SUPPORTING SIMULTANEOUS COMMUNICATION INTERFACES

• US 20140355527A1
• Filed: 06/21/2013
• Published: 12/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vaidya, Harish, Raman, Rakesh, Neelakandan, Sriram, Hegde, Gireesh
• Granted Patent: US 9,271,322 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A system and method of creating more than one communication interface between a wireless device using a single, dual-radio transceiver by leveraging the basic service set (BSS) and radio measurement information. A wireless device operating in multiple-in, multiple-put (MIMO) mode maintains a first communications interface with an access point while establishing a second communications interface by downgrading the existing MIMO connection to a single-in, single-out (SISO) connection. The downgrading of the MIMO connection to a SISO connection frees up a radio signal processing chain to establish a second communications interface utilizing the BSS and radio measurement information from the first communications interface.

Claims

1. A method of creating multiple communication interfaces in a first wireless device, the method comprising:

establishing a first communications interface between the first wireless device and an access point;

collecting basic service set (BSS) and radio measurement information of the first communications interface; and

establishing a second communications interface from the first wireless device to a second wireless device by sharing the collected BSS and radio measurement information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communications interface is a multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) connection, the method further comprising switching the MIMO connection of the first communications interface to a single-in, single out (SISO) connection before establishing the second communications interface.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second communications interface comprises a SISO connection and is used for periodic background scans of one or more surrounding access points to check network capabilities.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the second communications interface is used for conducting PHY calibrations of the access point.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the established second communications interface is a peer-to-peer (P2P) or independent basic service set (IBSS) connection between the first wireless device and the second wireless device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless device comprises at least a transceiver with multiple radio signal processing chains.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a first of the multiple radio signal processing chains is used to maintain the established first communications interface while utilizing a second of the multiple radio signal processing chains to establish the second communications interface.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the basic service set information includes one or more of:

channel, band, bandwidth and country information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the radio measurement information includes one or more of:

beacon positioning, channel load and medium sensing.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the common collected BSS and radio measurement information of the first communications interface is determined by applicable capabilities of the second wireless device.

11. A method of creating multiple communication interfaces in a first wireless device, the first wireless device comprising a transceiver with a plurality of radio signal processing chains, the method comprising:

establishing a first communications interface with a first communication structure using two or more of the plurality of radio signal processing chains;

collecting basic service set (BSS) and radio measurement information of the first communications interface; and

switching from the first communication structure to a second communication structure to idle one or more of the plurality of radio signal processing chains;

establishing a second communications interface from the first wireless device to a second wireless device by sharing the collected BSS and radio measurement information and the idled one or more radio signal processing chains of the first communications interface.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first communications interface with a first communication structure is a multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) connection and the second communication structure is a single-in, single out (SISO) connection and the switching step comprises switching the first communications interface from MIMO to SISO before establishing the second communications interface.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first communications interface is maintained with the SISO connection while establishing the second communications interface.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the established second communications interface is a peer-to-peer (P2P) or independent basic service set (IBSS) connection between the first wireless device and the second wireless device.

15. A wireless device comprising:

at least one transceiver with multiple radio signal processing chains processing a first communications connection;

two or more antennas connected to the at least one transceiver;

multiple radio signal processing chains transmitting and receiving radio signals through the two or more antennas and the first communications connection;

a processing module, coupled to the at least one transceiver, selectively idling at least one of the multiple radio signal processing chains and one of the two or more antennas, the idled at least one of the multiple radio signal processing chains and one of the two or more antennas subsequently activated to establish a second communications connection to another wireless device while maintaining the first communications connection.

16. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the first communications connection is maintained by at least one of the multiple radio signal processing chains and one of the two or more antennas not idled.

17. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the processing module coupled to the at least one transceiver collects and stores in memory connection information from the first processed communications connection, the stored connection information selectively leveraged to establish the second communications connection.

18. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the first communications connection is to a remote access point and the established second communications connection is a peer-to-peer (P2P) or independent basic service set (IBSS) connection between the wireless device and the another wireless device.

19. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the first communications connection is a multiple-in, multiple-out (MIMO) connection and the second communications connection is a single-in, single out (SISO) connection and the selective idling comprises switching the first communications connection from MIMO to SISO before establishing the second communications connection.

20. The wireless device of claim 19, wherein the MIMO connection comprises a 5 GHz MIMO connection and, after the switching and establishing second communications connections, comprises two SISO connections comprising any or a combination of:

2.4 GHz SISO and 5.0 GHz SISO.