DEVIATING FROM A TRANSMISSION MAP TO COMMUNICATE IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20080032625A1
• Filed: 07/19/2006
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Cheung, David, Kumar, Sathish K.
• Granted Patent: US 7,760,694 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/39
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/535 based on resource usage policies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

Direct communication between devices in a wireless network without going through a base station is described herein. Such communication may be possible by deviating from a transmission map to be broadcasted by the base station of the wireless network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving by a first of a plurality of devices of a wireless network a transmission map specifying a transmission frame structure, the transmission frame structure having a first and a second subframe, the first subframe for transmission of signals from a base station to the devices of the wireless network and the second subframe for transmission of signals from the devices to the base station, the first and the second subframe corresponding to a first and a second transmission time interval, respectively, the first transmission time interval ending before or at the start of the second transmission time interval; and

deviating from the transmission map to transmit a signal from the first device to a second of the devices during the first transmission time interval

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying by the first device the received transmission map to facilitate said transmission of a signal from the first device to the second device during the first transmission time interval; and

storing the modified transmission map on the first device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said deviating comprises operating with a reduced first subframe having a correspondingly reduced first transmission time interval, and an expanded second subframe having a correspondingly expanded second transmission time interval, the expansion of the second subframe and the second transmission time interval being equal to the reduction of the first subframe and the first transmission time interval, and said transmitting comprises transmitting during the expanded portion of the expanded second transmission time interval.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said first subframe comprises a first plurality of bursts associated with a first set of time increments of the first transmission time interval, and the second subframe comprises a second plurality of bursts associated with a second set of time increments of the second transmission time interval;

and

the reduced first subframe has a third plurality of bursts associated with a front-end subset of the first set of time increments, the third plurality of bursts being less than the first plurality of bursts, the reduced number of bursts corresponding to a back-end subset of the first set of time increments, and the expanded second subframe has a fourth plurality of bursts, the fourth plurality of bursts being greater than the second plurality of bursts, the increased number of bursts and time increments corresponding to the reduced number of bursts and time increments.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said reduction comprises removing a first burst from the first plurality of bursts, the first burst for transmission of a signal from the base station to the second device, and said expansion comprises adding a second burst to the second plurality of bursts, the second burst for transmission of a signal from the first device to the second device, wherein the first and the second burst are associated with a time increment.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said reduction further comprises removing a third burst from the first plurality of bursts, the third burst for transmission of a signal from the base station to a third device of the wireless network, and said expansion further comprises adding a fourth burst to the second plurality of bursts, the fourth burst for transmission of a signal from a fourth device of the wireless network to the third device, the third and fourth bursts associated with another time increment.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said reduction further comprises removing a third burst associated from the first plurality of bursts, the third burst for transmission of a signal from the base station to a third device of the wireless network, and said expansion further comprises adding a fourth burst to the second plurality of bursts for transmission of a signal from base station to a third device of the wireless network, wherein the third and fourth bursts are associated with another time increment.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein said reduction comprises removing a plurality of bursts and associated time increments at the back-end of the first time interval correspondingly from the first plurality of bursts and the first set of time increments, and the expansion comprises correspondingly adding a plurality of bursts and associated time increments to the second plurality of bursts and second set of time increments at the front-end of the second time interval.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the added bursts and time increments correspondingly comprise a padding burst and an associated time increment, the padding burst being positioned at the front-end of the expanded second plurality of bursts to facilitate transition of the first device from a reception mode to a transmission mode.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting from the first to the second device a signal comprises transmitting from the first device to the second device a signal to relay a signal received from the base station.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting comprises transmitting from the first device to the second device a signal including data to synchronize the second device with the first device.

12. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a physical storage medium; and

a plurality of executable instructions stored in the physical storage medium, and designed to program a device of a wireless network to enable the device to;

transmit to other devices of the wireless network a transmission map specifying a transmission frame structure, the transmission frame structure having a first and a second subframe, and if the device operates in accordance with the transmission map, the first subframe for placing the device into a transmission mode for transmission of signals from the device to the other devices of the wireless network and the second subframe for placing the device into a reception mode for reception of signals from the other devices, the first and the second subframe corresponding to a first and a second transmission time interval, respectively, the first transmission time interval ending before or at the start of the second transmission time interval; and

;

deviate from the transmission map to transition the device into the reception mode during the first transmission time interval.

