Methods and systems for conducting relayed communication

• US 8,964,629 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2013
• Issued: 02/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trellisware Technologies, Inc. (ViaSat Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Trellisware Technologies, Inc. (ViaSat Incorporated)
• Inventors: Blair, Adam M., Brown, Thomas A. III, Johnson, Mark L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jaroenchonwanit, Bunjob
• Application Number:
  US14/035,444
• Publication Number:
  US 20140056212A1
• Time in Patent Office: 518 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15542 Selecting at relay station its transmit and receive resources selection of wireless resources by user or terminal H04W72/02; arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path by two-dimensional division of the resources H04L5/0003, or by allocating sub-channels H04L5/003
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/10 Routing in connection-oriented networks, e.g. X.25 or ATM
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/26 Cell enhancers or enhancement, e.g. for tunnels, building shadow
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/28 for reactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

Systems and methods are presented for conducting a relayed communication involving a source node, a plurality of intermediate nodes, and at least one destination node, involving at the source node transmitting a signal associated with the relayed communication on a first medium allocation, at each one of the plurality of intermediate nodes relaying the signal onto a next medium allocation in response to receiving the signal as transmitted on at least one medium allocation up to a current medium allocation, and at the at least one destination node receiving the signal as transmitted on at least one medium allocation up to a last medium allocation, wherein at least one node among the plurality of intermediate nodes and the at least one destination node receives signals associated with the relayed communication from multiple intermediate nodes as transmitted on at least one medium allocation.

Claims

1. A method for conducting a relayed communication in a network comprising a plurality of nodes, the plurality of nodes including a source node that transmits a signal, intermediate nodes that relay the signal, and a destination node that receives the signal, the method comprising:

initiating the relayed communication by transmitting the signal from the source node;

receiving multiple instances of the signal at one or more of the intermediate nodes;

constructively combining energy from a subset of the multiple instances of the signal before relaying the signal from at least one of the one or more of the intermediate nodes; and

receiving and decoding the constructively combined relayed signal at the destination node,

wherein each of the plurality of nodes in the network are configured to initiate the relayed communication as the source node, relay the signal as one of the intermediate nodes, and receive and decode the relayed signal as the destination node.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the source node, the intermediate nodes, and the destination node are part of a wireless network without a predetermined network topology.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the source node, the intermediate nodes, and the destination node are part of a first network having a network topology that is not predetermined, and wherein the first network is coupled to a second network having a network topology that includes a fixed infrastructure.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the fixed infrastructure includes fixed access points.

5. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining the subset of the multiple instances of the signal, wherein the subset is determined based on an assessment of the quality of each of the multiple instances of the signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple instances of the signal are received on a common medium allocation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple instances of the signal are received on different medium allocations.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the different medium allocations are orthogonal.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein a number of the different medium allocations is a fixed number based on spatial reuse of the different medium allocations.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of nodes is configured independent of every other of the plurality of nodes in the network.

11. A system for conducting a relayed communication in a network, the system comprising:

a plurality of nodes including;

a source node;

a destination node; and

one or more intermediate nodes,

wherein the source node is configured to initiate the relayed communication by transmitting a signal,

wherein at least one of the one or more intermediate nodes is configured to receive multiple instances of the signal, and constructively combine energy from a subset of the multiple instances of the signal before relaying the signal,

wherein the destination node is configured to receive and decode the constructively combined relayed signal, and

wherein each of the plurality of nodes in the network are configured to initiate the relayed communication as the source node, relay the signal as one of the one or more intermediate nodes, and receive and decode the relayed signal as the destination node.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the source node, the one or more intermediate nodes, and the destination node are part of a wireless network without a predetermined network topology.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the source node, the one or more intermediate nodes, and the destination node are part of a first network having a network topology that is not predetermined, and wherein the first network is coupled to a second network having a network topology that includes a fixed infrastructure.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the fixed infrastructure includes fixed access points.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one of the one or more intermediate nodes is further configured to determine the subset of the multiple instances of the signal, wherein the subset is determined based on an assessment of the quality of each of the multiple instances of the signal.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the multiple instances of the signal are received on a common medium allocation.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the multiple instances of the signal are received on different medium allocations.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the different medium allocations are orthogonal.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein a number of the different medium allocations is a fixed number based on spatial reuse of the different medium allocations.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein each of the plurality of nodes is configured independent of every other of the plurality of nodes in the network.