Methods and apparatuses for managing the sharing of radar data by radar-enabled wireless communication devices

Abstract

A radar-enabled wireless communication device acquires radar data and shares the radar data with one or more consumers, in dependence on the trust level associated with each such consumer. For example, the device acquires radar data that is or may be sensitive in terms of privacy. In one or more embodiments, the device places one or more removable restrictions on the radar data it shares, such as by reversibly degrading the resolution or reversibly masking content corresponding to certain object or types of objects represented in the acquired radar data. The applied restriction(s) are removable via the use of corresponding side information. Sharing the radar data correspondingly comprises the device sharing the radar data commonly with one or more consumers, with the device enforcing privacy restrictions per consumer by determining whether or how much side information is shared with each consumer according to the associated trust level.

Description

[0001] METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR MANAGING THE SHARING OF RADAR DATA BY RADAR-ENABLED WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICES

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Disclosed methods and apparatuses relate to wireless communication devices and, particularly, to radar-enabled wireless communication devices.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] The rapid advancement and widespread adoption of wireless communication devices, such as smartphones, smartwatches, and Internet of Things (loT) devices, have significantly transformed how individuals interact with their environment. These devices increasingly incorporate radar sensing capabilities to enhance user experiences by enabling precise detection and mapping of the surrounding physical environment. Various applications utilize radar sensing technologies, including gesture recognition, occupancy detection, and spatial awareness, all contributing to the development of more intuitive and responsive devices and providing potentially rich sources of information about the physical environments in which the devices operate.

[0006] However, the proliferation of radar sensing capabilities in everyday devices introduces significant privacy concerns. The ability of these devices to monitor and analyze detailed environmental and behavioral data poses risks to user privacy, particularly given the ability to disseminate acquired radar data to remote users or system. Unauthorized access or misuse of radar data can lead to intrusive surveillance, unauthorized tracking, and the collection of sensitive personal information without user consent.

[0007] SUMMARY

[0008] A radar-enabled wireless communication device acquires radar data by sensing its surrounding physical environment and shares the radar data with one or more consumers of radar data in dependence on the trust level associated with each such consumer. For example, the device acquires radar data at a given resolution, where the acquired radar data is or may be sensitive in terms of privacy based on the nature of the physical environment being sensed, the time of day, or the presence of persons or other objects having privacy considerations associated with them. In one or more embodiments, the device places one or more removable restrictions on the radar data it shares, such as by reversibly degrading the resolution or reversibly masking content corresponding to certain object or types of objects represented in the acquired radar data. The device conditionally shares side information with each consumer for removing the restrictions, in dependence on the associated trust level. Thus, the same underlying data may be shared commonly with multiple consumers, with privacy restrictions then enforced by determining whether or how much side information is shared on a per consumer basis.

[0009] One embodiment comprises a method of operation by a radar-enabled wireless communication device. The method includes acquiring radar data via radar sensing of a surrounding physical environment of the wireless communication device, determining a trust level associated with a consumer of the radar data, and sharing the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer.

[0010] A related embodiment comprises a radar-enabled wireless communication device comprising radar circuitry and processing circuitry. The radar circuitry is configured for acquiring radar data via radar sensing of a surrounding physical environment of the wireless communication device, and the processing circuitry configured to determine a trust level associated with a consumer of the radar data and share the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer.

[0011] Of course, the present invention is not limited to the above features and advantages. Indeed, those skilled in the art will recognize additional features and advantages upon reading the following detailed description, and upon viewing the accompanying drawings.

[0012] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0013] Figure l is a block diagram of wireless communication network and a number of wireless communication devices, according to one embodiment, wherein at least one such device is configured for restricted sharing of radar data.

[0014] Figure 2 is a logic flow diagram of a method of operation by a radar-enabled wireless communication device, according to one embodiment.

[0015] Figure 3 is a block diagram of a radar-enabled wireless communication device, according to one embodiment.

[0016] Figure 4 is a block diagram of example functional logic of a radar-enabled wireless communication device, according to one embodiment.

