SYSTEMS FOR COMMUNICATING USING MULTIPLE FREQUENCY BANDS IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20100135238A1
• Filed: 01/11/2010
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Maltsev, Alexander, Khoryaev, Alexey, Maslennikov, Roman, Sadri, Ali S., Sergeyev, Vadim
• Granted Patent: US 8,340,071 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements

Abstract

Communication signals using a first and a second frequency band in a wireless network is described herein. The first frequency band may be associated with a first beamwidth while the second frequency band may be associated with a second beamwidth. A method includes transmitting, in a first frequency band by a coordinating device, an indication of a first time resource and/or first frequency resource for a communication device to identify one or more neighbor communication devices that are capable of communicating over a second frequency band, receiving, in the first frequency band by the coordinating device, link availability information for the second frequency band based at least in part on the one or more neighbor communication devices identified as being capable of communicating over the second frequency band, and transmitting, in the first frequency band, a transmission schedule to indicate to the communication device a second time resource and/or second frequency resource in which the communication device can communicate with at least one of the one or more neighbor communications devices over the second frequency band, the transmission schedule being based at least in part on the received link availability information. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting, in a first frequency band by a coordinating device, an indication of a first time resource and/or first frequency resource for a communication device to identify one or more neighbor communication devices that are capable of communicating over a second frequency band, the first frequency band being associated with a first beamwidth and the second frequency band being associated with a second beamwidth;

receiving, in the first frequency band by the coordinating device, link availability information for the second frequency band based at least in part on the one or more neighbor communication devices identified as being capable of communicating over the second frequency band; and

transmitting, in the first frequency band, a transmission schedule to indicate to the communication device a second time resource and/or second frequency resource in which the communication device can communicate with at least one of the one or more neighbor communications devices over the second frequency band, the transmission schedule being based at least in part on the received link availability information.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a connectivity table comprising pairs of communication devices that are capable of directly communicating over the second frequency band, said creating the connectivity table being based at least in part on the received link availability information.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, in the first frequency band by the coordinating device, interference information associated with the communication device; and

determining the transmission schedule based at least in part on the received interference information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said receiving the interference information comprises receiving interference measurements including interference levels, the interference measurements being performed by one or more communication devices, including the communication device;

and

wherein said determining the transmission schedule comprises comparing the interference levels to allow simultaneous transmission for at least two communication devices that have mutual interference levels below a threshold level using the second frequency band and to prevent simultaneous transmission for at least another two communication devices that have mutual interference levels above the threshold level using the second frequency.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said transmitting, in a first frequency band by a coordinating device, an indication of a first time resource and/or first frequency resource comprises transmitting a time interval for a communication device to identify, using the second frequency band, one or more neighbor communication devices that are capable of communicating over the second frequency band;

wherein said transmitting, in the first frequency band, a transmission schedule to indicate to the communication device a second time resource and/or second frequency resource comprises transmitting, in the first frequency band, a transmission schedule to indicate to the communication device a time period in which the communication device can communicate with at least one of the one or more neighbor communications devices over the second frequency band; and

wherein the first beamwidth is greater than the second beamwidth.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the coordinating device, notification of establishment of a communication link over the second frequency band between the communication device and at least one of the one or more neighboring communication devices.

7. A method comprising:

receiving, in a first frequency band by a communication device from a coordinating device, an indication of a first time resource and/or first frequency resource for the communication device to identify one or more neighbor communication devices that are capable of communicating using a second frequency band, the first frequency band being associated with a first beamwidth and the second frequency band being associated with a second beamwidth, the first beamwidth being greater than the second beamwidth;

identifying, by the communication device using the indicated first time resource and/or first frequency resource, one or more neighboring communication devices that are capable of communicating using the second frequency band;

transmitting, in the first frequency band by the communication device, link availability information of the one or more neighboring communication devices that are capable of communicating using the second frequency band to the coordinating device; and

receiving, in the first frequency band by the communication device, a transmission schedule to indicate a second time resource and/or second frequency resource in which the communication device can communicate with at least one of the one or more neighbor communications devices using the second frequency band, the transmission schedule being based at least in part on the transmitted link availability information.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said identifying, by the communication device using the indicated first time resource and/or first frequency resource comprises transmitting, by the communication device using the second frequency band, search routine signals associated with link establishment.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

transmitting, in the first frequency band by the communication device to the coordinating device, interference information associated with one or more of the neighboring communication devices;

wherein the received transmission schedule is based at least in part on the transmitted interference information.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said transmitting the interference information comprises transmitting interference measurements including interference levels, the interference measurements being performed by one or more communication devices, including the communication device.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

notifying the coordinating device, by the communication device, that a communication link is established over the second frequency band between the communication device and at least one of the one or more neighboring communication devices.

