User equipment detection of interference-sensitive devices

• US 10,306,454 B2
• Filed: 02/19/2018
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brisebois, Arthur Richard, Cui, Zhi
• Primary Examiner(s): Wendell, Andrew
• Application Number:
  US15/898,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20180176761A1
• Time in Patent Office: 463 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/00 Near-field transmission systems, e.g. inductive or capacitive transmission systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/77 for interrogation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Concepts and technologies are described herein for user equipment (“UE”) detection of interference-sensitive devices. According to one aspect disclosed herein, a mobile initiator device can utilize a near-field communications (“NFC”) hardware component to generate a radio frequency (“RF”) field that is used to activate a passive NFC component associated with an interference-sensitive device. The mobile initiator device can utilize the NFC hardware component to receive information about an interference sensitivity of the interference-sensitive device. The mobile initiator device can adjust one or more operational aspects of the mobile initiator device to accommodate the interference sensitivity information of the interference-sensitive device.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a first device comprising a first near-field communications hardware component, a first processor, and a first memory, wherein the first memory comprises first computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the first processor, cause the first processor to perform first operations; and

a second device comprising an interference-sensitive component, a second near-field communications hardware component, a second processor, and a second memory, wherein the second memory comprises second computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the second processor, cause the second processor to perform second operations;

wherein the first operations comprise

monitoring a mobility state of the first device,

detecting a change in the mobility state of the first device, and

in response to detecting the change in the mobility state of the first device, generating, by the first near-field communications hardware component, a radio frequency field;

wherein the second operations comprise

in response to the radio frequency field, activating the second near-field communications hardware component, and

providing, to the first device, information about an interference sensitivity of the second device, wherein the information about the interference sensitivity comprises a filter selectivity; and

wherein the first operations further comprise

receiving, from the first device, by the first near-field communications hardware component, the information about the interference sensitivity, and

adjusting an operational aspect of the first device to accommodate the interference sensitivity of the second device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the information about the interference sensitivity further comprises at least one of a device type, a radio type, a receive sensitivity frequency band, a transmit sensitivity frequency band, a receive in-band noise rise limit, a receive in-band receiver overload limit, or a transmit power range.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein adjusting the operational aspect of the first device comprises adjusting a transmit power of the first device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein adjusting the operational aspect of the first device comprises adjusting a duplexing type utilized by the first device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first operations further comprise, in response to receiving, from the first device, by the first near-field communications hardware component, the information about the interference sensitivity:

generating a confirmation message to confirm receipt of the information about the interference sensitivity; and

sending the confirmation message to the second device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the interference-sensitive component comprises a medical device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the interference-sensitive component comprises a consumer electronics device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the radio frequency field comprises generating the radio frequency field in accordance with a radio frequency field duty cycle associated with the mobility state.

9. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first device, cause the first device to perform operations comprising:

activating a passive near-field communications component of the first device in response to a radio frequency field generated by a second device, wherein the radio frequency field is generated by the second device in response to detecting a change in a mobility state of the second device; and

providing information about an interference sensitivity of the first device to the second device, wherein the information about the interference sensitivity comprises a filter selectivity.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the information about the interference sensitivity of the first device further comprises at least one of a device type, a radio type, a sensitivity frequency band, a receive in-band noise rise limit, a receive in-band receiver overload limit, a transmit frequency band, or a transmit power range.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein providing the information about the interference sensitivity comprises providing the information about the interference sensitivity via a periodic retransmission to the second device.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a confirmation message from the second device, the confirmation message confirming receipt, by the second device, of the information about the interference sensitivity; and

in response to receiving the confirmation message, stopping the periodic retransmission of the information about the interference sensitivity.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise instructing the second device to adjust an operational aspect of the second device to accommodate the interference sensitivity.

14. A method comprising:

monitoring, by a first device comprising a first processor and a first near-field communications hardware component, a mobility state of the first device;

detecting, by the first device, a change in the mobility state of the first device;

in response to detecting the change in the mobility state of the first device, generating, by the first near-field communications hardware component of the first device, a radio frequency field;

in response to the radio frequency field, activating, by a second device comprising an interference-sensitive component, a second processor, and a second near-field communications component, the second near-field communications component;

providing, to the first device, by the second device, information about an interference sensitivity of the second device, wherein the information about the interference sensitivity comprises a filter selectivity; and

adjusting, by the first device, an operational aspect of the first device to accommodate the interference sensitivity of the second device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the information about the interference sensitivity further comprises at least one of a device type, a radio type, a receive sensitivity frequency band, a transmit sensitivity frequency band, a receive in-band noise rise limit, a receive in-band receiver overload limit, or a transmit power range.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein adjusting, by the first device, the operational aspect of the first device comprises adjusting a transmit power of the first device.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein adjusting, by the first device, the operational aspect of the first device comprises adjusting a duplexing type utilized by the first device.

18. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

generating, by the first device, a confirmation message to confirm receipt of the information about the interference sensitivity; and

sending, by the first device, the confirmation message to the second device.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the interference-sensitive component comprises a medical device.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the interference-sensitive component comprises a consumer electronics device.