IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,621,696
Granted Patent B2
US 12,621,696 · App. 17/956,983 · Granted May 5, 2026

Availability window element for indicating availability windows for WLAN sensing

Inventors: Cheng Chen (Camas, WA); Dibakar Das (Hillsboro, OR); Carlos Cordeiro (Portland, OR)
Assignee: Intel Corporation
H04W24/10H04W52/0216H04W84/12
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,621,696
App. No.
17/956,983
Filed
Sep 30, 2022
Granted
May 5, 2026
Kind
B2
Art Unit
2445
USPC
370/329
Abstract

For wireless local area network (WLAN) sensing, a non-access point (AP) station (STA) sends a Measurement Setup Query frame to an access point station (AP) to signal one or more preferred time windows of the STA indicating when the STA is available to perform WLAN sensing with the AP. The STA receives a Measurement Setup Request frame received from the AP in response to the Measurement Setup Query frame. The Measurement Setup Request frame may indicate a time-window that is either within one of the preferred time-windows of the STA or a new proposed time-window that is not within one of the preferred time-windows of the STA. The STA may send a Measurement Setup Response frame to the AP to indicate an acceptance when the indicated time-window is within one of the preferred time-windows. The STA may send the Measurement Setup Response frame to indicate a rejection when the indicated time-window is not acceptable to the STA for performing the WLAN sensing procedure.

Claims (46)

1 . An apparatus for a non-access point station (STA), the apparatus comprising:

processing circuitry; and memory, the STA configured to perform network (WLAN) sensing,

wherein to participate in a sensing measurement setup initiated by an access point station (AP) that the STA is unassociated with, the processing circuitry is configured to:

encode a Sensing Measurement Setup Query frame for transmission to the AP, the Measurement Setup Query frame encoded to include an initiating station (ISTA) Availability Window Element, the ISTA Availability Window Element encoded to indicate an availability window of the STA for trigger-based (TB) sensing and a preferred periodicity;

decode a Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame received from the AP in response to the Sensing Measurement Setup Query frame;

wherein for the TB sensing, the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame includes a responding station (RSTA) Availability Window Element that indicates a requested availability window, the requested availability window based on the availability window and the preferred periodicity indicated in the ISTA Availability Window Element of the Sensing Measurement Setup Query frame, the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame further including a Sensing Measurement Parameters Element indicating requested sensing measurement setup parameters for a sensing measurement instance;

encode for transmission to the AP, a Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame in response to receipt of the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame, the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame encoded to indicate acceptance or rejection of the requested sensing measurement setup parameters in the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame,

wherein when the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame is encoded to indicate rejection of the requested sensing measurement setup parameters, the processing circuitry is configured to encode the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame to indicate preferred sensing measurement parameters;

perform sensing measurements during a TB sensing measurement instance based on the sensing measurement setup parameters, the TB sensing measurement instance occurring within the sensing availability window; and

estimate features of an object in an area of interest based on the sensing measurements performed during the TB sensing measurement instance.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to encode the Measurement Setup Query frame to include sensing capabilities of the STA.

3 . The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein processing circuitry is configured to encode the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame to indicate rejection when the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame did not indicate an availability window that overlaps the availability window of the STA signaled by the ISTA Availability Window Element.

4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame is encoded to indicate rejection because the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame did not indicate an availability window that overlaps the availability window of the STA signaled by the ISTA Availability Window Element, the processing circuitry is further configured to encode the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame to include an Availability Window Element that indicates one or more other availability windows that can be assigned by the AP.

5 . The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the TB sensing measurement instance includes one or more of a polling phase, NDPA sounding phase, Trigger frame (TF) sounding phase, and reporting phase.

6 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the features include one or more of range, velocity and motion of the object.

7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to process the sensing measurements and use the features for at least one of presence detection and gesture classification.

8 . The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame received from the AP includes an unassociated station identifier (USID) or the STA assigned by the AP.

9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the memory is configured to store indications of the availability window.

10 . The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processing circuitry comprises a baseband processor.

