METHOD AND OPERATION FOR OPERATION BETWEEN WPAN AND WLAN FOR A NETWORK INTERFACE CARD

• US 20110090877A1
• Filed: 10/16/2009
• Published: 04/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Yuan, Hao
• Granted Patent: US 8,837,353 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0027 for a plurality of data sessions of end-to-end connections, e.g. multi-call or multi-bearer end-to-end data connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

A wireless network adapter may provide an absence indicator to devices in a first network to alert such devices to a time period when the wireless network adapter is not available in the first network. The wireless network adapter may operate in multiple networks, wherein the multiple networks are time division multiplexed on a same transmission channel. The absence indicator may be provided as a Notice Of Absence (NOA) Information Element (IE).

Claims

1. A method for a wireless network adapter, comprising:

generating an Notice Of Absence (NOA) Information Element (IE) to identify a start time for a time slot during which the wireless network adapter is to operate in a first network and a duration of the time slot;

adding the NOA IE to a beacon frame; and

transmitting the beacon frame with the NOA IE to a second network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

operating the wireless network adapter in the first network during the time slot; and

operating the wireless network adapter in the second network after expiration of the time slot.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first network is a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN), the method further comprising operating the wireless network adapter as an Access Point (AP) in the WPAN.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second network is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the method further comprising operating the wireless network adapter as a mobile station in the WLAN.

5. A wireless network adapter, comprising:

an Access Point (AP) control unit to operate within a first network and to generate an Notice of Absence (NOA) Information Element (IE) to identify a period of time when the wireless network adapter will not be available as an AP in the first network; and

a mobile station control unit for operation within a second network, wherein the wireless network adapter operates in the second network during the period of time.

6. The wireless network adapter of claim 5, wherein the first network is a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) and the second network is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), and wherein the first and second network communications are time division multiplexed on a same communication channel.

7. The wireless network adapter of claim 6, wherein the NOA IE identifies a start time of the period of time and a duration of the period of time.

8. The wireless network adapter of claim 7, wherein the AP control unit is adapted to add the NOA IE to a beacon signal transmitted in the first network.

9. The wireless network adapter of claim 8, further comprising:

a transmitter coupled to the AP control unit and the mobile station control unit, wherein the transmitter communicates with the second network during the period of time and communicates with the first network during a second period of time different from the period of time.

10. The wireless network adapter of claim 9, further comprising:

AP memory storing instructions to control operation of the wireless network adapter in the first network; and

mobile station memory storing instruction to control operation of the wireless network adapter in the second network.

11. The wireless network adapter of claim 5, wherein the transmitter is further to transmit a beacon in the first network.

12. The wireless network adapter of claim 11, wherein the wireless network adapter is coupled to a computing device.

13. A wireless network adapter of claim 5, wherein the AP control unit is part of a WPAN interface coupled to a configuration server, and the mobile station control unit is part of a WLAN interface.

14. The wireless network adapter of claim 13, further comprising a Multiplex (MUX) driver coupled to the WPAN interface and to the WLAN interface, the MUX driver adapted to couple one of the WLAN interface and the WPAN interface to a port driver.

15. The wireless network adapter of claim 5, wherein the wireless network adapter is to:

operate in a first network in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard;

operate in a second network in accordance with an IEEE 802.15 standard;

generate the NOA IE to identify a start time for a time slot during which the wireless network adapter is to operate in the first network and a duration of the time slot;

add the period of time as an absence NOA IE to a beacon frame;

transmit the beacon frame with the absence NOA IE to the second network to indicate to that the wireless network adapter is available to operate in the second network.

16. A computing device, comprising:

a transceiver to receive communications in a wireless area network, the transceiver adapted to receive a Notice Of Absence (NOA) Information Element (IE);

a memory storage unit to store computer-readable instructions to;

parse the NOA IE and retrieve the duration and start time of an absence period;

disable transmissions according to the NOA IE; and

enable transmissions according to the NOA IE.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the wireless area network is a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN).

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the NOA IE is included in a beacon frame received from a wireless network adapter.

19. The computing device as in claim 18, wherein the transceiver is further to parse the NOA IE from the beacon frame.

20. The computing device as in claim 19, wherein the computer-readable instructions are firmware in the memory storage unit and the transceiver is adapted to receive updates to the firmware, and wherein the computing device comprises a controller to store the updates in the firmware and to control operation of the firmware.