Apparatus and method for transmitting data and apparatus and method for receiving data

• US 8,170,503 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2008
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Oh, Ji-Sung, Kim, Seong-Soo, Kwon, Chang-Yeul, Kim, Jae-Hwa
• Primary Examiner(s): HANNON, CHRISTIAN A
• Application Number:
  US12/103,935
• Publication Number:
  US 20080254752A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,476 Days
• Field of Search: 455/103, 455/129, 455/272, 455/273, 455/275, 455/276.1, 342/377, 370/335
• US Class Current: 455/103
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/061 using feedback from receiving side
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0619 using feedback from receiving side feedback signaling for adaptive modulation/coding H04L1/0001
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0822 according to predefined selection scheme
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0842 Weighted combining
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

Provided are an apparatus and method for transmitting data and an apparatus and method for receiving data, in which beam forming is performed in consideration of the communication capabilities of antennas of stations that perform directional communication in a high-frequency band. The apparatus for transmitting data includes a communication-capability-determination module which determines the communication capability of a receiver (RX) antenna module of a receiving station based on communication-capability data transmitted by the receiving station; an antenna-control module which controls a transmitter (TX) antenna module according to a beam-forming mode determined based on the communication capability of the RX antenna module and the communication capability of the TX antenna module; and a communication module which transmits data through the TX antenna module, wherein the beam-forming mode determines whether to transmit a TX antenna weight vector (AWV) pattern, whether to receive a feedback response pattern and whether to transmit an RX AWV pattern.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transmitting data using a millimeter wave channel, the apparatus comprising:

a transmitter (TX) antenna module;

a communication-capability-determination module which determines a communication capability of a receiver (RX) antenna module of a receiving station based on communication-capability data transmitted by the receiving station;

an antenna-control module which controls the TX antenna module according to a beam-forming mode determined from among a plurality of beam-forming modes based on the communication capability of the RX antenna module and a communication capability of the TX antenna module; and

a communication module which transmits data through the TX antenna module,

wherein the beam-forming mode determines whether to transmit a TX antenna weight vector (AWV) pattern, whether to receive a feedback response pattern and whether to transmit an RX AWV pattern, and

wherein the plurality of beam-forming modes comprises a first beam-forming mode determined when the TX antenna module includes a phased-array antenna, and a second beam-forming mode determined when the TX antenna module does not include the phased-array antenna.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the communication-capability data comprises at least one of a type of the RX antenna module, a type of the TX antenna module, a number of antennas included in the RX antenna module, and a number of antennas included in the TX antenna module; and

the beam-forming mode is determined based on the communication-capability data.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TX antenna module has a single antenna, and the communication module performs timing and delay synchronization with the receiving station, and transmits the RX AWV pattern without transmitting the TX AWV pattern and receiving the feedback response pattern.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the antenna-control module comprises a switch antenna or the phased-array antenna, and the antenna-control module transmits the TX AWV pattern, and controls the TX antenna module based on the feedback response pattern received in response to the TX AWV pattern.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the TX antenna module comprises a switch antenna or the phased-array antenna,

wherein when the TX antenna module comprises the switch antenna, the antenna-control module transmits an identity matrix as the TX AWV pattern and selects one of a plurality of antennas included in the TX antenna module based on the feedback response pattern received in response to the TX AWV pattern, and

wherein when the TX antenna module comprises the phased-array antenna, the antenna-control module transmits a Hadamard matrix as the TX AWV pattern, and adjusts a direction of the TX antenna module based on the feedback response pattern received in the TX AWV pattern.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the TX antenna module comprises a switch antenna or the phased-array antenna, and when the RX antenna module has a single antenna, the communication module does not transmit the RX AWV pattern.

7. An apparatus for receiving data using a millimeter wave channel, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver (RX) antenna module;

a communication-capability-determination module which determines a communication capability of a transmitter (TX) antenna module of a transmitting station based on communication-capability data transmitted by the transmitting station;

an antenna-control module which controls the RX antenna module according to a beam-forming mode determined from among a plurality of beam-forming modes based on the communication capability of the TX antenna module and a communication capability of the RX antenna module; and

a communication module which receives data through the RX antenna module,

wherein the beam-forming mode determines whether to receive a TX antenna weight vector (AWV) pattern, whether to transmit a feedback response pattern and whether to receive an RX AWV pattern, and

