Collaborative Mechanism of Enhanced Coexistence of Collocated Wireless Networks

• US 20060246932A1
• Filed: 07/11/2006
• Published: 11/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Texas Instruments, Inc.
• Inventors: Liang, Jie
• Granted Patent: US 7,415,279 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/515
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies

Abstract

A digital device 310 with a plurality of collocated wireless networks encounters inter-network interference if the collocated wireless networks operate in a common operating frequency. A coordinator unit 510, coupled to the plurality of wireless networks, provides a transmission reservation system wherein a wireless network with a need to transmit can request and receive a reservation for time to transmit. The coordinator unit 510 provides a way to schedule transmissions from the plurality of wireless networks and to reduce the probability of collisions.

Claims

1. A coordinator unit comprising:

a reservation request flag line, the reservation request flag line to denote a status of a pending reservation request;

an arbiter unit coupled to the reservation request flag line, the arbiter unit containing circuitry to receive reservation requests and to grant reservation requests based on the state of the reservation request flag line; and

a scheduler unit coupled to the arbiter unit and the reservation request flag line, the scheduler unit containing circuitry to maintain a list of granted reservation requests and to assert the status of a pending reservation request on the reservation request flag line.

2. The coordinator unit of claim 1, wherein there is a plurality of wireless networks interfaces collocated in a digital device, and wherein the coordinator unit is coupled to each wireless network interface.

3. The coordinator unit of claim 2, wherein the coupling is a wired connection between the coordinator unit and each wireless network interface.

4. The coordinator unit of claim 3, wherein each wired connection is an electrically separate connection.

5. The coordinator unit of claim 2, wherein the coupling is a wireless connection between the coordinator unit and each wireless network interface.

6. The coordinator unit of claim 5, wherein each wireless connection operates at a different operating frequency.

7. The coordinator unit of claim 5, wherein each wireless network operates on a common operating frequency, and wherein each wireless connection operates at a different operating frequency the common operating frequency of the wireless networks.

8. The coordinator unit of claim 1, wherein the coordinator unit further comprises a random number generator unit coupled to the arbiter unit, the random number generator unit containing circuitry to generate a random number in a range of 0 to 1.

9. The coordinator unit of claim 8, wherein the coordinator unit further comprises a threshold comparator unit coupled to the arbiter unit, the threshold comparator unit containing circuitry to compare the random number generated by the random number generator unit against a prespecified threshold.

10. The coordinator unit of claim 9, wherein the prespecified threshold is a number in a range of 0 to 1.

11. A digital device containing a plurality of collocated wireless networks comprising:

a plurality of wireless network interface, one wireless network interface for each of the plurality of collocated wireless networks, each wireless network interface provides an connection between the digital device and the wireless network interface'"'"'s respective wireless network;

a coordinator unit coupled to each wireless network interface, the coordinator unit further comprises;

a reservation request flag line, the reservation request flag line to denote a status of a pending reservation request;

an arbiter unit coupled to the reservation request flag line, the arbiter unit containing circuitry to receive reservation requests and to grant reservation requests based on the state of the reservation request flag line; and

a scheduler unit coupled to the arbiter unit and the reservation request flag line, the scheduler unit containing circuitry to maintain a list of granted reservation requests and to assert the status of a pending reservation request on the reservation request flag line.

12. The digital device of claim 11, wherein the digital device is a personal computer.

13. The digital device of claim 11, wherein the digital device is a personal digital assistant.

14. The digital device of claim 11, wherein the digital device is a cellular telephone.