[0017] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] Figure 1 depicts a wireless communication network 10 (“network 10”) according to an example embodiment. The network 10 provides one or more communication services to wireless communication devices 12 (“device(s) 12”), which may be of the same type or of mixed types. For example, radio links between respective devices 12 and the network 10 provide communicative coupling of the respective devices 12 with one or more external networks 14, such as the Internet. In turn, the external network(s) 14 provide access to one or more service providers (“SPs”) 16, which provide any one or more of social media services, media streaming services, remote application execution, data storage, email, etc.

[0019] In at least one embodiment, the network 10 is configured according to Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications, such as Fifth Generation (5G) or Sixth Generation (6G) specifications. Further, for purposes of discussion, each device 12 is presumed to be a “radar-enabled” device, meaning that it includes radar circuitry for performing radar sensing of its surrounding physical environment. In at least one such embodiment, the communicationsignal frequencies used by the network 10 are in frequency ranges that allow such signals, or at least a portion of the underlying communication circuitry is used for radar sensing. In one or more other embodiments, however, radar sensing uses circuitry that is separate from the communication circuitry and relies on dedicated radar signals, which may be at frequencies or in frequency ranges outside of that used for communicating with the network 10.

[0020] The network 10 includes a Radio Access Network (“RAN”) 20, comprising radio access nodes 22, each providing one or more cells 24 of network coverage. Here, cells 24 may be static or dynamic in terms of the geographic area(s) and corresponding communication resources involved and may or may not be user centric and may or may not utilize beam steering or other adaptive techniques. The radio access nodes 22, which are “gNBs” in a 5G network example, have interface connections with a Core Network (CN) 30, which provides a variety of mobility management and authentication functions for connecting and managing individual devices 12, and for routing packet data or other information to and from the external network(s) 14, for individual devices 12. A multiplicity of CN nodes 32 support such functions.

[0021] Using 3GPP nomenclature, the devices 12 are one or more types of User Equipments (“UEs”). Non-limiting examples include any one or any mix of smartphones, tablets, wireless network adaptors or modems, Internet-of-Things (loT) devices, or Machine Type Communication (MTC) devices. Regardless of the particular nature of the devices 12 individually or collectively, at least one device 12 depicted in Figure 1 is configured to perform a method 200, as shown in Figure 2.

[0022] The method 200 includes the device 12: acquiring (Block 204) radar data via radar sensing of a surrounding physical environment of the device 12, determining (Block 206) a trust level associated with a consumer of the radar data, and sharing (Block 208) the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer. In at least one embodiment, and with reference back to Figure 1, the information needed for the device to determine the trust level that is associated with the consumer of the radar data comes via trust signaling 40. In one or more embodiments, the trust signaling 40 originates from a computing apparatus — e.g., a computer server — that is remote from the device 12 and flows to the device 12 via the network 10 as over-the-top (OTT) signaling, e.g., Internet-channel signaling. Figure 1 suggests this arrangement by showing a computing apparatus 42 that is labeled “TM” in the diagram, to emphasize that it acts as a trust manager that manages or otherwise controls the trustlevel indications sent to the device 12.

[0023] In at least one embodiment, the computing apparatus 42 is an Internet server and it may be managed by a third party, such as a trust authority. Alternatively, the operator of the network 10 controls the computing apparatus 42. In one or more other embodiments, the trust signaling 40 is sent to the device 12 as network signaling, e.g., in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) configuration message or via other message type. In such cases, a remote trust authority may still manage or set the trust levels but communicates with one or more nodes in the network 10 to convey the information to the network 10, with the network 10 then transmitting it as networkbased signaling to the device 12. Thus, in one or more embodiments, the trust signaling 40 is received via a radio link with the network 10 as OTT signaling, and in one or more other embodiments is received via a radio link as network signaling. OTT signaling may be advantageous in certain scenarios, such as by providing a mechanism for a remote trust manager to pass trust signaling 40 transparently over the network 10 to the device 12 and any number of other devices.

