Methods and arrangements for frequency selective transmission

• US 9,066,265 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2012
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Park, Minyoung, Perahia, Eldad, Kenney, Thomas J., Azizi, Shahrnaz
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhao, Wei
• Application Number:
  US13/731,001
• Publication Number:
  US 20140112246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 906 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/002 Transmission of channel access control information

Abstract

Logic such as hardware and/or code to narrow available sub-channels in frequency selective transmission communications in which a station selects a narrow band from a wider channel bandwidth. A frequency selective transmission scheme for communications devices may select a 1 or 2 MHz channel from a wider channel bandwidth (e.g., 4, 8, 16 MHz) that consists of a number of 1 or 2 MHz sub-channels and transmitting packets on the selected sub-channel. The access point may narrow the number of sub-channels available for selection by stations. Stations may narrow the number of sub-channels. Both the AP and the stations may operate to narrow the number of sub-channels. A medium access control sub-layer protocol common to the communications devices may facilitate a frequency selective transmission scheme.

Claims

1. A method for frequency selective wireless transmission, the method comprising:

determining, by a first communications device, a set of sub-channels of a wide bandwidth channel to transmit sounding packets based upon information about the sub-channels during a beacon interval;

transmitting, by the first communications device, the sounding packets wirelessly on the set of sub-channels of the wide bandwidth channel;

receiving, by the first communications device, a selection of a sub-channel of the set of sub-channels for communication during the beacon interval from a receiving communications device; and

communicating, by the first communications device, with the receiving communications device via the sub-channel, the first communications device responsive to the selection of the sub-channel by transmission during the beacon interval to the receiving communications device via the sub-channel.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving information about the sub-channels from one or more communications devices associated with a basic service set.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of sub-channels comprises sensing each of the sub-channels in the wide bandwidth channel and narrowing the set of sub-channels to the sub-channels that are idle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of sub-channels comprises narrowing the set of sub-channels based upon information about the sub-channels that is received from one or more communications devices associated with a basic service set.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of sub-channels comprises narrowing the set of sub-channels based upon information about the sub-channels comprising an intolerance bit received from one or more communications devices associated with a basic service set.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the set of sub-channels comprises narrowing the set of sub-channels based upon information about the sub-channels received from one or more communications devices comprising information about an intolerance bit received by the one or more communications devices associated with a basic service set.

7. An apparatus for frequency selective wireless transmission, the apparatus comprising:

logic comprising hardware the logic to determine a set of sub-channels of a wide bandwidth channel to transmit sounding packets based upon information about the sub-channels during a beacon interval;

transmit the sounding packets wirelessly on the set of sub-channels of the wide bandwidth channel;

receive a selection of a sub-channel of the set of sub-channels for communication during the beacon interval from a receiving communications device; and

communicate with the receiving communications device via the sub-channel, the logic responsive to the selection of the sub-channel by transmission during the beacon interval to the receiving communications device via the sub-channel; and

a physical layer in communication with the logic to transmit the packets.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, further comprising an antenna to transmit and memory coupled with the logic to store frames to communicate with the communications device.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic comprises medium access control logic to sense each of the sub-channels in the wide bandwidth channel and narrow the set of sub-channels to the sub-channels that are idle.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic comprises medium access control logic to narrow the set of sub-channels based upon information about the sub-channels that is received from one or more communications devices associated with a basic service set of the apparatus.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic comprises medium access control logic to narrow the set of sub-channels based upon information about the sub-channels comprising an intolerance bit received from one or more communications devices associated with a basic service set of the apparatus.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic comprises medium access control logic to narrow the set of sub-channels based upon information about the sub-channels received from one or more communications devices comprising information about an intolerance bit received by the one or more communications devices associated with a basic service set of the apparatus.

33. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the logic to communicate with the receiving communication device is configured to communicate exclusively via the sub-channel in response to the selection during the beacon interval.

34. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the apparatus further comprises logic to receive a second selection of a second sub-channel from the set of sub-channels from a second communications device and to communicate with the second communications device exclusively via the second sub-channel during the beacon interval.

