METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTING AND/OR USING A COMMUNICATIONS BAND FOR PEER TO PEER SIGNALING

• US 20090016363A1
• Filed: 07/10/2007
• Published: 01/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Laroia, Rajiv, Li, Junyi
• Application Number:
  US11/775,770
• Publication Number:
  US 20090016363A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for supporting peer to peer communications are described. A plurality of wide area network communications bands in a wireless communications system are also available for use to communicate peer to peer signals. At different times it may be advantageous for a mobile peer to peer communications device to use a different communications band in order to efficiently share air link resources. A peer to peer communications device receives a signal transmitted by a WAN device, e.g., a base station or WAN wireless terminal, and selects a WAN communications band to use as a function of the received signal, e.g., a corresponding band. In some embodiments, the received signal strength measurements from WAN devices are used in the selection process. In other embodiments, recovered decoded information conveyed in a received WAN device signal is used in the selection process.

Claims

1. A method of operating a communications device, comprising:

receiving a signal from a wide area network communications device, said signal having been transmitted by the WAN device in one of a plurality of WAN communications bands; and

selecting one of said WAN communications bands for peer to peer communications based on the received signal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a peer to peer signal in the selected one of said WAN communications bands.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising, prior to selecting one of said WAN frequency bands:

decoding said received signal to recover communicated information from said received signal; and

where said selecting includes using said information to select between said plurality of WAN communications bands.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said information indicates one of the plurality of frequency bands which is one of i) unused by a sector of the WAN device from which said signal is received and ii) used by the sector of the WAN device from which the signal was received but at a reduced power level in said sector relative to the other ones of said plurality of WAN frequency bands.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said WAN device is a single sector base station and wherein said sector is the single sector of said single sector base station.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein said selecting includes selecting the WAN communications band indicated by said information.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the selected communications band is different from the band from which the received signal was received.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the WAN communications bands are FDD communications bands;

and wherein the communications band from which the WAN signal is received is a WAN downlink communications band.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the selected communications band is a WAN uplink communications band.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the WAN communications bands are TDD communications bands and wherein the WAN communications band from which said signal is received corresponds to a time slot within a downlink communications band.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the selected communications band is an uplink band and wherein said peer to peer signal is communicated in an uplink time slot within said uplink band, the uplink and downlink communications bands using the same frequency but at different times.

12. The method of claim 2, further comprising, prior to selecting one of said plurality of communications bands,

measuring the strength of the received signal;

and

wherein said selection is performed as a function of the measured signal strength.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said selecting includes:

comparing the measured signal strength to a threshold and

selecting a communications band corresponding to the band from which said signal was received when said signal strength is below said threshold, said communications band corresponding to the band from which said signal was received being a different communications band from the band from which the signal was received.

14. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

measuring received signal strength of WAN communications signals received from different WAN communications bands, and wherein selecting includes selecting the communications band as a function of the measured signal strength of at least two different received signals.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said selecting includes selecting the communications band corresponding to the band from which the weakest one of said measured received WAN signals was received.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

measuring peer to peer signals received from communications bands corresponding to the communications bands from which at least some of said measured WAN communications signals were received; and

wherein the said step of selecting a corresponding frequency band is performed as a function of the measured signal strength of said received WAN signals and the measured signal strength of at least some peer to peer signals.

17. The method of claim 12,

wherein the received signal is from a WAN base station and said communications band from which the signal is received is a downlink communications band, and

wherein the selected communications band is an uplink band corresponding to said downlink communications band.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein said selecting includes:

comparing the measured signal strength to a threshold and

selecting a communications band from the plurality of WAN communications bands which does not correspond to the band from which said signal was received when said signal strength is above said threshold.

19. The method of claim 2, wherein the device from which the WAN signal is received is a WAN communications device in a frequency division duplex multi-cell communications system wherein at least one band is not used by a sector of at least one cell at any given time.

20. The method of claim 2, wherein the device from which the WAN signal is received is a WAN communications device in a frequency division duplex multi-cell communications system wherein in at least one sector of a cell which uses multiple communications bands at the same time, one of the communications bands is used at a reduced power level relative to another one of the communications bands used in said sector.

