Selecting wireless communication channels based on signal quality metrics

• US 10,111,228 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2017
• Issued: 10/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cognitive Systems Corp.
• Original Assignee: Cognitive Systems Corp.
• Inventors: Griesdorf, Dustin, Devison, Stephen Arnold, Omer, Mohammad, Piao, Yunfeng, Kravets, Oleksiy, Manku, Tajinder, Olekas, Christopher Vytautas
• Primary Examiner(s): Pezzlo, John
• Application Number:
  US15/706,295
• Publication Number:
  US 20180270821A1
• Time in Patent Office: 403 Days
• Field of Search: 370252, 370329, 370386
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 13/00 Indicating or recording presence, absence, or direction, of movement electric switches H01H; counting moving objects G06M7/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/02 using radio waves G01S19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/02 using radio waves G01S19/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 3/02 using radio waves
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/187 by interference of a radiation field
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA

Abstract

In a general aspect, a wireless communication channel is selected based on signal quality metrics. In some aspects, a first wireless communication device receives a first set of signals based on wireless signals transmitted through a space on a set of wireless communication channels from a second wireless communication device. A signal quality metric value is computed for each wireless communication channel based on the first set of signals, and one of the wireless communication channels is selected based on a comparison of the signal quality metric values for the respective wireless communication channels. The first wireless communication device receives a second set of signals based on wireless signals transmitted through the space on the selected wireless communication channel from the second wireless communication device, and a motion detection process is executed to detect motion of an object in the space based on the second set of signals.

Claims

1. A motion detection method comprising:

receiving, at a first wireless communication device, a first set of signals based on wireless signals transmitted through a space on a set of wireless communication channels from a second wireless communication device;

by operation of one or more processors, computing a value of a signal quality metric for each of the wireless communication channels based on the first set of signals;

selecting one of the set of wireless communication channels based on a comparison of the values of the signal quality metric for the respective wireless communication channels;

sending, from the first wireless communication device to the second wireless communication device, a message indicating the selected wireless communication channel;

receiving, at the first wireless communication device, a second set of signals based on wireless signals transmitted through the space on the selected wireless communication channel from the second wireless communication device; and

by operation of one or more processors, executing a motion detection process to detect motion of an object in the space based on the second set of signals.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising computing the value of the signal quality metric based on a number of signals from the first set of signals that are rejected as inputs for the motion detection process based on a quality criterion for the motion detection process.

3. The method of claim 2, comprising computing the value of the signal quality metric based on a period of time over which a minimum number of the first set of signals are accepted as inputs for the motion detection process.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the quality criterion includes a threshold value for the signal quality metric.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising computing the value of the signal quality metric based on values of the signal quality metric determined for respective communication paths between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device, each communication path comprising a signal hardware path of the first wireless communication device and a signal hardware path of the second wireless communication device.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising computing the value of the signal quality metric based on comparing the first set of signals and estimated received signals, wherein the estimated received signals based on estimated channel responses for the space.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the method comprises:

determining a number of viable communication paths for communication on each wireless communication channel between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device, each viable communication path comprising a signal hardware path of the first wireless communication device and a signal hardware path of the second wireless communication device; and

selecting one of the set of wireless communication channels based on at least one of the number of viable communication paths for the respective wireless communication channels and the values of the signal quality metric for the respective wireless communication channels.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising determining the number of viable communication paths based on a throughput of each respective communication path.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein determining the number of viable communication paths comprises designating, as a viable communication path, each communication path having a throughput above a threshold value.

10. The method of claim 7, comprising determining, for each wireless communication channel, a number of viable wireless communication devices based on the value of the signal quality metric for the wireless communication channel and the number of viable communication paths for the wireless communication channel, wherein the wireless communication channel is selected based on the number of viable wireless communication devices.

11. A motion detection method, comprising:

by operation of one or more processors, determining, based on wireless signals received by a first wireless communication device over a set of wireless communication channels from a plurality of second wireless devices, for each wireless communication channel in the set;

a number of viable communication paths for communication on the wireless communication channel between the first wireless communication device and each of the second wireless communication devices; and

a value of a signal quality metric for communication on the wireless communication channel between the first wireless communication device and each of the second wireless communication devices;

selecting, from the set, one of the wireless communication channels for wireless motion detection based on at least one of the number of viable communication paths and the value of the signal quality metric for the wireless communication channel; and

executing a motion detection process to detect motion of an object in the space based on the selected one of the wireless communication channels.

