MULTI-CHANNEL WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

• US 20130201835A1
• Filed: 03/11/2013
• Published: 08/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell World Trade Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Banerjea, Raja, Liu, Yong, Zhang, Hongyuan, Ramamurthy, Harish, Srinivasa, Sudhir
• Granted Patent: US 8,743,851 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/241
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1614 using bitmaps
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1685 the supervisory signal being transmitted in response to a specific request, e.g. to a polling signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/002 Transmission of channel access control information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/08 Non-scheduled access, e.g. ALOHA hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0816 with collision avoidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Systems and techniques relating to wireless communications are described. A described technique includes monitoring wireless communication channels, including a first channel and a second channel, to produce a monitoring output, determining a first transmission period for the first channel by applying a first waiting period duration and a second waiting period duration to the monitoring output, determining a second transmission period for the second channel by applying the first waiting period duration and the second waiting period duration to the monitoring output, causing, based on the first transmission period, a first transmission on the first channel to reserve the group of wireless communication channels; causing, based on the second transmission period, a second transmission on the second channel; and monitoring, after the end of the first transmission period, for an acknowledgement(s), An end of the second transmission period can be aligned with an end of the first transmission period.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring a group of wireless communication channels, including a first channel and a second channel, to produce a monitoring output;

determining a first transmission period for the first channel by applying a first waiting period duration and a second waiting period duration to the monitoring output, wherein the second waiting period duration is shorter than the first waiting period duration;

determining a second transmission period for the second channel by applying the first waiting period duration and the second waiting period duration to the monitoring output, wherein an end of the second transmission period is aligned with an end of the first transmission period;

causing, based on the first transmission period, a first transmission on the first channel to reserve the group of wireless communication channels;

causing, based on the second transmission period, a second transmission on the second channel; and

monitoring, after the end of the first transmission period, for one or more acknowledgements.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first transmission period comprises, in response to the monitoring output indicating a presence of traffic on the first channel during a period based on the first waiting period duration, determining the first transmission period based on an end of the second waiting period duration,

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the second transmission period comprises, in response to the monitoring output indicating a presence of traffic on the second channel during a period based on the first waiting period duration, determining the second transmission period based on an end of the second waiting period duration.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

causing the first transmission comprises transmitting to a first wireless communication device that is configured for communications based on a first wireless communication standard; and

causing the second transmission comprises transmitting to a second wireless device that is configured for communications based on a second wireless communication standard, wherein the first channel is used by each of the first wireless communication standard and the second wireless communication standard.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

the first transmission comprises a field indicative of a length of the first transmission; and

the method comprises setting the field to indicate a downlink orthogonal frequency-division multiple access transmission.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first transmission and the second transmission are transmitted to the same wireless communication device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the group of wireless communication channels are associated with an overlapping basic service set configured for communications based on 80 MHz, 120 MHz, or 160 MHz bandwidths.

8. An apparatus comprising:

circuitry to access a group of wireless communication channels, including a first channel and a second channel; and

processor electronics configured to

monitor the group of wireless communication channels to produce a monitoring output,

determine a first transmission period for the first channel by applying a first waiting period duration and a second waiting period duration to the monitoring output, wherein the second waiting period duration is shorter than the first waiting period duration,

determine a second transmission period for the second channel by applying the first waiting period duration and the second waiting period duration to the monitoring output, wherein an end of the second transmission period is aligned with an end of the first transmission period,

control, based on the first transmission period, a first transmission on the first channel to reserve the group of wireless communication channels,

control, based on the second transmission period, a second transmission on the second channel, and

monitor, after the end of the first transmission period, for one or more acknowledgements.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor electronics, in response to the monitoring output indicating a presence of traffic on the first channel during a period based on the first waiting period duration, are configured to determine the first transmission period based on an end of the second waiting period duration.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the processor electronics, in response to the monitoring output indicating a presence of traffic on the second channel during a period based on the first waiting period duration, are configured to determine the second transmission period based on an end of the second waiting period duration.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the first transmission is transmitted to a first wireless communication device that is configured for communications based on a first wireless communication standard; and

the second transmission is transmitted to a second wireless device that is configured for communications based on a second wireless communication standard, wherein the first channel is used by each of the first wireless communication standard and the second wireless communication standard.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the first transmission comprises a field indicative of a length of the first transmission; and

the processor electronics are configured to set the field to indicate a downlink orthogonal frequency-division multiple access transmission.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first transmission and the second transmission are transmitted to the same wireless communication device.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the group of wireless communication channels are associated with an overlapping basic service set configured for communications based on 80 MHz, 120 MHz, or 160 MHz bandwidths.

15. A system comprising:

circuitry to transmit and receive on a group of wireless communication channels, including a first channel and a second channel; and

processor electronics configured to perform operations comprising;

monitoring a group of wireless communication channels, including a first channel and a second channel, to produce a monitoring output;

determining a first transmission period for the first channel by applying a first waiting period duration and a second waiting period duration to the monitoring output, wherein the second waiting period duration is shorter than the first waiting period duration;

determining a second transmission period for the second channel by applying the first waiting period duration and the second waiting period duration to the monitoring output, wherein an end of the second transmission period is aligned with an end of the first transmission period;

causing, based on the first transmission period, a first transmission on the first channel to reserve the group of wireless communication channels;

causing, based on the second transmission period, a second transmission on the second channel; and

monitoring, after the end of the first transmission period, for one or more acknowledgements.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein determining the first transmission period comprises, in response to the monitoring output indicating a presence of traffic on the first channel during a period based on the first waiting period duration, determining the first transmission period based on an end of the second waiting period duration.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein determining the second transmission period comprises, in response to the monitoring output indicating a presence of traffic on the second channel during a period based on the first waiting period duration, determining the second transmission period based on an end of the second waiting period duration.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein:

causing the first transmission comprises transmitting to a first wireless communication device that is configured for communications based on a first wireless communication standard; and

causing the second transmission comprises transmitting to a second wireless device that is configured for communications based on a second wireless communication standard, wherein the first channel is used by each of the first wireless communication standard and the second wireless communication standard,

19. The system of claim 18, wherein:

the first transmission comprises a field indicative of a length of the first transmission; and

the operations comprise setting the field to indicate a downlink orthogonal frequency-division multiple access transmission.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the first transmission and the second transmission are transmitted to the same wireless communication device.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the group of wireless communication channels are associated with an overlapping basic service set configured for communications based on 80 MHz, 120 MHz, or 160 MHz bandwidths.