COMMUNICATION USING DIRECTIONAL ANTENNAS

• US 20110205969A1
• Filed: 02/24/2011
• Published: 08/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ahmad, Saad, Gauvreau, Jean-Louis, Grandhi, Sudheer A., DiGirolamo, Rocco
• Application Number:
  US13/034,291
• Publication Number:
  US 20110205969A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Method and apparatus having a beamforming antenna generates a plurality of directional antenna beams. A discovery beacon is generated for use in associating with a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU). The discovery beacon is transmitted to a plurality of sectors using coarsely focused directional antenna beams. A WTRU may receive one of the coarsely focused directional antenna beams, and may then transmit a response message. Finely focused directional antenna beams are establishing for packet data transmission. A periodic beacon may then be transmitted to the WTRU using one of the coarsely focused directional antenna beams.

Claims

1. A method for use in an access point (AP) having a beamforming antenna configured to generate a plurality of directional antenna beams, the method comprising:

generating a discovery beacon for use in associating with a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU);

transmitting the discovery beacon to a plurality of sectors associated with the AP using coarsely focused directional antenna beams;

listening for a response message from a WTRU after transmission of the discovery beacon;

on a condition that a response message is received from the WTRU, establishing a finely focused directional antenna beam for communicating with the WTRU;

communicating packet data with the WTRU using the finely focused directional antenna beam; and

transmitting a periodic beacon to the WTRU using one of the coarsely focused directional antenna beams.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the AP is configured to operate in the 60 gigahertz frequency band.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the discovery beacon includes transmitting information associated with the geographic coverage of the coarsely focused directional antenna beams.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the response message received from the WTRU includes an indication of which coarsely focused directional antenna beam was received by the WTRU.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the discovery beacon includes a subset of information included in the periodic beacon.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a rotational sequence of sectors associated with the AP, wherein the transmitting the discovery beacon to a plurality of sectors associated with the AP is performed in accordance with the rotational sequence.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a random sequence of sectors associated with the AP, wherein the transmitting the discovery beacon to a plurality of sectors associated with the AP is performed in accordance with the random sequence.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the listening for a response message from a WTRU is performed after transmission of the discovery to each of the plurality of sectors associated with the AP.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

dynamically adjusting a first interval at which the transmitting the discovery beacon is performed; and

dynamically adjusting a second interval at which the transmitting the periodic beacon is performed.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first interval is different than the second interval.

11. A method for use in an access point (AP) comprising an antenna configured to generate a plurality of directional beams, the method comprising:

determining a number of the plurality of directional beams;

determining a plurality of frequency channels over which to transmit a discovery beacon;

generating a discovery beacon train that comprises a discovery beacon associated with each of the plurality of directional beams and each of the plurality of frequency channels;

transmitting the discovery beacon train.

12. An access point (AP) comprising:

a processor configured to generate a discovery beacon for use in associating with a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU);

a beamforming antenna configured to generate a plurality of coarse directional antenna beams and to transmit the discovery beacon using the plurality of coarse directional antenna beams;

a receiver configured to listen for a response message from a WTRU after transmission of the discovery beacon;

wherein the beamforming antenna is further configured to, on a condition that a response message is received from the WTRU, generate a finely focused directional antenna beam for communicating packet data with the WTRU, and to transmit a periodic beacon to the WTRU using one of the plurality of coarse focused directional antenna beams.

13. The AP of claim 12, wherein the AP is configured to operate in the 60 gigahertz frequency band.

14. The AP of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to generate a plurality of discovery beacons and to include in each of the plurality of discovery beacons information associated with the geographic coverage of one of the plurality of the coarse directional antenna beams that will be used for transmission of that discovery beacon.

15. The AP of claim 14, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a response message from the WTRU that includes an indication of which coarse directional antenna beam was received by the WTRU.

16. The AP of claim 12, wherein the discovery beacon includes a subset of information included in the periodic beacon.

17. The AP of claim 12, wherein the beamforming antenna is further configured to transmit the discovery beacon according to a rotational sequence of the plurality of coarse directional antenna beams.

18. The AP of claim 12, wherein the beamforming antenna is further configured to transmit the discovery beacon according to a random sequence of the plurality of coarse directional antenna beams.

19. The AP of claim 12, wherein the receiver is further configured to listen for a response message from a WTRU after the beamforming antenna transmits the discovery beacon using each of the plurality of coarse directional antenna beams.

20. The AP of claim 12, wherein the beamforming antenna is further configured to dynamically adjust a first interval at which the discovery beacon is transmitted;

and to dynamically adjust a second interval at which the periodic beacon is transmitted.