[0024] Regardless, the method 200 includes the device 12 receiving (Block 202) trust signaling 40 indicating a trust level associated with one or more consumers of radar data. A trust authority or other controlling entity may determine or otherwise assign different levels of trust to different software applications or types of applications. The processing logic of the device 12 may include logic configured to contact a trust management server, e.g., at a designated IP address, to obtain trust level information. For example, the logic may be configured to report its installed applications and receive corresponding indications of trust levels in return. Additionally, or alternatively, the trust level of a consumer depends on the associated host — e.g., trust is assigned or determined as a function of network domain, with the domains of certain companies or organizations being more trusted and with those of other companies or organizations being less trusted.

[0025] In at least one embodiment or operating scenario, a highest trust level is reserved for governmental agencies and, in particular, for agencies having law enforcement authority. In this regard, while a consumer of radar data is, in practical terms, the software application or service that receives the radar data, it shall be understood that given consumers may be controlled or operated by companies or agencies, with the trust level assigned to those given consumers reflecting the trust or lack thereof associated with their respective companies or agencies. This scenario reinforces one of the several advantages flowing from the disclosed technique(s); namely, radar data acquired by a device 12 may be shared commonly with multiple consumers, with per consumer privacy controls enforced based on the device 12 using per consumer trust levels to decide whether or to what extent each consumer is permitted to remove the one or more privacy restrictions that were applied by the device to the radar data.

[0026] Figure 3 depicts the example device 12 in more detail and illustrates the possibility of either or both “internal” consumers of radar data and “external” consumers of radar data. “Internal” designates a consumer that is onboard the device 12, while “external” designates a consumer that is offboard — apart from — the device 12. For broad understanding, a “consumer” is any entity that makes use of radar data and is generally represented as a software application, such as one or more applications executing on the device 12 as internal consumers and / or one or more applications executing remotely from the device 12 as external consumers. For example, external consumers reside in one or more computer servers which are communicatively accessible by the device 12 via use of the network 10.

[0027] The example device 12 comprises processing circuitry 50. The processing circuitry 50 comprises fixed circuitry or programmatically configured circuitry or a mix of both. In one or more embodiments, the processing circuitry 50 comprises storage 52 storing computer program instructions (“CPI”) 54 and a processor 56 that is configured to execute the CPI 54, whereby the processor 56 causes the device to carry out the method 200 detailed above, or variations or extensions thereof.

[0028] The storage 52 comprises one or more types of computer readable media, such as any one or more of volatile memory for program execution and live processing, and non-volatile memory for longer term storage. Example computer readable memory includes any one or more of SRAM, DRAM, NVRAM, FLASH, and EEPROM. In at least one embodiment, the storage 52 includes working memory that buffers radar data 58 acquired via radar sensing by the device 12 and, further, in at least one embodiment, the storage 52 includes memory storing trust level (“TL”) information 60 comprising one or more data structures that link each of one or more consumers with an indication of the trust level associated with that consumer. For example, the TL information 60 comprises a working data structure that contains application identifiers linked to values or tokens representing the trust level associated with each application identifier.

[0029] Trust level may be expressed numerically, e.g., as a fractional value between 0 and 1, with 0 representing the lowest level of trust or the absence of trust and 1 representing the highest level of trust. Alternatively, a quantized scale represents trust, e.g., the integers 1 through 5, going from lowest to highest level of trust. Other approaches include using qualitative indicators, such as low, medium, and high. Further, in at least one embodiment, the trust level is binary, i.e., either trusted or not trusted. Thus, a single bit flag may be stored to indicate whether a consumer is or is not trusted. Of course, parity or error-correcting bits may be added for robustness.

[0030] During live operation, the processor 56 provides a run-time environment (“RTE”) 62 in which one or more applications 64 run. Any one or more of these applications 64 are consumers of radar data 58 acquired by the device 12, at least at certain times or under certain conditions. For example, one or more of the running applications 64 use the radar data 58 for presence sensing and in this regard, the depicted radar data 58 may be understood as being dynamic, e.g., the device 12 may perform radar sensing on demand, on a condition-triggered basis, or periodically, as part of ongoing operations. Any emission of a radar signal, which may be a pulsed signal, and reception of corresponding return reflections represents a radar sensing event and the radar data 58 comprises the raw or processed data resulting from a radar sensing event and it may be updated at each successive event or over some number of events, using averaging or other synthesis.