wherein the plurality of beam-forming modes comprises a first beam-forming mode determined when the RX antenna module includes a phased-array antenna, and a second beam-forming mode determined when the RX antenna module does not include the phased-array antenna.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein, when the TX antenna module has a single antenna, the communication module performs timing and delay synchronization with the transmitting station and receives the RX AWV pattern without receiving the TX AWV pattern and transmitting the feedback response pattern.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising a response pattern-generation module which generates a feedback response pattern indicating one of a plurality of antennas included in the TX antenna module when the TX antenna module comprises a switch antenna, and generates a feedback response pattern indicating an antenna direction when the TX antenna module comprises a phased-array antenna.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the communication module receives data using a channel bandwidth of 0.5 GHz to 2.5 GHz.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the RX antenna module comprises a switch antenna or the phased-array antenna,

wherein when the RX antenna module comprises the switch antenna, the antenna-control module selects one of a plurality of antennas included in the RX antenna module based on a received RX AWV pattern, and

wherein when the RX antenna module comprises the phased-array antenna, the antenna-control module controls the direction of the RX antenna based on the received RX AWV pattern.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the RX antenna module has a single antenna, and when the TX antenna module comprises a switch antenna or a phased-array antenna and, the communication module does not receive the RX AWV pattern.

13. A method of transmitting data using a millimeter wave channel, the method comprising:

determining a communication capability of a receiver (RX) antenna module of a receiving station based on communication-capability data transmitted by the receiving station;

controlling a transmitter (TX) antenna module according to a beam-forming mode determined from among a plurality of beam-forming modes based on the communication capability of the RX antenna module and a communication capability of the TX antenna module; and

transmitting data through the TX antenna module,

wherein the beam-forming mode determines whether to transmit a TX antenna weight vector (AWV) pattern, whether to receive a feedback response pattern and whether to transmit an RX AWV pattern, and

wherein the plurality of beam-forming modes comprises a first beam-forming mode determined when the TX antenna module includes a phased-array antenna, and a second beam-forming mode determined when the TX antenna module does not include the phased-array antenna.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the communication-capability data comprises at least one of a type of the RX antenna module, a type of the TX antenna module, a number of antennas included in the RX antenna module, and a number of antennas included in the TX antenna module; and

the beam-forming mode is determined based on the communication-capability data.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising, when the TX antenna module has a single antenna, performing timing and delay synchronization with the receiving station and transmitting the RX AWV pattern without transmitting the TX AWV pattern and receiving the feedback response pattern.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising, when the antenna-control module comprises a switch antenna or a phased-array antenna, transmitting the TX AWV pattern and controlling the TX antenna module based on the feedback response pattern received in response to the TX AWV pattern.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the controlling the TX antenna module comprises:

when the TX antenna module comprises a switch antenna, transmitting an identity matrix as the TX AWV pattern and selecting one of a plurality of antennas included in the TX antenna module based on the feedback response pattern received in response to the TX AWV pattern; and

when the TX antenna module comprises the phased-array antenna, transmitting a Hadamard matrix as the TX AWV pattern and adjusting a direction of the TX antenna module based on the feedback response pattern received in the TX AWV pattern.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the controlling of the TX antenna module comprises not transmitting the RX AWV pattern when the TX antenna module comprises a switch antenna or a phased-array antenna and the RX antenna module has a single antenna.

19. A method of receiving data using a millimeter wave channel, the method comprising:

determining a communication capability of a transmitter (TX) antenna module of a transmitting station based on communication-capability data transmitted by the transmitting station;

controlling a receiver (RX) antenna module according to a beam-forming mode determined from among a plurality of beam-forming modes based on the communication capability of the TX antenna module and a communication capability of the RX antenna module; and

receiving data through the RX antenna module,

wherein the beam-forming mode determines whether to receive a TX antenna weight vector (AWV) pattern, whether to transmit a feedback response pattern and whether to receive an RX AWV pattern, and

wherein the plurality of beam-forming modes comprises a first beam-forming mode determined when the RX antenna module includes a phased-array antenna, and a second beam-forming mode determined when the RX antenna module does not include the phased-array antenna.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising, when the TX antenna module has a single antenna, performing timing and delay synchronization with the transmitting station and receiving the TX AWV pattern without receiving the TX AWV pattern and transmitting the feedback response pattern.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

generating a feedback response pattern indicating one of a plurality of antennas included in the TX antenna module when the TX antenna module comprises a switch antenna; and

generating a feedback response pattern indicating an antenna direction when the TX antenna module comprises a phased-array antenna.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the receiving of the data comprises receiving data using a channel bandwidth of 0.5 GHz to 2.5 GHz.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the controlling the RX antenna module comprises:

when the RX antenna module comprises a switch antenna, selecting one of a plurality of antennas included in the RX antenna module based on a received RX AWV pattern; and

when the RX antenna module comprises the phased-array antenna, controlling the direction of the RX antenna based on the received RX AWV pattern.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the controlling of the RX antenna module comprises not receiving the RX AWV pattern when the TX antenna module comprises a switch antenna or a phased-array antenna and the RX antenna module has a single antenna.