Method and apparatus for increasing the effective bandwidth within a digital wireless network

• US 6,754,196 B1
• Filed: 04/20/1998
• Issued: 06/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: LSI Logic Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Jaggi, Sandeep, Daane, John, Rostoker, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Application Number:
  US09/063,476
• Time in Patent Office: 2,255 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/338, 370/344, 370/349, 370/445, 370/447, 370/521, 370/477, 370/480, 370/483, 370/482, 455/72, 455/112, 455/111, 455/73, 455/561, 361/718, 361/719, 361/720, 710/68, 348/14.13, 348/240, 348/240.23
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA

Abstract

A plurality of devices communicate information over a wireless network at radio frequencies. The information includes digital audio, video and data. Bandwidth among the devices is dynamically allocated, the allocation being based upon the needs of the devices. One embodiment of the wireless network is a Time Division Multiple Access network. Another embodiment is a wireless Ethernet. Yet another embodiment is a Frequency Division Multiplexed network.

Claims

1. An Ethernet board comprising:

a circuit board;

a transceiver mounted to the circuit board and operable over an RF bandwidth; and

a driver, mounted to the circuit board and coupled to the transceiver, for performing the steps of formulating packets for transmission by the transceiver;

decoding packets received by the transceiver; and

varying the compression rates of the packets for transmission.

26. The Ethernet board according to claim 1, wherein said transceiver transmits data packets according to a protocol compatible with and selected from a group of protocols consisting of the IEEE 802.5 Token-Ring network protocol, the IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD network protocol, the Ethernet protocol, the Ethernet Version 1 protocol, and the Ethernet Version 2 protocol.

2. A board for adapting a microprocessor-based device to communicate on a FDM network, comprising:

a circuit board;

a plurality of transceivers mounted to the circuit board and operable over an RF bandwidth, each transceiver being configured to receive RF signals at a unique frequency; and

a lookup table mounted to the circuit board, the lookup table specifying a plurality of the unique frequencies; and

a driver mounted to the circuit board, the driver configuring at least one of the transceivers to transmit at a frequency specified in the lookup table.

27. The board according to claim 2, wherein said plurality of transceivers are configurable to transmit to a device over at least two channels simultaneously.

3. A circuit board device for use in a wireless baseband network for computers comprising:

a transceiver configured to (i) transmit data packets by radio-frequency transmission for outgoing transmissions and (ii) receive data packets by incoming transmissions;

a device driver processor programmed to (i) decode said incoming transmissions received from said transceiver for output to a computer processor and (ii) encode data from a computer operating system for said outgoing transmissions for output to said transceiver; and

a circuit board housing said device driver processor and said transceiver, said circuit board for insertion into a computer, wherein said circuit board device is capable of bandwidth allocation in said wireless baseband network.

4. The circuit board device according to claim 3, wherein

said transceiver is further configured to (a) transmit data packets in an uncompressed format and a compressed format and (b) detect when another transceiver is ready to transmit data packets in said wireless baseband network.

5. The circuit board device according to claim 4, wherein said transceiver is further configured to:

have a setup frequency from which a ready-to-transmit signal is broadcast when said transceiver is ready to transmit data packets; and

detect when said other transceiver is ready to transmit data packets by detecting said ready-to-detect signal transmitted by said other transceiver.

6. The circuit board device according to claim 3, further comprising a plurality of computers forming said wireless baseband network, each of said computers operatively connected to said circuit board device.

7. The circuit board device according to claim 3, wherein said transceiver transmits data packets according to a protocol compatible with and selected from a group of protocols consisting of the IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD network standard protocol, the Ethernet protocol, the Ethernet Version 1 protocol, and the Ethernet Version 2 protocol.

8. The circuit board device according to claim 3, wherein said circuit board device is in a Token-Ring-based wireless network and said transceiver transmits data packets according to a Token-Ring-based network protocol.

9. The circuit board device according to claim 8, wherein said Token-Ring-based network protocol is compatible with the IEEE 802.5 Token-Ring network protocol.

28. The circuit board device according to claim 3, wherein said device driver processor is further configured to command an increase in a compression rate to reduce said bandwidth allocation when said transceiver detects that another transceiver is ready to transmit data packets in said wireless baseband network.

10. A wireless communication device in a baseband network comprising:

means for transmitting and receiving data modulated by a radio-frequency signal, said means for transmitting and receiving being (i) disposed in a wireless computer network and (ii) capable of compressing said data;

means for encoding and decoding said data to and from said means for transmitting and receiving;

means for receiving (i) said means for transmitting and receiving and (ii) said means for encoding and decoding into a computer; and

means for performing bandwidth allocation in said baseband network by varying a compression rate of said data.

11. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein,

said means for transmitting and receiving is a transceiver configured to (i) transmit data packets in an uncompressed format and a compressed format and (ii) detect when another transceiver is ready to transmit data packets in said baseband network.

12. The wireless baseband circuit board device according to claim 11, wherein said transceiver is further configured to:

have a setup frequency from which a ready-to-transmit signal is broadcast when said transceiver is ready to transmit data packets; and

detect when said other transceiver is ready to transmit data packets by detecting said ready-to-detect signal transmitted by said other transceiver.

