Wireless communication methods and apparatus supporting synchronization
First Claim
1. A method of operating a wireless terminal to communicate with another communications device, the method comprising:
- receiving a first reference signal from a first communications band, said first reference signal being an OFDM beacon signal from a first communications device which broadcasts the first reference signal on a recurring basis but which does not transmit user data to a wireless terminal, said first communications device and said another communications device being different communications devices, said first communications device being a non-access device, said non-access device being an OFDM beacon transmitter device which does not operate as a base station;
determining, based on said first reference signal, a first time interval to be used for transmitting a second signal to said another communications device; and
transmitting a second signal to said another communications device during said time interval.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Peer to peer communication timing, e.g., for an ad hoc network, is referenced with respect to an external broadcast signal from a terrestrial or satellite based transmitter. Wireless terminals, seeking to communicate via peer to peer communications, receive the reference broadcast signal, and set their internal timing structure with respect to the reference signal. This facilitates peer to peer timing coordination. A wireless terminal transmits a signal, e.g., a user beacon signal identifying its presence, during a time interval during which another wireless terminal is expected to be monitoring. Reference signal based coordinated timing and use of user beacon signals allows the wireless terminals to maintain situational awareness and coordinate peer to peer communications, while keeping power consumption low, since wireless terminal modules can be powered down during predetermined intervals in the coordinated timing structure where the wireless terminal does not need to transmit and/or receive.
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Citations
62 Claims
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1. A method of operating a wireless terminal to communicate with another communications device, the method comprising:
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receiving a first reference signal from a first communications band, said first reference signal being an OFDM beacon signal from a first communications device which broadcasts the first reference signal on a recurring basis but which does not transmit user data to a wireless terminal, said first communications device and said another communications device being different communications devices, said first communications device being a non-access device, said non-access device being an OFDM beacon transmitter device which does not operate as a base station; determining, based on said first reference signal, a first time interval to be used for transmitting a second signal to said another communications device; and transmitting a second signal to said another communications device during said time interval. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A wireless communications device for communicating with another communications device, comprising:
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a receiver for receiving a first reference signal from a first communications band, said first reference signal being an OFDM beacon signal from a first communications device which broadcasts the first reference signal on a recurring basis but which does not transmit user data to a wireless terminal, said first communications device and said another communications device being different communications devices, said first communications device being a non-access device, said non-access device being an OFDM beacon transmitter device which does not operate as a base station; a transmission interval timing determination module for determining, based on said first reference signal, a first time interval to be used for transmitting a second signal to said another communications device; and a transmitter for transmitting said second signal to said another communications device during said determined time interval. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A wireless communications device for communicating with another communications device, comprising:
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receiver means for receiving a first reference signal from a first communications band, said first reference signal being an OFDM beacon signal from a first communications device which broadcasts the first reference signal on a recurring basis but which does not transmit user data to a wireless terminal, said first communications device and said another communications device being different communications devices, said first communications device being a non-access device, said non-access device being an OFDM beacon transmitter device which does not operate as a base station; means for determining, based on said first reference signal, a first time interval to be used for transmitting a second signal to said another communications device; and means for transmitting said second signal to said another communications device during said determined time interval. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying machine executable instructions for controlling a wireless terminal to implement a method of communicating with another communications device, the method comprising:
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receiving a first reference signal from a first communications band, said first reference signal being an OFDM beacon signal from a first communications device which broadcasts the first reference signal on a recurring basis but which does not transmit user data to a wireless terminal, said first communications device and said another communications device being different communications devices, said first communications device being a non-access device, said non-access device being an OFDM beacon transmitter device which does not operate as a base station; determining, based on said first reference signal, a first time interval to be used for transmitting a second signal to said another communications device; and transmitting a second signal to said another communications device during said time interval. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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57. An apparatus comprising:
a wireless terminal processor configured to; receive a first reference signal from a first communications band, said first reference signal being an OFDM beacon signal from a first communications device which broadcasts the first reference signal on a recurring basis but which does not transmit user data to a wireless terminal, said first communications device and another communications device being different communications devices, said first communications device being a non-access device, said non-access device being an OFDM beacon transmitter device which does not operate as a base station; determine, based on said first reference signal, a first time interval to be used for transmitting a second signal to said another communications device; and control transmission of a second signal to said another communications device during said time interval. - View Dependent Claims (58, 59, 60, 61, 62)
Specification