METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING COMMUNICATION OVER A WHITE SPACE CHANNEL WITHOUT CAUSING INTERFERENCE

• US 20110116484A1
• Filed: 11/17/2009
• Published: 05/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: HENRY, PAUL SHALA
• Granted Patent: US 8,625,553 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/7097 Interference-related aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/719 Interference-related aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0062 Avoidance of ingress interference, e.g. ham radio channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for providing communication over a white space channel without causing interference are disclosed. The method generates a first request to identify at least one available white space channel, and applies a spreading sequence to the first request to generate a second request. The method applies a modulation to the second request to generate a third request in the time domain, and transmits the third request via a wireless communication to at least one other user. Alternatively, the method receives a request wirelessly, wherein the request comprises a request for availability of at least one white space channel, and applies a demodulation on the request to generate a demodulated request. The method applies a spreading sequence on the demodulated request to generate a de-spread request, and processes the de-spread request by determining availability of at least one white space channel.

Claims

1. A method for providing communication over a white space channel, comprising:

generating a first request to identify at least one available white space channel;

applying a spreading sequence to said first request to generate a second request;

applying a modulation to said second request to generate a third request in a time domain; and

transmitting said third request via a wireless communication to at least one other user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more responses to said third request from the at least one other user; and

selecting a white space channel in accordance with the one or more responses from the at least one other user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the white space channel that is selected for communicating with the at least one other user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the white space channel that is selected for local use in a local area network.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said applying said spreading sequence is performed by a gateway device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the spreading sequence is performed by said gateway device in processing said one or more responses.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a service provider of a communication network instantiates the spreading sequence in the gateway device.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the spreading sequence is selected from a registry maintained by a service provider of a communication network.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the spreading sequence is selected from a registry that is accessible locally by said gateway device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said modulation comprises a Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM).

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said FDM comprises an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM).

12. A computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon a plurality of instructions, the plurality of instructions including instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps of a method for providing communication over a white space channel, comprising:

generating a first request to identify at least one available white space channel;

applying a spreading sequence to said first request to generate a second request;

applying a modulation to said second request to generate a third request in a time domain; and

transmitting said third request via a wireless communication to at least one other user.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving one or more responses to said third request from the at least one other user; and

selecting a white space channel in accordance with the one or more responses from the at least one other user.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising:

using the white space channel that is selected for communicating with the at least one other user, or

using the white space channel that is selected for local use in a local area network.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein said applying said spreading sequence is performed by a gateway device.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the spreading sequence is performed by said gateway device in processing said one or more responses.

17. A method for processing a request, comprising:

receiving a request wirelessly, wherein the request comprises a request for availability of at least one white space channel;

applying a demodulation on the request to generate a demodulated request;

applying a spreading sequence on the demodulated request to generate a de-spread request; and

processing the de-spread request by determining availability of at least one white space channel.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

sending a response to the request, wherein said response comprises information pertaining to an availability of at least one white space channel.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the processing comprises applying a sensing method determine the availability of at least one white space channel at a local location.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein said applying the spreading sequence is performed by a gateway device.