Alignment of packets for implementing coexistence of multiple homogeneous radios

• US 9,924,296 B2
• Filed: 01/14/2016
• Issued: 03/20/2018
• 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:
  US14/996,181
• Publication Number:
  US 20160135198A1
• Time in Patent Office: 796 Days
• 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, the network circuits operating in a same radio frequency band; and

a coexistence controller coupled to the network circuits and configured to coordinate the network circuits so that the circuits perform transmitting or receiving in a synchronized manner,

wherein the plurality of wireless network circuits are collocated on the network device, and

wherein none of the network circuits performs a transmitting operation when there is one network circuit performing a receiving operation.

2. The network device of claim 1, wherein none of the network circuits performs a receiving operation when there is one network circuit performing a transmitting operation.

3. The network device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to aggregate data packets resulted from the receiving performed by a select number of network circuits.

4. The network device of claim 3, wherein the coexistence controller, in the aggregating, is to modify a plurality of frame information contained in the data packets in a way that the data packets can be combined into packets with larger capacity.

5. The network device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence controller, in the coordinating, is further configured to align data packets for the transmitting or the receiving.

6. The network device of claim 5, wherein sizes of the data packets become the same after the coexistence controller'"'"'s aligning.

7. The network device of claim 5, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to insert padding into a select number of data packets in performing the aligning.

8. The network device of claim 7, wherein the padding comprises zero length delimiters.

9. The network device of claim 7, wherein the padding comprises delimiters, and wherein the coexistence controller is further configured adjust a length of the delimiters based on a type the data packets.

10. The network device of claim 7, wherein a location of the padding is at end of frames of the data packets.

11. The network device of claim 7, wherein a location of the padding is at a middle of each frame of the data packets.

12. The network device of claim 1, wherein the network circuits are homogeneous.

13. The network device of claim 1, wherein the radio frequency band is 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.

14. The network device of claim 1, wherein the coexistence controller is to control the operations in a way that reduces a probability that network circuits desensitize one another by disallowing a network circuit to transmit when another network circuit is receiving.

15. The network device of claim 14, wherein the network circuit disallowed to transmit has a lower priority than that of the network circuit that is allowed to receive.

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

determine a transmitting time schedule in synchronizing the transmitting and the receiving of the network circuits.

17. The network device of claim 1, wherein whether the coexistence controller performs the synchronization is based on what type of data traffic the network circuits process.

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. A network device, comprising:

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

a coexistence controller coupled to the network circuits and configured to coordinate the network circuits so that the circuits perform transmitting or receiving in a synchronized manner,

wherein the plurality of wireless network circuits are collocated on the network device, and

wherein none of the network circuits performs a receiving operation when there is one network circuit performing a transmitting operation.

20. The network device of claim 19, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to aggregate data packets resulted from the receiving performed by a select number of network circuits.

21. The network device of claim 20, wherein the coexistence controller, in the aggregating, is to modify a plurality of frame information contained in the data packets in a way that the data packets can be combined into packets with larger capacity.

22. The network device of claim 19, wherein the coexistence controller, in the coordinating, is further configured to align data packets for the transmitting or the receiving.

23. The network device of claim 22, wherein sizes of the data packets become the same after the coexistence controller'"'"'s aligning.

24. The network device of claim 22, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to insert padding into a select number of data packets in performing the aligning.

25. The network device of claim 24, wherein the padding comprises zero length delimiters.

26. The network device of claim 24, wherein the padding comprises delimiters, and wherein the coexistence controller is further configured adjust a length of the delimiters based on a type the data packets.

27. The network device of claim 24, wherein a location of the padding is at end of frames of the data packets.

28. The network device of claim 24, wherein a location of the padding is at a middle of each frame of the data packets.

29. The network device of claim 19, wherein the network circuits are homogeneous.

30. The network device of claim 19, wherein the radio frequency band is 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz.

31. The network device of claim 19, wherein the coexistence controller is to control the operations in a way that reduces a probability that network circuits desensitize one another by disallowing a network circuit to transmit when another network circuit is receiving.

32. The network device of claim 31, wherein the network circuit disallowed to transmit has a lower priority than that of the network circuit that is allowed to receive.

33. The network device of claim 19, wherein the coexistence controller is further configured to:

determine a transmitting time schedule in synchronizing the transmitting and the receiving of the network circuits.

34. The network device of claim 19, wherein whether the coexistence controller performs the synchronization is based on what type of data traffic the network circuits process.

35. The network device of claim 19, wherein the network circuits each include individual media access control (MAC) layer and physical (PHY) layer circuitry.