodiments can be combined in any manner. To make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above-described embodiments are described, however, as long as the combinations of the technical features do not exist contradictions, they should be considered as the scope of the present disclosure.

[0089] Note that the above merely describes preferred embodiments of the application and the principles of the application. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the application is not limited to the specific embodiments described herein, and that changes, modifications and substitutions can be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the application. Therefore, although the application has been described in detail by the above embodiments, the application is not limited to the above embodiments, and can include more other equivalent embodiments without departing from the concept of the application, and the scope of the application is determined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for UWB communication, comprising: extracting a number of response slots from a UWB broadcast frame acquired; transmitting a response frame in a designated response slot within a response interval, wherein the response interval is configured with the number of response slots and the response slots; the designated response slot is determined by availability of a UWB channel detected, and / or randomly selected from the response interval.

2. The UWB communication method of claim 1, wherein, detecting availability of a UWB channel at any of the following occasions: starting from an i-th response slot sequentially divided within the response interval, i < M, M being the number of response slots within the response interval; starting from a j-th time offset within a single response slot, or within the j-th time offset, j < k, k being the number of time offsets divided within a single response slot.

3. The UWB communication method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein, the manner of detecting availability of a UWB channel comprises: performing UWB signal frame detection on a received signal, wherein the UWB signal frame comprises an over-the-air transmitted response frame; and / or, detecting channel quality of the UWB channel.

4. The UWB communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the transmitting of the response frame is achieved by any of the following: when a usable response slot is detected, transmitting the response frame in the usable response slot or a next response slot of the usable response slot; when a usable time offset is detected in a single response slot, transmitting the response frame within the remaining time offsets in the response slot, or in a next response slot.

5. The UWB communication method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the response frame contains device information.

6. A UWB communication system comprising: a first UWB device and a second UWB device; the first UWB device broadcasts a UWB broadcast frame containing a number of response slots; the second UWB device transmits a response frame in a designated response slot within a response interval, wherein the response interval is configured with the number of response slots and the response slots; the first UWB device or the second UWB device measures using a transmission timestamp of transmitting the UWB broadcast frame and a reception timestamp of receiving the response frame.

7. The UWB communication system of claim 6, wherein, the designated response slot selected by the second UWB device is random, or determined by the second UWB device detecting availability of a UWB channel.

8. The UWB communication system of claim 6 or 7, wherein, further comprising: the first UWB device transmits a UWB broadcast frame in a plurality of ranging rounds.

9. The UWB communication system according to any one of claims 6 to 8, wherein, the first UWB device maintains device information of at least one second UWB device.

10. The UWB communication system of claim 9, wherein, the first UWB device selects the second UWB device corresponding to the maintained device information for subsequent ranging interaction.

11. The UWB communication system according to any one of claims 6 to 10, wherein, the second UWB device performs the method for UWB communication as claimed in any of claims 1-5.

12. A UWB communication device comprising: a UWB transceiver circuit; a signal processing circuit; a controller; wherein the controller is coupled to the signal processing circuit and the UWB transceiver circuit, and coordinates the signal processing circuit and the UWB transceiver circuit to perform the method for UWB communication as claimed in any of claims 1-5.

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