DYNAMIC CHANNEL ALLOCATION

• US 20100081447A1
• Filed: 09/29/2008
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Qi, Emily H., Meylemans, Marc, Venkatesan, Ganesh
• Granted Patent: US 8,190,167 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/452.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

Embodiments of methods and apparatus for dynamic channel allocation are disclosed. In various embodiments, an access point (AP) of an infrastructure based wireless network may allocate one or more wireless channels to wireless devices of a non-infrastructure based wireless network. The allocated channels may be selected to reduce a likelihood of communications among the devices of the non-infrastructure based wireless network interfering with communications among the devices of the infrastructure based wireless network. Additional variants and embodiments may also be disclosed and claimed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

selecting, by an access point (AP) of an infrastructure based wireless network, a wireless channel for communications among a first plurality of wireless devices of a non-infrastructure based wireless network, the selecting of the wireless channel being configured to reduce a likelihood that communications among the first plurality of wireless devices, in accordance with a first wireless communication protocol, interfere with communications among a second plurality of wireless devices of the infrastructure based wireless network in accordance with a second wireless communication protocol that is different from the first wireless communication protocol, the second plurality of wireless devices including the AP; and

transmitting, in accordance with the second wireless communication protocol, by the AP to a wireless device of the first plurality of wireless devices, an information element to communicate an allocation of the wireless channel to the first plurality of wireless devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications within the infrastructure based wireless network and the non-infrastructure based wireless network are in accordance with a common wireless communication standard.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said selecting the wireless channel comprises:

determining a likelihood of interference among each of a plurality of potential wireless channels and one or more wireless channels utilized by the second plurality of wireless devices; and

selecting the wireless channel from the plurality of potential wireless channels based at least in part on said determining of the likelihood of interference.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting the information element further comprises:

transmitting a beacon frame that includes the information element.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting the information element further comprises:

transmitting a probe response frame that includes the information element.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information element further includes an identification of a regulatory class associated with the selected wireless channel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless channel is a first wireless channel and the information element is further configured to communicate an allocation of a second wireless channel to the first plurality of wireless devices.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the information element is a first information element, the wireless channel is a first wireless channel, and the method further comprises:

transmitting, by the AP, a second information element to communicate an allocation of a second wireless channel to the first plurality of wireless devices, the second wireless channel configured for a paging function, a parking function, or a roaming function.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the infrastructure based wireless network is a local area network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the non-infrastructure based wireless network is a personal area network.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, at a wireless device, an information element from an access point (AP) of an infrastructure based wireless network, the information element communicating an allocation of one or more wireless channels for communications among a plurality of wireless devices of a non-infrastructure based wireless network, the plurality of wireless devices including the wireless device;

selecting, by the wireless device, a wireless channel from the one or more wireless channels; and

communicating, by the wireless device, with at least one wireless device of the plurality of wireless devices on the wireless channel.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

communicating, by the wireless device, with the AP on another wireless channel, which is different from the one or more wireless channels.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein communications within the infrastructure based wireless network and the non-infrastructure based wireless network are in accordance with a common wireless communication standard.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the non-infrastructure based network is a peer-to-peer network.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the non-infrastructure based network is a personal area network.

16. An apparatus comprising:

a wireless interface; and

a selector coupled to the wireless interface and configured to allocate one or more wireless channels to a plurality of wireless devices of a non-infrastructure based network to reduce a likelihood that communications among the plurality of wireless devices will interfere with communications among the apparatus and one or more wireless devices of an infrastructure based network; and

to transmit, via the wireless interface, information about the allocated one or more wireless channels to a wireless device of the plurality of wireless devices.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the selector is further configured to transmit information about the one or more wireless channels by transmitting one or more information elements that include identification information about the one or more wireless channels.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein communications within the infrastructure based wireless network and the non-infrastructure based wireless network are in accordance with a common wireless communication standard.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the infrastructure based wireless network is a local area network and the non-infrastructure based wireless network is a personal area network.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the selector is further configured to allocate a wireless channel to the plurality of wireless devices for a paging function, a roaming function, or a parking function.