29. The wireless communication device according to claim 11, wherein said means for encoding and decoding is a device driver processor operatively connected to said processor and programmed to (i) encode data from said computer operating system, (ii) decode data packets received from said transceiver and (iii) command an increase in said rate of compression when said transceiver detects that said other transceiver is ready to transmit data packets in said baseband network.

30. The wireless communication device according to claim 10, wherein said means for receiving is a computer interface card adapted to fit into said computer, said computer having a processor and an operating system.

13. A method of communicating over a wireless baseband network, comprising the steps of:

(A) communicating with a plurality of devices over a radio-frequency bandwidth by baseband network transmission with a transceiver and a driver coupled to said transceiver in each of said devices;

(B) transmitting a plurality of data packets in an uncompressed format; and

(C) compressing said data packets upon detection by one device of said devices that another device of said devices is ready to transmit data packets.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising the step of transmitting said data packets with a protocol selected from a group of protocols consisting of the IEEE 802.5 Token-Ring network protocol, the IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD network protocol, the Ethernet protocol, the Ethernet Version 1 protocol, and the Ethernet Version 2 protocol.

15. A wireless broadband network comprising:

a plurality of devices forming a broadband radiofrequency network;

at least one transceiver disposed in each of said devices, each of said transceivers (i) being capable of transmitting data to another transceiver of said transceivers according to frequency division modulation, and (ii) can transmit and receive data on at least one unique predetermined carrier frequency; and

a lookup table disposed in each of said devices for storing a plurality of predetermined carrier frequencies associated with each of said devices,

whereby a first device of said devices can transmit and receive data to and from a second device of said devices by tuning said transceiver of said first device to said at least one unique predetermined carrier frequency associated with said second device.

16. The wireless broadband network according to claim 15, further comprising a driver disposed in each of said devices and configured to (i) receive data from said transceiver and (ii) send data to said transceiver from a computer processor, wherein each of said devices has two carrier frequencies of said unique carrier frequencies at which said device can transmit and receive data.

17. The wireless broadband network according to claim 16, wherein:

said data is transmitted by said transceivers according to a protocol compatible with and selected from a group of protocols consisting of the IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD network standard protocol, the Ethernet protocol, the Ethernet Version 1 protocol, the Ethernet Version 2 protocol, and the IEEE 802.5 Token-Ring network protocol; and

a computer interface card houses (i) said driver, (ii) said transceiver and (iii) said lookup table for each of said devices, said computer interface card being receivable by a computer.

18. The wireless broadband network according to claim 15, wherein each of said transceivers is configured to

transmit data in an uncompressed format and

(ii) transmit data in a compressed format upon detection that another transceiver is ready to transmit data.

31. The wireless broadband network according to claim 18, wherein each of said transceivers is further configured to detect that said other transceiver in said wireless broadband network is ready to transmit data at a predetermined frequency.

19. A device for a wireless broadband network comprising:

means for transmitting and receiving data by radio-frequency modulation;

means for driving said means for transmitting and receiving to a specified frequency of a plurality of predetermined frequencies for transmission;

means for storing said predetermined frequencies associated with a plurality of means for transmitting and receiving, said means for storing operatively coupled to said means for driving; and

means for varying a compression rate of said data prior to transmitting.

20. The device according to claim 19, wherein:

said means for transmitting and receiving is a transceiver;

said means for driving is a processor;

said means for storing is a look-up table; and

said transceiver, processor and said look-up table are housed on a network card for a computer.

21. The device according to claim 20, further comprising a plurality of said network cards, each of said network cards having a transceiver that transmits data to other network cards in said wireless broadband network by frequency division modulation, each of said transceivers having at least two frequency channels to transmit data.

22. The device according to claim 21, wherein each of said transceivers is configured to

detect that another transceiver at a same predetermined frequency is ready to transmit data.

32. The device according to claim 22, wherein each of said transceivers is further configured to compress data transmitted upon detection that said other transceiver is ready to transmit data.

23. A method of communicating over a wireless broadband network by frequency division modulation comprising the steps of:

(A) communicating among a plurality of devices over a radio-frequency bandwidth by broadband network transmission, each of said devices having a transceiver and a driver coupled to said transceiver;

(B) transmitting a plurality of data packets by said transceivers, said transmission occurring over a plurality of frequency channels;

(C) tuning said transceivers among said frequency channels with said drivers;

(D) storing in a lookup table in each of said devices a plurality of predetermined frequencies associated with said transceivers in said wireless broadband network; and

(E) looking up a particular frequency of said predetermined frequencies from said lookup table whereby a first driver of said drivers may tune a first transceiver of said transceivers to said particular frequency when it is desired to transmit to a particular transceiver of said transceivers in said wireless broadband network associated with said particular frequency.

24. The method of communicating according to claim 23, further comprising the steps of:

compressing data transmitted by said first transceiver;

detecting in said first transceiver that said particular transceiver has a ready-to-transmit condition; and

increasing a compression rate of data transmitted by said first transceiver upon detection of said ready-to-transmit condition.

25. The method of communicating according to claim 23, further comprising the step of transmitting data with a protocol selected from a group of protocols consisting of the IEEE 802.5 Token-Ring network protocol, IEEE 802.3 CSMA/CD network protocol, the Ethernet protocol, the Ethernet Version 1 protocol, and the Ethernet Version 2 protocol.