13. The article of manufacture of claim 12, wherein said executable instructions further designed to enable the device to:

modify the transmission map to facilitate said transition the device into the reception mode during the first transmission time interval; and

storing the modified transmission map in the device.

14. The article of manufacture of claim 13, wherein said deviate comprises operating with a reduced first subframe having a correspondingly reduced first transmission time interval, and an expanded second subframe having a correspondingly expanded second transmission time interval, the expansion of the second subframe and the second transmission time interval being equal to the reduction of the first subframe and the first transmission time interval, and said transition comprises transition into the reception mode at the beginning of the expanded portion of the expanded second transmission time interval.

15. The article of manufacture of claim 14, wherein at least a portion of the expanded portion of the expanded second subframe for transmission of a signal from a first of the other devices to a second of the other devices to relay a signal received by the first of the devices from the device.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a receive section to receive for a device hosting the receive section, a transmission map specifying a transmission frame structure, the transmission frame structure having a first and a second subframe, the first subframe for transmission of signals from a base station to devices of a wireless network and the second subframe for transmission of signals from the devices to the base station, the first and the second subframe corresponding to a first and a second transmission time interval, respectively, the first transmission time interval ending before or at the start of the second transmission time; and

a transmit section to transmit for the host device a signal to one of the devices of the wireless network during the first transmission time interval, deviating from the received transmission map.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising a controller coupled to the receiver to modify for the host device the received transmission map to facilitate the host device to transmit the signal to the other device during the first transmission time interval.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said controller is adapted to modify for the host device the received transmission map to reduce the first subframe having the first transmission time interval to a reduced first subframe having a correspondingly reduced first transmission time interval, to expand the second subframe having the second transmission time interval to an expanded second subframe having a correspondingly expanded second transmission time interval, and the controller is coupled to the transmit section to control the transmit section to transmit for the host device a signal to one of the devices of the wireless network during the expanded portion of the expanded second transmission time interval based at least in part on the modified transmission map.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said first subframe comprises a first plurality of bursts associated with a first set of time increments of the first transmission time interval, and the second subframe comprises a second plurality of bursts associated with a second set of time increments of the second transmission time interval;

and

the controller is adapted to modify for the host device the received transmission map to reduce the first subframe to a reduced first subframe having a third plurality of bursts associated with a front-end subset of the first set of time increments, the third plurality of bursts being less than the first plurality of bursts, the reduced number of bursts corresponds to a back-end subset of the first set of time increments, and to expand the second subframe to an expanded second subframe having a fourth plurality of bursts, the fourth plurality of bursts being greater than the second plurality of bursts, the increased number of bursts and time increments corresponding to the reduced number of bursts and time increments.

20. A system, comprising:

an omnidirectional antenna;

a transceiver coupled to the antenna to selectively transmit into, and receive signals from a wireless network; and

a processor coupled to the transceiver to provide transmit data for generation of the transmit signals, and to process receive data generated from the receive signals;

wherein the transceiver is operated to

receive a transmission map specifying a transmission frame structure, the transmission frame structure having a first and a second subframe, the first subframe for transmission of signals from a base station to devices of the wireless network and the second subframe for transmission of signals from the devices to the base station, the first and the second subframe corresponding to a first and a second transmission time interval, respectively, the first transmission time interval ending before or at the start of the second transmission time; and

transmit a signal to one of the devices of the wireless network during the first transmission time interval, deviating from the transmission map.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said transceiver is adapted to modify the received transmission map to facilitate the transmission of the signal to the other device during the first transmission time interval, and the system further comprising a memory coupled to the transceiver to store said modified transmission map.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein said processor is adapted to modify the received transmission map to facilitate the transmission of the signal to the other device during the first transmission time interval, and the system further comprising a memory coupled to the processor and the transceiver to store said modified transmission map.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the system is one selected from the group consisting of a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a set-top box, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a web tablet, a pager, a text messenger, a game device, a smart appliance, or a wireless mobile phone.