Method and system for explicit AP-to-AP sounding in an 802.11 network
First Claim
1. An access point comprising:
- a plurality of antennas;
a plurality of radio circuitries configured to transmit and receive signals via the plurality of antennas; and
a baseband processor configured to monitor the signals received by the radio circuitries and generate a list of neighboring co-channel access points, each neighboring co-channel access point having a plurality of antennas and each being located within a clear channel assessment (CCA) range of the access point,wherein the baseband processor is further configured to instruct the radio circuitries to transmit a sounding sequence to the list of neighboring co-channel access points, and receive Channel State Information (CSI),wherein the baseband processor is further configured to set weights on the radio circuitries to produce a null at one or more antennas of the listed neighboring co-channel access point which currently transmits on a same frequency channel and downloads of a packet to a station (STA), or a group of STAs,wherein null weights are determined via an explicit sounding process invoked between the access point and each of the listed neighboring co-channel access points, based on a null data packet (NDP) announcement by a nulling AP and response by a nulled AP,wherein the access point sounding set (APSS) NDP announcement and NDP comprise an access point sounding set ID field replacing an STA ID field in a MU MIMO protocol.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of one AP accessing a channel occupied by a neighboring AP within CCA range, by acquiring channel knowledge via performing cooperative sounding and setting a null towards the neighboring AP, under certain conditions verifications, is provided herein. The method may include: transmitting and receive signals via a plurality of radio circuitries connected to plurality of antennas; monitoring signals received by the radio circuitries and generating a list of neighboring co-channel access points that each has plurality of antennas and are further located within a clear channel assessment (CCA) range of the access point; and instructing the radio circuitries to transmit a sounding sequence to the list of neighboring access points, and receive Channel State Information (CSI).
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. An access point comprising:
-
a plurality of antennas; a plurality of radio circuitries configured to transmit and receive signals via the plurality of antennas; and a baseband processor configured to monitor the signals received by the radio circuitries and generate a list of neighboring co-channel access points, each neighboring co-channel access point having a plurality of antennas and each being located within a clear channel assessment (CCA) range of the access point, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to instruct the radio circuitries to transmit a sounding sequence to the list of neighboring co-channel access points, and receive Channel State Information (CSI), wherein the baseband processor is further configured to set weights on the radio circuitries to produce a null at one or more antennas of the listed neighboring co-channel access point which currently transmits on a same frequency channel and downloads of a packet to a station (STA), or a group of STAs, wherein null weights are determined via an explicit sounding process invoked between the access point and each of the listed neighboring co-channel access points, based on a null data packet (NDP) announcement by a nulling AP and response by a nulled AP, wherein the access point sounding set (APSS) NDP announcement and NDP comprise an access point sounding set ID field replacing an STA ID field in a MU MIMO protocol. - View Dependent Claims (2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
-
-
3. An access point comprising:
-
a plurality of antennas; a plurality of radio circuitries configured to transmit and receive signals via the plurality of antennas; and a baseband processor configured to monitor the signals received by the radio circuitries and generate a list of neighboring co-channel access points, each neighboring co-channel access point having a plurality of antennas and each being located within a clear channel assessment (CCA) range of the access point, wherein the baseband processor is further configured to instruct the radio circuitries to transmit a sounding sequence to the list of neighboring co-channel access points, and receive Channel State Information (CSI), wherein the baseband processor is further configured to set weights on the radio circuitries to produce a null at one or more antennas of the listed neighboring co-channel access point which currently transmits on a same frequency channel and downloads of a packet to a station (STA), or a group of STAs, wherein null weights are determined via an explicit sounding process invoked between the access point and each of the listed neighboring co-channel access points, based on a null data packet (NDP) announcement by a nulling AP and response by a nulled AP, and a series of poll requests to a next beamformee neighboring AP and a corresponding response, and wherein a Poll Request field is retrofitted to address a neighboring beamformee AP rather than a STA in a MU MIMO protocol.
-
-
14. A method of performing an explicit sounding process to neighboring access points by a beamformer access point comprising:
-
transmitting and receiving signals via a plurality of radio circuitries connected to a plurality of antennas; monitoring the signals received by the radio circuitries and generating a list of neighboring co-channel access points, each neighboring co-channel access point having a plurality of antennas and each being located within a clear channel assessment (CCA) range of the access point; and instructing the radio circuitries to transmit a sounding sequence to the list of neighboring co-channel access points, and receive Channel State Information (CSI) from the neighboring access points, setting weights on the radio circuitries to produce a null at one or more antennas of the listed neighboring co-channel access point which currently transmits on a same frequency channel and download of a packet to a STA, or a group of STAs, wherein null weights are determined via an explicit sounding process invoked between the access point and each of the listed neighboring co-channel access points, based on a null data packet (NDP) announcement by a nulling AP and response by a nulled AP, and wherein the access point sounding set (APSS) NDP announcement and NDP comprise an access point sounding set ID field replacing an STA ID field in a MU MIMO protocol. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
-
Specification