Remotely-cooperative scheduling solution for moderating wireless protocols

• US 7,215,659 B1
• Filed: 07/31/2002
• Issued: 05/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Oxford Semiconductor, Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chen, Minghua, Liang, Ping
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Boakye; Alexander O.
• Application Number:
  US10/211,954
• Time in Patent Office: 1,742 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/330, 370/437, 370/337, 370/466, 370/443, 370/447, 370/461, 370/329, 370/342, 370/445, 455/63.1, 455/63.2, 455/67.13
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks

Abstract

Wireless communication networks utilize various communication protocols to exchange data between wireless network devices. Overlapping communication frequencies between data exchange protocols present a collision problem when data transmissions interfere with one another during wireless transit. A device for moderating transmission traffic in a wireless network where overlapping communication frequencies coexist is described to reduce or avoid interference caused by signal collisions.

Claims

1. A coordination system for a wireless communication network in which a plurality of signal transmissions obtained from a first protocol and a second protocol operate using overlapping communication frequencies, the system comprising:

at least one slave station, which receives and transmits data in at least one of the protocols;

at least one monitoring station, which monitors transmissions of the at least one slave station and generates a local timing map by acquiring transmission timing characteristics of the at least one slave station and tracking of the at least one slave station transmission sequences, the local timing map further indicating windows of transmission availability and masked regions of transmission unavailability; and

a coordinative access point, which acquires the local timing map, tracks global transmission sequences, and generates a global timing map to moderate transmissions in the wireless communication network to reduce collisions by scheduling global transmissions within the windows of transmission availability indicated by the local timing map.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one slave station is a wireless communication device that uses a frequency-hopping spread spectrum protocol or a direct-sequence spread spectrum protocol.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one monitoring station further possesses functionality to act as a master device capable of moderating transmissions of the at least one slave station.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one monitoring station is a wireless communication device that monitors transmissions of at least one slave station using a frequency-hopping spread spectrum protocol or a direct-sequence spread spectrum protocol.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one monitoring station is a wireless communication device which operates using a frequency-hopping spread spectrum protocol and a direct-sequence spread spectrum protocol.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the coordinative access point is a wireless communication device that monitors and coordinates transmissions of the at least one monitoring station using a frequency-hopping spread spectrum protocol or a direct-sequence spread spectrum protocol.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the coordinative access point asserts busy on the wireless communication network to reduce collisions.

8. A coordination system for a wireless communication network in which a plurality of wireless communication devices transfer information using a first frequency-overlapping communication protocol and a second frequency-overlapping communication protocol, the system comprising:

a global access area comprising at least one local access area, wherein the local access area comprises at least one wireless communication device;

a local coordination device, which monitors the transmissions in the at least one local access area and generates at least one local timing map indicative thereof; and

a global coordination device, which receives the at least one local timing map and generates a global timing map indicative thereof, wherein the global timing map is used to coordinate transmissions in the global access area and to reduce collisions in the wireless communication network by scheduling the transfer of information between the plurality of wireless communication devices.

9. A coordination system for a wireless communication network in which a first plurality of communication devices using a first protocol and a second plurality of communication devices using a second protocol exchange frequency-overlapping transmission signals, the system comprising:

a global network comprising a plurality of local networks;

a plurality of local timing map generators, wherein each of the plurality of local networks comprises at least one of the plurality of local timing map generators, and wherein the at least one local timing map generator monitors the transmission signals in at least one of the plurality of local networks and generates at least one local timing map indicative thereof; and

a global timing map generator, which receives one or more of the plurality of local timing maps and generates a global timing map indicative thereof, wherein the global timing map is used to coordinate frequency-overlapping transmission signals in the global network to reduce collisions in the wireless communication network by scheduling the transfer of information between the plurality of wireless communication devices.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the global timing map generator produces a timing mask for one or more of the plurality of local networks, wherein the timing mask identifies a timing sequence of the frequency-overlapping transmission signals in the wireless communication network.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the timing mask comprises one or more available time periods in which the global timing map generator schedules the transfer of information between the plurality of wireless communication devices to reduce collisions in the wireless communication network.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the global timing map generator manages a plurality of timing masks for scheduling the transfer of information between the plurality of wireless communication devices to reduce collisions in the wireless communication network.

