Distributed Multichannel Wireless Communication

• US 20060215593A1
• Filed: 05/26/2006
• Published: 09/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CommWorks Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Kiyon, Inc.
• Inventors: Nova, Michael, Gui, Chao, Wang, Weilin, Patil, Abhishek, Wang, Xudong, Rollinger, Victor
• Granted Patent: US 7,852,796 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/18 Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1874 Buffer management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/02 Topology update or discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4126 The peripheral being portable, e.g. PDAs or mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/02 Resource partitioning among network components, e.g. reuse partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/14 Spectrum sharing arrangements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/04 Scheduled access hybrid access H04W74/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/02 Data link layer protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided that facilitate distributed multichannel wireless communication and provide the highest level quality of service (“QoS”) guarantee and support extremely high bandwidth applications such as voice over internet protocol (“VOIP”) streaming audio and video content (including high definition), and multicast applications and also supports convergent networks, ad hoc networks, and the like. A modular MAC architecture provides a group of nodes with the ability to simultaneously communicate with each other using multiple separate communication channels during the same timeslots. The additional throughput gained by employing multiple communication channels is amplified by dynamically mapping the communication channels and timeslots in a network so that multiple channels can be reused simultaneously throughout the network during the same timeslot in a fashion that does not create collisions.

Claims

1. A wireless communication device for distributed multichannel time division multiple access communication over a wireless communication network, comprising:

a topology module configured to determine a network topology for the wireless communication network;

a timeslot module configured to identify one or more timeslots for transmission of packets in accordance with the identified network topology;

a channel allocation module configured to identify one or more communication channels for transmission of packets in accordance with the identified network topology;

a packet queuing module configured provide a plurality of queues associated with the one or more timeslots and the one or more communication channels, the packet queuing module further configured to route packets to one of the plurality of queues for transmission over the one or more channels during the one or more timeslots; and

a channel switching module configured to switch communication channels between the one or more communication channels to allow transmission of packets in the plurality of queues during the one or more timeslots.

2. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the channel switching module is further configured to allow a single channel to transmit packets over a particular channel during a particular timeslot.

3. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network supports an IEEE 802.11 communication protocol.

4. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network supports an IEEE 802.15 communication protocol.

5. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network supports an IEEE 802.16 communication protocol.

6. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network comprises an ultra wide band network.

7. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network comprises a cellular telephone network.

8. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network comprises a WiMAX network.

9. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network comprises a WiFi network.

10. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication network comprises a ZigBee network.

11. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of queues comprises a broadcast queue.

12. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of queues comprises a regular data slot queue.

13. The wireless communication device of claim 1, wherein the plurality of queues comprises a special slot data queue.

14. The wireless communication device of claim 13, wherein packets from the special slot data queue are sent over a common channel.

15. The wireless communication device of claim 14, wherein the common channel is predetermined.

16. The wireless communication device of claim 14, wherein the common channel is dynamically determined.

17. A method for multichannel time division multiple access (TDMA) communication between a plurality of nodes in a wireless communication network, comprising:

determining a network topology for the wireless communication network, the network topology identifying a number of neighboring nodes for each node in the wireless communication network, wherein each node and neighboring node pair identifies a discrete link in the network topology;

identifying one or more timeslots for transmission of packets between the plurality of nodes in the wireless communication network;

identifying one or more communication channels for transmission of packets between the plurality of nodes in the wireless communication network;

assigning a communication channel to each discrete link in the network topology;

mapping the one or more timeslots to the one or more communication channels; and

transmitting packets during the one or more timeslots over the one or more communication channels in accordance with said mapping.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising providing one or more transmission queues at a node in the wireless communication network.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising mapping the one or more transmission queues to the one or more timeslots.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transmitting packets from the one or more transmission queues during the one or more timeslots in accordance with said mapping.

21. A method for managing transmission rates during multichannel time division multiple access communication over a wireless communication network comprising:

identifying a plurality of nodes in the wireless communication network;

identifying one or more communication channels for transmission of packets between the plurality of nodes in the wireless communication network;

assigning a communication channel to each discrete nodal pair link in the network topology;

identifying at a first node a packet for transmission to a second node;

determining the communication channel assigned to the nodal pair link for the first node and the second node;

identifying a transmission rate associated with the communication channel; and

transmitting the packet from the first node to the second node at the identified transmission rate.