[0031] Input / Output (“IO”) circuitry 70 interfaces the processing circuitry 50 with communication circuitry 72 and radar circuitry 74. The communication circuitry 72 is associated with one or more antennas 76 and comprises, for example, one or more radio transceivers, including a radio transceiver configured to support one or more radio access technologies used by the network 10, such that the device 12 connects to the network 10 via a radio link 78. The device 10 further includes radar circuitry 74. In one or more embodiments, the radar circuitry 74 is wholly separate from the communication circuitry 72, while in other embodiments at least a portion of the communication circuitry 72, e.g., transmit amplifiers, mixers, etc., is reused for radar sensing and thus constitutes a shared portion of the radar circuitry 74. The antenna(s) 76 may support both communications and radar sensing, and the network 10 in one or more embodiments allocates the communication resources — e.g., times, frequencies — used for communication and those used for radar sensing. Alternatively, in one or more embodiments, the device 12 has separate antennas for communications and radar sensing.

[0032] With the communicative coupling of the device 12 to the network 10 via an established radio link 78, the device 12 can communicatively couple to any one or more computer servers 80 that are accessible via the external network(s) 14. A plurality of such servers are shown in the diagram as computer servers 80-1 through 80-A, where N is two or greater. The different servers 80 are associated with different entities or organizations, e.g., one or more may be owned by commercial service providers, while others may be associated with educational facilities, or governmental agencies. In an example case, at least one such server 80 is associated with a law enforcement agency or other governmental agency. Each computer server 80 hosts an RTE 82 in which one or more software applications 84 run. Example details in the diagram show an application 84-1 running on the computer server 80-1 and an application 84-7V running on the computer server 8O-7V. Because of the differing natures of these applications 84 and / or because of the different ownership or control associated with the different computer servers 80, at least two such software applications 84 have different associated trust levels in the context of being consumers of the radar data 58 acquired by the device 12.

[0033] Consider the example of Figure 4, illustrating radar data sharing in dependence on consumer trust levels. Five consumers of radar data are illustrated as Consumer 1 through Consumer 5. This plurality of consumers may comprise internal applications 64 or external applications 84, or any mix of internal and external applications. The device 12 is represented according to example functional logic, where such logic may be realized via execution of the CPI 54 by the processor 56.

[0034] The device 12 performs a radar sensing operation that results in the acquisition of radar data, shown as “initial radar data” 90. In one or more embodiments, the initial radar data 90 is raw sensor data from the radar circuitry 74. In one or more other embodiments, the initial radar data 90 is processed radar data, e.g., radar image data derived from the raw sensor data. The disclosed techniques are not limited to any particular form of the radar data to be shared. Regardless of its form, restriction logic 92 of the device 12 applies one or more restrictions to the initial radar data 90 to obtain the radar data 58. Applying the one or more restrictions can be understood as applying one or more privacy restrictions in the sense that the initial radar data 90 may raise privacy concerns in terms of who or what was in the sensed physical environment and / or in terms of the resolution of the initial radar data 90. Consider a case where the resolution of the initial radar data 90 is sufficiently high to support recognition of particular types of objects, e.g., humans or equipment having associated privacy concerns, or even high enough to recognize individual humans or identify specific items of equipment or perform accurate dimensional measurements.

[0035] The one or more restrictions applied by the restriction logic 92 for formation of the radar data 58 comprise a resolution restriction removable using side information and / or a content restriction that is removable using side information. These restrictions can be understood as “degradations” of the initial radar data 90, but the degradation(s) is / are applied or otherwise performed so as to be reversible in dependence on having access to “side information” 96.

[0036] In this context, sharing control logic 94 shares the radar data 58 with each of the consumers in dependence on the trust level associated with each consumer by: sharing the radar data 58 with each consumer and then conditionally sharing the side information 96 with each consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer. In this way, at a minimum, the consumer gets access to the radar data 58, but may or may not get access to the side information or may get access to only specific items of side information.

[0037] Consider an embodiment where the restriction logic 92 applies more than one restriction (degradation) to the initial radar data 90, to form the radar data 58 that is to be shared. Further, assume that each restriction requires a corresponding item of side information to be reversed, and assume that each restriction is independently reversible. Still further, assume that there is a first threshold level of trust that a consumer must have to qualify for one or more first items of side information 96 corresponding to one or more first restrictions, and that there is a second, higher threshold level of trust that a consumer must have to qualify for all items of side information 96 — i.e., the “full” side information.

