Arbitrating colocated transceivers associated with different systems

• US 8,045,533 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2005
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Breakwaters Innovations LLC
• Original Assignee: NXP B.V. (NXP Semiconductors NV)
• Inventors: Hirsch, Olaf
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu; Jinsong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nealon; William
• Application Number:
  US11/628,880
• Publication Number:
  US 20070177542A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,331 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Systems and methods according to the present invention provide arbitration methods, systems and devices which enable a WLAN transceiver (30) and a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver (32) to share the transmission medium. Various arbitration signals (BT, WL, RXIND and PRI) enable the transceivers to indicate a seizure of ownership of the medium as well as to accommodate special arbitration cases, e.g., priority packet transmission/reception. Some arbitration features are hardware programmable to provide design flexibility.

Claims

1. A method for arbitrating access to a wireless medium between a first transceiver and a second transceiver, the method comprising:

asserting, by said second transceiver a first arbitration signal line when said first transceiver is to be prevented from transmitting, wherein assertion of the first arbitration signal line by the second transceiver is at least partially dependent on a status of the second transceiver operating as a master or a slave for communications with another device using a same protocol as the second transceiver;

asserting, by said first transceiver a second arbitration signal line when said second transceiver is to be prevented from transmitting;

asserting, by said second transceiver a third arbitration signal line when said second transceiver is to transmit or receive a priority packet; and

asserting, by said first transceiver a fourth arbitration signal line while said first transceiver evaluates an address associated with an incoming first packet;

wherein the first, second, third, and fourth arbitration signal lines are separate dedicated lines, and each separate dedicated line independently asserts a corresponding distinct arbitration signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said second transceiver and said first transceiver are co-located in a same device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first transceiver is a WLAN transceiver and said second transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein asserting the second arbitration signal line further comprises:

asserting, by said first transceiver said second arbitration signal line if said incoming first packet is addressed to said first transceiver or if said incoming first packet is a multicast packet.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein asserting the second arbitration signal line further comprises:

maintaining said second arbitration signal line in an asserted state for a first period until said first transceiver has transmitted a plurality of first packets and received corresponding acknowledgement packets.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

extending said first period by a second period during which said second arbitration signal line remains in said asserted state to allow said first transceiver to detect fragmented frames or frame bursts.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said second period is programmable in a hardware portion of a medium access control layer of said first transceiver.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein asserting the second arbitration signal line further comprises:

asserting, by said first transceiver said second arbitration signal line at a predetermined time during a backoff period associated with transmission of a packet.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said predetermined time is hardware programmable in hardware associated with said first transceiver.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said predetermined time is adaptively variable.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

preventing successive assertions of said second arbitration signal line within a predetermined time, wherein said predetermined time is hardware programmable in hardware associated with said first transceiver.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, prior to asserting the second arbitration signal line, that said second arbitration signal line is not asserted;

checking, after asserting said first arbitration signal line, to ensure that said first arbitration signal line has not been raised; and

transmitting a packet by said second transceiver.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

asserting, by the second transceiver, the third arbitration signal line while deasserting the first arbitration signal line for reception of a high priority packet; and

asserting, by the second transceiver, both the third arbitration signal line and the first arbitration signal line together for transmission of a high priority packet from the second transceiver to the other device.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to an assertion of the third arbitration signal line by the second transceiver, deasserting the second arbitration line and stopping an ongoing transmission of the first transceiver, wherein the fourth arbitration signal line is unaffected by the assertion of the third arbitration signal line by the second transceiver.

13. A transceiver system comprising:

a first transceiver for transmitting and receiving first packets;

a second transceiver for transmitting and receiving second packets; and

a plurality of arbitration signal lines connecting said first transceiver with said second transceiver, said plurality of separate dedicated arbitration signal lines, each configured to independently assert a corresponding distinct arbitration signal, comprising;

a first arbitration signal line asserted by said second transceiver when said first transceiver is to be prevented from transmitting, wherein assertion of the first arbitration signal line by the second transceiver is at least partially dependent on a status of the second transceiver operating as a master or a slave for communications with another device using a same protocol as the second transceiver;

a second arbitration signal line asserted by said first transceiver when said second transceiver is to be prevented from transmitting;

a third arbitration signal line asserted by said second transceiver when said second transceiver is to transmit or receive a priority packet; and

a fourth arbitration signal line asserted by said first transceiver while said first transceiver evaluates an address associated with an incoming first packet.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein said second transceiver and said first transceiver are co-located in a same device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein said first transceiver is a WLAN transceiver, said first packets are WLAN packets, said second transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver and said second packets are Bluetooth packets.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein said first transceiver asserts said second arbitration signal line if said incoming first packet is addressed to said first transceiver or if said incoming first packet is a multicast packet.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein said first transceiver maintains said second arbitration signal line in an asserted state for a first period until said first transceiver has transmitted a plurality of first packets and received corresponding acknowledgement packets.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said first transceiver extends said first period by a second period during which said second arbitration signal line remains in said asserted state to allow said first transceiver to detect fragmented frames or frame bursts.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein said second period is programmable in hardware associated with said first transceiver.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein said first transceiver asserts said second arbitration signal line at a predetermined time during a backoff period associated with transmission of a first packet.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein said predetermined time is hardware programmable in hardware associated with said first transceiver.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein said predetermined time is adaptively variable.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein said system prevents successive assertions of said second arbitration signal line within a predetermined time, wherein said predetermined time is hardware programmable in hardware associated with said first transceiver.

24. The system of claim 13, wherein said second transceiver determines that said second arbitration signal line is not asserted prior to asserting said first arbitration signal line, and wherein said second transceiver checks, after asserting said first arbitration signal line, to ensure that said first arbitration signal line has not been raised and then transmits a second packet.

27. The system of claim 13, wherein the second transceiver is configured to assert the third arbitration signal line and deassert the first arbitration signal line for reception of a high priority packet, and is further configured to assert both the third arbitration signal line and the first arbitration signal line together for transmission of a high priority packet from the second transceiver to the other device.

28. The system of claim 13, wherein the first transceiver is configured to deassert the second arbitration line and stop an ongoing transmission of the first transceiver in response to an assertion of the third arbitration signal line by the second transceiver, wherein the fourth arbitration signal line is unaffected by the assertion of the third arbitration signal line by the second transceiver.