13. A system for resolving collisions between wireless communication nodes which send and receive data using two or more protocols having overlapping frequencies, the system comprising:

a local monitoring station, which identifies the wireless exchange of information in at least one of the frequency-overlapping protocols in a local access area, wherein a plurality of local wireless network devices operate by exchanging information using at least one of the frequency-overlapping protocols, the local monitoring station further creating a timing map which indicates open regions of transmission availability; and

an global access point, which receives the timing map and prioritizes the wireless exchange of information in at least one of the frequency-overlapping protocols to reduce data collisions by coordinating the exchange of information with the local monitoring station through the use of the timing map.

14. A method of coordinating data transmissions in a wireless communication network in which wireless data exchange protocols comprising a first protocol and a second protocol operate using overlapping communication frequencies, the method comprising:

recognizing at least one subset of local wireless communication devices so as to identify timing characteristics of the local wireless communication devices;

generating a first timing map indicative of transmission characteristics of the at least one subset of local wireless communication devices so as to identify periods of transmission availability;

recognizing global wireless communication devices positioned outside of the at least one subset of local wireless communication devices so as to identify timing characteristics of the global wireless communication devices; and

using the first timing map to track corresponding data transmission sequences and periods of transmission availability and further scheduling data exchange in the global wireless communication devices during the periods of transmission availability so as to reduce collisions with the local wireless communication devices.

15. A communications network system, wherein wireless data exchange protocols comprising a first protocol and a second protocol operate using overlapping communication frequencies, the system comprising:

a local timing map generator that is configured to acquire transmission timing characteristics of local wireless communication devices, track local transmissions, and generate a local timing map;

a global timing map generator that is configured to acquire the local timing map, track global transmissions, and generate a global timing map; and

a traffic coordination component that is configured to use the global timing map to reduce frequency-overlapping collisions by scheduling transmission sequences in a manner so as to avoid collisions in data exchange using the first protocol and the second protocol.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the local timing map and the global timing map comprise periods of transmission availability, wherein transmissions may be scheduled by the traffic coordination component to avoid collisions.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein windows of transmission availability may be created by moderating the first or the second protocol.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein moderation of the first or the second protocol is accomplished using a jamming signal which transiently delays or defers the transmission of the first or the second protocol.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the local timing map generator monitors transmission timing characteristics of local wireless communication devices that are nearby and generates a local timing map indicative thereof.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein acquiring transmission timing characteristics further comprises identifying one or more transmission traffic types within the wireless data exchange protocols and determining one or more quality of service parameters for the one or more transmission traffic types.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the one or more quality of service parameters are used by the global timing map generator to assist in the generation of the global timing map.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the one or more quality of service parameters are used by the local timing map generator to assist in the generation of the local timing map.

23. The system of claim 20, wherein the one or more transmission traffic types comprise a voice quality traffic type and a data quality traffic type.

24. The system of claim 20, wherein scheduling transmissions comprises dynamically prioritizing the transmission traffic types based on the acquired transmission timing characteristics.

25. The system of claim 20, wherein the wireless data exchange protocols further comprise prioritizing the transmission traffic types based on predetermined levels of quality of service.

26. The system of claim 15, wherein the local timing map and the global timing map comprise masked domains indicative of regions of transient unavailability, wherein further transmission scheduling within the masked domains is avoided to inhibit collisions.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein the local timing map generator monitors the transmission activity in a Bluetooth piconet and generates the local timing map indicative thereof.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the global timing map generator monitors the transmission activity in a wireless local area network (WLAN) operating in an overlapping transmission area used by the Bluetooth piconet.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the local timing map generator comprises a WLAN station which further acts as a master for the Bluetooth piconet, wherein the master controls upstream and downstream data exchange between wireless communication devices within the Bluetooth piconet.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the global timing map generator comprises an access point which exchanges data with the WLAN station.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the access point connects the WLAN to a backbone network which links the wireless communication network to the backbone network.

32. The system of claim 15, wherein the first and second protocols are frequency-hopping spread spectrum protocols or direct-sequence spread spectrum protocols.

33. The system of claim 15, wherein the first and second protocols are Bluetooth protocols or WLAN protocols.

34. The system of claim 15, wherein the local timing map generator and the global timing map generator are used in conjunction with a plurality of wireless communication devices which operate using a least one of the plurality of data exchange protocols such that the local and global timing map generators moderate the traffic flow between the wireless communication devices to reduce data collisions and improve data throughput.