Distributed multi-channel cognitive mac protocol

• US 20090258603A1
• Filed: 04/09/2008
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Conversant Wireless Licensing S.à.r.l. (f/k/a Core Wireless Licensing S.a.r.l.) (MOSAID Technologies Inc. (f/k/a Conversant Intellectual Property Management))
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Ghaboosi, Kaveh, Latva-aho, Matti
• Granted Patent: US 8,831,519 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/68
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/002 Transmission of channel access control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method includes sending a message from a first cognitive radio apparatus to at least one second cognitive radio apparatus, the message being sent over a first communication channel and containing an advertisement of at least one second communication channel for use in sending data from the first cognitive radio apparatus to the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus. The method further includes receiving a reply from the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus over the first communication channel, where the reply contains one of an acceptance of one of the at least one second communication channels, a rejection of the at least one second communication channel and an advertisement of at least one third communication channel, or a rejection of the at least one second communication channel without an advertisement of at least one third communication channel. The method further includes transmitting the data from the first cognitive radio apparatus to the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus over an agreed upon one of the second or third channels.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

sending a message from a first cognitive radio apparatus to at least one second cognitive radio apparatus, the message being sent over a first communication channel and comprising an advertisement of at least one second communication channel for use in sending data from the first cognitive radio apparatus to the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus;

receiving a reply from the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus over the first communication channel, the reply comprising one of an acceptance of one of the at least one second communication channels, a rejection of the at least one second communication channel and an advertisement of at least one third communication channel, or a rejection of the at least one second communication channel without an advertisement of at least one third communication channel; and

transmitting the data from the first cognitive radio apparatus to the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus over an agreed upon one of the second or third channels.

2. The method of claim 1, where in a case where the reply is a rejection of the at least one second communication channel and the advertisement of at least one third communication channel, further comprising sending a response from the first cognitive radio apparatus to the second cognitive radio apparatus over the first communication channel, the response comprising one of an acceptance of one of the at least one third communication channels or a rejection of the at least one third communication channel.

3. The method of claim 1, where the reply comprises one of a reason for the acceptance or a reason for the rejection.

4. The method of claim 1, where the first communication channel is a common channel in an ISM frequency band that is used by cognitive radio apparatus and by non-cognitive radio apparatus.

5. The method of claim 1, where the first cognitive radio apparatus operates in one of a power saving mode enabled state or a power saving mode disabled state.

6. The method of claim 1, where the first cognitive radio apparatus comprises a first transceiver for communication over the first communication channel and a second frequency agile transceiver for communication over the second or third communication channels, further comprising a first task list associated with the first transceiver and a second task list associated with the second transceiver, each task list comprising at any given time one or both of reception tasks and transmission tasks and, for at least the second task list, a communication channel associated with each task.

7. The method of claim 6, where tasks in a given one of the task lists are prioritized, where reception tasks are assigned a higher priority than transmission tasks.

8. The method of claim 4, where the second and third communication channels are in a non-ISM frequency band, and where a decision to accept or reject a particular channel is based at least in part on a result of spectrum sensing in the non-ISM frequency band to detect an appearance of a primary user.

9. The method of claim 8, where an advertised communication channel is accepted if it is not a channel in which a primary user appeared, and it has satisfactory spectrum quality results.

10. The method of claim 4, further comprising operating a cognitive medium access control entity that comprises a Last Successfully Experienced Channel (LSEC) table, a Primary User Appearance (PUA) table, and a Transient Zone that buffers identifications of locally and remotely discovered non-ISM channels, where each channel identified in LSEC and PUA table entries includes an associated time index having a value that changes periodically and that controls potential usage of the channels identified in the LSEC and PUA tables.

11. The method of claim 1, where advertisements of the second and third communication channels each comprise fields for specifying an identification of a center frequency and a regulatory class.

12. The method of claim 1, where the first cognitive radio apparatus comprises a first transceiver for communication over the first communication channel, where the first communication channel is a common channel in an ISM frequency band that is used by cognitive radio apparatus and by non-cognitive radio apparatus, and a second frequency agile transceiver for communication over at least one communication channel in a non-ISM frequency band, further comprising sending a message over the first communication channel to the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus that also comprises first and second transceivers, the message instructing the second cognitive radio apparatus to one of switch temporarily or permanently to a particular communication channel in the non_ISM frequency band.

13. A computer-readable medium that stores program instructions, the execution of the program instructions resulting in operations that comprise:

sending a message from a first cognitive radio apparatus to at least one second cognitive radio apparatus, the message being sent over a first communication channel and comprising an advertisement of at least one second communication channel for use in sending data from the first cognitive radio apparatus to the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus;

receiving a reply from the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus over the first communication channel, the reply comprising one of an acceptance of one of the at least one second communication channels, a rejection of the at least one second communication channel and an advertisement of at least one third communication channel, or a rejection of the at least one second communication channel without an advertisement of at least one third communication channel; and

