Wireless communications system using both licensed and unlicensed frequency bands
First Claim
1. A method of allocating wireless communications from a wireless device among licensed and unlicensed frequency bands, comprising the steps of:
- determining channel requirements of a message to be transmitted;
receiving channel attributes regarding available wireless channels in licensed and unlicensed frequency bands;
comparing the channel requirements of the message to the received channel attributes;
selecting at least one of the available wireless channels for transmission of the message; and
transmitting the message over the selected at least one wireless channel.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A communications system including devices (10, 20) for transmitting and receiving wireless communications over licensed and unlicensed bands is disclosed. On the transmit side, a device (10) includes a plurality of message sources (8A, 8B, 8C) and a smart router (12) function executed by a processor (30) within the device. The smart router (12) function allocates each wireless transmission, or components of a multicomponent wireless transmission, over a licensed wireless link (LLTX) or an unlicensed wireless link (ULTX), by optimizing various factors. The allocation factors include the availability of the unlicensed and licensed channels within range of the transmitting device (10); quality of service parameters such as time delay limits, jitter limits, bandwidth requirements, and the like; cost tolerance and cost per minute factors; power consumption expectations; and a combination of these and other factors. Transmission of the wireless message over the selected wireless links is then carried out. A receiving device (20) may include a smart receiver (22) that resequences the components of a multicomponent transmission for forwarding to output functions (24A, 24B, 24C) of the receiving device (20).
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Citations
31 Claims
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1. A method of allocating wireless communications from a wireless device among licensed and unlicensed frequency bands, comprising the steps of:
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determining channel requirements of a message to be transmitted;
receiving channel attributes regarding available wireless channels in licensed and unlicensed frequency bands;
comparing the channel requirements of the message to the received channel attributes;
selecting at least one of the available wireless channels for transmission of the message; and
transmitting the message over the selected at least one wireless channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A wireless electronic communications device, comprising:
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a plurality of message sources, each for producing a message type for transmission over a wireless link;
radio frequency circuitry, for transmitting radio frequency signals in at least one licensed frequency band and in at least one unlicensed frequency band;
a smart router, coupled to each of the plurality of message sources and to the radio frequency circuitry, for allocating message signals corresponding to the message, by executing a sequence of operations comprising;
receiving, from one of the message sources, channel requirements of a message to be transmitted from the message source;
receiving channel attributes regarding available wireless channels in the licensed and unlicensed frequency bands;
comparing the channel requirements of the message to the received channel attributes;
selecting at least one of the available wireless channels for transmission of the message; and
controlling the radio frequency circuitry to transmit the message over the selected wireless channel. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A wireless electronic device, comprising:
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a plurality of radio frequency transceiver functions, coupled to at least one antenna, for transmitting and receiving wireless communications over a plurality of frequency bands, including at least one licensed frequency band and at least one unlicensed frequency band;
baseband circuitry, coupled to the plurality of radio frequency transceiver functions, for processing information to be transmitted and information received over the plurality of frequency bands corresponding to a plurality of message sources;
programmable processing circuitry, for executing a sequence of operations to allocate messages to be transmitted by the transceiver functions over the licensed and unlicensed frequency bands, the sequence of operations comprising;
determining channel requirements of a message to be transmitted;
receiving channel attributes regarding available wireless channels in the licensed and unlicensed frequency bands;
comparing the channel requirements of the message to the received channel attributes;
selecting at least one of the available wireless channels for transmission of the message; and
controlling one of the transceiver functions corresponding to the selected wireless channel to transmit the message over its corresponding wireless channel. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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Specification