[0038] With these assumptions and for the case where the trust level associated with Consumer 1 is at or above the second threshold, the sharing control logic 94 provides the radar data (“RD”) 58 and the full side information (“SI”) 96 to Consumer 1. With the trust level associated with Consumer 2 also satisfying the second threshold, the sharing control logic 94 provides the RD 58 and the full SI 96 with Consumer 2. With the trust level associated with Consumer 3 being at or above the first threshold but below the second threshold, the sharing control logic 94 provides the RD 58 and limited SI 96 to Consumer 3. Here, “limited” SI means fewer than all items of SI 96, e.g., the SI needed for restoring the original resolution but not the SI needed for unmasking radar data corresponding to the detection of particular objects or kinds of objects or corresponding to certain sensing directions — e.g., there may be spatially-related privacy concerns and reversible data masking may be used to mask portions of the initial radar data 90 corresponding to privacy-sensitive directions.

[0039] Continuing the example, for the case where Consumer 4 has an associated trust level that is at or above the first threshold but below the second threshold, the sharing control logic 94 provides the RD 58 and limited SI 96 to Consumer 4. Finally, for the case where Consumer 5 has an associated trust level that is below the first threshold, the sharing control logic 94 shares the radar data 58 with Consumer 5 but does not provide any SI to Consumer 5. Consequently, Consumer 5 is unable to remove any of the restrictions.

[0040] A nice advantage of this approach is that the radar data 58 serves as a baseline or same radar data set that is commonly shared with all consumers, but the ability of each consumer to remove the one or more restrictions applied to the radar data set depends on whether the consumer receives the side information, or which items of side information are received. In this way, sharing of the radar data 58 with a consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer is accomplished by providing the radar data 58 to the consumer and then conditionally providing side information 96 to the consumer in dependence on the associated trust level.

[0041] In one embodiment that constitutes a slight variation of the above logic, there is only one item of side information 96 and it is usable for removing any of one or more restrictions that are applied by the device 12 to the initial radar data 90, to form the radar data 58. That single item of side information is or is not shared with any given consumer, in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer.

[0042] Thus, in one or more embodiments, the method 200 involves sharing the radar data 58 with a plurality of consumers, where each consumer has an associated trust level, and wherein the method 200 comprises sharing the radar data 58 with each consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with each consumer. In one or more embodiments, the method 200 includes the device 12 receiving trust signaling 40 transmitted by the network 10, where the trust signaling 40 indicates the trust level associated with the consumer. In at least one such embodiment, the method 200 includes treating the indicated trust level as being the trust level associated with the consumer only upon establishing a secure connection, via the wireless communication network, with a remote computer system that originates the trust signaling 40. For example, the device 12 does not use the indicated trust level unless it successfully executes an authentication procedure with the remote computer system — e.g., a computer server 80, such as shown in Figure 3.

[0043] As explained above, sharing radar data with a consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer comprises, in one or more embodiments, placing one or more removable restrictions on the radar data before sending the radar data to the consumer, and conditionally sharing one or more items of side information 96 needed for removal of the one or more restrictions, in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer. For example, the initial radar data 90 represents a highest achievable radar resolution of the device 12 and / or corresponds to sensing over a maximum sensing angle or range, and the sharing control logic 94 of the device 12 mathematically alters the initial radar data 90 in a reversible manner, to do any one or more of: lower the resolution, mask certain content, mask data beyond a certain range, or mask data corresponding to certain sensing directions. This degraded or restricted version of the initial radar data 90 is shared with the consumer as radar data 58, and the consumer does or does not receive the side information needed to remove the restrictions in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer, or the consumer receives less than all side information and thus can remove one or more but not all of the applied restrictions.

