Methods and devices for coordinating the transmissions of access points in WLANs

• US 7,477,610 B2
• Filed: 03/01/2004
• Issued: 01/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Bhatia, Randeep S., Bejerano, Yigal
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Chirag G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhou, Yong
• Application Number:
  US10/788,458
• Publication Number:
  US 20050190701A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,779 Days
• Field of Search: 370/310, 370/338, 370/447, 370/348, 370/395.21, 455/450.2, 455/524
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/10 Dynamic resource partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

The coordination of transmissions by access points (APs) in a wireless local area network (WLAN) is carried out by allowing APs to transmit during slots of a Contention Free Period (CFP). Prior to transmission, slots are assigned to APs using a 4-approximation technique. This technique allows an AP to transmit using multiple frequencies. The assignment of slots satisfies a maximal, lower bound of an AP slot-to-user ratio.

Claims