12. An apparatus comprising:

transmitter circuitry configured to transmit, in a first frequency band, an indication of a first time resource and/or first frequency resource for a communication device to identify one or more neighbor communication devices that are capable of communicating using a second frequency band, the first frequency band being associated with a first beamwidth and the second frequency band being associated with a second beamwidth, the first beamwidth being greater than the second beamwidth; and

receiver circuitry coupled to the transmitter circuitry, wherein the receiver circuitry is configured to receive, in the first frequency band, link availability information for the second frequency band based at least in part on the one or more neighbor communication devices identified as being capable of communicating using the second frequency band;

wherein the transmitter circuitry is further configured to transmit a transmission schedule to indicate to the communication device a second time resource and/or second frequency resource in which the communication device can communicate with at least one of the one or more neighbor communications devices using the second frequency band, the transmission schedule being based at least in part on the received link availability information.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

a scheduling module coupled to the receiver circuitry and to the transmitter circuitry, the scheduling module being configured to create a connectivity table comprising pairs of communication devices that are capable of directly communicating using the second frequency band, wherein the scheduling module is configured to create the connectivity table based at least in part on the received link availability information.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the receiver circuitry is further configured to receive, in the first frequency band, interference information associated with the communication device;

and

wherein the scheduling module is further configured to determine the transmission schedule based at least in part on the received interference information.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the apparatus comprises an access point of a wireless communication network.

16. A method, comprising:

transmitting, by a multi-band device, first signals using the first frequency band, the first frequency band being associated with a first beamwidth, the first signals to facilitate initial communication between the multi-band device and another device, including initial communication of control information for coarse configuration by the another device to wirelessly communicate with the multi-band device; and

transmitting, by the multi-band device, second signals using the second frequency band, the second frequency band being associated with a second beamwidth, the second signals to facilitate further communication between the multi-band device and the another device, including further communication of control information for fine configuration by the another device to wirelessly communicate with the multi-band device, the first beamwidth being greater than the second beamwidth, wherein the multi-band device uses a common frequency oscillator for said transmitting of the first signals and transmitting of the second signals.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said transmitting by the multi-band device of first signals and second signals is performed by an access point of a wireless personal area network (WPAN);

and

wherein the another device is a client device of the WPAN.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first frequency band is a 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, Medical (ISM) band or a 5.0 GHz Universal National Information Infrastructure (UNII) band and the second frequency band is a millimeter wave (mmWave) band.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein said transmitting, by the multi-band device, of first signals using the first frequency band comprises transmitting by the multi-band device first signals to facilitate initial communication, including signals to facilitate initial beam forming for the second frequency band by the another device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said transmitting, by the multi-band device, of second signals using the second frequency band comprises transmitting by the multi-band device second signals, including signals to facilitate a more precise beam forming by the another device by supplementing the first signals used to initially beam form the another device.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein said transmitting, by the multi-band device, of first signals using the first frequency band comprises transmitting by the multi-band device first signals including signals to facilitate initial estimation of carrier frequency offset (CFO) by the another device, wherein the another device is configured to use the initial estimation of CFO to facilitate subsequent communication between the multi-band device and the another device using the second frequency band.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said transmitting, by the multi-band device of second signals using the second frequency band comprises transmitting by the multi-band device second signals to the another device, including signals to facilitate a more precise CFO estimation by the another device.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein said transmitting, by the multi-band device, of second signals using the second frequency band comprises transmitting by the multi-band device second signals to the another device, including signals to facilitate timing synchronization by the another device.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein said transmitting, by the multi-band device, of second signals using the second frequency band comprises transmitting by the multi-band device second signals to the another device using a second frequency band that is centered substantially between 59 and 62 GHz.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein said transmitting, by the multi-band device, of first signals comprises transmitting training signals.

26. The method of claim 16, wherein said transmitting, by the multi-band device, of first signals comprises transmitting a preamble comprising medium access control data including data for carrier sense multiple access and collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) or carrier sense multiple access and collision detection (CSMA/CD).

27. An apparatus, comprising:

a physical (PHY) layer configured to transmit and/or receive signals to or from at least one other device of a wireless network using a first and a second frequency band associated with a first and a second beamwidth, respectively, the first beamwidth being greater than the second beamwidth;

a common reference frequency oscillator to synthesize signals in the first frequency band and the second frequency band; and

a medium access control (MAC) layer coupled to the PHY layer to selectively employ the PHY layer to transmit and/or receive first signals using the first frequency band to facilitate initial communication between the apparatus and selected one(s) of the at least one other device including initial communication of control information for coarse configuration by the apparatus and/or by the selected one(s) of the at least one other device to wirelessly communicate with each other, to subsequently and selectively employ the PHY layer to transmit and/or receive second signals using the second frequency band to facilitate further communication between the apparatus and the selected one(s) of the at least one other device, including further communication of control information for finer configuration by the apparatus and/or by the selected one(s) of the at least one other device to wirelessly communicate with each other.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the first frequency band is a 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, Medical (ISM) band or a 5.0 GHz Universal National Information Infrastructure (UNII) band and the second frequency band is a millimeter wave (mmWave) band.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising a first antenna coupled to the PHY layer to be employed by the PHY layer to transmit and/or receive at least the first signals.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising a second antenna coupled to the PHY layer to be employed by the PHY layer to transmit and/or receive at least the second signals.