METHOD OF CHANNEL SCANNING IN WIRELESS LOCAL AREA NETWORK SYSTEM

• US 20110090890A1
• Filed: 10/21/2009
• Published: 04/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Eun Sun, Seok, Yong Ho
• Granted Patent: US 8,824,435 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0066 Requirements on out-of-channel emissions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method and apparatus of scanning channels of a white space zone in a wireless local area network is provided. A response frame includes a white space map including information about whether each white space channel in the white space zone is occupied by an incumbent user. Channels of the white space zone are scanned based on the white space map.

Claims

1. A method of scanning channels for a whitespace zone in a wireless local area network, the method comprising:

transmitting a request frame from a scanning station to a response station;

receiving a response frame as a response of the request frame from the response station, wherein the response frame includes a white space map including information about whether each white space channel in the white space zone is occupied by an incumbent user; and

scanning channels of the whitespace zone based on white space map.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sensing channels of the whitespace zone by the scanning station before transmitting the request frame.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein if an unoccupied channel in the whitespace zone with no incumbent user is found, the request frame is transmitted.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the request frame is transmitted to the response station on the unoccupied channel.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the request frame includes a scanning result of the channels of the whitespace zone.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the white space map includes a sensing channel number and a sensing report, the sensing report indicating a sensing result for a white space channel corresponding to the sensing channel number.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the sensing report includes a primary user bit indicating whether or not there is an incumbent user in the a white space channel corresponding to the sensing channel number.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the sensing report further includes a unknown user bit indicating whether or not there is an unknown user in the a white space channel corresponding to the sensing channel number.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the white space map further includes a sensing time including information about a time period during which sensing has been performed.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the white space map is included in a frame body of the request frame.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the request frame is a probe request frame, and the response frame is a probe response frame.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the request frame is a management frame of the WSM request, and the response frame is a management frame of the WSM response.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of scanning channels of the whitespace zone comprises

determining a unoccupied channel based on the white space map;

and

scanning the unoccupied channel.

14. A wireless apparatus comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive a response frame, the response frame including a white space map including information about whether each white space channel in the white space zone is occupied by an incumbent user; and

a processor configured to scan channels of the white space zone based on the white space map.