11 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by processing circuitry of a non-access point station (STA) configured to perform network (WLAN) sensing,

wherein to participate in a sensing measurement setup initiated by an access point station (AP) that the STA is unassociated with, the processing circuitry is configured to:

encode a Sensing Measurement Setup Query frame for transmission to the AP, the Measurement Setup Query frame encoded to include an initiating station (ISTA) Availability Window Element, the ISTA Availability Window Element encoded to indicate an availability window of the STA for trigger-based (TB) sensing and a preferred periodicity;

decode a Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame received from the AP in response to the Sensing Measurement Setup Query frame;

wherein for the TB sensing, the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame includes a responding station (RSTA) Availability Window Element that indicates a requested availability window, the requested availability window based on the availability window and the preferred periodicity indicated in the ISTA Availability Window Element of the Sensing Measurement Setup Query frame, the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame further including a Sensing Measurement Parameters Element indicating requested sensing measurement setup parameters for a sensing measurement instance;

encode for transmission to the AP, a Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame in response to receipt of the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame, the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame encoded to indicate acceptance or rejection of the requested sensing measurement setup parameters in the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame,

wherein when the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame is encoded to indicate rejection of the requested sensing measurement setup parameters, the processing circuitry is configured to encode the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame to indicate preferred sensing measurement parameters;

perform sensing measurements during a TB sensing measurement instance based on the sensing measurement setup parameters, the TB sensing measurement instance occurring within the sensing availability window; and

estimate features of an object in an area of interest based on the sensing measurements performed during the TB sensing measurement instance.

12 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to encode the Measurement Setup Query frame to include sensing capabilities of the STA.

13 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein processing circuitry is configured to encode the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame to indicate rejection when the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame did not indicate an availability window that overlaps the availability window of the STA signaled by the ISTA Availability Window Element.

14 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame is encoded to indicate rejection because the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame did not indicate an availability window that overlaps the availability window of the STA signaled by the ISTA Availability Window Element, the processing circuitry is further configured to encode the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame to include an Availability Window Element that indicates one or more other availability windows that can be assigned by the AP.

15 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the TB sensing measurement instance includes one or more of a polling phase, NDPA sounding phase, Trigger frame (TF) sounding phase, and reporting phase.

16 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the features include one or more of range, velocity and motion of the object.

17 . The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to process the sensing measurements and use the features for at least one of presence detection and gesture classification.

18 . An apparatus for an access point station (AP), the apparatus comprising:

processing circuitry; and memory, the AP configured to perform network (WLAN) sensing,

wherein to participate in a sensing measurement setup initiated by the AP with an unassociated non-AP station (STA), the processing circuitry is configured to:

decode a Sensing Measurement Setup Query frame received from the STA, the Measurement Setup Query frame including an initiating station (ISTA) Availability Window Element, the ISTA Availability Window Element indicating an availability window of the STA for trigger-based (TB) sensing and a preferred periodicity;

encode a Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame for transmission to the STA in response to the Sensing Measurement Setup Query frame;

wherein for the TB sensing, the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame includes a responding station (RSTA) Availability Window Element that indicates a requested availability window, the requested availability window based on the availability window and the preferred periodicity indicated in the ISTA Availability Window Element of the Sensing Measurement Setup Query frame, the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame further including a Sensing Measurement Parameters Element indicating requested sensing measurement setup parameters for a sensing measurement instance;

decode a Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame received from the STA in response to receipt of the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame, the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame encoded to indicate acceptance or rejection of the requested sensing measurement setup parameters in the Sensing Measurement Setup Request frame,

wherein when the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame is encoded to indicate rejection of the requested sensing measurement setup parameters, the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame is encoded to indicate preferred sensing measurement parameters;

perform sensing measurements during a TB sensing measurement instance based on the sensing measurement setup parameters, the TB sensing measurement instance occurring within the sensing availability window; and

estimate features of an object in an area of interest based on the sensing measurements performed during the TB sensing measurement instance.

19 . The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to decode the Measurement Setup Query frame to determine sensing capabilities of the STA.

20 . The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein when the Sensing Measurement Setup Response frame indicates rejection, the processing circuitry is configured to decode an Availability Window Element that indicates one or more other availability windows that can be assigned by the AP.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded May 10, 2023
From: CHEN, CHENG; DAS, DIBAKAR; CORDEIRO, CARLOS
To: INTEL CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 063605/0919 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20230087820A1 · Mar 23, 2023
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