21. The method of claim 2, wherein the device from which the WAN signal is received is a WAN communications device which uses only a subset of said WAN communications bands, said subset including less than the full plurality of WAN communications bands.

22. A wireless terminal, comprising:

a receiver for receiving a signal from a wide area network communications device, said signal having been transmitted by the WAN device in one of a plurality of WAN communications bands; and

a peer to peer communications band selection module for selecting one of said WAN communications bands for peer to peer communications based on the received signal.

23. The wireless terminal of claim 22, further comprising:

a transmitter module for transmitting a peer to peer signal in the selected one of said WAN communications bands.

24. The wireless terminal of claim 23, further comprising,

a decoder module for decoding, prior to selecting one of said WAN frequency bands, said received signal to recover communicated information from said received signal;

and

wherein said selection module uses said recovered communicated information to select between said plurality of WAN communications bands.

25. The wireless terminal of claim 24, wherein said information indicates one of the plurality of frequency bands which is one of i) unused by a sector of the WAN device from which said signal is received and ii) used by the sector of the WAN device from which the signal was received but at a reduced power level in said sector relative to the other ones of said plurality of WAN frequency bands.

26. The wireless terminal of claim 25, wherein said WAN device is a single sector base station and wherein said sector is the single sector of said single sector base station.

27. The wireless terminal of claim 25, wherein said selecting includes selecting the WAN communications band indicated by said information.

28. The wireless terminal of claim 24, wherein the selected communications band is different from the band from which the received signal was received.

29. The wireless terminal of claim 23, wherein the WAN communications bands are FDD communications bands;

and wherein the communications band from which the WAN signal is received is a WAN downlink communications band.

30. The wireless terminal of claim 29, wherein the selected communications band is a WAN uplink communications band.

31. The wireless terminal of claim 23, wherein the WAN communications bands are TDD communications bands and wherein the WAN communications band from which said signal is received corresponds to a time slot within a downlink communications band.

32. The wireless terminal of claim 31, wherein the selected communications band is an uplink band and wherein said transmitter transmits said peer to peer signal in an uplink time slot within said uplink band, the uplink and downlink communications bands using the same frequency but at different times.

33. The wireless terminal of claim 23, further comprising,

a signal strength measurement module for measuring the strength of the received signal;

and

wherein said selection module performs said selection as a function of the measured signal strength.

34. The wireless terminal of claim 33, wherein said selection module includes:

a signal strength threshold comparison module for comparing the measured signal strength to a threshold and

wherein said selection module selects a communications band corresponding to the band from which said signal was received when said signal strength is below said threshold, said communications band corresponding to the band from which said signal was received being a different communications band from the band from which the signal was received.

35. The wireless terminal of claim 23, further comprising:

a signal strength measurement module for measuring received signal strength of WAN communications signals received from different WAN communications bands, and wherein said selection module selects the communications band as a function of the measured signal strength of at least two different received signals.

36. The wireless terminal of claim 35, further comprising:

a weakest WAN signal band determination module for determining the WAN band having the weakest one of said measured received WAN signals; and

wherein said selection module selects the communications band corresponding to the band from which the weakest one of said measured received WAN signals was received.

37. The wireless terminal of claim 35, further comprising:

a peer to peer signal measurement module for measuring peer to peer signals received from communications bands corresponding to the communications bands from which at least some of said measured WAN communications signals were received; and

wherein said selection module selects a corresponding frequency band as a function of the measured signal strength of said received WAN signals and the measured signal strength of at least some peer to peer signals.

38. The wireless terminal of claim 33, further comprising:

memory including stored communications band structure information indicating a correspondence between at least one uplink and downlink WAN communications band;

wherein the receiver module receives a signal from a WAN base station and said communications band from which the signal is received is a downlink communications band, and

wherein the selection module uses said stored communication band structure information to select an uplink band corresponding to said downlink communications band to be used as said selected communications band.