12. The method of claim 11, comprising determining the number of viable communication paths based on a throughput of each respective communication path.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the number of viable communication paths comprises designating, as a viable communication path, each communication path having a throughput above a threshold value.

14. The method of claim 11, comprising determining, for each wireless communication channel in the set, a number of viable wireless communication devices based on the value of the signal quality metric for the wireless communication channel and the number of viable communication paths for the wireless communication channel, wherein the wireless communication channel is selected based on the number of viable wireless communication devices.

15. A system comprising:

wireless communication devices distributed in a space, each wireless communication device comprising a modem configured to send and receive wireless signals through the space on multiple wireless communication channels;

a data processing apparatus communicatively coupled to at least one of the wireless communication devices and configured to;

determine, based on wireless signals received by a first wireless communication device over a set of wireless communication channels from a plurality of second wireless devices, for each wireless communication channel in the set;

a number of viable communication paths for communication on the wireless communication channel between the first wireless communication device and each of the second wireless communication devices; and

a value of a signal quality metric for communication on the wireless communication channel between the first wireless communication device and each of the second wireless communication devices;

select, from the set, one of the wireless communication channels for wireless motion detection based on at least one of the number of viable communication paths and the value of the signal quality metric for the wireless communication channel; and

execute a motion detection process to detect motion of an object in the space based on the selected one of the wireless communication channels.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to determine the number of viable communication paths based on a throughput of each respective communication path.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to designate, as a viable communication path, each communication path having a throughput above a threshold value.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to determine, for each wireless communication channel in the set, a number of viable wireless communication devices based on the value of the signal quality metric for the wireless communication channel and the number of viable communication paths for the wireless communication channel, and select the wireless communication channel based on the number of viable wireless communication devices.

19. A system comprising:

wireless communication devices distributed in a space, each wireless communication device comprising a modem configured to send and receive wireless signals through the space on multiple wireless communication channels;

a data processing apparatus communicatively coupled to at least one of the wireless communication devices and configured to;

compute a value of a signal quality metric for each of a set of multiple wireless communication channels based on a first set of signals received at a first wireless communication device, the first set of signals based on wireless signals transmitted through the space on the set of wireless communication channels from a second wireless communication device;

select one of the set of wireless communication channels based on a comparison of the values of the signal quality metric for the respective wireless communication channels;

send a message indicating the selected wireless communication channel to the second wireless communication device;

receive, at the first wireless communication device, a second set of signals based on wireless signals transmitted through the space on the selected wireless communication channel from the second wireless communication device; and

execute a motion detection process to detect motion of an object in the space based on the second set of signals.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to compute the value of the signal quality metric based on a number of signals from the first set of signals that are rejected as inputs for the motion detection process based on a quality criterion for the motion detection process.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to compute the value of the signal quality metric based on a period of time over which a minimum number of the first set of signals are accepted as inputs for the motion detection process.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the quality criterion includes a threshold value for the signal quality metric.

23. The system of claim 19, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to compute the value of the signal quality metric is based on values of the signal quality metric determined for respective communication paths between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device, each communication path comprising a signal hardware path of the first wireless communication device and a signal hardware path of the second wireless communication device.

24. The system of claim 19, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to compute the value of the signal quality metric based on comparing the first set of signals and estimated received signals, wherein the estimated received signals are based on estimated channel responses for the space.

25. The system of claim 19, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to:

determine a number of viable communication paths for communication on each wireless communication channel between the first wireless communication device and the second wireless communication device, each viable communication path comprising a signal hardware path of the first wireless communication device and a signal hardware path of the second wireless communication device; and

select one of the set of wireless communication channels based on at least one of the number of viable communication paths for the respective wireless communication channels and the values of the signal quality metric for the respective wireless communication channels.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the number of viable communication paths is based on a throughput of each respective communication path.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to designate, as a viable communication path, each communication path having a throughput above a threshold value.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the data processing apparatus is configured to determine, for each wireless communication channel, a number of viable wireless communication devices based on the value of the signal quality metric for the wireless communication channel and the number of viable communication paths for the wireless communication channel, and select the wireless communication channel based on the number of viable wireless communication devices.