SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR IMPROVING FIXED ACCESS POINT COVERAGE USING VEHICLE ROUTE INFORMATION IN A NETWORK OF MOVING THINGS

• US 20180035391A1
• Filed: 10/10/2017
• Published: 02/01/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veniam Inc.
• Original Assignee: Veniam Inc.
• Inventors: Neves, Filipe Manuel Almeida, da Silva Jordo Carreira, Diogo Emanuel, de Faria Cardote, Andr Amorim
• Granted Patent: US 9,955,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/02 Diversity systems; Multi-antenna system, i.e. transmission or reception using multiple antennas RAKE receivers H04B1/7115
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0617 for beam forming
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0619 using feedback from receiving side feedback signaling for adaptive modulation/coding H04L1/0001
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/00 Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/143 Downlink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/24 using SIR [Signal to Interference Ratio] or other wireless path parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/283 Power depending on the position of the mobile
• 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 84/005 Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/18 Network protocols supporting networked applications, e.g. including control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

Communication network architectures, systems and methods for supporting a network of mobile nodes. As non-limiting examples, various aspects of this disclosure provide systems and methods for adapting fixed access point coverage and/or power input/output in a network of moving things that may include autonomous vehicles.

Claims

1-24. -24. (canceled)

25. A system providing improved wireless communication with one or more mobile network nodes of a plurality of network nodes of a network of moving things, over one or more areas of coverage of a wireless access point node of the plurality of network nodes, the system comprising:

one or more communication interfaces configured to communicate with the one or more mobile network nodes using corresponding radio frequency signals;

one or more antenna control interfaces configured to adjust a direction of reception and transmission of the corresponding radio frequency signals by corresponding radio frequency antennas;

a transmit power controller configured to adjust power of transmission of the corresponding radio frequency signals, and to receive and process feedback from, the one or more communication interfaces; and

one or more processors operably coupled to the one or more communication interfaces, the one or more antenna control interfaces, and the transmit power controller, the one or more processors operable to, at least;

receive information representative of a planned route for a vehicle comprising a particular mobile network node of the plurality of network nodes,

in preparation to communicate with the particular mobile network node of the vehicle, autonomously adjust the one or more areas of coverage of the wireless access point node to enable wireless communication with the particular mobile network node, using the information representative of the planned route of the vehicle, and

communicatively couple the particular mobile network node to a backhaul communication link.

26. The system according to claim 25, wherein adjusting the one or more areas of coverage of the wireless access point node comprises adjusting a direction of reception and transmission of one or more antennas.

27. The system according to claim 26, wherein adjusting a direction of reception and transmission of the one or more antennas comprises controlling respective actuators to produce respective physical motions of the corresponding one or more antennas.

28. The system according to claim 25, wherein adjusting the one or more areas of coverage of the wireless access point node comprises adjusting a transmission power of corresponding signals.

29. The system according to claim 25, wherein the planned route for the vehicle is shared by the particular mobile network node with other mobile network nodes.

30. The system according to claim 25, wherein the wireless access point node adjusts the one or more areas of coverage using information representative of the geographic location of the wireless access point node and information representative of a geographic location of the particular mobile network node shared by the particular mobile network node.

31. The system according to claim 25, wherein the vehicle comprises an autonomous vehicle.

32. The system according to claim 31, wherein the information representative of the planned route for the vehicle is provided by a system of the autonomous vehicle.

33. A method of operating a system that provides improved wireless communication with one or more mobile network nodes of a plurality of network nodes of a network of moving things, over one or more areas of coverage of a wireless access point node of the plurality of network nodes, the method comprising:

receiving information representative of a planned route for a vehicle comprising a particular mobile network node of the plurality of network nodes;

in preparation to communicate with the particular mobile network node of the vehicle, autonomously adjusting the one or more areas of coverage of the wireless access point node to enable wireless communication with the particular mobile network node, using the information representative of the planned route of the vehicle; and

communicatively coupling the particular mobile network node to a backhaul communication link.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein adjusting the one or more areas of coverage of the wireless access point node comprises adjusting a direction of reception and transmission of one or more antennas.

35. The method according to claim 34, wherein adjusting a direction of reception and transmission of the one or more antennas comprises controlling respective actuators to produce respective physical motions of the corresponding one or more antennas.

36. The method according to claim 33, wherein adjusting the one or more areas of coverage of the wireless access point node comprises adjusting a transmission power of corresponding signals.

37. The method according to claim 33, wherein the planned route for the vehicle is shared by the particular mobile network node with other mobile network nodes.

38. The method according to claim 33, wherein the wireless access point node adjusts the one or more areas of coverage using information representative of the geographic location of the wireless access point node and information representative of a geographic location of the particular mobile network node shared by the particular mobile network node.

39. The method according to claim 33, wherein the vehicle comprises an autonomous vehicle.

40. The method according to claim 39, wherein the information representative of the planned route for the vehicle is provided by a system of the autonomous vehicle.

41. A non-transitory computer-readable medium on which a plurality of code sections are stored, each code section comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processor to perform the steps of a method of operating a system that provides improved wireless communication with one or more mobile network nodes of a plurality of network nodes of a network of moving things, over one or more areas of coverage of a wireless access point node of the plurality of network nodes, the steps of the method comprising:

receiving information representative of a planned route for a vehicle comprising a particular mobile network node of a plurality of network nodes;

in preparation to communicate with the particular mobile network node of the vehicle, autonomously adjusting the one or more areas of coverage of the wireless access point node to enable wireless communication with the particular mobile network node, using the information representative of the planned route of the vehicle; and

communicatively coupling the particular mobile network node to a backhaul communication link.

42. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 41, wherein adjusting the one or more areas of coverage of the wireless access point node comprises adjusting a direction of reception and transmission of one or more antennas.

43. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 42, wherein adjusting a direction of reception and transmission of the one or more antennas comprises controlling respective actuators to produce respective physical motions of the corresponding one or more antennas.

44. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 41, wherein adjusting the one or more areas of coverage of the wireless access point node comprises adjusting a transmission power of corresponding signals.

45. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 41, wherein the planned route for the vehicle is shared by the particular mobile network node with other mobile network nodes.

46. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 41, wherein the wireless access point node adjusts the one or more areas of coverage using information representative of the geographic location of the wireless access point node and information representative of a geographic location of the particular mobile network node shared by the particular mobile network node.

47. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 41, wherein the vehicle comprises an autonomous vehicle.

48. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 47, wherein the information representative of the planned route for the vehicle is provided by a system of the autonomous vehicle.