Channel steering for implementing coexistence of multiple homogeneous radios

• US 9,277,591 B2
• Filed: 11/25/2013
• Issued: 03/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NETGEAR, Inc.
• Original Assignee: NETGEAR, Inc.
• Inventors: Amini, Peiman, Yongyuth, Arms, Emmanuel, Joseph Amalan Arul
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Frank
• Application Number:
  US14/089,680
• Publication Number:
  US 20140369273A1
• Time in Patent Office: 827 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/44 Transmit/receive switching
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/525 with means for reducing leakage of transmitter signal into the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 25/03006 Arrangements for removing intersymbol interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/9005 using dynamic buffer space allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/323 in the physical layer [OSI layer 1]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/324 in the data link layer [OSI layer 2], e.g. HDLC
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0212 managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/386 centralized, e.g. when the radio network controller or equivalent takes part in the power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/1215 for collaboration of different radio technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/541 using the level of interference
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/566 of the information or information source or recipient
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 : Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for controlling, in a network device, multiple radio circuits operating in a same or similar frequency band and in close physical proximity. In some embodiments, the radio circuits operate on the same network protocol. The network device can include a coexistence controller coupled to the network circuits. According to some embodiments, the network circuits are each assigned a priority, and the coexistence controller can control operations between the network circuits by selectively adjusting one or more transmission operating parameters of a respective network circuit based on a plurality of operating criteria, which include each network circuit'"'"'s priority. Among other benefits, the embodiments disclosed herein can increase wireless network bandwidth and reduce mobile device power consumption by providing coordination among the radio circuits so that the transmitting and receiving operations are performed in a way that they do not interfere with their respective antennas.

Claims

1. A network device, comprising:

a plurality of wireless network circuits, each of the network circuits operating in a same radio frequency band; and

a coexistence controller coupled to the network circuits and configured to;

upon one or more client devices requesting for association, distribute the client devices to the network circuits based on a plurality of operating criteria,

wherein the network circuits are collocated on the network device.

2. The network device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to:

move a respective client device connected to a first network circuit to a second network circuit based on the operating criteria.

3. The network device of claim 2, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to:

coordinate with the respective client in performing the moving using a switch announcement.

4. The network device of claim 2, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to perform the moving when a data traffic workload aggregated from all client devices connected to the first network circuit exceeds or about to exceed a service capacity of the first network circuit.

5. The network device of claim 2, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to perform the moving when an interference on the first network circuit exceeds a threshold.

6. The network device of claim 2, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to perform the moving when a channel condition on the second network circuit becomes better than the first network circuit.

7. The network device of claim 2, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to migrate connection information for the respective client device when the respective client device is moved from the first network circuit to the second network circuit.

8. The network device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to:

enforce a selection of the distributing by disallowing a respective client device from associating itself with a non-preferred network circuit.

9. The network device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to:

temporarily stop broadcasting a service set identifier for the non-preferred network circuit.

10. The network device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to:

ignore a probe request from a respective client device for associating with a non-preferred network circuit.

11. The network device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to:

ignore a probe request from a respective client device for associating with a non-preferred network circuit before a predetermined period of time expires;

allow the respective client device to associate with the non-preferred network circuit after the period of time expires; and

move the respective client device connected to the non-preferred network circuit to a preferred network circuit.

12. The network device of claim 1, wherein the operating criteria include a priority that is assigned to each of the network circuits.

13. The network device of claim 1, wherein the operating criteria include how much noise is observed by one or more radios of each network circuit.

14. The network device of claim 1, wherein the operating criteria include based on what type of traffic each network circuit is assigned to process.

15. The network device of claim 1, wherein the operating criteria include workload that each network circuit has.

16. The network device of claim 1, wherein the operating criteria include performance requirement that the client devices request.

17. The network device of claim 1, wherein each of the network circuits operates on a different channel.

18. The network device of claim 1, wherein the network circuits each include individual media access control (MAC) layer and physical (PHY) layer circuitry.

19. The network device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence controller controls each of the network circuits independently.

20. The network device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to:

coordinate with another plurality of wireless network circuits on a respective client device so that the network circuits on the network device each communicate with a corresponding network circuit on the client using a uniquely designated channel.

21. The network device of claim 1, wherein the network circuits include at least two network circuits operating on different channels in a 5 GHz frequency band.

22. The network device of claim 2, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to:

coordinate with the respective client in performing the moving using a dis-association process.

23. The network device of claim 2, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to:

coordinate with the respective client in performing the moving using a de-authentication process.