39. The wireless terminal of claim 33, further comprising

a signal strength threshold comparison module for comparing the measured signal strength to a threshold and

wherein said selection module selects a communications band from the plurality of WAN communications bands which does not correspond to the band from which said signal was received when said signal strength is above said threshold.

40. The wireless terminal of claim of claim 23, wherein the device from which the WAN signal is received is a WAN communications device in a frequency division duplex multi-cell communications system wherein at least one band is not used by a sector of at least one cell at any given time.

41. The wireless terminal of claim 23, wherein the device from which the WAN signal is received is a WAN communications device in a frequency division duplex multi-cell communications system wherein in at least one sector of a cell which uses multiple communications bands at the same time, one of the communications bands is used at a reduced power level relative to another one of the communications bands used in said sector.

42. The wireless terminal of claim 23, wherein the device from which the WAN signal is received is a WAN communications device which uses only a subset of said WAN communications bands, said subset including less than the full plurality of WAN communications bands.

43. A wireless terminal, comprising:

receiver means for receiving a signal from a wide area network communications device, said signal having been transmitted by the WAN device in one of a plurality of WAN communications bands; and

means for selecting one of said WAN communications bands for peer to peer communications based on the received signal.

44. The wireless terminal of claim 43, further comprising:

means for transmitting a peer to peer signal in the selected one of said WAN communications bands.

45. The wireless terminal of claim 44, further comprising,

means for decoding, prior to selecting one of said WAN frequency bands, said received signal to recover communicated information from said received signal;

and

wherein said means for selecting uses said recovered communicated information to select between said plurality of WAN communications bands.

46. The wireless terminal of claim 44, further comprising,

means for measuring the strength of the received signal;

and

wherein said means for selecting performs said selection as a function of the measured signal strength.

47. The wireless terminal of claim 44, further comprising:

means for measuring received signal strength of WAN communications signals received from different WAN communications bands, and

wherein said means for selecting selects the communications band as a function of the measured signal strength of at least two different received signals.

48. A computer readable medium embodying machine executable instructions for controlling a communications device to implement a method of communicating with another device, the method comprising:

receiving a signal from a wide area network communications device, said signal having been transmitted by the WAN device in one of a plurality of WAN communications bands; and

selecting one of said WAN communications bands for peer to peer communications based on the received signal.

49. The computer readable medium of claim 48, further embodying machine executable instructions for:

transmitting a peer to peer signal in the selected one of said WAN communications bands.

50. The computer readable medium of claim 49, further embodying machine executable instructions for, prior to selecting one of said WAN frequency bands:

decoding said received signal to recover communicated information from said received signal; and

where said selecting includes using said information to select between said plurality of WAN communications bands.

51. The computer readable medium of claim 49, further embodying machine executable instructions for, prior to selecting one of said plurality of communications bands,

measuring the strength of the received signal;

and

wherein said selection is performed as a function of the measured signal strength.

52. The computer readable medium of claim 49, further embodying machine executable instructions for:

measuring received signal strength of WAN communications signals received from different WAN communications bands, and wherein selecting includes selecting the communications band as a function of the measured signal strength of at least two different received signals.

53. An apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to;

receive a signal from a wide area network communications device, said signal having been transmitted by the WAN device in one of a plurality of WAN communications bands; and

select one of said WAN communications bands for peer to peer communications based on the received signal.

54. The apparatus of claim 53, wherein said processor is further configured to:

transmit a peer to peer signal in the selected one of said WAN communications bands.

55. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein said processor is further configured to, prior to selecting one of said WAN frequency bands:

decode said received signal to recover communicated information from said received signal; and

where said selecting includes using said information to select between said plurality of WAN communications bands.

56. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein said processor is further configured to, prior to selecting one of said plurality of communications bands,

measure the strength of the received signal;

and

wherein said selection is performed as a function of the measured signal strength.

57. The apparatus of claim 54, wherein said processor is further configured to:

measure received signal strength of WAN communications signals received from different WAN communications bands, and wherein selecting includes selecting the communications band as a function of the measured signal strength of at least two different received signals.