SENSOR BASED BEAM TRACKING FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATION

• US 20170359106A1
• Filed: 12/13/2016
• Published: 12/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: John Wilson, Makesh Pravin, Nagaraja, Sumeeth, Luo, Tao, Akkarakaran, Sony
• Granted Patent: US 10,523,281 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0408 using two or more beams, i.e. beam diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0691 using subgroups of transmit antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Some aspects of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for utilizing information from inbuilt sensors of a wireless apparatus along with radio frequency (RF) measurements to assist and/or trigger a beam tracking operation. Some aspects of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for utilizing information available from inbuilt sensors of a wireless apparatus and RF measurements along with historical mobility information to assist a mobility operation such as an initial beam search, a neighbor beam search, and handovers.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication operable at a wireless apparatus, comprising:

communicating with a network utilizing one or more beams;

collecting sensor information from one or more sensors of the wireless apparatus;

determining one or more radio frequency (RF) measurements of the one or more beams;

determining whether a sensor-assisted beam tracking event (SBT Event) is triggered based on at least one of the sensor information or the RF measurements; and

performing a beam tracking operation if the SBT Event is triggered.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the triggering of the SBT Event comprises:

determining

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the beam tracking operation comprises:

transmitting a request to the network for beam-tracking resources; and

reconfiguring an antenna array based on the beam-tracking resources to switch from a first subset of antennas to a second subset of antennas of the antenna array to track the one or more beams.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors comprises at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a satellite navigation receiver, or a magnetometer.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the communicating comprises:

communicating with a serving base station utilizing a first beam; and

communicating with a neighbor base station utilizing a second beam different from the first beam.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more beams comprise millimeter wave (mmWave) beams.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the triggering of the SBT Event comprises:

determining a change in at least one of a location, an orientation, a displacement, or a shadowing of the wireless apparatus based on at least one of the sensor information or the RF measurements.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing information comprising the sensor information and the RF measurements, and

utilizing the stored information to configure an antenna array to facilitate at least one of an initial beam search, a neighbor beam search, or a handover.

9. A method of wireless communication operable at a wireless apparatus, comprising:

storing mobility history comprising previous mobility information with associated sensor information and radio frequency (RF) measurements of one or more beams;

collecting current sensor information from one or more sensors of the wireless apparatus;

determining current RF measurements of one or more beams;

determining at least one of a location, an orientation, a displacement, or a shadowing of the wireless apparatus based on the current sensor information and current RF measurements; and

performing a mobility operation based on a correlation between the mobility history and at least one of the current sensor information or current RF measurements.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the previous mobility information comprises at least one of a cell search result, a beam search result, a handover history, or radio link failure information.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the mobility operation comprises at least one of a beam search, a neighbor beam search, or a handover.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

reconfiguring an antenna array of the wireless apparatus to track one or more millimeter wave (mmWave) beams based on the correlation.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more sensors comprise at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a satellite navigation receiver, or a magnetometer.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

partitioning the mobility history into a plurality of clusters utilizing a data clustering method,

wherein the performing the mobility operation is further based on a proximity of the current sensor information and current RF measurements, to one or more of the plurality of clusters.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the data clustering method comprises at least one of a K-means clustering method or a Gaussian mixture model method.

16. A wireless apparatus, comprising:

a communication interface configured to communicate with a network utilizing one or more beams;

a memory stored with executable code;

one or more sensors; and

a processor operatively coupled with the communication interface, the one or more sensors, and the memory,

wherein the processor is configured by the executable code to;

collect sensor information from the one or more sensors;

determine one or more radio frequency (RF) measurements of the one or more beams;

determine whether a sensor-assisted beam tracking event (SBT Event) is triggered based on at least one of the sensor information or the RF measurements; and

perform a beam tracking operation if the SBT Event is triggered.

17. The wireless apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the triggering of the SBT Event by:

determining

18. The wireless apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to perform the beam tracking operation by:

transmit a request to the network for beam-tracking resources; and

reconfigure an antenna array based on the beam-tracking resources to switch from a first subset of antennas to a second subset of antennas of the antenna array to track the one or more beams.

19. The wireless apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more sensors comprises at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a satellite navigation receiver, or a magnetometer.

20. The wireless apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

communicate with a serving base station utilizing a first beam; and

communicate with a neighbor base station utilizing a second beam different from the first beam.

21. The wireless apparatus of claim 16, wherein the one or more beams comprise millimeter wave (mmWave) beams.

22. The wireless apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to determine the triggering of the SBT Event by:

determining a change in at least one of a location, an orientation, a displacement, or a shadowing of the wireless apparatus based on at least one of the sensor information or the RF measurements.

23. The wireless apparatus of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to:

store information comprising the sensor information and the RF measurements, and

utilize the stored information to configure an antenna array to facilitate at least one of an initial beam search, a neighbor beam search, or a handover.

24. A wireless apparatus comprising:

a communication interface configured to communicate with a network utilizing one or more beams;

one or more sensors configured to provide sensor information;

a memory stored with executable code; and

a processor operatively coupled with the communication interface, the one or more sensors, and the memory,

wherein the processor is configured by the executable code to;

store mobility history comprising previous mobility information with the associated sensor information and radio frequency (RF) measurements of the one or more beams;

collect current sensor information from the one or more sensors;

determine current RF measurements of the one or more beams;

determine at least one of a location, an orientation, a displacement, or a shadowing of the wireless apparatus based on the current sensor information and current RF measurements; and

perform a mobility operation based on a correlation between the mobility history and at least one of the current sensor information or current RF measurements.

25. The wireless apparatus of claim 24, wherein the previous mobility information comprises at least one of a cell search result, a beam search result, a handover history, or radio link failure information.

26. The wireless apparatus of claim 24, wherein the mobility operation comprises at least one of a beam search, a neighbor beam search, or a handover.

27. The wireless apparatus of claim 24, wherein the processor is further configured to:

reconfigure an antenna array of the wireless apparatus to track one or more millimeter wave (mmWave) beams based on the correlation.

28. The wireless apparatus of claim 24, wherein the one or more sensors comprise at least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a satellite navigation receiver, or a magnetometer.

29. The wireless apparatus of claim 24, wherein the processor is further configured to:

partition the mobility history into a plurality of clusters utilizing a data clustering method; and

perform the mobility operation further based on a proximity of the current sensor information and current RF measurements, to one or more of the plurality of clusters.

30. The wireless apparatus of claim 29, wherein the data clustering method comprises at least one of a K-means clustering method or a Gaussian mixture model method.