METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DEVICE DISCOVERY IN A WIRELESS VIDEO AREA NETWORK

• US 20110110265A1
• Filed: 01/14/2011
• Published: 05/12/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Singh, Harkirat, Shao, Huai-Rong, Ngo, Chiu
• Granted Patent: US 8,923,144 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

A method and system for device discovery in a wireless network is provided. The device discovery involves directionally transmitting a data unit from a transmitting station over a channel in different directions to emulate omni-directional transmission, receiving the data unit transmissions from different directions at a receiving station, determining the quality of the transmissions received from the different directions, and detecting location information for the transmitting station relative to the receiving station based on the highest quality transmission among the transmissions received from the different directions. Further, if a channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy direct link communication between two stations, then during a direct link set-up stage, the two stations conduct a probing message exchange using omni-direction transmission, and upon successful probing, obtain communication link status information and set proper communication configurations for the two stations based on the communication link status information.

Claims

1. A method of wireless data communication, comprising:

receiving a request for wireless communication between two wireless stations over a wireless channel;

determining if the channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request;

if the channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request, establishing a direct communication link between the two stations over the channel, including;

during a direct link set-up stage, the two stations conducting a probing message exchange using omni-direction transmission; and

upon successful probing, obtaining communication link status information and setting proper communication configurations for the two stations based on the communication link status information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

receiving a bandwidth request for wireless communication further includes receiving a bandwidth reservation request from a source station, within an unreserved channel time block (CTB); and

establishing a direct communication link further includes;

reserving CTBs for the requested bandwidth;

during a reserved CTB for direct link transmission (DLT), the source station probing a destination station by sending a DLT probe as a MAC command in omni-directional emulation mode in a low-rate channel, and waiting for a DLT probe response from the source station;

the destination station measuring and comparing the signal quality and other parameters of repetition copies of the DLT probe received in different directions from the source station, and determining the direction of the source station relative to the destination station; and

the destination station sending back a DLT probe response including channel coefficients information, to the source station.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein establishing a direct communication link further includes:

upon receiving a DLT probe response from the destination station, repeating a DLT probe request/response exchange between the source and destination stations to a threshold.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein establishing a direct communication link further includes:

upon receiving a DLT probe response from the destination station, if probing of the destination station by the source station in omni-directional mode at the low-rate channel is successful, then the source station reporting a successful DLT set-up;

otherwise, the source station requesting release of the reserved CTBs due to DLT set-up failure.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein establishing a direct communication link further includes:

upon a successful DLT set-up;

performing link assessment/recommendation or beam-searching/steering in directional mode at a high-rate channel or the low-rate channel, to obtain accurate link status information in directional mode;

setting proper transmission/reception configurations for the two stations; and

communicating information in the reserved CTBs between the source and destination stations.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein communicating information in the reserved CTBs between the source and destination stations further includes:

communicating audio/video/data streams in the reserved CTBs between the source and destination stations.

7. A system for wireless data communication, comprising:

a coordinator configured for receiving a request for wireless communication between two stations over a wireless channel, and determining if the channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request;

wherein the stations are configured such that, if the channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request, the station establish a direct communication link therebetween, wherein during a direct link set-up stage, the two stations conduct a probing message exchange using omni-direction transmission, and upon successful probing proper communication configurations for the two stations are set based on the communication link status information.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein:

the coordinator is configured for receiving a bandwidth reservation request from a source station, within an unreserved channel time block (CTB), such if the channel has sufficient bandwidth to satisfy the communication request, the coordinator reserves CTBs for the requested bandwidth;

the stations include a source station and a destination station, configured such that, during a reserved CTB for direct link transmission (DLT), the source station probes a destination station by sending a DLT probe as a MAC command in omni-directional emulation mode in a low-rate channel, and waits for a DLT probe response from the source station;

the destination station measures and compares the signal quality and other parameters of repetition copies of the DLT probe received in different directions from the source station, and determines the direction of the source station relative to the destination station; and

the destination station sends back a DLT probe response including channel coefficients information, to the source station.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the stations are configured such that, upon receiving a DLT probe response from the destination station, if probing of the destination station by the source station in omni-directional mode at the low-rate channel is successful, then the source station reports a successful DLT set-up;

otherwise, the source station requests release of the reserved CTBs due to DLT set-up failure.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the stations are configured such that, upon successful DLT set-up:

the stations perform link assessment/recommendation or beam-searching/steering in directional mode at a high rate channel or the low rate channel, to obtain accurate link status information in directional mode;

set proper transmission/reception configurations for the two stations; and

communicate information in the reserved CTBs between the source and destination stations.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein communicating information in the reserved CTBs between the source and destination stations comprises communicating audio/video/data streams in the reserved CTBs between the source and destination stations.