FREQUENCY SELECTION AND TRANSITION OVER WHITE SPACE

• US 20110250858A1
• Filed: 04/08/2010
• Published: 10/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Sadek, Ahmed K., Jain, Avinash
• Granted Patent: US 8,787,907 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/120
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/06 Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/27 between access points

Abstract

A method of wireless communication includes determining at least one neighboring apparatus from which to obtain information, obtaining information related to a plurality of channels from the at least one neighboring apparatus, selecting a channel from the plurality of channels based on the obtained information, and transmitting on the selected channel.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

determining at least one neighboring apparatus from which to obtain information;

obtaining information related to a plurality of channels from the at least one neighboring apparatus;

selecting a channel from the plurality of channels based on the obtained information; and

transmitting on the selected channel.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one neighboring apparatus is determined from a list of fixed apparatuses whose physical location is known.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one neighboring apparatus is determined based on a strength of a signature waveform transmitted on a wireless channel.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one neighboring apparatus is determined based on communication with the at least one neighboring apparatus over a wireless channel.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising relaying information on the selected channel to another apparatus.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected channel is a backup channel and the method further comprises selecting a primary channel.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtained information is a set of channels determined to have low interference by the at least one neighboring apparatus.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting an additional channel from the plurality of channels based on the obtained information, wherein the transmitting is also on the additional channel.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the transmitting is alternated between said channel and said additional channel.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting a pilot signal consecutively on each of said channel and said additional channel and transmitting data alternately on said channel and said additional channel.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating a transmission on a first channel, wherein the selected channel is a second channel different from the first channel, wherein the method further comprises transitioning from the first channel to the second channel based on a predefined criteria by stopping the transmission on the first channel and initiating a transmission on the second channel.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the transmission on the first channel includes information about the second channel.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the information is obtained from at least one neighboring apparatus.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the obtained information comprises a channel on which at least one neighboring apparatus is transmitting.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the obtained information comprises a set of channels that at least one neighboring apparatus determined to have an interference below a threshold.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the second channel is selected when the first channel is not in the set of channels.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the second channel is selected when the second channel is determined to be better than the first channel based on the obtained information.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the second channel is selected to be the same as a channel used for transmission by a neighboring apparatus.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the second channel is selected to be different than a channel used for transmission by a neighboring apparatus.

20. The method of claim 11, wherein the first channel is a first white space frequency, the second channel is a second white space frequency, the method further comprises arranging the white space frequencies into a set of white space frequencies based on the obtained information, the second white space frequency is selected from the set of white space frequencies, and the predefined criteria is satisfied when the first white space frequency is not in the set of white space frequencies.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first white space frequency is an operational white space frequency and the second white space frequency is a backup white space frequency.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising receiving information from at least one wireless terminal on a signal quality related to the first white space frequency, wherein the predefined criteria is also satisfied when the signal quality is below a threshold and the at least one wireless terminal is not handed over to another base station.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the obtained information comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a white space frequency selected by each of at least one neighboring base station;

first interference information for each of the plurality of white space frequencies, the first interference information being obtained by at least one receive antenna positioned at a height to obtain interference to wireless terminals; and

second interference information for each of the plurality of white space frequencies, the second interference information being obtained from the at least one neighboring base station through measurements of wireless terminals served by the at least one neighboring base station.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said height is about two meters.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the obtained information comprises a selected white space frequency of each of at least one neighboring base station and interference information for each of the plurality of white space frequencies, and the arranging into the set of white space frequencies comprises:

building a list of candidate frequencies containing the plurality of white space frequencies;

determining a value ranking for each white space frequency in the list of candidate frequencies based on how many of the at least one neighboring base station selected the white space frequency and based on the interference information for the white space frequency;

sorting the white space frequencies in the list of candidate frequencies in an order based on the value rankings of the white space frequencies; and

narrowing the list of candidate frequencies to the set of white space frequencies by removing white space frequencies from the list of candidate frequencies that are beyond a threshold.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the selected second white space frequency is a highest arranged white space frequency in the set of white space frequencies.

27. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

transmitting a pilot signal on the second white space frequency;

instructing at least one wireless terminal to determine a signal quality of the pilot signal; and

receiving the signal quality of the pilot signal from each of the at least one wireless terminal.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the transitioning from the first white space frequency to the second white space frequency occurs when the signal quality received from each of the at least one wireless terminal is greater than a threshold.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

removing the second white space frequency from the set of white space frequencies when the signal quality is less than a threshold for one or more of the at least one wireless terminal; and

selecting a new second white space frequency from the set of white space frequencies to replace the removed second white space frequency.

30. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for determining at least one neighboring apparatus from which to obtain information;

means for obtaining information related to a plurality of channels from the at least one neighboring apparatus;

means for selecting a channel from the plurality of channels based on the obtained information; and

means for transmitting on the selected channel.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the at least one neighboring apparatus is determined from a list of fixed apparatuses whose physical location is known.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the at least one neighboring apparatus is determined based on a strength of a signature waveform transmitted on a wireless channel.

33. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the at least one neighboring apparatus is determined based on communication with the at least one neighboring apparatus over a wireless channel.

34. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising means for relaying information on the selected channel to another apparatus.

35. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the selected channel is a backup channel and the apparatus further comprises means for selecting a primary channel.

36. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the obtained information is a set of channels determined to have low interference by the at least one neighboring apparatus.

37. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising means for selecting an additional channel from the plurality of channels based on the obtained information, wherein the means for transmitting transmits also on the additional channel.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the means for transmitting transmits alternately between said channel and said additional channel.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the means for transmitting comprises means for transmitting a pilot signal consecutively on each of said channel and said additional channel and means for transmitting data alternately on said channel and said additional channel.

40. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising means for initiating a transmission on a first channel, wherein the selected channel is a second channel different from the first channel, wherein the apparatus further comprises means for transitioning from the first channel to the second channel based on a predefined criteria by stopping the transmission on the first channel and initiating a transmission on the second channel.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the transmission on the first channel includes information about the second channel.

42. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the information is obtained from at least one neighboring apparatus.

43. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the obtained information comprises a channel on which at least one neighboring apparatus is transmitting.

44. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the obtained information comprises a set of channels that at least one neighboring apparatus determined to have an interference below a threshold.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein the second channel is selected when the first channel is not in the set of channels.

46. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the second channel is selected when the second channel is determined to be better than the first channel based on the obtained information.

47. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the second channel is selected to be the same as a channel used for transmission by a neighboring apparatus.

48. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the second channel is selected to be different than a channel used for transmission by a neighboring apparatus.

49. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the first channel is a first white space frequency, the second channel is a second white space frequency, the apparatus further comprises means for arranging the white space frequencies into a set of white space frequencies based on the obtained information, the second white space frequency is selected from the set of white space frequencies, and the predefined criteria is satisfied when the first white space frequency is not in the set of white space frequencies.

50. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the first white space frequency is an operational white space frequency and the second white space frequency is a backup white space frequency.

51. The apparatus of claim 49, further comprising means for receiving information from at least one wireless terminal on a signal quality related to the first white space frequency, wherein the predefined criteria is also satisfied when the signal quality is below a threshold and the at least one wireless terminal is not handed over to another base station.

52. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the obtained information comprises at least one selected from the group consisting of a white space frequency selected by each of at least one neighboring base station;

first interference information for each of the plurality of white space frequencies, the first interference information being obtained by at least one receive antenna positioned at a height to obtain interference to wireless terminals; and

second interference information for each of the plurality of white space frequencies, the second interference information being obtained from the at least one neighboring base station through measurements of wireless terminals served by the at least one neighboring base station.

53. The apparatus of claim 52, wherein said height is about two meters.

54. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the obtained information comprises a selected white space frequency of each of at least one neighboring base station and interference information for each of the plurality of white space frequencies, and the means for arranging into the set of white space frequencies comprises:

means for building a list of candidate frequencies containing the plurality of white space frequencies;

means for determining a value ranking for each white space frequency in the list of candidate frequencies based on how many of the at least one neighboring base station selected the white space frequency and based on the interference information for the white space frequency;

means for sorting the white space frequencies in the list of candidate frequencies in an order based on the value rankings of the white space frequencies; and

means for narrowing the list of candidate frequencies to the set of white space frequencies by removing white space frequencies from the list of candidate frequencies that are beyond a threshold.

55. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the selected second white space frequency is a highest arranged white space frequency in the set of white space frequencies.

56. The apparatus of claim 49, further comprising:

means for transmitting a pilot signal on the second white space frequency;

means for instructing at least one wireless terminal to determine a signal quality of the pilot signal; and

means for receiving the signal quality of the pilot signal from each of the at least one wireless terminal.

57. The apparatus of claim 56, wherein the means for transitioning from the first white space frequency to the second white space frequency transitions when the signal quality received from each of the at least one wireless terminal is greater than a threshold.

58. The apparatus of claim 56, further comprising:

means for removing the second white space frequency from the set of white space frequencies when the signal quality is less than a threshold for one or more of the at least one wireless terminal; and

means for selecting a new second white space frequency from the set of white space frequencies to replace the removed second white space frequency.

59. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising code for;

determining at least one neighboring apparatus from which to obtain information;

obtaining information related to a plurality of channels from the at least one neighboring apparatus;

selecting a channel from the plurality of channels based on the obtained information; and

transmitting on the selected channel.

60. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a processing system configured to;

determine at least one neighboring apparatus from which to obtain information;

obtain information related to a plurality of channels from the at least one neighboring apparatus;

select a channel from the plurality of channels based on the obtained information; and

transmit on the selected channel.