REDUCING INTERFERENCE IN A WIRELESS NETWORK VIA ANTENNA SELECTION

• US 20080125047A1
• Filed: 11/27/2006
• Published: 05/29/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Srikanteswara, Srikathyayani, Li, Guoqing C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,689,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/63.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0491 using two or more sectors, i.e. sector diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0608 Antenna selection according to transmission parameters

Abstract

Apparatus and method for reducing or avoiding at least in part one or more interferences in a wireless communication device are described herein. The method may include initially sensing by the device an interference from an interference source received by one or more of a plurality of sector antennas of the device. The device may then select, based at least in part on the sensing, a subset of the plurality of sector antennas for communicating with other devices in the wireless network.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

sensing by a device of a wireless network a first interference from a first interference source received by first one or more of a plurality of sector antennas of the device; and

selecting a subset of the plurality of sector antennas for use to communicate with other devices in the wireless network, based at least in part on said sensing, to avoid at least in part the first interference during said communicate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said sensing further comprises sensing by the device reception by second one or more of the plurality of sector antennas a second interference from a second interference source, and said selecting is further based on said sensing of the second interference, to further avoid at least in part the second interference during said communicate.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said sensing further comprises sensing by the device reception by third and fourth one or more of the plurality of sector antennas a third and a fourth interference from a third and a fourth interference source, respectively, and said selecting is further based on said sensing of the third and fourth interference, to further avoid at least in part the third and fourth interference during said communicate.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising determining said first, second, third and fourth one or more of the plurality of sector antennas receiving said interferences, and said selecting comprises selecting a subset of the plurality of sector antennas that does not include one or more of the determined one(s) of the plurality of sector antennas receiving said interferences.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the first one or more of the plurality of sector antennas receiving said first interference, and said selecting comprises selecting a subset of the plurality of sector antennas that does not include at least one of the first one or more of the sector antennas determined to be receiving said first interference.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining interference type of the first interference, and said selecting is further based at least in part on the determined interference type of the first interference.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said sensing further comprises spectrum sensing by the device a first interference received through a frequency band, and said selecting is further based at least in part on said spectrum sensing.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said frequency band is a 2.4 GHz band.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said sensing further comprises sensing a second interference from a second interference source received by the first one or more of the plurality of sector antennas, and said selecting is further based at least in part on said sensing of the second interference.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said selecting further comprises applying a first and a second weight to the first and the second interference, respectfully, to determine a first weighted interference of the first one or more of the plurality of sector antennas, and said selecting is by excluding from the subset the first one or more of the plurality of the sector antennas if the first weighted interference is greater than a threshold.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said sensing further comprises sensing a third and a fourth interference from a third and a fourth interference source, respectively, received by the first one or more of the plurality of sector antennas, said selecting further comprises applying a third and a fourth weight to the third and the fourth interference to determine the first weighted interference of the first one or more of the plurality of sector antennas, and said selecting is by excluding from the subset the first one or more of the plurality of sector antennas if the first weighted interference is greater than the threshold.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said sensing further comprises sensing a third and a fourth interference from a third and a fourth interference source, respectively, received by a second one or more of the plurality of sector antennas, and said selecting further comprises determining a second weighted interference of the second one or more of the plurality of sector antennas by applying a third and a fourth weight to the third and the fourth interference, respectively, and said selection of the subset is by excluding from the subset the second one or more of the plurality of sector antennas if the second weighted interference is greater than the threshold.

13. An article of manufacture, comprising:

a physical storage medium; and

a plurality of executable instructions stored in the physical storage medium designed to program a device to enable the device to

select a subset of a plurality of sector antennas of the device for use to communicate in a wireless network based at least in part on one or more interferences sensed from one or more interference sources by the sector antennas, the subset excluding one or more of the sector antennas receiving said one or more inferences.

14. The article of claim 13, wherein said instructions are adapted to enable said device to perform a determination of interference type(s) of the one or more interferences to facilitate said selection of a subset of the plurality of sector antennas to communicate in the wireless network.

15. The article of claim 13, wherein said instructions are adapted to enable said device to perform said determination by determining whether the one or more interferences is/are from a wireless local area network (WLAN) device, a microwave oven, a cordless telephone, and a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) device.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of sector antennas;

a spectrum sensing module coupled to the sector antennas to sense one or more interferences received by one or more of the plurality of sector antennas; and

an antenna selection module coupled to the spectrum sensing module to select a subset of the plurality of sector antennas to communicate with other devices in a wireless network based at least in part on said sensing to avoid at least in part selected one(s) of the one or more interferences.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said antenna selection module is adapted to determine which one(s) of the plurality of sector antennas receives said one or more interferences and to select the subset of the plurality of sector antennas further based at least in part on said determination.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said spectrum sensing module is adapted to determine interference type(s) of the one or more interferences sensed, and said antenna selection module selects the subset of the plurality of sector antennas further based at least in part on said determined interference type(s) of the one or more interferences.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said spectrum sensing module is further adapted to determine whether the one or more interferences is/are interference(s) from a wireless local area network (WLAN) device, a microwave oven, a cordless telephone, and/or a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) device.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said antenna selection module is adapted to apply one or more weights to the one or more interferences based on said determined interference type(s) of the one or more interferences, and to said select a subset of the plurality of sector antennas further based at least in part on the application of said weights.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said antenna selection module is further adapted to determine weighted interference(s) for selected one(s) of the plurality of sector antennas based on said application of said one or more weights and to compare the weighted interference(s) of the selected sector antenna(s) to a threshold, and to said select a subset of the plurality of sector antennas by excluding from the subset sector antenna(s) having weighted interference(s) greater than a threshold.

22. A system, comprising:

a mass storage device having an operating system therein;

an apparatus coupled to the mass storage device, the apparatus including;

a plurality of sector antennas;

a spectrum sensing module coupled to the sector antennas to sense one or more interferences received through one or more of the plurality of sector antennas; and

an antenna selection module coupled to the spectrum sensing module to select a subset of the plurality of sector antennas to communicate with other apparatuses in a wireless network based at least in part on said sensing to avoid at least in part selected one(s) of the one or more interferences.

23. The system of claim 22, further comprising a baseband and medium access control (MAC) block coupled to the antenna selection module to receive said selection.

24. The system of claim 22, 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.