TECHNIQUES FOR USING ALTERNATE CHANNELS FOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT MESSAGES

• US 20160323881A1
• Filed: 04/28/2016
• Published: 11/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2015
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Lapede, Adam, Bhora, Veerendra, Merlin, Simone, Jones, Vincent Knowles IV, Sampath, Hemanth, Touboul, Assaf
• Application Number:
  US15/141,763
• Publication Number:
  US 20160323881A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/00 Arrangements for detecting or preventing errors in the information received correcting synchronisation H04L7/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1858 Transmission or retransmission of more than one copy of acknowledgement message
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0032 Distributed allocation, i.e. involving a plurality of allocating devices, each making partial allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/0808 using carrier sensing, e.g. carrier sense multiple access [CSMA]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Methods, systems, and devices are described for wireless communication. An example wireless communication device may receive at least a portion of a data frame from another wireless communication device via a first or primary channel. The example wireless communication device may transmit a first acknowledgement message via a second or alternate channel, different from the first or primary channel, in response to the received data frame. In another example, an example wireless communication device may transmit a data frame via a first or primary channel. The wireless communication device may receive an acknowledgement message via a second or alternate channel, different from the first or primary channel in response to the data frame from another wireless communication device.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

receiving at least a portion of a data frame from a first wireless communication device via a first channel; and

transmitting, by a second wireless communication device, a first acknowledgement message via a second channel, different from the first channel, in response to the received data frame.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the first acknowledgement message via the second channel comprises:

transmitting the first acknowledgement message in response to the received data frame irrespective of a state of the second channel.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the state of the second channel comprises a clear-channel assessment (CCA) state and/or a net allocation vector (NAV) state.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

transmitting the first acknowledgement message within a short interframe space (SIFS) time after the data frame has been received.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing, by the second wireless communication device, a channel contention procedure on the second channel after the data frame has been received; and

wherein transmitting the first acknowledgement message via the second channel comprises;

transmitting the first acknowledgement message when the second channel is determined to be available based at least in part on the channel contention procedure.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein performing the channel contention procedure on the second channel comprises:

performing a clear-channel assessment (CCA) of the second channel, and winning the second channel based at least in part on the performed CCA.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein performing the channel contention procedure on the second channel comprises:

determining a net allocation vector (NAV) state associated with the second channel is clear.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein performing the channel contention procedure on the second channel comprises:

performing the channel contention procedure utilizing enhanced distributed channel access (EDCA) techniques.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, by the second wireless communication device, a second acknowledgement message via the first channel in response to the received data frame.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein transmitting the second acknowledgement message comprises:

transmitting the second acknowledgement message via the first channel at a lower power level than a power level used to transmit the first acknowledgement message via the second channel.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

decoding, by the second wireless communication device, a portion of the received data frame prior to an entirety of the data frame being received; and

wherein transmitting the first acknowledgement message via the second channel comprises;

transmitting a partial acknowledgement message associated with the decoded portion of the data frame.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting, by the second wireless communication device, a subsequent acknowledgement message via the second channel when the entirety of the data frame has been received.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the first channel operates in a wireless local area network (WLAN) frequency sub-band and the second channel operates in a non-wireless local area network (WLAN) frequency sub-band.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the first acknowledgement message via the second channel comprises:

transmitting acknowledgement (ACK) message, or a block acknowledgment (BA) message, or a negative acknowledgment (NACK) message, or a combination thereof.

15. A method of wireless communication, comprising:

transmitting, by a first wireless communication device, a data frame via a first channel; and

receiving an acknowledgement message via a second channel, different from the first channel in response to the data frame from a second wireless communication device.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining the first channel and the second channel are available for transmission; and

wherein transmitting the data frame via the second channel comprises;

transmitting the data frame when the first channel and the second channel are determined to be available.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the first channel and the second channel are available for transmission comprises:

performing, by the first wireless communication device, a channel contention procedure on each of the first channel and the second channel.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

transmitting, by the first wireless communication device, a request to send (RTS) message via the second channel.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein transmitting the data frame via the first channel comprises:

transmitting the data frame concurrently with the transmission of the RTS message or after the transmission of the RTS message.

20. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

a data manager for receiving at least a portion of a data frame from a first wireless communication device via a first channel; and

an alternate channel manager for transmitting a first acknowledgement message via a second channel, different from the first channel, in response to the received data frame.