[0044] In at least one embodiment, different levels of restriction exist. For example, there may be multiple levels of added noise, resulting in progressively higher levels of added noise corresponding to heavier filtering or more aggressive sharing restrictions. The side information 96 may be structured such that different items of side information 96 allow for different levels or amounts of noise removal, with more trusted consumers receiving more or all of the side information and hence being granted the ability to remove more or all of the added noise. Conversely, less trusted users would receive less of the side information and would be limited in terms of how much or what level of added noise they can remove.

[0045] Thus, the ability to filter or process the radar data 58 for restriction removal may be graduated or otherwise controlled for each consumer by controlling the side information provided to each consumer, in observance of the trust level associated with each consumer. In this way, per-consumer sharing restrictions may be matched to the per consumer trust levels.

[0046] In at least one embodiment, the filtering or other processing of the initial radar data 90 to arrive at the radar data 58 comprises adding a deterministic pseudo-noise / dithering / scrambling component to the data. For example, an additive noise component may be generated using a pseudo noise (“PN”) generator or another sequence generator with a known starting state or seed value. The statistical properties of such noise component may be virtually indistinguishable from a true i.i.d. (independent and identically distributed) noise sample sequence but the component may be duplicated exactly at a consumer if the generator state is known to the consumer. Such state information may be provided conditionally in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer — e.g., if the trust level of the consumer is a certain value or meets or exceeds a defined trust level threshold.

[0047] In one or more embodiments, the radar data 58 is generated by the device 12 applying multiple, e.g., AT, PN sequences to raw radar sensor data as the initial radar data 90. The degree of filtering — noise removal — at each consumer can then be controlled by providing anywhere from zero to AT seed values to each consumer according to the associated trust level of the consumer. More seed values correspond to more noise removal as they allow removing more PN components. The amplitudes of the PN sequences, or other parameters affecting the level of distortion or masking components added to the original data may be equal or different. The multiple PN sequences may be added cumulatively (i.e. applied to all data values) or used in an interleaved manner (one sequence affecting one subset of data samples, another affecting another subset, etc.).

[0048] Regardless of such implementation details, in at least one embodiment, there is a plurality of consumers and sharing the radar data 58 with the plurality of consumers comprises sharing the radar data 58 as a same radar data set commonly with all the consumers and conditionally sharing the one or more items of side information 96 with each consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with each consumer. The one or more removable restrictions on the radar data comprise at least one of: a resolution restriction that reduces the resolution of the radar data and is removable using corresponding side information, and a content restriction that masks portions of the radar data corresponding to certain objects or types of objects or certain sensing directions and is removable using corresponding side information.

[0049] Having the radar data 58 commonly shared but still restricted according to consumer trust level offers several advantages, not least the saving of communications resources needed to send multiple versions of the initial radar data 90. A further advantage is a reduction in required power, time and buffering at the device 12, such as would be needed for the device 12 to perform multiple versions of radar sensing corresponding to different trust levels. With the disclosed approach, the same underlying initial radar data 90 and the same restricted version of that data — i.e., the radar data 58 — is acquired or otherwise generated, and only one radar data set need be distributed to interested consumers.

[0050] In at least one embodiment, the restriction logic 92 forms the radar data 58 from the initial radar data 90 by adding noise that reduces an effective resolution of the radar data. For example, the restriction logic 92 uses a pseudo noise sequence to add noise, such as by dithering sample values comprising the initial radar data 90. Indicating to a consumer, as corresponding side information 96, the pseudo noise sequence used for adding the noise allows the consumer to remove the added noise, e.g., based on correlation filtering. Thus, consumers that receive such side information are able to recover the initial radar data 90 from the radar data 58 and thereby enjoy the use of higher resolution radar data, while consumers that do not receive such side information must make do with the lower resolution of the radar data 58.

[0051] Similarly, the initial radar data 90 may contain data portions corresponding to objects or directions having privacy concerns and those corresponding data portions may be reversibly scrambled. As an alternative, dummy data that preserves the coherency of the initial radar data 90 may be substituted for the sensitive data portions, to form the radar data 58. Then, the corresponding side information that is conditionally provided to any given consumer as side information comprises, for example, a locked version of the sensitive data portions. The locked version is unlockable with a shared secret, for example, or with a key provided to the consumer in conjunction with assigning the consumer with a corresponding trust level.

