Wireless local area network and access point for a wireless local area network

• US 8,345,584 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2007
• Issued: 01/01/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maxlinear Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Lantiq Deutschland GMBH (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Rohfleisch, Bernhard, Bry, Charles
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Chi
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huang, Weibin
• Application Number:
  US11/861,289
• Publication Number:
  US 20090080388A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,924 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/412, 370/413, 370/438, 370/442, 370/447, 370/498, 370/912, 370/913, 370/310, 370/339, 455/3.01, 455/73, 455/78, 455/88, 455/426.2, 455/463, 455/500, 455/525, 455/432, 455/434, 455/435, 455/552.1, 455/562.1
• US Class Current: 370/310
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/024 Co-operative use of antennas of several sites, e.g. in co-ordinated multipoint or co-operative multiple-input multiple-output [MIMO] systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0452 Multi-user MIMO systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/04 Wireless resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Embodiments related to Wireless Local Area Networks and access points for a Wireless Local Area Network are described and depicted.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

assigning a first client station to a first basic service set serviced by an access point in a wireless local access network (WLAN), the first basic service set configured to support a mix of contemporary WLAN standards and legacy WLAN standards;

assigning a second client station to a second basic service set serviced by the access point, the second basic service set configured to support only contemporary WLAN standards and to operate at a greater data throughput than the first basic service set;

concurrently transceiving first data in a first wireless channel between the access point and the first client station and second data in a second wireless channel between the access point and the second client station,

wherein concurrently transceiving the first and second data comprises;

processing the first data in a first medium access controller (MAC) entity of the access point and processing the second data in a second MAC entity of the access point, and

transferring the first data to at least one first radio frequency (RF) chain and transferring the second data to at least one second RF chain.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second wireless channels are non-overlapping.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein transceiving the first data comprises using a multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) technique and/or a space time block coding (STBC) technique and/or a beamforming technique.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising reassigning the second client station to the first basic service set and, after reassigning the second client station, transceiving the second data in the first channel to the second client station.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising

reassigning the second client station to the first basic service set,

wherein transceiving the first and second data in the first channel after reassigning the second client station comprises transferring the first and second data to the plurality of first chains and the second RF chain for transmitting the first and second data using a MIMO technique and/or a STBC technique and/or a beamforming technique.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising switching to a coexistence transceiving mode, wherein in the coexistence transceiving mode the first and second wireless channels at least partly overlap, wherein transceiving the first and second data in the coexistence transceiving mode comprises coordinating the processing of the first data by the first MAC entity with the processing of the second data by the second MAC entity.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein assigning the first client station comprises selecting the first basic service set from the group comprising at least the first and second basic service set based on at least one of

a data type of the first data,

a Quality of Service assigned to the first data, interference and noise level on the first basic service set and/or the second basic service set,

a predetermined robustness of transmission for the first data,

a bandwidth required for the transmission of the first data,

a predetermined security protection for the first data,

a capability of the first client service to operate in a Greenfield mode,

the number of client stations assigned to the first basic service set and/or the second basic service set,

the current data network traffic load in the first basic service set and/or the second basic service set,

power saving requirements for the first client station, and

a latency assigned to the first data.

8. A wireless local area network (WLAN) access point device comprising:

a transceiver to simultaneously transceive

first data over a first wireless channel to a station associated with a first basic service set, the first basic service set configured to support a mix of contemporary WLAN standards and legacy WLAN standards,

and second data over a second wireless channel to a station associated with a second basic service set, the second basic service set configured to support only contemporary WLAN standards and to operate at a greater data throughput than the first basic service set;

a first MAC entity to process the first data and a second MAC entity to process the second data; and

one or more first RF chains, the one or more first RF chains being coupled to the first MAC entity and one or more second RF chains, the one or more second RF chains being coupled to the second MAC entity.

9. The WLAN access point device according to claim 8, further comprising an entity coupled to the one or more first RF chains, the entity being controllable to process in a first operation mode only the first data according to MIMO and/or STBC and/or beamforming techniques and to process in a second operation mode the first and the second data according to MIMO and/or STBC and/or beamforming techniques.

10. The WLAN access point device according to claim 8, further comprising a controller entity to control the data traffic to the first and second MAC entities, wherein the controller entity is configured to assign a first station to a first basic service set and a second station to a second basic service set.

11. The WLAN access point device according to claim 10, wherein the controller entity is further configured to reassign the second station to the first basic service set and to control the transceiver to transceive the second data over the first wireless channel.

12. The WLAN access point device according to claim 10, wherein the controller entity is further configured to coordinate processing of the first data by the first MAC entity with the processing of the second data by the second MAC entity.

13. A wireless local access network (WLAN) communication device, comprising:

a first port to receive data traffic comprising first and second data;

a first MAC circuitry to process the first data, the first MAC circuitry configured to support a mix of contemporary WLAN standards and legacy WLAN standards;

a second MAC circuitry to process the second data, the second MAC circuitry configured to support only contemporary WLAN standards;

a controller entity to control concurrent transferring of the first data to the first MAC circuitry and transferring of the second data to the second MAC circuitry,

wherein the controller entity is further configured to assign a first client station to a first basic service set and to assign a second client station to a second basic service set, wherein the first data is associated with the first basic service set and the second data is associated with the second basic service set, and wherein the controller entity is further configured to transfer the first and second data based on the determined first and second basic service set, the second basic service set configured to operate at a greater data throughput than the first basic service set;

one or more first RF chains, the one or more first RF chains being coupled to the first MAC circuitry; and

a second RF chain, the second RF chain being coupled to the second MAC circuitry.

14. The WLAN communication device according to claim 13, further comprising an entity coupled to the one or more first RF chains, the entity being controllable to provide MIMO and/or STBC and/or beamforming processing in a first operation mode only for the first data and to provide MI MO and/or STBC and/or beamforming processing in a second operation mode for the first and the second data.

15. The WLAN communication device according to claim 13, wherein the controller entity is further configured to reassign the second station to the first basic service set and to transfer the second data to the first MAC circuitry.

16. The WLAN communication device according to claim 13, wherein the controller entity is further configured to coordinate processing of the first data by the first MAC circuitry with the processing of the second data by the second MAC circuitry.

17. A wireless local access network (WLAN) system, comprising

an access point;

and

a first WLAN basic service set providing data transfer in a first wireless channel and a second WLAN basic service set providing data transfer in a second wireless channel, wherein the first and second WLAN basic service sets are serviced by the access point concurrently and independent from the respective other WLAN basic service set,

wherein the access point comprises a first MAC entity to process first data transferred over the first wireless channel and a second MAC entity to process second data transferred over the second wireless channel

and wherein the first basic service set is configured to support a mix of contemporary WLAN standards and legacy WLAN standards and the second basic service set is configured to support only contemporary WLAN standards and to operate at a greater data throughput than the first basic service set.

18. The WLAN system according to claim 17, wherein the access point further comprises a controller entity to control the first and second MAC entities, wherein the controller entity is configured to assign and reassign client stations to the first or second basic service set.