13. A program product for frequency selective wireless transmission, the program product comprising:

a non-transitory medium comprising instructions to be executed by a processor-based device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor-based device, perform operations, the operations comprising;

determining, by a first communications device, a set of sub-channels of a wide bandwidth channel to transmit sounding packets based upon information about the sub-channels during a beacon interval;

transmitting, by the first communications device, the sounding packets wirelessly on the set of sub-channels of the wide bandwidth channel;

receiving, by the first communications device, a selection of a sub-channel of the set of sub-channels for communication during the beacon interval from a receiving communications device; and

communicating, by the first communications device, with the receiving communications device via the sub-channel, the first communications device responsive to the selection of the sub-channel by transmission during the beacon interval to the receiving communications device via the sub-channel.

14. The program product of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining the set of sub-channels comprises sensing each of the sub-channels in the wide bandwidth channel and narrowing the set of sub-channels to the sub-channels that are idle.

15. The program product of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

narrowing the set of sub-channels based upon information about the sub-channels that is received from one or more communications devices associated with a basic service set.

16. A method for frequency selective wireless transmission, the method comprising:

receiving, by a first communications device, sounding packets wirelessly on a subset of sub-channels of a wide bandwidth channel during a beacon interval;

determining, by the first communications device, a selected sub-channel from the subset of the sub-channels on which a sounding packet is received by the first communications device during the beacon interval; and

communicating, by the first communications device, with a second communications device via the selected sub-channel, selection of the selected sub-channel for communication during the beacon interval, wherein the first communications device is configured to communicate exclusively via the selected sub-channel during the beacon interval after communication of the selection.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising scanning sub-channels of the wide bandwidth channel to determine information about the sub-channels, wherein determining the selected sub-channel comprises determining the selected sub-channel based upon the information about the sub-channels.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising scanning sub-channels of the wide bandwidth channel to determine information about the sub-channels and transmitting the information about the sub-channels to the second communications device.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving an intolerance bit from another communications device indicating that a sub-channel should not be used and not using the sub-channel for a time duration.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising receiving an intolerance bit from another communications device indicating that a sub-channel should not be used and transmitting an indication of the intolerance bit to the second communications device.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the selected sub-channel comprises determining the selected channel based upon a channel condition of the selected sub-channel during receipt of the sounding packets.

22. An apparatus for frequency selective wireless transmission, the apparatus comprising:

logic comprising hardware, the logic to receive sounding packets wirelessly on a subset of sub-channels of a wide bandwidth channel during a beacon interval;

determine a selected sub-channel from the subset of sub-channels on which a sounding packet is received by the apparatus during the beacon interval; and

communicate with a communications device via the selected sub-channel, selection of the selected sub-channel for communication during the beacon interval, wherein the logic is configured to communicate exclusively via the selected sub-channel during the beacon interval after communication of the selection; and

a physical layer in communication with the logic to receive the packets.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the logic comprises medium access control logic to scan sub-channels of the wide bandwidth channel to determine information about the sub-channels.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the logic comprises medium access control logic to transmit the information about the sub-channels to the communications device.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the logic comprises medium access control logic to receive an intolerance bit from another communications device indicating that a sub-channel should not be used and refrain from using the sub-channel for a time duration.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the logic comprises medium access control logic to transmit an indication of the intolerance bit to the communications device.

31. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the apparatus further comprises logic to determine the selected channel based upon the channel condition of the selected sub-channel during receipt of the sounding packets.

32. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the apparatus further comprises logic to determine the selected channel by selection of a 1 or 2 MHz sub-channel from a wider channel bandwidth that consists of a number of 1 or 2 MHz sub-channels and transmit packets on the selected sub-channel.

27. A program product for frequency selective wireless transmission, the program product comprising:

a non-transitory medium comprising instructions to be executed by a processor-based device, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor-based device, perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving, by a first communications device, sounding packets wirelessly on a subset of sub-channels of a wide bandwidth channel during a beacon interval;

determining, by the first communications device, a selected sub-channel from the subset of the sub-channels on which a sounding packet is received during the beacon interval; and

communicating, by the first communications device, with a second communications device via the selected sub-channel, selection of the selected sub-channel for communication during the beacon interval, wherein the first communications device is configured to communicate exclusively via the selected sub-channel during the beacon interval after communication of the selection.

28. The program product of claim 27, wherein the operations further comprise:

scanning sub-channels of the wide bandwidth channel to determine information about the sub-channels and transmitting the information about the sub-channels to the communications device.

29. The program product of claim 27, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an intolerance bit from another communications device indicating that a sub-channel should not be used and not using the sub-channel for a time duration.

30. The program product of claim 27, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving an intolerance bit from another communications device indicating that a sub-channel should not be used and transmitting an indication of the intolerance bit to the communications device.