MECHANISM TO AVOID INTERFERENCE AND IMPROVE CHANNEL EFFICIENCY IN MMWAVE WPANS

• US 20090232116A1
• Filed: 06/03/2008
• Published: 09/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Kasselman, Alex, Li, Guoqing C.
• Application Number:
  US12/132,064
• Publication Number:
  US 20090232116A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 3/26 varying the relative phase or relative amplitude of energisation between two or more active radiating elements; varying the distribution of energy across a radiating aperture H01Q3/12, H01Q3/22, H01Q3/24 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0682 using phase diversity (e.g. phase sweeping)
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 with collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Briefly, a mechanism to avoid interference and improve channel efficiency in mmWave Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) is disclosed. According to an embodiment of the present invention, neighbor devices can identify whether a certain high rate channel is being used or not through a communication on another channel, and thus avoidance actions may be taken by neighbor devices even if they do not receive signals from the high rate channel.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

communicating a use status of one channel in a communication on another channel.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the communication is an omni-directional communication.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the other channel is a sub-channel of the channel.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the communication is an acknowledgement packet.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the communication is a beacon packet.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the beacon packet is periodically sent.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the channel is a high-data rate channel.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the other channel is a low-data rate channel.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the channel is a low-data rate channel.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the other channel is a high data rate channel.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a receiver (RX) configured to receive a communication, the communication having a use status of a channel, the receiver configured to receive the communication on another channel.

12. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the communication is an omni-directional communication.

13. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the other channel is a sub-channel of the channel.

14. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the communication is an acknowledgement packet.

15. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the communication is a beacon packet.

16. The apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein the beacon packet is periodically sent.

17. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the channel is a high-data rate channel.

18. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, wherein the other channel is a low-data rate channel.

19. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising a transmitter, the transmitter configured to transmit on the channel if the use status indicates that the channel is not in use.

20. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising a transmitter, the transmitter configured to transmit on a different channel if the use status indicates that the channel is in use.

21. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, further comprising a transmitter, the transmitter configured to transmit on the channel if the use status indicates that the channel is in use after shared use of the channel is negotiated.

22. The apparatus as recited in claim 11, the receiver further configured to scan for communications on the other channel.

23. A machine-accessible medium that provides instructions, which when accessed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

communicating a use status of one channel in a communication on another channel.

24. The machine-accessible medium as recited in claim 23, wherein the communication is an omni-directional communication.

25. The machine-accessible medium as recited in claim 23, wherein the other channel is a sub-channel of the channel.