transmitting the data from the first cognitive radio apparatus to the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus over an agreed upon one of the second or third channels.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, where in a case where the reply is a rejection of the at least one second communication channel and the advertisement of at least one third communication channel, further comprising sending a response from the first cognitive radio apparatus to the second cognitive radio apparatus over the first communication channel, the response comprising one of an acceptance of one of the at least one third communication channels or a rejection of the at least one third communication channel.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the reply comprises one of a reason for the acceptance or a reason for the rejection.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the first communication channel is a common channel in an ISM frequency band that is used by cognitive radio apparatus and by non-cognitive radio apparatus.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the first cognitive radio apparatus operates in one of a power saving mode enabled state or a power saving mode disabled state.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the first cognitive radio apparatus comprises a first transceiver for communication over the first communication channel and a second frequency agile transceiver for communication over the second or third communication channels, further comprising a first task list associated with the first transceiver and a second task list associated with the second transceiver, each task list comprising at any given time one or both of reception tasks and transmission tasks and, for at least the second task list, a communication channel associated with each task.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, where tasks in a given one of the task lists are prioritized, where reception tasks are assigned a higher priority than transmission tasks.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, where the second and third communication channels are in a non-ISM frequency band, and where a decision to accept or reject a particular channel is based at least in part on a result of spectrum sensing in the non-ISM frequency band to detect an appearance of a primary user.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, where an advertised communication channel is accepted if it is not a channel in which a primary user appeared, and it has satisfactory spectrum quality results.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 16, further comprising an operation of operating a cognitive medium access control entity that comprises a Last Successfully Experienced Channel (LSEC) table, a Primary User Appearance (PUA) table, and a Transient Zone that buffers identifications of locally and remotely discovered non-ISM channels, where each channel identified in LSEC and PUA table entries includes an associated time index having a value that changes periodically and that controls potential usage of the channels identified in the LSEC and PUA tables.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, where advertisements of the second and third communication channels each comprise fields for specifying an identification of a center frequency and a regulatory class.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the first cognitive radio apparatus comprises a first transceiver for communication over the first communication channel, where the first communication channel is a common channel in an ISM frequency band that is used by cognitive radio apparatus and by non-cognitive radio apparatus, and a second frequency agile transceiver for communication over at least one communication channel in a non-ISM frequency band, further comprising an operation of sending a message over the first communication channel to the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus that also comprises first and second transceivers, the message instructing the second cognitive radio apparatus to one of switch temporarily or permanently to a particular communication channel in the non_ISM frequency band.

25. An apparatus, comprising:

a first transceiver for communication over a first communication channel;

a second frequency agile transceiver for communication over second and third communication channels; and

a controller configurable to operate the apparatus as a first cognitive radio apparatus and to transmit a message to at least one second cognitive radio apparatus, the message being transmitted over the first communication channel and comprising an advertisement of at least one second communication channel for use in sending data from the first cognitive radio apparatus to the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus, said controller further configurable to receive a reply from the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus over the first communication channel, the reply comprising one of an acceptance of one of the at least one second communication channels, a rejection of the at least one second communication channel and an advertisement of at least one third communication channel, or a rejection of the at least one second communication channel without an advertisement of at least one third communication channel, said control unit further configurable to transmit the data to the at least one second cognitive radio apparatus over an agreed upon one of the second or third channels.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, where in a case where the reply is a rejection of the at least one second communication channel and the advertisement of at least one third communication channel, said controller is further configurable to transmit a response to the second cognitive radio apparatus over the first communication channel, the response comprising one of an acceptance of one of the at least one third communication channels or a rejection of the at least one third communication channel.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, where the reply comprises one of a reason for the acceptance or a reason for the rejection.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, where the first communication channel comprises a common channel in an ISM frequency band that is used by cognitive radio apparatus and by non-cognitive radio apparatus.

29. The apparatus of claim 25, operating in one of a power saving mode enabled state or a power saving mode disabled state.

30. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising a first task list associated with the first transceiver and a second task list associated with the second transceiver, each task list comprising at any given time one or both of reception tasks and transmission tasks and, for at least the second task list, a communication channel associated with each task, where tasks in a given one of the task lists are prioritized, where reception tasks are assigned a higher priority than transmission tasks, and where said controller is further configurable when scheduling tasks to use, if possible, a same communication channel for two reception tasks, or a same communication channel for two transmission tasks, or a same communication channel for a reception task and for a transmission task, or a communication channel for a multicast transmission task to a plurality of second cognitive radio apparatus, or a communication channel for a multicast transmission task to a plurality of second cognitive radio apparatus, and the same communication channel for a unicast transmission to at least one further cognitive radio apparatus.

31. The apparatus of claim 25, where advertisements of the second and third communication channels each comprise fields for specifying an identification of a center frequency and a regulatory class.

32. The apparatus of claim 25, where the first communication channel is a common channel in an ISM frequency band that is used by cognitive radio apparatus and by non-cognitive radio apparatus, where the second frequency agile transceiver is configured to communicate over at least one communication channel in a non-ISM frequency band, and where said controller is further configurable to send a further message for instructing the second cognitive radio apparatus to one of switch temporarily or permanently to a particular communication channel in the non_ISM frequency band, where in one mode of operation said controller receives an acknowledgment from the second cognitive radio apparatus of the instruction before the second cognitive radio apparatus switches to the particular communication channel in the non-ISM frequency band, and where in another mode of operation said controller receives an acknowledgment from the second cognitive radio apparatus of the instruction after the second cognitive radio apparatus switches to the particular communication channel in the non-ISM frequency band.