[0052] Turning back to Figure 2, one embodiment of particular interest herein is a radar-enabled wireless communication device 12 comprising radar circuitry 74 configured for acquiring radar data via radar sensing of a surrounding physical environment of the device 12, and further comprising processing circuitry 50 that is configured to: determine a trust level associated with a consumer of the radar data; and share the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer. In an example implementation, the processing circuitry 50 comprises storage 52 containing one or more type of memory storing CPI 54, and further comprises a processor 56 that is configured for execution of the CPI 54, whereby the processor 56 causes the device 12 to carry out the method 200 as detailed above and / or any of the variations and extensions further described herein.

[0053] In addition to or independently from the sharing restrictions described above for radar data, the network 10, according to at least one embodiment, gates or otherwise controls radar sensing by given devices 12 with respect to certain times of day and / or with respect to certain locations. For example, the detection of persons within an office building during regular hours may be disallowed, while sensing after hours is allowed. Thus, a device 12 installed in or even inadvertently left in the office building is prevented from performing radar sensing for a certain portion of the day and is allowed to, or even requested to, perform radar sensing during another portion of the day. In a somewhat converse case, radar sensing may be permitted in a residence during daytime hours but be prohibited during nighttime hours.

[0054] Such radar sensing control may override any or all of the radar data sharing described above and, in at least one embodiment, the example device 12 is configured to respond to network control signaling sent by the network 10 over the radio link 78. In one embodiment, the network control signaling either acts as an on or off command for the device 12 with respect to radar sensing. For example, a radio access node 22 that provides a cell 24 associated with a secure business or government location may broadcast or otherwise transmit network signaling that disables radar sensing by the device 12 while operating in that cell 24. Or, as noted, signaling indicating that radar sensing is allowed may be transmitted during certain hours, and signaling indicating that radar sensing is not allowed may be transmitted during certain other hours.

[0055] In at least one other embodiment, the network signaling is not a simple enable / disable construct, and instead indicates one or more of certain times, certain directions or geographic coordinates, or certain objects or types of objects, for which radar sensing is prohibited. Correspondingly, the device 12 avoids performing radar sensing that would violate any of these prohibitions, or it otherwise does not make any of the radar data associated with such prohibitions available for sharing with consumers, regardless of the associated trust levels.

[0056] Notably, modifications and other embodiments of the disclosed invention(s) will come to mind to one skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to be understood that the invention(s) is / are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included within the scope of this disclosure. Although specific terms may be employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method of operation by a radar-enabled wireless communication device, the method comprising: acquiring radar data via radar sensing of a surrounding physical environment of the wireless communication device; determining a trust level associated with a consumer of the radar data; and sharing the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the consumer is a software application.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the software application runs on the wireless communication device.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the software application is one among a plurality of software applications, each having a respective associated trust level, and wherein sharing the radar data comprises sharing the radar data with each software application in dependence on the respective associated trust level.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein the software application executes external to the wireless communication device in a remote computing apparatus, and wherein sharing the radar data with the software application comprises transmitting the radar data to a wireless communication network node, for forwarding towards the remote computing apparatus.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, wherein the consumer is one among a plurality of consumers, each consumer having an associated trust level, and wherein the method comprises sharing the radar data with each consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with each consumer.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1-6, wherein the method further comprises receiving trust signaling transmitted by a wireless communication network, the trust signaling indicating the trust level associated with the consumer.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the method further comprises treating the indicated trust level as being the trust level associated with the consumer only upon establishing a secure connection, via the wireless communication network, with a remote computer system that originates the trust signaling.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1-8, wherein sharing the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer comprises placing one or more removable restrictions on the radar data before sending the radar data to the consumer, and conditionally sharing one or more items of side information needed for removal of the one or more restrictions, in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the consumer is one among a plurality of consumers and wherein sharing the radar data with the plurality of consumers comprises sharing a same radar data set commonly with all the consumers and conditionally sharing the one or more items of side information with each consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with each consumer.

