Radio resource measurement and estimation

• US 20060258286A1
• Filed: 05/13/2005
• Published: 11/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/13/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Hazra, Mousumi, Qi, Emily H., Conner, W. Steven
• Granted Patent: US 7,869,809 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.200
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/08 based on transmission power
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/34 TPC management, i.e. sharing limited amount of power among users or channels or data types, e.g. cell loading
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Apparatus and systems, as well as methods and articles, may operate to conduct radio measurement request and response operations between two stations to determine receive channel power indicator values associated with direct and indirect wireless links, and to select one of the links for use by the stations based on estimated link capacities.

Claims

1. An apparatus, including:

a link selection module included in a first station to select one of a direct wireless link to a second station, and an indirect wireless link to the second station, the link selection module being responsive to a first estimated link capacity based on a first receive channel power indicator value associated with the direct wireless link and a second estimated link capacity based on a second receive channel power indicator value associated with the indirect wireless link.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further including:

a memory to store a frame including the first receive power channel indicator value.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further including:

a memory to store at least one test packet to send from the first station to the second station through the direct wireless link and the indirect wireless link.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further including:

a processor to calculate the first estimated link capacity and the second estimated link capacity.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first station comprises a transmitter to transmit a measurement request comprising a transmit address field.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the measurement request further comprises one or more of a channel number field, a channel band field, a randomization interval field, and a randomization duration field.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first station is to operate according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 802.11 standard.

8. A system, including:

a link selection module included in a first station to select one of a direct wireless link to a second station, and an indirect wireless link to the second station, the link selection module being responsive to a first estimated link capacity based on a first receive channel power indicator value associated with the direct wireless link and a second estimated link capacity based on a second receive channel power indicator value associated with the indirect wireless link; and

an onmidirectional antenna coupled to the link selection module.

9. The system of claim 8, further including:

the second station.

10. The system of claim 8, further including:

a memory to store the first receive channel power indicator value and the second receive channel power indicator value.

11. The system of claim 8, further including:

a module in the second station to determine the first receive channel power indicator value based on a measurement for a frame received at the second station.

12. A method, including:

conducting radio measurement request and response operations between two stations to determine a first receive channel power indicator value associated with a direct wireless link and a second receive channel power indicator value associated with an indirect wireless link between the two stations; and

selecting one of the direct wireless link and the indirect wireless link to communicate information between the two stations based on an estimated link capacity derived from the first receive power channel indicator value and the second receive power channel indicator value.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the two stations comprise an originator station and a receiver station, further including:

measuring, at the receiver station, the first receive power channel indicator value and the second receive power channel indicator value.

14. The method of claim 12, further including:

conducting the radio measurement request and response operations according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers 802.11 standard.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the second receive power channel indicator value further includes:

sending a measurement request action frame from an originator station to an access point; and

receiving a report of a receive power channel indicator value associated with a link between the access point and the originator station.

16. The method of claim 15, further including:

conducting a measurement over the measurement request action frame.

17. The method of claim 15, further including:

conducting a measurement over a test data frame.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the first receive power channel indicator value further includes:

sending a measurement request action frame from an originator station to a receiving station; and

receiving a report of a receive power channel indicator value associated with a link between the receiver station and the originator station.

19. The method of claim 18, further including:

conducting a measurement over a beacon frame.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the measurement request further comprises one or more of a channel number field, a channel band field, a randomization interval field, and a randomization duration field.

21. The method of claim 12, further including:

estimating a link capacity associated with the direct wireless link; and

estimating a link capacity associated with the indirect wireless link.

22. The method of claim 21, further including:

comparing the link capacity associated with the direct wireless link to the link capacity associated with the indirect wireless link.

23. An article including a machine-accessible medium having associated information, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

communicating wirelessly between two stations according to an Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers 802.11 standard, including transmitting a measurement request comprising a transmit address field in an infrastructure basic service set.

24. The article of claim 23, wherein the measurement request further includes one or more of a channel number field, a channel band field, a randomization interval field, and a randomization duration field.

25. The article of claim 23, wherein the two stations comprise an initiator station and a receiver station, and wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

sending a frame including the transmit address field to specify reporting the first receive channel power indicator value with respect to one of a single originator station and a plurality of originator stations.

26. The article of claim 23, wherein the information, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

selecting a link for further communications between the two stations based on a receive channel power indicator value received in response to the measurement request.