Methods and apparatus for wireless device coexistence

• US 8,417,187 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2008
• Issued: 04/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Chen, Camille, Robinson, Michael A., Pontil, Marco, Giles, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Aminzay, Shaima Q
• Application Number:
  US12/006,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20090176454A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,919 Days
• Field of Search: 455/63.1, 455/41.2, 455/63.4, 455/403, 455/419, 455/445, 455/462, 455/524, 455/552.1, 370/338, 375/132, 375/133
• US Class Current: 455/63.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 15/00 Suppression or limitation of noise or interference by means associated with receiver H04B1/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/243 taking into account interferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for compensating for the effects of interference between multiple wireless communication apparatus. In one embodiment, the method comprises providing a first wireless communication apparatus operating in a first band and a second wireless communication apparatus operating at least partly in the first band, where the second wireless communication apparatus operates according to a different communication protocol than the first wireless communication apparatus. Interference is compensated for between the first wireless communication apparatus and the second wireless communication apparatus by selecting and operating according to one of a plurality of operational protocols. In another embodiment, the first wireless communication apparatus and the second wireless communication apparatus operate in a closed-loop relationship to cooperatively compensate for communication interference.

Claims

1. A method of mitigating interference between multiple wireless communication apparatus, the method comprising:

providing a first wireless communication apparatus operative in a first frequency band;

providing a second wireless communication apparatus operative at least partly in the first band, said second wireless communication apparatus operating according to a different communication protocol than said first wireless communication apparatus;

activating a coexistence bit on an infrastructure element indicating one of a plurality of operational protocols; and

compensating for effects of interference between said first wireless communication apparatus and said second wireless communication apparatus by operating according to an indicated one of the plurality of operational protocols;

wherein the indicated one of the plurality of operation protocols comprises closed-loop operation between the infrastructure element and one or more of the multiple wireless communication apparatus.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining isolation between said first wireless communication apparatus and said second wireless communication apparatus; and

selecting said one of said plurality of protocols based at least in part on said act of determining.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said first and second wireless communication apparatus are substantially co-located within a common, substantially portable device, and said act of operating according to the indicated one of the plurality of operational protocols comprises selecting one of a plurality of closed-loop operating modes associated within at least one of said first and second communications apparatus.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said first and second apparatus comprise IEEE-Std. 802.11- and Bluetooth-compliant air interfaces, respectively, and said indicated one of the plurality of protocols is selected based at least in part on a level of mutual interference between said IEEE-Std. 802.11 and Bluetooth interfaces during operation of both.

5. An apparatus for use in mitigation of interference between multiple wireless communication apparatus, comprising:

a first wireless communication apparatus operative in a first frequency band;

a second wireless communication apparatus operative at least partly in the first band, the second wireless communication apparatus configured to operate in accordance with a different communication protocol than the first wireless communication apparatus;

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium with at least one computer program stored thereon, the at least one computer program comprising instructions configured to, which when executed on the processor;

detect interference between the first wireless communication apparatus and the second wireless communication apparatus;

cause an activation of a co-existence mode on a remote network entity related to at least one of the two different communication protocols;

receive transmission instructions in accordance with the co-existence mode from the remote network entity; and

compensate for at least one effect of interference between the first wireless communication apparatus and the second wireless communication apparatus via operation in accordance with the transmission instructions.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first and second apparatus are substantially co-located within a common, substantially portable device.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein transmission instructions are associated within at least one of the first and second communications apparatus.

8. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the first and second wireless communication apparatus comprise IEEE-Std. 802.11- and Bluetooth-compliant air interfaces, respectively.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the co-existence mode is selected based at least in part on the level of mutual interference between the IEEE-Std. 802.11 and Bluetooth interfaces during operation of both.

10. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the detected interference comprises antenna isolation between the first and second wireless communication apparatus.

11. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the detected interference is measured in reference to a predetermined threshold value.

12. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the interference detection is dynamically executed during normal operation.

13. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the interference detection is executed during a manufacturing process.

14. A method of compensating for effects of interference between a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface and a personal area network (PAN) interface, the method comprising:

operating a WLAN interface operative in a first frequency band;

operating a PAN interface operative at least partly in the first band, the PAN interface operating according to a different communication protocol than the WLAN interface;

detecting a level of antenna isolation between the WLAN interface and the PAN interface;

when the detected antenna isolation exceeds a first threshold, turning off a hardware co-existence function of an access point associated with the WLAN interface; and

when the detected antenna isolation falls below a second threshold, turning on the hardware co-existence function of the access point.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the first threshold comprises twenty five decibels (25 dB).

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the second threshold comprises twenty five decibels (25 dB).

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the PAN interface comprises a Bluetooth interface, and the method additionally comprises activating an Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) feature of the Bluetooth interface.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the PAN interface comprises a Bluetooth interface, and the method additionally comprises:

loading a priority table; and

arbitrating packets sent by both the Bluetooth and WLAN modules according to the priority table.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the priority table is based on a Quality of Service (QoS).

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the priority table is based on a usage case.