Coexisting radio communication

• US 9,066,369 B1
• Filed: 09/15/2010
• Issued: 06/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: Marvell International Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Inventors: Nemavat, Pradeep Jugraj, Goel, Sandesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Wang, Fanghwa
• Application Number:
  US12/883,054
• Time in Patent Office: 1,742 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• 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

This disclosure describes techniques and/or apparatuses for coexisting radio communication. In some aspects, a first radio module transmits a protection frame to a remote entity through an antenna effective to prevent the remote entity from transmitting a signal to the first radio module while a second radio module has access to the antenna.

Claims

1. A system-on-chip comprising:

a first radio module having a periodic listening mode for asynchronous communication, each cycle of the periodic listening mode having time slots that are each configurable as an active time slot effective to enable asynchronous communication or an inactive time slot effective to prevent asynchronous communication, the time slots of the periodic listening mode being configurable as a duty cycle of consecutive active time slots and consecutive inactive time slots, the first radio module having exclusive access to an antenna during the active time slots and having non-exclusive access to the antenna during the inactive time slots;

a second radio module configured to communicate via the antenna when the first radio module does not have exclusive access; and

a communication manager configured to;

determine that an estimated bandwidth requirement of the first radio module as a percentage of total available antenna access during one cycle of the periodic listening mode is approximately twenty-five percent of a bandwidth available over the antenna,

set parameters of the consecutive active time slots and consecutive inactive time slots based on the determined percentage of total available antenna access during one cycle of the periodic listening mode required by the first radio module being approximately twenty-five percent of a bandwidth available over the antenna effective to establish the duty cycle of the periodic listening mode,

configure at least two consecutive time slots of the periodic listening mode as inactive time slots effective to prevent the first radio module from having exclusive access to the antenna for at least the two consecutive time slots of the periodic listening mode, and

grant the second radio module access to the antenna for at least a portion of the two consecutive time slots for which the first radio module does not have exclusive access to the antenna.

2. The system-on-chip of claim 1, wherein one of the time slots of the periodic listening mode is an insufficient amount of time for the second radio module to complete a packet exchange.

3. The system-on-chip of claim 1, wherein the first radio module enters an inactive state or sleep state during the inactive time slots of the periodic listening mode and the communication manager is further configured to cease to grant the second radio module access to the antenna responsive to the first radio module exiting the inactive state or sleep state.

4. The system-on-chip of claim 1, wherein the communication manager is further configured to cause the second radio module to transmit a protection frame to a remote entity effective to prevent the remote entity from transmitting a signal to the second radio module for at least a portion of a time that exclusive access to the antenna is to be held by the first radio module.

5. The system-on-chip of claim 1, wherein each time slot of the periodic listening mode includes a same amount of time.

6. The system-on-chip of claim 1, wherein the communication manager is further configured to configure at least three consecutive time slots of the periodic listening mode as inactive time slots effective to prevent the first radio module from having exclusive access to the antenna for at least the three consecutive of the time slots.

7. The system-on-chip of claim 1, wherein each cycle of the periodic listening mode is configured to include at least two active time slots for asynchronous communication.

8. The system-on-chip of claim 1, wherein the first radio module is configured to communicate according to a short-range wireless connectivity standard and the second radio module is configured to communicate according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11 standard.

9. The system-on-chip of claim 1, wherein the communication manager is further configured to:

receive an indication of an impending transfer of exclusive access to the first radio module via the antenna while the antenna is currently held by the second radio module, the indication including a first amount of time exclusive access is anticipated to be held by the first radio module; and

cause, responsive to receiving the indication and before the transfer of exclusive access, the second radio module to transmit a protection frame over the antenna to a remote entity to cause the remote entity to refrain from transmitting a radio signal to the second radio module for a second amount of time based on the first amount of time exclusive access is anticipated to be held by the first radio module.

10. The system-on-chip of claim 9, wherein the communication manager is further configured to transmit, responsive to determining that the first radio module has ceased holding exclusive access to the antenna, a frame to the remote entity effective to permit the remote entity to transmit to the second radio module.

11. The system-on-chip of claim 9, wherein the communication manager is further configured to cause the second radio module to transmit at least one data frame after transmission of the protection frame and prior to transferring exclusive antenna access to the first radio module.

12. The system-on-chip of claim 9, wherein the communication manager is further configured to instruct the second radio module to compress data queued for transmission while exclusive access is held by the first radio module.

13. The system-on-chip of claim 9, further comprising adjusting a data communication rate of the second radio module effective to prevent communications of the second radio module from overlapping with the amount of time exclusive access is held by the first radio module.

20. The system-on-chip of claim 1, wherein each cycle of the periodic listening mode includes twenty-four time slots, and the duty cycle of the periodic listening mode of the first radio module is set to be six consecutive active time slots based on the determined estimated bandwidth requirement for the first radio module being approximately twenty-five percent.

14. A method comprising:

configuring a first radio module having a periodic listening mode to an inactive state for at least two consecutive time slots of the periodic listening mode, each cycle of the periodic listening mode having time slots during which the first radio module is configurable as active to enable asynchronous communication or inactive effective to prevent asynchronous communication, the time slots of the periodic listening mode being configurable as a duty cycle of consecutive time slots during which the first radio module is active and consecutive time slots during which the first radio module is inactive, the first radio module having exclusive access to an antenna when configured to be active and having non-exclusive access to the antenna when configured to be inactive;

determining that an estimated bandwidth requirement of the first radio module as a fraction of total available antenna access during one cycle of the periodic listening mode is approximately one quarter of a bandwidth available over the antenna;

setting parameters of the duty cycle of the periodic listening mode based on the fraction of total available antenna access during one cycle of the periodic listening mode determined to be the estimated data throughput rate requirement of the first radio module being approximately one quarter of a bandwidth available over the antenna; and

granting a second radio module access to the antenna for at least a portion of the two consecutive time slots for which the first radio module is configured to the inactive state effective to enable the second radio module to communicate a packet exchange.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein one of the time slots of the periodic listening mode is an insufficient amount of time for the second radio module to complete the packet exchange.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising, after the at least two consecutive time slots elapse, ceasing to grant the second radio module access to the antenna.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising causing the first radio module to share the parameters of the duty cycle of the periodic listening mode with a remote entity effective to prevent the remote entity from attempting to initiate asynchronous communication with the first radio module during the consecutive inactive time slots.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the method is performed by the second radio module, an arbiter module, or an antenna switch.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the first radio module is configured to communicate according to a short-range wireless connectivity standard and the second radio module is configured to communicate according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11 standard.