Method and apparatus for antenna allocation on a multi-radio platform

• US 8,213,344 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2007
• Issued: 07/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Zhu, Jing, Yang, Xue
• Primary Examiner(s): ABELSON, RONALD B
• Application Number:
  US11/890,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20090042555A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,792 Days
• Field of Search: 370277-278, 455/63.1, 455/67.13
• US Class Current: 370/278
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/30 Network data restoration; Network data reliability; Network data fault tolerance

Abstract

In a multi-radio wireless device, a first radio and a second radio share a plurality of antennas. A MAC coordination engine may coordinate the activities of the first and second radios to facilitate the allocation of antennas to the radios. In at least one embodiment, the second radio is given priority over the first radio in the allocation of antennas. When the first radio desires to communicate, a number of antennas that is available for use may be determined. It may then be determined whether the communication should be permitted to proceed given the number of available antennas.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

when a first radio within a multi-radio wireless device is ready to transmit data to a remote entity, determining a number of antennas within said multi-radio wireless device that are available for use by said first radio using a medium access control (MAC) coordination engine, wherein said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is determined based on a total number of antennas within said multi-radio wireless device minus a number of antennas scheduled for use by a second radio within said multi-radio device;

determining at the MAC coordination engine whether said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably transmit said data to said remote entity based on channel conditions for the first radio;

determining at the MAC coordination engine whether there would be temporal overlap between a transmission of said first radio and a reception of said second radio should said first radio be permitted to transmit; and

when said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably transmit said data to said remote entity based on the channel conditions for the first radio and there would be no temporal overlap between said transmission of said first radio and a reception of said second radio, wherein said MAC coordination engine is configured to enable allowing said first radio to transmit data to said remote entity using available antennas where said second radio is configured to transmit data while the first radio is transmitting data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

said first radio is configured in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard and said second radio is configured in accordance with an IEEE 802.16 wireless networking standard.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining whether said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably transmit said data to said remote entity includes determining a minimum number of antennas that is required to reliably transmit data to said remote entity and comparing said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio to said minimum number.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when said first radio within said multi-radio wireless device is ready to receive data from a remote entity, determining a number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio, wherein said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is determined based on a total number of antennas within said multi-radio wireless device and a number of antennas scheduled for use by said second radio within said multi-radio device;

determining whether said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably receive data from said remote entity;

determining whether there would be temporal overlap between a reception of said first radio and a transmission of said second radio should said first radio be permitted to receive said data from said remote entity; and

when said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably receive data from said remote entity and there would be no temporal overlap between a reception of said first radio and a transmission of said second radio, allowing said first radio to receive data from said remote entity using available antennas.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining a number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio includes collecting from said second radio information about a number of antennas that said second radio is scheduled to use and information about the timing of said scheduled use of said antennas by said second radio.

6. An apparatus comprising:

a first radio;

a second radio;

a plurality of antennas;

a switch coupled to said first radio, said second radio, and said plurality of antennas to controllably couple antenna ports of said first and second radios to selected antennas within said plurality of antennas; and

a medium access control (MAC) coordination engine to coordinate the activity of said first and second radios to determine a number of the plurality of antennas that are scheduled for use by the second radio and select a remaining number of antennas as available antennas for use with the first radio, wherein said MAC coordination engine is configured to enable the first radio to transmit when said available number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio are adequate to reliably transmit data to a remote entity using the available antennas based on channel conditions for the first radio where said second radio is configured to transmit data while the first radio is transmitting data.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

said first radio is configured in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking standard and said second radio is configured in accordance with the IEEE 802.16 wireless networking standard.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

at least one antenna within said plurality of antennas is dedicated for use by said first radio to monitor a corresponding wireless channel.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

when said first radio determines that it is ready to transmit data to a remote entity, said first radio is to;

determine a number of antennas within said plurality of antennas that are available for use by said first radio;

determine whether said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably transmit said data to said remote entity;

determine whether there will be any temporal overlap between a transmission of said first radio and a reception of said second radio should said data be transmitted to said remote entity; and

when said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably transmit said data to said remote entity and there will be no temporal overlap between a transmission of said first radio and a reception of said second radio, allow said data to be transmitted to said remote entity using available antennas.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said first radio is to:

when said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is not adequate to reliably transmit said data to said remote entity or there will be temporal overlap between a transmission of said first radio and a reception of said second radio, postpone transmission of said data to said remote entity.

11. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

when said first radio determines that it is ready to receive data from a remote entity, said first radio is to;

determine a number of antennas within said plurality of antennas that are available for use by said first radio;

determine whether said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably receive said data from said remote entity;

determine whether there will be any temporal overlap between a reception of said first radio and a transmission of said second radio should said data be received from said remote entity; and

when said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably receive said data from said remote entity and there will be no temporal overlap between a reception of said first radio and a transmission of said second radio,

allow said data to be received from said remote entity using available antennas.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said first radio is to:

when said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is not adequate to reliably receive said data from said remote entity or there will be temporal overlap between a reception of said first radio and a transmission of said second radio, postpone reception of said data from said remote entity.

13. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

the maximum number of antennas that said first radio will require to communicate is X and the maximum number of antennas that said second radio will require to communicate is Y, where X=Y;

wherein a total number of antennas within said apparatus is X+1.

14. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein:

the maximum number of antennas that said first radio will require to communicate is X and the maximum number of antennas that said second radio will require to communicate is Y, where X>

Y;

wherein a total number of antennas within said apparatus is X.

15. An article comprising a computer readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a computing device, operate to:

when a first radio within a multi-radio wireless device is ready to transmit data to a remote entity, determine a number of antennas within said multi-radio wireless device that are available for use by said first radio using a medium access control (MAC) coordination engine, wherein said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is determined based on a total number of antennas within said multi-radio wireless device minus a number of antennas scheduled for use by a second radio within said multi-radio device;

determine at the MAC coordination engine whether said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably transmit said data to said remote entity based on channel conditions for the first radio;

determine at the MAC coordination engine whether there would be temporal overlap between a transmission of said first radio and a reception of said second radio should said first radio be permitted to transmit; and

when said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably transmit said data to said remote entity based on the channel conditions for the first radio and there would be no temporal overlap between said transmission of said first radio and a reception of said second radio, wherein said MAC coordination engine is configured to enable allow said first radio to transmit said data to said remote entity using available antennas where said second radio is configured to transmit data while the first radio is transmitting data.

16. The article of claim 15, wherein said instructions, when executed by said computing device, further operate to:

when said first radio within said multi-radio wireless device is ready to receive data from a remote entity, determine a number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio, wherein said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is determined based on a total number of antennas within said multi-radio wireless device and a number of antennas scheduled for use by said second radio within said multi-radio device;

determine whether said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably receive data from said remote entity;

determine whether there would be temporal overlap between a reception of said first radio and a transmission of said second radio should said first radio be permitted to receive said data from said remote entity; and

when said number of antennas that are available for use by said first radio is adequate to reliably receive data from said remote entity and there would be no temporal overlap between a reception of said first radio and a transmission of said second radio, allowing said first radio to receive data from said remote entity using available antennas.