11. The method according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the one or more removable restrictions on the radar data comprise at least one of: a resolution restriction that reduces the resolution of the radar data and is removable using corresponding side information, and a content restriction that masks portions of the radar data corresponding to certain objects or types of objects or certain sensing directions and is removable using corresponding side information.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1-11, wherein the radar data includes added noise that reduces an effective resolution of the radar data, and wherein sharing the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer comprises sharing the radar data with the consumer and, in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer satisfying a threshold trust level, sharing side information with the consumer that is needed for removal of the added noise.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the radar data is degraded before sharing and wherein side information is required for removal of the degradation, and wherein sharing the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer comprises sending the radar data to the consumer and conditionally sending the side information to the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining the trust level associated with the consumer according to over-the-top (OTT) signaling received via a radio link with a wireless communication network and turning the radar sensing by the wireless communication device on or off responsive to control signaling sent by the wireless communication network, the control signaling indicating time or place restrictions on the use of radar sensing.

15. A radar-enabled wireless communication device comprising: radar circuitry configured for acquiring radar data via radar sensing of a surrounding physical environment of the wireless communication device; and processing circuitry configured to: determine a trust level associated with a consumer of the radar data; and share the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer.

16. The wireless communication device according to claim 15, wherein the consumer is a software application.

17. The wireless communication device according to claim 16, wherein the software application runs on the wireless communication device.

18. The wireless communication device according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the software application is one among a plurality of software applications, each having a respective associated trust level, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to share the radar data with each software application in dependence on the respective associated trust level.

19. The wireless communication device according to claim 16, wherein the software application executes external to the wireless communication device in a remote computing apparatus, and wherein, for sharing the radar data with the software application, the processing circuitry is configured to transmit, via a radio transceiver of the wireless communication device, the radar data to a wireless communication network node, for forwarding towards the remote computing apparatus.

20. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 15-19, wherein the consumer is one among a plurality of consumers, each consumer having an associated trust level, and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to share the radar data with each consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with each consumer.

21. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 15-20, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to receive, via a radio transceiver of the wireless communication device, trust signaling transmitted by a wireless communication network, the trust signaling indicating the trust level associated with the consumer.

22. The wireless communication device according to claim 21, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to treat the indicated trust level as being the trust level associated with the consumer only upon the wireless communication device establishing a secure connection, via the wireless communication network, with a remote computer system that originates the trust signaling.

23. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 15-22, wherein, for sharing the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer, the processing circuitry is configured to place one or more removable restrictions on the radar data before sending the radar data to the consumer, and conditionally share one or more items of side information needed for removal of the one or more restrictions, in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer.

24. The wireless communication device according to claim 23, wherein the consumer is one among a plurality of consumers and wherein, for sharing the radar data with the plurality of consumers, the processing circuitry is configured to share a same radar data set commonly with all the consumers and conditionally share the one or more items of side information with each consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with each consumer.

25. The wireless communication device according to claim 23 or 24, wherein the one or more removable restrictions on the radar data comprise at least one of: a resolution restriction that reduces the resolution of the radar data and is removable using corresponding side information, and a content restriction that masks portions of the radar data corresponding to certain objects or types of objects or certain sensing directions and is removable using corresponding side information.

26. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 15-25, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to add noise to the radar data to reduce an effective resolution of the radar data, and wherein, for sharing the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer, the processing circuitry is configured to send the radar data to the consumer and, in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer satisfying a threshold trust level, send side information to the consumer that is needed for removal of the added noise.

27. The wireless communication device according to claim 15, wherein the radar data is degraded before sharing and wherein side information is required for removal of the degradation, and wherein, to share the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer, the processing circuitry is configured to send the radar data to the consumer and conditionally send the side information to the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer.

28. The wireless communication device according to claim 15, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine the trust level associated with the consumer according to trust signaling received via a radio link between the wireless communication device and a wireless communication network, and turn the radar sensing by the wireless communication device on or off responsive to control signaling sent by the wireless communication network, the control signaling indicating time or place restrictions on the use of radar sensing.

29. The wireless communication device according to any one of claims 15-28, wherein the processing circuitry comprises a memory storing instructions and a processor configured to execute the instructions, whereby the processor causes the wireless communication device to determine the trust level associated with the consumer of the radar data and share the radar data with the consumer in dependence on the trust level associated with the consumer.

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