US 12,085,657 B2
Techniques to disambiguate angle of arrival
Qiang Chen, Fremont, CA (US); and Robert W. Brumley, Menlo Park, CA (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by APPLE INC., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Jun. 4, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/339,868.
Prior Publication US 2022/0390541 A1, Dec. 8, 2022
Int. Cl. G01S 3/48 (2006.01); G01S 3/04 (2006.01); G01S 5/04 (2006.01); H01Q 5/25 (2015.01)
CPC G01S 3/48 (2013.01) [G01S 3/043 (2013.01); G01S 5/04 (2013.01); H01Q 5/25 (2015.01)] 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for determining an angle of arrival for a signal received by a mobile device with a plurality of antennas, the method comprising:
receiving, from a transmitting device, the signal by the plurality of antennas;
measuring one or more phase differences among the signal received at the plurality of antennas;
determining a first set of possible values for the angle of arrival that are consistent with the one or more phase differences;
measuring one or more signal values using one or more sensors of the mobile device; for each of the first set of possible values, determining a confidence score based on the one or more signal values; and
selecting, based on the determined confidence score for each of the first set of possible values, one of the first set of possible values as the angle of arrival, wherein the selecting based on the confidence score for each of the first set of possible values comprises:
comparing the confidence score to a confirmation threshold, wherein a possible value with the confidence score above the confirmation threshold is in a confirmed state; and
selecting the possible value in the confirmed state as the angle of arrival, wherein for multiple possible values in the confirmed state, the possible value is selected if the possible value has a longer tracking time than other possible values in the confirmed state.