TECHNIQUES FOR PRIMARY CHANNEL SELECTION IN WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20120057534A1
• Filed: 09/03/2010
• Published: 03/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Park, Minyoung
• Granted Patent: US 8,687,572 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference

Abstract

An embodiment of the present invention provides an apparatus, comprising a transceiver capable of communicating in a first basic service set (BSS) of a wireless network that is operable adjacent to a second basic service set (BSS) of said wireless network, wherein when the first BSS and the second BSS operate such that the first BSS and the second BSS contain channels that at least partially overlap, the transceiver selects a primary channel of the first BSS to be next to a primary channel of the second BSS so that the first and the second BSSs avoid collisions with each other due to the at least partial overlapping.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a transceiver capable of communicating in a first basic service set (BSS) of a wireless network that is operable adjacent to a second basic service set (BSS) of said wireless network, wherein when said first BSS and said second BSS operate such that said first BSS and said second BSS contain channels that at least partially overlap, said transceiver selects a primary channel of said first BSS to be next to a primary channel of said second BSS so that said first and said second BSSs avoid collisions with each other due to said at least partial overlapping.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said channels are 40 MHz channels that allow 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across a 40 MHz channel boundary between said BSSs.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said transceiver is operable as an Access Point of said first BSS and operates conforming to an Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ac standard and said second BSS operates conforming to an IEEE 802.11n standard.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said AP of said 802.11ac network first scans a 5 GHz band for four contiguous empty channels for 80 MHz PPDU transmissions and if there are four empty channels available, said AP uses those for said first BSS operation and if there are fewer than four empty channels, said AP selects four channels that have least active BSSs.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein, if there is a 40 MHz 802.11n BSS operating in said selected four channels, said AP scans for a primary channel of a neighboring 40 MHz BSS and if possible selects a channel that'"'"'s next to said primary channel of a 40 MHz 802.11n BSS as the primary channel of the 802.11ac BSS'"'"'s primary channel.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein if said 802.11ac AP can select a primary channel that is next to a primary channel of said 802.11n BSS then said AP enables 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across said 40 MHz channel boundary, otherwise said AP disables said 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across said 40 MHz channel boundary.

7. A method comprising:

operating a transceiver capable of communicating in a first basic service set (BSS) of a wireless network that is operable adjacent to a second basic service set (BSS) of said wireless network, wherein when said first BSS and said second BSS operate such that said first BSS and said second BSS contain channels that at least partially overlap, said transceiver selects a primary channel of said first BSS to be next to a primary channel of said second BSS so that said first and said second BSSs avoid collisions with each other due to said at least partial overlapping.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said channels are 40 MHz channels that allow 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across a 40 MHz channel boundary between said BSSs.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising operating said transceiver as an Access Point of said first BSS and conforming to an Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ac standard and said second BSS operates conforming to an IEEE 802.11n standard.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said AP of said 802.11ac network first scans a 5 GHz band for four contiguous empty channels for 80 MHz PPDU transmissions and if there are four empty channels available, said AP uses those for said first BSS operation and if there are fewer than four empty channels, said AP selects four channels that have least active BSSs.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, if there is a 40 MHz 802.11n BSS operating in said selected four channels, said AP scans for a primary channel of a neighboring 40 MHz BSS and if possible selects a channel that'"'"'s next to said primary channel of a 40 MHz 802.11n BSS as the primary channel of the 802.11ac BSS'"'"'s primary channel.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein if said 802.11ac AP can select a primary channel that is next to a primary channel of said 802.11n BSS then said AP enables 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across said 40 MHz channel boundary, otherwise said AP disables said 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across said 40 MHz channel boundary.

13. A computer readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions, which when accessed, cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

operating a transceiver capable of communicating in a first basic service set (BSS) of a wireless network that is operable adjacent to a second basic service set (BSS) of said wireless network, wherein when said first BSS and said second BSS operate such that said first BSS and said second BSS contain channels that at least partially overlap, said transceiver selects a primary channel of said first BSS to be next to a primary channel of said second BSS so that said first and said second BSSs avoid collisions with each other due to said at least partial overlapping.

14. The computer readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions of claim 13, wherein said channels are 40 MHz channels that allow 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across a 40 MHz channel boundary between said BSSs.

15. The computer readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions of claim 14, further comprising operating said transceiver as an Access Point of said first BSS and conforming to an Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 ac standard and said second BSS operates conforming to an IEEE 802.11n standard.

16. The computer readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions of claim 15, wherein said AP of said 802.11 ac network first scans a 5 GHz band for four contiguous empty channels for 80 MHz PPDU transmissions and if there are four empty channels available, said AP uses those for said first BSS operation and if there are fewer than four empty channels, said AP selects four channels that have least active BSSs.

17. The computer readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions of claim 16, wherein, if there is a 40 MHz 802.11n BSS operating in said selected four channels, said AP scans for a primary channel of a neighboring 40 MHz BSS and if possible selects a channel that'"'"'s next to said primary channel of a 40 MHz 802.11n BSS as the primary channel of the 802.11ac BSS'"'"'s primary channel.

18. The computer readable medium encoded with computer executable instructions of claim 17, wherein if said 802.11ac AP can select a primary channel that is next to a primary channel of said 802.11n BSS then said AP enables 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across said 40 MHz channel boundary, otherwise said AP disables said 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across said 40 MHz channel boundary.

19. A wireless network access point (AP), comprising:

a transceiver capable of communicating in a first basic service set (BSS) of a wireless network that is operable adjacent to a second basic service set (BSS) of said wireless network, wherein when said first BSS and said second BSS operate such that said first BSS and said second BSS contain channels that at least partially overlap, said transceiver selects a primary channel of said first BSS to be next to a primary channel of said second BSS so that said first and said second BSSs avoid collisions with each other due to said at least partial overlapping.

20. The AP of claim 20, wherein said channels are 40 MHz channels that allow 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across a 40 MHz channel boundary between said BSSs.

21. The AP of claim 20, wherein said AP operates conforming to an Institute for Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11ac standard and said second BSS operates conforming to an IEEE 802.11n standard.

22. The AP of claim 21, wherein said AP of said 802.11ac network first scans a 5 GHz band for four contiguous empty channels for 80 MHz PPDU transmissions and if there are four empty channels available, said AP uses those for said first BSS operation and if there are fewer than four empty channels, said AP selects four channels that have least active BSSs.

23. The AP of claim 22, wherein, if there is a 40 MHz 802.11n BSS operating in said selected four channels, said AP scans for a primary channel of a neighboring 40 MHz BSS and if possible selects a channel that'"'"'s next to said primary channel of a 40 MHz 802.11n BSS as the primary channel of the 802.11ac BSS'"'"'s primary channel.

24. The AP of claim 23, wherein if said 802.11ac AP can select a primary channel that is next to a primary channel of said 802.11n BSS then said AP enables 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across said 40 MHz channel boundary, otherwise said AP disables said 40 MHz PPDU transmissions across said 40 MHz channel boundary.